Diplomat Monroe in France in 1794
Diplomat Monroe in France in 1795
Diplomat Monroe in France in 1796
James Monroe in 1797
James Monroe in 1798-99
Governor Monroe 1800-02
On 13 August 1794 Minister Monroe gave a letter to the President Merlin de Douai
of France’s National Convention, and then he made this speech to the Convention
that was also translated into French by a secretary:
Citizens, President and Representatives
of the French People:
My admission into this Assembly, in the presence
of the French Nation (for all the citizens of France
are represented here) to be recognized as the
Representative of the American Republic, impresses
me with a degree of sensibility which I cannot express.
I consider it as a new proof of that friendship
and regard which the French Nation has always
shown to their ally, the United States of America.
Republics should approach near to each other.
In many respects they all have the same interest.
But this is more especially the case with the American
and French Republics—their governments are similar;
they both cherish the same principles and rest on
the same basis, the equal and unalienable rights of men.
The recollection too of common dangers and difficulties
will increase their harmony, and cement their union.
America had her day of oppression, difficulty and war,
but her sons were virtuous and brave, and the storm which
long clouded her political horizon has passed and left them
in the enjoyment of peace, liberty and independence.
France our ally and our friend and who aided in the contest,
has now embarked in the same noble career; and I am
happy to add that while the fortitude, magnanimity and
heroic valor of her troops, command the admiration and
applause of the astonished world, the wisdom and firmness
of her councils unite equally in securing the happiest result.
America is not an unfeeling spectator
of your affairs in the present crisis.
I lay before you in the declarations of every department
of our Government, declarations which are founded in
the affection of the citizens at large, the most decided
proof of her sincere attachment to the liberty,
prosperity and happiness of the French Republic.
Each branch of Congress, according to the course of
proceedings there, has requested the president to
make this known to you in its behalf; and in fulfilling
the desires of those branches I am instructed to
declare to you that he has expressed his own.
In discharging the duties of the office which I am
now called on to execute, I promise myself the highest
satisfaction; because I well know that while I pursue
the dictates of my own heart in wishing the liberty and
happiness of the French nation, and which I most sincerely
do, I speak the sentiments of my own Country; and that by
doing everything in my power to preserve and perpetuate
the harmony so happily subsisting at present between
the two Republics, I shall promote the interest of both.
To this great object therefore all my efforts will be directed.
If I shall be so fortunate as to succeed in such manner as
to merit the approbation of both Republics, I shall deem it
the happiest event of my life, and return hereafter with a
consolation, which those who mean well and have
served the cause of liberty alone can feel.1
Two days later on August 15 Minister Monroe wrote a very long letter
to the United States Secretary of State Edmund Randolph
describing what was going on with the French.
Here is a sample:
Their success in Spain has likewise been great.
They are in possession at present, of the whole
of the province of Guypuscoa, Bilboa excepted.
Many prisoners and immense parks of artillery
have been taken from the Spaniards.
The detail I cannot give you with any kind of accuracy,
but will endeavor to comprise it in my next.
There has been but one sea action,
and which was between the French and English
fleets in the course of the present summer.
The French had 26 ships, and the English 28.
The English, having the wind, bore down on the
French and separated 7 ships from their main force.
Of these they took 6 and sank the other.
It is said there never was a more bloody
or better fought action on both sides.
It lasted three days.
On the fourth the British filed off with the
ships they had taken, and sailed into port.
The French having offered to renew the
combat likewise retired afterwards to Brest,
whither they conducted the merchantmen
convoyed from America, and which was
the object of the contest, safe.2
On September 2 Monroe wrote in a letter to
James Madison about his first month in France:
Tomorrow will make one month since our arrival here,
and such have been my engagements that although
I resolved that I would begin a letter to you every
succeeding day yet when the day arrived,
it was not in power heretofore.
You will readily conceive the variety of the objects to which
I have been forced to attend, many of which requiring the
utmost effort of my judgment, all delicate and interesting,
and you will readily admit my embarrassment when you
know that I have not had a single person
(Mr. Skipwith excepted and who is new in this line)
with whom I could confidentially confer.
I wished not to write you a superficial letter,
but whether I shall be forced to hurry this
is what I cannot at present determine.
Between Baltimore & Paris, we were 45 days.
The passage was free from storms & between the
soundings of each coast short, being only 29 days.
We enjoyed our health; none were sea sick
except Joseph a few days & myself an hour or two.
Mrs. Monroe & the child escaped it altogether.
We landed at Havre & left it for this the day after,
whither we arrived in three days, being the 3 of August.
We are yet at lodgings, but expect to be fixed in
Mr. Morris’s house which I took, in less than a week.
I found Mr. Morris from town; but he came in,
in two or three days after my arrival.
About a week before my arrival Robespierre had been
executed with St. Just Couthon & others so that the scene
upon which I had to commence was a troubled one.
The public councils were yet somewhat agitated
but tranquility and joy upon account
of that event reigned everywhere else.
The whole community seemed to be liberated from the
most pestilent scourge that ever harassed a country;
I found I had better look on for some days, merely to inform
myself of the course to be taken to obtain my recognition.
I found myself under difficulties from the commencement.
The fall of Robespierre had thrown a cloud over all whom
it was supposed he had any connection with, or in
whose appointment he had been anywise instrumental.
This included my fellow passenger, so that it was not
prudent to avail myself of his aid in presenting me, or even
making known my arrival to the Committee of Public Safety.
And I was averse to taking the introduction
of my predecessor for as good a reason.
I did not know the ground upon which the
Americans stood here, but suspected as the
acquisition of wealth had been their object in
coming, they must have attached themselves to
some preceding party & worn out their reputations.
Upon mature reflection, therefore I resolved
to wait the arrival of my predecessor &
present myself as a thing of course with him.
I concluded it could do me no detriment as it was
the official mode, and more especially as he would
have to file off at the moment I took my ground.
This was done.
He accompanied me to the office of foreign affairs,
notified his recall & my succession.
I left with the commissary a copy of my credentials,
& requested my recognition from the competent
department as soon as possible & which was promised.
But my difficulties did not end here.
Eight or ten days elapsed, and I was not accepted, nor had
I heard a syllable from the Committee or seen a member.
And upon enquiry I was informed that a
minister from Geneva had been here 6 weeks
before me and was not yet received.
Still further to increase my embarrassment
I likewise heard that the commissary to whom
I was presented being of Robespierre’s party was
out of favor, and that probably his letter covering
my credentials had not been read by the Committee.
I could no longer bear with this delay: I foresaw
that the impression to be expected from the arrival
of a new minister might be lost, and that by the
trammel of forms and collision of parties I might
while away my time here forever without effect.
I was therefore resolved to place myself if
possible above these difficulties, by addressing
myself immediately to the convention.
I knew this would attract the public attention
and if my country had any weight here, produce
a proportional effect not only upon that body,
but upon every subordinate department.
The result was as I had expected; my letter being read
in the Convention was well received, taken immediately
to the Committee of Public Safety, reported on in two hours
afterwards by that body & a decree passed the same day
for my admission on the next, at two in the afternoon.
It was at the same time intimated by a special messenger
from the President that he should be glad to have a copy
of what I should say an hour or two before I was presented.
I had of course but little time to prepare my address.
I thought it expedient to make the occasion as
useful as possible in drawing the two republics
more closely together by the ties of affection, by
showing them the interest which every department
of our government took in their success & prosperity.
With this view I laid before the Convention, with suitable
solemnity the declarations of the Senate & House of
Representatives, and added a similar one for the President.
The effect surpassed my expectation.
My reception occupied an hour and a half, of not merely
interesting but distressing sensibility, for all who beheld it.
It was with difficulty that I extricated myself from the
House and Committee of Public Safety and indeed the
crowd which surrounded it, after the business was over.
The cordial declaration of America in favor of France
and of the French revolution (for although I have not
mentioned the word “revolution” after the example
of both houses, yet after the example of both
and especially the House of Representatives.
I have strongly implied it) in the view of all Europe,
and at a time when they were torn in sunder by parties,
was a gratification which overpowered them.
I doubt not this measure will be scanned
with unfriendly eyes by many in America.
They will say it was intended that those things
should have been smuggled in secretly
and as secretly deposited afterwards.
But they are deceived if they suppose me
capable of being the instrument of such purposes.
On the contrary I have endeavored to take
the opposite ground, with a view of producing
the best effect here as well as there.
And I am well satisfied that it has
produced here a good effect.
It is certain that we had lost in a great
measure the confidence of the nation.
Representations from all parties had agreed,
and men of different characters.3
The next day on September 3 Monroe sent a long letter
to the Committee on Public Safety which began:
There are some subjects to which I wish
to call your attention and which I deem of
equal importance to both Republics.
They have grown out of the occurrences of the present war;
have pressed particularly hard on the United States,
and will I doubt not be immediately rectified in a manner
becoming the French nation and of course satisfactory to us.
The first respects the departure on the part of France
from the 23rd and 24th articles of the treaty of
commerce subsisting between the two Republics.
The second the embargo of our vessels at Bordeaux
and the injuries arising from it to those whom it concerns.
The third respects the claims of some of our citizens
for supplies furnished to the Government of St. Domingo,
authenticated by Bills upon the Minister of the Republic
in Philadelphia, by Bills from France, and by Mandates
and other instruments usual in such cases.
By the 23rd Article of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce
it is stipulated that free ships shall make free goods, and
that all goods shall be free except those which are termed
contraband and that no dispute might arise as to
contraband, all those which should be deemed such
on the one hand, and which should be deemed free
on the other are particularly specified in the 24th.4
He discussed various treaties, bills, and naval issues.
Monroe wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson on September 7, and
on the 9th a very short letter to the President of the National Convention.
Monroe sent a long report to Secretary of State Randolph on September 15
asking for advice on various diplomatic issues.
He concluded,
You will observe I have adopted in my movements
here the plan of conciliation, and that I have intimated
in consideration of the alliance subsisting between the
two Republics, the preference we have on that and
other accounts, for France to any other country.
I have done so not only in obedience to the dictates of my
own judgment, but because I thought I thereby followed the
spirit of your instructions, and because I well knew I could
not otherwise count upon success in anything I undertook.
In the brilliant career of victory which now attends the arms
of the Republic you will readily conceive that a cordial but
dignified tone is better calculated to produce a happy effect,
than one which was distant, formal, and merely diplomatic.
And I was the more inclined to it from a belief
that I saw in the temper of the nation a sincere
disposition to accommodate us in all cases
within its power, and to cultivate the most
perfect harmony between the two countries.
Whether this is real or fallacious, time, and a very short
one, will now disclose, since I have presented before the
Government propositions which must eventually test it.5
Monroe, once again referring to himself in the third person,
later wrote this in his Autobiography:
The duties which thus devolved to him
were never diminished during his mission.
To meet the pressure he was forced to employ
several assistant secretaries, generally three,
and to rent a separate house for them and afford
them other accommodations and aid connected
with the establishment and necessary to their comfort.
There being then no consul at Paris, and the service
of such an official being indispensable, he appointed
to the office provisionally Mr. Skipwith, subject to the
approbation of the President, who had accompanied
him as Secretary of Legation, a citizen of excellent
understanding, perfect integrity, and great worth,
whose appointment was confirmed by the President
and who retained the office during Mr. Monroe’s
mission and long after its termination.6
Monroe and the Committee on Public Safety managed
to liberate Madame La Fayette from imprisonment.
Her husband General La Fayette was imprisoned in Austria.
Monroe also learned in September that the writer Thomas Paine had been imprisoned
in Paris for eight months, and he had corresponded with him in August.
He could not get Paine released and wrote to Washington about him on 3 January 1795.
That year Monroe learned that Timothy Pickering had become U S Secretary of State
and that John Jay had negotiated a controversial treaty with Britain.
Monroe on October 16 sent a very long report to Secretary Randolph
and three more on November 7 and on December 2 and 18.
Monroe also sent four shorter letters to the Committee of Public Safety.
The comprehensive Jay Treaty was signed at London on November 19,
and in December the Committee on Public Safety
asked Monroe about their concerns on the treaty.
The Jay Treaty had not yet been published while waiting for ratification.
On 3 January 1795 Minister Monroe wrote a letter to President Washington,
and he described the complicated situation of Madame La Fayette.
In another long report to Secretary of State Randolph on January 13
Monroe began by noting that the National Convention had resolved to
fulfill the Treaty of Amity and Commerce held by the United States and France.
Monroe then wrote extensively on his concerns regarding
the treaty being negotiated in London by John Jay.
Monroe had rescued Tom Paine from a bad prison in November 1794,
and then for a year and a half he provided things that Paine in prison wanted.
In this letter he reported that Mr. Paine had been
restored to his seat in the National Assembly.
Monroe also wrote to John Jay on January 17.
He sent notes on the Mississippi River to the Committee on Public Safety on January 25.
Monroe wrote to Secretary Randolph again on February 1
and longer letters to him on the 12th and on March 6.
On 8 September 1795 Monroe, after receiving a copy of the ratified Jay Treaty
and Senate proceedings, wrote extensively in a letter on October 24 to James Madison:
I wrote you yesterday with a view of sending the
letter by the same vessel which takes the articles we
have purchased for you—but as an excellent opportunity,
that of Mr. Murray a very worthy young man, offers,
I shall avail myself of it not only to send the
letter of yesterday but to add something to it.
Perhaps these articles may likewise be sent by the same
opportunity, although the vessel sails for New York.
I herewith enclose you the copy of a letter to
Mr. Randolph in answer to one of his—
as likewise of my correspondence with Mr. Jay
relative to his treaty, with such comments as I
deemed it necessary to make to Mr. Randolph on that
gentlemen’s conduct in relation to that transaction.
I sent you some considerable time since by Mr. Perkins
of Boston a similar communication, & hope it has
reached you: or rather I sent by him what respects
Mr. Jay, having previously sent a copy of the other paper.
My object was and is to put in your possession facts
which may be useful in a certain view of things,
perhaps to the public & certainly to myself.
So far as it respects Mr. Randolph the object is at
an end for ’tis said he is withdrawn, but if he were not,
I have no reason to expect an attack from that quarter—
as it respects the other however it may yet be useful.
In any event you will become acquainted with another
instance of the duplicity & finesse of that man, and find,
at least I think so, how desirous he was, of embarking
my reputation here in support of his, and with a view
of sacrificing it in case his merited to be sacrificed,
and of which I had little doubt even at that time.
I endeavored to act for the best advantage of my country,
under the circumstances existing, & without compromising
myself in behalf of what he had done or might do:
and I now find the benefit of that policy both in
respect to the state of things here & with you.
I most sincerely hope the President has
not & will not ratify this treaty, for if he does,
I greatly fear the consequences here.
From what I can learn, we shall be deemed under it
rather than otherwise in the scale of the coalesced powers:
and under such an impression it will require moderation
in any government to withhold its resentment.
How cautious therefore should the President be in
hazarding a step of this kind at the present moment,
when the slightest circumstance is sufficient
to excite indignation, & even perhaps to
part the two countries forever.
If the treaty is ratified, your situation is a difficult one:
but even in that case do you not think the seizure
on the part of England of our vessels since,
a sufficient ground to declare it broken & void?
Perhaps a distinction may be taken that it was
ratified after the seizure began, & of course
that such seizure ceased to be a cause.
But this is not sound, for if the President has ratified,
I presume his motive was the advice of the Senate
& which was given before the seizure was known.
To that act therefore should his ratification
be referred & with it be dated.
So that the Congress will be at liberty to act
upon the seizure as a subsequent thing.
In short you have a thousand grounds upon which
you may get rid of this treaty, and I should be satisfied
with the slightest of these had I a vote to give in the case.
But if the treaty is rejected, say its advocates you
have war, & to which I reply that if so, our dilemma
is an unhappy one in consequence of that treaty.
To be plundered with impunity was a hard thing, but to bear
this treaty also, although we universally deem it a calamity,
merely because we fear England, is still worse.
Surely that nation will not insist on such terms.
She has too much regard for us, for Messrs. Jay,
Hamilton & company if not for our country to
push us to such an extremity, especially when
she knows we are so averse to fighting.
But I think the conclusion by no means a sound one:
for I cannot think it possible, let her menaces,
be what they may, that in the present state
of things England will make war on us.
We see that she is greatly exhausted, and it is the
universal report of Americans & others from England,
that there is no calamity yet to befall her
which she dreads more than a war with us.
Satisfied have I always been that by a decent but yet
determined pressure we might not only obtain what we
wanted & were entitled to, but likewise do it without war:
indeed I have thought it the surest way to avoid war.
Still I am of this opinion.
The French have obtained a naval victory or rather
advantage in the Mediterranean, in which a ship of
the line was taken, & two others greatly damaged
(indeed tis said they are run on shore) & with 17 vessels,
merchantmen richly laden under their convoy.
Two other similar advantages yet more
signal are spoken of but not authenticated.
The late commotion was a terrible one, but it ended on
the next day when everything was perfectly quiet & in
which state it has since remained: some denunciations
have followed, but they have vanished in smoke, as yet.
Two cases only excepted.
You will be astonished to hear that all Paris is
disarmed, and by about 5,000 men, & you will
of course conclude that the sense of its citizens
are for the measure, or it could not be done.
Indeed it was by a decree only—
for under it they disarmed themselves.
If they were not for it, the situation of the republic
would be an unpleasant one, for otherwise the citizens
would be deemed against the revolution, & which is
certainly (I speak of a great majority) not the case.
I write now in the evening of the 24th.
On the 27th the new government assembles, & as every
moment of the interval is of importance I take occasion
to let you know that all is yet well & promises to be so.
For a few days past there was a prospect of some terrible
denunciations of Talien against Boissy D. Anglass & others
upon a suspicion that the latter had favored the late
commotion, & today it was expected they would be
made in form, as a common was appointed to
report supplementally respecting that commotion.
The report was made by Talien, & I attended & heard it—
but it contained nothing of the kind.
Indeed it was conciliatory.
I know B. D Anglass and think him true to the revolution,
as I likewise think Talien, whom I also know.
After this I am persuaded nothing will intervene,
& that the new government will
commence under favorable auspices.
An American just from London tells me that Mr. Pitt
was at Deal & along the English coast during the late
troubles here—and just before the Count D’Artois
was landed in the Isle Dieu, close by the French
coast opposite the Vendee where he now is.
Very sincerely I am your friend.PS. I think it probable an attempt may be made to
vindicate Mr. Jay against the imputations raised against
him for his misconduct in the negotiation with Gardoqui.
If such attempt is made it will be made by a
publication of his reports in the office of State
which contain his justification: but the true view
is in the secret journal of Congress & which ought
likewise to be published in case the others are.
There is no objection to publishing the journal
(or so much as respects this topic) which does not
apply to the publication of the reports with equal force:
and to publish the one and not the other will be a partisan
maneuver not very honorable to those who do it.
They were in the Senate (I mean the reports)
when I left it, & Mr. Rufus King wanted them published,
but I wanted the others also,
& this put a stop to the business.
I beg of you to attend to this for me,
& give suitable notice thereof to my friends in that body.
The present is indeed an awful moment here.
The change of the government & the momentary
suspension of affairs makes it greatly so, especially
when it is known, as it is, that foreign powers are if not
at the bottom, yet deeply concerned in every movement.
Gardoqui when he returned to Spain settled a secret service
account for six hundred thousand dollars laid out in America
and a short time after our peace a man (an ancient Tory)
but a friend of his, & who came from France for the purpose
offered Mr. Hichburn five thousand pounds sterling from
Lord Dunmore not to influence his opinion but presuming it
would be right, as a proof of friendship and who likewise
told him similar tokens were intended for others whom
he named to him & who afterwards were:
the first fact depends on the authority of Littlepage
who told it to Joel Barlow sometime since on his return
from Spain whither he was sent by the king of Poland.
Joel Barlow adds that Lewis Littlepage
appeared to know nothing of the negotiation
which had been on foot in America.
The other fact is from the person himself.
The French have received a check upon the Rhine which
has caused a retrograde maneuver to the Rhine.
It appears that the neutrality of some of the inferior
powers with whom peace was made was broken by
the opposite party & by which a wing of the French
army was turned & which occasioned this movement.
Tis not deemed a serious thing; two deputies however
one of whom was in the military section of the
Committee of Public Safety & the other suspected
likewise of unfriendly practices with their enemy,
are arrested, as likewise is General Miranda.7
Monroe from Paris wrote to James Madison in this letter on 20 January 1796:
I think I mentioned to you sometime
since that Mr. Paine was with me.
Upon my arrival I found him in prison, & as soon
as I saw my application in his behalf would be
attended to, I asked his release & obtained it.
But he was in extreme ill health, without resource, &
(affairs being unsettled) not without apprehensions of
personal danger, & therefore anxious to avail himself as
much as possible of such protection as I could give him.
From motives that will readily occur to you I invited him
to take a room in my house, & which he accepted.
It was his intention at that time sometime in October 1794
to depart for America in the Spring, with which view in
February following, I asked permission of the Commissioner
of Prisons: safety for him to depart, charged with my
dispatches for the department of state, a motive which
I presumed would authorize them to grant the
permission asked: but was answered it could not
be granted to a deputy; though indeed he could
scarcely be considered as such, having been
excluded from the convention as a foreigner,
& liberated upon my application as an American citizen.
His disease continued & of course he continued in my house,
& will continue in it, till his death or departure for America,
however remote either the one or the other event may be.
I had occasion soon after Mr. Paine’s enlargement to
intimate to him a wish, that while in my house,
he would write nothing for the public, either of
Europe or America, upon the subject of our affairs,
which I found even before his enlargement
he did not entertain a very favorable opinion of.
I told him I did not rest my demand upon the merit
or demerit of our conduct, of which the world had a
right to form & would form its opinion, but upon the
injury such essays would do me, let them be written
by whom they might & whether I ever saw them
or not, if they proceeded from my house.
He denied the principle, intimating that no one would
suppose his writings, which were consistent, were
influenced by any one: that he was accustomed to write
upon public subjects & upon those of America in particular,
to which he now wished to turn his attention, being
about to depart thither & reside there for the future.
But as I insisted that I owed it to the delicacy of my public
& private character to guard myself even by erroneous
inferences, against any improper imputation or compromise
whatever, & especially as I did not wish any impression
to be entertained of me which I did not create myself,
being the arbiter of my own measures & the guardian
of my own name, and which I knew would be affected
through that door if it were opened, with many if not
generally, & therefore entreated him to desist,
he then accommodated, more however from an
apparent spirit of accommodation, than of conviction
that my demand was reasonable or my argument sound.
Thus the matter ended, & I flattered myself I should
for the future enjoy the pleasure of extending to Mr. Paine,
while he remained here, the rights of hospitality &
without exposing myself to the inconvenience
I so much dreaded and labored to avert.
Latterly however an incident has turned up which
has again disquieted me on the same subject.
He had committed to Mr. Pinckney when here the other
day on his return from Spain, a letter for his book seller
in London, upon the propriety of carrying & delivering
which unsealed, Mr. Pinckney asked my opinion.
I frankly told him, in his place I would carry nothing I did
not see and approve of, & as he was of the same opinion
he desired me to communicate it to Mr. Paine which I did.
Mr. Paine owned that his letter contained an extract of one
he was writing or had written to Frederick Muhlenberg
in Philadelphia upon English & American affairs & which
he intended should be published with his name.
Mr. Pinckney returned the letter,
not choosing to be the bearer of it.
Upon this occasion I revived with Mr. Paine the argument
I had used before, expressing my extreme concern that
he pursued a conduct which, under existing circumstances,
gave me so much pain, & to which he made little other
reply than to observe, he was surprised I continued
of the same opinion I formerly was upon this subject.
Whether he will send the one or the other letter I know not.
I shall certainly prevent it in both cases if in my power.
That to England is not sent as yet.
Tis possible the one for America is gone or will be sent.
Let me therefore entreat you to confer with the
gentlemen to whom it is addressed & request him
in my behalf if he receives such a one, to suppress it.
In any event I have thought it necessary to possess you
with these facts that you may use them as occasion
may require to guard me against any unmerited slander.
Since my last which was of the inst.
nothing new has occurred.
Murmurs are heard against the forced loan,
but yet the collection progresses so that there
appears no reason to doubt its execution.
The armies on both sides keep their respective
positions near the Rhine: nor is it probable the truce
will be renewed, though on this point nothing transpires.
Tis known that England is willing to leave France
in possession of the Belgic & give up everything
taken from her provided she is permitted
to retain the Cape of Good Hope &ca.
I say it is known because I have it from a
Respectable person who has had opportunities
of knowing the views of the English government.
But I think France will reject this with disdain, though indeed
Holland has little claim on her to continue the war on that
account, having made no effort whatever in her own behalf.
This latter country presents to view a curious
& interesting spectacle at the present moment.
Its conquest by France was at the moment when
the public mind was vibrating here from what
was called terrorism to the opposite extreme:
the effect of antecedent & well known causes.
Under this impression the deputies in mission with the
armies in Holland were appointed, and as they likewise
felt & obeyed the same impulse, dreading terrorism as the
worst of political evils, (although there was no analogy in
the situation of the two countries nor likely to be), it was
natural they should turn their attention to it where they
were, as one it was more especially their duty to avoid.
Such too was their conduct, by means whereof the early &
flattering prospects of a complete revolution were checked.
More latterly however the error of this policy has been
seen through & will doubtless be remedied so far
as it depends now on the councils of France.
Unless the government is placed completely in the
hands of the people there will be in the public councils
neither energy nor integrity to the cause of the people.
Your china will go from hence in the course
of a few days when I will send you an invoice of it.
It is a plain neat service, sufficient in number & cheap.
If you will permit me, I will procure for you in the course
of the present year furniture for a drawing room,
consisting of the following articles.
1st. Chairs, suppose 12 or 18.—
2nd. Two tables or three after the taste which we prefer—
3rd. A sofa, perhaps 2.
These all of tapestry & to suit, if to be had,
the curtains we sent you, either one or the other set.
4th. A clock to stand on the chimney piece, & which
chimney piece I will send also, of marble, if you wish it.
I wish you to send me a list of what other things you want,
& especially of books & I will provide & send
or bring them with me when I return home.
I will procure everything as cheap as possible
& adjust the amount when I have occasion for it.
Mr. Jefferson proposes to have a house built
for me on my plantation near him, & to which
I have agreed under conditions that will make
the burden as light as possible upon him.
For this purpose I am about to send 2 plans to him
submitting both to his judgment, & contemplate accepting
the offer of a skillful mason here, who wishes to
emigrate & settle with us to execute the work.
I wish yourself & Mr. Jones to see the plans
& council with Mr. Jefferson on the subject.8
On 16 February 1796 Monroe wrote to the new Secretary of State
Timothy Pickering and informed him that the French Directory had decided
to end their alliance with the United States
because of the ratification of the English treaty.
Four days later he wrote to Pickering that the Directory was planning to send
an extraordinary Envoy to the United States
because of their dissatisfaction on the British treaty.
On 5 July 1796 Monroe wrote to James Madison a coded letter explaining
how bad relations with France were becoming.
He hoped that Jefferson would be elected President.
Washington recalled Monroe in that July and sent Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
to take over the diplomacy in Paris.
On September 10 Monroe wrote to Secretary of State Pickering and asked this question,
“Why did this government take no steps under its first impressions,
and particularly in August 1795 when Paris was starving, and our vessels
destined for the ports of France were seized and carried into England?”9
Tom Paine was eventually released, and in October 1796 he published
an open letter to Washington in the Aurora blaming the President
for not helping to get him released from prison in Paris.
Pickering delayed notifying Monroe that he was being recalled so that he would
not return to the United States until after the elections in the fall.
In the elections in 1796 the Federalist candidate Vice President John Adams
narrowly defeated the Republican Thomas Jefferson 71 to 68 in the Electoral College.
Because Jefferson came in second in the Electoral College vote, he became
Vice President of the United States and the President of the U. S. Senate.
In the United States Senate the Federalists gained one seat as
the Republicans lost two giving the Federalists a 20 to 10 advantage.
In the House of Representatives the Republicans also lost their 59-47 majority
as the Federalists took ten seats away from them to give them a 57 to 49 majority.
Monroe wrote this letter to Madison on 1 January 1797:
I have not heard from you since the
adjournment of the last Congress or rather
since you left Philadelphia after the adjournment.
In my last I informed you that Adet was suspended &
orders issued to seize British property in our bottoms
& that the aspect here was a very menacing one,
and in consequence my situation as the minister of
our country a very disagreeable one, & which was made
more so, after these measures were taken by a reproach
which was whispered against me by some & felt by many,
that I had obstructed & delayed these or such like
measures while they might have produced a good effect.
In this state of things an account of my recall arrived
& soon afterwards Mr. Pinckney arrived in person,
and which incident served it is true to relieve me
from the dilemma in which I was personally
but by no means to improve the state of our affairs.
It was before charged on me by many
(as you have seen was the case from my first arrival here)
to be a useful agent of the administration in covering
the treaty &ca. and therefore on me the ill will of this
government fell before my recall: but afterwards they
ascribed my zeal & efforts to preserve tranquility &ca.
to sound motives & in consequence whereof the very
act of my recall became a cause of new irritation here.
What followed you will hear before this reaches you,
respecting the rejection of Mr. Pinckney, my farewell &ca.
My recall is an affair upon which I presume
the administration has given some explanation
to the Senate if not to the public.
I should be glad to know what reason they have given for it.
I rejoice they have given me that testimony that I had
no share in their councils nor portion of their confidence.
It proves incontrovertibly that my efforts to reconcile
this government to the treaty &ca. by defending it &ca.
did not proceed from a previous harmony in political
sentiment with the administration, but a sincere desire
to preserve peace & tranquility between our two
republics regarding the actual state of things.
Such a document was really very necessary here,
and would have been more so for futurity, especially
after this government began its present system of
measures so decidedly against my most earnest efforts
and advice: the latter of which was given as a man
known to be friendly & sincerely so in their affairs,
and not in the spirit of a pompous & vain gasconade
as some with us exhibit themselves when they
speak of friendship with France & her revolution.
It is to be regretted that Mr. Washington’s
testament arrived before Mr. Pinckney
for it confirmed previous unfriendly impressions.
Most of the monarchs of the earth practice ingratitude
in their transactions with other powers: they all
however hold a different doctrine, but Mr. Washington
has the merit of transcending, not the great men
of the ancient republics, but the little monarchs
of the present day, in preaching it as a public virtue.
Where these men will plunge our affairs God only knows,
but such a collection of vain, superficial, blunderers,
to say no worse of them, were never I think before
placed at the head of any respectable State.
I enclose you a copy of my address to the Directoire
on taking leave & of the President’s reply to me.
The two papers contain the sum.
Perhaps it is proper for you to have it inserted in our papers
to prevent the errors of the English papers getting the start.
I propose sailing in the commencement of April, & should
sooner were it safe or suitable to make a winter passage.
You will observe that although my recall was decided
perhaps in June, for Mr. Pinckney’s acceptance was in July,
yet I was not written to of it till 22 of August nor did I
receive the letter till the 6th of November, so that my
return home was impossible before the lot was cast for the
President, had I even been disposed to withdraw before
the arrival of Mr. Pinckney which was on the 7 of December.
Thus I am subjected to the necessity of expending here the
sum allowed to defraying the charge of my journey home.
We propose making in the interim a tour
into Holland & perhaps into Switzerland.
The late expedition from Brest supposed for Ireland is
the only interesting intelligence, except a report not well
authenticated but very probable that the Porte is advancing
a considerable force against the Emperor; I say it is
probable because some thing of the kind was expected
from the mission of Aubert du Bayet, & which is
further favored by the death of the Empress.
I wish you to make known to Mr. Jones my intention
to set out in April & that I shall bring Joseph with me.
Communicate also the same to Mr. Jefferson.
I beg you to remember me affectionately to Dr. Edwards
from whom I expected to have heard before this.
I should write several of them but it is really
unsafe & improper in the present state of things.
I reserve the more however for personal communication.10
One week later on January 8 Monroe wrote in a letter to Madison:
I received notice of my recall in November.
Mr. Pinckney arrived here in December, & I took my
leave of this government on the first of January so that you
will perceive it was impossible unless I exposed myself &
family to the danger & inconvenience of a winter’s voyage,
to depart hence before the beginning of April next,
which we propose to do, in case a suitable passage
can be obtained from any of the ports of France.
The period of our departure after the Spring
will depend on obtaining a passage only,
as we mean to set out as soon as possible.
I enclose you a copy of my address &
the President’s reply when I took leave.
I mean to take a trip into Holland in the interim
with Mrs. Monroe to see some other parts of Europe
before our return, & which I was not able to do before,
for I never saw things in such a state here after my
arrival as to be able to absent myself from Paris more
than 24 hours at a time, without apprehending real
danger to my country: & in consequence never went
further from Paris to the present time than St. Germain.
I beg you to inform Mr. Jones of my intentions &
request him not to sell my furniture in Albemarle,
as I shall have occasion for it on our return.
I have no news to give you, & indeed I should not
choose to go into other topics by this opportunity.11
James Monroe and his family returned to Philadelphia on 27 June 1797 and were
welcomed home by Thomas Jefferson, Albert Gallatin, and Aaron Burr.
On July 12 and 13 from New York he wrote this letter to Thomas Jefferson:
I arrived here two days since and set out in return
the day after tomorrow for Philadelphia where I shall
probably be a fortnight before I proceed on home.
Here I have had an interview with the friend of
Mr. or Mrs. Reynolds each of us having a friend
present, and which furnished no result, the business
being adjourned over to Philadelphia where we
meet the day after my return there in company
with the other gentlemen Muhlenberg and Venable.
The details of this interview are reserved till I see you.
You may have some idea of them however
when you recollect the previous good disposition
of some of the parties for each other.
The issue is quite uncertain as to the mode
of adjusting what is personal in the business.
I think you should acknowledge your letter to Mazzei,
stating that it was a private one and brought to public view
without your knowledge or design: that the man to whom
it was addressed had lived long as your neighbor,
and was now in Pisa whither it was addressed:
that you do think that the principles of our revolution
and of republican government have been substantially
swerved from of late in many respects, have often
expressed this sentiment, which as a free man
you had a right to express, in your public places and
in the walks of private life &ca according to the letter
that you declined saying anything about it
till you got home to examine how correct the letter was.
This brings the question before the public and
raises the spirits of the honest part of the community.
13. I dine today by invitation with a numerous
and respectable assemblage of honest men.
You will doubtless exam and decide on the
above suggestion soon and give me the result.
You are fortunate in having our friend Madison near you.
One thing I suggest for you both is, that by not
denying it you have all the odium of having written it,
and yet without taking a bold attitude
which is necessary to encourage friends.12
Monroe wrote letters on July 6, 17, 19 and 31 to the Secretary of State
Timothy Pickering affirming his own innocence and criticizing the executive.
On 2 December 1797 Monroe published with 473 pages
A VIEW OF THE CONDUCT OF THE EXECUTIVE in the Foreign Affairs
of the United States, connected with the mission to the French Republic,
during the years 1794, 5, & 6.
Washington complained it was “self-importance,” then “insanity in the extreme,”
and later “curious and laughable.”13
Monroe in his VIEW included this summary of these years, writing,
To do justice to the subject, in this view, would require
more time and attention than I am now able to bestow on it.
I will however notice some facts and circumstances, which
being duly appreciated cannot otherwise than facilitate
the labors of others in making a more accurate research.
The first is the appointment of a person as minister
plenipotentiary to France, in the commencement of the
French revolution, who was known to be an enemy to
that revolution, and a partisan of royalty: whereby the
name and weight of America (no inconsiderable thing
at that time in that respect) was thrown into the scale
of kings, against that of the people and of liberty.
Second, the continuance of that person in office till every
misfortune predicted of his mission by those who opposed it
in the Senate, and disapproved it throughout the community
at large (which latter description was a very numerous one)
was nearly verified; the connection between the two
countries having gradually diminished, as the French
revolution advanced, till at the time the embargo at
Bordeaux was imposed and continued till removed upon
the application of Mr. Fenwick, consul at that port;
for our minister was not attended to: Sundry articles of
our treaty of commerce were likewise set aside by formal
decrees, and many spoliations in consequence made upon it.
Third, the final removal of that person, not from a regard
to the public interest which was known thus to suffer,
but because it was demanded by the French government.
Upon which occasion it was intimated to him, that his
removal was attributable to that cause only; which
intimation became known to the French government.
Fourth, my appointment to the French
Republic with the circumstances attending it:
It became known that, with other members of the Senate,
I had opposed in many instances the measures of the
administration, particularly in that of the mission of
Mr. Morris to France, and of Mr. Jay to London;
from the apprehension those missions would produce in our
foreign relations precisely the ill effect they did produce.
Fifth, the instructions that were given me to explain to
the French government the motives of Mr. Jay’s mission
to London, not as an act of condescension on our part at the
demand of the French government, put of policy to produce
tranquility, and give satisfaction, while the negotiation was
depending; by which instructions, if the existence of a power
to form a commercial treaty was not positively denied,
yet it was withheld, and the contrary evidently implied.
Sixth, the strong documents that were put in my
possession at that period by the administration of its
attachment to France and the French revolution,
so different from anything before expressed.
Seventh, the resentment shown by the administration
on account of the publication of those documents;
it having been intended they should produce their effect,
at the same time, and yet be kept secret.
Eighth, the approbation bestowed on me by the
administration when I made vehement pressures on
the French government for a repeal of its decrees
under which our commerce was harassed, exhibiting
a picture of its spoliations, &c. and the profound
silence and inattention of the administration when
those decrees were repealed, and a disposition
shown by that government to assist us in other cases.
Ninth, the power given to Mr. Jay to form a
commercial treaty with England in the midst
of a war by a special mission, at a time when
no such advance was made to treat on that subject
with France, and her advances at best coolly received.
Tenth, the withholding from me the contents of that
treaty after the meeting of the Senate; notwithstanding
the embarrassment to which I was in the interim
personally exposed in consequence of the explanations
I had before given to the French government by order of the
administration, of the motives of the mission which produced
it; which deportment proves clearly that the administration
did not deal fairly with me from the commencement.
Eleventh, the submission of the treaty to Mr. Adet after
the advice of the Senate, before the ratification of the
President; at a time when, as it appears by satisfactory
documents, it was resolved to ratify it, which submission
therefore was probably not made to obtain the aid of
Mr. Adet’s counsel, in which light it would have been
improper, especially as it had been withheld from his
government; but to repel an objection to the candor
of the administration in its conduct in preceding stages.
Twelfth, the character of the treaty itself by which
(according to the administration) we have departed
from the modern rule of contraband, with respect to
many articles made free by modern treaties;
have also made an arrangement by which, while it
professes not to have sacrificed the right, has actually and
avowedly sanctioned the doctrine and practice of England
in seizing provisions at pleasure as contraband of war;
and have likewise yielded the principle, so important
to America that free ships shall make free goods.
Thirteenth, the conduct of the administration after the
ratification of the treaty, being in all cases irritable towards
France; although it was apprehended the ratification would
embroil us with that power; and although at a moment
when it was proposed to decline the ratification,
a most soothing and humiliating apology was drawn to be
presented to the English government for declining so to do.
Fourteenth, I should not notice my recall, being in itself
a circumstance too trivial to merit attention, if it were
not for the state in which our affairs were in my hands,
when my recall was decided; being at a period
when it appeared I had succeeded in quieting the French
government for the time and was likely to do it effectually.
To be left there to that precise time and then withdrawn and
censured seems to authorize a presumption that I was left
there in the first instance in the expectation I would not
defend that treaty, and in consequence whereof a rupture
would ensue and recalled afterwards, when it was known,
I had done my duty and was likely to prevent a rupture.
Due attention to the above facts and circumstances
in connection with others that will readily occur will,
I am persuaded, contribute essentially to explain the
views and policy of the administration, through the whole
of this European war; the effects whereof have been so
injurious to our national character, as likewise to be the
agricultural and commercial interests of these States.14
In his VIEW Monroe also wrote of the damage done:
Our navigation destroyed, commerce laid to waste
and a general bankruptcy threatening those engage in it;
the friendship of a nation lost, the most powerful on earth,
who had deserved better things from us and had offered
to place us, our vessels, and commodities on the footing
of its native citizens in all its dominions; war hanging over
us, and that not on the side of liberty and the just affections
of our people, but of the monarch and our late most deadly
foe; and we are made fast by treaty and by the spirit of
those at the helm to a nation bankrupt in its resources
and rapidly verging either to anarchy or despotism.
Nor is this all.
Our national honor is in the dust; we have been kicked,
cuffed, and plundered all over the ocean; our reputation
for faith scouted; our government and people branded
as cowards, incapable of being provoked to resist and ready
to receive again those chains we had taught others to burst.
Long will it be before we shall be able to forget what
we are, nor will centuries suffice to raise us to the
high ground from which we have fallen.15
In a letter to Thomas Jefferson on 8 January 1798 James Monroe wrote:
I have yours of the 27 December, for which I thank you.
I have made some comments on one item in it
to a person who will probably see you.
I rejoice that the land tax is postponed, &
hope when revived it will be under the auspices
of those who have imposed on the public the
necessity of such an increase of their burden.
It would be entertaining to see the friends of an
accumulation of the debt, in principle, who have
benefitted by it also in practice, standing aloof or
modestly opposing such a tax, while the economic
part of the legislature who had opposed the
accumulation of the debt, took the lead in providing
the tax, and with it the odium attending the provision.
This is not the natural course of things,
nor would the effect be salutary.
Direct taxes must be laid but let them proceed
from the quarter whence all mischief has proceeded.
The contest between a bare majority in the House
of Representatives against the Senate & President,
exhibits an interesting spectacle.
The details you have been so kind as note give
cause to hope the result will be on the right side.
But still we have been going wrong so long, under
circumstances too more favorable than the present,
that we ought not to be too sanguine.
I heartily wish the Session was closed,
for I expect no good from it.
Indeed the only hope is to prevent harm.
You will have seen the resolutions of our
assembly upon the petition from our district.
I think the resolutions sound and well drawn.
I hope the measure of the district and assembly
will produce a good effect generally.16
On February 19 Monroe wrote to Jefferson on the possibility of a war.
Your favor in answer to mine by Mr. Giles
gives me much comfort.
I had almost concluded that the administration would
carry the project for arming our merchant vessels
& thus involve us in war with France & Spain.
That view of our affairs was a disquieting one, but yet I
was satisfied, as the war in its consequences would rouse
the public attention, that the result would be favorable to
republican government & disgraceful to the administration.
I was satisfied the people would shrink from it as from a
pestilence, whereby the administration would soon
stand alone & become an object of public scorn.
But if we can get right without the aid of such
a scourge, happy indeed will it be for us.
And nothing is wanting to get us right but a knowledge
of our affairs among the people which nothing will so
essentially contribute to diffuse as able, free, &
comprehensive discussion on the part of the friends
of republican government in the House of Representatives.
I believe no administration was ever before in such a
dilemma, for if it carries its measures it must be disgraced
& if it does not carry them, it must be so likewise.
Mr. Adams may thank himself for this.
You did everything in your power to unite the people
under his administration, & to give him in negotiation
the aid of the republican character & interest to support the
pretentions of our country & not without hazard to yourself.
But this he spurned with a degree of wantonness
of which there is no example.
He would have none in his ranks but tried men,
whose political creed corresponded with his own.
My opinion is if the measure is carried, we have war,
& if rejected, the tone of the French government will
change, since the regard they bear for America
especially when thus pronounced through a
constitutional organ against war will immediately operate.
The House of Representatives may therefore
prevent war if it carries its measures & stands firm.
But what is then the situation of the country?
An unhappy one it is true, but still better than in war.
Its unhappiness however proceeds from the past
misconduct of the administration, which seeking war
and favoring the cause of the kings against France,
has so compromitted itself that it cannot become a
useful organ of the public sentiment, to extricate us
from the dilemma into which it has brought us.
I think I shall enter into the practice of the law
immediately & in that case move to Richmond.
The organization of the courts is such that it is impossible for
me to practice in the Superior courts & reside in the country.
The expense of attendance at Richmond, would more
than make up for the difference between that of living
there & here, to say nothing of the objection to
leaving my family for six months in the year.17
On 8 April 1798 Monroe wrote to Jefferson again
about the foreign policy of John Adams.
Mr. Adams will never surprise me by
any act of the wild & extravagant kind.
If he was in a sober and discreet manner to repair the
breach between this country & France & heal the wounds
which his predecessor has given to the reputation
& interest of his country, I should be surprised.
His passion is to out-do his predecessor, & thus
I expect to find no difference, between the knight
of the present day and the former one, than what
the superior violence of his passion may lead to.
I still think it of little importance, how great
so ever the errors be into which they run.
A question for war with France, or for measures leading
to war, carried by a feeble majority against the interest of
the continent & the judgment of the mercantile class of the
community, & the wish & opinion of every other class,
can have no other issue than of disgracing its authors.
The further they plunge the sooner will the
people recover the use of their intellects.
Nor do I fear disunion or anything of the kind, because
the eastern people are as averse to it as we are.
It becomes our members to be calm & collected at this
crisis; firm yet to say nothing which may hereafter
in retrospect dishonor them, their state, or cause.
If they act thus, they will soon be looked up to by the
eastern people, who will abandon their own representatives.
Let the issue be what it may, I mean as to the passage or
rejection of Mr. Adams’ propositions, I date from the
present epoch, the decline & perhaps the ruin of the party.
I have just returned from Staunton, having attended
the district court & resumed my practice there.
I shall do the same here & at Fredericksburg—
I take a house in Richmond whither I repair from
Fredericksburg to attend the chancery &ca.
Here my domicile will be—my time will be divided
between the places as professional duties require,
since here I shall prefer to be.18
Monroe in a letter to Vice President Jefferson on 26 January 1799
commented on a letter from the publisher Dr. Benjamin Franklin Bache
and one from the diplomatic peacemaker Dr. George Logan.
The portion on Logan was written in French, and the English translation
by the online editor Barbara B. Oberg on Logan is presented here:
Yours of the 3rd reached me yesterday as did
likewise that of Dr. Bache mentioned in yours.
I shall do everything in my power to fulfill the
Drs. wishes & hope to procure him a settlement
in our neighborhood, such as he will approve.
The plan you suggest for negotiation with the parties
having land for sale is judicious & shall be followed.
Though I fear the price of each will be high &
that it will not be easy to lessen it with either.
I wish also that Baynham could be added to our circle, as
the acquisition of him would be important in many respects,
nor shall I fail to invite him by such services as I can render.
The enterprise of Logan with its consequences will not hurt
any in his political sentiments, while the attempt to make
it instrumental to that end will have its advantages.
The ill humor shown by the head and all the
members of the opposite party at an interference
forbidden by no law, prompted by benevolent motive,
& which was useful to the public, is a circumstance
which will tend to show the views of that party.
The longer therefore the debate is kept up on the resolution,
and the greater the zeal of its friends the better the effect,
since at best it is legislating on an abstract principle,
against the form of a precedent showing the folly of the law.
I received by the post a letter of which I subjoin a copy,
because as I received & opened several at the same time,
I cannot say whether it came enclosed, or otherwise.
If in the latter mode as it had inscribed on the seal
“Directoire Executif” it may have attracted the attention
of those in office & become the subject of animadversion.
If this should be the case you will use it as you think fit.
We are all well & unite in wishes for your welfare.19
Doctor Logan, whom I have had the pleasure of
seeing here, offers me an infinitely agreeable chance
to pay you my respects; and I take advantage of it
with all the more pleasure, since your departure
from France caused me the sharpest of regrets….
24 August 1798
Dr. Logan will tell you that he has been a witness to the
peaceful dispositions of the French government towards
your nation; and he bears away unequivocal proofs of it.
May the genius of liberty assist our efforts to
undo the British machinations against the
independence of our brothers, the Americans!
Never has it encountered such great dangers,
and you must realize that they must alarm us.
The freedom of the United States has cost us enough
blood and treasure for it to be precious to us.20
James Monroe wanted to be Governor of Virginia, and in the statehouse
on 5 December 1799 James Madison put Monroe’s name in for nomination.
Monroe in a letter to Madison on December 7 defended himself.
I did not receive your favor of Tuesday last
till late yesterday, owing to my having moved
to my lower plantation; and my important papers
resting still behind, did not get them till late today
on account of the badness of the weather.
I comply however in the best manner I can
with your request and that of my other friends.
I send you a copy of my letter to Dr. Edwards and his
answer, also a copy of the affidavits of Mr. Skipwith, and
of Messrs. Burling & Morris relative to a topic not touched
by the Dr., which it is therefore proper you should have.
I annex also an extract of a letter from General Washington,
bearing date three days after my letter of recall, which by
its style precludes the idea of his intending any dishonorable
imputation against me: unless indeed a strange motive
should be assigned for his using that style at that time.
When Mr. Adams made his attack on me, I was at a stand
for a while, whether to notice it or not; I then wrote the
enclosed letter to Mr. Dawson, who returned it with other
papers as he passed last summer, which contains some
of the considerations which induced me to be silent.
I send it to show the state of my mind at that time.
Perhaps the present more favorable state of affairs would
authorize a publication of these documents at present,
since from a further proof of the injury done me in the
first case, or outset of the present system of policy
towards France, or rather towards America, some
illustration might be given to later occurrences.
I submit this entirely to your judgment & that of
such of our friends as you choose to confer with.
In case of publication, which the reading the papers in the
house would effect, should occasion require, it is of some
consequence to decide whether the letter from General
Washington should be withheld or not; & if brought
forward whether it should not be in some such
manner as is noted in the paper at the foot of it.
It certainly furnishes a powerful argument against every
attack made on me, and even against the act of recall itself.
It is an instrument which cannot otherwise
than work against themselves.
It might be observed the subject is not mentioned from
delicacy & because not important to the present question.
With respect to the paper of Dr. Edwards
it is to be observed that I have not the original,
having taken this from a copy sent me by Mr. Dawson,
who kept the original for Mr. Gallatin who then
thought of answering Addison for us both.
Wishing the Dr. to correct some passages, especially about
Paine’s writing in my house which he admits, but which was
not the case as I prevented it; and about my suggesting to
Pinckney the impropriety of his taking to London anything
from Paine, on my knowledge of its contents, whereas the
fact was I never heard of his writing or proposing to write
by him, till Pinckney told me of it himself; the original was
given back to the Dr., who still has it: and in truth I rather
think he would not be much gratified to have it published.
But it is authentic, and he has assured me in several letters,
I am at liberty to publish if I wish, he being disposed to
furnish other facts not contained in this statement;
though still leaving the inference above made.
On the whole therefore, as the paper is authentic,
and was given for publication I think I have power
(making friendly explanation to the Dr.) over it to that effect.
The publication of the extract from General Washington’s
letter without any hostile reference to him, taking
the idea in the paper, improved as it may be, but
yet without concession in his favor, would turn
him against those who have acted under him
and have used him to oppress justice & truth.
Or he must come out, deny the inferences drawn from
his letter showing the whole affair referred to take a
direct & positively hostile ground against me, & lay
himself open to my reply which would not be wanting.
I think he would be silent and leave what I gave
as a test to be commented on by the world.
I do not urge the publication, but only
submit the question, for it may be best only
to use the papers with caution at present.
If published, a friend from the county might read them
or any other member who would take the trouble;
should an occasion be offered.
It will be remembered we now have peace—
the necessity or advantages of war ought
to be seen—before pushed on our part.
There are two points in my official communications
with the French government on which I have been
attacked, the first respecting the two articles of
the treaty, the second the proposition of a loan.
Anyone who reads with candor the first will see
it was a style calculated to produce its effect
with those to whom it was addressed, a
revolutionary government, impelled by the heart
knowing little & regarding less considerations of policy.
The result proved the propriety of the mode.
Besides what did it concede, a principle already
conceded to England, and which was stated in
the correspondence with Genet as unimportant.
It countenanced no pillage but left the old law
in force during the negotiation with England by
the result whereof it was to be resumed of course,
or sooner under orders from the administration,
for I spoke as from myself, and of the temper of
my government as by inference from general data.
But the fact was, the object of the paper was to
procure a repeal in a manner the most honorable for
America as well as France, & it did produce that effect.
The second the loan; it will be remembered that
that subject was proposed to me, when by order,
I was urging the sincerity of our regard for them &ca.
A peremptory repulse would have been impolitic;
by leaving it open to negotiation I gained ground daily,
while the members changing, others who came into
the committee might forget it, or be little disposed
to quarrel with the minister of America, whose
country did, and who personally stood well with France.
Besides we were then on the point of war with England,
and management with France indispensable
according to the instructions of the administration.
It was also to us the purchase of an ample equivalent.
Lastly it was never even mentioned to our government
by France but merely a thing of informal communication
with me on the part of the committee, and arrested
the moment I heard of the English treaty.
I have written in great haste & fear you
will not be able to read or understand what
you can decipher of what I have written.
You will of course view the contents merely
as hints for consideration, and not as my opinion
as to the use to be made of the papers, for really
at this distance ignorant of occurrences, had I time,
it were impossible to form a sound one.21
The Federalists selected James Breckinridge, and
on December 6 Monroe won the vote 111 to 66.
On the 15th Monroe left Charlottesville, and the next day
he arrived at Richmond and began serving as Governor of Virginia.
His salary was $3,333.
His power was limited mostly to making appointments,
and he was commander-in-chief of the state militia.
He began by negotiating for lower prices on muskets and pistols.
He would be re-elected twice to one-year terms,
and he served for the maximum limit of three years.
On 4 January 1800 Governor Monroe wrote to Vice President Jefferson
about the Federalists alien and sedition laws.
Col. Cabell furnishes an opportunity by which
I enclose you a copy of Mr. Madison’s report on
the acts of the other states on the alien & sedition laws.
This report has been two days before the House
supported by the author Taylor & Giles, and opposed
by two or three whose names it is not necessary to give.
Its effect is very discernible on the whole federal party,
some of the more moderate of which, would
certainly come over, if they were not pledged
in a very strong manner to their constituents.
It will be carried by a great majority in the House of
Democrats and a respectable one I believe in the Senate.
You perceive I have commenced here, as to
the letters of the speakers of the two houses
in a tone of moderation, yet of decision as to principle.
I have thought it beneath me to make a more direct
attack on Mr. Adams, and perhaps at present impolitic.
Yet the public mind ought not to be suffered
to lose any portion of its republican tone by
taking a position short of what it will bear.
On this you will have the best information, relative to
which & indeed every other topic on which you think
proper to give an advice I shall be happy to receive it.
Your name will appear as a subscriber to neither
of the papers you mentioned to me when I saw you.
I have told the Editors, I should act for you with
which they were satisfied; and shall do for you
precisely what I am forced to do for myself.
I shall endeavor to keep them within suitable limits,
in their publications, since I am strongly impressed
with a belief, if Adams puts himself in the hands
of the British faction, an attempt will be made
to carry the sedition law into effect here, as an
electioneering trick, in the course of the summer.
They must be deprived of a plausible pretext,
in which case, an attempt will dishonor them,
& their systems of standing armies &c
become a burden to themselves.
I shall pay for you whatever you have to pay here,
after which I shall reserve the balance I may owe you
for adjustment when we meet, unless you have occasion
for it here in which case direct the application.22
On 26 April 1800 Governor Monroe wrote this to Vice President Jefferson:
The legislature directed sometime since the building of a
foundry for great & small arms, on the canal near this city.
This work is now so far advanced as to furnish the
prospect of its being in a state to commence the
manufactory of muskets in the course of the present year,
and is on such a scale as to make it probable
we shall be able to cast cannon for the union.
The attention it is my duty to pay to this interesting
object has reminded me of Mr. La Motte, with
whose merit and history, as to his introduction
into this country, you are acquainted.
I thought it would be unpardonable not to avail
the state in so great & useful an undertaking of
his skill so far as it might be practicable, and with
that view lately mentioned the subject to the council.
The contract of Mr. La Motte with the Executive
was for three years which have perhaps expired.
If at liberty it is presumed he might be easily
prevailed on to come down and aid us for a while.
And if in the service of the United States it cannot
be doubted on application to those in office,
permission would be given him to attend here
for a few weeks, to examine what is done & advise
as to what ought to be done to complete the building.
The council advised that I ascertain by communication
with my friends, whether this gentleman is still in America,
free, or in the service of the United States; in either case,
(in the latter the permission of the government being
obtained) what he would ask beyond his expenses,
for making us a visit a few weeks,
for the purpose abovementioned.
If unconnected with the federal Executive he would
probably be disposed, and it might perhaps be
for our interest to engage him for a longer term.
This might be suggested to him with a view to ascertain
what he would ask for his service, six or 12 months.
Mr. Clarke, who is I think known to you,
a man of real merit, is undertaker of the building,
as aid to whom Mr. La Motte is wished.
In a certain view I know it would be improper to trouble you
with this business, and have therefore asked of our Senators
to undertake the communication with Mr. La Motte, & the
federal Executive, supposing him in public service, &
application to it necessary for permission for him to visit us.
Still I have thought it advisable to apprize you
of the above facts to request you will be so kind
as aid those gentlemen with your council in the
business so far as it may be necessary.
The elections so far as we have intelligence are
almost universally in favor of the republican cause.
I think we already know of 25 of the opposite
party who are excluded by republican candidates.
McClurg & Hopkins after voting in the city & county
of Henrico, pushed up to Hanover, as I am told, to throw
their mite into the federal scale (as it is called) there.
But it was in air before their arrival, and the recorder
does not state whether they went forward to condole
with their friends in adversity, or skulked home in silence
to hide their shame and mortification from the world.23
On May 25 Monroe wrote in a letter to Jefferson about the trial
of the journalist James Thomson Callendar for sedition,
I wrote you the day after you left town a letter which
I gave to Dr. William Foushee for Mr. Eppes who promised
to breakfast with him on the morning of his departure.
It was not till yesterday in council that I heard
from the Dr. the letter had not been sent.
So much time having elapsed I should not now write
you on the subject of the former one, reserving it for
future communication, if that were the only object.
It was found on enquiry, in a way which compromised
no one, that the affair would not be made general,
but would be dissented to, and probably opposed
by the principal members of the administration party.
It was feared also that the zeal of some of our friends
which had been in a peculiar degree excited by your
presence, had abated by your absence, especially as your
passing through furnished so fair a pretext for not acting.
It was also probable it might lay the foundation for a
like attention by the Tories, to our new Secretary,
whereby you would be involved in a kind of competition
with a creature who would be benefited by any
occurrence which gave birth to the idea alone.
Under these circumstances the project was abandoned.
Chase harangued the Grand Jury in a speech said
to be drawn with some art, as it inculcated some
popular doctrines with allusions which supported
by Eastern calumnies he intended for you.
He declared solemnly he would not allow
an atheist to give testimony in court.
You have perhaps seen that the circumstance of
the dinner in Fredericksburg being on a Sunday
is the foundation for this absurd calumny.
The Grand Jury of which McClurg was foreman presented
Calendar under the sedition law, & Chase drew the warrant
& dispatched the Marshall instantly in pursuit of him.
This was yesterday at 12 since which
we have not heard of either.
If taken I hope the people will behave with dignity on the
occasion and give no pretext for comments to their discredit.
If I could suppose the contrary, I would take
proper steps to aid in bringing him forth;
I mean to prevent any popular meeting to the contrary.
Will it not be proper for the Executive to employ counsel
to defend him, and supporting the law give an eclat
to a vindication of the principles of the State?
I have only time to add my best wishes for your welfare.24
In the spring of 1800 the slave Gabriel led a revolt in Virginia.
On August 30 Mosby Shephard alerted Gov. Monroe that two slaves in Henrico County
informed him that a slave revolt was planned and that
they intended to get arms stored at the penitentiary.
Many weapons were discovered, and by September 2 they had arrested twenty slaves.
Monroe learned that Thomas Prosser had abused the slaves on his plantation, and
Gabriel was the leader of the revolt which spread to four other counties and Richmond.
Monroe called out the militia, and about thirty slaves
were arrested and imprisoned in Richmond.
Seven judges conducted the trials.
Monroe offered a $300 reward for the capture of Gabriel and Jack Ditcher.
Those found guilty were hanged, and the expenses of the government increased.
Gov. Monroe issued General Orders as Commander Chief of the Militia
on September 10 and again on the 15th
when he also wrote this letter to Thomas Jefferson:
I find by yours of the 12th that Mr. Craven
had not received my letter to him which was
addressed to Leesburg about a fortnight since.
I was apprised by Catlett & Miller of Charlottesville
that Mr. Craven and Mr. Darrelle wished to purchase
my land above that town, as they supposed in partnership,
and communicated my terms to the former.
I will take six dollars by the acre, of which I must have
at least £1,000 when possession is delivered, which
may be immediately, and the balance as soon as possible.
I wrote Miller and Catlett I must have the Whole
in cash at that price, but will relax from that demand;
though I think comparatively with the prices given for
other land in the county, it would not be a hard bargain.
The improvements cost me at least £600;
they are new and good.
The tract contains about 1000 acres.
If those gentlemen or either of them will give me a day,
I will meet them in Albemarle to decide the affair.
We have had much trouble with the negroes here.
The plan of an insurrection has been clearly proved,
& appears to have been of considerable extent.
10 have been condemned & executed, and there are
at least twenty perhaps 40 more to be tried,
of whose guilt no doubt is entertained.
It is unquestionably the most serious and formidable
conspiracy we have ever known of the kind: though
indeed to call it so is to give no idea of the thing itself.
While it was possible to keep it secret, which it was
till we saw the extent of it, we did so.
But when it became indispensably necessary to resort
to strong measures with a view to protect the town,
the public arms, the Treasury and the Jail, which were
all threatened, the opposite course was in part taken.
We then made a display of our force and measures
of defense with a view to intimidate those people.
Where to arrest the hand of the Executioner
is a question of great importance.
It is hardly to be presumed, a rebel who avows it
was his intention to assassinate his master &ca
if pardoned will ever become a useful servant,
and we have no power to transport him abroad—
Nor is it less difficult to say whether mercy or severity
is the better policy in this case, though where there is
cause for doubt it is best to incline to the former council.
I shall be happy to have your opinion on these points.25
On September 22 Monroe wrote to Jefferson that 15 slaves
had been executed, and others had been reprieved.
On September 28 Gov. Monroe informed the Members of the Council that
Gabriel had been arrested and sent to the Penitentiary.
The militia was supplied with arms and wagons.
On November 6 Monroe wrote to Jefferson that their Republican ticket
had been completely successful in the elections.
On 1 December 1800 Governor Monroe gave his first annual address
with 14 pages to the Speakers of the General Assembly.
He reported that an “Act to amend the penal laws of the Commonwealth” was
“one of those which claimed & received an early attention from the Executive.”26
Monroe in Richmond on December 5 informed the General Assembly
about the revolt that began on Prosser’s plantation, and he said,
It was natural to suspect they were prompted to it by others
who were invisible, but whose agency might be powerful.
And if this was the case, it became proportionally more
difficult to estimate the extent of the combination
and the consequent real importance of the crisis.
On consideration of all these circumstances it was
deemed necessary to call out such a force as might be
fully adequate to the emergency; such a one as would be
likely to overawe and keep down the spirit of insurrection,
or sufficient to suppress it in case it broke out.
On that principle I called into service on the 9th
the 19th and 23rd, regiments, and a detachment of
fifty men, additional, from the 33rd; which detachment
with the whole of the 19th regiment and one hundred
men of the 23rd, were ordered to take post in this city.
The residue of the 23rd were stationed
in the town of Manchester.27
He concluded his message with this warning:
It belongs to the Legislature to weigh with profound
attention this unpleasant incident in our history.
What has happened may occur again
at any time with more fatal consequences,
unless suitable measures be taken to prevent it.
Unhappily while this class of people exists among us,
we can never count with certainty on its tranquil submission.
The fortunate issue of the late attempt
should not lull us into repose.
It ought rather to stimulate us to the adoption of a system,
which if it does not prevent the like in future, may secure
the country from any calamitous consequences.28
On December 16 Monroe wrote in a letter to James Madison:
I should have written you on Friday but had nothing
to communicate, nor indeed have I at present,
unless the equal & unanimous vote of South Carolina
for Mr. Jefferson & Burr be so.
It is understood that North Carolina voted as we
always heard she would, that is 8 for Jefferson & Burr
4 for John Adams and C. C. Pinckney;
of Georgia, Tennessee & Kentucky we know nothing,
nor do we of the Eastern States.
I think it probable the vote for
Mr. Jefferson & Burr will be equal.29
On December 27 Monroe wrote in this letter to the Mayor of Richmond:
Since I saw you, I have taken every possible precaution
in my power to prevent a movement of the negroes,
and defeat its object should one take place by giving
suitable instructions to the Commandant of the Militia
in town and the Superintendent of the Militia in town,
and the Superintendent of the Penitentiary.
But it appears to me that some important regulations
are wanting to which the Corporation alone is competent.
It is represented that many negroes were yesterday
and still are in town from the country, perhaps from the
coal pits, who acting in a body at their ordinary labor,
are more capable of forming and executing any plan,
than such as are dispersed on estates.
I should suppose it would have a good effect to expel
those negroes from the town, and prohibiting their
entering except in the day to be admitted
at a certain hour and depart in such time.
For this purpose it would be necessary to register all the
negroes of the town and pass a law that each should have
a passport or certificate from his master, showing he
belonged to the town to enable the constables or watch
to execute the restriction on those from the country.
The negroes from the country have no business in town
but to attend at market;
that being ended they ought to depart.
The constables or watch should act by day as well as night.
Eight men as constables or watchmen would be sufficient
to supervise the police of the town.30
The Republicans neglected to withhold at least one vote for Burr
so that he would be elected Vice President.
Instead Jefferson and Burr were tied, and the election would be decided
by the House of Representatives voting by states.
Also in early January 1801 Monroe wrote this letter to President John Adams:
It would give me great pleasure to have it
in my power on your arrival at the seat of
government of this Commonwealth,
to pay you the attention to which your office entitles you.
But you have in that office made an attack on me,
by which you attempted to injure my character
in the estimation of my countrymen.
This attack too was the more extraordinary because
it was unprovoked by me, unconnected with the subject
before you, and respecting transactions which preceded
your appointment to your present office;
of course, when I was not responsible to you,
nor you to the public for my conduct.
Under such circumstances, I consider, any attention from
me to you, without some previous & suitable explanation
on your part, subscribing to the unjust Insinuation you
made against me, as being highly improper on mine.
It is nevertheless much my wish to pay you that attention
provided it can be done on terms that will justify me
to my own feelings, as well as to the judgment of an
enlightened community in so doing, to myself, to you,
and the public (the object of this therefore is to invite you,
to make such an explanation on the above subject, as will
obviate this difficulty and enable me to perform an office,
which in that case would be an agreeable one, because
it would exempt me from any improper imputation).
Your own conscience of the injury done me on that
occasion, will to a generous mind suggest the proper
redress, and I can assure you that I shall meet a spirit
of conciliation on your part with a like temper on mine.31
On 6 January 1801 Gov. Monroe at Richmond wrote this letter
to the next President Thomas Jefferson:
Some strange reports are circulating here of the views of
the federal party in the present desperate state of its affairs.
It is said they are resolved to prevent the designation
by the House of Representatives of the person to be
president, and that they mean to commit the power
by a legislative act to John Marshall, Samuel A. Otis
or some other person till another election.
I cannot believe any such project is seriously
entertained, because it would argue a degree
of boldness as well as wickedness in that party
which I do not think it possessed of.
The report however has excited a strong sensation here.
Some of the legislative body think it would be proper to
pass resolutions declaratory of the light in which they
would view such a measure, and that they would not
submit to it; others for continuing the Session till after
the 2nd Wednesday in February to be on the ground to
take such steps as might be deemed proper to defeat it.
It is generally agreed that should the Assembly not be
sitting at the time, it ought to be convoked as soon as
it was known such an attempt was made.
If that party wish to disorganize, that is the way to do it.
If the union could be broken, that would do it;
but independent of the other motives for preserving it,
it would be wrong to let these gentry escape
in that mode the just reward of their merit.
I think such an attempt, would not ultimately
weaken the union, but be sure to expose
the usurpers to exemplary punishment.
The Eastern people have no thoughts of breaking
the union, & giving up the hold they have
on the valuable productions of the south.
They only mean to bully us, thereby preserve
their ascendancy, and improve their profits.
My only anxiety is respecting the firmness
of the republicans.
If they show themselves equal to the crisis,
the danger passes in a moment.
Indeed there will be none.
But we have been so long accustomed to recede
& they to conquer, that I fear the same result
even in the present case.
As it is possible no election or decision may be
made before the 4th of March, ought not our
election to take place before that period, that
our representatives may then be on the ground?
It is said that other States will also then be
unrepresented; if so the motive for a change,
unless it be general is less urgent;
especially as it is known the federal party
cannot have a majority of all the States.
If anything can be done here that may be useful,
we ought to know it in time.32
Monroe wrote again on 18 January 1801 in a letter
to the likely President-elect Thomas Jefferson:
It is said here that Marshall has given an opinion
in conversation with Stoddard, that in case 9 States
should not unite in favor of one of the persons chosen,
the legislature may appoint a President till another
election is made, & that intrigues are carrying on
to place us in that situation.
This is stated in a letter from one of our Reps.
(I think Randolph) & has excited the
utmost indignation in the legislature.
Some talk of keeping it in session till after the 2nd
Wednesday in February: others of adjourning to meet then.
There has been much alarm at the intimation of such
a projected usurpation, much consultation,
and a spirit fully manifested not to submit to it.
My opinion is they should take no step founded on the
expectation of such an event, as it might produce an ill
effect even with our friends, and the more especially
as the Executive would not fail in case it occurred
to convene the legislature without delay.33
On February 15 Jefferson wrote this letter to James Monroe:
I have received several letters from you
which have not been acknowledged.
By the post I dare not, and one or two confidential
opportunities have passed me by surprise.
I have regretted it the less, because I knew you
could be more safely and fully informed by others.
Mr. Samuel Tyler, the bearer of this, will give you a great
deal more information personally than can be done by letter.
Four days of balloting have produced
not a single change of a vote.
Yet it is confidently believed by most that
tomorrow there is to be a coalition.
I know of no foundation for this belief.
However as Mr. Tyler waits the event of it,
he will communicate it to you.
If they could have been permitted to pass a law for
putting the government into the hands of an officer,
they would certainly have prevented an election.
But we thought it best to declare openly & firmly,
one & all, that the day such an act passed the
middle states would arm, & that no such usurpation
even for a single day should be submitted to.
This first shook them; and they were completely alarmed
at the resource for which we declared, to wit, a convention
to reorganize the government, & to amend it.
The very word Convention gives them the horrors,
as in the present democratic spirit of America,
they fear they should lose some of the
favorite morsels of the Constitution.
Many attempts have been made to
obtain terms & promises from me.
I have declared to them unequivocally, that
I would not receive the government on capitulation,
that I would not go into it with my hands tied.
Should they yield the election, I have reason to expect
in the outset the greatest difficulties as to nominations.
The late incumbents running away from their offices
& leaving them vacant, will prevent my filling them
without the previous advice of Senate.
How this difficulty is to be got over I know not.34
On 3 March 1801 James Monroe wrote in a letter to
President-elect Jefferson on the day before his inauguration:
The spirit of the republican party must be supported
and preserved, which can only be done
by a bold and magnanimous policy.
When you came into the administration of this State
the firmness and decision which you showed in the
case of Hamilton, at a time when Washington suffered
our people to perish in the jails & prison ships of
New York, by a pusillanimous and temporizing policy,
advanced your fame & served the cause.
The public opinion expects some tone
to be given your administration immediately,
& it will not long balance before it is formed,
or the subject of what they are to expect from it.
There is a conflict of principle & either
democracy that is the government of the people
or royalty must prevail.
The opposing parties can never be united;
I mean the leaders of them, because their
views are as opposite as light & darkness.
You always had the people and now have
the government on your side so that the
prospect is as favorable as could be wished.
At the same time it must be admitted you have
much trouble and difficulty to encounter.
Many friends may grow cool from disappointment;
the violent who have their passions too much excited,
will experience mortification, in not finding them
fully gratified: in addition to which it is to be
observed, that the discomfited tory party,
profiting of past divisions & follies which
have contributed much to overwhelm them,
will reunite their scattered force against us.
This party has retired into the judiciary in
a strong body where it lives on the treasury,
& therefore cannot be starved out.
While in possession of that ground it can check the popular
current which runs against them & seize the favorable
occasion to promote reaction, which it does not despair of.
It is a desperate party because it knows
it has lost the public confidence.
It will intrigue with foreign powers
& therefore ought to be watched.
Your difficulties will indeed be great, yet I trust and
believe you will surmount them, if you will pursue
the dictates of your excellent judgment rather than
the benevolent suggestions of your heart.
I have written you in haste for the post, and have
rather sought to throw intelligibly my ideas before you,
than to give them form, being perfectly satisfied
you will properly appreciate the motive which
has led me into the freedom of this communication.35
Monroe wrote in a letter to Samuel Shields and
Creed Taylor about the importance of education:
The education of youth is an object of the first importance.
Knowledge should be diffused throughout the whole society,
and for that purpose the means of acquiring it made
not only practicable but easy to every citizen.
To preserve the sovereignty in the hands of the people
it is not necessary, however desirable, that every person
should be qualified to fill every office in the state.
It is sufficient that the mass of the people possess a
correct knowledge of the principles of the government,
of their own duties, and those of their representatives,
and that they be attentive to the performance of them….
It is only when people become ignorant and corrupt,
that their representatives forget their duty….
In such a government education should not
be left to the care of individuals only.36
Governor Monroe wrote letters to President Jefferson
on March 5, 7, 12, 17, 18 and 23, April 6 and 29,
and in a longer letter on May 4 he wrote,
There is a subject to which I wish
to engage your particular attention.
Before I came into this office I was of opinion
that the correspondence between the Executive
of the General government and a State should
be conducted as between parties that were mutually
respectful but equally independent of each other.
This idea appeared to me to be sound, indeed
incontrovertible in principle, and it was matter of
surprise how a contrary practice had been adopted.
Each government is in its sphere sovereign
so far as the term is applicable in a country
where the people alone are so.
The State governments do not derive their authorities
from the General government; they are not established
by its ordinances, or accountable to it for their
administration, like the frontier governments,
or the revenue or other officers of the United States.
Their Executive legislative and judicial departments,
are constituted on the same principles and alike form
the governmental sovereignty of each government.
The officers under each constitute no part of its sovereignty;
they are agents employed by it to assist
in their respective administrations.
I consider the chief magistrate of the union in reference
to a like character in each State, as first among equals,
and admit the same priority in the legislative and judicial
departments, and the departments under them, where
the individual States have correspondent institutions.
If this idea is just, it follows that the communication between
the two governments, when carried on by the governor
of a State, should be with the President of the United States.
To subject the State governors to the necessity of
corresponding with the officers appointed by the President,
seems to place them in the same grade to deny the right
of sovereignty in the individual States, and to consider
them as subaltern inferior establishments, emanating
from and dependent on the general government.
The laws of Congress which establish the
departments under the President have no
reference to the case in question.
They restrict foreign ministers &ca. in their
correspondence to the heads of departments,
and wisely, because they are the agents of their
governments; but that restriction does not comprise the
governments they represent, whether free or despotic
would be extraordinary if the government of a foreign
country, by which I mean President, King or Prince, should
write on public business to the Secretary of one of our
departments, and equally so if our President should write
such a letter to a secretary of any foreign government.
If the question of right is settled on the principle
I contend for, would it not be proper for you to recognize
in some formal manner, since by so doing you would
recognize, cherish and support the State governments?
It would be giving them a station in the union to which
they are entitled by the Constitution but of which they
have been in a great measure deprived, by the
proud imperious tone of former administrations.
It would conciliate their governments towards
your administration and introduce a spirit of
harmony in our System hitherto unknown to it.
In the practice there would be no difficulty.
Where letters were addressed to the President
they might be referred to the heads of departments
and replies drawn by them to be signed by him.
Though very probably the present practice would prevail,
for as soon as the question was established on just and
conciliatory principles, the bias of all liberal minds would
be to dispense with an etiquette which would then be
no more, the observance of which especially with
characters more distinguished for their talents and
merit than themselves, as would generally be
the case, could not otherwise than injure them.
You will be sensible that to me personally this is
an affair of the utmost indifference; indeed in the
present state of things that it is peculiarly irksome.
I had formed my opinion on the subject before
I came into this place, and acted on it shortly
afterwards when an occasion presented.
The cession of the marine hospital at Norfolk
was the subject, which was concluded,
Mr. Adams having replied to my letter.
I afterwards wrote him in compliance with a resolution
of the General assembly, respecting the conduct of the
British consul at Norfolk, who was charged with receiving
of Dr. Read and sending to one of the British Islands,
a person who was said to be a mutineer on board
the Hermione frigate, and I sent him at the same
time all the documents relative to that transaction.
To the last letter I received no answer.
Perhaps he discovered that I was making a question of
the kind above suggested, & was resolved to oppose my
doctrine: perhaps the communication offended him as it
brought to his memory his conduct in the case of Robins;
perhaps his other duties at that late period of his
service rendered it impossible for him to act on it.
But be the motive of his silence what it might,
the fact of his omission to answer prevents my
considering the point as being absolutely settled by him.
I now bring it to your view that
you may consider it with due attention.
In the interim I have to request you will be so good
as inform me, whether the 12,000 dollars, the sum
at which the Gosport land was valued, the papers
respecting which were sent to the Navy department,
will be paid to our order, or deposited here if
more convenient to us, to receive it here.
The deed was drawn and forwarded by Mr. Hopkins,
the loan officer here, to Mr. Stoddert about
January last, with a request that the money
might be paid here, which is still preferred.
The sum is small yet in the state of our Treasury
it is an object of some importance to us.37
On 15 June 1801 Governor Monroe wrote this letter to President Jefferson:
I enclose you a resolution of the General Assembly
of this Commonwealth of the last session by which it is
made my duty to correspond with you on the subject of
obtaining by purchase lands without the limits of this state,
to which persons obnoxious to the laws or
dangerous to the peace of society may be removed.
This resolution was produced by the conspiracy of the
slaves which took place in this city and neighborhood last
year, and is applicable to that description of persons only.
The idea of such an acquisition was suggested by
motives of humanity, it being intended by means
thereof to provide an alternate mode of punishment
for those described by the resolution, who under
the existing law might be doomed to suffer death.
It was deemed more humane, and it is hoped would
be found in practice not less expedient, to transport
such offenders beyond the limits of the state.
It seems to be the more obvious intention of the
Legislature, as inferred from the resolution, to make
the proposed acquisition of land in the vacant western
territory of the United States, but it does not appear
to me to preclude one without the limits of the Union.
If a friendly power would designate a tract of country
within its jurisdiction, either on this continent or a
neighboring Island, to which we might send such persons,
it is not improbable the Legislature might prefer it.
In any event an alternative could not otherwise
than be desirable, since after maturely weighing the
conditions and advantages of each position, the Legislature
might still prefer that which appeared to it most eligible.
It is proper to remark that the latter part of the
resolution which proposes the removal of such
persons as are dangerous to the peace of society
may be understood as comprising many to
whom the preceding member does not apply.
Whether the Legislature intended to give it a more
extensive import, or rather whether it contemplated
removing from the Country any but culprits who were
condemned to suffer death, I will not undertake to decide.
But if the more enlarged construction of the resolution is
deemed the true one, it furnishes in my opinion, a strong
additional motive, why the Legislature, in disposing of this
great concern should command an alternative of places.
As soon as the mind emerges, in contemplating the subject,
beyond the contracted scale of providing
a mode of punishment for offenders,
vast and interesting objects present themselves to view.
It is impossible not to revolve in it, the condition of
those people, the embarrassment they have already
occasioned us, and are still likely to subject us to.
We perceive an existing evil which commenced under
our colonial system, with which we are not properly
chargeable, or if at all not in the present degree,
and we acknowledge the extreme difficulty of remedying it.
At this point the mind rests with suspense,
and surveys with anxiety obstacles which
become more serious as we approach them.
It is in vain for the Legislature to deliberate on the subject,
in the extent of which it is capable, with a view to adopt
the system of policy which appears to it most wise and just,
if it has not the means of executing it.
To lead to a sound decision and make the result a happy
one, it is necessary that the field of practicable expedients
be opened to its election on the widest possible scale.
Under this view of the subject I shall be happy to be
advised by you whether a tract of land in the Western
territory of the United States can be procured for
this purpose in what quarter and on what terms?
And also whether any friendly power will permit us
to remove such persons within its limits, with like
precision as to the place and conditions?
It is possible a friendly power may be disposed
to promote a population of the kind referred to,
and willing to facilitate the measure by co-operating
with us in the accomplishment of it.
It may be convenient for you to sound such
powers especially those more immediately in
our neighborhood on the subject in all the views
which may appear to you to be suitable.
You will perceive that I invite your attention to a
subject of great delicacy and importance, one which in
a peculiar degree involves the future peace, tranquility
and happiness of the good people of this Commonwealth.
I do it however in a confidence, you will take that interest in
it, which we are taught to expect from your conduct through
life, which gives you so many high claims to our regard.38
On December 7 Gov. Monroe presented his report in 16 pages to the
speakers of the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia.
Governor Monroe on 17 May 1802 wrote to President Jefferson
this letter about the trials of the rebelling slaves:
I did not receive yours of the 9th till
the day before yesterday (15).
I am sorry it will not be in my power to see you
while at home; many considerations of a public nature
keep me here for the present, the most urgent of which is,
the trials which are in train in several parts of the state
of slaves on the charge of conspiracy & insurrection,
and the applications growing out of them for pardon
or transportation without our limits
of those who are condemned.
Of condemned I recollect about 10 or 11 examples
whose fate is yet to be decided on by the Executive.
This business still holds an equivocal aspect in my view of it.
The spirit of revolt has taken deep hold of the
minds of the slaves or the symptoms which
we see are attributable to some other cause.
After all the attention which I have paid to the subject
my mind still rests in suspense on it.
It would have given me pleasure to confer with you
on this head, that you might commence the measure which
was deemed most expedient to forward the views of the
state, respecting this interesting object of its policy.
Though indeed there is so little range for preference of
places, the few which present themselves being respectively
attended with so many difficulties, that nothing seems so
eligible as to open the door to each for the State,
that is to the West Indies, Africa, & to some
position west or south of the Mississippi.
Whether it will be practicable in either case
is uncertain especially the first mentioned.
I am inclined to think however that the sooner
it is ascertained respecting each the better.
I am persuaded the day is not distant when
this subject must have a definitive regulation
from the councils of the country.
I will write you more fully in my next which
will be addressed (I presume) to Washington
on the subject of yours.
It is doubtful whether the commissioners for Richmond
& Manchester will be able to act for Petersburg also.
The doubt however proceeds from my
not knowing the compensation allowed them.
Professional men, lawyers or merchants would
not leave this to attend there for a trifling sum.
On the other hand if the sum was an object
the addition of Petersburg would make it more so.
I will give you some names in my next
accommodated to either arrangement.
Col. Newton is a very worthy intelligent man with
good political views, but I do not think that I would
ask of him a nomination under any restriction.
The fact of such a letter would probably become known
in the place and might excite personal hatred to you
without advancing the public good, for although I
would appoint no federalist, yet it may have its
good effect that the avowal of that sentiment should be
known as rarely as possible otherwise than by the act.
I say I would appoint no federalist, by which I mean
not till it would be done with safety, or rather
advantage to the republican cause; which it can
at no time be unless he be a republican.
I will inquire who are suitable characters for such an office
in Norfolk, but would not wish you to rely on me as I must
report their pretentions are the opinion of others.39
On 11 June 1802 Monroe wrote to President Jefferson with some ideas
about what could be done with insurgent slaves:
I find by your letter of the 3rd that you think Sierra Leone
on the Coast of Africa a suitable place for the establishment
of our insurgent slaves, that it may also become so for those
who are or may hereafter be emancipated, and that you
are disposed to obtain the assent of the company to such
a measure through our minister in London, while
your attention will be directed in the interim to such
other quarters, as may enable us to submit a
more enlarged field to the option of our Assembly.
By the information of Mr. Thornton the British
Chargé des affaires which you have been so kind
as to communicate, it appears that Slavery is prohibited
in that Settlement, hence it follows that we cannot
expect permission to send any who are not free to it.
In directing our attention to Africa for an asylum for
insurgents, it is strongly implied that the legislature
intended they should be free when landed there,
as it is not known that there exists any market on that
coast for the purchase of Slaves from other Countries.
Still I am persuaded that such was not the intention
of the legislature, as it would put culprits in a better
condition than the deserving part of those people.
This opinion is further supported by a law still in force,
which authorizes the Executive to sell, subject to
transportation, all Slaves who are guilty of that Crime.
I submit this idea to your consideration, not with a view
to prevent your application to the Company for its assent
to the Settlement of insurgents within its limits, but as
a motive, in case you concur with me in the above
construction of the resolution, why you should more
particularly seek an establishment for them in the
Portuguese, Dutch or Spanish Settlements in America.
In obtaining permission to send our Negroes to that
Settlement we may avail ourselves of it, on the principles
of the company, as far as it suits our interest and policy.
If the legislature intends that insurgents shall enjoy
their liberty on landing there, the accommodation
would be general; but if they are excluded,
& the door is opened on favorable conditions to such
only as are or may hereafter become free,
it will nevertheless be important, as it will give
the legislature an opportunity to deliberate on,
and perhaps provide a remedy for an evil
which has already become a serious one.
I cannot otherwise than highly approve the idea of
endeavoring to lighten the charge of transportation,
to the public, whither so ever they be sent.
A permission to send certain Articles of Merchandize,
which would be sure to command a profit, if that
could be relied on, would contribute much to that end.
Perhaps other means not incompatible with the
Charter of the Company, might be devised.
Do their regulations permit temporary servitude?
If they do, might not those who are sent be bound
to service for a few years, as the means of raising
a fund to defray the Charge of transportation?
The Ancestors of the present negroes were
brought from Africa and sold here as slaves,
they and their descendants forever.
If we send back any of the race, subject to
a temporary servitude with liberty to their descendants,
will not the policy be mild and benevolent?
May not the same idea be held in view, in reference to any
other place in which an establishment is sought for them?
I do not know that Such an arrangement would be
practicable in any country, but it would certainly be a
very fortunate attainment, if we could make these people
instrumental to their own emancipation by a process
gradual and certain on principles consistent with humanity
without expense or inconvenience to ourselves.40
James Monroe on 6 December 1802 presented the General Assembly
with 17 pages as his third and last annual report for the state of Virginia.
He served the limit of three one-year terms as Governor,
and his allowed terms had ended on 1 December 1802.
Notes
1. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 2 1794-1796 ed. Stanislaus Murray Hamilton,
p. 13-15.
2. Ibid., p. 29.
3. Ibid., p. 37-41.
4. Ibid., p. 41-42.
5. Ibid., p. 63.
6. The Autobiography of James Monroe, p. 78.
7. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 2 1794-1796,p. 401-407.
8. To James Madison from James Monroe, 20 January 1796 (Online).
9. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 3 1796-1802, p. 55.
10. To James Madison from James Monroe, 1 January 1797 (Online).
11. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 3 1796-1802, p. 63-66.
12. Ibid., p. 69-70.
13. Washington a Life by Ron Chernow, p. 744.
14. The Political Writings of James Monroe p. 249-251.
15. Ibid., p. 102.
16. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 3 1796-1802, p. 95-96.
17. Ibid., p. 102-104.
18. Ibid., p. 115-118.
19. Ibid., p. 154-156.
20. To Thomas Jefferson from James Monroe, 26 January 1799 (Online).
21. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 3 1796-1802, p. 160-167.
22. Ibid., p. 169-170.
23. Ibid., p. 174-176.
24. Ibid., p. 179-180.
25. Ibid., p. 208-209.
26. Ibid., p. 221.
27. Ibid., p. 241.
28. Ibid., p. 243.
29. To James Madison from James Monroe, 16 December 1800 (Online).
30. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 3 1796-1802, p. 246-247.
31. Ibid., p. 249-253.
32. Ibid., p. 253-255.
33. Ibid., p. 256-257.
34. From Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 15 February 1801 (Online).
35. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 3 1796-1802, p. 262-264.
36. James Monroe: A Life by Tim McGrath, p. 220.
37. The Writings of Monroe, Volume 3 1796-1802, p. 282-285.
38. Ibid., p. 292-295.
39. Ibid., p. 348-350.
40. Ibid., p. 351-353.