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Every one who remembers any thing of the political events of that day, cannot have forgotten "the precious confessions" of Edmund Randolph, then Secretary of State. Whether Fauchet told the truth or not, this is his language: "Two or three days before the proclamation" (of the Presi dent on the western insurrection) "was published, and of course before the cabinet had resolved on its measures, the Secretary of State came to my house. All his countenance was grief. He requested of me a private conversation. "It is all over, he said to me; a civil war is about to ravage "our unhappy 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 sufficient to shelter them from English prosecution? This inquiry astonished me much. It was impossible for me to make a satisfactory answer. You "know my want of power and deficiency in pecuniary " means." "Thus with some thousands of dollars the Republic could have decided on civil war or peace.. Thus "the consciences of the pretended patriots of America have "already their prices." "What will be the old age of this "government, if it is thus already decrepit!"

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When the despatches of Fauchet were made known to the President, he was still deliberating on the ratification. of the treaty. The causes of Mr. Randolph's determined opposition, and of the advice which Randolph had so often given in his official station, were now fully disclosed. On the 12th the President held a council with his three Secretaries, (Pickering, Wolcott, and Randolph,) on the ratification, probably to see for himself, among other things, the manifestation of Mr. Randolph's views. He continued to treat Mr. Randolph with his usual courtesy, while the despatches were in the hands of a translator; and on the 15th and 18th received Mr. Randolph at his table. On the 19th, while the President was conversing with Mr. Pickering and Mr. Wolcott, Randolph came in. The President rose and presented to him the intercepted letter, and requested him to explain it, if he could. Perceiving his confusion, the President proposed to him to step into another room and consider of it. He presently returned, and said he would make his explanation in writing. Soon after he resigned.

Mr. Randolph published a defence, after following Mr. Fauchet to Newport, (Rhode Island,) whither Fauchet had gone to embark for France. Mr. Randolph reached Newport on the 31st, but failed to obtain a countervailing certificate. Fauchet promised it, but sailed without giving it. In the midst of all these vexations the President ratified the treaty on the 14th of August.

The general sentiment at the time was, that Mr. Randolph had abused the confidence which the President placed in him, and that his party devotion had subjected him to severe reproach. To what extent Mr. Randolph was culpable, it is not material to inquire. With Mr. Randolph, as an individual, there is no intention to interfere, but only to show what the state of the country was, and what the influence of French feeling was.

Mr. Randolph (at Richmond) in the autumn of 1796 had returned to the practice of the law. He was obviously under a cloud. His appearance was that of a dejected being. Mr. Randolph was a man of large person, with a heavy, grave face. His reputation, as a lawyer, was very respectable. At this day, candor compels us to say, that Mr. Randolph had no treasonable views with regard to his own country. He may have been so misled by the excitement of the times, as to have justified to himself any thing that would tend to the injury of England, and to the benefit of France. But how far he could justify his acts on this ground, while he held the station of Secretary, and had the confidence of the President, is quite another consideration.

Timothy Pickering, who was at this time Secretary of War, was charged with the duties of Secretary of State on Mr. Randolph's resignation, and appointed to this office in December following. In January following, James McHenry was appointed to the office which Mr. Pickering had left. Between the month of August and the end of the year, several events occurred which will merely be mentioned to keep up the connexion with those more interesting.

Favorable treaties had been made with the Indians in the west and in the south; of the latter we have lately heard something in connexion with the movements in Georgia. The Algerines had taken our vessels, and held many Americans as slaves. A treaty was made with them, as the United States had no maritime force to prevent their

aggressions. There had been indications that some arrangement might be made with Spain concerning the disputed rights on the Mississippi, and on the navigation of that river. William Short, of Virginia, was minister resident in Spain, and was succeeded the next summer by a gentleman of South Carolina, Thomas Pinckney, usually called Governor Pinckney, to distinguish him from Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and his brother Thomas, then minister at London. Governor Pinckney was not of the family of Charles and Thomas, unless by some remote relation, and was a very different character from either of them. There was a fourth gentleman (William) of this name, of much celebrity, and especially in the profession of the law. He was not of the Pinckney families of South Carolina. He was of Maryland, and his name was written Pinkney. The two brothers, in pursuance of their father's positive direction by will, received the best education, and were at Westminster School in England and at Oxford; and were admitted to the Bar in London. Both of them served in the war of the revolution; and both of them were among the most honorable and excellent of the land. They were afterwards candidates for the presidency. Thomas was a man of about six feet in stature, of well formed, thin person, of tranquil, modest appearance, and had the reputation of being a person of high intellectual cultivation, and was certainly of most amiable deportment. Being one day on the edge of the cliff, which overlooks the falls of the Mohawk river, he employed himself in loosening some large stones to roll down the precipice. As they descended, he repeated lines from the Latin and Greek poets which are descriptive of the noise made by the rolling, rapid descent of a stone.

Charles, the elder brother, made a visit to the east in 1804, and passed the summer at Boston and in its vicinity. He was of middle stature, and rather a full person com pared with his brother. He was quite bald on the top of his head; his hair was short and gray at the sides. His countenance was grave, but the expression was intelligent and amiable; his manners calm and dignified. He was one of those who carry, in their appearance, the certificate of having always been gentlemen. He wore boots and spurs constantly, and was said to wear them even on ship board. Thomas, though not joined in the commission, was Mr.

Jay's assistant and counsellor in the negotiation at London in 1794. Of Charles, there will be occasion to speak again. He was probably about sixty years of age in 1804.

LETTER XVIII.

MARCH 20, 1833.

THE year 1796 was one of perplexing embarrassment to the government from the manner in which England and France conducted their war. It was made still more so by Mr. Adet, who came over in June, 1795, as successor of Fauchet. This gentleman was incessantly complaining of infractions of the treaty with France, and of the violation of neutrality. He lost no opportunity of reminding the Americans of their debt of gratitude to France, though if the true motives of the French in giving their aid, were known, it would probably deduct essentially from the moral obligation, however important the acts done may have been. When Mr. Monroe went to France he had a most brotherly reception; tears in every eye; all which he duly reciprocated. He carried with him the American flag to present to the National Assembly; by what authority this was done, does not appear. Mr. Adet brought out a French flag, to return the compliment. New year's day was appointed for the presentation of this flag to the President. Among other things, Mr. Adet said, "I am convinced that every citizen will receive, with a pleasing emotion, this flag, elsewhere the "terror of the enemies of liberty; here, the certain pledge "of faithful friendship; - especially when we recollect, that "it guides to combat men who have shared their toils, and "who were prepared for liberty, by aiding them to acquire "their own." This speech drew from Washington that memorable reply, uttered with the full dignity of the man, and of the office which he filled: "Born, sir, in a land of liberty; "having early learned its value; having engaged in a "perilous conflict to defend it; having, in a word, devoted "the best years of my life to secure its permanent establish"ment in my country; my anxious recollections, my sympa"thetic feelings, and my best wishes are irresistibly excited,

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"whensoever in any country, I see "unfurl the banners of freedom."

an oppressed nation

He finished with saying, "I rejoice that liberty, which "you have so long embraced with enthusiasm, now finds an asylum in the bosom of a regularly organized government." The flag so presented, and so accepted, was deposited in the "archives," as like things are, and not in view, as the French minister intended it should be. On the 9th of the same month he wrote a letter of complaint to the Secretary of State, that the flag had been so shut up; and demanded that it should be exalted and displayed in the House of Representatives; and said that the disposal made of it "would be looked upon by the Republic as a mark of con"tempt or indifference." But he had, as he had often occasion to know, a sturdy old Roman to deal with in Timothy Pickering, and the flag remained where it was.

Soon after Mr. Adet complained of the impressment of American seamen by the British, as a wrong done to France; and that the United States were thereby voluntarily strengthening the enemies of the Republic, and endangering the liberties of his country. And again, happening to see an almanac, in which the order of foreign rank, therein published, placed England and Spain before the Republic, he sent a formal letter demanding a correction of this injustice, or a disavowal of it, by the executive. Mr. Pickering answered, that Americans printed almanacs as they pleased, and that the government had nothing to do with it; but added, for his consolation, that there was an almanac printed in Boston, in which the Republic was ranked first.

Such trifles show the temper of the times; but there are other things of far different import. The controversies about armed vessels, public and private, within the waters of the United States, both English and French, kept the cabinet in constant agitation. Besides these occurrences, French privateers, which had the right by treaty to come in, waylaid and captured American vessels, in some instances, within two hours after pilots had left them, and carried them to the West Indies for consular condemnation. Controversies arose, also, on the construction to be given to shipments of merchandise, by the law of nations, and by the existing treaties, which were closely argued in diplomatic intercourse with