Thomas Jefferson Papers

Louis Pio to Thomas Jefferson, 29 August 1816

From Louis Pio

ce 29. Aout 1816.
Rue St honoré, no 284. près S. Roch. à Paris.

Monsieur

Quoique nous soyons séparés par un immense océan; quoique chacun de nous placé dans deux mondes différens, laissant à vous de nommer le votre l’ancien, ou le nouveau, je conserve, monsieur, et je conserverai tout le peu de vie qui me reste le souvenir de la candeur de votre ame, et celui de la bienveillance particuliere, avec la quelle vous m’avez honoré si long tems dans ce païs-ci. Jusqu’à present j’ai gardé le silence, premierement pendant la tyrannie de L’Usurpateur; en second lieu parce que je ne savais comment vous faire parvenir mes Lettres. Enfin votre nouvel Ambassadeur m’invite très honnêtement à Lui confier ma Lettre, et même il m’ecrit qu’il sera charmé de faire ma connoissance. Je suis flatté de pouvoir présenter mes hommages à un de vos Successeurs. Je n’ai pas beaucoup1 compté dans le tems sur les faveurs de feu Mr Barlow, homme d’esprit; mais voilà tout ce2 qu’on pouvait dire de lui. Il reste ici un Mr Parker, qui me connaît bien; mais qui n’est entouré que de mauvais sujets. moi je finis ma carriére tranquillement; mais privé de fortune je suis obligé de courir cette populeuse ville tous les jours pour donner des Leçons de Langue italienne, seule ressource pour me procurer une existence quelconque très précaire. Le Roy de Naples, que j’ai servi 21. ans ne veut plus de moi à cause de la démission de son service, que je fus forcé de donner au commencement de la Revolution, parce que j’eus le malheur de me trouver en opposition avec la façon de penser de Mr de Circello, pour lors ambassadeur ici, et actuellement premier ministre à Naples. Ce Circello est inexorable; il s’est réfusé meme aux instances que lui a fait faire en ma faveur S. A. R. la Duchesse d’Orléans, qui est, comme vous savez, la fille de Ferdinand IV. N’importe, vous me restez, monsieur, et c’est assez pour mon coeur. conservez vous pour vous, et pour L’humanité entiére, car on sçait tout le bien, que vous avez fait dans votre Présidence, et que vous faites encore par vos conseils. Donnez moi, je vous en supplie, de vos nouvelles, et si je3 puis mériter vos ordres de telle façon que cela soit, ne m’en privez pas, je suis un instrument faible, et cassé, mais le nom de Jefferson m’electrisera, et je serais celui de trente ans auparavant.

Agreez, monsieur, mes salutations philosophiques, mais très cordiales, et tres sinceres.

Pio

Editors’ Translation

29. August 1816.
Rue St. Honoré, number 284. near St. Roch. in Paris.

Sir

Although we are separated by an immense ocean and live in two different worlds, leaving it up to you to call yours the old or the new, I keep, Sir, and will preserve, for the rest of the short time left to me, the memory of the candor of your soul and the special kindness with which you honored me for so long while in this country. Until now, I have kept silent: first, during the tyranny of the Usurper; second, because I did not know how to get my letters to you. At last, your new ambassador invites me very honorably to entrust my letter to him, and he even writes that he will be delighted to make my acquaintance. I am flattered to be able to pay my respects to one of your successors. I did not much count, at the time, on the favors of the late Mr. Barlow, who was a man of intellect, although this is all that could be said of him. There remains here a Mr. Parker, who knows me well, but he is surrounded by nothing but poor specimens. I am finishing my career peacefully, although, being deprived of resources, I am obliged to run around this populous city every day giving lessons in Italian. This is my only option for providing myself with a very precarious living. The king of Naples, whom I served for twenty-one years, no longer wants me. I was forced to resign from his service at the beginning of the Revolution because I had the misfortune of opposing the opinions of Mr. de Circello, who was ambassador here at the time and is currently prime minister in Naples. This Circello is inexorable; he has even refused the entreaties made on my behalf by Her Royal Highness the duchesse d’Orléans, who is, as you know, the daughter of Ferdinand IV. I do not mind. I still have you, Sir, and that is enough for my heart. Stay well, for yourself and for all humanity, because everybody knows the good that you did during your presidency and that you still do through the advice you offer. I beg you to give me news of yourself, and if I may be deserving of your orders of any kind, do not deprive me of them. I am a weak and broken instrument, but Jefferson’s name will electrify me, and I will become the person I was thirty years ago.

Please accept, Sir, my philosophical, but very cordial and very sincere salutations.

Pio

RC (ViW: TC-JP); dateline at foot of text; endorsed by TJ as received 21 Nov. 1816 and so recorded in SJL. Translation by Dr. Genevieve Moene.

Louis Pio, diplomat and language instructor, was born in Italy. By 1780 he was employed as secretary and then in 1781 as chargé d’affaires at the Paris embassy of the Kingdom of Naples, over which Ferdinand IV reigned. In this capacity he became acquainted with TJ in 1784. Pio was active in the French Revolution, eventually allying himself with the the Jacobins, renouncing his title of chevalier, and in 1790 becoming a French citizen. After losing his diplomatic appointment, Pio worked first at the passport bureau, then as an emigration commissaire, and later at the war office before being imprisoned for his political views, 1794–95. After obtaining his freedom he remained in Paris, where he earned his living as a translator and teacher of Italian. He authored Lettere Italiane di Piu Distinti Scrittori (Paris, 1807) under his birth name of Luigi Pio(Albert Mathiez, “Le Chevalier Pio,” Annales Révolutionnaires 11 [1919]: 94–104; Biographie Nouvelle des Contemporains [Paris, 1820–25], 16:340–1; Alessandro Cutolo, “Da Diplomatico a Giacobino: La vita di Luigi Pio atrraverso il suo carteggio inedito,” Rassegna Storica del Risorgimento 22 [1935]: 396–413; New-York Daily Gazette, 11 June 1790; PTJ description begins Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1950– , 39 vols. description ends , esp. 7:423–4, 17:643).

The usurpateur was Napoleon. Albert Gallatin was the nouvel ambassadeur to France. Tommaso di Somma, marchese di circello, was the Neapolitan ambassador at Paris, 1786–90, and the then current prime minister and secretary of state for foreign affairs in Naples (Alberto M. Ghisalberti and others, eds., Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani [1960– ], 40:283–8).

1Manuscript: “beacoup.”

2Manuscript: “cee.”

3Manuscript: “jee.”

Index Entries

  • Barlow, Joel; mentioned search
  • Circello, Tommaso di Somma, marchese di search
  • Ferdinand IV, king of Naples; and L. Pio search
  • Ferdinand IV, king of Naples; family of search
  • French language; letters in, from; L. Pio search
  • Gallatin, Albert; as minister plenipotentiary to France search
  • Maria Amalia Teresa, duchesse d’Orléans search
  • Napoleon I, emperor of France; mentioned search
  • Parker, Daniel (of Paris); mentioned search
  • Pio, Louis; identified search
  • Pio, Louis; letter from search
  • Pio, Louis; misfortunes of search
  • Pio, Louis; on Circello search