professors. How many of our youths she now has, learning the lessons of anti-Missourian-ism, I know not; but a gentleman lately from Princeton told me he saw there the list of the students at that place, and that more than half were Virginians. These will return home, no doubt, deeply impressed with the sacred principles of our Holy Alliance of restrictionists. But the gloomiest of all prospects is in the desertion of the best friends of the institution-for desertion I must call it."

Late in the year 1823 the Board of Visitors decided to wait no longer for favorable action by the legislature, but began to look around for proper men to fill the chairs of the new institution. The Board was unanimous in its conviction that the best men were to be found abroad, and a special agent was sent to Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh, a policy which provoked much adverse criticism in certain quarters. During the next few months most of the Faculty were selected and the opening date was set for March, 1825. Some of the Faculty were delayed in crossing the Atlantic, a circumstance which caused Jefferson much uneasiness both for their safety and for the delay occasioned to the beginning of work. By June there were in attendance upon lectures nearly a hundred students. The pride and satisfaction with which Jefferson thus saw the fruition of his hopes can hardly be expressed. His interest in everything touching the institution was absorbing. He cultivated the personal acquaintance and friendship of each member of the Faculty, and his counsel was ready on any question which arose. With his high ideals of conduct, he could not bring himself to palliate mischief or disorderly conduct among those whom he considered assembled for the most sacred pursuit of life. He advocated the employment of summary measures against the first boyish offenders upon whose cases his advice had been requested-probably the sole instance of severity recorded of

him.

Toward the close of this year, Jefferson's pecuniary troubles assumed a form which could be no longer ignored or concealed. They were due to no sudden reverse of fortune, but their causes are to be traced backward through many years. It is significant

This debt.

of the man's character that a correspondence so voluminous as was his and so confidential, should, with the single exception of the letter already noticed, have made no allusions to a subject so important and so calculated to absorb one's thoughts. Though Jefferson had started life with a good inheritance, and had by skilful management throughout his young manhood materially increased it, a certain fatality seemed afterwards to follow his property. On the dower which his wife brought him, there rested a British debt of one-third its value. he paid twice, having turned it over to the State in accordance with a statute, and yet refusing to allow it to be paid in depreciated State scrip. This required the sale of a portion of his estate, which went at a heavy sacrifice. After the Revolutionary war, he was in public service continuously from 1784 to 1809, with the exception of three years. From none of the offices he held, save that of Vice-President, was he able to meet his expenses, but he was forced to draw largely upon his own private fortune. Nor was he guilty of extravagance during this period. A retrenchment of expenses may, it is true, have been possible on certain points; but he regarded the demands of hospitality and a fitting style of life as expected of him. Serious as were these drains upon his property, it was at the time of his retirement from the Presidency, sufficient to have kept him in more than comfort for the rest of his life. He appreciated, however, that to this end there was need of careful management, especially as he found his estates in much the same condition as on his retirement from Washington's Cabinet. But a style of living was now forced upon him which, as the years went by, more and more effectually did away with his hope that he might again set his affairs upon a firm footing. He was subjected to the demands of the most extensive and miscellaneous hospitality that our nation has ever seen. No estate of his day could have stood such a drain upon it. To this were added the disastrous financial results of the war of 1812; and in 1819 Jefferson was called upon to pay an endorsement of twenty thousand dollars for an intimate friend. This left him a ruined man. He had no complaints to utter, either against fortune, or against any indi

vidual who had contributed to his losses, or against himself. His former enemies lost much of their old feelings toward him in admiration of his unmurmuring acceptance of a fate which, without fault of his own, thus came to overshadow the close of his career. A sale of his property at that time would have been the merest sacrifice; and he refused unconditionally to accept a loan or gift from the State treasury, as was suggested by his friends. Early in 1826, he petitioned the legislature to allow him to dispose of his personal effects by lottery, a means, as he wrote Madison, "often resorted to before the Revolution to effect large sales, and still in constant usage in every State for individual as well as corporation purposes. If it is permitted in my case, my land here alone, with the mills, etc., will pay everything, and leave me Monticello and a farm free. If refused, I must sell everything here, perhaps considerable in Bedford, move thither with my family, where I have not even a log hut to put my head into, and whether ground for burial, will depend upon the depredations, which, under the form of sales, shall have been committed upon my property." He also drew up for submission to the legislature a paper called "Thoughts on Lotteries," his last document of a public nature. In it he took the ground that there was nothing immoral in a lottery scheme of itself, for every pursuit might in a certain sense be said to be a lottery; and he cited numerous instances of its employment in Virginia for various public enterprises, for private societies and individuals, and even for religious congregations. The threatened opposition died out, and the bill to authorize his request was passed without trouble. But it was not carried into effect during Jefferson's lifetime. Other States through their large cities came forward and fulfilled the duty which Virginia neglected. Sums were raised by popular subscription, and promptly forwarded to him. He had no hesitation in receiving these, and he did so with a feeling of mingled gratitude and pride that his public services were thus remembered. As it was, when the lottery was held it failed to realize the half of the sum hoped for; and his lands put up for sale fell far short of their original cost. It was a blessing that Jeffer

son had not lived to see this, or the loss of his home and estate to his daughter's family.

Through the spring of 1826, Jefferson's health failed rapidly. He still took his daily ride on horseback, refusing to be accompanied by a servant; but before the summer he had grown too weak to move from his chair and couch. His mind, however, retained its power and clearness throughout. He read much in the Bible and in the Greek tragedians and wrote several letters of some length, the last being dated June 24th. It was an acknowledgment of an invitation to be present in Washington City at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence.

From the middle of June, the strength still left in his once powerful frame rapidly declined, and he quietly breathed his last shortly after mid-day of July 4th, a few hours after his old colleague, opponent, and devoted friend, John Adams, had passed away. Jefferson was laid to rest by the side of the wife whom he had so fondly loved, and within sight of the stately buildings to which the thought and activity of his last years had been devoted. On his simple tombstone is the inscription:

Here was buried
THOMAS JEFFERSON
author of the
Declaration

of

American Independence
of the

Statute of Virginia
for

Religious Freedom

And Father of the
University of Virginia.

Born April 2, 1743, O. S.
Died July 4, 1826.

THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON,

CONSISTING OF HIS PRINCIPAL STATE PAPERS,
AND EXTRACTS FROM HIS OFFICIAL AND

PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCES:

F-Ford's Writings of Jefferson.

C-Congressional Edition of Jefferson's Works.
R-Randall's Life of Thomas Jefferson.

ACADEMY, A NATIONAL.-I have often wished we could have a philosophical society or academy so organized as that while the central academy should be at the seat of government, its members dispersed over the State should constitute filiated academies in each State, and publish their communications, from which the central academy should select what should be most choice. In this way all the members wheresoever dispersed might be brought into action, and an useful emulation might arise between the filiated societies. Perhaps the great societies now existing might incorporate themselves in this way with the National one. (To Joel Barlow, 1805, F. VIII., 425.)

ADAMS, JOHN.-His [John Adams'] vanity is a lineament in his character which has entirely escaped me. His want of taste I had observed. Notwithstanding all this, he has a sound head on substantial points, and I think he has integrity. I am glad, therefore, he is of the commission for negotiating peace and expect he will be useful in it. His dislike of all parties, and all men, by balancing his prejudices, may give them some fair play to his reason as would a general benevolence of temper. At any rate honesty may be extracted from poisonous weeds. (To James Madison, 1783. F. III., 310.)

ADAMS, JOHN.-I am afraid the indiscretion of a printer has committed me with my friend Mr. Adams, for whom as one of the most honest and disinterested men alive I have a cordial esteem, increased by long habits of concurrence in opinion in

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