copy to him.  I am desirous of preventing the reprinting this, should any book-merchant think it worth it, till I hear from my friends, whether the terms in which I have spoken of slavery and the constitution of our State, will not, by producing an irritation, retard that reformation which I wish, instead of promoting it.  Dr. Franklin proposes to sail for America about the first or second week of July.  He does not yet know, however, by what conveyance he can go.  Unable to travel by land, he must descend the Seine in a boat to Havre.  He has sent to England to get some vessel bound for Philadelphia, to touch at Havre for him.  But he receives information that this cannot be done.  He has been on the lookout ever since he received his permission to return; but, as yet, no possible means of getting a passage have offered, and I fear it is very uncertain when any will offer.  I am with very great esteem, Dear Sir,

your friend and servant,

Th:  Jefferson.

LETTER LXVI.—­TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, June 22, 1785

TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.

Paris, June 22, 1785.

Sir,

Your letter of April the 4th came to my hands on the 16th of that month, and was acknowledged by mine of May the 3rd.  That which you did me the honor to write me on the 5th of April, never came to hand until the 19th of May, upwards of a month after the one of the day before.  I have hopes of sending the present by a Mr. Jarvis, who went from hence to Holland some time ago.  About this date, I suppose him to be at Brussels, and that from thence he will inform me, whether, in his way to Madrid, he will pass by this place.  If he does, this shall be accompanied by a cipher for our future use; if he does not, I must still await a safe opportunity.  Mr. Jarvis is a citizen of the United States from New-York, a gentleman of intelligence, in the mercantile line, from whom you will be able to get considerable information of American affairs.  I think he left America in January.  He informed us that Congress were about to appoint a Mr. Lambe, of Connecticut, their consul to Morocco, and to send him to their ministers, commissioned to treat with the Barbary powers, for instructions.  Since that, Mr. Jay enclosed to Mr. Adams, in London, a resolution of Congress deciding definitively on amicable treaties with the Barbary States, in the usual way, and informing him that he had sent a letter and instructions to us, by Mr. Lambe.  Though it is near three weeks since we received a communication of this from Mr. Adams, yet we hear nothing further of Mr. Lambe.  Our powers of treating with the Barbary States are full, but in the amount of the expense we are limited.  I believe you may safely assure them, that they will soon receive propositions from us, if you find such an assurance necessary to keep them quiet.  Turning at this instant to your letter dated April 5th, and considering