To John Adams from Thomas Jefferson, 20 February 1787
From Thomas Jefferson
Paris Feb. 20. 1787.
Dear Sir
I am now to acknoledge the receipt of your favor of Jan. 25.1 Colo. Franks sailed in the packet of this month from Havre for New York. this arrangement of the packets opens a direct communication between Paris & America, and if we succeed as I expect we shall in getting Honfleur made a freeport, I hope to see that place become the deposit for our Whale oil, rice, tobacco & furs, & that from thence what is not wanted in this country may be distributed to others.2
you remember giving me a letter of credit on Messrs. Willink & Staphorst for 1000 guineas to pay for the swords & medals. when the swords were finished I drew on the Vandemjvers, with whom the money was deposited for 6500 livres to pay for the swords.3 they paid it. a medal is now finished, & others will very soon be: but these gentlemen say they must have fresh orders. in the mean time the workmen complain. will you be so good as to draw in favor of Mr. Grand on Willink &c for the balance of the thousand guineas (which is about the sum that will be necessary) & send the bill to mr̃ Grand, who in my absence will negotiate it & pay the workmen. I inclose you Vandemjers answer.
the meeting of the Notables on Thursday & the necessity of paying my court to our new minister will detain me till Friday & perhaps till Tuesday next. nothing is known yet of the objects of this assembly. I inclose you two new pamphlets relative to it:4 and will inform you of whatever I can discover relative to it during my stay.
I learn with real pain the resolution you have taken of quitting Europe. your presence on this side the Atlantic gave me a confidence that if any difficulties should arise within my department, I should always have one to advise with on whose counsels I could rely. I shall now feel be-widowed. I do not wonder at your being tired out by the conduct of the court you are at. but is there not room to do a great deal of good for us in Holland in the department of money? no one can do it so well as yourself. but you have taken your resolution I am sure on mature consideration, & I have nothing to offer therefore but my regrets. if any thing transpires from the Notables before my departure worth communication, you shall yet hear from me. in the mean time believe me to be with sincere esteem & respect Dr. Sir your most obedt. & most humble servt.
Th: Jefferson5
RC and enclosure (Adams Papers); internal address: “H. E. / J. Adams.”; endorsed: “Mr Jefferson Feb. 23. / ansd. March 1. / 1787.”; notation by CFA: “not published.” CFA presumably meant that the letter was not published in .
1. Vol. 18:557–558.
2. The 1778 Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce mandated two free ports, but Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the French ministry had steadily pressed for more. By Oct. 1787 Honfleur became a free port and a critical site for the American rice trade (vol. 18:494; , 12:302).
3. For the medals and swords voted by Congress over the course of the Revolutionary War and David Humphreys’ procurement of them in France, along with the ministers’ general confusion over how to pay for the entire process, see vols. 17:98–99; 18:95. Jefferson enclosed here a 16 Feb. letter from the Paris banking firm of Van den Yver Frères & Co. regarding drafts made to pay for the commission (, 11:161).
4. Not found. For the “new minister,” see Jefferson’s 23 Feb. letter, and note 4, below.
5. Two days later, Jefferson wrote to AA, mingling his reflections on the French Assembly of Notables with his support for the rioting of Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts. “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all,” Jefferson wrote. “I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the Atmosphere.” Jefferson also described Paris construction projects and confirmed the purchase of black lace for AA (, 7:468–469).