om have
I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or of whose hand have I received
a bribe to blind mine eyes therewith?' On your verdict I rest with
conscious security. Your wishes for my happiness are received with
just sensibility, and I offer sincere prayers for your own welfare and
prosperity.

Th: Jefferson.

April 3, 1809.

LETTER LXXXI.--TO WILSON C. NICHOLAS, June 13, 1809

TO WILSON C. NICHOLAS.

Monticello, June 13, 1809.

Dear Sir,

I did not know till Mr. Patterson called on us, a few days ago, that you
had passed on to Washington. I had recently observed in the debates of
Congress, a matter introduced, on which I wished to give explanations
more fully in conversation, which I will now do by abridgment in
writing. Mr. Randolph has proposed an inquiry into certain prosecutions
at common law in Connecticut, for libels on the government, and not only
himself, but others have stated them with such affected caution, and
such hints at the same time, as to leave on every mind the impression
that they had been instituted either by my direction, or with my
acquiescence, at least. This has not been denied by my friends, because
probably the fact is unknown to them. I shall state it for their
satisfaction, and leave it to be disposed of as they think best.

I had observed in a newspaper (some years ago, I do not recollect the
time exactly), some dark hints of a prosecution in Connecticut, but so
obscurely hinted, that I paid little attention to it. Some considerable
time after, it was again mentioned, so that I understood that some
prosecution was going on in the federal court there, for calumnies
uttered from the pulpit against me by a clergyman. I immediately wrote
to Mr. Granger, who, I think, was in Connecticut at the time, stating
that I had laid it down as a law to myself, to take no notice of the
thousand calumnies issued against me, but to trust my character to my
own conduct, and the good sense and candor of my fellow-citizens; that
I had found no reason to be dissatisfied with that course, and I
was unwilling it should be broke through by others as to any matter
concerning me; and I therefore requested him to desire the district
attorney to dismiss the prosecution. Some time after this, 1 heard of
subpoenas being served on General Lee, David M. Randolph, and others, as
witnesses to attend the trial. I then, for the first time, conjectured
the subject of the libel. I immediately wrote to Mr. Gran