BRINGING HOME THE EXOTIC:
Francois-Jean Chastellux
Travels in North America
(1787)
François-Jean de Beauvoir, Chevalier de Chastellux, had an eye on the public good at least from his
late teens, when he volunteered himself for a test of a new smallpox vaccine. The son of a general, he
entered the armed services at age 15 and was commanding a regiment by 21. After valorous service in
the Seven Years War, he turned to philosophy, producing his first major work,
De la Félicité Publique (On
Public Happiness) in 1772. An attempt to prove that "there is progress, there is hope for the world" in
Enlightenment social principles, it won him entry to the Academie Française at an unusually young age.
In 1779 Chastellux was commissioned one of three Major-Generals under General Rochambeau in the
French expeditionary forces aiding the American Continental Army. The French troops arrived just in
time to take up winter quarters in Rhode Island, and Chastellux used the time and his excellent English
to tour the newborn republic. His Travels in North-America is partly the evaluation of an experienced
soldier and partly the learned and witty comments of an openminded philosopher. He expresses his
disappointment with the inferior wine found at inns, and takes the "precaution" of carrying several dozen
bottles with him. He envies local descriptions of the mockingbird and records his rapture when he finally
hears one himself. He finds Americans of all classes "active and intelligent" but considers their use of
English dull and utilitarian, and their manners unaffected and not manipulative: "In a word, politeness
here is like religion in Italy, every thing in practice, but without any principle."
When not observing nature and the common American, the Frenchman introduced himself to every
person of political or literary fame he could find. He hashed out principles of democracy with James
Madison and Samuel Adams, discussed pacifism with Quaker activist Anthony Benezet, and met Lord
Stirling, one of Society Library's founders. As soon as he could he made a pilgrimage to Monticello. "I
found [Mr. Jefferson's] first appearance serious, nay, even cold; but before I had been two hours with him
we were as intimate as if we had passed our whole lives together," Chastellux enthused. The two sat up
late into the night examining meteorology, architecture, and the geology of the nearby Natural Bridge of
Virginia.
Most of all, Chastellux admired George Washington, giving a much-quoted description of him among his
troops: "The goodness and benevolence which characterise him, are evident from every thing about him;
but the confidence he gives birth to, never occasions improper familiarity; for the sentiment he inspires
has the same origin in every individual, a profound esteem for his virtues, and high opinion of his talents."
Having been told otherwise, he was agreeably surprised by the discipline and skill of Washington's troops.
Chastellux was centrally involved in the plan to trap General Cornwallis at Yorktown; after its success,
he said, "Thus we see that the great events of war are not always great battles, and humanity may receive
some consolation from this sole reflection, that the art of war is not necessarily a sanguinary art, that the
talents of the commanders spare the lives of the soldiers, and that ignorance alone is prodigal of blood."
Toward the end of his trip, Chastellux made twenty-four copies of his journal on a military press in
Rhode Island; only ten or twelve made it to France, but when the author returned he found them
circulating briskly far beyond the intended circle of friends. The book was therefore officially published
and was translated into English by George Grieve, who also knew many of the people mentioned and
added substantial notes on their later history. The French found certain details about the Americans
scandalous, but overall Chastellux's passion for the American cause and for the principles of liberty
and democracy won adherents and can be considered an influence on the growing tide of revolutionary
thought in his own country.
Chastellux kept in intimate contact with Jefferson and particularly Washington for the rest of his life. In
1784 Washington wrote him, "We do not fail to drink your health at dinner every day. I will not give
up the hope of seeing you at Mount Vernon before I quit the stage of human action. The idea would be
too painful." That same year, Chastellux succeeded his brother as the Marquis de Chastellux. He would
later become military governor of Longwy and an Inspector General. He died in October 1788, aged
only 54, just nine months before the spirit of democratic revolution came to a peak at the Bastille. "As for
intolerance and persecution, it is true that these two enemies of the human race, are not bound by strong
enough chains," he had said to Anthony Benezet, "but I will whisper a word in thy ear, of which thou wilt
not perhaps feel all the force, though thou art well acquainted with the French; they are out of fashion; I
should even believe them to be on the point of annihilation."
Further Reading:
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