es into alliance with
France had been guiding the {164} Pitt Ministry, no better steps could
have been devised to accomplish the end. As a matter of fact, the Pitt
Ministry thought very little about it in the press of the tremendous
European cataclysm.

When Congress met in December, 1793, the old questions of Hamilton's
measures and the "monarchism" of the administration were forgotten in
the new crisis. Apparently a large majority in the House, led by
Madison, were ready to sequester British debts, declare an embargo,
build a navy, and in general prepare for a bitter contest; but by great
exertions the administration managed to stave off these drastic steps
by promising to send a special diplomatic mission to prevent war.
During the summer the excitement grew, for it was in this year that
Wayne's campaign against the western Indians took place, which was
generally believed to be rendered necessary by the British retention of
the posts; and also in this same summer the inhabitants of western
Pennsylvania broke into insurrection against the hated excise tax.
This lawlessness was attributed by the Federalists, including
Washington himself, to the demoralizing influence of the French
Revolution, and was therefore suppressed by no less than 15,000
militia, an action denounced by the Republicans--as Randolph confided
to the French Minister--as an example of {165} despotic brutality. Men
were fast coming to be incapable of cool thought on party questions.

The special mission to England was undertaken by the Chief Justice,
Jay, the most experienced diplomat in America since the death of
Franklin. Upon arriving in England, he found the country wild with
excitement and horror over the French Revolution, and with all its
interest concentrated upon the effort to carry on war by land and sea.
The Pitt Ministry was now supported by all Tories, representing the
land-holding classes, the clergy, and the professions, and by nearly
all the aristocratic Whigs. Burke, one-time defender of the American
Revolution, was exhausting his energies in eloquent and extravagant
denunciations of the French. Only a handful of radicals, led by Fox,
Sheridan, and Camden, and representing a few constituents, still dared
to proclaim liberal principles. In all other classes of society,
democracy was regarded as synonymous with bestial anarchy and
infidelity. Clearly the United States, from its very nature as a
republic, could hope for no favou