5482. MONROE (James), Mission to France.—
The fever into which the western
mind is thrown by the affair at New Orleans
[suspension of right of deposit], stimulated by
the mercantile and generally the federal interests,
threatens to overbear our peace. In this
situation we are obliged to call on you for a
temporary sacrifice of yourself, to prevent this
greatest of evils in the present prosperous tide
of our affairs. I shall to-morrow nominate you
to the Senate for an extraordinary mission to
France, and the circumstances are such as to
render it impossible to decline; because the
whole public hope will be vested on you.—
To James Monroe.
Ford ed., viii, 188.
(W.
Jan. 10, 1803)
