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To Alexander Hamilton from Oliver Wolcott, Junior, 16 November 1795

From Oliver Wolcott, Junior

Philadelphia Novr. 16. 1795.

My Dear Sir

Private

I sent you on Saturday1 an imperfect translation of Fauchets Letter2 I now send you a Copy of the original; you may at your discretion use the Letter, except causing copies to be taken, or suffering it to be printed.

Mr. Randolph has intensively circulated a Letter in which he attributes his disgrace to the artifices of a “British Faction”3—his Letter is accompanied with an explanatory Certificate from Fauchet written at New port,4 which I have not seen. I am told however by persons who have seen it, that it is a weak evasive performance & only makes bad, worse. When the affair was opened to Randolph, he denied having recd. money or having made any proposition relative to money except on one occasion—which was this.5 He said that in the summer of 1794 Fauchet told him, that there was a meeting of persons in New York consisting among others of Mr. Hammond & Mr. Jaudenes,6 who were conspiring to destroy him (R) & Govr. Clinton. Being asked what he meant by destroying him & Govr. Clinton, Randolph answered, to destroy his character as Secretary of State, & Governr. Clintons as Govr. of New York. Randolph said, that he then enquired, whether proof could be got of this conspiracy, and that after some conversation he suggested to Mr. Fauchet, that as he (F) had the resources of the French Govt. at command he could obtain the proof. This foolish story could make no impression, & though Mr. Randolph promised to reduce it to writing, he omitted to do so.

There are reports in circulation I find which change the complection of this first declaration of Randolph & represent the conspiracy as one to ruin France. I also suspect that attempts will be made to represent you as concerned in it. But of this I am not certain—at any rate the whole is idle nonsense & Fauchets attempt by a posterior act, to invalidate the evidence of a confidential Letter will not succed. What must have been the footing of these men when they could familiarly talk about the subversion of the Govt. & inviting the French to aid the insurrection with money.

Yrs truly

Oliv. Wolcott Jr

Pray let me [know]7 if the Letters are recd.

ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress; copy, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford.

1Wolcott’s letter of Saturday, November 14, 1795, has not been found.

2This is a response to Fauchet’s Dispatch No. 10. This dispatch, dated October 31, 1794, was intercepted by the British on March 28, 1795, and in the last week of July, 1795, George Hammond, the British Minister to the United States, made its contents available to Wolcott. For the way in which Dispatch No. 10 led to Edmund Randolph’s resignation as Secretary of State, see Wolcott to H, July 30, 1795, note 1. The translation which Wolcott sent to H is in the Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress, and is in the handwriting of Henry Kuhl, a former clerk in the Treasury Department. Wolcott endorsed H to Wolcott, October 30-November 12, 1795, as follows: “Oct. 30 & Nov. 12 ansd. 13th. Nov. & sent on Copy of Fr—— Letters by Mr. Kuhl translated.” For a list and brief description of the extant translations made in 1795 of Fauchet’s Dispatch No. 10, see Wolcott to H, July 30, 1795, note 1.

3Randolph’s letter concerning a “British Faction” has not been found, but it is a term which Randolph used on more than one occasion. In the Vindication, which was not published until December 18, 1795, Randolph refers in passing to a “British Faction” (Randolph, Vindication description begins [Edmund Randolph], A Vindication of Mr. Randolph’s Resignation (Philadelphia: Printed by Samuel H. Smith, No. 118, Chesnut Street, 1795). description ends , 86), and on page 89 of the same pamphlet he wrote: “I will here inquire from Mr. Hammond, and the British faction, which through him have been put in motion; from those who for the sake of party, interest, or personality, have propagated falsehoods in every town; or who persevere in the hatred of a connection between the United States and France;—what is become of their base assertions, that tens and hundreds of thousand dollars have been received from the French minister?…”

4Immediately after submitting his resignation to the President on August 19, 1795, Randolph set out for Newport, Rhode Island, to interview Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet, former French Minister to the United States, who was about to sail for France. Following a conference with Fauchet, Randolph secured the certificate which he desired. Fauchet’s certificate is printed in Randolph, Vindication description begins [Edmund Randolph], A Vindication of Mr. Randolph’s Resignation (Philadelphia: Printed by Samuel H. Smith, No. 118, Chesnut Street, 1795). description ends , 13–17.

5This sentence refers to the events on August 19, 1795, when Washington in the presence of Timothy Pickering and Wolcott confronted Randolph with Pickering’s translation of Fauchet’s Dispatch No. 10, parts of which could be interpreted to mean that Randolph had asked Fauchet for money in return for influencing United States policy. See Wolcott to H, July 30, 1795, note 1.

In the remainder of the paragraph Wolcott gives a somewhat confusing and confused account of Randolph’s reaction on August 19 to one of the charges made against him. In Dispatch No. 10, Fauchet wrote: “… Mr. Randolph vint me voir avec un air fort empressé, & me fit les ouvertures dont je t’ai rendu compte dans mon No. 6. Ainsi avec quelques milliers de Dollars las République aurait décidé ici sur la Guerre Civile ou Sur la paix!” (Turner, “Correspondence of French Ministers,” description begins Frederick J, Turner, ed., “Correspondence of the French Ministers of the United States, 1791–1797,” Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1903 (Washington, 1904), II. description ends 451). Not having seen Fauchet’s Dispatch No. 6 (dated September 5, 1794, and printed in Turner, “Correspondence of French Ministers,” description begins Frederick J, Turner, ed., “Correspondence of the French Ministers of the United States, 1791–1797,” Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1903 (Washington, 1904), II. description ends 411–18), Randolph was understandably at a loss to reply to this charge. In explaining his reactions, Randolph wrote: “… My observations therefore were but short. However, I had some recollection of Mr. Fauchet having told me of machinations against the French Republic, Governor [George] Clinton and myself; and thinking it not improbable, that the overture, which was spoken of in No. 6, might be, in some manner, connected with that business, and might relate to the obtaining of intelligence, I mentioned my impression; observing at the same time, that I would throw my ideas on paper. The President desired Messrs. Wolcott and Pickering to put questions to me.… But Mr. Pickering put no question; and Mr. Wolcott only asked an explanation of what I had said, as to Governor Clinton and myself. This I did not object to repeat, nearly as I had spoken it. Had I not been deprived of No. 6, the terms used in it, ‘of sheltering from British persecution,’ would probably have reminded me fully of the supposed machinetions of Mr. Hammond and others” (Randolph, Vindication description begins [Edmund Randolph], A Vindication of Mr. Randolph’s Resignation (Philadelphia: Printed by Samuel H. Smith, No. 118, Chesnut Street, 1795). description ends , 6–7). Randolph’s reference to “of sheltering from British persecution” is taken from the following passage in Fauchet’s Dispatch No. 6: “A Peine l’explosion connüe le Sécrétaire d’Etat s’est rendu chez moi; toute sa physionomie étoit douleur; il me demande un entretien particulier; c’en est fait, me dit-il, la guerre civile va ravager notre malheureuse Patrie. Quatre hommes par leur talent, leur influence et leur énergie peuvent la Sauver mais debiteurs de negocians et au moindre pas qu’ils feront ils seront privés de leur liberté. Pourriez-vous leur prêter momentanement des fonds suffisans pour les mettre à l’abri de la persecution Anglaise?” (Turner, “Correspondence of French Ministers,” description begins Frederick J, Turner, ed., “Correspondence of the French Ministers of the United States, 1791–1797,” Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1903 (Washington, 1904), II. description ends 414).

Subsequently Randolph recalled: “The day, on which I visited Mr. Fauchet, was about the 5th of August, 1794 …” (Randolph, Vindication description begins [Edmund Randolph], A Vindication of Mr. Randolph’s Resignation (Philadelphia: Printed by Samuel H. Smith, No. 118, Chesnut Street, 1795). description ends , 84). For an extended defense and explanation by Randolph of his visit with Fauchet, see Randolph, Vindication description begins [Edmund Randolph], A Vindication of Mr. Randolph’s Resignation (Philadelphia: Printed by Samuel H. Smith, No. 118, Chesnut Street, 1795). description ends , 84–92. Several years after Randolph’s resignation, Wolcott described as follows Randolph’s reaction on August 19, 1795, to the charge concerning his meeting with Fauchet: “… After a short hesitation, he [Randolph] proceeded to look over the letter [Fauchet’s Dispatch No. 10] with great attention.… When he arrived at the passage in which Fauchet refers to the overtures mentioned in No. 6, and the ‘tariff’ which regulated the consciences of certain ‘pretended patriots,’ his conduct was very remarkable. He expressed no strong emotion, no resentment against Fauchet. He declared that he could not certainly tell what was intended by such remarks. He said that he indeed recollected having been informed that Mr. Hammond and other persons in New York, were contriving measures to destroy Governor Clinton, the French Minister, and himself, and that he had inquired of Mr. Fauchet whether he could not by his flour contractors provide the means of defeating their machinations. He asserted, however, that he had never received or proposed to receive money for his own use or that of any other person, and had never made any improper communications of the measures of government.

“One question only was put to Mr. Randolph, namely, how he intended to be understood when he represented Mr. Hammond as contriving to destroy Governor Clinton, Mr. Fauchet, and himself? His answer was, that their influence and popularity were to be destroyed.” (Wolcott to John Marshall, June 9, 1806 [George Gibbs, Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John Adams, Edited from the Papers of Oliver Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury (New York, 1846), I, 245].)

6Josef de Jaudenes was Spanish commissioner to the United States. Wolcott’s reference to Jaudenes is, to say the least, obscure, for the others present at the meeting of August 19, 1795, do not state that Jaudenes’s name was even mentioned by Randolph on that occasion. Nor does Wolcott in his other accounts of what happened on August 19 state that Jaudenes was in any way involved.

7The word in brackets has been taken from the copy.

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