Chapter 21

General Washington in uniform and bareheaded, standing, facing the left, has just given the calumet of peace to an Indian chief, who is smoking it. The Indian, standing, facing the right, has a large medal suspended from around his neck; on the left, a pine tree; at its foot, a tomahawk; in the background, a farmer ploughing. Exergue: GEORGE WASHINGTON PRESIDENT. 1792.

The arms and crest of the United States of America. Arms: Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent and gules, a chief, azure. The escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle, displayed proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows,[62] all proper, and in his beak a scroll inscribed with this motto, E PLURIBUS UNUM (_One out of many_). Crest: Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the escutcheon, a glory, or, breaking through a cloud, proper, and surrounding thirteen stars forming a constellation, argent, on an azure field.[63]

[Footnote 62: The thirteen original States.]

[Footnote 63: See INTRODUCTION, page xxvi.]

It was then customary with the Indians, when they made a treaty of peace, to simulate the burying of the tomahawk. In a speech of Red Jacket's to the Honorable Samuel Dexter, secretary of War, delivered at Philadelphia, February 11, 1802, is the following passage: "Brother, you offered to join with us in tearing up the largest pine tree in our forests, and under it to bury the tomahawk. We (p. 114) gladly join with you, brother, in this work, and let us heap rocks and stones on the root of this tree, that the tomahawk may never again be found."

The engraving is a representation of the medal generally known as the Red Jacket medal, from its having been given by President Washington to the celebrated Seneca orator and chief Sa-go-ya-wat-ha (_He keeps them awake_), better known as Red Jacket, on the occasion of his visit to Philadelphia in March and April, 1792. On the death of this great chief of the Six Nations of the State of New York (Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras), in 1830, it passed into the hands of his nephew the Seneca chief So-sa-wa (_Corpulent man_), James Johnson. It now belongs to James Johnson's grand-nephew, Do-ne-ho-gà-wa (_Open door_), General Ely S. Parker, who served during the Civil War on the staff of General U.S. Grant. He was afterward for some time commissioner of Indian Affairs, and is now living in the city of New York. It is owing to the politeness of General Parker that I am able to give an engraving of this, the only well-authenticated Washington Indian peace medal, although similar ones were given during his administration to different Indian chiefs, as will be seen from the following extract from a message addressed by General Knox, then secretary of War, to the Choctaw nation, and dated Philadelphia, February, 17, 1792: "Brothers, your father, General Washington, sends you two great silver medals--you will point out the two great chiefs who are to receive these marks of distinction."

General Parker says that this medal was made by Dr. Rittenhouse, who was director of the United States Mint at Philadelphia from 1792 till 1795, that these medals were of three sizes from President Jefferson to President Fillmore's administration, and that they were given to Indian chiefs according to their rank. Since then they have been made of two sizes only.

No. 19. (p. 115) PLATE XX.

_April 30, 1790._

To Peace and Commerce. [Rx]. The United States of America.

THE DIPLOMATIC MEDAL.

TO PEACE AND COMMERCE. To the left, America, personified as an Indian queen, seated, facing the right, and holding in her left hand the cornucopia of abundance (_Peace_), welcomes Mercury (_Commerce_) to her shores, and with her right calls his attention to her products, packed ready for transportation. In the background, to the right, the sea, and a ship under full sail. Exergue: IV JUL. MDCCLXXVI. (_4 Julii, 1776: July 4, 1776_).

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The arms and crest of the United States of America. Arms: Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent and gules, a chief, azure. The escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle, displayed proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows,[64] all proper, and in his beak a scroll inscribed with this motto, E PLURIBUS UNUM (_One out of many_). Crest: Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the escutcheon: a glory, or, breaking through a cloud, proper, and surrounding thirteen stars forming a constellation, argent, on an azure field.[65]

[Footnote 64: The thirteen original States.]

[Footnote 65: See INTRODUCTION, pages x, xxix and xxx.]

Only two of these Diplomatic medals have thus far been awarded, one to the Marquis de la Luzerne and the other to the Count de Moustier.

CÉSAR ANNE DE LA LUZERNE was born in Paris in 1741. He was (p. 116) graduated at the Chevau-légers school, became aide-de-camp to the Duke de Broglie; was appointed major-general of cavalry in 1762; and colonel of the French grenadiers in 1776. Quitting the army, he entered the diplomatic service, and was envoy to the court of Maximilian Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, in 1766, and minister to the United States in 1779-1784. He contracted, under his own responsibility, a loan to relieve the distress of the American army in 1780; received from Harvard College the degree of LL.D. in 1781, and the same from Dartmouth College in 1782. He was appointed ambassador to England in January, 1788. Thomas Jefferson, then secretary of State, wrote to him, April 30, 1790, by order of President Washington, conveying to him an express acknowledgment of his services, and of the high appreciation of them by the government and people of America, informing him also that, by order of the President of the United States, a medal and a chain of gold would be prepared and delivered to him by the chargé d'affaires of the United States at the court of France. The Marquis de la Luzerne died in London, September 14, 1791, before the medal was finished.

ÉLÉONORE FRANÇOIS ÉLIE, COUNT, AFTERWARD MARQUIS, DE MOUSTIER, was born in Paris, March 15, 1751. He entered the army when but fourteen years of age, and at sixteen was sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navarre cavalry; captain in the Dauphin dragoons 1771; mestre-de-camp, 1777, and soon after maréchal-de-camp; and lieutenant-general, 1816. Entering the diplomatic service in 1771, he first served as gentilhomme d'ambassade in Lisbon, then as conseiller d'ambassade in London, 1772; was chargé d'affaires at Naples, and in 1777, minister to the court of Treves, He was sent on a special mission to England in 1783, and as minister to the United States in 1787. In 1790 he declined the mission to the court of St. James, and went as ambassador to Berlin. Thomas Jefferson, then secretary of State, informed him, March 2, 1791, by order of President Washington, that a medal and a chain of gold would be presented to him by Mr. Short, in the name of the United States of America. In September, 1791, he declined the ministry of Foreign Affairs, emigrated in 1792, and came back to France with Louis XVIII. in 1814. The Marquis de Moustier died at Bailli, near Versailles, February 1, 1816.

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ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS. (p. 117)

_John Adams to the President of Congress._

To His Excellency John JAY, Braintree, August 3, 1779. President of Congress.

Sir: The Chevalier de la Luzerne is a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of an ancient and noble family, connected by blood with many characters of principal name in the kingdom; a grandson of the celebrated Chancellor de la Moignon; a nephew of Monsieur Malesherbes, perhaps still more famous as first President of the Court of Aids, and as Minister of State, a brother of the Comte de la Luzerne, and of the Bishop of Langres, one of the three Dukes and Peers who had the honour to assist in the consecration of the King; a near relative of the Marshal de Broglie, and the Comte his brother, and of many other important personages in that country; nor is his personal character less respectable than his connections. As he is possessed of much useful information of all kinds, and particularly of the political system of Europe, obtained in his late Embassy in Bavaria; and of the justest sentiments of the mutual interests of his country and ours, and of the utility to both of that alliance which so happily unites them, and at the same time divested of all personal and party attachments and aversions, Congress and their constituents, I flatter myself, will have much satisfaction in his negotiations, as well as in those of the Secretary to the Embassy, Monsieur Marbois, who was also Secretary to the Embassy in Bavaria, and is a Counsellor of the Parliament of Metz, a gentleman whose abilities, application and disposition cannot fail to make him useful in this momentous office he sustains.

I have the honour to be with great respect, Sir, Your most obedient and most humble servant, John ADAMS.

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_Thomas Jefferson to William Short._

To William SHORT, Esquire, New York, April 30th, 1790. Chargé d'Affaires of the United States of America, Paris.

Dear Sir: It has become necessary to determine on a present proper to be given to diplomatic characters on their taking leave of us; and it is concluded that a medal and chain of gold will be the most convenient. I am therefore to ask the favour of you to order the dies to be engraved with all the despatch practicable. The medal must be of 30-lines diameter, with a loop on the edge to receive the chain. On one side must be the arms of the United States, of which I send you a written description, and (p. 118) several impressions in wax, to render that more intelligible; round them as a legend must be "The United States of America." The device on the other side we do not decide on; one suggestion has been a Columbia (a fine female figure) delivering the emblems of Peace and Commerce to a Mercury, with the legend "Peace and Commerce" circumscribed, and the date of our Republic, to-wit: IV Jul. MDCCLXXVI, subscribed as an Exerguum; but having little confidence in our own ideas in an art not familiar here, they are only suggested to you, to be altered, or altogether postponed to such better device as you may approve on consulting with those who are in the habit and study of medals. Duvivier and Dupré seem to be the best workmen, perhaps the last is the best of the two.

I am with great and sincere esteem, Thomas JEFFERSON.

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_Thomas Jefferson to the Marquis de la Luzerne._

To His Excellency THE MARQUIS DE LA LUZERNE. New York, April 30th, 1790.

Sir: When in the course of your Legation to the United States your affairs rendered it necessary that you should absent yourself a while from that station, we flattered ourselves with the hopes that that absence was not final. It turned out in events that the interests of your Sovereign called for your talents, and the exercise of your functions in another quarter. You were pleased to announce this to the former Congress through their Secretary for Foreign Affairs, at a Time when that body was closing its Administration, in order to hand it over to a Government, then preparing on a different model. This Government is now formed, organized and in action, and it considers among its earliest duties and assuredly among its most cordial, to testify to you the Regret which the People and Government of the United States felt at your Removal from among them; a very general and sincere regret, and tempered only by the consolation of your personal advancement which accompanied it. You will receive, Sir, by order of the President of the United States, as soon as it can be prepared, a Medal and chain of gold, of which he desires your acceptance, in token of their Esteem and of the sensibility with which they will ever recall your Legation to their memory.

But as this compliment may hereafter be rendered to other missions, from which yours was distinguished by eminent circumstances, the President of the United States wishes to pay you the distinguished tribute of an express acknowledgment of your services, and our sense of them. You came to us, Sir, through all the perils which encompassed us on all sides. You found us struggling and suffering under difficulties as singular and trying as our situation was new and unprecedented. Your magnanimous nation had taken side with us in the conflict and yourself become the center of our common councils, the link which connected our common operations.

In that position you laboured without ceasing, till all labours were crowned with glory to your nation, Freedom to ours, and Benefit to both. During the whole we had constant evidence (p. 119) of your Zeal, your abilities, and your good Faith; and we desire to convey this Testimony of it home to your own Breast and to that of your Sovereign, our best and greatest Friend, and this I do, Sir, in the name and by the express Instruction of the President of the United States.

I feel how flattering it is to me, Sir, to be the organ of the public sense on this occasion, and to be justified by that office in adding to theirs, the homage of those sentiments of respect and esteem with which I have the honour to be,

Your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant, Thomas JEFFERSON.

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_William Short to Thomas Jefferson._

To the Honourable Paris, June the 14th, 1790. Thomas JEFFERSON, Secretary of State.

Dear Sir: - - - - -

I received three days ago the first letters which have come to my hands from you since your arrival in New York. That of the latest date was April 30th. I communicated to Mr. de Montmorin[66] also the copy of the letter to Mr. de la Luzerne, which he desired I should allow him to retain.

I shall employ Dupré to execute the medal you mention, after having consulted with the Abbé Barthélémi, respecting those parts which are left undecided, and no time shall be lost in forwarding the business. - - - - - Wm. SHORT.

[Footnote 66: Minister of Foreign Affairs of Louis XVI.]

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_Thomas Jefferson to William Short._

To William SHORT, Esquire, New York, July 26th, 1790. Chargé d'Affaires of the United States of America, Paris.

Dear Sir: - - - - -

As I presume the die will be finished by the time you receive this, I am to desire you will have a medal of gold struck for the Marquis de la Luzerne, and have put to it a chain of 365 links, each link containing gold of the value of two dollars and a half, or 13 livres 10 sous, the links to be of plain wire, so that their workmanship may cost as it were nothing. The whole will make a present of a little more than a thousand dollars, including the medal and chain. As soon as done, be pleased to forward them by a safe hand to the Marquis de la Luzerne, (p. 120) in the name of the President of the United States, informing him that it is the one spoken of in my letter to him of April 30th, 1790. Say nothing to anybody of the value of the present, because that will not always be the same in all cases. Be so good as to have a second medal of gold struck in the same die, and to send this second, together with the dies, to Philadelphia by the first safe person who shall be passing. No chain to be sent with it.

I am with great and sincere esteem, Th: JEFFERSON.

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_Thomas Jefferson to the Count de Moustier._

To THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. Philadelphia, March 2d, 1791.

Sir: I have received your favour of November 6th, wherein you inform me that the King has thought proper, by a new mission to the Court of Berlin, to put an end to your functions as his Minister Plenipotentiary with the United States.

The President, in a letter to the King, has expressed his sense of your merit, and his entire approbation of your conduct while here, and has charged me to convey to yourself the same sentiments on his part.

Had you returned to your station with us, you would have received new and continued marks of the esteem inspired by the general worth of your character, as well as by the particular dispositions you manifested towards this country.

Amidst the regrets excited by so early a loss of you, it will be a consolation, if your new situation shall contribute to advance your own happiness.

As a testimony of these sentiments, we ask the acceptance of a medal and chain of gold, with which Mr. Short is instructed to present you on the part of the United States.

To this general tribute, permit me to add my own, with sincere wishes for your constant happiness, and assurances of the respect and esteem with which I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient and most humble servant, Th: JEFFERSON.

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_Thomas Jefferson to William Short._

To William SHORT, Esquire. Philadelphia, March 8th, 1791.

Dear Sir: You are directed to have a medal struck from the diplomatic die, formerly ordered, and to present it with a chain of gold to the Count de Moustier, who is notified that this will be done by you. I formerly informed you that we proposed to (p. 121) vary the worth of the present by varying the size of the links of the chain, which are fixed at 365 in number. Let each in the present instance contain six livres worth of gold, and let it be made of plain wire, so that the value may be in the metal and not at all in the workmanship. I shall hope to receive the dies themselves when a safe conveyance presents itself. I am, with great esteem, Th: JEFFERSON.

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_William Short to Thomas Jefferson._

To the Honourable Thomas JEFFERSON, Paris, June 6th, 1791. Secretary of State.

Dear Sir: The medal which you desire to be made for Mr. de Moustier shall be executed as soon as I can have the "coins" [dies] finished. You will no doubt be much astonished at this delay, but the engraver has been so devoted to the affair of their money, which is contending for by all the artists, that it has been impossible to get him to finish the work he had undertaken for the United States, and which was nearly completed last fall. This delay cannot last much longer, and he assures me he will shorten it as much as possible. He is to write a letter that I may send it to Mr. de la Luzerne and show him that the delay does not proceed from me. I don't know by what opportunity to send you the dies; there is no other than by the public carriages to Havre, and at present they would be stopped and examined by several of the municipalities, who would take them, from their weight, to be specie to be exported, which they do not allow, notwithstanding the decrees of the assembly....

Wm. SHORT.

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_William Short to Thomas Jefferson._

To the Honourable Thomas JEFFERSON, Paris, September 25th, 1791. Secretary of State.

Dear Sir: You will have heard of the death of Mr. de la Luzerne in England. The dies for the medal destined for him have been retarded in a most unexpected manner on account of the engraver being employed here in the new coinage. Previous to the death of Mr. de la Luzerne, I explained to him the cause of this delay and sent him a letter from the engraver on the subject, which he answered by a desire that the national work should be first performed. The dies were since completed, but unfortunately one of them failed, as often happens, in the hardening.

The engraver is now employed in repairing this evil and says it will be done in two or three weeks.

I suppose it so certain that this medal should be given to (p. 122) Mr. de la Luzerne's representative, that as soon as it is ready I shall mention the subject to Mr. de Montmorin and follow his advice respecting it.

Dear Sir, Yours affectionately, Wm. SHORT.

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_William Short to M. Dupré._

Monsieur:[67]

Comme je ne pense pas que vous ignoriez que la médaille pour l'Amérique, dont le coin a péri à l'épreuve du balancier, est promise depuis longtemps à des personnes d'un caractère distingué sans doute vous ne serez pas surpris de l'intérêt que je prends à ce que ni la délicatesse des donateurs ni l'empressement des légataires soient compromis.

Or je ne vois, Monsieur, qu'un seul moyen de l'éviter, c'est de remettre aux donateurs, pour le moment, la seule épreuve que le coin a permis et qui est entre vos mains; ce moyen, en écartant tout soupçon de négligence de ma part, évite aussi aux États-Unis le désagrément de paraître avoir oublié ses promesses.

Veuillez donc bien, Monsieur, vous prêter à cet arrangement, dont les personnes intéressées ne manqueront pas certainement de vous tenir compte, vos droits sur la fabrication n'étant, d'ailleurs, que retardés, puisque le coin doit être refait.

Je vous prie donc, Monsieur, de remettre la médaille au porteur, afin que je puisse la présenter pour remédier, en quelque sorte, à l'accident, et dans le cas ou vous penseriez devoir la retenir, veuillez bien m'en informer par écrit afin que je puisse me justifier de toute autre manière vis-à-vis les personnes intéressées.

Je suis très-parfaitement, Monsieur, etc.

[Footnote 67: The original of this letter, without date or signature, which is in French, and which was communicated to me in Paris by M. Narcisse Dupré, is undoubtedly in the handwriting of Mr. William Short.]

[Translation.]

_William Short to M. Dupré._

Sir: As I do not suppose that you are ignorant that the medal for America, of which the die was broken in the coining press, has been for a long time promised to distinguished persons, you will no doubt not be surprised at the interest which I take that neither the delicacy of the donors nor the desire of the legatees should be compromised.

Now, Sir, I see only one means of avoiding this, that is to give to the donors, for the time being, the only proof which the die has permitted and which is in your hands; this, while removing all suspicion of negligence on my part, prevents also the United States from occupying the disagreeable position of appearing to have forgotten its promises.