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7 he following is taken from the papers,
relative to France, communicated to the
houje op reprejmtatives, in a ni'U'&e
from the prejident of the Unit, and States,
ts December sih, 1793, and which
are now printed far the uje oj the mem
bers :
Rew-Vbrk, September 18, 1 79 f ctnd
year of the Frttich republic, cue and m
'div jible. Citizen Genet, win fter ple
nipotentiary of the French republic with
the United States, to rnr. Jeff erf on,
jecrctaiy of fate oj the United Slates.
Sir,
Pcrfuaded that the sovereignty of
the United States refitles eitentinlly in
the people, and its representation in
the cyiifnel’s : Ptriuaded that the ex
ecutive'power is the only one which
has been confided to the president of
the United States : Periuaded that
’ this magiilrate has not the right to
’ decide queftiqns, the di feu ft on of
.. which,the constitution reserves parti
cularly to the congrcCs : Ptriuaded
that he has not the power to bend ex
it!: ng.treaties \o ciratmftanccs, and to
change their, sense : P rfuaded that
the league formed by ail the tyrants,
to annihilate republican principles,
founded on tile fights o'! man, will be
the object of the molt serious deiibe.
rations of congress, 1 had deferred,
In the idle View of obtaining good
harmony between the free people of
America and France, communicating
to my governiiKpt, before the epoch
lat which the representatives - of the
people Were to aifesuble, the original
correfpqndence which has taken place,
in writing, between you and my ft if,
on the political rights of France in
particular : on the sntereits of public
liberty ; find on the a&s, proclama
tions, arid deciftons ol the prthdent
of the United St.ucs, relative to ob
j cts which ;• quire, from their na
ture, ths function of the legislative
body: However, informed that the
gentl men who have been painted to
me so often as at ftocrats, parti fans of
moi.ai ihv, par;ilk ns of England, - of
her conilitutioti, and\conlequem!y
enemies of the principles which ail
go-od Frenchmen have era! raced with
a religious enthufi f.n, alarmed at the
popularity which was reflected on the
trmiHler of France, by the affection of
tire American people for the French
republic, and for the glorious Cause
w Inch it defends ; equally alarmed at
mv unshaken and incorruptible at..
tach;nent to the severe maxims of dt\.
v: .0. racy, were Inbourii g to ruin nse -
in my cou<;try, after having reunited
if jail’ th. : r efforts to calumniate me in
the view el their fellow citizens, I
w a ; going to begin to collect thef’e af
i. *V.ng materials, and I was taking
mealure 1 to tranfinit them to France
with t.rv reports, when the detiuncu
ti in which theic lame men have el
icited the 1 rotidc.it to exhibit againlt
me through rnr. Morris,* came to my
ham’s, ’{strong in’ -.he principles which
have directed ir*s conduct, flickered
fi9m eyesy well so decl reproach, I
expe-fted, uevcnhe efis, to have found.
Pi; 1 it ftnne serious allegations ; but
what has oven my altomihmenf, on
finding that Use American people wetc
n.iore outraged in it than myfelf;
That is was ftippofed that l cxer•lied
overthvm a j j ve •• en inliuer.ee ; that
it was pretended that*] was making
them frd; a put in the war cf liberty
fur the defence of their brethren, of
their chit y agamli the intention of
their ‘govormr.birt': hint jo go\en:s
favourable to cur iutrrefts, rendered,
in the mitlft cf the acclamations of the
citizens ot PliLddpbm, by juries .m i
by independent .-.tribunal, have not
’been the e> of a lev ere j-ufthe ;
-illl short, that 1 was a power within
another pt*ver. Fuel) strange accu
Ik tic ns, only that the Ameri
can people Jove and fupporr our prin
and our cauie, in spite of its
* iSo letter skull appear in our thxi.
numerous enemies, and that the pow
er, which they do me the honour to
attribute to me, is only that ol grati
tude druggling againlt ingratitude ;
of truth combatting error : i will lend
no other juftification of my conduct;
I will join only, in support of the o
pinions which 1 mean to profels/lome
Writings which have been publifiied
litre, Inch as thole ot Veritas, and
of Helvedius, See. As to the personal
outrarres, as to the doubts which you
insinuate of my devotion to the union
of the people, I have realon to be
lleve they will not make a great im
preflion, when the answer shall be
recurred to, which I made to thenu
merous addrefles which your lellow
citizens deigned to present me ; when
it fliall be recoliefled, tfiat placed, at
the age of twelve years, in the bu
| reau cf foreign affairs, it was 1 who
j had the advantage of contribut
ing to penetrate the French with the
spirit of 1766 and 1767, by translat
ing into our tongue, under the di
rection of my father, then head cf the
bureau, the greater part of your laws,
and of the writings of your politicians;
that since that epoch, always faithful
4 to the cause of liberty, I have ren
dered to the Americans, in the differ
ent employments I have had, all the
fer-vices which depended on me ; and
that, we find, charged to represent
the French people, with the firft peo
ple who have proclaimed the rights
of man, knowing how far our ancient
government had put iiberticide (hack
les on the commerce and on the inti
macy of the two nations, I have ne
glected nothing to obtain, on the one
hand, the liberal basis on which tin#
new bands which the French p ople ]
delire to contract with the United i
States, V*ere to be negotiated, in or- j
e’er that, on the other, the federal \
government might be feniible how
urgent it was to occupy tin mft Ives
on the conclusion of thi true family
corupaft, which was for ever to usutc
the political and commercial interell j
of two* people, equally objefis of the ■
hatred of all tyrants. *
Besides, fir, whatever may be the
result of the achievements of which
you have rendered yourfelf the ge
nerotis instrument, after having made
me believe that you were my Inend';
after having initiated me into myl
teries, which have inflamed my
hatred again ft all thole who aspire to
•an absolute power, there is an act cf
justice which the American people,
which the French people, which all
free people, are interested to reclaim ;
that is, that there be made a particu
lar inquiry, in the next congress, of
the motives on which the head of the
executive power of the United States
has taken on himfelf to demand the
recal of a public minister, whom the
lovereign people of the United States
had received fraternally, and recop--
nixed, before the diplomatic forms
had been fulfilled, with refpett to him,
at Philadelphia.
It is in the name of the French peo
ple, that 1 am sent to their brethren
—to free and sovereign men ; it is,
then, for the representatives of the
American people, and not for a'fingie
man, to exhibit againlt me an act of
accusation, if I have merited it. A
despot may finely permit himfelf to
demand, from another delpot, the re
cal of his representative, and to order
hi j cxpuiiioa-in case of refufal. ‘lips
j is what .the empress cf Russia did,
j vah respect to my elf, from
1 AVI. but in a free Rate, it cannot be
| - 3unlef of-d or b..-‘entirely subverted;
1 xnlds r c t.ecple, in a moment of
p Inefs, choofs to rivet ther fetters,
in r.iak ;'g, to a isngle individual, the
| ‘ ‘ ..ent ot their moft precious
rights.,
r-r y u, tlien, (Tr,‘to place under
the eyes of the president cf the United
Mates, the demand which I make
in the name of equity, to lay before
congress for their difeuffion, at the
epoch when they shall be alfembled
by the law, if the great events which
occupy the univerle do not appear yet
{Efficient to hasten their convocation
jft. all the questions relative to the
political rights of France and the
United States, 2d. the different cases
resulting from our state of war w ith
the powers, of vhofe acts of aggreflion
I have informed you, 3d- heads of
accufatson, which the nnuifter or the
United States, with the French re
public, is charged to exhibit against
me, and against the consul whole
charasfier is compromitted and out
raged in the molt scandalous manner,
for having -obeyed superior orders,
which it was neither in his
nor in mine to revoke. In this ex
pectation, fir, I do not confider the
dignity of the French nation as com
promitted by the extraordinary poll- (
tion in which I find mylelf, as well as j
the confui ; and I have to complain 1
only of the forms you have employed. |
The executive council of the
French republic had also complaints,
of a very different nature from thole
alleged against me, to exhibit against
mr. Morris, your ambaflador at Pa
ris ; but penetrated with a just fenti
meist of reipect for the sovereignty of
the American people, it recommended
to me only to make confidential obier
! vations to you on the necellity of re
\ calling this minister plenipotentiary,
| accu led, by the public voice, of facts
j eftablilhed, but not by the reprefenta
; tires of the people after a regular in
quiry, of having favoured, as much as
he could, rhe- counter-revolutionary
projects of Louis XVl—of commu
nicating to him memoirs, in which he
; ad ii’ed him not to accept the cbnifi-
I tutbn—of having had no connexions
I but with suspected perfons—of hav
ingafie£ted the greatest contempt for
all thole who served faithfully the
cause of the people—of having been
the ch.annel of the councils which con
cluded La Fayette into the prisons of
Pro: r :t—of having abided the refpeef
of rite Frcnc 1 people for the eu. ay
of the A aericau people, to facilitate
more Tufety tie correiporidenee and
the cor.fpiracies of all their enemies
of havin r {hewn nothing but ill hu
mour in his relations with tne tmujl
•tersof the French republic—of hav.
ing n'TI ded. in writing to them, to
employ, in ffcaking of the executive
of the United States, only the words,
‘ in the name of my court,’ so ihock.
ing to republican ears—of having fie.
manded a palfport the 10th of Au
guli, 1792, to go into England, with
the ambalfadcr cf George lll.—and
of having Laid publicly, with a con
fidence which the present event jufti
fies, that if the embafly of the re
public fkould be received at Philadel
phia, it's extftence, and that of the re
publican consuls, in America, would
not be of long duration there*
I have already mentioned to you,
fir, l'ome of these imputations : but,
as I have already toid you, out of
relpedl for the sovereignty of the U
nited States, I thought I fiiould leave
to their wisdom the care of taking
me fures the rnoft l'uitable, to recon
cile their dignity with what their pru
dencegnight require.
Not doubting, fir, that the justice
which I require will be done me, as
well as my co-operators, I ought to
inform you, that I api about to have
printed all my correfpondenee, in or
der that the American people, whose
elleein is dearer to me than life, may
judge whether I have been worthy
or not of the fraternal reception
which they deigned to give me ; if’
in all my olficial papers I have not ex
pre (fed my ref'ped for that virtuous
nation, and my confidence in the pu.
ritv of their fentimenrs ; if I have
infilled on a tingle principle which has
not been iupported, since, by decisi
ons of the juries or tribunals of the
country ; if, in acting and exprailing
.nylelf with the franknels and energy
ol a republican, I hare attacked the
j constitution ; if I have refufed refped
to a fing’e law ; in fine, if, i n re.
claiming with all the firmnefs that
was preferibed to me, the faithful
execution cf our treaties, I have not
endeavoured to encourage the federal
government to employ the only means,
worthy of a great people, to preserve
peace and to enjoy the advantages o£
neutrality ; an ufeful objrcl, not to
be o!mjained by timid and uncertain
measures, by premature proclamations
which seem extorted by fear, by a
partial impartiality, which fours yc;
friends without fatisfying ycur ene
mies, but by an attitude firm and
pronounced, which apprizes all the
powers that ths very legitimate desire
of enjoying the sweets of peace, hai
not made you forget what is due to
justice, to gratitude, and that, with-,
out ceasing to be neutral, you may
fulfil public engagements, contracted
\vith your friends, in a moment when
you were yourfelvesin danger.
I will answer more in detail, fir, he
a proper time, to your violent diatribe.
But it contains one fad, on which I
must how give you explanations.—
You are made to reproach me with
having indilereetly given to my offi
cial proceedings a tone of colour,
which has induced a belief, that they
did not know, in France, either my
character or iny manners.- I will
tell you the reafo.n, fir; it is, that a
pure and warm blood runs with ra
pidity in my veins; that I love, pisf
fionately, my country ; that 1 adore
the cause of-liberty ; that I am always
ready to facrifice my life to it ; that
to me, it appears inconceivable, that
all the enemies of tyranny, that ail
virtuous men, do not march wish us
to the combat ; and that, when I
find an injustice is done to my fellow,
citizens, that their interelis are not
espoused with the zeal which they
merit, no cOnfideration in the w ork!
would hinder either my pen or try
tongue from tracing, from exprefling
my pain. I will tell you then, with
out ceremony, that I have been ex
tremely wounded, iir. 1 ft. That the
prendent nf the United vi,.!y C.
a hurry, before knowing what 1 liacj
to transmit to him on the part of the
French republic, to proclaim senti
ments, on which decency and friend
ihip should at least have drawn a veil.
2d. That he did not (peak to me at
my firft audience, but of the friend
ihip of the United States towards
France, without faying a word to me,
without announcing a tingle tenti neut
on our revolution ; while ail the
towns from Charleston to Philadelphia,
had made the air relound wi h their
moft ardent willies for the French re
public. 3d. That he had received
ami admitted to a private audience,
before rny arrival, Noailles and Ta
lon, known agents of the French
counter revolutionists, who have
since had intimate relations with two
members of the federal government.
4th. That this firft magistrate of a
free people, decorated his parlour
with certain medallions of Capet and
of his family, which served at Paris a
fignals of rallying. sth. That the
firft complaints which were made to
my predecelFor on the armaments and
prizes which took place at Charleston
on my arrival, were in faft but a pa
raphrase of the notes of the Engl id
minister. 6th. That the secretary
of war, to whom I communicated the
wifli of oils* government of the Wind
ward Islands, to receive promptly
foine nre arms and fome cannon,
which might put into a state of de
fence poflefiions guaranteed by the
United States, had the front, to an
fvver me with an ironical careiefsn ! c ,
that the principles eftablilhed by the
president, did not permit him to lend
us lb much as a pistol. 7th. That tfs e
secretary of the treasury, with whom
I had a conversation on the proposi
tion which I had made to convert ai
inoll the whole American debt, by
means of an operation ot finance u
---thoriicd by the lawq into flour, ricA