Page:Henry Adams' History of the United States Vol. 2.djvu/398

1803. mentioned in his diary a "curious conversation between S. Smith, Breckinridge, Armstrong, and Baldwin, about 'Smith's nephew, the First Consul's brother.' Smith swells upon it to very extraordinary dimensions." Pichon openly spoke of the whole family connection, including both Robert and Samuel Smith, and even Wilson Cary Nicholas, as possessed with "an inconceivable infatuation" for the match; "it was really the young man who was seduced." Nothing that Pichon could say affected them. Senator J. Q. Adams remarked: "the Smiths are so elated with their supposed elevation by this adventure, that one step more would fit them for the discipline of Dr. Willis,"—the famous English expert in mental diseases.

The President and his friends might not know enough of Napoleon's character to foresee the irritation which such reports would create in his mind, but they were aware of the contrast between their treatment of Jerome Bonaparte and their slights to Anthony Merry. Had they felt any doubt upon the subject, the free comments of the British minister and his wife would have opened their eyes. In truth, no doubt existed. Washington society was in a manner ordered to proscribe the Merrys and Yrujo, and pay court to Jerome and the Smiths.

Had this been all, the matter would have ended in a personal quarrel between the two envoys and the