atalogue was
missing: and the calculations now prove that at the time Mayer saw his
964th star, the planet Herschel should have been precisely in the place
where he noted that star. I shall send you also a little publication
here, called the _Bibliotheque Physico-oeconomique_. It will communicate
all the improvements and new discoveries in the arts and sciences, made
in Europe for some years past. I shall be happy to hear from you often.
Details, political and literary, and even of the small history of our
country, are the most pleasing communications possible. Present me
affectionately to Mrs. Page, and to your family, in the members of
which, though unknown to me, I feel an interest on account of their
parents. Believe me to be with warm esteem, dear Page, your sincere
friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER XCVII.--TO JOHN JAY, August 23, 1785

TO JOHN JAY.

(Private.) Paris, August 23, 1785.

Dear Sir,

I shall sometimes ask your permission to write you letters, not
official, but private. The present is of this kind, and is occasioned
by the question proposed in yours of June the 14th; 'Whether it would be
useful to us, to carry all our own productions, or none?'

Were we perfectly free to decide this question, I should reason as
follows. We have now lands enough to employ an infinite number of people
in their cultivation. Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable
citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most
virtuous, and they are tied to their country, and wedded to its liberty
and interests, by the most lasting bonds. As long, therefore, as
they can find employment in this line, I would not convert them into
mariners, artisans, or any thing else. But our citizens will find
employment in this line, till their numbers, and of course their
productions, become too great for the demand, both internal and foreign.
This is not the case as yet, and probably will not be for a considerable
time. As soon as it is, the surplus of hands must be turned to something
else. I should then, perhaps, wish to turn them to the sea in preference
to manufactures; because, comparing the characters of the two classes,
I find the former the most valuable citizens. I consider the class of
artificers as the panders of vice, and the instruments by which the
liberties of a country are generally overturned. However, we are not
free to decide this question on principles of theory only. Our people