From this censure it would have been difficult to extricate the person who was contemplated by the party in opposition as its chief; for the secretary of state had urged the arguments of the administration with a degree of ability and earnestness, which ought to have silenced the suspicion that he might not feel their force.
The expression of a legislative opinion, in favour of the points insisted on by the French minister, would probably have involved the nation in a calamitous war, the whole responsibility for which would rest on them.
To these considerations was added another which could not be disregarded.

The party in France, to which Mr.Genet owed his appointment, had lost its power; and his fall was the inevitable consequence of the fall of his patrons.

That he would probably be recalled was known in America; and that his conduct had been disapproved by his government was generally believed.

The future system of the French republic, with regard to the United States, could not be foreseen; and it would be committing something to hazard, not to wait its development.
These objections did not exist to an indulgence of the partialities and prejudices of the nation towards the belligerent powers, in measures suggested by its resentment against Great Britain.

But, independent of these considerations, it is scarcely possible to doubt that congress really approved the conduct of the executive with regard to France, and was also convinced that a course of hostility had been pursued by Great Britain, which the national interest and the national honour required them to repel.