Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Introduction
- PART I THE COMING OF NECESSITY
- PART II BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN
- PART III SEIZING THE HELM
- 8 The Birth of American Neutrality, February–May 1793
- 9 “A Most Distressing Dilemma,” May–December 1793
- 10 Hamilton and the Crisis of 1794
- 11 The Jay Treaty
- PART IV INFORMAL ADVISER TO THE PRINCE
- PART V A PRINCE IN HIS OWN RIGHT?
- PART VI THE LESSER OF EVILS
- Conclusion: Hamilton Then and Now
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
9 - “A Most Distressing Dilemma,” May–December 1793
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Introduction
- PART I THE COMING OF NECESSITY
- PART II BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN
- PART III SEIZING THE HELM
- 8 The Birth of American Neutrality, February–May 1793
- 9 “A Most Distressing Dilemma,” May–December 1793
- 10 Hamilton and the Crisis of 1794
- 11 The Jay Treaty
- PART IV INFORMAL ADVISER TO THE PRINCE
- PART V A PRINCE IN HIS OWN RIGHT?
- PART VI THE LESSER OF EVILS
- Conclusion: Hamilton Then and Now
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Introduction
One thing that can be said of Edmond Genêt is that he did not adhere to Talleyrand’s cynical motto, “surtout pas trop de zèle.” This was partly because it was still too early in the saga of the French Revolution to have learned that particular lesson and partly because of his reception in the United States. A committee of thirty leading Republicans, pressed by a large crowd of ordinary citizens, greeted Genêt with a message of solidarity at his lodgings at the City Tavern on May 17. The next evening, after Genêt had presented his credentials to Washington, the French residents of the city hosted a sumptuous dinner, where guests sang the “Marseillaise” and Genêt showed off his own fine voice in a stirring patriotic solo. A line from his letter to the foreign minister in Paris the same day is indicative of his mood: “The true Americans are at the height of joy.” Two weeks later he was still living in “the midst of perpetual fêtes.” Nearly two hundred people, including Governor Thomas Mifflin and other state and federal officials, raised their glasses to Genêt and the French cause at Oeller’s Hotel on June 1.
The euphoria was catching. Jefferson wrote Madison two days after Genêt’s arrival that “It is impossible for anything to be more affectionate, more magnanimous than the purport of his mission.” He paraphrased Genêt’s message thusly:
We know that under present circumstances we have a right to call upon you for the guarantee of our islands. Be we do not desire it. We wish you to do nothing but what is for your own good, and we will do all in our power to promote it. Cherish your own peace and prosperity. You have expressed a willingness to enter into a more liberal treaty of commerce with us; I bring full powers (and he produced them) to form such a treaty. . . . We see in you the only person on earth who can love us sincerely, and merit to be so loved.
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- Information
- American MachiavelliAlexander Hamilton and the Origins of U.S. Foreign Policy, pp. 115 - 126Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004