sfaction
that Mr. Jefferson, since he was not president, had accepted the
vice presidency; "_for_," said I, "_John Adams has such a talent for
blundering and offending, it will be necessary to keep an eye over
him_." He has now sufficiently proved, that though I have not the spirit
of prophecy, I have the gift of _judging right_. And all the world
knows, for it cannot help knowing, that to judge _rightly_ and to write
_clearly_, and that upon all sorts of subjects, to be able to command
thought and as it were to play with it at pleasure, and be always master
of one's temper in writing, is the faculty only of a serene mind, and
the attribute of a happy and philosophical temperament. The scribblers,
who know me not, and who fill their papers with paragraphs about me,
besides their want of talents, drink too many slings and drams in a
morning to have any chance with me. But, poor fellows, they must do
something for the little pittance they get from their employers. This is
my apology for them.

My anxiety to get back to America was great for many years. It is the
country of my heart, and the place of my political and literary birth.
It was the American revolution that made me an author, and forced into
action the mind that had been dormant, and had no wish for public life,
nor has it now. By the accounts I received, she appeared to me to be
going wrong, and that some meditated treason against her liberties
lurked at the bottom of her government. I heard that my friends were
oppressed, and I longed to take my stand among them, and if other times
to _try mens souls_ were to arrive, that I might bear my share. But my
efforts to return were ineffectual.

As soon as Mr. Monroe had made a good standing with the French
government, for the conduct of his predecessor [Morris] had made his
reception as Minister difficult, he wanted to send despatches to his own
government by a person to whom he could confide a verbal communication,
and he fixed his choice on me. He then applied to the Committee of
Public Safety for a passport; but as I had been voted again into the
Convention, it was only the Convention that could give the passport;
and as an application to them for that purpose, would have made my going
publicly known, I was obliged to sustain the disappointment, and Mr.
Monroe to lose the opportunity.(1)

When that gentleman left France to return to America, I was to have
gone with him. It was fortunate I did not. The vessel he