phia previous connection with the defunct Assembly. No such
inquiries as Deforgues promised, nor any, were ever made, and of course
none were intended. Morris had got from Deforgues the certificate he
needed to show in Philadelphia and to Americans in Paris. His pretended
"reclamation" was of course withheld: no copy of it ever reached America
till brought from French archives by the present writer. Morris does
not appear to have ventured even to keep a copy of it himself. The draft
(presumably in English), found among his papers by Sparks, alters the
fatal sentence which deprived Paine of his American citizenship and of
protection. "Res-sort"--jurisdiction--which has a definite technical
meaning in the mouth of a Minister, is changed to "cognizance"; the
sentence is made to read, "his conduct from that time has not come under
my cognizance." (Sparks's "Life of Gouverneur Morris," i., p. 401).
Even as it stands in his book, Sparks says: "The application, it must
be confessed, was neither pressing in its terms, nor cogent in its
arguments."

The American Minister, armed with this French missive, dictated by
himself, enclosed it to the Secretary of State, whom he supposed to be
still Jefferson, with a letter stating that he had reclaimed Paine as an
American, that he (Paine) was held to answer for "crimes," and that any
further attempt to release him would probably be fatal to the prisoner.
By these falsehoods, secured from detection by the profound secrecy of
the Foreign Offices in both countries, Morris paralyzed all interference
from America, as Washington could not of course intervene in behalf of
an American charged with "crimes" committed in a foreign country, except
to demand his trial. But it was important also to paralyze further
action by Americans in Paris, and to them, too, was shown the French
certificate of a reclamation never made. A copy was also sent to Paine,
who returned to Morris an argument which he entreated him to embody in
a further appeal to the French Minister. This document was of course
buried away among the papers of Morris, who never again mentioned Paine
in any communication to the French government, but contented himself
with personal slanders of his victim in private letters to Washington's
friend, Robert Morris, and no doubt others. I quote Sparks's summary of
the argument unsuspectingly sent by Paine to Morris:

"He first proves himself to have been an American citizen, a character
of w