In the early days of the revolutionary period, she was in Paris taking an interest in, and attending the Assembly, and holding a salon: In the salon of Madame de Tessé, who according to the Goncourt brothers, had been formulating plans for a constitutional monarchy for twenty years, "the most advanced opinions" found themselves amid what Guizot called, "a small group with elegant manners.
[citation needed] Gouverneur Morris after being received at Versailles, 5 March 1789, visited: Return to Paris and dine with Madame de Tessé—republicans of the first feather.
The countess, who is a very sensible woman, has formed her ideas of government in a manner not suited, I think, either to the situation, the circumstances, or the disposition of France, and there are many such,[7] And on 17 September 1789, he noted:She is a convert to my principles.
[citation needed] In 1797 she lived in exile at Wittmoldt, Holstein, near the town of Plön, with a large entourage, her Montagu nephews, an old priest, the Abbé de Luchet.
We know that in the last years of his life, he gave his Hôtel de Tessé, to make a seminar and a bishopric, in Sarthe and Mayenne departments.
While in France he had encountered the white heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens), native to Peru, and sent seeds home to his friend Francis Eppes for Monticello, noting that it was: to be sowed in the spring.
In 1811 Jefferson acknowledged the receipt of seeds, she had sent in 1809, of the native Chinese goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata), which was by then growing at Monticello—the first such specimen in the United States.
Jefferson wrote: I cherish it with particular attentions, as it daily reminds me of the friendship with which you have honored me.I learn with great pleasure the success of your new gardens at Auenay.