nd of panic, they voted the 4th
of March for removing the embargo, and by such a majority as gave
all reason to believe, they would not agree either to war or
non-intercourse. This, too, was after we had become satisfied, that
the Essex Junto had found their expectation desperate, of inducing the
people there to either separation or forcible opposition. The majority
of Congress, however, has now rallied to the removing the embargo on the
4th of March, non-intercourse with France and Great Britain, trade every
where else, and continuing war preparations. The further details are not
yet settled, but I believe it is perfectly certain that the embargo
will be taken off the 4th of March. Present my warmest affections to my
dearest Martha, and the young ones, and accept the assurances of them to
yourself.

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER LXXVII.--TO JOHN HOLLINS, February 19, 1809

TO JOHN HOLLINS.

Washington, February 19, 1809.

Dear Sir,

A little transaction of mine, as innocent an one as I ever entered into,
and where an improper construction was never less expected, is making
some noise, I observe, in your city. I beg leave to explain it to you,
because I mean to ask your agency in it. The last year, the Agricultural
Society of Paris, of which I am a member, having had a plough presented
to them, which, on trial with a graduated instrument, did equal work
with half the force of their best ploughs, they thought it would be a
benefit to mankind to communicate it. They accordingly sent one to me,
with a view to its being made known here, and they sent one to the Duke
of Bedford also, who is one of their members, to be made use of for
England, although the two nations were then at war. By the Mentor, now
going to France, I have given permission to two individuals in Delaware
and New York, to import two parcels of Merino sheep from France, which
they have procured there, and to some gentlemen in Boston, to import a
very valuable machine which spins cotton, wool, and flax equally. The
last spring, the Society informed me they were cultivating the cotton of
the Levant and other parts of the Mediterranean, and wished to try also
that of our southern States. I immediately got a friend to have two
tierces of seed forwarded to me. They were consigned to Messrs. Falls
and Brown of Baltimore, and notice of it being given me, I immediately
wrote to them to re-ship them to New York, to be sent by the Mentor.
Their first object