To James Madison from John Dawson, 13 May 1793
From John Dawson
May 13. 1793.
Dear Sir!
Our correspondence has been discont[in]ued for some time, much against my wish.
On Friday last Citizen Gennet passd this place on his way to Philadelphia. He appears to me to be a man possessd of much information, added to the most engageing & agreeable manners that I ever saw. He is very easy, communicative & dignified & will precisely suit the taste of our countrymen. All who have seen him are delighted, & if I mistake not he will do much honour to the republic he represents, & will soon throw Hammond, Vanberkle1 & Co far behind him.
We have an account this Morning from Norfolk, which is said to come by an American ship from London—which I most sincerely hope is not true, tho I fear much—“that there has been a violent mob in Paris, & have put to death Petion, Condorset, Monvel & several others.”2 With much esteem Yr. friend & Sert
J Dawson
RC (DLC).
1. Pieter Franco van Berckel succeeded his father as Dutch minister to the U.S. in 1787 (Abraham Jacob van der Aa et al., eds., Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden [1852–78; 7 vols.; Amsterdam, 1969 reprint], 1:108).
2. This report was erroneous. Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve committed suicide in June 1794; the marquis de Condorcet died in prison in April 1794; and dramatist Jacques-Marie Boutet de Monvel survived until 1811 (Ludovic Lalanne, Dictionnaire historique de la France [2d ed.; Paris, 1877], pp. 1447–48, 575–76, 1318).