To Alexander Hamilton from Pierre August Caron de Beaumarchais, 9 March 1795
From Pierre August Caron de Beaumarchais1
[Hamburg, March 9, 1795. On October 29, 1796, Beaumarchais wrote to Hamilton and referred to “le mémoire en forme de lettre que, dans ma détresse a hambourg, je vous ai adressé en mars 1795.”2 Letter not found.]
1. Beaumarchais, the French dramatist, had been an agent for procuring supplies for the United States Government during the American Revolution. On September 22, 1792, he left Paris with a commission from the French Government to purchase a consignment of muskets at Terweren (Veere) in the Netherlands. Although he returned briefly to France in 1793 and had his commission renewed by the Committee of Public Safety, he was later proscribed as an émigré. Beaumarchais continued to negotiate for the guns until the British seized them in October, 1794. He then moved to Hamburg, and on July 5, 1796, with the permission of the Directory he returned to Paris.
2. Although Beaumarchais does not say so, this letter is dated March 9. It is in the possession of the Beaumarchais family in Paris and to the present has not been made available.