War.
"Considering the question by itself," I said to him, "the Cabinet of Versailles would seem to have committed a political fault in having openly supported the Americans in the War of Independence, and more particularly for having sent over here all the young nobility of the Court, who returned embued with republican principles. It has been maintained that the proper action for France was to remain neutral and take advantage of the difficulties of England, to occupy, and thus make her restore Canada, which has always remained French at heart. This double opportunity of war, or re-occupation, would have furnished an outlet for surplus population, which, failing that, has overflowed in the form of a revolution on our own monarchy, and has then inundated Europe."
This speech made him think of the young nobles, who had overrun America like the sheep of Panurge, without, however, reducing the surplus population of France, and Colonel Hamilton could not help laughing as he replied:
"You are right. I am speaking in opposition to our own interests, for it is to the French arms that we owe our independence, but your Government would, perhaps, have done better if it had sent us your lower orders instead of your, upper."
Great was the distress and misery of the people who crowded here to escape the persecution at home. The Count de Tousard was a brave artillery officer during the war of the Revolution, and later entered the reorganized army in 1799.
At the time when the disrupting influence of the French Republic had even extended across the Atlantic and did so much harm here, Tousard, who had, meanwhile, paid a visit to his native country, returned just before the cruel persecution of suspected persons became so great. He wrote to Mrs. Hamilton the following:
Louis Tousard to Elizabeth Hamilton
WILMINGTON, June 4th, 1794.
MADAM: Too great was my trouble when I had the honor to meet with you a few days ago in the city; and perhaps you could not understand all the unfortunate events which I related to you.
My sister-in-law [Mrs. Tousard's eldest sister] flying from under the guillotine which has destroyed most of all her family, guilty of no other crime but of having married a man of nobility, has just landed in this Continent, but the ship which brought her in was unhappily cast away on the Eastern shores of New Jersey; her and her children's life saved but her goods and even cloathes all lost -- the news of her sister's death overwhelmed her entirely.
I hastened her home, foreseeing that after so much trouble both of mind and body she would not be long without getting sick, and indeed two days after, feeling great pains in her body she was soon reduced so very low by the ague and spitting of blood that it is but since yesterday that we see some relaxations in her pains and in our uneasiness on her account; but alas! I fear that she keeps in her bosom the principle of the disease which has carried off the dear Madame de Tousard. I have given her the cloathes of her sister. She is not in want, but the three children are most naked and the rigourous season is coming very fast, my resources entirely exhausted in helping so many others exist no more -- a circumstance which concerns me so nearly though I was far from foreseeing it.
In such a critical conjuncture for me, I had a mind to apply to Col. Hamilton and to deposite in his friendly heart all my anxieties and sollicitudes, but being not yet certain of his return at home and knowing that there is not a sentiment in one of your hearts which is not felt by the others, I did not hesitate to apply to you, Madam, and recommend to your sensibility those three unfortunate children. The two daughters are something more than Martine and Caroline, the son is seven years old. I wish I could send him to college and the two daughters to Mrs. Mitchell at Burlington, but it is out of my power to advance the necessary money for it. If any generous soul of your acquaintance could supply my deficiency at this moment, I hope that in a few years my sister-in-law would be able to return together with gratitude the money advanced to enable her children not to lose so precious a time for their education. I beg your pardon, Madam, for troubling you so often with the account of my countrymen's misfortunes; but in the same time, I cannot but rejoice myself in having found a heart so compatient with them and your name will be for ever engraved in theirs.
I have the honor to be with respect Madam
Your most humble and obedient servant
DE TOUSARD.
With the overthrow of Louis XVI and the formation of the national Committee of Safety serious trouble was inevitable, and the doctrines, if they might be so called, of the savage rabble found a fertile soil here for the incubation of revolutionary disorder. Here the unstable followers of Jefferson, already hating the Federalists, were quite ready to adopt the wild, anarchistic ideas of those who kept the guillotine so busy, and were ever drunk with the blood lust. Thomas Paine, Bentham, and a host of religious reformers, atheists, and communists had preached their extreme and socialistic doctrines. Within a few months after the murder of the king a note was addressed to a number of individuals, both here and elsewhere, making them "citizens" of the French Republic. The list of people thus honored included the names of "Georges Washington, James Maddison, Anacharsis Klootz, Jeremy Bentham, Joseph Priestly and
'Jean' Hamilton." The first document was signed by Danton. The second by Roland. Hamilton's endorsement upon the back of the folio he received is indicative of the contempt he felt. It is as follows:
"Letter from Government of French Republic
transmitting me a Diploma of Citizenship mistaking the Christian name.
Oct, 1792.
curious example of French finesse."
The communication is the following.
Paris: le 10 Octobre 1792, I'an I de la République Françoise.
J'ai l'honneur de vous adresser ci-joint, Monsieur, un imprimé revêtu du sceau de l'Etat, de la Loi du 26 Août dernier, qui confère le titre de Citoyens François à plusieurs Etrangers. Vous y lirez, que la Nation vous à placé au nombre des amis de l'humanité et de la société, aux quels Elle à déféré ce titre.
L'Assemblée Nationale, par un Décret du 9 Septembre, a charge le Pouvoir exécutif de vous adresser cette Loi; j'y obéis, en vous priant d'être convaincu de la satisfaction que j'éprouve dêtre, dans cette circonstance, le Ministre de la Nation, et de pouvoir joindre mes sentimens particuliers à ceux que vous témoigne un grand Exemple dans l'enthousiasme des premiers jours de la liberté.
Je vous prie de m'accuser la recéption de ma Lettre, afin que la Nation soit assurée que la Loi vous est parvenue, et que vous comptez également les François parmi vos Frères.
Le Ministre de l'Intérieur de la République Françoise ROLAND.
M. Jean Hamilton, dans les Etats-Unis de l'Amérique.
As a result of his sympathy with the French cause, Joseph Priestley,1 one of those honored by the certificate of citizenship, found his stay in England so uncomfortable that he came here in 1794. An English mob had attacked his laboratory, wrecked his house, and violently assaulted him so that he barely escaped with his life. He appears to have known Mr. Church in London, and came with a letter of introduction.
Angelica Church to Alexander Hamilton
MY DEAR BROTHER: You will have the pleasure to receive this letter by Dr. Priestley, a man dear to virtue and to science. Without the advantage and satisfaction of his acquaintance, I revere him for his works, and take a particular interest that he should be well received in America. That happy country which seems reserved by Providence as an Assylum from the crimes and persecutions which make Europe the pity and disgrace of the age.
You my dear Brother will receive with distinguished kindness this worthy stranger, (if he whose breast teems with the love of mankind may anywhere be called a stranger) and make our country so dear to him as to cause him to forget that which he leaves at an advanced period of Life and which he has most ably served.
Mr. Church is under the first attack of the Gout. He unites in love to you and dear Eliza.
I am my dear Brother
your