As
a compensation for your trouble, you will be free to keep them till you
shall have read them. I am, with sentiments of the most sincere esteem,
Dear Sir, your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LXI.--TO JOHN JAY, June 21,1787
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, June 21,1787.
Sir,
I had the honor of addressing you in a letter of May the 4th, from
Marseilles, which was to have gone by the last packet. Bat it arrived
a few hours too late for that conveyance, and has been committed to a
private one, passing through England, with a promise that it should go
through no post-office.
I was desirous, while at the sea-ports, to obtain a list of the American
vessels which have come to them since the peace, in order to estimate
their comparative importance to us, as well as the general amount of our
commerce with this country, so far as carried on in our own bottoms.
At Marseilles, I found there had been thirty-two, since that period; at
Cette, not a single one; at Bayonne, one of our free ports, only one.
This last fact I learned from other information, not having visited that
place; as it would have been a deviation from my route, too considerable
for the importance of the object.
Pages:
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375