The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5)

J >> John Marshall >> The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5)

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

From the arrival of Sir Guy Carleton at New York, the conduct of the
British armies on the American continent was regulated by the spirit
then recently displayed in the house of commons; and all the
sentiments expressed by their general were pacific and conciliatory.
But to these nattering appearances it was dangerous to yield implicit
confidence. With a change of men, a change of measures might also take
place; and, in addition to the ordinary suggestions of prudence, the
military events in the West Indies were calculated to keep alive the
attention, and to continue the anxieties of the United States.

After the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, the arms of France and Spain
in the American seas had been attended with such signal success, that
the hope of annihilating the power of Great Britain in the West Indies
was not too extravagant to be indulged. Immense preparations had been
made for the invasion of Jamaica; and, early in April, Admiral Count
de Grasse sailed from Martinique with a powerful fleet, having on
board the land forces and artillery which were to be employed in the
operations against that island. His intention was to form a junction
with the Spanish Admiral Don Solano, who lay at Hispaniola; after
which the combined fleet, whose superiority promised to render it
irresistible, was to proceed on the important enterprise which had
been concerted. On his way to Hispaniola, De Grasse was overtaken by
Rodney, and brought to an engagement, in which he was totally
defeated, and made a prisoner. This decisive victory disconcerted the
plans of the combined powers, and gave security to the British
islands. In the United States, it was feared that this alteration in
the aspect of affairs might influence the councils of the English
cabinet on the question of peace; and these apprehensions increased
the uneasiness with which all intelligent men contemplated the state
of the American finances.

It was then in contemplation to reduce the army, by which many of the
officers would be discharged. While the general declared, in a
confidential letter to the secretary of war, his conviction of the
alacrity with which they would retire into private life, could they be
placed in a situation as eligible as they had left to enter into the
service, he added--"Yet I cannot help fearing the result of the
measure, when I see such a number of men goaded by a thousand stings
of reflection on the past, and of anticipation on the future, about to
be turned on the world, soured by penury, and what they call the
ingratitude of the public; involved in debts, without one farthing of
money to carry them home, after having spent the flower of their days,
and, many of them, their patrimonies, in establishing the freedom and
independence of their country; and having suffered every thing which
human nature is capable of enduring on this side of death. I repeat
it, when I reflect on these irritating circumstances, unattended by
one thing to soothe their feelings, or brighten the gloomy prospect, I
cannot avoid apprehending that a train of evils will follow of a very
serious and distressing nature.

"I wish not to heighten the shades of the picture so far as the real
life would justify me in doing, or I would give anecdotes of
patriotism and distress which have scarcely ever been paralleled,
never surpassed, in the history of mankind. But you may rely upon it,
the patience and long sufferance of this army are almost exhausted,
and there never was so great a spirit of discontent as at this
instant. While in the field, I think it may be kept from breaking out
into acts of outrage; but when we retire into winter quarters (unless
the storm be previously dissipated) I can not be at ease respecting
the consequences. It is high time for a peace."

To judge rightly of the motives which produced this uneasy temper in
the army, it will be necessary to recollect that the resolution of
October, 1780, granting half pay for life to the officers, stood on
the mere faith of a government possessing no funds enabling it to
perform its engagements. From requisitions alone, to be made on
sovereign states, the supplies were to be drawn which should satisfy
these meritorious public creditors; and the ill success attending
these requisitions while the dangers of war were still impending,
furnished melancholy presages of their unproductiveness in time of
peace. In addition to this reflection, of itself sufficient to disturb
the tranquillity which the passage of the resolution had produced,
were other considerations of decisive influence. The dispositions
manifested by congress itself were so unfriendly to the half pay
establishment as to extinguish the hope that any funds the government
might acquire, would be applied to that object. Since the passage of
the resolution, the articles of confederation, which required the
concurrence of nine states to any act appropriating public money, had
been adopted; and nine states had never been in favour of the measure.
Should the requisitions of congress therefore be respected, or should
permanent funds be granted by the states, the prevailing sentiment of
the nation was too hostile to the compensation which had been
stipulated, to leave a probability that it would be substantially
made. This was not merely the sentiment of the individuals then
administering the government, which might change with a change of men.
It was known to be the sense of the states they represented; and
consequently the hope could not be indulged that, on this subject, a
future congress would be more just, or would think more liberally. As
therefore the establishment of that independence for which they had
fought and suffered appeared to become more certain,--as the end of
their toils approached--the officers became more attentive to their
own situation; and the inquietude of the army increased with the
progress of the negotiation.

In October, the French troops marched to Boston, in order to embark
for the West Indies; and the Americans retired into winter quarters.
The apparent indisposition of the British general to act offensively,
the pacific temper avowed by the cabinet of London, and the strength
of the country in which the American troops were cantoned, gave ample
assurance that no military operations would be undertaken during the
winter, which could require the continuance of General Washington in
camp. But the irritable temper of the army furnished cause for serious
apprehension; and he determined to forego every gratification to be
derived from a suspension of his toils, in order to watch its
discontents.

While the situation of the United States thus loudly called for peace,
the negotiations in Europe were protracted by causes which, in
America, were almost unknown, and which it would have been dangerous
to declare. Although, so far as respected the dismemberment of the
British empire, the war had been carried on with one common design,
the ulterior views of the belligerent powers were not only different,
but, in some respects, incompatible with each other. To depress a
proud and hated rival was so eagerly desired by the house of Bourbon,
that France and Spain might be disposed to continue hostilities for
the attainment of objects in which America could feel no common
interest. This circumstance, of itself, furnished motives for
prolonging the war, after the causes in which it originated were
removed; and additional delays were produced by the discordant views
which were entertained in regard to those claims which were the
subject of negotiation. These were, the boundaries which should be
assigned to the United States, and the participation which should be
allowed them in the fisheries. On both these points, the wishes of
France and Spain were opposed to those of America; and the cabinets
both of Versailles and Madrid, seemed disposed to intrigue with that
of London, to prevent such ample concessions respecting them, as the
British minister might be inclined to make.

[Sidenote: Preliminary and eventual articles agreed upon between the
United States and Great Britain.]

{Nov. 30.}

After an intricate negotiation, in which the penetration, judgment,
and firmness, of the American commissioners were eminently displayed,
eventual and preliminary articles were signed on the 30th of November.
By this treaty every reasonable wish of America, especially on the
questions of boundary and of the fisheries, was gratified.

The liberality of the articles on these points attests the success
which attended the endeavours of the plenipotentiaries of the United
States, to prove that the real interests of England required that
America should become independent in fact, as well as name; and that
every cause of future discord between the two nations should be
removed.

{1783}

The effect of this treaty was suspended until peace should be
concluded between France and Great Britain. The connexions between
their most Christian and Catholic Majesties not admitting of a
separate peace on the part of either, the negotiations between the
belligerent powers of Europe had been protracted by the persevering
endeavours of Spain to obtain the cession of Gibraltar. At length, the
formidable armament which had invested that fortress was repulsed with
immense slaughter; after which the place was relieved by Lord Howe,
and the besiegers abandoned the enterprise in despair. Negotiations
were then taken up with sincerity; and preliminary articles of peace
between Great Britain, France, and Spain, were signed on the 20th of
January, 1783.

[Sidenote: Discontents of the American Army.]

In America, the approach of peace, combined with other causes,
produced a state of things alike interesting and critical. The
officers who had wasted their fortunes and their prime of life in
unrewarded service, fearing, with reason, that congress possessed
neither the power nor the inclination to comply with its engagements
to the army, could not look with unconcern at the prospect which was
opening to them. In December, soon after going into winter quarters,
they presented a petition to congress, respecting the money actually
due to them, and proposing a commutation of the half pay stipulated by
the resolutions of October, 1780, for a sum in gross, which, they
nattered themselves, would encounter fewer prejudices than the half
pay establishment. Some security that the engagements of the
government would be complied with was also requested. A committee of
officers was deputed to solicit the attention of congress to this
memorial, and to attend its progress through the house.

Among the most distinguished members of the federal government, were
persons sincerely disposed to do ample justice to the public creditors
generally, and to that class of them particularly whose claims were
founded in military service. But many viewed the army with jealous
eyes, acknowledged its merit with unwillingness, and betrayed,
involuntarily, their repugnance to a faithful observance of the public
engagements. With this question, another of equal importance was
connected, on which congress was divided almost in the same manner.
One party was attached to a state, the other to a continental system.
The latter laboured to fund the public debts on solid continental
security, while the former opposed their whole weight to measures
calculated to effect that object.

In consequence of these divisions on points of the deepest interest,
the business of the army advanced slowly, and the important question
respecting the commutation of their half pay remained undecided, when
intelligence was received of the signature of the preliminary and
eventual articles of peace between the United States and Great
Britain.

[Sidenote: Anonymous letters and the proceedings in consequence
thereof.]

The officers, soured by their past sufferings, their present wants,
and their gloomy prospects--exasperated by the neglect which they
experienced, and the injustice which they apprehended, manifested an
irritable and uneasy temper, which required only a slight impulse to
give it activity. To render this temper the more dangerous, an opinion
had been insinuated that the Commander-in-chief was restrained, by
extreme delicacy, from supporting their interests with that zeal which
his feelings and knowledge of their situation had inspired. Early in
March, a letter was received from their committee in Philadelphia,
showing that the objects they solicited had not been obtained. On the
10th of that month, an anonymous paper was circulated, requiring a
meeting of the general and field officers at the public building on
the succeeding day at eleven in the morning; and announcing the
expectation that an officer from each company, and a delegate from the
medical staff would attend. The object of the meeting was avowed to
be, "to consider the late letter from their representatives in
Philadelphia, and what measures (if any) should be adopted to obtain
that redress of grievances which they seemed to have solicited in
vain."

On the same day an address to the army was privately circulated, which
was admirably well calculated to work on the passions of the moment,
and to lead to the most desperate resolutions. Full justice can not be
done to this eloquent paper without inserting it entire.

"To the officers of the army.

"Gentlemen,

"A fellow soldier, whose interests and affections bend him strongly to
you, whose past sufferings have been as great, and whose future
fortune may be as desperate as yours, would beg leave to address you.

"Age has its claims, and rank is not without its pretensions, to
advise; but though unsupported by both, he flatters himself that the
plain language of sincerity and experience will neither be unheard nor
unregarded.

"Like many of you, he loved private life, and left it with regret. He
left it, determined to retire from the field with the necessity that
called him to it, and not until then--not until the enemies of his
country, the slaves of power, and the hirelings of injustice, were
compelled to abandon their schemes, and acknowledge America as
terrible in arms as she had been humble in remonstrance. With this
object in view, he has long shared in your toils, and mingled in your
dangers. He has felt the cold hand of poverty without a murmur, and
has seen the insolence of wealth without a sigh. But too much under
the direction of his wishes, and sometimes weak enough to mistake
desire for opinion, he has until lately--very lately--believed in the
justice of his country. He hoped that, as the clouds of adversity
scattered, and as the sunshine of peace and better fortune broke in
upon us, the coldness and severity of government would relax, and that
more than justice, that gratitude would blaze forth upon those hands
which had upheld her in the darkest stages of her passage from
impending servitude to acknowledged independence. But faith has its
limits, as well as temper, and there are points beyond which neither
can be stretched without sinking into cowardice, or plunging into
credulity. This, my friends, I conceive to be your situation. Hurried
to the very verge of both, another step would ruin you for ever. To be
tame and unprovoked when injuries press hard upon you, is more than
weakness; but to look up for kinder usage without one manly effort of
your own, would fix your character, and show the world how richly you
deserve those chains you broke. To guard against this evil, let us
take a review of the ground upon which we now stand, and from thence
carry our thoughts forward for a moment into the unexplored field of
expedient.

"After a pursuit of seven long years, the object for which we set out
is at length brought within our reach.--Yes, my friends, that
suffering courage of yours was active once.--It has conducted the
United States of America through a doubtful and a bloody war.--It has
placed her in the chair of independency; and peace returns again to
bless--whom?--A country willing to redress your wrongs, cherish your
worth, and reward your services? A country courting your return to
private life with tears of gratitude and smiles of admiration--longing
to divide with you that independency which your gallantry has given,
and those riches which your wounds have preserved? Is this the case?
Or is it rather a country that tramples upon your rights, disdains
your cries, and insults your distresses? Have you not more than once
suggested your wishes and made known your wants to congress? Wants and
wishes which gratitude and policy would have anticipated rather than
evaded; and have you not lately, in the meek language of entreating
memorials, begged from their justice what you could no longer expect
from their favour? How have you been answered? Let the letter which
you are called to consider to-morrow reply.

"If this then be your treatment while the swords you wear are
necessary for the defence of America, what have you to expect from
peace, when your voice shall sink, and your strength dissipate by
division? When those very swords, the instruments and companions of
your glory, shall be taken from your sides, and no remaining mark of
military distinction left but your wants, infirmities, and scars? Can
you then consent to be the only sufferers by this revolution, and,
retiring from the field, grow old in poverty, wretchedness, and
contempt? Can you consent to wade through the vile mire of dependency,
and owe the miserable remnant of that life to charity which has
hitherto been spent in honour? If you can--go--and carry with you the
jest of tories, and the scorn of whigs;--the ridicule, and, what is
worse, the pity of the world. Go,--starve and be forgotten. But if
your spirit should revolt at this; if you have sense enough to
discover, and spirit enough to oppose, tyranny under whatever garb it
may assume; whether it be the plain coat of republicanism, or the
splendid robe of royalty; if you have yet learned to discriminate
between a people and a cause, between men and principles,--awake;
attend to your situation, and redress yourselves. If the present
moment be lost, every future effort is in vain; and your threats then
will be as empty as your entreaties now.

"I would advise you therefore to come to some final opinion upon what
you can bear, and what you will suffer. If your determination be in
any proportion to your wrongs, carry your appeal from the justice to
the fears of the government. Change the milk-and-water style of your
last memorial. Assume a bolder tone,--decent, but lively, spirited,
and determined; and suspect the man who would advise to more
moderation and longer forbearance. Let two or three men who can feel
as well as write, be appointed to draw up your _last remonstrance_;
for I would no longer give it the sueing, soft, unsuccessful epithet
of memorial. Let it be represented in language that will neither
dishonour you by its rudeness, nor betray you by its fears, what has
been promised by congress, and what has been performed;--how long and
how patiently you have suffered;--how little you have asked, and how
much of that little has been denied. Tell them that, though you were
the first, and would wish to be the last to encounter danger; though
despair itself can never drive you into dishonour, it may drive you
from the field;--that the wound often irritated and never healed, may
at length become incurable; and that the slightest mark of indignity
from congress now must operate like the grave, and part you forever;
that in any political event, the army has its alternative. If peace,
that nothing shall separate you from your arms but death; if war, that
courting the auspices, and inviting the directions of your illustrious
leader, you will retire to some unsettled country, smile in your turn,
and 'mock when their fear cometh on.' But let it represent also that,
should they comply with the request of your late memorial, it would
make you more happy and them more respectable. That while war should
continue you would follow their standard into the field; and when it
came to an end, you would withdraw into the shade of private life, and
give the world another subject of wonder and applause;--an army
victorious over its enemies, victorious over itself."

Persuaded as the officers in general were of the indisposition of
government to remunerate their services, this eloquent and impassioned
address, dictated by genius and by feeling, found in almost every
bosom a kindred though latent sentiment prepared to receive its
impression. Quick as the train to which a torch is applied, the
passions caught its flame, and nothing seemed to be required but the
assemblage proposed for the succeeding day, to communicate the
conflagration to the combustible mass, and to produce an explosion
ruinous to the army and to the nation.

Fortunately, the Commander-in-chief was in camp. His characteristic
firmness and decision did not forsake him in this crisis. The occasion
required that his measures should be firm, but prudent and
conciliatory,--evincive of his fixed determination to oppose any rash
proceedings, but calculated to assuage the irritation which was
excited, and to restore confidence in government.

Knowing well that it was much easier to avoid intemperate measures
than to correct them, he thought it of essential importance to prevent
the immediate meeting of the officers; but, knowing also that a sense
of injury and a fear of injustice had made a deep impression on them,
and that their sensibilities were all alive to the proceedings of
congress on their memorial, he thought it more adviseable to guide
their deliberations on that interesting subject, than to
discountenance them.

With these views, he noticed in his orders, the anonymous paper
proposing a meeting of the officers, and expressed his conviction that
their good sense would secure them from paying any "attention to such
an irregular invitation; but his own duty, he conceived, as well as
the reputation and true interest of the army, required his
disapprobation of such disorderly proceedings. At the same time, he
requested the general and field officers, with one officer from each
company, and a proper representation from the staff of the army, to
assemble at twelve on Saturday, the 15th, at the new building, to hear
the report of the committee deputed by the army to congress. After
mature deliberation they will devise what farther measures ought to be
adopted as most rational and best calculated to obtain the just and
important object in view." The senior officer in rank present was
directed to preside, and report the result of the deliberations to the
Commander-in-chief.

The day succeeding that on which these orders were published, a second
anonymous address appeared, from the same pen which had written the
first. Its author, acquainted with the discontents of the army, did
not seem to despair of impelling the officers to the desired point. He
affected to consider the orders in a light favourable to his
views:--"as giving system to their proceedings, and stability to their
resolves."

But Washington would not permit himself to be misunderstood. The
interval between his orders and the general meeting they invited, was
employed in impressing on those officers individually who possessed
the greatest share of the general confidence, a just sense of the true
interests of the army; and the whole weight of his influence was
exerted to calm the agitations of the moment, and conduct them to a
happy termination. This was a work of no inconsiderable difficulty. So
convinced were many that government designed to deal unfairly by them,
that only the reliance they placed on their general, and their
attachment to his person and character, could have moderated their
resentments so far as to induce them to adopt the measures he
recommended.

On the 15th, the convention of officers assembled, and General
Gates[14] took the chair. The Commander-in-chief then addressed them
in the following terms.

[Footnote 14: By a resolution of the preceding year, the
inquiry into his conduct had been dispensed with, and he had
been restored to his command in the army.]

"Gentlemen,--

"By an anonymous summons, an attempt has been made to convene you
together. How inconsistent with the rules of propriety, how
unmilitary, and how subversive of all order and discipline, let the
good sense of the army decide.

"In the moment of this summons, another anonymous production was sent
into circulation, addressed more to the feelings and passions than to
the judgment of the army. The author of the piece is entitled to much
credit for the goodness of his pen; and I could wish he had as much
credit for the rectitude of his heart; for as men see through
different optics, and are induced by the reflecting faculties of the
mind, to use different means to attain the same end, the author of the
address should have had more charity, than to mark for suspicion the
man who should recommend moderation and longer forbearance; or, in
other words, who should not think as he thinks, and act as he advises.
But he had another plan in view, in which candour and liberality of
sentiment, regard to justice, and love of country, have no part; and
he was right to insinuate the darkest suspicion to effect the blackest
design. That the address was drawn with great art, and is designed to
answer the most insidious purposes; that it is calculated to impress
the mind with an idea of premeditated injustice, in the sovereign
power of the United States, and rouse all those resentments which must
unavoidably flow from such a belief; that the secret mover of this
scheme, whoever he may be, intended to take advantage of the passions,
while they were warmed by the recollection of past distresses, without
giving time for cool deliberate thinking, and that composure of mind
which is so necessary to give dignity and stability to measures, is
rendered too obvious by the mode of conducting the business to need
other proof than a reference to the proceedings.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30