with her prize in the river opposite the city.

From Charleston, Genet made a triumphal progress to Philadelphia,
receiving on all sides demonstrations which convinced him that the heart
of the nation beat in unison with that of France. He was therefore much
disconcerted and angered by the studied reserve of the President, to
whom he presented his credentials in Philadelphia. What a contrast
between the liberty-loving populace and this haughty aristocrat who kept
medallions of Capet and his family upon his parlor walls! At a banquet
in Oeller's Tavern, however, Genet received the sort of demonstrations
which his French heart craved. There, amid poetic declamations and many
libations to the Goddess of Liberty, he and his hosts donned the crimson
cap of liberty and sang with infinite zest the new "Marseillaise." Even
a well-balanced mind might have become convinced that the Administration
and the people were out of accord.

On the threshold of his career at Philadelphia, Genet demanded an
advance payment on the debt which the United States owed to France. The
refusal of the Administration to supply him with funds embittered him
still further. He now took up with vigor his revolutionary projects in
the West. The proposal of George Rogers Clark to raise a force and take
all Louisiana for France reached him at this time and fitted in well
with his general mission. Clark was given a commission as "Major General
of the Independent and Revolutionary Legion of the Mississippi," and was
promised the cooperation of frigates in his attack upon New Orleans. For
this purpose Genet made haste to transform the Little Sarah into a
privateer, under the very eyes of the Government. He was warned that he
must not allow La Petite Democrate, as the vessel was rechristened, to
put to sea. Nevertheless, in defiance of the state and federal
authorities, the ship dropped down the bay and eventually put out to
sea.

Up to this moment Genet's popularity was immense. Very probably this
popular devotion to the cause of France was inspired in part by the
factious opposition which was irritating the Administration on purely
domestic issues. Nevertheless, Liberty, Equality, and the Rights of Man
were phrases which appealed cogently to the democratic masses in the
States. In imitation of the Jacobin Club, Democratic societies sprang up
in all the considerable centers of population from Boston to Charleston.
In these organizations the voice of the disf