necessary to assign the manner in which the possession of them was acquired; and in executing this part of his task, circumstances were stated so notoriously untrue, that, at the time, the meditated imposition deceived no person.

In the indefatigable research for testimony which might countenance the charge that the executive was unfriendly to France, and under the influence of Britain, these letters were drawn from the oblivion into which they had sunk, it had been supposed forever, and were republished as genuine. The silence with which the President treated this as well as every other calumny, was construed into an acknowledgment of its truth; and the malignant commentators on this spurious text, would not admit the possibility of its being apocryphal.

Those who laboured incessantly to establish the favourite position that the executive was under other than French influence, reviewed every act of the administration connected with its foreign relations, and continued to censure every part of the system with extreme bitterness. Not only the treaty with Great Britain, but all those measures which had been enjoined by the duties of neutrality, were reprobated as justly offensive to France; and no opinion which had been advanced by Mr. Genet, in his construction of the treaties between the two nations, was too extravagant to be approved. The ardent patriot can not maintain the choicest rights of his country with more zeal than was manifested in supporting all the claims of the French republic upon the United States. These discussions were not confined to the public prints. In almost every assemblage of individuals, whether for social or other purposes, this favourite theme excluded all others; and the pretensions of France were supported and controverted with equal earnestness. The opposing parties, mutually exasperated by unceasing altercations, cherished reciprocal suspicions of each other, and each charged its adversary with being under a foreign influence.* Those who favoured the measures adopted by America were accused as the enemies of liberty, the enemies of France, and the tools of Britain. In turn, they charged their opponents with disseminating principles subversive of all order in society; and with supporting a foreign government against their own.

Whatever might be the real opinion of the French government on the validity of its charges against the United States, those charges were too vehemently urged, and too powerfully espoused in America, to be abandoned at Paris. If at any time they were in part relinquished, they were soon resumed.

For a time, Mr. Fauchet forbore to press the points on which his * See Note, No. XXII. at the end of the volume.

pre

decessor had insisted; but his complaints of particular cases which grew out of the war, and out of the rules which had been established by the executive were unremitting. The respectful language in which these complaints were at first urged, soon yielded to the style of reproach; and in his correspondence with the secretary of state, towards its close, he adopted the sentiments, without absolutely discarding the manner of Mr. Genet.

Mr. Adet, the successor of Mr. Fauchet, arrived at Philadelphia, while the senate was deliberating on the treaty of amity with Great Britain.

In the observations he made on that instrument, when submitted to his consideration by order of the President, he complained particularly of the abandonment of the principle that free ships should make free goods; and urged the injustice, while French cruisers were restrained by treaty from taking English goods out of American bottoms, that English cruisers should be liberated from the same restraint. No demonstration could be more complete than was the fallacy of this complaint. But the American government discovered a willingness voluntarily to release France from the pressure of a situation in which she had elected to place herself.

In the anxiety which was felt by the President to come to full and immediate explanations on this treaty, the American minister at Paris had been furnished, even before its ratification, and still more fully afterwards, with ample materials for the justification of his government. But, misconceiving* the views of the administration, he reserved these representations to answer complaints which were expected, and omitted to make them in the first instance, while the course to be pursued by the directory was under deliberation. Meanwhile, his letters kept up the alarm which had been excited with regard to the dispositions of France; and intelligence from the West Indies served to confirm it. Through a private channel, the President received information that the special agents of the directory in the islands were about to issue orders for the capture of all American vessels, laden in the whole or in part with provisions, and bound for any port within the dominions of the British crown.

Knowing well that the intentions of the executive towards the French republic had been at all times friendly, and entertaining a strong conviction that its conduct was liable to no just objection, the President had relied with confidence on early and candid communications, for the removal of any prejudices or misconceptions, which the passions of the moment might have occasioned. That the French government would * See Monroe's View.

be disappointed at the adjustment of those differences which had threatened to embroil the United States with Great Britain, could not be doubted; but as neither this adjustment, nor the arrangements connected with it, had furnished any real cause of complaint, he had cherished the hope that it would produce no serious consequences, if the proper means of prevention should be applied in time. He was therefore dissatisfied with delays which he had not expected; and seems to have believed that they originated in a want of zeal to justify a measure, which neither the minister himself nor his political friends had ever approved. To insure an earnest and active representation of the true sentiments and views of the administration, the President was inclined to depute an envoy extraordinary for the particular purpose, who should be united with the actual minister; but an objection drawn from the constitution was suggested to this measure. During the recess of the senate, the President can only fill up vacancies; and the appointment of a minister when no vacancy existed, might be supposed to transcend his powers. From respect to this construction of the constitution, the resolution was taken to appoint a successor to Colonel Monroe. The choice of a person in all respects qualified for this mission was not without its difficulty. While a disposition friendly to the administration was a requisite not to be dispensed with, it was also desirable that the person employed should have given no umbrage to the French government. No individual who had performed a conspicuous part on the political theatre of America, fitted both branches of this description. All who had openly sustained with zeal and with talents, the measures of the American government, had been marked as the enemies of France, and were on this account to be avoided.

For this critical and important service, the President, after some deliberation, selected General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina, an elder brother of Mr. Thomas Pinckney, the late* minister of the United States at London. No man in America was more perfectly free from exception than this gentleman. Having engaged with ardour in that war which gave independence to his country, he had, in its progress, sustained from the British army indignities to his person, and injuries to his fortune, which are not easily forgotten. In the early part of the French revolution, he had felt and expressed all the enthusiasm of his countrymen for the establishment of the republic; but, after the commencement of its contests with the United States, he stood aloof from both those political parties which had divided America. Restrained

* At his own request, Mr. Pinckney had been recalled; and Mr. King, a gentleman whose talents have been universally acknowledged, and whose services will be long recollected with approbation, had succeeded him.

by the official situation of his brother during the negotiations which had been carried on with England, he had forborne to express any opinion respecting the treaty in which those negotiations terminated, and had consequently taken no part with those who approved, or with those who condemned that instrument. No man, therefore, who had not declared himself unfriendly to the principles he would be deputed to support, could be less objectionable to France.

To the President he was recommended by an intimate knowledge of his worth; by a confidence in the sincerity of his personal attachment to the chief magistrate; by a conviction that his exertions to effect the objects of his mission would be ardent and sincere; and that, whatever might be his partialities for France, he possessed a high and delicate sense of national as well as individual honour, was jealous for the reputation of his country, and tenacious of its rights.

In July, immediately after the appointment of General Pinckney, letters were received from Colonel Monroe communicating the official complaints against the American government which had been made to him in March by Mr. de La Croix, the minister of exterior relations, together with his answer to those complaints.

In this answer the American minister had effectually refuted the criminations of Mr. de La Croix; and the executive was satisfied with it. But the Directory had decided on their system, and it was not by reasoning, however conclusive, that this decision was to be changed.

As the time for electing the chief magistrate approached, the anxiety of the public respecting the person in office, seemed to increase. In states where the electors are chosen by the people, names of great political influence were offered for their approbation. The strong hold which Washington had taken of the affections of his countrymen was, on this occasion, fully evinced. In districts where the opposition to his administration was most powerful, where all his measures were most loudly condemned, where those who approved his system possessed least influence, the men who appeared to control public opinion on every other subject, found themselves unable to move it on this. Even the most popular among the leaders of the opposition were reduced to the necessity of surrendering. their pretensions to a place in the electoral body, or of pledging themselves to bestow their suffrage on the actual President. The determination of his fellow citizens had been unequivocally manifested, and it was believed to be apparent that the election would again be unanimous, when he announced his resolution to withdraw from the honours and the toils of office.

Having long contemplated this event, and having wished to terminate

his political course with an act which might be at the same time suitable to his own character, and permanently useful to his country, he had prepared for the occasion a valedictory address, in which, with the soli citude of a person, who, in bidding a final adieu to his friends, leaves his affections and his anxieties for their welfare behind him, he made a last effort to impress upon his countrymen those great political truths which had been the guides of his own administration, and could alone, in his opinion, form a sure and solid basis for the happiness, the independence, and the liberty of the United States.

This interesting paper was published in September, at a time when hopes were entertained that the discontents of France might be appeased by proper representations. It contains precepts to which the American statesman can not too frequently recur, and though long, is thought too valuable to be omitted or abridged.

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.

"Friends and fellow citizens,

"The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprize you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those, out of whom a choice is to be made.

“I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured, that this resolution has not been taken, without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that, in withdrawing the tender of service which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest; no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness; but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

"The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in the office to which your saffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire, I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to