A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Section 1 (of 3) of Volume 10.
History
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Section 1 (of 3) of Volume 10.
Presidents -- United States; United States -- History -- Sources; United States -- Politics and government
Doubt it not, citizens, we shall finally destroy the combination of
tyrants--you by the picture of prosperity which in your vast country has
succeeded to a bloody struggle of eight years; we by that enthusiasm
which glows in the breast of every Frenchman. Astonished nations, too
long the dupes of perfidious kings, nobles, and priests, will eventually
recover their rights, and the human race will owe to the American and
French nations their regeneration and a lasting peace.
The members of the Committee of Public Safety,
J.S.B. DELMAS,
MERLIN (OF DOUAI), ETC., ETC.
_The minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the President
of the United States_.
Mr. PRESIDENT: I come to acquit myself of a duty very dear to my heart.
I come to deposit in your hands and in the midst of a people justly
renowned for their courage and their love of liberty the symbol of the
triumphs and of the enfranchisement of my nation.
When she broke her chains; when she proclaimed the imprescriptible
rights of man; when in a terrible war she sealed with her blood the
covenant she had made with liberty, her own happiness was not alone
the object of her glorious efforts; her views extended also to all free
people. She saw their interest blended with her own, and doubly rejoiced
in her victories, which in assuring to her the enjoyment of her rights
became to them new guaranties of their independence.
These sentiments, which animated the French nation from the dawn of
their revolution, have acquired new strength since the foundation
of the Republic. France at that time, by the form of its Government,
assimilated to, or rather identified with, free people, saw in them only
friends and brothers. Long accustomed to regard the American people as
her most faithful allies, she has sought to draw closer the ties already
formed in the fields of America, under the auspices of victory, over the
ruins of tyranny.
The National Convention, the organ of the will of the French nation,
have more than once expressed their sentiments to the American people,
but above all these burst forth on that august day when the minister of
the United States presented to the National Representation the colors of
his country. Desiring never to lose recollections as dear to Frenchmen
as they must be to Americans, the Convention ordered that these colors
should be placed in the hall of their sittings. They had experienced
sensations too agreeable not to cause them to be partaken of by their
allies, and decreed that to them the national colors should be
presented.
Mr. President, I do not doubt their expectation will be fulfilled, and
I am convinced that every citizen will receive with a pleasing emotion
this flag, elsewhere the terror of the enemies of liberty, here the
certain pledge of faithful friendship, especially when they recollect
that it guides to combat men who have shared their toils and who were
prepared for liberty by aiding them to acquire their own.
P.A. ADET.
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