Louisiana and Aaron Burr 211 



the army would soon be at the gates of New Or- 

 leans. 2 



Genet immediately commissioned Clark as a Ma- 

 jor-General in the service of the French Republic, 

 and sent out various Frenchmen Michaux, La 

 Chaise, and others with civil and military titles, 

 to co-operate with him, to fit out his force as well 

 as possible, and to promise him pay for his expenses. 

 Brown, now one of Kentucky's representatives at 

 Philadelphia, gave these men letters of introduction 

 to merchants in Lexington and elsewhere, from 

 whom they got some supplies; but they found they 

 would have to get most from Philadelphia. 3 Mi- 

 chaux was the agent for the French Minister, though 

 nominally his visit was undertaken on purely scien- 

 tific grounds. Jefferson's course in the matter was 

 characteristic. Openly, he was endeavoring in a 

 perfunctory manner to carry out Washington's pol- 

 icy of strict neutrality in the contest between France 

 and England, but secretly he was engaged in tortu- 

 ous intrigues against Washington and was thwarting 

 his wishes, so far as he dared, in regard to Genet. 

 It is impossible that he could have been really mis- 

 led as to Michaux's character and the object of his 

 visits ; nevertheless, he actually gave him a letter of 

 introduction to the Kentucky Governor, Isaac Shel- 

 by. 4 Shelby had shown himself a gallant and capa- 



8 Do., Letter of George Rogers Clark, Feb. 5, 1793; also 

 Feb. 2d and Feb. jd. 



* Draper MSS. , Michaux to George Rogers Clark, undated, 

 but early in 1793. 



4 State Department MSS., Jefferson Papers, Series I, Vol. 

 V, p. 163. 



