THE NEW CONGRESS--AARON BURR SENATOR--SCOPE OF WASHINGTON'S ANNUAL
ADDRESS--ST. CLAIR'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS--CHARACTER OF
HIS ARMY--SURPRISE AND DEFEAT--EFFECT OF THE EVENT ON
WASHINGTON--WAYNE APPOINTED TO SUCCEED ST. CLAIR--APPEARANCE OF
PARTIES IN CONGRESS--OPPOSING NEWSPAPERS--APPORTIONMENT BILL--VETO
FIRST APPLIED--WASHINGTON YEARNS FOR PRIVATE LIFE--EXPRESSES HIS
DESIRES TO JEFFERSON AND MADISON--VALEDICTORY ADDRESS
CONTEMPLATED--MADISON REQUESTED TO PREPARE ONE--A REMARKABLE LETTER
FROM JEFFERSON--WASHINGTON CONSENTS TO A RE-ELECTION.
Washington read his third annual address to the assembled Congress on
the twenty-fifth of October. Before him were most of the members of the
previous Congress. Nearly all of the retiring senators had been
re-elected. Among the new ones was Roger Sherman of Connecticut, George
Cabot of Massachusetts, and Aaron Burr of New York. The latter was
elected as the successor to General Schuyler, and now, for the first
time, appeared prominent among statesmen. He had been appointed
attorney-general of New York by Governor Clinton, and, in respect to
talent and influence, was a rising man. Artful and fascinating, he had
secured the votes of a sufficient number of federalists in the state
legislature to gain his election, and he went into Congress a decided
opponent of the administration; not on principle, for that never
influenced him, but on account of personal hostility to the president,
whom he hated because of his virtues.
In the house there were several new members, and the number of those
opposed to the policy of the administration had been considerably
increased, the elections in several of the states having been warmly
contested. Jonathan Trumbull, son of the patriotic governor of
Connecticut, was chosen speaker.
In his address, the president congratulated Congress on the general
prosperity of the country, the success of its financial measures, and
the disposition generally manifested to submit to the excise law. He
dwelt at considerable length upon Indian affairs, recommending a just,
impartial, and humane policy toward the savages, as the best means of
securing peace on the frontier. He announced that the site of the
federal capital had been selected and the city laid out on the bank of
the Potomac. He again called their attention to the subject of a
reorganization of the post-office department, the establishment of a
mint, the adoption of a plan for producing uniformity in weights and
measures, and making provision for the sale of the public lands of the
United States.
The expedition against the Indians in the northwest had, meanwhile, been
in progress, with varying fortunes, sometimes successful and sometimes
not. At length painful rumors, and finally positive statements, came
that a terrible calamity had overtaken St. Clair and his command. These
troops had assembled in the vicinity of Fort Washington (now Cincinnati)
early in September, and consisted nominally of two thousand regulars and
one thousand militia, including a corps of artillery and several
squadrons of horse. They were compelled to cut a road through the
wilderness, and erect forts to keep up communication between the Ohio
and the Wabash, the base of their operations. Desertions were numerous,
and the refuse of western population often filled the places of these
delinquents. Insubordination prevailed; and, to increase St. Clair's
difficulties, he was so afflicted with the gout that he could not walk,
and had to be lifted on and off his horse.
At length the little army, reduced to fourteen hundred effective men,
rank and file, by desertion and the absence of a corps sent to apprehend
deserters, had penetrated to a tributary of the Wabash fifteen miles
south of the Miami villages, and almost a hundred from Fort Washington.
There, before sunrise on the fourth of November, while the main body
were encamped in two lines on rising ground, and the militia upon a high
flat on the other side of the stream a quarter of a mile in advance,
they were surprised and fiercely attacked by a large number of Indians,
who fell first upon the militia, and then with deadly power upon the
regulars. Great carnage ensued. The enemy, concealed in the woods,
poured a destructive fire upon the troops from almost every point. St.
Clair, unable to mount his horse, was carried about in a litter, and
gave his orders with discretion and the most perfect coolness. Nearly
all the officers and half the army were killed. For two hours and a half
the desperate contest raged. Finally St. Clair ordered a retreat. It at
once became a disorderly flight. The artillery, baggage, and many of the
wounded, were left behind. Many of the troops threw away their arms,
ammunition, and accoutrements. Some of the officers divested themselves
of their fusees, that their flight might not be impeded. The general was
mounted upon a lazy pack-horse, who could not be spurred into a gallop;
but, as the enemy did not pursue more than a mile or two, St. Clair and
the survivors of the battle escaped to Fort Jefferson, a distance of
twenty-five miles. The retreat was continued the next day toward Fort
Washington, where the shattered army arrived on the eighth. The entire
loss was estimated at six hundred and seventy-seven killed, including
thirty women, and two hundred and seventy-one wounded.
The late Richard Rush, of Philadelphia, has left on record the following
graphic account of the effect which the intelligence of St. Clair's
defeat had upon Washington. It was from an eye-witness:--
"An anecdote I derived from Colonel Lear," says Mr. Rush, "shortly
before his death in 1816, may here be related, showing the height to
which Washington's passion would rise, yet be controlled. It belongs to
his domestic life, with which I am dealing, having occurred under his
own roof, while it marks public feeling the most intense, and points to
the moral of his life. I give it in Colonel Lear's words, as near as I
can, having made a note of them at the time.
"Toward the close of a winter's day in 1791, an officer in uniform was
seen to dismount in front of the president's house, in Philadelphia,
and giving the bridle to his servant, knocked at the door of the
mansion. Learning from the porter that the president was at dinner, he
said he was on public business and had despatches for the president. A
servant was sent into the dining-room to give the information to Mr.
Lear, who left the table and went into the hall, where the officer
repeated what he had said. Mr. Lear replied that, as the president's
secretary, he would take charge of the despatches and deliver them at
the proper time. The officer made answer that he had just arrived from
the western army, and his orders were to deliver them with all
promptitude, and to the president in person; but that he would wait his
directions. Mr. Lear returned, and in a whisper imparted to the
president what had passed. General Washington rose from the table and
went to the officer. He was back in a short time, made a word of apology
for his absence, but no allusion to the cause of it. He had company that
day. Everything went on as usual. Dinner over, the gentlemen passed to
the drawing-room of Mrs. Washington, which was open in the evening. The
general spoke courteously to every lady in the room, as was his custom.
His hours were early, and by ten o'clock all the company had gone. Mrs.
Washington and Mr. Lear remained. Soon Mrs. Washington left the room.
"The general now walked backward and forward for some minutes without
speaking. Then he sat down on a sofa by the fire, telling Mr. Lear to
sit down. To this moment there had been no change in his manner since
his interruption at the table. Mr. Lear now perceived emotion. This
rising in him, he broke out suddenly: 'It's all over! St. Clair's
defeated--routed; the officers nearly all killed--the men by
wholesale--the rout complete! too shocking to think of!--and a surprise
in the bargain!'
"He uttered all this with great vehemence. Then he paused, got up from
the sofa, and walked about the room several times, agitated, but saying
nothing. Near the door he stopped short and stood still a few seconds,
when his wrath became terrible.
"'Yes!' he burst forth, 'HERE, on this very spot, I took leave of him: I
wished him success and honor. "You have your instructions," I said,
"from the secretary of war: I had a strict eye to them, and will add but
one word--beware of a surprise! I repeat it--beware of a surprise! You
know how the Indians fight us." He went off with that as my last solemn
warning thrown into his ears. And yet, to suffer that army to be cut to
pieces, hacked by a surprise--the very thing I guarded him against! O
God! O God! he's worse than a murderer! How can he answer it to his
country? The blood of the slain is upon him--the curse of widows and
orphans--the curse of Heaven!'
"This torrent came out in tone appalling. His very frame shook. 'It was
awful!' said Mr. Lear. More than once he threw his hands up as he hurled
imprecations upon St. Clair. Mr. Lear remained speechless--awed into
breathless silence.
"The roused chief sat down on the sofa once more. He seemed conscious of
his passion, and uncomfortable. He was silent; his wrath began to
subside. He at length said, in an altered voice, 'This must not go
beyond this room.' Another pause followed--a longer one--when he said,
in a tone quite low: 'General St. Clair shall have justice. I looked
hastily through the despatches--saw the whole disaster, but not all the
particulars. I will hear him without prejudice: he shall have full
justice.'
"'He was now,' said Mr. Lear, 'perfectly calm. Half an hour had gone by;
the storm was over, and no sign of it was afterward seen in his conduct
or heard in his conversation.'"[34]
"The first interview of the president with St Clair after the fatal
fourth of November," says the late Mr. Custis[35] (who was present), "was
nobly impressive. The unfortunate general, worn down by age, disease,
and the hardships of a frontier campaign, assailed by the press, and
with the current of popular opinion setting hard against him, repaired
to his chief, as to a shelter from the fury of so many elements.
Washington extended his hand to one who appeared in no new character;
for, during the whole of a long life, misfortune seemed 'to have marked
him for her own.' Poor old St. Clair hobbled up to his chief, seized the
offered hand in both of his, and gave vent to his feelings in an audible
manner."
St. Clair's case was investigated by a committee of the house of
representatives, and he was honorably acquitted. But public sentiment
was against him, and he resigned his commission.
The alarm on the frontier, caused by St. Clair's defeat, produced prompt
and appropriate action in Congress, and an army of five thousand men for
frontier service was authorized. The impetuous General Wayne (of whom
Washington said, at this time, "He has many good points as an officer,
and it is to be hoped that time, reflection, good advice, and above all
a due sense of the importance of the trust committed to him, will
correct his faults, or cast a shade over them") was appointed
commander-in-chief, and Colonel Otho H. Williams, of Maryland, and
Colonel Rufus Putnam, then in the Ohio country, brigadiers under him.
Wayne was then in the prime of life, being forty-seven years of age; and
Washington, believing that an energetic campaign would retrieve the
losses of St. Clair and produce a decisive and salutary effect upon the
Indians, counted much upon the prowess and executive force of that
officer. Nor was he disappointed.
Additional revenue was required to support the increased army; and upon
a motion being made in Congress to call upon the secretary of the
treasury to report the ways and means of raising it, the first decided
opposition to that officer and the measures of the administration, in
complicity with Jefferson's personal dislike of Hamilton, appeared in
the national legislature. Such report was called for, however; and the
discussions that ensued upon this and other topics were sometimes very
acrimonious, and caused Washington much painful apprehension. The press,
at the same time, was fostering party spirit with the most pernicious
aliment. In the previous autumn, a paper in the interest of the
republican party and in opposition to Fenno's _United States Gazette_,
called the _National Gazette_, was established. Philip Freneau, a warm
whig of the Revolution and a poet of considerable local eminence, who
had been editor of a New York paper, and who was called to Philadelphia
at that time by Mr. Jefferson to fill the post of translating clerk in
the state department, was installed as editor of the new opposition
paper. Jefferson patronized it for the avowed purpose of presenting to
the president and the American people correct European intelligence,
derived from the _Leyden Gazette_ instead of through the alleged
polluted channel of English newspapers. But it soon became the vehicle
of bitter attacks upon all measures of the administration which did not
originate with, or were approved by, Mr. Jefferson; and the character of
the secretary became thereby seriously compromised before the American
people. He was charged, with great plausibility, with being the author
of many anonymous political articles in Freneau's paper; but he solemnly
declared the accusation to be untrue.
Congress adjourned on the eighth of May. During the session, Washington
had for the first time exercised the veto power intrusted to the
president by the constitution. The occasion was the passage of an
apportionment bill based upon the census of the population of the United
States, lately taken, which in its provisions appeared to conflict with
the constitution. That instrument provided that the representatives
should not exceed one for every thirty thousand persons. This ratio
would leave a fraction in each state (in some more, in some less)
unrepresented. To obviate this difficulty, the senate originated a bill
which exhibited a new principle of apportionment. It assumed as a basis
the total population of the United States, and not the population of
separate states, as that upon which the whole number of representatives
should be determined. This aggregate was divided by thirty thousand. The
quotient giving one hundred and twenty as the number of representatives,
that number was apportioned upon the several states according to their
population, allotting to each one member for every thirty thousand, and
distributing the remaining members, to make up the one hundred and
twenty, among the states having the largest fractions. After much
debate, the house concurred in the senate's bill, and it was submitted
to the president for his signature. The only question that arose was as
to its constitutionality. The president consulted his cabinet.
Jefferson and Randolph decided that it was unconstitutional; Knox could
not express a definite opinion; and Hamilton rather favored the bill.
After due deliberation Washington returned it with his objections. "A
few of the hottest friends of the bill," says Jefferson in his Anas,
"expressed passion, but the majority were satisfied; and both in and out
of doors," he rather ill-naturedly added, "it gave pleasure to have at
length an instance of the negative being exercised."
The distractions in his cabinet, the increasing virulence of party
spirit continually manifested in Congress, and the cares of government,
began to make Washington thoroughly weary of public life, and early in
1792 he resolved to retire from it at the end of the term for which he
had been elected to the presidency. He had more than a year to serve;
but he determined to let his resolution be made known to the public at
an early day. He first announced it to his nearest friends and
associates. Among these were Jefferson and Madison, the latter a
representative from Virginia, and then taking the position of a
republican leader in the house. To Jefferson, Washington had opened his
mind on the subject as early as the close of February, at the same time
saying that he should consider it unfortunate if his retirement should
cause that of other great officers of the government. At that time, the
president was becoming painfully aware that the differences in his
cabinet were systematic, instead of incidental as at first.
With Madison, Washington held frequent conversations upon the subject of
his retirement, but nothing definite was determined when they left
Philadelphia at the close of the session. The president went so far,
however, as to ask Madison to revolve this subject in his mind, and
advise him as to the proper time and the best mode of announcing his
intention to the people. But Madison always urged him to relinquish the
idea for the public good, and Jefferson desired him to remain in office
for the same reason.
Congress having adjourned on Tuesday, the eighth of May, on the tenth
Washington set out alone for Mount Vernon, leaving his family in
Philadelphia. He carried with him several copies of Paine's _Rights of
Man_, already alluded to, fifty of which he received from the author a
day or two before he left Philadelphia.[36] With peculiar delight he sat
down amid the cool shadows and quiet retreats of his loved home on the
Potomac, at the season of flowers; and the desire to leave the turmoils
of public life appears to have taken hold of him with a strength which
he had never felt before. He resolved to be governed by his
inclinations; and on the twentieth he wrote to Madison, announcing his
intention in unequivocal terms, and repeating the request for advice
which he had made before leaving Philadelphia.
"I have not been unmindful," he said, "of the sentiments expressed by
you in the conversations just alluded to. On the contrary, I have again
and again revolved them with thoughtful anxiety, but without being able
to dispose my mind to a longer continuation in the office I have now the
honor to hold.... Nothing but a conviction that my declining the chair
of government, if it should be the desire of the people to continue me
in it, would involve the country in serious disputes respecting the
chief magistrate, and the disagreeable consequences which might result
therefrom in the floating and divided opinions which seem to prevail at
present, could in any wise induce me to relinquish the determination I
have formed.... Under these impressions, then, permit me to reiterate
the request I made to you at our last meeting, namely, to think of the
proper time and the best mode of announcing the intention, and that you
would prepare the latter. In revolving this subject myself, my judgment
has always been embarrassed.... I would fain carry my request to you
further than is asked above, although I am sensible it would add to your
trouble. But as the recess may afford you leisure, and as I flatter
myself you have dispositions to oblige me, I will without apology
desire, if the measure in itself should strike you as proper, or likely
to produce public good or private honor, that you would turn your
thoughts to a Valedictory Address from me to the public."
He desired Madison to express, "in plain and modest terms," his
feelings: That having endeavored to do his duty in the office he held,
and age coming on apace, he desired to retire to private life, believing
that rotation in the elective offices might be more congenial with the
ideas of the people, of liberty and safety--that with such views, he
took leave of them as a public man, and invoked the continuance of every
blessing of Providence upon his country, "and upon all those who are the
supporters of its interests, and the promoters of harmony, order, and
good government."
Washington then suggested four topics to be remarked upon, as follows:
First, That we are all children of the same country, great and rich, and
capable of being as prosperous and happy as any which the annals of
history exhibit; and that the people have all an equal interest in the
great concerns of the nation. Second, That the extent of our country,
the diversity of our climate and soil, and the various productions of
the states, are such as to make one part not only convenient, but
indispensable to other parts, and may render the whole one of the most
independent nations in the world. Third, That the government, being the
work of the people, and having the mode and power of amendment engrafted
upon the constitution, may, by the exercise of forbearance, wisdom, good
will, and experience, be brought as near perfection as any human
institution has ever been; and therefore, that the only strife should
be, who should be foremost in facilitating and finally accomplishing
such great and desirable objects, by giving every possible support and
cement to the Union. Fourth, "That, however necessary it may be to keep
a watchful eye over public servants and public measures, yet there ought
to be limits to it; for suspicions unfounded and jealousies too lively
are irritating to honest feelings, and oftentimes are productive of more
evil than good."
With these general hints, Washington left the matter in Madison's
hands. At the same time, he asked that friend to give him hints also as
to "fit subjects for communication" in his next annual message to
Congress. In all this we see the acts of an eminently wise man, intent
solely upon the public good, seeking aid in his arduous labors from
those in whom he had confidence.
A month later, Madison replied to the president's letter, giving his
opinion, that if he was determined to retire, it would be expedient and
highly proper for him to put forth a valedictory address through the
public prints; at the same time he expressed a hope that Washington
would "reconsider the measure in all its circumstances and
consequences," and that he would acquiesce in one more sacrifice, severe
as it might be, to the desires and interests of his country. With the
letter Madison sent a draft of an address, and in reference to it
remarked: "You will readily observe that, in executing it, I have aimed
at that plainness and modesty of language which you had in view, and
which indeed are so peculiarly becoming the character and the occasion;
and that I had little more to do, as to the matter, than to follow the
just and comprehensive outline which you had sketched. I flatter myself,
however, that in everything which has depended on me, much improvement
will be made before so interesting a paper shall have taken its last
form."
In a letter to the president, written on the twenty-third of May,
Jefferson expressed his concern at the determination of the president.
"When you first mentioned to me your purpose of retiring from the
government," he said, "though I felt all the magnitude of the event, I
was in a considerable degree silent. I knew that to such a mind as yours
persuasion was idle and impertinent; that, before forming your decision,
you had weighed all the reasons for and against the measure, had made up
your mind in full view of them, and that there could be little hope of
changing the result. Pursuing my reflections, too, I knew we were some
day to try to walk alone, and, if the essay should be made while you
should be alive and looking on, we should derive confidence from that
circumstance and resource if it failed. The public mind, too, was then
calm and confident, and therefore in a favorable state for making an
experiment. But the public mind is no longer so confident and serene,
and that for causes in which you are no way personally mixed." He then
went on at great length in denunciation of the funding system, as one
calculated and even _intended_ to "corrupt the legislature," and as the
chief instrument in efforts to establish a monarchical and
aristocratical government upon the ruins of the confederation--of
preparing the way "for a change from the present republican form of
government to that of a monarchy, of which the English constitution is
to be the model." He then said:--
"The confidence of the whole Union is centred in you. Your being at
the helm will be more than an answer to every argument which can be
used to alarm and lead the people in any quarter into violence and
secession. North and South will hang together if they have you to
hang on; and if the first corrective of a numerous representation
should fail in its effects, your presence will give time for trying
others, not inconsistent with the union and peace of the states.
"I am perfectly aware of the oppression under which your present
office lays your mind, and with the ardor with which you pant for
domestic life. But there is sometimes an eminence of character on
which society have such peculiar claims as to control the
predilections of the individual for a particular walk of happiness,
and restrain him to that alone arising from the present and future
benedictions of mankind. This seems to be your condition, and the
law imposed on you by Providence in forming your character, and
fashioning the events on which it was to operate; and it is to
motives like these, and not to personal anxieties of mine or others
who have no right to call on you for sacrifices, that I appeal, and
urge a revisal of it, on the ground of change in the aspect of
things. Should an honest majority result from a new and enlarged
representation; should those acquiesce whose principles or
interests they may control, your wishes for retirement would be
gratified with less danger, as soon as that shall be manifest,
without awaiting the completion of the second term of four years.
One or two sessions will determine the crisis; and I can not but
hope that you can resolve to add more to the many years you have
already sacrificed to the good of mankind."[37]
These were wise and patriotic words, and, no doubt, had much effect upon
Washington's mind. The critical state of public affairs, the growing
animosities of party spirit, the urgent pleadings of all his friends,
the ardent desires of the people in all parts of the country, and his
willingness to serve his country in any hour of her need, caused him, as
usual, to sacrifice personal inclinations to the public welfare, and he
consented to be a candidate for re-election.
Washington made a verbal reply to Mr. Jefferson's letter when he met him
in Philadelphia. He dissented from most of the secretary's views of
public policy, and defended the assumption of the state debts and the
excise law. As to the United States bank, he did not believe that
discontents concerning it were found far from the seat of government. He
assured Mr. Jefferson that he had spoken with many people in Maryland
and Virginia during his late journey, and found them contented and
happy. According to notes made by Mr. Jefferson at the time, he and the
president had a friendly discussion of the whole matter. Washington was
very decided in his opinions, having weighed the subject with his sound
judgment. But his words had no effect upon Jefferson.
FOOTNOTES:
[34] _Washington in Private Life_, by Richard Rush.
[35] _Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington_, page 419.
[36] In his letter accompanying the books, Paine remarked: "The work has
had a run beyond any thing that has been published in this country on
the subject of government, and the demand continues. In Ireland it has
had a much greater. A letter I received from Dublin, tenth of May,
mentioned that the fourth edition was then on sale. I know not what
number of copies were printed at each edition, except the second, which
was ten thousand. The same fate follows me here as I _at first_
experienced in America--strong friends and violent enemies. But as I
have got the ear of the country, I shall go on, and at least show them,
what is a novelty here, that there can be a person beyond the reach of
corruption."
[37] Randall's Life of Thomas Jefferson ii 61