resident? No! I chuse him to _act_, not to _think_."

While Adet was endeavoring to bring what the Federalists called the
French party into power, the Administration was urging the reluctant
Monroe at Paris to make the Jay Treaty as palatable as possible to the
French Government. This was an irksome task for that ardent Republican.
From the outset of his mission he found it difficult to sustain that
detachment from French politics which his position demanded. Moreover,
after having assured the French Government that Jay was negotiating at
London only for the redress of grievances and not for a commercial
treaty, Monroe found it peculiarly humiliating to be obliged to confess
that he had been kept in ignorance of the real trend of negotiations.
Under these circumstances, he temporized and gave only half-hearted
attention to the task of placating the Directory. Hamilton now advised
his recall; and Washington, who had on two occasions expressed his
displeasure with Monroe's conduct, determined to send Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney in his stead.

Trivial as this incident seems, it was not without its effect upon the
course of diplomacy abroad and of politics at home. When Monroe
endeavored to put his successor into touch with the French Foreign
Office, he was told that the Directory was not prepared to receive
another American representative until their grievances had been
redressed. This affront left Pinckney in an embarrassing position, for
until his credentials were accepted, he was liable, like all foreigners
at that time, to arrest as a spy. It was not until February, after many
months of waiting, that he was given his passport. He at once crossed
the border and took up his residence at Amsterdam.

Meantime, Monroe had taken his departure with the warmest expressions of
regard on the part of the French Government. He was assured that his
worth and his efforts in behalf of his country's interests were
understood and appreciated. He returned to the United States with the
firm conviction, which his Republican friends shared, that he had been
made the victim of Federalist chicanery. In the following year he
published an elaborate defense which served admirably as a popular
campaign document in the next presidential elections.

It fell to John Adams on the very threshold of his administration to
deal with what he euphemistically called the misunderstanding with
France. His inaugural address announced unmistakably his inten