very eye of the government, as if meant to insult it.  Having fallen down the river, and being evidently on the point of departure for a cruise, Mr. Genet was desired in my letter of July the 2th, on the part of the President, to detain her till some inquiry and determination on the case should be had.  Yet within three or four days after, she was sent out by orders from Mr. Genet himself, and is, at this time, cruising on our coasts, as appears by the protest of the master of one of our vessels maltreated by her.

The government thus insulted and set at defiance by Mr. Genet, and committed in its duties and engagements to others, determined still to see in these proceedings but the character of the individual, and not to believe, and it does not believe, that they are by instructions from his employers.  They had assured the British Minister here, that the vessels already armed in our ports should be obliged to leave them, and that no more should be armed in them.  Yet more had been armed, and those before armed had either not gone away, or gone only to return with new prizes.  They now informed him that the order for departure should be enforced, and the prizes made contrary to it should be restored or compensated.  The same thing was notified to Mr. Genet in my letter of August the 7th, and that he might not conclude the promise of compensation to be of no concern to him, and go on in his courses, he was reminded that it would be a fair article of account against his nation.

Mr. Genet, not content with using our force, whether we will or not, in the military line against nations with whom we are at peace, undertakes also to direct the civil government; and particularly, for the executive and legislative bodies, to pronounce what powers may or may not be exercised by the one or the other.  Thus in his letter of June the 8th, he promises to respect the political opinions of the President, till the Representatives shall have confirmed or rejected them; as if the President had undertaken to decide what belonged to the decision of Congress.  In his letter of June the 4th, he says more openly, that the President ought not to have taken on himself to decide on the subject of the letter, but that it was of importance enough to have consulted Congress thereon; and in that of June the 22nd, he tells the President in direct terms, that Congress ought already to have been occupied on certain questions which he had been too hasty in deciding:  thus making himself, and not the President, the judge of the powers ascribed by the constitution to the executive, and dictating to him the occasion when he should exercise the power of convening Congress at an earlier day than their own act had prescribed.

On the following expressions no commentary shall be made.

July 9.  ‘Les principes philosophiques proclames par le President.’

June 22.  ’Les opinions privees ou publiques de M. le President, et cette egide ne paroissant pas suffisante.’