ll the American nations, and the importance of their coalescing in an
American system of policy, totally independent of, and unconnected with
that of Europe. The day is not distant, when we may formally require
a meridian of partition through the ocean which separates the two
hemispheres, on the hither side of which no European gun shall ever be
heard, nor an American on the other; and when, during the rage of the
eternal wars of Europe, the lion and the lamb, within our regions, shall
lie down together in peace. The excess of population in Europe, and
want of room, render war, in their opinion, necessary to keep down that
excess of numbers. Here, room is abundant, population scanty, and peace
the necessary means for producing men, to whom the redundant soil is
offering the means of life and happiness. The principles of society
there and here, then, are radically different, and I hope no American
patriot will ever lose sight of the essential policy of interdicting in
the seas and territories of both Americas, the ferocious and sanguinary
contests of Europe. I wish to see this coalition begun. I am earnest for
an agreement with the maritime powers of Europe, assigning them the task
of keeping down the piracies of their seas and the cannibalisms of
the African coasts, and, to us, the suppression of the same enormities
within our seas: and for this purpose, I should rejoice to see the
fleets of Brazil and the United States riding together as brethren of
the same family, and pursuing the same object. And indeed it would be
of happy augury to begin at once this concert of action here, on the
invitation of either to the other government, while the way might be
preparing for withdrawing our cruisers from Europe, and preventing naval
collisions there which daily endanger our peace.

*****

Accept assurances of the sincerity of my friendship and respect for you.

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CLIV.--TO JOHN ADAMS, August 15, 1820

TO JOHN ADAMS.

Monticello, August 15, 1820.

I am a great defaulter, my Dear Sir, in our correspondence, but
prostrate health rarely permits me to write; and when it does, matters
of business imperiously press their claims. I am getting better however,
slowly, swelled legs being now the only serious symptom, and these, I
believe, proceed from extreme debility. I can walk but little; but I
ride six or eight miles a day without fatigue; and within a few days,
I shall endeavor to visit my other