James Monroe, Paris, France, to Joseph Jones, 1796 June 9

Paris June 9. 1796.
Dear Sir
I have just recd. yours of the  of Jany. last, the first for a great length of time past. In future it will probably be best to forward yr. letters by the way of Engld. addressd to the care of our minister there, since the miscarriage proceeds from the fear of the captns. of compromittment, in case they are boarded by Bh. ships as they generally are and letters for France are seen & searched. In consequence they throw them in the sea as soon as they leave the capes or before.
Joe is well & upon the whole doing better than at any time heretofore. He is reading the higher latin authors & is abt. beginning his greek, merely to know something abt. it. He is a pretty good arithmetician, understands something of geography, & dances & fences tolerably well. The Professor pays great attention to him, & I certainly do not fail to admonish him sufficiently. By keeping him habitually at work, with excellent examples of young men before him, of wh. there are many of the French boys at school, a good foundation may be laid in the different branches, & a considerable improv'ment in his temper wh. he is too much disposed to indulge. He understands & speaks the French well. I shall send him yr. letter & return you an answer soon. The oftener you write him the better. His great wish is to be at home, to have a good horse, a gun &ca; sometimes he tells the Professor he has no occasion for a profound education, he can do without it &ca. This the Professor checks & so do I. I only mention it that you may give what aid you can in support of what we do, & know that that propensity has pretty strong hold of him. The Professor (I mean the principal for there are several) renders monthly a report of the conduct of all the young men under his care & wh. he reads to them before sent in. For the future I will forward these to you. In the latter reports he speaks of him more favorably & truly. It will be well that you appear to know in yr. next that such is the practice–that his commencment was bad—& that his improvement gives you pleasure. His expences are pretty heavy at present. His board & tuition (exclusive of drawing fencing music & dancing) is 50. louis, & to which when his cloaths are added & all other incidental expences, at least half that sum more may be counted. Of his cloaths he is not over careful, tho' I let him occasionally suffer a little in consequence of his inattention. I am thus particular that you may be able to be so equally in yr. communications to him. I will send you a statment of the whole expenditures in his behalf since our arrival if I can make it out. But till the first of sepr. last till when the payment was in paper it cost less than since.
I was happy to see the details you gave me of my affrs. At present I can send you nothing, but in case you are pressed, will ansr. yr. draft upon three months sight, or two, for two hundred & fifty pounds strg. payable in London or Hamburg. I lately sent a draft upon Judge Rutledge for 400 dolrs. in favor of Mr. Yard to be paid you. His son is here under my care & on acct. of whose expences the draft is made. I hope you will receive this. Upon returning home I flatter myself I shall be at ease, & in the interim trust that every farthing wh. I owe will be paid without wh. there can be no ease. I am glad you have adjusted the business of Macks? & I hope in a manner satisfactory to his children. To me it is quite so. Purchase of his property what you find convenient & make Hogg push forward his improvemts. Tell him I am surprised he does not make better crops, & that I look for the deficiency in the general improvement of the estate: enclsoures, land, orchards, &ca. By the bye if you do not give strict orders, I expect to find no such improvements; perhaps a greater deficiency in those respects than even in the crops: but if you stay in alb: this summer it will do well.
I have always intended paying Joseph's expences in Scotland or giving him an equivalent & more in case he paid them, in something at home. But as my reputation was concerned in the payment of those debts, I preferred paying them, & adding afterwards to his aid at home what I cod. with this view I asked in many preceding letters & now repeat it, whether he had paid any part thereof & requested in case he had not, that he wod. not, & in that case that he wod. send me the amt. as stated by Forbes of Edinburg. I fear all those letters miscarried, but shall thank you for information on this point as soon as possible. Your residence for a while in alb: will be of great use to him, & enable you to determine in what manner to give him the other aid above spoken of.
I mentioned also my wish that the amt. laid out for Joseph here might be disposed of in favor of Mrs. Buckner & family, & Andrew. £50. strg. for instance in favr. of the former, part in necessaries & the residue in educating a child or providing a tutor for the family, according to their wish. I say the balance to andrew, but if he requires & you can give more I wish it done. In truth my expences have been great here, and still are so, but it is much my wish to serve these few friends all in my power. We lament much the ill health of Tenah & anticipate the worst, but hope for her recovery. Her loss will be severely felt by Mrs. M. who wod. not admit that it were possible to replace her, by ½. dozen in her place: indeed she is valuable as a sensible & honest servant, as well as most capable, and whose loss cod. never be repaired. We are particularly gratified that she is well taken care of & wants for nothing. Peter we hope is well, who, & those under Hogg we wish to be humanely treated, well cloathed &ca. I send a letter from I thought had gone by a former opportunity.
The success of the French in Italy has obtained an advantageous peace with Sardinia, Parma, & put all Italy in terror. Indeed all the powers are seeking peace & ceding sums of money & their finest pictures as the price. The pope has offered to write a letter to the people of the Vendre to reconcile them to the govt. as one of the conditions & to pay down 15.000.000 of livres as another to the latter of wh. some attention is paid. An advantage is gained also on the Rhine, but this action was not general & of course the effect tho' important not very impressive. I will endeavor to write Mr. Jefferson also by this opportunity if possible, to whom & other friends be so kind as make my affectionate regards. Tell Joseph I wish to hear from him. We regret much the death of G. Jones. We are well & wish you so. Yr. fred. & servt.
Jas. Monroe