in your letter that "I must be sensible that although I am an
American citizen, yet if you interfere in my behalf as the Minister of
my country you must demand my liberation only in case there be no charge
against me; and that if there is I must be brought to trial previously,
since no person in a _private_ character can be exempt from the laws of
the country in which he resides."--This is what I have twice attempted
to do. I wrote a letter on the 3d Sans Culottodi(1) to the Deputies,
members of the Committee of Surety General, who came to the Luxembourg
to examine the persons detained. The letter was as follows:--"Citizens
Representatives: I offer myself for examination. Justice is due to every
Man. It is Justice only that I ask.--Thomas Paine."

As I was not called for examination, nor heard anything in consequence
of my letter the first time of sending it, I sent a duplicate of it a
few days after. It was carried to them by my good friend and comrade
Vanhuele, who was then going in liberty, having been examined the day
before. Vanhuele wrote me on the next day and said: "Bourdon de l'Oise
[who was one of the examining Deputies] is the most inveterate enemy you
can have. The answer he gave me when I presented your letter put me in
such a passion with him that I expected I should be sent back again
to prison." I then wrote a third letter but had not an opportunity of
sending it, as Bourdon did not come any more till after I received Mr.
Labonadaire's letter advising me to write to the Convention. The letter
was as follows:--"Citizens, I have twice offered myself for examination,
and I chose to do this while Bourdon de l'Oise was one of the
Commissioners.

1 Festival of Labour, September 19, 1794.--_Editor._.

This Deputy has said in the Convention that I intrigued with an ancient
agent of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs. My examination therefore while
he is present will give him an opportunity of proving his charge or of
convincing himself of his error. If Bourdon de l'Oise is an honest man
he will examine me, but lest he should not I subjoin the following. That
which B[ourdon] calls an intrigue was at the request of a member of the
former Committee of Salut Public, last August was a twelvemonth. I met
the member on the Boulevard. He asked me something in French which I
did not understand and we went together to the Bureau of Foreign Affairs
which was near at hand. The Agent (Otto, whom you probably knew in
Americ