#francis kinloch
1774-1776
I’ve posted about these two quite a bit, but I have yet to compile a complete record of all the information we have on the relationship between Francis Kinloch and Johannes von Müller. Since I just found a book with lots of new information, now seems like a pretty good time to do this. @john-laurens first posted about Müller and Kinloch’s relationshiphereandhere, and gets 100% credit for first researching and posting about this relationship.
I hope that this is helpful for anyone who is interested in Kinloch and/or his relationships outside of John Laurens. I’m going to split this up, a bit like my De Végobre essays, because there are two main time periods where Müller and Kinloch were physically in the same place, 1774-1776, when Kinloch was still in Geneva after John Laurens left, and the early 1800s, where Kinloch returned to Geneva with his family. I’ll also have a post about the period in-between these, where Kinloch and Müller were writing letters to each other.
However, in this post I’ll be talking about the earliest of the above times, Kinloch and Müller’s relationship from 1774, when they first met, to late 1776, when Kinloch had to leave to go fight in America. Kinloch and Müller were living together for most of this time.
According to Johannes von Müller, 1752-1809: Bd. 1752-1780 by Karl Heinrich Henking, Müller and Kinloch first met at the house of a mutual friend, Charles Bonnet, in 1774. Madame Bonnet was apparently thrilled that Müller and Kinloch had become such fast friends, and “they were soon treated like sons of the house[.]”
They began to study together, Kinloch assisting Müller in English.
Müller at this time was working as a tutor for the Tronchin family, but was unhappy. Kinloch, knowing this, devised a plan in which he and Müller would live together for the foreseeable future. Perhaps because Kinloch enjoyed studying together, but perhaps also for… other reasons.
Anyway, it was worked out, and so Kinloch “rented a small country house with six rooms in the village of Chambésy on the right bank of Lake Geneva, an easy hour from the city, halfway between Geneva and Versoix…” (Johannes von Müller, 1752-1809: Bd. 1752-1780 by Karl Heinrich Henking.) Müller was very happy there, and even more so when Charles Victor de Bonstetten came to join them.
And with the introduction of Bonstetten, now is probably a good time to examine Müller’s sexuality a bit. Johannes von Müller’s sexuality is not really a mystery. Pretty much everything I’ve found which talks about his sexuality states that he was homosexual, and very open about it for his time period. Later in life, sadly, this openness was exploited in a series of love letters and requests for money from a fabricated duke. (I post about thathere.)
In Outing Goethe and His Age, edited by Alice A. Kuzniar, it states that, “For present purposes, however, it is most important to know that Johannes von Müller was out as one inclined to Socratic or Greek love to an extent unparalleled in eighteenth-century Germany.” In other texts, Müller is more casually referred to as homosexual, and in older texts his sexuality is not really mentioned, but the consensus seems to be pretty clear.
When Müller’s actual relationships are discussed, the name that comes up is always Bonstetten. Müller and Bonstetten exchanged many letters, and were generally quite close. (a good summary of their relationship can be found here.) But as I hope you’ll find in these posts, it is possible that Kinloch’s name should be included as well.
So! Kinloch, Müller, Bonstetten, and a man named Alleyne Fitzherbert are living in this six-room house in the summer of 1775. But that August, Kinloch and Müller started traveling around Switzerland together. You know, like all friends do. Müller used the trip for a bit of research, seeing if the writings on differences between the parts of Switzerland were accurate.
After returning to Geneva, Kinloch and Müller lived with the Bonnet’s for a while, their old home having been moved into. In November of 1775, Müller and Kinloch “returned to their house in Chambésy, but then rented another apartment in May 1776 very close to Bonnet’s home in Genthod to be closer to their esteemed older friend.”
Side note to say how much Müller admired Charles Bonnet. He wrote to Bonstetten, “Herr Bonnet is truly a demigod; I do not know a more practical philosopher, a more noble-thinking and lovable man, neither in history nor in the world, and what is most beautiful is that all of this happens from the strength of his philosophy, not from mere impulses.”
It is during this time that, at least according to, Johannes von Müller, 1752-1809: Bd. 1752-1780, Müller was at his happiest. “…free of economic worries, he was able to live entirely in the sciences with which friends conduct an extremely extensive reading, which focused on the classical literature of antiquity and works of the English, French, Italians, and in some cases also the Germans in the fields of history, the Politics of constitutional law and economics related.”
Clearly, Müller and Kinloch’s relationship was far from purely emotional; they apparently also enjoyed studying and reading together. This parallels De Végobre and Kinloch– De Végobre mentions in a letter to John Laurens that, “…I read speclator, Clarissa, Milton and Shakespear, besides some philosophical books. Never, never in my life have I been so well entertained as when I read Milton; and why? First, for poet’s excellency and secondly and chiefly because I read it with Kinloch. My beloved, my dearest friend is Kinloch; how happy am I, when I teach him some part of natural philosophy, when I read with him both English and French poets, when I talk with him about various matters plainly and heartily as with a friend!”
But, alas for Müller, it could not last. Kinloch, though at first he was a loyalist, was preparing to leave Geneva to fight in the continental army. Though they had originally planned to tour Italy together, those plans were quickly deteriorating over Kinloch’s increased probability of returning to America.
In German. Most of this information comes from the book, Johannes von Müller, 1752-1809: Bd. 1752-1780 by Karl Heinrich Henking, which is in German, parts of which I google translated. So… it’s probable there are some translation errors. This post is kind of just a messy list of the information from the pages I’ve translated, but there is some stuff that was new to me.
So! Francis Kinloch and Johannes von Müller met at Charles Bonnet (I assume, but the book only refers to him by the surname ‘Bonnet’)’s house, and got along really fast, which made Madame Bonnet very happy.
Beginning perhaps even before 1775 they would meet several times during the week to read and study together, and Kinloch helped Müller with his English, much as he did with De Végobre.
The aforementioned book makes it apparent that Müller greatly admired Kinloch for many reasons, stating,
“Müller praises his new friend for his fiery, astute mind, the extraordinary thirst for knowledge, the natural and engaging courtesy which made him popular with men and women; ‘He is the noblest, friendliest and most virtuous youth; even his faults are gracious.’”
Then Kinloch started addressing “his letters to Müller ‘to the beloved of my heart.’” (all quotes from the book mentioned at the top of the post.) Well. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that, but that’s very affectionate.
I’ll do something longer on this, (I already posted a quote about it, and @john-laurens posts about ithere) but during the summer of 1775, Kinloch, Müller, and Müller’s lover Charles Victor de Bonstetten, were all living together, in a six-room house. I am unsure about the nature of Bonstetten and Kinloch’s relationship, the only thing I’ve been able to find about that is that Kinloch wrote to Müller much later in life, (1804, I think) “I see Bonstetten here frequently– I love him for your sake, as well as for his chearful & various conversation…”
Later in that summer, Alleyne Fitzherbert (for whom Mt. St. Helens is named, fun fact,) came to join them.
I’ll also do something longer on this, but Kinloch and Müller also went on a trip around Switzerland together in August of 1775, to many places, and Müller observed everything to see if the writings on the different parts of Switzerland were true.
Basically, Kinloch was pretty busy between the time when John Laurens left and when he came back to America to fight in the continental army.
“Adieu_ present my Compliments to any inquiring Friend_ Greet Vegobre kindly in my Name_ and believe me to be as sincerely as a Republican can be to a Royalist Your Friend John Laurens.”
- John Laurens to Francis Kinloch, June 16, 1776 (Bonus Bitchiness: Laurens addressed the letter as, “À Monsieur / Monsieur François Kinloch / Gentilhomme Anglois / à Genthod / près de Genevé” - he specifically called out Kinloch for being a “Gentilhomme Anglois” [Englishman] so the snarkiness could begin before Kinloch even opened the letter. Really, that wholeletter is a giant roast of Kinloch. 10/10, would recommend reading.)
“I have been in several actions; I did not call that an action, as there was no action previous to the retreat.”
- John Laurens to Charles Lee at Lee’s court-martial in July 1778. Lee had asked Laurens, “Were you ever in an action before?” And then Laurens came for Lee’s life. (Bonus Bitchiness: Lee asked Laurens, “Did you impute my embarrassment to my uneasiness, by having been counteracted by some officers under my command, to the contradictory intelligence I received, or to my want of a personal tranquility of mind?” Laurens responded, “I imputed it to want of presence of mind.”)
“The sword which I now wear in the defense of France as well as my own country I may be compelled within a short time to draw against France as a British subject, unless the succor I solicit is immediately accorded.”
- John Laurens to the Count de Vergennes when France was slow to offer more aid to the Americans during the Revolution.
“The Plan which brought me to this country, was urged with all the zeal which the subject inspired, both in our privy council and Assembly—but the single voice of reason was drowned by the howlings of a triple-headed monster in which Prejudice Avarice & Pusillanimity were united”
- John Laurens to George Washington, May 19, 1782. Laurens was informing Washington about how his plan to form a black regiment was again shot down by the South Carolina legislature. (Bonus Bitchiness: Laurens wrote to Hamilton in July 1782 and was still so upset about this slight that he basically wrote the same line: “I had, in fact, resumed the black project, as you were informed, and urged the matter very strenuously, both to our privy council and legislative body; but I was out-voted, having only reason on my side, and being opposed by a triple-headed monster that shed the baneful influence of Avarice, prejudice, and pusillanimity in all our Assemblies.” Also, I love the sarcasm in “having only reason on my side.”)
“If any explanation on my part can be useful in restoring matters I will chearfully [do] every thing that can be ex[pec]ted from an officer who prefers the interests of the service & the tranquility of a corps to all other considerations_ _ but unless I cd. see the officers assembled, I shd still be at a loss how to treat so extraordinary and unaccountable a business_ In any future discussion of it shd the Gentlemen discover an inclination to return to their duty, which I think if they know their own inter[ests] they must feel very strongly_ beg that I may be considered as totally out of the question_”
- John Laurens to Nathanael Greene, June 21, 1782. Long story short, Laurens led the Legion after Henry Lee, the officers in the Legion hated Laurens and wanted to serve under anyone but him, the officers said they would resign if Greene didn’t give them a new leader, Greene called their bluff. Laurens’s letter to Lee isn’t outright bitchy, but I definitely get a “screw this” undertone throughout.
