An American in Paris
 

37
 

was out of office, instead of 1780, when the banker was at the
height of his power. Blandly asserting that Necker had never in¬
terfered in the concerns of the department of foreign affairs.
 

Hotel d'York on rue Jacob, Quartier Latin, where the Definitive Peace was

signed on September 3, 17S3. The building now houses the publishing firm

of Firmin Didot.

Genet may not have realized that Necker merely took the pre¬
caution not to inform \'ergennes or his subordinates. At the time
in question Genet's father, Edme Jacques Genet, served as premier
commis of the Bureau of Interpretation, passing on to X'ergennes
intelligence received from England and America. The elder Genet
held that post until September 1781, when, on his death, his pre¬
cocious son succeeded him. In fact Edmond Genet was in Vienna
not Versailles in 1780. Thanks to Jay's diary entry we know now
what really transpired, and we know enough to justify Jay's
suspicions that America, but for fortuitous events, might have
been the victim of a dangerous backstairs intrigue that would have
left it dismembered and without the resources to survive as a viable
state.