The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 | Page 3

explained his action in this respect to the President of Congress in the following letter:
To His Excellency Paris, March 18, 1785. THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Sir: Before I left America, I made application to the Superintendent of Finances for the sword which Congress had been pleased to order, by their resolution of the 17th of November, 1781, to be presented to me, in consequence of which Mr. Morris informed me verbally that he would take the necessary arrangements for procuring all the honourary presents which had been directed to be given to different officers during the late war, and requested that I would undertake to have them executed in Europe. Some time after my arrival here, I received the inclosed letter[1] from him, accompanied with a list of medals, etc., and a description of those intended for General Morgan and Colonels Washington and Howard.
Upon the receipt of these documents I did not delay to make the proper inquiries from the characters who were the best skilled in subjects of this nature, and after having spoken to some of the first artists, I was advised to apply to the Abb�� Barth��l��my, member of the academies of London, Madrid, Cortona, and Hesse-Cassel, and actual keeper of the King's Cabinet of Medals and Antiquities, at whose instance I wrote a letter to the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, of which a copy is inclosed. Being informed at the same time that the description of medals for General Morgan, etc., was not in the style and manner such medals were usually executed, I took the liberty of suspending the execution of them, until I could learn whether it is the pleasure of Congress to have them performed exactly in the manner prescribed--which shall be done accordingly, in case I should not be honoured with further instructions on the subject before their approaching recess.
The medals voted for the capture of Stony Point have been, or I believe may be, all struck from the die originally engraved to furnish one of them for Colonel de Fleury.
As to the swords in question, it is proposed to have them all constructed in precisely the same fashion, the hilt to be of silver, round which a foliage of laurel to be enameled in (p.?xiii) gold in such a manner as to leave a medallion in the centre sufficient to receive the arms of the United States on one side, and on the reverse an inscription in English, "The United States to Colonel Meigs, July 25, 1777," and the same for the others. The whole ten, executed in this manner, may probably cost about three hundred louis d'or, which is (as I have been informed) but little more than was paid for the sword which some time since was presented on the part of the United States to the Marquis de la Fayette.
I have the honour to be, with the most perfect respect, D. HUMPHREYS.
P.S. I forgot to mention that, in order to have the medals for General Morgan, etc., executed in the manner originally proposed, it will be necessary for me to have more particular information of the numbers on both sides, of the killed, wounded, prisoners, trophies, etc., which the enemy lost in the action of the Cowpens.
[Footnote 1: I have not been able to find this letter.]
The following is the letter to the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, referred to by Colonel Humphreys in the above:
Paris, March 14, 1785. Mr. DACIER, Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, Rue Chabanais, Paris.
Sir: Having it in charge to procure the honourary presents which (during the late war) have been voted by Congress to several meritorious officers in their service, particularly three medals in gold, one for General Washington, another for General Gates, and a third for General Greene; and, being extremely desirous that these medals should be executed in a manner grateful to the illustrious personages for whom they are designed, worthy the dignity of the sovereign power by whom they are presented, and calculated to perpetuate the remembrance of those great events which they are intended to consecrate to immortality, I therefore take the liberty to address, through you, Sir, the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, on the subject, and entreat that this learned body will be pleased to honour me, as soon as (p.?xiv) may be convenient, with their advice and sentiments respecting the devices and inscriptions proper for the before mentioned medals. A memoir,[2] which has been left in the hands of M. Barth��l��my, one of their members, will give the necessary information.
In addressing so respectable an assembly of literati I do not think myself permitted to enlarge on the importance of this subject, because they must know, much better than I can inform them, in how great a degree such monuments of