592 THOMAS JEFFERSON discrediting his personal courage, on the ground of liis withdrawal from Richmond and Monti- cello. But that he had the continued approba- tion of Washington in exhausting Virginia for the benefit of the general cause is certain ; that the commonwealth, thus drained of her re- sources, could have been defended, is at least doubtful ; and the circumstances of his with- drawal from Richmond and Monticello do not support the accusation of a want of personal courage. An error of judgment is thus all which might be justly chargeable upon Jeffer- son. His term of office had expired two days before Tarleton entered Charlottesville, and in his memoir he says that he had determined to decline a reelection, " from a belief that under the pressure of the invasion, under which we were then laboring, the public would have more confidence in a military chief." At the next session of the house a young member de- manded an inquiry into his conduct ; but it was never made, though Jefferson, who had gone to the assembly to meet it, rose in his place and also demanded it. On the contrary, the house resolved " that the sincere thanks of the general assembly be given to our former gov- ernor, Thomas Jefferson, for his impartial, up- right, and attentive administration while in office." But the charges against his administra- tion wounded him deeply, and he did not ap- pear in the spring session of 1782. From his retirement at Monticello, which had been re- cently rendered doubly gloomy by the death of his wife, he was summoned by congress to act as one of the plenipotentiaries to England, to negotiate the terms of the treaty of peace. The business was so far advanced before he was ready to sail that congress recalled the appoint- ment ; but taking his seat in that body in the winter session of 1783, he reported, as chair- man of the committee to which it had been re- ferred, the definitive treaty of peace with Eng- land. At the succeeding session Jefferson pro- posed and secured the adoption of the present system of United States coinage, doing away with the old . s. d., and substituting the dollar and its subdivisions, down to the hundredth part, to which, in order to describe its value, he gave the present name of cent. At the same session he drafted the report of the committee appointed to " prepare a plan for the temporary government of the western territory." Vir- ginia held this great extent of country under charter from James I. In 1780 she ceded to the confederation the whole territory N. W. of the Ohio, but the cession was not then formally consummated. Jefferson's plan of a govern- ment for this territory was adopted with a few amendments ; these consisted of an omission of the names suggested for the districts, and of the clause providing " that after the year 1800 of the Christian era there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said states, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall be duly con- victed to have been personally guilty." The cession was finally consummated in 178S. In May, 1784, Jefferson was appointed minister plenipotentiary to Europe, to assist John Adams and Benjamin Franklin in negotiating treaties of commerce. He sailed in July with his eldest daughter, and was joined by his associates in Paris. They succeeded in negotiating treaties with Prussia and Morocco, the ships of which latter government had made depredations on American commerce. By the treaties, block- ades were abolished, the flag covered the cargo, and contrabands were exempted from confisca- tion. With England all negotiations failed. At this time Jefferson printed and distributed among his friends a small edition of his " Notes on Virginia." The substance of this work had been prepared in 1782, at the request of M. de Marbois, French secretary of legation, in hours of confinement produced by a fall from horse- back. An incorrect copy had been printed, and the author now published it in an accurate form. In the same year he furnished, at the request of the Virginia directors, a plan for the capitol at Richmond, on the model of the maison carree at Nimes, and another for a penitentiary, similar to a building which he had examined in England. Both plans were adopted with some alterations. In 1785 congress ap- pointed Jefferson minister plenipotentiary to France, in place of Franklin, who had resigned. He combated the intrigues of Vergennes and Calonne, the French ministers, in opposition to the desired treaties of commerce, with energy and effect. Among other objects which he at- tained were the abolition of a number of monop- olies, and the admission into France of tobacco, rice, whale oil, salted fish, and flour. In the midst of these duties he found time to make excursions into Germany, Italy, and the French provinces. In Paris he became intimately ac- quainted with Condorcet, D'Alembert, Destutt de Tracy, and other liberal thinkers. This seems to have been one of the happiest periods of his life; and his sympathies toward France re- mained ever afterward unshaken. He left the country before the excesses of the revolution, and always regarded it with a strong feeling of preference, especially in comparison with Eng- land. His diplomatic functions were per- formed with marked ability. The adoption of the American constitution did not meet his full approval. He did not know, he wrote, whether the good or the bad predominated in the in- strument, and some portions " staggered " him. He afterward formed a more favorable opinion of it. In 1789 he obtained leave of absence for a time, and returned to America. Soon after his arrival he was offered the post of sec- retary of state in Washington's cabinet, and, in spite of his desire to return to France, accept- ed it, thus terminating his ministerial career. With the entrance of Jefferson into the cabinet in March, 1790, commenced the struggle be- tween the federalists and republicans, under the banners of their two most distinguished leaders. Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the
