sement of that great people," as
expressed by Washington in his reply to the French minister, might
contribute to cherish and perpetuate the sincere affection by which the
two republics were so happily united. It was at first proposed, in a
resolution offered in the senate, that the president should communicate
the sentiments of that body to the proper organ of the French
government; but this was opposed, because, it was said, the
complimentary correspondence between the two nations had reached a point
where, if ever, it ought to cease. This amendment was carried by a
strict party vote.

FOOTNOTES:

[89] History of the United States, second series, i, 566.

[90] The letter brought by Adet was from the Committee of Safety, which,
under the revolutionary system in France, was the department charged
with foreign intercourse. After his departure a new order of things was
established. On the thirty-first of May, 1795, the revolutionary
tribunal was, by a decree of the National Convention, abolished in
France. On the twenty-third of June, a committee, appointed for the
purpose, presented the draft of a new constitution, modelled in many
respects after that of the United States. The reading of it, which
occupied several hours, was frequently interrupted by the loudest bursts
of applause. At the conclusion, it was decreed that the discussion of
the instrument should be opened on the fourth of July. On the sixth of
September, the people of France met in primary assemblies for the
purpose of accepting or rejecting the new constitution. The armies of
the eastern and western Pyrenees accepted it on that day, and so did a
great majority of the French nation. The result was announced in the
convention on the tenth of September, with information that two thirds
of the members of that body had been re-elected. In consequence of that
acceptance, a dreadful riot broke out in Paris on the sixth of October,
which lasted several days; but the insurgents were finally overpowered
by the convention troops. Many persons were slain on both sides, and
ringleaders of the riot were soon afterward executed.

The French constitution established an Executive Directory, composed of
five members, who ruled in connection with two legislative chambers,
called respectively The Council of Ancients, and the Council of Five
Hundred. The directory were formally installed at the Luxembourg, in
Paris, on the first of November, 1795. On the same day a pen-p