The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1779-01-12 00:00:00, page 2

rr s s fmewhat uatandd, for on the reading it,
'it cteates an opinion and likewise carries an appear
ance ihat Mn Deane War only sent for, as the neces
sary and [woper per^n from whom Congress might
th ^ a kiory of ?heir affairs, and learn thte cha
racters of r heir foreign Agent, Comrtliffioners and
A nbaffadnrs, after which Mr. Deane was to feturn.
I Mr. Deane so little matter of address as not to
know that censure may be politely conveyed by art
apology ? F° r however Mr. Deane may chafe to re^
pi fan or misrepresent the matter the truth is, that
his co itraAs and engagements in France, had so in
volved and embariaffed Congress that they found
it necessary and received to recall him that is ordered
him home, to give an account of his own conduct
and likewise to save him from a train of disagreeable
confeqnences, which must have arisen to him had he
continued in France. I would not be supposed to
insinuate, that he might be thought unfafe but unfit.
Tnere is a certain and necessary affectation of dignity
between the person and the employment which per
haps did not appear when Mr. Deane was consider
ed the Amhaffador. His address to the public con
firms the justness of this remark. The spirit and
language of it differs exceedingly from that cool pe
nitrating judgment and refinement of manners and
expression which fits, and is absolutely necessary in
the Plenipotentiary. His cenfares are Coarse and
vehement, and when he speaks of himfelf, he begs,
nay almost weeps to be believed. It was the intrica
cy of Mr. Deane's own official affairs his multi
plied contrails in France before the arrival of Dr.
rranklin or any of the other Comm ffioners: His
tffuming authorities, and entering into engagements
in the time of his Commercial Agency, for which
he had neither commission nor inftruXion, and the
general unsettled state of his accounts that were
among the reasons that produced the motion for re
calling and superseding him. Why then does Mr.
Deane endeavor to lead the attention of the public
to a wrong object, and to bury the real reasons, un
dera tumult of new and perhaps unnecessary sus
picions ?
Mr. Deane in the beginning ofhis address to the
public fays, '' What I write to you I would have
" said to your Representatives, their ears have been
" Shut against me, by an attention to matters, which
" my refpea for them induces me to believe were of
'. 'more importance"
Li this paragraph Mr. Deane's excuse becomes hit
accuser, and hi, justification is his offence, for if
the greater importance of other matters is supposed
and given by himfelf as a reason, why he was not
heard, it is likewise a fufficient reason why he. ought
not to have complained that " their ears were Shut,"
and a good reason why he ought to have waited a
more convenient time. But besides the incanfiftenc,
of this charge, there is something in it that will Suffer
by an enquiry, and I am sorry that Mr, Deane s im
prudence has obliged me to mention a circumstance
which affeds his honour as a gentleman, his reputa
tion as a man. In order to be clearly underflood on
this head I am obliged to go back with Mr. Deane
to the time of his quitting France on account of his
being recalled. ' I left Paris, fays Mr. Deane, on
*' the 30th of March, 1777 to embark for my na
" tive country, having placed my papers and yours
" in fifety," would any body have supposed that a
gentleman in the charaaer of a public Commercial
Agent, aid afterwards in that of a public Minister,
would return home after feeing himfelf both recalled
and superseded, and not bring with him his papers
and vouchers, and why he has done so must appear
so every one exceedingly unaccountable ? After Mr.
Deane's arrival he had two audiences with Congress
in August laftb in neither of which did he offer the
least charge against the gentlemen he has so loudly
upbraided in his address to rhe public, neither has
he yet accounted for his expenditure of public mo
ney, which as it might have been done by a written
state of accounts, might for that reason have been
done at any time and was a part of the business
which required no audience.
There is Something curiously intricate and evasive
in Mr Deane's faying in his address. that he left
France " in full confidence that he should not be de
t tained on the business he was sent for." And the
only end it can answer to him is to furnifh out a pre
sent excuse for not producing his papers. Mr. Deane
had no right, either from the literal or implied sense
erf the resolution itfelf to fappofe that he Should re
turn to France in his former public character, or that
he was " sent for " as he stiles it, on any other per
sonal business than that which related to himfelf.
Ms Deane must be sensible, if he will but candidly
reflect, that as an Agent only, he greatly exceeded
his line, and embarrassed the CongrcG, the conti
nent. the army and hi^ftl'.
Mr. Deane’s address to the public is dated Nov.-- ,
bat without any day es the month, and here a new
Scene of ung^hteel OVifen opens. On the lafl day
of that month, viz. the 30. h he addressed a letter
to Congress fignifying his intentions of returning to
France and pressing to have his affairs brought to
some conclufioß, which, I presume, on account of
the absence ofhis papers could not well be done,
therefore Mr. Deane's address to the public must be
written before the 30th, and consequently before his
letter to Congress, which carries an appearance of
its being only a feint in order t 6 make A conftifed
diversion in his favor at the time his affairs should
dome under confederation.
What favours this opinion is, that on he next day,
that is, December ift, and partly in consequence of
Mr. Deane's let er to them on the 30th, the Congress
entered the following resolution.
In CON GRES S, December t, 177^.
" Resolved, That after to morrow Congress will
" meet two hours at least each eve ring, beginning
•' at fix o'clock, Saturday evenings exempted until
" the present state of their foreign affairs be fully
“ considered."
As an enquire into the state of foreign affairs na
turally and effect ^ally included all and every part of
Mr, Deane's he was thereupon regularly notified
by letter to attend ; and on the fourth he wrote^a : n
to Congress, acquainting them with his having re
reived that notification and expressed his thanks ;
yet on the day following viz. the fifth, he publ shed
his extraordinary address in the news papers, which
on account of its unsupported matter, the fury of
its language and temper, and its inconsistency with
other parts ofhis conduct, is incompatible with that
character (which on account of the Ration he had
been honoured with, and the sense which should
have impressed him in consequence thereof,) he
ought to have maintained.
On the appearance of Mr. Deane's address of the
fifth, the public became jealously uneasy, and well
they might. They were unacquainted with the train
of circumstances that preceded and attended it, and
were naturally led to suppose, that Mr Deane, on
account of the ' station he had filled, must be too
much a gentleman to deceive them. It was Mr.
Deane's particular fortune to grow into consequence
from accident. Sent to France as a Commercial
Agent under the Appointment of a Committee, he
rose as a matter of convenience to the Ration of a
Commissioner of Congress; and with what dignity
he might fill out that character, the public will judge
from his condw& since: and perhaps be led to fub
flitute convenience as an eX^fe for the appointment.
A delicacy of difficulties likewise arefe in Congress
on the appearance of the said address ; for setting
aside the matter, the irregular manner of it, as a pro
feeding, was a breach of decency; *nd as Mr.
Deane, after being notified to attend an enquiry
into foreign affairs, had circuffiftantially withdrawn
from that mode by appealing to the public, and at
the fame time said " theirears were Shut aga ; nft him "
it was therefore given as a reason by some, that to
take any notice of Mr. Deane in the interm would
look like fuppreffisg his public information, if he had
any to give, and coafequently would imply dis
honour on the Haufe ; and that as he had transferred
his case to the public, before it had been reieAed by
the Congress, he ought therefore to be left with the
public, till he had done with them and they with
him ; and that whether his information was true or
not, it was an insult on the people, because it was
making them the ladder, on which he insulted their
Representatives, by an unjust complaint of neglect.
Others who might anticipate the anxiety of the pub
lie, and apprehend difeontents would arise from a
supposed inattention, were for adopting measures to
prevent them, and of consequence inclined to a dif
ferent line of conduct, and this division of Sentiment
on what might be supposed, the honour of the
•House, occasioned thethen President, Henry Laurens,
Bfq; who adhered to the former opinion, to resign
the chair ; the majority on the sentiments was a sin
gle vote. In this place I take the liberty of remark
ing, for the benefit of succeeding generations, that
the Honorable President before mentioned having
filled that Ration for one year in O&Gbtr last, made
his resignation of the Presidency at the expiration of
the year, least any example taken from his continu
ance might hereafter become inconvenient. 1 have
an additional Satisfaction in mentioning this ufeful
historical anecdote, because it is done wholly un
known to the gentleman to whom it relates, or tc
any other gentleman in or out of Congress. He was
replaced by a unanimous vote. But to return tc
my narration.
In the Pennsylvania Packet of Dec, gh, Francis
Lightfoot Lee, Esq; brother to the gentlenien forude
ly treated in Mr. Deane's publication, and the only
one now present, put in a short address tothe public,
requeuing a fufpeniion of their judgment till the
matter could be fully irveftigated by these whofi
immediate bait es :t berime ; mea^ng &, # ':r*fa
And Mr. Deane in the pap.-.r of the iorh publish'd
another note, in which he informs, " that the Hon
" orable Congress did, on Saturday morning thd
sth instant, assign Monday evening 10 hear him."
But why does Mr. Deane caliceal the resolution Of
Congress of December rfi, in consequence of which
he was notified to attend regularly an enquiry intd
the Rate of foreign affairs ? By so doing, he endea
vours to lead the public into a belief that his being
heard on Monday was extorted purely in confsquencd
of his address of the sth. and that otherwise he
should not have been heard at all. I presume Con
grels are anxious to hear him, and to have his ac
counts arranged and fettled; and if this should be
the case, why did Mr. Deane leave his papers in
France and now complain that his affairs are not
concluded ? In the fame note Mr. Deane likewise
fays, ' that Congress did on that evening, M nday^
" resolve, That Mr. Deane do report in writing, as.
" soon as may be, his agency of their affairs in Eu
" ro p e , together with any intelligence refp r &ing
" their foreign affairs which he may judge proper."
But why does Mr. Deane cm t giving the remaining
part of the resolution, which fays 46 That Mr. Deang
* be informed that if he has any thing to commu
' nicate to Congress in the interim of immediate im
" portance, that he sh uld be heard to-morrow evtn
'' mg." I can fee no propriety in omitting this part;
• umlefs Mr. Deane concluded that by publishing it he
might put a quick expiration to hit credit, by hit
not being able to give the wondrous information h^
had threatened in his address. In the conclusion of
this note, Mr. Deane likewise fays, " 1 therefore
" conceive that I cannot, with propriety, continue
"my narrative at prefenr. In the mean time, I fub
* init it to the good sense of the public, whether I
" ought to take any notice of a publication Signed
" Francia LightfooNte, opposed to stubborn and
" undeniable fa&s."
Thus far I have compared Mr. Deane With him
felf. and whether he has been candid or unCandid,
confident or inconfiflent 1 leave to the judgment of
those who read it. Mr. Deme cannot have the least
right to think that I am moved by any party differ
ence or personal antipathy He is a gentleman with
whom I never had a Syllable of dispute, nor with inf
other person upon his account. Who are his friends
hrs connexions, or his foes, is wholly indifferent to
me, and what I have Written will be a Secret to every
body till it comes from the press. The cohvulfion
which the public were thrown iato by his address.
Will, I hope, tuftify my taking tip a matter in which
I should otherwise have been perfeAly silent; and
whatever may be its fate, ray intention is a good one;
befider which there was no other person Who knew
the affair fufficien ly, or knowing it, -could confid
ently do it, and yet it was necessary to be done.
I Shall now take a Short review of what Mr. Dearie
calls " Stubborn and undeniable fa&s." Mr. Dearth
must be exceedingly unconVarfant both with terms
and ideas, not to distinguish between even a wander
ing probability and a fa& ; and between a forced
implication and a proof : for admitting every cir
cumßance of information in Mr.- Deane's address to
be true, they are RQI but circumstances, and his de
du&i©ns from them are hypothetical and inconclusive.
Mr. Deane has involved a gentleman in his unlimit
ed censure whufe fidelity and personal qualities 1
have been well acquainted with for three years pa ft,
and in refpe& to an absent injured friend, Col. Rch
ard Henry Lee I will venture to tell Mr. Deane,
that in any stile of charaaer in which a gentleman
may be spoken of, Mr. Deane would fuffer by a
comparison. He has one defect which perhaps Mr.
Deane is acquainted with, the misfortune of having
but one hand.
The charges likewfe which he advances against
the Honorable Arthur and William Lee, are, to me,
circumrtantial evidences of Mr. Deane's unfitnefs
for a public charaaer ; for it is the business of a
foreign minister to learn other men's ferrets and keep
their own. Mr. Deane has given a Short hiflory of
Mr. Arthur Lee and Dr. Berkenhout in France, and
he has brought the last mentioned person again on
the stage in America There is forhething in this so
exceedingly weak, that I am surprised that any one
who would be thought a man of sense should rife
his reputation upon such frivolous a tale; for the
event of the story if any can be produced from it, is
greatly against himfelf.
He fays that a correspondence took place in France,
ibetween Dr. Berkenh®ut and Mr. Lee ; that M r. L ec
Shew part of the correspondence to Dr. Franklin and
himfelf, and that in order to give the greater weight
to Dr. Berkenhout's remarks he gate them to undera
stand, that Dr. Berkenhoat was in the secrets of the
British Ministry. What Mr. Deane has related this
for, or what he means to infer from it, I cannot un
: rierftand ; for the political inference ought to be,