n consequence of a letter I received
from a friend, 18 Fructidor (September 4th,) in which he says, "Mr.
Monroe has told me, that he has no orders [meaning from the American
government] respecting you; but I am sure he will leave nothing
undone to liberate you; but, from what I can learn, from all the late
Americans, you are not considered either by the Government, or by
the individuals, as an American citizen. You have been made a french
Citizen, which you have accepted, and you have further made yourself
a servant of the french Republic; and, therefore, it would be out
of character for an American Minister to interfere in their internal
concerns. You must therefore either be liberated out of Compliment to
America, or stand your trial, which you have a right to demand."

This information was so unexpected by me, that I am at a loss how to
answer it. I know not on what principle it originates; whether from an
idea that I had voluntarily abandoned my Citizenship of America for that
of France, or from any article of the American Constitution applied to
me. The first is untrue with respect to any intention on my part; and
the second is without foundation, as I shall shew in the course of this
memorial.

The idea of conferring honor of Citizenship upon foreigners, who had
distinguished themselves in propagating the principles of liberty and
humanity, in opposition to despotism, war, and bloodshed, was first
proposed by me to La Fayette, at the commencement of the french
revolution, when his heart appeared to be warmed with those principles.
My motive in making this proposal, was to render the people of different
nations more fraternal than they had been, or then were. I observed that
almost every branch of Science had possessed itself of the exercise
of this right, so far as it regarded its own institution. Most of the
Academies and Societies in Europe, and also those of America, conferred
the rank of honorary member, upon foreigners eminent in knowledge, and
made them, in fact, citizens of their literary or scientific republic,
without affecting or anyways diminishing their rights of citizenship
in their own country or in other societies: and why the Science of
Government should not have the same advantage, or why the people of
one nation should not, by their representatives, exercise the right of
conferring the honor of Citizenship upon individuals eminent in another
nation, without affecting _their_ rights of citizenshi