th details of
our extravagance. From these accounts, I look back to the time of the
war, as a time of happiness and enjoyment, when amidst the privation
of many things not essential to happiness, we could not run in debt,
because nobody would trust us; when we practised, of necessity, the
maxim of buying nothing but what we had money in our pockets to pay
for; a maxim, which, of all others, lays the broadest foundation for
happiness. I see no remedy to our evils, but an open course of law.
Harsh as it may seem, it would relieve the very patients who dread it,
by stopping the course of their extravagance, before it renders their
affairs entirely desperate. The eternal and bitter strictures on our
conduct, which teem in every London paper, and are copied from them into
others, fill me with anxiety on this subject. The state of things in
Europe is rather threatening at this moment. The innovations of the
Emperor in his dominions, have excited a spirit of resistance. His
subjects in Brabant and Flanders are arming, and he has put forty-five
thousand troops in motion towards that country. I believe they will come
to blows. The parties in Holland have already spilt too much blood to be
easily stopped. If left to themselves, I apprehend the Stadtholderians
will be too strong; and if foreign powers interfere, the weight is still
on their side. England and Prussia will be too much for France. As it is
certain that neither of these powers wish for war, and that England and
France are particularly averse to it, perhaps the matter may end in an
armed mediation. If the mediators should not agree, they will draw their
negotiations into length, and trust to the chapter of accidents for
their final solution. With respect to our country, it stands well with
the present ministry here. The non-payment of our debt is against us. We
are occupied in procuring favorable terms of reception for our produce.

*****

Adieu, my Dear Sir, and be assured of the sentiments of sincere esteem
of your affectionate friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER LXXII.--TO J. W. EPPES, July 28,1787

TO J. W. EPPES.

Paris, July 28,1787.

Dear Jack,

The letter which you were so kind as to write to me the 22nd of May,
1786, was not delivered to me till the 3rd of May, 1787, when it found
me in the neighborhood of Marseilles. Before that time you must have
taken your degree, as mentioned in your letter. Those public testimonies
which are ear