The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
POLITICS
I find I am losing sight of the progress of the world of letters.
Here we talk but of rains and droughts, of blights and frosts, of our
ploughs and cattle; and if the topic changes to politics I meddle
little with them. In truth, I never had a cordial relish for them, and
abhor the contentions and strife they generate. You know what were the
times which forced us both from our first loves, the natural sciences.
The interest I have taken in the success of the experiment, whether a
government can be contrived which shall secure man in his rightful
liberties and acquirements, has engaged a longer portion of my life
than I had ever proposed: and certainly the experiment could never
have fallen into more inauspicious times, when nations have openly
renounced all obligations of morality, and shamelessly assume the
character of robbers and pirates. In any other time our experiment
would have been more easy; and if it can pass safely through the
ordeal of the present trial, we may hope we have set an example which
will not be without consequences favorable to human happiness. May we
not hope that when the robbers of Copenhagen [the British], and the
ravagers of Spain [the French] shall be arrested in their course by
those means which Providence has always in reserve for the restoration
of order among his works, the pendulum will vibrate the more strongly
in the opposite direction, and that nations will return to the
reestablishment of moral law with an enthusiasm which shall more
solidly confirm its future empire.
to Benjamin Rush, 22 September 1809
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