To George Washington from Justus Erick Bollmann, 1 April 1796
From Justus Erick Bollmann
[Philadelphia] April the 1t 1796.
Sir,
When I had the honor to wait on Your Excellency shortly after my arrival in Philadelphia,1 I took the liberty to mention that I had a friend in Olmütz, who interested himself for Gen. Lafayette;2 that I had arranged with him a safe correspondence; that he had communicated to me, before I left London, a plan according to which the liberty of Gen. Lafayette might have been procured on the expence of about 3000£ Stg; but, that his friends in London rejected it, partly, on account of the absence of Mr Pinckney, not choosing to take upon themselves the responsability for this money, partly, because they entertained great hopes that the applications of Madame Lafayette would prove successful! And I added at the same time that, my first proposals being thus rejected, I had endeavoured to make Madame Lafayette acquainted with my friend, writing a letter to both of them, in order that he might assist her with his advice!
The day before yesterday I have received of this same friend 3 letters, dated from Olmütz the 17th of October, the 26th of November, and the 10th of December 95., out of which I think it my duty to communicate to Your Excellency the following particulars!
Madame Lafayette went to Vienna so precipitately that she had seen the Emperor before my friend received my last letters, and this prevented his concerting with her any measures that might have supported her application. She was allowed by the Emperor to join the Marquis with her two daughters, but, respecting her request to set him free, he answerd “that this was a complicated affair and that his hands were tied” (que l’affaire etait compliquée et qu’il avait les mains liées lû dessus).
She then left Vienna and arrived in Olmütz the 16th of October, where she was immediately introduced to the marquis, and imprisoned with him, the same as her two daughters, who accompanied her. They are kept very closely and not allowed any communication with their friends, neither personally nor by way of Correspondence!
My friend, however, has succeded in establishing a secret Correspondence; he gives me hope that soon he will be able to send me some original letters of the Marquis and meanwhile communicates to me an extract of the Marquis’s letters to himself, out of which, suppressing what regards Mr Huger and myself personally, I think the following passage will be to Your Excelency particularly interesting.
“We flatter ourselves, write Gen. L.F. and his family, that our two friends will be well received in America; and we likewise think that Mr Bollmann will find in each of the different States, in Congress and in the Executif Government favorable dispositions towards the poor prisonners, whom it is the great point to reclaim. He will convince himself that, if Gen. Washington has not yet done every thing that might be useful to us, it is because the manner in which he may serve us never has been well explained to him yet. And, at all events, Mr Bollmann will not forget that, since 20 years, General Lafayette has been attached to General Washington by all the ties of tenderness, gratitude and respect, which can attach an adopted child to his father. We imagine that his stay in America may be of great utility; he will find there George, our son and brother &c. &c.”
Some other accounts of my Olmütz-Correspondent mention, that it is the Influence of the Brittish ministry, and almost that alone what keeps the Marquis in Prison. “He suffers, much less because he was the Hero of the French, than because he took a part in the American Revolution!”
I am ready Sir, if You require it, to lay before Your Excellency the original german letters, which contain the informations and extracts above stated;3 but, as now the way of correspondence is open, I should particularly be glad were I enabled to make to Gen. Lafayette some communications, calculated to sooth his misfortune by the certainty of friendly compassion, or to fortify his Courage by the prospect of relief!4 I have the honor to be with the highest respect Sir Your Excellency’s most obedient and humble servant
J. Erick Bollmann
ALS, MHi: Pickering Papers. Following his signature, Bollmann drew a symbol whose significance has not been determined.
In a letter to Alexander Hamilton dated 13 April, Bollmann reported that Secretary of State Timothy Pickering had called him “to the State Office” on 8 April and related “that the President had some inclination to make a new effort to relieve the Marquis, and desired me at the same time to communicate to him by writing my Ideas on this subject. This occasioned a letter, to the Secretary of State, of which I take the liberty to send You again a Copy, repeating once more that I always shall be very glad if You will enable me to regulate my Conduct with respect to myself as well as to the Marquis, after Your advice!
“It was impossible not to have myself in view when I wrote the 8th paragraph of the inclosed letter, but I am so much convinced of what it asserts being essential and strictly true, that I would have written it exactly the same were I myself entirely out of the question!” (DLC: Hamilton Papers).
Bollmann is referring to a letter he had written Pickering on 10 April with some thoughts “respecting the means that might be used in order to rescue Gen. Lafayette from imprisonment.”
First, Bollmann suggested that the British ministry was more responsible for Lafayette’s continued imprisonment than was Holy Roman Emperor Francis II.
Second: “The inducements which effect this Conduct of the Brittish Ministry seem to be personal hatred, vengence, and an apprehension lest the Marquis, when arrived in this Country, might embrace the Interests of France and make use of his popularity to alienate the public mind from the Brittish Cause. They are of such a nature therefore as likely to continue during the present war, the end of which appears to be far distant, and they may continue even beyond this period!”
Third, past applications to the British about Lafayette had been unfruitful, and future applications likely “would prove equally ineffectual.”
Fourth, with the emperor dependent on supplies from the British, he was unlikely to order Lafayette’s release; “what may be obtained … is to induce him to connive at his escape” by easing “the present rigour” of Lafayette’s confinement.
Fifth, the United States should, therefore, rely on “An intermediate interference … and the less this interference is suspected in London, or manifest in Vienna, the more probable it will prove successful.”
Sixth, Bollmann named possible intermediaries and urged that “a confidential person” be sent “to Europe with several letters from General Washington, written, in his Character as President of the United States” to influential kings, noblemen, and perhaps to the emperor, to be employed “at the discretion of the Confidential person.”
Seventh, a successful effort would require the support “of some very influential Individuals in Vienna” and might “require means which to employ perhaps would be incompatible with the Delicacy of the Executif Chief of a Republic.” The confidential person should have an interview with George Washington Motier Lafayette in order to acquire the means.
Eighth, success would “in a great measure depend on the choice” of the confidential agent, who should be known to Lafayette and “well acquainted with the German language and of some connexions in the Country where he is to be send to, because, [of] the necessity of taking various kinds of informations and of maintaining a secret intelligence in Vienna and Olmütz with the friends of the Marquis.”
Ninth, even if unsuccessful, the effort would “be highly honorable to the United States and beneficial to the Marquis. Honorable to the United States—because it is a testimony of their affection, their gratitude; and beneficial to the Marquis—because it increases the Consideration he enjoys in Europe, and comforts him in prison by gratifying his sensibility” (ALS, DLC:GW; copy, in Bollmann’s writing, DLC: Hamilton Papers). George Washington Motier Lafayette, whom Bollmann mentioned in his seventh thought, was the teenaged son of the imprisoned marquis and arrived in the United States in late summer 1795.
1. Bollmann arrived at Philadelphia in late January following a failed attempt to engineer Lafayette’s escape from Olmütz (see Hamilton to GW, 19 Jan.; see also John Adams to Abigail Adams, 29 Jan., in 11:151–53).
2. Bollmann probably is alluding to Karl Haberlein, an army hospital surgeon.
3. These letters have not been identified.
4. Bollmann’s actions dismayed GW (see his letter to Hamilton, 8 May). For Lafayette’s confidence in Bollmann, see La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt to GW, 25 July; see also GW to La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, 8 August.