The winter of 1805–1806 had been favorable to Turreau, who saw France control American policy toward Spain and St. Domingo; while a stringent Act of Congress prohibiting the importation of British manufactures brought within his sight the chief object of French diplomacy in America,--a war between the United States and England. The winter of 1806–1807 promised to undo this good work, and even to bring the United States to the verge of war with France. The first measure recommended by the President and adopted by Congress--the suspension of the Non-importation Act--annoyed Turreau. Monroe’s treaty was signed in London December 1; at Washington Turreau wrote, December 12,[298] soon after Congress met,-- “If I am to judge by the talk and countenances of the great people, this Congress will be more favorable to England than the last was; and already its leader, under the President’s own invitation, shows a benevolent disposition toward the British government. I had the honor to see Mr. Jefferson the evening before Congress met, and to say to him, on the subject of Spanish differences, that probably all the negotiations entered into by the Government with that Power, as well as with England, would succeed. ‘Really,’ replied the President, ‘I have reason to think that the English are going to make an arrangement with us, and that it would be already done if Mr. Fox’s death had not interrupted negotiation. Perhaps we shall even obtain,’ he added, ‘the right to extend our maritime jurisdiction, and to carry it as far as the effect of the Gulf Stream makes itself felt,--which would be very advantageous both to belligerents and to neutrals.’” To persons who knew that Jefferson was then angry with Napoleon for his faithless conduct in preventing the new Florida negotiation, this assurance of English friendship gave a measure of the President’s diplomacy. He was willing to irritate and alarm the French minister, and he succeeded. Turreau took refuge in speculations and sharp criticisms:-- “I know not whether to attribute this first effect of pronounced favor in regard to England to the last despatches of the two envoys negotiating at London, or to the first overtures of Mr. Erskine, who arrived here a few days ago, and with whom they seem already infatuated (_très engoué_); ... or, finally, whether it may not be the result of some hints from Alexander,--for whom the Federal government, and particularly Mr. Jefferson, have an admiration which borders on delirium. And your Excellency may recall that last spring the President talked of making overtures to the Russian sovereign relative to a plan of unarmed maritime confederation, which was then his great object, and which, as he assured me in our last interview, he has not given up,--making, as his custom is, a grand eulogium of Alexander and his savages.”