I am, with sincere esteem, Dear Sir,

your friend and servant,

Th:  Jefferson.

LETTER CXXXIX.—­TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS, December 4,1785

TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS.

Paris, December 4,1785.

Dear Sir,

I enclose you a letter from Gatteaux, observing that there will be an anachronism, if, in making a medal to commemorate the victory of Saratoga, he puts on General Gates the insignia of the Cincinnati, which did not exist at that date.  I wrote him, in answer, that I thought so too, but that you had the direction of the business; that you were now in London; that I would write to you, and probably should have an answer within a fortnight; and that, in the mean time, he could be employed on other parts of the die.  I supposed you might not have observed on the print of General Gates, the insignia of the Cincinnati, or did not mean that that particular should be copied.  Another reason against it strikes me.  Congress have studiously avoided giving to the public their sense of this institution.  Should medals be prepared, to be presented from them to certain officers, and bearing on them the insignia of the order, as the presenting them would involve an approbation of the institution, a previous question would be forced on them, whether they would present these medals.  I am of opinion it would be very disagreeable to them to be placed under the necessity of making this declaration.  Be so good as to let me know your wishes on this subject by the first post.

Mr. Short has been sick ever since you left us.  Nothing new has occurred here, since your departure.  I imagine you have American news.  If so, pray give us some.  Present me affectionately to Mr. Adams and the ladies, and to Colonel Smith; and be assured of the esteem with which I am, Dear Sir,

your friend and servant,

Th:  Jefferson.

LETTER CXL.—­TO JOHN ADAMS, December 10, 1785

TO JOHN ADAMS,

Paris, December 10, 1785.

Dear Sir,

On the arrival of Mr. Boylston, I carried him to the Marquis de la Fayette, who received from him communications of his object.  This was to get a remission of the duties on his cargo of oil, and he was willing to propose a future contract.  I suggested however to the Marquis, when we were alone, that instead of wasting our efforts on individual applications, we had better take up the subject on general ground, and whatever could be obtained, let it be common to all.  He concurred with me.  As the jealousy of office between ministers does not permit me to apply immediately to the one in whose department this was, the Marquis’s agency was used.  The result was to put us on the footing of the Hanseatic towns, as to whale-oil, and to reduce the duties to eleven livres and five sols for five hundred and twenty pounds French, which is