cheaper. The demand will probably be less brisk. So we may suppose this
will be longer paying off than the domestic debt. With respect to the
new Government, nine or ten States will probably have accepted by the
end of this month. The others may oppose it. Virginia, I think, will be
of this number. Besides other objections of less moment, she will
insist on annexing a bill of rights to the new Constitution, _i. e._ a
bill wherein the Government shall declare that, 1. Religion shall be
free; 2. Printing presses free; 3. Trials by jury preserved in all
cases; 4. No monopolies in commerce; 5. No standing army. Upon
receiving this bill of rights, she will probably depart from her other
objections; and this bill is so much to the interest of all the States,
that I presume they will offer it, and thus our Constitution be
amended, and our Union closed by the end of the present year. In this
way, there will have been opposition enough to do good, and not enough
to do harm. I have such reliance on the good sense of the body of the
people, and the honesty of their leaders, that I am not afraid of their
letting things go wrong to any length in any cause. Wishing you better
health, and much happiness, I have the honor to be, with sentiments of
the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most
humble servant.

TO MONSIEUR DE BERTROUS.

PARIS, Feb. 21, 1788.

SIR,--I am now to acknowledge the receipt of the letter you did me the
honor to write me on the 21st of January, together with the book on the
culture of the olive tree. This is a precious present to me, and I pray
you to accept my thanks for it. I am just gratified by letters from
South Carolina, which inform me that in consequence of the information
I had given them on the subject of the olive tree, and the probability
of its succeeding with them, several rich individuals propose to begin
its culture there. This will not interfere with the commerce of France,
because she imports much more oil than she exports, and because the
consumption of oil in the United States at present, is so
inconsiderable, that should their demand be totally withdrawn at the
European market, and supplied at home, it will produce no sensible
effect in Europe. We can never produce that article in very great
quantity, because it happens that in our two southernmost States, where
only the climate is adapted to the olive, the soil is so generally rich
as to be unfit for tha