Thomas Jefferson Papers
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Quinette de Rochemont to Thomas Jefferson, 6 August 1817

From Quinette de Rochemont

new york. 6. aout 1817.

monsieur,

j’ai L’honneur de vous adresser 3 brochures que je ne crois pas indignes de votre attention la 1ere renferme des faits que L’amour-propre de L’auteur raconte avec une naïveté qui en garantit L’exactitude. la 2de fait assez bien connoitre L’état actuel des partis en france. la 3ieme prouve que la france possède des defenseurs éclairés1 des droits des citoyens. la loi sur les élections dont j’ai eu l’avantage de vous entretenir fortifiera la representation nationale et donnera pour ainsi dire la Vie à la charte constitutionnelle. ainsi, monsieur, la gloire et les malheurs de la france n’ont point perdu la cause de la liberté, elle triomphera.

permettés-moi de déposer cette pensée consolante et qui a Sur moi toute la force d’un sentiment profond dans le sein d’un ami de L’humanite et de l’un des fondateurs les plus distingués de L’independance américaine.

Veuillez agréer, monsieur, L’expression de mon respect et de ma consideration.
Quinette de rochemont.
Jay-Street no 12

Editors’ Translation

new york. 6. August 1817.

sir,

I have the honor of sending you three pamphlets that I believe are not unworthy of your attention. The first one contains facts that the author’s amour propre relates with a naïveté that guarantees their exactness. The second makes well known the current state of the parties in France. The third proves that France possesses enlightened defenders of the rights of citizens. The law on elections, which I had the privilege to discuss with you, will strengthen national representation and will, so to speak, give life to the constitutional charter. So, sir, the glory and misfortunes of France have in no way defeated the cause of liberty, which will triumph.

Allow me to lay this consoling thought, which has deeply affected me, on the bosom of a friend of humanity and one of the most distinguished founders of American independence.

Please accept, sir, my respectful and considerate regards.
Quinette de rochemont.
Jay-Street no 12

RC (ViW: TC-JP); endorsed by TJ as received <28> 29 Aug. 1817 and so recorded in SJL. Translation by Dr. Genevieve Moene. Enclosure: Dominique Georges Frédéric de Pradt, Récit Historique sur la Restauration de la Royauté en France, le 31 Mars 1814 (Paris, 1816). Other enclosures not found.

Nicolas Marie Quinette de Rochemont (1762–1821), French public official, was born in Soissons, where he was a notary public before the French Revolution. He was successively appointed an administrator of the department of Aisne and that department’s deputy to the Legislative Assembly, where he strongly supported the revolution and advocated the confiscation of émigré property. Quinette de Rochemont was elected to the subsequent National Convention and voted for the execution of Louis XVI. During a mission to the French army he was taken prisoner by the Austrians and held for over two years. Quinette de Rochemont was released in a prisoner exchange in 1793 and served on the Council of Five Hundred, 1796–97. In 1799 he was named interior minister. Napoleon made him prefect of the department of Somme after taking power later that year. Quinette de Rochemont stayed in this position through Napoleon’s 1815 downfall, when he became a member of the provisional government. In 1816 he was exiled as a regicide, arriving in New York in April of that year. Quinette de Rochemont traveled in the United States for several months in 1817 and paid a visit to TJ at Monticello that June. By early in 1818 he had resolved to return to Europe, and he settled in Brussels, where he died (Biographie universelle description begins Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne, new ed., 1843–65, 45 vols. description ends , 34:655–6; Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale description begins J. C. F. Hoefer, Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’a nos jours, 1852–83, 46 vols. description ends , 41:355; Bennington, Vt., Green-Mountain Farmer, 15 Apr. 1816; New-York Columbian, 19 July 1817; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 11 Oct. 1817; New-York Evening Post, 27 July 1821).

One of the unidentified brochures enclosed here was a work by Henri Benjamin Constant de Rebecque, possibly his pamphlet De La Liberté des Brochures, des Pamphlets et des Journaux (Paris, 1814).

1Manuscript: “éclairé.”

Index Entries

  • Constant de Rebecque, Henri Benjamin; De La Liberté des Brochures, des Pamphlets et des Journaux search
  • De La Liberté des Brochures, des Pamphlets et des Journaux (H. B. Constant de Rebecque) search
  • France; political situation in search
  • French language; letters in, from; Quinette de Rochemont search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Books &amp; Library; works sent to search
  • Pradt, Dominique Dufour, baron de; Récit Historique sur la Restauration de la Royauté en France, le 31 Mars 1814 search
  • Quinette de Rochemont, Nicolas Marie; identified search
  • Quinette de Rochemont, Nicolas Marie; letters from search
  • Quinette de Rochemont, Nicolas Marie; sends pamphlets to TJ search
  • Récit Historique sur la Restauration de la Royauté en France, le 31 Mars 1814 (D. D. de Pradt) search