f
resistance. His subjects in Brabant and Flanders are arming, and he has
put forty-five thousand troops in motion towards that country. I
believe they will come to blows. The parties in Holland have already
spilt too much blood to be easily stopped. If left to themselves, I
apprehend the Stadtholderians will be too strong; and if foreign powers
interfere, the weight is still on their side. England and Prussia will
be too much for France. As it is certain that neither of these powers
wish for war, and that England and France are particularly averse to
it, perhaps the matter may end in an armed mediation. If the mediators
should not agree, they will draw their negotiations into length, and
trust to the chapter of accidents for their final solution. With
respect to our country, it stands well with the present ministry here.
The non-payment of our debt is against us. We are occupied in procuring
favorable terms of reception for our produce.

Adieu, my dear Sir, and be assured of the sentiments of sincere esteem
of your affectionate friend and servant.

TO J. W. EPPES.

PARIS, July 28, 1787.

DEAR JACK,--The letter which you were so kind as to write to me the 22d
of May, 1786, was not delivered to me till the 3d of May, 1787, when it
found me in the neighborhood of Marseilles. Before that time, you must
have taken your degree, as mentioned in your letter. Those public
testimonies which are earned by merit, and not by solicitation, may
always be accepted without the imputation of vanity. Of this nature is
the degree which your masters proposed to confer on you. I congratulate
you sincerely on it. It will be a pleasing event to yourself; it will
be the same to your parents and friends, and to none more than myself.
Go on deserving applause, and you will be sure to meet with it; and the
way to deserve it is, to be good, and to be industrious. I am sure you
will be good, and hope you will be industrious. As to your future plan,
I am too distant from you to advise you on sure grounds. In general, I
am of opinion, that till the age of about sixteen, we are best employed
on languages; Latin, Greek, French, and Spanish, or such of them as we
can. After this, I think the College of William and Mary the best place
to go through the courses of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy in its
different branches, and Law. Of the languages I have mentioned, I think
Greek the least useful. Write me word, from time to time, how you go
o