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CHAPTER tract; that we ought to risk every thing before we submit to dishonorable terms. But we may remold our 1797. treaties. We may agree to put France on the same footing with Great Britain by our treaty with her. We may also liquidate, with a view to future wars, the import of the mutual guarantee in the treaty of alliance, substituting specific succors, and defining the casus fœderis. This last may or may not be done, though, with me, it is a favorite object. Ingersoll will not answer the purpose; but I had rather have him than do nothing. If Madison is well coupled, I do not think his intrigues can operate as you imagine. Should he advocate dishonorable concessions to France, the public opinion will not support him. His colleagues, by address, and showing a disposition to do enough, may easily defeat his policy and maintain the public confidence. Besides, it is possible that too much may be taken for granted with regard to Mr. Madison."

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While the sending of a new mission to France was thus zealously urged in his private correspondence by Hamilton, a similar course was warmly recommended by the leaders of the opposition, to whom the news of Pinckney's expulsion from France had given a certain shock. March 30. An article in the Aurora, very different from the usual ribald style of that journal, and which, from internal evidence, was ascribed to Madison, apologized for the refusal to receive Pinckney on the ground that, as the Directory had suspended their ordinary minister here, they could not receive an ordinary minister from the United States. It was therefore urged that what was done in the case of Great Britain should be imitated now, and that, "suitably to the solemnity of the occasion," an envoy extraordinary should be appointed, to carry with him the temper and sensibilities of the country."

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Though the president had already made up his mind CHAPTER to send an extraordinary mission, he still conformed to the practice of Washington in taking the written opin- 1797. ions of his cabinet. Wolcott retained his original opinion as to the inexpediency of a new mission, and Pickering coincided with him. Pickering, indeed, from his naturally inflexible temper, was liable, even more than Wolcott, to the danger suggested by Hamilton, that the strength of his feelings might prevent that pliability to circumstances which is sometimes indispensable in politics. They consented, indeed, to the appointment of ministers, but were of opinion that they should not enter France without a passport previously obtained, and a formal agreement of the French government to a renewal of negotiations.

On the day fixed by the president's proclamation, a May 13. full quorum of both houses of Congress assembled at Philadelphia. The Senate, which, during the greater part of Washington's administration, had been so` equally divided that many important measures had been carried by the casting vote of the vice-president, had now a decided Federal majority. What would be the character of the House was considered uncertain. That body had undergone considerable changes. Ames had retired on account of his health. Madison, also, had declined a reelection, but his retirement was the less felt by his party, inasmuch as the superior promptitude and audacity of Gallatin had completely taken the leadership out of his hands-a circumstance, possibly, which had contributed to his retirement. Page, also, had ceased to be a member. Among the old members on the Federal side were Goodrich and Griswold, of Connecticut; Dayton, of New Jersey; Hartley, Kittera, and Sitgreaves, of Pennsylvania; and Harper and Smith, of South Carolina. Among

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CHAPTER the new members on this side were Harrison Gray Otis, the successor of Ames, and Isaac Parker and Samuel 1797. Sewall, both afterward chief justices of Massachusetts, of whom the former had superseded Dearborn; James A. Bayard, of Delaware, and John Rutledge, Jr., of South Carolina. That Rutledge should vote with the Federalists, and thus make an equal division of the delegation from South Carolina, was very disagreeable to Jefferson. General Morgan, distinguished in the Revolutionary war, one of the new members from Virginia, after a little wavering finally joined the Federalists.

The opposition could boast of old members, Varnum, of Massachusetts; Livingston, of New York; Gallatin, Findley, and Swanwick, of Pennsylvania; Samuel Smith, of Maryland, who had now finally settled down on the Republican side; Giles, Nicholas, Parker, and Venable, of Virginia; Macon, of North Carolina; and Baldwin, of Georgia. Sumter, of South Carolina, who had been a member of the first and second Congress, now also again reappeared in the ranks of the opposition. Among the new opposition members were Matthew Lyon, of Vermont, and Blair M'Clenachan, of Pennsylvania. Neither party could be said to have a majority. Every thing depended upon a few wavering individuals, to gain over whom both sides made every exertion. Dayton, a very ambitious man, who strove as far as possible to please both sides, was re-elected speaker. The old clerk Bexley, a very warm partisan of the opposition, and suspected, on good grounds, of having furnished materials for some of the bitter personal newspaper attacks on Washington, was, much to the delight of the Federalists, superseded by a single vote.

The president's speech began with what has since become the regular formula for the commencement of such

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documents devout congratulations on the public pros- CHAPTER perity; after which followed an account of the treatment experienced by Pinckney. "As it is often necessary," 1797. so the speech continued, "that nations should treat for the mutual advantage of their affairs, and especially to accommodate and terminate differences, and as they can treat only by ministers, the right of embassy is well known and established by the law of nations. The refusal on the part of France to receive our minister is, then, the denial of a right; but the refusal to receive him until we have acceded to their demands, without discussion and without investigation, is to treat us nei ther as allies nor as friends, nor as a sovereign state."

"With this conduct of the French government, it will be proper to take into view the public audience given to the late minister of the United States on his taking leave of the Executive Directory. The speech of the president discloses sentiments more alarming than the refusal of a minister, because more dangerous to our independence and union, and, at the same time, studiously marked with indignities toward the government of the United States. It evinces a disposition to separate the people from the government, to persuade the people that they have differ eat affections, principles, and interests from those of their fellow-citizens, whom they themselves have chosen to manage their common concerns, and thus to produce divisions fatal to our peace. Such attempts ought to be repelled with a decision which shall convince France and the world that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable instruments of foreign influence, and regardless of national honor, character, and interest." In spite, however, of these injuries, a desire was expressed, in which Congress and the people were presumed

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CHAPTER to concur, to preserve peace and friendship with all nations; and in the belief that neither the honor nor the 1797. interest of the United States absolutely forbade the repetition of advances to France, the intention was stated to send a new mission thither. The president at the same time pressed upon Congress the creation of a navy, as, "next to the militia, the natural defense of the United States;" the fortification of harbors; the passage of laws authorizing, under proper regulations, the arming of merchant vessels in their own defense-a practice hitherto not permitted, except in case of vessels bound to the East Indies. It was also recommended to enact severe punishments against the "unnatural and iniquitous practices" of building privateers in the United States to cruise against American commerce, and against the serving of American citizens on board of such pri

vateers.

"For myself," the speech concluded, "having never been indifferent to what concerned the interest of my country; devoted the best part of my life to obtain and support its independence; and having constantly witnessed the patriotism, fidelity, and perseverance of my fellow-citizens on the most trying occasions, it is not for me to hesitate, or to abandon a cause in which my heart has been so long engaged.

"Convinced that the conduct of the government has been just and impartial to foreign nations; that those internal regulations which have been established by law for the preservation of peace are in their nature proper, and that they have been fairly executed, nothing will ever be done by me to impair the national engagements; to innovate upon principles which have been so deliberately and uprightly established; or to surrender in any manner the rights of the government. To enable me

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