[TO DON FRANCISCO CHIAPPI.]
Paris, September 15, 1787.
Sir,—I have lately received from Mr. Jay, Secretary for foreign affairs to the United States of America, the enclosed letter from Congress to his Majesty the Emperor (whom God preserve), and their ratification of the treaty between his Majesty (whom God preserve) and the United States, together with an instruction to forward them to you, to be delivered into the hands of his Majesty (whom God preserve). I am at the same time to ask the favor of you to deliver the inclosed letter to Taher Ben Abdelkack Fennish.
Mr. Jay also informs me that Congress had confirmed Mr. Barclay's appointment of yourself to be their agent at Morocco, of Don Joseph Chiappi to be their agent at Mogador, and Don Girolamo Chiappi to be their agent at Tangier, with which agents it was their desire that their ministers at Versailles and London should regularly correspond; that want of time prevented his having and sending to me the certified copies of these acts by that opportunity, but that he would do it by the next. It will be with singular pleasure that I shall be instrumental in forwarding to you these testimonies of the sense which Congress entertains of your personal merit, and of your dispositions to be useful to the citizens of America.
In the meantime, I shall be very happy to receive from you such communications, from time to time, as may be interesting to either nation, and will avail myself of every occasion of making communications of the same nature to you, and of assuring you of those sentiments of esteem and respect with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
[TO MR. WYTHE.]
Paris, Sept. 16, 1787.
Dear Sir,—I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your favors of Dec. the 13th and 22d, 1786, and of Jan., 1787. These should not have been so long unanswered, but that they arrived during my absence on a journey of between three and four months through the southern parts of France, and northern of Italy. In the latter country, my time allowed me to go no farther than Turin, Milan, and Genoa: consequently, I scarcely got into classical ground. I took with me some of the writings, in which endeavors have been made to investigate the passage of Annibal over the Alps, and was just able to satisfy myself, from a view of the country, that the descriptions given of his march are not sufficiently particular to enable us, at this day, even to guess at his track across the Alps. In architecture, painting, sculpture, I found much amusement; but more than all, in their agriculture, many objects of which might be adopted with us to great advantage. I am persuaded, there are many parts of our lower country where the olive tree might be raised, which is assuredly the richest gift of heaven. I can scarcely except bread. I see this tree supporting thousands among the Alps, where there is not soil enough to make bread for a single family. The caper too, might be cultivated with us. The fig we do raise. I do not speak of the vine, because it is the parent of misery. Those who cultivate it are always poor, and he who would employ himself with us in the culture of corn, cotton, &c., can procure, in exchange for them, much more wine, and better, than he could raise by its direct culture.