Envoy to the Terror: Gouverneur Morris and the French Revolution

by Melanie Randolph Miller

The story of Gouverneur Morris, the brilliant and unconventional Founding Father from New York, is a forgotten jewel in the crown of early American national history. Although he was an important contributor to our Constitution, Morris has generally received little respect or attention from historians. The reason for this long indifference lies primarily in the most powerful but misunderstood episode of Morris’s his experience as American minister to France during the height of the French Revolution. Envoy to the Terror is the first in-depth study of Morris’s time in France (1789-94), and it convincingly discredits many longstanding myths about his performance as a diplomat. Morris arrived in Paris on business in 1789, just before the Revolution began. He quickly became involved in French politics and soon was advising not only the reformers, led by the Marquis de Lafayette, but King Louis XVI himself. His empathy for France deepened when he fell passionately in love with a beautiful aristocrat, and by the time of his appointment as U.S. minister he was too deeply enmeshed in French affairs to extricate himself. During the turbulent summer of 1792, Morris was involved in plots to help the king escape. When Louis was dethroned, Morris was the only diplomat to remain in Paris, and he coped single-handed with a flood of pleas for help from people in danger from the Terror. Melanie Randolph Miller’s research reveals that, contrary to the charges of Morris’s contemporaries, which have been adopted by many historians, Morris conducted himself throughout one of history’s greatest cataclysms with superb diplomatic skill, compassion, and a determination to preserve French-American amity. While conventional wisdom has been that Morris was recalled due to misconduct and inability, this book establishes that it was instead the result of unfounded denunciations by secret adversaries, including Thomas Paine and John Adams’s son-in-law, who viewed Morris as an obstacle to their ambitions and schemes in France. Envoy to the Terror brings to life the fascinating and dangerous intrigues of the French Revolution and provides a profound reinterpretation of Morris’s role in one of the most important periods of America’s early diplomatic history.

Genres: History, French Revolution, Biography

284 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 2004

Reviews

[Rosa Angelone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually when I learn more about a "founding father" I walk away less impressed. Not so with Morris. (helps that I knew very little to begin with)

The author makes a great case for Gouverneur Morris. I read the book because I went through a French Revolution phase last year and because of Morris' excellent diary during The Terror he was often quoted.

This book doubles as a succinct description of Paris at the end of the 18th century and an interesting look at how the American debt toward France played so largely in the politics between the two countries. With an added bonus of getting to read about Washington trying to set up diplomatic relations with Britain, France and The Hague (where many of the debt's financiers lived)

Plus you get a Morris/Thomas Paine fight that ends with Paine--Kendrick Lamaring about Morris for the rest of his life.

What's not to love!

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gouverneur Morris is one of the most frequently quoted onlookers cited in French Revolution books, so I thought it might be interesting to read a book just on him--and this might not be that book after all. True to its title, it is of a very limited scope--the couple of years that Gouverneur Morris was the Minister to France during the worst of the Terror. I don't think it helps that the author is cognizantly aware of his standing in history and seeks to elevate him to the level of Jefferson and Hamilton in American history and there's a very defensive tone in this book.

It's funny looking back on another books--namely Lafayette or Lafayette in the Somewhat United States--where Lafayette gets a glowing almost-too-perfect to be true hero depiction and this one--where Lafayette is a foolish, vainglorous egomaniac, who wanted to be dictator but have none of the responsibilities. Even Lafayette's wife comes off as an ungrateful bitch (tho her super rude note is referenced a lot, it is oddly not quoted). Really, absolutely no one comes off well in the telling of Morris' life.

There are many contradictions in this book--at one part Morris is too petrified of fancy dinners, because too shy and didn't know what to say (one of the reasons he disliked Madame de Stael--besides her being too masculine and forward), in another, he is commended everywhere for his sparkling dinner conversation and must be kept at the post because of it. So what was it? He was a prudent businessman who didn't deserve any of the slurs for just being a simple capitalist or money hungry with suspicious ties. After reading that book on Louisa Adams life representing the US overseas, money was a constant problem, with wartime prices through the roof--how did he somehow quadruple his fortune during the Reign of Terror--was it just the 1% commissions he charged on helping people getting money out?

Really, with all the defenses in this book--because basically everyone talked smack or was a treacherous friend of Morris. Hamilton. Jefferson. Adams. Paine. Lafayette. Monroe. Madison. After a certain point, you do start to wonder, "Well maybe there is something to all these people totally hating him..." The book suffers from other little things--it references last names of people without ever an earlier introduction or description (so I had to resort to looking stuff up constantly)--it occasionally gets important things wrong--like Saint Just committing suicide--um, no he was the only one of Robespierre gang to walk totally unscathed to the guillotine. It goes through Morris' life before being Ambassador at lighting fast speeds, and doesn't mention anything until after he gets forced out for Monroe.

I had to learn from Wikipedia he died from "internal injuries" while trying to self-catheterize himself with a whale bone for pete's sake. Morris, while a lively diarist and letter writer, came off kind of sleazy in my mind--his relationship with women was very weird and tortured, but it's interesting to think that the lady in question's love child with Tallyrand wound up having a love child of his own with Napoleon's step-daughter, who then sponsored Sarah Bernhardt as an actress. Somewhat full circle since reading about Bernhardt got me into this topic to begin with. But yes, I'll have to read another book on Morris because this one is rather niche--mostly a long defense of all his detractors during his short but eventful tenure.

I do ultimately agree that the bad rap isn't entirely his fault. As she points out, he went through 8 different governments in 2 years, with the previous government usually winding up in prison or head chopped off or torn apart in the street, he had a terrible balancing act because each suspicious new government thought he was colluding with the prior one. Thomas Paine did seem like a completely unbalanced alcoholic trouble maker. More plots to save Marie Antoinette (how many rescue schemes were there? seems like dozens--all turned down for dumb reasons) and a few other people. I would have rather it be less focused on answering random anonymous detractors and more on the topic at hand. How did the other founding father's views on the French Revolution shift? That's barely covered. How did Teddy Roosevelt help redeem his reputation? Also, not mentioned. How did things wind up for all of the people mentioned in this book? Not gone into, and that always drives me crazy when history books don't do that. I like recaps, even if brief one or two paragraphs.

[Steve Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book about a brilliant and under-appreciated founding father. I think my favorite line in the book comes at the end, quoting one of the top French officials during the Terror about Morris, when he says, "He is perhaps the most eloquent and ingenious man of his country, but his countrymen themselves distrust his talents...They admire but fear him."
Few realize the Morris was the penman for the Constitution and wrote the memorable preamble that every American is familiar with. This book explores his time as American Consul to France from 1790-1794 during the early stages of the French Revolution and "the Terror."
If you enjoy learning about our founding fathers, this is a must read.

[Gerry Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melanie R Miller’s Envoy to the Terror makes a strong case for a revisionist view of Gouverneur Morris. A founder, member of the Continental Congress and Signer of the Constitution Morris served two years as US envoy to France. Between 1792-1794 Morris lived through the Revolution, the execution of Louis XVI and the Terror. He had to interact with 8 foreign ministers and 5 different governments. Meanwhile he tried to negotiate the release of sequestered US vessels and the release of political prisoners (including Lafayette). He showed sagacity and patience and diplomatic skill for which his reward was opprobrium, backstabbing and recall from his post. He epitomized the qualities one would expect from an American ambassador.

[Nancy-Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was an excellent introduction to Gouverneur Morris' time in France. It has prompted me to read his diaries first hand.

[? · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Whatever is, is"

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm fascinated by the French Revolution. How did it go so terribly, violently wrong when the American Revolution went so well? Yes, America had a war with England, but the French turned on each other, before declaring war on England.

In this book, the author explores Gouvereur Morris's diplomatic mission to France during the French Revolution, addressing his secret help to the king, his efforts to help Americans tragically caught up in the revolution, and his dealings with the various "governments" during the Terror.

The author's thesis is that Morris has been given an unfair bad rap by historians. She contends that the popular belief that Morris did a bad job as an envoy is incorrect. Unfortunately, she spends too much time discussing the bias of Morris's detractors and not enough time building up the things Morris did right. I'm convinced that many of Morris's contemporaries had ulterior motives in their attacks of Morris, but I'm not convinced that Morris was as brilliant a dimplomat as she claims.

Also, the book is a difficult read as it consists almost entirely of block quotes -- quotes of 17th Century diaries and letters, none of which the author modernizes, leaving the random capitalization, misspellings and punctuation marks. The book was still very interesting, but after my recent experience with the very readable biographies of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams (the gold standard, in my opinion), this one was a little tough to get through.

[Roger Sherman]

Fascinating

G Morris is a fascinating revolutionary war figure. Ms. Miller has written an excellent account of a man who is frequently passed over in the history of the era. The roll he played was important and under appreciated. I found the book to be very enlightening.

[Plamen Miltenoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

p. 5 whatever is, is.