"
He already felt that it might be necessary for him to return to
Philadelphia at any moment; and, writing to Randolph to this effect
two days later, he said:--
"To be wise and temperate, as well as firm, the present crisis
most eminently calls for. There is too much reason to believe,
from the pains which have been taken before, at, and since the
advice of the Senate respecting the treaty, that the prejudices
against it are more extensive than is generally imagined. This I
have lately understood to be the case in this quarter from men who
are of no party, but well-disposed to the present administration.
Nor should it be otherwise, when no stone has been left unturned
that could impress on the minds of the people the most arrant
misrepresentation of facts; that their rights have not only been
_neglected_, but absolutely _sold_; that there are no reciprocal
advantages in the treaty; that the benefits are all on the side of
Great Britain; and, what seems to have had more weight with them
than all the rest, and to have been most pressed, that the treaty
is made with the design to oppress the French, in open violation
of our treaty with that nation, and contrary, too, to every
principle of gratitude and sound policy. In time, when passion
shall have yielded to sober reason, the current may possibly turn;
but, in the mean while, this government, in relation to France and
England, may be compared to a ship between the rocks of Scylla and
Charybdis.
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