hen the seat of the national
newspaper press. All the newspapers, hitherto neutral, published there,
as well as several others which had leaned decidedly toward the
opposition, now came out in behalf of Adams.

Besides an address from five thousand citizens, the young men got up an
address of their own. This example was speedily imitated all over the
country, and the spirited replies of the president, who was now in his
element, served in their turn to blow up and keep ablaze the patriotic
enthusiasm of his countrymen. These addresses, circulated everywhere in
the newspapers, were collected at the time in a volume, and they
appeared in Adams' works, of which they form a characteristic portion. A
navy was set on foot, the old continental navy having become extinct. An
army was voted and partly levied, of which Washington accepted the chief
command, and merchant ships were authorized to protect themselves.

The treaty with France was declared at an end, and a quasi war with
France ensued. It was not, however, the policy of France to drive the
United States into the arms of Great Britain. Even before Gerry's
departure, Talleyrand had made advances tending toward reconciliation,
which were afterward renewed by communications opened with Van Murray,
the American minister to Holland. The effect of the French outrages, and
the progress of the French revolution had been to create in a part of
the federal party, at least, a desire for an absolute breach with
France--a desire felt by Hamilton, and by at least three out of the four
cabinet officers whom Adams had chosen and kept in office.

In his message to congress, announcing the expulsion of Pickney and
Marshall, Adams had declared that he would never send another minister
to France without assurance that he would be received. This was on the
21st of July, 1798. Therefore, when on the 18th of February following,
without consulting his cabinet or giving them any intimation of his
intentions, he sent into the senate the nomination of Van Murray as
minister to France, the act took the country by surprise, and thus
hastened the defeat of the federal party, his actions being so contrary
to his avowed intentions. Some previous acts of Adams, such as the
appointment of Gerry, which his cabinet officers had striven to prevent,
and his disinclination to make Hamilton second in command, until
vehemently urged into it by Washington, had strengthened the distrust
entertained of Adams by