This measure derives importance from the consideration, that it was
the commencement of that system to which the American government
afterwards inflexibly adhered, and to which much of the national
prosperity is to be ascribed. It is not less important in another
view. Being at variance with the prejudices, the feelings, and the
passions of a large portion of the society, and being founded on no
previous proceedings of the legislature, it presented the first
occasion, which was thought a fit one, for openly assaulting a
character, around which the affections of the people had thrown an
armour theretofore deemed sacred, and for directly criminating the
conduct of the President himself. It was only by opposing passions to
passions, by bringing the feeling in favour of France, into conflict
with those in favour of the chief magistrate, that the enemies of the
administration could hope to obtain the victory.

For a short time, the opponents of this measure treated it with some
degree of delicacy. The opposition prints occasionally glanced at the
executive; considered all governments, including that of the United
States, as naturally hostile to the liberty of the people; and
ascribed to this disposition, the combination of European governments
against France, and the apathy with which this combination was
contemplated by the executive. At the same time, the most vehement
declamations were published, for the purpose of inflaming the
resentments of the people against Britain; of enhancing the
obligations of America to France; of confirming the opinions, that the
coalition of European monarchs was directed, not less against the
United States, than against that power to which its hostility was
avowed, and that those who did not avow this sentiment were the
friends of that coalition, and equally the enemies of America and