The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5 (of 5)
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From this view of the angry contests of party, it may not be
unacceptable to turn aside for a moment, and to look back to a
transaction in which the movements of a feeling heart discover
themselves, not the less visibly, for being engaged in a struggle with
the stern duties of a public station.
[Sidenote: The president endeavors to procure the liberation of
Lafayette.]
No one of those foreigners who, during the war of the revolution, had
engaged in the service of the United States, had embraced their cause
with so much enthusiasm, or had held so distinguished a place in the
affections of General Washington, as the Marquis de Lafayette. The
attachment of these illustrious personages to each other had been
openly expressed, and had yielded neither to time, nor to the
remarkable vicissitude of fortune with which the destinies of one of
them had been chequered. For his friend, while guiding the course of a
revolution which fixed the anxious attention of the world, or while a
prisoner in Prussia, or in the dungeon of Olmutz, the President
manifested the same esteem, and felt the same solicitude. The extreme
jealousy, however, with which the persons who administered the
government of France, as well as a large party in America, watched his
deportment towards all those whom the ferocious despotism of the
Jacobins had exiled from their country, imposed upon him the painful
necessity of observing great circumspection in his official conduct,
on this delicate subject. A formal interposition in favour of the
virtuous and unfortunate victim of their furious passions, would have
been unavailing. Without benefiting the person whom it would be
designed to aid, it might produce serious political mischief. But the
American ministers employed at foreign courts were instructed to seize
every fair occasion to express, unofficially, the interest taken by
the President in the fate of Lafayette; and to employ the most
eligible means in their power to obtain his liberty, or to meliorate
his situation. A confidential person[42] had been sent to Berlin to
solicit his discharge: but before this messenger had reached his
destination, the King of Prussia had delivered over his illustrious
prisoner to the Emperor of Germany. Mr. Pinckney had been instructed
not only to indicate the wishes of the President to the Austrian
minister at London, but to endeavour, unofficially, to obtain the
powerful mediation of Britain; and had at one time flattered himself
that the cabinet of St. James would take an interest in the case; but
this hope was soon dissipated.
[Footnote 42: Mr. James Marshall.]
After being disappointed in obtaining the mediation of the British
cabinet, the President addressed the following letter to the Emperor
of Germany.
"It will readily occur to your majesty that occasions may sometimes
exist, on which official considerations would constrain the chief of a
nation to be silent and passive in relation even to objects which
affect his sensibility and claim his interposition as a man. Finding
myself precisely in this situation at present, I take the liberty of
writing this private letter to your majesty, being persuaded that my
motives will also be my apology for it.
"In common with the people of this country, I retain a strong and
cordial sense of the services rendered to them by the Marquis de
Lafayette; and my friendship for him has been constant and sincere. It
is natural, therefore, that I should sympathize with him and his
family in their misfortunes, and endeavour to mitigate the calamities
they experience, among which his present confinement is not the least
distressing.
"I forbear to enlarge on this delicate subject. Permit me only to
submit to your majesty's consideration, whether his long imprisonment,
and the confiscation of his estate, and the indigence and dispersion
of his family, and the painful anxieties incident to all these
circumstances, do not form an assemblage of sufferings which recommend
him to the mediation of humanity? allow me, sir, on this occasion, to
be its organ; and to entreat that he may be permitted to come to this
country, on such conditions, and under such restrictions, as your
majesty may think it expedient to prescribe.
"As it is a maxim with me not to ask what, under similar
circumstances, I would not grant, your majesty will do me the justice
to believe that this request appears to me to correspond with those
great principles of magnanimity and wisdom, which form the basis of
sound policy, and durable glory."
This letter was transmitted to Mr. Pinckney to be conveyed to the
Emperor through his minister at London. How far it operated in
mitigating immediately the rigour of Lafayette's confinement, or in
obtaining his liberation, remains unascertained.
CHAPTER IV.
Letter from General Washington to Mr. Jefferson.... Hostile
measures of France against the United States.... Mr. Monroe
recalled and General Pinckney appointed to succeed him....
General Washington's valedictory address to the people of
the United States.... The Minister of France endeavours to
influence the approaching election.... The President's
speech to Congress.... He denies the authenticity of certain
spurious letters published in 1776.... John Adams elected
President, and Thomas Jefferson Vice President.... General
Washington retires to Mount Vernon.... Political situation
of the United States at this period.... The French
government refuses to receive General Pinckney as
Minister.... Congress is convened.... President's speech....
Three envoys extraordinary deputed to France.... Their
treatment.... Measures of hostility adopted by the American
government against France.... General Washington appointed
Commander-in-chief of the American army.... His death....
And character.
{1796}
The confidential friends of the President had long known his fixed
purpose to retire from office at the end of his second term, and the
people generally suspected it. Those who dreaded a change of system,
in changing the person, of the chief magistrate, manifested an earnest
desire to avoid this hazard, by being permitted once more to offer to
the public choice a person who, amidst all the fierce conflicts of
party, still remained the object of public veneration. But his
resolution was to be shaken only by the obvious approach of a perilous
crisis, which, endangering the safety of the nation, would make it
unworthy of his character, and incompatible with his principles, to
retreat from its service. In the apprehension that the co-operation of
external with internal causes might bring about such a crisis, he had
yielded to the representations of those who urged him to leave himself
master of his conduct, by withholding a public declaration of his
intention, until the propriety of affording a reasonable time to fix
on a successor should require its disclosure. "If," said Colonel
Hamilton in a letter on this subject of the fifth of July, "a storm
gathers, how can you retreat? this is a most serious question."
The suspense produced in the public opinion by this silence on the
part of the chief magistrate, seemed to redouble the efforts of those
who laboured to rob him of the affection of the people, and to attach
odium to the political system which he had pursued. As passion alone
is able successfully to contend with passion, they still sought, in
the hate which America bore to Britain, and in her love to France, for
the most powerful means with which to eradicate her love to
Washington. Amongst the various artifices employed to effect this
object, was the publication of those queries which had been propounded
by the President to his cabinet council, previous to the arrival of
Mr. Genet. This publication was intended to demonstrate the existence
of a disposition in the chief magistrate unfriendly to the French
republic, of "a Machiavellian policy, which nothing but the universal
sentiment of enthusiastic affection displayed by the _people_ of the
United States, on the arrival of Mr. Genet, could have subdued." Some
idea of the intemperance of the day may be formed from the conclusion
of that number of a series of virulent essays, in which these queries
were inserted, and from recollecting that it was addressed to a man
who, more than any other, had given character as well as independence
to his country; and whose life, devoted to her service, had exhibited
one pure undeviating course of virtuous exertion to promote her
interests.
It is in these words: "The foregoing queries were transmitted for
consideration to the heads of departments, previously to a meeting to
be held at the President's house. The text needs no commentary. It has
stamped upon its front in characters brazen enough for idolatry to
comprehend, perfidy and ingratitude. To doubt in such a case was
dishonourable, to proclaim those doubts treachery. For the honour of
the American character and of human nature, it is to be lamented that
the records of the United States exhibit such a stupendous monument of
degeneracy. It will almost require the authenticity of holy writ to
persuade posterity that it is not a libel ingeniously contrived to
injure the reputation of the saviour of his country."
As this state paper was perfectly confidential, and had been
communicated only to the cabinet ministers, Mr. Jefferson thought
proper to free himself from any possible suspicion of having given it
publicity, by assuring the President that this breach of confidence
must be ascribed to some other person.
[Sidenote: Letter from General Washington to Mr. Jefferson.]
In answer to this letter the President said--
"If I had entertained any suspicion before, that the queries which
have been published in Bache's paper proceeded from you, the
assurances you have given of the contrary would have removed
them:--but the truth is, I harboured none. I am at no loss to
conjecture from what source they flowed, through what channel they
were conveyed, nor for what purpose they and similar publications
appear.
"As you have mentioned[43] the subject yourself, it would not be
frank, candid, or friendly to conceal, that your conduct has been
represented as derogating from that opinion I conceived you
entertained of me; that to your particular friends and connexions you
have described, and they have denounced me, as a person under a
dangerous influence, and that, if I would listen _more_ to some
_other_ opinions, all would be well. My answer invariably has been,
that I had never discovered any thing in the conduct of Mr. Jefferson
to raise suspicions in my mind of his sincerity; that if he would
retrace my public conduct while he was in the administration, abundant
proofs would occur to him, that truth and right decisions were the
_sole_ objects of my pursuit; that there were as many instances within
his _own_ knowledge of my having decided _against_ as in _favour_ of
the person evidently alluded to; and moreover, that I was no believer
in the infallibility of the politics or measures of any man living. In
short, that I was no party man myself, and that the first wish of my
heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them.
[Footnote 43: In the same letter Mr. Jefferson had stated
his total abstraction from party questions.]
"To this I may add, and very truly, that until the last year or two, I
had no conception that parties would, or even could go the lengths I
have been witness to; nor did I believe, until lately, that it was
within the bounds of probability--hardly within those of
possibility--that while I was using my utmost exertions to establish a
national character of our own, independent as far as our obligations
and justice would permit, of every nation of the earth; and wished by
steering a steady course to preserve this country from the horrors of
a desolating war, I should be accused of being the enemy of one nation
and subject to the influence of another; and to prove it, that every
act of my administration would be tortured, and the grossest and most
insidious misrepresentations of them be made, by giving one side only
of a subject, and that too in such exaggerated and indecent terms as
could scarcely be applied to a Nero--to a notorious defaulter--or even
to a common pick-pocket.
"But enough of this--I have already gone further in the expression of
my feelings than I intended."
Of the numerous misrepresentations and fabrications which, with
unwearied industry, were pressed upon the public in order to withdraw
the confidence of the nation from its chief, no one marked more
strongly the depravity of that principle which justifies the means by
the end, than the republication of certain forged letters, purporting
to have been written by General Washington in the year 1776.
These letters had been originally published in the year 1777, and in
them were interspersed, with domestic occurrences which might give
them the semblance of verity, certain political sentiments favourable
to Britain in the then existing contest.
But the original fabricator of these papers missed his aim. It was
necessary to assign the manner in which the possession of them was
acquired; and in executing this part of his task, circumstances were
stated so notoriously untrue, that, at the time, the meditated
imposition deceived no person.
In the indefatigable research for testimony which might countenance
the charge that the executive was unfriendly to France, and under the
influence of Britain, these letters were drawn from the oblivion into
which they had sunk, it had been supposed forever, and were
republished as genuine. The silence with which the President treated
this as well as every other calumny, was construed into an
acknowledgment of its truth; and the malignant commentators on this
spurious text, would not admit the possibility of its being
apocryphal.
Those who laboured incessantly to establish the favourite position
that the executive was under other than French influence, reviewed
every act of the administration connected with its foreign relations,
and continued to censure every part of the system with extreme
bitterness. Not only the treaty with Great Britain, but all those
measures which had been enjoined by the duties of neutrality, were
reprobated as justly offensive to France; and no opinion which had
been advanced by Mr. Genet, in his construction of the treaties
between the two nations, was too extravagant to be approved. The
ardent patriot can not maintain the choicest rights of his country
with more zeal than was manifested in supporting all the claims of the
French republic upon the United States. These discussions were not
confined to the public prints. In almost every assemblage of
individuals, whether for social or other purposes, this favourite
theme excluded all others; and the pretensions of France were
supported and controverted with equal earnestness. The opposing
parties, mutually exasperated by unceasing altercations, cherished
reciprocal suspicions of each other, and each charged its adversary
with being under a foreign influence.[44] Those who favoured the
measures adopted by America were accused as the enemies of liberty,
the enemies of France, and the tools of Britain. In turn, they charged
their opponents with disseminating principles subversive of all order
in society; and with supporting a foreign government against their
own.
[Footnote 44: See note No. XIV. at the end of the volume.]
Whatever might be the real opinion of the French government on the
validity of its charges against the United States, those charges were
too vehemently urged, and too powerfully espoused in America, to be
abandoned at Paris. If at any time they were in part relinquished,
they were soon resumed.
For a time, Mr. Fauchet forbore to press the points on which his
predecessor had insisted; but his complaints of particular cases which
grew out of the war, and out of the rules which had been established
by the executive were unremitting. The respectful language in which
these complaints were at first urged, soon yielded to the style of
reproach; and in his correspondence with the secretary of state,
towards its close, he adopted the sentiments, without absolutely
discarding the manner of Mr. Genet.
Mr. Adet, the successor of Mr. Fauchet, arrived at Philadelphia, while
the senate was deliberating on the treaty of amity with Great Britain.
In the observations he made on that instrument, when submitted to his
consideration by order of the President, he complained particularly of
the abandonment of the principle that free ships should make free
goods; and urged the injustice, while French cruisers were restrained
by treaty from taking English goods out of American bottoms, that
English cruisers should be liberated from the same restraint. No
demonstration could be more complete than was the fallacy of this
complaint. But the American government discovered a willingness
voluntarily to release France from the pressure of a situation in
which she had elected to place herself.
[Sidenote: Hostile measures of France against the United States.]
In the anxiety which was felt by the President to come to full and
immediate explanations on this treaty, the American minister at Paris
had been furnished, even before its ratification, and still more fully
afterwards, with ample materials for the justification of his
government. But, misconceiving[45] the views of the administration, he
reserved these representations to answer complaints which were
expected, and omitted to make them in the first instance, while the
course to be pursued by the Directory was under deliberation.
Meanwhile, his letters kept up the alarm which had been excited with
regard to the dispositions of France; and intelligence from the West
Indies served to confirm it. Through a private channel, the President
received information that the special agents of the Directory in the
islands were about to issue orders for the capture of all American
vessels, laden in the whole or in part with provisions, and bound for
any port within the dominions of the British crown.
[Footnote 45: See Monroe's View.]
[Sidenote: Mr. Monroe recalled and General Pinckney appointed to
succeed him.]
Knowing well that the intentions of the executive towards the French
republic had been at all times friendly, and entertaining a strong
conviction that its conduct was liable to no just objection, the
President had relied with confidence on early and candid
communications, for the removal of any prejudices or misconceptions,
which the passions of the moment might have occasioned. That the
French government would be disappointed at the adjustment of those
differences which had threatened to embroil the United States with
Great Britain, could not be doubted; but as neither this adjustment,
nor the arrangements connected with it, had furnished any real cause
of complaint, he cherished the hope that it would produce no serious
consequences, if the proper means of prevention should be applied in
time. He was therefore dissatisfied with delays which he had not
expected; and seems to have believed that they originated in a want of
zeal to justify a measure, which neither the minister himself nor his
political friends had ever approved. To insure an earnest and active
representation of the true sentiments and views of the administration,
the President was inclined to depute an envoy extraordinary for the
particular purpose, who should be united with the actual minister; but
an objection drawn from the constitution was suggested to this
measure. During the recess of the senate, the President can only fill
up vacancies; and the appointment of a minister when no vacancy
existed, might be supposed to transcend his powers. From respect to
this construction of the constitution, the resolution was taken to
appoint a successor to Colonel Monroe. The choice of a person in all
respects qualified for this mission was not without its difficulty.
While a disposition friendly to the administration was a requisite not
to be dispensed with, it was also desirable that the person employed
should have given no umbrage to the French government. No individual
who had performed a conspicuous part on the political theatre of
America, fitted both branches of this description. All who had openly
sustained with zeal and with talents, the measures of the American
government, had been marked as the enemies of France, and were on this
account to be avoided.
For this critical and important service, the President, after some
deliberation, selected General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South
Carolina, an elder brother of Mr. Thomas Pinckney, the late[46]
minister of the United States at London. No man in America was more
perfectly free from exception than this gentleman. Having engaged with
ardour in that war which gave independence to his country, he had, in
its progress, sustained from the British army indignities to his
person, and injuries to his fortune, which are not easily forgotten.
In the early part of the French revolution, he had felt and expressed
all the enthusiasm of his countrymen for the establishment of the
republic; but, after the commencement of its contests with the United
States, he stood aloof from both those political parties which had
divided America. Restrained by the official situation of his brother
during the negotiations which had been carried on with England, he had
forborne to express any opinion respecting the treaty in which those
negotiations terminated, and had consequently taken no part with those
who approved, or with those who condemned that instrument. No man,
therefore, who had not declared himself unfriendly to the principles
he would be deputed to support, could be less objectionable to France.
[Footnote 46: At his own request, Mr. Pinckney had been
recalled; and Mr. King, a gentleman whose talents have been
universally acknowledged, and whose services will be long
recollected with approbation, had succeeded him.]
To the President he was recommended by an intimate knowledge of his
worth; by a confidence in the sincerity of his personal attachment to
the chief magistrate; by a conviction that his exertions to effect the
objects of his mission would be ardent and sincere; and that, whatever
might be his partialities for France, he possessed a high and delicate
sense of national as well as individual honour, was jealous for the
reputation of his country, and tenacious of its rights.
In July, immediately after the appointment of General Pinckney,
letters were received from Colonel Monroe communicating the official
complaints against the American government which had been made to him
in March by Mr. de La Croix, the minister of exterior relations,
together with his answer to those complaints.
In this answer the American minister had effectually refuted the
criminations of Mr. de La Croix; and the executive was satisfied with
it. But the Directory had decided on their system, and it was not by
reasoning, however conclusive, that this decision was to be changed.
As the time for electing the chief magistrate approached, the anxiety
of the public respecting the person in office, seemed to increase. In
states where the electors are chosen by the people, names of great
political influence were offered for their approbation. The strong
hold which Washington had taken of the affections of his countrymen
was, on this occasion, fully evinced. In districts where the
opposition to his administration was most powerful, where all his
measures were most loudly condemned, where those who approved his
system possessed least influence, the men who appeared to control
public opinion on every other subject, found themselves unable to move
it on this. Even the most popular among the leaders of the opposition
were reduced to the necessity of surrendering their pretensions to a
place in the electoral body, or of pledging themselves to bestow their
suffrage on the actual President. The determination of his fellow
citizens had been unequivocally manifested, and it was believed to be
apparent that the election would again be unanimous, when he announced
his resolution to withdraw from the honours and the toils of office.
Having long contemplated this event, and having wished to terminate
his political course with an act which might be at the same time
suitable to his own character, and permanently useful to his country,
he had prepared for the occasion a valedictory address, in which, with
the solicitude of a person, who, in bidding a final adieu to his
friends, leaves his affections and his anxieties for their welfare
behind him, he made a last effort to impress upon his countrymen those
great political truths which had been the guides of his own
administration, and could alone, in his opinion, form a sure and solid
basis for the happiness, the independence, and the liberty of the
United States.