Life Times Of Thomas Jeffers PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ...in the matter of the navy, he advised the building of a sufficient number of vessels to protect our commerce in the Mediterranean. On account of suggestions like those he made in Paris and during his secretaryship, John Adams called Jefferson the father of the American navy. CHAPTER XXVII HIS SERVICES ABROAD What did Mr. Jefferson do for his country while minister to France? To answer fully would certainly be tedious and would probably be useless. Whale-oil, salted fish, tobacco, rice, and salted pork are important items in commerce, having much to do with the balance of trade and the prosperity of individuals and of nations; but when the reader is assured that Mr. Jefferson struggled long, hard, and with partial success to prevail upon France to be lenient with us upon those subjects, he has perhaps learned as much as he cares to know. The grip of the protectionist, the monopolist, was almost irresistible on the France of that day, as it is on America now, and Mr. Jefferson's task was well-nigh hopeless. Yet, by great perseverance and the bringing to bear of the pressure of Lafayette and other personal friends, he did manage to loosen the iron bands a little. Whale-oil and salt fish from New England began to have better treatment, so did rice from the South. For tobacco he was not able to do so much, that article of commerce being in the control of the Farmers-General, a corporation which held France by the throat. The sum and substance of it all was that Mr. Jefferson succeeded in getting the United States treated as the most-favored nation. France not only yielded to him better trade relations than she had ever conceded to Dr. Franklin, but she agreed to put her consular arrangements with us on a far more satisfactory basis than Dr....