SAMUEL ADAMS

TO SAMUEL ADAMS.

Philadelphia, February 26,1800.

Dear Sir,

Mr. Erving delivered me your favor of January the 31st, and I thank
you for making me acquainted with him. You will always do me a favor
in giving me an opportunity of knowing gentlemen as estimable in their
principles and talents, as I find Mr. Erving to be. I have not yet seen
Mr. Winthrop. A letter from you, my respectable friend, after three and
twenty years of separation, has given me a pleasure I cannot express. It
recalls to my mind the anxious days we then passed in struggling for the
cause of mankind. Your principles have been tested in the crucible of
time, and have come out pure. You have proved that it was monarchy, and
not merely British monarchy, you opposed. A government by representees,
elected by the people at short periods, was our object, and our maxim at
that day was, 'Where annual election ends, tyranny begins'; nor have our
departures from it been sanctioned by the happiness of their effects.
A debt of an hundred millions growing by usurious interest, and an
artificial paper phalanx overruling the agricultural mass of our
country, with other et ceteras, have a portentous aspect.

I fear our friends on the other side the water, laboring in the same
cause, have yet a great deal of crime and of misery to wade through. My
confidence had been placed in the head, not in the heart of Bonaparte.
I hoped he would calculate truly the difference between the fame of a
Washington and a Cromwell. Whatever his views may be, he has at least
transferred the destinies of the republic from the civil to the military
arm. Some will use this as a lesson against the practicability of
republican government. I read it as a lesson against the danger of
standing armies. Adieu, my ever respected and venerable friend. May that
kind overruling Providence which has so long spared you to our
country, still foster your remaining years with whatever may make them
comfortable to yourself and soothing to your friends. Accept the cordial
salutations of your affectionate friend,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CCLVIII.--TO JAMES MADISON, March 4, 1800

TO JAMES MADISON.

Philadelphia, March 4, 1800.

Dear Sir,

I have never written to you since my arrival here, for reasons which
were explained. Yours of December the 29th, January the 4th, 9th, 12th,
18th, and February the 14th, have therefore remained unacknowledged.
I have at different times e