THE ALIEN AND SEDITION TROUBLES.

It is not possible for the people of this generation to conceive of the excitement in social and political circles during the terms of Washington, Adams and Jefferson. Discontent arising from State enmity of the new National Government which had absorbed their supremacy in its own; opposition to laws of Congress not acceptable to people of certain sections; hostility to the schemes of finance pressed to a successful initia. tion by Alexander Hamilton; insane partisan sympathy for France and hate of Great Britain; the uprising of a party implacable in its opposition to the Federalists, whom it characterized as "Monocrats";-all conspired, during Washington's second term, to create divisions which it took years to heal. In previous papers [see "Whiskey Insurrection" and "Genet's Conspiracy"] we have alluded to the influences at work to unsettle the public mind. After a suppression of the Western discontents and the recal of Genet, the seeds sown by Jacobin clubs and democratic societies spread like thistles and bore fruit prolific of passions, hates and distempered minds. Sympathy for the French revolutionists continued to grow, in spite of Washington's neutrality injunctions. Jefferson, who had, with the beginning of the year 1794, withdrawn from Washington's Cabinet to "contemplate the tranquil growth of his lucerne and potatoes" at Monticello, soon became the recognised head of the opposition. James Madison, James Monroe and Aaron Burr were his partisans. All three cast the weight of their great influence in the scale of the French faction, and inaugurated that hostility to Great Britain which was the

fruitful theme of popular discourse for twenty years. They did more: they perfected plans for overthrowing the ascendancy of the Federalists; and the fact that each of the first three were President in turn, and the last Vice President, proves how successfully they manipulated public opinion.

Washington, in his last speech to Congress, August 7th, 1796, said:

"While in our external relations some serious inconveniences and embarrassments have been overcome and others lessened, it is with much pain and deep regret I mention that circumstances of a very unwelcome nature have lately occurred. Our trade has suffered and is suffering extensive injuries in the West Indies from the cruisers and agents of the French Republic; and communications have been received from its minister here, which indicate the danger of a further disturbance of our commerce by its authority; and which are in other respects far from agreeable. It has been my constant, sincere and earnest wish, in conformity with that of our nation, to maintain cordial harmony and a perfectly friendly understanding with that Republic. This wish remains unabated; and I shall persevere in the endeavor to fulfil it to the utmost extent of what shall be consistent with a just and indispensable regard to the rights and honor of our country; nor will I easily cease to cherish the expectation, that a spirit of justice, candor and friendship, on the part of the Republic, will eventually ensure success."

The spirit of "justice, candor and friendship" did not visit the hearts and minds of men intoxicated with a new-found liberty; nor did the existence, in this country, of a powerful party which sustained French interests in opposition to the wishes of the National Administration, serve to lessen the hostility of the French Convention toward the party and policy then supreme. Yet Washington strove to effect a reconciliation by every means in his power short of a virtual surrender to the insane French faction. Early in January, 1797, he requested the Secretary of State, Mr. Pickering, to address a letter to the newly appointed Minister to France, C. C. Pinckney, reviewing the then freshly reiterated allegations of M. Adet, French Minister to the United States, made against the policy and acts of Washington's Administration," "exam

1 These allegations were made by M. Adet in a letter addressed to Mr. Pickering -a copy of which letter was sent, at once, by the Frenchman, to the notorious Aurora newspaper (Philadelphia) for publication! Its preparation and publication were designed to influence the then pending Presidential election, hoping to

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ining and reviewing the same, and accompanying the statement with a collection of papers and letters relating to transactions therein adverted to."

This letter was prepared with great care and dispatched by Mr. Pinckney. He arrived in France only to be ordered, with his letter, out of French territory! Mr. Monroe, the retiring Minister, was addressed, at the audience of leave with M. Barras, President of the Directory, in these extraordinary terms:

* * *

"The French Republic hopes that the successors of Columbus, of Raleigh, and of Penn, ever proud of their liberty, will never forget that they owe it to France. * In their wisdom, they will weigh the magnanimous benevolence of the French people with the artful ca‐ resses of perfidious designers, who meditate to draw them back to their ancient slavery. Assure, Mr. Minister, the good American people that, like them, we adore liberty; that they will always have our esteem, and that they will find in the French people the republican generosity which knows how to accord peace, as it knows how to make its sovereignty respected.

'As to you, Mr. Minister Plenipotentiary, you have fought for the principles, you have known the true interests of your country. Depart with our regrets. We give up, in you, a representative of America, and we retain the remembrance of the citizen whose personal qualities honor that title."

This insulting address was followed by other steps which left no alternative but to swallow it in humiliation or to resent it. John Adams, as Washington's successor, convened Congress in extra session May 15th, 1797. His opening speech to the two Houses made this reference to the attitude of France:

"The speech of the President (M. Barras) 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 their Government; to persuade them that they have different 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 that

cessor.

strengthen the French party and thus elect Thomas Jefferson as Washington's sucThe publication was an outrage upon all diplomatic usage; and yet the act was in perfect keeping with the insolent course uniformly pursued toward the Administration by the French embassadors.

shall convince France and the world, that we are not a degraded peoplc, 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."

Adams, doubtless influenced by the tremendous outcry raised by the French partizans, and adopting also the wishes of the Vice President, Thomas Jefferson, determined upon dispatching a special mission to France, whose object he announced to be "to dissipate umbrages, remove prejudices, rectify errors, and adjust all differences, by a treaty between the two powers." Washington, from his retirement, beheld this state of affairs with alarm-apparently seeing in the conduct of the French Directory a design to force this country into the embraces of France, thus to render the American Republic its ally in the tremendous war which followed the downfall of the old règime. "Things cannot," he wrote to a friend, "and ought not to remain any longer in their present disagreeable Nor should the idea that the Government and the people have different views, be suffered any longer to prevail at home or abroad; for it is not only injurious to us, but dirgraceful also, that a Government constituted as ours is, should be administered contrary to their interest, if the fact be so."

state.

He did not conceive that any good would come of the mission. "It is hardly to be expected" he further wrote, "that the Directory will acknowledge its errors and tread back its steps immediately. This would announce at once that there has been precipitancy and injustice in the measures they have pursued." He judged truly.

The three ministers extraordinary named-Pinckney, Marshall and Gerry-assembled in Paris October 4th, 1797, but were not recognised in their official capacity. Their report' revealed at once the baseness and the insincerity of the French authorities. Talleyrand, through his secret agents-many of whom he ever employed-demanded a heavy sum as a douceur preliminary to the opening of negotiations! Several attempts to obtain recognition and to open the conferences failed; at each interview the agent of the French Minister of State in1 American State Papers, vols. iii., iv.

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sisted upon his bribe. Irving thus chronicles the conduct of the mission:

"On the 20th of October, the same subject was resumed in the apartments of the plenipotentiary, and on this occasion, beside the secret agent, an intimate friend of Talleyrand was present. The expunging of the passages in the President's speech was again insisted on, and it was added that, after that, money was the principal object. 'We must have money—a great deal of money!' were his words.

"At a third conference, October 21st, the sum was fixed at 32,000,000 francs (6,400,000 dollars), as a loan secured on the Dutch contributions, and 250,000 dollars in the form of a douceur to the Directory.

'At a subsequent meeting, October 27th, the same secret agent said: 'Gentlemen, you mistake the point, you say nothing of the money you are to give-you make no offer of money-on that point you are not explicit.' 'We are explicit enough,' replied the American envoys. 'We will not give you one farthing; and before coming here, we should have thought such an offer as you now propose, would have been regarded as a mortal insult.'

"On this indignant reply, the wily agent intimated that if they would only pay, by way of fees, just as they would to a lawyer, who should plead their cause, the sum required for the private use of the Directory, they might remain at Paris until they should receive further orders from America as to the loan required for Government.

Being inaccessible to any such disgraceful and degrading propositions, the envoys remained several months in Paris unaccredited, and finally returned at separate times, without an official discussion of the object of their mission.”

Thus were the doors closed against a settlement; while the Directory, further to exasperate the people of this country, as well as to strengthen the French party in America, passed a decree confiscating neutral vessels and their cargoes if any portion of their loads should consist of British fabrics or producductions! This struck a severe if not fatal blow at the commerce of the United States, then the "great neutral carriers of the world."

War now seemed inevitable, and preparations were made accordingly. The great mass of American intelligence stood by the Government, and were prepared to resent French arrogance to the last. Washington-who had sought Mt. Vernon, there to pass his remaining years in repose-was made Commander-in-Chief, an appointment seemingly called for by the