at Paine was fomenting the troubles given by Genet to
Washington in America, and thus set in motion the procedure by which
Paine was ultimately lodged in prison.

There being no charge against Paine in France, and no ill-will felt
towards him by Robespierre, compliance with the supposed will of
Washington was in this case difficult. Six months before, a law had been
passed to imprison aliens of hostile nationality, which could not affect
Paine, he being a member of the Convention and an American. But a decree
was passed, evidently to reach Paine, "that no foreigner should be
admitted to represent the French people"; by this he was excluded from
the Convention, and the Committee of General Surety enabled to take the
final step of assuming that he was an Englishman, and thus under the
decree against aliens of hostile nations.(2)

1 Letter of Gouverneur Morris to Washington, Oct 19, 1793.
Sparks's "Life of Gouverneur Morris," vol. ii., p. 375.

2 Although, as I have said, there was no charge against
Paine in France, and none assigned in any document connected
with his arrest, some kind of insinuation had to be made in
the Convention to cover proceedings against a Deputy, and
Bourdon de l'Oise said, "I know that he has intrigued with a
former agent of the bureau of Foreign Affairs." It will be
seen by the third addendum to the Memorial to Monroe that
Paine supposed this to refer to Louis Otto, who had been his
interpreter in an interview requested by Barere, of the
Committee of Public Safety. But as Otto was then, early in
September, 1793, Secretary in the Foreign Office, and Barere
a fellow-terrorist of Bourdon, there could be no accusation
based on an interview which, had it been probed, would have
put Paine's enemies to confusion. It is doubtful, however,
if Paine was right in his conjecture. The reference of
Bourdon was probably to the collusion between Paine and
Genet suggested by Morris.

Paine was thus lodged in prison simply to please Washington, to whom
it was left to decide whether he had been rightly represented by his
Minister in the case. When the large number of Americans in Paris
hastened in a body to the Convention to demand his release, the
President (Vadier) extolled Paine, but said his birth in England brought
him under the measures of safety, and referred them to the Committees.
There they were told that "