" Peace is our passion," he wrote Sir John Sinclair, and in the presence of threatening hostilities he did nothing to prepare for war. His message to Congress, which opened a few days after the reception of Claiborne's dispatch, made no mention of the New Orleans trouble. He talked about everything else, but- of what everybody else was talking about the President said nothing. The western settlers, vitally interested in a depot of deposit at New Orleans, resented such apparent apathy, and by

I04 NEW YORK STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.

resolutions and legislative action encouraged the federalists to talk so loudly for war that the President, alarmed at the condition of the public mind, sent James Monroe's name to the Senate as minister extraordinary to France and Spain. On January 13, 1803, the day of Monroe's confirmation, Jefferson hastened to write him, explaining what he had done and why he had acted. " The agitation of the public mind on occasion of the late suspension of our right of deposit at New Orleans," said he, " is extreme. In the western country it is natural and grounded on honest motives ; in the seaports it proceeds from a desire for war, which increases the mercantile lottery ; among federalists generally, and especially those of Congress, the object is to force us into war if possible, in order to derange our finances ; or, if this cannot be done, to attach the western country to them as to their best friends, and thus get again into power. Remonstrances, memorials, etc., are now circulating through the whole of the western country, and signed by the body of the people. The measures we have been pursuing, being invisible, do not satisfy their minds. Something sensible, therefore, is necessary." This " sensible something " was Monroe's appointment, which " has already silenced the federalists," continued the President.