If it shall be proposed to go beyond our own
supply, the question of '85 will then recur, Will our surplus labor be
then more beneficially employed, in the culture of the earth, or in the
fabrications of art? We have time yet for consideration, before that
question will press upon us; and the axiom to be applied will depend
on the circumstances which shall then exist. For in so complicated a
science as political economy, no one axiom can be laid down as wise and
expedient for all times and circumstances. Inattention to this is what
has called for this explanation, which reflection would have rendered
unnecessary with the candid, while nothing will do it with those who
use the former opinion only as a stalking-horse to cover their disloyal
propensities to keep us in eternal vassalage to a foreign and unfriendly
people.
I salute you with assurances of great respect and esteem.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXXXIV.--TO WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD, June 20, 1816
TO WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD.
Monticello, June 20, 1816.
Dear Sir,
I am about to sin against all discretion, and knowingly, by adding to
the drudgery of your letter-reading, this acknowledgment of the receipt
of your favor of May the 31st, with the papers it covered. I cannot,
however, deny myself the gratification of expressing the satisfaction I
have received, not only from the general statement of affairs at Paris,
in yours of December the 12th, 1814, (as a matter of history which I had
not before received,) but most especially and superlatively, from the
perusal of your letter of the 8th of the same month to Mr.
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