ent and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CVIII.--TO MADAME DE CORNY, October 18, 1787

TO MADAME DE CORNY.

Paris, October 18, 1787.

I now have the honor, Madam, to send you the Memoire of M. de Calonne.
Do not injure yourself by hurrying its perusal. Only, when you shall
have read it at your ease, be so good as to send it back, that it may be
returned to the Duke of Dorset. You will read it with pleasure. It has
carried comfort to my heart, because it must do the same to the King and
the nation. Though it does not prove M. de Calonne to be more innocent
than his predecessors, it shows him not to have been that exaggerated
scoundrel, which the calculations and the clamors of the public
have supposed. It shows that the public treasures have not been so
inconceivably squandered, as the parliaments of Grenoble, Toulouse, &c.
had affirmed. In fine, it shows him less wicked, and France less badly
governed, than I had feared. In examining my little collection of books,
to see what it could furnish you on the subject of Poland, I find a
small piece which may serve as a supplement to the history I had sent
you. It contains a mixture of history and politics, which I think you
will like--How do you do this morning? I have feared you exerted and
exposed yourself too much yesterday. I ask you the question, though I
shall not await its answer. The sky is clearing, and I shall away to my
hermitage. God bless you, my Dear Madam, now and always. Adieu.

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CIX.--TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN, October 23, 1787

TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN.

Paris, October 23, 1787.

Sir,

I take the liberty of troubling your Excellency on the subject of the
_Arret_, which has lately appeared, for prohibiting the importation
of whale-oils and spermaceti, the produce of foreign fisheries. This
prohibition, being expressed in general terms, seems to exclude the
whale-oils of the United States of America, as well as of the nations
of Europe. The uniform disposition, however, which his Majesty and his
ministers have shown to promote the commerce between France and the
United States, by encouraging our productions to come hither, and
particularly those of our fisheries, induces me to hope, that these were
not within their view, at the passing of this _Arret_. I am led the more
into this opinion, when I recollect the assiduity exercised for several
months, in the year 1785, by the committee appointed by