VICE
PRESIDENCY
As far as the public papers are to be credited,
I may suppose that the choice of Vice-President has fallen on me. On
this hypothesis I trouble you, and only pray, if it be wrong, that
you will consider this letter as not written. I believe it belongs
to the Senate to notify the Vice-President of his election. I
recollect to have heard, that on the first election of President and
Vice-President, gentlemen of considerable office were sent to notify
the parties chosen. But this was the inauguration of our new
government, and ought not to be drawn into example. At the second
election, both gentlemen were on the spot and needed no messengers.
On the present occasion, the President will be on the spot, so that
what is now to be done respects myself alone; and considering that
the season of notification will always present one difficulty, that
the distance in the present case adds a second, not inconsiderable,
and which may in future happen to be sometimes much more
considerable, I hope the Senate will adopt that method of
notification, which will always be least troublesome and most
certain. The channel of the post is certainly the least troublesome,
is the most rapid, and, considering also that it may be sent by
duplicates and triplicates, is unquestionably the most certain.
Indorsed to the postmaster at Charlottesville, with an order to send
it by express, no hazard can endanger the notification.
Apprehending, that should there be a difference of opinion on this
subject in the Senate, my ideas of self-respect might be supposed by
some to require something more formal and inconvenient, I beg leave
to avail myself of your friendship to declare, if a different
proposition should make it necessary, that I consider the channel of
the post-office as the most eligible in every respect, and that it
is to me the most desirable; which I take the liberty of expressing,
not with a view of encroaching on the respect due to that discretion
which the Senate have a right to exercise on the occasion, but to
render them the more free in the exercise of it, by taking off
whatsoever weight the supposition of a contrary desire in me might
have on the mind of any member. |
Henry
Tazewell
16 Jan 1797 |
VICE
PRESIDENCY
It seems probable that I will be called on to
preside in a legislative chamber. It is now so long since I have
acted in the legislative line, that I am entirely rusty in the
Parliamentary rules of procedure. I know they have been more studied
and are better known by you than by any man in America, perhaps by
any man living. I am in hopes that while inquiring into the subject
you made notes on it. If any such remain in your hands, however
informal, in books or in scraps of paper, and you will be so good as
to trust me with them a little while, they shall be most faithfully
returned. |
George
Wythe
22 Jan 1797 |
VIRGINIA
ACT
I have read with attention the papers on the
subject of the canal of the Santee and Cooper rivers, and shall be
glad to do anything I can to promote it. But I confess I have small
expectations for the following reason: General Washington sent me a
copy of the Virginia act for opening the Potomac. As that canal was
to unite the commerce of the whole western country almost, with the
eastern, it presented a great view. The General detailed the
advantages of it, and it had the weight of his name, and was known
to be under his immediate direction. It was pushed here among the
monied men to obtain subscriptions, but not a single one could be
obtained. The stockjobbing in this city offered greater advantages
than to buy shares in the canal. I tried whether they would lend
money on the security of the canal, but they answered they could get
as good an interest by lending to their own government, with a
douceur in the outset, and would have their money under their own
eye, more at their command, and more sure as to the payment of
interest. However, if you find any opening, and can point out to me
how I may be useful in promoting it, I shall do it with infinite
pleasure. |
Monsieur
Terrasson
7 May 1788 |
VIRGINIA
/ CONDITIONS OF LANDED ESTATES
…The unprofitable condition of Virginia
estates in general, leaves it now next to impossible for the holder
of one to avoid ruin. And this condition will continue until some
change takes place in the mode of working them. In the meantime,
nothing can save us and our children from beggary, but a
determination to get a year beforehand, and restrain ourselves
vigorously this year to the clear profits of the last. If a debt is
once contracted by a farmer, it is never paid but by a sale.
|
Maria
Jefferson Eppes
7 Jan 1798 |
VIRTUOUS
BEHAVIOR
When your mind shall be well improved with
science, nothing will be necessary to place you in the highest
points of view, but to pursue the interests of your country, the
interests of your friends, and your own interests also, with the
purest integrity, the most chaste honor. The defect of these virtues
can never be made up by all the other acquirements of body and mind.
Make these, then, your first object. Give up money, give up fame,
give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains, rather
than do an immoral act. And never suppose, that in any possible
situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a
dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you.
Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to
yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking
at you, and act accordingly. Encourage all your virtuous
dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises;
being assured that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of
the body does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From the
practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive
the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment
of death. If ever you find yourself environed with difficulties and
perplexing circumstances, out of which you are at a loss how to
extricate yourself, do what is right, and be assured that that will
extricate you the best out of the worst situations. Though you
cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet
follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear their
leading you out of the labyrinth, in the easiest manner possible.
The knot which you thought a Gordian one, will untie itself before
you. Nothing is so mistaken as the supposition, that a person is to
extricate himself from a difficulty, by intrigue, by chicanery, by
dissimulation, by trimming, by an untruth, by an injustice. This
increases the difficulties tenfold; and those, who pursue these
methods, get themselves so involved at length, that they can turn no
way but their infamy becomes more exposed. It is of great importance
to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth.
There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who
permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a
second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells
lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's
believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the
heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions. An honest
heart being the first blessing, a knowing head is the second.
|
Peter
Carr
19 Aug 1785 |
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