ALS signed “Jas. Monroe,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 7.5 x 9, January 27, 1796. Monroe, then the US Minister to France, writes to an unidentified gentleman. In full: “ I have many apologies to make for not writing you often-er in truth I have often resolved that three days more shodnot pass without my writing you, but yet something has turned up to occupy me when I intended doing it, & thus I have involuntarily been a delinquent for a great length of time. Accept my sincere acknowledgements for the several letters with which you have favd. me, & which have given Mrs. M. & myself great pleasure, as well in being a testimony of yr. friendship as giving us information of yr. health & welfare.
I plac’d the paper inclosed me in that which was recd. The other containing an order for a sum advanc’d a gentn. At Baltimore, immediately in the hands of Mr. Purviance & by whom due attention will be paid to it. I shall with pleasure assist him if he has occasion for my assistance. Mr. Purviance as you have heard is one of my family & will I hope continue with me whilst I remain in France. I find him what you & my other friends in Baltimore hae represented him to be, a most amiable, upright & well informed young man. Indeed you rarely find one so highly entitled to publick & private esteem & confidence.
We have witnessed since our arrival many great & interesting scenes. Such are the efforts of the coalised powers to prevent the success of the French revolution, & the establishment of a free government here, & so various are the measures adopted by them for that purpose, that every week has furnished some incident of importance in those respects. As present the revolution seems to rest on a basis more solid than at any former period. The new govt. seems daily to acquire more & more the publick confidence & with it to display a greater degree of energy & force. The forced loan will succeed & whereby abt. 25.000.000 strg. will be raised in specie, or produce, or assignats at the course: indeed in the latter not more than half the loan can be recd. For at the current exchange that sum redeems the whole amt. in circulation. A truce was lately agreed on between the French and Austrian generals on the Rhine, & approved by the Directorie for one month, & latterly prolonged for sometime yet to come. It was asked by the Austrians & according to report with a view of commencing a negotiation for peace. But what the prospect of success in this respect no one can judge with any degree of certainty. It is believed that France will not agree upon other terms than the complete restitution of every thing taken from her & Holland, & on the other hand that Engd. Will not agree to these, in the present state of things being superior at sea. Time & events therefore only can unfold what is now covered with a cloud.
I beg of you to make my best respects to Dr. McHenry to Mr. Howard, our best regards to yr. son & daughter & that you will believe me sincerely yr. friend & servant.” After bhis signature, Monroe also adds a postscript reading: “P.S. If an opportunity offers tell yr. son I will thank him to send me 100 hams goodm such as we had before, to Havre. I will pay the amt. either here or with you as he wishes. Those we brot before were a delicacy to all who dined with us.”
Intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, small ring of toning to top of first page, and a few wrinkles and creases, otherwise fine condition.
Monroe’s mission as Minister to France occurred during one of the most difficult periods in Franco-American relations. In 1794, the Thermidorian Reaction occurred, placing the French government in total chaos, and overthrowing Robespierre, who had attacked anyone who disagreed with him. As much as many French citizens believed the removal of Robespierre saved France, the leaders who removed him did not include immediate plans for the future of the government. It was in the midst of this troubling time that Monroe arrived. For his part, Monroe supported the fledgling French government, seeing the Thermidorian Reaction as the savior of the French Revolution, and identifying commonalities between the new French Revolutionary government and the new American Republic. Coincidentally, those similarities included a war between France and Britain—not to mention Prussia, Austria, Spain, and Holland as part of a united allied coalition. To be sure, Monroe “witnessed...many great & interesting scenes. Such are the efforts of the coalised powers to prevent the success of the French Revolution, & the establishment of a free government here.” But he would not be in France to witness the end of the Revolution, having been recalled by George Washington at the end of 1796. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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