James Cole Mountflorence

Last updated

James Cole Mountflorence (born James Cole; died January 31, 1820) was an American businessman and Federalist diplomat in Paris during the French Revolution. He went to France in 1792 as an agent for the mercantile firm of William Blount, Thomas Blount, and John Gray Blount. [1] In 1794, he became Chancellor to the American Consulate at Paris. Following Charles Cotesworth Pinckney's expulsion from France in 1796, Mountflorence was the primary contact in Paris between the French and American governments. The next year, he served as an intermediary during the XYZ Affair. [2]

Contents

Early life

Mountflorence was the son of an English father and Irish mother who immigrated to France in the middle of the eighteenth century. Although there is no known familial connection, he apparently adopted the surname Mountflorence because John Cole of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland became Baron Mountflorence in 1760. [3]

In 1778, Mountflorence departed France to join the American Revolution. While recovering from illness, he tutored students in New Bern, North Carolina. In 1780, Mountflorence became a brigade major under William Richardson Davie in the North Carolina militia and quartermaster of the Salisbury District. [4] After the war, Mountflorence served as a deputy surveyor and land agent in Middle Tennessee, then known as the Cumberland region. By 1787, he was working for John Gray and Thomas Blount, Merchants—a mercantile firm established by William Blount, Thomas Blount, and John Gray Blount. Around this time, he settled in Nashville and began practicing law.

Mountflorence was a delegate to the United States Constitution ratification convention in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1789. Later that year he unsuccessfully ran for Congress. In 1791, Mountflorence briefly advised United States Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson regarding a land dispute between Virginia and Tennessee (then a federal territory known as the Territory South of the River Ohio). In January 1792, Mountflorence sailed to Europe on business for the Blounts.

Diplomatic career

In Paris, Mountflorence quickly befriended influential Americans, such as American ambassador Gouverneur Morris. He also sent an intriguing proposal to the French minister of foreign affairs, Pierre Lebrun, asking to lead a covert mission against Spanish Louisiana. Lebrun rejected Mountflorence's request, but the proposal bears striking resemblance to the plan adopted several weeks later in which Lebrun chose Edmond-Charles Genêt to launch a similar mission. [5]

After a brief trip to the United States in 1793, Mountflorence was arrested when he returned to France, which was in the midst of the Reign of Terror. Following Gouverneur Morris's exertions, Mountflorence was released and spent the duration of the Reign of Terror in Switzerland. [6] Upon returning to Paris, he began working on privateering cases. In October, 1794, he reached an agreement with the American Consul in Paris, Fulwar Skipwith, to help handle consular duties as Chancellor to the American Consulate. Besides his consular duties, Mountflorence frequently served as an intermediary between the American and French governments and provided intelligence to ambassador James Monroe. [7]

When newly appointed American ambassador, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, was expelled from France in 1796, Mountflorence became the primary contact between Pinckney and the French government. [8] Skipwith, a Jeffersonian Republican, had fallen out of favor with the Washington and Adams administrations, thus leaving Mountflorence, a staunch Federalist, with effective control over consular and diplomatic affairs. [9] Throughout 1797, Mountflorence negotiated with several officials of the French government, including influential member of the Council of Five Hundred Claude-Emmanuel de Pastoret. Shortly after the coup of 18 fructidor, Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry arrived in Paris as envoys to negotiate a peace agreement. Again, Mountflorence served as an unofficial interlocutor. He received one of the first contacts from French foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, warning the envoys that they would have to meet with Talleyrand's agents before negotiating with Talleyrand himself. In subsequent correspondence, these agents were referred to as W, X, Y, and Z, thus giving the diplomatic fiasco its famous title, the XYZ Affair.

Following the publication of the XYZ dispatches, Mountflorence was forced to flee Paris. He then became private secretary to William Vans Murray, the United States Ambassador to the Batavian Republic. When Murray was appointed as part of an American peace commission, Mountflorence returned to Paris, though he seems to have had no substantive role in the negotiations. In 1801, Mountflorence became private secretary to Robert R. Livingston, the newly appointed United States Ambassador to France. [10]

Later life

Mountflorence continued to represent aggrieved American merchants whose ships and cargoes had been captured or detained by French privateers. He also sought to recover consular fees from Fulwar Skipwith, with whom he had signed agreements in 1794 and 1799. Eventually, Mountflorence brought suit against Skipwith. The lawsuit exacerbated tensions within the increasingly partisan diplomatic corps in Paris. One of Skipwith's allies later reported Mountflorence to the French authorities. Mountflorence was tried for fraud. He was acquitted but nonetheless imprisoned for over a year.

Mountflorence's later attempts to regain a position in the diplomatic corps were unsuccessful. After several illnesses, he died in Paris on January 31, 1820, and was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elbridge Gerry</span> Founding Father and United States vice president (1813–1814)

Elbridge Gerry was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States under President James Madison from 1813 until his death in 1814. He is known to be the father of the political practice of gerrymandering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federalist Party</span> First political party in the United States

The Federalist Party was a conservative and nationalist American political party and the first political party in the United States. It dominated the national government under Alexander Hamilton from 1789 to 1801. The party was defeated by the Democratic-Republican Party in 1800, and it became a minority party while keeping its stronghold in New England. It made a brief resurgence by opposing the War of 1812, then collapsed with its last presidential candidate in 1816. Remnants lasted for a few years afterwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1796 United States presidential election</span> 3rd quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1796 United States presidential election was the third quadrennial presidential election of the United States. It was held from Friday, November 4 to Wednesday, December 7, 1796. It was the first contested American presidential election, the first presidential election in which political parties played a dominant role, and the only presidential election in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets. Incumbent vice president John Adams of the Federalist Party defeated former secretary of state Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1804 United States presidential election</span> 5th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1804 United States presidential election was the fifth quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 2, to Wednesday, December 5, 1804. Incumbent Democratic-Republican president Thomas Jefferson defeated Federalist Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. It was the first presidential election conducted following the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reformed procedures for electing presidents and vice presidents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1808 United States presidential election</span> 6th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1808 United States presidential election was the sixth quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 4, to Wednesday, December 7, 1808. The Democratic-Republican candidate James Madison defeated Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney decisively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord</span> French diplomat (1754–1838), Prime Minister of France in 1815

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, 1st Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a French secularized clergyman, statesman, and leading diplomat. After studying theology, he became Agent-General of the Clergy in 1780. In 1789, just before the French Revolution, he became Bishop of Autun. He worked at the highest levels of successive French governments, most commonly as foreign minister or in some other diplomatic capacity. His career spanned the regimes of Louis XVI, the years of the French Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII, and Louis Philippe I. Those Talleyrand served often distrusted him but, like Napoleon, found him extremely useful. The name "Talleyrand" has become a byword for crafty and cynical diplomacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Rutledge</span> American Founding Father and politician (1749–1800)

Edward Rutledge was an American Founding Father and politician who signed the Continental Association and was the youngest signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He later served as the 39th governor of South Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Pinckney</span> American statesman, diplomat and general (1750–1828)

Thomas Pinckney was an American statesman, diplomat, and military officer who fought in both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, achieving the rank of major general. He served as Governor of South Carolina and as the U.S. minister to Great Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XYZ Affair</span> Diplomatic episode between the US and France (1797–1798)

The XYZ Affair was a political and diplomatic episode in 1797 and 1798, early in the presidency of John Adams, involving a confrontation between the United States and Republican France that led to the Quasi-War. The name derives from the substitution of the letters X, Y, and Z for the names of French diplomats Jean-Conrad Hottinguer (X), Pierre Bellamy (Y), and Lucien Hauteval (Z) in documents released by the Adams administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Cotesworth Pinckney</span> American Founding Father and politician (1746–1825)

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was an American statesman, military officer and Founding Father who served as United States Minister to France from 1796 to 1797. A delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the Constitution of the United States, Pinckney was twice nominated by the Federalist Party as its presidential candidate in 1804 and 1808, losing both elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fulwar Skipwith</span> American politician

Fulwar Skipwith was an American soldier, diplomat, politician and farmer. A veteran of the American Revolutionary War, he served as a U.S. Consul in Martinique, and later as the U.S. Consul-General in France. He was instrumental in negotiating the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, was the first and only governor of the Republic of West Florida in 1810, and was a founding member of the Agricultural Society of Baton Rouge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convention of 1800</span> Treaty between the United States and France

The Convention of 1800, also known as the Treaty of Mortefontaine, was signed on September 30, 1800, by the United States and France. The difference in name was due to Congressional sensitivity at entering into treaties, due to disputes over the 1778 treaties of Alliance and Commerce between France and the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Cabot</span> American politician

George Cabot was an American merchant, seaman, and politician from Massachusetts. He represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate and was the presiding officer of the infamous Hartford Convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republic of West Florida</span> Short-lived republic in North America, 1810

The Republic of West Florida, officially the State of Florida, was a short-lived republic in the western region of Spanish West Florida for just over 2+1⁄2 months during 1810. It was annexed and occupied by the United States later in 1810; it subsequently became part of Eastern Louisiana.

John Adams' First State of the Union Address was delivered on Wednesday, November 22, 1797, in the Congress Hall of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the time of the address, sickness was spreading through Philadelphia and Adams notes in his introduction that he was tempted to relocate the assembly of the national legislature but avoided this due to inevitable expense and general inconvenience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embassy of the United States, Paris</span> Diplomatic mission of the U.S. to France

The Embassy of the United States in Paris is the diplomatic mission of the United States in the French Republic. The embassy is the oldest diplomatic mission of the United States. Benjamin Franklin and some of the other Founding Fathers were the earliest United States Ambassadors to France. The chancery building is located at 2 Avenue Gabriel, on the northwest corner of the Place de la Concorde, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidency of John Adams</span> 2nd presidential administration and cabinet of the USA (1797–1801)

The presidency of John Adams, began on March 4, 1797, when John Adams was inaugurated as the second president of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1801. Adams, who had served as vice president under George Washington, took office as president after winning the 1796 presidential election. The only member of the Federalist Party to ever serve as president, his presidency ended after a single term following his defeat in the 1800 presidential election. He was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson of the opposition Democratic-Republican Party.

The Federalist Era in American history ran from 1788 to 1800, a time when the Federalist Party and its predecessors were dominant in American politics. During this period, Federalists generally controlled Congress and enjoyed the support of President George Washington and President John Adams. The era saw the creation of a new, stronger federal government under the United States Constitution, a deepening of support for nationalism, and diminished fears of tyranny by a central government. The era began with the ratification of the United States Constitution and ended with the Democratic-Republican Party's victory in the 1800 elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diplomacy of John Adams</span>

John Adams (1735–1826) was an American Founding Father who served as one of the most important diplomats on behalf of the new United States during the American Revolution. He served as minister to the Kingdom of France and the Dutch Republic and then helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris to end the American Revolutionary War.

References

  1. ↑ Alice Barnwell Keith, ed., "Letters from Major James Cole Mountflorence to Members of the Blount Family (William, John Gray, and Thomas) from on Shipboard, Spain, France, Switzerland, England, and America, January 22, 1792—July 21, 1796," North Carolina Historical Review 14 (July 1937), pp. 251-87.
  2. ↑ Wesley J. Campbell, "James Cole Mountflorence and the Politics of Diplomacy," Tennessee Historical Quarterly 66 (Fall 2007), pp. 210-35.
  3. ↑ Campbell, "James Cole Mountflorence and the Politics of Diplomacy," p. 231, n. 2.
  4. ↑ George Troxler, "Mountflorence, James Cole," Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (Chapel Hill, 1991), vol. 4, pp. 336-37.
  5. ↑ Wesley J. Campbell, "The French Intrigue of James Cole Mountflorence," William and Mary Quarterly 65 (October 2008), pp. 779-96.
  6. ↑ Campbell, "James Cole Mountflorence and the Politics of Diplomacy," pp. 216.
  7. ↑ Campbell, "James Cole Mountflorence and the Politics of Diplomacy," pp. 217-21.
  8. ↑ Campbell, "James Cole Mountflorence and the Politics of Diplomacy," pp. 220, 230.
  9. ↑ Albert Hall Bowman, The Struggle For Neutrality: Franco-American Diplomacy During the Federalist Era (Knoxville, 1974), 308.
  10. ↑ Campbell, "James Cole Mountflorence and the Politics of Diplomacy," pp. 221-27.
  11. ↑ Campbell, "James Cole Mountflorence and the Politics of Diplomacy," pp. 228-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.