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Digital file copyright by Cornell University
Library 1994.BRONZE REPLICA OF MICHAEL ANGELO’S “DAVID.”
Gift of Andrew Langdon to the Buffalo Historical Society and the City of Buffalo.
See Page 480.PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
BUFFALO
Historical Society
VOLUME VII
EDITED BY
FRANK H. SEVERANCE
SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY
BUFFALO, NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE
BUFFALO HISTORICAL SQCIETY
1904
-r612
I
b. . \%*2a%Oa
PrrBs
Mniott and Ottawa
SuffataOFFICERS OF THE
BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1904
President............. . ANDREW LANGDON.
Vice-President..........GEORGE ALFRED STRINGER.
Secretary . . . ........FRANK H. SEVERANCE.
Treasurer ........ CHARLES J. NORTH.
BOARD OF MANAGERS.
Lewis J. Bennett,
Albert H. Briggs, M. D.,
Robert W. Day,
Joseph P. Dudley,
Charles W. Goodyear,
Henry W. Hill,
Henry R. Howland,
Andrew Langdon,
J. N. Larned,
Ogden P. Letchworth,
J. J. McWilliams,
George B. Mathews,
Charles J. North,
Peter A. Porter,
G. Barrett Rich,
Henry A. Richmond,
Frank H. Severance,
George Alfred Stringer,
James Sweeney, ,
Charles R. Wilson.
The Mayor of Buffalo, the Corporation Counsel, the Comptroller,
Superintendent of Education, President of the Board of Park Com-
missioners, and President of the Common Council, are also ex-oMcio
members of the Board of Managers of the Buffalo Historical Society.LIST OF THE
PRESIDENTS OF THE SOCIETY
FROM ITS ORGANIZATION TO THE PRESENT TIME.
*Millard Fillmore, ................1862 to 1867
*Henry W. Rogers, ....................... 1868
*Rev. Albert T. Chester, D. D.,.......... .	1869
*Orsamus H. Marshall,.....................1870
*Hon. Nathan K. Hall,...................  1871
*'William H. Greene, .....................1872
*Orlando Allen,...........................1873
^Oliver G. Steele, .	  1874
*Hon. James Sheldon,...............1875 and 1886
^William C. Bryant, .	................... 1876
*Capt. E. P. Dorr, ............. 1877
Hon. William P. Letchworth,.............  1878
William H. H. Newman, * .	.........1879 and 1885
*Hon. Elias S. Hawley, ............	1880
*Hon. James M. Smith,.....................J88i
*	William Hodge,..........................1882
^William Dana Fobes, ......... 1883 and 1884
*Emmor Haines,.............................
* James Tillinghast,...............• - * x888
^William K. Allen,........... .	....	1889
*George S. Hazard,.................1890 and 1892
^Joseph C. Greene, M. D.,...............  1891
*Julius H. Dawes, ........................I^93
Andrew Langdon, .	............ -	•	•	J894 to 1904
* Deceased.PREFACE
THE documents and narratives contained in the fol-
lowing pages are so fully explained and annotated
as they appear that little if anything further by way
of comment is here called for.
Unlike most of the material thus far contained in the
Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society, the letters
of Thomas Jefferson are not of merely local but of the
widest interest. They afford glimpses of the mind of their
writer, especially in his later years, and enable one to see
somewhat clearer than heretofore, in what light he viewed
the fundamental propositions of Christianity.
The journals of Gen. Henry A. S. Dearborn, here first
printed, are a distinct contribution to the history of the ne-
gotiations which resulted in the relinquishment by the Sene-
cas of the old Buffalo Creek Reservation. In the four reser-
vations of Alleghany, Buffalo, Cattaraugus and Tonawanda,
there were about 119,000 acres. It was inevitable that the
increase of the white population around these tracts, espe-
cially at Buffalo, should exert a constantly-increasing pres-
sure upon the Indians to part with their lands. The right
to purchase from the Indian had been acquired from Massa-
chusetts by the so-called Ogden Company. The policy of
the United States Government, from the days of President
Jackson, had been favorable to the removal of the IndiansVI
PREFACE.
to Western lands, for the most part beyond the Mississippi.
President Van Buren, in a message to Congress, in Decem-
ber, 1837, urged such removal; and in a special message,
Jan. 14, 1840, he stated that 40,000 Indians had been trans-
ferred to lands west of the Mississippi, since 1837.
The council held on the Buffalo Reservation in the sum-
mer of 1838, was an effort to secure the consent of a ma-
jority of the Seneca chiefs to a treaty which had been
adopted by the Senate, providing for the emigration of the
New York Indians. The proceedings of that council may
be gathered from Gen. Dearborn’s journal. Accusations
were made, particularly by the Society of Friends, that many
of the chiefs were bribed to gain their consent. A well-
informed writer, the Hon. Lewis H. Morgan, has denounced
the transactions of this period in strong terms:
“The darkest frauds, the basest bribery, and the most
execrable intrigues which soulless averice could suggest
have been practiced in open day, upon this defenceless and
much-injured people. .	.	. The Georgia treaty with
the Cherokees, so justly held up to execration, is a white
page compared with the treaties of 1838 and 1842, which
were forced upon the Senecas. This project has already,
however, in part, been defeated by the load of iniquity
which hung upon the skirts of these treaties.’* (“League of
the Iroquois,” ed. of 1851, p. 33.)
Again he says (p. 458): “The [U. S.] Government bar-
tered away its integrity to minister to the rapacious demands
of the Ogden Land Company.” These and similar accusa-
tions implicate the good name of the Federal Government,
of Massachusetts and New York, and their representatives.
One principal ground of complaint was, that the consents of
the Indians were secured in many cases, not in open council,
but singly, in hotel rooms, or elsewhere, where liquor and
money could effectively be used to secure the signature ofPREFACE.
Vll
the vacillating chieftain. The suggestion that signatures be
thus obtained, may have come from Gen. Dearborn himself,
though there is not the slightest ground for suspicion that
he used or countenanced any fraudulent methods. Con-
vinced of the advisability of the treaty, he believed that the
opposition to it originated with interested whites, who wished
the Indians to keep their reservation lands, in order to profit
from mill and lumber privileges for which they paid the
Indians very small sums.
In sending the treaty to the Senate, Jan. 14, 1840, Presi-
dent Van Buren declared that in his opinion the signatures
had been obtained by fraud, and that the treaty ought not to
be ratified. After being debated, through a period of eleven
days, the vote stood nineteen to nineteen, and the treaty
was ratified by the casting vote of R. M. Johnson, the Vice-
President, in the affirmative. A memorial, signed by sixty-
seven Seneca chiefs, begged that no appropriation be made
to carry out the treaty, as they did not wish to leave their
homes in New York. In the next year—1841—several peti-
tions were sent to Congress, asking that the Indians be for-
cibly removed; but before action was taken, the committee
was discharged from further consideration of the petitions.
Governor Everett of Massachusetts, in his message of 1839,
expressed the view that if the State had known all that it had
since learned, it would not have consented to the request of
the Ogden Company. Governor William H. Seward of New
York wrote: “I am fully satisfied that the consent of the
Senecas was obtained by fraud, corruption and violence, and
it is therefore false, and ought to be held void.” (“A Further
Illustration of the Case of the Seneca Indians,” p. 80.)
The outcome of it all was, that a very few of the Senecas
and Tuscaroras removed to the West; and a compromise was
effected with the Ogden Company, by which the SenecasVlll
PREFACE.
retained 52,000 acres of the 119,000 in controversy, being the,
Cattaraugus and Alleghany reservations. This arrangement
was effected by the Buffalo treaty of 1842. Another result
was the adoption by the Senecas of a constitution, and the
establishment of a new form of self-government.
The sale of the valuable lands of the old Buffalo Creek
Reservation naturally followed the treaty of 1842; but that
these old negotiations sustain a live relation to present-day
transactions, is perhaps all too familiar to those who now buy
or sell some portions of these lands. The question of the
validity of title has been repeatedly passed upon, but not
always, it would appear, with full knowledge of the facts. A
valuable report made to the State Legislature, Jan. 22, 1857,
from the judiciary committee of the Senate, represents the
rights of the Senecas to their lands as absolute, through a
series of conveyances down to that date from the State of
Massachusetts, from Oliver Phelps and from Robert Morris;
and that no parties had then any preemptive title to their
lands. In recent years, inquiries have been made as to
whether the city of Buffalo had any rights in or title to the
parcels of land known as the Indian Church Square and
Indian Church Cemetery. In 1882 Mayor Grover Cleveland
vetoed a resolution for setting out trees on the first-named
tract on the ground that it did not belong to the city. “On
the contrary/’ he added, “the land appears to be the property
of the Seneca nation of Indians.” In 1896, Mr. Charles L.
Feldman, Corporation Counsel, acting under a resolution of
the Common Council, made an investigation and report on the
whole matter of the city’s right or title in the lands in ques-
tion. His long report left some matters unsettled, but did
show that the city had no title to the Indian Church Cemetery
and the so-called “Square.” The latter tract is now well-
nigh obliterated; crossed by a street, and partly built over.PREFACE.
IX
The cemetery tract is smaller than formerly, through the
setting-in of the fence, and seems likely before long to share
the common fate of land in that fast-growing part of Buffalo.
It is still a beautiful place, with many historic associations.
Here may still be traced the outlines of a prehistoric earth-
work. Before the white man came, it was the Indians’ village
site or burial-place. At a later day Red Jacket and his
associates, and Mary Jemison, “the white woman of the
Genesee,” were buried here, under fine old oaks and walnuts,
still standing. There is a strong desire, on the part of mem-
bers of the Historical Society and others, that this place of
many associations be spared, and kept in a state of nature.
Its addition to the park system has been repeatedly advo-
cated, but as yet without result.
In a subsequent volume of these Publications, perhaps in
connection with further material from the unpublished
papers of Gen. Dearborn, it is proposed to print the history
of the Indian Church Square and Cemetery, with a full
report on the validity of title, and other related matters, by
a competent hand. The Historical Society may not be able
to preserve this tract for the enjoyment of present residents
of Buffalo and of posterity; but it can at least make avail-
able a record of the facts in the case.
The Society was most fortunate to secure for publication
in this volume Mr. Charles Mulford Robinson’s admirable
and definitive biography of his ancestor, the Honorable
Augustus Porter, one of the large and influential figures in
the early history of Western New York. With this is pub-
lished, for the first time in full, Judge Porter’s own narra-
tive of his early years; and a number of other journals by
early surveyors of our region. The one surveyor of all most
important in the early history of Buffalo was Joseph Ellicott.
He too left a journal, and an exceedingly voluminous corres-X
PREFACE.
pondence. It was the original intention of the editor of this
volume, to include the Ellicott papers with the others relating
to the pioneer surveyors; but when the work of preparing
them for the press was undertaken there was found to be so
much of them of historic interest, that they could not be
included in the present volume without making it too large.
They will form an important part of a future volume.
The Bunn and Ramsay narratives, and other bibliogra-
phical matter, are printed in pursuance of the plan entered
upon in volume V of these Publications, to publish lists of
books in the several fields of the literature of our region, and
reprints of a few of the important rare things which, because
of their great scarcity, are practically unknown and inac-
cessible to most readers.
Acknowledgment, for help given in the preparation of
this volume, is gratefully made to Mr. Charles Mulford
Robinson of Rochester; Mr. Alexander J. Porter of Niagara
Falls; the Hon. Peter A. Porter of Buffalo; and Miss
Frances L. Spencer, Erie, Pa. In the preparation of the
index, as was the case with that of Volume VI, the editor
has had the expert assistance of Miss Ellen M. Chandler of
the Buffalo Public Library. It corrects and fills out many
names which in the text are incomplete or incorrect; not so
through inadvertence, but because it is desirable, in a pub-
lication of this character, to print old journals and other
documents as their authors wrote them; reserving for notes
and index guidance which may be necessary for the reader.
F. H. S.CONTENTS
PAGE.
Officers of the Society ..............................  m
List of Presidents of the Society................... jv
Preface......................................... v
A Bundle of Thomas Jefferson's Letters............. !
Journals of Henry A. S. Dearborn:
Introduction . . ................................. 35
First Visit to the Senecas and Tuscaroras ....	39
Second Visit to the Senecas, in 1838 ........ i&j
Tour to Cattaraugus, in 1839	• .................. 219
Narratives and Journals of Pioneer Surveyors:
Life of Augustus Porter . Charles Mulford Robinson 229
Early Life of Augustus Porter ...............
Written by	himself in 1848	277
Letters of Augustus Porter............... 323
Life and Adventures of Judah Colt......... . . .
Written	by himself	331
Notes by Joseph Landon................... 361
Survey of the South Shore of Lake Erie, 1789	. .	365
The Life and Adventures of Matthew Bunn............ 377
The Story of David Ramsay . ....................... 437CONTENTS.
xii
APPENDIX A.
PAGE.
Proceedings of the Buffalo Historical Society:
Forty-second Annual Meeting.......................... 453
President's Address..................................  453
Election of Officers................................. 456
Secretary's Report.....................;.......... 456
Life and Services of John Jay . George A. Stringer 465
The Statue of David............................... 480
The Mary Norton Thompson	Tablet................ 483.
Obituary Notes.................................... 488
APPENDIX B;
Bibliographical Data . . ................................ 495
A Book that Grew:	Editions of “Life of Mary
Jemison” .................................... 496
Sale of the Seneca Lands; a Reference List ...	502
Note on Matthew Bunn's “Narrative”................... 504
APPENDIX C.
Buffalo Historical	Society	Membership .............. 507
Buffalo Historical	Society	Publications ............ 5!S
Index ............................................   521
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Statue of David, Delaware Park
Portrait, Ezekiel Lane..........
Portrait, Augustus Porter . . . .
Porter Arms and Crest . . . . .
Homestead, Col. Joshua Porter . .
Portrait, Mrs. Augustus Porter .
. . Frontispiece
Faces page no
“	229
231
232
241CONTENTS.
Xlll
PAGE.
Silver Urn, Porter Homestead, Niagara Falls Faces page 258
Homestead, Judge Augustus Porter ......	“	259
First Bridge to Goat Island.................. “	' 261
Second Bridge to Goat Island....................... “	277
Gold Medal awarded for bronze statue of
David, Paris, 1900 ........................... “	480
Mary Norton Thompson Tablet........................ “	484
Portrait, Wilson S. Bissell........................ “	488
Portrait, Ellis Webster ........................... “	490
Portrait, Nelson K. Hopkins........................ “	492
Portrait, Robert B. Adam . . . .................... “	494A BUNDLE OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS
NOW FIRST PUBLISHED
EDITED BY FRANK H. SEVERANCE
Secretary of the Buffalo Historical Society
Among the unpublished manuscripts in the possession of
the Buffalo Historical Society, are a number of letters by
Thomas Jefferson. The student of American history and
letters, especially of the period in which Jefferson lived and
wrote, may find his credulity somewhat taxed by this an-
nouncement. When one reflects that next to Washington
himself, perhaps no figure in our national history—certainly
no figure in our Revolutionary history—has been the subject
of more thorough and continued study than has that of
Jefferson, the claim that at this day any of his letters exist,
unpublished, is little short of presumptuous. A brief recital
of the facts will enable the reader to judge for himself.
Something more than thirty years ago Mrs. Pauline E.
Henry of Philadelphia gave to the Buffalo Historical Society
a collection of the writings and correspondence of her grand-
father, Francis Adrian van der Kemp. Him I will presently
introduce, in propria persona; for The moment it may suffice
that he was an early settler of Central New York, a man of
culture, who enjoyed the friendship of many of the most
eminent Americans of his day. Among his papers was the
journal of a tour he had made from the Hudson to Lake2
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
Ontario in 1792. Some years after the gift of these papers
to the Buffalo Historical Society the Rev. Albert Bigelow,
then acting as its Secretary, edited two volumes of its Publi-
cations, which were issued respectively in 1879 and 1880.
He recognized the value of the narrative of the journey to
Lake Ontario and published it in the second volume. As for
the rest of the collection, it continued to repose for twenty-
four years more in the lockers of the Society, its existence
probably unknown to most of the members. A recent exam-
ination discovered, besides the voluminous manuscripts of
Judge van der Kemp, original letters written to him by John
Adams, John Quincy Adams, James Wadsworth, George
Clinton, Cornelius Beekman, Philip Schuyler, John Jay,
Tobias Lear—the private secretary of Washington—Aaron
Burr, Robert B. Livingston, Josiah Quincy, DeWitt Clinton
—an interesting and long-continued correspondence—and a
collection of fourteen letters from Thomas Jefferson, eleven
of them in Jefferson's own handwriting; and with them, also
in Jefferson's penmanship, a copy of his famous Syllabus,
originally communicated to Dr. Benjamin Rush of Phila-
delphia.
I have examined every available publication with a view
to learning whether these letters have been printed. In
“The Writings of Thomas Jefferson," edited by his son-in-
law, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, only one of them appears.
In the latest and fullest collection of Jefferson's writings,
recently edited by Paul Leicester Ford, and published in
ten volumes, I find but three, all credited to the Johnson
MSS., for which collection they were apparently copied
many years ago. As printed by Mr. Ford, these three con-
tain numerous errors, are much abbreviated, and of one of
them the year of its composition is wrongly given. A por-
tion of one other letter, copied from the Buffalo Historical
Society MSS., is used in a lately published biography of
Jefferson's correspondent.* The calendar of Jefferson
manuscripts in the Department of State at Washington enu-
* “Francis Adrian van der Kemp, 1752-1829. An autobiography, together
with extracts from his correspondence.” Edited by Helen Lincklaen Fairchild.
New York, 1903.THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
3
merates them all; but so far as I have been able to learn,
eight of these letters have never been made public. The
fourteen preserved by the Buffalo Historical Society are,
with two exceptions, wholly in Jefferson’s handwriting; with
one exception are all addressed to the same correspondent,
and range in date from 1788 to Nov. 30, 1825, but a few
months before the aged statesman laid down his pen.
Before going further, let us make the acquaintance of
this correspondent, with whom, through so long a period of
years, Thomas Jefferson found it a pleasure to exchange
views. He is well worth knowing. Indeed, it is not merely
to the perusal of a few detached letters that the reader’s
attention is invited, but to an hour in the company of some
rare spirits—an hour with Jefferson and his friends, all gen-
tlemen of talent and scholarly attainments, who delighted to
discuss together the latest new thing in scientific or philo-
sophical research, or the ethics of life on the broadest Chris-
tian basis. I cannot better introduce this correspondent than
by quoting the following letter, originally written to the
editor of the New York Statesman:
Western Region, September, 1820.
My Dear Sir:	In one of my solitary walks with my
gun on my shoulder and my dog by my side, I strayed eight
or ten miles from my lodgings; and as I was musing on the
beauties of the country, and meditating on the various and
picturesque scenes which were constantly unfolding, I was
roused from my revery by voices which proceeded from per-
sons at a short distance. In casting my eyes in that direction,
I saw two venerable men with fishing rods in their hands
angling for trout, in a copious and pellucid stream which
rolled at their feet. I was hailed by them, and requested to
approach, which I immediately did, and in exchanging salu-
tations, I found that they were men of the world, perfectly
acquainted with the courtesies of life. One of them held up
a string of fine trout, and asked me in the most obliging
manner to go home with them and partake of the fruits of
their amusement. Struck with the appearance of the
strangers, and anxious to avail myself of the pleasure of
their company, I did not hesitate to accept of this hospitable4	THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
offer, on condition that they would permit me to add the
woodcock, snipe, and wood ducks, which were suspended
from my gun, to their acquisitions. This offer was kindly
accepted. A general and desultory conversation ensued, and
we arrived in a short time at a small village, and on ascend-
ing the steps of an elegant house I was congratulated by my
new friends on my entry into Oldenbarneveld. In the course
of an hour dinner was served up, I sat down and enjoyed a
treat worthy to be compared to the Symposior of Plato. I
soon found that these venerable friends were emigrants from
Holland—that they were men of highly cultivated minds,
and polished manners—and that they had selected their habi-
tations in this place, where they enjoyed
“An elegant sufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Ease and alternate labor, useful life,
Progressive virtue and approving Heaven.”
The elder of these gentlemen had received the best educa-
tion that Holland could afford. He was brought up a clergy-
man, and at the commencement of the American Revolution,
he became its enthusiastic and energetic advocate, and wrote
an able work in vindication of its character and conduct. In
the struggles which subsequently took place in his native
country, he sided with the patriots. His friend held a high
military office during that commotion, and unites the frank-
ness of a soldier and the refinement of a gentleman with the
erudition of a scholar.
During their residence in this country, they have been
attentive to its interests. As far back as 1795, the elder
gentleman proposed an Agricultural Society for this district,
and addressed it in a luminous speech.
I was penetrated with the most profound respect, when I
witnessed the various and extensive acquirements of this
man. He is a perfect master of all the Greek and Roman
authors—skilled in Hebrew, the Syriac, and the other ori-
ental languages—with the German and French he is perfectly
acquainted—His mind is a great store-house of knowledge;
and I could perceive no deficiency, except in his not being
perfectly acquainted with the modern discoveries in naturalTHOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
5
science, which arises in a great degree from his sequestered
life. He manages an extensive correspondence with many
learned men in Europe, as well as America. And although
I had never heard of him before, yet I am happy to under-
stand that his merits are justly appreciated by some of the
first men in this country.
He has lately been complimented with a degree of Doctor
of Laws, by a celebrated university of New England. He is
now employed by the State of New York in translating its
Dutch Records—and through the munificence of David
Parish, the great banker, he will be enabled to have tran-
scripts of the records of the Dutch West India Company to
fill up an important chasm in the history of this great state.
Thus, my friend, I have made a great discovery. In a
secluded, unassuming village, I have discovered the most
learned man in America, cultivating, like our first parent, his
beautiful and spacious garden with his own hands—cultivat-
ing literature and science—cultivating the virtues which
adorn the fireside and the altar—cultivating the esteem of the
wise and the good—and blessing with the radiations of his
illumined and highly gifted mind, all who enjoy his conversa-
tion, and who are honored by his correspondence.
This letter, published over the pseudonym of “Hiberni-
cus,” was written by DeWitt Clinton. In 1820, at 51 years of
age, he was serving his first term as GovernorR He had been
in public life almost from early youth; had served in both
branches of the Legislature, and in the United States Senate
—the youngest man who had ever taken a seat in that body;
had been mayor of New York, and lieutenant-governor of the
State; an unsuccessful candidate for President of the United
States, in 1812, against Madison; and from 1809 the zealous
champion of the great canal. In the multiplicity and useful-
ness of his public services, in his natural ardor of tempera-
ment, and far-sighted devotion to the public good, one may
find in DeWitt Clinton many resemblances to Theodore
Roosevelt. In 1820 the completion of the canal was the
passion of his life. In this tour, which he described under
the pen-name of “Hibernicus,” he had crossed the State,
visiting Buffalo and Niagara Falls, and noting everywhere,6
THOMAS JEFFERSON'S LETTERS.
both as a naturalist and a man of affairs, the phenomena and
resources of the State. It was on his return from this West-
ern journey, that at the little village of Olden Barneveld, not
far from the then famous Trenton Falls, he encountered,
perhaps in the delightful way he has described, this ‘‘most
learned man in America.” One says “perhaps” ; for it is
certain that the acquaintance here described antedated this
visit. Among the Clinton letters in the Buffalo Historical
Society collection above mentioned are several of earlier date
than this visit ; “Hibernicus” was evidently taking an au-
thor’s liberty for literary effect. Two years later, in 1822,
the letters of “Hibernicus” were published in book form.*
Mr. Clinton sent a copy with his compliments to Thomas
Jefferson, which the latter acknowledged in a pleasant letter.
The “Letters of Hibernicus” have never been reprinted.
This “most learned man in America,” whom Clinton thus
discovered in 1820, had been in correspondence with Jefferson
since 1788. He was Francis Adrian van der Kemp, a Dutch
clergyman, publicist and reformer, who was a refugee from
his own country. Born in 1752, in 1766 he was a cadet in his
father’s regiment. After four years of study at Groningen,
where he impaired his health by excessive and eccentric ap-
plication, and after passing through a period of religious
sturm und stress, he was admitted to preach in the Dutch
Baptist church, his first parish being at Huyzen in Holland.
I draw these and other facts following from his manuscript
autobiography in the possession of the Buffalo Historical
Society. He became the bosom friend of the Baron van der
Capellen, a Dutch patriot of distinguished services. I cannot
stay to enter upon this nobleman’s career, but as the earliest
letter of Thomas Jefferson in the collection which follows is
addressed to him, some further delineation of his figure is
desirable.
Van der Capellen was prominent in Holland, during the
years of our Revolution, as a sympathizer with the cause of
the American patriots. When, in December, 1775—six
months before Jefferson and his associates had wrought out
* “Letters on the Natural History and Internal Resources of the State of
New York.” By Hibernicus. New York:	sold by E. Bliss & E. White, No.
128 Broadway. 1822. i2mo. pp. 224.THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
7
the Declaration of Independence—there arose in the Rid-
derschap, the legislative body, of Overyssel, the great ques-
tion of foreign policy, and of attitude towards England in her
contest with the American colonies, van der Capellen deliv-
ered a famous speech opposing the Government measure of
the “lending of the Scotch Brigade to the King of England
for service in America, as a mark of friendship.”* It was
van der Capellen who led the opposition to the demand, made
in an autograph letter from King George to William V., for
troops to be sent against the American colonies. He declared
in an impassioned speech that whatever might be the ultimate
fate of the American colonies he would always regard it as a
glory and an honor openly to have espoused their cause,
which he regarded as that of all human kind. When the
Brigade was at last lent to the King, it was upon condition
that it should not be used out.of Europe.
The Baron van der Capellen still further won the dis-
pleasure of the Court by printing and circulating his pro-
American speech, and for other forms of opposition. Van
der Kemp, meanwhile, ardently sympathizing with the cause
of the American colonies, had championed the rights of the
people of the Netherlands in many a seditious speech, sermon
and pamphlet. He resigned his pastorate and took up the
sword. He underwent a long trial for his writings and was
acquitted; but his activity in the Patriot cause against the
house of Orange resulted in the confiscation of his property.
The climax came in his attempted defense of the city of Wyk,
at the head of a small band of burghers. The city being
invested by some 1500 Prussian troops, they had to open the
gates and surrender. Van der Kemp was for a time detained
in prison, but with his associates was promised his freedom
* In the annals of hired mercenaries, this Scotch Brigade in the service of
the Dutch is not without distinction. John Evelyn has recorded in his famous
Diary, that on July 18, 1685, he “went to see the muster of the six Scotch and
English regiments whom the Prince of Orange had lately sent to his Majesty
out of Holland upon this rebellion, but which were now returning, there having
been no occasion for their use.” Those who know their Waverley will recall,
in the story of “My Aunt Margaret’s Mirror” (“Chronicles of the Canongate”)
the duel between Sir Philip Forester and Captain Falconer “of the Scotch
Dutch, as they are called.” This brigade of Scotch auxilliaries was in quarters
at Rotterdam, at the period of the story.8
THOMAS JEFFERSON'S LETTERS.
if they would indemnify the State for losses incurred, as it
was officially termed, during their usurpation. Practically
ruined, and thoroughly discouraged, van der Kemp resolved
to find an asylum in the American colonies, the course of
whose successful revolution he had watched with so much
satisfaction.
It was the 9th of December, 1787, when he was released
from prison. Twelve days later, arrived at Antwerp, he
wrote to John Adams, the Minister of the United States at
the Court of St. James. Mr. Adams replied as follows:
London, Jan. 6, 1788.
Sir:	As I had suffered much anxiety on your account
during your Imprisonment, your Letter of the 29. of last
month gave me some relief. I rejoiced to find that you was
at liberty and out of danger.
inclosed are two Letters, which I hope may be of Service
to you.—living is now cheaper, than it has been, in America,
and I doubt not you will succeed very well.—You will be
upon your guard, among the Dutch People of New York,
respecting religious Principles, untill you have prudently
informed yourself of the State of Parties there.—if you
should not find every Thing to your Wish in New York, I
think in Pensilvania, you cannot fail. But New York is
the best Place to go to, at first. I wish you a pleasant
Voyage, and am sir your most
obedient servant
John Adams.
The ReVd Mr. Vanderkemp.
This friendly letter was the beginning of a correspon-
dence that lasted until the death of Adams.
Through the Baron van der Capellen the good offices of
Jefferson, then our Minister to France, were solicited.
Jefferson, temporarily away from his post, replied as fol-
lows :
Rotterdam Mar 8, 1788
It was not in my power to write the letter for Mr. Van
der Kemp the evening before I left Paris: and it is not till I
arrive here that I have found one moment of leisure, notTHOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
9
knowing in what state of our Union he may chuse to settle I
am not able to know to what persons he may be usefully &
directly addressed. I give him therefore a letter to Mr.
Madison, my most particular friend, now a member of Con-
gress at New York. Whenever M. van der Kemp shall have
made up his mind as to his settlement in America, Mr.
Madison will be able to give & to procure for him the best
introductory letters possible, his influence will be zealously
used & omnipotent in it's effect. I am happy, while serving
a worthy man, to have the additional gratification of doing
what is pleasing to you, & to assure you of those sentiments
of respect & attachment with which I have the honor to be,
Sir, your most obedient & most humble servant
Th: Jefferson.
Baron de Capellen.
Mrs. van der Kemp, who with her children had left
Holland with passports made out for her security in her
maiden name of Vos, had looked after the removal of such
of their furniture and books as it was possible to take to
America. She joined her husband in Antwerp in March,
1788, in which month they sailed from Havre, reaching New
York in May. Letters of introduction to eminent Americans
secured for him a courteous and cordial reception in distin-
guished society, but did not go far towards establishing him
in a way of living. After a visit at Mt. Vernon, and some
weeks of travel and visiting, he bought a farm near Kingston
in Ulster Co., New York. He was naturalized in 1789, and
in 1792 made a journey to Lake Ontario, the narrative of
which, from his original manuscript, was first published by
the Buffalo Historical Society, as above mentioned.
During the first years of his American residence Mr. van
der Kemp made some effort to recover his lost property in
Holland. He appealed to President Washington; in reply
he received the following letter from Thomas Jefferson:
New York, 31st March, 1790.
Sir:	The letter has been duly received which you ad-
dressed to the President of the United States, praying his
Interference with the Government of the United Nether-10
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
lands, on the Subject of Property you left there on your
coming to America. I have it in charge to inform you that
the United States have at present no Minister at the Hague,
and consequently no channel through which they could
express their concern for your Interests. However willing
too we are to receive and protect all persons who come hither
with the Property they bring, perhaps it may be doubted
how far it would be expedient to engage ourselves for that
they leave behind, or for any other Matter retrospective to
their becoming Citizens. In the present Instance we hope
that no Confiscation of the Residuum of your Property left
in the United Netherlands having taken place, the Justice of
that Government will leave you no occasion for that Inter-
ference which you have been pleased to ask from this.
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your most obedient
& most h’ble servt
Th: Jefferson
Mr. VandSrkemp.
The years that followed were full of struggle with the
unaccustomed conditions of a new country, to which Mr. van
der Kemp brought complete devotion, but little of the re-
sourcefulness and conquering spirit of the typical pioneer.
In 1794 he settled on the banks of Oneida Lake; was made
an assistant justice of the peace—whence his subsequent
title of “Judge”—and organized an Agricultural Society for
the Western District of New York. In 1797 he removed to
Olden Barneveld—later Trenton, in Oneida County, but
recently renamed Barneveld. Here he built him a modest
house, still standing; made a precarious existence for his
family by gardening, but finding his chief pleasure in his
books, in the constant application of his pen, and in a vol-
uminous correspondence with John Adams, Thomas Jeffer-
son and other statesmen and philosophers of his day. Here
too he enjoyed the association of Col. Adam Gerard Mappa,
a Dutch patriot who had been exiled from Delft, and who,
coming to America, became agent for the Holland Land
Company. At Olden Barneveld Col. Mappa built a fine11
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
stone mansion in which he passed his last years. The house
is still standing, an excellent example of domestic architec-
ture of the Georgian period.* It was undoubtedly Col.
Mappa who was Judge van der Kemp’s companion on the
fishing tour when De Witt Clinton met them, as described
in his letter, above printed.
It was during the years that followed, from 1816 to 1825,
that there passed between this sequestered Dutch savant and
the Sage of Monticello the correspondence which follows—
a correspondence which, as stated above, appears to be for
the most part unpublished. Their earlier letters, at least on
Jefferson’s part, had been chiefly of a formal and official
character; but their minds had a natural kinship in their
fondness for philosophical speculation. Van der Kemp,
among his numerous literary undertakings, projected or
accomplished, had proposed to write a history of Christi-
anity, or a life of Christ. Jefferson, to whom was sometimes
attributed a most unorthodox breadth of view, especially for
his espousal of some of the principles of Thomas Paine, had
expressed great interest in this work, and had sent to Judge
van der Kemp a copy of his Syllabus. The Syllabus itself is
to be found in the published collections of Jefferson’s writ-
ings. In the collection under notice is contained Jefferson’s
own manuscript copy, and also a copy, in his writing, of the
following letter, which Jefferson originally sent with the
Syllabus to Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia:
Apr. 21, 1803
Dear Sir:	In some of the delightful conversations
with you in the evenings of 1798-99, the Christian religion
was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you that one
day or other I would give you my views of it. they are the
result of a life of enquiry and reflection, and very different
from that Anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who
know nothing of my opinions, to the corruptions of Chris-
tianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts
of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in
which he wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to his
doctrines, in preference to all others, ascribing to himself
Now owned by Mr. William S. Wicks of Buffalo.12
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
every human excellence, & believing he never claimed any
other, at the intervals since these conversations, when I
could justifiably abstract myself from other affairs, this
subject has been under my contemplation: but the more I
considered it, the more it expanded beyond the measure of
either my time or information, in the moment of setting out
on a late journey, I received from Dr. Priestly* his little
treatise of “Socrates & Jesus compared/’ this being a sec-
tion of the general view I had taken of the field, it became a
subject of reflection, while on the road, and unoccupied
otherwise, the result was, to arrange in my mind a Syllabus,
or Outline of such an Estimate of the comparative merits of
Christianity as I wished to see executed by someone of more
leisure and information for the task, than myself, this I
now send you, as the only discharge of my promise I
can probably ever execute, and in confiding it to you, I
know it will not be exposed to the malignant perversions of
those who make, of every word on the subject of religion, a
text for misrepresentations and calumnies. I am moreover
averse to the communication of my religious tenets to the
public; because it would countenance the presumption of
those who have endeavored to draw them before that tri-
bunal, & to seduce public opinion to erect itself into that
inquisition over the rights of conscience, which the laws
have so justly proscribed, it behoves every man who values
liberty of conscience for himself, tp resist invasions of it in
the case of others, it behoves him, too, in his own case, to
give no example of concession, betraying the common right
of independent opinion, by answering questions of faith,
which the laws have left between god and himself.
This letter, like those that follow, exhibits some of Mr.
Jefferson’s peculiarities as a letter writer. He often—it
would seem, usually—began his sentences with a small letter.
He sometimes used forms of spelling not now accepted; his
penmanship, often minute and delicately precise, was always
* Joseph Priestley, scientist and independent churchman. The treatise al-
luded to by Jefferson is perhaps an early draft of what appeared in 1804, the
year of Priestley’s death, with the title, “The Doctrines of Heathen Philosophy
compared with those of Revelation.”THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
13
as legible as was the thought clear and definite; while his
concluding phrases were an example in high degree of an
epistolary courtesy then in vogue, but now, alas, largely
gone out of use.
The Syllabus, which occasioned much of the correspon-
dence between Jefferson and Judge van der Kemp, and is
perhaps essential to an understanding of the letters, is here
printed from Mr. Jefferson’s own manuscript, the peculiari-
ties of the original, in spelling and arrangement, being pre-
served as far as possible:
Syllabus of an Estimate of the doctrines of Jesus com-
pared with those of others. In a comparative view of the
ethics of the enlightened nations of antiquity, of the Jews, &
of Jesus, no notice should be taken of the corruptions of
reason among the antients, to wit, the idolatry & superstition
of their vulgar, nor of the corruptions of Christianity by the
over-learned among its professors. Let a just view be taken
of the moral principles inculcated by the most esteemed of
the sects of antient philosophy or of their individuals; par-
ticularly Pythagoras, Socrates, Epicurus, Cicero, Epictetus,
Seneca, Antoninus.
I. Philosophers, i. Their precepts related chiefly to our-
selves, & the government of those passions which, unre-
strained, would disturb our tranquility of mind.* in
this branch of philosophy they were really great.
2. In developing our duty to others they were short
and defective. They embraced indeed the circles of
kindred and friends, Sl inculcated patriotism or the love
of our country in the aggregate, as a primary obliga-
tion : towards our neighbors & countrymen they taught
justice, but scarcely viewed them as within the circle of
* To explain, I will exhibit the heads of Seneca’s & Cicero’s philosophical
works, the most extensive of any we have received from the antients. of io
heads in Seneca, 7 relate to ourselves, towit, deira, Consolatio, de tranquilitate,
de constantia sapientis, de otio sapientis, de vita beata, de brevitate vitae. 2 re-
late to others, de dementia, de beneficiis, and 1 relates to the government of the
world, de providentia. of 11 tracts of Cicero, 5 respect ourselves, viz. de
finibus, Tusculanes, Academica, Paradoxa, de Senectute. 1 de officiis partly to
ourselves, partly to others. 1 de amicitia relates to others, and 4 are on dif-
ferent subjects, to wit, de natura, de orum, de divinatione, de fato, and
Somnium Scipionis. [Note by Jefferson.]14
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
benevolence:	still less have they inculcated peace,
charity & love to all our fellow men, or embraced with
benevolence the whole family of mankind.
II.	Jews. i. their system was deism, that is, the belief in
one only god. but their ideas of him & of his attributes
were degrading & injurious.
2. their ethics were not only imperfect, but often
irreconcilable with the sound dictates of reason &
morality, as they respect intercourse with those around
us. and repulsive & anti-social, as respecting other
nations, they needed reformation therefore in an emi-
nent degree.
III.	Jesus. In this state of things among the Jews, Jesus
appeared, his parentage was obscure; his condition
poor; his education null; his natural endowments
great; his life correct & innocent; he was meek, benev-
olent, patient, firm, disinterested and of the sublimest
eloquence.
The disadvantages under which his doctrines appear are
remarkable.
1.	like Socrates & Epictetus, he wrote nothing
himself;
2.	but he had not, like them, a Xenophon or Arrian
to write for him. on the contrary, all the learned of his
country, entrenched in it’s power & riches, were opposed
to him, lest his labors should undermine their ad-
vantages ;
and the committing to writing his life and doctrines,
fell on the most unlettered & ignorant of men; who
wrote too from memory, and not till long after the
transactions had passed.
3.	according to the ordinary fate of those who
attempt to enlighten & reform mankind, he fell an early
victim to that jealousy & combination of the altar & the
throne at about 33 years of age; his reason having not
yet attained the maximum of ifs energy;
nor the course of his preaching, which was but of about
3 years, presented occasions of developing a compleat
system of moral duties.THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
15
4.	hence the doctrines which he really delivered
were defective as a whole.
and fragments only of what he did deliver have come to
us, mutilated, mistated, & often unintelligible.
5.	they have been still more disfigured by the cor-
ruptions of schismatising followers, who have found
an interest in sophisticating & perverting the simple
doctrines he taught by engrafting on them the mysti-
cisms of a Graecian Sophist, frittering them into subtle-
ties, & obscuring them with jargon, until they have
caused good men to reject the whole in disgust, & to
view Jesus himself as an impostor.
Notwithstanding these disadvantages, a system of
morals is presented to us which if filled up in the true
style & spirit of the rich fragments he left us, would be
the most perfect and sublime that has ever been taught
by man.
The question of his being a member of the godhead, or in
direct communication with it, claimed for him by some
of his followers and denied by others is foreign to the
present view, which is merely an estimate of the intrin-
sic merit of his doctrines.
1.	He corrected the Deism of the Jews, confirming
them in their belief of one only god, and giving them
juster notions of his attributes and government.
2.	His moral doctrines, relating to kindred &
friends were more pure & perfect than those of the most
correct of the philosophers, and greatly more so than
those of the Jews.
and they went far beyond both in inculcating universal
philanthropy.
not only to kindred & friends, to neighbors & country-
men, but
to all mankind, gathering all into one family, under the
bonds of love, charity, peace, common wants, & com-
mon aids, a development of this head will evince the
peculiar superiority of the system of Jesus over all
others.16
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
3.	The precepts of philosophy, and of the Hebrew
code, laid hold of actions only.
he pushed his scrutinies into the heart of man; erected
his tribunal in the region of his thoughts;
and purified the waters at the fountain head.
4.	He taught emphatically the doctrine of a future
state which was doubted or disbelieved by the Jews;
and wielded it with efficacy, as an important incentive
supplementory to the other motives to moral conduct.
This estimate of the doctrines of Jesus was formulated,
it will be noticed, during Jefferson’s first term as President—
in the year, it so happens, when he accomplished the pur-
chase of Louisiana from Napoleon. It was thirteen years
later, when he had finished his public career and was living
in retirement at Monticello, that he communicated it to
Judge van der Kemp, apparently in compliance with a re-
quest, with the following letter:
Poplar Forest near Lynchburg Apr. 25, T6.
Sir : Your favor of Mar. 24 was handed to me just as I
was setting out on a journey of time and distance, which
will explain the date of this both as to time and place. The
Syllabus, which is the subject of your letter, was addressed
to a friend to whom I had promised a more detailed view,
but finding I should never have time for that, I sent him
what I thought should be the outlines of such a work, the
same subject entering sometimes into the correspondence
between Mr. Adams and myself, I sent him a copy of it.
The friend to whom it had been first addressed dying soon
after, I asked from his family the return of the original as a
confidential communication, which they kindly sent me. so
that no copy of it but that in possession of Mr. Adams, now
exists out of my own hands. I have used this caution, lest
it should get out in connection with my name; as I was un-
willing to draw on myself a swarm of insects, whose buz is
more disquieting than their bite, as an abstract thing and
without any intimation from what quarter derived I can
have no objection to it’s being committed to the considera-
tion of the world. I believe it may even do good by pro-THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
17
ducing discussion and finally a true view of the merits of
this great reformer, persuing the same idea after writing
the Syllabus I made, for my own satisfaction, an Extract
from the Evangelists of the texts of his morals, selecting
those only whose style and spirit proved them genuine, and
his own; and they are as distinguishable from the matter in
which they are imbedded as diamonds in dunghills, a more
precious morsel of ethics was never seen, it was too hastily
done, however, being the work of one or two evenings only,
while I lived at Washington, overwhelmed with other busi-
ness; and it is my intention to go over it again at more
leisure, this shall be the work of the ensuing winter. I gave
it the title of “the Philosophy of Jesus extracted from the
text of the Evangelists.” to this Sylabus and Extract, if a
history of his life can be added, written with the same view
of the subject, the world will see, after the fogs shall be dis-
pelled, in which for 14 centuries he has been enveloped by
Jugglers to make money of him, when the genuine character
shall be exhibited, which they have dressed up in the rags of
an Imposter, the world, I say, will at length see the immortal
merit of this first of human Sages. I rejoice that you think
of undertaking this work, it is one I have long wished to see
written on the scale of a Laertius or a Nepos, nor can it be a
work of labor, or of volume, for his journeyings from Judea
to Samaria, and Samaria to Galilee, do not cover much coun-
try; and the incidents of his life require little research,
they are all at hand, and need only to be put into human
dress; noticing such only as are within the physical laws of
nature, and offending none by a denial, or even a mention,
of what is not. If the Syllabus and Extract (which is
short) either in substance, or at large, are worth a place
under the same cover with your biography, they are at your
service. I ask one only condition, that no possibility shall
be admitted of my name being even intimated with the pub-
lication. if done in England, as you seem to contemplate,
there will be less likelihood of my being thought of. I shall
be much gratified to learn that you pursue your intention of
writing the life of Jesus, and pray to accept the assurances
of roy great respect and esteem.	Th . jEFFERS0N.18
THOMAS JEFFERSON'S LETTERS.
Mr. van der Kemp appears to have lost no time in send-
ing a copy—happily, not the original which Jefferson had
confided to him—to a London editor; for it was published,
October, 1816, in the Monthly Repository of Theology and
General Literature. He seems to have informed Mr. Jef-
ferson of the disposition made of it, for a few weeks later
he received the following letter:
Monticello July 30. 16.
Dear Sir: Your favor of July 14 is received, and I am
entirely satisfied with the disposition you have made of the
Syllabus, keeping my name unconnected with it, as I am
sure you have done. I shall really be gratified to see a full
and fair examination of the ground it takes. I believe it to
be the only ground on which reason and truth can take their
stand, and that only against which we are told the gates of
hell shall not finally prevail, yet I have little expectation
that the affirmative can be freely maintained in England,
we know it could not here, for altho* we have freedom of
religious opinion by law, we are yet under the inquisition of
public opinion: and in England it would have both law and
public opinion to encounter, the love of peace, and a want
of either time or taste for these disquisitions induce silence
on my part as to the contents of this paper, and all explana-
tions & discussions which might arise out of it; and this
must be my apology for observing the same silence on the
questions of your letter. I leave the thing to the evidence of
the books on which it claims to be founded, and with which
I am persuaded you are more familiar than myself. Altho’
I rarely waste time in reading on theological subjects, as
mangled by our Pseudo-Christians, yet I can readily suppose
Basanistos may be amusing, ridicule is the only weapon
which can be used against unintelligible propositions, ideas
must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no
man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity, it is the mere
Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the
priests of Jesus, if it could be understood it would not an-
swer their purpose, their security is in their faculty of
shedding darkness, like the scuttle-fish, thro’ the element in
which they move, and making it impenetrable to the eye of aTHOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
19
pursuing enemy, and there they will skulk, until some ra-
tional creed can occupy the void which the obliteration of
their duperies would leave in the minds of our honest and
unsuspecting brethren, whenever this shall take place, I be-
lieve that Christianism may be universal & eternal. I salute
you with great esteem and respect.
Th: Jefferson.
Mr. Vanderkemp.
It is evident that at this time Judge van der Kemp con-
templated a great work on Christian philosophy, stimulated,
no doubt, by Jefferson’s interest and sympathetic sugges-
tions. A few months later this message came to Olden
Barneveld:
Poplar Forest near Lynchburg Nov. 24. 16.
Dear Sir : I receive your favor of Nov. 1 at this place
at which I make occasionally a temporary residence; and I
have perused with great satisfaction the magnificent skeleton
you inclose me of what would indeed be a compleat Encyclo-
pedia of Christian philosophy, it’s execution would require
a Newton in physics a Locke in metaphysics, and one who
to a possession of all history, adds a judgment and candor
to estimate it’s evidence and credibility in proportion to the
character of facts it presents, and he should have a long life
before him. I fear we shall not see this canvas filled in our
day, and that we must be contented to have all this light
blaze upon us when the curtain shall be removed which lim-
its our mortal sight. I had however persuaded myself to
hope that we should have from your own pen, one branch of
this great work, the mortal biography of Jesus, this can-
didly and rationally written, without any regard to sectarian
dogmas, would reconcile to his character a weighty multi-
tude who do not properly estimate it, and would lay the
foundation of a genuine Christianity.
You ask if I have ever published anything but the Notes
on Virginia? nothing but official State papers, except a
pamphlet at the commencement of our difference with Eng-
land & on that subject and another at the close of the revo-
lution proposing the introduction of our decimal money, of20
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
neither of which do I possess a copy.—Should a curiosity to
see our part of the union tempt your friend Dr. Willoughby
to come as far as Monticello, I shall be very happy to receive
him there and to shew my respect for his worth as well as
for your recommendation of it. Accept the assurance of
my great esteem and consideration.
Th: Jefferson.
Mr. Vanderkemp.
Some report evidently reached Mr. Jefferson which made
him fearful lest his identity as author of the Syllabus should
become known. It stirred him to write in a vein far less
placid than was his wont:
Monticello, Mar. 16. 17.
Dear Sir :	I learn with real concern that the editor of
the Theological Repository possesses the name of the author
of the Syllabus, altho’ he coyly witholds it for the present
he will need but a little coaxing to give it out and to let loose
upon him the genus irritabile vatum, there and here, be it
so. I shall receive with folded arms all their "hacking &
hewing. I shall not ask their passport to a country which
they claim indeed as theirs, but which was made, I trust, for
moral man, and not for dogmatising venal jugglers. Should
they however, instead of abuse, appeal to the tribunal of
reason and fact, I shall really be glad to see on what point
they will begin their attack, for it expressly excludes all
question of supernatural character or endowment. I am in
hopes it may find advocates as well as opposers, and produce
for us a temperate & full developement. as to myself, I
shall be a silent auditor.
Mr. Adams’s book on Feudal law, mentioned in your
letter of Feb. 2. I possessed, and it is now in the library at
Washington which I ceded to Congress, in the same letter
you ask if I can explain the phrase “il est digne de porter le
ruban gris de lin.” I do not know that I can. gris de lin is
the French designation of the colour which the English call
grizzle, the ruban gris de lin may be the badge of some asso-
ciation, unknown, I acknolege, to me but to which the author
from which you quote it may have some allusion. I shall be• THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
21
happy to learn that you pursue your purpose as to the life
of the great reformer, and more so in seeing it accomplished.
I return the Repository with thanks for the opportunity of
seeing it, and I pray you to accept my friendly and respect-
ful salutations.
Th: Jefferson.
Mr. Jefferson appears to have been reassured without
delay, for in May of that year he wrote to Judge van der
Kemp as follows:
Monticello, May i. 17.
Dear Sir :	I thank you for your letter of Mar. 30. my
mind is entirely relieved by your assurance that my name did
not cross the Atlantic in connection with the Syllabus, the
suggestion then of the Editor of the Theological Repository
was like those of our newspaper editors who pretend they
know everything, but in discretion will not tell us, while we
see that they give us all they know and a great deal more. I
am now at the age of quietism, and wish not to be kicked by
the asses of hierophantism. I hope you will find’ time to take
up this subject, there are some new publications in Ger-
many which would greatly aid it. to wit,
Augustus translation & Commentary on the 7. Catholic
epistles, in which he has thrown great light on the opinions
of the primitive Christians & on the innovations of St. Paul
printed at Lemgo 1808. in 2. vols. 8vo.
Palmer’s Paul and Gamaliel. Giessen 1806.
Munter’s history of dogmas. Gottengen 1806. showing
the formation of the dogmatical system of Christianity.
Augusti’s Manual of the history of Christian dogmas.
Leipsic 1805.
Marheinacke’s Manual of Ecclesiastical history. Er-
langen 1806. developing the simple ideas of the first Chris-
tians, and the causes & progress of the subsequent changes.
I have not written for these books, because I suppose
they are in German which I do not read; but I expect they
are profoundly learned on their subjects.
In answer to your enquiries respecting Rienzi, the best
account I have met with of this poor counterfeit of the
Gracchi, who seems to have had enthusiasm & eloquence,22
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS. .
without either wisdom or firmness, is in the 5th & 6th vols.
of Sigismondi. he quotes for his authority chiefly the
Frammenti di Storia Romana d’anonimo contemporaneo. of
the monk Borselaro I know nothing, and my books are all
gone to where they will be more useful, & my memory wan-
ing under the hand of time.—I think Bekker might have
demanded a truce from his antagonists, on the question of a
hell, by desiring them first to fix it’s geography, but where-
ever it be, it is certainly the best patrimony of the church,
and procures them in exchange the solid acres of this world.
I salute you with entire esteem and respect.
Th: Jefferson.*
A brief note of slight consequence—save that it illus-
trates Mr. Jefferson’s studied courtesy in small things—fol-
lows :
Th: Jefferson asks the favor of Mr. Venderkemp to
make his thanks acceptable, if occasion should offer to the
worthy lady miss Halshoff who has been so kind as through
him to send him her interesting Republican Manuel, it is
replete with the soundest principles of human independence,
and I commiserate her sufferings in so holy a cause, gloomy
however as is the present appearance of it’s depression, it
will rise again, and the information and spirit excited in
Europe will persevere until governments shall be established
in it’s various countries in which the people will have a rep-
resentative & controuling branch, he salutes Mr. Vander-
kemp with constant esteem & respect.
Monticello Dec. 25, 17.
The next letter in the collection follows:
Monticello Feb. 9. 18.
Dear Sir : Your favor of Jan. 7. has been some time
at hand, age, which lethargises all our movements, makes
me a slow correspondent also, and revolts me strongly from
the labors of the writing table, reading when I can be in-
dulged in it, is the elysium of my present life.
You suppose I may possess essays and scraps, on various
* This and the preceding letter are given by Ford, X., pp. 77, 78, but with
some errors, as shown by comparison with the Jefferson MSS.THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
23
subjects committed to paper, and lying buried in my desk.
No, sir, I have nothing of the sort, my life has been one of
unremitting labor, and that in a line entirely foreign to the
sciences, it was my lot to be cast into being at the period of
the commencement of a political convulsion, which has con-
tinued since to agitate the whole civilized globe, that com-
mencement was in my own country, and under circum-
stances which placed in a state of requisition all the energies
of the body and mind of every citizen. it’s necessities
dragged me from a life of retirement and contemplation, to
which my natural propensities strongly inclined, to one of
action and contention, and in the field of politics from which
I was most averse, in this I have never had leisure to turn
to right or left, to indulge for a moment in speculative medi-
tations, much less to commit them to writing.
I return you the paper on incestuous marriages, in which
you have proved beyond question that neither under the
Mosaic, nor natural law is a man forbidden to take in second
marriage the sister of his first, early in our revolution the
legislature of Virginia thought it necessary that their code
of laws should be revised, and made homogeneous with
their new situation, this task was committed to mr. Wythe,
mr. Pendleton and myself, among others, the law regu-
lating marriages came under consideration, we thought it
most orthodox and correct to copy into our bill the very
words of the Levitical law. after continuing in force for
some years, the permission to marry a wife’s sister was
thought to produce in practice jealousies and heartburnings
in families, and even temptations to crime; and it was there-
fore repealed, not as in itself intrinsic guilt, but inexpedient
as leading to guilt, this depends much on the family habits
and intercourse of each country.
Not having replaced my set of the Philosophical trans-
actions, I am not able to turn to the paper from which you
quote the words 'the movements of nature are in a never-
ending circle’ etc. but I suppose they were in that which I
wrote on the discovery of the bones of the Megalonyx. this
animal was pronounced to be extinct, but I thought it might
be doubted whether any particular species of animals of24	THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
vegetables, which ever did exist, has ceased to exist, this
doubt is suggested by the consideration that if one species of
organized matter might become extinct, so might also a 2d.
a 3d. and so on to the last: and thus all organized bodies
might disappear, and the earth be left without life or intel-
lect, for the habitation of which it is so peculiarly prepared,
a particular species of unorganized matter might disappear
for a while, and be restored by the fortuitous concourse &
and combination of the elements which compose it, but or-
ganized being cannot be restored by accidental aggregation
of it’s elements, it is reproduced only by it’s seed, against
it’s loss therefore nature has made ample provision, by a
profusion of seed, some of which, however inauspiciouslv
scattered, may be sure to take effect, thus, the tree produces
a seed, and the seed reproduces a tree, a bird produces an
egg, and the egg a bird, an animal or vegetable body, after
thus reproducing more or fewer individuals of it's own
species, perishes, is decomposed, and it’s particles of matter
pass into other forms, not one is lost or left unimployed.
the Universe is now made up of exactly the same particles
of matter, not a single one more or less, which it had in it’s
original creation, so sung truly the poetical disciple of
Pythagoras:
‘Nec perit in tanto quicquam (mihi crede) mundo.’
this is the never-ending circle in which I observed that
animal and vegetable natures are circulated and secured
against failure thro’ indefinite time.
Extending our views to the heavenly bodies, we know
that certain movements of theirs, heretofore deemed anoma-
lous and erratic, have been considered as indications of dis-
order, affecting the equilibrium of the powers of impulse
and attraction which restrain them in their orbits, and
threatening consequently their crush & destruction in time,
yet De la Place has now demonstrated that these supposed
irregularities are strictly in obedience to the general laws of
motion, that they are periodical and secular; and that these
members of the Universe also may continue moving in their
orbits thro’ indefinite time, yet I have not seen this demon-
stration of a possibility condemned by orthodoxy either ofTHOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.	25
religion or philosophy, it’s only result is that if a time is to
be when these bodies shall be brought to an end, it will not
be from any defect in the laws of their continuance, but by
another 'Sta Sol’ of the Creator, by an arrest of their motion
from the hand which first impressed it. nor indeed do I
know that a belief in the eternity of the world is against the
sound doctrines of the Christian faith, the eternity of two
beings is not more incomprehensible to us than that of one.
the eternity of the Universe, & that of the being who regu-
lates it’s order, preserves it’s course, and superintends the
action of all it’s parts, may stand together, as well as either
of them alone, and the most eminent divines have consid-
ered this coeternity as not inconsistent with the relation of
the two beings as- Cause and effect, where effect is produced
by motion of parts, there they admit there must be priority &
posteriority, but where effect is the result of will alone, they
are simultaneous and coeval, and they maintain that the
Creator must have willed the creation of the world from all
eternity, the words of St. Thomas Aquinas are 'Constat
quod quicquid Deus nunc vult quod sit, ab aeterno voluit
quod sit.—et necessarium videtur quod ab aeterno creaturam
in esse produxerit/ again 'quod enim primo dicitur, agens
[erasure in original] de necessitate praecedere effectum qui
per suam operationem sit, verum est in his que agunt aliquid
per motum; quia effectus non est nisi in termino motus;
agens auteiri necesse est esse etiam cum motus incipit. in
his autem [erasure in original] quae in instanti agunt hoc
non est necesse/----'deus ab aeterno fuit jam omnipotens,
sicut cum produxit mundum; ab aeterno potuit producere
mundum: consequentia certissima est, et aritecedens veris-
simum/------'si mundus non potuisset ab aeterno esse, ex eo
foret, quia non possunt esse in unico instanti simul causa et
effectus, producens et productum. sed hoc falsum est/----
potuit ergo, cum causa aeterna effectus coaeternus esse/
The sentiment you quote however neither necessarily in-
volves this course of Cosmogony, nor does it imply any
principle of the pantheism which you apprehend it might
admit.
I have said so much on this subject that I am afraid youTHOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
will imagine I have been defending an opinion. not at all.
it is a doubt only which I have been vindicating from the
charge of puerility imputed to it by a'writer,* whose greater
ripeness of judgment was offended by the doubt, for it was
expressed merely as a doubt whether any race of animals
which ever did exist, has ceased to exist? for example the
Sphynx, Cyclops, Centaur, Satyr, Faun, Mermaid, dragon,
Phoenix? Cuvier indeed has proved to us by anatomising
their remains, that several animals have existed, now un-
known to us. but then follows the 2d inquiry, is it known
that they are extinct? have all parts of the earth been suf-
ficiently explored to authorize a confident assertion? e. g.
the interior parts of N. & S. America, the interior of Africa,
the polar regions Arctic & Antarctic, the Austrasian divi-
sion of the earth,for we are no longer to talk of it’s quarters?
of this latter division, a small portion of it’s margin only has
been explored: and yet what singular and unknown animals
have been found there! had a skeleton of one of these floated
to our shores half a century ago, it would have been enrolled
in the catalogue of ‘species extinct.’
I think therefore still, there is reason to doubt whether
any species of animal has become extinct; that this does not
involve as a necessary consequence the eternity of the world;
and, if it did, "that we are authorised by the fathers \pf our
faith to say there would be nothing unlawful in this conse-
quence, and I have quoted the authorities of Theologians,
rather than of Philosophers, because the former consider
these as their natural enemies, for these quotations I am
indebted to M. D’Argens.
You ask whether I have seen Cuvier’s essai sur la theorie
de la terre, or Brieslau’s introduction a la geologie? I have
seen neither: and in truth I am disposed to place all these
hypothetical theories of the earth in a line with Ovid’s
‘Ante mare et terras et quod legit omnia coelum
Unus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe,
Quern dixere Chaos; nidis indigestaque moles/
for all their theories require the original hand of a Creator:
& if his intervention is necessary, why should we suppose
* Dr.
[So in original MS’.]THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
27
him to throw together a rude and indigested mass of matter,
and leave it in chaos, unfinished, for millions of years, to
work it’s own way by mechanical fusions and aggregations,
and by chemical affinities and fermentations into mineral
forms, and animal and vegetable life? could not he, with
the same ease, have created the earth at once, in all the per-
fection in which it now exists? and were the Genesis of the
earth by Moses tradition, not revelation, instead of employ-
ing the Creator in detail thro’ six days of labor, in one of
which he says ‘let there be light and there was light/ it
would have better filled our ideas of his exalted power and
wisdom, to have summed the whole in the single fiat of ‘Let
the world be, and it was/
I am afraid that a letter, extended to such inordinate
length, will make you doubt the truth with which it began,
that I am averse to the labors of the writing-table, yet it is
a real truth, but my subject sometimes runs away with me,
without controul or discretion, until my reader as well as my-
self, is ready to welcome with gladness the valedictory assur-
ance of my great esteem and respect.
Th: Jefferson.
The letter which follows, like the last, contains a good
deal of self-revelation. At the date of its composition
Jefferson had passed his 77th birthday. The inevitable
weariness of age shows itself in his correspondence. He
was still devoted to the promotion of the university which he
had founded; was still faithful in letter-writing to his
friends; but as the reader doubtless knows, his last years
were burdened by financial loss and embarrassment, and care
was his companion to the end:
Monticello July 9. 20.
Dear Sir: Your favor of June 25 is just now received,
and I learn from it with much regret that too industrious an
use of your eyes has seriously affected them, rest, during
the visit you contemplate to Montezillo* may perhaps re-
store them. I envy you that visit, or rather lament that I
have not wings to participate in it. I owe my friend there a
* Residence of John Adams, Quincy, Mass.28
THOMAS JEFFERSON'S LETTERS.
letter or two, not for want of inclination to pay the debt, but
from a stiffening wrist, the consequence of an antient dislo-
cation, which renders writing slow and painful, our fathers
taught us 'never to put off to tomorrow what can be done
today.' but this disorganization of the writing hand is lead-
ing me to an inversion of the maxim, by never writing today
what can be put off to tomorrow. Your conjecture that the
scrutoires of M. Adams and myself may contain useful
things is probably half true. Mr. Adams's I hope does;
but mine I assure you does not. my life has been one of
meer business, the duties of the various offices in which I
have acted, have employed my whole time too fully, to admit
any collateral pursuit, the transactions of these offices have
indeed been embodied chiefly in the letters they required me
to write, but to look for anything valuable in that pile,
would be seeking a needle in a haystack.
I trust with you that the genuine and simple religion of
Jesus will one day be restored: such as it was preached and
practiced by himself, very soon after his death it became
muffled up in mysteries, and has been ever since kept in con-
cealment from the vulgar eye. to penetrate and dissipate
these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strength-
ened by education, enlightened by its torch the disciples of
religion will see that, instead of abandoning their reason, as
the superstitions of every country requires, and taking for
the will of their god whatever their own hierophants declare
it to be (and no two of them declaring it alike) that god has
confided to them the talent of reason, not to hide under a
bushel, but to render him account of it's employment. I hope
that day of restoration is to come, altho’ I shall not live to
see it, and to my prayers that it may come soon, I add those
for your health and happiness.	Th . jEFFERS0N
The note which follows, and the letter dated New York,
31st March, 1790, are the only ones in the collection not
wholly in Jefferson's handwriting:
Monticello, Aug. 3. 23.
Dear Sir: Your kind letter of May 26. has laid too
long by me awaiting an answer, the truth is that the diffi-THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
29
culty of writing has obliged me even when in better health
to withdraw much from correspondence, and now an illness
of some weeks, from which I am just recovering, obliges
me to use a borrowed pen to acknowledge it’s receipt, and
indeed that is all I can do even now, my mind being entirely
abstracted from all the business of the world political, liter-
ary, worldly or of whatever other form, my debility is
extreme, permitting me to ride a little, but to walk scarcely
at all. I am equal only to the passive occupation of reading,
in this state of body and mind I can only assure my friends
that I shall ever recollect with affection the pleasures their
correspondence has afforded me, and shall pray without
ceasing for their health, happiness & prosperity, among
these I pray you to be assured that I entertain for yourself
distinguished sentiments of esteem & high respect.
Th: Jefferson
Nearly six months later, evidently under the influence of
improved health, Jefferson sent the following characteristic
epistle to Judge van der Kemp:
Monticello Jan. n, 24.
Dear Sir:	Your favor of Dec. 28. is duly received, it
gladdens me with the information that you continue to enjoy
health, this is a principal mitigation of the evils of age. I
wish that the situation of our friend Mr. Adams was equally
comfortable, but what I learn of his physical condition is
truly deplorable, his mind however continues strong and
firm, his memory sound his hearing perfect, and his spirits
good, but both he and myself are at that term of life when
there is nothing before us to produce anxiety for it’s continu-
ance. I am sorry for the occasion of expressing my condo-
lance on the loss mentioned in your letter, the solitude in
which we are left by the death of our friends is one of the
great evils of protracted life, when I look back to the days
of my youth it is like looking over a field of battle, all, all
dead! and ourselves left alone amidst a generation whom
we know not, and who know not us.
I thank you beforehand for the book of your friend P.30
THOMAS JEFFERSON'S LETTERS.
Vreede of which you have been so kind as to bespeak a copy
for me.—on the subject of my porte-feuille be assured it
contains nothing but copies of my letters, in these I have
sometimes indulged myself in reflections on the things which
have been passing, some of them, like that to the Quaker
to which your letter refers, may give a moment’s amusement
to a reader, and from the voluminous mass, when I am dead,
a selection may perhaps be made, of a view which may have
interest enough to bear a single reading, mine has been too
much a life of action to allow my mind to wander from the
occurrences pressing on it.
I have been lately reading a most extraordinary book,
that of M. Flourens on the functions of the nervous system,
in vertebrated animals, he proves by too many, and too ac-
curate experiments, to admit contradiction, that from such
animals the whole contents of the cerebrum may be taken
out, leaving the cerebellum and the rest of the system unin-
jured, and the animal continue to live, in perfect health, an
indefinite period, he mentions particularly a case of io^
months survivance of a pullet, in that state the animal is
deprived of every sense of perception, intelligence, memory
and thought of every degree, it will perish on a heap of corn
unless you cram it down it’s throat, it retains the power of
motion, but feeling no motive it never moves unless from
external excitement, he demonstrates in fact that the cere-
brum is the organ of thought, & possesses alone the faculty
of thinking, this is a terrible tub thrown out to the Atha-
nasians. they must tell us whether the soul remains in the
body in this state, deprived of the power of thought? or
does it leave the body, as in death? and where does it go?
can it be received into heaven while it’s body is living on
earth ? these and a multitude of other questions it will be
incumbent on them to answer otherwise than by the dogma
that everyone who believeth not with them, without doubt
shall, perish everlastingly, the Materialist, fortified by these
new proofs of his own creed, will hear with derision these
Athanasian denunciations, it will not be very long before
you and I shall know the truth of all this, and in the meanTHOMAS JEFFERSON'S LETTERS.
31
time I pray for the continuance of your health, contentment
and comfort.
Th: Jefferson*
The last letter in the collection, written but seven months
before its author’s death, is in the same neat, precise and
legible penmanship always characteristic of-Jefferson. To
the end he adhered to certain epistolary eccentricities:
Monticello, Nov. 30. 25.
Dear Sir: Your favor of the 16th is just received, and
your silence in it on the subject of your health makes me
hope it is good, a dozen years older than you are, I have no
right to expect as good. I have now been confined to the
house 6 months, but latterly get better, insomuch as, for a
few days past, to ride a little on horseback. I duly received
the favor of Mr. Vreede’s book, & meant, in my first letter to
you, to request you to return my thanks for it, to him. but
this has been delayed by indisposition. I cannot however
promise, what you seem to^wish, to read it with sufficient
attention to pass a judgment on it. although my eye-sight is
so good as not to use glasses by day, either for reading or
writing, yet constant occupation in the concerns of univer-
sity permits me to read very little; and that of commercial
science was never a favorite reading with me. the classics
are my first delight, and I unwillingly lay them by for the
productions of the day. Such a work as Flourens indeed
commands a preference. I have lost my copy, by lending it,
or I should have given you the reading of it with pleasure.
Gur University, now the main business of my life, is
going on with all the success I could expect, the Professors
we obtained from England are of the highest order of science
in their lines, and of excellent private characters, indeed we
have been most fortunate in that selection, our term for the
1st year is near closing, at the opening of the 2d, which will
be on the 1st of February, we shall have more students
offering than we shall be able to accommodate, the pro-
* Ford gives this letter (X., p. 336) but has the date 1825. Though plainly
addressed, on the outside of the folded sheet, to “Olden Barneveld, near Tren-
ton, N. Y.,” this letter as are two or three of the others, is marked “Missent to
Trenton, N. J.” They all bear Mr. Jefferson’s frank.32
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S LETTERS.
vision made for them does not go beyond 250. or 260. we
shall enlarge it as fast as we can. but Rome was not built
in a day. the institution is on the most liberal plan, and very
little expensive. Hoping you may continue to enjoy good
health, and a life of satisfaction, as long as you think life
satisfactory at all, I pray you to be assured of my affectionate
good wishes & great esteem and respect.
Th: Jefferson
Mr. Jefferson’s interest in science, and the philosophical
habit of his mind, to both of which these letters bear witness,
are facts familiar to all students of his career. His view of
Christ, and his opinions of Christianity in its various aspects,
are nowhere else set forth more clearly or explicitly than in
this correspondence now for the first time given to the public.
Of Judge van der Kemp, so lately has his autobiography
been edited and published, it will suffice here to note that he
survived Mr. Jefferson some three years, and died on Sept.
7, 1829. His services rendered to history, in the translation
of the Dutch Records of Colonial New York, will perhaps be
better appreciated in days to come. The translation which
he made is yet for the most part unpublished,, but is acces-
sible to all students of the subject, in the manuscripts office
of the State Library at Albany.
Note. The van der Kemp manuscripts owned by the Buffalo Historical
Society include the following:
1.	His autobiography, addressed to his son J. J. van der Kemp of Philadel-
phia, 1817. It has been edited and published with other material un-
der the title “Francis Adrian van der Kemp,” &c., by Helen Linck-
laen Fairchild, New York, 1903.
2.	Address on the occasion of Judge van der Kemp’s death, by Rev. T. B.
Peirce, Sept. 10, 1829; and funeral sermon, Sept. 20, 1829. Un-
published.
3.	Tour from the Hudson to Lake Ontario in 1792. Published, Buffalo
Historical Society Publications, vol. II., 1880.
4.	A Dutch Symposium. Unpublished.
5.	Memoir on the use of Copper by the Greeks. Unpublished.
6.	Researches on Buffon’s and Jefferson’s Theories in Natural History.
About 300 closely written pages. Unpublished.
7.	Miscellaneous autograph letters to Judge van der Kemp, mostly unpub-
lished.
8.	Eleven letters from DeWitt Clinton. Unpublished.
9.	Letters from Thomas Jefferson, now first published.
10.	Diplomas and commissions.