To George Washington from the Chevalier de Colbert, c. January 1797
From the Chevalier de Colbert
[c. January 1797]1
Sir
Will you be So good as to allow to a Soldier who fought in the last War for the American cause, under the Admirals Terney, D’Estouches, Barras, & de Grass,2 to recall himself to your Excellency to who he had the honnour to be introduced by the Marquis de la fayette at the Camp before York-Town. how far he was then to believe that by unforseen Events he Should be drove out of his own Country! When they are happened he look’d towards the United States as towards a Second home, being in hope that the aide de Camp of the Several Admirals the King of france had ordered to lead his fleets to the Support of America, Would find there Azylum & protection. he is told that by Some politicals reasons he can-not present his respects to the President of the United States. he certainly Shall Submit himself to that exception Without anny Complaint, but he Can’t help to represent to your Excelency, that as a member of the Order of Malta whose flag & ports afford every day Shelter to the American Wessels he expected that he could have had the honnour to be introduced here to the Chief of the Governement.3 it is as Knight of Malta & one of the Cincinnati that the undersigned has the honnour to Write to your Excelency. When reading your Last Speech to Congress the Chevalier de Colbert Saw that it mention’d the Establishment of a Navy, as a necessary measure for the protection of the American flag,4 he thought then with pleasure that if the Circumstances did not permit him to return in france he Could once more offer his Services as a Navy officer to the United States, & he expected it Could be a ressource for him in the reduced Situation Where he is by the french revolution, & by the refusal of paiement made by an American Merchant here in Whose hands Mr Colbert Since four years has Some money. the Succours granted too to the Count de Grass’s Son5 had lead’d him to hope that the first Cosin of the Count D’Estaing Could maybe obtain Some too Wich Could ennable him to Wait for the time he Could get his money out of the hands who detain it.6
Known but to few in this Country it is to your Excelency that the Cher de Colbert Should have apply’d if he had had the honnour to See her [GW] but if he is deprived of that favour it remain nothing to do for him but to beg your Excelency to accept the vows he make for your future happiness & the respectfull Sentiments with wich he Shall ever be of your Excelency’s the Most humble & Odt Servant7
Le cher de Colbert
ALS, DLC:GW.
Born in Paris, Edouard-Charles-Victurnien, chevalier de Colbert (later comte de Maulévrier) (1758–1820) served in the French navy as a midshipman in 1775 and was promoted to ensign two years later. During the Revolutionary War, Colbert commanded the cutter La Guêpe (in Admiral Ternay’s squadron) in Rhode Island in 1780, and later served on the Conquérant in Admiral de Grasse’s squadron during the 1781 Yorktown campaign. Later promoted to captain, Colbert commanded the Maréchal-de-Castries in 1790. Having requested leave in 1791, Colbert later immigrated to England and joined the 1795 expedition of émigrés to Quibéron. A participant in the 1793 counterrevolutionary insurrection in the Vendée region of western France, Colbert likely sailed to the United States sometime in 1796 and remained there until 1800. Colbert traveled through Pennsylvania and other states as well as Canada, and met with prominent individuals, including scientist Joseph Priestley. After returning to France in 1800, Colbert rejoined the French navy and held political offices. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1816. Colbert was a member of the Order of Malta (1777) and was named a chevalier (knight) of the Royal and Military Order of Saint-Louis (1790). Admitted to the Society of the Cincinnati in 1790, Colbert was transferred in 1798 to the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati.
1. The date is taken from the docket, which GW rendered: “recd in Jany 1797.”
2. Rear Admiral Charles-Henri-Louis d’Arsac, chevalier de Ternay (1723–1780) served as commandant general of Île de France (now Mauritius) and Île Bourbon (now Réunion) from 1772 to 1776. He commanded the squadron that transported Lieutenant General Rochambeau’s expeditionary corps to America in 1780. He died in Newport, R.I., in December 1780.
Charles-René-Dominique Sochet, chevalier Destouches (des Touches; 1727–1794) commanded the Neptune in Ternay’s squadron. Following Ternay’s death in December 1780, Destouches took over the command of the French expeditionary squadron, a post that he held until relieved in May 1781. He was named commandeur of the Order of Saint-Louis in 1782.
Jacques-Melchior, comte de Barras-Saint-Laurent (b. 1719) commanded the Zélé, and Tonnant in Admiral d’Estaing’s squadron from 1778 to 1780. In May 1781, he succeeded Admiral Destouches as commander of the French expeditionary squadron in America. Barras reinforced the fleet of Admiral François-Joseph-Paul, marquis de Tilly, comte de Grasse, off Yorktown in September 1781, and transported artillery there. Barras returned to France in 1782 and received the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Louis in 1784.
3. The Order of Malta had made proposals to establish commercial relations and a treaty of alliance with the United States. In exchange, it offered to protect U.S. vessels from Barbary pirates (see Timothy Pickering to GW, 28 Sept. 1795 [second letter], and n.4 to that document; see also Joseph de Maisonneuve to GW, 1 May 1796, and n.2 to that document). On 26 Oct. 1794, Cibon, the Maltese chargé d’affaires at Paris, had written then-U.S. minister to France James Monroe: “The Island of Malta … offers by its position to all navigors an asylum of provisions & of succour of every kind. … In exchange for these succours and protection, by means whereof the American vessels might navigate the medeteranean freely … wod the the United States consent to grant in full right to the order of Malta, some lands in America … ?” (, 3:135–36). At the end of his presidency, GW decided to hold off official negotiations with the Maltese. The French later captured Malta in 1798 (see Pickering to GW, 19 Feb., and n.1 to that document).
5. Admiral de Grasse’s son, Alexandre-François-Auguste de Grasse-Rouville, comte de Grasse, had fled to the United States from Saint Domingue. Destitute, he successfully sought employment in fortification construction on the American coast (see De Grasse to GW, 12 June 1789, and the source note to that document).
6. One reason for Colbert’s travels to the United States was to make a claim to lands in Franklin County, Ga., which had been granted to his relative Charles-Hector, comte d’Estaing for his wartime services in America. For more on Colbert’s affairs in the United States, including aid given him by Alexander Hamilton, see , 22:524–25; see also Edouard-Charles-Victurnien Colbert, comte de Maulévrier, Voyage dans l’intérieur des Etats-Unis et au Canada (Baltimore, 1935), viii-xix.
7. No reply to Colbert from GW has been found, but Colbert dined at Mount Vernon in October 1797 (see , 6:265–66).