Mr. H. said he should not notice what the gentleman had chosen to say respecting the British Minister, except as to the improper manner in which he had called a confidential person a confidential agent of the Minister, and to say that he could not see any analogy between this case and that of the French Minister, who fitted out privateers and levied troops in our country without permission from the President of the United States.
The gentleman from Virginia had entered fully, not only into a justification of himself, but of his friends. How far he has acquitted himself and them from the weighty charges which he had exhibited, he was not the proper person to judge; he left the public to determine. He must, however, beg leave to correct him in one of his facts. He informed the committee that the letter of Mr. Monroe, which had been quoted, was written in December, 1794, whereas it was dated Paris, September 10, 1795, long after that Minister had been officially informed by our Minister in London, that the British Treaty was concluded and signed; yet this letter recommends the taking of the posts, the invasion of Canada, and the cutting up of the British commerce by privateers. He did not say that this letter was a proof of conspiracy, but of a system of policy which was very contrary to a peace system.
But the gentleman says, he (Mr. G.) never proposed war against Great Britain. He knew it. The gentleman always spoke of peace, but pursued measures which led to war. He did not speak of war when he recommended sequestrations, confiscations, &c., because he loved peace. He did not talk of war; but, whilst he and his friends opposed measures of defence, they were in favor of every measure which led to war. While they were irritating a nation to war, they opposed the building of the frigates. He could not say what were the views of gentlemen in doing this, but he would say what appearance it had on his mind, when he was far removed from the seat of Government. He thought it seemed as if gentlemen believed it would be well to get to war, and then rely upon their favorite nation for support.
Mr. Brooks again complained of the insinuation which Mr. Giles had thrown out against him, which he said was not called for by any circumstances under consideration.
Mr. Giles assured him he mentioned the fact alluded to, out of no disrespect to him. With respect to the date of Mr. Monroe's letter, he had been deceived by a leaf being folded down at the letter, the date of which he had mentioned. The gentleman had said that he had attributed improper motives to the President of the United States. This he denied. He had said, he took measures which he did not approve, and he hoped a difference of opinion from any man would not be imputed to him as a crime. With respect to the explanation which the gentleman had given of his own conduct, he was glad to hear it. It was to obtain this explanation, that he mentioned the reports which he had heard. Mr. G. renewed the assertion, that he and his friends always had been willing to put the nation in a state of defence. As to the frigates, he gloried in his vote against them; but with respect to the use of them, the gentleman was mistaken. They were intended to be sent against the Algerines only.
Friday, March 30.
Relations with France.
Mr. Allen observed, that when the President of the United States sent his first Message to the House, announcing the receipt of despatches from our Commissioners in Paris, he stated that it would take some time to decipher the despatches which he had received. Some days afterwards, on the 19th instant, he sent another Message informing the House, "that it was incumbent on him to declare that he saw no ground of expectation that the object of their mission could be accomplished on terms compatible with the safety, honor, or the essential interests of the nation."
It had been observed, in the course of the debate in the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, and not in the most candid and proper manner, that the papers received from our Commissioners ought to have been laid before the House, and the President had been charged with withholding them. He supposed gentlemen would have been satisfied, and he was, with the information which the President had already communicated, that our Commissioners are not received, and that France refuses to hear us. But, though he was himself satisfied with the information he had at present, he believed there were many gentlemen in the House who wished for more, because there is a paper printed in this city, which is continually insinuating that there is something in these despatches which, if they were made known, would show that the conduct of the Executive has been improper; because he found that paper often speaking the language of gentlemen in this House, and which spoke it, he believed, on this occasion; and because, if this is not true, he wished the people to be undeceived; or if true, that he and those who thought with him, that no such blame existed, might be convinced of their error; he proposed the following resolution, to which he hoped there would be no objection:
"Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to this House the despatches from the Envoys Extraordinary of the United States to the French Republic, mentioned in his Message of the 19th instant, or such parts thereof as considerations of public safety and interest, in his opinion, may permit."