o no just objection, the
President had relied with confidence on early and candid
communications, for the removal of any prejudices or misconceptions,
which the passions of the moment might have occasioned. That the
French government would be disappointed at the adjustment of those
differences which had threatened to embroil the United States with
Great Britain, could not be doubted; but as neither this adjustment,
nor the arrangements connected with it, had furnished any real cause
of complaint, he cherished the hope that it would produce no serious
consequences, if the proper means of prevention should be applied in
time. He was therefore dissatisfied with delays which he had not
expected; and seems to have believed that they originated in a want of
zeal to justify a measure, which neither the minister himself nor his
political friends had ever approved. To insure an earnest and active
representation of the true sentiments and views of the administration,
the President was inclined to depute an envoy extraordinary for the
particular purpose, who should be united with the actual minister; but
an objection drawn from the constitution was suggested to this
measure. During the recess of the senate, the President can only fill
up vacancies; and the appointment of a minister when no vacancy
existed, might be supposed to transcend his powers. From respect to
this construction of the constitution, the resolution was taken to
appoint a successor to Colonel Monroe. The choice of a person in all
respects qualified for this mission was not without its difficulty.
While a disposition friendly to the administration was a requisite not
to be dispensed with, it was also desirable that the person employed
should have given no umbrage to the French government. No individual
who had performed a conspicuous part on the political theatre of
America, fitted both branches of this description. All who had openly
sustained with zeal and with talents, the measures of the American
government, had been marked as the enemies of France, and were on this
account to be avoided.

For this critical and important service, the President, after some
deliberation, selected General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South
Carolina, an elder brother of Mr. Thomas Pinckney, the late[46]
minister of the United States at London. No man in America was more
perfectly free from exception than this gentleman. Having engaged with
ardour in that war which gave indepen