[46] At the outbreak of the Revolution the manorial families of the province held various sentiments regarding the relations with the mother country. Families like those of Philipse and De Lancey were loyal to the crown and lost everything. Others, like those of Livingston and Schuyler, espoused the cause of the “rebels” or “patriots.” Again, there was a third class, embracing families like those of Van Cortlandt and Morris, that had representatives on either side. The Patroon, being a minor, was legally incapable of choosing and saved his vast estate.
[47] The Government of France had certain claims against this Government. An agreement was made to release these claims upon the express consideration that the United States would pay their own citizens the claims that they had against France.
[48] Mrs. Lamb’s, “History of the City of New York.”
[49] This picture is from a sketch by permission of the New York Herald.
[50] While living in Philadelphia during the war he was thrown from his carriage in trying to control a pair of runaway horses. The accident necessitated the amputation of a leg.
[51] Diary, p. 2.
[52] Commissary’s, Quartermaster’s, and Medical Departments.
[53] A laconic entry in the diary gives a hint as to the life of terror which the ill-fated family were leading: “Go to court this morning (August 5th). Nothing remarkable, only they were up all night expecting to be murdered.”—Diary, p. 569.
[54] M. Esmein quotes Taine: “Quatre observateurs, écrit Hippolyte Taine, ont dès le début, compris le caractére et la portée de la Revolution française—Rivarol, Malouet, Gouverneur Morris et Mallet du Pan, celui—ci plus profondement que les autres;...” but Esmein says “contre l’auteur illustre et respecté des Origines de la France contemporaine, j’oserais revendiquer pour Gouverneur Morris, la plupart des titres qu’il reconnait a Mallet du Pan.” (“Gouverneur Morris, un temoin American de la revolution Française,” by A. Esmein, membre de l’Institut, Paris, 1906.)
[55] “Partout où il a porté ses pas, en Angleterre comme dans l’Europe continentale, il etait accueilli avec une faveur marquée par les hommes d’État les plus en vue; les ministres en charge, les ambassadeurs les plus influents, le consultaient voluntiers et le renseignaient en meme temps.