Memoir of the Life of John Quincy Adams. | Page 6

country, had, as President of the United States, denied
publicly Genet's authority to establish consular courts within them, and
to issue letters of marque and reprisal to their citizens, against the
enemies of France, he had the insolence to appeal from the President,
and to deny his power to revoke the exequatur of a French consul, who,
by a process issued from his own court, rescued, with an armed force, a
vessel out of the custody of justice.
In these essays Genet is denounced as a dangerous enemy; his appeal
"as an insolent outrage to the man who was deservedly the object of the
grateful affection of the whole people of America;" "as a rude attempt
of a beardless foreign stripling, whose commission from a friendly
power was his only title to respect, not supported by a shadow of right
on his part, and not less hostile to the constitution than to the
government."
The violence of the times, and the existence of a powerful party in the
United States ready to support the French minister in his hostility to the
national government, are also illustrated by the following facts: "That
an American jury had been compelled by the clamor of a collected
multitude to acquit a prisoner without the unanimity required by law;"
"by the circulation of caricatures representing President Washington
and a judge of the Supreme Court with a guillotine suspended over
their heads;" "by posting upon the mast of a French vessel of war, in
the harbor of Boston, the names of twenty citizens, all of them
inoffensive, and some of them personally respectable, as objects of
detestation to the crew;" "by the threatening, by an anonymous assassin,
to visit with inevitable death a member of the Legislature of New York,
for expressing, with the freedom of an American citizen, his opinion of
the proceedings of the French minister;" and "by the formation of a
lengthened chain of democratic societies, assuming to themselves,
under the semblance of a warmer zeal for the cause of liberty, to
control the operations of the government, and to dictate laws to the
country."

The talent and knowledge of diplomatic relations, thus displayed,
powerfully impressed the administration, and the nomination of Mr.
Adams as minister from the United States resident at the Netherlands,
by Washington and his cabinet, was confirmed unanimously by the
Senate, in June, 1794. At the request of the Secretary of State, he
immediately repaired to Philadelphia. His commission was delivered to
him on the 11th of July, the day he entered his twenty-eighth year. He
embarked in September from Boston, and in October arrived in London,
where Messrs. Jay and Pinckney were then negotiating a treaty between
Great Britain and the United States, who immediately admitted him to
their deliberations. Concerning this treaty, which occasioned, soon after,
such unexampled fury of opposition in the United States, Mr. Adams,
at the time, thus expressed his opinion: "The treaty is far from being
satisfactory to either Mr. Jay or Mr. Pinckney. It is far below the
standard which would be advantageous to the country. It is probable,
however, the negotiators will consent to it, as it is, in their opinion,
preferable to a war. The satisfaction proposed to be made to the United
States for the recent depredations on their commerce, the principal
object of Jay's mission, is provided for in as ample a manner as we
could expect. The delivery of the posts is protracted to a more distant
day than is desirable. But, I think, the compensation made for the
present and future detention of them will be a sufficient equivalent. The
commerce with their West India islands, partially opened to us, will be
of great importance, and indemnifies for the deprivation of the fur-trade
since the treaty of peace, as well as for the negroes carried away
contrary to the engagements of the treaty, at least as far as it respects
the nation. As to the satisfaction we are to make, I think it is no more
than is in justice due from us. The article which provides against the
future confiscation of debts, and of property in the funds, is useful,
because it is honest. If its operation should turn out more advantageous
to them, it will be more honorable for us; and I never can object to
entering formally into an obligation to do that which, upon every
virtuous principle, ought to be done without it. As a treaty of commerce
it will be indeed of little use to us, and we shall never obtain anything
more favorable so long as the principles of the navigation act are
obstinately adhered to by Great Britain. This system is so much a
favorite with the nation that no minister would dare to depart from it.

Indeed, I have no