and even a manifest contradiction of the system of neutrality of the
President; for, in fact, if our merchant vessels,[5] or others, are
not allowed to arm themselves, when the French alone are resisting the
league of all the tyrants against the liberty of the people, they will
be exposed to inevitable ruin in going out of the ports of the United
States, which is certainly not the intention of the people of America.
Their fraternal voice has resounded from every quarter around me, and
their accents are not equivocal. They are pure as the hearts of those
by whom they are expressed, and the more they have touched my
sensibility, the more they must interest in the happiness of America
the nation I represent;--the more I wish, sir, that the federal
government should observe, as far as in their power, the public
engagements contracted by both nations; and that, by this generous and
prudent conduct, they will give at least to the world, the example of
a true neutrality, which does not consist in the cowardly abandonment
of their friends in the moment when danger menaces them, but in
adhering strictly, if they can do no better, to the obligations they
have contracted with them. It is by such proceedings that they will
render themselves respectable to all the powers; that they will
preserve their friends and deserve to augment their numbers."

[Footnote 5: The regulation alluded to as was stated by Mr.
Jefferson in reply, did not relate to vessels arming for
defence, but to cruisers against the enemies of France.]

A few days previous to the reception of the letter from which the
above is an extract, two citizens of the United States, who had been
engaged by Mr. Genet in Charleston to cruise in the service of France,
were arrested by the civil magistrate, in pursuance of the
determination formed by the executive for the prosecution of persons