[c.21 April 1779]
The subscriber Certifies, that in a conversation which he had the honor of holding sometime after his arrival at Philadelphia with Messrs. Colonel Lee & Samuel Adams, the latter spoke to him of reports which circulated that Mr. Arthur Lee was anti-gallican & averse from the Alliance of France with the United States, that the answer of the subscriber was, that in fact a great number of persons among whom were some of distinguished rank, were persuaded of it & had strove to inspire the King’s Ministers with the same sentiments, that the subscriber recounted to Messrs Lee & Adams the principal facts upon which that opinion was founded but that the Ministers of His Majesty had not adopted that mode of thinking in regard to the attachment of Mr. Arthur Lee for the cause of America & for the Alliance.
It is proper to add that there was no mention in that conversation of the confidence or of the full confidence of the french Ministry in Mr. Arthur Lee.
Mr. Samuel Adams may at his will make such use of the present Certificate as he shall judge proper. At Philadelphia the 21st of April 1779.
Seal.signed Gerard2
I the subscriber do Certify, that in a conversation which the Honorable Mr. Gerard honoured me with, at my own House, & which he introduced on Sunday the December 1778, He informed me that Mr. Arthur Lee had given much dissatisfaction to the Ministers at the Court of France by his manner of enquiring into & interfering in transactions at that Court relative to America, that he had at different times discovered such jealousies & suspicions as had obliged the King’s Ministers or Mr. Gerard himself to signify to Mr. Lee that his conduct was disagreeable, but in other respects Mr. Lee stood fair - that there had been reports circulated of Mr. Lee’s too strong attachment to the English & an equal dislike to the french Nation & that such reports had made an impression upon the minds of several persons of Rank about Court & had even reached the King & his Ministers & caused some uneasiness - that the King or His Ministers had thereupon caused the fullest enquiry to be made (had taken the proper means for enquiring) the result of which was, the Court were perfectly satisfied the Reports were groundless - this was repeated, as I understood it, to impress my mind.
I received in Congress a Note from Mr. Gerard intimating that he had just called at my House & requesting I would give him an opportunity of speaking one word to me. I immediately waited on Mr. Gerard, who told me he had been informed Mr. Samuel Adams had said in Congress, "he had the highest authority for beleiving that Mr. Arthur Lee was in the full confidence of the Court of France" - that he should be sorry to meddle in that matter, but if he was called upon, if he was forced, he would speak out - that he wished to have nothing to do with it, but if he was forced he should declare very plainly what he knew, the same terms were often repeated by Mr. Gerard, in a manner which discovered that he was more than a little affected.
I reminded Mr. Gerard of what he had done me the honor of communicating to me in December, as above recited - Mr. Gerard replied, "you are very right, it was precisely so."
If I understand you rightly Sir, said I, Your representations concerning Mr. Lee amount to this - "Here is a Gentleman in my House whose manners do not please the family, therefore it is necessary he should withdraw from it, but if I am asked the cause of the seperation, I will not say he is a Rogue, I will say his dispositions were not pleasing to me, I found it therefore necessary we should live under different Roofs, but I beleive him nevertheless to be an honest Man.["]
Mr. Gerard said, "you understand me perfectly & have explained the case according to my meaning." When I was taking leave Mr. Gerard repeated that he should be sorry Mr. Saml. Adams should force him to speak, he wished to have nothing to do in the matter. 16th April 1779.
Henry Laurens
It is easy to account for the Reports of Mr. A. Lee’s anti-gallicanism. Mr. Deane was in Paris.
Mr. Lee had, as much as in him lay, been a Check upon Mr. Deane’s schemes of private Trade & of too freely fingering public Money.
Mr. Beaumarchais, who was in all appearances a Partner of Mr. Deane’s, was also in Paris, Mr. Lee had also been a check upon him & he could with equal facility & Success, help Mr. Deane to circulate Reports.
Reports were accordingly circulated & had made impressions so deeply as to reach the King.
Mr. Lee to whose prejudice the whispers had gone round, was put into the Court Alembick, what came forth? a Jealous troublesome, but, Honest Man.
Dare Mr. Deane stand such a trial, I should say, such an ex-parte Inquisition? No, he has told you he would not answer questions which might tend to criminate himself.
But why was Mr. Lee troublesome? Because he checked the unfaithful acts & attempts of Mr. Deane & his Partners & because he was faithful to the United States of America & insisted upon making a better Treaty with the Court of France than Mr. Deane had submitted to. Mr. Deane was therefore a favorite, a despisable one indeed! even in the Eyes of those who Palmed him. Mr. Lee was comparatively, a troublesome Man to the french Court; but the French Court do him the justice & the honor of saying, he was faithful to his constituents & that they had found him to be so upon the fullest investigation.
Query. Who informed Mr. Gerard that Mr. S. Adams had in Congress said, so & so? Mr. Adams had not quoted Mr Gerard, as his authority. Unless therefore some Member of Congress had asserted or insinuated a falsehood, or, if you please, a Lie, to Mr. Gerard, he could not have made the applications or drawn the inferences he did in his conversation with me.
Henry Laurens PapersSouth Carolina Historical Society
Endorsed "Mr. Gerards conversation with Mr. Samuel Adams." The document consists of four distinct sections, which Laurens put together in their present form sometime after 21 April, the date of Gerard’s "Certificate" for Samuel Adams, which constitutes the first section. The second section pertains to an incident involving Laurens and Gerard in December 1778; the third to Laurens’ meeting with Gerard on 16 April 1779; and the document concludes with a number of Laurens’ summary "Remarks" concerning various aspects of the long-simmering Deane-Lee controversy.
1 Congressional attention was refocused on the issue of the French government’s confidence in Arthur Lee on 15 April when Samuel Adams asserted - during a foreign affairs debate concerning "the conduct of the late and present commissioners of these states" - that he understood, "from the highest authority in America" [i.e., Gerard], that Lee was "possessed of the confidence of the Court of Versailles." For the primary evidence relating to the efforts of Lee’s friends and detractors to determine the accuracy of Adams’ assertion, see Thomas Burke’s Statement respecting Gerard’s Views, c.16 April; Henry Laurens’ Notes of Debates, 26 and 30 April; and William Henry Drayton and William Paca to Congress, 30 April 1779.
2 There is a copy of this "Certificate," in the hand of James Lovell, in the Samuel Adams Papers, NN. Since Lovell was fluent in French, it seems reasonable to conjecture that the original had been given to him to translate. That the original "Certificate" was in French seems clear from the copy of it, which is in the hand of Richard Henry Lee, that is in the Lee Papers, University of Virginia Archives. At the bottom of the Lee copy, which differs only slightly from Laurens’ transcript, appear the following notations:
"True Copy, R. H. Lee.
"Mais que le Ministere de sa Majeste n’a pas adopte cette facon de penser sur l’attachement de Monr. Arthur Lee pour la cause Americaine et pour l’alliance.
"Directed A Monsieur
"Monsieur Samuel Adams Delegue au Congres de la part de l’etat de Massachusets Bay."