Jefferson Quotes & Family Letters

Your letter of the 1st inst. has been recieved by me with that degree of pleasure which must necessarily attach to every mark of recollection from a relation whom I esteem & value so highly. I have been obliged to delay the answer longer than I could have wished, from¹ a desire to answer you with confidence, & on authority on which I felt confidence.

The subject of your letter is one on which I have heard general conversation more than once. This shews that the suspicion to which you allude has existed here also—but all that I have ever heard of such a suspicion in these conversations, has related only to the past tense only—My own opinion derived from those conversations has always been that any such suspicion as to the present, would be unfounded. It must be confessed however that there is a kind of English redness & heat in the face which would very naturally give rise to such a suspicion—But from what I have heard often, & from the best authority, of the uncommon acquirements of this gentleman, the present freshness & vigor of his mind, & particularly his present & incesant labors in the pursuits of science, my own opinion has been long made up on the subject, & in favor of the gentleman’s present habits as to the article of which you enquire.

But as I have only a slight acquaintance with him, & have felt no other interest on the subject than what was general as relative to science, the kind of conviction which I felt on this head sufficed for me. But situated as you are I did not think it ought to suffice for you in a matter of such noted importance to an institution, such as that which you are called on to organize. I have waited therefore until I could collect positive testimony. There is a gentleman residing here universally known & universally² esteemed. I knew that he had been longer & much better acquainted with Dr Cooper than any person here. I knew at the same time that he was a very partial friend to Dr Cooper—Yet this did not weaken my own confidence in his testimony, as I knew his candor was equal to any sentiment he could feel. I allude to Mr J. Vaughan the Librarian of our Philosophical Society. I applied to him therefore in a way to put him on his honor. I told him that I was aware it was a delicate subject—& therefore if he felt any embarasment arising from it he was perfectly at liberty not to answer to my enquiry—But if he did answer I should count on his doing it with candor, seeing it was made by me to enable me to give information to a Visitor of the University, & not from any idle curiosity on my part. Mr Vaughan replied that the Visitor’s duty was to obtain all the information he could on this subject, & that he considered it his duty under the circumstances I had then placed him to give this information without reserve. He said that there had certainly existed a report, some years ago, of the kind alluded to—It was then said that Dr C. was unhappy in some of his domestic relations—He at that time [. . .] lived far in the interior of the State—But that there had been a total change in circumstances for many years, & that since Dr C’s residence within the observation of him (Mr Vaughan) he could say positively that he had never known a man more rigorously temperate in the article of liquor.

I have thus, my dear sir, given you the sum & substance of the information I have collected & the authority on which I have recieved it. From this you will be able to form your opinion on much better ground than any derived merely from me.

If however further information should be wished for (& in such a case too much cannot be had) it might be very satisfactorily obtained from Mr Correa, than whom no one is more capable of judging—& he is intimately acquainted with Dr C. without being so partial a friend as Mr Vaughan. Mr Correa is not here at present or I should have applied to him also—He resides at Washington & often goes to Monticello being much acquainted with & devoted to Mr Jefferson, who probably already knows his opinion of Dr Cooper.

Our mutual & most worthy friend Mr Robinson long ago releived me from every apprehension on the subject of my letter to you. I am sorry that there could have existed for a moment the appearance of neglect on my part—the reality was impossible. For greater certainty of your recieving the present may I ask the favor of you to send me a line merely to say that it has reached you. I shall address it agreeably to your directions—but as the address is, as well as my memory serves me, the same with my former letter, I shall be anxious to learn that this has had a better fate.

I am much obliged by your kind invitation to visit you—My inclination leads me every year to pay a visit to my friends in my native State, & it will give me a great pleasure I can assure you my dear sir to acquit this debt with you. The indolence which has grown from habit & indulgence has not yet answered to my inclination—Summer being the only season of travelling I am generally carried to the Northward when I quit my quarters in that season—I will not however give up the hope of seeing you under your hospitable roof. In the mean time believe me, as I am with great truth dear sir,