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 Copy 1 
 
 WASHINGTON, JEFFERSON 
 
 AND 
 
 "CITIZEN" GENET. 
 
 1793 
 
 A SET OF SEVKES CHINA. 
 
 
 V 
 

 } 
 
A TEA SET OF SEVRES CHINA, 
 
 Loaned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, City of New York, by 
 Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Clinton Genet, December, 1902. 
 
 Soft Paste (Pate-tendre) China of the Royal Fac- 
 tory of Sevres, France, 1778, 1785. The factory 
 was the private property of the Crown. Its pro- 
 duct was not for sale, except by Royal permission, 
 and then at a very high price. At the above period 
 three of the sisters of Genet, afterwards known in 
 American History as Citizen Genet, were in the 
 service of Queen Marie Antoinette, the eldest 
 Madame Genet Campan, as first lady of the Bed 
 Chamber, two others, younger, as ladies in waiting 
 or of the Queen's circle of young ladies. Wishing 
 to present their mother with a tea set of that china 
 the Queen gave them permission to buy each a piece 
 for several years. In this way this set was obtained. 
 Upon the death of his mother it came by inheri- 
 tance to her son, and in the year 1800 was sent by 
 Madam Campan to her brother in America by Mr. 
 James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, 
 upon his return from a mission to France. It is 
 the subject of an interesting historical correspond- 
 ence between Mr. Monroe and Genet. It has been 
 in the Genet family ever since and has become the 
 property of the present owner, Mr. George Clinton 
 Genet. 
 
2 
 Correspondence . 
 
 BETWEEN 
 
 "Citizen" Genet and James Monroe, relative to 
 this Tea Set in Sevres China. 
 
 Genet to Mr. Monroe. 
 
 Jamaica, L.L, N. Y. July 12, 1800. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 In reading over lately some old letters of my sis- 
 ter Cam pan, I have found that she had taken the 
 liberty to charge you with sending to me a box of 
 Sevres China. That little box must be with your 
 baggage and my wife thinks she remembers that 
 Mrs. Monroe told her, on her passing through New 
 York, that it would arrive immediately. Since that 
 period we have heard no news of it. We join in 
 begging you to inform us what has become of it. I 
 have heard with profound joy of your election to 
 the Government of Virginia, perhaps you will learn 
 also with some interest that the Directory of the 
 French Republic has recalled me, as I ought to 
 have been in 1794, in a most honorable and con- 
 soling manner. 
 
 Mr. Monroe to Genet. 
 
 Richmond, July 30, 1800. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 I lately received your favor of the 12th inst. and 
 was much gratified to hear of yours and the health 
 of your lady. Mrs. Monroe is now in the country 
 whither she was carried by an attention that was 
 due to the health of our youngest child which as 
 it was cutting teeth and had the whooping cough 
 it was necessary to move to a purer air. 
 
The box of porcelain which was entrusted to us 
 by our most estimable friend Mrs. Cam pan for you 
 was carried with our luggage to Albemarle where 
 it has since remained unpacked. 1 should have 
 forwarded it to you long since, but declined it lest 
 in the then infatuated state of the public mind, it 
 might be considered as the proof of a conspiracy 
 against the Government and of a treasonable cor- 
 respondence with France, &c. I shall however 
 hasten to have it brought here and forwarded to 
 you to the care of some friend in New York of 
 whom you shall be advised, 
 
 I am happy to hear your Government has re- 
 called you to its own and the bosom of your 
 friends. As a friend to free government, your 
 name will be recorded in the history of the present 
 day, and your patient submission to the censures 
 you incurred in the station of a frugal and indus- 
 trious farmer, will be a proof of the uprightness of 
 your heart and integrity of your conduct while a 
 victim to your principles. I considered it my duty 
 not to injure your fame or detract from your merit 
 while I was in France, but to anticipate and pre- 
 vent as far as I could, any ill effects which your 
 collision with our government might produce in 
 the French Councils. It was natural had you re- 
 turned that you should have gone into a detail with 
 your government, of the incidents attending your 
 mission, and more than probable that the communi- 
 cations you would have made to it, would have in- 
 creased the Jealousy which it then entertained of 
 the views of ours. It was my desire and endeavor 
 to dissipate completely all those jealousies and to 
 bring the French Government into a system of 
 conduct towards us through the whole of the war 
 great and magnanimous, which would have done it 
 honor to the latest posterity. I had no particular 
 reason to conclude you would not have united in 
 such a plan other than the strength of human pas- 
 sions and the knowledge I had, you thought you 
 
were injured; hence I was persuaded your return 
 at the time might be injurious, and was in fact 
 averse to it, but I did not oi)pose it by any direct 
 or indirect agency. But such was the state of 
 things growing out of my standing with the prin- 
 cipal members of the government, that they would 
 take no step in it without speaking to me on it. 
 AVhen the subject was opened I was always silent, 
 testifying in favor of your integrity only, and it 
 was inferred, and truly I was opposed to your re- 
 turn at the time. The whole of this has passed 
 and is only recollected as interesting to ourselves. 
 I too have had my day of suffering. I served with 
 zeal the cause of liberty and my country and was 
 requited by every act of injustice which could be 
 rendered me short of imprisonment or death. This 
 too has passed, though it can never be recollected 
 but with disgust. 
 
 Be so kind as to make my best regards to j'^our 
 lady, to which I add with jjleasure those of Mrs. 
 M., who will be happy to hear of her and believe 
 
 me 
 
 Sincerely your friend and servant, 
 
 James Monroe. 
 
Genet to Monroe. 
 
 Jamaica South, August 10, 1800. 
 Sir: 
 
 I have received by post the letter you had the 
 goodness to write me the 30th of July. It contains 
 some things which have instructed me, flattered me 
 and filled me with admiration for your talents, Avith 
 -respect for your candor, with esteem for your patri- 
 otism, and with contempt for those who by a foolish 
 reason of state have iiad the sterile crueltj'- to 
 abandon a faithful agent to inquietude and to the 
 rancor of a foreign government. But there is 
 found in that letter a suspicion that you have nour- 
 ished, that others of your fellow citizens have with- 
 out doubt conceived, and which wounds me too 
 deeply for me not to hasten to destroy it. You 
 have feared that if I return to France, the force 
 of human passions and the sense of tiie injuries 
 with which I have been overwhelmed might hinder 
 me from joining those who sought to carry France 
 to adopt magnanimous and generous measures 
 towards this country. Imbued with tha,! idea you 
 have adroitly let the desire be blunted and extin- 
 guished, which was shown to you to repair the 
 atrocious injustice which had made me fly a country 
 which was then ferocious, to seek repose here in 
 obscurity and isolation. You were in an error, sir, 
 permit me to try to convince you of it, by the sim- 
 ple exposition of the following facts: More attached 
 than to my own glory to the success of the liberal, 
 magnanimous treaty of which I had suggested, re- 
 vised, proposed the bases, and of which the negoti- 
 ation has not yet been seriously intrusted to any 
 hands but mine, even at the time when my pas- 
 sions were irritated in every sense by contradic- 
 tions and chagrins, and when my disgust was most 
 exalted, 1 7iave buried in seer et the most justifying 
 parts of my instructions, in order that the appear- 
 ance of the wrongs, if there existed any, might 
 
6 
 
 fall on me alone. I have offered myself the first in 
 my official reports to France as a victim to calm 
 your Washington supposing that he wanted only 
 one virtue to be truly great, that of knowing how 
 to pardon. 
 
 When the members of the Committee of Public 
 Safety allured by the baits contained in the official 
 letter of Mr. Jefferson, had despoiled me without 
 examination, without inquest of the recompense 
 which I had acquired by eighteen years of service 
 in the career of Foreign affairs; by a civic conduct 
 since the commencement of the Revolution; and to 
 completa the atrocity, had caused me to be demand- 
 ed of your government for fear that my blood 
 might not be mingled with that of those prescribed 
 by them, I held to the sattelites of those monsters 
 who unveiled that infamy to me, the language dic- 
 tated to me by an imperturable attachment to the 
 union of our two nations, and I excited them to 
 fulhl their sanguinary orders if they believed it 
 would be useful. When filled with troubles and 
 fatigued with storms I hid myself from the world 
 1 never ceased to form wishes with all my heart for 
 the maintenance of harmony. Finally when the 
 rude discourses pronounced in your Senate when 
 the inhospitable laws which have been the result 
 of them, offered to the French Republicans scatter- 
 ed on this continent,no other alternative but flight, 
 chains or death, I addressed a letter to the Direc- 
 tory which was carried to it, b}^ one of my former 
 co-operators, to engage it to cast a fraternal look at 
 my position; and as unfortunately I could not 
 speak of myself without speaking of politics also, 
 I profited by that occasion to say to those chiefs of 
 the Empire, not to listen to their resentments., and 
 to seek in moderation alone the means of amelior- 
 ating the future. My letter traced by a pen of 
 which time has taken care to make the veracity 
 known, was re:id attentively. It has not injured 
 those who have been since holding the language of 
 
peace, and if I deceive myself with that illusion 
 my heart refuses to destroy it, it is too sweet. 
 
 May these details preserve to me your friend- 
 ship; may they give you some regret for having 
 been obliged by your situation to contribute to the 
 loss of seven years of the life of a man to the cause 
 of liberty, who cherishes her always, and to efface 
 from your mind even the slightest doubt of my 
 attachment to the good American people, who, dis- 
 tinguishing the public from the private man, have 
 covered me with the aegis of iier laws, while my 
 nation, which I had served with all my faculties, 
 wanted them to be violated, to punish me by an 
 assasination for having, obeyed her supreme will. 
 
 Accept, sir, the assurance of my most sincere and 
 respectful devotion. 
 
 Gknet. 
 
 P. S. Sept. 20th. 
 
 This letter was written, sir, when my wife hav- 
 ing become a mother for the third time had fallen 
 dangerously ill, and all my children were ill at the 
 same time. They have been restored to me, but 
 being entirely occupied with them I had forgotten 
 to transmit my answer to you. Madame Campan 
 to whom 1 have just written will be very sensible 
 of your remembrance. I have received no news of 
 her since they have essayed by honorable decrees 
 and caressing expressions to replace the bread 
 which tyrants have snatched from my innocence. 
 If I were younger I should cross the ocean, but , 
 having become a husband and father I can leave 
 nothing to chance. 
 
 If you should see Mr. Giles, my dear sir, please 
 to say to him that I shall never forget all his kind- 
 ness to me, and his precious confessions in. the win- 
 ter of 1793-4, but that I wonder how it came to pass 
 that the 25th of May, 1797, he thought proper to 
 lift up the tomaiiawk and the hatchet against my 
 political ghost in congress. Had I not tormentors 
 tjuough^ Another citizen has not spared me much 
 
8 
 
 more in a later session, but the Revolutionary Tri- 
 bunal of his heart involved all of my successors in 
 the sentence, and we were jointly accused of being 
 totally deficient in talent and diplomatic skill, a 
 judgment which if swallowed down by the French 
 Government as mine was by Robespierre might 
 have deprived them of their living. 1 could men- 
 tion also a number of Republican scribblers Logo- 
 machies Polemics Orations Characters Electioneer- 
 ing stuff ahd pamphlets proudly decorated with 
 the majestic title of History which would have 
 deeply corroded my wounds had I possessed less 
 philosophy. But as it is said in the song of the 
 dying Indian "The son of Alknoma has scorned to 
 complain." 
 
 Genet to Monroe. 
 
 Jamaica, N. Y. January 1803. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 The very prudent motive which prevented you 
 under the administration of Mr. Adams to forward 
 to me the set of China you had the kindness to 
 bring from Fi-ance existing in all probability no 
 more,I take the freedom to put you in mind of that 
 small object before your departure for the contin- 
 ent, and to request you to send it to New York to 
 the care of John Broome, Hanover Square. Though 
 sensible of the injustice I had suffered, but mis- 
 trusting my generosity you have, my dear sir, em- 
 ployed your infiuence to j)revent my undeceived 
 fellow citizens to recall me honorably after 
 your government had obtained fiom their ignor- 
 ance the punishment of my faithfulness to their 
 awful orders, I wish you well. I have heard your 
 appointment with pleasure and I hope your new 
 embassy will be crowned with success for tne good 
 of this countrj'', the last refuge of true liberty. 
 
 Genet. 
 
Monroe to Genet. 
 
 Washington, Feb. fi, 1803. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 I liave yours of the 29 ult. and have the pleasure 
 to inform you that when lately in Richmond I sent 
 round the Box of China belonging to you, with 
 some boxes of my own to New York to the care of 
 Mr. Gelston, the collector. On my arrival at New 
 York which I expect will be about the 13th it shall 
 be separated from my baggage and placed as you 
 direct. You have [ think, very much mistaken 
 the import of a former letter from me to you rela- 
 tive to my conduct toward you while in France. 
 You certainly entertain an impression very differ- 
 ent from the fact, be the letter what it may. Noth- 
 ing ever escaped me or was to be inferred from my 
 deportment unfriendly to you. Your nearest con- 
 nections can satisfy you on that point. I want to 
 state to you that my situation laid a restraint on 
 me, so as to prevent my promoting the object of 
 your recall and to impose a reserv^e in certain cases 
 when had I been free to act, the good opinion I en- 
 tertained of your moral and political principles 
 might have suggested a greater freedoui of action. 
 I never mentioned you in my life, but in terms of 
 respect as a friend of your country and of liberty. 
 1 found by your former letter that'j^ou had mis- 
 taken my idea on the subject and would have put 
 you right, had I not wished not to multiply com- 
 munications in the then state of the Post offi(;e (ac- 
 cording to report) on a subject which it would 
 be easy in a short conversation to place on its true 
 ground. I hope to see you in New York and will 
 be happy to bear your commands to your friends in 
 France. Mrs. Monroe is now in New York. With 
 respectful regards to Mrs. Genet, I am, 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Jas. Monkoe. 
 
10 
 
 Samuel Adams, Governor of Massachusetts, 
 to Genet. 
 
 Boston, Oct. 22d, 1793, 
 Sir: 
 
 Our late worthy and excellent Governor, John 
 Hancock, having been taken from us by death, 
 Citizen Dennery on his arrival delivered to me 
 your letter directed to the Governor, which on the 
 melancholy event it became my duty to receive. I 
 perceive he is appointed by the Executive Council 
 to succeed Citizen Letomb who is now on his pas- 
 sage to France. Had the late Governor been liv- 
 ing he would have received the new Consul as he 
 did the Vice Consul with great regard and friend- 
 ship. I do assure you that I shall observe the 
 same line of conduct as he did from a respect due 
 to your recommendation of him, and my attach- 
 ment to him as an officer under the French Re- 
 public. I hojDe he will soon receive his Exequator 
 which is necessary to be entered on our public 
 records, and I shall then in form duly acknowledge 
 
 him. 
 
 I am satisfied in my own mind that you are pos- 
 sessed of feelings of warm affection towards our 
 country, as well as your own, and I rejoice to ob- 
 serve your expectations that your conduct being 
 made public, will evidently appear to have been 
 right in the eyes of all reasonable men, and will 
 make those ashamed whose prejudices have caused 
 them with gieat industry to load you with abuse 
 and calumny. 
 
 I earnestly pray that your residence in the U. S. 
 as Minister Plenipotentiary may render you per- 
 sonally happy, being already persuaded it will 
 greatly tend to promote the common cause of 
 liberty and the rights of men. 
 
 I am sir with great respect and esteem, 
 
 Samuel Adams. 
 
 Citizen Genet, 
 
 Minister Plenii)otentiary. 
 
 Note. Samuel Adams and John Hancock were 
 the only men proscribed by the British Govt, dur- 
 ing the American Revolution. ' 
 
11 
 
 Judge Burke of South Carolina to Genet. 
 
 Charleston, Feb. 16, 1794. 
 Citizen Minister: 
 
 About the beginning of September last 1 wrote 
 you a long letter to which I never received any 
 answer. I sent it by a vessel bound to Phila- 
 delphia, and as I know the vessel arrived and not 
 hearing from you, I take it for granted that my let- 
 ter has been arrested. 
 
 On the 14 of November I wrote a second letter 
 to you by Commodore Gil Ion who was going to Con- 
 gress and here again I was disappointed, for he went 
 no further than Columbia, being detained there by 
 some embarrassments in which he is involved with 
 our legislature. He is now at his seat in the 
 countrj^ one hundred and forty miles from this, 
 and though I wrote to him three different times to 
 return my letter that I might forward it, yet 1 
 wrote in vain. 
 
 The newspapers from Philadelphia have an- 
 nounced to us, that the arts made use of by the ad- 
 ministration against you, both in America and 
 France, have been but too successful. We have 
 in Charleston one thing in common with her sister 
 cities of Philadelphia and New York, that is a 
 ministerial party toned to perfect unison with a 
 strong British party, botii together celebrating at 
 this moment a sort of jubilee or triumph for the 
 victory supposed to be obtained over you — wliile 
 the few republicans in town, and the mass of the 
 inhabitants of the country are sincerely afflicted 
 for it: still hoping however that your country- 
 men will not pass to any measures of disapproba- 
 tion respecting your conduct, without first giving 
 you an opportunity to defend yourself; for should 
 they be too precipitate in this business the mis- 
 fortune that will spring from it, will not affect 
 you alone. If they condemn you unheard, and 
 
12 
 
 that on the accusation of men who are your 
 enemies, only because the energy and republican- 
 ism of your character had spread, as you passed 
 through this country, an enthusiasm for PVench 
 principles, and diverted into the old Republican 
 channel the stream of tjjat rapid fervent tide, of 
 political i.iolatry by which we were borne away 
 before your arrival. Tf this should work a preju- 
 dice to your standing and reputation, it will hold 
 out to your successor but poor encouragement to 
 pursue a steady line of independence, amidst the 
 strong undercurrents of domestic and foreign court 
 interests and court parties in Philadelphia, Let 
 your successor be who he may, I will answer for 
 one thing that if he will only land at Savannah or 
 Charleston, and travelling on as you did 
 to see the country and know the people, is found 
 on liis arrival at Philadelphia to possess energy of 
 head and Republicanism in his heart,! will venture 
 to predict that he will be made to pass tlj rough a 
 ministerial purgatory, as you have. It will only 
 remain for some other Jay or King to let off another 
 sky-rocket, which although but momentary will 
 answer its end, by gleaming upon him for a while 
 the resentment of an abused public. As for your- 
 self be assured that as a Patriotic Republican and 
 a man of talents, you have in South Carolina the 
 veneration and affections of that great body of 
 men who in our late conflict for overtuining 
 Royalty have on many honorable and hard trials 
 given good proof how warm was their love for 
 Republican Liberty. Nor have they like some 
 who you and I icnow, changed their old tenets with 
 their recent good fortune. They do not see with 
 the half way Kepublican Mr. Jefferson, the great 
 criminality in your landing in South Carolina, on 
 the contrary, they view in it a great deal of good 
 to both countries, for had you gone directly to 
 Philadelphia, you would very naturally have judged 
 of the patriotism of the many by the sample of a 
 
13 
 
 few — You would never have known how congenial 
 is the Republicanism of Frenchmen to that of 
 Americans in general — You might have remained 
 in Philadelphia for years, a stranger to a fact with 
 which you are now pretty intimate, that tiie people 
 and some that we could name are in political 
 opinions and projects, the very antipodes to one 
 another. The great mass of our citizens believe 
 tliat you instead of suffering Kingly Purgation 
 at New JorA: deserve to be a member of a Repub- 
 lican Millemium, for one piece of good service 
 which you did us here in the South. The popular 
 enthusiasm for liberty, which bore us through the 
 war lay buried since the peace owing partly to 
 that weariness and repose which naturally succeed 
 great exertion; but principally to that lethargy 
 and stupefaction that always has in every Republic 
 and ever will creep on, when idolatry for a popular 
 citizen becomes a general disease — Out of this we 
 were happily awakened by your tour from Charles- 
 ton. Although your progress was rapid, yet 
 bearing as you did, not only the public character 
 of your nation, but also that of its Republicanisn), 
 this together with the energy of your own spirit 
 by a sort of electrical transmission of kindred im- 
 pulse,rekindled in us the honest, ardent feelings of 
 1776 — and though this be a mighty offense of yours 
 with some of our leading men, yet a little time,and 
 better information will develope to the patriots of 
 your Republic, how much you merit tributes of 
 praise and not prosecution for your services in 
 America. 
 
 Adieu Citizen and accept my best wishes and 
 
 warmest esteem. 
 
 A. BuiiKE. 
 Citizen Genet, 
 
 Minister Plenipotentiary, 
 
 from the French Republic. 
 
14 
 
 Johii Martin a distiiiguislied lawyer and 
 Politician of Baltimore to Genet. 
 
 I am so strongly impressed with the impropriety 
 of printing your instructions and correspondence 
 that I cannot rest contented with the verbal ad- 
 vice I gave you this morning to drop tlie idea. 
 There is one sentence alone of moment to be pub- 
 licly known and that is where you are expressly 
 forbid to take any steps which may give umbrage 
 or create jealousy of an interference with our Con- 
 stitution — the publication of this will show that 
 you mubt have been a madman (in which case your 
 country would not have employed you) or a fool 
 (which your enemies are not so fortunate as to 
 find you), to have acted the part they impute to 
 you. The publication of the rest can only gratify 
 those, and they are unfortunately too many here, 
 who detest you, your country and your cause alike 
 — these peoples' prejudices are in nature,confirmed 
 by ignorance, you can't hope to convert them — 
 where they are they are incurable, and if brought 
 over would be worthless — I can easily satisfy you 
 that Congress can take no cognizance of any per- 
 sonal imputation upon you, or of a difference be- 
 tween you and the Minister, and that appealing to 
 them, can only keep up the idea, among your op- 
 ponents, that your object is to create parties and 
 confusion, or to compel the country to a wnr, 
 which there is no difhculty in proving it was both 
 an object of your country and your own personal 
 wish to avoid. No censure can follow from de- 
 clining to fultill an incautious engagement to print 
 — besides I am persuaded that part of the instruc- 
 tions, ought upon no account to be printed, or gen- 
 erally l?:nown, and you will understand on this 
 head more than 1 need write. 
 
 It is unavoidable that Congress must discuss the 
 political relations of the two countries, and that 
 discussion inevitably calls for information, which 
 
15 
 
 looses half its effect by being obtruded at present. 
 The breach between you and the President may by 
 a little moderation, be entirely closed — I fear a 
 I)ublication would render it irreparable — there is a 
 total impossibility of persuading the Americans 
 that he can liave erred intentionally — his vast ser- 
 vices have hedged him about with such a divinity 
 (I am told you read Shakspeare) that he is, and 
 will forever remain, unapproachable to any per- 
 sonal attack — On this subject we all think alike, 
 and the change of the opinion is unpleasant, in 
 idea, for us, and utterly hopeless for you to effect 
 if you even wished it— the distance and the dif- 
 ference of those about him is immense — they have 
 misled this country and injured yours as I think. 
 Spare them not — while tliey are your game, the 
 public will soon become impartial and you have all 
 the arguments, all the decisions, and what even the 
 unthinking are influenced by, all the success in 
 your favor— the arts which created tlie clamor are 
 sinking fast, I hope, into contempt — ^My advice to 
 you must be sincere, for my vanitj^ would be in- 
 finitely gratified, in showing that I could nearly 
 imitate in my language, the force and elegance 
 with which you have 'expressed yourself iii yours. 
 
 Accept my respects, 
 
 J. Martin. 
 
 Note TO Above — A Power separated from Europe 
 by 2,000 Leagues — which has given itself up with 
 frantic passion to maritime commerce, whose coasts 
 areextensive and unprotected, is necessarily control 
 led by whatever power is strongest on the Ocean — to 
 this first cause of the influence of England in 
 America are joined some secondary ones, such as 
 corruption, the affinities of the Government, the 
 intrigues of the English Merchants, It results 
 from this that the English are conciliated and 
 respected, because they fear them — and the French 
 are sacrificed — outraged, because they do not fear 
 
16 
 
 them — Our democratic and economical principles 
 were the only arm with which it was in our power 
 to attack the English influences here, by attract- 
 ing the attention of the people exclusively, to 
 argriculture. By leading them to regard the Mer- 
 chants and the British factors here, as the enemies 
 of their liberties, the ties between the two coun- 
 tries are destroyed. 
 
 Genet to the French Minister of Foreig'n 
 Affairs. 
 
 Phila., August 5th, 1793, 
 Year 2nd of the Republic- 
 Citizen Minister : 
 
 The merchant Captains of Baltimore having in- 
 formed me, that they were about to send a vessel 
 to France, I profit by this opportunity to send you 
 some duplicates of some of my most important 
 dispatches, and of the reports made to me by Citi- 
 zens Cassan and Thomas,whom I sent to the squad- 
 ron at Norfolk, as well as those of the Admirals. 
 These will give you an idea of the difficulties I had 
 to surmount, to reorganize or rather to regenerate 
 the naval forces of the Republic. Still I hope to 
 succeed. I am at the moment of departure for 
 New York, where they are awaiting me with im- 
 patience. 
 
 When I reached Philadelphia, three thousand 
 citizens came out to meet me, while three hundred 
 merchants mostly English went to thank the Pres- 
 ident of the United States, for his proclamation 
 of Neutrality. Never has public opinion been 
 more marked, Washington has been profoundly 
 wounded by it. It was the next day that I had 
 my first audience. The friend and counsellor of 
 La Fayette, answered my frank and loyal overtures 
 
17 
 
 only in ii diplomatic language, from which noth- 
 ing resulted, that appears to me to be worth trans- 
 mitting tcT you — he only spoke of the desire, that 
 according to him, the United States had to live in 
 peace and good will with all the i)Owers, and parti- 
 cularly with France, and lie avoided touching upon 
 anything, that might I'elate to our Revolution or to 
 the war we are sustaining alone against tlie enem- 
 ies of mankind. 
 
 Jefferson, Secretary of State, at the beginning, 
 appeared to me to be the most disposed to second 
 our views. He gave me some useful notions con- 
 cerning the men in place, and did not conceal from 
 me, that Senator Morris and Hamilton Secretary 
 of the Treasury, attached to the interests of Great 
 Britain, had the greatest intiuence over the mind of 
 the President; and it was with difficulty that he 
 counterbalanced their efforts. He did more, he 
 published in the papers over the signature of Ver- 
 itas, three letters against the system of these gen- 
 tleinen. Still, I have remarked in his official de- 
 clarations a sort of restraint, that has convinced 
 me that this man wished to keep himself in a 
 position to retain his place, whatever might be 
 the issue of events. In fact, scarcely had the news 
 of the infamous defection of Dumouriez and of 
 the reverses which resulted from it, reiiched here, 
 scarcely had the revolution of St. Domingo spread 
 terror, among all tlie owners of slaves, than I saw 
 him weaken from day to day, and render himself 
 the [)assive instrument of a party that detests him. 
 Then, seeing myself deserted by the Minister on 
 whom we had most reason to rely — seeing that the 
 Minister of England was drawing closer to the Pre- 
 sident — that Talon, that Noailles, the agent of the 
 pretended Regent of France, was received at the 
 house of Morris and of Hamilton, and was even re- 
 ceived at the house of the President, seeing that 
 all of the decisions of the Federal Government 
 Wdre against us, that everything tended to annul 
 
18 
 
 tlie effect of our treaties, I took the on! 3'^ course 
 that could "be taken, I surrroiinded myself with 
 the most pronounced Republicans, and-I found in 
 the local governtwents, in the State tribunals, in 
 the Juries of the people, in the Democratic societies 
 that formed in a moment from North to South, after 
 the example of our own; in the anti-Federal 
 journals, in all good citizens, among all men more 
 attached to the real interest of America, than to the 
 interests of the merchants,in all the Militia corps, 
 the most energetic support. In spite of the pro- 
 clamation of the Federal Government, fourteen Pri- 
 vateers, mounting among them 120 cannon, loaded 
 with Americans, sailed out from all the seaports 
 and took from our enemies more than 80 vessels 
 richly loaded. Despite the decisions of the Federal 
 Government, the Admiralty Tribunals of many 
 States, faithful to our treaties, have respected the 
 exclusive right of our consuls to take cognizance 
 of all that concerns prizes. Despite the analhemas 
 pronounced by Washington and his Federal Judges 
 against all Americans, who took partinour war, the 
 juries acquitted every one who had been arrested, 
 amidst the acclamation of the people. Despite the 
 Federal Government, the Pennsylvania Militia as- 
 sembled on the 14th of July, and swore to regard 
 as a traitor, every man who did not feel the neces- 
 sity of maintaining our treaties of commerce and 
 alliance. The tenth of August and the 21st of 
 September have been equally celebrated by the 
 people in all the States as national holidays 
 and the tri-colored cocade was placed on every 
 hat beside that of America. Then Washington 
 and his adherents excited by Talon who has be- 
 come their adviser, and by the Minister of Eng- 
 land, did me the honor to attribute to me the suc- 
 cesses, (which were only due to the principles that 
 I have embraced,) pursuaded themselves that my 
 ruin, might retard their ruin— all their batteries 
 were in consequence directed against me. Their 
 
19 
 
 Giizetts have spread abroad that I was violating 
 the laws, and the constitution of the country, and 
 that 1 had threatened the President to appeal to 
 the people from his decisions. Two men sold for 
 a long time to the British, Jay and King, the first 
 a federal judge, believed that it would do me a 
 great deal of harm, by their certifying to it; but 
 tliat imposture instead of striking me, fell back 
 upon themselves. They could not prove what they 
 had advanced, and the people of New York, at the 
 very instant that they sought to give them the 
 most unfavorable impression, gave me the most 
 brilliajit reception, and assured me in the address 
 that you will find attached to this dispatch, that 
 their wish was, that I might continue a long time 
 to fnllill with the same energy, the functions that 
 were confided to me. My answer, of which you 
 will also find a copy, proved my sensibility'-, and 
 convinced them, that the intention of the Republic 
 was not, as they were trying to persuade them, to 
 draio them into the war, but to cause them to take 
 an attitude, worthy of a free people. This last mark 
 of the esteem of the Americans, finished the irri- 
 tation of Washington against me; the libels of 
 his partisans were multiplied, and finally, and to 
 end the absurd polemic, I wrote him the letter 
 joined to this, in which he answered me through 
 Mr. Jefferson, a President of the United States 
 being too exalted, according to him, to coirespond 
 with the agent of another nation. T immediately 
 caused these two letters to be printed, they pio- 
 duced the best effect, all the popular societies 
 applauded my courage; but passion seized the 
 soul of Washington, and he charged the counter 
 revolutionist Morris, to demand my recall by the 
 Council, and threatened our consuls to interdict 
 them, if they continued to authorize the sale of our 
 prizes, and to protest against the ti'ibunals, that 
 wished to take it to themselves. 
 
'20 
 
 Mr. JefTerson sent me a copy of that denuncia- 
 tion, which you must, have received, and I confine 
 myself, for my justification, Citizen Minister to place 
 before you the answer that I made to it. I also 
 made that of the Consuls, to the outrageous menaces 
 that were intimated to them. Not having for a 
 moment overstepped the line of our duty — not hav- 
 ing undertaken anything that wasnot couforniable 
 to the treaties,and to the laws of the United States, 
 we have unanimously agreed to demand from Con- 
 gress through the Executive, that an enquiry be 
 made of the chief accusations bi'ouglit against us 
 and of the conduct of the Federal Government. 
 Our friends wish it, with as much impatience' as our 
 enemies fearit, and I am persuaded that the French 
 Kepublic will approve that step. It will unveil 
 some men who cloak themselves with the mantle 
 of federation to reach a nionaich}^ and it will ac- 
 cellerate the fall of a crowd of intriguers, who have 
 no other object in view than to deliver their coun- 
 try to England, to establish heiea form of govern- 
 ment absolutely similar to theirs, and to expel 
 both equality and French Republicans from this 
 sacred land of liberty. I declaie to tiie Conncil 
 Citizen Minisier, America is lost to France, if the 
 exi)urgatory fire of our revolution does not [)ene- 
 trate her bosom. The men who brought about, the 
 revolution of 1775 have been shut out from almost 
 every employment by tlie faction that controls, and 
 that faction is composed solely of former torys, of 
 English aristocrats, naturalized after the war; and 
 of ambitious or greedy men, in whom the fever of 
 pride and thirst to regain what they have lost, has 
 made them foiget.that they only exist through the 
 people and that they should only strive for their 
 wellfare. We have nothing to expect from them. 
 They do not want either our principles or our al- 
 liance. Letus nuirch on then, with firmness in the 
 career that I have opened, and if you believe it 
 of use to sacrifice me to Washington, at least send 
 
21 
 
 in my place, a minister who will not, abandon Re- 
 publicanism, the sincere friends of liberty, of equal- 
 ity, of France. 
 
 The following reports Citizen Minister answer all 
 the letters that you have written me up to and 
 including No. 12 and present you with all ihe de- 
 tails that you could wish in regard to my mission. 
 I have partly divided them in this way. 
 
 1. The direct relations I have had with the Amer- 
 ican People; the civic fetes that have been 
 given me; those which took place at the most re- 
 markableepochsof our Revolution; thebest writings 
 that have been published in the American Journals 
 for and against onr rights and our political inter- 
 ests;and the deliberation of many popular societies 
 among others that of Charlestown. 
 
 2. My correspondence with the American 
 Government relative to the Prizes of the armed 
 vessels, in progress, and to the arbitrary decisions 
 
 •of the Federal Goverment upon the treaties whose 
 meaning could not be changed in any respect. 
 
 3. Tile complaints I have made to the American 
 Government, upon the insults offered to the Amer- 
 ican Flag by the English, and the motives that Mr. 
 Jefferson alleged, for not sustainingby forceof arms 
 the rights of Neutrals, in the face of that Nation 
 which has always seen proper to violate them. 
 
 4. My different reports upon the negotiation that 
 I have carried on with the Federal Goverment, rela- 
 tive to the reimbursement of the debt due by the 
 UnitedStates toFrance,as also other special reports 
 upon the provisions for France and her colonies 
 with which I have been charged. 
 
 6. The ditt'erent notes that I have presented to 
 the Federal Government in transmitting to it the 
 decrees relative to the favors granted to American 
 Commerce by the National Convention, and to the 
 conduct of the armed vessels of France, in respect 
 to neutrals. I have joined to these notes some 
 general views upon American Commerce. 
 
22 
 
 6. Different reports relative to tlie affairs of 
 St. Domingo,' tlie projects of the colonies and of 
 Galbaud, and of tlie means I have employed to de- 
 feat them. 
 
 7. A tableau of the present situation of all the 
 colonies of the Republic, both windward and lee- 
 ward . 
 
 8. My general report upon the insurrection that 
 has broken out upon the vessels of the Republic 
 in the harbor of New York, particularly on board 
 the Jupiter; upon the means 1 have taken to re- 
 organize these forces; and the new conspiracy of 
 Galbaud, and his flight to Canada, (where it is said 
 he now is) after he found that he was discovered; 
 and upon the measures I have taken to prevent this 
 wicked man, and his accomplices, from consumma- 
 ting, their treason, and completing the ruin of St. 
 Domingo. 
 
 9. A particular report upon the convoy from St. 
 Domingo which has taken refuge in the ports of 
 the U. S. The majority of the captains want to 
 winter here; while awaiting a more considerable 
 force than has been destined to escort them. 1 have 
 not yet entirely yielded to their wishes. 
 
 10. The plan of operations, that under my in- 
 structions, the naval forces of the Republic in 
 America have undertaken, to restore to us the pos- 
 session of the fisheries of Newfoundland, to destroy 
 that of the English, to intercept their convoys from 
 Canada and from the bay of New York; sound the 
 disposition of our brothers of Acadia;make the con- 
 quest of Florida, and oi)erate on the coasts of Louisi- 
 anaa; diversion favorable to the operations that the 
 II linoisiansand Ken tuckians are about to begin from 
 the north, with a view to breaking the chains that 
 bind the inhabitants of that unfortunate country 
 always attached to France. 
 
 10. My genera] and special reports upon the con- 
 sulates; upon their organization; the work that I 
 have confided to the zeal of thecj.ti?iens who fulhll 
 
23 
 
 them and the affairs that concern them individa- 
 ally. 
 
 11. Many communications made to the American 
 Government and to some private persons of the 
 different decrees of the National Convention and 
 other pieces. 
 
 11. The information that has been re- 
 quired from me upon the family of Genl. 
 Eustace, and a contageous malady that is 
 ravaging Philadelphia, for six weeks past, 
 and which has turned it into an immense desert. 
 Everyone tied; the Federal Government has disap- 
 peared ;and nobody knows where the Congress will 
 hold its session, if this calamity does not come to 
 an end shortly. 
 
 12. Finally duplicates of many dispatches and 
 reports that 1 have sent to you by different oppor- 
 tunities. 
 
 This Citizen- Minister is the account that I owe 
 to my country of the mission with which it lias 
 charged me. As affairs hefe^are likely to become 
 more important from day to day, I intend to turn 
 my attention to the necessity of establishing some 
 system of advice boats, which will carry to you 
 more promptly and regularly news of our political, 
 military and administrative operations. With this 
 view I have already made the acquisition of many 
 little vessels, fine sailers, that some American 
 citizens had bought under our authorization. It 
 was just to indemnify them, since the Federal Gov- 
 ernment, has suspended by its decisions, the exer- 
 cise of the right we have to arm in their ports. 
 
 I have the iionor Citizen-Minister, &c., &c., 
 
 Genet. 
 
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LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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