Beschreibung:

JEFFERSON, Thomas. Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson") as U.S. Minister to France, to Dr. John Page (1744-1808), Paris, 20 August 1785. 4 full pages, 4to (9 x 7¼ in.), small triangular section torn from page 3-4, affecting approximately six words in three lines of text, that area mended with thin strips of paper, central fold reinforced. A NEW PLANET, GREEK INDEPENDENCE FROM THE TURKS AND THE PAYMENT OF TRIBUTE TO THE BARBARY PIRATES: "TRIBUTE TO ALL THESE POWERS MAKE SUCH A PROPORTION OF THE FEDERAL TAXES AS THAT EVERY MAN WILL FEEL THEM...WHEN HE PAYS THOSE TAXES. THE QUESTION IS WHETHER THEIR PEACE OR WAR WILL BE CHEAPEST?" A delightfully relaxed, richly informative letter to one of Jefferson's oldest friends, a former classmate at the college of William & Mary. Jefferson is gratified to have heard from his old friend, whose "correspondance is grateful to some of my warmest feelings," since "the friendships of my youth are those which stick closest to me, and in which I most confide. My principal happiness is now in the retrospect of life." Jefferson congratulates Page for his recent service with Madison on the commission which surveyed a 36-mile section of the Pennsylvania-Virginia border (a portion not surveyed by Mason and Dixon in 1767-68), and expresses the hope that "from yourself, Madison, Rittenhouse or Hutchings I shall receive a chart of the line as actually run." He writes approvingly of news that William & Mary might employ David Rittenhouse (1732-1796), the eminent mathematician and astronomer: "This would be an immense acquisition and would draw youth to it from every part of the continent. You will do much more honour to our society [a reference to the Society for the Advancement of Useful Knowledge, at Williamsburg] on reviving it, if you place him at it's head and not so useless a member as I should be. I have been so long diverted from this my favourite line [science], and that too without acquiring an attachment to my adopted one [politics], that I am become a mongrel of a decided order, unowned by any, and incapable of serving any..." Jefferson then offers news of Europe: "The affair of the emperor and Dutch is settled tho' not signed....The alliance of Russia with Venice to prevent his designs in that quarter, and that of the Hanoverian elector, with the K. of Prussia and other members of the Germanic body to prevent his acquisition of Bavaria leave him in a solitary situation. In both he has lost much reputation by his late maneuvers. He is a restless, ambitious character, aiming at every thing, persevering in nothing, taking up designs without calculating the force which will be opposed to him, and dropping them on the appearance of firm opposition. He has some just views, and much activity." He adds interesting observations on the Turkish occupation of Greece: "It is believed that the Emperor and Empress have schemes in contemplation for driving the Turks out of Europe. Were this with a view to re-establish the native Greeks in the sovereignty of their own country, I could wish them success and to see driven from that delightful country a set of Barbarians with whom an opposition to all science is an article of religion. The modern Greek is not yet so far departed from it's antient model but that we might still hope to see the language of Homer and Demosthenes flow with purity from the lips of a free and ingenious people. But these powers have in object to divide the country between themselves. This is only to substitute one set of Barbarians for another breaking at the same time the balance among the European powers." Mediterranean affairs elicit Jefferson's comments on the payment of tribute. As one biographer has observed, "Jefferson was convinced from the beginning that the cost of peace" with the pirates "would be excessive, and that the wiser policy would be to win it by force of arms (D. Malone, Jefferson and the Rights of Man , p.27). "...the Emperor of Marocco [ sic ] has shown a