c and private. We have no occasion for more commerce than to
take off our superfluous produce, and the people complain that some
restrictions prevent this; yet the price of articles with us, in
general, shows the contrary. Tobacco, indeed, is low, not because we
cannot carry it where we please, but because we make more than the
consumption requires. Upon the whole, I think peace advantageous to
us, necessary for Europe, and desirable for humanity. A few days will
decide, probably, whether all these considerations are to give way to
the bad passions of Kings, and those who would be Kings.

I have the honor to be, with very sincere esteem and respect, Dear Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

P. S. August 15. The parliament is exiled to Troyes this morning. T. J.

LETTER LXXXVIII.--TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS, August 14, 1787

TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS.

Paris, August 14, 1787.

Dear Sir,

I remember when you left us, it was with a promise to supply all the
defects of correspondence in our friends, of which we complained, and
which you had felt in common with us. Yet I have received but one letter
from you, which was dated June the 5th, 1786, and I answered it August
the 14th, 1786. Dropping that, however, and beginning a new account,
I will observe to you, that wonderful improvements are making here in
various lines. In architecture, the wall of circumvallation round
Paris, and the palaces by which we are to be let out and in, are
nearly completed; four hospitals are to be built instead of the old
_hotel-dieu_; one of the old bridges has all its houses demolished, and
a second nearly so; a new bridge is begun at the Place Louis XV.; the
Palais Royal is gutted, a considerable part in the centre of the
garden being dug out, and a subterranean circus begun, wherein will be
equestrian exhibitions, &c. In society, the _habit habille_ is almost
banished, and they begin to go even to great suppers in frock: the court
and diplomatic corps, however, must always be excepted. They are too
high to be reached by any improvement. They are the last refuge from
which etiquette, formality, and folly will be driven. Take away these,
and they would be on a level with other people.

[After describing the unsettled state of Europe, as in some
of the preceding letters, the writer proceeds.]

So much for the blessings of having Kings, and magistrates who would be
Kings. From these events our young