LETTER CCXXVIII.--TO JAMES MADISON, March 29, 1798
TO JAMES MADISON.
Philadelphia, March 29, 1798.
Dear Sir,
I wrote you last on the 21st. Yours of the 12th, therein acknowledged,
is the last received. The measure I suggested in mine, of adjourning for
consultation with their constituents, was not brought forward; but on
Tuesday three resolutions were moved, which you will see in the public
papers. They were offered in committee to prevent their being suppressed
by the previous question, and in the committee on the state of the
Union, to put it out of their power, by the rising of the committee and
not sitting again, to get rid of them. They were taken by surprise,
not expecting to be called to vote on such a proposition as 'that it
is inexpedient to resort to war against the French republic'. After
spending the first day in seeking on every side some hole to get out
at, like an animal first put into a cage, they gave up their resource.
Yesterday they came forward boldly, and openly combated the proposition.
Mr. Harper and Mr. Pinckney pronounced bitter philippics against France,
selecting such circumstances and aggravations as to give the worst
picture they could present. The latter, on this, as in the affair of
Lyon and Griswold, went far beyond that moderation he has on other
occasions recommended.
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