were drawn those lines of party distinction known as Federalist and Republican, which continued for a quarter of a century. The Federalist party was composed of those who favored great concentration of power in the general government. The Republicans, on the contrary, were for diffusing power among the people. Here were antagonistic points of great difference, and the warfare between the parties was acrimonious in the extreme.

During the summer of 1792, very little of public interest occurred, except the admission [June 1] of Kentucky' into the Union, but the marshalling of forces for the presidential election, which was to take place in the autumn. Washington yearned for the quiet of private life, and had expressed his determination to withdraw from public station on the expiration of his presidential term; but it was made evident to his mind, that the great majority of the people desired his continuance in office, and that the public safety demanded it. Under these circumstances, he consented to be a candidate, and he and Adams were re-elected by large majorities.

2

Yet the Republican party was daily gaining strength, partly from developments within the body politic of the United States, and partly from events then transpiring in Europe. A bloody revolution was in progress in France. The people there had abolished monarchy, and murdered their king, and the new Republic in name (a political chaos in reality), having the avowed sympathies of the Republican party in America, sent M. Genet3 as its minister to the United States, to obtain the co-operation of the American people. The French, Republic had declared war against England, Spain, and Holland, and needed transatlantic assistance. Remembering the recent alliance, and sympathizing with all efforts for popular freedom, the Republican party here, and also many of the Federalists, received Genet (who arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, in April, 1793) with open arms, and espoused his cause.

4

But Genet's zeal outstripped his prudence, and defeated his plans. Without waiting for an expression of opinions or intentions from the government of the United States, he began to fit out privateers in our ports, to depredate upon English, Dutch, and Spanish property; and when Washington prudently issued [May 9, 1793] a proclamation, declaring it to be the duty and the inter

6

1 Kentucky, which had been settled chiefly by Virginians, and was claimed as a part of the Its first territory of that State, was now crected into a sovereign member of the confederation. settlement, as we have seen [note 2, page 300], was at Boonesboro', by Daniel Boone, in 1775. 2 There was a general burst of enthusiasm in the United States, on receipt of the intelligence of the advent of Liberty in France, and public demonstrations of it were made in several places. In Boston, an ox, roasted whole, was placed upon a car drawn by sixteen horses, and with the American and French flags displayed from its horns, was paraded through the streets, followed by carts, bearing bread and two hogsheads of punch, which were distributed among the people. A civic feast was held at Faneuil Hall, over which Samuel Adams [note 1, page 221] presided. In Philadelphia the anniversary of the French alliance [page 283] was celebrated by a public dinner, at which General Mifflin [page 352] presided; and in other places festivals were held.

3 Edmund Charles Genet was the son of a distinguished public man in France. He married, in this country, a daughter of Governor George Clinton [note 5. page 350], and remained in the United States. He died at Greenbush, opposite Albany, in 1834, aged about seventy-two years. * Page 283. 5 Note 1, page 246.

These cruisers brought captured vessels into our ports, and French consuls actually held courts of admiralty, and authorized the sale of the prizes. All this was done before Genet was recognized as a minister by the American government.

est of the people of the United States to preserve a strict neutrality toward the contending powers of Europe, Genet persisted, and tried to excite hostility between our people and their government. Washington finally requested and obtained his recal, and Fauchet, who succeeded him in 1794, was instructed to assure the President that the French government disapproved of Genet's conduct. No doubt the prudence and firmness of Washington, at this time, saved our Republic from utter ruin.

A popular outbreak in western Pennsylvania, known in history as The Whiskey Insurrection, gave the new government much trouble in 1794. An excise law, passed in 1791, which imposed duties on domestic distilled liquors, was very unpopular. A new act, passed in the spring of 1794, was equally unpopular; and when, soon after the adjournment of Congress, officers were sent to enforce it in the western districts of Pennsylvania, they were resisted by the people, in arms. The insurrection became general throughout all that region, and in the vicinity of Pittsburg many outrages were committed. Buildings were burned, mails were robbed, and government officers were insulted and abused. At one time there were between six and seven thousand insurgents under arms. The local militia would have been utterly impotent to restore order, if their aid had been given. Indeed, most of the militia assembled in response to a call made by the leaders of the insurgents, and these composed a large portion of the "rebels." The insurgent spirit extended into the border counties of Virginia; and the President and his cabinet, perceiving, with alarm, this imitation of the lawlessness of French politics, took immediate steps to crush the growing hydra. The President first issued two proclamations [August 7, and September 25], but without effect. After due consideration, and the exhaustion of all peaceable means, he ordered out a large body of the militia of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, who marched to the insurgent district, in October [1794], under the command of General Henry Lee, then governor of Virginia.' This last argument was effectual; and soon this insurrection, like that of Shays's, of Massachusetts, some years earlier, which threatened the stability of the Federal Government, was allayed.

2

ན

The

Another cloud was now rising in the political horizon. While these internal commotions were disturbing the public tranquillity, a bitter feeling was growing up between the American and British governments. Each accused the other of infractions of the treaty of 1783,3 and the disputes, daily assuming a more bitter tone, threatened to involve the two nations in another war. Americans complained that no indemnification had been made for negroes carried away at the close of the Revolution; that the British held military posts. on their frontiers, contrary to the treaty; that British emissaries had excited the hostility of the Indians; and that, to retaliate on France, the English had

4

5

1 Page 333.

4

Page 353.

3

Page 348.

During the last two years of the war in the Carolinas and Georgia, and at the final evacuation, the British plundered many plantations, and sold the negroes in the West Indies.

Note 8, page 374.

6 Page 373.

captured our neutral vessels, and impressed our seamen into the British service." The British complained that stipulations concerning the property of loyalists," and also in relation to debts contracted in England before the Revolution, had not been complied with. In order to avert an event so very undesirable as a war with Great Britain, the President proposed to send a special envoy to the British court, in hopes of bringing to an amicable settlement, all matters in dispute between the two governments. The Federal Legislature approved of it,

and on the 19th of April, 1794, John Jay" was appointed an envoy extraordinary for the purpose.

The special minister of the United States was received with great courtesy in England, where he arrived in June; and he negotiated a treaty which, at the time, was not very satisfactory to a large portion of his countrymen. It honestly provided for the collection of debts here, by British creditors, which had

1 This practice was one of the causes which finally produced a war between the two nations, in 1812. See page 409.

2 The loyalists, or Tories [note 4, page 226], who had fled from the country during the progress, or at the close of the War for Independence, and whose property had been confiscated, endeavoured to regain their estates, and also indemnity for their other losses. The British government finally paid to these sufferers more than $15,000,000.

3 John Jay was a descendant of a Huguenot family [page 49], and was born in the city of New York in 1745. He was early in the ranks of active patriots, and rendered very important services during the Revolution. After the war he was one of the most efficient of our countrymen in laying the foundations of our Federal Government, and of establishing the civil government of his native State, of which he was chief magistrate at one time. He retired from public life in 1801, and died in 1829, at the age of eighty-four years. Ilis residence was at Bedford, Westchester county, New York.