On reading them, a messenger was immediately despatched for the secretary, but he had retired, indisposed, to his seat in the country.

Upon hearing this, the President instantly addressed a letter to him, of which the following is an extract.

"What is to be done in the case of the Little Sarah, now at Chester?
Is the minister of the French republic to set the acts of this government at defiance _with impunity_--and then threaten the executive with an appeal to the people?
What must the world think of such conduct?
and of the government of the United States in submitting to it?
"These are serious questions--circumstances press for decision;--and as you have had time to consider them, (upon me they come unexpectedly,) I wish to know your opinion upon them even before to-morrow--for the vessel may then be gone." In answer to this letter, the secretary stated the assurances which had on that day been given to him by Mr.Genet, that the vessel would not sail before the President's decision respecting her should be made.

In consequence of this information, immediate coercive measures were suspended; and in the council of the succeeding day it was determined to retain in port all[6] privateers which had been equipped by any of the belligerent powers within the United States.

This determination was immediately communicated to Mr.Genet; but, in contempt of it, the Little Democrat proceeded on her cruise.
[Footnote 6: They were particularly enumerated, and the decision was also extended to the ship Jane, an English armed merchantman, alleged by Mr.Genet to be a privateer, and the governor was requested to attend to her, and if he found her augmenting her force and about to depart, to cause her to be stopped.
The Jane had augmented her armament by replacing four old gun-carriages with new ones, and opening two new portholes.
The request of the British consul that these alterations might be allowed was peremptorily rejected, and directions were given that she should be restored precisely to the situation in which she entered the port.