then too avoid the charge of misapplying that time which now belonging to those who employ me, should be wholly devoted to their service. If my own justification, or the interests of the republic shall require it, I reserve to myself the right of then appealing to my country, subscribing my name to whatever I write, & using with freedom & truth the facts & names necessary to place the cause in it's just form before that tribunal. То а thorough disregard of the honors & emoluments of office I join as great a value for the esteem of my countrymen, & conscious of having merited it by an integrity which cannot be reproached, & by an enthusiastic devotion to their rights & liberty, I will not suffer my retirement to be clouded by the slanders of a man whose history, from the moment at which history can stoop to notice him, is a tissue of machinations against the liberty of the country which has not only received and given him bread, but heaped it's honors on his head.-Still however I repeat the hope that it will not be necessary to make such an appeal. Though little known to the people of America, I believe that, as far as I am known, it is not as an enemy to the republic, nor an intriguer against it, nor a waster of it's revenue, nor prostitutor of it to the purposes of corruption, as the American represents me; and I confide that yourself are satisfied that, as to dissensions in the newspapers, not a syllable of them has ever proceeded from me ; & that no cabals or intrigues of mine have produced those in the legislature, & I hope I may promise, both to you & myself, that none will receive aliment from me during the short space I have to remain in office, which will find ample employment in closing the present business of the department.—Observing that letters written at Mount Vernon on the Monday, & arriving at Richmond on the Wednesday, reach me on Saturday, I have now the honor to mention that the 22d instant will be the last of our postdays that I shall be here, & consequently that no letter from you after the 17th, will find me here. Soon after that I shall have the honor of receiving at Mount Vernon your orders for Philadelphia, & of there also delivering you the little matter which occurs to me as proper for the opening of Congress, exclusive of what has been recommended in former speeches, & not yet acted on. In the meantime & ever I am with great and sincere affection & respect, dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.

TO ARCHIBALD STUART.1

MONTICELLO, Sep 9. 1792.

DEAR SIR,-I wrote you a long letter from Philadelphia early in the summer, which would not now have been worth recurring to, but that I therein asked the favor of you to sound Mr. Henry on the subject you had written to me on, to wit, the amendment of our constitution, and to find whether he would not approve of the specific amendments therein mentioned, in which case the business would be easy. If you have had any conversation with him on the subject I will thank you for the result, As I propose to return from my present office at the close of the ensuing session of Congress, & to fix myself once more at home, I begin to feel a more immediate interest in having the constitution of our country fixed, & in such a form as will ensure a somewhat greater certainty to our laws, liberty, & property, the first & last of which are now pretty much afloat, & the second not out of the reach of every enterprize. I set out for Philadelphia about the 20th, and would therefore be happy to hear from you before that. I am with great & sincere esteem, Dear Sir Your constant friend & servt.

TO CHARLES CLAY.

J. MSS. MONTICELLO, Sep. 11, 1792.

DEAR SIR,-Your favor of Aug. 8, came duly to hand, and I should with pleasure have done what you therein desired, as I ever should what would serve or

1 From the original in the possession of the Virginia Historical Society.

oblige you; but from a very early period of my life I determined never to intermeddle with elections of the people, and have invariably adhered to this determination. In my own county, where there have been so many elections in which my inclinations were enlisted, I yet never interfered. I could the less do it in the present instance, your people so very distant from me, utterly unknown to me, & to whom I also am unknown; and above all, I a stranger, to presume to recommend one who is well known to them. They could not but put this question to me, "who are you, pray ? " In writing the letter to you on the former occasion, I went further than I had ever before done, but that was addressed to yourself to whom I had a right to write, and not to persons either unknown to me or very capable of judging for themselves. I have so much reliance on your friendship and candor as not to doubt you will approve of my sentiments on this occasion, & be satisfied they flow from considerations respecting myself only, & not you to whom I am happy on every occasion of testifying my esteem. I hope to see you in Bedford about May next, and am with great attachment, Dear Sir, your friend &

servt.

TO EDMUND RANDOLPH.

J. MSS.

MONTICELLO, September 17, 1792.

MY DEAR SIR,-The last post brought me your favor of the 26th of August; but it brought me at the same time so much business to be answered by return of post, and which did not admit of delay, that I was

obliged to postpone the acknowledgment of yours. I thank you sincerely for what respects myself. Though I see the pen of the Secretary of the Treasury plainly in the attack on me, yet, since he has not chosen to put his name to it, I am not free to notice it as his. I have preserved through life a resolution, set in a very early part of it, never to write in a public paper without subscribing my name, and to engage openly an adversary who does not let himself be seen, is staking all against nothing. The indecency too of newspaper squabbling between two public ministers, besides my own sense of it, has drawn something like an injunction from another quarter. Every fact alleged under the signature of "an American " as to myself is false, and can be proved so; and perhaps will be one day. But for the present, lying and scribbling must be free to those mean enough to deal in them, and in the dark. I should have been setting out to Philadelphia within a day or two, but the addition of a grandson and indisposition of my daughter will probably detain me here a week longer. My best respects to Mrs. Randolph, and am, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant.

TO JAMES MADISON.

MAD. MSS.

MONTICELLO, Sep. 17, 1792.

MY DEAR SIR,—I thank you for the perusal of the two letters which are now inclosed. I would also have inclosed Fenno's two last papers but that Mr. Randolph, who has them, has rode out, if he returns

in time they shall be sent you by the bearer. They contain nothing material but the Secretary's progress in paying the national debt, and attacks and defences relating to it. The simple question appears to me to be what did the Public owe, principal and interest, when the Secretary's taxes began to run? If less, it must have been paid, but if he was paying old debts with one hand & creating new ones with the other, it is such a game as Mr. Pitt is playing. My granddaughter has been at death's door. The Doctor left us only this morning. She is now, we think, out of danger. While we sent for him for one patient, two others were prepared for him, to wit, my daughter & a grandson which she produced. All are now doing well, yet I think I shall not be able to leave her till about Tuesday, and even then it will depend on the little accidents to which her present situation leaves her liable. Adieu.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.1

J. MSS.

MONTICELLO, Sep. 18, 1792, 2 o'clock P.M.

DEAR SIR,-Your express is this moment arrived with the Proclamation on the proceedings against the laws for raising a revenue on distilled spirits, and I return it herein inclosed with my signature. I think if instead of the words "to render laws dictated by weighty reasons of public exigency & policy as acceptable as possible" it stood "to render the laws as acceptable as possible" it would be better. I see no

1 This letter is printed in Hamilton's Works of Hamilton, IV, 314, as written to Hamilton, and the termination slightly changed.

VOL. VI.-8