20 the proper channels of information, and they must be desirous of lowering us in the general estimation, for many obvi ous reasons. I mentioned to you at this place, and now recall to your recollection, the advantage of having power to borrow in other places than in Amsterdam. This would be beneficial even if it were not used, and I think also that it might be used beneficially. The Dutch having the monopoly of us will not fail to make use of their privilege, and hereafter we shall feel it pretty severely in the exchange. Our domestic debt also will be held in a great measure by them, and they will suck a great deal of our juices through those tubes. I know that eventually there is compensation for this, mais en attendant. You judge most truly, that the examples held out in the neighborhood will not influence actors here. In addition to your applicable quotation, I observe that very few minds can profit by history or experience. The reason is plain. A great many never take the trouble to apply to either; and of those who do, the great herd are pedants, who look for parallel cases, and think they find them in the resemblance of trival circumstances. It has long been a maxim with me, that most men have the generosity to pay for their own experience. Nations, like men, must suffer for themselves, because they are composed of men; and the more popular a government is, the less chance is there of wise conduct in untried circumstances. I am much diverted with your description of your Grand Bailli, but I think Horace had as great opportunities at Rome of seeing the extent of human venality, as he could have had any where. The difference between two countries, which I have heard of, and you too, seems to me that in one, the adoration of money is an established religion which men openly profess, whereas in the other it is a kind of heresy; but in proportion as they are obliged in public to worship at the altars of honor, they in private commit the greater excesses of devotion to their true deity. I am, &c. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. Paris, November 7th, 1791. Dear Sir, Enclosed you will find some hints relative to coins, currency, weights and measures. The consideration of those things has occurred to me at different intervals for the last twenty years of my life, and I have frequently determined to begin a pretty extensive inquiry, and as frequently abandoned the idea. Indeed my other occupations will not afford the time. You, who have thought on the subject, know by experience that it consumes a great deal. Anything which has the air of a system is, I know, very apt to disgust, and that too in the same proportion that the system maker is attached to his work. In respect to the object now in question, there are few men who will give themselves the trouble to go through the laborious calculations, which are needful to a clear understanding of it. I shall not be at all surprised, therefore, if the enclosed paper should have no other effect, than to occupy part of a pigeon hole in your great office; and truly, it is owing to my belief that such will be its fate, that you have not received it many months ago, for it is now above a year since it was written in detached pieces. In copying it, the other day, an idea occurred to me which may, I think, be well worth pursuing in America. Whatever be the road measure adopted by the United States, they will of course cause the roads, when properly laid out, to be marked by milestones. Now I think it would be very useful to mark on each road the degrees and quarter degrees of latitude. This will involve but little expense, and when coupled with tolerable road maps, will fix with considerable precision both the latitude and longitude of every part of the country. I need not give you the reasons, because I am sure they will present themselves to your mind, as it were, intuitively. I will not make this letter long, because the enclosed papers will be sufficiently tiresome. I would otherwise detail my reasons for being of opinion that the adoption of weights, measures, and money on an easy and uniform plan, is an object of very great importance to America. Much more so than to most other countries. Every man is called by our constitution to share in the government. A knowledge of statics is therefore in some measure necessary to every American citizen, and the obtaining of this knowledge will be greatly facilitated by the establishment of a currency, which gives the means of conceiving immediately the value of any sum of foreign money; of a measure, which gives the same means as to distances and the surfaces of countries; and lastly, of a weight, which (combined with the currency) gives at the same tine an easy mode for conversion of foreign weights. But I must conclude. Accept the assurances of my esteem, &c. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. * TO RUFUS KING. My Dear Sir, London, April 6th, 1792. I have received this day my credentials to the Court of France, and am pleased to find that I am considerably indebted to you for effecting that appointment. It is true, that a sense of obligation is not generally agreeable, but when a favor received serves to strengthen the connexions we wish to preserve, and unite us to the deserving few with whom we wish to live, it never fails to excite the most pleasing emotions. The fortifying system has nearly passed away, as a fashion, in the military world, but I observe that it still prevails in political life; so that the virtue, which scorns to intrench itself in gravity and form, but comes naked into the battle, is soon driven off, and perhaps with shame. Some respected citizens are not acquainted with the goddess, and others fear to be seen *At this time a Senator in the Congress of the United States. in her company, lest suspicion should light on a connexion, which suspicion could never form. Well, peace be with them; and since it is necessary, we will e'en dress ourselves like other folks, that so prudery may not be scandalized, nor deformity offended. I think if you and I should chance to grow old and converse together, it will be no small consolation to reflect that those measures, which have rendered our country great and happy, were carried in spite of the opposition of our enemies, whom we have pitied without contempt, though they have hated without cause. As I have no doubt that you urged my appointment with a view to the public service, it is incumbent on you to comply with my request, to be favored with your correspondence. If I have not good information and early information, I can do little or nothing. You will easily conceive that a Minister, who knows not those affairs of his country which are known to many others, is placed in an awkward situation; besides, there is always a kind of traffic in articles of intelligence, among the members of the diplomatic body, in which beads and wampum are sometimes given for gold, to the satisfaction of both parties. It happens also not unfrequently, that by knowing good or bad tidings before any one else, we can make the most of the one, and obviate the worst of the other. For instance, in your St Clair's defeat, it might have been so handed out to the public, as to have looked like nothing, and if a horrible account had afterwards been published by your enemies, most people would not have been at the trouble of reading it. On the other hand, some of those gambling operations in the stocks, which, however they may prejudice the fortune, or even morals of individuals, are clearly demonstrative of the public prosperity, and of the energy, authority, and stability of government; these, I say, may be so stated occasionally, as to give a just idea of our importance to those numerous idlers, whose pursuit of knowledge rarely extends beyond a newspaper paragraph. And yet this great herd have more influence on national councils, than is generally imagined, and especially in France, where everything is talked of, and hardly anything is understood. Lastly, it may happen that, from ignorance of the real state of things, a Minister may give up what his country would wish to retain, or pursue what they would not acquire. You will tell me, perhaps, that there is a public office for the transmission of intelligence; and that is true, but the same object strikes different people in a different way. A load of unexpected business may distract the attention of that office, or letters may be lost, or long delayed; in short, considering the distance, and other circumstances, accident may often obstruct, or design totally stop that channel of communication. But why do I enter into this detail? You will see my solicitude, and you will believe, I hope, in the sincerity of my re-. gard. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. TO GEORGE WASHINGTON. London, April 6th, 1792. My Dear Sir, I have hitherto, in my letters, communicated to you many things, which I should not willingly entrust to others, and in the course of events I may again possess information, which it might be well that you were acquainted with. At the same time it is, I presume, expected that the public servants will correspond fully and freely with the office of Foreign Affairs. It might therefore be deemed improper not to say all in my letters to that office. I wish you would give me your candid opinion on this subject. I should be extremely sorry to of fend, or to give pain, but I cannot have the same unreserved confidence in others that I have in you, and my letter of the fourth of February will show, that cases may occur in which I am not even master of it. I was told yesterday, that Mr Dundas has said that the United States have asked for the mediation of this country to |