About this time the Girondists lost control of the French Government. Citizen Genet was recalled and his acts repudiated. Believing that if he returned he would be guillotined, he went to New York, where he established his domicile, married the daughter of Governor Clinton and remained until his death in 1836.
The failure of the Genet Mission did not close the old controversy so vital to the Western Country—the control of the commerce of the Mississippi.
In Kentucky, no man has ever been so unpopular as John Jay. This feeling originated in 1785 because of his proposition to concede to Spain absolute control of the Mississippi river for twenty-five years for certain concessions which would only benefit the Atlantic coast states.
James Monroe, referring to this suggestion in a letter written to Governor Henry of Virginia, said: “The object of this is to break up the settlements on the western waters * * * so as to throw the weight of the population eastward and keep it there, to appropriate the vacant lands in New York and Massachusetts.”
[pg 282] Jay in 1794 was appointed as an envoy to England for the purpose of negotiating a treaty between that country and the United States. Relations were strained because of British aggression against our commerce in retaliation for very open sympathy for France and a belief that a secret treaty existed between France and the United States.
While he was yet on the ocean, a great meeting was held at Lexington, on May 24, 1794, protesting against his appointment and mission and the following resolution was adopted and published:
“* * * That the inhabitants west of the Appalachian Mountains are entitled by nature and by stipulation to the free and undisturbed navigation of the river Mississippi.
“That we have a right to expect and demand that Spain should be compelled immediately to acknowledge our right or that an end be put to all negotiations on that subject.
“That the injuries and insults done and offered by Great Britain to America call loudly for redress and that we will to the utmost of our abilities support the General Government in any attempt to obtain redress.
“That the recent appointment of the enemy of the Western Country to negotiate with that nation and the tame submission of the General Government, when we alone were injured by Great Britain, make it highly necessary that we should at this time state our just demands to the President and Congress. * * *”