The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5)
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"As to the second article, which respects the performance of public
justice, congress have in their late address to the United States,
almost exhausted the subject. They have explained their ideas so
fully, and have enforced the obligations the states are under, to
render complete justice to all the public creditors, with so much
dignity and energy, that in my opinion, no real friend to the honour
and independency of America, can hesitate a single moment respecting
the propriety of complying with the just and honourable measures
proposed. If their arguments do not produce conviction, I know of
nothing that will have greater influence; especially when we recollect
that the system referred to, being the result of the collected wisdom
of the continent, must be esteemed, if not perfect, certainly the
least objectionable of any that could be devised; and that if it
should not be carried into immediate execution, a national bankruptcy,
with all its deplorable consequences, will take place before any
different plan can possibly be proposed and adopted. So pressing are
the present circumstances, and such is the alternative now offered to
the states.
"The ability of the country to discharge the debts which have been
incurred in its defence is not to be doubted; an inclination I flatter
myself will not be wanting. The path of our duty is plain before
us--honesty will be found, on every experiment, to be the best and
only true policy. Let us then as a nation, be just; let us fulfil the
public contracts which congress had undoubtedly a right to make, for
the purpose of carrying on the war, with the same good faith we
suppose ourselves bound to perform our private engagements. In the
mean time, let an attention to the cheerful performance of their
proper business as individuals, and as members of society, be
earnestly inculcated on the citizens of America. Then will they
strengthen the hands of government, and be happy under its protection.
Every one will reap the fruit of his labours; every one will enjoy his
own acquisitions, without molestation, and without danger.
"In this state of absolute freedom and perfect security, who will
grudge to yield a very little of his property to support the common
interest of society, and insure the protection of government? Who does
not remember the frequent declarations, at the commencement of the
war, that we should be completely satisfied, if at the expense of one
half, we could defend the remainder of our possessions? Where is the
man to be found who wishes to remain indebted for the defence of his
own person and property, to the exertions, the bravery, and the blood
of others, without making one generous effort to repay the debt of
honour and of gratitude? In what part of the continent shall we find
any man or body of men, who would not blush to stand up and propose
measures purposely calculated to rob the soldier of his stipend, and
the public creditor of his due? And were it possible that such a
flagrant instance of injustice could ever happen, would it not excite
the general indignation, and tend to bring down upon the authors of
such measures, the aggravated vengeance of heaven? If, after all, a
spirit of disunion, or a temper of obstinacy and perverseness, should
manifest itself in any of the states; if such an ungracious
disposition should attempt to frustrate all the happy effects that
might be expected to flow from the union; if there should be a refusal
to comply with the requisitions for funds to discharge the annual
interest of the public debts; and if that refusal should revive again
all those jealousies, and produce all those evils, which are now
happily removed; congress, who have in all their transactions, shown a
great degree of magnanimity and justice, will stand justified in the
sight of God and man; and the state alone which puts itself in
opposition to the aggregate wisdom of the continent, and follows such
mistaken and pernicious counsels, will be responsible for all the
consequences.
"For my own part, conscious of having acted while a servant of the
public, in the manner I conceived best suited to promote the real
interests of my country; having, in consequence of my fixed belief, in
some measure pledged myself to the army, that their country would
finally do them complete and ample justice; and not wishing to conceal
any instance of my official conduct from the eyes of the world; I have
thought proper to transmit to your excellency the enclosed collection
of papers, relative to the half pay and commutation granted by
congress to the officers of the army. From these communications, my
decided sentiments will be clearly comprehended, together with the
conclusive reasons which induced me, at an early period, to recommend
the adoption of the measure, in the most earnest and serious manner.
As the proceedings of congress, the army, and myself, are open to all,
and contain, in my opinion, sufficient information to remove the
prejudices, and errors, which may have been entertained by any, I
think it unnecessary to say any thing more than just to observe, that
the resolutions of congress now alluded to, are undoubtedly as
absolutely binding upon the United States, as the most solemn acts of
confederation or legislation. As to the idea which I am informed, has
in some instances prevailed, that the half pay and commutation are to
be regarded merely in the odious light of a pension, it ought to be
exploded for ever. That provision should be viewed as it really was, a
reasonable compensation offered by congress, at a time when they had
nothing else to give to the officers of the army, for services then to
be performed. It was the only means to prevent a total dereliction of
the service.--It was a part of their hire.--I may be allowed to say it
was the price of their blood, and of your independence. It is
therefore more than a common debt; it is a debt of honour. It can
never be considered as a pension, or gratuity; nor be cancelled until
it is fairly discharged.
"With regard to a distinction between officers and soldiers, it is
sufficient that the uniform experience of every nation of the world,
combined with your own, proves the utility and propriety of the
discrimination. Rewards in proportion to the aids the public derives
from them, are unquestionably due to all its servants. In some lines,
the soldiers have perhaps generally had as ample a compensation for
their services, by the large bounties which have been paid to them, as
their officers will receive in the proposed commutation; in others, if
besides the donation of lands, the payment of arrearages, of clothing
and wages, (in which articles all the component parts of the army must
be put upon the same footing,) we take into the estimate the bounties
many of the soldiers have received, and the gratuity of one year's
full pay which is promised to all, possibly their situation (every
circumstance duly considered) will not be deemed less eligible than
that of the officers. Should a further reward, however, be judged
equitable, I will venture to assert, no one will enjoy greater
satisfaction than myself, on seeing an exemption from taxes for a
limited time, (which has been petitioned for in some instances,) or
any other adequate immunity or compensation, granted to the brave
defenders of their country's cause. But neither the adoption nor
rejection of this proposition will in any manner affect, much less
militate against, the act of congress, by which they have offered five
years full pay, in lieu of the half pay for life, which had been
before promised to the officers of the army.
"Before I conclude the subject of public justice, I can not omit to
mention the obligations this country is under to that meritorious
class of veteran non-commissioned officers and privates who have been
discharged for inability, in consequence of the resolution of congress
of the 23d April, 1782, on an annual pension for life. Their peculiar
sufferings, their singular merits, and claims to that provision, need
only be known, to interest all the feelings of humanity in their
behalf. Nothing but a punctual payment of their annual allowance can
rescue them from the most complicated misery, and nothing could be a
more melancholy and distressing sight, than to behold those who have
shed their blood or lost their limbs in the service of their country,
without a shelter, without a friend, and without the means of
obtaining any of the necessaries or comforts of life; compelled to beg
their daily bread from door to door. Surfer me to recommend those of
this description, belonging to your state, to the warmest patronage of
your excellency and your legislature.
"It is necessary to say but a few words on the third topic which was
proposed, and which regards particularly the defence of the republic,
as there can be little doubt but congress will recommend a proper
peace establishment for the United States, in which a due attention
will be paid to the importance of placing the militia of the union
upon a regular and respectable footing. If this should be the case, I
would beg leave to urge the great advantage of it in the strongest
terms. The militia of this country must be considered as the palladium
of our security, and the first effectual resort in case of hostility.
It is essential, therefore, that the same system should pervade the
whole; that the formation and discipline of the militia of the
continent should be absolutely uniform, and that the same species of
arms, accoutrements, and military apparatus should be introduced in
every part of the United States. No one who has not learned it from
experience, can conceive the difficulty, expense, and confusion, which
result from a contrary system, or the vague arrangements which have
hitherto prevailed.
"If in treating of political points, a greater latitude than usual has
been taken in the course of this address, the importance of the
crisis, and magnitude of the objects in discussion, must be my
apology. It is, however, neither my wish nor expectation, that the
preceding observations should claim any regard, except so far as they
shall appear to be dictated by a good intention, consonant to the
immediate rules of justice, calculated to produce a liberal system of
policy, and founded on whatever experience may have been acquired by a
long and close attention to public business. Here I might speak with
the more confidence, from my actual observations; and, if it would not
swell this letter (already too prolix) beyond the bounds I had
prescribed myself, I could demonstrate to every mind open to
conviction, that in less time, and with much less expense than has
been incurred, the war might have been brought to the same happy
conclusion, if the resources of the continent could have been properly
drawn forth; that the distresses and disappointments which have very
often occurred, have, in too many instances, resulted more from a want
of energy in the continental government, than a deficiency of means in
the particular states: that the inefficacy of measures, arising from
the want of an adequate authority in the supreme power, from a partial
compliance with the requisitions of congress in some of the states,
and from a failure of punctuality in others, while it tended to damp
the zeal of those which were more willing to exert themselves, served
also to accumulate the expenses of the war, and to frustrate the best
concerted plans; and that the discouragement occasioned by the
complicated difficulties and embarrassments in which our affairs were
by this means involved, would have long ago produced the dissolution
of any army less patient, less virtuous, and less persevering, than
that which I have had the honour to command. But while I mention these
things which are notorious facts, as the defects of our federal
constitution, particularly in the prosecution of a war, I beg it may
be understood, that as I have ever taken a pleasure in gratefully
acknowledging the assistance and support I have derived from every
class of citizens, so shall I always be happy to do justice to the
unparalleled exertions of the individual states, on many interesting
occasions.
"I have thus freely disclosed what I wished to make known before I
surrendered up my public trust to those who committed it to me. The
task is now accomplished. I now bid adieu to your excellency as the
chief magistrate of your state; at the same time I bid a last farewell
to the cares of office and all the employments of public life.
"It remains then to be my final and only request, that your excellency
will communicate these sentiments to your legislature at their next
meeting; and that they may be considered as the legacy of one who has
ardently wished, on all occasions, to be useful to his country; and
who, even in the shade of retirement, will not fail to implore the
divine benediction upon it.
"I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the
state over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would
incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of
subordination and obedience to government; to entertain a brotherly
affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the
United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have
served in the field, and finally, that he would most graciously be
pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean
ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind,
which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed
religion; without an humble imitation of whose example in these things
we can never hope to be a happy nation."
The impression made by this solemn and affecting admonition could not
be surpassed. The circumstances under which it was given, added to the
veneration with which it was received; and, like the counsel of a
parent on whom the grave is about to close forever, it sunk deep into
the hearts of all. But, like the counsels of a parent withdrawn from
view, the advice was too soon forgotten, and the impression it had
made was too soon effaced.
The recommendations of congress did not receive that prompt
consideration which the public exigence demanded, nor did they meet
that universal assent which was necessary to give them effect.
Not immediately perceiving that the error lay in a system which was
unfit for use, the distinguished patriots of the revolution
contemplated with increasing anxiety, the anti-American temper which
displayed itself in almost every part of the union. The letters
addressed to the late Commander-in-chief, by many of those who had
borne a conspicuous part in the arduous struggle for independence,
manifest the disappointment and chagrin occasioned by this temper. The
venerable Trumbull, who had rendered great service to the cause of
united America; who, like Washington, had supported the burden of
office throughout a hazardous contest, and like Washington, had
determined to withdraw from the cares of a public station when that
contest should be terminated, in a letter communicating to his friend
and compatriot the resolution he had taken, thus disclosed the fears
which the dispositions manifested by many of his countrymen inspired.
"The fruits of our peace and independence do not at present wear so
promising an appearance as I had fondly painted to my mind. The
prejudices, the jealousies, and turbulence of the people, at times,
almost stagger my confidence in our political establishments; and
almost occasion me to think that they will show themselves unworthy of
the noble prize for which we have contended, and which, I had pleased
myself with the hope, we were so near enjoying. But again, I check
this rising impatience, and console myself under the present prospect
with the consideration, that the same beneficent and wise Providence
which has done so much for this country, will not eventually leave us
to ruin our own happiness, to become the sport of chance, or the scoff
of a once admiring world; but that great things are yet in store for
this people, which time, and the wisdom of the Great Director will
produce in its best season."
"It is indeed a pleasure," said General Washington in reply, "from the
walks of private life to view in retrospect the difficulties through
which we have waded, and the happy haven into which our ship has been
brought. Is it possible after this that it should founder? will not
the all wise and all powerful Director of human events preserve it? I
think he will. He may, however, for some wise purpose of his own,
suffer our indiscretions and folly to place our national character low
in the political scale;--and this, unless more wisdom and less
prejudice take the lead in our government, will most certainly
happen."
That the imbecility of the federal government, the impotence of its
requisitions, and the inattention of some of the states to its
recommendations, would, in the estimation of the world, abase the
American character, could scarcely be termed a prediction. That course
of national degradation had already commenced.
As the system recommended to the states on the 18th of April, 1783,
had been matured by the best wisdom in the federal councils, a
compliance with it was the last hope of the government; and congress
continued to urge its adoption on the several states. While its fate
remain undecided, requisitions for the intermediate supply of the
national demands were annually repeated, and were annually neglected.
Happily, a loan had been negotiated in Holland by Mr. Adams, after the
termination of the war, out of which the interest of the foreign debt
had been partly paid; but that fund was exhausted, and the United
States possessed no means of replacing it. Unable to pay the interest,
they would, in the course of the succeeding year, be liable for the
first instalment of the principal; and the humiliating circumstance
was to be encountered of a total failure to comply with the most
solemn engagements, unaccompanied with the prospect of being enabled
to give assurances, that, at any future time, their situation would be
more eligible. If the condition of the domestic creditors was not
absolutely desperate, the prospect of obtaining satisfaction for their
claims was so distant and uncertain, that their evidences of debt were
transferred at an eighth, and even at a tenth of their nominal value.
The distress consequent on this depreciation was great and afflicting.
"The requisitions of congress for eight years past," say the committee
in February, 1786, to whom the subject of the revenue had been
referred, "have been so irregular in their operation, so uncertain in
their collection, and so evidently unproductive, that a reliance on
them in future as a source from whence moneys are to be drawn to
discharge the engagements of the confederacy, definite as they are in
time and amount, would be not less dishonourable to the understandings
of those who entertain such confidence, than it would be dangerous to
the welfare and peace of the union." Under public embarrassments which
were daily increasing, it had become, it was said, "the duty of
congress to declare most explicitly that the crisis _had_ arrived,
when the people of the United States, by whose will, and for whose
benefit, the federal government was instituted, must decide whether
they will support their rank as a nation, by maintaining the public
faith at home and abroad, or whether, for want of a timely exertion in
establishing a general revenue, and thereby giving strength to the
confederacy, they will hazard not only the existence of the union, but
of those great and invaluable privileges for which they have so
arduously and so honourably contended."
The revenue system of the 18th of April, 1783, was again solemnly
recommended to the consideration of the several states, and their
unanimous and early accession to it was declared to be the only
measure which could enable congress to preserve the public faith, and
to avoid the fatal evils which will inevitably flow from "a violation
of those principles of justice which are the only solid basis of the
honour and prosperity of nations."
In framing this system, a revenue adequate to the funding of the whole
national debt had been contemplated, and no part of it was to go into
operation until the whole should be adopted. By suspending partial
relief to the pressing necessities of the government, it was believed
that complete relief would be the more certainly secured.
The enlightened and virtuous statesmen with whom that measure
originated, thought it impossible that their countrymen would be so
unmindful of the obligations of honour and of justice, or could so
mistake their real interests, as to withhold their assent from the
entire plan, if convinced that no partial compliance with it would be
received. In the progress of the business, however, there was reason
to believe that the impost might be conceded, but that the application
for internal taxes would encounter difficulties not to be surmounted.
In the impoverished state of the federal treasury, an incompetent
revenue was preferred to no revenue; and it was deemed more adviseable
to accept a partial compliance with the recommendations of congress,
than, by inflexibly adhering to the integrity of the system, to lose
the whole. The states therefore, were requested to enable congress,
"to carry into effect that part which related to impost so soon as it
should be acceded to." In the course of the year 1786, every state in
the union had acted upon the recommendation, and, with the exception
of New York, had granted the impost duty which had been required. New
York had passed an act upon the subject; but, influenced by its
jealousy of the federal government, had not vested in congress the
power of collection, but had reserved to itself the sole right of
levying the duties according to its own laws. Neither did the act
permit the collectors to be made accountable to congress. To the state
only were they amenable. In addition to these deviations from the plan
recommended, New York had emitted bills of credit, which were liable
to depreciation, and in them the duties were payable. As the failure
on the part of this single state, suspended the operation of the
grants made by all the others, the executive thereof was requested
again to convene the legislature, in order to lay the subject once
more before them. To a similar resolution Governor Clinton had already
replied, that "he had not power to convene the legislature before the
time fixed by law for their stated meeting, except on extraordinary
occasions, and as the present business proposed for their
consideration had already been repeatedly laid before them, and so
recently as at their last session had received their determination, it
could not come within that description." This second resolution was
not more successful than that which preceded it, and thus was finally
defeated the laborious and persevering effort made by the federal
government to obtain from the states the means of preserving, in whole
or in part, the faith of the nation. General Washington's letters of
that period abound with passages showing the solicitude with which he
watched the progress of this recommendation, and the chagrin with
which he viewed the obstacles to its adoption. In a letter of October,
1785, he said, "the war, as you have very justly observed, has
terminated most advantageously for America, and a fair field is
presented to our view; but I confess to you freely, my dear sir, that
I do not think we possess wisdom or justice enough to cultivate it
properly. Illiberality, jealousy, and local policy, mix too much in
our public councils, for the good government of the union. In a word,
the confederation appears to me to be little more than a shadow
without the substance; and congress a nugatory body, their
ordinances being little attended to. To _me_, it is a solecism in
politics:--indeed it is one of the most extraordinary things in
nature, that we should confederate as a nation, and yet be afraid to
give the rulers of that nation, who are the creatures of our own
making, appointed for a limited and short duration, and who are
amenable for every action, recallable at any moment, and subject to
all the evils which they may be instrumental in producing,--sufficient
powers to order and direct the affairs of the same. By such policy as
this, the wheels of government are clogged, and our brightest
prospects, and that high expectation which was entertained of us by
the wondering world, are turned into astonishment; and from the high
ground on which we stood, we are descending into the vale of confusion
and darkness.
"That we have it in our power to become one of the most respectable
nations upon earth, admits, in my humble opinion, of no doubt, if we
would but pursue a wise, just, and liberal policy towards one another,
and would keep good faith with the rest of the world:--that our
resources are ample and increasing, none can deny; but while they are
grudgingly applied, or not applied at all, we give a vital stab to
public faith, and will sink in the eyes of Europe, into contempt."