The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-03-20
EaShiHStOn's Cabinet and the French
ReYOlHtiOn.


Edmund Randolph, ''if all the peop
IN America were now assembled, an
were 70 call on me To say whether
am friend 70 the French revolution
| would declare that ] nave it iu al
hOrrencs. Jefferson, on the contrary
wrote thus 10 his old friend ShOr
just before the execution Of :he Kina
Ny own affections have been deepl
wounded by some of the martyrs [
this cause; but rather than it Shout
nave failed, ] would have seen hal
the earth desOlated Were there bu
an Adam and All Eve left i'm ever,
country and LEFT free, it would b
better than Is il now i.
GOuverneur Morris was then Amer.
lean Minister in Francs-a very able
/ gentleman, and hOnOrably frank il
( the avOwal Of his opinions. MarL
this striking sentence, written by
I him rs far back As 1870. "Thc Frpnci
Assembly have taken genius instead
\ OF reason for their guile, adopted eX
/ pertinent instead of experience. aut
wander in the dark because they pre-.
Ter lightning to light" He meant
Mirabeau. But a few weeks altel
writing 10 Gen. Washington, he gave
such a list Of the ancient abuse.
which the revolution had abolished
as amount to compensation "a
France for all the. revolutionary mis-
cries she has suffered from Mirabeau
20 Ihiers- As the revolution advanc-
ed, though Jefferson, in official in
struetiOns, had cautioned him 10
avoid the utterance of opinions hos
tile 10 the revolution, he gave such Of
tense % the revolutionary, leaders
that Lafayette complained OF it to the
President. But in 1872 he redeemed
himself nobly. Upon the dethrOne-
ment of the King, when all the di-
plOmatic corps lett Paris, the Ameri-
can Minister alone rightly interpret
ing his mission. "Fhe pOsitioD.U as
he truly wrote to Mr.. Jefferson. "is
not without danger; but | presume
that when the President did me the
honor Of naming me to this embls-
sy, 1t was not for my personal pleas
ure or safety, but to promote the inter
ests Of my country" And he re-
mained at his post all through the De-
riod OF the terror, though tile Minis
ter gave him pretexts enough for
abandoning il, and though even the
sanctuary of his abode was violated
by the committee in search of arms.
The fury of the people, he wrote to
Mr.. Jefferson, was such as To render
them capable of all eXtesses without
being accountable for them. The
calm courage and utter frankness of
this splendid old tory cOnciliates the
modern reader. Tue French Minis
try, however, ahlinrr,'l him to such a
point that they made It a matter of
formal complaint 10 Mr.. Jefferson
that this representative of Il republic,
in a dispatch addressed to the gov
ernment nt republic a few DAYS Old
had used the familiar expression,
"Les Oro'rcs al ma cDUr."
But the Cabinet question was this:
The King being dethruned, who was
authorized to give n valid recent for
the money which the United States
was paying to France from time to
timer Upon this point, the orders OF
GOuverneur Norris court were nee
essary. and the real secret Of the ami
mostly OF the French Ministers was,
that lie would not and could not nav
over to them the sum due nOminally
to the King. The Ministers remon-
strated in their own way, and sent
complaints across the sea. Morris. at
his own table, and i'm the hearing of
his servants, INDUCED himself in call
ing them a set Of damned rascals, and
in predicting lhe was curiOusly fond
Of prophesying) that the King would
have his own again. Upon the pecu-
mary question, the opinions of the
Cabinet were divided.
JeflersOn's opinion: Every people
may establish what form Of govern
ment they please, and change il as
often as they please. But the Nation
al Assembly of France, % which all
power had fallen, by necessity, upon
the removal Of the King, had not
been elected by the people Of France
as an executive body. For the mo-
ment, therefore, the French govern
ment was at best, incomplete. But a
National Convention had been cleo
ted in full view of the crisis, and for
the express purpose of meeting IT'S re-
sfs-i-ss--S--t-,- IT, sessa liGfUn WOufu
be, when organized, a legitimate gov
ernment, qualified to give valid re-
ceipt to the United Ststes.
HamllJOn'S opinion: He doubted
whether the convention could be a le-
gitimate body. In case the monarchy
should be re-estabiished, the King
might disallOw payments made to it.
He was for stopping payment alto
gether until there was something
mort stable and regular established i'm
France.
On this occasion, General ILn x,
Secretary Of War, yentured to express
an opinion. "FOr once, "says Jefferson,
''KnOX dared to differ from Hamilton,
and to express very submissively an
opinion that a convention named by
the whole body Of the nation would
be competent to do anything" The
result was, that the Secretary of state
was requested to write to GOuverneur
Morris, directing him to suspend pay
ments until further orders. A few
days after arrived the dispatches Of
which the French Ministry complain
ed of the too candid Morris and Of
his insOlent contempt OF a sister re-
public in speaking Of "Hlu cO,tr."-
PartOn's"J J JeffersOn, Atlantic Month
ly for March.