336 
momiletidnias [ty i 
Hor! of Virgihia,. ur office which he held 
during the whole! of the revolutionary war. 
As! member ‘of ‘Congress, itthas been 
alreadyiseen that: hesdrew up the'record of 
indépendenée by which'the colonies broke 
their’ ¢ontiexion with the mother country. 
Much difference oof \ opinion’ occurred 
respecting his conduct as governor; at the 
tiie of ‘the° invasion of Virginia by Corn- 
Wallis and Armmold 3) but, ashe received the 
thanks ‘of his’ fellow-citizens, it must be 
presumed ‘that by them, at least, it was 
deemed ‘satisfactory. In 1783 he was 
employed in drawing up a Constitution for 
Virginia. He was nominated ambassador 
to Spain, but afterwards his destination 
was changed to France. There, obtaining 
the cotfidence of Vergennes and Calonne, 
he received many concessions in favour of 
‘American commerce. From Franee he 
canie over to England, went back to Ver- 
sailles, and returned to America in 1789, 
yeridering to Mr. Jay, the Minister for 
Foreign Affairs, a satisfactory account of 
his negotiations. Shortly after his return, 
hé was appointed Secretary of State to the 
new government. Soon afterwards the 
Flouse of ‘Representatives ditected him to 
form a plan for reducing the’ currency, 
weights, and measures to one standard; 
and subsequently he was also employed to 
draw up a report respecting the fisheries. 
J aeibe 
On the arrival ofan English envoy and , 
a Freneh consul in America; Mr. Jefferson 
is thought to have found ‘some difficulty in 
keeping the balance even ; and indeed, he 
has always been considered by the English 
as having a strong partiality towards 
France. Another report which he was 
officially called upon to make, respecting 
the ecommerce of the United States, gave 
great satisfaction to the government and to 
the country. Early in 1794 he resigned 
his office as Seeretaty of State, and retired 
to hisseat at Monticello. From that pe- 
riod he was regarded as the chief of the 
opposition... After remaining some time in 
retirement, he was, in 1797, called on to 
fill the vice-president’s chair, under Mr, 
Adams; and, as it has been already stated, 
he was, on the expirauion of Mr. Adams’s 
term, in 1801, elected as his successor. 
In 1805 he was re-elected, and in his first 
message to, the Senate and House’ of 
Representatives, he developed his grand 
project. of improvement in the public 
administration. In the year 1807, in 
consequence of the differences which 
avose between the governments’ ‘of 
Great Britain and the United States, he 
called a meeting extraordinary of the con- 
gress,, and submitted to them his plan for 
defending the country. To preserve the 
shipping and commerce of America from 
the cruisers of Franee and England, he 
laid. an embargo~on all the ports of the 
‘United; States until the danger was oyer. 
When his second term of presidentship 
had nearly expired, he was solicited by the 
Biographical Memoirs of Eaninent Persons. 
[Serr. 
Asschibiy oP PUrhibyhaHid RW GeceHt tthe 
Office a third:time.,; .Dhis, dyowevers he 
resolutely refused —was succeeded);hy, Mr. 
Maddison—and, like. his, friend .Washing- 
ton, retired, to, private: life,;; Dhe,.writer’ 
whom we have, before quoted;.on the, merits 
of Washington and,.Adams,; speaking, of 
Jefferson; says,—*‘‘ Fe, was jundoubtedby 
a man of;more.genius than) either, of; his 
predecessors... His talent) wasjfiner,, but 
not so strong. ‘He was;.a;scholar and,a 
philosopher,- full of | theory and hypothesis: 
And what was the (character, of is padmi- 
nistration?| Was it not wholly given-up to 
theory and hypothesis, experiment and 
trial ?, he turned, the whole of, the, United 
States. into a laboratory—a workshop—a 
lecture-room; and kept the whole country 
in alarm with his demonstrations in politi- 
cal economy, legislation, mechanics, and 
government. . Hence it is that, to this 
day, it is difficult to. determine whether his 
administration, on ‘the whole, »was produc- 
tive of great benefit or great-evil to the 
American people. The most extraordinary 
changes, tranusmutations, and phenomena, 
were colitinually taking place before their 
eyes, ‘but they/ were. generally, unintelli- 
gible ; so/that he left, the country, pretty 
much in the situation that his firmrat Mon- 
ticello.is at this moment—altogether, trans- 
formed, frém' its ‘natural; state—altogether 
different fromiwhat:it was, when, he took it 
in hand—a puzzle) ‘and-a problem to, the 
world.” 2 sper Ey, 
At an carly age Mr. Jefferson married a 
lady, the daughter of Mr. Wright, an emi- 
nent barrister in Virginia. By her, who 
has been some years dead, he had four 
daughters, only one of whom we believe 
survives. a4 
Mr. Jefferson first appeared in print‘in 
the year 1774, when he ‘published ‘A 
Summary View of the Rights of British 
America.”’ In 178], he wrote his ** Notes 
on Virginia.”” He has also’ written 
““Memoirs on the Fossil Bones found in 
America.” As an agriculturist, “he was 
active and fond of experiment. He inyent= 
eda new plough, or, rather, effected an 
improvement in the old one. : 
Mr. Jefferson had heen some time indis: 
posed. During his illness, he ‘eonstantly 
expressed’ a wish to see another Sthief July 5 
and, though le had béen speechiléss*from 
the evening of the “Sd, he expressed, “by 
signs, great satisfaction at heme permitted 
todo so. “He died about ‘10 minutes be: 
fore one, p. m. Mr.-Randolphj*his'grand= 
son, in 2 letter toa friend says—" He died 
as he lived, the suite calm; serétiey benevo~ 
lent, great man—cheerfully me 
soul to God, und his child to ‘his Countrys 
gratified in his only wish; that this Gay’and 
hour should be thé moment of His death? 
One o’cloch,' it~ sould be” rémihiked, wis 
the houron which the declaration 6f Amel 
rican independence ‘was officially fegul in 
Couzress. 
