Calais, Sept. 15, 1792.
Sir,
I CONCEIVE it necessary to make you acquainted with the following
circumstance:--The department of Calais having elected me a member
of the National Convention of France, I set off from London the 13th
instant, in company with Mr. Frost, of Spring Garden, and Mr. Audibert,
one of the municipal officers of Calais, who brought me the certificate
of my being elected. We had not arrived more, I believe, than five
minutes at the York Hotel, at Dover, when the train of circumstances
began that I am going to relate. We had taken our baggage out of the
carriage, and put it into a room, into which we went. Mr. Frost, having
occasion to go out, was stopped in the passage by a gentleman, who told
him he must return into the room, which he did, and the gentleman came
in with him, and shut the door. I had remained in the room; Mr. Audibert
was gone to inquire when the packet was to sail. The gentleman then
said, that he was collector of the customs, and had an information
against us, and must examine our baggage for prohibited articles. He
produced his commission as Collector. Mr. Frost demanded to see the
information, which the Collector refused to shew, and continued to
refuse, on every demand that we made. The Collector then called in
several other officers, and began first to search our pockets. He took
from Mr. Audibert, who was then returned into the room, every thing
he found in his pocket, and laid it on the table. He then searched Mr.
Frost in the same manner, (who, among other things, had the keys of the
trunks in his pocket,) and then did the same by me. Mr. Frost wanting
to go out, mentioned it, and was going towards the door; on which the
Collector placed himself against the door, and said, nobody should
depart the room. After the keys had been taken from Mr. Frost, (for I
had given him the keys of my trunks beforehand, for the purpose of his
attending the baggage to the customs, if it should be necessary,) the
Collector asked us to open the trunks, presenting us the keys for
that purpose; this we declined to do, unless he would produce his
information, which he again refused. The Collector then opened the
trunks himself, and took out every paper and letter, sealed or unsealed.
On our remonstrating with him on the bad policy, as well as the
illegality, of Custom-House officers seizing papers and letters, which
were things that did not come under their cognizance, he replied, that
the _Proclamation_ gave him the authority.
Among the letters which he took out of my trunk, were two sealed
letters, given into my charge by the American Minister in London
[Pinckney], one of which was directed to the American Minister at Paris
[Gouverneur Morris], the other to a private gentleman; a letter from the
President of the United States, and a letter from the Secretary of
State in America, both directed to me, and which I had received from
the American Minister, now in London, and were private letters of
friendship; a letter from the electoral body of the Department of
Calais, containing the notification of my being elected to the National
Convention; and a letter from the President of the National Assembly,
informing me of my being also elected for the Department of the Oise.
As we found that all remonstrances with the Collector, on the bad policy
and illegality of seizing papers and letters, and retaining our persons
by force, under the pretence of searching for prohibited articles,
were vain, (for he justified himself on the Proclamation, and on the
information which he refused to shew,) we contented ourselves with
assuring him, that what he was then doing, he would afterwards have to
answer for, and left it to himself to do as he pleased.
It appeared to us that the Collector was acting under the direction of
some other person or persons, then in the hotel, but whom he did not
choose we should see, or who did not choose to be seen by us; for the
Collector went several times out of the room for a few minutes, and was
also called out several times.
When the Collector had taken what papers and letters he pleased out of
the trunks, he proceeded to read them. The first letter he took up for
this purpose was that from the President of the United States to me.
While he was doing this, I said, that it was very extraordinary that
General Washington could not write a letter of private friendship to
me, without its being subject to be read by a custom-house officer. Upon
this Mr. Frost laid his hand over the face of the letter, and told the
Collector that he should not read it, and took it from him. Mr. Frost
then, casting his eyes on the concluding paragraph of the letter, said,
I will read this part to you, which he did; of which the following is an
exact transcript--
"And as no one can feel a greater interest in the happiness of mankind
than I do, it is the first wish of my heart, that the enlightened policy
of the present age may diffuse to all men those blessings to which
they are entitled, and lay the foundation of happiness for future
generations."(1)
As all the other letters and papers lay then on the table, the Collector
took them up, and was going out of the room with them. During the
transactions already stated, I contented myself with observing what
passed, and spoke but little; but on seeing the Collector going out of
the room with the letters, I told him that the papers and letters then
in his hand were either belonging to me, or entrusted to my charge, and
that as I could not permit them to be out of my sight, I must insist on
going with him.
1 Washington's letter is dated 6 May, 1792. See my _Life of
Paine_ vol. i., p. 302.--_Editor_.
The Collector then made a list of the letters and papers, and went out
of the room, giving the letters and papers into the charge of one of
the officers. He returned in a short time, and, after some trifling
conversation, chiefly about the Proclamation, told us, that he saw _the
Proclamation was ill-founded_, and asked if we chose to put the letters
and papers into the trunks ourselves, which, as we had not taken them
out, we declined doing, and he did it himself, and returned us the keys.
In stating to you these matters, I make no complaint against the
personal conduct of the Collector, or of any of the officers. Their
manner was as civil as such an extraordinary piece of business could
admit of.
My chief motive in writing to you on this subject is, that you may take
measures for preventing the like in future, not only as it concerns
private individuals, but in order to prevent a renewal of those
unpleasant consequences that have heretofore arisen between nations from
circumstances equally as insignificant. I mention this only for myself;
but as the interruption extended to two other gentlemen, it is probable
that they, as individuals, will take some more effectual mode for
redress.