knowledged the genuineness of the letter; "but," he said,
"I deny that there is anything contained in it that the French
government could take exception to, unless the expression of an ardent
wish that the United States might remain in peace with all the world,
taking no part in the disputes of any part of it, should have produced
this effect. I also gave it as my further opinion, that the sentiments
of the mass of citizens in this country were in unison with mine.

"Confidential as this letter was expected to be, I have no objection to
its being seen by anybody; and there is some mistake in saying I had no
copy thereof, when there is a press one now before me, in which I
discover no expression that in the eye of liberality and candor would be
deemed objectionable."

After summing up the substance of his letter, Washington said, in
conclusion: "My conduct in public and private life, as it relates to the
important struggle in which the latter nation is engaged, has been
uniform from the commencement of it, and may be summed up in a few
words: that I have always wished well to the French Revolution; that I
have always given it as my decided opinion, that no nation had a right
to intermeddle in the internal concerns of another; that every one had a
right to form and adopt whatever government they like best to live under
themselves; and that, if this country could, consistently with its
engagements, maintain a strict neutrality, and thereby preserve peace,
it was bound to do so by motives of policy, interest, and every other
consideration that ought to actuate a people situated as we are, already
deeply in debt, and in a convalescent state from the struggle we have
been engaged in ourselves.

"On these principles I have steadily and uniformly proceeded, bidding
defiance to calumnies calculated to sow seeds of distrust in the French
nation, and to excite their belief of an influence possessed by Great
Britain in the councils of this country, than which nothing is more
unfounded and injurious."

FOOTNOTES:

[104] Letter of Jay to Monroe, dated February 5, 1795.--Life and
Writings of John Jay, vol. i., page 336.

[105] Entitled "A View of the Conduct of the Executive of the United
States, connected with the Mission to the French Republic, during the
Years 1794, '5, & '6."

[106] Washington asked the opinion of his cabinet on the subject of a
change of ministers, and at a meeting on the second of July, the three
secr