Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XLI.—TO MONSIEUR LE DUC D’HARCOURT, January 14, 1787
TO MONSIEUR LE DUC D’HARCOURT, GOUVERNEUR DU DAUPHIN.
Paris, January 14, 1787.
Sir,
In the conversation with which you were pleased to honor me a few days ago, on the enfranchisement of the port of Honfleur, I took the liberty of observing, that I was not instructed by my constituents to make any proposition on that subject. That it would be agreeable to them, however, I must suppose, because it will offer the following advantages.
1. It is a convenient entrepôt for furnishing us with the manufactures of the northern parts of France, and particularly of Paris, and for receiving and distributing the productions of our country in exchange.
2. Cowes, on the opposite side of the channel, has heretofore been the deposite for a considerable part of our productions, landed in Great Britain in the first instance, but intended for re-exportation. From thence our rice, particularly, has been distributed to France and other parts of Europe. I am not certain, whether our tobaccos were deposited there, or carried to London to be sorted for the different markets. To draw this business from Cowes, no place is so favorably situated as Honfleur.
3. It would be a convenient deposite for our whale-oil, of which, after the supply of Paris, there will be a surplus for re-exportation.