To Thomas Jefferson from Diodati, 13 February 1801
From Diodati
BrunsWic le 13 février 1801
Monsieur
Les Sentiments pleins d’estime & d’Attachement que je Vous avois Voues à Paris, étoient de nature a deVoir Vous Suivre par tout, avec mes Voeux & c’est avec un grand plaisir & un grand intérest que j’ay appris a la continue, les postes éminents dont l’estime & la confiance de Vos Concitoyens vous avoient d’abord revetu, des Votre retour en Amérique, & enfin a présent, de celui de Président des Etats Unis; Puissent les Connoissances, les Talents & l’Expérience de Votre Excellence contribuer a augmenter encore la Prospérité déjà grande, des etats unis de l’Amérique & Puissent ils, même, influer en Europe, Ou Cela Seroit bien nécessaire, pour y dissiper les troubles, dont le nombre & les malheurs augmentent a un tel point, Que l’on ne Voit plus, Quand & comment l’On pourra en Sortir.
Votre Excellence Sçait qu’apres avoir quitté Paris en May 1792 je m’etois rendu en Suisse Ou je Suis resté jusques au moment de Son invasion, Que je me décidai a Venir en Allemagne Ou j’ay préféré le Séjour de BrunsWic a tout autre, & jy resterai (& toujours en Connexion avec le Duc de Mecklembourg) jusques apres la paix de l’Empire, la quelle déterminera ma derniére Résidence, pour y passer la reste de mes jours, déja tres avancez.
BrunsWic étant dans la proximité d’Hambourg. J’y envoye cette lettre, que l’on priera le Consul des Etats unis d’envoyer a Votre Excellence, Qui daignera j’Espére me dire, Qu’Elle me conserve dans Son SouVenir & dans Son amitié, Que j’ose dire je mérite aussi par tous mes Sentiments pour Elle.
Je Vous Supplie Monsieur d’agréer tous mes Voeux, pour Votre précieuse Santé Si nécessaire au milieu de tant d’importantes Occupations, de même que ceux de ma femme & croire Qu’on ne peut étre avec plus d’Estime d’Attachement & de Respect Monsieur de Votre Excellence le tres Humble & tres Obéissant Serviteur
le Comte Diodati
Mon Parent Mr Tronchin de Genéve dont j’ay reçu récemment des lettres apprendra Surement avec bien du plaisir la Nomination de Votre Excellence a son Eminent Poste.
editors’ translation
Brunswick, 13 February 1801
Sir
The sentiments full of esteem and devotion that I dedicated to you in Paris were of a kind as to follow you everywhere with my wishes, and it is with a great pleasure and a great interest that I learned in sequence of the eminent posts with which the esteem and the confidence of your fellow citizens immediately bestowed upon you right after your return to America, and finally at present with the presidency of the United States of America. May Your Excellency’s knowledge, talents and experience contribute to increasing the prosperity, already great, of the United States of America, and may they even be influential in Europe, where it would be quite necessary to dissipate its disorders, of which the number and the misfortunes are growing to such a point that one can no longer see when and how one may come out of them.
Your Excellency knows that after leaving Paris in May 1792 I went to Switzerland, where I remained up until the moment of its invasion, when I decided to come into Germany, where I preferred to stay in Brunswick rather than anywhere else, and I shall stay here (still in relations with the Duke of Mecklenburg) up until the peace of the Empire, which will determine my final residence where I shall spend the rest of my days, already quite advanced.
Brunswick being near to Hamburg, I shall send this letter there, requesting the United States consul to send it to Your Excellency, who will, I hope, tell me that he keeps me in memory and friendship, which I dare say I also deserve through all my sentiments for him.
I beg you, Sir, to accept all my wishes for your precious health so necessary in the midst of so many important occupations, as well as my wife’s, and believe that no one could be, Sir, with more esteem, devotion, and respect
Sir, Your Excellency’s very humble and very obedient servant
Count Diodati
My relative, Mr. Tronchin of Geneva, from whom I have recently received letters, will certainly learn with much pleasure the appointment of Your Excellency to such an eminent post.
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 23 May 1801 and so recorded in SJL. Dupl (same); in unidentified hand; at head of text: “Copie de ma lettre à Monsieur Jefferson Président des Etats Unis de L’amérique, Remise à Mr Pittkern Consul Genéral des Etats Unis de L’amérique”; enclosed in Diodati to TJ, 29 Aug. 1806.
Diodati and TJ had known each other in Paris when TJ represented the United States there and Diodati was minister plenipotentiary of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Although TJ’s endorsement and his entry in SJL confirm that he received the above letter in May 1801, when Diodati sent the duplicate five years later TJ replied that he had “never received, or had notice of,” the original letter. TJ declared to Diodati, “I often pass in review the many happy hours I spent with Made. Diodati & yourself on the banks of the Seine, as well as at Paris, and I count them among the most pleasing I enjoyed in France” (TJ to Diodati, 29 Mch. 1807; Vol. 9:86; Vol. 13:439; Vol. 16:295).
Tronchin de genéve: Diodati was related to the Tronchin family through his mother and was also connected to them through his wife, the former Marie élisabeth Tronchin. She was the daughter of a noted Geneva physician, Théodore Tronchin, who had died in 1781. Diodati’s extended family was part of a small but influential group of Italian Protestants who took up residence in Geneva during the Reformation. The family figured prominently in the early silk industry in Geneva and produced a Protestant theologian and translator of the Bible into Italian and French, Giovanni Diodati. Count Diodati, writer of the letter above, had received his title from the Holy Roman Empire (Jacques Augustin Galiffe and others, Notices Généalogiques sur les Familles Genevoises, Depuis les Premiers Temps jusqu’a Nos Jours, 7 vols. [Geneva, 1829–95], 2:732, 742–3; Paul Guichonnet, ed., Histoire de Genève [Toulouse, 1974], 178–80; René Guerdan, Histoire de Genève [Paris, 1981], 138; Encyclopédie de Genève, 11 vols. [1982–96], 8:24–5, 27; 9:236).