New York, April 23, 1790.

Dear Sir,

You may remember that we were together at the Hotel de la Monnoye, to see Mr. Drost strike coins in his new manner, and that you were so kind as to speak with him afterwards on the subject of his coming to America.  We are now in a condition to establish a mint, and should be desirous of engaging him in it.  I suppose him to be at present in the service of Watt and Bolton, the latter of whom you may remember to have been present with us at the Monnoye.  I know no means of communicating our dispositions to Drost so effectually as through your friendly agency, and therefore take the liberty of asking you to write to him, to know what emoluments he receives from Watts and Bolton, and whether he would be willing to come to us for the same?  If he will, you may give him an expectation, but without an absolute engagement, that we will call for him immediately, and that with himself, we may probably take and pay him for all the implements of coinage he may have, suited to our purpose.  If he asks higher terms, he will naturally tell you so, and what they are; and we must reserve a right to consider of them.  In either case, I will ask your answer as soon as possible.  I need not observe to you, that this negotiation should be known to nobody but yourself, Drost, and Mr. Short.  The good old Dr. Franklin, so long the ornament of our country, and, I may say, of the world, has at length closed his eminent career.  He died on the 17th instant, of an imposthume of his lungs, which having suppurated and burst, he had not strength to throw off the matter, and was suffocated by it.  His illness from this imposthume was of sixteen days.  Congress wear mourning for him, by a resolve of their body.

I beg you to present my friendly respects to Madame Grand, the elder and younger, and to your son, and believe me to be, with sentiments of great esteem and attachment, Dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th:  Jefferson.

LETTER XXVIII.—­TO THE MARQUIS DE LA LUZERNE, April 30,1790

TO THE MARQUIS DE LA LUZERNE.

New York, April 30,1790.

Sir,

When in the course of your legation to the United States, your affairs rendered it necessary that you should absent yourself a while from that station, we flattered ourselves with the hope that that absence was not final.  It turned out, in event, that the interests of your sovereign called for your talents and the exercise of your functions, in another quarter.  You were pleased to announce this to the former Congress through their Secretary for Foreign Affairs, at a time when, that body was closing its administration, in order to hand it over to a government then preparing on a different model.  This government is now formed, organized, and in action; and it considers among its earliest duties, and assuredly among its most cordial,