fend it and his public recommendation of the infamous Tom Paine's Rights of Man, as a means of opposing "the political he Wies which have sprung up amongst us," sufficiey explains his politi

cal creed.

That the French regicides looked to him as a proper instrument for facilitating their encroachments on the independence of America, no one can doubt, that has read Fauchet's intercepted letter and the menacing notes of Citizen Adet, and that has been a witness of the electioneering intrigues of their hirelings.

Proof has been too often given to need repetition here, that the great object of the French has ever been, and still is, to cut off all communication between this country and Great Britain, as the only effectual means of rendering us totally dependant on themselves. Conscious of their own inability, in a fair competition, to supplant Great Britain as the manufacturer for America; and conscious also that the inseparable and growing interests of the two countries must produce a perfect reconciliation, and may finally lead to an alliance that would for ever frustrate their projects, they have missed no opportunity of exerting their influence to destroy an intercourse, dangerous to their ambition and to that alone, The endeavours of their partisans have uniformly tended to this point. They have, indeed, varied their means, but the end has always been the same.-First, it was proposed (and the proposition was brought forward at a favourable juncture) to discourage the trade with Britain by imposing heavier duties on goods imported thence than on those imported from France. The pretext, the miserable pretext, for this, was, to force Great Britain into a commercial treaty with America! Duplicity unmatched, and almost incredible! The men who brought forward this proposition, have by the current of subse

quent

quent events, been led to declare, that America stands in need of commercial treaties with no nation on earth, and particly with Britain! It was hoped that the Senateuld adopt the regulations, proposed and passed in the other House, and it was naturally expected, that an attempt to force a treaty down the throat of the British would produce just a contrary effect. The Senate saw through the veil of disguised hostility, and the Executive took the necessary measures to accomplish, without force, what the insidious proposals professed to have in view, but what they were in reality intended to prevent.

But we must not quit this subject without hearing Citizen Fauchet, of treacherous memory, who is a most excellent expositor of dark points." The "sessions of 1793 and 1794," says he, "had given

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importance to the republican party (vulgarly call"ed the French faction,) and solidity to its accusa"tions. The propositions of Mr. Madison, or his "project of a navigation act, of which Mr. Jefferson was originally the author, sapped the British "interest, now an integral part of the financiering system."-Thus we see, then, that the famous resolutions that were to sap the British interest, or trade, the revenue arising from which was become an integral part of the financiering system, were ascribed to a wrong person; and that patriot Madison, who has been honoured with such loads of democratic applause on this account, was no more than the passive instrument of the then Secretary of State; he was no more, in the opinion of Fauchet at least, than the fore-horse of the French team, that the Virginian philosopher, with his long whip, was driving through the mire of opposition. Full well I remember the time. The little man bridled up and assumed a vast deal of self-importance; but we are now told that the trappings were not his own,

and

and are left to suppose, that his vanity was nothing more than that of a quadruped leader, whose head the partial clown has hung with bells or decorated with garlands. I do not like this comparison. The horse is a noble, majestic animal; and we all know how offensive such ideas are to republican minds, though figuratively used. They do not go in teams, otherwise I might have been led to one of those sagacious and ever honoured, though comparatively diminutive creatures, on which the Redeemer of the World made his public entry into Jerusalem.

Mr. Jefferson quitted the field before the stormy times of sequestration and total prohibition came on; but, if we may believe Fauchet (who certainly was in all the secrets of the antifederal party,) we shall find that retirement was not the only thing he sighed for. "Consult Munroe" (says Fauchet, in his letter to the Convention,) "Consult Munroe; "he had apprized me of the men whom the cur"rent of events had dragged along as bodies de"void of weight. His friend Madison is also an

bonest man" (in the French sense of the word of course). "Jefferson, on whom the patriots cast "their eyes to succeed the President, has foreseen "these crises. He prudently retired."--For what?-To enjoy the tranquil pleasures of a country life? To become one of "God's chosen people, "if he ever had a chosen people," as he himself calls the cultivators of the land?-It was not for this. He did not retire merely to wander through the groves, to listen to the oater reed of the smutty swains, nor to solace his limbs in the silver brooks of his modern Arcadia; no, nor to inhale the fragrance of its tobacco-fields neither. "He prudently retired, to avoid making a figure, against "bis inclination, in scenes, the secret of which will soon or late be brought to light."Thank ye,

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Fauchet.

Fauchet. Had it not been for the clue, which you have here given us, some artful people might yet continue to assert, and some silly people to believe, that "Mr. Jefferson retired from the foppery of the "monarchical court of Philadelphia, with no other "motive than that of adding to the stock of philosophy, to the literary honour of America, and the good of mankind."

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Mr. Jefferson did, then, foresee "these crises," these troublesome times; he foresaw the violent conduct of the House of Representatives: he foresaw that the opposition to the excise law would end where it did, in open rebellion; and foreseeing all this, "he prudently retired, to avoid making a 5 figure against his inclination," on the side of government (which, as Secretary of State, he must have done), lest thereby he should lose the future support of the "patriots," who had "cast their eyes on him to succeed the President." The partisans of Mr. Jefferson say, that such was the opinion of Fauchet only! This is precisely what I want them to allow. The opinion of the French minister assuredly became the opinion of his masters; and, it is their opinion respecting Mr. Jefferson's principles that I am endeavouring to make appear. Whether they were deceived by appearances, or not, is of little consequence now. It is from what they thought of Mr. Jefferson, whether right or wrong, that we are to form an estimate of their motives in attempting to impose him, as President, on the people of the United States.

Now that the electioneering manoeuvres have failed, the hirelings of France pretend, that Adet's Notes were by no means intended to have the effect which has been looked upon as their principal object; and that it is the height, the very summit of absurdity, to suppose any such thing, to suppose

what

what is now reduced to a certainty as indisputable. as any that ever was established.

The Notes in substance declare, that the French are offended at the conduct of the President and his council, that they have resolved on seizing our vessels, and on breaking off all diplomatic communication with us, till the government returns to itself; not forgetting to hint at the same time, and that in terms comprehensible to the meanest capacity, that a change of men as well as measures, is the only means of reconciliation.

As to nominating the successors of General Washington and his officers of state, that could have answered no useful end; that part of the business was prudently left to their faithful stipendaries, who immediately exclaimed, as if from sudden inspiration, that Mr. Jefferson was the only man capable of making our peace with the justly enraged, "terrible republic." However, lest we should despise the vociferations of this vile herd, Citizen Adet takes care to drag Mr. Jefferson into his first note, and that in such a way as leaves not the least doubt as to his object in so doing.

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Still, however, there would be some little latitude for dispute, were the time and manner of communicating these notes left out of the question.

All the pretended grounds of complaint, among which I include the ratification of the British treaty, existed in the month of July, 1795. How came it to pass, then, that the Convention of France, whom I hope no body will accuse of an over degree of lenity and forbearance; how came it to pass, that these vengeful despots, who scent the blood of disobedient nations from afar, and are ever ready to rush upon their prey; how came it that they should reserve their threats till the 2d of July 1796? Again, supposing for a moment, that their wrath had lain dormant all this while, how did it happen

that