Sub-Lieutenant Sibille to George Washington, 25 March 1781
From Sub-Lieutenant Sibille
Newport, March 25th 1781
Sir,
The fear I am in, lest the Little notice taken of General de rochambeau’s Secretary, in comparison of those who fill that honorable place about your Excellency, should be misconstrued in Your Excellency’s mind, shall be my apology for this Letter.
The Little regard shewn for a man, who by his post, should Seem intitled to some consideration, must be ascribed to the customs of a Monarchical state, where the highest honors are rendered to the Military part of it, and to that part only: all those out of the Line of the Army, and even those who being in it, act in a double capacity, are looked on as below their notice, by Low prejudiced minds, of which unhappily, there is most in the highest Stations.
The Count de rochambeau, Sir, has an entire confidence in me, and has proved me worthy of it. I know that objections have been made against my youth. they did not consider that, then, when Probity, discretion, honor and Sensibility have been early inculcated into the mind, they are necessarily in their force, not being yet tainted with the various corrupted scenes of the World.
The Count de rochambeau has taken me with him, upon the recommendation of some of the most respectable and highest in office in France. Neither Ambition nor the prospect of Fortune influenced me in my determination to accompany him. The first being an utter stranger to me, I have more than enough of the Second.
had I the least idea, Sir that my being in a place which I hope, I will always fill with honor, could any ways be prejudicial to the common cause, I would Look upon it as my duty to abdicate it; I would think myself under that obligation if I was the cause that either Your Excellency or Congress did not communicate freely your Secretest and most interesting plans to Count de rochambeau. This comes Sir, from an honest, too sensible heart, proud of its consciousness that there is no reproach can be made to it, but that cannot even support the thought of being reckoned unworthy the place of Secretary.1 I am with great respect, Sir, Your Excellency’s Most obedient humble Servant
De Sibille
ALS, DLC:GW.
In addition to serving as Lieutenant General Rochambeau’s military secretary, Jean-Louis Aragon de Sibille (b. 1759) held the rank of sub-lieutenant in the Soissonnais Regiment.
1. GW replied to Sibille from New Windsor on 5 April: “I have been involved in such a variety of business, since my return from New Port, as has prevented, until the present time, my acknowledging the receipt of the Letter which you did me the favor to write on the 25th Ulto.
“It is not unusual, I believe, in different services, that the same Class of Gentlemen should (from the difference of the establishment) be entitled to different Rank & Military consideration—This cannot, under any circumstances, preclude a Man of Merit from the reputation he deserves.
“That his Excellency the Count De Rochambeau, has reposed his confidence very properly in you I have not the least doubt—the honor of holding so important an Office as that of secretary, in such a respectable family, in addition to personal considerations” entitled Sibille to GW’s “very great esteem & regard” (Df, in David Humphreys’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW). For GW’s trip to Newport and return to New Windsor on 20 March, see GW to Alexander Hamilton, 7 March, source note; see also GW to Rochambeau, 16 March, n.1.