October. A thin Congress was sitting at the same time. They had passed an Ordinance dividing the country North of Ohio into three states, & providing both a present and & future form of government for them. The sale of their lands commence this month. An idea had got abroad in the Western country that Congress was ceding to Spain the navigation of the Mississippi for a certain time. They had taken flame at it, & were assembling conventions on the subject, wherein the boldest & most dangerous propositions were to be made. They are said to be now 60.000 strong, and are more formidable from their spirit than numbers. This is the only bone of contention which can arise between Spain & us for ages. It is a pity it could not be settled amicably. When we consider that the Mississippi is the only issue to the ocean for five eights of the territory of the U. S. & how fast that territory peoples, the ultimate event cannot be mistaken. It would be wise then to take arrangements according to what must happen.

There had been a hope that the affairs of Holland might be accomodated without a war. But this hope has failed. The Prussian troops have entered the territories of the republick. The stadtholder is now at the Hague, and there seems to be no force capable of opposing him. England too has notified this court by her envoy, two days ago, that she is arming. In the meantime little provision has been made here against such an event. M. de Segur declares that six weeks ago he proposed in council to march 24,000 men into Holland. The archbp. is charged princi

You know also

pally with having prevented this. He seems to have been duped by his strong desire for peace, and by calculating that the K. of Prussia would have acted on principles of common sense. To complicate the game still more, you know of the war which has arisen between Russia & the Turks. that it was excited there, as well as at Berlin by the English. Former alliances thus broke, Prussia having thrown herself into the scale opposed to France, Turkey having abandoned her councils and followed. the instigations of her enemies, what remains for this country to do? I know that Russia proposed a confederation with this court, that this court without committing itself wished 1481. 941. I know the final determination of the emperor was that he came into the proposition, has formed a line from the Russian to the Turkish confines by 4. camps of 30,000 men in one, & 50,000 in each of the others. Yet it does not seem that France has closed the proposal in favor of which every principle of common sense enlists itself. The queen, Breteuil and Montmorin have been for some time decidedly for this triple alliance which especially if aided by Spain would give law to the world. The premier is still accused with hesitation. They begin to say that tho' he is a patriotic Minister and an able one for peace he has not energy enough for war. If this takes place the consequences to Prussia and the Stadtholder may be easily foreseen. Whether it does or not the Turks must quit Europe. Neutrality should be our plan: because no nation should

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without urgent necessity begin a second war while the debts of the former remain unpaid. The accumulation of debts is a most fearful evil. But ever since the accession of the present King of England, that court has unerringly done what common sense would have dictated not to do. Now common sense dictates that they should avoid forcing us to take part against them, because this brings on them a heavy land war. Therefore they will not avoid it : they will stop our ships, visit and harrass them, seize them on the most frivolous pretexts and oblige us to take from them Canada & Nova Scotia, which it is not our interest to possess. Mr. Eden sets out in a few days for Madrid. You will have to oppose in him the most bitter enemy against our country which exists. His late and sudden elevation makes the remembrance of the contempt we shewed to his mission in America rankle the more in his breast. Whether his principles will restrain him to fair modes of opposition, I am not well enough acquainted with him to say. I know nothing of him but his parliamentary history, and that is not in his favor. As he wishes us every possible ill, all the lies of the London papers are true history in his creed, and will be propagated as such, to prejudice against us the mind of the Court where you are. You will find it necessary to keep him well in your eye, and to trace all his foot-steps.-You know doubtless that M. de Brienne has been appointed Minister of War, & the Count de la Luzerne Minister of Marine. He is brother of the Chevalier, & at present in St. Do

The Count de

mingo of which he is commandant. Moustier goes Minister to America, the Chevalier de la Luzerne preferring the promise of the first vacant embassy. Lambert is Comptrolleur general. De la Borde & Cabarus have successively refuse dthe office of Directeur du tresor royale.-Having now got the maps for the Notes on Virginia, I will send by the Count d'Aranda two copies, one for yourself, & one for Mons" de Campomenes. By the same conveyance I will forward the Ratification of the treaty with Morocco, & ask the favor of you to contrive it to that court. Mr. Barclay is gone to America.

of your

book.

DEAR SIR, I received your favor by Mr. Cutting, and thank you sincerely for the copy The departure of a packet boat, which always gives me full emploiment for sometime before has only permitted me to look into it a little. I judge of it from the first volume which I thought formed to do a great deal of good. The first principle of a good government is certainly a distribution of it's powers into executive, judiciary & legislative and a subdivision of the latter into two or three branches. good step gained, when it is proved that the English constitution, acknowledged to be better than all which have preceded it, is only better in proportion as it has approached nearer to this distribution of powers. From this the last step is easy, to shew by

It is a

a comparison of our constitutions with that of England, how much more perfect they are. The article of Confederations is surely worthy of your pen. It would form a most interesting addition to shew what have been the nature of the Confederations which have existed hitherto, what were their excellencies & what their defects. A comparison of ours with them would be to the advantage of ours, and would increase the veneration of our countrymen for it. It is a misfortune that they do not sufficiently know the value of their constitutions & how much happier they are rendered by them than any other people on earth by the governments under which they live.-You know all that has happened in the United Netherlands. You know also that our friends Van Staphorsts will be among the most likely to become objects of severity, if any severities should be exercised. Is the money in their hands entirely safe? If it is not, I am sure you have already thought of it. Are we to suppose the game already up, and that the Stadtholder is to be reestablished, perhaps erected into a monarch, without this country lifting a finger in opposition to it? If so, it is a lesson the more for us. In fact what a crowd of lessons do the present miseries of Holland teach us? Never to have an hereditary officer of any sort: never to let a citizen ally himself with kings: never to call in foreign nations to settle domestic differences, never to suppose that any nation will expose itself to war for us, &c. Still I am not without hopes that a good rod is in soak for Prussia, and that England will feel the end of it. It is known