The spirit of party appeared to be extinct. "Millions for defence, not
a cent for tribute," the language of Mr. Pinckney to the French
government, resounded from every quarter of the Union. The treaty of
alliance with France was declared by congress to be annulled; and
authority was given for capturing armed French vessels. Provision was
made for raising a regular army, and in case events should render it
expedient, for augmenting it. A direct tax and additional internal
duties were laid. To the command of the armies of the United States,
President Adams, with the unanimous advice of the senate, appointed
George Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-general and
commander-in-chief. Washington reluctantly accepted the office,
declaring, however, that he cordially approved the measures of the
government.
The first act of hostility between the two nations, appears to have
been committed by the Insurgente, which captured the American schooner
Retaliation, and carried her into Guadaloupe. Soon after, the
Constellation, under the command of Captain Truxton, went to sea, and
in February, 1799, he encountered the Insurgente, which, after a close
action of about an hour and a half, he compelled to strike. The rate
of the Constellation was thirty-two guns; that of the Insurgente,
forty. The former had three men wounded, one of whom shortly after
died, and none killed; the latter had forty-one wounded, and
twenty-nine killed. This victory, so brilliant and so decisive, with
such a wonderful disparity of loss, gave great _eclat_ to the victor
and to the navy.
_Treaty with France._--The bold and decided tone of the Americans,
added to their preparations for prosecuting a war with vigor--and,
perhaps, more than all, the success of the American navy in various
engagements, had the desired effect. Overtures for renewing the
negotiations were received from the French directory, which were
immediately responded to by the president, by the appointment of
Oliver Ellsworth, chief justice of the United States, Patrick
Henry,[65] then late governor of Virginia, and William Vans Murray,
minister at the Hague, envoys extraordinary for concluding a peace. On
their arrival at Paris, they found the directory overthrown, and the
government in the hands of Napoleon Buonaparte, as first consul. By
him they were promptly received, and a treaty was concluded on the
30th of September, 1800; soon after which, the provisional army in
America was, by order of congress, disbanded.
_Death of Washington._--The good and the great must die, and, at
length, America was called to mourn the departure of the good and
illustrious Washington. He did not live, much as he desired that
event, to witness the restoration of peace.
On Friday, December 13th, while attending to some improvements upon
his estate, he was exposed to a light rain, which that same night
induced an inflammatory affection of the windpipe. In the morning his
family physician, Dr. Craik, was called in; but the utmost exertions
of medical skill were applied in vain. Believing, from the
commencement of his complaint, that it would prove fatal, Washington
succeeded, though with difficulty, in expressing a desire that he
might be permitted to die without being disquieted by unavailing
attempts to rescue him from his fate. When no longer able to swallow,
undressing himself, he retired to his bed, there to await his
dissolution. To his friend and physician he said, with difficulty,
"Doctor, I am dying, and have been dying for a long time; but I am
not afraid to die." 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.
Thus, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, died the "Father of his
country." Intelligence of this event, as it rapidly spread, produced
spontaneous, deep, and unaffected grief, suspending every other
thought, and absorbing every different feeling.
Congress unanimously resolved upon a funeral procession in memory of
Washington. On the appointed day the procession moved from the
legislative hall to the German Lutheran church, where an oration was
delivered by General Lee, a representative from Virginia. The
procession was grand and solemn; the oration, eloquent and impressive:
throughout the Union, similar marks of affection were exhibited--the
whole nation appeared in mourning. Funeral orations, commemorative of
his virtues, were pronounced in almost every city and town, and many
were the tears shed by young and old, as the excellencies of his
character were portrayed, and the services which he had rendered in
achieving the independence, and contributing to the happiness of his
country, were reviewed.
Washington deserved all the public honors which were paid him, and yet
he needed none of them to add to the celebrity of his name, or the
glory of his achievements. Wherever the story of his greatness, and of
his patriotic services, has travelled, it has elicited the admiration
and homage of mankind. Indeed, among civilized people of all
countries, his name has become a household word, and is identified
with all that is wise, and pious, and patriotic. By the aged warriors
of our Western tribes--now indeed few and far between--he is still
remembered as "our Father:" his name is familiar to the wandering
Bedouin, and his fame has penetrated to the mountain fastnesses of the
roving Tartar. And in all future time--at least while the American
republic has a name and a place on the earth--or while the record of
her Revolution, and the establishment of her government shall
last--the name of Washington will be remembered with gratitude and
joy. "His country is his monument, and her history his epitaph."
The character of Washington has been so often portrayed, that we shall
not deem it necessary to enter upon a formal review of it in these
pages. It may be, perhaps, a more grateful service which we render, to
garner up some "tributes" to his exalted worth, which have been paid
him by some of the most distinguished men in other countries.
Said Mr. Fox, in the British parliament, in a speech delivered during
Washington's second presidential term: "Illustrious man! deriving less
honor from the splendor of his situation than the dignity of his mind:
before whom all borrowed greatness sinks into insignificance, and all
the potentates of Europe (excepting the members of our own royal family)
become little and contemptible!"--Said Napoleon--a man not wont to
lavish his praises--and yet a man who understood and could appreciate
noble qualities existing in others--said Napoleon--"Washington is dead!
The great man fought against tyranny; he established the liberty of his
country. His memory will always be dear to the French people, as it will
to all freemen of the two worlds."
Byron has added his testimony to the excellency and glory of
Washington--a tribute of praise which, it is said, he has no where in
any of his writings paid to a British hero, not even to Wellington
himself. "After taxing his misanthropy for the bitterest forms of
speech, to be applied to the fallen Napoleon, and to mock at the
fearful reverses of the French emperor's fortune, he, by some strange
impulses, winds up his scorching lyric with these few lines:"
"Where shall the weary eye repose
When gazing on the great--
Where neither guilty glory glows,
Nor despicable state?
Yes--one--the first--the last--the best--
The Cincinnatus of the West,
Bequeathed the name of Washington,
To make men blush there was but one."
Beautiful is the tribute--and as just as beautiful--which the
Professor of Modern History, in the English University of Cambridge
(William Smith, Esq.), pays to the sage of Mount Vernon. "Instances
may be found," says he, "when perhaps it may be thought that he was
decisive to a degree that partook of severity and harshness, or even
more; but how innumerable were the decisions which he had to make! How
difficult and how important through the eventful series of twenty
years of command in the cabinet or the field! Let it be considered
what it is to have the management of a revolution and afterwards the
maintenance of order. Where is the man that, in the history of our
race, has ever succeeded in attempting successively the one and the
other? The plaudits of his country were continually sounding in his
ears, and neither the judgment or the virtues of the man were ever
disturbed. Armies were led to the field with all the enterprise of a
hero, and then dismissed with all the equanimity of a philosopher.
Power was accepted--was exercised--was resigned precisely at the
moment and in the way that patriotism directed. Whatever was the
difficulty, the trial, the temptation, or the danger, there stood the
soldier and the citizen, eternally the same, without fear and without
reproach, and there was the man who was not only at all times
virtuous, but at all times wise.
"As a ruler of mankind, he may be proposed as a model. Deeply
impressed with the original rights of human nature, he never forgot
that the end and aim of all just government was the happiness of the
people, and he never exercised authority till he had first taken care
to put himself clearly in the right. His candor, his patience, his
love of justice, were unexampled; and this, though _naturally_ he was
not patient--much otherwise, highly irritable."
"Of all great men"--such is the declaration of Mr. Guizot, one of the
ministers of the late king of the French--"of all great men,
Washington was the most virtuous and the most fortunate. In this
world, God has no higher favors to bestow."
A writer in the Edinburgh Review, expresses himself in terms equally
honorable to the American Fabius: "If profound sagacity, unshaken
steadiness of purpose, the entire subjugation of all the passions, which
carry havoc through ordinary minds, and oftentimes lay waste the fairest
prospects of greatness--nay the discipline of those feelings that are
wont to lull or seduce genius, and to mar and to cloud over the aspect
of virtue herself--joined with, or rather leading to, the most absolute
self-denial, the most habitual and exclusive devotion to principle--if
these things can constitute a great character, without either quickness
of apprehension or resources of information, or circumventive powers, or
any brilliant quality that might dazzle the vulgar--then _Washington was
the greatest man that ever lived in this world, uninspired by divine
wisdom, and unsustained by supernatural virtue_."
To the foregoing, we may add an extract from the eloquent peroration of
Lord Brougham, in his masterly essay on "Public Characters." "This is
the consummate glory of the great American; a triumphant warrior, where
the most sanguine had a right to despair; a successful ruler, in all the
difficulties of a course wholly untried; but a warrior, whose sword only
left its sheath when the first law of our nature commanded it to be
drawn; and a ruler who, having tasted of supreme power, greatly and
unostentatiously desired that the cup might pass from him, nor would he
suffer more to wet his lips than the most solemn and sacred duty to his
country and his God required." "It will be the duty of the historian and
the sage in all ages to omit no occasion of commemorating this
illustrious man; and until time shall be no more, will a test of the
progress which our race has made in wisdom and in virtue be derived from
the veneration paid to the immortal name of Washington!"
Such were some of the attributes, the virtues, the services of
Washington, and such the tribute paid to his greatness, his worth, and
his unequalled glory, as a man, a military chieftain, and a ruler.
More might be added, but it is unnecessary, unless it be, that
Washington was a Christian. Every where--in seasons of trial, peril,
and almost of hopeless despondency--he placed his reliance upon that
Great Being who holds in his hand the fate of men and of nations. His
hopes for his country were founded more on the righteousness of her
cause, and on the blessing of Heaven, than on the number or strength
of his army. Of his religion, he made no parade--of his virtues, no
boast--but he was ever more true to the dictates of piety, and
observant of the forms and institutions of the Gospel. And it was this
reliance upon that Gospel, which enabled him to say, in the closing
moments of life, "I am not afraid to die."
In conclusion, we may add, in the highly laudatory and just language
of another, "Washington stands almost alone in the world. He occupies
a region where there are, unhappily for mankind, but few inhabitants.
The Grecian biographer could easily find parallels for Alexander and
Cæsar; but, were he living now, he would meet with great difficulty in
selecting one for Washington. There seems to be an elevation of moral
excellence, which, though possible to attain to, few ever approach.
As, in ascending the lofty peaks of the Andes, we at length arrive at
a line where vegetation ceases, and the principle of life seems
extinct; so, in the gradations of human character, there is an
elevation which is never attained by mortal man. A few have approached
it, but none nearer than Washington.
"He is eminently conspicuous as one of the great benefactors of the
human race; for he not only gave liberty to millions, but his name now
stands, and will for ever stand, a noble example to high and low. He
is a great work of the Almighty Artist, which none can study without
receiving purer ideas and more lofty conceptions of the grace and
beauty of the human character. He is one that all may copy at
different distances, and whom none can contemplate without receiving
lasting and salutary impressions of the sterling value, the
inexpressible beauty of piety, integrity, courage, and patriotism,
associated with a clear, vigorous, and well-poised intellect.
"Pure and widely disseminated as is the fame of this great and good
man, it is yet in its infancy. It is every day taking deeper root in
the hearts of his countrymen and the estimation of strangers, and
spreading its branches wider and wider to the air and the skies. He is
already become the saint of liberty, which has gathered new honors by
being associated with his name; and when men aspire to free nations,
they must take him for their model. It is, then, not without ample
reason that the suffrages of mankind have combined to place Washington
at the head of his race. If we estimate him by the examples recorded
in history, he stands without a parallel in the virtues exhibited, and
the most unprecedented consequences resulting from their exercise. The
whole world was the theatre of his actions, and all mankind are
destined to partake, sooner or later, in their results. He is the hero
of a new species; he had no model. Will he have any imitators? Time,
which bears the thousands and thousands of common cut-throats to the
ocean of oblivion, only adds new lustre to his fame, new fame to his
example, and new strength to the reverential affection of all good
men. What a glorious fame is his, to be acquired without guilt, and
enjoyed without envy! to be cherished by millions living, hundreds of
millions yet unborn! Let the children of my country prove themselves
worthy of his virtues, his labors, his sacrifices, by reverencing his
name, and imitating his piety, integrity, industry, fortitude,
patience, forbearance, and patriotism. So shall they become fitted to
enjoy the blessings of freedom and the bounties of Heaven."[66]
_Removal of the Seat of Government._--In the year 1800, the seat of
government, agreeably to a law passed by congress in 1790, was removed
to Washington, in the District of Columbia. This territory, ten miles
square, had been granted to the general government by the states of
Virginia and Maryland. Public buildings had been erected, and in
November of this year, congress, for the first time, held their session
in that place. After congratulating the people of the United States on
the assembling of congress, on the prospect of a residence not to be
changed, the president said: "It would be unbecoming the representatives
of this nation to assemble, for the first time, in this solemn temple,
without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and imploring
his blessing. May this territory be the residence of virtue and
happiness! In this city, may that piety and virtue, that wisdom and
magnanimity, that constancy and self-government, which adorned the great
character whose name it bears, be for ever held in veneration. Here, and
throughout our country, may simple manners, pure morals, and true
religion, flourish for ever."
_Election of Mr. Jefferson._--At this period, a presidential election
recurred. From the time of the adoption of the constitution, the
republican party had been gradually gathering strength, and, in
anticipation of success, great preparations were made by them to elect
their candidates, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Burr. The candidates of the
federal party were Mr. Adams and General Pinckney.
Unfortunately for the federal party, the administration of Mr. Adams
had not been generally acceptable. "In the early part of it, the acts
by which the army and navy were strengthened, and eighty thousand of
the militia subjected to his order, were represented, by the
republicans, as proofs that, however he might have been a friend to
the constitution of his country, he now either wished to subvert it,
or was led blindfold into the views of those who did. The republicans
scrupled the policy of a war with France, and denied the necessity,
even in case of such a war, of a large land force. They believed that
spirits were at work to produce this war, or to make the most of a
disturbance, in order to lull the people, while they raised an army,
which they intended as the instrument of subverting the republican,
and establishing a monarchical government."
These insinuations--or, more properly, charges--were doubtless utterly
groundless; but they served to bring Mr. Adams' administration into
disrepute, and to strengthen the republican party, which were boastful
of their superior regard to the constitution, and friendship to the
rights and liberty of the people.
Other measures of the administration served to increase the party odium
against it, and, in the sequel, to overthrow it. We allude particularly
to two acts of congress--THE ALIEN and SEDITION LAWS, of July, 1798.
The alien law empowered the president "to order all such aliens as he
should judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States,
or should have reasonable grounds to suspect were concerned in any
treasonable or secret machinations against the government thereof, to
depart out of the territory of the United States, within such time as
should be expressed in such order." In case of disobedience, such
aliens, on conviction before the circuit or district courts of the
United States, were subjected to imprisonment for not more than three
years, and incapacitated from becoming citizens. The subsequent law,
respecting alien _enemies_, enabled the president, on a declaration of
war, to cause the subjects of the belligerent nation "to be
apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies." Under
both these acts, they were permitted to remove their property, and
under the latter, if not chargeable with crimes against the United
States, to defend themselves.
Of the two measures, the sedition act was by far the most unpopular.
"The other," says Mr. Tucker, "was condemned by most Americans, like
the stork in the fable, for the society in which he was found, and for
the sake of soothing the great class of foreigners who were not yet
naturalized, the greater part of whom, particularly the Irish and
French, were attached to the republican party."[67]
The sedition law, in some of its provisions, went still further. It
imposed fine and imprisonment for unlawfully combining and conspiring
with intent to oppose the measures of government, when directed by the
proper authority: for impeding the operation of any law of the United
States; intimidating an officer from the performance of his duty, or
counselling or advising, with similar intent, insurrections, riots, or
unlawful combinations. It also imposed similar, but lighter penalties,
for the publication of false, scandalous, and malicious writings
against the government of the United States, either house of congress,
or the president, with intent to bring them into contempt, &c. The act
was limited to two years.
Such were the measures which at this most critical period of our history
were adopted, when the United States, if not carrying on, were
undergoing a war with France; and when the country swarmed with secret
spies and agents. These laws have been condemned, and President Adams
and his government severely censured for having secured their enactment.
They were denounced at the time by the republican party in no measured
terms. They were claimed to be unnecessary, cruel, and despotic.
But, while it is not our province to enter into a justification of
these laws, it may be proper to say, by way of palliation, to use the
language of another, "that the laws themselves sprung from existing
facts, and self-preservation demanded that the power of providing for
the public safety, vested in every government by the very objects of
government, should now be used."[68]
The sedition law was never enforced, except against a few--Callender was
one--an alien and a fugitive from justice, who would have overthrown the
government, in his zeal to build up the republican party.
The necessity for the laws regarding aliens, was more apparent. The
Frenchmen in the United States, at that era, were estimated at thirty
thousand. Many of them were associated together in clubs, which had
for their object the furtherance of French interests. The number of
British subjects was still greater. Other foreigners were numerous,
and all were attached to France. They were restless, feverish,
factious. Whatever may be thought of the expediency or justice of the
law in question, no reasonable doubt can be entertained of the
necessity of some restrictive measures in a time of such excitement as
then prevailed. And yet it must be admitted that no man was actuated
by a loftier patriotism than Mr. Adams; nor was any one ever more
ready to make sacrifices for his country's good. It is sometimes urged
that he was vain, self-willed, impulsive. But these imperfections were
relieved by noble virtues. His political opponent--the man who
supplanted him--declared that he was the ablest advocate of
independence. In days when others desponded, he hoped.
The acts secured the object sought--they secured, if not the peace,
the safety of the country; for even while they were in the process of
enactment, not a few of the more "notorious of the incendiaries" left
the country. But they largely contributed to the overthrow of the
existing administration, and the triumph of the democratic party.
As the constitution then existed, each elector gave his vote for two
persons, without designating which was to be president--the one having
the largest number being entitled to the presidency, and the other to
the vice-presidency. Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were the two
candidates of the republican party. Each of these having seventy-three
votes, it devolved upon the house of representatives to decide between
them. The federal party having been defeated in respect to their
candidates, sided with the friends of Colonel Burr, in opposition to
Mr. Jefferson.
As this was the first time that the election of a president had thus
devolved upon the house of representatives, a general interest was
taken in the subject. But that interest was greatly increased by the
then existing state of political parties. On the arrival of the time
for the election, it was decided that, after the balloting had
commenced, no adjournment should be had until a choice was made--that
during the balloting, the doors of the house should be closed--that
the delegation from each state should be seated together--that the
latter should first ballot among themselves, and that duplicates of
these ballots should be made, and placed in separate boxes. When all
the states had thus voted, the ballot-boxes were to be carried by the
sergeant-at-arms to two separate tables. The ballots were then to be
counted by tellers, eight in number, at each table. When counted, the
reports were to be announced from each table; if these reports agreed,
they were to be accepted, as the true votes of the states; but, if
they differed, a new balloting was to be made.