Yang Jing | Mrs. Starr's "American Dream"

In 1810, On Germany was published, and Madame Starr (1766-1817) attracted much attention in Europe. In France, however, the book was judged "disloyal to the emperor": thousands of copies were banned and ordered to be destroyed. Napoleon, through the Minister of Police, conveyed an edict to extend mrs. Starr's expulsion order indefinitely. The ban meant that in her lifetime, Madame Starr would not be able to return to Paris unless Napoleon fell. In a letter to a friend, Mrs. Starr mentioned her plans to move to the United States with her children and said that even if she herself was unable to do so for physical/political reasons, she would find a way to make her son "realize this dream."

Mrs. Starr came from a wealthy family. His father, Mr. Necker, was a well-known European banker, who served three times as French chancellor of the exchequer, and his mother was the parisian salon. Mrs. Starr traveled extensively, and her guests included literary figures such as Byron and Chateaubriand, as well as political celebrities such as Gunsdown and the Duke of Wellington. She was popular at the Austrian, Spanish and Swedish courts, and exchanged frequent letters with Tsar Alexander. No doubt it would not have been surprising if she had proposed to relocate any of these countries—in fact, the Tsar had issued her a concessionary passport after hearing of her misfortune—but unexpectedly, Mrs. Starr declined the invitation and set her sights on America, far across the ocean.

In the past, historians have explained this from an economic point of view. At Coppet Castle, a penal colony on the far-Swiss border, Madame Starr entertained European celebrities on a daily basis while generously funding anti-Napoleonic forces on all sides, and the economic situation was not optimistic. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, the Paris estate under his father's name was frozen, and the two million French pounds he had previously lent to the French government to alleviate Louis XVI's financial crisis were difficult to recover. Therefore, with Mrs. Starr's royalty income alone, the current situation is obviously difficult to maintain. According to research, mrs. Starr's deep pockets stem in large part from her investments in the United States. Mr. Necker, feeling the political turmoil in Europe, has laid out some of his assets to the United States. After Mrs. Starr inherited this inheritance, she was entrusted with management by american friends to maintain and increase its value (the initial investment method was mainly land sales, and later expanded to the bond and stock industry). By the time of Madame Starr's death, the assets amounted to about five million francs – a huge sum of money that became Madame Starr's most important financial security.

In this respect, Madame Starr was a "believer" to the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. Voltaire summed up a lesson in his long exile: without financial freedom, there can be no spiritual freedom. In his letters, the philosopher, who lived in the Manor of Fernai (also on the Far-Swiss border), confessed in his letters that exile to England was a "blessing in disguise": he fell in love with business and money, and the return on investment was lucrative, while also making up for psychological shortcomings. According to Carlisle, Voltaire had deposits in the major Banks of Europe, so that when he was exiled to the land, "there was still bread to eat" – Voltaire firmly believed that only under the premise of economic security could he be free to think, write and spread his Enlightenment ideas.

However, unlike voltaire's numerous correspondence (mostly dunnings), Mrs. Starr's correspondence with American friends involved only a very small part of the business dealings—in contrast, she was more concerned with the Second Anglo-American War (1812-1815), the Louisiana land purchase, and the progress of the Westward Expansion and abolitionist movements in the United States, and her correspondence with Gouverneur Morris, Albert S. Albert Gallatin, Thomas Jefferson and other U.S. ambassadors to France, as well as political and business giants such as Thomas Paine and Pierre DuPont. Mrs. Starr later gained great prestige in the United States, partly because of her foresight and on the other hand, from the strong promotion of the above-mentioned people, such as President John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), who praised Mrs. Starr's broad-mindedness: "She loved all mankind not so much as she hated Napoleon." ”

Franklin, america's first plenipotentiary to France, served for a decade (1776-1785) and was well-connected in Paris. With his superb social skills, he made immortal contributions to the American Revolution in winning French aid and establishing the Franco-American alliance. In 1781, as a good friend of Mr. Necker, Franklin was invited to attend the wedding of mr. and mrs. Starr, baron Starr was then the Swedish ambassador to France, and there were many letters between the two sides. Mrs. Starr had always had a crush on Franklin, not only because he was her father's closest friend, but also because he was a father of the American Revolution. After Mrs. Starr's successful return to Paris in 1815 (the year Napoleon suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and was permanently exiled to St. Helena, the deportation order automatically lapsed), she received a congratulatory letter from then U.S. President John Quincy Adams (who had been secretary of the U.S. ambassador to France in 1781). In her reply, Mrs. Starr wrote, "Our family is more like a little island nation of wisdom— where Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson are revered as much as they are in their own country." ”

Mrs. Starr's affection for America initially came from her two aristocratic friends, viscount Montmorency (1767–1826) and Marquis of Lafayette (1757–1834). Montmorency joined the army with his father in his youth, participated in the American Revolutionary War, and became a famous general. After the victory of the American Revolution, he returned to France and at the same time brought back republican ideas. Mrs. Starr's first tragedy, Vicomte de Montmorency, pays homage to him. In Madame Starr's view, all the French soldiers sent to america and educated by General Washington, like Montmorency, had a fervent yearning for freedom upon their return, so it was difficult for them to settle for the status quo and revolt instead.

Similarly, Lafayette defied the king's ban to "go to the Americas without permission", first serving as an aide-de-camp in Washington, then being promoted to general for his many achievements, and returning home with the triumphant courtesy of a popular hero – which also shows that the rule of the French royal family is increasingly unpopular. Inspired by the American Revolution, the idea of equality and freedom in the French National Convention gradually became the main theme, and any act against the will of the king could win public applause. It has been found that the United States, where there is no precedent to follow, can be built into the first republic in the modern sense of human history, and France, which has always been proud of its national culture and political system, is naturally not far behind. This is also the main view held by Mrs. Starr and Burke and others in their later debates, that is, the outbreak of the French Revolution is the inevitable development of history.

Like Franklin, John Adams (1735-1826), who had previously served as ambassador to France, Morris was a founding father of the United States. In 1787, as a representative of Pennsylvania to the United States Constitutional Convention, he was responsible for drafting a draft constitution (and author of the "preamble" to the U.S. Constitution [amanuensis]), advocating that checks and balances of power be established as the basic norms of the Constitution. Unlike moderates such as Washington and Jefferson, Morris actively advocated the abolition of slavery, arguing that "slavery is purely bad custom, and slave-owning quasi-states will be punished by heaven." From 1792 to 1794, during his tenure, he had frequent contacts with Mrs. Starr, and remained a letter after leaving office and returning to China. Morris's firm abolitionist stance won the admiration of Madame Starr, and his sympathetic attitude towards Queen Antoinette was influenced by Madame Starr, who had publicly defended her at great risk of personal safety.

Like Morris, Gallatin and Mrs. Starr maintained a long and friendly relationship. The Swiss, a watchmaker, immigrated to the United States and was appreciated by revolutionary leaders such as Washington, who praised him as "the best candidate for the Treasury secretary." In the Second Anglo-American War, Gallatin fought alongside Lafayette and forged a deep friendship. After the war, Jefferson, who succeeded John Adams as president, appointed Gallatin as ambassador to France (1814-1827). During this period, in order to curb Napoleon's expansion in Europe, Mrs. Starr tried to facilitate secret talks between Gallatin and Tsar Alexander I. The talks were of great historical significance: it forced the British to stop continuing the war with the United States and shift their main forces to the European battlefield, thus hastening Napoleon's rout. This also confirms the evaluation of the people of the time - "there are three major anti-Napoleonic forces in Europe: Britain, Russia and Mrs. Starr". In her letter to Gallatin, Mrs. Starr changed her previous reverence for Britain and said frankly that the United States, not Britain, is the true defender of freedom in the world today. Gallatin is calm, generous, astute and prudent - since the return of France to the United States, Jefferson's letters to Mrs. Starr have mostly been forwarded by Gallatin, which shows the high degree of trust.

Judging from the number of correspondence that were later compiled and published, Jefferson and Mrs. Starr exchanged the most frequent letters, indicating that the common concern between the two was far greater than that of others. Jefferson was ambassador to France from 1784 to 1789 and, like his predecessor Franklin, he was a well-known "pro-French" faction. Jefferson was ordered to return to China (as Secretary of State in the first government) before the outbreak of the French Revolution, but remained extremely concerned about French politics. In the Louisiana land purchase case, Mrs. Starr offered constructive advice to Jefferson, which played a key role in the president's "final decision." During the Anglo-American War, Mrs. Starr wrote to Jefferson sternly condemning the barbarism of Britain: "The Declaration of War by the United States against Britain is indeed at a time when Britain is in a state of disarray on the European continent ... Could it be that Britain alone had a reason to burn Washington? Moreover, they destroyed not military facilities, but civil buildings such as congresses, public facilities, and places of communication for arts and sciences. In short, what they are destroying is a new world — "a new world in which religions have devout adherents and do not need to be forcibly promoted by the state; laws can be respected and not strongly supported by the military and police."

Of course, Mrs. Starr did not condemn Britain blindly, at least on the issue of abolition, she believed that the U.S. government should learn from Britain. Thanks to the efforts of Thomas Clarkson, a prominent English abolitionist, and William Wilberforce, a member of Parliament, britain announced the end of the slave trade in 1807 and subsequently passed a bill to abolish the slave trade completely. In his 1816 letter to Jefferson on the issue of abolition, Starr pointed out: "If there is the only stain on the bright light of reason in this country, it is the continuation of slavery in the southern states." But once Congress finds the cure to eradicate slavery, who won't have the most heartfelt admiration for the American system? At the end of the letter, she encouraged President Jefferson to take decisive measures: "If you succeed in abolishing serfdom in the South, there will be at least one government in the world as perfect as people think."

In addition to domestic problems in the United States, Mrs. Starr was also extremely concerned in her letters about international issues (such as the revolutionary situation in Europe/South America). In 1813, in response to Mrs. Starr's above questions, Jefferson replied with an extraordinarily long letter. He first analyzed the situation on the European continent and believed that Napoleon, who had practiced a reign of terror like Robespierre, would surely collapse quickly. He deeply sympathized with the injustice of the fate endured by Madame Starr, believing that she would be able to return to her homeland after the overthrow of the tyrannical dictatorship. In addition, he personally drew a map of South America, detailing the balance of power between the various parties, and predicted that the Spanish Empire would lose all of its colonies in South America in a short period of time.

Of course, as friends, in addition to major historical events and sensitive political issues, they sometimes make small talk. Jefferson has proudly talked about the return of Two nephews of General Washington from a european study tour and their voluntary participation in the Navy as ordinary crew members, thus proving that the Concept of Freedom and Equality in the United States is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In 1816, Mrs. Starr's daughter was married, and Jefferson wrote a letter of congratulations, while recalling the Necker family's long-term selfless dedication to France, on the other hand, highly praising Mrs. Starr's patriotism, and believing that her descendants would be able to flourish and carry forward in the European and American continents (Mrs. Starr had previously asked Jefferson and other friends for help, hoping that her son would set foot on the land of the United States as he wished).

It is worth mentioning that among the friends of Mrs. Starr who wrote for help, there was a special person - he was Pierre Dupont, who had moved to the United States after Napoleon launched the coup d'état on the eighteenth day of the month of The Moon. Dupont was originally a wealthy French businessman who knew Mr. Necker well. When the French Revolution turned to the Reign of Terror, he immigrated to the United States with his wife and three sons. His youngest son worked with the French chemist Lavoisier on explosives and later founded the famous DuPont Company. Mrs. Starr not only received first-rate business advice in her correspondence with the Dupont fathers and sons, but also enhanced her comprehensive understanding of the American political system with first-hand information.

Another important American friend of Mrs. Starr was Thomas Paine. Born in England, Paine traveled to the Americas as a slave in 1774. The publication of Common Sense in 1776 led directly to the American Revolution of Independence, and Paine himself was wanted by the British government. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, Paine rushed to Paris and was elected to the French National Convention in 1792. At the beginning of the Jacobin dictatorship of terror, Paine declared, "The Republic is dead. The Public Order Commission arrested him on charges of "attempting to subvert the Republic" and released after jefferson (through the U.S. ambassador to France Monroe) intervened. Carefully arranged by Jefferson, Paine returned safely to his "spiritual homeland" of the United States, and eventually grew old.

Like Madame Starr, Paine openly opposed the execution of King Louis XVI and Queen Antoinette. He is said to have secretly plotted to rescue the royal family from the National Guard and helped him abscond to the United States for "political asylum"—a claim that coincided with Mrs. Starr's (or joint planning). Paine and Mrs. Starr also agreed on the question of whether the French Revolution was an accidental event or a historical necessity. In 1789, Paine published The Rights of Man, subtitled "Answer to Mr Burke's Attack on the French Revolution," in a head-on confrontation with burke, a conservative British politician. He refutes the latter's narrow-mindedness and "ignorance of the general situation"—Burke, according to him, "pities the beautiful feathers, but forgets the dying bird", ignorant of the deep catastrophe suffered by the French people at that time and the revolutionary situation that engulfed the Latin American colonies, and thus came to conclusions that are "absurd". In the book On the French Revolution (1818), published after Mrs. Starr, Paine's view was elaborated in more detail.

In the book "On the French Revolution", Mrs. Starr not only summarized her own lessons and lessons, but also made a comparative analysis of the French and American revolutions. Drawing on her knowledge of the history and present situation of European countries, she unreservedly praised the achievements of Americans in the pursuit of political equality and democratic freedom, and foresaw that this emerging country would grow into a world-renowned superpower (a thesis that was more than a decade ahead of Tocqueville's conclusion after his visit to the United States): "There is a class of people who will one day become very great, and they are Americans." They have single-handedly built a whole new world, and what could be more honorable to mankind than this new world, built without the prejudices of the old times? As she said to visiting American historian George Bancroft before her death: "You are the vanguard of humanity, and you are the future of the world." Out of a strong hatred of the old regime, Mrs. Starr pinned her ideal of human social freedom and equality on the United States across the ocean, but it turned out that this was only her good wish for "perfect government" and a dream that she could never achieve.