Rusk: The Adventures of Gilbert Imlay 
19 
1793, he sent at least two formidable communications on the 
subject. It seems likely that the Observations du Cap. Imlay, 
traduites de VAnglois^^ was the first of these, for in the only 
other one which I have seen, the very lengthy Memoir e sur la 
Louisiane, presente an Comite de Salut Public par un citoyen 
Americain,^^ Imlay expresses the fear that the papers on the 
same subject (apparently by him) which have already been 
submitted to the Committee by the minister Le Brun have 
not received the attention of the members because of the pres- 
sure of other important matters. The Observations, to which 
it seems likely that Imlay refers as having been neglected by 
the Committee, offers, however, little of interest except a proof 
of the author’s willingness to use his American citizenship for 
the benefit of a foreign country. The fact that the expedition 
would be carried out by citizens of the United States would 
have, he explained, this added advantage : it would eventually 
bring the United States into the war.®® In the much longer 
Memoir e sur la Louisiane Imlay presents a carefully prepared 
argument, tactfuly interspersed with professions of deep 
respect for the Revolution and for the Committee of Public 
Safety. The author urges enthusiastically the importance 
which Spain attached to Louisiana, the long attempt of the 
Spaniards to use their position in that province to extend 
their power over the Western territories of the United States, 
the rapid growth and future commercial importance of those 
territories, his own first-hand knowledge of the Western peo- 
ple gained during a long residence in that country, the neces- 
sity of keeping the matter from the knowledge of the Ameri- 
can government, the slight expense the expedition would 
involve, and the possibility, if it should prove necessary to 
exercise extreme retrenchment, of avoiding even that small 
Printed in Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1896, I, 
953-954. 
Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, Louisiane et Florides, 1792 a 1803, Vol. 7, doct. I, 
as published in The American Historical Review, III, 491-494, I have disregarded the 
date of the indorsement on this document, which must he an error, as the Committee 
of Public Safety did not exist in 1792. The reference which the paper makes to Genet 
as resident in Philadelphia furnishes additional evidence of a mistake in the date of 
indorsement. 
In this particular Imlay showed less regard for his country’s welfare than did 
George Rogers Clark, who suggested that the Americans who were to take part in the 
enterjirise against I.ouisiana should first become citizens of France in order to avoid 
entangling the United States in the war. See Clark’s letter of February 5, 1793, 
Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1896, I, 970. 
