Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/166

130 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS ing him sole minister plenipotentiary to the king of France for three years from March 10, 1785. "You replace Dr. Franklin," said the Count de Vergennes to him, when he announced his appoint ment. Jefferson replied: "I succeed; no one can replace him." The impression that France made upon Jefferson s mind was painful in the extreme. While enjoying the treasures of art that Paris pre sented, and particularly its music, fond of the people, too, relishing their amiable manners, their habits and tastes, he was nevertheless appalled at the cruel oppression of the ancient system of gov ernment. "The people," said he, "are ground to powder by the vices of the form of government," and he wrote to Madison that government by hereditary rulers was a "government of wolves over sheep, or kites over pigeons." Beaumarchais s "Marriage of Figaro" was in its first run when Jefferson settled in Paris, and the universal topic of conversation was the defects of the established regime. Upon the whole, he enjoyed and assidu ously improved his five years residence in Europe. His official labors were arduous and constant. He strove, though in vain, to procure the release of American captives in Algiers without paying the enormous ransom demanded by the dey. With little more success, he endeavored to break into the French protective system, which kept from the kingdom the cheap food that America could supply,