The ship which brought him to this
country was driven by adverse winds to Charleston and landed him there
on April 8th. He lost no time in fitting out a privateer against
British mercantile vessels. The fact that by so doing he broke the
American rule of neutrality did not seem to trouble him at all; on the
contrary, he acted as if he were simply doing what the United States
would do if they really did what they wished. As soon as he had made
his arrangements, he proceeded by land up the coast to Philadelphia.
Jefferson was exuberant, and he wrote in exultation to Madison on the
fifth of May, concluding with the phrase, "I wish we may be able
to repress the spirit of the people within the limits of a fair
neutrality." If there be such things as crocodile tears, perhaps there
may also be crocodile wishes, of which this would seem to be one. A
friend of Hamilton's, writing about the same time, speaks in different
terms, as follows:
He has a good person, a fine ruddy complexion, quite active, and
seems always in a bustle, more like a busy man than a man of
business. A Frenchman in his manners, he announces himself in all
companies as the Minister of the Republic, etc., talks freely of
his commission, and, like most Europeans, seems to have adopted
mistaken notions of the penetration and knowledge of the people of
the United States.
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