so lately closed. The earlier movements of the
French Revolution had called out in America even more than in England
the liveliest expectations of a golden age. Americans, flattered by the
French alliance and by the reputation in which their young republic was
held, were intoxicated with vanity, and filled also with an eager hope
that principles of which they were standard-bearers were to be dominant
in Europe. The theoretical and _doctrinaire_ views which seemed for the
time to be justified by the success of the American people came to stand
for universal principles of reason, capable of bearing all the weight of
human experience, and of serving in the place of religion. The most
enthusiastic, beholding a new era, were only a few steps in advance of
more cautious men, and the new _regime_ in France received the sympathy
not only of Jefferson and Madison, but of Washington and Hamilton. It
was only when the flood-gates were opened that the uniform sentiment was
broken in upon, and parties were formed of "Gallo-maniacs" on one side,
as their enemies called them, and anti-Gallicans on the other. But this
split into two parties had occurred before Genet arrived, and the breach
was only widened by that head-strong minister's action. There can be
little doubt that the prudence of Washington, aided by the conservative
Hamilton and the unwilling Jefferson, saved the country at the time
from committing itself to the insanity of active cooperation with the
raging French republic.

The support of the administration was to be looked for not only in
legislatures, but in the public press, which was rapidly becoming a
power in the country. Certainly the flames of passion and prejudice were
fanned most persistently by such journalists as Freneau and Bache on one
side, and Cobbett on the other, and it was evident that the war over the
question was to be fought largely in the columns of newspapers.
Webster's federalism was staunch, so was his personal loyalty to
Washington; but I think he was asked to manage the new paper chiefly
because in his writings thus far, both upon political and general
topics, he had shown himself to have that direct and homely style which
makes itself understood by the people because it is in the dialect of
the people. At any rate, he began at once vigorously to write and print
articles bearing upon the great question of the day. He informed himself
of the historical process of the French Revolution, but whatev