should arrive in the United States. This task was undertaken by Clay. He knew well how dangerous it would be to give to a man of Jackson's hot temper the power to make reprisals upon French property; and he felt, too, that it would be a shame and disgrace to go to war with a friendly nation upon a mere question of money, until the last resources of peaceable diplomacy should have been exhausted. He therefore took the matter promptly in hand.
That part of the President's message which related to the French business was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, of which Clay was chairman. On January 6, 1835, he made a report on the subject, which he himself read to the Senate, and which had the rare fortune to call forth the applause of all parties. He gave a lucid review of the history of the case, and with dignified emphasis asserted the right of the United States to indemnity. He affirmed that, in their determination to protect the rights of the United States, the President, and the opposition, and the whole American people, stood inseparably together. He then pointed out the friendly disposition of Louis Philippe's government; the difficulties it had to contend with; the misapprehensions which in the course of the negotiation had arisen between the two governments, creating unnecessary irritation. He then explained President Jackson's position, how the President did not insist upon reprisals as the only remedy; how he suggested them only
