rt I acted in the American Revolution is well known; I shall
not here repeat it. I know, also, that had it not been for the aid
received from France in men, money, and ships, that your cold and
unmilitary conduct (as I shall show in the course of this letter)
would, in all probability, have lost America; at least she would
not have been the independent nation she now is. You slept away
your time in the field till the finances of the country were
completely exhausted, and you have but little share in the glory of
the final event. It is time, sir, to speak the undisguised language
of historical truth.

"Elevated to the chair of the presidency, you assumed the merit of
everything to yourself, and the natural ingratitude of your
constitution began to appear. You commenced your presidential
career by encouraging and swallowing the grossest adulation; and
you travelled America, from one end to the other, to put yourself
in the way of receiving it. You have as many addresses in your
chest as James the Second. As to what were your views (for if you
are not great enough to have ambition, you are little enough to
have vanity) they can not be directly inferred from expressions of
your own; but the partisans of your politics have divulged the
secret."

How false and malignant are the assertions in this paragraph (which is a
fair specimen of the whole letter), the readers of these volumes well
know. It appears strange that a gentleman like Monroe, who was afterward
an honored chief-magistrate of the republic, should have been so
infatuated as to allow such a libel to go from under his roof.

The _Aurora_ press also issued a pamphlet at this time, entitled "Notes
from Citizen Adet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republic near
the United States of America, to the Secretary of State of the United
States." It was printed in French, with an English translation facing
each page. It contained the correspondence to which we have alluded, and
occupied, in the two languages, ninety-five pages. In reference to this
pamphlet, Washington wrote to his friend, Doctor Stuart, early in
January:--

"As to what effect M. Adet's conduct has had, or will have, on the
public mind, you can form a better opinion than myself. One of the
objects which he had in view, in timing the publication, is too
apparent to require explanat