well digested series of questions, the answers to which would form a
complete system by which to regulate the conduct of the executive in
the arduous situations which were approaching.[3]

[Footnote 3: See note No. I. at the end of the volume.]

These queries, with some of the answers of them, though submitted only
to the cabinet, found their way to the leading members of the
opposition; and were among the unacknowledged but operating pieces of
testimony, on which the charge against the administration, of
cherishing dispositions unfriendly to the French republic, was
founded. In taking a view of the whole ground, points certainly
occurred, and were submitted to the consideration of the cabinet, on
which neither the chief magistrate nor his ministers felt any doubt.
But the introduction of questions relative to these points, among
others with which they were intimately connected, would present a more
full view of the subject, and was incapable of producing any
mischievous effect, while they were confined to those for whom alone
they were intended.

In the meeting of the heads of departments and the attorney general,
which was held in consequence of this letter, it was unanimously
agreed, that a proclamation ought to issue, forbidding the citizens of
the United States to take part in any hostilities on the seas, with,
or against, any of the belligerent powers; warning them against
carrying to any of those powers articles deemed contraband according
to the modern usages of nations; and enjoining them from all acts
inconsistent with the duties of a friendly nation towards those at
war.