Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1847-07-30
PARIS, 2Sth Nav. lS47,

""''' -o'" way, iof'.
SiR-In work which, like the Histoire DIES
Girondins, seeks to portray faithfully events
and men too near our own time to be calmly
judged by most minds, and yet still too far
off to be accurately studied, it is impossible but
there should be expressions which wound the
feelings and opinions Of many. The author
must have himself expected this. The elevated
and Independent character of his work, and the
love OF truth-that great attribute of the con-
scientious historian-which seems to animate
it, cause me to believe that the recttication of
any errors Of fact into which he NAV have un.
consciously fallen, must be as earnestly desired
by him, as by those to whom, through those
errors, he does injustice. 1t is this conviction
which dictates the reclamation that have the
honor of addressing to you.
In the 9Th vol. Of the Girondins, lv. SO. chan.
tiers vi. and viii, you give fragment of letter
written to the convention by the Deputy of Ca.
lais, Thomas Payne, in which he urges the ne.
cessity of bringing Louis XVI to judgment. and
you continue: Such were the terms in which
:" the voice of America, enfranchised BY Louis
"XNI., echoed in the prison of Louis XVII
An Americana ctizen-a sage-demanded
"if not the head, at least the ignominy of the
liking. who had covered with French bavonets,
"the cradle of his country's liberty. Ingrati-
tuut tHpVcS~tu ltsclI III outrage. =
Payne had been treated with all attention and
"kindness by the King during the time of his
emission to Paris, to ask the aid of France in
Sc favor of America. Louis XVI. had made a
"present of six millions to the young republic
and it was in the hands of Frankn and PAYNE
'' that this gift was deposited. The
last man on the earth TO show hatred to Louis
XVI, should have been the apostle OF America
" and the friend of franklin
| 1t is difficult to understand how or when the
Englshman Payne became the apostle OF
America" lie did indeed live some time in
America, and was naturllzed there, as he was
afterwards in France, but he was never sent on
any mission, nor did he ever have any employ.
ment under the authority of, or in connection
with, the American government, except that Of
a clerk in the Bureau of one of the committees
OF Congress; which post, after few months
ccupation' he was glad to resign in order to
prevent removal for misconduct. The commits.
sloners sent from the United States, to solicit
the aid and alliance of France during the war
OF Independence, were Franklin, Deane, and
Lee, and It was to them that the sums offered
by LOUIS XVI, AS don gratui, and accented as
ii loan from the government of France, were
paid. All the documents and correspondence
relative to this negotiation have been printed
either in the Secret Journal of Congress" OF
in the " Diplomatic Correspondence of the Rev.
olution," ~ vols, published BY order of the
American government. These works have at
your disposition, and they will show YOU tina,
Payne had no part whatever in this, or in any
other diplomatic transaction of the United States
There is little perhaps to inspire respect in
the cynical character of the Deputy of Calais
1t seems but just however to state, that when
the judgment o. Louis XVI. was determined on
the influence which he enjoyed in France wa,
earnestly exercised 70 save the life of the untor
tunatc King. In his letter to the Convention O
18th January, 1893, inserted in the proces-rerbal