Following Charles Cotesworth Pinckney's expulsion from France in 1796, Mountflorence was the primary contact in Paris between the French and American governments.
In 1780, Mountflorence became a brigade major under William Richardson Davie in the North Carolina militia and quartermaster of the Salisbury District.
He also sent an intriguing proposal to the French minister of foreign affairs, Pierre Lebrun, asking to lead a covert mission against Spanish Louisiana.
Besides his consular duties, Mountflorence frequently served as an intermediary between the American and French governments and provided intelligence to ambassador James Monroe.
[8] Skipwith, a Jeffersonian Republican, had fallen out of favor with the Washington and Adams administrations, thus leaving Mountflorence, a staunch Federalist, with effective control over consular and diplomatic affairs.
[9] Throughout 1797, Mountflorence negotiated with several officials of the French government, including influential member of the Council of Five Hundred Claude-Emmanuel de Pastoret.
Shortly after the coup of 18 fructidor, Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry arrived in Paris as envoys to negotiate a peace agreement.
When Murray was appointed as part of an American peace commission, Mountflorence returned to Paris, though he seems to have had no substantive role in the negotiations.
[10] Mountflorence continued to represent aggrieved American merchants whose ships and cargoes had been captured or detained by French privateers.