honor to put into your hands the original
of the treaty, with other papers accompanying it. It will appear
by these, that Mr. Barclay has conducted himself with a degree of
intelligence and of good faith which reflects the highest honor on him.

A copy of a letter from Captain O'Bryan to Mr. Carmichael is also
herewith enclosed. The information it contains will throw farther light
on the affairs of Algiers. His observations on the difficulties which
arise from the distance of Mr. Adams and myself from that place, and
from one another, and the delays occasioned by this circumstance, are
certainly just. If Congress should propose to revive the negotiations,
they will judge whether it will not be more expedient to send a person
to Algiers, who can be trusted with full powers: and also whether a
mission to Constantinople may not be previously necessary. Before I quit
this subject, I must correct an error in the letter of Captain O'Bryan.
Mr. Lambe was not limited, as he says, to one hundred, but to two
hundred dollars apiece for our prisoners. This was the price which had
been just paid for a large number of French prisoners, and this was our
guide.

I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER XXXVIII.--TO SAMUEL OSGOOD, January 5, 1787

TO SAMUEL OSGOOD.

Paris, January 5, 1787.

Dear Sir,

I am desired to forward to you the enclosed queries, and to ask the
favor of you to give such an answer to them, as may not give you too
much trouble. Those which stand foremost on the paper, can be addressed
only to your complaisance; but the last may possibly be interesting to
your department, and to the United States. I mean those which suggest
the possibility of borrowing money in Europe, the principal of which
shall be ultimately payable in land, and in the mean time, a good
interest. You know best whether the suggestion can be turned to any
profit, and whether it will be worth while to introduce any proposition
to Congress thereon. Among the possible shapes into which a matter of
this kind may be formed, the following is one. Let us suppose the public
lands to be worth a dollar, hard money, the acre. If we should ask of a
monied man a loan of one hundred dollars, payable with one hundred
acres of land at the end of ten years, and in the mean time, carrying
an interest of five per cent., this would be more disadvantageou