He felt that Nor could the

He hardly left when the final

roundings, to decline the position of associate peace commissioner, with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, appointed by the Congress, June 15, 1781, to negotiate on the part of the United States in Europe. The trials of her husband and the troubles of the times had made great inroad upon the strength and health of Mrs. Jefferson, and these with the labors of her family early broke a constitution not of the most enduring kind. his only duty now was by her side. remonstrances of friends move him. her side day or night for weeks, and parting came, September 6, 1782, he was left as prostrate as the weakest and most helpless of minds could fall under such bereavement. Mr. Jefferson had cherished hopes of great future happiness in his family, and was devoted to it with a rare and beautiful singleness of heart and life, and the loss of its main prop was irreparable. But neither the epitaph placed over her remains at Monticello, nor his writings touching the case, bring this distinguished political sage up to the standard of reason and affection in the Christian philosopher. It is nowhere claimed for Mr. Jefferson that he was great in all things, and indeed it would not be easy to sustain the assertion that he was not little in many things. But in the death of his wife, he became a common man, and simply acted as most others do. If Death is an angel of love, he is certainly, too, a great leveler, and ever turns up the commoner impulses of humanity, no matter what beautiful philosophies lessen his sting, or reach far beyond his dominions.

Mrs. Randolph, many years afterwards, in speaking

of her father, wrote of this change in the home at Monticello as follows:

"As a nurse, no female ever had more tenderness or anxiety. He nursed my poor mother in turn with Aunt Carr and her own sister, sitting up with her and administering her medicines and drink to the last. For four months that she lingered, he was never out of calling; when not at her bedside, he was writing in a small room which opened immediately at the head of her bed. A moment before the closing scene, he was led from the room almost in a state of insensibility, by his sister, Mrs. Carr, who, with great difficulty, got him into his library, where he fainted, and remained so long insensible that they feared he never would revive. The scene that followed I did not witness; but the violence of his emotion, when almost by stealth, I entered his room at night, to this day I dare not trust myself to describe. He kept his room three weeks, and I was never a moment from his side. He walked almost incessantly night and day, only lying down occasionally when nature was completely exhausted, on a pallet that had been brought in during his fainting fit. My aunt remained constantly with him for some weeks, I do not remember how many. When at last he left his room, he rode out, and from that time he was incessantly on horseback, rambling about the mountain, in the least frequented roads, and just as often through the woods. In those melancholy rambles, I was his constant companion, a solitary witness to many a violent burst of grief, the remembrance of which has consecrated particular scenes of that last home, beyond the power of time to obliterate."

This sad, true picture is one of the most unworthy and undeserving in the life of Mr. Jefferson, and goes far towards showing that he had not discovered the real philosopher's stone, and that his children even, were his teachers in that beautiful lore which beholds "hidden behind the apparent frowns of Providence, a smiling face."

CHAPTER IX.

MR. JEFFERSON AGAIN IN THE CONGRESS-NOTES ON VIRGINIA ORDINANCE OF 1784.

A

FTER the death of his wife, Mr. Jefferson spent

some time in the care of his children while having them inoculated for the small-pox; but as it was now supposed that the chief cause of his declining to serve the country as a minister abroad was removed, the Congress again unanimously appointed him to join the commissioners in France. He now accepted, and went to Philadelphia about the middle of December, 1782, to prepare for embarking on his mission. But the reception of the news that a provisional treaty had been agreed upon between the agents of the United States and Great Britain, made it desirable for the Congress to recall his commission, when he returned to Monticello.

During the winter of 1782, Mr. Jefferson's great fondness for writing was unexpectedly drawn out, resulting in what was called his "Notes on Virginia." The French Secretary of Legation in this country, Barbé Marbois, residing in Philadelphia, wrote Mr. Jefferson requesting him to answer a few questions as to the statistics of Virginia, in aid of his efforts to publish some reliable account of the condition of the United States. Mr. Jefferson's exact and minute style of observation and of keeping daily records of seem

ingly unimportant things, now served a good purpose, and the end of his attempt to satisfy the request of Marbois produced the best of his unpolitical writings, a work yet regarded as the standard in early Virginia history, and also as being valuable in containing his views on slavery, and many other matters brought out more fully in his subsequent public career.

In June, 1783, the Legislature of Virginia elected Mr. Jefferson as one of the five delegates now sent to the Congress from that State, and on the 4th of November, he took his seat in that body at Trenton, and with it on the same day removed to Annapolis. He again became one of the most active and efficient members of the Congress, serving as chairman of several of the most important committees, and was present at the ratification of the treaty of peace with England. The old Congress was fast becoming irresponsible, and not only less stress was put upon it, but it was composed generally of men of far less note and ability than when Mr. Jefferson had before served in it. The national power which it represented was crumbling away. One of the remarkable events in the history of the "Continental Congress" was introduced during this term of Mr. Jefferson's service. The Congress was one body, and although it had a presiding officer, he had no power beyond his functions as its chairman. Its Secretary had a kind of perpetual national character, as he received and recognized all foreign communications for the country. But the Congress was both the executive and legislative force of the States General, and when that body was not in session there was no kind of national power in existence, unless its Secretary be regarded in some such light. In the spring of 1784,

Mr. Jefferson introduced the plan of a committee of one from each State, which should remain in session during the intermissions of the Congress, and carry out its executive powers. This committee was, accordingly, agreed upon, and the Congress adjourned. But the experiment was of brief continuance, and the ending ignominious enough. The Committee soon quarreled, and after dividing into two factions, broke up and went home, leaving the country without an agent or a head. In this condition, no State could answer for another, nor indeed, for itself, with the merest shadow of respectable authority.

During this term of Mr. Jefferson's labors in the Congress, the question of finances was brought forward as usual, and some advance made in settling this matter, then, as ever since, one of the most troublesome before the country. Robert Morris brought forward his plan for a national system of coinage. But Mr. Jefferson opposed his infinitesimal unit, of the 1400th part of a dollar, and proposed that the dollar be made the standard unit, and the decimal system be used, as suggested by Gouverneur Morris. He printed his views for the use of the Congress, and advised the coinage of the ten-dollar gold-piece, a silver dollar, a silver dime, and a copper cent. His plan was mainly adopted by that body, and thus he had the great pleasure of being, to a considerable extent, the author of the present system of coinage, based upon the decimal plan of notation, the most simple and convenient which could possibly be devised, notwithstanding some recent Frenchy nonsense on the subject.

At this time came up in the Congress the subject of organizing the vast region called the Western Ter