PROSPERITY OF THE UNITED STATES--TROUBLES WITH FRANCE
CONTINUED--INDIGNITIES OFFERED TO MR. PINCKNEY--MONROE'S
LEAVE-TAKING--INSULTING SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH
DIRECTORY--PINCKNEY LEAVES PARIS--SPECIAL SESSION OF
CONGRESS--PRESIDENT ADAMS'S MESSAGE--HIS
RECOMMENDATIONS--WASHINGTON'S SOLICITUDE--CHANGES IN PUBLIC
SENTIMENT--ACTION OF CONGRESS--SPECIAL ENVOYS SENT TO
FRANCE--WASHINGTON'S OPINIONS CONCERNING THE EMBASSY AND THE CHANCES
OF WAR--LANGHORNE'S CORRESPONDENCE--JEFFERSON'S
POSITION--LAFAYETTE'S RELEASE--ROCHAMBEAU.
Washington retired from the chair of state at a time when his country
was enjoying the highest degree of prosperity. Through the wisdom of
Hamilton and the firmness of the president, a sound credit at home had
been created, and an immense floating debt funded in a manner perfectly
satisfactory to the creditors, and to all except ignorant or
unscrupulous partisans. An ample revenue was provided for; all
difficulties which a system of internal taxation is liable to encounter
at the outset, had been removed; and the authority of and thorough
respect for the federal government were firmly established. Means had
been provided for the gradual extinguishment of the public debt; a large
portion of it had been actually discharged; and a system, which had
finally brought about an almost entire extinction of it when the war of
1812 broke out, had been matured. The agricultural and commercial wealth
of the nation had increased beyond all former example; and the numerous
Indian tribes, warlike and hostile, that inhabited the western frontiers
and the immense country beyond, even to the west of the Mississippi, had
been taught, by sad experience, the folly of opposing the power of the
United States, and were then at peace with them.
The foreign relations of the United States were in a condition more
desirable than at any time since the establishment of the government,
except in regard to France. The differences with Spain had been
adjusted; the free navigation of the Mississippi had been acquired; and
the use of New Orleans as a commercial _dépôt_, for a specific time, had
been secured. The causes which, at one time, threatened a war between
the United States and Great Britain, had been removed by diplomacy; and
the military posts on the frontier, which served as nuclei of Indian
hostilities, had passed into the possession of the government of the
United States. Treaties not perfectly satisfactory, but nevertheless
advantageous by comparison with the past, had been made with Algiers and
Tripoli; and as Tunisian corsairs had never depredated upon American
commerce, the Mediterranean sea was now opened to the mercantile marine
of the United States.
Such, in brief outline, were the condition and position of the United
States, when Washington retired from public life; yet over the bright
future, discerned by the eye of faith, hung an ominous cloud, growing
blacker and blacker every day. France, haughty, imperious, dictatorial,
and ungenerous, had severed with ruthless hand the bond of friendship
between itself and the United States, and had cut the tether of legal
restraint which kept her corsairs from depredating upon American
commerce. Her course, unjust and unwise, indicated inevitable war,
unless she should draw back, for peace with her could not be maintained
with honor upon terms which her insolence dictated. Her government had
declared, on the recall of Monroe, that no other minister from the
United States should be received until that power should fully redress
the grievances of which the republic complained; and Pinckney, whose
letter of credence declared that he had been sent "to maintain that good
understanding which, from the commencement of the alliance, had
subsisted between the two nations, and to efface unfounded impressions,
banish suspicions, and restore that cordiality which was at once the
evidence and pledge of a friendly union," was not received.
Pinckney was not only denied a reception, but was ordered to quit the
territory of France. He claimed the right to a passport and safe escort,
but these were denied, while measures for his expulsion were not put
into operation. In that position he remained some time. Meanwhile,
Monroe, unmindful of the insult offered to his country in the person of
its accredited representative, instead of leaving France indignantly
himself, consented to play a part in another scene more unworthy of him
than that enacted at his reception. The Directory, evidently for the
purpose of treating the United States government with contempt, decreed
a formal audience to Monroe, to present his letters of recall and to
take his leave. On that occasion, Monroe warmly acknowledged "the
important services rendered by France to America;" congratulated the
republic on its victories, and the excellence of its constitution; and
expressed his earnest wishes that a close union and perfect harmony
might exist between the two governments.
To this the president of the Directory responded in pompous and
high-sounding words. "Minister plenipotentiary of the United States," he
said, "by presenting this day to the executive Directory your letter of
recall, you offer a very strange spectacle to Europe. Rich in her
freedom, surrounded by the train of her victories, strong in the esteem
of her allies, France will not stoop to calculate the consequences of
the condescension of the American government to the wishes of its
ancient tyrants. The French republic expects, however, that the
successors of Columbus, Raleigh, and Penn, always proud of their
liberty, will never forget that they owe it to France. They will weigh
in their wisdom the magnanimous friendship of the French people with the
crafty caresses of perfidious men, who meditate to bring them again
under their former yoke. Assure the good people of America, Mr.
Minister, that, like them, we admire liberty; that they will always
possess our esteem, and find in the French people that republican
generosity which knows how to grant peace as well as how to cause its
sovereignty to be respected. As for you, Mr. Minister Plenipotentiary,
you have ever battled for principles; you have known the true interests
of your country Depart with our regret. We restore in you a
representative to America; we preserve the remembrance of a citizen
whose personal qualities did honor to that title."
Toward the close of January, 1798, Pinckney was notified that, having
resided in Paris nearly two months without special permission, he was
amenable to law. He immediately applied for and obtained his passports,
and on the third of February he departed for Holland, whence he sent
despatches to his government, presenting the state of his mission. They
were received on the twenty-fifth of March, and produced much
excitement. The indignities to which the United States minister had been
subjected, and the continued capture of American merchant-vessels by
French privateers, some of them commanded by Americans, caused President
Adams to issue a proclamation, convening the Congress in special session
on the fifteenth of May.
A change in public opinion was now perceptible. The people began to
understand the real character and designs of the French, the chief of
which was to sow the seeds of bitter discord between the _government_
and the _people_ of the United States--a task in which Genet and Adet
zealously labored. "The speech of the president of the Directory," said
Adams, in his opening address to the Congress, "discloses sentiments
more alarming than the refusal of a minister, because more dangerous to
our independence and union; and, at the same time, studiously marked
with indignities toward the United States. It evinces a disposition to
separate the people from their government; to persuade them that they
have different affections, principles, and interests, from those of
their fellow-citizens whom they themselves have chosen to manage their
common concerns, and thus to produce divisions fatal to our peace. Such
attempts ought to be repelled with a decision which shall convince
France and the world that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under
a colonial spirit of fear, and sense of inferiority, fitted to be the
miserable instruments of foreign influence, and regardless of national
honor, character, and interest....
"I should have been happy," he continued, "to throw a veil over the
late transactions of the French government, if it had been possible to
conceal them; but they have passed on the great theatre of the world, in
the face of all Europe and America, and with such circumstances of
publicity and solemnity that they can not be disguised, and will not
soon be forgotten."
Mr. Adams then expressed his sincere desire for reconciliation with
France, and announced his intention to institute a fresh attempt at
negotiation for that object; but he recommended the Congress to provide,
meanwhile, effectual measures for defence, especially in the increase
and strengthening of the navy.
From his retirement, Washington looked out upon the moving panorama of
national affairs with great solicitude. He took a lively interest in all
that was passing, in which the welfare of his country was involved. "It
remains to be seen," he said in a letter to Thomas Pinckney, lately
arrived from Europe, "whether our country will stand upon independent
ground, or be directed in its political concerns by any other nation. A
little time will show who are its true friends, or, what is synonymous,
who are true Americans.... The president's speech will, I conceive, draw
forth, mediately or immediately, an expression of the public mind; and,
as it is the right of the people that this should be carried into
effect, their sentiments ought to be unequivocally known, that the
principles on which the government has acted, and which, from the
president's speech, are likely to be continued, may either be changed,
or the opposition, that is endeavoring to embarrass every measure of the
executive, may meet effectual discountenance. Things can not and ought
not to remain any longer in their present disagreeable state. Nor should
the idea that the government and the people have different views, be
suffered any longer to prevail, at home or abroad; for it is not only
injurious to us, but disgraceful also, that a government constituted as
ours is should be administered contrary to their interests, if the fact
be so."
Public sentiment had now begun to assume a character coincident with
that expressed by Washington. Because of the failure of Jefferson to be
elected president of the United States, the French Directory signified
their disapprobation and resentment, by issuing a decree against
American commerce, equal in its effects to the worst practices of the
British cruisers in their impressment of seamen, and seizure of vessels
and goods of neutrals. It was intended by the French to be little short
of a declaration of war. These outrages and insults of the French
Directory had a powerful effect in arresting the fanaticism in regard to
France that had so long prevailed; while the _Aurora_ and other
democratic newspapers, not daring, in the face of public opinion, to
justify them, attempted to cast all the blame upon Jay's treaty.
The Congress moved with caution in carrying out the recommendations of
the president. There was a decided federal majority in each branch of
the national legislature, and both houses responded to the president's
speech in terms of approval. Several members, who had usually acted with
the opposition, voted in favor of resolutions for supporting the honor
of the country; and the senate, by unanimous vote, confirmed the
nomination, by the president, of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Elbridge
Gerry, and John Marshall, as special envoys to the French republic,
clothed with ample powers. They were to act jointly and severally as
ministers plenipotentiary, the object of their mission being, as the
president expressed it, to "dissipate umbrages, remove prejudices,
rectify errors, and adjust all differences, by a treaty between the two
powers."
While the president and Congress were making these peaceful provisions
for maintaining a good understanding, measures for defence were adopted.
An act was passed to prevent American citizens from fitting out or
employing privateers against nations at peace with the United States.
The exportation of arms and ammunition was prohibited, and the
importation of the same encouraged, by law. The president was also
authorized to call out the militia to the number of eighty thousand, and
to accept of the services of volunteers. A small naval force was also
provided for, and means for extraordinary expenses incident to a state
of war.
Washington had doubts of the success of the new mission. In a letter to
Timothy Pickering, at the close of August, he said: "Candor is not a
more conspicuous trait in the character of governments than it is of
individuals. It is hardly to be expected, then, that the Directory of
France will acknowledge its errors, and tread back its steps
immediately. This would announce at once that there has been
precipitancy and injustice in the measures they have pursued; or that
they were incapable of judging, and had been deceived by false
representations. Pride would be opposed to all these; and I can scarcely
think the Directory will relinquish the hold it has upon those who more
than probably have suggested and promoted the measures they have been
pursuing. I rather suppose that they will lower their tone by degrees,
and, as is usual, place the change to the credit of _French
magnanimity_."
Yet Washington had no fears concerning a war with France. To Pickering
he wrote: "I can say with truth that my mind has never been alarmed by
any fears of a war with France. I always knew that this government had
no desire to go to war with that or any other country; and I as firmly
believed that no power, without a _semblance of justice_, would declare
war against it. That France has stepped far beyond the line of
rectitude, can not be denied; that she has been encouraged to do so by a
party among ourselves is, to my mind, equally certain; and when it is
considered, moreover, that enriching themselves and injuring Great
Britain were the expected consequences of their spoliation's, I could
account, though not on honorable principles in them, for their going to
a certain point; but I never did believe that they would declare an open
war against us, or compel us, if they foresaw that would be the result,
to declare it against them."
In the autumn of 1797, Washington received a letter dated "Warren,
Albemarle county," and signed "John Langhorne," in which the writer
condoled with him on the aspersions of his character by his political
opponents, and suggested that he ought not to allow them to disturb his
repose. This letter was a forgery, there being no such person as John
Langhorne, and was evidently intended to draw from Washington some
expressions that might be used to his injury, and serve a party purpose.
But Washington, ever guarded, let fall no word in his reply that could
be so used. "For the divisions which have taken place among us, with
respect to our political concerns," he said, "for the attacks which have
been made upon those to whom the administration of the government has
been intrusted by the people, and for the calumnies which are levelled
at all those who are disposed to support the measures thereof, I feel,
on public account, as much as any man can do, because in my opinion much
evil and no good can result to this country from such conduct. So far as
these attacks are aimed at me personally, it is, I can assure you, a
misconception, if it be supposed I feel the venom of the darts."
This letter appears to have been written by a person whose name has
never been given to the public. The fraud was discovered by a gentleman
who lived near the residence of Mr. Jefferson. He was informed of a
letter in the Charlottesville post-office, in the well-known handwriting
of Washington, addressed to one whose name was unknown in that
neighborhood; and he immediately apprized Washington, not only of that
fact, but that his reply was sent for by a person whose political
sentiments were averse to those of the late administration. Washington
furnished his informant with a copy of the correspondence; and that
gentleman, on investigation, expressed his opinion that the "plot"
originated with Jefferson. Washington appears to have considered that
opinion of some weight, for, in a response to the letter of his
informant, he said: "If the person whom you _suspect_, was really the
author of the letter under the signature of _John Langhorne_, it is not
at all surprising to me that the correspondence should have ended where
it did; for the penetration of that man would have perceived, at the
first glance, that nothing was to be drawn from that mode of attack. In
what form the next invidious attempts may appear, remains to be
discovered."
There is no evidence that Mr. Jefferson had any knowledge of the matter
until the forgery was exposed, and his name had been connected with it
by Washington's informant, whom he denominated his "malignant neighbor."
That neighbor was John Nicholas, commonly known as "Clerk John," who,
Mr. Randall says, "was a weak-headed, absurd busybody, with that
restless itching for notoriety which renders a man, destitute of
ability, sense, or delicacy, almost indifferent as to the subject."[125]
Washington was naturally indignant at this attempt to ensnare him, and
his feelings were much disturbed by the alleged secret attacks upon him
and his public measures by Jefferson and his friends. As we have already
observed, he lost confidence in the genuineness of Jefferson's
professions of friendship; and, from this time, there was no
correspondence between them.
At about this time, Washington received the welcome news of the
liberation of his friend Lafayette, and his expected speedy departure
for America. Also a pamphlet on the "Military and Political Situation of
France," by General Dumas, an officer who had served under Rochambeau at
Yorktown. On the subject of his friend's release, he wrote to M. de La
Colombe, who had been Lafayette's adjutant-general when the latter
commanded the National Guard, and who was then in Philadelphia, saying:
"I congratulate you on the happy event of the liberation of our mutual
friend, whose reception in this country will be, I am sure, cordial from
all descriptions of people; from none more than myself. The answer given
by him to the minister is noble, and worthy of himself.[126] The only
regret I should feel on his arrival in America, if it should happen
soon, would be his disappointment at not finding his son here.
"I said all I could with decency, both to him and M. Frestel, to induce
their awaiting direct accounts from the prisoners before their
departure; but the eagerness of the former to embrace his parents in the
first moments of their release from a cruel imprisonment, was not to be
restrained."
These two great men and loving friends never met again on earth.
Circumstances caused Lafayette to remain in Europe, and his visit to
America was deferred more than a quarter of a century, when he came as
the Nation's Guest.
Dumas's pamphlet, to which we have just alluded, and the author's
accompanying letter, awakened pleasant emotions in the bosom of
Washington, for intelligence of an old companion-in-arms was conveyed.
"General Rochambeau," wrote Dumas, "is still at his country-seat near
Vendôme. He enjoys there tolerably good health, considering his great
age, and reckons, as well as his military family, amongst his most dear
and glorious remembrances, that of the time we had the honor to serve
under your command."
This announcement gave Washington real pleasure, for he had heard from
time to time vague rumors of the vicissitudes of Rochambeau--first as
field-marshal, in command of the revolutionary army of the north; then
as a thwarted and disappointed man, dwelling in retirement; and then as
a victim prepared for the guillotine, but saved by a sudden change in
public affairs. He was glad to know that the general was enjoying repose
in his old age. Rochambeau survived all the tempests of the Revolution,
was honored by Napoleon with the cross of grand officer of the Legion of
Honor, and a marshal's pension, and died in 1807, at the age of
eighty-two years.
FOOTNOTES:
[125] Life of Jefferson, ii. 371.
[126] The emperor of Austria communicated to Lafayette, through the
marquis de Chasteler, his intention to liberate him from his confinement
at Olmutz, on certain conditions, to which the marquis refused to
accede. In his reply to De Chasteler, Lafayette said:--
"His majesty, the emperor and king, demands an assurance that,
immediately after my release, I will depart for America. This is an
intention which I have often manifested; but since, in the actual
state of things, an assurance to this effect would seem to
recognise a right to impose this condition upon me, I think it not
proper to satisfy such a demand.
"His majesty, the emperor and king, has done me the honor to
signify that, as the principles which I profess are incompatible
with the security of the Austrian government, it is his wish that I
should never again enter his dominions without his special
permission. There are duties from which I can not release
myself--duties which I owe to the United States, and above all to
France; nor can I consent to any act which shall derogate from the
rights of my country over my person.
"With these reservations, I can assure the marquis de Chasteler
that it is my fixed determination never again to set my foot in any
country which yields obedience to his imperial majesty the king of
Bohemia and Hungary."--Sparks's Life of Washington, vol. xi., note
ix. of the Appendix.