"My mission is to the King as Chief Magistrate of France," said Mr. Jefferson to His Grace of Bordeaux, "and deeply as I am interested in the affairs of your country, my duties concern my own. But I have requested from Congress a leave of absence for a few months, that I may return to America and settle some important private business, and as General Washington and other friends will be only too anxious to hear a detailed and recent account of the progress of events here, I shall esteem it both my duty and pleasure to acquaint myself with them as fully as may be, without transcending the limits of my office."
This leave of absence which Mr. Jefferson had solicited for some time was anxiously awaited, but packet after packet arrived without it. It had been his hope to receive the authority of Congress for his departure during the early spring, that he might return to Virginia, leaving affairs in the hands of Calvert and Mr. Short, and return before cold weather set in again, but the end of June was at hand and still no word from Congress.
As it was evident that Mr. Jefferson was not to get away from Paris for some time, he determined to celebrate the Fourth of July at the Legation with proper ceremony, and invited quite a little company to dinner for that day. Among the guests were Madame la Duchesse d'Azay, Adrienne, Monsieur and Madame de Montmorin, Monsieur and Madame de Lafayette, Madame de Tessé, Mr. Morris, Beaufort, Calvert, and Mr. Short.
The Duchess of Azay had accepted her invitation with characteristic brusqueness.
"I don't approve of your Fourth of July, Monsieur Jefferson," she said, "but I always approve of a good dinner, and your wines are so excellent that I dare say I shall drink your toasts, too." "I promise you there shall be none to offend the most ardent royalist," returned Mr. Jefferson, laughing at the old woman's sturdy independence. And so she had come, and Madame de St. André with her, though Adrienne, too, was a stanch royalist, and had not been carried away by the popular enthusiasm for liberty and Monsieur de Lafayette which was spreading like wildfire through all ranks of Parisian society.
"I am here, not because I am so greatly in love with your fine American principles," she said to Calvert, who was seated beside her at the table, "but because I like your Mr. Jefferson. For myself, I vastly prefer a king and a court, and I like titles and rank and power—all of which is heresy in your American ears, is it not?" she asked, with a perverse look. "However, Henri's enthusiasm is enough for us both," she said, smiling a little scornfully at her brother, who, indeed, was quite wild with enthusiasm, and was on his feet drinking Lafayette's toast of "Long life and prosperity to the United States!"
"Get up, Ned!" he says to Calvert. "We are drinking to your country! We ought to have a toast to Yorktown—see, Mr. Morris is going to give it to us now—'The French at Yorktown!'"
But there was another toast still more vociferously greeted, for the long-delayed American packet having arrived three days before at Havre, Mr. Jefferson was that morning in receipt of letters from Mr. Jay and others containing news of the first importance. It was nothing less than the announcement of the election of General Washington to the first Presidency of the United States, and of his inauguration on the 13th of April in New York City.
"'The oath was administered by Chancellor Livingston,'" says Mr. Jefferson, reading from Mr. Jay's letter, "'in the presence of a vast concourse of people assembled to witness the inauguration. The President, appearing upon the balcony, bowed again and again to the cheering multitude, but could scarcely speak for emotion.' 'Tis a strange and happy coincidence that we should have this news on this day. I give you 'President Washington!'" says Mr. Jefferson, solemnly.
There were tears of joy in Lafayette's eyes as he drank the toast.