concurrence.' Otis said, 'We
insist on convoys for our European trade, and _guarda-costas_, on which
condition alone, we will give them galleys and fortifications.' Rutledge
observed, that in the event of war, McHenry and Pickering must go out;
Wolcott, he thought, might remain, but the others were incapable of
conducting a war. Otis said the eastern people would never abandon
Pickering; he must be retained; McHenry might go. They considered
together whether General Pinckney would accept the office of
Secretary of War. They apprehended he would not. It was agreed in this
conversation, that Sewall had more the ear of the President than any
other person.

March the 12th. When the bill for appropriations was before the
Senate, Anderson moved to strike out a clause recognising (by way
of appropriation) the appointment of a committee by the House of
Representatives, to sit during their recess to collect evidence on
Blount's case, denying they had power, but by a law, to authorize a
committee to sit during recess. Tracy advocated the motion, and said,
'We may as well speak out. The committee was appointed by the House of
Representatives, to take care of the British minister, to take care of
the Spanish minister, to take care of the Secretary of State, in short,
to take care of the President of the United States. They were afraid
the President and Secretary of State would not perform the office of
collecting evidence faithfully; that there would be collusion, &c.
Therefore, the House appointed a committee of their own. We shall have
them next sending a committee to Europe to make a treaty, &c. Suppose
that the House of Representatives should resolve, that after the
adjournment of Congress, they should continue to sit as a committee of
the whole House during the whole recess.' This shows how the appointment
of that committee has been viewed by the President's friends.

April the 5th. Doctor Rush tells me he had it from Mrs. Adams, that
not a scrip of a pen has passed between the late and present President,
since he came into office.

April the 13th. New instructions of the British government to their
armed ships now appear, which clearly infringe their treaty with us,
by authorizing them to take our vessels carrying produce of the French
colonies from those colonies to Europe, and to lake vessels bound to
a blockaded port. See them in Brown's paper, of April the 18th, in due
form.

The President has sent a governmen