He has hinted, it is true, that caprice and temper are not
in accordance with the spirit of paternal rule, and that whenever a
representative government punishes or rewards, good faith, integrity and
justice should replace _the good pleasure of Kings_.

In the present case, they have done more than recall an agent. Had they
confined themselves to depriving him of his appointment, James Monroe
would have kept silence; but he has been accused of lighting the torch
of discord in both Republics. The refutation of this absurd and infamous
reproach is the chief object of his correspondence. If he did not
immediately complain of these slanders in his letters of the 6th and
8th [July], it is because he wished to use at first a certain degree of
caution, and, if it were possible, to stifle intestine troubles at
their birth. He wished to reopen the way to peaceful negotiations to be
conducted with good faith and justice.

The arguments of the Secretary of State on the rights of the supreme
administration of the United States are peremptory; but the observations
of Monroe on the hidden causes of his recall are touching; they come
from the heart; they are characteristic of an excellent citizen. If he
does more than complain of his unjust recall as a man of feeling would;
if he proudly asks for proofs of a grave accusation, it is after he has
tried in vain every honest and straightforward means. He will not suffer
that a government, sold to the enemies of freedom, should discharge upon
him its shame, its crimes, its ingratitude, and all the odium of its
unjust dealings.

Were Monroe to find himself an object of public hatred, the Republican
party in the United States, that party which is the sincere ally
of France, would be annihilated, and this is the aim of the English
government.

Imagine the triumph of Pitt, if Monroe and the other friends of freedom
in America, should be unjustly attacked in France!

Monroe does not lay his cause before the Senate since the Senate
itself ratified the unconstitutional treaty; he appeals to the house of
Representatives, and at the same time lays his cause before the upright
tribunal of the American nation.

XXXI. PRIVATE LETTER TO PRESIDENT JEFFERSON.

Paris, October 1, 1800.

Dear Sir,--I wrote to you from Havre by the ship Dublin Packet in the
year 1797. It was then my intention to return to America; but there were
so many British frigates cruising in sight of the port, and wh