e. "It was through the fear of being involved in a
war that the negotiation with Great Britain had originated; under the
impression of fear the treaty had been negotiated and signed; a fear of
the same danger, that of war, had promoted its ratification; and now
every imaginary mischief which could alarm our fears was conjured up in
order to deprive us of that discretion which this House thought they had
a right to exercise, and in order to force us to carry the treaty into
effect." He insisted on the important principle that 'free ships make
free goods,' and complained of its abandonment by the negotiators.

In a reply to this attack upon Jay, whose whole life was a refutation of
the charge of personal or moral timidity, Mr. Tracy passed the limits of
parliamentary courtesy. "The people," he said, "where he was most
acquainted, whatever might be the character of other parts of the Union,
were not of the stamp to cry hosannah to-day and crucify to-morrow; they
will not dance around a whiskey pole to-day and curse their government,
and upon hearing of a military force sneak into a swamp. No," said he,
"my immediate constituents, whom I very well know, understand their
rights and will defend them, and if they find the government will not
protect them, they will attempt at least to protect themselves;" and he
concluded, "I cannot be thankful to that gentleman for coming all the
way from Geneva to give Americans a character for pusillanimity." He
held it madness to suppose that if the treaty were defeated war could be
avoided. Called to order, he said that he might have been too personal,
and asked pardon of the gentleman and of the House.

The brilliant crown of the debate was the impassioned speech of Fisher
Ames, the impression of which upon the House and the crowded gallery is
one of the traditions of American oratory. The scene, as it has been
handed down to us, resembles, in all save its close, that which
Parliament presented when Chatham made his last and dying appeal. Like
the great earl, Ames rose pale and trembling from illness to address a
House angry and divided. Defending himself and the Federal party against
the charge of being in English interest, he said, "Britain has no
influence, and can have none. She has enough--and God forbid she ever
should have more. France, possessed of popular enthusiasm, of party
attachments, has had and still has _too much influence_ on our
politics,--any foreign influence is too m