hat it is
provisory only. However, we must be contented with it as it is; my
hope being, that the legislature will be transferred to the National
Assembly, in whose hands it will be more stable, and with whom it will
be more difficult to obtain a repeal, should the ministry hereafter
desire it. If they could succeed in drawing over as many of our
Nantucket men as would supply their demands of oil, we might then fear
an exclusion; but the present _Arret_, as soon as it shall be passed,
will, I hope, place us in safety till that event, and that event may
never happen. I have entered into all these details, that you may be
enabled to quiet the alarm which must have been raised by the _Arret_
of September the 28th, and assure the adventurers that they may pursue
their enterprises as safely as if that had never been passed, and more
profitably, because we participate now of a monopolized, instead of an
open market. The enclosed observations, though printed, have only been
given to the ministers, and one or two other confidential persons. You
will see that they contain matter which should be kept from the English,
and will therefore trust them to the perusal only of such persons as you
can confide in. We are greatly indebted to the Marquis de la Fayette
for his aid on this, as on every other occasion. He has paid the closest
attention to it, and combated for us with the zeal of a native.

The necessity of reconducting my family to America, and of placing my
affairs there under permanent arrangements, has obliged me to ask of
Congress a six months' absence, to wit, from April to November next.
I hope, therefore, to have the pleasure of seeing you there, and
particularly, that it will be at New York that I shall find you. Be so
good as to present my sincere esteem to Mrs. Adams, and believe me
to be, with very affectionate attachment, Dear Sir, your friend and
servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CLXXIV.--TO MR. SHORT, December 8, 1788

TO MR. SHORT.

Paris, December 8, 1788.

Dear Sir,

My last to you was of the 21st of November, addressed to Milan, _poste
restante_, according to the desire expressed through Mrs. Paradise.
I have lately received yours of the 19th of November, and sincerely
felicitate you on your recovery. I wish you may have suffered this to be
sufficiently established before you set out on your journey. The present
letter will probably reach you amidst the classical enjoyments of
Rome. I feel my