hey relate to France, oblige me to
accept your appointment without hesitation. I am only apprehensive that
your friendship has been too partial to the little merit I may possess,
and that matters intrusted to me may fail through my want of ability."

Monroe had the misfortune to lose the confidence of his own government
and that of the French republic at about the same time. Hoping that the
house of representatives would refuse to execute the British treaty, and
thus appease the French Directory, he had been quiet for some time,
when, in February, 1796, he received a communication from De La Croix,
the French minister for foreign affairs, informing him, that since the
ratification of Jay's treaty, the Directory considered the alliance
between France and the United States at an end; that Adet was to be
recalled, and a special minister was to be sent out to make the
announcement, and act as agent for his government. It was intimated,
too, that Monroe could not fulfil the promises he had made, and that all
the assurances of his inaugural as minister were fallacious. Monroe
remonstrated, and in a special interview with the Directory, professed
his willingness to answer all objections that might be made against the
treaty. He was soon afterward furnished with a report on the subject of
American relations, signed by De La Croix, in which the government was
charged with the non-execution of treaty obligations, in several
particulars. To these charges Monroe made a reply, which Washington
considered very satisfactory: but it did not change the course of the
Directory; and in the autumn they issued an "_arret_," ordering the
seizure of British property found on board American vessels, and of
provisions bound for England. This was a direct violation of the
provisions of the treaty between the United States and France, and
exhibited a disposition decidedly hostile.

This correspondence reached the president soon after his appointment of
Pinckney as Monroe's successor; and a little later he received a letter
from Mr. Monroe, written in cipher, on the twenty-fourth of March, which
had been unaccountably delayed in its transmission. In that
communication Monroe took occasion to say, that a long, private letter,
written by Washington to Gouverneur Morris toward the close of December,
1795, had got into the hands of the French Directory, and produced an
ill effect. Washington replied to this letter on the twenty-fifth of
August. He ac