ance.
France might declare war or give an order to seize American vessels, but
as long as she did not, some hope remained that the state of peace might
not be broken; and he said in conclusion "that, notwithstanding all the
violent charges and personal abuse which had been made against him, it
would produce no difference in his manner of acting, neither prevent him
from speaking against every measure which he thought injurious to the
public interest, nor, on the other hand, inflame his mind so as to
induce him to oppose measures which he might heretofore have thought
proper."

The war feeling ran high in the country; "Millions for defense, but not
one cent for tribute,"[7] was the popular cry. On May 28 Mr. Harper
introduced a bill to suspend commercial intercourse with France.
Gallatin thought this a doubtful measure. Its avowed purpose was to
distress France in the West Indies, but he said that in six months that
entire trade would be by neutral vessels. In the discussion on the bill
to regulate the arming of merchant vessels, he showed that it was the
practice of neutral European nations to allow such vessels to arm, but
not to regulate their conduct. Bonds are required in cases of letter of
marque, and the merchant who arms is bound not to break the laws of
nations or the agreements of treaties. Restriction was therefore
unnecessary. Government should not interfere. Commercial intercourse
with France was suspended June 13.

In the pride of their new triumph and the intensity of their personal
feeling the Federalists overleaped their mark, and began a series of
measures which ultimately cost them the possession of the government
and their political existence. The first of these was the Sedition Bill,
which Jefferson believed to be aimed at Gallatin in person. Mr. Gallatin
met it at its inception with a statement of the constitutional
objections, viz., 1st, that there was no power to make such a law, and
2d, the special provision in the Constitution that the writ of _habeas
corpus_ shall not be suspended except in cases of rebellion and
invasion. There was neither. The second, the Alien Bill, gave the
President power to expel from the country all aliens. Over this measure
Gallatin and Harper had hot words. Gallatin charged upon Harper not only
a misrepresentation of the arguments of his opponents, but an
arraignment of the motives of others, while claiming all purity for his
own. Harper answered in words which show