from you my earnest wish that the choice had fallen upon a man less
declined in years and better qualified to encounter the usual
vicissitudes of war.

You know, sir, what calculation I had made relative to the probable
course of events on my retiring from office, and the determination I had
consoled myself with of closing the remnant of my days in my present
peaceful abode. You will therefore be at no loss to conceive and
appreciate the sensations I must have experienced to bring my mind to
any conclusion that would pledge me, at so late a period of life, to
leave scenes I sincerely love to enter upon the boundless field of
public action, incessant trouble, and high responsibility.

It was not possible for me to remain ignorant of or indifferent to
recent transactions. The conduct of the Directory of France toward our
country, their insidious hostility to its Government, their various
practices to withdraw the affections of the people from it, the evident
tendency of their acts and those of their agents to countenance and
invigorate opposition, their disregard of solemn treaties and the laws
of nations, their war upon our defenseless commerce, their treatment of
our ministers of peace, and their demands amounting to tribute could not
fail to excite in me corresponding sentiments with those my countrymen
have so generally expressed in their affectionate addresses to you.
Believe me, sir, no one can more cordially approve of the wise and
prudent measures of your Administration. They ought to inspire universal
confidence, and will no doubt, combined with the state of things, call
from Congress such laws and means as will enable you to meet the full
force and extent of the crisis.

Satisfied, therefore, that you have sincerely wished and endeavored to