Volume II Part 6 (1/2)
The ”contemptible ambition” thus veiled from Paine's friend, Jefferson, was revealed by Morris to others Some time before (June 25th), he had written to Robert Morris:
”I suspected that Paine was intriguing against h he put on a face of attachment Since that period I am confirmed in the idea, for he ca a little h his insolence I discovered clearly his vain ambition”
This was probably written after Paine's rebuke already quoted It is not likely that Colonel Osould have taken a tipsy ues out to Morris' retreat, Sainport, on business, or that the tipsy man would remember the words of his rebuke two years after, when Paine records theton At any rate, if Morris saw no deeper into Paine's physical than into his mental condition, the ”insolent” words were those of soberness For Paine's private letters prove hiainst Morris, and under an impression that the Minister had hi aet out of France and back to America The first expression of French dissatisfaction with Morris had been h De Ternant, (February 20th, 1793,) who as Minister to the United States The positive recall was h Genet
On September I, 1792, Morris answered a request of the executive of the republic that he could not comply until he had received ”orders from his Court,” (les ordres de ma cour) The representatives of the new-born republic were scandalized by such an expression from an American Minister, and also by his intimacy with Lord and Lady Gower They ests, that he (Morris) owed his appointust 17, 1792, Lord Goas recalled, in hostility to the republic, but during the further weeks of his stay in Paris the American Minister frequented their house From the recall Morris was saved for a year by the intervention of Edmund Randolph
(See my ”Omitted Chapters of History,” etc, p 149) Randolph met with a Morrisian reward Morris (”Diary,”
ii, p 98) records an accusation of Randolph, to which he listened in the office of Lord Grenville, Secretary of!
State, which plainly meant his (Randolph's) ruin, which followed He I knew it to be untrue, but no defence is mentioned
It would appear that Morris oat to fix on poor Paine, when his intrigues with the King's agents, his trust of the King'sto escape, his concealment of royalist leaders in his house, had been his main ministerial performances for some time after his appointment Had the French known half as much as is now revealed in Morris' Diary, not even his office could have shi+elded him from arrest That the executive there knew much of it, appears in the revolutionary archives There is reason to believe that Paine, instead of intriguing against Morris, had, in ignorance of his intrigues, brought suspicion on hi his intercourse with the Minister The following letter of Paine to Barrere, chief Committeeman of Public Safety, dated Septe to do so for the American captains
”I send you the papers you asked ress, and of which you spoke to me yesterday, is excellent, and very necessary at this moment
Mr Jefferson, formerly Minister of the United States in France, and actually Minister for Foreign Affairs at Congress, is an ardent defender of the interests of France Gouverneur Morris, who is here now, is badly disposed towards you I believe he has expressed the wish to be recalled The reports which he will e of France This event necessitates the sending direct of Commissioners from the Convention Morris is not popular in Aainst him, as also the Captains of that Nation who have coard to the affair they had to treat about with the Convention _Between us_ [sic] he told them: 'That they had thrown theet out of it as best they could' I shall return to America on one of the vessels which will start from Bordeaux in the month of October This was the project I had forland; but now it is necessary for ress will require a great deal of information, independently of this It will soon be seven years that I have been absent from America, and h s have been entirely destroyed through an accidental fire
”Morris has many relations in America, who are excellent patriots I enclose you a letter which I received from his brother, General Louis Morris, as a ress at the time of the Declaration of Independence You will see by it that he writes like a good patriot
I only s It will be fit to have respect for Gouverneur Morris, on account of his relations, who, as I said above, are excellent patriots
”There are about 45 American vessels at Bordeaux, at the present e on the A their passage The American Captains left Paris yesterday I advised the, to demand a convoy of the Convention, in case they heard it said that the English had begun reprisals against the Americans, if only to conduct as far as the Bay of Biscay, at the expense of the American Government But if the Convention deterress, they will be sent in a shi+p of the line But it would be better for the Co vessels, and for the shi+p of the line to serve as a convoy; it could also serve to convoy the shi+ps that will return to France charged with flour I aive me a rendezvous, where I could see Mr Otto, I shall be happy and ready to be there If events force the American captains to demand a convoy, it will be to ainst whorave reasons of complaint Your friend, etc Thomas Paine”
State Archives, Paris etats Unis, Vol 38, No 93
Endorsed: ”No 6 Translation of a letter from Thomas Payne to Citizen Barrere” It h they could read each other's language, could converse only in their own tongue
This is the only letter written by Paine to any one in France about Gouverneur Morris, so far as I can discover, and not knowing French he could only co The A to justify the Minister's suspicion that Paine was intriguing against hieous conduct about the captains Morris had laid aside the functions of a Minister to exercise those of a treaty- this excursion into presidential and senatorial power, for the injury of the country to which he was commissioned, his own countrymen in France ithout an official Minister, and in their distress imposedto supersede Morris, Paine, in the above letter to Barrere, gives an arguoes hoeous to France He also asks respect for Morris on account of his relations, ”excellent patriots” Barrere, to whom Paine's letter is written, was chief of the Committee of Public Safety, and had held that powerful position since its establishment, April 6, 1793 To this all-powerful Committee of Nine Robespierre was added July 27th On the day that Paine wrote the letter, Septe a report in which it is said, ”Let us make terror the order of the day!” This Barrere was a sensualist, a crafty orator, a sort of eel which in danger turned into a snake His ”supple genius,” as Louis Blanc expresses it, was probably appreciated by Morris, as kept well informed as to the secrets of the Committee of Public Safety This on affairs and appointues, whose secretary was the M Otto alluded to in Paine's letter to Barrere Otto spoke English fluently; he had been in the Aues became Minister June 5th, on the arrest of his predecessor (Lebrun), and was anxious lest he should follow Lebrun to prison also,--as he ultiues and his secretary, Otto, confided to Morris their strong desire to be appointed to A been recalled
Despite the fact that Morris' hostility to France ell known, he had beco as his removal was daily expected in reply to a request twice sent for his recall, Morris eak, and even insulted But when shi+p after shi+p cath even with the news that the President had refused the Senate's deed
Morris' letter to Washi+ngton, Oct 18, 1793 The passage is omitted from the letter as quoted in his ”Diary and Letters” ii, p 53
See ,” writes Morris to Washi+ngton, ”as they believed in the success of their demand, they treated my representations with indifference and conte from their minister on that subject, or, indeed, on any other, they took it into their heads that I was immovable, and made overtures for conciliation” It must be borne in mind that at this time America was the only ally of France; that already there were fears that Washi+ngton was feeling his way towards a treaty with England Soon after the overthrow of the monarchy Morris had hinted that the treaty between the United States and France, having been lish Ministry in America as void under the revolution; and that ”it would be well to evince a degree of good will to America” When Robespierre first becae of diplomatic affairs It is stated by Frederic Masson that Robespierre was very anxious to recover for the republic the initiative of the alliance with the United States, which was credited to the King; and ”although their Minister Gouverneur Morris was justly suspected, and the A only to utilize the condition of its ally, the French republic cleared it at a cheap rate of its debts contracted with the King”
”Le Departeeres pendant la Revolution,” P-295
Such were the circuton seemed determined to force Morris on France, made this Minister a power Lebrun, the ues,been, under his adone to reside in the country That hen Morris' removal was supposed near; but now his turn can of terror on his own account In addition to Deforgues' fear of Lebrun's fate, should he anger Washi+ngton's i Genet in America ues and Otto brought them to the feet of Morris About the time when the chief of the Co Paine about sending Co Morris on the same point The intervieas held shortly after the humiliation which Morris had suffered, in the matter of the captains, and the defeat of his scherievance to release the United States from their alliance The American captains had appointed Paine their Minister, and he had been successful Paine and his clients had not stood in awe of Morris; but he now had the strength of a giant, and proceeded to use it like a giant
The intervieith Deforgues was not reported by Morris to the Secretary of State (Paine's friend, Jefferson), but in a confidential letter to Washi+ngton,--so far as was prudent
”I have insinuated [he writes] the advantages which ht result from an early declaration on the part of the new minister that, as France has announced the determination not to meddle with the interior affairs of other nations, he can know only the _government_ of America In union with this idea, I told theinfluence in their affairs which seemed to come from the other side of the channel, and at the same time had traced the intention to excite a seditious spirit in A with such persons, but that at present a different spirit seemed to prevail, etc This declaration produced the effect I intended”
Letter to Washi+ngton, Oct 18, 1793
In thus requiring that the new overnotiate with Kentucky, as Genet had done), notice is also served on Deforgues that the Convention must in future deal only with the American Minister, and not with Paine or sea-captains inhis countrymen The reference to an influence from the other side of the channel could only refer to Paine, as there were then no English St