University of Virginia Library

5260. MINISTERS (Foreign), Reception of.—[further continued].

It has been said without
contradiction, and the people have been made
to believe, that the refusal of the French to receive
our Envoys was contrary to the law of
nations, and a sufficient cause of war; whereas,
every one who has ever read a book on the law
of nations knows, that it is an unquestionable
right in every power to refuse any minister
who is personally disagreeable.—
To Edmund Pendleton. Washington ed. iv, 289. Ford ed., vii, 359.
(Pa., 17991799)gt;