I shall end where I began, like a Paris day, reminding you of your engagement to write me a letter of respectable length, an engagement the more precious to me, as it has furnished me the occasion, after presenting my respects to Mr. Bingham, of assuring you of the sincerity of those sentiments of esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be, Dear Madam, your most obedient and most humble servant, Th: Jefferson, LETTER XLVII.--TO GOVERNOR RANDOLPH, February 7, 1787 TO GOVERNOR RANDOLPH. Paris, February 7, 1787. I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency a report of the proceedings on the inauguration of the bust of the Marquis de la Fayette, in this city. This has been attended with a considerable, but a necessary delay. The principle that the King is the sole fountain of honor in this country, opposed a barrier to our desires, which threatened to be insurmountable. No instance of a similar proposition from a foreign power, had occurred in their history. The admitting it in this case, is a singular proof of the King’s friendly dispositions towards the States of America, and of his personal esteem for the character of the Marquis de la Fayette. I take this, the earliest occasion, of congratulating my country on your excellency’s appointment to the chair of government, and of assuring you, with great sincerity, of those sentiments of perfect esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be your. Excellency’s most obedient and most humble servant, Th: Jefferson. LETTER XLVIII.--TO JOHN JAY, February 8, 1787 TO JOHN JAY. Paris, February 8, 1787. Sir, The packet being to sail the day after to-morrow, I have awaited the last possible moment of writing by her, in hopes I might be able to announce some favorable change in the situation of the Count de Vergennes. But none has occurred, and in the mean time he has become weaker by the continuance of his illness. Though not desperately ill, he is dangerously so. The Comptroller General, M. de Calonne, has been very ill also, but he is getting well. These circumstances have occasioned the postponement of the Assemblée des Notables to the 14th instant, and will probably occasion a further postponement. As I shall set out this day se’nnight for the waters of Aix, you will probably hear the issue of the Count de Vergennes illness through some other channel, before I shall have the honor of addressing you again. I may observe the same as to the final decision for the enfranchisement of Honfleur, which is in a fair way of being speedily concluded. The exertions of Monsieur de Creve-coeur, and particularly his influence with the Duke d’Harcourt, the principal instrument in effecting it, have been of chief consequence in this matter. I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant, Th: Jefferson. LETTER XLIX.--TO MR. DUMAS, February 9, 1787 TO MR. DUMAS. Paris, February 9, 1787. Sir,