ranchised classes was
articulate for the first time. With unprecedented virulence these
Democrats attacked not only policies but personalities. Washington was
libeled in such scurrilous fashion that even his composure broke down on
one occasion, so Jefferson records; and he declared in a passion that by
God! he had rather be in his grave than in his present situation.

After the Little Democrat episode, however, popular sentiment began to
grow cold toward Genet. His plans failed to carry; and he was reported
to have exclaimed in a moment of irritation that he would appeal from
the President to the people. This was the last straw. All but his most
radical followers deserted him. The Administration now determined to
demand his recall. But events in France had already terminated Genet's
career. The Girondist party had fallen and the triumphant Jacobins had
no use for an agent who had served the discredited faction. In February,
1794, Genet was replaced by Fauchet and his revolutionary mission ended
with his official duties.

From the moment when France declared war upon Great Britain to the exile
of Napoleon two decades later, the United States as a neutral nation was
incessantly menaced by the aggressions of one or the other of the
belligerents. A faithful picture of American politics must set the
stirring events of this epoch against the forbidding background of
European intrigue and war. In this struggle the supremacy of the seas
fell to Great Britain. However victorious on European battlefields,
French armies were powerless to defend the colonial possessions in the
West Indies. Cut off from France the colonies could only maintain
themselves by direct trade with neutrals like the United States. But by
the so-called rule of 1756, neutral commerce was forbidden under these
conditions. Ports closed to neutral commerce in time of peace might not
be thrown open in time of war. Flinging consistency to the winds, the
French Convention decreed in February, 1793, that neutral states might
trade with her colonies on the same terms as French vessels. That Great
Britain would refuse to sanction this trade was fully expected. It was
inevitable that Great Britain would treat neutrals who accepted the
French invitation as having forfeited their neutrality.

With little or no thought of probable consequences, fleets of
merchantmen set sail from Boston, Philadelphia, and other ports in the
spring of the year, with cargoes of fish and