Though for a twelvemonth
past he had been intending to go to Europe as soon as he could get money
enough to carry him there, yet when he had accomplished this, and fixed
a time for going, he very unwisely made a mystery of it; so that his
disappearance without notice excited conversation. This was seized by
the war-hawks, and given out as a secret mission from the Jacobins here
to solicit an army from France, instruct them as to their landing,
he. This extravagance produced a real panic among the citizens; and
happening just when Bache published Talleyrand's letter, Harper, on
the 18th, gravely announced to the House of Representatives, that there
existed a traitorous correspondence between the Jacobins here and the
French Directory; that he had got hold of some threads and clues of it,
and would soon be able to develope the whole. This increased the alarm;
their libelists immediately set to work, directly and indirectly to
implicate whom they pleased. Porcupine gave me a principal share in it,
as I am told, for I never read his papers. This state of things added to
my reasons for not departing at the time I intended. These follies seem
to have died away in some degree already. Perhaps I may renew my purpose
by the 25th. Their system is, professedly, to keep up an alarm.
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