Page:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies, from the papers of Thomas Jefferson - Volume 1.djvu/404

 388

me, that he was decidedly of opinion, that the interest of the State required the Farm of tobacco to be discontinued, and that he had, ac cordingly, given every aid to my proposition, which laid within his sphere : that the Count de Vergennes was very clearly of the same opinion, and had supported it strongly with reasons of his own, when he transmitted it to the Comptroller General ; but that the Comptroller, in the discussions of this subject which had taken place, besides the objections which the Count de Vergennes had repeated to me, and which are before mentioned, had added, that the contract with the Farmers General was now so far ad vanced, that the article of tobacco could not be withdrawn from it, without unraveling the whole transaction. Having understood, that, in this contract, there was always reserved to the crown, a right to discontinue it at any moment, making just reimbursements to the Farmers, I asked M. Reyneval, if the contract should be concluded in its present form, whether it might still be practicable to have it discontinued, as to the article of tobacco, at some fu ture moment. He said it might be possible.

Upon the whole, the true obstacle to this proposition lias pene trated, in various ways, through the veil which covers it. The in fluence of the Farmers General, has been heretofore found suffi cient to shake a minister in his office. Monsieur de Calonnes continuance or dismission, has been thought, for some time, to be on a poise. Were he to shift this great weight, therefore, out of his own scale into that of his adversaries, it would decide their preponderance. The joint interests of France and America, would be an insufficient counterpoise in his favor.

It will be observed, that these efforts to improve the commerce of the United States, have been confined to that branch only, which respects France itself, and that nothing passed on the sub ject of our commerce with the West Indies, except an incidental conversation as to our fish. The reason of this, was no want of a due sense of its importance. Of that, I am thoroughly sensible. But efforts in favor of this branch would, at present, be desperate. To nations with which we have not yet treated, and who have possessions in America, we may offer a free vent of their manu- ifactures in the United States, for a full, or a modified admittance into those possessions. But to France, we are obliged to give that freedom for a different compensation ; to wit, for her aid in effecting our independence. It is difficult, therefore, to say what we have now to offer her, for an admission into her West Indies. Doubtless, it has its price. But the question is, what this would be, and whether worth our while to give it. Were we to propose to give to each other s citizens all the rights of natives, they would,