MONROE, James (1758-1831). Autograph letter signed ("Jas Monroe") as U.S. Minister to France, Paris, 27 January 1796.

Three pages, bifolium, 226 x 186mm. (one light dampstain on first page, some slight separations along original folds, neatly mended with tissue).

As American Minister to France, Monroe comments on the burgeoning public support for the French Revolution and the status of the War of the First Coalition. Writing to an unknown correspondent from Baltimore, Monroe, a staunch supporter of the revolution, writes in part: "We have witnessed since our arrival many great and interesting scenes. Such are the efforts of the coalised powers to prevent the success of the French revolution, and the establishment of a free government here, & so various are the measures adopted by them for that purpose, that every week has furnished some incident of importance in those respects. At present the revolution seems to rest on a basis more solid than at any former period. The new govt seems daily to acquire more and more the publick confidence and with it to display a greater degree of energy and force..." Later, Monroe comments on a recent truce made between the French and Austrian generals on the Rhine in the War of the French Coalition, which was urged by the Austrians in pursuit of a peace agreement. However, Monroe expresses his skepticism, stating "...It is beleived that France will not agree upon other terms than the complete restitution of every thing taken from her and Holland, and on the other hand, that Engl[an]d will not agree to these, in the present state of things being superior at sea..." His skepticism was well-founded; the War of the French Coalition would only end in October of the following year, in which Austria ceded all of Belgium to France and recognized French control of the Rhineland. This lead to the collapse of the First Coalition, leaving Great Britain and her navy as the only nation to remain at war with the Napoleon-led France.