t exist between the two governments.

To this the president of the Directory responded in pompous and
high-sounding words. "Minister plenipotentiary of the United States," he
said, "by presenting this day to the executive Directory your letter of
recall, you offer a very strange spectacle to Europe. Rich in her
freedom, surrounded by the train of her victories, strong in the esteem
of her allies, France will not stoop to calculate the consequences of
the condescension of the American government to the wishes of its
ancient tyrants. The French republic expects, however, that the
successors of Columbus, Raleigh, and Penn, always proud of their
liberty, will never forget that they owe it to France. They will weigh
in their wisdom the magnanimous friendship of the French people with the
crafty caresses of perfidious men, who meditate to bring them again
under their former yoke. Assure the good people of America, Mr.
Minister, that, like them, we admire liberty; that they will always
possess our esteem, and find in the French people that republican
generosity which knows how to grant peace as well as how to cause its
sovereignty to be respected. As for you, Mr. Minister Plenipotentiary,
you have ever battled for principles; you have known the true interests
of your country Depart with our regret. We restore in you a
representative to America; we preserve the remembrance of a citizen
whose personal qualities did honor to that title."

Toward the close of January, 1798, Pinckney was notified that, having
resided in Paris nearly two months without special permission, he was
amenable to law. He immediately applied for and obtained his passports,
and on the third of February he departed for Holland, whence he sent
despatches to his government, presenting the state of his mission. They
were received on the twenty-fifth of March, and produced much
excitement. The indignities to which the United States minister had been
subjected, and the continued capture of American merchant-vessels by
French privateers, some of them commanded by Americans, caused President
Adams to issue a proclamation, convening the Congress in special session
on the fifteenth of May.

A change in public opinion was now perceptible. The people began to
understand the real character and designs of the French, the chief of
which was to sow the seeds of bitter discord between the _government_
and the _people_ of the United States--a task in which Genet and Adet