firm, the present crisis
most eminently calls for. There is too much reason to believe,
from the pains which have been taken before, at, and since the
advice of the Senate respecting the treaty, that the prejudices
against it are more extensive than is generally imagined. This I
have lately understood to be the case in this quarter from men who
are of no party, but well-disposed to the present administration.
Nor should it be otherwise, when no stone has been left unturned
that could impress on the minds of the people the most arrant
misrepresentation of facts; that their rights have not only been
_neglected_, but absolutely _sold_; that there are no reciprocal
advantages in the treaty; that the benefits are all on the side of
Great Britain; and, what seems to have had more weight with them
than all the rest, and to have been most pressed, that the treaty
is made with the design to oppress the French, in open violation
of our treaty with that nation, and contrary, too, to every
principle of gratitude and sound policy. In time, when passion
shall have yielded to sober reason, the current may possibly turn;
but, in the mean while, this government, in relation to France and
England, may be compared to a ship between the rocks of Scylla and
Charybdis. If the treaty is ratified, partisans of the French, or
rather of war and confusion, will excite them to hostile measures,
or at least to unfriendly sentiments; if it is not, there is no
foreseeing all the consequences which may follow, as it respects
Great Britain.

"It is not to be inferred from hence that I am disposed to quit
the ground I have taken, unless circumstances more imperious than
have yet come to my knowledge should compel it; for there is but
one straight course, and that is to seek truth, and pursue it
steadily. But these things are mentioned to show that a close
investigation of the subject is more than ever necessary, and
that there are strong evidences of the necessity of the most
circumspect conduct in carrying the determination of government
into effect, with prudence, as it respects our own people, and
with every exertion to produce a change for the better from Great
Britain.

"The memorial seems well designed to answer the end proposed,
and by the time it is revised and new-dressed, you will probably
(