n the nature of the crime committed. There was no
authority in the Constitution for a grant of such a power to the
President. To afford aid and comfort to the enemy was treason, but
there was no war, and therefore no enemy. He claimed the right to
himself and others to do all in his power to secure a peace, even by
correspondence abroad, and he would not admit that the ground taken by
the friends of the measure was a proper foundation for a general law. A
committee was, however, appointed, in spite of this remonstrance, to
consider the propriety of including in the general act all persons who
should commence or carry on a correspondence, by a vote of 65 to 23. A
bill was reported on January 9, when Gallatin endeavored to attach a
proviso that the law should not operate upon persons seeking justice or
redress from foreign governments; but his motion was defeated by a vote
of 48 to 37. Later, however, a resolution of Mr. Parker, that nothing in
the act should be construed to abridge the rights of any citizen to
apply for such redress, was adopted by a vote of 69 yeas to 27 nays. On
this vote Harper voted yea. Griswold, Otis, Bayard, and Goodrich were
found among the nays. Gallatin succeeded in carrying an amendment
defining the bill, after which it was passed by a vote of 58 to 36.

Towards the close of January, 1799, a bill was brought in authorizing
the President to discontinue the restraints of the act suspending
intercourse with the French West India Islands, whenever any persons in
authority or command should so request. This was to invite a secession
of the French colonies from the mother country. Gallatin deprecated any
action which might induce rebellion against authority, or lead to
self-government among the people of the islands who were unfit for it.
Moreover, such action would remove still further every expectation of an
accommodation with France. The bill was passed by a vote of 55 to 37. He
objected to the bill to authorize the President to suspend intercourse
with Spanish and Dutch ports which should harbor French privateers, as
placing an unlimited power to interdict commerce in the hands of the
executive. The bill was carried by 55 to 37. On the question of the
augmentation of the navy he opposed the building of the seventy-fours.

In February Edward Livingston presented a petition from aliens, natives
of Ireland, against the Alien and Sedition laws. Numerous similar
petitions followed; one was signed by