13' per year. The charts give secular changes of only about one fourth of these amounts, so that the error of reduction in but ten years amounts to almost 2°. It is doubtless due to these large secular changes disclosed in the Indian Ocean, and especially their rapid variation with geographic position, that the large errors mentioned have crept into the charts.

The errors in the other magnetic elements, while of less importance to the mariner, are of consequence to theoretical investigations regarding the earth's magnetism. In the magnetic dip, the errors on the present cruise have amounted at times to 4°, and in the horizontal intensity to about one-twentieth part. While some of the results derived from previous analyses of the earth's magnetic field have pointed to the possibility of large and more or less systematic chart errors, it was not suspected that they would reach the magnitude disclosed by the work of the Galilee and of the Carnegie.

The Carnegie is at present making a circumnavigation cruise and is expected back in New York towards the end of 1913, having left the same port in June, 1910. Up to February 1, 1912, this vessel had already covered about fifty thousand miles. She left Manila on March 23, in command of Mr. W. J. Peters, bound for the Fiji Islands.

Owing to the non-magnetic structure of the Carnegie and the absence in consequence of any deviation corrections, it is possible to obtain and communicate results expeditiously. The data are promptly transmitted to the chief hydrographic establishments issuing magnetic charts in order to enable them to make the necessary corrections from time to time.

THE DIARY OF A VOYAGE TO THE UNITED STATES,

BY MOREAU DE SAINT-MERY.

BY STEWART L. MIMS.

(Read April 18, 1912.)

In his Souvenirs intimes sur Talleyrand, published at Paris in 1870, M. Amédée Pichot remarked in his preface:

"If we were to write a complete biography of Talleyrand, we would be able to give some details, very little known, concerning his exile in America, where M. de Beaumetz and he found themselves with other notable émigrés among whom was Moreau de Saint-Méry. . . . This information has been obtained from an unpublished diary, kept by Moreau de Saint-Méry, which M. Margry has examined and from which he has communicated to us certain extracts concerning the sojourn of Talleyrand at New York, Boston and Philadelphia."

Pichot made two quotations from this "unpublished diary," one at pp. 209-212, describing the intimate relations existing between Talleyrand and Moreau, the other at pp. 212-213 giving the text of a letter written by Talleyrand to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs to acknowledge a letter inclosing the decree of September 3, 1795, which reopened the doors of France to the famous exile. Pichot contented himself with these two citations, either because his friend Margry1 did not choose to give him more material, or because the limitations of his own study did not permit him to quote more extensively from the notes which were actually communicated to him.

Although many studies have appeared on the life of Talleyrand since 1870 and some have made use of Pichot's citations, apparently none, not even such recent biographers as MacCabe, Lacombe and

1 Pierre Margry, author of "Mémoires et Documents pour servir à l'histoire des origines françaises des pays d'outre-mer" and of some studies relating to the history of French colonization in America, was at this time archivist at the Ministry of the Marine.

Loliée, have attempted to find the source from which the citations were taken to see whether it contained other interesting material upon the sojourn of the great diplomat in America.

It was my good fortune, a little over a year ago, to find in the manuscript catalogue of the Archives Coloniales at Paris, the title, "Le Voyage aux Etats-Unis de l'Amérique par Moreau de SaintMéry pendant les années de 1793 à 1798."

Although it called me far afield from the work in which I was engaged, I could not resist the temptation to cast a furtive glance at the manuscript to see what its interesting title meant. That furtive glance grew into the absorbing task of reading from page to page until I had finished the story which the volume contained— a story all but forgotten and lost for three generations among the dusty archives of the Colonial Office. It is to this story that I wish to direct your attention for a few moments.

With the author of the diary many of you are already acquainted from the paper which one of your members presented before this society at its last annual meeting. Permit me to recall, however, the salient facts in his life.

Born at Fort Royal, Martinique, on January 13, 1750, MédéricLouis-Elie Moreau de Saint-Méry was of a family which had emigrated from Poitou to settle at Martinique in the seventeenth century and had won a place of prominence by furnishing in succeeding

2

* MacCabe, "Talleyrand, a Biographical Study," London, 1906; Bernard de Lacombe," La vie intime de Talleyrand," Paris, 1910; Frédéric Loliée, "Talleyrand et la société française," Paris, 1910.

Victor Tantet, late archivist of the Archives Coloniales, made use of the diary to write a very interesting article which appeared in La Revue (1905), Vol. 52, pp. 378–396, and entitled “Les Réfugiés politiques français en Amérique sous la Convention-Moreau de Saint-Méry libraire à Philadelphie." I knew nothing of the existence of this article until after I had found and studied the diary.

Joseph G. Rosengarten, "Moreau de Saint-Méry and his French Friends in the American Philosophical Society," Proceedings of this Society, Vol. 50, pp. 168-182.

This short sketch of Moreau is based on Silvestre, "Notice Biographique sur M. Moreau de Saint-Méry,” Paris, 1819 (a short pamphlet of 24 pp.), and Fournier- Pescay's article in Biographie Universelle on Moreau de SaintMéry.

generations many judges to the principal courts of the island. After spending his boyhood days at Martinique, the young Moreau, at the age of nineteen, took ship for France to acquire that training in the principles of the law which would fit him to follow in the footsteps of his fathers.

After his arrival at Paris, he began to study with such rare enthusiasm and success that at the end of fourteen months he susstained his thesis in Latin and received the degree of bachelor of law. At the end of three years he won the honor of attaining the rank of avocat au parlement and was prepared to turn his face towards his native island in order to follow his chosen profession.

At his return to Martinique he found himself an orphan, the fortune of the family in ruins and nothing to rely upon, in making. a place for himself in the world, except the training which he had just received. The French colony of St. Domingo, the richest of all the West India islands, seemed to offer a more promising future and accordingly he left Martinique and settled at Cap Français (today Cape Haiti) in 1772 to begin the practice of law. After eight years of successful practice, he was elected a member of the conseil supérieur of St. Domingo. It was in the discharge of the duties of this office that Moreau began the difficult task of codifying the laws of the island in order that his decision as a judge might be more intelligent and scientific.

The previous attempts which had been made to codify these laws in 1716, 1738 and 1757 had not been successful. The King had commissioned de la Rivière in 1771 to undertake the task, but his work had been slow and discouraging. Hearing that Moreau was engaged in the same work, de la Rivière gracefully gave way to the younger and more competent man. In preparation for his work Moreau visited all parts of St. Domingo, Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Lucia, thus laying the basis for that larger and later work of preparing his monumental collection of documents, relating to the history of the French West Indies and to be found today in the Archives Coloniales at Paris-a collection which has made his name immortal among all students of West India history. He received a commission from Louis XVI. to return to Paris in order to com

plete and publish the results of his work. From 1784 to 1790 appeared successively the six volumes of his well-known collection of laws, entitled "Loix et Constitutions des Colonies françaises de l'Amérique sous le Vent."

At his return to Paris, Moreau quickly won admission into the intellectual and political life of the capital. He became one of the founders of the Musée de Paris and contributed much to its efficiency. At the outbreak of the revolution in 1789, he became one of its ardent champions. He was chosen as one of the electors of Paris, who at one time virtually ruled over all France. He boasted afterwards during his exile that in serving as their president he was "king of Paris for three days." He was deputy of Martinique in the Constituante, and played an important part, especially in matters which related to the administration of the colonies.

But with Robespierre's accession to power and the inauguration of the Reign of Terror in 1793, Moreau was forced to flee from Paris and seek refuge in Normandy. It was only a temporary refuge that he found, however, for Robespierre placed his name upon the fatal list of those for whose blood he thirsted. Gathering up all that he held most precious, among them the manuscripts of some unpublished works, Moreau escaped with his family to Havre, where by good fortune a ship was ready to sail for the new world.

It was therefore in quality of an émigré that Moreau de SaintMéry set out upon a voyage to the United States. He sailed from Havre on November 9, 1793, aboard the Sophie (Lowther, Captain) bound for New York. After a long struggle against head winds and frequent storms, lasting for one hundred and nineteen days the vessel was forced to put in at Norfolk, where it cast anchor on March 8, 1794. After a stay of two months at Norfolk, Moreau proceeded by water to Baltimore, passing thence to New York by way of Wilmington, Philadelphia and Princeton. He remained at New York from May 25 to August 21, being forced to earn his living by hard work as shipping clerk for the house of Daniel Merian, which was only a "prête-nom" to conceal the shipment of provisions to the French government. During his residence in New York, Moreau The diary contains a most interesting account of this voyage.