The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Library Edition - Vol. 6 (of 20)Jefferson, Thomas
History
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Library Edition - Vol. 6 (of 20)
Jefferson, Thomas
United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783; United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1789
who boiled their own kettles before the walls of Troy, I shall write to
her from a Grecian, rather than a Roman canton; when I shall find
myself, for example, among her Phocaean relations at Marseilles.
Loving, as you do Madam, the precious remains of antiquity, loving
architecture, gardening, a warm sun and a clear sky, I wonder you have
never thought of moving Chaville to Nismes. This, as you know, has not
always been deemed impracticable; and, therefore, the next time a
_Sur-intendant des batiments du roi_, after the example of M. Colbert,
sends persons to Nismes to move the Maison Quarree to Paris, that they
may not come empty handed, desire them to bring Chaville with them, to
replace it. _A propos_ of Paris. I have now been three weeks from
there, without knowing anything of what has passed. I suppose I shall
meet it all at Aix, where I have directed my letters to be lodged,
_poste restante_. My journey has given me leisure to reflect on this
Assemblee des Notables. Under a good and a young King, as the present,
I think good may be made of it. I would have the deputies then, by all
means, so conduct themselves as to encourage him to repeat the calls of
this Assembly. Their first step should be, to get themselves divided
into two chambers instead of seven; the Noblesse and the Commons
separately. The second, to persuade the King, instead of choosing the
deputies of the Commons himself, to summon those chosen by the people
for the Provincial administrations. The third, as the Noblesse is too
numerous to be all of the Assemblee, to obtain permission for that body
to choose its own deputies. Two Houses, so elected, would contain a
mass of wisdom which would make the people happy, and the King great;
would place him in history where no other act can possibly place him.
They would thus put themselves in the track of the best guide they can
follow; they would soon overtake it, become its guide in turn, and lead
to the wholesome modifications wanting in that model, and necessary to
constitute a rational government. Should they attempt more than the
established habits of the people are ripe for, they may lose all, and
retard indefinitely the ultimate object of their aim. These, Madam, are
my opinions; but I wish to know yours, which, I am sure, will be
better.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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