friends in the United States, to relinquish the plan formed to obtain a controling influence in the administration of American affairs. Mr. Fauchet had made formal complaints against the measures of President Washington. For a time his remonstrances were made in the language of decency and respect; but at the close of his ministry, he descended to the reproachful manner of his predecessor. Mr. Adet arrived at Philadelphia, while the Senate were deliberating on the British treaty, and full communications were made to him on the subject. Colonel Monroe was also furnished with documents, calculated to remove uneasiness from the minds of the French Directory respecting this transaction. But instead of communicating to the Directory the documents and reasonings of his government, while they were deliberating on this subject, and before they had committed themselves by any public act, he reserved them as answers to complaints, that the government of France might make against the treaty with Great Britain.

The President well knew that France had no just ground of complaint against the United States; but he was apprehensive that her disappointment at the adjustment of a controversy which had long menaced war between Great Britain and America, would induce her to some act of violence. He therefore deemed it highly important, that there should be a minister at Paris, who fully entered into the views of the administration. Not being perfectly satisfied with Mr. Monroe, he recalled him, and appointed as his successor General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. The French

having complained of most of the acts of the. American government, in relation to the powers at war, by order of the President these acts were. carefully reviewed, a fair and minute detail of all. points of difference between the two nations given, and the measures of the administration defended by unanswerable arguments. Upon this lucid and conclusive vindication of the measures of the administration, the President relied to remove jealousy from the minds of the Directory, and restore the harmony of the two nations; but unhappily the party at home had taken their ground, and were not by any considerations to be moved from it, and supported by these, the French Di-rectory were not disposed to recede.

At the near approach of the period for the election of a President, it fully appeared that General Washington had not lost his hold on the affections and confidence of his countrymen. The public sentiment every where indicated a determination to choose no man an elector on whom implicit confidence could not be placed, to give his suffrage for General Washington; and it was satisfactorily ascertained, that should the General consent to be a candidate, he would for the third time be unanimously chosen President of the United States.

In this state of the public mind, in the month of September he published the following address.

"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.

I

"The acceptance of, and contiuuance hitherto in the office to which your suffrages have twice. called me, have been an uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. 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 you; but mature reflection on the then per

plexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.

"I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety; and am persuaded whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

"The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust, were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say, that I have, with good intentions, contributed, towards the organization and administration of the government, the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied, that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

"In looking forward to the moment which is to terminate the career of my public life, my

feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country, for the many honours it has conferred upon me; still more for the stedfast confidence with which it has supported me, and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious-vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging-in situations, in which, not unfrequently, want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism-the constancy of your support was the essential prop the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows, that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence-that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual-that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained-that its administration, in every department, may be stamped with wisdom and virtue that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so careful a preservation, and so prudent a use of this blessing, as

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