ples are directly
contrary to the spirit of republicanism.

"The United States are a republic. Is it advantageous to a republic to
have a connection with a monarch? Treaties lead to war, and war is the
bane of a republican government. If the influence of a treaty is added
to the influence which Great Britain has already in our government, we
shall be colonized anew.

"Commercial treaties are an artificial means to obtain a natural
end--they are the swathing bands of commerce that impede the free
operations of nature. Treaties are like partnerships; they establish
intimacies which sometimes end in profligacy, and sometimes in ruin and
bankruptcy, distrust, strife, and quarrel.

"_No treaty_ ought to have been made with Great Britain, for she is
famed for perfidy and double dealing; her polar star is interest;
artifice, with her, is a substitute for nature. To make a treaty with
Great Britain is forming a connection with a monarch; and the
introduction of the fashions, forms, and precedents of monarchical
governments has ever accelerated the destruction of republics.

"If foreign connections are to be formed, they ought to be made with
nations whose influence would not poison the fountain of liberty, and
circulate the deleterious streams to the destruction of the rich harvest
of our Revolution. _France_ is our natural ally; she has a government
congenial with our own. There can be no hazard of introducing from her,
principles and practices repugnant to freedom. That gallant nation,
whose proffers we have neglected, is the sheet-anchor that sustains our
hopes; and should her glorious exertions be incompetent to the great
object she has in view, we have little to flatter ourselves with from
the faith, honor, or justice of Great Britain. The nation on whom _our
political existence depends_, we have treated with indifference
bordering on contempt. _Citizens_, your only security depends on
_France_; and, by the conduct of your government, that security has
become precarious.

"To enter into a treaty with Great Britain at the moment when we have
evaded a treaty with France; to treat with an enemy against whom France
feels an implacable hatred, an enemy who has neglected no means to
desolate that country and crimson it with blood, is certainly insult.
Citizens of America, sovereigns of a free country, your hostility to the
French republic has been spoken of in the National Convention, and a
motion for an inquiry into it ha