[311] "I believe the intention is to draw the United States into it [war] merely to make tools of them.... The conduct of the British government is so well adapted to increasing our danger of war, that I cannot but suppose they are secretly inclined to produce it." (J. Q. Adams to his father, The Hague, Sept. 12, 1795; _ib._, 409.)
[314] _Ib._, 195; and see Beard: _Econ. O. J. D._, 279.
[315] See this speech in Rives, iii, footnote to 418-19. It is curious that Marshall, in his _Life of Washington_, makes the error of asserting that the account of Dorchester's speech was "not authentic." It is one of the very few mistakes in Marshall's careful book. (Marshall, ii, 320.)
[316] Marshall to Stuart, May 28, 1794; MS., Va. Hist. Soc.
[317] It must not be forgotten that we were not so well prepared for war in 1794 as the colonies had been in 1776, or as we were a few years after Jay was sent on his mission. And on the traditional policy of Great Britain when intending to make war on any country, see J. Q. Adams to his father, June 24, 1796; _Writings, J. Q. A._: Ford, i, 499-500.
Also, see same to same, The Hague, June 9, 1796; _ib._, 493, predicting dissolution of the Union in case of war with Great Britain. "I confess it made me doubly desirous to quit a country where the malevolence that is so common against America was exulting in triumph." (_Ib._)
"The truth is that the American _Government_ ... have not upon earth more rancorous enemies, than the springs which move the machine of this Country [England] ... Between Great Britain and the United States no _cordiality_ can exist." (Same to same, London, Feb. 10, 1796; _ib._, 477; also, March 24, 1794; _ib._, 18, 183, 187.)
[320] Resolution of Wythe County (Va.) Democratic Society, quoted in Anderson, 32.
[321] Ames to Dwight, Feb. 3, 1795; _Works_: Ames, i, 166.
[324] The Boston men, it appears, had not even read the treaty, as was the case with other meetings which adopted resolutions of protest. (Marshall, ii, 365 _et seq._) Thereupon the Boston satirists lampooned the hasty denunciators of the treaty as follows:--
"I've never read it, but I say 'tis bad. If it goes down, I'll bet my ears and eyes, It will the people all unpopularize; Boobies may hear it read ere they decide, I move it quickly be unratified."