we had at last to open with money.

The federalist leaning toward Great Britain probably did not, to so
great an extent as was then alleged and widely believed, spring from
monarchical feeling. It was due rather to old memories, as pleasant as
they were tenacious, that would not be dissociated from England; to the
individualistic tendencies of republicanism, alarming to many; and to
conservative habits of political thinking, the dread of innovation and
of theory. The returned Tories had indeed all become Federalists, which
fact, with many others, lent to this attitude the appearance of
deficient patriotism, of sycophancy toward our old foe and persecutor.

Great Britain had refused to surrender the western posts according to
the peace treaty of 1783, unjustly pleading in excuse the treatment of
loyalists by our States. Not only the presence but the active influence
of the garrisons at these posts encouraged Indian hostilities. England
had also seized French goods in American (neutral) vessels, though in
passage to the United States, and treated as belligerent all American
ships plying between France and her West Indian colonies, on the ground
that this commerce had been opened to them only by the pressure of war.
The English naval officers were instructed to regard bread-stuffs as
contraband if bound for France, even though owned by neutrals and in
neutral ships; such cargoes, however, to be paid for by England, or
released on bonds being given to land them elsewhere than in France. In
this practice England followed France's example, except that she
actually paid for the cargoes, while France only promised.

[Illustration: Portrait.]
John Jay.
From a painting by S. F. B. Morse in the Yale College Collection.

[1795]

Worst of all, Britain claimed and acted upon the right to press into her
naval service British-born seamen found anywhere outside the territory
of a foreign State, halting our ships on the high seas for this purpose,
often leaving them half-manned, and sometimes recklessly and cruelly
impressing native-born Americans--an outrageous policy which ended in
the war of 1812. The ignorance and injustice of the English admiralty
courts aggravated most of these abuses.

Genet's proceedings, spoken of in the next chapter, which partly public
sentiment, partly lack of army and navy, made it impossible for our
Government to prevent, enraged Great Britain to the verge of war. After
the British orders in coun