r Morris announcing his recall. Mr. Fauchet, secretary of the
executive council, was appointed to succeed him.

About this time vigilance was required to guard against wrongs from an
opposite quarter. We have noticed the orders issued by Great Britain
to her cruisers in June, 1793, and the resentment thereby excited in
the United States. On the 6th of the following month of November, she
had given them additional instructions to detain all vessels laden
with the produce of any colony belonging to France, or carrying
supplies to any such colony, and to bring them, with their cargoes, to
British ports, for adjudication in the British courts of admiralty.
Captures of American vessels were taking place in consequence of these
orders, and heightening public irritation. They were considered
indicative of determined hostility on the part of Great Britain, and
they produced measures in Congress preparatory to an apprehended state
of war. An embargo was laid, prohibiting all trade from the United
States to any foreign place for the space of thirty days, and vigorous
preparations for defence were adopted with but little opposition.

On the 27th of March, resolutions were moved that all debts due to
British subjects be sequestered and paid into the treasury, as a fund
to indemnify citizens of the United States for depredations sustained
from British cruisers, and that all intercourse with Great Britain be
interdicted until she had made compensation for these injuries, and
until she should make surrender of the Western posts.

The popular excitement was intense. Meetings were held on the subject
of British spoliations. 'Peace or war' was the absorbing question.
While the public mind was in this inflammable state, Washington
received advices from Mr. Pinckney, the American minister in London,
informing him that the British ministry had issued instructions to the
commanders of armed vessels, revoking those of the 6th of November,
1793. Lord Grenville also, in conversation with Mr. Pinckney, had
explained the real motives for that order, showing that, however
oppressive in its execution, it had not been intended for the special
vexation of American commerce. Washington laid Pinckney's letter
before Congress on the 4th of April. It had its effect on both
parties; Federalists saw in it a chance of accommodating difficulties,
and, therefore, opposed all measures calculated to irritate; the other
party did not press their belligerent pr