Paris, October 1, 1800.
Dear Sir,--I wrote to you from Havre by the ship Dublin Packet in the
year 1797. It was then my intention to return to America; but there were
so many British frigates cruising in sight of the port, and which after
a few days knew that I was at Havre waiting to go to America, that I did
not think it best to trust myself to their discretion, and the more so,
as I had no confidence in the captain of the Dublin Packet (Clay).(1) I
mentioned to you in that letter, which I believe you received thro'
the hands of Colonel [Aaron] Burr, that I was glad since you were not
President that you had accepted the nomination of Vice President.
The Commissioners Ellsworth & Co.(2) have been here about eight months,
and three more useless mortals never came upon public business. Their
presence appears to me to have been rather an injury than a benefit.
They set themselves up for a faction as soon as they arrived. I was then
in Belgia.(3) Upon my return to Paris I learnt they had made a point of
not returning the visits of Mr. Skipwith and Barlow, because, they said,
they had not the confidence of the executive. Every known republican was
treated in the same manner. I learned from Mr. Miller of Philadelphia,
who had occasion to see them upon business, that they did not intend
to return my visit, if I made one. This, I supposed, it was intended I
should know, that I might not make one. It had the contrary effect. I
went to see Mr. Ellsworth. I told him, I did not come to see him as a
commissioner, nor to congratulate him upon his mission; that I came to
see him because I had formerly known him in Congress. "I mean not,"
said I, "to press you with any questions, or to engage you in
any conversation upon the business you are come upon, but I will
nevertheless candidly say that I know not what expectations the
Government or the people of America may have of your mission, or what
expectations you may have yourselves, but I believe you will find you
can do but little. The treaty with England lies at the threshold of all
your business. The American Government never did two more foolish things
than when it signed that Treaty and recalled Mr. Monroe, who was the
only man could do them any service." Mr. Ellsworth put on the dull
gravity of a Judge, and was silent. I added, "You may perhaps make a
treaty like that you have made with England, which is a surrender of the
rights of the American flag; for the principle that neutral ships make
neutral property must be general or not at all." I then changed the
subject, for I had all the talk to myself upon this topic, and enquired
after Samuel Adams, (I asked nothing about John,) Mr. Jefferson, Mr.
Monroe, and others of my friends; and the melancholy case of the yellow
fever,--of which he gave me as circumstantial an account as if he had
been summing up a case to a Jury. Here my visit ended, and had Mr.
Ellsworth been as cunning as a statesman, or as wise as a Judge, he
would have returned my visit that he might appear insensible of the
intention of mine.
1 The packet was indeed searched for Paine by a British
cruiser.--_Editor._
2 Oliver Ellsworth (Chief Justice), W. V. Murray, and W. R.
Davie, were sent by President Adams to France to negotiate a
treaty. In this they failed, but a convention was signed
September 30, 1800, which terminated the treaty of 1778,
which had become a source of discord, and prepared the way
for the negotiations of Livingston and Monroe in 1803.--
_Editor._
3 Paine had visited his room-mate in Luxembourg prison,
Vanhuele, who was now Mayor of Bruges.--_Editor._.
I now come to the affairs of this country and of Europe. You will, I
suppose, have heard before this arrives to you, of the battle of
Marengo in Italy, where the Austrians were defeated--of the armistice
in consequence thereof, and the surrender of Milan, Genoa etc. to
the french--of the successes of the french Army in Germany--and the
extension of the armistice in that quarter--of the preliminaries of
Peace signed at Paris--of the refusal of the Emperor [of Austria] to
ratify these preliminaries--of the breaking of the armistice by the
french Government in consequence of that refusal--of the "gallant"
expedition of the Emperor to put himself at the head of his Army--of his
pompous arrival there--of his having made his will--of prayers being put
in all his churches for the preservation of the life of this Hero--of
General Moreau announcing to him, immediately on his arrival at the
Army, that hostilities would commence the day after the next at sunrise
unless he signed the treaty or gave security that he would sign within
45 days--of his surrendering up three of the principal keys of Germany
(Ulm, Philipsbourg, and Ingolstadt) as security that he would sign them.
This is the state things are now in, at the time of writing this letter;
but it is proper to add that the refusal of the Emperor to sign the
preliminaries was motived upon a note from the King of England to be
admitted to the Congress for negociating Peace, which was consented to
by the french upon the condition of an armistice at Sea, which England,
before knowing of the surrender the Emperor had made, had refused. From
all which it appears to me, judging from circumstances, that the Emperor
is now so compleatly in the hands of the french, that he has no way of
getting out but by a peace. The Congress for the peace is to be held
at Luneville, a town in France. Since the affair of Rastadt the French
commissioners will not trust themselves within the Emperor's territory.
I now come to domestic Affairs. I know not what the Commissioners have
done, but from a paper I enclose to you, which appears to have
some authority, it is not much. The paper as you will perceive is
considerably prior to this letter. I know that the Commissioners before
this piece appeared intended setting off. It is therefore probable that
what they have done is conformable to what this paper mentions, which
certainly will not atone for the expence their mission has incurred,
neither are they, by all the accounts I hear of them, men fitted for the
business.
But independently of these matters there appears to be a state of
circumstances rising, which if it goes on, will render all partial
treaties unnecessary. In the first place I doubt if any peace will be
made with England; and in the second place, I should not wonder to see a
coalition formed against her, to compel her to abandon her insolence on
the seas. This brings me to speak of the manuscripts I send you.
The piece No. I, without any title, was written in consequence of a
question put to me by Bonaparte. As he supposed I knew England and
English Politics he sent a person to me to ask, that in case of
negociating a Peace with Austria, whether it would be proper to include
England. This was when Count St. Julian was in Paris, on the part of the
Emperor negociating the preliminaries:--which as I have before said the
Emperor refused to sign on the pretence of admitting England.
The piece No. 2, entitled _On the Jacobinism of the English at sea_, was
written when the English made their insolent and impolitic expedition to
Denmark, and is also an auxiliary to the politic of No. I. I shewed it
to a friend [Bonneville] who had it translated into french, and printed
in the form of a Pamphlet, and distributed gratis among the foreign
Ministers, and persons in the Government. It was immediately copied
into several of the french Journals, and into the official Paper, the
Moniteur. It appeared in this paper one day before the last dispatch
arrived from Egypt; which agreed perfectly with what I had said
respecting Egypt. It hit the two cases of Denmark and Egypt in the exact
proper moment.
The Piece No. 3, entitled _Compact Maritime_, is the sequel of No. 2,
digested in form. It is translating at the time I write this letter,
and I am to have a meeting with the Senator Garat upon the subject.
The pieces 2 and 3 go off in manuscript to England, by a confidential
person, where they will be published.(1)
1 The substance of most of these "pieces" are embodied in
Paine's Seventh Letter to the People of the United States
(infra p. 420).--_Editor._
By all the news we get from the North there appears to be something
meditating against England. It is now given for certain that Paul has
embargoed all the English vessels and English property in Russia till
some principle be established for protecting the Rights of neutral
Nations, and securing the liberty of the Seas. The preparations in
Denmark continue, notwithstanding the convention that she has made with
England, which leaves the question with respect to the right set up by
England to stop and search Neutral vessels undecided. I send you the
paragraphs upon the subject.
The tumults are great in all parts of England on account of the
excessive price of corn and bread, which has risen since the harvest.
I attribute it more to the abundant increase of paper, and the
non-circulation of cash, than to any other cause. People in trade
can push the paper off as fast as they receive it, as they did by
continental money in America; but as farmers have not this opportunity,
they endeavor to secure themselves by going considerably in advance.
I have now given you all the great articles of intelligence, for I
trouble not myself with little ones, and consequently not with the
Commissioners, nor any thing they are about, nor with John Adams,
otherwise than to wish him safe home, and a better and wiser man in his
place.
In the present state of circumstances and the prospects arising from
them, it may be proper for America to consider whether it is worth her
while to enter into any treaty at this moment, or to wait the event of
those circumstances which if they go on will render partial treaties
useless by deranging them. But if, in the mean time, she enters into
any treaty it ought to be with a condition to the following purpose:
Reserving to herself the right of joining in an Association of Nations
for the protection of the Rights of Neutral Commerce and the security of
the liberty of the Seas.
The pieces 2, 3, may go to the press. They will make a small pamphlet
and the printers are welcome to put my name to it. (It is best it should
be put.) From thence they will get into the newspapers. I know that the
faction of John Adams abuses me pretty heartily. They are welcome.
It does not disturb me, and they lose their labour; and in return for
it I am doing America more service, as a neutral Nation, than their
expensive Commissioners can do, and she has that service from me for
nothing. The piece No. 1 is only for your own amusement and that of your
friends.
I come now to speak confidentially to you on a private subject. When Mr.
Ellsworth and Davie return to America, Murray will return to Holland,
and in that case there will be nobody in Paris but Mr. Skipwith that
has been in the habit of transacting business with the french Government
since the revolution began. He is on a good standing with them, and if
the chance of the day should place you in the presidency you cannot do
better than appoint him for any purpose you may have occasion for in
France. He is an honest man and will do his country justice, and that
with civility and good manners to the government he is commissioned to
act with; a faculty which that Northern Bear Timothy Pickering wanted,
and which the Bear of that Bear, John Adams, never possessed.
I know not much of Mr. Murray, otherwise than of his unfriendliness to
every American who is not of his faction, but I am sure that Joel Barlow
is a much fitter man to be in Holland than Mr. Murray. It is upon
the fitness of the man to the place that I speak, for I have not
communicated a thought upon the subject to Barlow, neither does he
know, at the time of my writing this (for he is at Havre), that I have
intention to do it.
I will now, by way of relief, amuse you with some account of the
progress of iron bridges.
[Here follows an account of the building of the iron bridge at
Sunderland, England, and some correspondence with Mr. Milbanke, M. P.,
which will be given more fully and precisely in a chapter of vol. IV.
(Appendix), on Iron Bridges, and is therefore omitted here.]
I have now made two other Models [of bridges]. One is pasteboard, five
feet span and five inches of height from the cords. It is in the opinion
of every person who has seen it one of the most beautiful objects the
eye can behold. I then cast a model in metal following the construction
of that in paste-board and of the same dimensions. The whole was
executed in my own Chamber. It is far superior in strength, elegance,
and readiness in execution to the model I made in America, and which you
saw in Paris.(1) I shall bring those models with me when I come
home, which will be as soon as I can pass the seas in safety from the
piratical John Bulls. I suppose you have seen, or have heard of the
Bishop of Landaff's answer to my second part of the Age of Reason. As
soon as I got a copy of it I began a third part, which served also as an
answer to the Bishop; but as soon as the clerical society for promoting
_Christian Knowledge_ knew of my intention to answer the Bishop, they
prosecuted, as a Society, the printer of the first and second parts, to
prevent that answer appearing. No other reason than this can be assigned
for their prosecuting at the time they did, because the first part had
been in circulation above three years and the second part more than one,
and they prosecuted immediately on knowing that I was taking up their
Champion. The Bishop's answer, like Mr. Burke's attack on the french
revolution, served me as a back-ground to bring forward other subjects
upon, with more advantage than if the background was not there. This is
the motive that induced me to answer him, otherwise I should have gone
on without taking any notice of him. I have made and am still making
additions to the manuscript, and shall continue to do so till an
opportunity arrive for publishing it.
1 "These models exhibit an extraordinary degree not only of
skill, but of taste, and are wrought with extreme delicacy
entirely by his own hands. The largest is nearly four feet
in length; the iron-works, the chains, and every other
article belonging to it, were forged and manufactured by
himself. It is intended as the model of a bridge which is to
be constructed across the Delaware, extending 480 feet, with
only one arch. The other is to be erected over a lesser
river, whose name I forget, and is likewise a single arch,
and of his own workmanship, excepting the chains, which,
instead of iron, are cut out of paste-hoard by the fair hand
of his correspondent, the 'Little Corner of the World' (Lady
Smyth), whose indefatigable perseverance is extraordinary.
He was offered L3000 for these models and refused it."--
Yorke's _Letters from France_, These models excited much
admiration in Washington and Philadelphia. They remained for
a long time in Peale's Museum at Philadelphia, but no trace
is left of them.--_Editor._
If any American frigate should come to france, and the direction of
it fall to you, I will be glad you would give me the opportunity of
returning. The abscess under which I suffered almost two years is
entirely healed of itself, and I enjoy exceeding good health. This is
the first of October, and Mr. Skipwith has just called to tell me the
Commissioners set off for Havre to-morrow. This will go by the frigate
but not with the knowledge of the Commissioners. Remember me with much
affection to my friends and accept the same to yourself.
Thomas Paine.