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 VINDICATION -Hj- 
 
 EDMUND RANDOLPH, 
 
 WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, AND PUBLISHED IN 1795. 
 
 NEW EDITION, 
 
 WITH A PREFACE, 
 
 By p. V:' DANIEL, Jr 
 
 RICHMOND: ^y 
 CHARLES H. WYNNE, PRINTER. 
 1855. 
 

EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 In re-producing the "Vindication" of Edmund Kandolph, originally pub- 
 lished by him now sixty years since, a brief exposition of the circumstances and 
 reasons, which seem to call for its re-publication^ will not be inappropriate ; nor, 
 it is hoped, uninteresting. 
 
 To purify the current of our country's history from the turbid obscurity, 
 which the violence of party spirit imparted to its early course ; to free it from 
 the stain of having even its earliest counsels guided, not by the patriots whom 
 we revere, but by corrupt and selfish men ; and, at the same time, to repel the 
 only aspersion, with which even calumny ever dared to assail the character of 
 one, whose virtues and talents, devoted to his country's service, made him a 
 bright exemplar for the generous youth of succeeding generations ; these, surely, 
 are objects, from which no patriot can turn with indifference, nor withhold his 
 aid, however feeble. 
 
 The true history of the transactions to which these pages relate, presents a 
 case, to which, perhaps, the records of no civilized country — certainly not those 
 of our own — afford a parallel. Let its few and simple facts be stated : no com- 
 ment could place its enormity in a stronger light. Edmund Randolph, born of 
 eminent and wealthy parents, of commanding talents and attainments, disin- 
 herited by his father for his patriotic devotion to his country in her Revolu- 
 tionary struggle for independence, beloved and respected by all who knew him, 
 honored by his native State, (and that State was Vieginia — the Virginia of 
 1776,) for his virtues and services, by calling him to the chief magistracy, even 
 before Patrick Henry, who succeeded him — by delegating him to the Congress 
 who framed the Federal Constitution, and by adopting that Constitution partly 
 at least through his advocacy, opposed to the impassioned eloquence of Henry 
 himself; at the organization of the Federal Government urgently invited by 
 Washington to become a member of his first Cabinet ; continuing, first as Attor- 
 ney General, and then as Secretary of State, for more than six years, on terms 
 of the closest intimacy and confidence, and in daily and almost hourly communi- 
 cation, with Washington, for whom his respect scarcely exceeded his affection; — 
 THIS MAN, in the laborious discharge of his official duties to his countrj', in the 
 unsuspecting assurance of the confidence of the President, who masked his own 
 suspicions with more than accustomed cordiality, that he might the better watch 
 the conduct of his friend; — this man is suddenly stricken down, condemned. 
 
IV 
 
 and disgi-acecl, so far as such a man can be disgraced — and for what cause, and 
 on what evidence of guilt or unworthiness ? Who was his accuser ? who the 
 witnesses? and what the facts corroborating their evidence, adduced against 
 him ? Let them be fairly and fully stated. A Minister from the French Re- 
 public, chagrined and out of humor at the failure of his mission, and yet evi- 
 dently anxious to create in the minds of his government an exaggerated estimate 
 of his insight into the seci'et springs of American politics, and of his influence 
 over American statesmen, in transmitting to that government secret dispatches, 
 concealed even from his colleagues in his embassy, uses expressions, which, 
 though very ambiguous, may — it is for argument's sake conceded — bear an 
 interpretation, which would seem to implicate Mr. Randolph in having impro- 
 perly communicated to him some of the private views of the American Govern- 
 ment, and even in having made some vague and obscm-e advances for loans of 
 money. 
 
 Here we have the accuser, and this is the accusation, in its utmost extent. 
 How is it at once met by the accused ? "With either the confusion, or the ve- 
 hement resentment, which conscious guilt always assumes ? No ! but with a 
 lofty, calm, dignified denial, which confounds even his enemies, and with an 
 equanimity arising from conscious integrity, which even the indignity of their 
 plots to take him by surprise could not disturb, adding to his denial the solemn 
 sanction of an appeal to his God for its truth, by him, whose lightest word was 
 never before questioned. 
 
 But who are the witnesses ? and what their testimony against him ? Why, 
 this same French Minister is still used at once as the accuser and the sole wit- 
 ness against him, and this same secret, ambiguous dispatch, is at once the 
 indictment and only testimony to sustain it. Is this witness called by the prose- 
 cuting party, to explain this very equivocal and ambiguous document ? No ; he 
 is not even asked by them to furnish the two preceding dispatches, referred to 
 in this, as the key, and essential to its true meaning. Compelled, then, to prove a 
 negative by the sole witness for the prosecution — if witness he may be called — in 
 defending himself from charges unsustained by any other testimony, the accused 
 then calls on this Minister to explain what he meant by these equivocal expres- 
 sions. What is his reply ? Substantially this: " My language has been grossly 
 misunderstood and misinterpreted. Never did I mean to impute — never did I 
 dream of imputing to Mr. Randolph any of the motives, sentiments or conduct, 
 which your mistaken inferences from my letter attribute to him. On the con- 
 trary, his character and conduct in his oiiicial and private intercourse with 
 me, have ever been marked with the purest integrity, scrupulous discretion, and 
 zealous fidelity to his country and its government. These have always been my 
 sentiments ; as will be seen from my ofiBcial correspondence Avitli my govern- 
 ment, which my successor in ofiice (Mr. Adet) will verify." 
 
 How is this evidence of this witness for the prosecution now received by the 
 prosecuting party ? With a candid and honorable avowal of their error and 
 injustice ? No ! but with a wholly groundless and shameless attempt to discredit 
 their own witness, on whose misinterpreted letter alone their accusation rests ; 
 recklessly asserting, that what he now says, in correcting that misinterpretation, 
 is only a tissue of unblushing falsehoods, concerted with the accused himself! ! 
 And yet, observe the altered circumstances, so much less favorable to the ac- 
 cused, under which he now speaks. On the moment of leaving the American 
 coast in a French ship, in hourly danger of capture by a British frigate, he is 
 
called on by a dismissed and disgraced public officer, shorn of all influence with 
 his government, poor in wealth and poorer still in reputation — unless his inno- 
 cence be established — who demands of him, as an act of justice, that he should, 
 at no small inconvenience, explain his meaning in the dispatch which had caused 
 his disgrace. Pride of consistency^ reluctance to diminish the reputation he 
 may have acquired by his former dispatch, for influence with the American Gov- 
 ernment, or at least indifference to what concerned one now so unimportant, 
 might have inclined him to avoid what, had any of these charges been true, 
 honor, trutli, justice, and a regard for his own character, would have required 
 him to refuse — the explanation and denial of all those charges, which his sense 
 of justice compelled him freely to give. And yet this statement, thus given, is 
 spurned and discredited, as wholly false, and the former equivocal expressions 
 of the same u-itncss, which it so fully and satisfactorily expl^ns, unsustained by 
 the testimony of one other witness, or by one single corroborating fact of cir- 
 cumstantial evidence, is insisted on as complete proof of atrocious guilt, iu 
 a man on whose character no stain had ever been found, elevated, as he was, to 
 the second office in the nation, and who, bidding defiance to scrutiny, appealed 
 to his God for the purity of his heart and uprightness of his conduct. Nor did 
 he rest, as he might well have done, upon this denial, his defence to such absurd 
 and proofless charges, until something like evidence had been adduced to sustain 
 them. Instantly surrendering into the hands of his accusers the custody of his 
 office and all the papers it contained, without again entering its doors, he with 
 all practicable dispatch prepares and publishes his "Vindication," in which, 
 vouching the public records and correspondence, as well as the recollection of 
 the President, to whom it is addressed, for the accuracj' of his facts, he chal- 
 lenges, what has never si^ice appeared, the refutation or denial of one of them. It is 
 ti'ue, the press, from that day to this, has teemed with denunciation and abuse 
 by his political enemies and their descendants, contained in newspaper essays, 
 in pamphlets, and in historical and biographical memoirs, compiled from the 
 correspondence of these very accusers and parties to the transaction ; but on 
 examining all these, it will be seen, that in none of these numerous publica- 
 cations, pervading and perverting the literature and history of our country, has 
 any attempt to disprove, and, except by the wholly imscrupulous and scurrilous, 
 none to deny a single /ac< or document adduced in the "Vindication." They 
 all consist of mere forced and unnatural inferences from Mr. Fauchet's first 
 letter, afterwards so fully explained by him, which only the malignity of party 
 
 .^pstility could invent, or the gi'ossest and blindest party bigotry could entertain. 
 
 f And it is a fact, not a little significant, that whilst the published letters and 
 papers of Washington, to whom the "Vindication" was addressed, contain a 
 number of letters written by him on this subject anterior to its publication, all 
 evincing the remarkable extent to which his feelings had been irritated, his 
 judgment warped, towards his long-tried friend ; yet they contain no syllable 
 from Washington's pen, written after the publication of the "Vindication," de- 
 nying or even questioning the truth of any portion of it ! The fact of such a 
 denial by AVashington, rests solely on the catch-penny production by Rufus 
 Griswold, entitled "The Republican Court of Washington" — a mere compilation 
 of idle gossip, scandalous tales, and silly traditions, the falsehood of which has 
 been demonstrated in some cases, and known in many more] in which he repre- 
 sents Washington as making this denial in language, and with oaths and vio- 
 lence, the brutality of which "alarmed the ladies at his table, who were gathered 
 
VI 
 
 together in the middle of the room, like a flock of partridges in a field when a 
 hawk is in the neighborhood." 
 
 The only other man, it is believed, who ever ventured to deny or question the 
 truth of any of the statements contained in the "Vindication," was William 
 Cobbett, in his pamphlet entitled "A New Year's Gift for the Democrats, by 
 Peter Porcupine." The notorious want of principle, political and moral, of this 
 venal writer, who alternately advocated and denounced both parties in England 
 and America, and the flagrant scurrility and mendacity of his writings, consti- 
 tute a sufiicient antidote to the poison of his unquestionable ingenuity and want 
 of candor. An illustration of this is found in the argument used in the pamphlet 
 just alluded to, that, if Mr. Randolph had been really innocent of the charges 
 brought against him based on the intercepted letter of Fauchet, instead of fol- 
 lowing Fauchet to Rhode Island, and there, as ho charges, concocting with 
 Fauchet the explanation of the letter, he would have remained quietly in Phila- 
 deliihia, and demanded of Washington, that he should bring back lauchet to Phil- 
 adelphia, and there, confronting him with the accused, call on him to prove his 
 accusation — while Fauchet was anxiously watching, in Rhode Island, for the op- 
 portunity, which in a few days presented itself, of leaving a country and govern- 
 ment, with whom he was greatly displeased, and of escaping the British frigate, 
 which just outside the harbor, was watching to capture the French ship in which 
 he was to sail. Plausible and deceptive to the ignorant or unreflecting, as this 
 idea was, and was intended to be, no one knew better than William Cobbett, 
 when he penned it, that the President of the United States had no more 
 authority or control over the French Minister's person or movements, than over 
 those of the King of England or of the Sultan of Turkey ; whilst the state of 
 feeling between them was the opposite extreme of that, which would induce 
 Fauchet to subject himself to a far less degree of inconvenience and hazard, 
 than his return to Philadelphia would have caused him. And yet from this 
 pamphlet, published immediately after the "Vindication," has been drawn every 
 false inference and argument — to facts it scarcely made pretension — which con- 
 stitute all that has been written and published on this subject, in every variety 
 of form, fi-om that day to this, by the partizan writers and book-makers, chiefly 
 the descendants and compilers of the papers of Mr. Randolph's political enemies 
 and prosecutors. 
 
 The most prominent of these is a book called "Memoirs of the Administra- 
 tions of Washington and John Adams, edited from the papers of Oliver Wolcott, 
 Secretary of the Treasury," (cotemporaneously with Mr. Randolph, and his 
 chief enemy and accuser,) "by George Gibbs," Wolcott's grand-son, it is 
 believed. This book contains, on this subject, merely Wolcott's own repetition 
 of the same charges against Mr. Randolph already examined, which he had 
 been the chief actor in preferring, and the abusive correspondence on the subject 
 between him and his intimate personal and political parti zans, who derived 
 their information and opinions from him. It discloses, too, the fact,* that^ Wol- 
 cott employed spies, to ascertain secretly how, where, and with whom Mr. Fandolph 
 spent each moment of his time, day and night, while in Newport, and that all 
 the evidences of treason which, even in this way, he could procure, were, that 
 " when Mr. Randolph aTrived there, the boardiyig-houses being full, he took lodg- 
 
 Vol. I., pp. 296-7. 
 
vu 
 
 ings in a private house, procured for him by the keeper of the house where h 
 dieted:" that the inquisitor, having asked "the owner of thii< house and his 
 .wife such (questions, as he thought would lead to a discovery of what he tcished to 
 knoio, could only learn, that between the part of the house where the family 
 resided and where Mr. Randolph lodged there was no communication, and that" 
 (as a necessary consequence,) "the front door of the house was left unlocked, 
 that he might go in and out at what times he pleased" — the inquisitor adds, 
 "without observation;" that this same inquisitor, prying into and violating the 
 confidence and sanctity of unreserved conversation at a private dinner-table at 
 Newport, had heard a gossipping tale ; that in such a conversation, expressions 
 of great disappointment and chagrin at the ill success of his mission, accompa- 
 nied by praises of Hamilton and co7itemptuous expressions towards Mr. Randolph, 
 had escaped the lips of Fauchet — of Fauchet, who, to sustain these calumnies 
 against Mr. Randolph, is, in the same breath, alleged to be his accomplice in 
 concocting a false certificate to his entire innocence ! ! 
 
 In the jjreface to this book, its editor, in excusing his admitted "harshness, 
 with which he has treated political opponents, whose enmities have long since 
 died with them," avows, that "he has felt himself not only the vindicator, but 
 in some sort the avenger of a by-gone party and a buried race." And this is 
 the temper in which he undertakes to writes History ! ! 
 
 The space allotted to this Preface forbids extending it by fm-ther extracts 
 from these works. The last may be taken as a fair specimen of them all. In 
 many of them, and particularly in Griswold's book, it is studiously attempted, 
 by both insinuation and bold assertion, to create tlie impression that even Mr. 
 Randolph's /mw(/s deemed his "Vindication" unsatisfactory. Let us briefly 
 enquire into the truth of this. Reference might be here made to the well-known 
 fact, that to the day of his death Mr. Randolph enjoyed the cordial and intimate 
 friendship and confidence of such men as James Madison, James Monioe, and 
 neai-ly every one of those great and good^jnen of his day who had not been 
 actually engaged in the conspiracy against him, which led to his resignation, of 
 the written evidences of which fact Ave are deprived only by the loss and 
 destruction, after his death, of his papers and correspondence. But of the utter 
 falsehood of this intimation we have the published evidence, not only in the 
 puolic journals of that day, but in a most able and conclusive defence of Mr. 
 Randolph, contained in a pamphlet entitled "Political Truth," published at 
 Philadelphia, by S. H. Smith, in 1796. The author of this pamphlet, whose 
 name the editor of this has yet been unable to discover, but whose style and 
 arguments proclaim him to be inferior to none, declares that, "unswayed by 
 party motive, he means not to join in the general clamor against every leading 
 measure of the government;" that he agrees entirely with neither party. ' "In 
 deciding," he says, "upon the guilt or innocence of Mr. Randolph, it cannot be 
 expected, that every chai'ge urged by malice or folly should receive a circum- 
 stantial investigation. All of them, however modified by the moulds in which they 
 have been cast,* may be included under a few general heads. Instead of 
 stating or discussing specifically the nature or the tendency of those political 
 ephemerides, whose life was inglorious as it was short, I shall pursue truth in 
 her most direct path, by analyzing the contents of No. 10, with the illustrating 
 
 ' [Note —These wonls italicised by the Editor.] 
 
VUl 
 
 papers Nos. 3 and 6, so far as their contents relate to Mr. Randolph ; and in 
 this statement, aiming at rigid impartiality, it shall be my endeavor to lose sight 
 of that cloud of terrifying tales, which, during a period of enigmatical alarm,* 
 darkened the political horizon." 
 
 After an impartial review and conclusive refutation of all these charges 
 against Mr. Randolph, founded on Fauchet's intercepted dispatches, this writer 
 adds : " During the whole progress of this discussion, no advantage has been 
 taken of Mr. Fauchet's certificate. The ground, which might be taken, inde- 
 pendently of any controverted documents, was believed to be immovably .firm. 
 It has equalled every expectation, and the integrity of Mr. Randolph stands un- 
 shaken by the rude tempest that assails it. It looks to no distant period as the 
 fera of universal triumph and of retributive justice." He afterwards well argues 
 to shew that both Fauchet's certificate and Mr. Randolph's statement are entitled 
 to great weight ; adding — "As for the facts which Mr. l!andolph states, their 
 truth or falsehood is known to the President, to the heads of Departments, and 
 to other leading members in our councils. Have these persons all of them an 
 infatuated regard for Mr. Randolph ? Would they sacrifice truth to the pre- 
 servation of his tainted fame ? Until this disposition can be attributed to them, 
 the statement of Mr. Randolph will be deemed, if not perfectly accurate, sub- 
 stantially true " 
 
 In turning over, recently, the pages of a collection of autograph letters in the 
 possession of a gentleman of Philadelphia,! the editor's eye accidentally fell 
 upon the name of Mr. Randolph, in a letter of Gen. Horatio Gates to James 
 "VVormley, Esq., dated "New York, 11th Januai-y, 1796," from which he has 
 been kindly favored, by the possessor, with the following extract of the part 
 relating to Mr. Randolph : " I have read with attention Mr. Randolph's pamph- 
 let, and from so able a defence, I am convinced he had most degrading and 
 undeserved treatment; and this, I trust, will be the sentiment of every impartial 
 judge and every friend of his counti'y." 
 
 Nor to his fi-iends only is confined this sentiment; but from his political ene- 
 mies has the force and power of truth extorted testimony to his innocence and 
 integrity, scarcely weaker in terms, and stronger from the character of the 
 sources from which it comes. 
 
 In another of the publications heretofore described, entitled "Public Men of 
 the Revolution," by J. T. S. Sullivan, thoroughly partizan in its character, after 
 giving the same version of the history of the Fauchet letter that has been 
 adopted by all Mr. Randolph's enemies, the author uses the following language : 
 "At this day, candor compels us to say Mr. Randolph had no treasonable views 
 with regard to his country." The course which Mr. Randolph thought fit, 
 during his continuance in Washington's Cabinet, to prescribe to himself and to 
 pursue, in keeping aloof from the strifes then growing up between the two 
 opposing political parties in the country, had produced no little alienation of 
 feeling between Mr. Jefferson, the head and soul of one of those parties, and 
 himself. Yet Mr. Jefferson, in a published letter to Mr. Giles, dated Monticello, 
 Dec. 31st, 1795, in which he derides Mr. Randolph's attempt at "adherence to 
 right, without regard to party," as absurd, if not mischievous, says: "I thank 
 you much for the pamphlet. His narrative is so straight and plain, that even 
 
 * These words italicised by the Editor. 
 
 t Francis M. Etling, Esq., Secretary of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. 
 
IX 
 
 those -who did not know him will acquit him of the charge of bribery. Those 
 who knew him had done it from the first." But a further accumulation of tes- 
 timony on this point could add nothing to the weight of what has already been 
 given. 
 
 In this connection, however, it would not be just to overlook the use which 
 has been made of a letter of Mr. Randolph to the Hon. Bushrod Washington, 
 dated July 2d, 1810, near the close of Mr. Randolph's life, and after he was 
 admonished by disease of its approaching termination.* In that letter, Mr. Ran- 
 dolph declares, that "he does not retain the smallest degree of that feeling 
 which roused him fifteen years before against some individuals. For the world 
 contained no treasure, deception or charm, which can seduce him from the con- 
 solation of being in a state of good-will towards all mankind ;" and expresses 
 his contrition that he sufi"ered his irritation, let the cause be what it might, to use 
 some of those expressions respecting him," (Gen. Washington,) "which, at that 
 moment of his indifference to the ideas ef the world, he wished to recall, as 
 being inconsistent with his subsequent conviction." From this letter, in which 
 Mr. Randolph neither retracts nor acknowledges error in one statement of fact in his 
 "Vindication," nor that all he said in it was not fully justified by the facts, an 
 attempt has been made to impute to him a recantation of his " Vindication," 
 and an acknowledgment in it of his having used "asperity" of language, or 
 even, as Griswold's veracious volume has it, "vulgar and violent abuse." For 
 the refutation of this last calumny, nothing is needed but a perusal of the "Vin- 
 dication" itself, the singularly moderate tone and language of which strikes 
 every reader with surprise, and can only be accounted for in the author's long- 
 accustomed alfectionate respect for Washington. 
 
 But, to use the language of the author of " Political Truth :" " If the charges 
 against Mr. Randolph are so futile, as we think we have proved them to be, 
 it will be natural to ask, in what motive could they have originated ? Can we 
 deprave human nature, by supposing that the gratification of a malevolent dis- 
 position gave them birth ? Such might be the opinion of the misanthrope ; but 
 it is far from being ours. It is the common frailty of politicians, in annexing 
 importance to an end to be answered, to disregard the honesty of the means 
 used for accomplishing it. Those who urged, with original eloquence, the crim- 
 inality of Mr. Randolph, had an end to answer. The treaty must be ratified 
 at any price. Mr. Randolph appears, at one time, to have prodiiced doubt in 
 the mind of the President on the propriety of ratifying ; at another time, to 
 have converted doubt into determination not to ratify, until explanations were 
 made, and assurances given by the British court, which have not been received 
 to this day. While the influence of Mr. Randolph remained unimpaired, this 
 determination, it was feared, would be inflexible. Hence the necessity of dimin- 
 ishing an influence so inauspicious to those, whom the President had declared to 
 be but successors in form to the deliberative talents of their predecessors. Their 
 situation was an awkward one. There is a delicate, a refined sense of honor, 
 which has hitherto constrained the minister to disdain continuing in office, after 
 
 * When Ihi8 letter was written, the Christian frame of mind, which at all times slrikin'ly dis- 
 tinguished Mr. Randolph, had been heightened and rendered almost over sensitive, by the recent 
 death of an idolized wife, the sudden prostration by paralysis of his talented, accomplished and 
 only son, and the sure approaches of the same disease menacing his own enfeebled and declin- 
 ing healtli. 
 
he has lost the confidence of the person who appointed him. How far their 
 influence was in the wane, if it was not entirely paralyzed, will appear from 
 the sentiment of the President just quoted. Here we have a clue to the blaze 
 of resentment which shortly after reddened the political sky. Mr. Randolph's 
 reputation must be annihilated. The means used in the accomplishment of this 
 pious fraud are before the public. How far they were founded on a knowledge 
 ef human nature, the successful issue proves. If it be alleged, that a determi- 
 nation by our chief magistrate on a measure of national magnitude — a measure 
 which had drawn forth the feelings of a nation — a measure which one sentiment 
 pronounced auspicious or threatening to our best interests — could not have been 
 supposed to be influenced by resentment towards a man, who does not appear to 
 Lave deceived him in any thing respecting the treaty, it can only be answered 
 that, however rational the conjecture, events have proved it to be misapplied. 
 If this was not the motive which gave the treaty executive ratification, in 
 direct opposition to a resolution formed and sent across the Atlantic, I ask what 
 the motive was ? As sophistry has not assigned a diff"erent motive, truth may 
 be permitted to be silent." 
 
 Again: "It would interfere with the limited nature of this performance to 
 enquire how far the reason of the President co-operated with his passion in this 
 transaction. Sufiicient has been stated to convince every man, that he was acted 
 upon by an impulse foreign from his own judgment, and that in the eventful 
 act which ratified the treaty, he yielded to the influence of others." * * * 
 
 To this it may be added, that it had long been the policy and the practice of 
 these same parties to impress upon the mind of the President the belief, that 
 every attempt by the opposite political party to deny or even question the wis- 
 dom or propriety of any measure of his administration, was an intended oflFen- 
 sive attack upon himself personally, the enormity of which was studiously exag- 
 gerated, by contrasting it with the love and veneration in which he knew he was 
 deservedly held in the hearts of his coiintrymen. The comments of Fauchet in 
 his intercepted letter, upon the men and measures of the government, so con- 
 temptuous and irritating past forgiveness to these same parties, might be also 
 held, and at least misconstrued as disrespectful and offensive to the President. 
 To fix upon Mr. Randolph, then, by any means, the imputation of having parti- 
 cipated in their origin or expression, while he enjoyed the President's intimate 
 confidence, was but too well and successfully calculated, especially if well man- 
 aged with dramatic mystery and excitement, to ai'ouse the indignation and relent- 
 less aversion of a mind like Washington's. Hence the extraordinary success of 
 their scheme. 
 
 In performing, however feebly, what has been undertaken in this Preface, the 
 Editor has not failed to appreciate the difiiculties to be encountered, in all their 
 impressive magnitude. A weaker faith in the eternal power of Tkuth would 
 have quailed before them. He is not unmindful of the sad lesson taught by the 
 experience of every observant mind, that such is the depraved proclivity of the 
 human heart, in its most improved state, eagerly to adopt, and reluctantly, and 
 perhaps never, wholly to relinquish the belief in any moral delinquency of a 
 fellow-man, as if our own standing were thereby relatively exalted ; that cal- 
 umny often acquires, from the very enormity and improbability of its accusa- 
 tions, its strongest and most ineradicable hold upon human credulity. He feels 
 hut too sensibly the strength which this malign influence has derived from the 
 fact that, while Mr. Randolph's enemies and their descendants have, since his 
 
XI 
 
 death, so assiduously repeated and perpetuated with embellishments these calum- 
 nies, once refuted, the loss of his papers and the situation of his descendant 
 has hitherto precluded even this feeble attempt to do him justice. And lasts 
 though not least, he cannot but be oppressed by the consciousness, that in pub- 
 lishing, aught which might detract in any degree, however slight, and though 
 but in a single instance, from that veneration, love and admiration, which en- 
 shrines the name of Washington in a nation's heart, he performs a duty as 
 repulsive to the prejudices, most natural and venial as they are, of every reader, 
 as it would be unwelcome to himself, were he not irresistibly impelled to it 'by 
 justice to one no less worthy veneration and regard. The name and fame of 
 Washington needs no apotheosis, claiming for him infallibility and exemption 
 from every human imperfection, to preserve its hallowed memory in the- minds 
 and hearts of posterity, as the greatest of human heroes. Still less would its 
 lustre be enhanced or its foundation in truth — its only firm and lasting fomida- 
 tion — be strengthened, by sacrificing to it the fame and character of one, whose 
 title to our respect and admiration was for many years stamped by the confi- 
 dence, respect and intimate friendship of Washington himself, and to whom 
 there is no small reason to believe — a belief which Mr. Randolph's correspond- 
 ence, if preserved, might have converted into certainty — he would have himself 
 done ample justice, had his life been spared longer after the exciting period of 
 his last administration. The "aera of universal triumph and of retributive jus- 
 tice to the integrity" and fame of Mr. Randolph so confidently predicted by 
 the author of " Political Truth," has at length come, and, unbiassed by the pre- 
 judices and passions of party strife, undeterred by the panic dread of French 
 anarchy in America, unawed by the overshadowing influence and name oi Wash- 
 ington, now happily elevated above the reach of those influences, which attached 
 themselves to it, only to dishonor it in promoting their own selfish or less 
 worthy \iews, we may at length, viewing these occurrences in the calm lio-ht of 
 truth and history, say — 
 
 Fiat Justitia, euat Ccelum. 
 
STATEMENT OF FACTS, &c. 
 
 On Wednesday, the lOtli of August 1795, I was going to the Presi- 
 dent's, as usual, at 9 o'clock in the morning; when his steward, Mr. 
 Kidd, came to me at Mr. Rawle's in Market-street ; and informed me, 
 that the President desired me to postpone my visit, until half after 
 ten. I supposed at first, that he might wish to have the latest hour 
 for writing by the Southern mail of that day, or perhaps to ride out. 
 But, as I was desirous of asking him a short question, which would 
 determine me as to the manner of executing a piece of business, to be 
 carried to him that morning; I inquired of Mr. Kidd, if he was then 
 occupied with any particular person ? and I was answered, that the 
 President was every moment expecting some gentlemen. Accordingly 
 I turned to the office ; and at the appointed hour called at the Presi- 
 dent's. I desired the servant, who attended at the door, to tell the 
 President, that I was come. But upon being informed, that Mr. Wol- 
 cott and Colonel Pickering had been there for some time, I went up 
 stairs : and began to think, that the steward had committed a mis- 
 take. I supposed, that a consultation with the heads of departments 
 had been intended to be held by the President earlier in the day, and 
 that it might be proper for me to explain the cause of my delay. But 
 when I entered the President's room, he, with great formality, rose 
 from his chair; and Messrs. Wolcott and Pickering were also marked 
 in their efforts to a like formality. I therefore resolved to wait for 
 the unfolding of this mysterious appearance. Very few words passed 
 between the President and myself; and those which fell from him, 
 shewed plainly to me, that he wished to hurry to something else. 
 Immediately afterwards, he put his hand into his pocket, and pulling 
 out a large letter, said something of this nature : " Mr. Randolph ! 
 here is a letter, which I desire you to read, and make such explana- 
 tions, as you choose." I took it, and found it to be a letter, written 
 in French by Mr. Fauchet, on about fifteen pages of large paper. On 
 reading the letter, I perceived, that two of the most material papers, 
 which were called the dispatches No. o and 6, were not with it. I 
 observed to the President, that I presumed the letter to be an inter- 
 
cepted one. He nodded his head. I then said, that at that time I 
 could recollect very little, -which would throw light on the affair ; but 
 I would go over the letter, and make such remarks as occurred to me. 
 I did so ; but being thus suddenly, and without any previous intima- 
 tion, called upon before a council, which was minutely prepared at 
 every point; not seeing two of the most essential references; and 
 having but an imperfect idea of most of the circumstances alluded to, 
 I could rely only on two principles, which were established in my mind; 
 the first was, that according to my sincere belief, I never made an im- 
 proper communication to Mr. Fauchet ; the second was, that no money 
 was ever received by me from him, nor any overture, made to him by 
 me for that purpose. My observations therefore were but short. How- 
 ever, I had some recollection of Mr. Fauchet having told me of machina- 
 tions against the French Republic, Governor Clinton and myself; and 
 thinking it not improbable, that the overture, which was spoken of in 
 No. 6, might be, in some manner, connected with that business, and 
 might relate to the obtaining of intelligence, I mentioned my impres- 
 sion ; observing at the same time, that I would throw my ideas on 
 paper. The President desired Messrs. Wolcott and Pickering to put 
 questions to me. This was a style of proceeding, to which I would 
 not have submitted, had it been pursued. But Mr. Pickering put no 
 question; and Mr. Wolcott only asked an explanation of what I had 
 said, as to Governor Clinton and myself. This I did not object to 
 repeat, nearly as I had spoken it. Had I not been deprived of No. 6, 
 the terms used in it, '' of sheltering from Briti&h persecution," would 
 probably have reminded me fully of the supposed machinations of Mr. 
 Hammond and others. As it was, I mentioned the circumstance gene- 
 rally in the President's room, who remembered to have heard some- 
 thing of a meeting, held at New-York by Mr. Hammond and others 
 during the last summer. While I was appealing to the President's 
 memory for communications, which I had made to him on this subject; 
 and after he had said, with some warmth, that he should not conceal 
 any thing, which he recollected, or words to that effect ; he was called 
 out to receive from Mr. Willing the copy of an address, which was to 
 be presented to him the next day by the merchants. While he was out 
 of the room, I asked, how the President came by Mr. Fauchet's letter. 
 Mr. Wolcott said, ''The President will, I presume, explain that to 3"ou." 
 Upon the return of the President, he desired me to step into another 
 room, while he should converse with Messrs. Wolcott and Pickering 
 upon what I had said. I retired; and on revolving the subject, I 
 came to this conclusion ; that if the President had not been worked up 
 to prejudge the case, he would not have acted in a manner, so precipitate 
 in itself, and so injurious and humiliating to me : and that he would in 
 
the first instance, have interrogated me in private. After an absence 
 of about three quarters of an hour, I returned into the President's 
 room ; when he told me that as I wished to put my remarks on paper, 
 he desired that I would. I replied, that it should be done ; but that I 
 did not expect to remember much of the deiail ; for, in fact, I had then 
 no distinct conception of what No. 3, and No. 6, might contain • except 
 that it would seem from the inference in No. 10, as if I had encourajred 
 the insurrection. The President then asked me, how soon I could finish 
 my remarks, I answered, as soon as possible. But I declared to him 
 at the same instant, that I would not continue in the office one second 
 after such treatment. I accordingly wrote to him the following letter: 
 
 Philadelphia, Aug. 19, 1795. 
 
 Sir, Immediately upon leaving your house this morning, I went to the oflBce 
 for the department of state, -where I directed the room, in which I usually sat, 
 to be locked up, and the key to remain with the messenger. My object in this 
 was to let all the papers rest, as they stood. 
 
 Upon my return home, I reflected calmly and maturely upon the proceedings 
 of this morning. Two facts immediately presented themselves ; one of which 
 was, that my usual hour of calling upon the President had not only been post- 
 poned for the opportunity of consulting others upon a letter of a foreign minister, 
 highly interesting to ray honor, before the smallest intimation to me ; but they 
 seemed also to be perfectly acquainted with its contents, and were requested to 
 ask questions for their satisfaction : The other was, that I was desired to retire 
 into another room, until you should converse with them, upon what I had said. 
 
 Your confidence in me, Sir, has been unlimited ; and, I can truly affirm, una- 
 bused. My sensations then cannot be concealed, when I find that confidence so 
 immediately withdrawn without a word or distant hint being previously dropped 
 to me! This, Sir, as I mentioned in your room, is a situation in which I cannot 
 hold my present office, and therefore I hereby resign it. 
 
 It will not, however, be concluded from hence, that I mean to relinquish the 
 inquiry. No, Sir; far from it. I will also meet any inquiry, and to prepare for 
 it, if I learn this morning, that there is a chance of overtaking Mr. Fauohet 
 before he sails, I will go to him immediately. 
 
 I have to beg the favour of you to permit me to be furnished with a copy of 
 the letter; and I will prepare an answer to it ; which I perceive that I cannot 
 do, as I wish, merely upon the few hasty memoranda which I took with my 
 pencil. 
 
 I am satisfied. Sir, that you will acknowledge one piece of justice due on this 
 occasion, which is, that until an inquiry can be made, the affair shall continue 
 in secrecy under your injunction. For, after pledging myself for a more specific 
 investigation of all these suggestions, I here most solemnly deny, that n.\\y over- 
 ture ever came from me, which was to produce money to me, or any others for 
 me ; and that in any manner, directly or indirectly, was a shilling ever received 
 by me ; nor was it ever contemplated by me, that one shilling should be applied 
 by Mr. Fauchet to any purpose relative to the insurrection. 
 
 I presume, Sir, that the paper. No. 6, to which he refers, is not in your pos- 
 
session. Otherwise you -would have shewn it to me. If I am mistaken, I cannot 
 doubt, that you will suffer me to have a copy of it. 
 
 I shall pass my accounts at the Auditor's and Comptroller's office ; and trans- 
 mit to you a copy. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sir, with due respect, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 EDM: RANDOLPH. 
 The President of the U. S. 
 
 To the preceding letter I received this answer. 
 
 To Eimund Randolph, Esq. 
 
 Sir, Your resignation of the OiBce of State is received. 
 
 Candor induces me to give you, in a few words, the following narrative of 
 
 facts. The letter from Mr. Fauchet, with the contents of which you were 
 
 made acquainted yesterday, was, as you supposed, an intercepted one. It was 
 
 sent by Lord Grenville to Mr. Hammond ; — by him put into the hands of the 
 Secretary of the Treasury ; — by him shewn to the Secretary of War and the 
 Attorney General; — and a translation thereof was made by the foi^mer, for me. — 
 
 At the time Mr. Hammond delivered the Jetter, he requested of Mr. Wolcott 
 an attested copy, which was accordingly made by Mr. Thornton, his late secre- 
 tary ; and which is understood to remain at present with Mr. Bond. Whether 
 
 it is known to others, I am unable to decide. 
 
 Whilst you are in pursuit of means to remove the strong suspicions arising " 
 from his letter, no disclosure of its contents will be made by me ; and I will en- 
 join the same on the public officers who are acquainted with the purport of it ; 
 unless something shall appear to render an explanation necessary on the part of 
 government; — of which I will be the judge. 
 
 A copy of Mr. Fauchet's letter shall be sent to you. No. 6, referred to 
 
 therein I have never seen. 
 
 Go. WASHINGTON. 
 Philadelphia, 20th Aug. 1795. 
 
 Having learnt, on the 20th of August, 1795, that the French frigate 
 Medusa, which was to carry Mr. Fauchet to France, had not sailed ten 
 days before j I left Philadelphia in the afternoon of the 21st for New- 
 port in Rhode-Island. But being detained on the road by a disappoint- 
 ment in some necessary papers, and by other unavoidable causes, I did 
 not arrive there until Monday, the 31st of August 1795, between the 
 hours of eleven and twelve in the morning. I immediately proceeded 
 to visit Mr. Fauchet; and told him, that his letter of the 10th of Bru- 
 inaire (October 31st, 1794,) had been intercepted, and was in the hands 
 of the President of the United States. After observing that he must 
 recollect, how injuriously he had treated the government, others, and 
 myself, in that letter, I informed him, that I had come for the purpose 
 of demanding an explanation ; but that I desired none, which was not 
 consistent with truth and justice. I then mentioned the different 
 points : and although in some particulars we did not remember alike ; 
 
yet I required him to give me a certificate according to bis memory. 
 He appointed 8 o'clock in the next morning for the delivery of it to 
 me; and understanding from him, that the Medusa could not sail, 
 while the British ship of war, Africa, lay at the mouth of the harbour, 
 I did not object to the time which he took. When I knocked at Mr. 
 Fauchet's door at the last-mentioned hour, his servant informed me, 
 that he was directed to tell me, that the promised certificate would not 
 be ready until about 12 o'clock : I desired the servant to call Mr. Fau- 
 chet down stairs. When he came down, he said, that he was engaged 
 in preparing the paper : that it could not be ready until 12 or 1 o'clock, 
 and that as soon as it was ready, he would send or bring it to my lodg- 
 ings. He also agreed upon my application, to answer any questions, 
 which I should put to him ; and it is known to a gentleman, whom I 
 can name, that I had intended to put several questions to him, before 
 Mr. Marchant, the judge of the District of Ehode-Island, and Mr. Mal- 
 bone, a member of the House of Representatives, from whom I meant 
 to ask the favor of attending to the business. While I was expecting 
 to hear from Mr. Fauchet, it was said that the Medusa was weighing 
 anchor. Astonished at this intelligence, I ran up to Mr. Fauchet's 
 house ; and found, that he had gone ofi". By the friendly assistance of 
 Mr. Peck, the Marshal of the district, I dispatched the swiftest sailing 
 boat in Newport in quest of the Medusa^ with the following letter to 
 Mr. Fauchet. 
 
 Newport, Sept. 1, 1795. 
 Sir, I am this moment informed, that the frigate has sailed : and I have been 
 to your house. They say that you are on board ; and that you have left no 
 paper for me, according to what you promised. My innocence of the insinua- 
 tions, arising from your letter, you not only know, but have twice acknowledged 
 to me. I send a boat therefore in a hurry to obtain the papers, which go to this 
 point. I am, Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 EDMUND RANDOLPH. 
 
 The boat having returned without overtaking the Medusa, Mr. Pecii 
 indorsed this certificate on the letter. 
 
 September 1, 1795. 
 Mr. Randolph, being greatly agitated at finding that Mr. Fauchet had gone 
 off, requested me to employ a boat, at any expense, to go immediately in quest 
 of the Medusa ; in order to carry the within letter to Mr. Fauchet ; I did in 
 consequence employ the swiftest sailing vessel in the port, with instructions to 
 pursue the frigate, as long as there was any chance of overtaking her. She 
 went off several miles to sea, but could not overtake her. 
 
 WILLIAM PECK, 
 Marshal, Rhode-Island district. 
 
Capt. Caleb Gardner, who acted as pilot to tlie Medusa, having 
 returned to Newport, brought me from Mr. Fauchet a letter, of which 
 the following is a translation. 
 
 On board of the Medusa. 15 Fnictidor, in the Zd year. 
 
 JOSEril FAUCHET TO MR. RANDOLPH. 
 
 Sir, I have just transmitted to Citizen Adet, the minister of the Republic in 
 Philadelphia, the packet which I destined for you. He Tvill send you a certified 
 copy of my lettei-, with which, I hope, you will be satisfied. 
 
 Accept my esteem, 
 
 JOSEPH FAUCHET. 
 
 The painful embarrassment, which the sudden sailing of the Medusa 
 had occasioned to me, induced me to request from Capt. Gardner a 
 statement of the facts, relative thereto ; and he gave me this certificate. 
 
 This is to certify that Thursday"^ morning, September 1st, at 8 o'clock ; the 
 weather being very stormy, and a very large sea, the British ship Africa, was 
 obliged to leave her station at the light-house, and go into the Naraganset bay : 
 in consequence of which Capt. Simeon, of the frigate Medusa, sent for the sub- 
 scriber to embrace this opportunity to go to sea: at the same lime sent for the 
 ambassador, Mr. Fauchet, and all the passengers, at 9 o'clock. They could not 
 get on board until 11 o'clock. From 9 o'clock until that time, the ship was 
 short a peak ; still detained for the passengers. In six minutes after they came 
 on board we cut our cable and went to sea ; leaving Mr. Provost on shore, one 
 of the passengers. The weather was so foggy, that very often we could not see 
 the land in beating the ship out of the harbor. Mr. Fauchet, all the time the 
 subscriber was on board, which was until half past one o'clock, was in the cabin 
 ■writing. The British ship Africa, came to sail two hours after the Medusa was 
 at sea. 
 
 Newport, Sept. 2, 1795. CALEB GARDNER. 
 
 N. B. The whole time I was on board the frigate, before her getting under 
 sail, the captain discovered the greatest impatience. He repeatedly sent on 
 shore to bring off Mr. Fauchet ; expressed great concern, when my boat arrived 
 without him ; and when Mr. Fauchet did arrive at the frigate, treated him with 
 great coolness and aj>parent indignation at his long delay. 
 
 CALEB GARDNER. 
 
 These and many other particulars, which manifest the distressing diffi- 
 culties, into which I was thrown, can be proved by a respectable gentle- 
 man, now in Philadelphia. — Agreeably to the information of Mr. Fau- 
 chet, Mr. Adet sent me a copy of his certificate, the translations of 
 which, and of the dispatches No. 3 and No. 6, which are referred to in the 
 letter No. 10, and were also furnished by Mr. Adet, are as follow : — 
 
 ' Mr. Gardner has misstated the day. It sbould be Tuesday. 
 
Mr. Fauchefs Certificate. 
 
 Mr. Randolph requests me to examine a Dispatch No. 10, addressed to the 
 Commissary of exterior relations ; which has been transmitted to the President 
 of the United States. I believe that I am bound to no explanations upon my 
 communications to my government ; when they are obtained by dark means of 
 which I am ignorant ; are commented upon without doubt, and mutilated accord- 
 ing to the passions of those who use means so noble and generous. But I owe 
 to Mr. Randolph full and entire justice. I will render it to him with pleasure. 
 Eveiy thing which could be interpreted to his disadvantage will not leave, I 
 hope, after the explanation which I shall give, any doubt upon the mind even of 
 those who have transmitted the letter to the President. The means which I 
 shall employ will be very simple. This will be to cite the Dispatches to which I 
 refer in my No. 10. Some preliminary reflections are necessary to explain them. 
 
 On my arrival on this continent the President gave me the most positive 
 assurance, that he was the friend of the French cause. Mr. Randolph often 
 repeated to me the same assurance. It was impossible for me not to give faith 
 to it, (in spite of some public events relative to France which gave me some 
 inquietude,) especiaDy when the Secretary of State constantly took pains to 
 convince mo of the sentiments of good-will of his government for my Republic. 
 It was doubtless to confirm me in this opinion that he communicated to me, 
 without authority, as I supposed, that part of Mr. Jay's instructions which for- 
 bade him to do any thing which should derogate from the engagements of the 
 United States with France. My error, which was dear to me, was prolonged 
 only by the continual efl^orts of Mr. Randolph to calm my fears both upon the 
 treaty with England and upon the effect which it might produce on France. He 
 was therefore far from confiding to me any act, any intention of government by 
 virtue of any concert with me, or in consequence of any emolument received 
 by him, or for the expectation or hope of any recompense promised, or with any 
 other view than to maintain a good harmony between France and the United 
 States. As to the communications which he has made to me at different times, 
 they were only of opinions, the greater part, if not the whole of which, I have 
 heard circulated as opinions. Q also recollect that on one occasion, at least, 
 which turned upon public measures, he observed to me, that he could not enter 
 into details upon some of them, because by doing so he should violate the duties 
 of his office. From whence I have concluded and believe that he never commu- 
 nicated to me what his duty would reprove. I will observe here, that none of 
 his conversations with me concluded without his giving me the idea that the 
 President was a man of integrity, and a sincere friend to France. This explains 
 in part what I meant by the terms, "his precious confessions." I proceed to 
 other details relative thereto. I could allude only to explanations on his part 
 upon matters which had caused to me some inquietude: And I have never in- 
 sinuated, nor could I insinuate in that letter, that I suspected on his part even 
 the most distant corruption. These explanations had equally for their object 
 my diflFerent conversations upon Western affairs, as may be seen in the sequel of 
 this declaration. 
 
 When I speak in this same paragraph in these words, "Besides, the precious 
 confessions of Mr. Randolph alone cast upon all which happens a satisfactory 
 light." I have still in view only the explanations of which I have spoken above; 
 and I must confess that very often I have taken for confessions what he might 
 have to communicate to me by virtue of a secret authority. And many things 
 
8 
 
 which in the first instant I had considered as confessions were the subject of 
 public conversations. I will say more. I will say, that I have had more than 
 suspicions that certain confidences which have been made to me, were only to 
 sound my private opinions, and the intentions of the French Republic ; and I 
 must appeal to the testimony of him, who this days claims mine. He must 
 know if I ever endeavored to meddle in the interior affairs of America, or even 
 to influence, by any means whatsoever, the sentiments of men whose talents had 
 called them to the head of affairs. 
 
 All that is read from these words, "I proceed then, &c." to these "The first 
 was preparing, &c." is to be considered only as my own reflections arising from 
 private information or from public reports, and not from any communications of 
 Mr. Randolph. 
 
 I have spoken of a conversation which Citizen Le- Blanc and myself had with 
 Mr. Pv,andolph, and which I had communicated in my No. 3. It is easy to see 
 that I consider the conclusions which I draw from it, as pure and simple conjec- 
 tures, as I express myself. This is an esiract from that dispatch which I de- 
 clare to be true. When I relate conversations of Mr. Randolph, I can easily 
 suppose that as he spoke sometimes in English, most commonly in French, and 
 I spoke always French, we might not have understood one another perfectly. 
 And when I have not quoted Mr. Randolph expressly in the whole course of any 
 observations, it is not under his authority that I speak. 
 
 As my dispatch, No. 3, treats of different subjects at the same time, I shall 
 extract from it only what concerns him, with the help of my own memory and 
 in consequence of his questions. 
 
 The conversation which I cite took place in April, 1794. We were speaking 
 of some political divisions which manifested themselves in different parts of the 
 United States, and of which the public papers gave Bufficieut proofs. lie ap- 
 peared to me to be deeply afflicted at the idea of a violent conflict between 
 the parties. He hoped to prevent it by the influence which he hoped to acquire 
 with the President, who he said generally consulted him, and to whom he told 
 truths which probably others concealed from him. I had heard mentioned, and 
 I frequently mentioned to him myself, the suspicions which were spread abroad, 
 of the artifices of some influential men in the government, who were desirous of 
 seeing the French cause ruined, and of uniting America rtu;>re closely with Great 
 Britain than with France. He replied to me upon this: The President is the 
 mortal enemy of England, for the outrages which she heaps upon the United 
 States, and the injustice and perfidy which she shews in her conduct towards 
 them ; and the declared friend of France. I can affirm it upon my honor. He 
 may, like other men who do not mix generally with the world, be circumvented 
 by stratagem, prepared to surprise his judgment; and without doubt if he 
 sufi"ers himself to be taken in by any manoeuvres, his popularity would be 
 affected by it. He desires to give the Government stability ; others, under the 
 pretext of giving energy to it, would siuTound the chief of the Executive with 
 more power than the Constitution delegates to him. But in spite of all the 
 efforts, and notwithstanding the cause of France and the true spirit of the 
 American people are painted to him xmder false colors, he escapes at this 
 moment from the snares which are laid for him, and nothing will be able to pre- 
 vent him from conducting himself towards Great Britain with the firmness, 
 which the repeated outrages of this power demand. This, Mr. Fauchet, is every 
 thing, which I am at liberty to say to you. I will always treat with you with 
 
every frankness, whicli comports ■with my duty. As to myself, I would quit the 
 post, vrhich he has confided to me, if I could persuade myself, that he could 
 accede to any act, which should aflFect the rights of the people. The bill, of 
 which you speak, gives it is true to the Executive, some powers which if they 
 should be abused, may wound liberty. I am sincerely affected by it. But I see 
 with pleasure, that my reflections on the dreadful crisis, which would result 
 from such an abuse, have produced a deep impression on the mind of the Presi- 
 dent, who is a man of honor. Let us unite, Mr. Fauchet, let us unite our 
 eflforts in drawing close the bonds of the two nations. The friends of liberty are 
 for an intimate union with France. The partizans of slavery prefer an alliance 
 with England. 
 
 I now come to the explanation of my dispatch, No. 6. A little time after my 
 arrival in America, I had requested Mr. Randolph to recommend to me the most 
 proper persons with whom he was acquainted in the different states, to be em- 
 ployed in the purchase of flour. This request naturally led him to believe that 
 there were persons employed in it, as they really were. We had frequent con- 
 versations upon the insurrection, and in all of them he manifested an unequiv- 
 ocal indignation against the fomenters of it, and a deep afiiiction at the dangers 
 of a civil war. I had learned, as my dispatch No. 10, shews, that the English 
 were suspected of fomenting and supporting these manoeuvres. I communicated 
 my suspicions to Mr. Randolph. I had already communicated to him a Con- 
 gress, which at this time was holden at New York. I had communicated to him 
 fears, that this Congress would have for its object some manoeuvres against the 
 Republic of France, and to render unpopular some virtuous men who were at 
 the head of affairs ; to destroy the confidence which existed, on one hand, be- 
 tween General Clinton and his fellow-citizens, and on the other, that which 
 united the President to Mr. Randolph. He said to me, that I ought to make 
 efforts to obtain the proofs of this fact, and he added to me, that if I did so, the 
 President would not hesitate to declare himself against all the manoeuvres which 
 might be directed against the French republic. Things remained in this situa- 
 tion. About the month of July or August, in the last year, he came to see me 
 at my country house. It was in the afternoon. He was to go that evening to 
 Germantown. We had a private conversation of about twenty minutes. His 
 countenance bespoke distress. He said to me, that he was afraid that a civil 
 war would soon ravage America. I enquired of him what new information was 
 procured. He said that he began to believe that in fact the English were really 
 fomenting the insurrection, and that he did not doubt, that Mr. Hammond and 
 his Congress would push some measures with respect to the insurrection, with 
 an intention of giving embarrassment to the United States. He demanded of 
 me, if, as my Republic was itself interested in these manoeuvres, I could not by 
 the means of some correspondents procure some information of what was passing. 
 I answered him, that I believed I could. He replied upon this, that having 
 formed many connections by the means of flour contracts, three or four persons 
 among the different contractors might, by talents, energy, and some influence, 
 procure the necessary information, and save America from a civil war, by proving 
 that England interfered in the troubles of the West. I do not recollect, that he 
 gave to me at that time any details upon the manner, in which this discovery 
 would produce this last effect. But I perfectly recollect to have heard it said 
 by some person or other, that the insurgents would be abandoned by the greatest 
 number of those whom they believed to be on their side ; and that the militia 
 
10 
 
 "would march with cheerfulness, if it were proYed, that the English were at the 
 bottom of these manoeuvres. I think therefore, that this was probably the 
 manner, in which he conceived that things would be settled ; and that he 
 thought, that the insurrection would cease from the want of support. At the 
 moment of his mounting his horse, he observed to me, that the men, whom I 
 might be able to employ, might perhaps be debtors of English merchants ; that 
 in this case they might perhaps be exposed, on the slightest movement which 
 they should make in this important affair, to see themselves harrassed by process, 
 and even arrested by the pursuits of their creditors. He asked me if the pay- 
 ments of the sums which were due to them by virtue of the existing contracts, 
 would not be sufficiently early to render these individuals independent of British 
 persecution. I confess, that this proposition to obtain this intelligence surprised 
 me. I was astonished that the government itself did not procure for itself 
 information so precious. And I made the reflections, contained in my letter on 
 this affair, because I believed, and do still believe, that all the citizens in the 
 United States, ought to endeavour to furnish intelligence so important, without 
 being stopped by the fear of English persecution ; and because I moreover 
 thought, when I committed my reflections to paper, that it was proposed to 
 obtain the foregoing intelligence by assisting with loans those who had contracted 
 with me. But now calling to mind all the circumstances, to which the questions 
 of ]Mr. Randolph call my attention, I have an intimate conviction that I was 
 mistaken in the propositions, which I supposed to have been made to me. 
 
 £ declare moreover, that no name or sum was mentioned to me : that Mr. 
 dolph never received, either directly or indirectly, by himself or by another 
 for his use, one shilling from myself, by my order, or according to my knowledge, 
 hearsay or belief, from any other public ofiicer of France. I declare that he 
 never made to me in this respect a single overture ; and that no part of the 
 above circumstance has the least relation to him personally. Farther I solemnly 
 declare, that from the time of my arrival I have repeated, when an opportunity 
 has presented itself, and without doubt often in the presence of Mr. Randolph, 
 that the morals of my nation and the candor of my government severely forbid 
 the use of money in any circumstances, which could not be publicly avowed.! 
 Signed JOSEPH FAUCHET. 
 
 I the undersigned Peter Augustus Adet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French 
 Republic, certify, that the foregoing Copy is absolutely conformable to the 
 Declaration which Citizen Fauchet, my predecessor, has written and signed 
 with his own hand, and which he has sent me to be lodged in the Archives of 
 the French Legation, and in order that a copy conformable thereto may be 
 delivered to Mr. Randolph. 
 
 In testimony of which I have signed these presents at Philadelphia, on 
 the 5th supplementary day, in the 3d Year of the French Republic, one 
 and indivisible. September 27, 1795, (Old Style). 
 
 P. A. ADET. 
 
 Extract from the Political Dispatch, Ko. 3, of Joseph Fauchet, to the Minister of 
 
 Foreign Affairs. 
 
 ** Then the. Secretary of State appeared to open himself without reserve. He 
 imparted to me the intestine divisions, which were rumbling in the United 
 States. The idea of an approaching commotion affected him deeply. He hoped 
 to preTcnt it, by the ascendancy which he daily acquired over the mind of the 
 
11 
 
 President, who consulted him in all affairs, and to whom he told the truth, 
 which his colleagues disguised from him. 
 
 "The President of the United States, says he, is the mortal enemy of Eng- 
 land ; and the friend of France. I can aiSrm it upon my honor. But not 
 mixing with the world, he may be circumvented by the dark manoeuvres of some 
 men, who wind themselves in an hundi-ed ways, to draw him into measures, 
 which will cause him to lose all his popularity. Under the pretext of giving 
 energy to the government, they would absolutely make a monarch of him. 
 They deceive him, as to the true spirit of the people ; as well as upon the 
 affairs of France. I am sure, that at this moment, he escapes from them, and 
 that jn all these perfidious manoeuvres they have not been able to dissuade him 
 
 from pronouncing with vigor against the ministry of England. He has but 
 
 it is impossible for me in conscience to make you this confession. I should be- 
 tray the duties of my office. Every thing, which I can say to you, is, that it is 
 important for our two nations, that you continue to visit him frequently. He 
 will be touched with the proofs of friendship, which you shall testify to him ; 
 and I am sure, that this will be an infallible means of causing them to be valued. 
 I would quit the post, which he has confided to me, if he could be brought to 
 make any attempt upon the rights of the people. A bill has passed the house of 
 representatives, which wounds liberty. They have at least taken away the 
 article which prevents the sale of the French prizes in our ports. My heart is 
 troubled by it. But I have seen with pleasure, that my reflections on this sub- 
 ject, upon the dreadful crisis, which would result from an abuse of it, have made 
 a deep impression upon the mind, I will even say, upon the heart of the Presi- 
 dent, who is an honorable man. Let us unite, Mr. Fauchet, to draw our two 
 nations closer together. Those who love liberty, are for fraternizing with the 
 French Republic, the partizans of slavery prefer an alliance with England. 
 
 "I, he said to me, (in speaking of the treaty of Jay*), that there is no ques- 
 tion in his mission, but to demand a solemn reparation for the spoliations which 
 our commerce has experienced on the part of England; and to give you a 
 proof, that Mr. Jay cannot enter into a negotiation contrary to what we owe to 
 France, I will give you the part of the instructions which concern it. 
 
 "Although the following note, which I have, written in his own hand, with a 
 promise to burn it, be little important, I annex it hereto. 
 
 "'If the English ministry shall insinuate, that the whole or any part of these 
 instructions should appear to be influenced by a supposed predilection in favor 
 of France, you will arrest the subject as being foreign to the present question. 
 It is what the English nation has no right to object to; because we are free in 
 our sentiments and independent in our government.' 
 
 " 'The following case is to be unchangeable. As there is no doubt, that the 
 English ministry will endeavour to detach us from France, you will inform them 
 of the firm determination of the government of the United States, not to deviate 
 from our treaties, or our engagements with France.' " 
 
 Extract from the Political Dispatch, No. 6, of Citizen Fauchet, Minister Plenipoten- 
 tiary of the French Republic to the United States. 
 " Scarce was the commotion known, when the Secretary of State came to my 
 house. All his countenance was grief. He requested of me a private conversa- 
 
 * The word affinn, appears to have been omitted in the certified copy. 
 
12 
 
 tion. It is all over, lie said to me. A civil war is about to ravage our \inbappy 
 country. Four men by their talents, their influence, and their energy may save 
 it. But debtors of English merchants, they will be deprived of their liberty, if 
 they take the smallest step. Could you lend them instantaneously funds, suffi- 
 cient to shelter them from English persecution. This inquiry astonished me 
 much. It was impossible for me to make a satisfactory answer. You know my 
 want of power, and my defect of pecuniary means. I shall draw myself from 
 the affair by some common place remarks, and by throwing myself on the pure 
 and unalterable principles of the republic. • 
 
 " I have never since heard of propositions of this nature." 
 
 I the undersigned Peter Augustus Adet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the 
 French Republic, near the United States of America, certify those to whom it 
 belongs, tliat the dispatches. No. 3 and 6, mentioned in the dispatch No. 10, of 
 the 10th of Brumaire, in the 3d year, addressed by Citizen Fauchet, my prede- 
 cessor, to the commissary of exterior relations, are relative to a number of 
 objects entirely foreign to Mr. Randolph, and that the extracts which I have 
 delivered to him agreeably to his request, contain both the conversation and the 
 overtures, of which Citizen Fauchet speaks in his dispatch. 
 
 I certify moreover, that at the request of Mr. Randolph I have examined the 
 dispatchjis of Citizen Fauchet to the French government ; and that whensoever 
 Citizei^ Fauchet has had occasion to speak of Mr. Randolph, in respect to his 
 morality, he always describes him as an honest and upright many 
 
 Given at Philadelphia, under my hand and seal of the French legation, the 4th 
 of Vendemaire, in the 3d year of the Republic, one and indivisible. 
 
 P. A. ADET. 
 
 To THE President of the United States, Mount Vernon. 
 
 Philadelphia, Sept. 21, 1795. 
 
 Sir, I returned yesterday from Germantown ; and this morning I shall proceed 
 to the examination of the necessary papers. Finding it important to one branch 
 of the subject, that I should ask a'small addition to the narrative in your letter 
 of the 20th ultimo, I have to request, that I may be informed, as far as may 
 be in your power, when Mr. Hammond put Mr. Fauchet's letter into the hands 
 of Mr. Wolcott, and when an intimation was given, Sir, of that letter to jo\i. 
 I wish to ascertain, without the necessity of resorting to circumstances, the 
 earliest notice, which you received of the existence of such a letter. If you 
 could add the probable time, when the British Secretary of State, Lord Gren- 
 ville, obtained the letter, and when the British minister here procured it, I 
 should be enabled to be more particular in my vindication. 
 
 You inform me in your letter of the 20th ultimo, that you had never seen Mr. 
 Fauchet's dispatch. No. 6, which is referred to in his letter ; and as you did 
 not shew or send to me, with the other papers, the dispatch No. 8, I shall con- 
 tinue to presume, that you have as yet not seen them. If you have, it will 
 certainly be conceived proper, that I should be furnished with copies of them 
 in order that I may know whether the papers in your hands, under the name of 
 the dispatches No. 3 and 6, agree with what has been stated to me as their 
 contents ; and that if there be a difference, I may take the best measures for 
 establishing which is true. 
 
 As nothing detains me in Philadelphia, but the completion of this business, 
 which requires an extensive detail, and large transcription of papers, I must 
 
13 
 
 hope that if there be any other document, which bears the least affinity to the 
 main subject, I may have an opportunity through your intervention of meeting 
 it before I take my departure to Virginia. 
 
 .To Edmund Randolph, Esquire. 
 
 Sir, I have lately received three letters from you : — two bearing date the 15th 
 instant; — the other the 21st. — One of the former came to hand the 19th — the 
 other the 21st — and the latter yesterday. 
 
 Your signature as Secretary of State to the ratification of the treaty having 
 beeu given on the 14th of August — and your resignation not taking place until 
 the 19th, it became necessary, in order to be consistent, (the original being dis- 
 patched) that the same countersign should appear to the copies : — otherwise this 
 act would not have been required of you. 
 
 It is not in my power to inform you at what time Mr. Hammond put the 
 intercepted letter of Mr. Fauchet into the hands of Mr. Wolcott. — I had no 
 intimation of the existence of such a letter until after my arrival in Philadel- 
 phia, the 11th of August. When Lord Grenville first obtained that letter, and 
 when the British minister here received it from him, are facts with which I am 
 entirely unacquainted. 
 
 I have never seen in whole or in part, Mr. Fauchet's dispatches numbered 
 three and six ; — nor do I possess any documents, or knowledge of papers which 
 haje affinity to the subject in question. 
 
 No man would rejoice more than I should, to find that the suspicions which 
 have resulted from the intercepted letter, were unequivocally and honorably 
 removed. 
 
 Go. WASHINGTON. 
 
 Mount Vernon, 27ih of Sept. 1795. 
 
 Philadelphia, October 2, 1795. 
 
 SiK, I yesterday received from the President a letter dated on the 27th of Sep- 
 tember 1795 ; containing, in answer to mine of the 21st, the following clauses. 
 " It is not in my power to inform you, at what time Mr. Hammond put the inter- 
 cepted letter of Mr. Fauchet into the hands of Mr. Wolcott. I had no intima- 
 tion of the existence of such a letter until after my arrival in Philadelphia, the 
 11th of August. When Lord Grenville first obtained that letter, and when the 
 British minister here received it from him, are facts with which I am entirely 
 unacquainted." 
 
 "I have never seen in whole or in part Mr. Fauchet's dispatches, numbered 
 three and six ; nor do I possess any document or knowledge of papers, which 
 have affinity to the subject in question." 
 
 As the British minister conveyed through your hands this business to the 
 President, I hold myself authorized to inquire from you into some material facts, 
 as they probably rest in your knowledge. These are, as to the time when Mr. 
 Hammond put the letter into your hands ; as to Lord Grenville, Mr. Hammond, 
 or yourself, having seen or been possessed of No. 3 and 6, or either of them ; as 
 to there being any other paper in or out of cypher, connected with this afi"air, 
 which may be brought up in my absence. If you have heard the time, about 
 which Lord Grenville first obtained the letter, and when the British minister 
 here received it from him, information of it will tend to elucidate some other 
 
 points. 
 
 I am. Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 0. Wolcott, Esq. EDMUND RANDOLPH. 
 
u 
 
 Philadelphia, October 2d, 1795. 
 
 Sir, I have received your letter of this date, and I readily reply to your 
 enquiries. 
 
 Mr. Fauchet's letter to which you allude was delivered to me by Mr. Hammond 
 on the 28th of July; and on the evening of the 11th of August, I presented it 
 to the President. 
 
 I have never seen or been possessed of Mr. Fauchet's letters, numbered 3 or 6, 
 or either of them in or out of cypher, and I have no knowledge whether they 
 or either of them, have been seen by Lord Grenville or Mr. Hammond. 
 
 It is impossible for me to say whether any other document may be hereafter 
 brought into view, as connected with the subject in question. Perhaps some- 
 thing will depend upon the manner in which the discussion of this affair may be 
 managed on your part, — as this mnj render an enquiry after other papers neces- 
 sary. You may be assured, however, that nothing has been at any time con- 
 cealed by me, to your prejudice. 
 
 The letter which I received from Mr. Hammond, was, as I have been informed, 
 taken from the Jean Bart, a French vessel. — I do not know the time, when it 
 was received by Lord Grenville or by Mr. Hammond. It rests in my memory, 
 however, that Mr. Hammond informed me, that the letter had been received 
 by him, but a short time before it was presented to me, but of this fact I am not 
 certain. I am, Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 OLIV. WOLCOTT. 
 
 Edmund Randolph, Esq. 
 
 Philadelphia, October 8, 1795. 
 
 Sir, You mistook me, if you supposed, that I meant to propound to you any 
 question, the answer to which should prevent the appearance of any paper what- 
 soever. I knew that this must depend upon the head of the executive ; and I 
 put at defiance all papers, which now are, or hereafter may be seen. I only 
 wished to learn, before my departure for Virginia, whether any thing more than 
 the letter. No. 10, had been used in Mr. Hammond's machinations; so as to be 
 able to prepare noiv to repel it. 
 
 It is material, however, to understand what observations, or message, from 
 Mr. Hammond or his government, accompanied the communication of the letter 
 to you ; in order that they might be transmitted to the President. For if I am 
 to judge from some hints, which have been given in the public prints, and from 
 other data, I have reason to conclude, that Mr. Hammond was particularly in- 
 structed upon the occasion. In short, candor entitles me to expect, that you will 
 not hesitate to give me this information. 
 
 I am, Sir, your humble servant, 
 
 0. Wolcott, Esq. EDMUND RANDOLPH. 
 
 Philadelphia, October 8, 1795. 
 
 Sir, Notwithstanding I am convinced, that a knowledge of the minute circum- 
 stances mentioned in your letter of this date, cannot be material to your defence, 
 and though you have already been particularly informed of the manner in which 
 Mr. Fauchet's letter was conveyed to the President ; yet I mean not to incur the 
 imputation of wanting candor, by forbearing a reply to your inquiry. 
 
 When the existence of the intercepted letter was first mentioned to me by Mr. 
 Hammond, he did not intimate, or request, that its contents might be communi- 
 
15 
 
 cated to the President: — it was my own suggestion, that the letter ought to be 
 delivered to me for that purpose : — to this Mr. Hammond finally assented, upon 
 the condition that a copy, certified by me, should remain in his hands. 
 
 My motive for wishing to obtain the original letter will readily be discerned : — 
 without possessing it, I could not safely venture to make any representation of 
 its contents, and I felt no disposition to be the secret depository of facts affecting 
 not only your character, but also the public interests. 
 
 The nature of your inquiries on this subject leads me to assure you, that I am 
 
 not conversant in the secrets of foreign ministers, and that I cannot say whether 
 
 Mr. Hammond was, or was not, paticularly instructed to communicate Mr. Fau- 
 
 chet's letter to the President ; — no such instruction was mentioned to me. 
 
 I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 OLIV. AVOLCOTT. 
 Edmund Randolph, Esq, ^ , 
 
 Philadelphia, October 8, 1795. 
 
 Sir, Until Monday last I did not obtain from the office those of my own let- 
 ters, which I deem proper to be introduced into my vindication. But I still want 
 the inspection of a letter from you, dated July 22, 1795, and received by me. I 
 applied personally at the ofiBce on Saturday last for the sight of your letters to 
 me. The chief clerk went into the room, in which Mr. Pickering sits, to consult 
 him, at my desire, upon my application. He afterwards carried to Mr. Pickering 
 a brown paper; and on his return placed it before me. It contained many of 
 your letters, and was endorsed to this purport, '■'The President's Letters.'' I 
 presumed, that they were all there ; as no mention was made to me of any, that 
 were missing. But not finding that of July 22, 1795, I asked for it; and the 
 chief clerk replied, that Mr. Pickering had just taken it out ; and that upon his 
 saying, that I might probably wish to see it, Mr. Pickering had observed, that, 
 if I did, I would ask for it. I accordingly asked for it again ; but was answered, 
 that it was necessary to consult Mr.Wolcott. Not hearing anything late on Mon- 
 day fi-om the chief clerk, I reminded him by a note, and on Tuesday received 
 thro' him the rancorous and insolent answer of Mr. Pickering, which amounts 
 "to^a positive refusal,.. and of which due notice will hereafter be taken. I affirm 
 to you, that I hold that letter to be important to one of the views which the 
 question will bear. As I aim at accuracy in my statements, I am anxious to 
 prevent a mistake in my recollection of that letter, and therefore request the 
 inspection of it. 
 
 Mr. Fauchet's letter and the circumstances which preceded and attended the 
 delivery of it to me, embrace a variety of political matter, connected with many 
 documents. The papers and reasonings in my general letter will comprehend 
 among others the following: my letter to the Governor of Vermont, on the 28th 
 of July, 1794 ; Mr. Bradford's letter from Fort Pitt, on the 17th of August, 1794 ; 
 mine to the Secretary of the Treasury, on the 28th of August, 1794; a letter, 
 which in the latter end of July, 1794, you directed me to write to a certain person ; 
 two late letters to Col. Monroe; my letter to Mr. Jay on the 18th of August, 1794; 
 my last circular letter to our ministers ; your letters to me on the 2M and 31st 
 July, 1795, with the memorial therein referred to ; my letter to you on the 12th 
 of July, 1795 ; the affidavit, which was laid before you of the British being sup- 
 posed to be concerned in the insurrection ; the advice of another gentleman and 
 myself to you, on the 25th of August 1794 ; extracts from Mr. Jay's and Mr. 
 Monroe's instructions ; and my letter to you on the 15th August 1794. 
 
16 
 
 You must be sensible, Sir, that I am inevitably driven into the discussion of 
 many confidential and delicate points. I could -with safety immediately appeal 
 to the people of the United States, who can be of no party. But I shall -wait 
 for your answer to this letter, so far as it respects the paper desired, before I 
 forward to you my general letter, which is delayed for no other cause. I shall 
 also rely, that any supposed error in the general letter, in regard to facts, will 
 be made known to me, and that you will consent to the whole of this affair, how- 
 soever confidential and delicate, being exhibited to the world. 
 
 At the same time, I prescribe to myself this condition, not to mingle anything 
 which I do not sincerely conceive to belong to the subject. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, with due respect, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 EDM: RANDOLPH. 
 The President of the United States, Mount Vernon. 
 
 Sir, Agreeably to the suggestion in your note to me, received yesterday, I 
 laid the same before Colonel Pickering, whose answer I am authorized to send 
 you, in the following words, viz : 
 
 "The letter from the President, dated the 22d of July, 1795, of which Mr. 
 Randolph has requested the inspection, does not appear to have any connection 
 with the intercepted letter of Mr. Fauchet ; and, cannot possibly have referred 
 to it; because the President was at that time ignorant even of its existence: and 
 Mr. Randolph perfectly well knows that his resignation was occasioned solely by 
 the evidence of his criminal conduct exhibited in Mr. Fauchet's letter. The in- 
 spection of the President's letter then cannot be necessary for Mr. Randolph's 
 exculpation." 
 
 Department of State, October 6, 1795. 
 
 GEO: TAYLOR, jun. Chief Clerk. 
 
 Edmund Randolph, Esquire. 
 
 To Edmund Randolph, Esquire. 
 
 Sir, In several of the public gazettes I have read your note to the Editor of 
 the Philadelphia Gazette, with an extract of a letter addressed to me of the 8th 
 instant ; but it was not until yesterday, that the letter itself was received. 
 
 It is not difficult, from the tenor of that letter, to perceive what your objects 
 are ; but that you may have no cause to complain of the withholding any paper 
 (however private and confidential) which you shall think necessary in a case of 
 so serious a nature, I have directed that you should have the inspection of my 
 letter of the 22d of July, agreeably to your request:— and you are at full liberty 
 ,to publish, without reserve, antj and every private and confidential letter I ever 
 wrote you ; — nay more — every word I ever uttered to, or in your presence, from 
 whence you can derive any advantage in your vindication. 
 
 I grant this permission, inasmuch as the extract alluded to, manifestly tends 
 to impress on the public mind an opinion, that something has passed between us 
 which you should disclose with reluctance, from motives of delicacy which re- 
 spect me. 
 
 You know. Sir, even before the treaty was laid before the Senate, that I had 
 difficulties with respect to the commercial part of it ; with which I professed to 
 be the least acquainted; and that I had no means of acquiring information 
 thereon without disclosing its contents : — not to do which until it was submitted 
 
17 
 
 to the Senate, had been resolved on. — You know too, that it was my determina- 
 tion previous to this submission, to ratify the treaty if it should be so advised 
 and consented to by that body ; — and that the doubts which afterwards arose, 
 and were communicated to Mr. Hammond, proceeded from more authentic infor- 
 mation of the existence of whatsis commonly .caUedjyj^l^ovi,sio order of the 
 British_gftV«i'iiaii!Jit. — And finally, you know the grounds on which my ultimate 
 "decision was taken ; as the same were expressed to you, the other secretaries of 
 departments, and tlie late attorney general, after a thorough investigation and 
 consideration of the subject, in all the aspects in which it could be placed. 
 
 As j'ou are no longer an officer of the government, and propose to submit your 
 vindication to the public, it is not my desire, nor is it my intention to receive it 
 otherwise than through the medium of the press. — Facts you cannot mistake — 
 and if they are fairly and candidly stated, they jdll invite no comments. 
 
 The extract of your letter to me, dated the 8th instant, being published in all 
 the gazettes, I request that this letter may be inserted in the compilation you are 
 now making ; — as well to shew may disposition to furnish you with every means 
 I possess towards your vindication, as that I have no wish to conceal any part of 
 
 my conduct from the public. That public will judge, when it comes to 
 
 "see your vindication, how far, and how proper it has been for you to f)ublish pri- 
 ^vate and confidential communications — which, oftentimes have been written in a 
 hurry, and sometimes without even copies being taken. — And it will, I hope, ap- 
 preciate my motives, even if it should condemn my prudence, in allowing 3'ou 
 the unlimited license herein contained. 
 
 Philadelphia, 2] st of October, 1795. Go: WASHINGTON. 
 
 Philadelphia, October 2Ath, 1795. 
 SiB, I affirm to you, that the delay which has occurred in the arrival of my 
 letter of the 8th instant to your hands, is not to be ascribed to me. It was sent 
 to the post-office on Friday the 9th, but too late I believe for the mail of that 
 day. If I am not misinformed, it reached Alexandria on AVedncsday the 14th; 
 from whence it was brought back on Satui'day the 17th; you having passed 
 through that town on your return. You came hither on Tuesday, tlie 20th, in 
 the afternoon. 
 
 __Whatsoevex.Jny"Objects may b© supposed to be, I have but one; which is, to 
 ^^.j^ji^ad J!Ui^£¥~^ jLflUt ualimited permission of i>ublicationJIsJherefqrejIas^<)u 
 must be persuadedjg^Lven without .hazar_d. For you never could believe, that I 
 inten"3e3rto exhibit to public view all and everi/ thing which was known to me. 
 I have indeed the sensibility of an injured man; but I shall disclo.'^e even what 
 I am compelled to disclose, under the opei-*tioii6f the necessity. which you your- 
 self have createdx^JJiave beeiijhejnedii^^ victim of party spirit.^ J^ 
 
 From the tenor of your letter of the 21st instant, I perceive'lljat you have 
 controlled the opinions of Jlr. Pickering and Mr. Wolcott, by virtually admitting 
 your proceedings on the treaty with Gieat Britain to be material in the case to 
 be laid before our country. I must however contend, from a variety of written 
 and other proofs in my possession, that what you in that letter denominate 
 "doubts co7)imu)iicated to Mr. Hammond," will be found to have been considered 
 by you from the 13th of July to the llth of August, as "your determination;" 
 and that "■ the (/rounds on which 1/our ullimate decision toas professed to be taken" 
 were little if at all different from those which h,id been often examined by you 
 before my interview with Mr. Hammond. 
 
 2 
 
18 , 
 
 Mj'^ intention in troubling you with my letter of detail was merely to prevent 
 a con.troversy about facts. But since you rest them upon my statement, I 
 pledge myself to aim at accuracy. If I do not succeed, it will not be my fault 
 that an error shall have crept into my narrative. But I shall be ready to correct 
 it, and to renounce any inference which I may have deduced from it. 
 
 Your letter, Sir, of yesterday, shall be published as you request. To the 
 people I always meant to appeal. It will be in the form of a letter addressed to 
 you, as many of the facts are best known to you; but I shall disclaim, as I 
 have always disclaimed, an appeal to an inferior authority. The people will 
 see, that I have not imitated some others, in treasuring up your letters or ob- 
 servations, from any expectation of producing them at a future day; that I have 
 never betrayed your confidence ; and that even where "your prudence maybe 
 condemned," your "unlimited license," is no more, than a qualified eflFort to do 
 justice. It would have been less equivocal, if it had not been accompanied 
 with a kind of threat ; and the candor, which the letter seems to wear, would 
 have been more seasonable, had it commenced with tliis injurious business. 
 You hold. Sir, a number of my private letters, of which I kept no copy, and 
 which I should be glad to inspect. But notwithstanding they would add weight 
 the proofs, which I might produce, of all my opinions to you being founded 
 on a regard to the rights of the people, and a love of order, I shall leave 
 hem with^jourself as evidences of my fidelity. 
 
 I have the honor to be Sir, with due respect, 
 
 Your most obedient servant. 
 
 The President of the United States. EDM : RANDOLPH. 
 
 Finding from the foregoing letter of tlie President, and other sources 
 of information, that we are likely to differ in (.Icgree upon his proceed- 
 ings in regard to the treaty; I should have apprized him beforehand of 
 the manner in which I have always understood them. But being led 
 by one of the expressions in that letter, to suppose, that he is not 
 desirous of entering into a previous discussion of facts ; I shall en- 
 deavor explicitly to represent the entire truth ; after repeating, that it 
 shall not be my fault, if it be not displayed. 
 
 The treaty arrived on the evening of the 7th day of March, 1795; 
 and was by the President's order rigidly concealed by me from every 
 person upon earth, without a single exception, until I was permitted to 
 divulge it. I challenge the whole world to prove the contrary. Scarcely 
 a day passed, on which he saw me, that he did not enumerate many 
 objections to it ; — objections, going not only to the commercial part, but 
 also to the Canada article, which though seemingly reciprocal in words, 
 would, as he thought, want reciprocity in practice ; to the omission of 
 compensation for the negroes and property plundered; and to some 
 other parts of less consequence. When the message which was to ac- 
 company the treaty to the Senate, was about to be prepared, at the latter 
 end of May, 1795, I observed to him, that it was necessary for him to 
 make up his mind to ratify or not ; and he answered, that although the 
 treaty was so exceptionable to him, yet he would not separate from the 
 
19 
 
 Senate. At this time the order of the British king for seizing our pro- 
 vision-vessels, bound to France had never been heard of by the Presi- 
 dent; and even then he considered himself as at perfect liberty, to 
 ratify or not. On the 24th of June 1795, the Senate advised the con- 
 ditional ratification. He then expressed a wish, that the public opinion 
 could be heard upon the subject; and notwithstanding the vote of the 
 Senate as to secrecy, he authorized me on the 29th to promise to Mr. 
 Brown the printer a copy of the tieaty for publication, with a view to 
 draw forth the sentiments of the people. I accordingly gave him a 
 paragraph for insertion on Monday the 29th, assuring the public, that 
 the treaty would appear on the Wednesday following. Mr. Brown 
 would have received the copy of the treaty immediately, if I had not 
 delivered the only one, which I had, to Mr. Adet the French minister 
 by the President's direction. But before Wednesday arrived, it came 
 forth from another press. 
 
 During the sitting of the Senate, a paragraph appeared in an English 
 paper, mentioning the foregoing provision-order, as it is called. But 
 there was nothing satisfactory concerning its existence or particulars. 
 When they rose, the President was so far convinced, though not offi- 
 cially, of its existence, that he admitted it, as a fact, upon which to 
 reason in respect to the treaty. Then it was, that is, soon after the 
 Senate rose, that he began to balance, whether to ratify or not. He 
 acknowledges that he doubted ; and I am ready to own that shortly 
 after the rising of the Senate, until the 13th of July 1795, he doubted 
 only ; though with great strength. This it was, which induced me to 
 hold with Mr. Hammond the conversation of the 29th of June 1795,* 
 
 * Substance of a Conversatmi irith Mr. Hammond, June 29, 1795, 11 o'clock, A. M. 
 
 I called upon him, and told him, that as he -wished formerly a sight of the 
 treaty when I could not shew it to him, I would now very willingly impart it, if 
 he wished to see it. He snid, that he supposed the essence of it was in Bache's 
 paper of this morning. I replied, that the detail would give the subject more 
 completely. He then said, that frankly speaking he had seen a copy, which* a 
 member of the Senate had brought to him : that he was much pleased with the 
 treaty himself. This last expression was put into two or three diflercnt shapes, 
 to draw something from me. I observed only, that by the Constitution it now 
 rested with the Tresident, and that he had entered into the consideration of 
 the subject. He then read a letter from Lord Grenville to him, on the 18th of 
 April 1795, expressing great solicitude at not having heard of the arrival of \/ 
 the treaty at Philadelphia; and urging Mr. Hammond to give the earliest notice 
 of its arrival, and of the steps taken. Our conversation closed with his saying, 
 that if he wished to consult the treaty further, he would call upon me for a 
 further inspection of it. 
 
 'EDM: RANDOLPH. 
 
 * Mr. King. 
 
20 
 
 wliicli is recorded in the department of state, and was approved by tlie 
 President. This it was, which induced me to write to Mr. Monroe on 
 the 2d of July, 1795, under the President's eye and special correction, 
 that " the President has not yet decided upon the final measure to be 
 adopted by himself." This it was, which induced him to consult all 
 the oiBcers of goTcrnnient upon some collateral points. This it was, 
 which induced him to consult a certain individual upon the treaty at 
 lars^e ; and to require me to give an opinion, which I delivered to him 
 on tlie 12th of July 1795, in the evening. 
 
 That opinion will be particularly stated in my general letter. But it 
 is necessary to cjuote the following concluding passages : 
 
 " I take the liberty then of suggesting, that a personal interview be imme- 
 diately had bet-ween the Secretary of State and Mr. Hammond, and that the 
 substance of the address to him be th - 
 
 "I know, Sir, that you are acquainted vrith the late treaty between the United 
 States and his Britannic Majesty ; and presume, that you have seen the vote of 
 the Senate, advising a ratification of it upon condition. That treaty being still 
 subject to the negative of the President is now before him, undetermined as to 
 its fate. The candor, which has reigned throughout ovir proceedings, induces 
 me, with the permission of the President, to explain to you, as the minister 
 plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty near the United States, what is the 
 course of his reflection upon this momentous transaction. If his Majesty could 
 doubt the sincerity of the President's professions to maintain full harmony with 
 the British nation, his doubt would vanish, when he is told. Sir, as I now tell 
 you, that notwithstanding after the most mature consideration of the treaty, 
 there are several parts by no means coincident with his wishes and expectations; 
 yet he had determined to ratify it, in the manner advised by the Senate. He 
 had determined to put his hand to it without again submitting it, cveu after the 
 insertion of the new article, to the Senate. 
 
 " But we are informed by the public gazettes, and by letters tolerably au- 
 thentic, that vessels, even American vessels, laden with provisions for France, 
 may be captured and dealt with, as carrying a kind of qualified contraband. If 
 this be not true, j'ou can correct me. 
 
 "Upon the supposition of its truth, the President cannot per.suade himself, 
 that he ought to ratify, during the existence of the order. His reasons will be 
 detailed in a proper representation through you (Mr. Hammond) to his Britannic 
 Majesty. At the same time, that order being removed, he will ratify without 
 delay, or farther scruple. Of this also his Britannic Majesty will be informed 
 in the most explicit and unequivocjil tei-ms. 
 
 "Now, Sir, the object of my interview Avith you nrises from my recollection 
 of your having expressed to me a wish, that the ratifications should be ex- 
 changed here ; in order that you might have some agency in closing the treaty. 
 I am thus led to believe, that it may not be disagreeable to you, to undertake 
 what I shall now have the honor of proposing to you. 
 
 " Supposing that Mr. Jay's negotiation would absorb every controversy : that 
 nothing would be left to be done for some time in the ordinary course of resi- 
 dence : and that Mr. Pinckney would have returned to London before he was 
 wanted there, he was dispatched, as our envoy, to Madrid. He did not com- 
 
21 
 
 mence his journey until the 11th of May last. The secretary of the legation, 
 Mr. Dcas, i.s the only person remainina in London, as the political agent of the 
 United States. Being desirous of communicating every thing here, as far as we 
 can, it has occun-ed to me to state in a memorial to you the situation of the 
 business, and the foregoing declaration of the President's purpose to ratify. 
 This, vie presume, will be immediately transmitted through you to the British 
 ministry. The reply may be handed to Mr.Deas. You will also be furnished 
 with a copy of the form in which the President means to ratify, when the 
 order is rescinded. 
 
 "The President had indeed once thought to order one of our European min 
 isters on to London to supply for this purpose the place of Mr. Pinckney. But 
 the most weighty objections render this impracticable ; and it may be also con- 
 ceived that to send over a fresh diplomatic character at this stage of the busi- 
 ness, would neither be very easy, nor very expeditious. 
 
 "It is also contemplated by the President to propose that for the purpose of 
 saving delay, the ratifications may be exchanged here. For although he does 
 not doubt the constitutionality of the S ute's act, and is advised too, that the 
 proposed article, if agreed to by his Britannic Majesty, need not be submitted 
 to them before ratification, yet he entertains serious doubts whether he can 
 himself ratify, without having the very article under his eye, after it shall have 
 been assented to by his Britannic Majesty. The difference of time in the one 
 form or the other will consist only in a voyage from London to Philadelphia. 
 Provision will be made for the subscription in London of any papers, which 
 form may require. 
 
 "You will oblige me. Sir, by giving me youi" sentiments on this statement." 
 
 In the morning of the loth of July 1795, the President instructed 
 me in his room, to have the proposed interview with Mr. Hammond im- 
 mediately, and to address him as I had suggested. I instantly returned 
 to the office, and sent a note, requesting him to come thither. He came 
 in half an hour; and I executed the President's instructions. Mr. 
 Hammond asked me, if it would not be sufficient to remove the order 
 out of the way; and after the ratification to renew it? I replied, per- 
 haps with some warmth, that this would be a mere shift, as the prin- 
 ciple was the important thing. He then asked me, if the President 
 was irrevocably determined not to ratify ; if the provision-order was 
 not removed ? I answered, that I was not instructed upon that point. 
 He said, that he would convey my observations to Lord Grenville by a 
 vessel which was to sail the next day ; and then left me. 
 
 I immediately returned to the President's room, and acquainted him 
 with the foregoing circumstances. He said, that I might have informed 
 Mr. Hammond, that he never would ratify, if the provision-order was 
 not removed out of the way. — He then directed me to prepare the me- 
 morial of which I had spoken to Mr. Hammond, the form of ratifica- 
 tion, and instructions for the person, who was to manage the business in 
 London. 
 
 The next day, being Tuesday the 11th of July 1795, I met with 
 
22 
 
 Mr. Hammond at the President's public room ; when he took me on 
 one side, and again enquired of me, if he was irrevocably determined 
 not to ratify the treaty during the existence of the provision-order? 
 added, that he had written to Lord Grenville what I had communicated 
 to him the day before ; and asked me, when he might expect the memo- 
 rial, which my communication promised to him. It is true, that with 
 respect to the provision-order I might have told him, what the President 
 had declared the day before. But as my conversation was designed 
 only to shew, that the President had not let the subject sleep, and that 
 he had taken his decision : and as the promised memorial would so soon 
 repeat the same ideas, I saw no necessity for changing for the present 
 the ground, upon which it had been placed by me. As to the memorial, 
 I engaged, that he should have it before he sailed ; which was sufl&- 
 ciently early for every purpose; since it was proposed by me in my 
 letter abovementioned, on the 12th of July 1795, and approved by the 
 President on the next day, not to send over a new minister; — but to use 
 Mr. Hammond's agency. — I do not assert that I related to the President 
 this last conversation with Mr. Hammond ; but I believe I did. 
 
 The President left this city for Mount Vernon on Wednesday the 
 15th of July 1795. As soon afterwards as an indisposition, and the 
 nature of the subject, would permit, I prepared, as will be immediately 
 stated, the memorial ; and at diiferent times seeing Mr. Hammond, and 
 learning from him, when he expected to go, I constantly assured him, 
 that it should be ready for him. Not having by me copies of all the 
 private letters, which I wrote to the President, while he was in Vir- 
 ginia, I may not perhaps observe the due order in mentioning the 
 papers; but for the facts in other respects I vouch. 
 
 The President wrote to me from Baltimore on the 18th of July 1795, 
 desiring, that the address of the people of Boston should be taken into 
 consideration by the secretaries and attorney-general. They were col- 
 lected immediately upon the receipt of the letter; and did not at once 
 agree, whether an answer should or should not be returned. But it was 
 mentioned then by me, as I had mentioned to one or two at least of 
 them before, and as I mentioned again the next day, that the President 
 had taken a determination pursuant to the abovementioned communica- 
 tion to Mr. Hammond. It was on this fact, that the answer to that 
 address contained the following passage : — '^ Under this persuasion I ' 
 have resolved on the manner of executing the duty before me." There 
 was at this time no other ^^ resolution" of the President, to which the 
 answer could refer ; and I never could have assented to that phrase, but 
 from my knowledge, that the President had resolved, (though the final 
 formal act was yet incomplete) not to ratify the treaty, until the provi- 
 sion-order was arranged to his satisfaction. 
 
23 
 
 Next in date is the memorial, the rough draught of which was sent 
 to the President, containing the following passages : 
 
 "But neither his Britannic Mnjesty nor the world will be surprised, when 
 they shall be informed, that the disposition to ratify has been siispevded at least 
 by a recent order, issued under the roj'al authority. Its genuineness, though 
 not ascertained by official documents, is scarcely any where doubted. It is under- 
 stood to import, that all ships, of whatever nation, laden with corn or other 
 provisions for French ports, may be seized, and from this description not even 
 neutral vessels are excepted. Against this doctrine the United States have 
 often protested ; and more particularly in the memorial of their minister pleni- 
 potentiary in London to the British secretary of state for foreign affairs, and in 
 a letter from the department of state to the minister plenipotentiary of his 
 
 Britannic majesty in Philadelphia, on the''^- It was not without 
 
 regret, that the efforts were unsuccessful in conforming to the current of modern 
 treaties the definition of contraband. But that the order of the 8th of June 
 1793 was thus repeated upon the United States by the proposed treaty, was as 
 abhorrent fi'om the rules of construction, as an acquiescence in that constriiction 
 was remote from every opinion hitherto formed. It was believed, and is still 
 believed, that the treaty justifies no such interpretation. The considerations, 
 which indispose the United States to yield to it, are too obvious to require an 
 enumeration ; and ffuin, instead of losing force, every day. To ratify then, in the 
 
 face of this comment, would stamp upon* article a meaning which the 
 
 United States disavow ; and contribute to the establishment of a principle, 
 against which they revolt. Hence objections, which might have been overbal- 
 anced by the hope of burying past differences, and of raising a barrier against 
 fresh injui'ies array themselves again in view ; when the abandonment of them, 
 notwithstanding, leaves behind this burthen upon American agriculture and 
 commerce." 
 
 "But as in the language of the Constitution of the United States, the Presi- 
 dent is to make the treaty, no method is satisfactory to him, by which he can or 
 ought to delegate to a subordinate agent the determination when the proposed 
 treaty shall become the supreme law of the land. With this impression he 
 cannot now adopt any style of ratification which shall preclude him from being 
 personally satisfied, that the advice and consent of the Senate, which are the 
 ground-work of his action on treaties, have been truly pursued. To demon- 
 strate, however, that candor alone prevails throughout this transaction, there is 
 annexed to this memorial the draught of a ratification which the President con- 
 tem]}lales to vse, whensoever the occasion shall require ; that is, when he shall be 
 satisfied as to the order for seizing provisions, and constitutional forms present no 
 objection. 
 
 " The chief obstacle, which is dependent for its removal on his Britannic 
 Majesty, is the order above stated. The President is too much deprived of its 
 particulars, to declare, what shall be his irrevocable determination ; but the 
 sensibility, which it has excited in his mind, camiot be allayed without the most 
 unequivocal slip>ulatio7i, to reduce to the only construction, in which he can acquiesce, 
 the • — article of the treaty. 
 
 This is a blank in the rough memorial. 
 
24 
 
 Before the President had received this rough draught of a memorial, 
 and the form of au eventual ratification, therein referred to, he wrote to 
 me on the 22d of July, thus : 
 
 " In my hurry, I did not signify the propriety of letting those gentlemen* 
 know fully, my determination -with respect to the ratification of the treaty ; — 
 and the train it was in; — but as this was necessary, in order to enable them to 
 form their opinions on the subject submitted, I take it for granted that both 
 were communicated to them, by you, as a matter of course. — The first, that is 
 the conditional ratification, {if the late order, which we have heard of, respecting 
 provision-vessels, is not in operation,) may, on all fit occasions, be spoken of as my 
 deteimination, unless from any thing you have heard, or met with since I left 
 the city, it should be thought more advisable to communicate farther with me 
 on the subject ; — my opinion respecting the treaty, is the same now that it was, 
 that is, not favorable to it, — but, that it is better to ratify it in the manner the 
 Senate have advised, [and with the reservation already mentioned) than to suffer 
 matters to remain as they are, — unsettled. — Little has been said to me on the 
 subject of this treaty along the road I passed; and I have seen no one since 
 from whom I could hear much concerning it: — but from indirect discoui'ses I 
 find endeavors are not wanting to place it in all the odious points of view of 
 which it is susceptible, and in some which it will not admit." 
 
 The President's letter to me from Virginia, on the 29th of July, 
 1795, forms a connecting branch only of the subject; but if it were 
 omitted, the omission might be imputed to some improper motive. . 
 
 It begins with announcing his determination to return almost imme- 
 diately to Philadelphia ; and proceeds thus : 
 
 *' I am excited to this resolution by the violent and extraordinary proceedings 
 which have, and are about taking place, in the northern parts of the union, and 
 may be expected in the southern ; because I think that the memorial — the rati- 
 fication — and the instructions, which are framing, are of such vast magnitude, 
 as not only to require great individual consideration; but a solemn conjunct 
 revision. The latter could not happen, if you were to come to this place; nor 
 would there be that source of information to be had, as is to be found at, and 
 continually flowing to, the seat of government; — and besides, iu tl;e course of 
 deliberating on these great matters, the examination of official papers may, more 
 than probable, be found essential; and those could be referred to no where else." 
 
 The next paragraph speaks of the inconvenience of an immediate 
 return, but says, that " whilst he is in office, he shall never suffer 
 private convenience to interfere with what he conceives to be his official 
 duties." 
 
 He goes on thus : 
 
 "'I view the opposition, which the treaty is receiving fi-om the meetings in dif- 
 ferent parts of the union in a very serious light. Not because there is more 
 
 * The secretaries and attorney general. 
 
25 
 
 TTcight in aivj of the objections, which arc made to it, than were foreseen at 
 fji-,^t; — for there are none in some of them; and gross misrepresentations in 
 others. — Nor as it respects myself personally ; for this shall have no influence 
 on my conduct ; plainly perceiving, and I am accordingly preparing my mind for 
 the obloquy, -which disappointment and malice are collecting to heap upon my 
 character. But I am alarmed on account of the effect it may have on, and the 
 advantage the French government may be disposed to make of, the spirit which 
 is at work ; to cherish a belief in them, that the treaty is calculated to favor 
 Great Britain at their expense. Whether they believe or disbelieve these tales, 
 the effect it will have upon the nation will be nearly the same : for whilst they 
 are at war with that power, or so long as the animosity between the two nations 
 exist, it will, no matter at whose expense, be their policy, and it is feared, it 
 will be their conduct, to prevent us from being on good terms with Great Britain, 
 or from her deriving any advantages from our commerce, which they can pre- 
 vent, however much wc may be benefited thereby ourselves. To what length 
 this policy and interest may carry them is problematical ; but when they see the 
 people of this country divided, and such a violent opposition given to the mea- 
 sures of their own government, pretendedly in their favor, it may be extremely 
 embarrassing, to say no more of it. 
 
 " To sum the whole up in a few words. I have never, since I have been in 
 the admii tratiou of the government, seen a crisis, which in my judgment has 
 been so pre^^^ant of interesting events; nor one from which more is to be appre- 
 hended ; whether viewed on one side or the other. From New-York there now 
 is, and I am told will further be, a counter current ; but how formidable it may 
 appear I know not ; — if the same does not take place at Boston and other towns, 
 it will afford but too strong evidence that the opposition is in a manner uni- 
 versal, or that those of different sentiments are supine or intimidated ; which 
 would make the ratification a serious business indeed. But as it respects the 
 French, even counter-resolutions, would, for the reasons I have already given, 
 do little more than weaken, in a small degree, the effect those of the other com- 
 plexion would have. 
 
 The remainder of the letter relates to the answers to be returned to the differ- 
 ent town and other meetings on the treaty ; with a postsci'ipt, desiring, that the 
 confidential officers might "prei^are their minds on the sevei'al subjects therein 
 mentioned against he should arrive." 
 
 Ou the 31st of July, 1795, tlie President wrote to me the following 
 letter from Mount Vernon. 
 
 On Wednesday evening, I sent the packet, now under cover with this letter, 
 to the post-office in Alexandria ; to be forwarded next morning at the usual 
 hour (4 o'clock) by the Baltimore mail ; but behold ! when my letter bag was 
 brought back from the oflSce, and emptied, I not only got those which were ad- 
 dressed to me — among which yours of the 27th was one — but all those which I 
 had sent up the evening before. 
 
 I have to regret this blunder of the postmaster on account of the enclosures, 
 some of which I wished to have got to your hands without delay, that they 
 might have undergone the consideration, and acting upon, which was suggested 
 in the letter which accompanied them. — On another account I am not sorry for 
 the return of the packet; as I resolved thereupon, and reading some letters 
 which I received at the same time, to await your acknowledgment of the receipt 
 
26 
 
 of my letter of the 24th inst. before I ■would set out ; as I should, thereby, bo 
 placed on a certainty -whether your journey hither, or mine to Philadelphia, 
 would, under all circumstances, be deemed most eligible ; or whether the busi- 
 ness could not be equally as well done without either, repeating now what I did 
 in my letter of the 24th ; that I do not require more than a day's notice to 
 repair to the seat of government ; — and that if you, and the confidential officers 
 with you, are not clear in the measures which are best to be pursued on the 
 several matters mentioned in my last, my own opinion is, and for the reasons 
 there given, that difficult and intricate, or delicate questions, had better be set- 
 tled there, where the streams of information are continually pouring in, than at 
 any other place ; and that I would set out accordingly. 
 
 To be wise and temperate, as well as firm, the crisis most eminently calls for; 
 for there is too much reason to believe, from the pains which have been taken 
 before — at — and since the advice of the Senate respecting the treaty, that the 
 prejudices against it are more extensive than is generally imagined. — This, from 
 men who are of no party, but well disposed to the government, I have lately 
 
 learned is the case. How should it be otherwise ? when no stone has been 
 
 left unturned that could impress the people's minds with the most errant false- 
 hoods — that their rights have not only been neglected, but absolutely sold; — that 
 there are no reciprocal advantages in the treaty ; — that the benefits are all on 
 the side of Great Britain ; — and, what seems to have more weight then all the 
 rest, and is accordingly pressed, is, that this treaty is made with a design to 
 oppress the French, in open violation of our treaty with that nation, and con- 
 trary, too, to every principle of gratitude and sound policy. 
 
 In time, when passion shall have yielded to sober reason, the current may 
 possibly turn ; but in the mean while, this government in relation to France and 
 England, may be compared to a ship between the rocks of Scylla and Charybdis. 
 If the treaty is ratified, the partisans of the French (or rather of war and con- 
 fusion) will excite them to hostile measures; or at least to unfriendly senti- 
 ments — if it is not, there is no foreseeing all the consequences which may follow, 
 as it respects Great Britain. 
 
 It is not to be inferred from hence, that I am, or shall be disposed to quit the 
 ground I have taken; unless circumstances more imperious than have yet come 
 to my knowledge, should compel it ;'\for there is but one straight course in these 
 things, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily. i The reason I mention 
 them is to shew, that a close investigation of the subject is more than ever 
 necessary ; and that they are strong evidences of the necessity of the most cir- 
 cumspect conduct in carrying the determination of government into efi"ect with 
 prudence, as it respects our own country ; and with every exertion to produce a 
 change for the better from G. Britain. 
 
 The memorial seems well designed to answer the end proposed ; and by the 
 time it is revised and new dressed, you will probably (either in the resolutions 
 which are, or will be handed to me — or in the newspaper publications, which 
 you promised to be attentive to) have seen all the objections against the treaty 
 which have any real weight in them ; and which may be fit subjects for repre- 
 sentation in the memorial, or for the instructions, or both. — But how much 
 longer the presentation of the memorial can be delayed without exciting un- 
 pleasant sensations here, or involving serious evils elsewhere, you, who are at the 
 scene of information and action, can decide better than I. — In a matter, how- 
 ever, so interesting and pregnant of consequences, there ought to be no precipi- 
 
27 
 
 tation : but on the contrary, every step should be explored before it is taken, 
 and every Avord weighed before it is uttered, or delivered in •writing. 
 
 The form of the ratification requires more diplomatic experience, and legal 
 knowledge than I possess, or have the means of acquiring at this place, and 
 therefore I shall say nothing on this head. 
 
 The identical memorial which the President says seems well designed 
 to answer the end proposed, and from which the foregoing extract was 
 made, and the very form of a ratification to which he refers, are now in 
 my possession. » 
 
 The reason why the President thought it probable, that I might be 
 on my way to Mount Vernon was, that I had intimated it to him. 
 Messrs. Wolcott, Pickering, and Biadford had urged me to go thither, 
 in order to close the business, and put an end to eveiy expectation 
 abroad that the President's purpose could now be changed. I had actu- 
 ally engaged a carriage for the purpose; but was prevented by a great 
 influx of business from the President and other quarters. 
 
 Before the memorial returned to Philadelphia, Mr. Wolcott said some- 
 thing to me about delay in concluding the business; observing, that it 
 would give the French government an opportunity of professing to make 
 very extensive overtures to the United States, and thus embarrass the 
 treaty with Great Britain. When I read the memorial to Col. Picker- 
 ing in his office, he said, "This, as the sailors say, is throwing the whole 
 up in the wind." The memorial after it was rendered more correct in 
 language, retained the former determination against ratifying, except in 
 the mode now expressed, if the provision-order was abolished. Although 
 it expressly declares, that it is only a more particular disclosure of my 
 conversation on the 13th instant, yet no observation was ever made in 
 my presence or to my belief, by the President, that I had exceeded his 
 intention. I spoke of his determination on the 12th of August 1795, 
 when we were in consultation on the treaty, and no objection was even 
 hinted at. I also shewed to the President, on the morning of the 13th 
 of August, 1795, the letters which had been written to Mr. Monroe, 
 and to the other ministers, as follows. To Col. Monroe, July 14, 1795. 
 
 "The treaty is not yet ratified by the President; nor will it be ratified, I be- 
 lieve, until it returns from England, if then. But I do not mean this for a 
 public commupication or for any public body or men. I am engaged in a work, 
 which, when finished, and approved by the President, will enable me to speak 
 precisely to you. The British order for seizing provisions is a weighty obstacle 
 to a ratification. I do not suppose that such an attempt to starve France will be 
 countenanced." 
 
 To all our foreign ministers, July 21, 1795. 
 
 ""When I inform you that the Presiidcnt has not yet ratified the treaty, his 
 
character will convince you, that nothing -will deter him from doing Avhat he 
 thinks right ; and that the final question lies open from causes, unconnected -with 
 any considerations but the interest and duties of the United States. He is at 
 present in Virgiaia, and will doubtless very soon take his conclusive step. If I 
 were permitted to conjecture, what that would be; I should suspect, that at any 
 rate he would not sign it, until it should return from England, with the addition 
 of the suspending article ; and probably not even then, if a late British order for 
 the capture of provisions going to France, should have been issued as we sup- 
 pose, and increase the objections which have been lavished upon it." 
 
 The purpose of this statement is to shew that the President, (not- 
 withstanding he was at liberty to ratify, if he pleased, even after the 
 declaration to Mr. Hammond, who would readily admit a recantation to 
 that effect, and altho' I studiously kept him at liberty by my acts and 
 writings, went to Mount Vernon on the 15th of July, 1795, determined 
 to adhere to the ground, which he had taken on the 13th, in my oral 
 representation to Mr. Hammond, and came back on the 11th of Augu&t 
 with the same determination, as far as I could discover. For, in addi- 
 tion to the preceding circumstances, on the evening of the 11th of Au- 
 gust, I observed to him, in the presence of Messrs. Pi.^kering and 
 Bradford, that the sooner the memorial was revised by the gentlemen 
 jointly, who were prepared with their opinions, the better; and he re- 
 plied, that he supposed every thing of this sort had been settled. But 
 I told him, that they were not, as Col. Pickering was for an immediate 
 ratification; to which he said, ''I told Mr. Randolph that I thought the 
 postponement of ratification was a ruinous step;" or words tantamount. 
 
 I might confirm this, if necessary, by a very influential letter in the 
 President's hands, dated the 10th or 14th of July, approved by him, 
 and differing from my opinion, on the definitive step only in this respect; 
 that the writer would have suspended the treaty, not by refusing to 
 ratify, but by refusing to excliange ratifications, until an attempt was 
 made to abolish the provision-order; and, if it miscarried afterwards, 
 until our minister should receive further instructions. 
 
 That a change in the purpose of the President had taken place, will 
 also appear by the change of expression between the memorial, which 
 the President approved at Mount Vernon, and that delivered finally to 
 Mr. Hammond. In the former, the Secretary of State proposes to com- 
 municate to the British minister more formally, more precisely, and 
 more at large, the suggestions made in the conversation of the 13th of 
 July, 1795. In the latter, he says, that in conformity with his assu- 
 rance on the 13th of July, 1795, *'he now communicates, by memorial, 
 the determination which the President of the United States has thought 
 proper to ado'pt." The draught which I made in consequence of the 
 change in the President's opinion, proves the constancy of my idea. It 
 
29 
 
 mentions the clctcrmination, winch the President lias, iqwn farther re- 
 flection, thought proper to adopt. 
 
 Translation of Mr. Fauchet^s Political DispcUcli, JSfo. 10. 
 LEGATION OF PHILADELPHIA. ) 
 
 FOREIGN RELATIONS. V No. 10. 
 
 Private Correspondence of the Minister on Politics. J 
 
 Philadelphia, the 10 fh Brumaire, Zrdycar of 
 
 the French Republic, one and indivisible. 
 
 (October Slst, 17U4.) 
 
 Joseph Fauchet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republic, near the 
 
 United States, 
 
 to the commissioner of foreign relations, 
 Citizen, 
 
 1. The measures -which prudence prescribes to me to talce, Tvith respect 
 to my colleagues, have still presided in the digesting of the dispatches signed by 
 .them, which treat of the insurrection of the western countries, and of the re- 
 pressive means adopted by the government. I have allowed them to be confined 
 to the giving of a faithful, but naked recital of events ; the reflections therein 
 contained scarcely exceed the conclusions easily deducible from the character 
 assumed by the public prints. I have reserved myself to give you as far as I 
 am able a key to the facts detailed in our reports. When it comes in question 
 to explain, either by conjectures or by certain data, the secret A'iews of a foreign 
 government, it would be imprudent to run the risk of indiscretions, and to give 
 oneself up to men whose knoMii partiality for that government, and similitude of 
 passions and interests with its chiefs, might lead to confidences, the issue of 
 which are incalculable. Besides^ the precious confessions of Mr. Randolph 
 alone throw a satisfactory light upon every thing that comes to pass. These I 
 have not yet communicated to my colleagues. The motives already mentioned 
 lead to this reserve, and still less permit me to open myself to them at the pre- 
 sent moment. I shall then endeavor. Citizen, to give you a clue to all the meas- 
 ures, of which the common dispatches give you an account, and to discover the 
 true causes of the explosion, Avhich it is obstinately resolved to repress with 
 great means, although the state of things has no longer anything alarming. 
 
 2. To confine the present crisis to the simple question of the excise is to reduce 
 it far below its true scale; it is indubitably connected with a general explosion 
 for some time prepared in the public mind, but which this local and precipitate 
 eruption will cause to miscarry, or at least check for a long time; — in order to 
 see the real cause, in order to calculate the effect, and the consequences, we 
 must ascend to the origin of the parties existing in the State, and retrace their 
 progress. 
 
 3. The present system of government has created malcontents. This is the 
 lot of all new things. My predecessors have given information in detail upon 
 the parts of the system which have particularly awakened clamors and produced 
 enemies to the whole of it. The primitive divisions of opinion as to the politi- 
 cal form of the State, and the limits of the sovereignty ot the whole over each 
 State individually sovereign, had created the federalists and the ami-federalists. 
 From a whimsical conti-ast between the name and the real opinir.n of the parties, 
 a contrast hitherto little tinderstood in Europe, the former aimed, and still aim, 
 
30 
 
 with all their power, to annihilate federalism, whilst the latter have always 
 wished to preserve it. This contrast was created hj the Consolidators or the 
 Constitutionalists,* who, being first in giving the denominations (a matter so im- 
 portant in a revolution,) took for themselves that which was the most popular, 
 although in reality it contradicted their ideas, and gave to their rivals one which 
 would draw on them the attention of the people, notwithstanding they really 
 wished to preserve a system whose prejudices should cherish at least the memory 
 and the name. 
 
 4. Moreover, these first divisions, of the nature of those to be destroyed by 
 time, in proportion as the nation should have advanced in the experiment of a 
 form of government which rendered it flourishing, might now have completely 
 disappeared, if the system of finances which had its birth in the cradle of the 
 Constitution, had not renewed their vigor under various forms. The mode of 
 organizing the national credit, the consolidating and funding of the public debt, 
 the introduction in the political economy of the usage of States, which prolong 
 their existence or ward off their fall only by expedients, imperceptibly created a 
 financiering class who threaten to become the aristocratical order of tho State. 
 Several citizens, and among others those who had aided in establishing inde- 
 pendence with their purses or their arms, conceived themselves aggrieved by 
 those fiscal engagements; Hence an opposition which declares itself between 
 the farming or agricultural interest, and that of the fiscal; federalism and anti- 
 federalism, which are founded on those new denominations, in proportion as the 
 treasury usurps a preponderance in the government and legislation: Hence in 
 fine, the State, divided into partizans and enemies of the treasurer and of his 
 theories. In this new classification of parties, the nature of things gave popu- 
 larity to the lattei-, an innate instinct, if I may use the expression, caused the 
 ears of the people to revolt at the names alone of treasurer and stockjobber : but 
 the opposite party, in consequence of its ability, obstinately persisted in leaving 
 to its adversaries the suspicious name of anli-federaUsts, whilst in reality they 
 were friends of the Constitution, and enemies only of the excrescences which 
 financiering theories threatened to attach to it. 
 
 5. It is useless to stoji longer to prove that the monarchical system was inter- 
 woven with those novelties of finances, and that the friends of the latter favored 
 the attempts which were made in order to bring the Constitution to the former 
 by insensible gradations. The wi-itings of influential men of this party prove 
 it; their real opinions too avow it, and the journals of the Senate are the deposi- 
 tory of the first attempts. 
 
 6 Let us, therefore, free ovirselves from the intermediate spaces in which the 
 progress of the system is marked, since they can add nothing to the proof of its 
 existence — Let las pass by its sympathy with our regenerating movements, while 
 running in monarchical paths — Let us arrive at the situaiiou in which our Re- 
 publican revolution has placed things and parties. 
 
 7. The anti-federalists disembarrass themselves of an insignificant denomina- 
 tion, and lake thit of patriots and of republicans. Their adversaries become 
 aristocrats, notwithstanding their elTorts to preserve the advautageoiis illusion of 
 ancient names; opinions clash, and press each other; the aristocratic attempts, 
 which formerly had appeared so insignificant, are recollected: The treasurer, 
 who is looked upon as their first source, is attacked; his operations and plans 
 
 * Constitiians. 
 
31 
 
 are denounced to the public opinion; nay, in the sessions of 1792 and 1703, a 
 solemn inquiry into his administration was obtained. This first victory -was to 
 produce another, and it was hoped that, faulty or innocent, the treasurer would 
 retire, no less by necessity in the one case, than from self-love in ;he other. He, 
 emboldened by the triumph which he obtained in the useless inquiry of his ene- 
 mies, of which both objects proved equally abortive, seduced besides by the 
 momentary reverse of republicanism in Europe, removes the mask and announces 
 the approaching triumph of his principles. 
 
 8. In the mean time the popular secietiesare formed; political ideas concenter 
 themselves, the patriotic party unite and more closely connect themselves; they 
 gain a formidable majority in the legislature; the abasement of commerce, the 
 slavery of navigation, and the audacity of England strengthen it. A concert of 
 declarations and censures against the government arises ; at which the latter is 
 even itself astonished. 
 
 9. Such was the situation ot things towards the close of the last and at the 
 beginning of the present year. Let us pass over the discontents which were 
 most generally expressed in these critical moments. They have been sent to 
 you at diflerent perio.s, and in detail. In every quarter are arraigned the im- 
 becility of the governmen': towards Great Biitain, the defenceless state of the 
 country against possible invasions, the coldness towards the French Republic: 
 the system of finance is attacked, which threatens eternizing the debt under 
 pretext of making it the guarantee of public happiness; the complication of that 
 system which withholds from general inspection all its operations, — the alarming 
 power of the influence it procures to a man whose principles are regarded as 
 dangerous, — the preponderance which that man acquires from day to day in 
 public measures, and in a word the immoral and impolitic modes of taxation, 
 which he at first presents as expedients, and afterwards raises to permanency. 
 
 10. In touching this last point wc attain the principal complaint of the west- 
 ern people, and the ostensible motive of their movements. Republicans by 
 principle, independent by character and situation, they could not but accede with 
 enthusiasm to the crimirations which we have sketched. But the excise above 
 all affects them. Their lands are fertile, watered with the finest rivers in 
 the world; but the abundant fruits of their labor run the risk of perishing for 
 the want of means of exchanging them, as those more happy cultivators do for 
 objects which desire indicates to all men who have known only the enjoyments 
 which Europe proctires them. They therefore convert the excess of their pro- 
 duce into liquors imperfectly fabricated, which badly supply the place of those 
 they might procure hy exchange. The excise is created and strikes at this con- 
 soling transformation; their complaints are answered by the only pretext that 
 they are otherwise inaccessible to every species of impost. But why, in contempt 
 of treaties, are they left to bear the yoke of the feeble Spaniard, as to the Mis- 
 sissippi, for upwards of twelve years? Since when has an agricultural people 
 submitted to the unjust capricious law of a people explorers of the precious 
 metals? Might we not suppose that Madrid and Philadelphia mutually assisted 
 in prolonging the slavery of the river; that the projjrictors of a barren coast are 
 afraid lest the Mississippi, once opened, and its numerous branches brought into 
 activity, their fields might become deserts, and in a word that commerce dreads 
 having rivals in those interior parts as soon as their inhabitants shall cease to 
 be subjects? This last supposition is but too well founded; an influential mem- 
 
32 
 
 ber of the Senate, Mr. Izard, one day in conversation imdisguisedly announced 
 it to me. 
 
 11. I sliall be more brief in my observations on tlie murmurs excited by the 
 system for the sale of lands. It is conceived to be unjust that these Fast and 
 fertile regions should be sold by provinces to capitalists, who thus enrich them- 
 selves, and retail, with immense profits, to the husbandmen, possessions which 
 they have never seen. If there were not a latent design to arrest the rapid set- 
 tlement of those lands, and to prolong their infant state, why not open in the 
 west land offices, where every body, without distinction, should be admitted to 
 purchase by a small or large quantity ? "Why reserve to sell or distribute to 
 favorites, to a cL.n of flatterers, of courtiers, that which belongs to the State, 
 and which should be sold to the greatest possible profit of all its members? 
 
 12. Such therefore were the parts of the public gi'ievance, upon which the 
 western people most insisted. Now, as the common dispatches inform you, these 
 complaints were systematizing by the conversations of influential men who re- 
 tired into those wild countries, and who from principle, or by a series of partic- 
 ular heart-burnings, animated discontents already too near to efiervesccnce. At 
 last the local explosion is cfi"ected. The western peojDle calculated on being sup- 
 ported by some distinguished characters in the east, and even imagined that they 
 had in the bosom of the government some abettors, who might share in their 
 grievances or their principles. 
 
 13. From what I have detailed above, those men might indeed be supposed 
 numerous. The sessions of 179-^ and 1794 had given importance to the republi- 
 can party, and solidity to its accusations. The propositions of Mr. Madison, or 
 his project for a navigation act, of which Mr. Jefi'erson was originally the author, 
 sapped the British interest, now an integral part of the financiering system. 
 Mr. Taylor, a republican member of the Senate, published towards the end of 
 the session, three pamphlets, in which this last is explored to its origin, and de- 
 veloped in its progress and consequences with force and method. In the last he 
 asserts that the decrepid state of aflairs resulting from that system, could not 
 but presage, under a rising government, either a revolution or a civil war. 
 
 14. The first was preparing: the government, which had foreseen it, repro- 
 duced, iinder various forms, the demand of a disposable* force which might 
 put it in a respectable state of defence. Defeated in this measure, who can aver 
 that it may not have hastened the local eruption, in order to make an advanta- 
 geous diversion, and to lay the more general storm which it saw rising ? Am I 
 not authorized in forming this conjectiire from the conversation which the Secre- 
 tary of State had with me and Le Blanc, alone, an account of which you have 
 in my dispatch, No.. 3? But how may we expect that this new plan will be exe- 
 cuted? By exasperating and severe measures, authorized by a law which was 
 not solicited till the close of the session. This law gave to the one already ex- 
 isting for collecting the excise a coercive force which hitherto it had not possessed, 
 and a demand of which was not before ventured to be made.f B}- means of this 
 new law all the refractory citizens to tlic old one were caused to be pursued with 
 a sudden rigor; a great number of writs were issued; doubtless the natural con- 
 sequences from a conduct so decisive and so harsh were expected; and before these 
 
 * Uisponible. 
 
 fTliis law was mentioned in tlie comnieal upon the laws of ilie last session inclosed in No. 9 
 of corresponclence of llje miuister. 
 
were manifested the means of repression had been prepared ; this was undoubt- 
 edly what Mr. Randolph meant in telling me that under pretext of giving energy 
 to the government it ivas intended to introduce absolute power, and to mislead the Pre- 
 sident in paths which would conduct him to xinpopxilarity . 
 
 15. Whether the explosion has been provoked by the government, or owes its 
 birth to accident, it is certain that a commotion of some hundi'cds of men, who 
 have not since been found in arms, and the very pacific union of the counties in 
 Braddock's field, a union which has not been revived, were not symptom's which 
 could justify the raising of so great a force as 15,000 men. Besides the princi- 
 ples, uttered in the declarations hitherto made public, rather announced ardent 
 minds to be calmed than anarchists to be subdued. But in order to obtain some- 
 thing on the public opinion prepossessed against the demands contemplated to be 
 made, it was necessary to magnify the danger, to disfigure the views of those 
 people, to attribute to them the design of uniting themselves with England, to 
 alarm the citizens for the fate of the Constitution, whilst in reality the revolu- 
 tion threatened only the ministers. This step succeeded; an army is raised; 
 this military part of the suppression is doubtless Mr. Hamilton's, the pacific part 
 and the sending of commissioners are due to the influence of Mr. Randolph over 
 the mind of the President, whom I delight always to believe, and whom I do 
 believe, truly virtuous, and the friend of his fellow-citizens and principles. 
 
 16. In the mean time, although there was a certainty of having an army, yet 
 it was necessary to assure themselves of co-operators among the men whose 
 patriotic reputation might influence their party, and whose luke-warmness or 
 want of energy in the existing conjunctures might compromit the success of the 
 plans. Of all the governors, whose duty it was to appear at the head of the 
 requisitions, the Governor of Pennsylvania alone enjoyed the name of Republi- 
 can; his opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury and of his system was known 
 to be unfavorable. The Secretary of this State possessed great influence in the 
 Popular Society of Philadelphia, which in its turn influenced those of other 
 States; of course he merited attention. It appears therefore that these men 
 with others unknown to me, all having without doubt Randolph at their head, 
 were balancing to decide on their party. Two or three days before the procla- 
 mation was published, and of course before the Cabinet had resolved on its 
 measures, Mr Randolph came to see me with an air of great eagerness, and 
 made to me the overtures of which I have given you an account in my No. 6. 
 Thus with some thousands of dollars the Republic could have decided on civil 
 war or on peace! Thus the consciences of the pretended patriots of America 
 have already their prices! * It is very true that the certainty of these conclu- 
 sions, painful to be drawn, will forever exist in our archives! What will be the 
 old age of this government, if it is thus early decrepid! Such, Citizen, is the 
 evident consequence of the system of finances conceived by Mr. Hamilton. ' He 
 Las made of a whole nation, a stock-jobbing, speculating, selfish people. \ Riches 
 alone here fix consideration; and as no one likes to be despised, they are univer- 
 sally sought after. Nevertheless this depravity has not yet embraced the mass 
 of the people; the effects of this pernicious system have as yet but slightly 
 touched them. Still there are patriots, 'f whom I delight to entertain an idea 
 worthy of that imposing title. Consult Monroe, he is of this number; he had 
 apprised me of the men whom the current of events had dragged along as bodies 
 
 * Tariff. 
 
34 
 
 devoid of weight. His friend Madison is also an honest man. Jefferson, on 
 whom the parties cast their eyes to succeed the President, had foreseen these 
 crises. He prudently retired in order to avoid making a figure against his incli- 
 nation in scenes, the secret of which will soon or late be brought to light. 
 
 17. As soon as it was decided that the French Republic purchased no men to 
 do their duty, there were to be seen individuals, about whose conduct the govern- 
 ment could at least form uneasy conjectures, giving themselves up with a scan- 
 dalous ostentation to its views, and even seconding its declarations. The Popular 
 Societies soon emitted resolutions stamped with the same spii'it, and who, although 
 they may have been advised by love of order, might nevertheless have omitted 
 or uttered them with less solemnity. Then were seen coming from the very men 
 whom we had been accustomed to regard as having little friendship for the system 
 of the treasurer, harangues without end, in order to give a new direction to the 
 public mind. The militia, however, manifest some repugnance, particularly in 
 Pennsylvania, for the service to which they were called. Several officers resign ; at 
 last by excursions or harangues, incomplete requisitions are obtained, and scat- 
 tered volunteer corps from different parts make up the deficiency. How much 
 more interesting, than the changeable men whom I have painted above, were 
 those plain citizens who answered the solicitations which were made to them to 
 join the volunteers — "If we are required we will march; because we do not wish 
 not to have a government, but to arm ourselves as volunteers would be in ap- 
 pearance subscribing implicitly to the excise system wliich we reprobate." 
 
 18. What I have said above, authorizes then our resting on the opinion become 
 incontestible, that in the crisis which has burst, and in the means employed for 
 restoring order, the true question was the destruction or the triumph of the 
 treasurer's plans. This being once established, let us pass over the facts related 
 in the common dispatches, and see how the government or the treasurer will take 
 from the very stroke which threatened his system the safe opportunity of humb- 
 ling the adverse party, and of silencing their enemies whether open or concealed. 
 The army marched; the President made known that he was going to command 
 it; he sat out for Carlisle; Hamilton, as 1 have understood, requested to follow 
 him; the President dared not to refuse him. It does not require much penetra- 
 tion to divine the object of this journey: In the President it was wise, it might 
 also be his duty. But in Mr. Hamilton it was the consequence of the profound 
 policy which directs all his steps; a measure dictated by a perfect knowledge of 
 the human heart. Was it not interesting for him, for his party, tottering under 
 the weight of events without and accusations within, to proclaim an intimacy 
 more perfect than ever with the President, whose very name .is a sufficient shield 
 against the most formidable attacks ? Now what more evident mark could the 
 President give of his intimacy than by suffering Mr. Hamilton, whose name even 
 is understood in the west as that of a public enemy, to go and place himself at 
 the head of the army which went, if I may use the expression, to cause his sys- 
 tem to triumph against the opposition of the people? The presence of Mr. 
 Hamilton with the army must attach it more than ever to his party; we see what 
 ideas these circumstances give birth to on both sides, all however to the advan- 
 tage of the secretary. 
 
 19. Three weeks had they encamped in the west without a single armed man 
 appearing. However the President, or those who wished to make' the most of 
 this new manoeuvre, made it public that he was going to command in person. 
 The session of Congress being very near, it was wished to try whether there 
 
S5 
 
 could not be obtained from the presses, which were supposed to have changed, a 
 silence whence to conclude the possibility of infringing the Constitution in its 
 most essential part: in that which fixes the relation of the President with the 
 legislature. But the patriotic papers laid hold of this artful attempt: I am cer- 
 tain that the office of Secretary of State, which alone remained at Philadelpliia, 
 (for while the minister of finance was with the army, the minister of war was 
 on a tour to the Province of Maine, 400 miles from Philadelphia,) maintained 
 the controversy in favor of the opinion which it was desired to establish. A 
 comparison between the President and the English monarch was introduced, who 
 far removed from Westminster, yet strictly fulfills his duty of sanctioning; it was 
 much insisted on, that the Constitution declares that the President commands the 
 armed force: this similitude was treated with contempt; the consequence of the 
 power of commanding in person, drawn from the right to command in chief (or 
 direct) the force of the State, was ridiculed and reduced to an absurdity, by 
 supposing a fleet at sea and an army on land. The result of this controversy 
 was, that some days after it was announced that the President would come to 
 open the approaching session. 
 
 20. During his stay at Bedford, the President doubtless concerted the plan of 
 the campaign with Mr. Lee, to whom he left the command in chief. The letter 
 by which he delegates the command to him, is that of a virtuous man, at least 
 as to the major part of the sentiments which it contains; he afterwards set out 
 for Philadelphia, where he has just arrived, and Mr. Hamilton remains with the 
 army. 
 
 21. This last circumstance unveils all the plan of the Secretary; he presides 
 over the military operations in order to acquire in the sight of his enemies a 
 formidable and imposing consideration. He and Mr. Lee the commander in chief 
 agree perfectly, in pi'inciples. The governors of Jersey and Maryland harmonize 
 entirelj' with them; the governor of Pennsylvania, of whom it never would have 
 been suspected, lived intimately and publicly with Hamilton. Such a union of 
 persons would be matter sufficient to produce resistance in the western counties, 
 even admitting they had not thought of making any. 
 
 22. The soldiers themselves are astonished at the scandalous gaiety with which 
 those who possess the secret, proclaim their approaching triumph. It is asked, 
 of what use are 15,000 men in this country, in which provisions are scarce, and 
 where are to be seized only some turbulent men at their plough. Those who 
 conducted the expedition know this ; the matter is to create a great expense; 
 when the sums shall come to be assessed, no one will be willing to pay, and 
 should each pay his assessment, it will be done in cursing the insurgent princi- 
 ples of the patriots. 
 
 23. It is impossible to make a more able manoeuvre for the opening of Congress. 
 The passions, the generous indignation, which had agitated their minds in the 
 last session, were about being renewed with still more vigor; there was nothing 
 to announce of brilliant successes which they had promised. The hostilities of 
 Great Britain on the continent so long disguised, and now become evident, a 
 commerce always harassed, ridiculous negotiations lingering at London, waiting 
 until new conjunctures should authorize new insults ; such was the picture they 
 wei'e likely to have to oflFer the representatives of the people. But this crisis, 
 and the great movements made to prevent its consequences, change the state of 
 things. With what advantage do they denounce an atrocious attack upon the 
 Constitution, and appreciate the activity used to repress it; the aristocratical 
 
36 
 
 party -will soon have understood the secret ; all the misfortunes will be attributed 
 to patriots ; the party of the latter is about being deserted by all the weak 
 men, and this complete session will have been gained. 
 
 24. Who knows what will be the limits of this triumph ? Perhaps advantage 
 will be taken by it to obtain some laws for strengthening the government, and 
 still more precipitating the propensity, already visible, that it has towards 
 aristocracy. 
 
 25. Such are, Citizen, the data which I possess concerning these events, and 
 the consequences I draw from them; I wish I may be deceived in my calcula- 
 tions, and the good disposition of the people; their attachment to principles 
 leads me to expect it. I have perhaps herein fallen into the repetition of reflec- 
 tions and facts contained in other dispatches, but I wished to present together 
 some views which I have reason to ascribe to the ruling party, and some able 
 manoeuvres invented to support themselves. Without particii^ating in the passions 
 of the parties, I observe them; and I owe to my country an exact and strict ac- 
 coimt of the situation of things. I shall make it my duty to keep you regularly 
 informed of every change that may take place; above all I shall apply myself to 
 penetrate the disposition of the legislature ; that will not a little assist in forming 
 the final idea which we ought to have of these movements, and what we should 
 really fear or hope from them. 
 
 Health and fraternity. 
 Signed, JH. FAUCHET. 
 
 To the President of the United States. 
 
 Sir, Never until the 19th of August, 1795, could I have believed, 
 tliat in addressing you, without the restraint of an official relation, I 
 should use any other language, than that of a friend. From an early 
 period of my life, I was taught to esteem you : — as I advanced fn years, 
 I was habituated to revere you : — you strengthened my prepossessions 
 by marks of attention ; and if by some others, you have been insid- 
 iously pampered with more lavish assurances of an affectionate attach- 
 ment; from me you have experienced a sincere anxiety, to continue 
 your reputation upon its ancient basis, the hearts of the people. 
 
 But the season is come, Sir, when, if my obligations to you have not 
 been balanced by laborious and confidential services ; the whole account 
 is settled without ingratitude on my part. 
 
 Still however those very obligations, the very reputation whicb you 
 have acquired, will cause it to be asked, why you should be suspected of 
 acting towards me, in any other manner, than deliberately, justly, and 
 even kindly ? Painful as the history of facts is, it must be told. Be- 
 fore you saw Mr. Fauchet's letter, the British partisans had been indus- 
 trious in disseminating the most poisonous falsehoods ; and while I was 
 absent at Ilhode-Island they seized the advantage of uttering uncontra- 
 dicted slanders; boasting and insisting, that in a controversy between 
 us, I must be sacrificed. The hope, therefore, which remains to me, is, 
 that truth when developed may face with success the influence of your 
 
37 
 
 character. For I hesitate not to pronounce, that you prejudged the 
 question ; that you ought to have withstood the impulse, which hurried 
 you into a prejudication ; and that he, who feels a due abhorrence of 
 party-manoeuvres, will form a conclusion honoi-able to myself. 
 That you prejudged my case, is proclaimed by your actions. — 
 On the evening of the 11th of August, 1795, Mr. Fauchet's letter 
 was presented to you by Mr. Wolcott. At all hours of the day I was 
 ready to obey your summons. On every day, except Sunday j and per- 
 haps twice a day I had a private interview with you. Twice I spoke to 
 you of the warmth, which Messrs. Wolcott and Pickering had discov- 
 ered on the 12th, in the discussion of the treaty in your room, and 
 which undoubtedly, as it now appears, sprang from a knowledge of that 
 letter. On the 14th you veiled the meditated stroke by a visit at my 
 house. On the 15th, you invited me, in the most cordial way, to dine 
 with a party of chosen friends, and placed me at the foot of your table. 
 On the 18th the same air of hospitality was assumed. But the system 
 of concealment, which had been practised under the united auspices of 
 the British minister, and the American Secretary of the Treasury, was 
 not thought unworthy of your adoption ; — Mr. Wolcott had been privy 
 to the letter at least from the 28th of July, and the President of the 
 United States from the 11th of August j and yet he had buried it at 
 the bottom of his soul, until the 19 th of August, when the final catas- 
 trophe seemed to be secure. Why was all this stratagem observed to- 
 wards him, of whose fidelity you had never entertained a doubt ? 
 Although your advisers might have pledged themselves, for the pursuit 
 of a particular plan, to others; although even New-York may have been 
 the birth-place of the scheme; old habits of deference to the opinion of 
 any man ought to have been discarded, when put in competition with 
 justice. From this cause, from another, which will be hereafter noticed, 
 or from a temper, which under the exterior of cool and slow delibera- 
 tion, rapidly catches a prejudice, and with difficulty abandons it; you 
 determined, that your first impressions could not be effaced : You held 
 frequent consultations with Messrs. Pickering and Wolcott; you and 
 they became sentinels on all my words, all my gestures : And it being 
 known, that I should renew in the debate upon the treaty my undissem- 
 bled protestation against a rupture with France, it was too admirable an 
 opportunity for culling a few atoms of testimony of French influence 
 over me, to be lost by an untimely discovery of the letter. Was this 
 open ? Was this generous ? Was it characteristic of an inquiry after 
 truth ; or was it not rather characteristic of a labor to defend before the 
 world a judgment already fixed '( It was in perfect unison with the 
 events of the 19th of August; when your tribunal of inquiry had been 
 sitting more than an hour before I was admitted ; when I was received 
 
38 
 
 in the forms of a state-criminal j when those, who had been plotting 
 against me, were invited to interrogate ; when in military style I was 
 directed to retire, until you should converse with them. 
 
 It was also in perfect unison with your own and Mr. Wolcott's indif- 
 ference in obtaining the necessary lights. The principal parts of Mr. 
 Fauchet's letter, so far as they affect me, depend for their explanation 
 and illustration upon his dispatches No. 3 and 6. Without these the 
 facts from which he draws his inferences, could not be divined by you ; 
 and your suspicions had for their foundation only his assertion of '■^pre- 
 cious confessions" from me; his " ro«_;>c/i«-e," contained in the state- 
 ment No. o, and his observations upon an unknown overture in No. 6. 
 You avow in your letter of Sept. 27, 1795, that " you have never seen 
 in the whole or in part, Mr. Fauchet's dispatches No. 3 and 6;" and 
 " that you do not possess any documents or knowledge of papers, which 
 have affinity to the subject in question." In like manner, Mr. Wolcott, 
 whose agency with the British minister on this occasion has been so 
 conspicuous, disclaims, on the 2d of October 1795, any " knowledge, 
 whether they or either of them (No. 3 and 6) have been seen by Lord 
 Grenville or Mr. Hammond." Thus not the smallest exertion was 
 made to procure these documents; which would be naturally sought 
 for by those, whose judgment was not pre-occupied. 
 
 Noj- was this all. You undertook to decide for me, that mi/ inquiries 
 from Mr. Hammond for No. 3 and 6, must be unavailing; because you 
 withheld from me Mr. Fauchet's letter, until Mr. Hammond had sailed 
 for Europe. This is no speculative complaint. For I have been as- 
 sured, that a duplicate of No. 6, accompanied the letter No. 10, from 
 Philadelphia ; but whether it was in or out of cypher cannot be ascer- 
 tained farther, than that it was probably out of cypher, as No. 10 was 
 in the common character. 
 
 Did Lord Cxrenville's high probity insure the sending of all papers, 
 belonging to the subject ? Did Mr. Hammond's peculiar candor render 
 it impossible for him to suppress them ? Or was Mr. Fauchet's accu- 
 racy so unquestionable, as to supersede the necessity of even asking for 
 No. 3 and 6 ? 
 
 Of Lord Grenville I shall not speak, except in his political character 
 towards the United States, and his conduct in this transaction. The 
 arrogant observations which he made to Mr. Pinckney against the 
 friends of France in our country; the displeasure expressed by the 
 British cabinet on the letters, written to the National Convention, with 
 your approbation ; the dexterous perseverance, with which he has inter- 
 woven in the treaty every thing, adverse to France, which it was sup- 
 posed, could be tolerated ; and Mr. Fauchet's letter, being nine months 
 old, when it was first exhibited to you ; — these incidents ought to have 
 
39 
 
 reminded you, that the No. 3 and 6 deserved one short inquiry. They 
 ought to have reminded you of the possibility, that instead of an anxiety 
 in his lordship to maintain our government free from corruption, he 
 might have been tempted, by the prospect of more effectually prepos- 
 sessing you against the friends of France, to keep back those references. 
 For he transmitted the letter No. 10 to Mr. Hammond, " to he used to 
 the best advantage for his Majesty's service." If any scope of thought 
 had been indulged, it must have struck you, that, as Mr. Jay and Mr. 
 Pinckney did not appear to have been acquainted with the letter, it was 
 reserved by the British government for a critical moment, and that it 
 ought to be attempted to supply the mutilations by a demand of the 
 references. 
 
 Who was Mr. Hammond ? In speaking of him too I shall confine 
 myself to his political demeanor. Into his breast had been transfused 
 the largest portions of his nation's hatred to all persons in the United 
 States, who were conceived to be attached to France. He denied to 
 him,self no opportunity of throwing an odium on them. You never will 
 forget. Sir, his long, insolent, and contumelious neglect of the ordinary 
 civilities, due from him, as a foreign minister, to yourself, as chief 
 magistrate. You were no stranger to his personal irritation against mc, 
 for my friendship to France, for my remonstrances against Governor 
 Simcoe's invasions ; for my defence of the government of Ehode-Island 
 in reclaiming the citizens of the United States, impressed and detained 
 on board of the British ship Nautilus ) and for the order, which in its 
 operation ought to have prevented British ships of war from using our 
 ports, as stations, from whence to prey upon the French. You often 
 uttered your indignation at his many complaints, without a shadow of 
 proof; and the lengths, to which he might be transported by the vio- 
 lence of his passion, were not easy to be defined. Was this the man, to 
 be implicitly trusted for candor towards myself, or any friends to France? 
 
 Mr. Fauchet's letter bears upon the face of it reasons to question his 
 accuracy. You have often questioned it, from the examination of his 
 different dispatches to the government ; as the answers to them prove. 
 
 To these evidences of your judgment being made up, without the 
 references No. 3 and 6, I must add, that the immediate ratification 
 of the treaty with Great Britain can be traced to no other source, than 
 a surrender of yourself to the first impressions from the letter, which 
 instantaneously governed you with respect to that instrument and my- 
 self. My narrative on .this head has been explicit. I have asserted, 
 and I again assert, that from the 13th of July to the 11th of August it 
 was your delermination, to ratify; if the provision-order was arranged 
 upon principles to your satisfaction ; and 7iot to ratify during its exist- 
 ence : and that whensoever in your letters you speak of ratification, you 
 
40 
 
 mean a future ratification upon condition. How your determination ia 
 to be reduced to mere doubts, I pretend not to solve. 
 
 The events, subsequent to the 11th of August, demonstrate how sud- 
 denly you yielded to the letter. 
 
 It had indeed been circulated at the coffee-house in the morning of 
 that day, either by Mr. Hammond or his associates, that I was at the 
 bottom of the town-meetings; and that there was a conspiracy, of 
 which I was a member, to destroy the popularity of the President, and 
 to thrust Mr. Jefferson into his chair. Among the intemperate argu- 
 ments of Mr. Pickering to urge you into an immediate ratification, one 
 was, that the struggle to defeat the treaty was the act of a " detestable 
 and nefarious conspiracy." I resorted to my former arguments : that 
 the treaty did not appear to me to warrant the provision-order : that if 
 it did, it was inadmissible, because you had sanctioned a letter on the 
 7th of September, 1793, acknowledging a permission in Great Britain 
 to exercise such a power, to be a cause of war to France : that we should 
 be inconsistent in our discussions with the French minister; because, 
 when he remonstrated upon the extension of contraband by the treaty, 
 it was answered, that we did not alter the law of nations ; but now we 
 should desert what was contended to be the law of nations, in two 
 letters to Mr. Hammond : that you would run the hazard of a war with 
 France, by combining to starve her; and that her discontents were the 
 only possible chance remaining to the British partizans for throwing us 
 into the arms of Great Britain, by creating a seeming necessity of an 
 alliance with the latter power. By my advice the United States would 
 also have been masters of all contingencies at the end of the campaign. 
 To my unutterable astonishment, I soon discovered, that you were re- 
 ceding from your. " determination." You had been reflecting upon 
 your course from the 26th of June to the 13th of July ; on the latter 
 diiy you decided on it; a communication was made to the British min- 
 ister in conformity with it ; letters were addressed to our own ministers 
 in conformity to it ; they were inspected by you, before you rescinded 
 your purpose; no imperious circumstances had arisen, except the strength 
 of the popular voice, which would, accordiog to ordinary calculation, 
 corroborate, not reverse, your former resolution ; you assigned no new 
 reasons for the new measures; and you disregarded the answer to Boston, 
 although it had committed you upon a specicd fact, namely, a deter- 
 mination not to ratify during the existence of the provision-order. While 
 I was searching for the cause of this singular revolution; and could not 
 but remember, that aiiother ojn'nion, which was always weighty with 
 you, had advised you not to exchange ratifications, until the provision- 
 order should be abolished, or the American minister should receive 
 farther instructions, if it were not abolished ; — after duty had dictated 
 
41 
 
 to me an acquiescence in your varied sentiments, and I had prepared 
 a memorial to Mr. Hammond, adapted to them ; — after you had signed 
 the ratification on the 18th of August; Mr. Fauchet's letter brought 
 forth a solution of the whole afiFair. There it was, that Mr. Pickering's 
 "detestable and nefarious conspiracy" was supposed to be found : there 
 it was that the dark design of replacing you by another President was 
 supposed to be found ; there it was, that a corrupt attachment to France 
 was supposed to be found ; thence it was, that Messrs. Pickering and 
 AVolcott wrought upon you with insinuations of perfidy in me ; thence 
 it was, that you were persuaded to lay aside all fear of a check from the 
 friends of France; — thence it was, that the French cause and myself 
 were instantaneously abandoned ; thence it was, that you proceeded in a 
 style, which according to the reports of your confidential officers, was 
 intended to impose on me the alternative of resignation or removal ; and 
 it was from the knowledge of this intention, that Mr. Pickering made 
 the chief clerk in the department of state the organ of a declaration to 
 that effect — What else is all this, but prejudication ? 
 
 I now enter upon the proof of my second position; that you ought to 
 have withstood the impulse, which hurried you into a prejudication ; 
 and this too, not from the rules of general justice alone, but from the 
 peculiar circumstances of the case. 
 
 The groundwork of all the calumny is a letter from a foreign minister 
 to his government. It could not, Sir, escape you, that to refute it, I 
 must, in a great degree, if not altogether, undertake to prove a negative. 
 A member of the administration has gone so far, as to say, on this 
 ground, that I cannot exculpate myself. Well mignt he triumph in 
 this envenomed hope : for my chief resource was in an explanation from 
 tlie writer himself. But where was the writer, when the letter was 
 thought ripe for my crimination ? Probably on the high seas, or in 
 France, or at any rate three hundred miles distant. Mr. Fauchet had 
 long quitted Philadelphia; and the frigate which was to convey him to 
 France, waited for nothing, but favorable weather, for passing the British 
 ship Africa. Who was the writer ? A minister, recalled by the ene- 
 mies of his friends and patrons ; personally disgusted with the secretary 
 of state; and conscious of the danger of inconsistency. It was no 
 great favor therefore to expect the suspension of your opinion, especially 
 as, if 1 had miscarried in seeing Mr. Fauchet, I must for months have 
 been inevitably deprived of his testimony. 
 
 The time when the letter crept from the pocket of the British min- 
 ister, was exposed to very obvious animadversions. You had been 
 informed of his eagerness to crown his mission by the consummation of 
 the treaty, of which he was an affectionate admirer, and Lord Grenville 
 had been the anxious parent. Mr. Wolcott, profuse in his responsibility 
 
42 
 
 for others, would seem, in his letter of October the 8th, to excuse Mr. 
 Hammond from requesting or intimating, that the contents of the letter 
 might be communicated to the President, and fathers it as his own sug- 
 gestion, that it ought to be delivered to him for that purpose. The 
 world cannot be deceived by this. Mr. Hammond understood the good- 
 ness of the soil, in which he was sowing the seed ; and duly appreciated 
 the fruit, which was to spring from it. He was convinced, and you 
 must have been convinced, that he counted upon your being made 
 a partner of the secret ; and would have soon explained bimself in that 
 way, if Mr. Wolcott's patriotic ardor, to hurl a feeble dart at the repub- 
 licans of the United States, had not anticipated him by a particulai' 
 application. Witb this impression, it ought to have occurred, that Mr. 
 Hammond might have. chosen for the communication, the period when 
 you refused the ratification from a circumstance, principally relative to 
 the French. I assert that he preferred this period; because he was 
 instructed to use the letter for the benefit of his Majesty's service. He 
 had long ago heard, that you generally suffered yourself to be governed 
 by a majority of your council; and that a concert between Messrs. Wol- 
 cott and Pickering, who caught with joy the seeming authority to de- 
 nounce the foes of the treaty, as a " detestable and nefarious conspiracy," 
 and were perhaps furnished with some peculiar topics for your ear, would 
 turn your mind to the revocation of your original intention. Considera- 
 tions like these should have recommended real moderation, in deciding 
 upon a mutilated instrument ; and the inducement to moderation was 
 heightened by a natural suspicion, that the suppression of the letter 
 from me, until Mr. Hammond was on shipboard, arose from his reluc- 
 tance to be interrogated concerning its references. 
 
 The facts speak too strongly to be resisted, and I must repeat them 
 bere. When was the letter delivered to Mr. Wolcott? On the 28th of 
 July. — When was the letter communicated to you? On the 11th of 
 August. — When did Mr. Hammond leave Philadelphia for New-York ? 
 On the 15th of August. — When did he actually sail from thence? On 
 the 17th in the morning. — When was the letter exhibited to me ? On 
 the 19th at noon. 
 
 But let me allow. Sir, for a moment, that Mr. Fauchet's letter, instead 
 of being stripped of its references, had vouched for the payment of mo- 
 ney to me, as the reward of secret services to France. You ought even 
 then to have paused, before you stooped to the concealment of it for 
 eight days, and to the injurious treatment which I received from you on 
 the 19tb of August. You invited me, in a strain of the warmest friend- 
 sbip, to the office of attorney-general. Unsolicited, you offered me the 
 department of state. My friends were aware, that machinations w.aild 
 be carried on against me ; but I relied on my superiority to the shafts 
 
43 
 
 of party malice, and on youi- support. My conduct towards you ; your 
 knowledije of nie ; was a guarantee, that a corrupt collusion with a for- 
 eign minister was impossible. Have I not always, with firmness and 
 without dissimulation contradicted any even of your opinions, in which 
 I did not coincide ? Did I not actually incur your displeasure by object- 
 ing to the appointment of Col. Hamilton, as envoy to London, for rea- 
 sons which I afterwards communicated to himself; to the appointment 
 of Mr. Jay, because it was a bad precedent, that a chief-justice should 
 be taught to look up for executice honors, flowing from the head of it, 
 while he retained his judicial seat; and to the granting of commercial 
 powers to Mr. Jay ? Did I advocate the appointment of any of my own 
 friends ? Have I not adhered to the principles which I marked out to 
 myself in my letter of the 19th of April 1794*? Was there no occa- 
 
 PhiladelpMa, April 19, 1794. 
 
 * Dear Sir, I called upon Mr. Monroe, and obtained bis promise to explain 
 the manner of his procuring the extract, as it was in truth, without my privity, 
 and against the rule of the office. But I find, that Mr. King was employed in 
 the exaniiuation of the same books, at the same time; so that in this instance, 
 the want of equal measure cannot upon any ground be suspected. 
 
 Your iriendly remarks add to the many obligations, which I owe to you; and 
 also present an opportunity, which I cannot forego, of unbosoming myself to you 
 without reserve. 
 
 1 have often said, — I still say — that nothing shall sway me as nothing has yet 
 swayed me, to depart from a long-settled determination, never to attach myself 
 to party I believe, that I might appeal to you, Six* — nay, I should not distrust 
 an appe-'.l to any man with whom I have acted, that this determination has been 
 conscientiously pursued. What has been the consequence? I know it — that my 
 opinions, not containing any systematic adherence to party, but arising solely 
 from my views of right, fall sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other; 
 and the momentary satisfaction, produced by an occasional coincidence of senti- 
 ment, does not prevent each class fi-om occasionally charging me with instability. 
 But I had much i-ather submit to this tax, than to the more painful sensations, 
 which a contrary conduct would excite. 
 
 I am no less apprised, that my connections by friendship, by marriage, by 
 counti-y, and by similitude of opinions, where republicanism and gooil order meet, 
 with the leaders of the southern politics, give birth to suspicions. But if I were 
 here to euum^n-ate the great subjects, which, since the organization of the govern- 
 ment, have agitated the public mind, it would appear, that even those connections 
 have not operated upon me, beyond the weight of their reason. They are ines- 
 timable to me ; and while I retain a consciousness of my ability to resist an 
 undue influence, I cannot deny the satisfaction, which I feel in maintaining them. 
 And yet, Sir, there is one fact, of which I beg you to be persuaded ; that with 
 them I have no communication on matters of government which I would not have 
 with others: — I converse freely, but without imparting official intelligence, which 
 is not of an absolutely public nature : — I commit myself by no opinions — and 
 above all I shall never attempt to use those persons, as engines of any measure, 
 
44 
 
 eion, on whicli I rendered myself deeply obnoxious to those, whom you 
 did not wish to provoke, merely by urging you to manifest your inde- 
 pendence of all party, by submitting to the insolence of none ? There 
 was such an occasion. Did I ever attempt to ingratiate myself with 
 others by soliciting offices for them ? Disdaining to consult your preju- 
 dices, I have yet cherished your character, by advising you to measures, 
 which consulted stable government, the temper of the people, and the 
 neutrality which you had prescribed. I forbore to remove the suspicions 
 which were uttered of my having relinquished republican ground, when 
 I became Secretary of State; although I need only to have mentioned 
 the constant tenor of my advice to you. I forbore this too, under cir- 
 cumstances not a little trying ; for I soon perceived, that your popularity 
 
 which is a favorite with me. While I was writing this last sentence, a question 
 springs up "what view can I have ?" The answer is, peace, liberty, and good 
 government. 
 
 When I contemplate the other party, I see among them men, whom I respect, 
 and who, if their duplicity be not extreme, respect me. I see others, who respect 
 no man, but in proportion to his subserviency to their wishes. Some of these are 
 well informed, that I have opposed, in several instances, things which they had 
 at heart. I have no reason to suspect Col. Hamilton of any unkind disposition 
 
 towards me — he has none on my part with relation to himself Even to your 
 
 confidential ear have I never disclosed an idea concerning him, which he might 
 not hear ; and which in many instances, and particularly a late one, he has not 
 heard from my own mouth. But I have reason to suspect others — if you pause 
 upon a measure which they are anxious for, I am supposed to embarrass you with 
 considerations of a popular kind. 
 
 But I have said enough — perhaps too much. Suffer me, however, to add one 
 word more, of the sincerity of which I ask no other judge than yourself. Your 
 character is an object of real affection to me : there is no judgment, no disinter- 
 estedness, no prudence, in which I ever had equal confidence. I have often in- 
 deed expressed sentiments contrary to yours. This was my duty ; because they 
 were my sentiments. But, Sir, they were never tinctured by any other motive, 
 than to present to your reflection the misconstructions, which wicked men might 
 make of your views, and to hold out to you a truth of infinite importance to the 
 United States, that no danger can attend us, as long as the persuasion continues, 
 that you are not, and cannot become the head of a party. The people venerate 
 you, because they are convinced, that you choose to repose yourself on them. 
 Let me intreat you only to look round the continent, and decide, if there be any 
 other man but yourself, who is bottomed upon the people, independent of pai-ty? 
 There is surely none ; and the inference, which I submit to your candor, is, that 
 the measures adopted by you, should be tried solely by your own pure and unbi- 
 assed mind. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Dear Sir, 
 
 With the most affectionate attachment and respect. 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 EDM: RANDOLPH. 
 The President. 
 
45 
 
 had been the fund, upon the credit of which all your acts, when unpala- 
 table in themselves, had been made current, and that this fund was not 
 eternal. In short, Sir, you hnew enough of me, to demand that you 
 should hesitate, before you shut your mind against inquiry. 
 
 Had Mr. Fauchet's letter been shewn to me in private, rather than in 
 the presence of two men, personally irritated against me, well prepared 
 for cither function of counsellors or witnesses ; and thus apparently ele- 
 vated, while in your cabinet, by an ideal victory, the laurels of which, 
 be they transitory or perpetual, belong to you alone : — had you observed 
 towards me, the friend of the French cause, and one of those named in 
 the letter of the French minister, the same delicate conduct, which you 
 would have observed towards some of the enemies of the French cause 
 if they had been named in an intercepted letter of the British minis- 
 ter : — had you been yourself — such as you were — when party dare not 
 approach you : — I should have thanked you, and immediately gone in 
 quest of the proofs which I now possess. Every official act was liable 
 to your correction or prohibition; and if satisfied, you would have avoided 
 your invincible repugnance to retract. But that letter has been greedily 
 clutched for three objects; to insure the ratification of the treaty; to 
 drive me from office ; and to endeavor to destroy the republicans in the 
 United States. The first is accomplished : the second is also accomplished, 
 and was unnecessarily precipitated, since you were acquainted with my 
 determination to resign at the beginning of the ensuing year : the third 
 can never be accomplished, until the people shall forget their friends, and 
 forget truth. 
 
 Resignation then was the path of honor. What ! hold an office, to 
 be administered under the hourly control of him, who was thoroughly 
 disposed to present humiliation to me in all its shapes ; and would have 
 prostrated the guidance of the department of State to a Secretary of the 
 Treasury, and a Secretary of War, who, but a few weeks before, were 
 thought by him, as but successors in form to the deliberative talents of 
 their predecessors. Truly can I affirm, that not a single hour was ever 
 brightened by the pleasures of the post ; and I should have shaken off 
 its irksome weight, at the close of the last year, had I obeyed my interest 
 or inclination, instead of my attachment to you. If indeed the affair 
 had been less in the reach of inquiry from my resignation, I would not 
 have resigned. But this is not the case. I defy an inquiry, howsoever 
 backed by party, by management, or by influence. My countrymen will 
 therefore be persuaded, that my resignation was dictated, not by a dread 
 of examination, but by the just pride of liberating myself from in- 
 dignities. 
 
 It was incumbent on me to touch the two preliminary points; in 
 order that I might enter into the analysis of Mr. Fauchet's letter, 
 
46 
 
 without the prejudice, which your character might impose on my cause, 
 from a supposition that you had formed your judgment upon a calm and 
 dispassionate investigation. — I renounce every other view. For I scorn 
 to rest my defence upon the imbecility of others, rather than its own 
 strength : — I scorn to take refuge in the sensibility of the public mind, 
 rather than the purity of my own conduct. ■ Let the defects therefore of 
 others operate no further in my behalf, than to remove the impressions 
 which malicious industry has circulated through the United States under 
 the mantle of your name. I ask only that the letter may now be con- 
 sidered, as if it was, for the first time, introduced to public notice ; and 
 that the essential references, No. 3 and 6, to which you have been hith- 
 erto a stranger, may be coupled with that letter. 
 
 When I am called upon to prove a negative, it ought to be enough for 
 me to deny the charges, until they are supported by better evidence, than 
 the mere assertion of any foreign minister. Be it, however, otherwise; — 
 I will prove it, as far as it is within the reach of proof. 
 
 The first paragraph of Mr. Fauchefs Letter. * 
 
 "1. The measures which prudence prescribes to me to take, with respect to 
 my colleagues, have still presided in the digesting of the dispatches signed by 
 them, which treat of the insurrection of the western countries, and of the re- 
 pressiye means adopted by the government. I have allowed them to be confined 
 to the giving of a faithful, but naked recital of events ; the reflections therein 
 contained scarcely exceed the conclusions easily deducible from the character 
 assumed by the public prints. I have reserved myself to give you as far as I am 
 able a key to the facts detailed in our reports. When it comes in question to 
 explain, either by conjectures or by certain data, the secret views of a foreign 
 government, it would be imprudent to run the risk of indiscretions, and to give 
 oneself up to men whose known partiality for that government, and similitude of 
 passions and interests with its chiefs, might lead to confidences, the issue of 
 which are incalculable. Besides, the precious confessions of Mr. Randolph 
 alone throw a satisfactory light upon evei'y thing that comes to pass. These I 
 have not yet communicated to my colleagues. The motives already mentioned 
 lead to this reserve, and still less permit me to open myself to them at the present 
 moment. I shall then endeavour, Citizen, to give you a clue to all the measures, 
 of which the common dispatches give you an account, and to discover the true 
 causes of the explosion, which it is obstinately resolved to repress with great 
 means, although the state of things has no longer any thing alarming." 
 
 The observations upon the ^'precious confessions of Mr. Randolph^' 
 involves the judicious management of the office. It implies no deliberate 
 impropriety ; and cannot be particularly answered, until particular in- 
 
 *The translation has been made by a gentleman, at my request, and delivered to the Printer 
 after I left Pliiladclphia. Having the French original only before me, I may not alwjiys translate 
 alike in words ; though the sense will doubtless be the same. 
 
47 
 
 stances are cited, unless it be by resorting to Mr. Faucliet's own expla- 
 nation. 
 
 "On my arrival," sm/s his certificate, "on tliis continent, the President gave me 
 the most positive assurance, that he was the friend of the French cause. Mr. 
 Randolph often repeated to me the same assurance. It was impossible for me 
 not to give faith to it, (in spite of some public events relative to France which 
 gave me some inquietude) especially when the Secretary of State constantly took 
 pains to convince mo of the sensations of good-will of his government for my l\e- 
 public. It was dovxbtless to contirm rae in this opinion that he communicated to 
 me, without authority, as I supposed, the part of Mr. Jay's instructions which 
 forbade him to do any thing which should derogate from the engagements of the 
 United States with France. My error, which was dear to me, was prolonged 
 only by the continual efforts of Mr. Randolph to calm my fears both upon the 
 treaty with England and upon the effect which it might produce on France. He was 
 therefore far from confiding to me any act, any intention of government by virtue 
 of any concert with me, or in consequence of any emolument received by him, or 
 for the expectation or hope of any recompense promised, or with any other view 
 than to maintain a good harmony between Fi'ance and the United States. As to 
 the communications which he has made to me at different times, they were only 
 of opinions, the greater part, if not the whole of which, I have heard cii'culated 
 as opinions. I also recollect that on one occasion, at least, which turned upon 
 public measures, he observed to me, that he could not enter into details upon 
 some of them, because by doing so he should violate the duties of his office. 
 From whence I have concluded and believe that he never communicated to me 
 what his duty would reprove. I will observe here, that none of his conversations 
 with me concluded without his giving me the idea that the President was a man 
 of integrity, and a sincere friend to France. This explains in part what I meant 
 by the terms, 'his precious confessions.' I proceed to other details relative 
 thereto. I could allude only to explanations on his part upon matters which had 
 caused to me some inquietude : And I have never insinuated, nor could I insin- 
 uate in that letter, that I suspected on his part even the most distant corruption. 
 These explanations had equally for their object my different conversations upon 
 western affairs, as may be seen in the sequel of this declaration. 
 
 "When I speak in this same paragraph in these words, 'Besides, the precious 
 confessions of Mr. Randolph alone cast upon all which happens a satisfactory 
 light,' I have still in view only the explanations of which I have spoken above ; 
 and I must confess that very often I have taken for confessions what he might 
 have to communicate to me by virtue of a secret authority. And many things 
 which in the first instant I had considered as confessions were the subject of 
 public conversations. I will say more. I will say, that I have had more than 
 suspicions that certain confidences which have been made to me, were only to 
 sound my private opinions, and the intentions of the French Republic." 
 
 It is obvious that Mr. Fauchet labors in his letter to magnify to his 
 government his penetration and skill in negociation. Nay, he may pro- 
 bably have thought, that he had acquired such an ascendancy over me, 
 as to afford access to the secrets of the executive. But an example has 
 not been, nor can be quoted, in which, while he was indulging the belief 
 of confessions, I was not strictly within the line of duty. 
 
48 
 
 Turn your eyes, Sir, to the situation of the American Secretary of 
 State. The French minister was unquestionably sent upon an errand 
 similar to that of every other foreign minister; to watch the movements 
 of our government, the spirit of the people, and the events which arise. 
 The Secretary of State is, on his part, to procure for the President from 
 the minister every possible information of the affairs of France. It 
 would be ridiculous and unavailing to pursue this object, but by the es- 
 tablishment of a confidence in the minister's breast. The surest mode 
 of accomplishing it, was to inculcate the good-will of our government 
 towards his country's cause ; to repel his occasional complaints; to act 
 candidly with him; and to be as frank in communications as our neu- 
 trality and the real secrets of the government would permit. Hence it 
 has been a fixed usage for the Secretaries of State to seek conversations, 
 or to continue them, with the French and indeed every other diplomatic 
 resident. You have been long privy to this usage; and frequently in- 
 terrogated me, as to Mr. Fauchet's sentiments on a variety of matters. 
 Were I to summon to my remembrance every thing, which I have im- 
 parted to you from him; the catalogue of what I might denominate his 
 "precious confessions," would not perhaps be small. But very probably 
 T might convert into confessions his authorized communications: — I 
 might be deceived, as he was with respect to myself, when he accepted 
 as a mark of my personal benevolence to his Republic, that portion of 
 Mr. Jay's instructions, which was communicated to him, in substance, 
 by your direction. That I never did for a reward, or emolument, re- 
 ceived, promised, expected, or hoped for, communicate to him any act or 
 intention whatsoever of the government of the United States; that I 
 never did intentionally communicate to him, without your approbation, 
 what was concealed from others; that, to the best of my belief, I never 
 did inadvertently communicate to him any secret of the government; 
 that I never had a conversation with him, which I conceived to be of 
 importance, and did not relate to you, unless I were prevented by your 
 absence, or some accident: and that I never uttered a syllable to him, 
 which violated the duties of office ; I assert, and to the assertion I am 
 ready to superadd the most solemn sanction. 
 
 It will be necessary in this, and most of the other paragraphs of Mr. 
 Fauchet's letter, to recollect his declaration, that, where he has not ex- 
 pressly quoted me, he does not speak from my authority. I shall not 
 therefore in this place deny, as I might with truth, that I was the author 
 of the remark at the close of the first paragraph; and for the same rea- 
 son I shall not on future occasions deny, howsoever I might with truth, 
 things not specially imputed to me. 
 
49 
 
 The second, third, and fourth paragraphs. 
 
 2. To confine the pi-e?ent crisis to the simple question of the excise is to reduce 
 it far below its true scale; it is indubitably connected with a general explosion 
 for some time prepared in the public mind, but which this local and precipitate 
 eruption will cause to miscarry, or at least check for a long time; — in order to 
 see the real cause, in order to calculate the effect, and the consequences, we 
 must ascend to the origin of the parties existing in the State, and retrace their 
 progress. 
 
 3. The present system of government has created malcontents. This is the 
 lot of all new things. My predecessors have given information in detail upon 
 the parts of the system which have particularly awakened clamors and produced 
 enemies to the whole of it. The primitive divisions of opinion as to the politi- 
 cal form of the State, and the limits of the sovereignty of the whole over each 
 State individually sovereign, had created the federalists and the anti-federalists. 
 From a whimsical contrast between the name and the real opinion of the parties, 
 a contrast hitherto little understood in Europe, the former aimed, and still aim, 
 wiih all their power, to annihilate federalism, whilst the latter have always 
 wished to preserve it. This contrast was created by the Consolidators or the 
 Constitutionalists,* who, being first in giving the denominations (a matter so im- 
 portant in a revolution,) took for themselves that which was the most popular, 
 although in reality it contradicted their ideas, and gave to their rivals one which 
 woulii draw on them the attention of the people, notwithstanding they really 
 wished to preserve a system whose prejudices should cherish at least the memory 
 and tlie name. 
 
 4. Moreover, these first divisions, of the nature of those to be destroyed by 
 time, in proportion as the nation should have advanced in the experiment of a 
 form of government which rendered it flourishing, might now have completely 
 disappeared, if the system of finances which had its birth in the cradle of the 
 Constitution, had not renewed their vigor under various forms. The mode of 
 organizing the national credit, the consolidating and funding of the public debt, 
 the introduction in the political economy of the usage of States, which prolong 
 their existence or ward off their fall only by expedients, imperceptibly created a 
 financiering class who threaten to become the aristocratical order of the State. 
 Several citizens, and among others those who had aided in establishing inde^ 
 pendence with their purses or their arms, conceived themselves aggrieved by 
 those fiscal engagements. Hence an opposition which declares itself between 
 the farming or agricultural interest, and that of the fiscal; federalism and anti- 
 federalism, which are founded on those new denominations, in proportion as the 
 treasury usurps a preponderance in the government and legislation: Hence in 
 fine, the State, divided into partizans and enemies of the treasurer and of his 
 theories. In this new classification of parties, the nature of things gave popu- 
 larity to the latter, an innate instinct, if I may use the expression, caused the 
 ears of tht- people to revolt at the names alone of treasurer and stockjobber: but 
 the opposite party, in consequence of its ability, obstinately persisted in leaving 
 to its adversaries the suspicious name of anti-federalists, whilst in reality they 
 were friends of the Constitution, and enemies only of the excrescences which 
 financiering theories threatened to attach to it. 
 
 * Conttituans. 
 
50 
 
 Not being expressly quoted in these paragraphs I am bound to no 
 reply upon them. The magnitude of the insurrection had indeed been 
 announced by the President in his proclamation of the 7th of August, 
 1794, when he charged it with striking at "the very existence of govern- 
 ment, and the fundamental principles of social order." Every passage 
 in these paragraphs is plainly the fruit of Mr. Fauchet's own speculations. 
 
 The fifth paragraph. 
 
 5. It is useless to stop longer to prove that the monarchical system was inter- 
 woven with those novelties of finances, and that the friends of the latter favored 
 the attempts Tvhich were made in order to bring the Constitution to the former 
 by insensible gradations. The writings of influential men of this party prove 
 it; their real opinions too avow it, and the journals of the Senate are the deposi- 
 tory of the first attempts. 
 
 Here too Mr. Fauchet refers for his authority, not to myself, but to 
 the writings of influential men, who patronized the financial system; to 
 their avowed opinions; and to the journals of the Senate. 
 
 The sixth paragraph. 
 
 6. Let us, therefore, free ourselves from the intermediate spaces in which the 
 progress of the system is mai'ked, since they can add nothing to the proof of its 
 existence — Let us pass by its sympathy with our regenerating movements, while 
 running in monarchical paths — Let us arrive at the situauon in which our Pie- 
 publican revolution has placed things and parties. 
 
 This paragraph is a mere introduction to some of those which follow. 
 The seventh paragraph. 
 
 7. The anti-federalists disembarrass themselves of an insignificant denomina- 
 tion, and take that of patriots and of republicans. Their adversaries become 
 aristocrats, notwithstanding their eiforts to preserve the advantageous illusion of 
 ancient names; opinions clash, and press each other; the aristocratic attempts, 
 which formerly had appeared so insignificant, are recollected: The treasurer, 
 who is looked upon as their first source, is attacked; his operations and plans 
 are denounced to the public opinion; nay, in the sessions of 1792 and 1793, a 
 solemn inquiry into his administration was obtained. This first victory was to 
 produce another, and it was hoped that, faulty or innocent, the treasurer would 
 retire, no less by necessity in the one case, than from self-love in tue other. He, 
 emboldened by the triumph which he obtained in the useless inquiry of his ene- 
 mies, of which both objects proved equally abortive, seduced besides by the 
 momentary reverse of republicanism in Europe, removes the mask and aim ounces 
 the approaching triumph of his principles. 
 
 The entire complexion of this paragraph makes it so peculiarly Mr. 
 Fauchet's own speculation, that it is almost useless to declare, that^I 
 never heard or believed, that the inquiry into the conduct of Mr. Ham- 
 ilton was to drive him from office, whether he were guilty or innocent. 
 
61 
 
 The eighth paragraph. 
 
 8. In the mean time the popular secietiesare formed; political ideas concenter 
 themselves, the patriotic party unite and more closely connect themselves ; they 
 gain a formidable majority in the legislature; the abasement of commerce, the 
 slavery of navigation, and the audacity of England strengthen it. A concert of 
 declarations and censures against the government arises ; at which the latter is 
 even itself astonished. 
 
 From what source Mr. Fauchet collected the supposed astonishment of 
 the government at the concert of declarations and censures, I cannot 
 trace; unless he imagined that the attacks upon the Popular Societies, 
 in the year 1793, which were understood to proceed from officers then in 
 the administration, were agreeable to the wishes of some branch of the 
 government. 
 
 The ninth, tenth, and eleventh paragraphs. 
 
 9. Such was the situation of things towards the close of the last and at the 
 beginning of the present year. Let us pass over the discontents which were 
 most generally expressed in these critical moments. They have been sent to 
 you at different periods, and in detail. In every quarter are arraigned the im- 
 becility of the government towards Great Britain, the defenceless state of the 
 country against possible invasions, the coldness towards the French Republic : 
 the system of finance is attacked, which threatens eternizing the debt under 
 pretext of making it the guarantee of public happiness ; the complication of that 
 system which withholds from general inspection all its operations, — the alarming 
 power of the influence it procures to a man whose principles are regarded as 
 dangerous, — the preponderance which that man acquires from day to day in 
 public measures, and in a word the immoral and impolitic modes of taxation, 
 which he at first presents as expedients, and afterwards raises to permanency. 
 
 10. In touching this last point we attain the principal complaint of the west- 
 ern people, and the ostensible motive of their movements. Republicans by 
 principle, independent by character and situation, they could not but accede with 
 enthusiasm to the criminations which we have sketched. But the excise above 
 all affects them. Their lands are fertile, watered with the finest rivei-s in 
 the world; but the abundant fruits of their labor run the risk of perishino- for 
 the want of means of exchanging them, as those more happy cultivators do for 
 objects which desire indicates to all men who have known only the enjoyments 
 which Europe procures them. They therefore convert the excess of their pro- 
 duce into liquors imperfectly fabricated, which badly supply the place of those 
 they might procure by exchange. The excise is created and strikes at this con- 
 soling transformation; their complaints are answered by the only pretext that 
 they are otherwise inaccessible to every species of impost. But why, in contempt 
 of treaties, are they left to bear the yoke of the feeble Spaniard, as to the Mis- 
 sissippi, for upwards of twelve years? Since when has an agricultural people 
 submitted to the unjust capricious law of a people explorers of the precious 
 metals? Might we not suppose that Madrid and Philadelphia mutually assisted 
 in prolonging the slavery of the river ; that the proprietors of a barren coast are 
 afraid lest the Mississippi, once opened, and its numerous branches brought into 
 
52 
 
 activity, their fields might become deserts, and in a word that commerce dreads 
 having rivals in those interior parts as soon as their inhabitants shall cease to 
 be subjects? This last supposition is but too well founded; an influential mem- 
 ber of the Senate, Mr. Izard, one day in conversation undisguisedly announced 
 it to me. 
 
 11. I shall be more brief in my observations on the murmurs excited by the 
 system for the sale of lands. It is conceived to be unjust that these vast and 
 fertile regions should be sold by provinces to capitalists, who thus enrich them- 
 selves, and retail, vvith immense profits, to the husbandmen, possessions which 
 they have never seen. If there were not a latent design to arrest the rapid set- 
 tlement of those lands, and to prolong their infant state, why not open in the 
 west land offices, where every body, without distinction, should be admitted to 
 purchase by a small or large quantity ? Why reserve to sell or distribute to 
 favorites, to a clan of flatterers, of courtiers, that which belongs to the State, 
 and which should be sold to the greatest possible jsrofit of all its members? 
 
 These paragraphs contain nothing, which requires an answer from me. 
 
 The twelfth paragraph. 
 
 12. Such therefore were the parts of the public grievance, upon which the 
 western people most insisted. Now, as the common dispatches inform you, these 
 complaints were systematizing by the conversations of influential men who re- 
 tired into those wild countries, and who from principle, or by a series of partic- 
 ular heart-burnings, animated discontents already too near to efl'ervescence. At 
 last the local explosion is effected. The western people calculated on being sup- 
 ported by some distinguished characters in the east, and even imagined that they 
 had in the bosom of the government some abettors, who might share in their 
 grievances or their principles. 
 
 Let him step forward, who can prove by a single fact, that any coun- 
 tenance was given by me to the insurrection. 
 
 The thirteenth paragraph. 
 
 13. From what I have detailed above, those men might indeed be supposed 
 numerous. The sessions of 1793 and 1794 had given importance to the republi- 
 can party, and solidity to its accusations. The propositions of Mr. Madison, or 
 his project of a navigation act, of which Mr. Jefi'erson was originally the author, 
 sapped the British interest, now an integral part of the financiering system. 
 Mr. Taylor, a republican member of the Senate, published towards the end of 
 the session, three pamphlets, in which this last is explored to its origin, and de- 
 veloped in its progress and consequences with force and method. In the last he 
 asserts that the decrepid state of affairs resulting from that system, could not 
 but presage, under a rising government, either a revolution or a civil wai'. 
 
 This paragraph is only a brief narrative of some proceedings in Con- 
 gress, and of three pamphlets which were published. 
 
 The fourteenth paragraph. 
 
 14. The first was preparing : the government, which had foreseen it, repro- 
 
63 
 
 duced, under various forms, the demand of a disposable * force which might 
 put it in a respectable state of defence. Defeated in this measure, who can aver 
 that it may not have hastened the local eruption, in order to make an advanta- 
 geous diversion, and to lay the more general storm which it saw gathering? Am I 
 not authorized in forming this conjecture from the conversation which the Secre- 
 tary of State had with me and Le Blanc, alone, an account of which you have 
 in my dispatch, No. 3 ? But how may we expect that this new plan will be exe- 
 cuted? By exasperating and severe measures, authorized by a law which was 
 not solicited till the close of the session. This law gave to the one already ex- 
 isting for collecting the excise a coercive force which hitherto it had not possessed, 
 and a demand of which was not before ventured to be made.-}- By means of this 
 new law all the refractory citizens to the old one were caused to be pursued with 
 a sudden rigor; a great number of writs were issued; doubtless the natural con- 
 sequences from a conduct so decisive and so harsh were expected ; and before these 
 were manifested the means of repression had been prepared ; this was undoubt- 
 edly what Mr. Randolph meant in telling me that under pretext of giving energy 
 to the government it was intended to introduce absolute power, and to mislead the 
 President in paths which would conduct him to unpopularity. 
 
 To the reflection, that " a revolution was preparing ; and that the 
 government, which had foreseen it, reproduced, under various forms, the 
 demand of a disposable force, which might put it in a respectable state 
 of defence," Mr. Fauchet was not conducted by any information from 
 me. The fii'st part of it originated with himself: For the latter whether 
 it was right or wrong, he was probably indebted to the journals of the 
 two houses of Congress, to their debates, as published in the news- 
 papers, and to public conversations. From some or all of these, it ap- 
 peared, that on the 11th of December, 1793, a bill was ordered into the 
 House of Representatives for completing the military establishment : that 
 on the 31st of January 1794, it was rejected by the Senate : that on 
 the 20th of March 1794, the same bill was revived in that house under 
 a new title : that on the 6th of May 1791, this bill was also lost by a 
 disagreement between the two houses : that on the 12th of March 1794, 
 a motion had been made in the House of Representatives to increase 
 the then military establishment of five thousand men by an addition of 
 fifteen regiments of one thousand men each : that on the first of April 
 1794, a bill was brought in to increase the military establislhnent by 
 adding twenty-five thousand instead of the fifteen thousand men ; that 
 on the 19th of May 1794, this bill was discussed, and the twenty-five 
 thousand men being struck out, a motion was made for fifteen thousand, 
 which being lost, another motion was made for ten thousand; which 
 being also lost, the bill itself was totally rejected : that on the 24th of 
 
 * Disporiible. 
 
 fThis law was mentinned in the commeDl upon the laws of the last session inclosed in No. 9 
 of the correspondence of the minister. 
 
54 
 
 May 1794, a committee was appointed in the Senate to report further 
 measures for the defence of the United States : that on the 26th of 
 May 1794, that committee reported an increase of ten thousand men to 
 the military establishment: that on the 30th of May 1794, the bill 
 which had passed the Senate for that increase was rejected by the House 
 of Representatives : that a bill for the defence of the South Western 
 frontier, by posts to be garrisoned with militia, and by patroles, or 
 "scouting parties of militia, passed the House of Representatives on the 
 29th of May 1794 ; that the Senate changed this bill entirely by an 
 amendment for raising and adding a new legion of twelve hundred men, 
 with the bounty of twenty dollars for each recruit : that on the 8th of 
 June 1794, the bill and amendment were entirely lost ; that on the very 
 last day of the session, the 9th of June 1794, a bill was brought into 
 the Senate "to authorize the President in case he should not deem 
 it expedient to employ any part of the then military establishment 
 in the defence of the south-western frontier, to raise, equip, and officer 
 a new legion of twelve hundred men for that purpose ; to be raised for 
 three years, at the same pay and emoluments of the other troops, but 
 with the bounty of twenty dollars to each recruit ;" that this bill was 
 read twice in the Senate ; but on the question for its third and last 
 reading, one of the members enforced the rule, that " no bill shall be 
 read three times in the same day without unanimous consent ;" and by 
 his veto the bill was defeated. I shall give no opinion upon these pro- 
 ceedings ; nor yet upon any messages from the executive, which might 
 have suggested some of them. But I have been thus particular ; to 
 evince that Mr. Fauchet did not stand in need of confessions from any 
 public officer. 
 
 Mr. Fauchet then asks, if he be not authorized by the conversation 
 with me, mentioned in his dispatch No. 3, to conjecture, that the gov- 
 ernment, defeated in the demand of a disposable force, hastened the 
 local eruption, in order to make an advantageous diversion, and to lay 
 the more general storm, which it saw gathering ? I deny, that he ever 
 was authorized by any conversation whatsoever with me, to form even a 
 conjecture of that kind ; and with equal positiveness I also deny, every 
 other conclusion, which he makes in this paragraph. 
 
 It is of no small weight to bear in mind, that the date of the conver- 
 sation is fixed by Mr. Fauchet's certificate to have been in April 1794. 
 I recollect to have had one with Mr. Fauchet and Mr. Le Blanc, about 
 that time, on public matters, in which the French Republic was inte- 
 rested. But how was it possible for me to infer from any acts of the 
 government, known to me, that it was hastening the local eruption ? 
 With the excise, the department of state was not concerned : it be- 
 longed to the treasury-department, and was there managed, I believe, 
 
55 
 
 even to the instructions for the issuing of process. It was in April 
 1794: understood by me to remain on its old footing, without any fresh 
 irritation. As the law, to which Mr. Fauchet refers, did not pass until 
 the 5th of June 1794, and he wrote his letter on the 31st of October 
 following, you will perceive, that he blends two different dates together, 
 for he deduces from a conversation in April, that means of coercion 
 were provided beforehand, when those very supposed means were pro- 
 vided, according to his own account, only by the law, which is found to 
 have passed two months afterwards. If exasperating and severe mea- 
 sures were contemplated in April, to be enforced by a then future law, 
 I was an utter stranger to them. Besides, Mr. Fauchet does not seem 
 to have had the dispatch No. 3 before him, when he wrote in October; 
 as in the concluding sentence of the paragraph he gives, what he deems 
 to be the synonymous meaning, not the words themselves; nor yet an 
 accurate view of the conversation. But if the very words had been as 
 unqualified, as he states, they would not warrant his cocclusion ; espe- 
 cially, when at the beginning of the next paragraph he doubts, whether 
 the commotion was provoked by the government, or produced by chance. 
 
 Before, however, I examine the dispatch No. 3, let me concentre the 
 actual state of things in April 1794 ; in order that I may compass the 
 general scope of the conversation, and thus contribute to explain it. 
 
 Notwithstanding Mr, Fauchet was sent to replace Mr. Genet, he 
 shews in this very letter. No. 10, that his communications were links of 
 the chain of intelligence, which had been carried on by his predecessors. 
 Having incorporated into his own family the members of Mr. Genet's; 
 and hearing of a particular attention, which was paid to all the applica- 
 tions from the British minister, he entered into his diplomatic career, 
 with uncertainties, and unpleasant sensations towards our government. 
 You were aware of this danger ; for when he was introduced to you on 
 the 22d of February 1794, you poured forth the strongest language 
 of affection to the French cause. France was then flushed with victory. 
 An obnoxious minister had been recalled at your instance. You ex- 
 pected a war with Great Britain. In short you declared to me, that the 
 French government must be cultivated with assiduity and warmth. In 
 spite of all my efforts to pursue your wishes, I discovered in a few 
 weeks, that suspicions were lurking in his bosom. 1. His manner in- 
 dicated, that he doubted the sincerity of your professions in favor of his 
 country, and was anxious to determine, how far you were republican. — 
 2. It was ri vetted in his judgment, that some very influential gentlemen 
 around you, were, and had expressed themselves to be, hostile to its 
 cause. — 3. He believed, that extreme rigor had been practised upon 
 French cruizers and French prizes, under instructions from the treasury- 
 department; and that great indulgence had been allowed to British 
 
56 
 
 ships. — 4. He believed, ttat in your very cabinet, snares were laid to 
 detacb you from France, and to ally the United States to Great Britain. 
 5. He believed, that the government had its mysteries, which led to the 
 holding of a fair language to France, and to the substantial acting with 
 partiality for Great Britain ; or (to use an expression in one of his 
 letters) that the federal officers were all Jire to do, what should be 
 pleasing to England ; and all ice to France. — 6. He had heard the 
 charges made in public discourses, that some members of the govern- 
 ment considered our constitution, as a mere stepping-stone to something 
 else ; not less than a monarchy, which might not be so friendly to a 
 French Republic, as an American Republic* — 7. He believed, that he 
 saw in a bill, depending before Congress, an instrument for this purpose, 
 and for the harassing of the French cause. — 8. He believed, that the 
 affairs of France and the spirit of the American people were misrepre- 
 sented to you, and distorted. — He wavered, as to your perseverance in a 
 resentment of the British outrages. — 10. He was alarmed at the pro- 
 jected mission of Mr. Jay. — And 11. He distantly, though delicately 
 hinted a fear, lest the political divisions in the United States might 
 weaken the government, and excite a considerable conflict. — For ideas 
 like these, he wanted no aid from a Secretary of State. Public rumor 
 was a fruitful nursery. If I have not occasionally intimated these 
 things to you, none have been designedly concealed from you. — Many 
 of them you have undoubtedly received from my mouth. 
 
 Silence was not my course. It was pre-eminently my duty, in April 
 1794, not to suff"er France, to whom we owed so much, to be in sus- 
 pense as to our predilection for Great Britain, from whom we had expe- 
 rienced, and were experiencing, every oppression. 
 
 In choosing my measui'es, I had a safe clue in the position of affairs, 
 as seen and felt by yourself. — 1. Your message to Congress, on the 5th 
 of December 1793, announces an unfriendly temper to Great Britain. — 
 2. Your nomination of Mr. Jay implies it in itself — you always pro- 
 fessed — and your letter to me on the 15th of April 1794 proves, that if 
 Great Britain did not redress our complaints in a reasonable time, war 
 
 * Extract from the instructions to Col. Monroe, tvhen he went to France as Minister 
 Plenipotentiary of the United States; which were approved by the President. 
 
 "If we may judge from what has been at different times uttered by Mr. Fau- 
 chet, he will represent the existence of two parties here, ii-reconcilable to each 
 other ; — one republican, and friendly to the French revolution ; the other mon- 
 archical, aristocratic, Britannic, aiid anti-Gallican : that a majority of the 
 House of Representatives, the people, and the President are in the first class ; 
 and a majority of the Senate in the second. If this intelligence should be used, 
 in order to inspire a distrust of our good-will to France ; you will industriously 
 obviate such an effect," &c. 
 
5T 
 
 was in your opinion to be the consequence. That letter thus expresses 
 your sentiments upon the draught of the message, nominating Mr. Jay : 
 " My objects are to prevent a war, if justice can be obtained by fair and 
 strong representations (to be made by a special envoy) of the injuries, 
 which this country has sustained from Great Britain, in various ways : — 
 to put it in a complete state of military defence — and to provide event- 
 ually such measures, as seem to be now pending in Congress, for execu- 
 tion, if negotiation in a reasonable time proves unsuccessful." — 3. Your 
 instructions to Mr. Jay had reference to an alliance with Russia, Den- 
 mark, and Sweden, against Great Britain, if our differences with her 
 should not be adjusted. — 4. Your instructions to Col. Monroe, which 
 were sketched about this time, to be ready for any person, who should 
 be appointed, command him, to "let it be seen, that in case of war with 
 any nation upon earth" (an expression absolutely aimed at Great Brit- 
 ain) " we shall consider France as our first and natural ally." In these 
 instructions are many other fervent professions to France. — 5. The 
 plundering under the British instructions of the 6th of November 
 1793, and the stirring up of the Indians had drawn forth in the House 
 of Representatives various propositions of reprisal. — 6. That house was 
 indisputably attached to France. — 7. Your orders ; your letters ; your 
 speeches; breathed enmity to Great Britain and affection to France. 
 You even excluded from your public room, men who were obnoxious to 
 France. 
 
 By these facts my conduct towards Mr. Fauchet was guided. — 1. I 
 urged upon him your declaration at his reception, that you were a friend 
 to the cause of the French people ; and, as he expresses it in his letter 
 No. 10, "truly virtuous, and the friend of your fellow-citizens and of 
 principles." — 2. I bade him to rely on YOU; to disregard the sugges- 
 tions of your being influenced by any subordinate ministers against 
 France; and to apprehend nothing from them, while you were steadfast. 
 3. I exerted myself to satisfy him, that he complained without reason of 
 severity upon the French cruisers; and the same arguments have been 
 since extended in letters approved by you. — 4. I represented to him, 
 that, if snares were laid for you, you would escape from them ; and more 
 particularly if their object was the abandonment of France, and an ad- 
 herence to Great Britain : that although like other men, who do not mix 
 with the world, you might be sometimes misled, your industry and dis- 
 cernment would protect you from traps. — 5. I denied, that the actions 
 and professions of our government in regard to France were at variance ; 
 and I have often denied it in writing. — 6. As to the conversion of our 
 government into a monarchy, I stated, that this would not be done with 
 your assent. For while you were desirous of rendering it stable only 
 and energetic; I did not undertake to answer for the views of every 
 
58 
 
 man, who, under this pretence, might he willing to snatch something 
 more ; hut I was confident, that you would not thus commit your popu- 
 larity. — 7. It must, I think, have been subsequent to the time of the 
 conversation, alluded to in No. 3, that I commented upon the bill which 
 seemed to aiFect him so deeply; and that I assured him, that from your 
 yielding to the remarks which I made to you upon it, he had an abso- 
 lute security against the abuse of the powers confided to you. — 8. I had 
 no data, upon which to contradict his opinion, that the affairs of France, 
 and the spirit of the American people might have been disfigured to 
 you. But you will do me the justice to acknowledge, that when I spoke 
 to you of the one or the other, I disguised from you no truth, howsoever 
 unpalatable, and I was always free to declare in your presence, that I 
 never would. — 9. I did not disguise my persuasion that nothing short 
 of the most ample restitution and compensation would atone with you 
 for the outrages of Great Britain. This was a justifiable expedient for 
 calming Mr. Fauchet's fears on the mission of Mr. Jay. — 10. In my 
 endeavors to refute his estimate of the prevailing political divisions; I 
 certainly did place much of my hope on you. Having often without 
 reserve told you, that as long as you were superior to party, party would 
 be impotent, and unable to perpetrate mischief, I have very probably 
 uttered an expectation of acquiring with you influence enough, to pre- 
 vail on you to step forth in opposition to any set of men, who should 
 seek to aggrandize themselves at the expense of the Constitution, or of 
 the people. 
 
 If in all this I have erred, it is mere error ; but the error is not mine. 
 It was derived from the spirit of your own movements, and our political 
 prospects in April 1794. But it was not an error. It was a sound and 
 honest policy ; it was an indispensable one for maintaining harmony with 
 France; it was rendered indispensable by the crisis, which had been 
 forced upon Mr. Fauchet's mind, from the conviction, that artifice and 
 hostility to republicanism were tearing the United States asunder from 
 France. It was the policy of the 2)eo2^le of the United States. Had the 
 threatened war with Great Britain been realized; then this policy would 
 have shone forth with lustre; then would the reverse have been warmly 
 reprehended. Had it not been observed; you would probably have long 
 ago heard from France, murmurs which it might have been diflEicult to 
 appease. 
 
 The foregoing observations have anticipated much of the attention 
 due to the dispatch No. 3. But it is proper to subjoin a few more par- 
 ticular remarks : because it is not a correct statement of the conversa- 
 tion; and is evidently defective, in omitting the part which Mr. Fauchet 
 himself had in it, and in not exhibiting what I said as it really was, — 
 an answer to the objections advanced by him. His certificate too, although 
 
59 
 
 it cannot fail to be satisfactory to the people of the United States, has 
 been less explicit, than it would have been, had it been in my power to 
 have interrogated him upon its several parts, after it was composed. 
 
 That I was always deeply affected by the very possibility of a conflict 
 between the parties in the United States, my letter to you in June 1792, 
 and my constant declarations to you are a decided testimony. That in- 
 telligence of the existence of party-bitterness came to Mr. Fauchet 
 through other channels, than myself, is notorious to those who have read 
 the newspapers. Or, if it were necessary to demonstrate its publicity, 
 I might quote a sentence in a paper, written at the beginning of the 
 year 1791, for your use, and approved by you. "It is certainly much 
 to be regretted, that party-discriminations are so far geographical as they 
 are; and that ideas of a severance of the Union are creeping in both 
 North and South." 
 
 Without pretending to recollect the minutiae of the conversation, I 
 avow, that I did hope to acquire an influence every day on your mind; 
 and I will unfold the grounds of my hope; the means which I adopted 
 for its accomplishment; and my final object. 
 
 You will acknowledge. Sir, I am sure, that I never attempted to de- 
 preciate in your esteem any of my colleagues in office; nor ever to 
 magnify or blazon any merit of my own. The species of influence there- 
 fore, to which I directed my labors, was not that of raising myself on 
 their ruins. 
 
 I came from Virginia as Attorney Greneral of the United States, irre- \ 
 sistibly impelled by the friendship of your invitation. I was ushered 
 by you into the most confidential business; and, I believe, without the 
 privity of the heads of departments. You connected me with you still 
 more in the year 1793; and afterwards pressed me into another office, 
 which I did not covet, and which I would not have accepted, had I not 
 been governed by my affection for you, my trust in your republicanism, 
 and your apparent superiority to the artifices of my enemies. 
 
 These germs of confidence, unequivocally disclosed by you, I did in- 
 deed cherish. But how ? By art or management ? No, Sir. By telling 
 you the truth, without hesitation; without a momentary acquiescence in 
 the prejudices of any man; by defending your character with zeal; and 
 by advising measures, which should spread over the President of the 
 United States, the glowing colors, in which General Washington had 
 been painted to mankind. — j 
 
 Nor was my object less honorable than my means. You have my 
 opinion under my hand, that while you should be untainted by the sus- 
 picion of being a favorer of party, your name would be a bulwark against 
 party-rage. My hope therefore of acquiring influence was to put intes- 
 tine convulsion at defiance, by persuading you to abhor party. You 
 
60 
 
 cannot believe, that I ever manoeuverecl with you for any emolunaent to 
 myself; nor that I was an advocate for France, but by plain dealing and 
 frankness, which her enemies might curse, but could not criticise. 
 
 Lest the trifling circumstance of visiting you should be wrought up 
 by the malignant into a scheme of seduction; the admonition, which Mr. 
 Fauchet ascribes to me, must not pass without a comment. As an arti- 
 fice, it is too paltry to be dwelt upon. This probably was the truth of 
 the case. It is a tribute of respect from foreign ministers to our Chief 
 Magistrate, to wait on him at proper intervals. Mr. Fauchet was anx- 
 ous to learn, how private visits were to be regulated. I could not forget 
 how much his predecessor had absented himself from you, even before 
 the rupture ; and I probably recommended to him to perform this official 
 civility; with the additional assurance, that he would be received in an 
 easy style, whensoever he should be disposed to a private visit. Is it 
 not an indication of a propensity to swell little matters, thus to inter- 
 weave them in a formal political dispatch ? 
 
 In whatsoever shape the drawing the bands of the two nations closer 
 may have been advised, I remember not. But I was always watchful 
 in repelling the imputation of neglect to embrace the overtures of a com- 
 mercial treaty. It was natural for me, at the juncture of Mr. Jay's 
 mission, to efi'ace every idea of an indifierence to an improved commer- 
 cial connection with France. In a word, Sir, when you combine Mr. 
 Fauchet's own admission, that I refused some information, as being con- 
 trary to my duty to be divulged, and that he did not fulfill a promise, as 
 he says, to burn a particular paper, (which, howeve \n delivered un- 
 der your direction); the dispatch No. 3, is sufficiently confronted by his 
 certificate or my own assertion. 
 
 The fifteenth and sixteenth paragraphs. 
 
 15. Whether the explosion has been provoked by the government, or owes its 
 birth to accident, it is certain that a commotion of some hundreds of men, who 
 have not since been found in arms, and the very pacific union of the counties in 
 Braddock's field, a union which has not been revived, were not symptoms which 
 could justify the raising of so great a force as 15,000 men. Besides the princi- 
 ples, uttered in the declarations hitherto made public, rather announced ardent 
 minds to be calmed than anarchists to be subdued. But in order to obtain some- 
 thing on the public opinion prepossessed against the demands contemplated to be 
 made, it was necessary to magnify the danger, to disfigure the views of those 
 people, to attribute to them the design of uniting themselves with England, to 
 alarm the citizens for the fate of the Constitution, whilst in reality the revolu- 
 tion threatened only the ministers. This step succeeded; an army is raised; 
 this military part of the suppression is doubtless Mr. Hamilton's, the pacific part 
 and the sending of commissioners are due to the influence of Mr. Randolph over 
 the mind of the President, whom I delight always to believe, and whom I do 
 believe, truly virtuous, and the friend of his fellow-citizens and principles. 
 
 16. In the mean time, although there was a certainty of having an army, yet 
 
61 
 
 it was necessary to assure themselves of co-operators among the men, whose 
 patriotic reputation might influence their party, and whose luke-warmness or 
 want of energy in the existing conjunctures might compromit the success of the 
 plans. Of all the governors, whose duty it was to appear at the head of the 
 requisitions, the Governor of Pennsylvania alone enjoyed the name of Republi- 
 can; his opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury and of his system was known 
 to be unfavorable. The Secretary of this State possessed great influence in the 
 Popular Society of Philadelphia, which in its turn influenced those of other 
 States; of course he merited attention. It appears therefore that these men 
 with others unknown to me, all having without doubt Randolph at their head, 
 were balancing to decide on their party. Two or thi-ee days before the procla- 
 mation was published, and of course before the Cabinet had resolved on its 
 measures, Mr. Randolph came to see me with an air of great eagerness, and 
 made to me the overtures of which I have given you an account in my No. 6. \\ 
 Thus with some thousands of dollars the Republic could have decided on civil 
 war or on peace! Thus the consciences of the pretended patriots of America 
 have ab-eady their prices ! * It is very true that the certainty of these conclu- 
 sions, painful to be drawn, will forever exist in our archives ! What will be the 
 old age of this government, if it is thus early decrepid ! Such, Citizen, is the 
 evident consequence of the system of finances conceived by Mr. Hamilton. He 
 has made of a whole nation, a stock-jobbing, speculating, selfish people. Paches 
 alone here fix consideration ; and as no one likes to be despised, they are univer- 
 sally sought after. Nevertheless this depravity has not yet embraced the mass 
 of the people; the efl'ects of this pernicious system have as yet but slightly 
 touched them. Still there are patriots, of whom I delight to entertain an idea 
 worthy of that imposing title. Consult Monroe, he is of this number ; he had 
 apprised rae of the men whom the cun-ent of events had dragged along as bodies 
 devoid of weight. His friend Madison is also an honest man. JeS"erson, on 
 whom the patriots cast their eyes to succeed the President, had foreseen these 
 crises. He prudently retired, in order to avoid making a figure against his incli- 
 nation in scenes, the secret of which will soon or late be brought to light. 
 
 The meeting at Braddock's field was announced in every newspaper: 
 and wore too formidable an aspect to be called pacific. When it was 
 determined to raise an army, I proposed the augmentation from 12,500 
 to 15,000 men; hoping that the unhappy people would be intimidated 
 by so large a force, and the introduction of a corps of riflemen under 
 General Morgan, whose name was reported to be a terror to them. It 
 was wise to overawe them; for had they, in some rash moment, made 
 battle, allured by a false comparison of their strength and situation with 
 the power which was marching against them, still greater bodies of 
 troops would have been assembled, and war would have raged with all 
 its severities. 
 
 After Mr. Fauchet's declaration, that he does not speak from me, ex- 
 cept where he particularly quotes me, it will scarcely be required of me 
 to deny, that Mr. Hamilton's ideas, or my own, in consultation with you, 
 were communicated by me to him; or yet, that the gentlemen who were 
 
 * Tariff. 
 
62 
 
 to appear at the head of the requisitions, or any others, associated in the 
 Popular Societies, were ever named by me to him, in reference to the 
 insurrection. But I do deny the latter, upon the best of my recollec- 
 tion ; and upon the further ground, that I had not the smallest authority 
 for so naming them. I also deny the former: and can affirm, that it 
 was a subject of conversation in Philadelphia, but not through my 
 means, that your advisers were divided in opinion as to the immediate 
 marching of the militia. 
 
 Howsoever fashionable it may have been for officers in the federal 
 government to form political connections with influential persons in the 
 state governments, I had formed none such. But it is said in Mr. Fau- 
 chet's letter, that I was at the head of those, who balanced in deciding 
 upon the part to be taken. Being almost an intire stranger to the in- 
 habitants in the western counties of Pennsylvania, I could have few 
 personal regards ; and I will not waste time in proving, what you well 
 know, that order and good government have been always near to my 
 heart. Upon what then could I balance ? The tenor of my opinions 
 on that event I will now retrace. 
 
 When the violence at Col. Neville's house, on the 17th of July, 1794, 
 and the commotion at Braddoek's field were ascertained, I concurred with 
 the other gentlemen of the administration, in the treasonableness of 
 those acts, and in the necessity of resorting to the militia, if the laws 
 were inadequate. Affidavits, letters, and a variety of papers were laid 
 before you to establish the existence of an insurrection ; and although I 
 doubted, whether a judge would, upon them, at that time, and under the 
 then circumstances grant a certificate of insurrection; yet I agreed, that 
 those documents ought to be submitted to judicial cognizance. At a 
 conference, held on the first Saturday in August, 1794, between yourself 
 and Governor Mifflin, and the federal and state 'officers, it was observed, 
 that even if the insurrection were confined to the four western counties 
 of Pennsylvania, the militia, which could be procured from thence, at 
 that stage of the affair, would probably be unequal to the task of subdu- 
 ing the insurrection : that the insurgents, being upwards of sixty thou- 
 sand souls, had friends elsewhere : and that a letter had been received 
 from Kentucky, giving an account of the British government fomenting 
 disturbances there. The affidavit of a person from Pittsburg was read, 
 corroborating the suspicions, that the British were abetting the insur- 
 gents. "Well do I remember my remark; that, if the British were at 
 the bottom of the convulsion, it took a serious and very important direc- 
 tion : since, among the reasons for suspending the settlement at Presqu' 
 isle, the apprehension of them was one. To shew my own impression of 
 British interference in the western troubles, I refer to the following pas- 
 sage in my letter to you of the 5th of August, 1794. — "If the intelli- 
 
63 
 
 gence of the overtures of the British to the western counties be true, 
 and the inhabitants should be driven to accept their aid ; the supplies of 
 the western army — the western army itself may be destroyed ; the re- 
 union of that country to the United States will be impracticable; and 
 we must be engaged in a British war. If the intelligence be probable 
 only ; how difficult will it be to reconcile the world to believe, that we 
 have been consistent in our conduct ; when, after running the hazard of 
 mortally offending the French by the punctilious observance of neutral- 
 ity; — after deprecating the wrath of the English by every possible act of 
 government ; after the request for the suspension of the settlement at 
 Presqu' isle, which has in some measure been founded on the possibility 
 of Great Britain being roused to arms by it; we pursue measures, which 
 threaten collision with Great Britain, and which are mixed with the 
 blood of our fellow-citizens." To shew, that the governor of Pennsyl- 
 vania thought the British movements to be of some weight, I refer to 
 this expression in his first letter to you. — " Nor in this view of the sub- 
 ject ought we to omit paying some regard to the ground for suspecting, 
 that the British government has already, insidiously and unjustly at- 
 tempted to seduce the citizens on our western frontier from their duty ; 
 and we know, that in a moment of desperation, or disgust, men may be 
 led to accept that, as an asylum^ which under different impressions, they 
 would shun as a snare." iTo shew, that the federal commissioners 
 deemed the report as to the British worthy of inquiry ; and that they 
 were actually inticing our citizens for one purpose at least, I refer to a 
 passage in Mr. Bradford's letter on the 17th of August, 1794. — " I for- 
 got to mention, that I have not been able to discover any inclination in 
 
 the insurgents to avail themselves of British protection : but Mr. 
 
 informs me, that he has direct intelligence, that about the last of July, 
 two men from Detroit appeared in Washington county, to get an associa- 
 tion to go and settle lands at the mouth of the Cayahoga ; and that at 
 the time his informant saw the paper, there were about four hundred 
 names subscribed. He believes, they are at present on the waters of 
 Buffaloe Creek."! To shew your own sense of British interference in 
 the insurrection, I refer to an extract from my letter to Mr. Jay, on the 
 18th of August, 1794, approved by yourself. — "We cannot add upon 
 proofs that British influence has been tampering with the people of 
 Kentucky, and of the neighborhood of Pittsburg, to seduce them from 
 the United States, or to encourage them in a revolt against the general 
 government. It has however been boasted of by them, and an expecta- 
 tion of such support is suspected to have been excited in the breasts of 
 some." I will not say, that the government did wrong, in discarding all 
 scruples with respect to British hostility. But I was prompted to write 
 
64 
 
 to you my letter* of the 5th of August, 1794, against the immediate 
 operation of the militia, by this, among other considerations ; that I 
 heard an influential member of your administration wish, that the peo- 
 ple, assembled at Braddoek's field, had burnt Pittsburg, as they threat- 
 ened ; and I was apprehensive, that as soon as the first step of military 
 force was taken, you might be pushed to march the militia, notwith- 
 standing the commissioners should report, as in fact they flattered them- 
 selves on the 21st of August, 1794, that opposition to the laws would 
 cease. Was not this the meaning of a declaration in your presence, at 
 the abovementioned conference, that it was not enough to restore things 
 to the state in which they were six weeks before ? But I united in the 
 advice of the 25th of August, 1794, for marching the militia. If then 
 to declare without reserve, that the militia must be employed to support 
 the laws, provided they could not be executed by the ofiicers of the law; 
 to be solicitous to avert a civil war ; and save, if possible, a million of 
 dollars to the United States ; to be cautious in the expenditure of mo- 
 ney, for which there had been no appropriation ; and to convince the 
 people, that every conciliatory plan had been exhausted, in warding ofi" 
 the emergency; — if this be to balance, then did I balance, not otherwise. 
 
 The day, on which I visited Mr. Fauchet, was about the 5th of Au- 
 gust, 1794, after the first proclamation was ordered. He was at his 
 country-house on the Schuylkill ; I was never there but once ; and then 
 I staid only for twenty minutes — a short space for an overture of con- 
 spiracy. As to my air, I am ready, without however recollecting it, to 
 admit every appearance of trouble ; for I was weighed down by the 
 thought, and calamitous necessity, of shedding the blood of citizen by 
 citizen. 
 
 Conscious, as I was, that upon the subject of money, nothing had 
 passed between Mr. Fauchet and myself, which rendered me vulnerable; 
 I was not dismayed by the inferences in his letter No. 10, from his dis- 
 patch No. 6. I confess, however, that I was almost intirely at a loss, to 
 what they could allude ; until, on the inspection of No. 6, I gathered 
 from its short, abrupt, and incomplete statement, some leading ideas. 
 
 Mr. Fauchet connects, what he calls the overture in No. 6, with the 
 narrative of the insurrection ; and consequently a solution of it is to be 
 looked for in that event. As to the request of a private conversation, I 
 neither can, nor have I any solicitude, to charge my memory concerning 
 it. Whensoever the Secretary of State has gone to the house of a for- 
 eign minister, it has generally been a thing of course, that they shou d 
 bo alone. Our discourse turned upon the insurrection, and upon the 
 expected machinations of Mr. Hammond and others at New- York, 
 
 * See Appendix. 
 
65 
 
 against the French Republic, Governor Clinton, and myself. I spoke 
 to you of this assemblage at New-York, and of Mr. Fauchet's opini'^n, 
 that they would concert something to the annoyance of France. Fresh 
 as the intelligence was upon my mind, that the British were fomenting 
 the insurrection, I was strongly inclined to believe, that Mr. Hammond's 
 congress, as Mr. Fauchct denominated it, would not forego the opportu- 
 nity of furnishing, to the utmost of their abilities, employment to the 
 United States, and of detaching their attention and power from the FiU- 
 ropean war. Of Mr. Hammond's individual eiforts I could not enter- 
 tain a doubt ; he having declared, if I am not misinformed, that Mr. 
 Jay's mission would be abortive ; and his whole demeanor seeming 
 to be regulated by the expectation, that no adjustment with Great Brit- 
 ain was at hand. I own therefore, that I was extremely desirous of 
 learning, what was passing at New-York. Mr. Fauchet had given me a 
 title to call vipon him for proof of his complaints, that in the ' osom of 
 our country, in one of our most capital cities, combinations against the 
 French cause were tolerated. Complaints of this kind had been a reit- 
 erated theme with him, and I could not neglect this, without subjecting 
 myself to censure. I accordingly demanded his proofs ; calculating, 
 that if evidence was unattainable, I should silence future crimination of 
 the United States ; and if it was attainable, it might bring with it other 
 intelligence, highly beneficial to the United States, in detecting and en- 
 abling them to counteract, the machinations in favor of the insurrection. 
 I certainly thought, that those men, who were on an intimate footing 
 with Mr. Fauchet, and had some access to the British connections, were 
 the best fitted for obtaining this intelligence. I remembered, that he 
 had applied to me for the names of men, qualified as contractors of flour 
 in the different states ; and this application can be proved by a paper in 
 my possession, by two gentlemen in Philadelphia, and, I believe, by 
 yourself, to whom I mentioned it. Whether I suggested them to be the 
 proper correspondents on the occasion, or not, I shall not undertake to 
 determine. But if I did, I had not the most distant idea of any names, 
 or any number of persons ; and if number was at all hinted at, it must 
 have been in that indefinite way, which Mr. Fauchet states in his certifi- 
 cate. — What were to be the functions of these men ? iThe dispatch No. 
 6, informs us, "to save the countri/" from a civil war ; not to kindle 
 one, as has been maliciously asserted. To every man, whose motives 
 were pure ; who panted for no pretexts to raise a military force ; this 
 object was dear indeed : The backwardness of some portions of the mi- 
 litia in marching, and the resignation of several oflScers, were notorious ; 
 and when I broke to 3Ir. Bradford and other gentlemen, my fear of our 
 being embroiled with the British, I aver their answer to have been, that, 
 if the British could once be found to have meddled with the insurrec- 
 5 
 
66 
 
 tion, the friends of the insurgents wovild abandon them, and the militia 
 would stop forth Tvith alacrity. Of this I was absolutely persuaded my- 
 self. -4-It was easy to be foreseen, that every rigor, which could be exer- 
 cised upon men, who should be known to be engaged in a work of this na- 
 ture, would be exercised upon them by the British Faction ; and that if 
 from debt or any other cause they should happen to be in their power, 
 mercy would be vainly expected. How I expressed myself in relation to 
 this, if at all, I cannot now remember ; for it was so much an affair of 
 accidental occurrence to my mind, that until I saw No. 6, I could not, 
 in the smallest degree, satisfy myself, how money came to be involved. 
 Mr. Fauchet's letter indeed made me suppose, that No. 6 possibly allu- 
 ded to some actual or proffered loan or expenditure, for the nourishment 
 of the insurrection : and therefore I thought it necessary to deny, in my 
 letter to you of the 19th of August, 1795, that one shilling was contem- 
 plated by me to be applied by Mr. Fauchet relative to the insxirrection. 
 I could only say, as I now repeat, that whatsoever might have passed, in 
 which money was embraced, could only respect the circumstances above 
 mentioned. I appeal to God, as my witness, that the day after the con- 
 versation with Mr. Fauchet, I informed you of his having complained of 
 machinations at New-York against his government : that he intimated 
 others of a similar kind against the United States : that you asked me 
 why he did not bring proof of them ? and that I replied, that I had in- 
 sisted upon it being his duty to produce them by every exertion in his 
 power. How much more I may have said to you, I do not recollect; 
 but I withheld nothing from you, on an idea of impropriety in myself. 
 To minute down the various conversations between you and myself, was 
 impracticable : to recollect them all, and in their just extent, cannot be 
 undertaken by either of us ; — nay more, had I been so careful, as to pre- 
 serve a memorial of this particular conversation, which, in the supposed 
 money part of it at least, made so small an impression upon me, I 
 should be puzzled to assign a reason to myself for doing so. 
 
 What, if I had exhorted Mr. Fauchet thus : " Sir ! you have been 
 uttering your discontents to me concerning a conspiracy, carried on by 
 the British in the United States against your government, and have 
 insinuated, that it is extended even to our own. To prove that you are 
 sincere, and are not indulging idle clamors ; obtain the necessary intelli- 
 gence. You can do it, although you should be obliged to protect your 
 correspondents from British persecution, by the advances to be made to 
 them, on the score of your flour-contracts." Without examining the 
 correctness or unfitness of this procedure ; let me ask, if I was not war- 
 ranted in the belief, that it would. have been acceptable to you, to make 
 the researches, which Mr. Fauchet was bound to institute in justice to 
 his own country, the vehicle of information, useful to our own, touching 
 
6T 
 
 the Britisli movements ? Yes, Sir ; look at a certain letter, whicli you 
 approved, on the 28th of July, 1794, in which the money of the United 
 States was pledged, and every nerve was strained for this object ; — look 
 at another letter, which, though written on the 28th of August, 1794, 
 was discussed as early as the latter end of July ; and directed a public 
 officer to explore the temper of the counties, west of the Susquehanna, 
 as to the insurrection : — remember another very confidential letter, which 
 I was instructed by you to write, urging a particular person to explore 
 the situation of the insurgents in all points, j What my own zeal was 
 on this distressing crisis, let my private letter to Mr. Bradford at Pitts- 
 burg, on the IGth of August, 1794, speak. — " The attention of this 
 city* is occupied by the commotion in the west; and there seems to be 
 but one horror at the attack on government. Plowever, I pray you to 
 close the business without bloodshed; and let the souls of our fellow- 
 citizens be warmed against some common enemy, rather than one 
 another. Whatever eloquence, whatever influence our commissioners 
 possess, let them pour it all most profusely forth, rather than suffer the 
 sword to be drawn. I never reflect on the situation of the man, whom 
 I venerate and love, that I do not curse those, who are endeavoring 
 by their outrages on government, to drive him to an act, which he would 
 avoid by any sacrifice of personal considerations. If the Rubicon is not 
 passed by the insurgents, I trust, that you can stop them on this side ; — 
 if it is, I lament the dire necessity of appealing to arms." 1 
 
 That the narrative of the conversation is mutilated, appears from the 
 very face of the paper, which Mr. Adet affirms to contain the whole of 
 what relates to the overture, as it is called. Naked as the representa- 
 tion is, it is incomprehensible in itself. What four men upon earth 
 could have been contemplated ? Why was British persecution to be ap- 
 prehended ? Why should so peculiar an interest be attributed to Mr. 
 Fauchet, in saving the country from a civil war ? No other explanation, 
 than that which has been given, will suit the imperfect hints. Having 
 already delivered my opinion to the President for the purpose of saving 
 a civil war, no agency from me could accomplish any new effect. 
 
 I will here inquire from Mr. Hammond, and the British faction, 
 which through him have been put in motion ; from those, who for the 
 sake of party, interest, or personality, have propagated falsehoods in 
 every town ; or who persevere in the hatred of a connection between 
 the United States and France ; — what is become of their base assertions, 
 that tens and hundreds of thousand dollars have been received from the 
 French minister ? I demand of those, who have transmitted to every 
 quarter of the Union, in which they could find adherents, stories of 
 
 * Philadelphia. 
 
68 
 
 large sums of French secret-service money being distributed in the 
 United States, to exhibit their proof. Let them or the government go 
 to the Bank of the United States, from whence the French minister 
 received all the money which was paid to him by our treasury, or let 
 them scrutinize elsewhere. Let every sum of importance be traced : 
 let a reward be offered for every species of evidence : I challenge the 
 whole world to support, by these or any other expedients, the charge of 
 money or of an overture for money. 
 
 If candor ever dwelt in the breast of those, who have seized Mr. 
 Fauchet's letter, as an instrument of party, or from their fiimiliarity 
 with corruption it has not deserted them, I must entreat them for 
 a moment to obey the dictates of common sense. Nothing short of the 
 most complete folly could have induced me to hint to Mr. Fauchet 
 an overture of money for myself — 1. It cannot be doubted, that if Mr. 
 Fauchet had even conjectured, that I had presented myself for money, 
 he would have been pointed. He would either have directly asserted it, 
 or would have insinuated, that the measure, of which I talked, was a 
 cover to some proposition for my own benefit. He would have animad- 
 verted upon the circuitousness of my proceeding; and would probably 
 have attempted to indicate, how my observations could have been 
 brought round, so as to be applicable to myself. An omission like this, 
 was too striking to a man, whose pen was rapidly flowing in the history 
 of his access to official secrets. — 2. There were official secrets, which 
 might have been distantly, but plainly approached, and the value of 
 which would have been more attractive to him, than the ^^ saving of the 
 United States from a civil warJ' What would not have been his joy 
 to inspect Mr. Jay's instructions and letters ? And yet you must be 
 convinced, that he never saw or heard a syllable of them, without your 
 permission. — 3. A plan of corruption, which should engage the atten- 
 tion of a foreign minister, must pledge the person corrupted to execute 
 the will of the foreign government. Eead Mr. Fauchet's letters in the 
 department of state ; read the anguish of his remonstrances ; and then 
 / determine, if the most successful address to him for a mercenary purpose 
 would not have been, to promise to labor for the removal of their 
 cause.^ — 4. I have often heard him vehement against the British prac- 
 tice of seduction, and extolling the purity of his own government. If 
 this were not enough to deter a proposition for money; it would have 
 been clothed in terms, which might decisively fix his notice. — 5. You 
 and I knew, Sir, officially, his poverty ; from his urgency to anticipate 
 the debt, due to France, for the purchase of provisions. — 6. You and 
 I knew officially from the American minister, that two other persons 
 were in commission with Mr. Fauchet. It was suspected, from a quarter 
 in which I confided, that these persons were in a political intimacy 
 
 i 
 
69 
 
 with members of our government, not friendly to me. I knew offi- 
 cially, that money-claiuis and money advances were to be sanctioned 
 by them as well as Mr. Fauchet. Is it possible, that ordinary prudence 
 would not have forbidden this hazard, this certainty of detection ? — 7. It 
 was predicted on Mr. Favichet's arrival, that on a revolution of the 
 party, which sent him hither, he would be recalled. Was this the 
 foreign minister, who was to be the depository of very high confi- 
 dence ? — 8. You recollect, that Mr. Fauchet, upon learning that you' 
 meant to reside at Germantown during the summer of 1794, rented 
 a house, as he told you, to have the pleasure of being near you : that 
 without lodging a single night there, he suddenly reversed his deter- 
 mination ; paid his landlord a composition, and sequestered himself in 
 the country on the Schuylkill. No sooner was I acquainted with it 
 than I observed to you, that Mr. Fauchet must have been abruptly 
 alienated from the government. This therefore was not the season for 
 confidential overtures ; and the strain of my public letters to him, which 
 awakened his sensibility, manifested, that I felt myself beyond danger 
 from his disclosures. — 9. Would he have thought of answering me, by 
 referring to "the pure and unalterable principles of his Republic;" 
 would he have always admitted my integrity in his letters ; or would he 
 have certified the conversation, as he has done, if I had condescended to 
 accept a bribe? — 10. Do you believe. Sir, that if money was pursued 
 by a Secretary of State, he would have been rebuffed by an answer, 
 which implied no refusal ; and would not have renewed the proposition ; 
 which however Mr. Fauchet confesses, that he never heard of again. 
 
 But why, (it may be asked,) if his impressions were not very fprcible, 
 has he made such forcible inferences ? — When he wrote his letter on the 
 31st of October 1794, his irritation against the government had in- 
 creased ; and his political speculations went to villify the system of 
 finance, and to bend every event to his opinions. How else can we 
 account for a civil war, which was then existing, being decided or not, 
 according to the statement in No. 6 ? — Where is the tariff, as if a sum 
 was marked out ? — His impressions may have been what they will : I 
 deny them, if they be coupled with any thing dishonorable. He admits, 
 that he was mistaken. No. 6 itself demonstrates, that he did not com- 
 prehend the transaction ; and his solution of his error from the use of 
 the French and English language at different times, will be frankly 
 allowed by those, who have been circumstanced, as Mr. Fauchet was. 
 
 If a foreign minister, known to be disgusted with the government, 
 and a particular ofiicer ; anxious to approve himself as vigilant, pene- 
 trating, and influential ; imperfectly understanding what is said to him j 
 conjecturing things to be facts, many of which are, within the knowledge 
 of yourself and others, unfounded; collecting from the newspapers 
 
TO 
 
 states of politics ; secluding himself from the world, where his inforftia- 
 tion might be chastised : drawing erroneous consequences from his own 
 data : — if he is to be immediately and continually quoted in opposition 
 to his own certificate, and the tenor of his own dispatches, to the disad- 
 vantage of that officer; — then may any foreign minister destroy, whom 
 he pleases : then may Mr. Hammond, and those who resemble him, 
 destroy any officer, not devoted to Great Britain. What more can be 
 expected from me ? 
 
 The seventeenth paragraph. 
 
 17. As soon as it was decided that the French Republic purchased no men to 
 do their duty, there were to be seen individuals, about whose conduct the govern- 
 ment could at least form uneasy conjectures, giving themselves up with a scan- 
 dalous ostentation to its views, and even seconding its declarations. The Popular 
 focieties soon emitted resolutions stamped with the same spirit, and who, although 
 they may have been advised by love of order, might nevertheless have omitted 
 or uttered them with less solemnity. Then were seen coming from the very men' 
 whom we had been accustomed to regard as having little friendship for the system 
 of the treasurer, harangues without end, in order to give a new direction to the 
 public mind. The militia, however, manifest some repugnance, particularly in 
 Pennsylvania, for the service to which they were called. Several officers resign ; at 
 last by excursions or harangues, incomplete requisitions are obtained, and scat- 
 tered volunteer corps from diiferent parts make up the deficiency. How much 
 more interesting, than the changeable men whom I have painted above, were 
 those plain citizens who answered the solicitations which were made to them to 
 join the volunteers — "If we are required we will march; because we do not wish 
 not to have a government, but to arm ourselves as volunteers would be in ap- 
 pearance subscribing implicitly to the excise system which we reprobate." 
 
 Although in the first line of this paragraph, M. Fauchet continues 
 the spirit of the deductions, which he had made the minute before; yet 
 does it manifest, that, when he wrote his letter, he did not conceive me 
 to be personally concerned in the overture, as he terms it. For what 
 were men to be procured ? To do their duty. What was their duty ? 
 To save their country from a civil war. If it be objected, that his deci- 
 sion, which appears from No. 6, never to have been communicated to 
 me, was notwithstanding guessed at and intimated to any individuals 
 whatsoever; I assert, that nothing can be more remote from truth. 
 
 The eighteenth paragraph. 
 
 18. What I have said above, .authorizes then our resting on the opinion become 
 incontestible, that in the crisis which has burst, and in the means employed for 
 restoring order, the true question was the destruction or the triumph of the 
 treasurer's plans. This being once established, let us pass over the facts related 
 in the common dispatches, and see how the government or the treasurer will take 
 from the very stroke which threatened his system the safe opportunity of humb- 
 ling the adverse party, and of silencing their enemies whether open or concealed. 
 
71 
 
 The army marched; the President made known that he was going to command 
 it; he .sat out for Carlisle; Hamilton, as 1 have understood, requested to follow 
 him; the President dared not to refuse him. It does not require much penetra- 
 tion to divine the object of this journey: In the President it was wise, it might 
 also be his duty. But in Mr. Hamilton it was the consequence of the profound 
 policy which directs all his steps; a measure dictated by a perfect knowledge of 
 the human heart. Was it not interesting for him, for his party, tottering under 
 the weight of events without and accusations within, to proclaim an intimacy 
 more perfect than ever with the President, whose very name is a sufficient shield 
 against the most formidable attacks? Now what more evident mark could the 
 President give of his intimacy than by suffering Mr. Hamilton, whose name even 
 is understood in the west as that of a public enemy, to go and place himself at 
 the head of the army which went, if I may use the expression, to cause his sys- 
 tem to triumph against the opposition of the people? The presence of Mr. 
 Hamilton with the army must attacli it more than ever to his party; we see what 
 ideas these circumstances give birth to on both sides, all however to the advan- 
 tage of the secretary. 
 
 This paragraph scarcely requires a comment from me. It is observ- 
 able, however, that, as Mr. Fauchet returns to subjects, upon which he 
 communicated with his colleagues, they were, according to his observa- 
 tion at the beginning of his letter, entirely distinct from any secrets 
 of our government. When he speaks of his having learned, that Mr. 
 Hamilton requested to follow the President, I am not quoted ; though I 
 shall freely declare, how I may have contributed to the report, which he 
 might have possibly heard from his colleagues through the connections, 
 which they had formed, both in and out of the government. You will 
 remember, Sir, that I represented to you, how much. Col. Hamilton's 
 accompanying you was talked of out of doors, and how much stress was 
 laid upon the seeming necessity of the commander in chief having him 
 always at his elbow. You acquainted me with his request to attend 
 you, and I understood, that I was at liberty to say so, wheresoever I 
 should find an occasion. I think it probable therefore, that I mentioned 
 the fact, to shew to the world, that Col. Hamilton had not been solicited 
 by you to follov,* him, and thus to counteract the .idea of your absolute 
 dependence on his counsels. But I neither recollect nor believe, that 
 any thing passed from myself to Mr. Fauchet. That the President 
 dared not to refuse Mr. Hamilton is plainly Mr. Fauchet's own remark. 
 
 The nineteenth paragraph. 
 
 19. Three weeks had they encamped in the west without a single armed man 
 appearing. However the I'resident, or those who wished to make the most of 
 this new manoeuvre, made it public that he was going to command in person. 
 The session of Congress being very near, it was wished to ti-y whether there 
 could not be obtained from the presses, which were supposed to have changed, a 
 silence^ whence to conclude the possibility of infringing the Constitution in its 
 most essential part: in that which fixes the relation of the President with the 
 
72 
 
 legislature. But the patriotic jmpers laid bold of this artful attempt: I am cer- 
 tain that the office of Secretary of State, which alone remained at Philadelphia, 
 (for while the minister of finance was with the army, the minister of war was 
 on a tour to the Province of Maine, 400 miles from Philadelphia,) maintained 
 the conti'oversy in favor of the opinion -which it was desired to establish. A 
 comparison between the President and the English monarch was introduced, who 
 far removed from AVestminstei-, yet strictly fulfills his duty of sanctioning; it was 
 much insisted on, that the Constitution declares that the President commands the 
 armed force: this similitude was treated with contempt; the consequence of the 
 power of commanding in person, drawn from the light to command in chief (or 
 direct) the force of the State, Avas ridiculed and reduced to an absurdity, by 
 supposing a fleet at sea and an army on land. The result of this controversy 
 w as, that some days after it was announced that the President would come to 
 open the approaching session. 
 
 I discover nothing in this paragraph demanding an answer from me ; 
 except that with my privity or belief, not a single jDublication was made 
 from the Department of State, respecting the President's absence from 
 Congress. 
 
 The twentieth, twenty-first, ticenty-second, twenty-third, ticenty-fourth, and twenty- 
 fifth paragraphs. 
 
 20. During his stay at Bedford, the President doubtless concerted the plan of 
 the campaign with Mr. Lee, to whom he left the command in chief. The letter 
 by which he delegates the command to him, is that of a virtuous man, at least 
 as to the major part of the sentiments which it contains; he afterwards set out 
 for Philadelphia, where he has just arrived, and Mr. Hamilton remains with the 
 army. 
 
 21. This last circumstance unveils all the plan of the Secretary; he presides 
 over the military operations in order to acquire in the sight of his enemies a 
 formidable and imposing consideration. He and Mr. Lee the commander in chief 
 agree perfectly in principles. The governors of Jersey and Maryland harmonize 
 entirely with them; the governor of Pennsylvania^ of whom it never would have 
 been suspected, lived intimately and publicly with Hamilton. Such a union of 
 persons would be matter sufficient to produce resistance in the western counties, 
 even admitting they had not thought of making any. 
 
 22. The soldiers themselves are astonished at the scandalous gaiety with which 
 those who possess the secret, proclaim their approaching triumph. It is asked, 
 of what use are 15,000 men in i.his country, in which provisions are scarce, and 
 where are to be seized only some turbulent men at their plough. Those who 
 conducted the expedition know this ; the matter is to create a great expense; 
 when the sums shall come to be assessed, no one will be willing to pay, and 
 should each pay his assessment, it will be done in cursing the insurgent princi- 
 ples of the patriots. 
 
 23. It is impossible to make a more able manoeuvre for the opening of Congress. 
 The passions, the generous indignation, which had agitated their minds in the 
 last session, were about being renewed with still more vigor; there was nothing 
 to announce of brilliant successes which they had promised. The hostilities of 
 Great Britain on the continent so long disguised, and now become evident, a 
 
n 
 
 commerce always harassed, ridiculous negotiations lingering at London, waiting 
 until new conjunctures should authorize new insults ; such was the picture they 
 ■were likely to have to offer the representatives of the people. But this crisis, 
 and the great movements made to prevent its consequences, change the state of 
 things. With what advantage do they denounce an atrocious attack upon the 
 Constitution, and appreciate the activity used to repress it; the aristocratical 
 party will soon have understood the secret; all the misfortunes will be attributed 
 to patriots; the party of the latter is about being deserted by all the weak 
 men, and this complete session will have been gained. 
 
 24. Who knows what will be the limits of this triumph? Perhaps advantage 
 will be taken by it to obtain some laws for strengthening the government, and 
 still more precipitating the propensity, already visible, that it has towards 
 aristocracy. 
 
 25. Such are, Citizen, the data which I possess concerning these events, and 
 the consequences I draw from them ; I wish I may be deceived in my calcula- 
 tions; and the good disposition of the people, their attachment to principles 
 leads me to expect it. I have perhaps herein fallen into the repetition of reflec- 
 tions and facts contained in other dispatches, but I wished to present together " 
 some views which I have reason to ascribe to the ruling party, and some able 
 manoeuvres invented to support themselves. Without participating in the passions 
 of the parties, I observe them; and I OAve to my country an exact and strict ac- 
 count of the situation of things. I shall make it my duty to keep you regularly 
 informed of every change that may take place ; above all I shall apply myself to 
 penetrate the disposition of the legislature ; that will not a little assist in forming 
 the final idea which we ought to have of these movements, and what we should 
 really fear or hope from them. 
 
 .y. Upon these paragraphs I shall observe, only, that it was impossible 
 for me, on the faith of Mr. Jay's letters, to pronounce, that the negoti- 
 ation in London were derisory or ridiculous. 
 
 "^ , Thus, Sir, have I analyzed Mr. Fauchet's letter No. 10, and his dis- 
 patches No. 3 and 6. But it is my right, from a just sense of injury, to 
 call the attention of the people and yourself to some further observations. 
 
 In this letter. Sir, I appeal to the people of the United States. They 
 have not committed themselves. They have no prejudices, no antipa- 
 thies, no jealousies to be awakened. They will follow counsellors, who 
 will not, and cannot deceive them : who will act for themselves, and are 
 not played off by others behind the scene. They will be able to repel 
 the crisis, which, I fear, may disturb our harmony with France. But 
 without a farther enumeration of reasons for an appeal to the people, to 
 whom else ought I to appeal? If the stories, which have been propa- 
 gated, be true; it is their honor, which has been wounded. If false, 
 
74 
 
 they alone can make retribution to me. On them alone can I rely to 
 distinguish truth from the management and exaggerations of a British 
 minister, British partizans, British merchants, enemies of France, friends 
 of monarchy, and violators of our Constitution. 
 
 To yourself. Sir, I never can appeal. Your conduct on the 19th of 
 August, 1795, your letter of the 20th; and the declarations of those, 
 who felt a persuasion, that they were fighting under your banners, have 
 long ago proclaimed, that you had been in an instant transformed into 
 my enemy : And this, if I mistake not, was the course of your thoughts. 
 After you had determined not to ratify during the existence of the pro- 
 vision-order, you were surrounded by the remonstrances of the people 
 from one end of the Union to the other. You perceived, that not to 
 ratify immediately, would disgust one party, and that to ratify, even 
 after the abolition of that order, would disgust the other. You will 
 remember a remarkable phrase of your own upon this occasion. Before, 
 however, you were scarcely cool from the heat of your journey from 
 Virginia, the man, who had been anxiously inquiring after your arrival, 
 hastened to deliver the letter to you. Then the friendship of the people 
 for France, which had been before a terror, was changed into a phantom, 
 from the expectation of satisfying them of an existing corruption in her 
 favor. Then the opposers of the treaty might, as was supposed, be 
 branded, as a "detestable faction,'" — "a detestable conspiracy," — and 
 plotters of a revolution. The destruction of me was a little something; 
 the groundwork of a more important assault upon others. In me you 
 saw a man of no party; — whose friends, though they knew me to be re- 
 publican, were misled to believe, that in your Cabinet I was an adherent 
 to anti-republican measures, and were ignorant, that no opinion, which 
 I there gave, ever swerved from the rights of the people : — who, having 
 the name of being befriended by you, and having always vindicated 
 your character, when unjustly assailed, was the more exposed to a deadly 
 stroke from the arm of an elevated and reputed patron. You thought 
 also, that from the agency, which I had had in the treaty, the people 
 might keep aloof from rendering me justice. Be this as it may, they 
 shall be informed of the truth; and I repeat, that I will not court the 
 prejudices of any man upon earth. 
 
 I did indeed, before the provision-order was known, consider you as 
 bound to ratify, if the Senate should advise you ; because your powers 
 to Mr. Jay did not seem to have been exceeded. I was much influenced 
 also by these considerations. — 1. That if the people were adverse to the 
 treaty, it was the constitutional right of the House of Representatives 
 to refuse, upon original grounds, unfettered by the assent of the Sen- 
 ate or yourself, to pass the laws necessary for its execution : — 2. That 
 Mr. Jay had asserted that no better terms could possibly be obtained; 
 
T5 
 
 and that obstinacy in rejecting the settlement, which he had made, might 
 be serious : — 3. That I did not then suppose, that we were to hazard a 
 war with France, by concurring in the attempt to starve her. But as 
 soon as the provision-order was promulged, I delivered to you my opin- 
 ion on the 12th of July, 1795; in which I stated my objections to the 
 treaty, including many of your own, transmitted to Mr. Jay in my let' 
 ters of 12th of November and 15th of December, 1794; placing the 
 ratification on the same footing, on which I had placed it in my address 
 to Mr. Hammond. 
 
 Without a subserviency to French politics, I might have well doubted 
 of the expediency of ratifying, when it appears by a letter from Mr. Jay, 
 of the 5th of November, 1794, (fourteen days before he signed it,) that 
 he himself vibrated on the propriety of signing it. The maxim, which 
 I have always enforced to you, has been, that the United States should 
 shake off all dependence of French and English interference in our 
 affairs ; but that we ought not to deny or baffle the gratitude of the peo- 
 ple to France under the pretext of independence, in order to give a deci- 
 sive preponderance to Great Britain. 
 
 Anxious as I am to close this letter which has been delayed, not from 
 any design, or hesitation, but from circumstances, unavoidable in my 
 situation; I have only to deplore, that even with an anxiety on your 
 part to recollect every thing, I cannot hope for support in many things, 
 which I might mention, .and which have been confined to ourselves; 
 after having heard you daily complain, that you could not trust your 
 memory. But having been driven by self-defence to speak freely, I 
 stand upon the truth of what I have spoken : — let the people judge. 
 
 I have the honor, Sir, to be with due respect, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 EDM. KANDOLPH. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TO 
 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 "United States, December 5, 1793. 
 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, 
 
 " As the present situation of the several nations of Europe, and especially of 
 those with Tfliich the United States have important relations, cannot but render 
 the state of things between them and ixs, matter of interesting enquiry, to the 
 legislature, and may, indeed, give rise to deliberations, to which they alone are 
 competent, I have thought it my duty to communicate to them, certain corres- 
 pondences which have taken place. 
 
 The representative and executive bodies of France have manifested, generally, 
 a friendly attachment to this country ; have given advantages to our commerce 
 and navigation, and have made overtures for placing these advantages on perma- 
 nent ground ; a decree, however, of the National Assembly, subjecting vessels 
 laden with provisions, to be carried into their ports, and making enemy-gcods 
 lawful prize, in the vessel of a friend, contrary to our treaty, though revoked at 
 one time, as to the United States, has been since extended to their vessels also, 
 as has been recently stated to us : — Representations on this subject will be im- 
 mediately given in charge to our minister there, and the result shall be commu- 
 nicated to the legislature. 
 
 It is, with extreme concern, I have to inform you, that the proceedings of the 
 person, whom they have unfortunately appointed their minister plenipotentiary 
 here, have breathed nothing of the friendly spirit of the nation which sent him ; 
 their tendency, on the contrary, has been to involve us in war abroad, and dis- 
 cord and anarchy at home. So far as his acts, or those of his agents have 
 thi-eatened our immediate commitment in the war, or flagrant insult to the 
 authority of the laws, their effect has been counteracted by the ordinary cogni- 
 zance of the laws, and by an exertion of the powers confided to me. Where 
 their danger was not imminent, they have been borne with, from sentiments 
 of regard to his nation ; from a sense of their friendship towards us ; from a 
 conviction, that they would not suffer us to remain long exposed to the action of 
 a person, who has so little respected our mutual dispositions ; and, I will add, 
 from a reliance on the firmness of my fellow-citizens, in their principles of peace 
 and order. In the mean time I have respected and pursued the stipulations of 
 our treaties, according to what I judged their true sense ; and have withheld no 
 act of friendship, which their affairs have called for from us, and which justice 
 to others left us free to perform — I have gone further. — Rather than employ 
 
78 
 
 force for the restitution of certain vessels, which I deemed the United States 
 bound to restore, I thought it more advisable to satisfy the parties, by avowing 
 it to be my opinion, that if restitution vrere not made, it would be incumbent on 
 the United States to make compensation. The papers now communicated will 
 more particularly apprise you of these transactions. 
 
 The vexations and spoliation, understood to have been committed on our 
 vessels and commerce, by the cruisers and officers of some of the belligerent 
 powers, appeared to require attention. The proofs of these, however, not having 
 been brought foi-ward, the description of citizens supposed to have suffered, 
 were notified, that, on furnishing them to the executive, due measures would be 
 taken to obtain redress of the past, and more effectual provisions against the 
 future. Should such documents be furnished, proper representations will be 
 made thereon, with a just reliance on a redress proportioned to the exigency of 
 the case. 
 
 The r>ritish government having undertaken, by orders to the commanders 
 of their armed vessels, to restrain, generally, our commerce, in corn and other 
 provisions, to their own ports, and those of their friends, the instructions now 
 communicated were immediately forwarded to oui" minister at that court. In 
 the mean time, some discussions on the subject took place between him and 
 them ; these are also laid before you ; and I may expect to learn the result of 
 his special instructions, in time to make it known to the legislature, during their 
 present session. 
 
 Very early after the arrival of a British minister here, mutual explanations on 
 the inexecution of the treaty of peace were entered into, with that minister : 
 these are now laid before you, for your information. 
 
 On the subjects of mutual interest between this country and Spain, negotia- 
 tions and conferences are now depending. The public good requiring that the 
 present state of these should be made known to the legislature, in confidence only, 
 thev shall be the subject of a separate and subsequent communication. 
 
 Go! WASHINGTON. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 Message of the President to the Senate, nominating Mr. Jay. 
 
 April 16th, 1794. 
 Gentlemen of the Senate, — The communications which I have made to you 
 during your present session, from the dispatches of our minister in London, con- 
 tain a serious aspect of our affairs with Great Britain. But as Peace ought to 
 be pursued with unremitted zeal, before the last resource, which has so often 
 been the scourge of nations, and cannot fail to check the advanced prosperity of 
 the United States, is contemplated, I have thought proper to nominate and do 
 hereby nominate John Jay, as Envoy Extraordinary of the United States, to 
 his Britannic Majesty. My confidence in our Minister Plenipotentiary in Lon- 
 don, continues undiminished ; but a mission like this, while it corresponds with 
 the solemnity of the occasion, will announce to the world a solicitude for a 
 friendly adjustment of our complai7its, and a reluctance to hostility. Going imme- 
 diately from the United States, such an Envoy will carry with him a full knowl- 
 edge of the existing temper and sensibility of our country ; and will thus be 
 taught to vindicate our rights with firmness, and to cultivate peace with sincerity. 
 
79 
 
 No. III. 
 
 Edmund Randolph to the President. 
 
 Philadelphia, 5th August, 1794, 
 
 Sir, The late events in the neighborhood of Pittsburg appeared, on the first 
 intelligence of them, to be extensive in their relations. But subsequent reflec- 
 tion, and the conference with the Governor of Pennsylvania, have multiplied 
 them in my mind tenfold. Indeed, Sir, the moment is big with a crisis, which 
 would convulse the eldest government; and if it should burst on ours, its extent 
 and dominion can be but faintly conjectured. 
 
 At our fii'st consultation, in your presence, the indignation, which we all felt, 
 at the outrages committed, created a desire, that the information received should 
 be laid before an associate justice, or the district judge ; to be considered under 
 the act of May 2d, 1792. This step was urged by the necessity of understand- 
 ing, without delay, all the means vested in the President, for suppressing the 
 progress of the mischief. A caution, however, was prescribed to the Attorney 
 General, who submitted the documents to the Judge, not to express the most 
 distant wish of the President that the certificate should be granted. 
 
 The certificate has been granted ; and although the testimony is not in my 
 judgment yet in suificient legal form, to become the ground-work of such an act; 
 and a judge ought not a priori to decide that the Marshal is incompetent to 
 suppress the combinations by the posse comitatus, yet the certificate, if it be 
 minute enough, is conclusive, that, " in the counties of Washington and Alle- 
 ghany in Pennsylvania, laws of the United States are opposed, and the execution 
 thereof obstructed by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordi- 
 nary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the Marshal 
 of that district." But the certificate specifies no particular law which has been 
 opposed. This defect I remarked to Judge Wilson, from whom the certificate 
 came, and obsei'ved that the design of the law being, that a judge should point 
 out to the executive where the judiciary stood in need of military aid, it was 
 frustrated if military force should.be applied to laws, which the judge might not 
 contemplate. He did not yield to my reasoning ; and therefore I presume that 
 the objection will not be received against the validity of the certificate. 
 
 Upon the supposition of its being valid a power arises to the President to call 
 forth the militia of Pennsylvania, and eventually the militia of other States, 
 which may be convenient. But as the law does not compel the President to 
 array the militia in consequence of the certificate, and renders it lawful only for 
 him so to do ; the grand enquiry is, whether it be expedient to exercise this 
 power at this time. 
 
 On many occasions have I contended ; that whensoever military coercion is to 
 be resorted to in support of law, the militia are the true, proper, and only in- 
 struments which ought to be employed. But a calm survey of the situation 
 of the United States has presented these dangers, and these objections, and ban- 
 ishes every idea of calling them into immediate action : 
 
 1. A radical and universal dissatisfaction with the excise pervades the four 
 transmontane counties of Pennsylvania, having more than sixty-three thousand 
 souls in the whole, and more than fifteen thousand white males above the age of 
 sixteen. The counties on the eastern side of the mountain, and some other 
 
80 
 
 populous counties, are infected by similar prejudices, inferior in degree, and 
 dormant, but not extinguished. 
 
 2. Several counties in Virginia, having a strong militia, participate in these 
 feelings. 
 
 3. The insurgents themselves, numerous, are more closely united by like 
 dangers, with friends and kindred, scattered abroad in diifereut places, who will 
 enter into all the apprehensions, and combine in all the precautions of safety, 
 adopted by them. 
 
 4. As soon, too, as any event of eclat shall occur, around which persons, dis- 
 contented on other principles, whether of aversion to the government or disgust 
 with any measures of the administration, may rally, they will make a common 
 cause. 
 
 5. The Governor of Pennsylvania has declared his opinion to be, that the 
 militia, which can be drawn forth, will be unequal to the task. 
 
 6. If the militia of other States are to be called forth, it is not a decided 
 thing, that many of them may not refuse. And if they comply, is nothing to be 
 apprehended from a strong cement growing between all the militia of Pennsyl- 
 vania, when they perceive, that, another militia is to be introduced into the 
 bosom of their country ? The experiment is at least untried. 
 
 7. The expense of a military expedition will be very great ; and with a de- 
 vouring Indiiin war, the commencement of a navy, the sum to be expended for 
 obtaining a peace with Algiers, the destruction of our mercantile capital by 
 British depredations, the xmcertainty of war or peace with Great Britain, the 
 impatience of the people under increased taxes, the punctual support of our 
 credit ; — it behooves those who manage our fiscal matters, to be sure of their 
 pecuniary resources, when so great a field of new and unexpected expense is to 
 be opened. 
 
 8. Is there any appropriation of money, which can be immediately devoted to 
 this use ? If not how can money be drawn ? It is said that appropriations are 
 to the War department generally ; but it may deserve enquiry, whether they 
 were not made vipon particular statements of a kind of service, essentially dis- 
 tinct from the one proposed. 
 
 9. If the intelligence of the overtures of the British to the Western counties 
 be true, and the inhabitants should be driven to accept their aid, the supplies of 
 the western army — the western army itself may be destroyed ; the re-union of 
 that country to the United States will be impracticable; and we must be engaged 
 
 in a British war. If the intelligence be probable only , how difiBcult will 
 
 it be to reconcile the world to believe, that we have been consistent in our con- 
 duct ; when, after rimning the hazard of mortally ofi'ending the French by the 
 punctilious observance of neutrality ; after deprecating the wrath of the English 
 by every possible act of government; after the request for the suspension of the 
 settlement at Presque Isle, which has in some measvire been foimded on the pos- 
 sibility of Great Britain being roused to arms by it ; we pursue measures, which 
 threaten collision with Great Britain and which are mixed with the blood of our 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
 10. If miscai'riage should befall the United States in the beginning, what may 
 not be the consequence ? And if this should not happen, is it possible to foresee 
 what may be the effect of ten, twenty, or thirty thousand of our citizens being 
 drawn into the field against as many more. There is another enemy in the heart 
 of the Soiithern States, who would not sleep with such an opportunity of 
 advantage. 
 
81 
 
 11. It is a fact well known tbat the parties in the United States are highly 
 inflamed against each other ; and that there is but one character which keeps 
 both in awe. As soon as the sword shall be drawn* to restrain them. 
 
 On this subject the souls of some good men bleed : They have often asked 
 themselves why they are always so jealous of military power, whenever it has 
 been proposed to be exercised under the form of a succor to the civil authority ? 
 How has it happened that with a temper, not addicted to suspicion, nor un- 
 friendly to those who propose military force, they do not court the shining repu- 
 tation which is acquired by being always ready for strong measm-es. This is the 
 reason ; that they ai-e confident that they know the ultimate sense of the people ; 
 that the will of the people must force its way in the government ; that, notwith- 
 standing the indignation which may be raised against the insurgents ; yet if 
 measures, unnecessarily harsh, disproportiouably harsh, and without a previous 
 trial of every thing, which law or the spirit of conciliation can do, be executed, 
 that indignation will give way, and the people will be estranged from the admin- 
 istration, which made the experiment. There is a second reason : one motive, 
 assigned in argument, for calling forth the militia, has been, that a government 
 can never be said to be established, until some signal display has manifested its 
 power of military coercion. This maxim, if indulged, would heap curses upon 
 the government. The strength of a government is the affection of the people ; 
 and while that is maintained, every invader, every insurgent, will as certainly 
 count upon the fear of its strength, as if it had with one army of citizens mown 
 down another. 
 
 Let the parties in the United States be ever kindled into action, sentiments like 
 these will produce a flame, which will not terminate in a common revolution. 
 
 Knowing, Sir, as I do, the motives, which govern you in office, I was certain 
 that you would be anxious to mitigate as far as yovi thought it practicable, the 
 military course which has been recommended. You have accordingly suspended 
 the force of the preceding observations by determining not to call forth the 
 militia immediately to action, and to send commissioners, who may explain and 
 adjust if possible the present discontents. 
 
 The next question then is, whether the militia shall be directed to hold them- 
 selves in readiness ; or shall not be summoned at all ? 
 
 It has been supposed by some gentlemen, that when reconciliation is ofl^ered 
 with one hand, terror should be borne in the other ; and that a full amnesty and 
 oblivion shall not be granted, unless the excise laws be complied with in the 
 fullest manner. 
 
 With a language such as this, the overtures of peace will be considered de- 
 lusive by the insurgents and the most of the world. It will be said and believed, 
 that the design of sending commissioners was only to gloss over hostility ; to 
 endeavor to divide ; to sound the strength of the insurgents ; to discover the 
 most culpable persons, to be marked out for punishment; to temporize until 
 Congress can be prevailed upon to order further force, or the western army may 
 be at leisui-e from the savages, to be turned upon the insurgents ; and many 
 other suspicions will be entertained which cannot be here enumerated. When 
 Congress talked of some high handed steps against Great Britain, they were dis- 
 approved, as counteracting Mi*. Jay's mission ; because it could not be expected, 
 she would be dragooned. Human nature will to a certain point shew itself to 
 
 * There is a blank in this place in the copy preserved. 
 
 6 
 

 82 
 
 be the same, even among the Alleghany mountains. The mission -will, I fear, 
 fail ; though it would be to me the most grateful occurrence in life to find my 
 prediction falsified. If it does fail, and in consequence of the disappointment 
 the militia should be required to act, then -will return that fatal train of events, 
 which I have stated above, to be suspended, for the present. 
 
 What would be the inconvenience of delay ? The result of the mission would 
 be known in four weeks, and the President would be master of his measures, 
 without any previous commitment. Four weeks could not render the insurgents 
 more formidable : that space of time might render them less so, by affording 
 room for reflection : and the government will have a sufiicient season remaining 
 to action. Until every peaceable attempt shall be exhausted, it is not clear to 
 me, that as soon as the call is made, and the proclamation issued, the militia 
 may not enter into some combination, which will satisfy the insurgents, that 
 they need fear nothing from them, and spread those combinations among the 
 militia. 
 
 My opinion therefore is, that the commissioners will be furnished with enough 
 on the score of terror, when they announce, that the President is in possession 
 of the certificate of the judge. It will confirm the humanity of the mission; 
 !ind notwithstanding some men might pay encomiums on decision, vigor of 
 nerves, &c. &c. if the militia were summoned to be held in readiness ; the ma- 
 jority would conceive the merit of the mission incomplete if this were to 
 be done. 
 
 It will not, however, be supposed, that I mean that these outrages are to pass 
 without animadversion. No, Sir. That the authority of government is to be 
 maintained is not less my position, than that of others. But I prefer the accom- 
 plishment of this by every experiment of moderation in the first instance. The 
 steps, therefore, which I would recommend, are, 
 
 1. A serious proclamation, stating the mischief, declaring the power, possessed 
 by the executive, and announcing, that it is withheld from motives of humanity 
 and a wish for conciliation. 
 
 2. Commissioners, properly instructed to the same objects. 
 
 ■ 3. If they fail in their mission, let the offenders be prosecuted according 
 to law. 
 
 4. If the judiciary authority is, after this, withstood, let the militia be 
 called out. 
 
 These appear to me to be the only means for producing imanimity in the 
 people ; and without their unanimity government may be mortified and defeated. 
 
 If the President shall determine to operate with the militia, it will be neces- 
 sary to submit some animadversions upon the interpretation of the law. For it 
 ought closely to be considered, whether if the combinations should disperse, the 
 execution of process is not to be left to the Marshal and his posse. But these 
 will be deferred, until orders shall be discussed for the militia to march. 
 
 I have the honor. Sir, to be with the highest respect, and sincerest attachment. 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 EDM: RANDOLPH. 
 
 The President of the United States. 
 
 LBWv"30