profound respect,

your Excellency's most obedient

and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXLIV.--TO THE GEORGIA DELEGATES IN CONGRESS, Dec. 22, 1785

TO THE GEORGIA DELEGATES IN CONGRESS.

Paris, December 22, 1785.

Gentlemen,

By my despatch to Mr. Jay which accompanies this, you will perceive
that the claims of the Chevalier de Mezieres, nephew to the late General
Oglethorpe, to his possessions within your State, have attracted the
attention of the ministry here; and that considering them as protected
by their treaty with us, they have viewed as derogatory of that, the
doubts which have been expressed on the subject. I have thought it best
to present to them those claims in the least favorable point of view,
to lessen as much as possible the ill effects of a disappointment: but
I think it my duty to ask your notice and patronage of this case, as
one whose decision will have an effect on the general interests of the
Union.

The Chevalier de Mezieres is nephew to General Oglethorpe; he is a
person of great estimation, powerfully related and protected. His
interests are espoused by those whom it is our interest to gratify. I
will take the liberty, therefore, of soliciting your recommendations of
him to the generosity of your legislature, and to the patronage and good
offices of your friends, whose efforts, though in a private case, will
do a public good. The pecuniary advantages of confiscation, in this
instance, cannot compensate its ill effects. It is difficult to make
foreigners understand those legal distinctions between the effects of
forfeiture of escheat, and of conveyance, on which the professors of
the law might build their opinions in this case. They can see only the
outlines of the case; to wit, the death of a possessor of lands lying
within the United States, leaving an heir in France, and the State
claiming those lands in opposition to the heir. An individual thinking
himself injured makes more noise than a State. Perhaps too, in every
case which either party to a treaty thinks to be within its provisions,
it is better not to weigh the syllables and letters of the treaty, but
to show that gratitude and affection render that appeal unnecessary. I
take the freedom, therefore, of submitting to your wisdom the motives
which present themselves in favor of a grant to the Chevalier de
Mezieres, and the expediency of urging them on your State as far as you
may think proper.

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