these were Bourbons. The
Queen of Portugal, a Braganza, was an idiot by nature. And so was
the King of Denmark. Their sons, as regents, exercised the powers of
government. The King of Prussia, successor to the great Frederick, was
a mere hog in body as well as in mind. Gustavus of Sweden, and Joseph
of Austria, were really crazy, and George of England you know was in a
straight waistcoat. There remained, then, none but old Catherine, who
had been too lately picked up to have lost her common sense. In this
state Bonaparte found Europe; and it was this state of its rulers which
lost it with scarce a struggle. These animals had become without mind
and powerless; and so will every hereditary monarch be after a few
generations. Alexander, the grandson of Catherine, is as yet an
exception. He is able to hold his own. But he is only of the third
generation. His race is not yet worn out. And so endeth the book of
Kings, from all of whom the Lord deliver us and have you, my friend, and
all such good men and true, in his holy keeping.

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER XCI.--TO GENERAL DEARBORN, July 16,1810

TO GENERAL DEARBORN.

Monticello, July 16,1810.

Dear General and Friend,

Your favor of May the 31st was duly received, and I join in
congratulations with you on the resurrection of republican principles
in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and the hope that the professors of
these principles will not again easily be driven off their ground. The
federalists, during their short-lived ascendancy, have, nevertheless,
by forcing us from the embargo, inflicted a wound on our interests which
can never be cured, and on our affections which will require time to
cicatrize. I ascribe all this to one pseudo-republican, Story. He came
on (in place of Crowningshield, I believe) and staid only a few days;
long enough, however, to get complete hold of Bacon, who giving in to
his representations, became panic-struck, and communicated his panic to
his colleagues, and they to a majority of the sound members of Congress.
They believed in the alternative of repeal or civil war, and produced
the fatal measure of repeal. This is the immediate parent of all our
present evils, and has reduced us to a low standing in the eyes of the
world. I should think that even the federalists themselves must now be
made, by their feelings, sensible of their error. The wealth which the
embargo brought home safely, has now been thrown back into the laps of
our