Colden added, that in pursuance of this declaration Mr. Frothingham was arrested.

Major-General Hamilton was called upon, on the part of the State, to prove that he was innocent of the charge alledged against him. This was objected to by Mr. B. Livingston counsel for the defendant; and the objection admitted by the court. The General was then asked to explain certain innuendoes in the indictment, respecting speculation, &c. This having been done, he was interrogated what was generally understood by secret service money? being very well versed in the vernacular tongue, he found some difficulty in the explanation; but gave it as his opinion, that it meant money appropriated by a government, generally for corrupt purposes, as it respected the country and government in which it was to be distributed; but in support of the government which gave it! He was then asked, whether he considered the Aurora as hostile to the government of the United States? and he replied in the affirmative! This closed the testimony.

Mr. Brockholst Livingston then attempted to prove that Mr. Frothingham was not responsible; that his declaration to Mr. Colden should not be admitted as proof against him, and that the Attorney ought to have arrested the Editor. In reply to this, Mr. Hoffman contended, that every journeyman and apprentice in the printing-office was liable to a prosecution, as having been accessary to the publication of the libel, and consequently Mr.

Frothingham, as foreman of the office, was particularly so. To this extravagant and infamous doctrine, Mr. Livingston replied with his usual pertinancy and eloquence. Mr. Livingston offered to adduce proofs of the situation in which Mr. Frothingham was placed in the office of the Argus; but this was overruled by the Court. He then went into an examination of the publication, and having dissected it in a masterly manner, concluded his defence with a few general observations.

The Jury found a verdict of guilty, but recommended Mr. Frothingham to the mercy of the Court. The latter fined him in 100 dollars, and sentenced him to four months confinement in bridewell.

CHAPTER XII.

Remarks upon an Aristocratical form of Government....The Administration of Mr. Adams compared to an Aristocracy....Quarrel at Trenton, between Mr. Adams and his Ministers....Hamilton's letter respecting their difference....Appointment of an Embassy to France....Characters of the Envoys....Anecdotes of Adams and Franklin.... Adams's jealousy and dislike to Franklin....Adams endeavors to calumniate Franklin....Vindication of Franklin....Memoirs of Alexander Hamilton.

EXPERIENCE has proved, that of the various forms of Government which have prevailed in the world, an Aristocracy is one of the weakest, and least favorable to the happiness of mankind....The hereditary monarch may transmit through several generations, an unlimited authority with considerable profit, both to art and science....The acknowledged right which he enjoys by birth, extinguishes the spirit of faction, and renders him less cruel and more attentive to the wants of the subject than an host of tyrants, who, after having sported with the liberties of the people, are under the necessity, in order to retain the power they have unjustly seized, to trample to the ground every species of honesty and worth. This was the case with our late President and his associates: after having wrested from their fellow-citizens the liberty of speech,

they established, under the mask of freedom, an Aristocracy more powerful in its nature, than either the Senate of Berne, the Nobility of Venice, or the Directory of France. But mutual jealousy, which, sooner or later, overthrows the fabrics of the wicked, overturned their schemes and ended their intentions.

In the town of Trenton, the capital of Jersey, the first public schism in the Federal Cabinet took place.

The particular expressions which passed on this occasion, between the President and his Ministers, never transpired; but from the printed letter addressed to Mr. Adams, by General Hamilton, we are informed of the principal cause of their differ

ence.

Mr. Hamilton asserts, that after the failure of the Pinckney Embassy to France, Mr. Adams arrived at Philadelphia, from his seat at Quincy, and that the tone of his mind seemed to have been raised rather than depressed." That his counsellors suggested to him, it might be expedient to insert in his speech to Congress, a sentiment of this import: "That after the repeatedly rejected advances of this country, its dignity required that it should be left with France in future to make the first overture; that if desirous of reconciliation, she should evince the dispositon by sending a minister to this government, he would be received with the respect due to his character, and treated with the frankness of a sincere desire of accommodation." Mr. Adams received this suggestion in a manner both indignant and intemperate, and declared,

That if France should send a minister to-morrow, he would order him back the day after." But in less (says Mr. Hamilton) than forty-eight hours from this extraordinary sally, the mind of Mr. Adams underwent a total revolution. "He resolved not only to insert in his speech the sentiment which had been proposed to him, but to go farther, and to declare, that if France would give explicit assurances of receiving a minister from this country with due respect, he would send one."

In vain did Pinckney and M'Henry oppose this resolution. Mr. Adams obstinately persisted, and the declaration was introduced.

Mr. Adams appears afterwards to have nominated Mr. Murray as envoy to the French Republic, without previous communication with any of his ministers. Shortly after he nominated two more, Judge Elsworth and Mr. Davie.

Mr. Elsworth's talents were no doubt great, but his opinions respecting law were formed upon the Mansfield system. His decision in the case of Captain Williams, was directly opposed to the law of nations, and to the former practice of the American courts. His knowledge of European affairs was also very limited in theory as well as practice.

George Davie was better calculated for the mission. This gentleman was about 40 years of age; possessed of engaging manners and an easy address; he had been educated at Princeton College; served with reputation in the revolutionary war; afterwards studied the profession of the law, Ss