ou
to ascribe the trouble I give you, to circumstances which do not leave
me at liberty to decline it.

I am, with very sincere esteem, Dear Sir, your affectionate friend and
servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXLIX.--TO JOHN JAY, August 3, 1788

TO JOHN JAY.

Paris, August 3, 1788.

Sir,

My last letters to you were of the 4th and 23d of May, with a Postscript
of the 27th. Since that, I have been honored with yours of April the
24th, May the 16th, and June the 9th.

The most remarkable internal occurrences since my last are these. The
_Noblesse_ of Bretagne, who had received with so much warmth the late
innovations in the government, assembled, and drew up a memorial to the
King, and chose twelve members of their body to come and present it.
Among these was the Marquis de la Rouerie (Colonel Armand). The King,
considering the _Noblesse_ as having no legal right to assemble,
declined receiving the memorial. The deputies, to give greater weight to
it, called a meeting of the landed proprietors of Bretagne, resident at
Paris, and proposed to them to add their signatures--They did so, to the
number of about sixty, of whom the Marquis de la Fayette was one. The
twelve deputies, for having called this meeting, were immediately
sent to the Bastile where they now are, and the Parisian signers were
deprived of such favors as they held of the court. There were only four
of them, however, who held any thing of that kind. The Marquis de la
Fayette was one of these. They had given him a military command, to
be exercised in the south of France, during the months of August and
September of the present year. This they took from him; so that he is
disgraced, in the ancient language of the court, but in truth, honorably
marked in the eyes of the nation. The ministers are so sensible of
this, that they have had, separately, private conferences with him, to
endeavor, through him, to keep things quiet. From the character of the
province of Bretagne, it was much apprehended, for some days, that the
imprisonment of their deputies would have produced an insurrection.
But it took another turn. The _Cours intermediaire_ of the province,
acknowledged to be a legal body, deputed eighteen members of their body
to the King. To these he gave an audience, and the answer, of which I
send you a copy. This is hard enough. Yet I am in hopes the appeal to
the sword will be avoided, and great modifications in the government be
obtained wi