IX.

to remind him that the United States had also grounds CHAPTER of complaint. That under a decree of the Convention in 1793, in violation of the American treaty, fifty Ameri- 1796. can vessels had been brought into French ports, and their cargoes taken from them, for which no payment had yet been made. That about the same time, and without any motive having ever been assigned for it, more than eighty other American vessels had been embargoed at Bordeaux, and detained there for upward of a year, to the great injury of the owners, who remained as yet uncompensated. That for supplies furnished to the French. West Indies, and likewise for supplies sent directly to France, immense sums were due to American citizens, by the non-payment of which many were ruined. He softened matters, indeed, by suggesting that these grounds of complaint were perhaps unknown to the Directory, as the original representations had been made to their predecessors. But a tone so wholly new on his part contributed, perhaps, to that slight and neglect with which thenceforward he began to be treated.

At the same moment that Monroe fell into disgrace at Paris, having wholly failed to bring about that close union with France of which he had held out the promise, the resolution had been taken at home to supply his place by a minister in whose zeal to carry out their views, and in whose faithful co-operation in their policy, the government could place more certain trust. After being declined by Marshall for pressing domestic reasons, this appointment was accepted by Charles C. Pinckney, Sept. who presently embarked, carrying with him Monroe's letters of recall. In making this appointment, Washington had been anxious to find a minister to whose political opinions the French could have no special objections, at the same time that he selected a person on whom he could himself confidently rely.

CHAPTER

Washington at first had suggested the idea of sending IX. out a minister extraordinary, as in the case of Jay's ap1796. pointment to England; but the cabinet were of opinion that, in the recess of the Senate, he had no power to make such an appointment. They all agreed in the policy of recalling Monroe, in order that the government might have some faithful organ at Paris to explain their views, and to ascertain those of the French. There was, indeed, evidence before them that while Monroe's recent correspondence with the State Department had been unfrequent, unsatisfactory, reserved, and without cordiality or confidence, he had been in close communication with the heads of the opposition-of which, in fact, he had all along been more the agent than of the administration which he professed to represent. Meanwhile, in America, new causes of complaint had been zealously urged by Adet. The British at this time were making great efforts to complete the conquest of the French part of St. Domingo, the defense of which for the Republic had been left almost entirely in the hand of Toussaint and the other black and mulatto generals. Large supplies of provisions had been purchased in America, and horses also, for the British troops, American vessels being chartered for their conveyance, in the expectation that, under the treaty with France, they would be allowed to pass without interruption. Adet repeatedly complained of this, and Governor Wood, of Virginia, undertook to stop a cargo of horses. Orders were sent, however, for the release of the vessel; and Pickering maintained, in reply to Adet, that there was nothing in these sales of which France had any right to complain. Horses undoubtedly were contraband, and, as such, might be confiscated if taken on the voyage; but that imposed no obligation on the American government to prevent their sale or shipment.

IX.

Hitherto, though not bound to it by treaty, the Amer- CHAPTER ican government had permitted the sale of French prizes brought into American ports; but, in consequence of an 1796. article of the British treaty, this permission had been discontinued, and a circular to that effect had been sent to all the collectors. This was but placing the two nations on the same footing; yet the prohibition became the subject of warm remonstrances on the part of Adet.

A few weeks after the departure of Pinckney, Adet Oct. 27. made a formal communication of the decree of July 2d (14th Messador), already mentioned, of the existence of which, and the extraordinary latitude of interpretation given to it, practical evidence had already been given in the seizure of numerous American vessels in the West India seas. Besides an elaborate defense of that decree, this letter renewed a complaint, already several times before urged, that British ships of war were allowed to recruit their crews by pressing sailors from American vessels. As if to follow up Genet's system of direct communication with the people, independently of the government, this letter of Adet's, at the same time that it was sent to the Department of State, was forwarded. also for publication to Bache's Aurora. A few days. after, there appeared in the same paper a proclamation Nov. 5. or order signed by Adet, calling upon all Frenchmen resident in America, in the name of the French Directory, to mount and wear the tri-colored cockade, "the symbol of a liberty the fruit of eight years' toils and five years' victories;" nor was any Frenchman who might hesitate. to give this indication of adherence to the Republic to be allowed the aid of the French consular chanceries or the national protection. The tri-colored cockade was at once mounted, not by the French only, but by many American citizens, who wished to signify in this marked

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CHAPTER manner their devoted attachment to the French republic. In this "cockade proclamation," as the Federalists 1796, called it in ridicule, originated the practice, which in the next four years became very common, of wearing cockades as a badge of party distinction.

Nov. 15.

The issue of this quasi proclamation was soon followed by a note, simultaneously sent to Bache's Aurora and to the State Department, demanding, "in the name of the faith of treaties and of American honor, the execution of that contract which assured to the United States their existence, and which France regarded as the pledge of the most sacred union between two people, the freest upon earth;" and announcing also, at the same time, "the resolution of a government, terrible to its enemies, but generous to its allies."

"When Europe rose up against the Republic at its birth, and menaced it with all the horrors of famine"such was the impassioned introduction to this remarkable state paper, rivaling even Genet's peculiar eloquence, and evidently intended much more for the people than for the government-"when on every side the French could not calculate on any but enemies, their thoughts turned toward America, and a sweet sentiment then mingled itself with those proud feelings which the presence of danger and the desire of repelling it produced in their hearts. In America they saw friends. Those who went to brave tempests and death upon the ocean forgot all dangers in order to indulge the hope of visiting that American continent, where, for the first time, the French colors had been displayed in favor of liberty. Under the guarantee of the law of nations, under the protecting shade of a solemn treaty, they expected to find in the ports of the United States an asylum as sure as at home; they thought, if I may use the expression, there to find

IX.

a second country. The French government thought as CHAPTER they did. Oh, hope worthy of a faithful people, how hast thou been deceived! So far from offering the 1796. French the succors which friendship might have given without compromitting itself, the American government, in this respect, violated the obligation of treaties."

Here followed a summary of these alleged violations, heretofore urged by Adet and his predecessors, and in De la Croix's note to Monroe, including the circular of 1793, restraining the fitting out of privateers in American harbors; the law of 1794, prohibiting hostile enterprises or preparations against nations with whom the United States were at peace; the cognizance of these matters taken by the American courts of law; and the admission of British armed vessels into American waters. Not content with these tacit derogations of the rights of France, the American government, so Adet asserted, had gone further, and, by a special treaty with Great Britain, had secured her in the enjoyment of all these indulgences; a negotiation as to which the French government had been misled and deceived by misrepresentations both in America and at Paris, and which had inflicted still further injury upon France by concessions to England on the question of contraband and the conveyance of enerny's goods. The stipulations on these subjects contained in the treaty with Great Britain, Adet chose to represent as commercial favors granted to England; and as it was provided by the treaty with France that, so far as respected commerce and navigation, she should be admitted to the privileges of the most favored nation, he undertook to justify, on the ground of this provision, the recent French decree authorizing French cruisers to treat American vessels as they suffered themselves to be treated by the British.