Description:

Genet Edmond



Citizen Genet ALS, now Gentleman-Farmer, Amateur Scientist, and Intellectual

 

1p ALS written in the third person and signed by Edmond-Charles Genet (1763-1834), known more commonly as "Citizen Genet," as "Mr. Genet." Written at Genet's farm Prospect Hill in East Greenbush, New York on May 12, 1826. Its integral address leaf is inscribed "Doctor Romyn [sic] Beck - / Albany," and also bears a stamped postal marking and docket notation presumably in Dr. Beck's hand. The watermarked cream paper is lightly toned, with expected paper folds, some of which have been professionally repaired. 7.5" x 9.5". Accompanied by a 7.125" x 9.5" glossy black and white photographic enlargement of a ca. 1793 print of Genet originally drawn by Jean Fouquet and engraved by Gille-Louis Chretien.

 

Genet's courtly note reads in part, with untouched spelling and grammar:

 

"Mr. Genet has received Doctor Becks letter containing a Message from Doctor Pascalis and has attended to it, he is always happy when he has an opportunity of renewing the assurance of his request gratitude and attachment to Doctr Beck -."

 

After a checkered diplomatic career, Genet had settled down to the life of a gentleman-farmer at Prospect Hill, located approximately 10 miles southeast of Albany. Genet spent his time managing the farm, and also writing and publishing original literary and scientific works. Genet's successful transition into American society was secured when he married Cornelia Tappen Clinton (1774-1810), daughter of New York Governor George Clinton (1739-1812).

 

Genet's letter recipient was Dr. Theodric Romeyn Beck (1791-1855), a doctor who practiced in Albany. By all accounts, Dr. Beck was something of a polymath. A naturalist, professor, author, and manager of a county mental institution, Dr. Beck published the first edition of his authoritative Elements of Medical Jurisprudence in 1811. His later career focused on exploring mental illness and disability.

 

Genet's letter mentions a "Doctor Pascalis." This was almost certainly Felix A. Pascalis Ouviere (1762-1833), a French physician, epidemiologist, research scientist, and silkworm specialist who lived in New York City. Dr. Pascalis published numerous treatises on diseases ranging from yellow fever to syphilis. Genet and Pascalis shared a common nationality and language.

 

This letter suggests an intellectual and professional relationship between Genet, Beck, and Pascalis. All three were learned, with established interests in science, medicine, and societal betterment. The men lived within a 150-mile radius of New York City and could have collaborated in person or by letter-writing. In 1827, Genet published his Memorial on the Upward Forces of Fluids; it was later peer reviewed by Dr. Pascalis. Could this have been what the "Message" referred to in Genet's May 1826 letter was about?

 

Genet began his career as a diplomat who often alienated himself from his host countries. He was expelled from the imperial court of Catherine II in 1789, and George Washington threatened to recall him from the United States four years later. “Citizen Genet,” as he was known by American Francophiles, was charged with encouraging France’s former ally, the newly liberated United States, to repay its debts. Another more dubious diplomatic goal was to ensure support for France’s war with Britain, either through obtaining credit or supplies in the United States, or as Genet would attempt, by entangling the new nation in the conflict.

 

Some thirty-odd years later, Genet was living out Alexis de Toqueville’s dream of the life of the American farmer.

 


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