3170. FRANCE, Republican Government.—[continued].
With respect to the French
government, we are under no call to express
opinions which might please or offend any
party, and, therefore, it will be best to avoid
them on all occasions, public or private.
Could any circumstances require unavoidably
such expressions, they would naturally be in
conformity with the great mass of our countrymen,
who, having first in modern times,
taken the ground of government founded on
the will of the people, cannot but be delighted
on seeing so distinguished and so esteemed
a nation arrive on the same ground, and plant
their standard by our side.—
To Gouverneur Morris. Washington ed. iii, 325.
Ford ed., v, 428.
(Pa.,
Jan. 1792)
