The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 5 (of 9) / Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private

by Thomas Jefferson

TO MR. FULTON.

Monticello, August 15, 1808.

Sir,—Immediately on the receipt of your letter of the 5th, I wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, recommending a compliance with your request of the workmen. Although no public servant could justify the risking the safety of an important seaport, solely on untried means of defence, yet I have great confidence in those proposed by you as additional to the ordinary means. Their small cost, too, in comparison with the object, ought to overrule those rigorous attentions to keep within the limits of our appropriations, which have probably weighed with the Secretary in declining the proposition. You are sensible, too, that harassed as the offices are daily by the visions of unsound heads, even those solid inventions destined to better our condition, feel the effects of being grouped with them. Wishing every success to your experiment, I salute you with esteem and respect.