Sir,—I am much obliged by the trouble you took in forwarding to me the letter of his Excellency, the President of Congress. It found me in Bedford, an hundred miles southward of this, where I was confined till within these few days, by an unfortunate fall from my horse. This has occasioned the delay of the answer which I now take the liberty of enclosing to you, as the confidential channel of conveyance, pointed out by the President.
I thank you also for your kind sentiments and friendly offer on the occasion, which, that I cannot avail myself of, has given me more mortification than almost any occurrence of my life. I lose an opportunity, the only one I ever had, and perhaps ever shall have, of combining public service with private gratification. Of seeing countries whose improvements in science, in arts, and in civilization, it has been my fortune to admire at a distance, but never to see, and at the same time of lending some aid to a cause, which has been handed on from its first organization to its present stage, by every effort of which my poor faculties were capable. These, however, have not been such as to give satisfaction to some of my countrymen, and it has become necessary for me to remain in the State till a later period in the present year, than is consistent with an acceptance of what has been offered me.[102] Declining higher objects, therefore, my only one must be to show that suggestion and fact are different things, and that public misfortune may be produced as well by public poverty and private disobedience to the laws, as by the misconduct of public servants.[103] The independence of private life under the protection of republican laws will, I hope, yield me the happiness from which no slave is so remote as the minister of a commonwealth. From motives of private esteem as well as public gratitude, I shall pray it to be your lot in every line of life, as no one can with more truth subscribe himself with the highest regard and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO EDMUND RANDOLPH, ESQ.
Monticello, September 16, 1781.
Dear Sir,—I have received your letter of the 7th instant. That, mentioned to have been sent by the preceding post, has not come to hand, nor two others, which Mrs. Randolph informs me you wrote before you left Virginia, nor indeed any others, should you have been so kind as to have written any others. When I received the first letter from the President of Congress, enclosing their resolution, and mentioning the necessity of an expeditious departure, my determination to attend at the next session of the Assembly offered a ready and insuperable obstacle to my accepting of that appointment, and left me under no necessity of deliberating with myself whether, that objection being removed, any other considerations might prevent my undertaking it. I find there are many, and must, therefore, decline it altogether. Were it possible for me to determine again to enter into public business, there is no appointment whatever which would have been so agreeable to me. But I have taken my final leave of everything of that nature. I have retired to my farm, my family and books, from which I think nothing will evermore separate me. A desire to leave public office, with a reputation not more blotted than it has deserved, will oblige me to emerge at the next session of our Assembly, and perhaps to accept of a seat in it. But as I go with a single object, I shall withdraw when that shall be accomplished. I should have thought that North Carolina, rescued from the hands of Britain, Georgia and almost the whole of South Carolina recovered, would have been sufficiently humiliating to induce them to treat with us. If this will not do, I hope the stroke is now hanging over them which will satisfy them that their views of Southern conquests are likely to be as visionary as those of Northern. I think it impossible Lord Cornwallis should escape. Mrs. Randolph will be able to give you all the news on this subject, as soon as you shall be able to release her from others. I am, with much esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.
Monticello, October 28th, 1781.
Sir,—I hope it will not be unacceptable to your Excellency to receive the congratulations of a private individual on your return to your native country, and, above all things, on the important success which has attended it.[104] Great as this has been, however, it can scarcely add to the affection with which we have looked up to you. And if, in the minds of any, the motives of gratitude to our good allies were not sufficiently apparent, the part they have borne in this action must amply evince them. Notwithstanding the state of perpetual decrepitude to which I am unfortunately reduced, I should certainly have done myself the honor of paying my respects to you personally; but I apprehend these visits, which are meant by us as marks of our attachment to you, must interfere with the regulations of a camp, and be particularly inconvenient to one whose time is too precious to be wasted in ceremony.