the president of Harvard University, to Rittenhouse, Charles Thompson, and others, are splendid illustrations of his zeal and efficiency in these pursuits. As a mark of the high estimation in which his literary services in Europe, were held in this country, he received from Harvard University, in 1789, a diploma conferring on him the Doctorate of Laws. In a letter to Dr. Willard, returning his acknowledgments for the honor, he thus concludes: "It is for such institutions as that over which you preside so worthily, Sir, to do justice to our country, its productions, and its genius. It is the work to which the young men, whom you are forming, should lay their hands. We have spent the prime of our lives in procuring them the precious blessing of liberty. Let them spend theirs in showing that it is the great parent of science and of virtue; and that a nation will be great in both, always in proportion as it is free. Nobody wishes more warmly for the success of your good exhorta tions on this subject, than he who has the honor to be, with sentiments of great esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant."

Their advances in science, and in the arts of sculpture, painting and music, were the only things, he declared, for which he envied the people of France; and for these he absolutely did envy them. His passion for the few remains of ancient architecture which existed, was unbounded; and his efforts unremitting, for introducing samples of them in America, for the purpose of encouraging a style of architecture analogous to the Roman model. In June, 1785, he received a request from the Directors of the public buildings in Virginia, to procure and transmit them plans for the capitol, palace, &c. He immediately engaged an architect of capital abilities, for this purpose, and directed him to take for his model the Maison Quarree of Nismes, which he considered 'the most precious and perfect morsel of antiquity in existence.' But what was his surprise and regret on learning, a short time after, that the buildings were actually begun, without waiting for the receipt of his plans. 'Pray try, he writes to Mr. Madison, if you can effect the stopping of this work. The loss is not to be weighed against the saving of money which will arise, against the comfort of laying out the public money for something honorable, the satisfaction of seeing an object and proof of national good taste, and the regret and mortification of erecting a monument of our barbarism, which will be loaded with exe

crations as long as it shall endure. You see I am an enthusiast on the subject of the arts. But it is an enthusiasm of which I am not ashamed, as its object is to improve the taste of my countrymen, to increase their reputation, to reconcile to them the respect of the world, and procure them its praise.'

How thoroughly and wonderfully American was the heart of Mr. Jefferson. The specimens we have given exhibit but a slender outline of a series of correspondence, public and private, comprising more than three hundred letters, chiefly to his friends in the United States, all breathing the same unslumbering devotion to the interests of his country, in every imaginable department, from the most intricate points of abstract science, and the most momentous questions of national policy, down to ingenious essays on the most simple processes in agriculture and housewifery. He was, at the same time, in habits of correspondence with many distinguished characters, literary and political, in most of the nations of Europe. His philosophical reputation and powers established him in ready favor with the constellation of bold thinkers, which then illuminated France; and much of his attention was necessarily, perhaps advantageously, occupied in the metaphysical discussions of the day. He was on terms of intimacy with the Abbe Morellet, Condorcet, D'Alembert, Mirabeau, &c.; and he renewed his discussion, in natural science, with Mons. de Buffon, to whom he had already given such a foretaste of his abilities, in his Notes on Virginia. The ladies of that gay capital, who maintain so powerful an ascendency in all its circles, delighted in his society, and impressed him into their correspondence. His letters to some of them, which have been lately published, are masterpieces of imaginative composition.* At the solicitation of the authors of the Encyclopedie Methodique, the most popular work then publishing in Paris, Mr. Jefferson prepared for insertion several articles on the United States, giving a history of the government of the Confederation, from its origin to the adoption of the Constitution. One of the authors of that work had made the society of the Cincinnati, the subject of a libel on our government, and its great military leader. But before committing it to the press, he submitted it to Mr. Jefferson, for examination. He found it a tissue of errors, a mere phil

*See Appendix, Note C.

ipic against the institution, in which there appeared an utter ignorance of facts and motives. He wrote over the whole article; in doing which he vindicated the motives of General Washington, and his brother officers, from every liability to reproach. His own opinions, however, of the ultimate effects of that institution, underwent such a change, during his residence in Europe, as induced him to recommend its total extinction. In a letter to General Washington, dated Paris, November 14, 1786, he thus writes:

"What has heretofore passed between us on this institution, makes it my duty to mention to you, that I have never heard a person in Europe, learned or unlearned, express his thoughts on this institution, who did not consider it as dishonorable and destructive to our governments; and that every writing which has come out since my arrival here, in which it is mentioned, considers it, even as now reformed, as the germ whose development is one day to destroy the fabric we have reared. I did not apprehend this, while I had American ideas only. But I confess that what I have seen in Europe, has brought me over to that opinion; and that though the day may be at some distance, beyond the reach of our lives perhaps, yet it will certainly come, when a single fibre left of this institution will produce an hereditary aristocracy, which will change the form of our governments from the best to the worst in the world. To know the mass of evil which flows from this fatal source, a person must be in France; he must see the finest soil, the finest climate, the most compact state, the most benevolent character of people, and every earthly advantage combined, insufficient to prevent this scourge from rendering existence a curse to twenty-four out of twenty-five parts of the inhabitants of this country. With us, the branches of this institution cover all the States. The southern ones, at this time, are aristocratical in their dispositions: and that that spirit should grow and extend itself, is within the natural order of things. I do not flatter myself with the immortality of our governments: but I shall think little also of their longevity, unless this germ of destruction be taken out. When the society themselves shall weigh the possibility of evil, against the impossibility of any good to proceed from this institution, I cannot help hoping they will eradicate it. I know they wish the permanence of our governments, as much as any individuals composing them."

Such are some of the extraordinary and diversified services performed by Mr. Jefferson in his private, unofficial capacity. The circumstance ought not to be overlooked, that these attentions to the general interests of the United States, were exercised amidst the labors and anxieties of a multiplicity of public avocations. His diplomatic correspondence with the Count de Vergennes, the most

subtle and powerful Minister in all Europe, was almost daily, and in point of spirit and urgency in behalf of America, clearly unrivaled. His correspondence with the bankers of the United States, at Amsterdam and Paris, to preserve the credit of the United States, was constant, and laborious; and his exertions for the redemption of American captives at Algiers, for establishing a general coalition of all the civilized Powers against the piratical States, and, on failure of that, for negotiating treaties of peace with them, on the most favorable terms, are unprecedented in the history of diplomatic affairs.

But of all the private labors of Mr. Jefferson, in behalf of his country, none were more useful, none more praiseworthy and patriotic, than those which were directed to the moral improvement of the rising generation. It was to them he looked, and not to those then on the stage, for the perfection of the glorious political work which he had exhausted every resource, and sacrificed every comfort, in advancing; and his ambition appeared insatiable to fashion their minds, their habits, their tastes and principles, after the model of the incorruptible generation of '76. His letters addressed to several young men of Virginia, in whose studies and future pursuits he felt a particular interest, are among the most valuable parts of his private correspondence. The following, addressed to Peter Carr, will suffice as a specimen.

"I received by Mr. Mazzei, your letter of April the 20th. I am much mortified to hear that you have lost so much time; and that when you arrived in Williamsburgh, you were not at all advanced from what you were when you left Monticello. Time now begins to be precious to you. Every day you lose, will retard a day your entrance on that public stage whereon you may begin to be useful to yourself. However, the way to repair the loss is to improve the future time. I trust, that with your dispositions, even the acquisition of science is a pleasing employment. I can assure you, that the possession of it is, what (next to an honest heart) will above all things render you dear to your friends, and give you fame and promotion in your own country. When your mind shall be well improved with science, nothing will be necessary to place you in the highest point of view, but to pursue the interests of your country, the interests of your friends, and your own interests also, with the purest integrity, the most chaste honor. The defect of these virtues can never be made up by all the other acquirements of body and mind. Make these then your first object. Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains, rather than

do an immoral act. And never suppose, that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you. Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly. Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises; being assured that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of the body does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death. If ever you find yourself environed with difficulties and perplexing circumstances, out of which you are at a loss how to extricate yourself, do what is right, and be assured that that will extricate you the best out of the worst situations. Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear their leading you out of the labyrinth, in the easiest manner possible. The knot which you thought a Gordian one, will untie itself before you. Nothing is so mistaken as the supposition, that a person is to extricate himself from a difficulty by intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, by trimming, by an untruth, by an injustice. This increases the difficulties ten fold; and those who pursue these methods, get themselves so involved at length, that they can turn no way but their infamy becomes more exposed. It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.

"An honest heart being the first blessing, a knowing head is the second. It is time for you now to begin to be choice in your reading, to begin to pursue a regular course in it, and not to suffer yourself to be turned to the right or left by reading any thing out of that course. I have long ago digested a plan for you, suited to the circumstances in which you will be placed. This I will detail to you, from time to time, as you advance. For the present, I advise you to begin a course of ancient history, reading every thing in the original and not in translations. First read Goldsmith's History of Greece. This will give you a digested view of that field. Then take up ancient history in the detail, reading the following books in the following order: Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophontis Hellenica, Xenophontis Anabasis, Arrian, Quintus Curtius, Diodorus Siculus, Justin. This shall form the first stage of your historical reading, and is all I need mention to you now. The next, will be of