grand armory at Richmond was built to enable Virginia to resist encroachment upon her indisputable rights.1

1 For all this story in detail, and many original letters, see the life of John Randolph by Henry Adams.

CHAPTER III.

ENVOY IN FRANCE.

MONROE'S career as a diplomatist exhibits first the misfortune and then the good fortune which may attend ministerial action in a foreign land, when long periods must elapse before letters can be interchanged with the government at home. In critical junctures responsibility must be assumed by the representative of a nation, who runs the risk that his words and actions, however wise and necessary they appear to him, will not be approved by those who sent him abroad. In quiet days a foreign embassy is an enviable position, but Monroe was neither the first envoy nor the last who has found in troublesome times that it is difficult to act with a near-sighted view of the field so as to keep the support of those who are far-sighted. His first mission to France began brilliantly and ended with an irritation of his spirit which he carried with him, like the bullet received at Trenton, to the very end of his life; his second mission to France, undertaken with some distrust, led to a fortunate negotiation which brightened all his subsequent days.

While a senator in Congress, Monroe was selected, as we have seen, to represent the United States in Paris, after it became necessary for Gouverneur Morris to give way. Washington's first choice for the position was Thomas Pinckney, whom he would have transferred from England to France if Jay had consented to remain the minister in England. As this project was not successful, the appointment was offered to Robert R. Livingston, who did not accept it. A few weeks later (May 28, 1794) Monroe was commissioned. He was far from agreeing with the administration,-as was perfectly well known; but he held such opinions in respect to the French that a favorable reception for him might reasonably be expected. Washington's position was one of much responsibility. There was great danger that the United States, scarcely beginning to recover from the revolutionary struggle, and with the experiment of the Constitution not yet five years old, would be involved in war with France or England in consequence of their unjustifiable reprisals and their attitude in respect to the commerce of neutrals. It was most important for the safety of the Union as well as for the prosperity of the people that war should be averted, and much appeared to depend upon the envoys. So Jay was sent to England and Monroe to France.

Looking back on these appointments, nearly forty years afterwards, John Quincy Adams declared them to be among the most memorable events in the history of this Union. To understand this in our day, we must remember the bitter relations, " tinged with infusions of the wormwood and the gall," which then divided France and England; and the partisan feelings which already separated Republicans from Federalists.

The state of feeling in Congress prior to Monroe's mission is familiar enough to all historical readers; but I have before me a long file of letters which have never been made public, exhibiting in the intimacy of fraternal correspondence the current of opinion in Congress;

and I make from them the following extracts to give a fresh and original record of a tale which has often been told:1

January, 1794. — I think we are in no danger of being drawn into the European war unless the French should be mad enough to declare war against everybody that will not fraternize with them.

January, 1794. It may, I believe, fairly be presumed that we shall not get into a wrangle with the French nation.

1 These extracts are from letters by Joshua Coit of New London, Conn., a representative in Congress, to his brother, Daniel L. Coit.

January 25, 1794. We have announced to us in a letter from the President this day, that he has from the French Court assurances that M. Genet's conduct here has met with unequivocal disapprobation, and that his recall will be expected as soon as possible. I give it you nearly in the words of his letter. Why he has not before made the communication as it arrived by the Dispatch (a sloop of about thirty tons) last week; whether he has letters from the French ministry or only from Mr. Morris, I am without information.

January 31, 1794. A strange portion [sic] of French frenzy is working in this country. We see much of it in Congress, principally among the Southern members. It enters, as you will see, into the debates on Mr. Madison's propositions. I have mentioned it to you, I believe, in a former letter. One would have expected from these owners of slaves and men of large fortunes a different complexion ; but our rankest democratical principle is all from the South, and they consider us New England men as aristocrats. I feel more apprehension of the general government being too weak than that it will gather a strength dangerous to the liberties of the people. I would hope, however, that no more of party is mixed in our composition than may be wholesome. Mr. M.'s resolutions have now been under discussion for about a fortnight. Gentlemen take an amazing latitude in their discussions, and from the debates one would be led to suppose we were forming commercial treaties that were to embrace all the in