44 



the beginning of the new order of tilings to this day, and the fluctuation 

 and mutual destruction of parties, forbid a minister of a foreign country 

 to attach himself to any as such, and dictate to him not to incline to 

 any set of men, farther than they appear to go with the sense of 

 the nation. 



"2. When the Executive Provisory Coimcil recalled Mr. Genet, they 

 expressed a determination to render it a matter of eclat, as you have 

 seen, and at the same time disavowed all his offensive acts. Nothing 

 having been forwarded to us relative to Mr. Morris which requires a 

 disavo^val, you will, if you should be interrogated as to any particular 

 feeling prevailing with the President upon the occasion, refer to the 

 letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. Fauchet, as explanatory of the 

 President's promptness to comply with their demand. 



"3. From Mr. Genet and Mr. Fauchet we have uniformly learned, 

 that France did not desire us to depai*t from neutrality, and it would 

 have been unwise to have asked us to do otherwise. For our ports are 

 open to her prizes, while they are shut to those of Great Britain ; and 

 supplies of grain could not be forwarded to France with so much 

 certainty, were we at war, as they can even now, notwithstanding the 

 British instructions, — and as they may be, if the demands to be made 

 upon Great Britain should succeed. We have therefore pursued neu- 

 ti^ality with faithfulness ; we have paid more of our debt to France than 

 was absolutely due, as the Secretary of the Treasury asserts ; and we 

 should have paid more, if the state of our affairs did not require us to be 

 prepai'ed with funds for the possible event of war. We mean to continue 

 the same line of conduct in futm-e ; and, to remove all jealousy with 

 respect to Mr. Jay's mission to London, you may say that he is 

 positively forbidden to weaken the engagements between this country 

 and France. 



"It is not improbable that you will be obliged to encounter, on this 

 head, suspicions of various kinds. But you may declare the motives of 

 that mission to be, to obtain immediate compensation for our plundered 

 property, and restitution of the posts. You may intimate, by way of 

 argument, but without ascribing it to the government, that if war 

 should be necessary, the affections of the people of the United States 

 towards it would be better secured by a manifestation that every step 

 had been taken to avoid it, and that the British nation would be divided 

 when they found that we had been forced into it. This may be briefly 

 touched upon, as the path of prudence ^ith respect to ourselves ; and 

 also with respect to France, since we are unable to give her aids of men 

 or money. To this matter you cannot be too attentive, and you will be 

 amply justified in repelling with firmness any imputation of the most 



