[Footnote 1: This Beaumarchais claim was kept alive until the beginning
of the present generation. In 1794, Gouverneur Morris, Minister to the
French Republic, obtained from the Minister of Finance a receipt to the
Crown for a million of francs, signed by Beaumarchais, and sent it home
to meet the claim which had again been presented. In 1806 it
reappeared, urged by the Imperial Ambassador. In 1816, the Duc de
Richelieu, minister of Louis XVIII., sustained it, and declared, on the
strength of Gerard's assertions, that the million receipt did not in
any way concern the United States. In 1824, the daughter of
Beaumarchais came to this country to solicit Congress in person, with
no better success. But at last, in 1835, when our claim of twenty-five
millions on France was settled, eight hundred thousand francs were
allowed to the heirs of Beaumarchais, and the business closed
forever,--not creditably to us. The claim was probably unfounded; but
our government admitted its validity by the fact of payment; and the
money, if due, ought to have been paid forty years before, or a
suitable compensation made for the long delay. To be Liberals in
borrowing and Conservatives in repayment is not a desirable financial
character for a nation to obtain.
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