Meanwhile, thrice was the offer made to the fast-budding statesman to
proceed to France as ambassador; and only on the post being pressed upon
him for the fourth time did he accept its duties and responsibilities
and set out, accompanied by a daughter whom he wished to have educated
abroad, for Paris in the summer of 1784.
In the post now vacated by Franklin, Jefferson remained for five years,
until the meeting of the French Estates-General and the outbreak of
the Revolution against absolute monarchy and the theory of the State in
France upon which it rested. With French society, Jefferson, even more
than his predecessor, was greatly enamored, and was on intimate terms
with the savants of the era, including those who by their writings had
precipitated the French Revolution, with all its excesses and horrors.
The latter, it is true, filled Jefferson with dismay on his return to
America, though dear to him were the principles which the apostles of
revolution advocated and the wellbeing of the people, in spite of the
anarchy that ensued. What diplomatic business was called for during his
holding the post of minister, Jefferson efficiently conducted, and with
the courtesy as well as sagacity which marked all his relations as a
publicist and man of the world.
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