Acknowledges receipt of 26 September 1783, which was delivered by Mr. Norris. John Jay hopes Norris may return home "as uncorrupted as he came. Paris is a place better calculated for the Improvemt. of riper Years, and in my opinion very young men should not visit it.... I hope your young Friend may escape. If he should, you may congratulate him on having made the Choice of Hercules, for he will be tempted." Jay also received Thomson's letter of 14 January 1784. He hopes that the ratification of the treaty will encounter no great difficulties. European commercial restrictions on American commerce may be beneficial to a certain extent, if they produce unanimity and a national spirit in America. Jay feels that "it is Time for us to think and act like a sovereign as well as a free People, and by temperate and steady self Respect, to command that of other nations." He also thinks that the new manner of depreciating Congress will in the end cost America dearly.
Subjects
United States--History--1783-1865; Jay, John, 1745-1829