erroneous opinions he had been led into on that occasion, and to make just reparation by a candid acknowledgment of them."

While Mr. Jefferson was confined at Poplar Forest, his estate in Bedford, in consequence of the fall from his horse, and was thereby incapable of any active employment, public or private. He occupied himself with answering the queries which Mons. de Marbois, then secretary of the French Legation to the United States, had submitted to him respecting the physical and political condition of Virginia; which answers were afterward published by him, under the title of "Notes on Virginia." When we consider how difficult it is, even in the present day, to get an accurate knowledge of such details of our country, and how much greater the difficulty must have then been, we are surprised at the extent of the information which a single individual had been able to acquire, as to the physical features of the State-the course, length and depth of its rivers, its zoological and botanical productions, its Indian tribes, its statistics and its laws. After the lapse of more than half a century, by much the larger part of this work still gives us the fullest and most accurate information which we possess in reference to the subjects of which it treats.

CHAPTER VII.

MR. JEFFERSON CHOSEN A PLENIPOTENTIARY TO ENGLAND DEATH OF MRS. JEFFERSON-MISSION TO ENGLAND ABANDONED MR. JEFFERSON ELECTED A DELEGATE TO CONGRESS—IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CURRENCY-WASHINGTON RESIGNS HIS COMMISSION TO CONGRESS AT ANNAPOLIS-THE DEFINITIVE TREATY WITH ENGLAND ANTI-SLAVERY ORDINANCES PROPOSED BY MR. JEFFERSON IN CONGRESS IN 1784-HE IS APPOINTED PLENIPOTENTIARY TO FRANCE-CONFERENCES WITH THE FRENCH MINISTRY—ATTEMPT TO NEGOTIATE A COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

ON the 15th of June, 1781, Mr. Jefferson was chosen by Congress, in connection with Messrs. Adams, Franklin, Jay and Laurens, as ministerplenipotentiary, to negotiate a peace which was then contemplated with England, through the mediation of Russia. He however declined the appointment. The expected mediation of Russia never took place, and very soon the memorable capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown rendered it unnecessary. The cause of tyranny became thereafter hopeless in the United Colonies, and the enemy was compelled at once to treat. On this important occasion Mr. Jefferson was again chosen to represent the interests of this country. This appointment he accepted, and among the motives which influenced him so to do, was one of a domestic and painful nature.

In September, 1782, Mrs. Jefferson died, and this bereavement produced a deep effect upon her husband's mind. He had three daughters who survived their mother, and to every member of his family he was tenderly attached. He supposed that a change of scene might produce a beneficial effect upon his spirits. Mrs. Randolph, his favorite daughter, thus speaks of the effect which the death of Mrs. Jefferson produced upon the mind of the subject of this memoir:

"As a nurse, no female ever had more tenderness or anxiety. He nursed my poor mother, in turn, with aunt Carr and his own sisters; sitting up with her, and administering her medicines and drink to the last. For four months that she lingered, he was never out of calling. When not at her bed-side, he was writing in a small room that opened immediately at the head of her bed. A moment before the closing scene, he was led from the room almost in a state of insensibility by his sister, Mrs. Carr, who with difficulty got him into his library, where he fainted, and remained so long insensible, that they became apprehensive he never would revive. The scene that followed I did not witness; but the violence of his grief, (when, by stealth, I entered his room at night,) I dare not trust myself to describe. He kept his room three weeks, during which I was

never a moment from his side. He walked almost incessantly, night and day, lying down only occasionally, when nature was completely exhausted, on a pallet, that had been brought in during his long fainting fit. My aunts remained constantly with him for some weeks; I do not remember how many. When at last he left his room, he rode out and from that time he was incessantly on horseback, rambling about the mountains, in the least frequented roads, and just as often through the woods."

Having accepted the mission offered him by Congress, Mr. Jefferson started on the 19th of December, 1782, for Philadelphia. There he arrived after a journey of eight days. He proposed to embark at that place; but the French minister, M. Lucerne, offering him a passage in a frigate then lying below Baltimore, he proceeded thither. The ice still impeded and suspended the navigation, and he was compelled to wait during several months. In the mean time, however, a provisional treaty of peace had been signed by the American commissioners on the 3d of September; and this event precluding the necessity of the further agency of the new commissioners, Mr. Jefferson returned on the 15th of May to Monticello.

On the 6th of June, the Legislature of Virginia appointed him a delegate to Congress. He left

Monticello on the 16th of October, and arrived at Trenton, where Congress then sat, on the 4th of November. On the 25th of that month Congress adjourned to meet at Annapolis, the capital of Maryland; but it was not until the 13th of December that a quorum could be obtained.

The first subject which engaged his attention as a member of this Congress, was that of the currency. The colonies had always experienced the want of a sufficient supply of the precious metals; and although their currency was nominally the same as that of the mother country, it had greatly depreciated, not only abroad, but even among the States themselves. A hundred pounds of English money were then equivalent to a hundred and thirty-three and a third pounds in Virginia and through New England. In other States the disproportion was still greater. The attention of Congress had been first called to this subject by Robert Morris in 1782. That great financier made an elaborate report, showing the importance of a general standard value of money. At the session of Congress which then convened, the subject was referred to a committee, of which Mr. Jefferson was a member. He suggested a plan, in favor of which the committee eventually reported. This plan of arranging the currency was adopted by Congress during the fol