James Monroe / Elizabeth Monroe

James Monroe

The French Revolution claimed many victims; among them was King Louis XVI’s favorite general-The Marquis de Lafayette. He was in exile while his wife had been imprisoned.
This scene takes place in an official American carriage along the boulevard San Michel in Paris.

James Monroe: Well my dear, I have certainly married the right woman.

Elizabeth Monroe: Did you have your doubts?

Monroe: No doubts at all but I did not expect so quick and happy an ending. Did you take her to the address I’d given you?

Elizabeth: All done as you instructed. I took the official carriage to the prison gate. The guards saw the seal of the United States and immediately let us in. In my most condescending yet seductive voice, I identified myself as the wife of James Monroe, Diplomat from the United States of America and asked that Mme. de Lafayette be released in my care. The guards called their Captain Dupres, an officious little man who was delighted to receive my gloved hand and told me that French revolutionaries were friends of America or something to that effect, since my elementary French isn’t precise. When I suggested he might want to call his superiors, he smiled and told me he had the authority to meet my request. James, I can assure you that although my voice was steady, my knees were trembling.

Monroe: You were in no real danger of being arrested. You know that of course.

Elizabeth: I knew nothing with any certainty. This revolution has gone terribly wrong. Innocent people, merely because they were wealthy, were decapitated by that awful guillotine. Could you have lived with yourself if your dear wife were to be killed in such a way? Could you predict that no strange change of mood or sudden indigestion would have been the cause of my immediate arrest for conspiring with the enemy?

Monroe: Losing you in that way would have devastated my life. That being the case, I would have immediately joined you in death. I would have gladly gone to the prison myself had I not been told that as an official of our country, I should not be seen trying to influence French politics. During that undeclared war with France, we as a nation would not have attempted such a daring maneuver. With Thomas Jefferson as president who has always been a strong Francophile, we perceived no risk in trying to repay the Marquis de Lafayette and his family.

Elizabeth: Well, as you see, my pretty head is properly in its place and my pretty little stomach is growling for some pain au buerre avec café crème.

Monroe: Of course, my love, we’ll have breakfast in our favorite country inn. By the way, you asked what would be done with Adrienne Lafayette. She will join her husband in his self-imposed exile. Very few people know of his whereabouts.

Elizabeth: What has become of George, their eldest son?

Monroe: He has been safe from the terror of the revolution. He is in America, living first with Betsy and Alexander Hamilton and then George Washington Lafayette went to live with his namesake and Martha.

Elizabeth Monroe

The French Revolution created many victims among them was King Louis XVI’s favorite general The Marquis de Lafayette. He was in exile while his wife had been imprisoned.
The scene takes place in an official American carriage along the boulevard San Michel in Paris.

James Monroe: Well my dear, I have certainly married the right woman.

Elizabeth Monroe: Did you have your doubts?

Monroe: No doubts at all but I did not expect so quick and happy an ending. Did you take her to the address I’d given you?

Elizabeth: All done as you instructed. I took the official carriage to the prison gate. The guards saw the seal of the United States and immediately let us in. In my most condescending yet seductive voice, I identified myself as the wife of James Monroe, Diplomat from the United States of America and asked that Mme. De Lafayette be released in my care. The guards called their Captain Dupres, an officious little man who was delighted to receive my gloved hand and told me that French revolutionaries were friends of America or something to that effect, since my elementary French isn’t precise. When I suggested he might want to call his superiors,
he smiled and told me he had the authority to meet my request. James, I can assure you that although my voice was steady, my knees were trembling.

Monroe: You were in no real danger of being arrested. You know that of course.

Elizabeth: I knew nothing with any certainty. This revolution has gone terribly wrong. Innocent people, merely because they were wealthy, were decapitated by that awful guillotine. Could you have lived with yourself if your dear wife were to be killed in such a way? Could you predict that no strange change of mood change or sudden indigestion would have been the cause of my immediate arrest for conspiring with the enemy?

Monroe: Losing you in that way would have devastated my life. That being the case, I would have immediately joined you in death. I would have gladly gone to the prison myself had I not been told that as an official of our country, I should not be seen trying to influence French politics. During that undeclared war with France, we as a nation would not have attempted such a daring maneuver. With Thomas Jefferson as president who has always been a strong Francophile, we perceived no risk in trying to repay the Marquis de Lafayette and his family.

Elizabeth: Well, as you see, my pretty head is properly in its place and my pretty little stomach is growling for some pain au buerre avec café crème.

Monroe: Of course, my love, we’ll have breakfast in our favorite country inn. By the way, you asked what would be done with Adrienne Lafayette. She will join her husband in his self-imposed exile. Very few people know of his whereabouts.

Elizabeth: What has become of George, their eldest son?

Monroe: He has been safe from the terror of the revolution. He is in America, living first with Betsy and Alexander Hamilton and then George Washington Lafayette went to live with his namesake and Martha.