If the treaty is ratified, the partisans of the French (or rather of war and confusion) will excite them to hostile measures, or at least to unfriendly sentiments;--if it is not, there is no foreseeing all the consequences that may follow as it respects Great Britain.
"It is not to be inferred from hence that I am or shall be disposed to quit the ground I have taken, unless circumstances more imperious than have yet come to my knowledge, should compel it; for there is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth, and to pursue it steadily.
But these things are mentioned to show that a close investigation of the subject is more than ever necessary; and that there are strong evidences of the necessity of the most circumspect conduct in carrying the determination of government into effect, with prudence as it respects our own people, and with every exertion to produce a change for the better with Great Britain." In a letter of the third of August, written to the same gentleman, in which he stated the increasing extent of hostility to the treaty, the President added: "All these things do not shake my determination with respect to the proposed ratification, nor will they, unless something more imperious and unknown to me, should, in the opinion of yourself and the gentlemen with you, make it adviseable for me to pause." [Sidenote: Conditionally ratified by the president.] In the afternoon of the 11th of August the President arrived in Philadelphia; and on the next day, the question respecting the immediate ratification of the treaty was brought before the cabinet.
The secretary of state maintained, singly, the opinion, that, during the existence of the provision order,[35] and during the war between Britain and France, this step ought not to be taken.

This opinion did not prevail.

The resolution was adopted to ratify the treaty immediately, and to accompany the ratification with a strong memorial against the provision order, which should convey, in explicit terms, the sense of the American government on that subject.

By this course, the views of the executive were happily accomplished.

The order was revoked, and the ratifications of the treaty were exchanged.
[Footnote 35: Previous to the reception of the account of this order, the opinion of the secretary had been in favour of ratifying the treaty.] [Sidenote: The treaty unpopular in the United States.] The President was most probably determined to adopt this course by the extreme intemperance with which the treaty was opposed, and the rapid progress which this violence was apparently making.