it with firmness. The necessity of our position will supersede all appeal to calculation now, as it has done heretofore. We confide in our own strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it. If we cannot otherwise prevail on the Creeks to discontinue their depredations, we will attack them in force. If Spain chooses to consider our defence against savage butchery as a cause of war to her, we must meet her also in war, with regret, but without fear; and we shall be happier, to the last moment, to repair with her to the tribunal of peace and reason.

The President charges you to communicate the contents of this letter to the court of Madrid, with all the temperance and delicacy which the dignity and character of that court render proper; but with all the firmness and self-respect which befit a nation conscious of its rectitude, and settled in its purpose.

TO JAMES MADISON.

MAD. MSS.

July 7, 1793.

DEAR SIR,—I wrote you on the 30th ult. and shall be uneasy till I have heard you have received it. I have no letter from you this week. You will perceive by the inclosed papers that they are to be discontinued in their present form & a daily paper published in their stead, if subscribers enough can be obtained. I fear they cannot, for nobody here scarcely has ever taken his papers. You will see in these Col: H's 2 & 3 pacifiuss. Nobody answers him, & his doctrines will therefore be taken for confessed. For God's sake, my dear Sir, take up your pen, select the most striking heresies and cut him to pieces in the face of the public. There is nobody else who can & will enter the lists with him.-Never in my opinion, was so calamitous an appointment made, as that of the present Minister of F. here. Hot headed, all

imagination, no judgment, passionate, disrespectful & even indecent towards the P. in his written as well as verbal communications, talking of appeals from him to Congress, from them to the people, urging the most unreasonable & groundless propositions, & in the most dictatorial style & & & If ever it should be necessary to lay his communications before Congress or the public, they will excite universal indignation. He renders my position immensely difficult. He does me justice personally, and, giving him time to vent himself & then cool, I am on a footing to advise him freely, & he respects it, but he breaks out again on the very first occasion, so as to show that he is incapable of correcting himself. complete our misfortune we have no channel of our own through which we can correct the irritating representations he may make. Adieu.

To

CABINET OPINION ON "LITTLE SARAH."

J. MSS.

July 8, 1793.

At a meeting at the State house of the City of Philadelphia, Present the Secretary of state, the Secretary of the Treasury the Secretary at War.

It appears that a brigantine, called the Little Sarah, has been fitted out at the port of Philadelphia, with fourteen cannon & all other equipments indicating that she is intended as a Privateer to cruise under the authority of France, & that she is now lying in the river Delaware, at some place between this city & Mud island; that a conversation has been had between the Secretary of State & the Minister Plenipotentiary of France, in which conversation the Minister refused to give any explicit assurance that the brigantine would continue until the arrival of the President & his decision in the case, but made declarations respecting her not

being ready to sail within the time of the expected return of the President, from which the Secretary of state infers with confidence, that she will not sail till the President will have an opportunity of considering & determining the case; that in the course of the conversation, the Minister declared that the additional guns which had been taken in by the Little Sarah were French property, but the Governor of Pennsylvania declared that he has good ground to believe that two of her cannon were purchased here of citizens of Philadelphia.

The Governor of Pennsylvania asks advice what steps, under the circumstances, he shall pursue?

The Secretary of the Treasury & the Secretary of war are of opinion, that it is expedient that immediate measures should be taken provisionally for establishing a battery on Mud island, under cover of a party of militia, with direction that if the brig Sarah should attempt to depart before the pleasure of the President shall be known concerning her, military coercion be employed to arrest and prevent her progress.

The Secretary of state dissents from this opinion.

Information having also been received that part of the crew of the Sarah are citizens of the United States, as can be testified by Charles Biddle of this city.

The above mentioned heads of departments agree that this information shall be communicated to the attorney of the district, in order that, pursuant to his former instructions, he may take measures for apprehending and bringing them to trial.

REASONS FOR HIS DISSENT.1

[July 9, 1793.]

I am against the preceding opinion of the Secretaries of the Treasury & War, for ordering a battery to be erected on Mud island, & firing on the Little Sarah, an armed vessel of the republic of France.

1 See Hamilton's Works of Hamilton (IV, 443) for the opinion of Hamilton and Knox. This " 'Reasons for his Dissent was sent by Jefferson to Washington the moment the latter reached Philadelphia (July 11th), with an undated letter as follows:

"Th. Jefferson presents his respects to the President. He had expected that the Secretaries of the Treasury & War would have given to the President imme

Because I am satisfied from what passed between Mr. Genet & myself, at our personal interview yesterday, that the vessel will not be ordered to sail till the return of the President, which, by a letter of this day's post, we may certainly expect within eight & forty hours from this time.

Because the erecting a battery & mounting guns to prevent her passage, might cause a departure not now intended, and produce the fact it is meant to prevent.

Because were such battery & guns now in readiness & to fire on her, in the present ardent state of her crew just in the moment of leaving port, it is morally certain that bloody consequences would follow. No one can say how many lives would be lost on both sides, & all experience has shewn that blood once seriously spilled, between nation & nation, the contest is continued by subordinate agents, and the door of peace is shut. At this moment too we expect in the river twenty of their ships of war, with a fleet of from 100 to 150. of their private vessels, which will arrive at the scene of blood in time to continue it, if not to partake in it.

Because the actual commencement of hostilities against a nation, for such this act may be is an act of too serious consequence to our countrymen to be brought on their heads by subordinate officers, not chosen by them nor clothed with their consequence; and too presumptuous on the part of those officers, when the chief diately the statement of facts in the case of the Little Sarah, as drawn by the former & agreed to, as also their Reasons: but Colo. Hamilton informed Th. J. that he has not been able to prepare copies. Th. J. sends the President the copies they had given him, which being prefixed to his opinion will make the case complete, as it is proper the President should see both sides of it at

once.

"Th. J. has had a fever the two last nights which has held him till the morning. Something of the same is now coming on him, but nothing but absolute inability will prevent his being in town early tomorrow morning.

"Th. J. had written the above before he had the honor of the President's note on the subject of this vessel. He has received assurance from Mr. Genet today that she will not be gone before the President's decision. Th. J. is himself of opinion that whatever is aboard of her of arms, ammunition or men contrary to the rules heretofore laid down by the President, ought to be withdrawn. On this subject he will have the honor of conferring with the President or any others whenever he pleases."

See also vol. 1, 237, for another paper relating to the Little Sarah.

magistrate, into whose hands the citizens have committed their safety, is within eight & forty hours of his arrival here, & may have an opportunity of judging for himself & them whether the buying & carrying away two cannon (for according to information, the rest are the nation's own property,) is sufficient cause of war between Americans & Frenchmen.

Because should the vessel, contrary to expection, depart before the President's arrival, the adverse powers may be told the truth of the case. That she went off contrary to what we had a right to expect, that we shall be justifiable in future cases to measure our confidence accordingly, that for the present we shall demand satisfaction from France, which, with the proofs of good faith we have already given, ought to satisfy them. Above all, Great Britain ought not to complain: for, since the date of the order forbidding that any of the belligerent powers should equip themselves in our ports with our arms, these two cannon are all that have escaped the vigilance of our officers, on the part of their enemies, while their vessels have carried off more than ten times the number, without any impediment: and if the suggestion be true (& as yet it is but suggestion) that there are 15. or 20. Americans on board the Little Sarah, who have gone with their own consent, it is equally true that more than ten times that number of Americans are at this moment on board English ships of war, who have been taken forcibly from our merchant vessels, at sea or in port wherever met with, & compelled to bear arms against the friends of their country. And is it less a breach of our neutraility towards France to suffer England to strengthen herself with our force, than towards England to suffer France to do it? And are we equally ready & disposed to sink the British vessels in our ports by way of reprisal for this notorious and avowed practice?

Because it is inconsistent for a nation which has been patiently bearing for ten years the grossest insults & injuries from their late enemies, to rise at a feather against their friends & benefactors & that too in a moment when circumstances have kindled the most ardent affections of the two people toward each other, when the little subjects of displeasure which have arisen are the acts of a particular individual, not yet important enough to have