Most of the nine items in the Barbé-Marbois collection are copies of legal documents pertaining to the Longchamps affair, including a statement arguing for Longchamp's trial in France as a French citizen, the opinion of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that he was to be tried in the courts of that state, and a copy of the judgment handed down against Longchamps, sentencing him to prison and to a fine by the Court.
Another legal document, dated 1784, is related to a different civil suit, and a 1790 Barbé-Marbois letter concerns matters unrelated to this incident. Three photocopied items (copied from "To Supporters of American Independence -- Phila., 1784," in the Books Division) consist of anonymous letters written to Philadelphia and Boston newspapers supporting the trial of Longchamps in Pennsylvania as an American citizen. A manuscript rough draft of the Philadelphia letter, written in French, accompanies the news clippings.
These documents are interesting from a legal standpoint, but they also provide a glimpse of an emerging American "national consciousness." Public opinion on the case shows a concern that the young republic be accorded full respect and status by Old World powers in defining and enforcing its laws.
François Barbé-Marbois is perhaps best known for negotiating the Louisiana Purchase as Minister of Finance under Napoleon. However, this was but one segment of a long and varied career during which the marquis showed a remarkable talent for adapting to changing political winds. Barbé-Marbois had a long diplomatic career in America, serving as secretary of the French legation to the newly-formed United States under Luzerne, and later as Consul-General and representative.
In 1784, Barbé-Marbois was allegedly assaulted in Philadelphia by the chevalier Charles Julian de Longchamps, and a public controversy arose as to whether the defendant was to be tried in Pennsylvania or in France, as that nation's courts demanded. Longchamps was married to an American and had supposedly taken the oath of citizenship, but had been in this country less than a year and was a French military officer. These documents show that Longchamps was eventually tried and sentenced in the Pennsylvania courts. It is unknown whether he remained in this country.
