rned from the
whites, to the hardships and privations of savagism, and no great harm
if he did. We let him go on, therefore, unmolested. But his followers
increased till the English thought him worth corruption, and found him
corruptible. I suppose his views were then changed; but his proceedings
in consequence of them were after I left the administration, and are,
therefore, unknown to me; nor have I ever been informed what were the
particular acts on his part, which produced, an actual commencement
of hostilities on ours. I have no doubt, however, that his subsequent
proceedings are but a chapter apart, like that of Henry and Lord
Liverpool, in the book of the Kings of England.

Of this mission of Henry, your son had got wind in the time of the
embargo, and communicated it to me. But he had learned nothing of the
particular agent, although, of his workings, the information he had
obtained appears now to have been correct. He stated a particular which
Henry has not distinctly brought forward, which was, that the eastern
States were not to be required to make a formal act of separation from
the Union, and to take a part in the war against it; a measure deemed
much too strong for their people: but to declare themselves in a state
of neutrality, in consideration of which they were to have peace and
free commerce, the lure most likely to insure popular acquiescence.
Having no indications of Henry as the intermediate in this negotiation
of the Essex junto, suspicions fell on Pickering, and his nephew
Williams in London. If he was wronged in this, the ground of the
suspicion is to be found in his known practices and avowed opinions,
as that of his accomplices in the sameness of sentiment and of language
with Henry, and subsequently by the fluttering of the wounded pigeons.

This letter, with what it encloses, has given you enough, I presume, of
law and the prophets. I will only add to it, therefore, the homage of my
respects to Mrs. Adams, and to yourself the assurances of affectionate
esteem and respect.

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CI.--TO JAMES MAURY, April 25, 1812

TO JAMES MAURY.

Monticello, April 25, 1812.

My Dear and Ancient Friend and Classmate,

Often has my heart smote me for delaying acknowledgments to you,
receiving, as I do, such frequent proofs of your kind recollection in
the transmission of papers to me. But instead of acting on the good old
maxim of not putting off to to-morrow what we can do