No arrangements having ever been made as yet, for cases like that of the carpenter of the American ship Sally, I am unable to answer on that subject.  I am in hopes, his money will last till he recovers his senses, or till we can receive instructions what to do in that and similar cases.

M. Cathalan wishes a copy of my Notes on Virginia.  If you will be so good as to advise me by what channel they will go safely, I will do myself the honor of sending a copy, either of the original or of the translation.  Present me affectionately to Mrs. Cathalan, the mother and daughter; tell the latter I feed on the hopes of seeing her one day at Paris.  My friendly respects wait also on your father; and on yourself, assurances of the esteem and consideration with which I have the honor to be, Dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th:  Jefferson.

LETTER LXIX.—­TO THE DELEGATES OF RHODE ISLAND, July 22,1787

TO THE DELEGATES OF RHODE ISLAND.

Paris, July 22,1787.

Gentlemen,

I was honored, in the month of January last, with a letter from the honorable the Delegates of Rhode Island in Congress, enclosing a letter from the corporation of Rhode Island College to his Most Christian Majesty, and some other papers.  I was then in the hurry of a preparation for a journey into the south of France, and therefore unable, at that moment, to make the inquiries which the object of the letter rendered necessary.  As soon as I returned, which was in the last month, I turned my attention to that object, which was the establishment of a professorship of the French language in the College, and the obtaining a collection of the best French authors, with the aid of the King.  That neither the College nor myself might be compromitted uselessly, I thought it necessary to sound, previously, those who were able to inform me what would be the success of the application.  I was assured, so as to leave no doubt, that it would not be complied with; that there had never been an instance of the King’s granting such a demand in a foreign country, and that they would be cautious of setting the precedent:  that in this moment, too, they were embarrassed with the difficult operation of putting down all establishments of their own, which could possibly be dispensed with, in order to bring their expenditures down to the level of their receipts.  Upon such information I was satisfied, that it was most prudent not to deliver the letter, and spare to both parties the disagreeableness of giving and receiving a denial.  The King did give to two colleges in America copies of the works printing in the public press.  But were this to be obtained for the College of Rhode Island, it would extend only to a volume or two of Buffon’s works, still to be printed, Manilius’s Astronomicon, and one or two other works in the press, which are of no consequence.  I did not think this an object for the College worth