The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5)
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"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the
public summons, repaired to the present station, it will be peculiarly
improper to omit in this first official act, my fervent supplications
to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe--who presides in
the councils of nations--and whose providential aids can supply every
human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and
happiness of the people of the United States, a government instituted
by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every
instrument employed in its administration, to execute with success,
the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the
great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it
expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow
citizens at large, less than either. No people can be bound to
acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of
men, more than the people of the United States. Every step by which
they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to
have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in
the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their
united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of
so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, can
not be compared with the means by which most governments have been
established, without some return of pious gratitude along with an
humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to
presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have
forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will
join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none, under the
influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can
more auspiciously commence.
"By the article establishing the executive department, it is made the
duty of the President 'to recommend to your consideration, such
measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.' The circumstances
under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that
subject, farther than to refer to the great constitutional charter
under which you are assembled, and which in defining your powers,
designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will
be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial
with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute in place of a
recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the
talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism, which adorn the characters
selected to devise and adopt them. In these honourable qualifications,
I behold the surest pledges that, as on one side, no local prejudices
or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will
misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over
this great assemblage of communities and interests: so, on another,
that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure
and immutable principles of private morality; and the pre-eminence of
free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the
affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world. I
dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love
for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly
established than that there exists, in the economy and course of
nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness--between
duty and advantage--between the genuine maxims of an honest and
magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and
felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious
smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the
eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained: and
since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny
of the republican model of government, are justly considered as
DEEPLY, perhaps as FINALLY staked, on the experiment entrusted to the
hands of the American people.
"Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain
with your judgment to decide, how far an exercise of the occasional
power delegated by the fifth article of the constitution is rendered
expedient, at the present juncture, by the nature of objections which
have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude
which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular
recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no
lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to
my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public
good: for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every
alteration which might endanger the benefits of a united and effective
government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience,
a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen, and a regard for
the public harmony, will sufficiently influence your deliberations on
the question how far the former can be more impregnably fortified, or
the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.
"To the preceding observations I have one to add, which will be most
properly addressed to the house of representatives. It concerns
myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When I was first
honoured with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve
of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I
contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary
compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed. And
being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline,
as inapplicable to myself, any share in the personal emoluments which
may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the
executive department; and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary
estimates for the station in which I am placed, may, during my
continuance in it, be limited to such actual expenditures as the
public good may be thought to require.
"Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they have been awakened
by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present
leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the
human race, in humble supplication, that since he has been pleased to
favour the American people with opportunities for deliberating in
perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled
unanimity on a form of government, for the security of their union,
and the advancement of their happiness, so his divine blessing may be
equally _conspicuous_ in the enlarged views, the temperate
consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this
government must depend."
[Sidenote: Answer of both houses of congress to the speech.]
In their answer to this speech, the senate say: "The unanimous
suffrage of the elective body in your favour, is peculiarly expressive
of the gratitude, confidence, and affection of the citizens of
America, and is the highest testimonial at once of your merit, and
their esteem. We are sensible, sir, that nothing but the voice of your
fellow citizens could have called you from a retreat, chosen with the
fondest predilection, endeared by habit, and consecrated to the repose
of declining years. We rejoice, and with us all America, that, in
obedience to the call of our common country, you have returned once
more to public life. In you all parties confide; in you all interests
unite; and we have no doubt that your past services, great as they
have been, will be equalled by your future exertions; and that your
prudence and sagacity, as a statesman, will tend to avert the dangers
to which we were exposed, to give stability to the present government,
and dignity and splendour to that country, which your skill and valour
as a soldier, so eminently contributed to raise to independence and to
empire."
The affection for the person and character of the President with which
the answer of the house of representatives glowed, promised that
between this branch of the legislature also and the executive, the
most harmonious co-operation in the public service might be expected.
"The representatives of the people of the United States," says this
address, "present their congratulations on the event by which your
fellow citizens have attested the pre-eminence of your merit. You have
long held the first place in their esteem. You have often received
tokens of their affection. You now possess the only proof that
remained of their gratitude for your services, of their reverence for
your wisdom, and of their confidence in your virtues. You enjoy the
highest, because the truest honour, of being the first magistrate, by
the unanimous choice of the freest people on the face of the earth."
After noticing the several communications made in the speech, intense
of deep felt respect and affection, the answer concludes thus:
"Such are the sentiments with which we have thought fit to address
you. They flow from our own hearts, and we verily believe that among
the millions we represent, there is not a virtuous citizen whose heart
will disown them.
"All that remains is, that we join in your fervent supplications for
the blessing of heaven on our country; and that we add our own for the
choicest of these blessings on the most beloved of her citizens."
[Sidenote: Situation of the United States at this period in their
domestic and foreign relations.]
A perfect knowledge of the antecedent state of things being essential
to a due administration of the executive department, its attainment
engaged the immediate attention of the President; and he required the
temporary heads of departments to prepare and lay before him such
statements and documents as would give this information.
But in the full view which it was useful to take of the interior, many
objects were to be contemplated, the documents respecting which were
not to be found in official records. The progress which had been made
in assuaging the bitter animosities engendered in the sharp contest
respecting the adoption of the constitution, and the means which might
be used for conciliating the affections of all good men to the new
government, without enfeebling its essential principles, were subjects
of the most interesting inquiry.
The agitation had been too great to be suddenly calmed; and for the
active opponents of the system to become suddenly its friends, or even
indifferent to its fate, would have been a victory of reason over
passion, or a surrender of individual judgment to the decision of a
majority, examples of which are rarely given in the progress of human
affairs.
In some of the states, a disposition to acquiesce in the decision
which had been made, and to await the issue of a fair experiment of
the constitution, was avowed by the minority. In others, the chagrin
of defeat seemed to increase the original hostility to the instrument;
and serious fears were entertained by its friends, that a second
general convention might pluck from it the most essential of its
powers, before their value, and the safety with which they might be
confided where they were placed, could be ascertained by experience.
From the same cause, exerting itself in a different direction, the
friends of the new system had been still more alarmed. In all those
states where the opposition was sufficiently formidable to inspire a
hope of success, the effort was made to fill the legislature with the
declared enemies of the government, and thus to commit it, in its
infancy, to the custody of its foes. Their fears were quieted for the
present. In both branches of the legislature, the federalists, an
appellation at that time distinguishing those who had supported the
constitution, formed the majority; and it soon appeared that a new
convention was too bold an experiment to be applied for by the
requisite number of states. The condition of individuals too, was
visibly becoming more generally eligible. Industry, notwithstanding
the causes which had diminished its profits, was gradually improving
their affairs; and the new course of thinking, inspired by the
adoption of a constitution prohibiting all laws impairing the
obligation of contracts, had, in a great measure, restored that
confidence which is essential to the internal prosperity of nations.
From these, or from other causes, the crisis of the pressure on
individuals seemed to be passing away, and brighter prospects to be
opening on them.
But, two states still remained out of the pale of the union; and a
mass of ill humour existed among those who were included within it,
which increased the necessity of circumspection in those who
administered the government.
To the western parts of the continent, the attention of the executive
was attracted by discontents which were displayed with some violence,
and which originated in circumstances, and in interests, peculiar to
that country.
Spain, in possession of the mouth of the Mississippi, had refused to
permit the citizens of the United States to follow its waters into the
ocean; and had occasionally tolerated or interdicted their commerce to
New Orleans, as had been suggested by the supposed interest or caprice
of the Spanish government, or of its representatives in America. The
eyes of the inhabitants adjacent to the waters which emptied into that
river, were turned down it, as the only channel through which the
surplus produce of their luxuriant soil could be conveyed to the
markets of the world. Believing that the future wealth and prosperity
of their country depended on the use of that river, they gave some
evidence of a disposition to drop from the confederacy, if this
valuable acquisition could not otherwise be made. This temper could
not fail to be viewed with interest by the neighbouring powers, who
had been encouraged by it, and by the imbecility of the government, to
enter into intrigues of an alarming nature.
Previous to his departure from Mount Vernon, the President had
received intelligence, too authentic to be disregarded, of private
machinations by real or pretended agents both of Spain and Great
Britain, which were extremely hostile to the peace, and to the
integrity of the union.
Spain had intimated that the navigation of the Mississippi could never
be conceded, while the inhabitants of the western country remained
connected with the Atlantic states, but might be freely granted to
them, if they should form an independent empire.
On the other hand, a gentleman from Canada, whose ostensible business
was to repossess himself of some lands on the Ohio which had been
formerly granted to him, frequently discussed the vital importance of
the navigation of the Mississippi, and privately assured several
individuals of great influence, that if they were disposed to assert
their rights, he was authorized by Lord Dorchester, the governor of
Canada, to say, that they might rely confidently on his assistance.
With the aid it was in his power to give, they might seize New
Orleans, fortify the Balise at the mouth of the Mississippi, and
maintain themselves in that place against the utmost efforts of Spain.
The probability of failing in any attempt to hold the mouth of the
Mississippi by force, and the resentments against Great Britain which
prevailed generally throughout the western country, diminished the
danger to be apprehended from any machinations of that power; but
against those of Spain, the same security did not exist.
In contemplating the situation of the United States in their relations
not purely domestic, the object demanding most immediate consideration
was the hostility of several tribes of Indians. The military strength
of the nations who inhabited the country between the lakes, the
Mississippi, and the Ohio, was computed at five thousand men, of whom
about fifteen hundred were at open war with the United States.
Treaties had been concluded with the residue; but the attachment
of young savages to war, and the provocation given by the
undistinguishing vengeance which had been taken by the whites in their
expeditions into the Indian country, furnished reasons for
apprehending that these treaties would soon be broken.
In the south, the Creeks, who could bring into the field six thousand
fighting men, were at war with Georgia. In the mind of their leader,
the son of a white man, some irritation had been produced by the
confiscation of the lands of his father, who had resided in that
state; and several other refugees whose property had also been
confiscated, contributed still further to exasperate the nation. But
the immediate point in contest between them was a tract of land on the
Oconee, which the state of Georgia claimed under a purchase, the
validity of which was denied by the Indians.
The regular force of the United States was less than six hundred men.
Not only the policy of accommodating differences by negotiation which
the government was in no condition to terminate by the sword; but a
real respect for the rights of the natives, and a regard for the
claims of justice and humanity, disposed the President to endeavour,
in the first instance, to remove every cause of quarrel by a treaty;
and his message to congress on this subject evidenced his preference
of pacific measures.
Possessing many valuable articles of commerce for which the best
market was often found on the coast of the Mediterranean, struggling
to export them in their own bottoms, and unable to afford a single gun
for their protection, the Americans could not view with unconcern the
dispositions which were manifested towards them by the Barbary powers.
A treaty had been formed with the emperor of Morocco; but from
Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, peace had not been purchased; and those
regencies consider all as enemies to whom they have not sold their
friendship. The unprotected vessels of America presented a tempting
object to their rapacity; and their hostility was the more terrible,
because by their public law, prisoners became slaves.
The United States were at peace with all the powers of Europe; but
controversies of a delicate nature existed with some of them, the
adjustment of which required a degree of moderation and firmness,
which there was reason to fear, might not, in every instance, be
exhibited.
The early apprehensions with which Spain had contemplated the future
strength of the United States, and the consequent disposition of the
house of Bourbon to restrict them to narrow limits, have been already
noticed. After the conclusion of the war, the attempt to form a treaty
with that power had been repeated; but no advance towards an agreement
on the points of difference between the two governments had been made.
A long and intricate negotiation between the secretary of foreign
affairs, and Don Guardoqui, the minister of his Catholic majesty, had
terminated with the old government; and the result was an inflexible
adherence on the part of Mr. Guardoqui to the exclusion of the
citizens of the United States from navigating the Mississippi below
their southern boundary. On this point there was much reason to fear
that the cabinet of Madrid would remain immoveable. The violence with
which the discontents of the western people were expressed, furnished
Spain with additional motives for perpetuating the evil of which they
complained. Aware of the embarrassments which this display of
restlessness must occasion, and sensible of the increased difficulty
and delay with which a removal of its primary cause must be attended,
the executive perceived in this critical state of things, abundant
cause for the exercise of its watchfulness, and of its prudence. With
Spain, there was also a contest respecting boundaries. The treaty of
peace had extended the limits of the United States to the thirty-first
degree of north latitude, but the pretensions of the Catholic King
were carried north of that line, to an undefined extent. He claimed as
far as he had conquered from Britain, but the precise limits of his
conquest were not ascertained.
The circumstances attending the points of difference with Great
Britain, were still more serious; because, in their progress, a temper
unfavourable to accommodation had been uniformly displayed.
The resentments produced by the various calamities war had occasioned,
were not terminated with their cause. The idea that Great Britain was
the natural enemy of America had become habitual. Believing it
impossible for that nation to have relinquished its views of conquest,
many found it difficult to bury their animosities, and to act upon the
sentiment contained in the declaration of independence, "to hold them
as the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends." In addition
to the complaints respecting the violation of the treaty of peace,
events were continually supplying this temper with fresh aliment. The
disinclination which the cabinet of London had discovered to a
commercial treaty with the United States was not attributed
exclusively to the cause which had been assigned for it. It was in
part ascribed to that jealousy with which Britain was supposed to view
the growing trade of America.
The general restrictions on commerce by which every maritime power
sought to promote its own navigation, and that part of the European
system in particular, by which each aimed at a monopoly of the trade
of its colonies, were felt with peculiar keenness when enforced by
England. The people of America were perhaps the more sensible to the
British resolutions on this subject, because, having composed a part
of that empire, they had grown up in the habit of a free intercourse
with all its ports; and, without accurately appreciating the cause to
which a change of this usage was to be ascribed, they attributed it to
a jealousy of their prosperity, and to an inclination to diminish the
value of their independence. In this suspicious temper, almost every
unfavourable event which occurred was traced up to British hostility.
That an attempt to form a commercial treaty with Portugal had failed,
was attributed to the influence of the cabinet of London; and to the
machinations of the same power were also ascribed the danger from the
corsairs of Barbary, and the bloody incursions of the Indians. The
resentment excited by these causes was felt by a large proportion of
the American people; and the expression of it was common and public.
That correspondent dispositions existed in England is by no means
improbable, and the necessary effect of this temper was to increase
the difficulty of adjusting the differences between the two nations.
With France, the most perfect harmony subsisted. Those attachments
which originated in the signal services received from his most
Christian Majesty during the war of the revolution, had sustained no
diminution. Yet, from causes which it was found difficult to
counteract, the commercial intercourse between the two nations was not
so extensive as had been expected. It was the interest, and of
consequence the policy of France, to avail herself of the
misunderstandings between the United States and Great Britain, in
order to obtain such regulations as might gradually divert the
increasing trade of the American continent from those channels in
which it had been accustomed to flow; and a disposition was felt
throughout the United States to co-operate with her, in enabling her
merchants, by legislative encouragements, to rival those of Britain in
the American market.
A great revolution had commenced in that country, the first stage of
which was completed by limiting the powers of the monarch, and by the
establishment of a popular assembly. In no part of the globe was this
revolution hailed with more joy than in America. The influence it
would have on the affairs of the world was not then distinctly
foreseen: and the philanthropist, without becoming a political
partisan, rejoiced in the event. On this subject, therefore, but one
sentiment existed.
The relations of the United States with the other powers of Europe,
did not require particular attention. Their dispositions were rather
friendly than otherwise; and an inclination was generally manifested
to participate in the advantages, which the erection of an independent
empire on the western shores of the Atlantic, held forth to the
commercial world.
By the ministers of foreign powers in America, it would readily be
supposed, that the first steps taken by the new government would, not
only be indicative of its present system, but would probably affect
its foreign relations permanently, and that the influence of the
President would be felt in the legislature. Scarcely was the exercise
of his executive functions commenced, when the President received an
application from the Count de Moustiers, the minister of France,
requesting a private conference. On being told that the department of
foreign affairs was the channel through which all official business
should pass, the Count replied that the interview he requested was,
not for the purpose of actual business, but rather as preparatory to
its future transaction.