European power, or even the probability of such an event in my days,
was so far from being contemplated by me, that I had no conception
either that or any other occurrence would arise in so short a period
which could turn my eyes from the shades of Mount Vernon. But this
seems to be the age of wonders. And it is reserved for intoxicated and
lawless France (for purposes of Providence far beyond the reach of
human ken) to slaughter her own citizens, and to disturb the repose of
all the world besides. From a view of the past,--from the prospect of
the present,--and of that which seems to be expected, it is not easy
for me to decide satisfactorily on the part it might best become me to
act. In case of actual invasion by a formidable force, I certainly
should not intrench myself under the cover of age and retirement, if
my services should be required by my country to assist in repelling
it. And if there be good cause to expect such an event, which
certainly must be better known to the government than to private
citizens, delay in preparing for it may be dangerous, improper, and
not to be justified by prudence. The uncertainty however of the
latter, in my mind, creates my embarrassment; for I can not bring it
to believe, regardless as the French are of treaties, and of the laws
of nations, and capable as I conceive them to be of any species of
despotism and injustice, that they will attempt to invade this country
after such a uniform and unequivocal expression of the determination
of the people in all parts to oppose them with their lives and
fortunes. That they have been led to believe by their agents and
partisans among us that we are a divided people, that the latter are
opposed to their own government, and that the show of a small force
would occasion a revolt, I have no doubt; and how far these men (grown
desperate) will further attempt to deceive, and may succeed in keeping
up the deception, is problematical. Without that, the folly of the
Directory in such an attempt would, I conceive, be more conspicuous,
if possible, than their wickedness.
"Having with candour made this disclosure of the state of my mind, it
remains only for me to add, that to those who knew me best, it is best
known that, should imperious circumstances induce me to exchange once
more the smooth paths of retirement for the thorny ways of public
life, at a period too when repose is more congenial to nature, it
would be productive of sensations which can be more easily conceived
than expressed."
His letter to the secretary of war was more detailed and more
explicit. "It can not," he said, "be necessary for me to promise to
you or to others who know my sentiments, that to quit the tranquillity
of retirement, and enter the boundless field of responsibility, would
be productive of sensations which a better pen than I possess would
find it difficult to describe. Nevertheless, the principle by which my
conduct has been actuated through life, would not surfer me, in any
great emergency, to withhold any services I could render when required
by my country;--especially in a case where its dearest rights are
assailed by lawless ambition and intoxicated power, in contempt of
every principle of justice, and in violation of solemn compact, and of
laws which govern all civilized nations:--and this too with the
obvious intent to sow thick the seeds of disunion for the purpose of
subjugating our government, and destroying our independence and
happiness.
"Under circumstances like these, accompanied by an actual invasion of
our territory, it would be difficult for me, at any time, to remain an
idle spectator, under the plea of age or retirement. With sorrow, it
is true, I should quit the shades of my peaceful abode, and the ease
and happiness I now enjoy, to encounter anew the turmoils of war, to
which, possibly, my strength and powers might be found incompetent.
These, however, should not be stumbling blocks in my own way. But
there are other things highly important for me to ascertain and settle
before I could give a definite answer to your question.
1st. The propriety in the opinion of the public, so far as
that opinion has been expressed in conversation, of my
appearing again on the public theatre, after declaring the
sentiments I did in my valedictory address of September,
1796.
2dly. A conviction in my own breast, from the best
information that can be obtained, that it is the wish of my
country that its military force should be committed to my
charge; and,
3dly. That the army now to be formed should be so appointed
as to afford a well grounded hope of its doing honour to the
country, and credit to him who commands it in the field.
"On each of these heads you must allow me to make observations."
General Washington then proceeded to detail his sentiments on those
points on which his consent to take command of the army must depend.
[Sidenote: General Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the
American Army.]
Some casual circumstances delayed the reception of the letters of the
President and secretary of war for several days, in consequence of
which, before the answer of General Washington reached the seat of
government, the President had nominated him to the chief command of
all the armies raised or to be raised in the United States, with the
rank of Lieutenant General; and the senate had unanimously advised and
consented to his appointment.
By the secretary of war, who was directed to wait upon him with his
commission, the President addressed to him the following letter:
"Mr. M'Henry, the secretary of war, will have the honour to wait on
you in my behalf, to impart to you a step I have ventured to take,
which I should have been happy to have communicated in person, had
such a journey, at this time, been in my power.
"My reasons for this measure will be too well known to need any
explanation to the public. Every friend and every enemy of America
will comprehend them at first blush. To you, sir, I owe all the
apology I can make. The urgent necessity I am in of your advice and
assistance, indeed of your conduct and direction of the war, is all I
can urge; and that is a sufficient justification to myself and to the
world. I hope it will be so considered by yourself. Mr. M'Henry will
have the honour to consult you upon the organization of the army, and
upon every thing relating to it."
Open instructions, signed by the President, were on the same day
delivered to the secretary of war, of which the following is a copy:
"It is my desire that you embrace the first opportunity to set out on
your journey to Mount Vernon, and wait on General Washington with the
commission of Lieutenant General and Commander-in-chief of the armies
of the United States, which, by the advice and consent of the senate,
has been signed by me.
"The reasons and motives which prevailed on me to venture on such a
step as the nomination of this great and illustrious character, whose
voluntary resignation alone occasioned my introduction to the office I
now hold, were too numerous to be detailed in this letter, and are too
obvious and important to escape the observation of any part of America
or Europe. But as it is a movement of great delicacy, it will require
all your address to communicate the subject in a manner that shall be
inoffensive to his feelings, and consistent with all the respect that
is due from me to him.
"If the General should decline the appointment, all the world will be
silent, and respectfully acquiesce. If he should accept it, all the
world, except the enemies of his country, will rejoice. If he should
come to no decisive determination, but take the subject into
consideration, I shall not appoint any other lieutenant general until
his conclusion is known.
"His advice in the formation of a list of officers would be extremely
desirable to me. The names of Lincoln, Morgan, Knox, Hamilton, Gates,
Pinckney, Lee, Carrington, Hand, Muhlenberg, Dayton, Burr, Brooks,
Cobb, Smith, as well as the present Commander-in-chief, may be
mentioned to him, and any others that occur to you. Particularly, I
wish to have his opinion on the men most suitable for inspector
general, adjutant general, and quarter master general.
"His opinion on all subjects would have great weight, and I wish you
to obtain from him as much of his reflections upon the times and the
service as you can."
The communications between General Washington and the secretary of war
appear to have been full and unreserved. The impressions of the former
respecting the critical and perilous situation of his country had
previously determined him to yield to the general desire, and accept
the commission offered him, provided he could be permitted to select
for the high departments of the army, and especially for the military
staff, those in whom he could place the greatest confidence. Being
assured that there was every reason to believe his wishes in this
respect would not be thwarted, he gave to the secretary the
arrangement[57] which he would recommend for the principal stations in
the army; and, on the 13th of July, addressed the following letter to
the President.
[Footnote 57: _The following is the list of generals, and of
the military staff._
Alexander Hamilton, _Inspector_.
Charles C. Pinckney, }
Henry Knox, or, if either refuses } Major Generals.
Henry Lee. }
Henry Lee (if not Major General) }
John Brooks, }
William S. Smith, or } Brigadiers.
John E. Howard. }
Edward Hand, or }
Jonathan Dayton, or } Adjutant General.
William S. Smith. }
Edward Carrington, Quarter Master General.
James Craik, Director of the Hospital.]
"I had the honour, on the evening of the 11th instant, to receive from
the hands of the secretary at war, your favour of the seventh,
announcing that you had, with the advice and consent of the senate,
appointed me Lieutenant General and Commander-in-chief of the armies
raised or to be raised for the service of the United States.
"I can not express how greatly affected I am at this new proof of
public confidence, and at the highly flattering manner in which you
have been pleased to make the communication. At the same time, I must
not conceal from you my earnest wish that the choice had fallen upon a
man less declined in years, and better qualified to encounter the
usual vicissitudes of war.
"You know, sir, what calculations I had made relative to the probable
course of events on my retiring from office, and the determination,
with which I had consoled myself, of closing the remnant of my days in
my present peaceful abode. You will therefore be at no loss to
conceive and appreciate the sensations I must have experienced, to
bring my mind to any conclusion that would pledge me, at so late a
period of life, to leave scenes I sincerely love, to enter upon the
boundless field of public action, incessant trouble, and high
responsibility.
"It was not possible for me to remain ignorant of, or indifferent to
recent transactions. The conduct of the Directory of France towards
our country; their insidious hostility to its government; their
various practices to withdraw the affections of the people from it;
the evident tendency of their arts, and those of their agents, to
countenance and invigorate opposition; their disregard of solemn
treaties and the laws of nations; their war upon our defenceless
commerce; their treatment of our ministers of peace; and their
demands, amounting to tribute, could not fail to excite in me
sentiments corresponding with those my countrymen have so generally
expressed in their affectionate addresses to you.
"Believe me, sir, no man can more cordially approve the wise and
prudent measures of your administration. They ought to inspire
universal confidence, and will no doubt, combined with the state of
things, call from congress such laws and means as will enable you to
meet the full force and extent of the crisis.
"Satisfied, therefore, that you have sincerely wished and endeavoured
to avert war, and exhausted to the last drop the cup of
reconciliation, we can, with pure hearts, appeal to heaven for the
justice of our cause, and may confidently trust the final result to
that kind Providence who has heretofore, and so often, signally
favoured the people of the United States.
"Thinking in this manner, and feeling how incumbent it is upon every
person of every description to contribute, at all times, to his
country's welfare, and especially in a moment like the present, when
every thing we hold dear and sacred is so seriously threatened, I have
finally determined to accept the commission of Commander-in-chief of
the armies of the United States, with the reserve only,--that I shall
not be called into the field until the army is in a situation to
require my presence, or it becomes indispensable by the urgency of
circumstances.
"In making this reservation, I beg it to be understood that I do not
mean to withhold any assistance to arrange and organize the army,
which you may think I can afford. I take the liberty also to mention
that I must decline having my acceptance considered as drawing after
it any immediate charge upon the public, or that I can receive any
emoluments annexed to the appointment before I am in a situation to
incur expense."
From this period, General Washington intermingled the cares and
attentions of office with his agricultural pursuits. His solicitude
respecting the organization of an army which he might possibly be
required to lead against an enemy the most formidable in the world,
was too strong to admit of his being inattentive to its arrangements.
Yet he never did believe that an invasion of the United States would
actually take place. His conviction that it was not the interest of
France to wage an unprovoked war with America, and that the hostile
measures which the executive Directory had adopted originated in the
opinion that those measures would overthrow the administration, and
place power in the hands of those who had uniformly supported all the
pretensions of the French republic, remained unshaken. As a necessary
consequence of this conviction, he was persuaded that the indignation
which this system had excited, would effect its change. The only
circumstance that weakened this hope, arose from the persevering
opposition which was still maintained in congress, and from the
evidence which was daily afforded that those party animosities, to
which he ascribed the present dangerous crisis, were far from being
healed. Those who had embraced the cause of France in the controversy
between that nation and the United States, had been overwhelmed by a
flood of testimony which silenced them for a time, but which weakened
them more in appearance than in reality. They were visibly recovering
both strength and confidence. It is not therefore wonderful that
General Washington should have expressed himself more freely than had
been his custom, respecting American parties, and that he should have
exerted an influence which he had not been in the habit of employing,
to induce men whose talents he respected, but who had declined
political life, to enter into the national and state legislatures.
Events soon demonstrated that he had not calculated unreasonably on
the effects of the spirit manifested by his country. Although America,
supplicating for peace, had been spurned with contempt; although the
executive Directory had rejected with insult her repeated and sincere
prayers to be permitted to make explanations, and had haughtily
demanded a concession of their arrogant and unfounded claims or the
advance of pecuniary aids, as a preliminary to negotiation;--America,
in arms, was treated with some respect. Indirect pacific overtures
were made, and a willingness on the part of France, to accommodate the
existing differences on reasonable terms, was communicated.
{1799}
The President, truly solicitous to restore that harmony and good
understanding which the United States had laboured so incessantly and
so sincerely to preserve with their ancient ally, caught at the
overtures which were indirectly made, and again appointed three envoys
extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the French republic.
These gentlemen found the government in the hands of a person who had
taken no part in those transactions which had embroiled the two
countries, and who entered into negotiations with them which
terminated in the amicable adjustment of differences.
General Washington did not live to witness the restoration of peace.
[Sidenote: His death.]
On Friday the 13th of December, while attending to some improvements
upon his estate, he was exposed to a light rain, by which his neck and
hair became wet. Not apprehending danger from this circumstance, he
passed the afternoon in his usual manner; but, in the night, was
seized with an inflammatory affection of the windpipe. The disease
commenced with a violent ague, accompanied with some pain in the upper
and fore part of the throat, a sense of stricture in the same part, a
cough, and a difficult rather than a painful deglutition, which were
soon succeeded by fever, and a quick and laborious respiration.
Believing bloodletting to be necessary, he procured a bleeder who took
from his arm twelve or fourteen ounces of blood, but he would not
permit a messenger to be despatched for his family physician until the
appearance of day. About eleven in the morning Doctor Craik arrived;
and perceiving the extreme danger of the case, requested that two
consulting physicians should be immediately sent for. The utmost
exertions of medical skill were applied in vain. The powers of life
were manifestly yielding to the force of the disorder; speaking, which
was painful from the beginning, became almost impracticable:
respiration became more and more contracted and imperfect, until half
past eleven on Saturday night; when, retaining the full possession of
his intellect, he expired without a struggle.
Believing at the commencement of his complaint, as well as through
every succeeding stage of it, that its conclusion would be mortal, he
submitted to the exertions made for his recovery, rather as a duty,
than from any expectation of their efficacy. Some hours before his
death, after repeated efforts to be understood, he succeeded in
expressing a desire that he might be permitted to die without
interruption. After it became impossible to get any thing down his
throat, he undressed himself and went to bed, there to die. To his
friend and physician, Doctor Craik, who sat on his bed, and took his
head in his lap, he said with difficulty, "Doctor, I am dying, and
have been dying for a long time, but I am not afraid to die."
During the short period of his illness he economized his time, in
arranging with the utmost serenity those few concerns which required
his attention; and anticipated his approaching dissolution with every
demonstration of that equanimity, for which his life was so uniformly,
and singularly, conspicuous.
The deep and wide spreading grief occasioned by this melancholy event,
assembled a great concourse of people for the purpose of paying the
last tribute of respect to the first of Americans. His body, attended
by military honours and the ceremonies of religion, was deposited in
the family vault at Mount Vernon, on Wednesday, the 18th of December.
So short was his illness that, at the seat of government, the
intelligence of his death preceded that of his indisposition. It was
first communicated by a passenger in the stage to an acquaintance whom
he met in the street, and the report quickly reached the house of
representatives which was then in session. The utmost dismay and
affliction was displayed for a few minutes; after which a member
stated in his place, the melancholy information which had been
received. This information he said was not certain, but there was too
much reason to believe it true.
"After receiving intelligence," he added, "of a national calamity so
heavy and afflicting, the house of representatives can be but ill
fitted for public business." He therefore moved an adjournment. Both
houses adjourned until the next day.
On the succeeding day, as soon as the orders were read, the same
member addressed the chair in the following terms:
"The melancholy event which was yesterday announced with doubt, has
been rendered but too certain. Our WASHINGTON is no more! the hero,
the patriot, and the sage of America;--the man on whom, in times of
danger, every eye was turned, and all hopes were placed,--lives now
only in his own great actions, and in the hearts of an affectionate
and afflicted people.
"If, sir, it had even not been usual openly to testify respect for the
memory of those whom heaven has selected as its instruments for
dispensing good to man, yet, such has been the uncommon worth, and
such the extraordinary incidents which have marked the life of him
whose loss we all deplore, that the whole American nation, impelled by
the same feelings, would call, with one voice, for a public
manifestation of that sorrow which is so deep and so universal.
"More than any other individual, and as much as to one individual was
possible, has he contributed to found this our wide spreading empire,
and to give to the western world independence and freedom.
"Having effected the great object for which he was placed at the head
of our armies, we have seen him convert the sword into the
ploughshare, and sink the soldier into the citizen.
"When the debility of our federal system had become manifest, and the
bonds which connected this vast continent were dissolving, we have
seen him the chief of those patriots who formed for us a constitution
which, by preserving the union, will, I trust, substantiate and
perpetuate those blessings which our revolution had promised to
bestow.
"In obedience to the general voice of his country calling him to
preside over a great people, we have seen him once more quit the
retirement he loved, and, in a season more stormy and tempestuous than
war itself, with calm and wise determination, pursue the true
interests of the nation, and contribute, more than any other could
contribute, to the establishment of that system of policy, which will,
I trust, yet preserve our peace, our honour, and our independence.
"Having been twice unanimously chosen the chief magistrate of a free
people, we have seen him, at a time when his re-election with
universal suffrage could not be doubted, afford to the world a rare
instance of moderation, by withdrawing from his high station to the
peaceful walks of private life.
"However the public confidence may change, and the public affections
fluctuate with respect to others, with respect to him, they have, in
war and in peace, in public and in private life, been as steady as his
own firm mind, and as constant as his own exalted virtues.
"Let us then, Mr. Speaker, pay the last tribute of respect and
affection to our departed friend. Let the grand council of the nation
display those sentiments which the nation feels. For this purpose I
hold in my hand some resolutions which I take the liberty of offering
to the house."
The resolutions,[58] after a preamble stating the death of General
Washington, were in the following terms.
[Footnote 58: These resolutions were prepared by General
Lee, who happening not to be in his place when the
melancholy intelligence was received and first mentioned in
the house, placed them in the hands of the member who moved
them.]
"Resolved, that this house will wait on the President in condolence of
this mournful event.
"Resolved, that the speaker's chair be shrouded with black, and that
the members and officers of the house wear black during the session.
"Resolved, that a committee, in conjunction with one from the senate,
be appointed to consider on the most suitable manner of paying honour
to the memory of the MAN, first in war, first in peace, and first in
the hearts of his fellow citizens."
Immediately after the passage of these resolutions, a written message
was received from the President, accompanying a letter from Mr. Lear,
which he said, "will inform you that it had pleased Divine Providence
to remove from this life our excellent fellow citizen, GEORGE
WASHINGTON, by the purity of his life, and a long series of services
to his country, rendered illustrious through the world. It remains for
an affectionate and grateful people, in whose hearts he can never die,
to pay suitable honour to his memory."
To the speaker and members of the house of representatives who waited
on him in pursuance of the resolution which has been mentioned, he
expressed the same deep-felt and affectionate respect "for the most
illustrious and beloved personage America had ever produced."
The senate, on this melancholy occasion, addressed to the President
the following letter:
"The senate of the United States respectfully take leave, sir, to
express to you their deep regret for the loss their country sustains
in the death of General GEORGE WASHINGTON.
"This event, so distressing to all our fellow citizens, must be
peculiarly heavy to you who have long been associated with him in
_deeds of patriotism_. Permit us, sir, to mingle our tears with yours.
On this occasion it is manly to weep. To lose such a man, at such a
crisis, is no common calamity to the world. Our country mourns a
father. The Almighty disposer of human events has taken from us our
greatest benefactor and ornament. It becomes us to submit with
reverence, to HIM who 'maketh darkness his pavilion.'
"With patriotic pride we review the life of our WASHINGTON, and
compare him with those of other countries who have been pre-eminent in
fame. Ancient and modern names are diminished before him. Greatness
and guilt have too often been allied; but _his_ fame is whiter than it
is brilliant. The destroyers of nations stood abashed at the majesty
of _his_ virtues. It reproved the intemperance of their ambition, and
darkened the splendour of victory. The scene is closed,--and we are no
longer anxious lest misfortune should sully his glory; he has traveled
on to the end of his journey, and carried with him an increasing
weight of honour: he has deposited it safely where misfortune can not
tarnish it; where malice can not blast it. Favoured of heaven, he
departed without exhibiting the weakness of humanity; magnanimous in
death, the darkness of the grave could not obscure his brightness.
"Such was the man whom we deplore. Thanks to God, his glory is
consummated. Washington yet lives on earth in his spotless
example--his spirit is in heaven.
"Let his countrymen consecrate the memory of the heroic general, the
patriotic statesman, and the virtuous sage: let them teach their
children never to forget that the fruits of his labours and his
example _are their inheritance_."
To this address the President returned the following answer: "I
receive, with the most respectful and affectionate sentiments, in this
impressive address, the obliging expressions of your regret for the
loss our country has sustained in the death of her most esteemed,
beloved, and admired citizen.
"In the multitude of my thoughts and recollections on this melancholy
event, you will permit me to say that I have seen him in the days of
adversity, in some of the scenes of his deepest distress and most
trying perplexities. I have also attended him in his highest elevation
and most prosperous felicity, with uniform admiration of his wisdom,
moderation, and constancy.
"Among all our original associates in that memorable _league of this
continent_ in 1774, which first expressed the SOVEREIGN WILL OF A FREE
NATION IN AMERICA, he was the only one remaining in the general
government. Although with a constitution more enfeebled than his, at
an age when he thought it necessary to prepare for retirement, I feel
myself alone, bereaved of my last brother; yet I derive a strong
consolation from the unanimous disposition which appears in all ages
and classes to mingle their sorrows with mine on this common calamity
to the world.
"The life of our WASHINGTON can not suffer by a comparison with those
of other countries who have been most celebrated and exalted by fame.
The attributes and decorations of _royalty_ could only have served to
eclipse the majesty of those virtues which made him, from being a
modest _citizen_, a more resplendent luminary. Misfortune, had he
lived, could hereafter have sullied his glory only with those
superficial minds who, believing that characters and actions are
marked by success alone, rarely deserve to enjoy it. _Malice_ could
never blast his honour, and _Envy_ made him a singular exception to
her universal rule. For himself, he had lived long enough to life and
to glory:--for his fellow citizens, if their prayers could have been
answered, he would have been immortal: for me, his departure is at a
most unfortunate moment. Trusting, however, in the wise and righteous
dominion of Providence over the passions of men, and the results of
their councils and actions, as well as over their lives, nothing
remains for me but _humble resignation_.
"His example is now complete; and it will teach wisdom and virtue to
magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in
future generations, as long as our history shall be read. If a Trajan
found a Pliny, a Marcus Aurelius can never want biographers,
eulogists, or historians."
The joint committee which had been appointed to devise the mode by
which the nation should express its feelings on this melancholy
occasion, reported the following resolutions:
"That a marble monument be erected by the United States at the city of
Washington, and that the family of General Washington be requested to
permit his body to be deposited under it; and that the monument be so
designed as to commemorate the great events of his military and
political life.
"That there be a funeral procession from congress hall to the German
Lutheran church, in memory of General Washington, on Thursday, the
26th instant, and that an oration be prepared at the request of
congress, to be delivered before both houses on that day; and that the
president of the senate, and speaker of the house of representatives,
be desired to request one of the members of congress to prepare and
deliver the same.
"That it be recommended to the people of the United States to wear
crape on the left arm as a mourning for thirty days.
"That the President of the United States be requested to direct a copy
of these resolutions to be transmitted to Mrs. Washington, assuring
her of the profound respect congress will ever bear to her person and
character, of their condolence on the late affecting dispensation of
Providence, and entreating her assent to the interment of the remains
of General Washington in the manner expressed in the first resolution.
"That the President be requested to issue his proclamation, notifying
to the people throughout the United States the recommendation
contained in the third resolution."
These resolutions passed both houses unanimously, and those which
would admit of immediate execution were carried into effect. The whole
nation appeared in mourning. The funeral procession was grand and
solemn, and the eloquent oration, which was delivered on the occasion
by General Lee, was heard with profound attention and with deep
interest.
Throughout the United States, similar marks of affliction were
exhibited. In every part of the continent funeral orations were
delivered, and the best talents of the nation were devoted to an
expression of the nation's grief.
To the letter of the President which transmitted to Mrs. Washington
the resolutions of congress, and of which his secretary was the
bearer, that lady answered, "Taught by the great example which I have
so long had before me, never to oppose my private wishes to the public
will, I must consent to the request made by congress which you have
had the goodness to transmit to me;--and in doing this, I need not, I
can not say what a sacrifice of individual feeling I make to a sense
of public duty."
The monument, however, has not been erected. That the great events of
the political as well as military life of General Washington should be
commemorated, could not be pleasing to those who had condemned, and
who continued to condemn, the whole course of his administration. This
resolution, although it passed unanimously, had many enemies. That
party which had long constituted the opposition, and which, though the
minority for the moment, nearly divided the house of representatives,
declared its preference for the equestrian statue which had been voted
by congress at the close of the war. The division between a statue and
a monument was so nearly equal, that the session passed away without
an appropriation for either. The public feelings soon subsided, and
those who possessed the ascendancy over the public sentiment employed
their influence to draw odium on the men who favoured a monument; to
represent that measure as a part of a general system to waste the
public money; and to impress the idea that the only proper monument to
the memory of a meritorious citizen, was that which the people would
erect in their affections.
[Illustration: Resting-Place of George and Martha Washington at Mount
Vernon
_Dying December 14, 1799, the body of Washington Was placed, with
simple but impressive ceremonies, in the old family vault, from which
it was removed in 1831 to a tomb of plain brick construction, near a
wooded ravine a short distance from the house. Behind an iron grating
may be seen the two sarcophagi which contain the mortal remains of
George Washington and his wife, Martha._]
General Washington was rather above the common size, his frame was
robust, and his constitution vigorous--capable of enduring great
fatigue, and requiring a considerable degree of exercise for the
preservation of his health. His exterior created in the beholder the
idea of strength, united with manly gracefulness.
[Sidenote: And character.]
His manners were rather reserved than free, though they partook
nothing of that dryness, and sternness, which accompany reserve when
carried to an extreme; and on all proper occasions, he could relax
sufficiently to show how highly he was gratified by the charms of
conversation, and the pleasures of society. His person and whole
deportment exhibited an unaffected and indescribable dignity,
unmingled with haughtiness, of which all who approached him were
sensible; and the attachment of those who possessed his friendship,
and enjoyed his intimacy, was ardent, but always respectful.
His temper was humane, benevolent, and conciliatory; but there was a
quickness in his sensibility to any thing apparently offensive, which
experience had taught him to watch, and to correct.
In the management of his private affairs he exhibited an exact yet
liberal economy. His funds were not prodigally wasted on capricious
and ill examined schemes, nor refused to beneficial though costly
improvements. They remained therefore competent to that expensive
establishment which his reputation, added to a hospitable temper, had
in some measure imposed upon him; and to those donations which real
distress has a right to claim from opulence.
He made no pretensions to that vivacity which fascinates, or to that
wit which dazzles, and frequently imposes on the understanding-More
solid than brilliant, judgment, rather than genius, constituted the
most prominent feature of his character.
Without making ostentatious professions of religion, he was a sincere
believer in the Christian faith, and a truly devout man.
As a military man, he was brave, enterprising, and cautious. That
malignity which was sought to strip him of all the higher qualities of
a General, has conceded to him personal courage, and a firmness of
resolution which neither dangers nor difficulties could shake. But
candour will allow him other great and valuable endowments. If his
military course does not abound with splendid achievements, it
exhibits a series of judicious measures adapted to circumstances,
which probably saved his country.
Placed, without having studied the theory, or been taught in the
school of experience the practice of war, at the head of an
undisciplined, ill organized multitude, which was impatient of the
restraints, and unacquainted with the ordinary duties of a camp,
without the aid of officers possessing those lights which the
Commander-in-chief was yet to acquire, it would have been a miracle
indeed had his conduct been absolutely faultless. But, possessing an
energetic and distinguishing mind, on which the lessons of experience
were never lost, his errors, if he committed any, were quickly
repaired; and those measures which the state of things rendered most
adviseable, were seldom, if ever, neglected. Inferior to his adversary
in the numbers, in the equipment, and in the discipline of his troops,
it is evidence of real merit that no great and decisive advantages
were ever obtained over him, and that the opportunity to strike an
important blow never passed away unused. He has been termed the
American Fabius; but those who compare his actions with his means,
will perceive at least as much of Marcellus as of Fabius, in his
character. He could not have been more enterprising, without
endangering the cause he defended, nor have put more to hazard,
without incurring justly the imputation of rashness. Not relying upon
those chances which sometimes give a favourable issue to attempts
apparently desperate, his conduct was regulated by calculations made
upon the capacities of his army, and the real situation of his
country. When called a second time to command the armies of the United
States, a change of circumstances had taken place, and he meditated a
corresponding change of conduct. In modelling the army of 1798, he
sought for men distinguished for their boldness of execution, not less
than for their prudence in counsel, and contemplated a system of
continued attack. "The enemy," said the General in his private
letters, "must never be permitted to gain foothold on our shores."
In his civil administration, as in his military career, ample and
repeated proofs were exhibited of that practical good sense, of that
sound judgment, which is perhaps the most rare, and is certainly the
most valuable quality of the human mind. Devoting himself to the
duties of his station, and pursuing no object distinct from the public
good, he was accustomed to contemplate at a distance those critical
situations in which the United States might probably be placed; and to
digest, before the occasion required action, the line of conduct which
it would be proper to observe. Taught to distrust first impressions,
he sought to acquire all the information which was attainable, and to
hear, without prejudice, all the reasons which could be urged for or
against a particular measure. His own judgment was suspended until it
became necessary to determine; and his decisions, thus maturely made,
were seldom if ever to be shaken. His conduct therefore was
systematic, and the great objects of his administration were steadily
pursued.
Respecting, as the first magistrate in a free government must ever do,
the real and deliberate sentiments of the people, their gusts of
passion passed over, without ruffling the smooth surface of his mind.
Trusting to the reflecting good sense of the nation for approbation
and support, he had the magnanimity to pursue its real interests, in
opposition to its temporary prejudices; and, though far from being
regardless of popular favour, he could never stoop to retain, by
deserving to lose it. In more instances than one, we find him
committing his whole popularity to hazard, and pursuing steadily, in
opposition to a torrent which would have overwhelmed a man of ordinary
firmness, that course which had been dictated by a sense of duty.
In speculation, he was a real republican, devoted to the constitution
of his country, and to that system of equal political rights on which
it is founded. But between a balanced republic and a democracy, the
difference is like that between order and chaos. Real liberty, he
thought, was to be preserved, only by preserving the authority of the
laws, and maintaining the energy of government. Scarcely did society
present two characters which, in his opinion, less resembled each
other, than a patriot and a demagogue.
No man has ever appeared upon the theatre of public action, whose
integrity was more incorruptible, or whose principles were more
perfectly free from the contamination of those selfish and unworthy
passions, which find their nourishment in the conflicts of party.
Having no views which required concealment, his real and avowed
motives were the same; and his whole correspondence does not furnish a
single case, from which even an enemy would infer that he was capable,
under any circumstances, of stooping to the employment of duplicity.
No truth can be uttered with more confidence than that his ends were
always upright, and his means always pure. He exhibits the rare
example of a politician to whom wiles were absolutely unknown, and
whose professions to foreign governments, and to his own countrymen,
were always sincere. In him was fully exemplified the real
distinction, which forever exists, between wisdom and cunning, and the
importance as well as truth of the maxim that "honesty is the best
policy."
If Washington possessed ambition, that passion was, in his bosom, so
regulated by principles, or controlled by circumstances, that it was
neither vicious, nor turbulent. Intrigue was never employed as the
means of its gratification, nor was personal aggrandizement its
object. The various high and important stations to which he was called
by the public voice, were unsought by himself; and, in consenting to
fill them, he seems rather to have yielded to a general conviction
that the interests of his country would be thereby promoted, than to
an avidity for power.
Neither the extraordinary partiality of the American people, the
extravagant praises which were bestowed upon him, nor the inveterate
opposition and malignant calumnies which he encountered, had any
visible influence upon his conduct. The cause is to be looked for in
the texture of his mind.
In him, that innate and unassuming modesty which adulation would have
offended, which the voluntary plaudits of millions could not betray
into indiscretion, and which never obtruded upon others his claims to
superior consideration, was happily blended with a high and correct
sense of personal dignity, and with a just consciousness of that
respect which is due to station. Without exertion, he could maintain
the happy medium between that arrogance which wounds, and that
facility which allows the office to be degraded in the person who
fills it.
It is impossible to contemplate the great events which have occurred
in the United States under the auspices of Washington, without
ascribing them, in some measure, to him. If we ask the causes of the
prosperous issue of a war, against the successful termination of which
there were so many probabilities? of the good which was produced, and
the ill which was avoided, during an administration fated to contend
with the strongest prejudices, that a combination of circumstances,
and of passions, could produce? of the constant favour of the great
mass of his fellow citizens, and of the confidence which, to the last
moment of his life, they reposed in him? the answer, so far as these
causes may be found in his character, will furnish a lesson well
meriting the attention of those who are candidates for political fame.
Endowed by nature with a sound judgment, and an accurate
discriminating mind, he feared not that laborious attention which made
him perfectly master of those subjects, in all their relations, on
which he was to decide: and this essential quality was guided by an
unvarying sense of moral right, which would tolerate the employment,
only, of those means that would bear the most rigid examination; by a
fairness of intention which neither sought nor required disguise: and
by a purity of virtue which was not only untainted, but unsuspected.
NOTES.
NOTE--No. I. _See Page 9._
_The following are copies of these interesting questions, and of the
letter which enclosed them._
Philadelphia, 18th April, 1793.
SIR,--The posture of affairs in Europe, particularly between France
and Great Britain, place the United States in a delicate situation,
and require much consideration of the measures which will be proper
for them to observe in the war between those powers. With a view to
forming a general plan of conduct for the executive, I have stated and
enclosed sundry questions to be considered preparatory to a meeting at
my house to-morrow, where I shall expect to see you at 9 o'clock, and
to receive the result of your reflections thereon.
_Ques._ I. Shall a proclamation issue for the purpose of preventing
interferences of the citizens of the United States in the war between
France and Great Britain, &c.? shall it contain a declaration of
neutrality or not? what shall it contain?
_Ques._ II. Shall a minister from the republic of France be received?
_Ques._ III. If received, shall it be absolutely or with
qualifications; and if with qualifications, of what kind?
_Ques._ IV. Are the United States obliged by good faith to consider
the treaties heretofore made with France as applying to the present
situation of the parties? may they either renounce them or hold them
suspended until the government of France shall be _established_?
_Ques._ V. If they have the right, is it expedient to do either? and
which?
_Ques._ VI. If they have an option, would it be a breach of neutrality
to consider the treaties still in operation?
_Ques._ VII. If the treaties are to be considered as now in operation,
is the guarantee in the treaty of alliance applicable to a defensive
war only, or to war, either offensive or defensive?
_Ques._ VIII. Does the war in which France is engaged appear to be
offensive or defensive on her part? or of a mixed and equivocal
character?
_Ques._ IX. If of a mixed and equivocal character, does the guarantee
in any event apply to such a war?
_Ques._ X. What is the effect of a guarantee, such as that to be found
in the treaty of alliance between the United States and France?
_Ques._ XI. Does any article in either of the treaties prevent ships
of war, other than privateers, of the powers opposed to France, from
coming into the ports of the United States to act as convoys to their
own merchantmen? or does it lay any other restraints upon them more
than would apply to the ships of war of France?
_Ques._ XII. Should the future regent of France send a minister to the
United States, ought he to be received?
_Ques._ XIII. Is it necessary or adviseable to call together the two
houses of congress with a view to the present posture of European
affairs? if it is, what should be the particular objects of such a
call?
* * * * *
NOTE--No. II. _See Page 15._
The official letter announcing to the convention the appointment of
Mr. Genet, contained a communication of a very delicate nature, which
was immediately made public. That the French government had not
mingled with its desire to separate America from Britain, a
willingness to see the United States acquire a degree of strength
which might render them truly independent, and formidable to their
neighbours, though well known to congress, had been concealed from the
people at large. It seems, therefore, to have been apprehended by the
leaders of the revolution in France, that some remnant of that
affection which had been so lavishly expressed for their fallen
monarch while exercising sovereign power, might still be cherished in
the American bosom, and might obstruct the endeavours they were about
to make to produce a more intimate connexion between the two nations.
It might be supposed that such sentiments, if they existed, would be
effectually destroyed by a disclosure of the motives which had
influenced the conduct of those by whom the aids so highly valued had
been granted. The letter alluded to contains this passage: "From the
instructions that were given by the former ministry to the agents in
that country (America) which the executive council caused to be laid
before them, they have seen with indignation, that at the very time
when the good people of America expressed to us their friendship and
gratitude in the most affectionate manner, Vergennes and Montmorin
thought, _that it was not suitable to France to give to America all
the consistence of which it was capable, because it would acquire a
strength which it might probably abuse_. They, therefore, enjoined on
their agents a passive conduct in regard to that nation, and to speak
of nothing but the personal views of the king for its prosperity. The
operations of war were directed by the same Machiavellian maxims. The
same duplicity was employed in the negotiations of peace; in which,
when signed, the people for whom we had taken up arms were altogether
neglected." The official letter brought by Mr. Genet, to the executive
of the United States, conveyed in less explicit terms the same idea;
and to prove the correctness of these allegations, he communicated
copies of official documents expressing in plain terms the solicitude
of France and Spain to exclude the United States from the Mississippi;
their jealousies of the growing power and ambition of this country;
and the wish of France, expressed while the question was pending, that
the constitution might not be adopted, as it "suits France that the
United States should remain in their present state, because if they
should acquire the consistence of which they are susceptible, they
would soon acquire a force or a power which they would be very ready
to abuse." The minister of the king, however, was directed not to avow
the inclination of his sovereign on this point.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. III. _See Page 40._
Of the excessive and passionate devotion which was felt for the French
republic, and of the blind and almost equally extensive hostility to
the measures of the administration, the gazettes of the day are
replete with the most abundant proof. As an example of this spirit,
the following toasts are selected, because they were given at a
festival made by persons of some distinction, at which the governor of
Pennsylvania and the minister of France were present.
To commemorate the 14th of July, the anniversary of the destruction of
the Bastille, the officers of the 2d regiment of Philadelphia militia
assembled at Weed's ferry. Eighty-five rounds were discharged from the
artillery in honour of the eighty-five departments of France, and the
following toasts were given:
1st. The _fourteenth_ day of July; may it be a sabbath in the calendar
of freedom, and a jubilee to the European world.
2d. The _tenth_ of August; may the freemen who offered up their lives
on the altar of liberty be ever remembered as martyrs, and canonized
as saints.
3d. May the Bastille of despotism throughout the earth be crumbled
into dust, and the Phoenix of freedom grow out of the ashes.
4th. Nerve to the arm, fortitude to the heart, and triumph to the soul
struggling for the rights of man.
5th. May no blind attachment to men lead France to the precipice of
that tyranny from which they have escaped.
6th. May the sister republics of France and America be as incorporate
as light and heat, and the man who endeavours to disunite them be
viewed as the Arnold of his country.
7th. May honour and probity be the principles by which the connexions
of free nations shall be determined; and no Machiavellian commentaries
explain the text of treaties.
8th. _The treaty of alliance with France_: may those who attempt to
evade or violate the political obligations and faith of our country be
considered as traitors, and consigned to infamy.
9th. _The citizen soldiers_, before they act may they know and approve
the cause, and may remorse attend the man that would think of opposing
the French while they war for the rights of man.
10th. The _youth_ of the _Paris legion_; may the rising generation of
America imitate their heroism and love of country.
11th. The republics of France and America; may the cause of liberty
ever be a bond of union between the two nations.
12th. A dagger to the bosom of that man who makes patriotism a cover
to his ambition, and feels his country's happiness absorbed in his
own.
13th. May _French_, superior to _Roman or Grecian_ virtue, be the
electric fluid of freedom, that shall animate and quicken the earth.
14th. Union and mutual confidence to the patriots of France; confusion
and distress to the counsels of their enemies.
15th. May the succeeding generation wonder that such beings as _kings_
were ever permitted to exist.
Volunteer from the chair.
The rule of proportion; as France acted with respect to America, so
may America act with respect to France!
* * * * *
NOTE--No. IV. _See Page 47._
Of the sensibility of the president to the calumnies against his
administration with which the press abounded, and of their new
direction against him personally, his correspondence furnishes but few
evidences. The first and almost only notice taken of them is in a
private letter of the 21st of July, to his friend General Lee, then
governor of Virginia, an extract from which follows:
"That there are in this, as in all other countries, discontented
characters I well know; as also that these characters are actuated by
very different views:--Some good, from an opinion that the measures of
the general government are impure;--some bad, and (if I might be
allowed to use so harsh an expression) diabolical, inasmuch as they
are not only meant to impede the measures of that government
generally, but more especially to destroy the confidence which it is
necessary the people should place (until they have unequivocal proof
of demerit) in their public servants:--for in this light I consider
myself whilst I am an occupant of office; and if they were to go
further and call me their slave, during this period, I would not
dispute the point with them. But in what will this abuse terminate?
"For the result, as it respects myself, I care not. I have a
consolation within of which no earthly efforts can deprive me;--and
that is, that neither ambitious nor interested motives have influenced
my conduct. The arrows of malevolence, therefore, however barbed and
pointed, can never reach my most valuable part; though, whilst I am
_up_ as a _mark_, they will be continually aimed at me. The
publications in Freneau's and Bache's papers are outrages on common
decency; and they progress in that style in proportion as their pieces
are treated with contempt, and passed over in silence by those against
whom they are directed. Their tendency, however, is too obvious to be
mistaken by men of cool and dispassionate minds;--and, in my opinion,
ought to alarm them; because it is difficult to prescribe bounds to
their effect."
* * * * *
NOTE--No. V. _See Page 48._
They are as follows:
1st. The original arming and equipping of vessels in the ports of the
United States by any of the belligerent parties, for military service,
offensive or defensive, is deemed unlawful.
2d. Equipments of merchant vessels, by either of the belligerent
parties in the ports of the United States, purely for the
accommodation of them as such, is deemed lawful.
3d. Equipments in the ports of the United States of vessels of war in
the immediate service of the government of any of the belligerent
parties, which if done to other vessels would be of a doubtful nature
as being applicable either to commerce or war, are deemed lawful,
except those which shall have made prize of the subjects, people, or
property of France, coming with their prizes into the ports of the
United States pursuant to the seventeenth article of our treaty of
amity and commerce with France.
4th. Equipments in the ports of the United States by any of the
parties at war with France of vessels fitted for merchandise and war,
whether with or without commissions, which are doubtful in their
nature as being applicable either to commerce or war, are deemed
lawful, except those which shall have made prize, &c.
5th. Equipments of any of the vessels of France, in the ports of the
United States, which are doubtful in their nature as being applicable
to commerce or war, are deemed lawful.
6th. Equipments of every kind in the ports of the United States, of
privateers of the powers at war with France, are deemed unlawful.
7th. Equipments of vessels in the ports of the United States, which
are of a nature solely adapted to war, are deemed unlawful; except
those stranded or wrecked, as mentioned in the eighteenth article of
our treaty with France, the sixteenth of our treaty with the United
Netherlands, the ninth of our treaty with Prussia, and except those
mentioned in the nineteenth article of our treaty with France, the
seventeenth of our treaty with the United Netherlands, the eighteenth
of our treaty with Prussia.
8th. Vessels of either of the parties, not armed, or armed previous to
their coming into the ports of the United States, which shall not have
infringed any of the foregoing rules, may lawfully engage or enlist
therein their own subjects or citizens, not being inhabitants of the
United States, except privateers of the powers at war with France, and
except those vessels which shall have made prize, &c.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. VI. _See Page 64._
The earnestness as well as force with which the argument against this
measure was pressed on the British cabinet, and the extreme irritation
it produced on the public mind, contrasted with the silence of the
executive respecting a much more exceptionable decree of the national
convention, and the composure of the people of the United States under
that decree, exhibits a striking proof of the difference with which
not only the people, but an administration, which the phrensy of the
day accused of partiality to England, contemplated at that time the
measures of the two nations.
On the 9th of May, 1793, the national convention passed a decree
relative to the commerce of neutrals; the first article of which is in
these words: "The French ships of war and privateers may stop and
bring into the ports of the republic, such neutral vessels as are
loaded, in whole or in part either with provisions belonging to
neutrals and destined for enemy ports, or with merchandise belonging
to enemies."
On the 23d of May, in consequence of the remonstrances of Mr. Morris,
the convention declared, "that the vessels of the United States are
not comprised in the regulations of the decree of the 9th of May." On
the 28th of the same month the decree of the 23d was repealed, and on
the first of July it was re-established. But on the 27th of July it
was again repealed, and thus the decree of the 9th of May was left in
full operation against the vessels of the United States.
So far was this regulation from affecting the sentiments of America
for France, that its existence was scarcely known.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. VII. _See Page 90._
Before these resolutions were offered, the strength of parties was in
some measure tried in a fuller house than that which had elected the
speaker.
A rule had been entered into by a former congress providing, that on
the discussion of confidential communications from the president, the
house should be cleared of all persons except the members and clerk.
On taking up a confidential message relative to the truce between
Portugal and Algiers, the doors as usual were closed. The next day
when the subject was resumed, Mr. Nicholas expressed his opinion that
there was no necessity for shutting the galleries; upon which the rule
was mentioned with a request that it should be read. Mr. Madison moved
a reconsideration of this rule. In the course of the debate on the
motion, it was said by its advocates that secrecy in a republican
government wounds the majesty of the sovereign people--that this
government is in the hands of the people--and that they have a right
to know all the transactions relative to their own affairs. This right
ought not to be infringed incautiously, for such secrecy tends to
diminish the confidence of the people in their own government.
In reply to these remarks it was said, that because this government is
republican, it will not be pretended that it can have no secrets. The
President of the United States is the depositary of secret
transactions. His duty may lead him to communicate them to the members
of the house, and the success, safety, and energy of the government
may depend on keeping those secrets inviolable. The people have a
right to be well governed. They have interests as well as rights, and
it is the duty of the legislature to take every possible measure to
promote those interests. To discuss the secret transactions of the
government publicly, was the ready way to sacrifice the public
interest, and to deprive the government of all foreign information.
Afterwards the rule was amended so far as to leave it in the
discretion of the house, after receiving a confidential message, to
debate upon it in private or in public.
Among the resolutions reported from the committee of the whole house
on this occasion, was one for appointing a committee to report the
naval force which would be necessary for the protection of the
commerce of the United States against the Algerine corsairs, together
with an estimate of the expense. It was moved to amend this resolution
by adding, "and the ways and means for defraying the same." This
motion revived the old party question of calling on the secretary of
the treasury to report ways and means. The amendment was carried, Ayes
46. Noes 44.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. VIII. _See Page 147._
The private correspondence of Mr. Morris with the president exhibits a
faithful picture, drawn by the hand of a master, of the shifting
revolutionary scenes which with unparalleled rapidity succeeded each
other in Paris. With the eye of an intelligent, and of an
unimpassioned observer, he marked all passing events, and communicated
them with fidelity. He did not mistake despotism for freedom, because
it was sanguinary, because it was exercised by those who denominated
themselves the people, or because it assumed the name of liberty.
Sincerely wishing happiness and a really free government to France, he
could not be blind to the obvious truth that the road to those
blessings had been mistaken. It was expected by his enemies that the
correspondence which was asked for would disclose something which
might be deemed offensive to the rulers of the republic, and
consequently furnish additional matter for charging the administration
with unfriendliness to France.
The resolution requesting all the correspondence, not even excluding
that which the president might think proper to withhold, involved
considerations of some delicacy, respecting which it was proper that
the rights of the executive should be precisely understood. It was,
therefore, laid before the cabinet, and, in conformity with their
advice, the President sent a message to the senate informing them that
he had examined the correspondence they requested, and had caused it
to be copied, except in those particulars which in his judgment, for
public considerations, ought not to be communicated; which copies he
transmitted to them. The nature of these papers, he added, manifested
the propriety of their being received as confidential.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. IX. _See Page 164._
This opinion derived fresh confirmation from a notification
transmitted in August, 1794, by the governor of Upper Canada to
Captain Williamson, who was establishing a settlement on the Great
Sodus, a bay of lake Ontario, about twenty miles from Oswego, and
within the state of New York. Captain Williamson not being at the
place, Lieutenant Sheaff, the bearer of the message, addressed a
letter to him, in which he said, that he had come with instructions
from the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada to demand by what
authority an establishment had been ordered at that place, and to
require that such a design be immediately relinquished for the reasons
stated in the written declaration accompanying the letter.
The written declaration was in these words:
"I am commanded to declare that, during the inexecution of the treaty
of peace between Great Britain and the United States, and until the
existing differences respecting it shall be mutually and finally
adjusted, the taking possession of any part of the Indian territory,
either for the purposes of war or sovereignty, is held to be a direct
violation of his Britannic majesty's rights, as they unquestionably
existed before the treaty, and has an immediate tendency to interrupt,
and in its progress to destroy that good understanding which has
hitherto subsisted between his Britannic majesty and the United States
of America. I, therefore, require you to desist from any such
aggression."
In the same spirit, complaints had been made as early as 1792, of
encroachments made by the people of Vermont on a country confessedly
within the territorial line of the United States, but inhabited by
persons said to live under the protection of the British garrisons.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. X. _See Page 205._
_On receiving the resignation of the secretary, the
President addressed a letter to him expressive of the sense
he entertained of his services. This letter is not found in
the letter book, but its purport may be collected from the
following answer._
Philadelphia, February 3d, 1795.
"SIR,--My particular acknowledgments are due for your very kind letter
of yesterday. As often as I may recall the vexations I have endured,
your approbation will be a great and precious consolation.
"It was not without a struggle that I yielded to the very urgent
motives which impelled me to relinquish a station in which I could
hope to be in any degree instrumental in promoting the success of an
administration under your direction; a struggle which would have been
far greater had I supposed that the prospect of future usefulness was
proportioned to the sacrifices to be made.
"Whatever may be my destination hereafter, I entreat you to be
persuaded (not the less for my having been sparing in professions)
that I shall never cease to render a just tribute to those eminent and
excelling qualities which have been already productive of so many
blessings to your country--that you will always have my fervent wishes
for your public and personal felicity, and that it will be my pride to
cultivate a continuance of that esteem, regard and friendship, of
which you do me the honour to assure me."
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XI. _See Page 216._
The following toasts which were given at a civic feast in Philadelphia
on the first of May, attended by a great number of American citizens,
to celebrate the victories of France, and which was honoured by the
presence of the minister and consul of the French republic, and of the
consul of Holland, then subdued by the arms of France, will furnish
some idea of the prevailing spirit of the times.
1st. The republic of France; whose triumphs have made this day a
jubilee; may she destroy the race of kings, and may their broken
sceptres and crowns, like the bones and teeth of the Mammoth, be the
only evidences that such monsters ever infested the earth.
2d. The republic of France; may the shores of Great Britain soon hail
the tricoloured standard, and the people rend the air with shouts of
long live the republic.
3d. The republic of France; may her navy clear the ocean of pirates,
that the common highway of nations may no longer, like the highways of
Great Britain, be a receptacle for robbers.
4th. The republic of France; may all free nations learn of her to
transfer their attachment from men to principles, and from individuals
to the people.
5th. The republic of France; may her example in the abolition of
titles and splendour be a lesson to all republics to destroy those
leavens of corruption.
6th. The republic of Holland; may the flame of liberty which they have
rekindled never be permitted to expire for want of vigilance and
energy.
7th. The republic of Holland; may her two sisters, the republics of
France and America, form with her an invincible triumvirate in the
cause of liberty.
8th. The republic of Holland; may she again give birth to a Van Tromp
and De Ruyter, who shall make the satellites of George tremble at
their approach, and seek their safety in flight.
9th. The republic of Holland; may that fortitude which sustained her
in the dire conflict with Philip II. and the success that crowned her
struggles, be multiplied upon her, in the hour of her regeneration.
10th. The republic of Holland; may that government which they are
about establishing have neither the balances of aristocracy, nor the
checks of monarchy.
11th. The republic of America; may the sentiment that impelled her to
resist a British tyrant's will, and the energy which rendered it
effectual, prompt her to repel usurpation in whatever shape it may
assail her.
12th. The republic of America; may the aristocracy of wealth founded
upon the virtues, the toils, and the blood of her revolutionary armies
soon vanish, and like the baseless fabric of a vision, leave not a
wreck behind.
13th. The republic of America; may her government have public good for
its object, and be purged of the dregs of sophisticated republicanism.
14th. The republic of America; may the alliance formed between her and
France acquire vigour with age, and that man be branded as the enemy
of liberty who shall endeavour to weaken or unhinge it.
15th. The republic of America; may her administration have virtue
enough to defy the ordeal of patriotic societies, and patriotism
enough to cherish instead of denouncing them.
It was not in Philadelphia alone that this temper was manifested. In
every part of the United States, the love of France appeared to be a
passion much more active with immense numbers, than that of America.
Her victories were celebrated with enthusiasm, her heroes were toasted
on public occasions, and moderation with regard to England was deemed
a crime not readily to be pardoned.
General Washington received an invitation to attend this feast in the
following terms.
SIR,--The subscribers, a committee in behalf of a number of American,
French, and Dutch citizens, request the honour of your company to a
civic festival, to be given on Friday, April 17th, appointed to
celebrate the late victories of the French republic, and the
emancipation of Holland.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XII. _See Page 231._
A letter addressed to his government in October, 1794, by the minister
of the French republic was intercepted by the captain of a British
frigate and forwarded to Mr. Hammond, by whom it was delivered about
the last of July to the secretary of the treasury, who, on the arrival
of the President in Philadelphia, placed it in his hands. This letter
alluded to communications from Mr. Randolph which, in the opinion of
the President, were excessively improper. The ecclaircissements which
the occasion required were followed by the resignation of the
secretary. For the purpose, he alleged, of vindicating his conduct, he
demanded a sight of a confidential letter which had been addressed to
him by the President, and which was left in the office. His avowed
design was to give this as well as some others of the same description
to the public in order to support the allegation, that in consequence
of his attachment to France and to liberty, he had fallen a victim to
the intrigues of a British and an aristocratic party. The answer given
to this demand was a license which few politicians in turbulent times
could allow to a man who had possessed the unlimited confidence of the
person giving it. "I have directed," said the President, "that you
should have the inspection of my letter of the 22d of July, agreeable
to your request: and you are at full liberty to publish without
reserve _any_ and _every_ private and confidential letter I ever wrote
_you_: nay more--every word I ever uttered to or in your presence,
from whence you can derive any advantage in your vindication."
As the asperity with which Mr. Randolph spoke of the President on
other occasions as well as in his vindication, was censured by many,
it may rescue the reputation of that gentleman from imputations which
might be injurious to it to say that, some time before his death, he
had the magnanimity to acknowledge the injustice of those imputations.
A letter to the honourable Bushrod Washington, of July 2d, 1810, a
copy of which was transmitted by Mr. Randolph to the author, contains
the following declarations among others of similar import. "I do not
retain the smallest degree of that feeling which roused me fifteen
years ago against some individuals. For the world contains no
treasure, deception, or charm which can seduce me from the consolation
of being in a state of good will towards all mankind; and I should not
be mortified to ask pardon of any man with whom I have been at
variance for any injury which I may have done him. If I could now
present myself before your venerated uncle, it would be my pride to
confess my contrition that I suffered my irritation, let the cause be
what it might, to use some of those expressions respecting him which,
at this moment of my indifference to the ideas of the world, I wish to
recall, as being inconsistent with my subsequent conviction. My life
will I hope be sufficiently extended for the recording of my sincere
opinion of his virtues and merit, in a style which is not the result
of a mind merely debilitated by misfortune, but of that Christian
philosophy on which alone I depend for inward tranquillity."
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XIII. _See Page 231._
This place was offered to Mr. Henry, a gentleman of eminent talents,
great influence, and commanding eloquence. He had led the opposition
to the constitution in Virginia, but, after its adoption, his
hostility had in some measure subsided. He was truly a personal friend
of the President, and had lately manifested a temper not inimical to
the administration. The chief magistrate was anxious to engage him in
the public service, but was aware of the embarrassments which must
result from placing in so confidential a station, a person whose
opinions might lead him to thwart every measure of the executive. It
was, therefore, necessary to come to some explanations with Mr. Henry
on this subject, and the letter which invited him into the department
of state opened the way for this explanation by stating truly the
views and character of the administration. "I persuade myself, sir,"
said the President, "it has not escaped your observation, that a
crisis is approaching which must, if it can not be arrested, soon
decide whether order and good government shall be preserved, or
anarchy and confusion ensue. I can most religiously aver that I have
no wish incompatible with the dignity, happiness, and true interests
of the people of this country. My ardent desire is, and my aim has
been (as far as depended upon the executive department) to comply
strictly with all our foreign and domestic engagements; but to keep
the United States free from political connexions with _every_ other
country;--to see them independent of _all_, and under the influence of
_none_. In a word, I want an _American_ character; that the powers of
Europe may be convinced we act for _ourselves_ and not for _others_.
This, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad, and
happy at home; and not by becoming the partisans of Great Britain or
France, create dissensions, disturb the public tranquillity, and
destroy, perhaps forever, the cement that binds the union.
"I am satisfied these sentiments can not be otherwise than congenial
to your own. Your aid, therefore, in carrying them into effect would
be flattering and pleasing to me."
This accurate chart of the road he was invited to travel, presented in
itself no impediments which to Mr. Henry appeared insurmountable. By
private considerations alone was he restrained from proceeding in it.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XIV. _See Page 272._
The course of the war in Europe had brought the two parties into
opposition on a point on which no difference had originally existed
between them, which gave more countenance to the charge that the
advocates of the American government were unfriendly to France than it
could justly claim when first made. Those who in 1793 had supported
the proclamation of neutrality, and the whole system connected with
it, were then, generally speaking, ardent and sincere in their wishes
for the success of the French arms. But as the troops of the republic
subdued Belgium and Holland; as they conquered Italy, and established
the complete influence of France over the monarchy of Spain, this
union of sentiment gradually disappeared. By one party it was
contended that America could feel no interest in seeing Europe
subjected to any one power. That to such a power, the Atlantic would
afford no impassable barriers; and that no form of government was a
security against national ambition. They, therefore, wished this
series of victories to be interrupted; and that the balance of Europe
should not be absolutely overturned. Additional strength was
undoubtedly given to this course of reasoning by the aggressions of
France on the United States.
In the opinion of the opposite party, the triumphs of France were the
triumphs of liberty. In their view every nation which was subdued, was
a nation liberated from oppression. The fears of danger to the United
States from the further aggrandizement of a single power were treated
as chimerical, because that power being a republic must, consequently,
be the friend of republics in every part of the globe, and a stranger
to that lust of domination which was the characteristic passion of
monarchies. Shifting with address the sentiment really avowed by their
opponents, they ridiculed a solicitude for the existence of a balance
of power in Europe, as an opinion that America ought to embark herself
in the crusade of kings against France in order to preserve that
balance.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XV. _See Page 326._
The following extract from a letter written to General Knox the day
before the termination of his office, exhibits the sentiments with
which he contemplated this event, and with which he viewed the
unceasing calumnies with which his whole administration continued to
be aspersed.
"To the wearied traveller who sees a resting place, and is bending his
body to lean thereon, I now compare myself; but to be suffered to do
_this_ in peace, is too much to be endured by _some_. To misrepresent
my motives; to reprobate my politics; and to weaken the confidence
which has been reposed in my administration;--are objects which can
not be relinquished by those who will be satisfied with nothing short
of a change in our political system. The consolation, however, which
results from conscious rectitude, and the approving voice of my
country unequivocally expressed by its representatives--deprives their
sting of its poison, and places in the same point of view both the
weakness and the malignity of their efforts.
"Although the prospect of retirement is most grateful to my soul, and
I have not a wish to mix again in the great world, or to partake in
its politics, yet I am not without my regrets at parting with (perhaps
never more to meet) the few intimates whom I love. Among these, be
assured you are one."
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XVI. _See Page 329._
In the speech delivered by the President on taking the oaths of
office, after some judicious observations on the constitution of his
country, and on the dangers to which it was exposed, that able
statesman thus spoke of his predecessor.
"Such is the amiable and interesting system of government (and such
are some of the abuses to which it may be exposed) which the people of
America have exhibited, to the admiration and anxiety of the wise and
virtuous of all nations, for eight years, under the administration of
a citizen, who, by a long course of great actions, regulated by
prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude, conducting a people
inspired with the same virtues, and animated with the same ardent
patriotism and love of liberty, to independence and peace, to
increasing wealth and unexampled prosperity, has merited the gratitude
of his fellow-citizens, commanded the highest praises of foreign
nations, and secured immortal glory with posterity.
"In that retirement which is his voluntary choice, may he long live to
enjoy the delicious recollection of his services, the gratitude of
mankind, the happy fruits of them to himself and the world, which are
daily increasing, and that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of
his country which is opening from year to year. His name may be still
a rampart, and the knowledge that he lives a bulwark against all open
or secret enemies of his country's peace."
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XVII. _See Page 330._
To testify their love for the person who had for eight years
administered the government of the United States, the merchants of
Philadelphia had prepared a splendid banquet for the day, to which the
general, several officers of rank in the late army, the heads of
departments, foreign ministers, and other persons of distinction were
invited.
In the rotundo in which it was given, an elegant compliment was
prepared for the _principal guest_, which is thus described in the
papers of the day.
"Upon entering the area the general was conducted to his seat. On a
signal given, music played Washington's march, and a scene which
represented simple objects in the rear of the principal seat was drawn
up, and discovered emblematical painting.
"The principal was a female figure large as life, representing
America, seated on an elevation composed of sixteen marble steps. At
her left side, stood the federal shield and eagle, and at her feet,
lay the cornucopia; in her right hand, she held the Indian calumet of
peace supporting the cap of liberty: in the perspective appeared the
temple of fame; and on her left hand, an altar dedicated to public
gratitude, upon which incense was burning. In her left hand she held a
scroll inscribed valedictory; and at the foot of the altar lay a
plumed helmet and sword, from which a figure of General Washington,
large as life, appeared, retiring down the steps, pointing with his
right hand to the emblems of power which he had resigned, and with his
left to a beautiful landscape representing Mount Vernon, in front of
which oxen were seen harnessed to the plough. Over the general
appeared a _Genius_ placing a wreath of laurels on his head."
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XVIII. _See Page 348._
_(All footnotes on pages covered by Note No. XVIII are
references to the correspondence of Thomas Jefferson.)_
A letter from Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Mazzei, an Italian who had passed
some time in the United States, was published in Florence, and
republished in the Moniteur, with some severe strictures on the
conduct of the United States, and a remark "that the French government
had testified its resentment by breaking off communication with an
ungrateful and faithless ally until she shall return to a more just
and benevolent conduct. No doubt," adds the editor, "it will give rise
in the United States to discussions which may afford a triumph to the
party of good republicans, the friends of France.
"Some writers, in disapprobation of this wise and necessary measure of
the Directory, maintain that, in the United States, the French have
for partisans only certain demagogues who aim to overthrow the
existing government. But their impudent falsehoods convince no one,
and prove only, what is too evident, that they use the liberty of the
press to serve the enemies of France."
Mr. Jefferson, in his correspondence,[59] has animadverted on the
preceding note with such extreme bitterness, as to impose on its
author the necessity of entering into some explanations. Censure from
a gentleman who has long maintained an unexampled ascendency over
public opinion, can not be entirely disregarded.
[Footnote 59: Vol. iv. p. 402.]
The offence consists in the reference to the letter written by him to
Mr. Mazzei, which was published in Florence, and republished in Paris
by the editor of the Moniteur, then the official paper of the
Directory. In this letter, Mr. Jefferson says, a paragraph was
interpolated which makes him charge his own country with ingratitude
and injustice to France.
By the word "country," Mr. Jefferson is understood to allude to the
government, not to the people of America.
This letter, containing the sentence now alleged to be interpolated,
was published throughout the United States in the summer of 1797. It
became immediately, as may well be supposed, the subject of universal
conversation. The writer, and the individual to whom it particularly
alludes, filled too large a space in the public mind for such a paper
not to excite general attention and deep interest. It did excite both.
Had it been fabricated, Mr. Jefferson, it was supposed, could not have
permitted it to remain uncontradicted. It came in a form too
authentic, the matter it contained affected his own reputation and
that of the illustrious individual who is its principal subject, too
vitally to permit the imputation to remain unnoticed. It would not, it
could not have remained unnoticed, if untrue. Yet its genuineness was
never questioned by Mr. Jefferson, or by any of his numerous friends.
Not even to General Washington, as is now avowed, was it ever denied.
Had it been denied to him, his strong sense of justice and of right
would have compelled him to relieve the reputation of the supposed
writer from a charge of such serious import.
It was, of course, universally received as a genuine letter. An open
avowal of it could not have added to the general conviction.
The letter having this irresistible claim on the general confidence,
no one part of it was entitled to less credit than every other. The
interpolation of a particular sentence was neither suggested nor
suspected. The whole was published in Europe and republished in
America as the letter of Mr. Jefferson, with his name subscribed. The
genuineness of no part of it was ever called into question. How then
could the public or any individual have ventured to select a
particular sentence, and to say--this is spurious?
Had it been suggested by Mr. Jefferson or his confidential friends
that the letter was in general his, but that one sentence was
fabricated, there is not perhaps an individual in the United States
who would have pointed to that which censured the conduct of our
government towards France, as the fabricated sentence. That which
placed the then chief magistrate at the head of the "Anglican,
monarchical, and aristocratical party which had sprung up," would have
been much more probably selected. This conjecture is hazarded because,
at the date of the letter,[60] Mr. Jefferson shared the confidence of
General Washington, and was on terms of intimate professed friendship
with him; while his censures of the conduct of the United States
towards France were open and unreserved. The sentence there said to be
interpolated would, if really written by him, have involved no
imputation on his sincerity,--would have consisted perfectly with his
general declarations. These declarations were so notorious, especially
after the mission of Mr. Jay to Great Britain, and the reception of
the treaty negotiated by him, that there was perhaps not an individual
in the United States, at all conversant with public affairs, to whom
they were unknown. Without reference to other proofs, sufficient
evidence of this fact is furnished by that portion of his
correspondence which has been selected for publication. Some examples
will be quoted.
[Footnote 60: April, 1796.]
In a letter of the 27th of April, 1795,[61] he says, "I sincerely
congratulate you on the great prosperities of our two first allies,
the French and the Dutch.[62] If I could but see them now at peace
with the rest of their continent, I should have little doubt of dining
with Pichegru in London next autumn; for I believe I should be tempted
to leave my clover for a while, to go and hail the dawn of
republicanism in that island."
[Footnote 61: Vol. iii. p. 313.]
[Footnote 62: Holland, it will be remembered, had been
conquered by Pichegru.]
In a letter of September 21st, 1795,[63] after speaking of the
discussions in the papers concerning the treaty, and alluding to the
efforts made to give it effect as the boldest act of Hamilton and Jay
to undermine the government, he says, "a bolder party stroke was never
struck. For it certainly is an attempt by a party who find they have
lost their majority in one branch of the legislature, to make a law by
the aid of the other branch and of the executive, under colour of a
treaty, which shall bind up the hands of the adverse branch from ever
restraining the commerce of their patron nation."
[Footnote 63: Vol. iii. p. 316.]
On the 30th of November, 1795,[64] he says, "I join with you in
thinking the treaty an execrable thing." "I trust the popular branch
of the legislature will disapprove of it, and thus rid us of this
infamous act, which is really nothing more than an alliance between
England and the Anglo men of this country, against the legislature and
people of the United States."
[Footnote 64: Vol. iii. p. 317.]
On the 21st of December, 1795,[65] speaking of a contemporary member
of the cabinet, he says, "The fact is that he has generally given his
principles to the one party and his practice to the other, the oyster
to one, and the shell to the other. Unfortunately, the shell was
generally the lot of his friends, the French and Republicans, and the
oyster of their antagonists."
[Footnote 65: Vol. iii. p. 319.]
On the 21st of March, 1796,[66] he says, "The British treaty has been
formally at length laid before congress. All America is a tiptoe to
see what the house of representatives will decide on it." Speaking of
the right of the legislature to determine whether it shall go into
effect or not, and of the vast importance of the determination, he
adds, "It is fortunate that the first decision is to be made in a case
so palpably atrocious as to have been predetermined by all America."
[Footnote 66: Vol. iii. p. 323.]
On the 27th of the same month he says,[67] "If you decide in favour of
your right to refuse co-operation, I should wonder on what occasion it
is to be used, if not in one, where the rights, the interest, the
honour and faith of our nation are so grossly sacrificed; where a
faction has entered into a conspiracy with the enemies of their
country to chain down the legislature at the feet of both; where the
whole mass of your constituents have condemned the work in the most
unequivocal manner, and are looking to you as their last hope to save
them from the effects of the avarice and corruption of the first
agent, the revolutionary machinations of others, and the
incomprehensible acquiescence of the only honest man who has assented
to it. I wish that his honesty and his political errors may not
furnish a second occasion to exclaim, 'curse on his virtues, they have
undone his country.'"
[Footnote 67: Vol. iii. p. 324.]
On the 12th of June, 1796,[68] he says, "Congress have risen. You will
have seen by their proceedings what I always observed to you, that one
man outweighs them all in influence over the people, who have
supported his judgment against their own, and that of their
representatives. Republicanism must lie on its oars, resign the vessel
to its pilot, and themselves to the course he thinks best for them."
[Footnote 68: Vol. iii. p. 328.]
On the 22d of January, 1797,[69] he says, "I sincerely deplore the
situation of our affairs with France. War with them and consequent
alliance with Great Britain will completely compass the object of the
executive council from the commencement of the war between France and
England; taken up by some of them from that moment; by others more
latterly."
[Footnote 69: Vol. iii. p. 347.]
On the 17th of June, 1797,[70] he says, "I have always hoped that the
popularity of the late President being once withdrawn from active
effect, the natural feelings of the people towards liberty would
restore the equilibrium between the executive and legislative
departments which had been destroyed by the superior weight and effect
of that popularity; and that their natural feelings of moral
obligation would discountenance the unnatural predilection of the
executive in favour of Great Britain. But, unfortunately, the
preceding measures had already alienated the nation who were the
object of them, and the reaction has on the minds of our citizens an
effect which supplies that of the Washington popularity.
[Footnote 70: Vol. iii. p. 347]
"P.S. Since writing the above we have received a report that the
French Directory has proposed a declaration of war against the United
States to the Council of Ancients, who have rejected it. Thus we see
two nations who love one another affectionately, brought by the ill
temper of their executive administrations to the very brink of a
necessity to imbrue their hands in the blood of each other."
On the 14th of February, 1799,[71] he says, "The President has
appointed, and the senate approved, Rufus King, to enter into a treaty
of commerce with the Russians, at London, and William Smith (Phocion)
envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to go to
Constantinople to make one with the Turks. So that as soon as there is
a coalition of Turks, Russians, and English against France, we seize
that moment to countenance it as openly as we dare, by treaties which
we never had with them before. All this helps to fill up the measure
of provocation towards France, and to get from them a declaration of
war which we are afraid to be the first in making."
[Footnote 71: Vol. iii. p. 418.]
If these sentiments, in perfect coincidence with the pretensions of
France, and censuring the neutral course of the American government,
were openly avowed by Mr. Jefferson; if, when they appeared embodied
in a letter addressed to a correspondent in Europe, and republished
throughout the United States, they remained, even after becoming the
topic of universal interest and universal excitement, totally
uncontradicted, who could suspect that any one sentence, particularly
that avowing a sentiment so often expressed by the writer, had been
interpolated?
Yet Mr. Jefferson, unmindful of these circumstances, after some
acrimonious remarks on Colonel Pickering, has said,[72] "and even
Judge Marshall makes history descend from its dignity, and the ermine
from its sanctity, to exaggerate, to record, and to sanction this
forgery."
[Footnote 72: Vol. iv. p. 402.]
The note itself will best demonstrate the inaccuracy of this
commentary. To this text an appeal is fearlessly made.
This unmerited invective is followed by an accusation not less
extraordinary. It is made a cause of crimination that the author has
copied the remark of the Parisian editor, instead of the letter
itself.
To remove this reproach, he will now insert the letter, not as
published in Europe, and transferred from the French to the American
papers, but as preserved and avowed by Mr. Jefferson, and given to the
world by his grandson. It is in these words.
"Monticello, April 24th, 1796.[73]
"My Dear Friend,
"The aspect of our politics has wonderfully changed since you left us.
In place of that noble love of liberty and republican government which
carried us triumphantly through the war, an Anglican, monarchical, and
aristocratical party has sprung up, whose avowed object is to draw
over us the substance as it has already done the forms of the British
government. The main body of our citizens, however, remain true to
their republican principles; the whole landed interest is republican,
and so is a great mass of talents. Against us are the executive, the
judiciary, two out of three branches of the legislature, all the
officers of the government, all who want to be officers, all timid men
who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty,
British merchants and Americans trading on British capitals,
speculators and holders in the banks and public funds, a contrivance
invented for the purposes of corruption, and for assimilating us in
all things to the rotten as well as sound parts of the British model.
It would give you a fever were I to name to you the apostates who have
gone over to these heresies, men who were Samsons in the field and
Solomons in council, but who have had their heads shorn by the harlot
England. In short, we are likely to preserve the liberty we have
obtained only by unremitting labours and perils. But we shall preserve
it; and our mass of weight and wealth on the good side is so great as
to leave no danger that force will ever be attempted against us. We
have only to awake and snap the Lilliputian cords with which they have
been entangling us during the first sleep which succeeded our labours.
"I will forward the testimonials, &c."
[Footnote 73: Vol. iii. p. 327.]
The reader is requested to pause, to reflect on the state of things at
the date of this letter, and to ask himself if its inevitable tendency
be not to strengthen the impression in the Directory of France which
had influenced its conduct towards the United States?--If it be not in
the same spirit with the interpolated sentence, carried to a greater
extreme, and calculated to produce the same effect?--If the editor who
made the interpolation might not reasonably suppose that he was only
applying expressly to France a sentiment already indicated in terms
too plain to be misunderstood?
France and Great Britain were then waging deadly war against each
other. In this mortal conflict, each sought to strengthen herself, or
weaken her adversary by any influence to be acquired over foreign
powers--by obtaining allies when allies were attainable, or securing
neutrality where co-operation was not to be expected. The temper with
which the American people contemplated this awful spectacle can not be
forgotten. The war of our revolution, in which France fought by the
side of America against Great Britain, was fresh in their
recollection. Her unexamined professions of republicanism enlisted all
their affections in her favour, and all their antipathies against the
monarchs with whom she was contending. Feelings which were believed to
be virtuous, and which certainly wore the imposing garb of patriotism,
impelled them with almost irresistible force against that wise
neutrality which the executive government had laboured to preserve,
and had persisted in preserving with wonderful and unexampled
firmness. France might, not unreasonably, indulge the hope that our
government would be forced out of its neutral course, and be compelled
to enter into the war as her ally. The letter to Mazzei could scarcely
fail to encourage this hope.
The suggestion had been repeatedly made, and France not only
countenanced but acted on it, that the American people were ready to
take part with her, and were with difficulty restrained by their
government. That the government had fallen into the hands of an
English party who were the more closely attached to their favourite
nation, because they were unfriendly to republicanism, and sought to
assimilate the government of the United States to that of England.
Partiality to England was ingratitude to France. Monarchical
propensities were of course anti-republican, and led to a system of
policy separating the United States from republican France, and
connecting them with her monarchical enemies.
These sentiments were expressed in the interpolated sentence; and are
intimated in terms perhaps more offensive, certainly not to be
mistaken, in the letter as avowed.
Review its language.
"In place of that noble love of liberty and republican government
which carried us triumphantly through the War, an Anglican,
monarchical, and aristocratical party has sprung up, whose avowed
object is to draw over us the substance as it has already done the
forms of the British government."
Could this party have been friendly--must it not have been hostile to
France? It was not only monarchical and aristocratical,--it was
Anglican also. Consequently it was anti-Gallican. But it did not
comprehend the mass of the people. "The main body of our citizens,
however," continues the letter, "remain true to their republican
principles; the whole landed interest is republican, and so is a great
mass of talents." Who then composed this odious Anglican, monarchical,
aristocratical party? The letter informs us: "Against us are the
executive, the judiciary, two out of three branches of the
legislature, all the officers of the government, all who want to be
officers, all timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to the
boisterous sea of liberty, British merchants and Americans trading on
British capitals, speculators, and holders in the banks and public
funds."
The executive then and at least one other branch of the legislature
were Anglican. The judiciary, a department not absolutely
insignificant in a maritime war, was also Anglican. But the executive,
being the organ of intercourse with foreign nations, is considered by
them as essentially the government. This being thought Anglican, its
course being such as to induce the writer to brand it with this odious
epithet, ought it to excite surprise that an editor, the organ of the
French government, made the strictures upon it which are quoted in the
note? Are not those strictures as applicable to the letter now avowed
as to the interpolated sentence?
The remark that the "French government had testified its resentment by
breaking off communication with an ungrateful and faithless ally until
she shall return to a more just and benevolent conduct," was the
assertion of a fact which had taken place, and the commentary
discloses its object not less plainly than did the time at which this
fact was announced to the American government and people.[74] "It will
give rise in the United States," says the editor, "to discussions
which may afford a triumph to the party of good republicans, the
friends of France."
[Footnote 74: It was announced by Mr. Adet in the crisis of
the first contest for the Presidency between Mr. Adams and
Mr. Jefferson.]
The letter, without the aid of the interpolated sentence, could not
fail to cherish this sentiment. It states explicitly an unequivocal
division and a decided hostility between those who administered the
government, and the great body of land holders, who, in this country,
are the people. The first were Anglican and monarchical, the last were
republican, and, in the language of the Moniteur, "the friends of
France." What so certain to produce or continue the rupture of
communication mentioned by the editor as the opinion that this
statement was true? If we could doubt, our doubts are removed by the
declaration that it would produce "discussions in the United States
which may afford a triumph to the party of good republicans, the
friends of France;" and by the declaration of Mr. Adet.
The interpolated sentence then does not vary the import of the letter,
nor change the impression it made in France, and must make on the mind
of the reader.
Were it otherwise, Mr. Jefferson should have directed his reproaches
towards himself for the countenance his silent acquiescence gave to
the opinion that the whole letter was genuine--not towards the great
body of his countrymen who yielded implicit faith to this imposing
testimony.
Could such a letter from such a personage be entirely overlooked by
the biographer of Washington? Having assumed the task of delineating
the character, and detailing the actions and opinions of the great
soldier and statesman of America, an essential part of which was to be
looked for in the difficulties and the opposition he encountered and
overcame, could a transaction which contains such strong intrinsic
evidence of those difficulties and that opposition be passed over in
total silence? These questions were revolved in his mind while engaged
in this part of the work; and the result to which his judgment
conducted him was a conviction that, though he might forbear to make
those strictures on the letter which the relative situation of the
writer and the individual so seriously criminated seemed to invite,
his duty required him to notice it so far as it indicated the violence
of party spirit at the time, the extreme to which it was carried, the
dangers to which it led, and the difficulties which the wise and firm
mind of Washington was doomed to encounter.
The remarks of the French editor were quoted because they have a
strong tendency, especially when connected with subsequent events, to
explain the motives by which the Directory was actuated in its
aggressions on the United States, and to justify the policy of the
Washington administration. These remarks did not grow out of the
interpolated sentence, nor were they confined to it. They apply to the
whole letter. That sentence is not cited, nor is any particular
allusion made to it, in the note which is charged with "exaggerating,
recording, and sanctioning the forgery." How then could Mr. Jefferson
deliberately make the charge?
In the same letter he endeavours to convey the opinion that the harsh
and injurious strictures made to Mazzei were not intended for General
Washington, and that this distinguished individual never applied them
to himself.
The evidence in support of this proposition is not derived from the
person whose opinion Mr. Jefferson undertakes to state. The writer
says,[75] "I do affirm that there never passed a word, written or
verbal, directly or indirectly, between General Washington and myself
on the subject of that letter." If his observations on this point are
to be considered as reasoning rather than assertion, they may be
freely examined.
[Footnote 75: Vol. iv. p. 401.]
At the head of the list of those composing the "Anglican, monarchical,
aristocratical party," the letter places "the executive." "Against us
are the executive, the judiciary, two out of three branches of the
legislature, all the officers of government, all who want to be
officers," &c.
The letter speaks in the present tense, and the term "executive" can
describe only the then actual President. Consequently, it designates
General Washington as expressly as if he had been named.
If this positive evidence could be strengthened by auxiliary proof, it
is furnished by the same sentence. "All officers of government, all
who want to be officers," are included in the enumeration of those
composing the party opposed to "the main body of citizens who remained
true to republican principles."
By whom were these Anglican, monarchical, and aristocratical officers
selected? By General Washington. To him alone were they indebted for
their appointments. To whom did those "who wanted to be officers" look
for the gratification of their wishes? To the same person. Would every
individual in search of office enlist himself in a party so odious to
"the main body of our citizens," and "the whole landed interest," if
he did not think the road leading directly to that which he sought?
As if willing to keep out of view what can not be explained away, Mr.
Jefferson turns our attention to other passages supposed to be more
equivocal. He insists[76] that the letter saying "that two out of the
three branches of the legislature were against us, was an obvious
exception of him; it being well known that the majorities in the two
branches of the senate and representatives were the very instruments
which carried, in opposition to the old and real republicans, the
measures which were the subjects of condemnation in this letter."
[Footnote 76: Vol. iv. p. 405.]
But did these measures obtain the force of laws by the mere act of the
senate and house of representatives? Did not the President assent to
them? If he did, how could the expression "two out of three branches
of the legislature" be an obvious exception of him? But the letter
speaks of the then existing legislature. "Against us _are_ two out of
three branches of the legislature." The fact is notorious that the
house of representatives was, at the date of the letter, opposed to
the administration. Mr. Jefferson himself gives us this information.
In September, 1795,[77] he terms the effort to carry the treaty with
Great Britain into effect, "an attempt of a party who find _they have
lost their majority in one branch of the legislature_ to make a law by
the aid of the other branch and the executive under colour of a
treaty," &c. Mr. Jefferson then has deprived himself of this
explanation. He could not have intended to exclude the President by
the phrase "two out of three branches of the legislature."
[Footnote 77: Vol. iii. p. 316.]
The same letter contains also the following expression,[78] "Mr.
Pickering quotes the passage in the letter of the men who were Samsons
in the field and Solomons in the council, but who had their heads
shorn by the harlot England." "Now this expression also was perfectly
understood by General Washington. He knew that I meant it for the
Cincinnati generally; and that from what had passed between us at the
commencement of that institution, I could not mean to include him."
[Footnote 78: Vol. iv. p. 404.]
In the letter to Mazzei these words obviously designate distinguished
individuals, not whole classes of men, many of whom were unknown. "It
would give you a fever were _I to name to you the apostates_ who have
gone over to these heresies; men who were Samsons in the field and
Solomons in the council, but who have had their heads shorn by the
harlot England."
In addition to this apparent allusion to individuals, it may be asked,
could Mr. Jefferson mean to say that every officer engaged in the war
of our revolution (for almost every one of them was a member of the
Cincinnati) was an apostate who had gone over to the heresies he was
describing? Could he mean to say that all those who had passed their
prime of manhood in the field fighting the battles of American
independence, and of republicanism against England, had become
apostates from the cause to which their lives had been devoted, and
the vile instruments of the power it was their pride and boast to have
overthrown? That they were in a body following their ancient chief in
a course directly opposite to that glorious career by which they had
elevated their country to its high rank among the nations of the
earth?
There is other evidence that he could not have intended to fix this
foul stigma on the officers of the revolution. They were far from
being united in support of the administration. In Virginia certainly,
a large number, perhaps a majority of the Cincinnati were opposed to
it. Two[79] of them in congress at the time, and were among the most
zealous supporters of Mr. Jefferson, and of that system of measures
which he termed republican. The very letter under discussion contains
an assertion incompatible with this construction of these terms. "The
whole landed interest is republican." At the date of this letter there
were few if any members of the Cincinnati in the south who were not
also land holders. In the southern region generally, the army of our
revolution was officered by land holders and their sons.
[Footnote 79: Colonels Cabell and Par.]
But if the writer of the letter could have intended to designate the
members of the Cincinnati as "Samsons in the field," could he also
have alluded to them as "Solomons in council?" Were the brave and
hardy men who passed their youth, not in college, not in study, but
under arms, suddenly converted, all of them, into "Solomons in
council?" That some of them were entitled to this appellation is
acknowledged with pride and pleasure, but as a class, it could not fit
them. It is difficult to treat the proposition seriously.
It is impossible for the intelligent reader to concur with Mr.
Jefferson in the conclusion he draws from these premises, when he
says,[80] "General Washington then understanding perfectly what and
whom I meant to designate in both phrases, and that they could not
have any application or view to himself, could find in neither any
cause of offence to himself."
[Footnote 80: Vol. iv. p. 406.]
But were it otherwise, had Mr. Jefferson been as successful in the
opinion of others as he would seem to be in his own, in proving that
the phrases on which he reasons do not comprehend General Washington,
what would be gained? Would it follow that the word "executive" did
not mean the President, or that it excluded General Washington who was
President when the letter was written, and had been President during
the whole time while the laws were enacted, and the measures carried
into execution, which he so harshly criminates? If the word
"executive" must mean him, does it palliate the injury to be assured
that the writer did not class him among "Samsons in the field" or
"Solomons in council?"
It is matter of some surprise to find a letter written so late as
June, 1824, on the political paragraph contained in the letter to
Mazzei, the following averment.[81] "In this information there was not
one word which would not then have been or would not now be approved
by every republican in the United States, looking back to those
times."
[Footnote 81: Vol. iv. p. 402.]
In June, 1834, then, twenty-eight years after this extraordinary
letter was written, and twenty-three years after its principal object
had ceased to thwart the policy, or be an obstacle to the ambition of
any man, Mr. Jefferson could deliberately, and on full consideration
permit himself to make this assertion, and thus in effect to repeat
the charge that General Washington belonged to an "Anglican,
monarchical, and aristocratical party whose _avowed_ object was to
draw over us the substance as they had already done the forms of the
British government,"--and this too while the venerated object of the
charge was the chief magistrate of this great republic, acting under
the obligation of a solemn oath "faithfully to execute the office of
President of the United States, and to the best of his ability to
preserve, protect, and defend the constitution!"
This unpleasant subject is dismissed. If the grave be a sanctuary
entitled to respect, many of the intelligent and estimable friends of
Mr. Jefferson may perhaps regret that he neither respected it himself,
nor recollected that it is a sanctuary from which poisoned arrows
ought never to be shot at the dead or the living.
END OF VOLUME V.