Before resuming the history of the conspiracy against Paine it is
necessary to return a little on our steps. For a year after the fall of
monarchy in France (August 10, 1792), the real American Minister there
was Paine, whether for Americans or for the French Executive. The
Ministry would not confer with a hostile and presumably decapitated
agent, like Morris. The reader has (Chaps. IV. and V., Vol. II.)
evidence of their consultations with Paine. Those communications of
Paine were utilized in Robespierre's report to the Convention, November
17, 1793, on the foreign relations of France. It was inspired by the
humiliating tidings that Genet in America had reinforced the European
intrigues to detach Washington from France. The President had demanded
Genet's recall, had issued a proclamation of "impartiality" between
France and her foes, and had not yet decided whether the treaty formed
with Louis XVI. should survive his death. And Morris was not recalled!
In his report Robespierre makes a solemn appeal to the "brave
Americans." Was it "that crowned automaton called Louis XVI." who helped
to rescue them from the oppressor's yoke, or our arm and armies? Was it
his money sent over or the taxes of French labor? He declares that the
Republic has been treacherously compromised in America.
"By a strange fatality the Republic finds itself still represented
among their allies by agents of the traitors she has punished: Brissot's
brother-in-law is Consul-General there; another man, named Genet, sent
by Lebrun and Brissot to Philadelphia as plenipotentiary agent, has
faithfully fulfilled the views and instructions of the faction that
appointed him."
The result is that "parallel intrigues" are observable--one aiming
to bring France under the league, the other to break up the American
republic into parts.*
* "Hist. Pari.," xxx., p. 224.
In this idea of "parallel intrigues" the irremovable Morris is
discoverable. It is the reappearance of what he had said to Deforgues
about the simultaneous sedition in America (Genet's) and "influence in
their affairs from the other side of the channel" (Paine's). There was
not, however, in Robespierre's report any word that might be construed
into a suspicion of Paine; on the contrary, he declares the Convention
now pure. The Convention instructed the Committee of Public Safety
to provide for strictest fulfilment of its treaties with America, and
caution to its agents to respect the government and territory of
its allies. The first necessary step was to respect the President's
Minister, Gouverneur Morris, however odious he might be, since it would
be on his representations that the continuance of France's one important
alliance might depend. Morris played cleverly on that string; he hinted
dangers that did not exist, and dangled promises never to be fulfilled.
He was master of the situation. The unofficial Minister he had
practically superseded him for a year was now easily locked up in the
Luxembourg.
But why was not Paine executed? The historic paradox must be ventured
that he owed his reprieve--his life--to Robespierre. Robespierre had
Morris' intercepted letters and other evidences of his treachery, yet
as Washington insisted on him, and the alliance was at stake, he must be
obeyed. On the other hand were evidences of Washington's friendship
for Paine, and of Jefferson's intimacy with him. Time must therefore be
allowed for the prisoner to communicate with the President and Secretary
of State. They must decide between Paine and Morris. It was only after
ample time had passed, and no word about Paine came from Washington
or Jefferson, while Morris still held his position, that Robespierre
entered his memorandum that Paine should be tried before the
revolutionary tribunal.
Meanwhile a great deal happened, some of which, as Paine's experiences
in the Luxembourg, must be deferred to a further chapter. The American
Minister had his triumph. The Americans in Paris, including the
remaining sea-captains, who had been looking to Paine as their Minister,
were now to discover where the power was lodged. Knowing Morris' hatred
for Paine, they repaired to the Convention with their petition. Major
Jackson, a well known officer of the American Revolution, who headed the
deputation (which included every unofficial American in Paris), utilized
a letter of introduction he had brought from Secretary Jefferson to
Morris by giving it to the Committee of General Surety, as an evidence
of his right to act in the emergency.
Action was delayed by excitement over the celebration of the first
anniversary of the King's execution. On that occasion (January 21st)
the Convention joined the Jacobin Club in marching to the "Place de la
Revolution," with music and banners; there the portraits of kings were
burned, an act of accusation against all the kings of the earth adopted,
and a fearfully realistic drama enacted. By a prearrangement unknown
to the Convention four condemned men were guillotined before them.
The Convention recoiled, and instituted an inquisition as to the
responsibility for this scene. It was credited to the Committee of
General Surety, justly no doubt, but its chief, Vadier, managed
to relieve it of the odium. This Vadier was then president of the
Convention. He was appropriately selected to give the first anniversary
oration on the King's execution. A few days later it fell to Vadier to
address the eighteen Americans at the bar of the Convention on their
petition for Paine's release. The petition and petitioners being
referred to the Committees of Public Safety and General Surety in joint
session, the Americans were there answered, by Billaud-Varennes it was
said, "that their reclamation was only the act of individuals, without
any authority from the American government."
This was a plain direction. The American government, whether in Paris or
Philadelphia, had Paine's fate in its hands.
At this time it was of course not known that Jefferson had retired
from the Cabinet. To him Paine might have written, but--sinister
coincidence!--immediately after the committees had referred the
matter to the American government an order was issued cutting off all
communication between prisoners and the outside world. That Morris had
something to do with this is suggested by the fact that he was allowed
to correspond with Paine in prison, though this was not allowed to his
successor, Monroe. However, there is, unfortunately, no need to repair
to suspicions for the part of Gouverneur Morris in this affair. His
first ministerial mention of the matter to Secretary Jefferson is dated
on the tragical anniversary, January 21st "Lest I should forget it," he
says of this small incident, the imprisonment of one whom Congress and
the President had honored--
"Lest I should forget it, I must mention that Thomas Paine is in prison,
where he amuses himself with publishing a pamphlet against Jesus Christ.
I do not recollect whether I mentioned to you that he would have been
executed along with the rest of the Brissotins if the advance party had
not viewed him with contempt I incline to think that if he is quiet in
prison he may have the good luck to be forgotten, whereas, should he be
brought much into notice, the long suspended axe might fall on him. I
believe he thinks that I ought to claim him as an American citizen; but
considering his birth, his naturalization in this country, and the place
he filled, I doubt much the right, and I am sure that the claim would
be, for the present at least, inexpedient and ineffectual."
Although this paragraph is introduced in such a casual way, there is
calculation in every word First of all, however, be it observed, Morris
knows precisely how the authorities will act several days before they
have been appealed to. It also appears that if Paine was not executed
with the Brissotins on October 31st, it was not due to any interference
on his part The "contempt" which saved Paine may be estimated by a
reference to the executive consultations with him, and to Amar's bitter
denunciation of him (October 3d) after Morris had secretly accused this
contemptible man of influencing the Convention and helping to excite
sedition in the United States. In the next place, Jefferson is
admonished that if he would save his friend's head he must not bring
the matter into notice. The government at Philadelphia must, in mercy
to Paine, remain silent. As to the "pamphlet against Jesus Christ," my
reader has already perused what Paine wrote on that theme in the "Age
of Reason." But as that may not be so likely to affect freethinking
Jefferson, Morris adds the falsehood that Paine had been naturalized in
France. The reader need hardly be reminded that if an application by
the American Minister for the release would be "ineffectual," it must be
because the said Minister would have it so. Morris had already found,
as he tells Washington, that the Ministry, supposing him immovable,
were making overtures of conciliation; and none can read the obsequious
letter of the Foreign Minister, Deforgues (October 19, 1793), without
knowing that a word from Morris would release Paine. The American
petitioners had indeed been referred to their own government--that is,
to Morris.
The American Minister's version of what had occurred is given in a
letter to Secretary Jefferson, dated March 6th:
"I have mentioned Mr. Paine's confinement. Major Jackson--who, by
the by, has not given me a letter from you which he says was merely
introductory, but left it with the Comite de Surete Generale, as a kind
of letter of credence--Major Jackson, relying on his great influence
with the leaders here, stepped forward to get Mr. Paine out of jail, and
with several other Americans, has presented a petition to that effect,
which was referred to that Committee and the Comite de Salut Public.
This last, I understand, slighted the application as totally irregular;
and some time afterwards Mr. Paine wrote me a note desiring I would
claim him as an American, which I accordingly did, though contrary to my
judgment, for reasons mentioned in my last The Minister's letter to me
of the 1st Ventose, of which I enclose a copy, contains the answer to my
reclamation. I sent a copy to Mr. Paine, who prepared a long answer, and
sent it to me by an Englishman, whom I did not know. I told him, as
Mr. Paine's friend, that my present opinion was similar to that of the
Minister, but I might, perhaps, see occasion to change it, and in that
case, if Mr. Paine wished it, I would go on with the claim, but that it
would be well for him to consider the result; that, if the Government
meant to release him, they had already a sufficient ground; but if not,
I could only push them to bring on his trial for the crimes imputed
to him; seeing that whether he be considered as a Frenchman, or as an
American, he must be amenable to the tribunals of France for his conduct
while he was a Frenchman, and he may see in the fate of the Brissotins,
that to which he is exposed. I have heard no more of the affair since;
but it is not impossible that he may force on a decision, which, as far
as I can judge, would be fatal to him: for in the best of times he had
a larger share of every other sense than common sense, and lately the
intemperate use of ardent spirits has, I am told, considerably impaired
the small stock he originally possessed."
In this letter the following incidental points suggest comment:
1. "Several other Americans." The petitioners for Paine's release were
eighteen in number, and seem to have comprised all the Americans then
left in Paris, some of them eminent.
2. "The crimes imputed to him." There were none. Paine was imprisoned
under a law against "foreigners." Those charged with his arrest reported
that his papers were entirely innocent. The archives of France, now open
to exploration, prove that no offence was ever imputed to him, showing
his arrest due only to Morris' insinuation of his being objectionable to
the United States. By this insinuation ("crimes imputed to him") Paine
was asserted to be amenable to French laws for matters with which the
United States would of course have nothing to do, and of which nothing
could be known in Philadelphia.
3. "While he was a Frenchman." Had Paine ever been a Frenchman, he was
one when Morris pretended that he had claimed him as an American. But
Paine had been excluded from the Convention and imprisoned expressly
because he was not a Frenchman. No word of the Convention's published
action was transmitted by Morris.
4. "The fate of the Brissotins," etc. This of course would frighten
Paine's friends by its hint of a French hostility to him which did
not exist, and might restrain them from applying to America for
interference. Paine was already restrained by the new order preventing
him from communicating with any one except the American Minister.
5. "Intemperate," etc This is mere calumny. Since the brief lapse in
June, 1793, when overwhelmed by the arrest of his friends, Paine's daily
life is known from those who dwelt with him. During the months preceding
his arrest he wrote the "Age of Reason"; its power, if alcoholic, might
have recommended his cellar to Morris, or to any man living.
So much for the insinuations and _suggestions falsi_ in Morris' letter.
The suppressions of fact are more deadly. There is nothing of what had
really happened; nothing of the eulogy of Paine by the President of the
Convention, which would have been a commentary on what Morris had said
of the contempt in which he was held; not a word of the fact that the
petitioners were reminded by the Committee that their application was
unofficial,--in other words, that the determination on Paine's fate
rested with Morris himself. This Morris hides under the phrase:
"slighted the application as totally irregular."
But the fatal far-reaching falsehood of Morris' letter to Jefferson was
his assertion that he had claimed Paine as an American. This falsehood,
told to Washington, Jefferson, Edmund Randolph, paralyzed all action in
America in Paine's behalf; told to the Americans in Paris, it paralyzed
further effort of their own.
The actual correspondence between Morris and Deforgues is now for the
first time brought to light.
MORRIS TO DEFORGUES,
"Paris, 14th February (26 Pluviose) 1794.
"Sir,--Thomas Paine has just applied to me to claim him as a Citizen of
the United States. These (I believe) are the facts which relate to him.
He was born in England. Having become a citizen of the United States, he
acquired great celebrity there through his revolutionary writings. In
consequence he was adopted as French Citizen, and then elected Member of
the Convention. His behaviour since that epoch is out of my
jurisdiction. I am ignorant of the reason for his present detention in
the Luxembourg prison, but I beg you, Sir, if there be reasons which
prevent his liberation, and which are unknown to me, be so good as to
inform me of them, so that I may communicate them to the Government of
the United States.--I have the honour to be, Sir, Your very humble
servant,
"Gouv. Morris."
DEFORGUES TO MORRIS.
"Paris, 1st Ventose, 2nd year of the Republic [February 19, 1794.]
"The Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Minister of the United States.
"In your letter of the 26th of last month you reclaim the liberty of
Thomas Payne, as an American Citizen. Born in England, this ex-deputy
has become successively an American and a French citizen. In accepting
this last title, and in occupying a place in the Legislative Corps,
he submitted himself to the laws of the Republic, and has _de fait_
renounced the protection which the right of the people and treaties
concluded with the United States could have assured him.
"I am ignorant of the motives of his detention, but I must presume
they are well founded. I shall nevertheless submit the demand you have
addressed me to the Committee of Public Safety, and I shall lose no time
in letting you know its decision.
"DEFORGUES."
* "Etats Unis," vol. xl., Doc. 54. Endorsed: "Received the
18th of same [Pluviose, i. e., Feb. 16th]. To declare
reception and to tell him that the Minister will take the
necessary steps." The French Minister's reply is Doc. 01 of
the same volume.
The opening assertion of the French Minister's note reveals the
collusion. Careful examination of the American Minister's letter, to
find where he "reclaims the liberty of Thomas Payne as an American
citizen," forces me to the conclusion that the Frenchman only discovered
such reclamation there by the assistance of Morris.
The American Minister distinctly declares Paine to be a French citizen,
and disclaims official recognition of his conduct as "_pas de mon
ressort_."
It will be borne in mind that this French Minister is the same Deforgues
who had confided to Morris his longing to succeed Genet in America, and
to whom Morris had whispered his design against Paine. Morris resided
at Sainport, twenty-seven miles away, but his note is written in Paris.
Four days elapse before the reply. Consultation is further proved by
the French Minister's speaking of Paine as "occupying a place in the
Legislative Corps." No uninspired Frenchman could have so described
the Convention, any more than an American would have described the
Convention of 1787 as "Congress." Deforgues' phrase is calculated for
Philadelphia, where it might be supposed that the recently adopted
Constitution had been followed by the organization of a legislature,
whose members must of course take an oath of allegiance, which the
Convention had not required.* Deforgues also makes bold to declare--as
far away as Philadelphia--that Paine is a French citizen, though he
was excluded from the Convention and imprisoned; because he was a
"foreigner."
* Deforgues' phrase "laws of the Republic" is also a
deception. The Constitution had been totally suspended by
the Convention; no government or law had been or ever was
established under or by it. There was as yet no Republic,
and only revolutionary or martial laws.
The extreme ingenuity of the letter was certainly not original with
this Frenchman. The American Minister, in response to his note declaring
Paine a French citizen, and disclaiming jurisdiction over him, returns
to Sainport with his official opiate for Paine's friends in America and
Paris--a certificate that he has "reclaimed the liberty of Thomas
Paine as an American citizen." The alleged reclamation suppressed,
the certificate sent to Secretary Jefferson and to Paine, the American
Minister is credited with having done his duty. In Washington's
Cabinet, where the technicalities of citizenship had become of paramount
importance, especially as regarded France, Deforgues' claim that Paine
was not an American must be accepted--Morris consenting--as final.
It may be wondered that Morris should venture on so dangerous a game.
But he had secured himself in anything he might choose to do. So soon as
he discovered, in the previous summer, that he was not to be removed,
and had fresh thunderbolts to wield, he veiled himself from the
inspection of Jefferson. This he did in a letter of September 22, 1793.
In the quasi-casual way characteristic of him when he is particularly
deep, Morris then wrote: "_By the bye, I shall cease to send you copies
of my various applications in particular cases, for they will cost you
more in postage than they are worth_." I put in italics this sentence,
as one which merits memorable record in the annals of diplomacy.
The French Foreign Office being secret as the grave, Jefferson facile,
and Washington confiding, there was no danger that Morris' letter to
De-forgues would ever appear. Although the letter of Deforgues,--his
certificate that Morris had reclaimed Paine as an American,--was a
little longer than the pretended reclamation, postal economy did not
prevent the American Minister from sending _that_, but his own was never
sent to his government, and to this day is unknown to its archives.
It cannot be denied that Morris' letter to De-forgues is masterly in its
way. He asks the Minister to give him such reasons for Paine's detention
as may not be known to him (Morris), there being no such reasons. He
sets at rest any timidity the Frenchman might have, lest Morris should
be ensnaring him also, by begging--not demanding--such knowledge as he
may communicate to his government. Philadelphia is at a safe distance in
time and space. Deforgues is complacent enough, Morris being at hand,
to describe it as a "demand," and to promise speedy action on the
matter--which was then straightway buried, for a century's slumber.
Paine was no doubt right in his subsequent belief that Morris was
alarmed at his intention of returning to America. Should Paine ever
reach Jefferson and his adherents, Gouverneur Morris must instantly lose
a position which, sustained by Washington, made him a power
throughout Europe. Moreover, there was a Nemesis lurking near him. The
revolutionists, aware of his relations with their enemies, were only
withheld from laying hands on him by awe of Washington and anxiety about
the alliance. The moment of his repudiation by his government would have
been a perilous one. It so proved, indeed, when Monroe supplanted him.
For the present, however, he is powerful. As the French Executive
could have no interest merely to keep Paine, for six months, without
suggestion of trial, it is difficult to imagine any reason, save the
wish of Morris, why he was not allowed to depart with the Americans, in
accordance with their petition.
Thus Thomas Paine, recognized by every American statesman and by
Congress as a founder of their Republic, found himself a prisoner, and a
man without a country. Outlawed by the rulers of his native land--though
the people bore his defender, Erskine, from the court on their shoulders
--imprisoned by France as a foreigner, disowned by America as a
foreigner, and prevented by its Minister from returning to the country
whose President had declared his services to it pre-eminent!
Never dreaming that his situation was the work of Morris, Paine
(February 24th) appealed to him for help.
"I received your letter enclosing a copy of a letter from the Minister
of foreign affairs. You must not leave me in the situation in which
this letter places me. You know I do not deserve it, and you see the
unpleasant situation in which I am thrown. I have made an essay in
answer to the Minister's letter, which I wish you to make ground of
a reply to him. They have nothing against me--except that they do not
choose I should be in a state of freedom to write my mind freely upon
things I have seen. Though you and I are not on terms of the best
harmony, I apply to you as the Minister of America, and you may add to
that service whatever you think my integrity deserves. At any rate I
expect you to make Congress acquainted with my situation, and to send to
them copies of the letters that have passed on the subject. A reply to
the Minister's letter is absolutely necessary, were it only to continue
the reclamation. Otherwise your silence will be a sort of consent to his
observations."
Supposing, from the French Minister's opening assertion, that a
reclamation had really been made, Paine's simplicity led him into a
trap. He sent his argument to be used by the Minister in an answer of
his own, so that Minister was able to do as he pleased with it, the
result being that it was buried among his private papers, to be partly
brought to light by Jared Sparks, who is candid enough to remark on the
Minister's indifference and the force of Paine's argument. Not a word to
Congress was ever said on the subject.
Jefferson, without the knowledge or expectation of Morris, had resigned
the State Secretaryship at the close of 1793. Morris' letter of March
6th reached the hands of Edmund Randolph, Jefferson's successor, late in
June. On June 25th Randolph writes Washington, at Mount Vernon, that
he has received a letter from Morris, of March 6th, saying "that he has
demanded Paine as an American citizen, but that the Minister holds him
to be amenable to the French laws." Randolph was a just man and an exact
lawyer; it is certain that if he had received a copy of the fictitious
"reclamation" the imprisonment would have been curtailed. Under the
false information before him, nothing could be done but await the
statement of the causes of Paine's detention, which Deforgues would
"lose no time" in transmitting. It was impossible to deny, without
further knowledge, the rights over Paine apparently claimed by the
French government.
And what could be done by the Americans in Paris, whom Paine alone had
befriended? Joel Barlow, who had best opportunities of knowing the
facts, says: "He [Paine] was always charitable to the poor beyond his
means, a sure friend and protector to all Americans in distress that he
found in foreign countries; and he had frequent occasions to exert his
influence in protecting them during the Revolution in France." They were
grateful and deeply moved, these Americans, but thoroughly deceived
about the situation. Told that they must await the action of a distant
government, which itself was waiting for action in Paris, alarmed by the
American Minister's hints of danger that might ensue on any misstep or
agitation, assured that he was proceeding with the case, forbidden to
communicate with Paine, they were reduced to helplessness. Meanwhile,
between silent America and these Americans, all so cunningly disabled,
stood the remorseless French Committee, ready to strike or to release in
obedience to any sign from the alienated ally, to soothe whom no
sacrifice would be too great. Genet had been demanded for the altar of
sacred Alliance, but (to Morris' regret) refused by the American
government. The Revolution would have preferred Morris as a victim, but
was quite ready to offer Paine.
Six or seven months elapsed without bringing from President or Cabinet a
word of sympathy for Paine. But they brought increasing indications that
America was in treaty with England, and Washington disaffected towards
France. Under these circumstances Robespierre resolved on the accusation
and trial of Paine. It does not necessarily follow that Paine would
have been condemned; but there were some who did not mean that he should
escape, among whom Robespierre may or may not have been included. The
probabilities, to my mind, are against that theory. Robespierre having
ceased to attend the Committee of Public Safety when the order issued
for Paine's death.