FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

Letter 6.
New York, October 25, 1808
[From Jean-Baptiste Florian to his wife, Marguerite Marie Le Det de Segrais; she is
apparently in England, probably at Epping Forest, Essex, about seven miles from
London]
Here it is eleven days since I arrived, my good friend, after a voyage of eight days from
Halifax. I hope that you have received the letter that I wrote you from that city, by which
I informed you of our good trip from Falmouth. It took us only three weeks to make that
trip and we had really nice weather almost always. Joseph’s friends 7 have given me the
finest welcome here, especially Mrs. Wilkes and Mrs. Louis Symond. I am staying in the
home of Mrs. Sanson, who is the best woman in the world. I have seen a lot of General
Moreau. 8 He came to get me last Sunday in his curricle [a small light two wheeled
chariot with two matching horses] to take me to Mrs. Symond’s. Tell our good friend
Mrs. Drouin that he is very upset at her news. He talked to me with an open heart and I
believe that the good man would love to be employed in case of attempts in our country
in favor of the legitimate sovereign. He hasn’t changed since I knew him at Rennes.
That was 23 years ago.
<strong>The</strong> devil which has never ceased to persecute me has caused me here a disappointment
which was bound to overtake me. You know that I left London with a letter for Mrs.
Cheriot from our friend Joseph, to hold at my disposal. <strong>The</strong> money which he recovered
from A_______. Joseph must be unaware of these affairs, because Mrs. Cheriot last
January ________ more than 14 thousand piasters, and since he received only 9500 in
payment, it follows that Joseph owes her more than 4 or 5000 piasters. It’s bound to be
that he has constantly made bad deals, because there is the result of five years of work.
You see my dear friend, that this terribly threatens our plans with total ruin.
[p 2] I find myself here with 80 piasters in my pocket and I was barely able to get 60
from Mrs. Chariot to help me get to New Orleans. God knows where I will go and what I
will do when I arrive. <strong>The</strong> key question will be the means and the good will of
Emmanuel. [Emmanuel Marie Le Det de Segrais, the brother-in-law of the writer, was
already in New Orleans.] <strong>The</strong>y tell me here that a habitation [estate or plantation] will
produce in annual revenue a fourth and even a third of what one pays for it, and that on
buying one, on terms, one can with assiduity pay it off in five years and have at the end
of that time 5 to 6000 piasters in revenue. But will Emmanuel ________ put up the
surety for me? I’ll tell you the news when I have some. In the meantime, I tell you with
7 Joseph is almost certainly Joseph Marie Le Det de Segrais, the brother-in-law of the writer, Jean-Baptiste
Florian. However, it is possible that Joseph refers to the father of the writer, Joseph Marie Florian Jolly de
Pontcadeuc, or to an unrelated person.
8 Général Victor Moreau (1763-1813), leader of the student revolt at Rennes in January-February 1789,
(probably with Jean-Baptiste Florian). Moreau was a famous general during the revolution but was an
enemy of Napoleon. He conspired with Pichegru and perhaps Cadoudal to overthrow Napoleon, but was
exiled by Napoleon about 1804.
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