The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5 (of 5)
J >> John Marshall >> The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5 (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
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
The answer of the senate embraced the various topics of the speech,
and approved every sentiment it contained.
To a review of the prosperous situation of the interior of the United
States, the senate subjoined--
"Whilst contemplating the causes that produce this auspicious result,
we must acknowledge the excellence of the constitutional system, and
the wisdom of the legislative provisions;--but we should be deficient
in gratitude and justice, did we not attribute a great portion of
these advantages, to the virtue, firmness, and talents of your
administration; which have been conspicuously displayed, in the most
trying times, and on the most critical occasions--it is therefore,
with the sincerest regrets, that we now receive an official
notification of your intentions to retire from the public employments
of your country.
"When we review the various scenes of your public life, so long and so
successfully devoted to the most arduous services, civil and military;
as well during the struggles of the American revolution, as the
convulsive periods of a recent date, we can not look forward to your
retirement without our warmest affections, and most anxious regards,
accompanying you; and without mingling with our fellow citizens at
large, in the sincerest wishes for your personal happiness, that
sensibility and attachment can express.
"The most effectual consolation that can offer for the loss we are
about to sustain, arises from the animating reflection, that the
influence of your example will extend to your successors, and the
United States thus continue to enjoy an able, upright, and energetic
administration."
In the house of representatives, a committee of five had been
appointed to prepare a respectful answer to the speech, three of whom
were friends to the administration. Knowing well that the several
propositions it contained could not be noticed in detail, without
occasioning a debate in which sentiments opposed to those of the
address would be expressed, probably by a majority of the house; and
hoping that the disposition would be general to avow in strong terms
their attachment to the person and character of the President, the
committee united in reporting an answer, which, in general terms,
promised due attention to the various subjects recommended to their
consideration, but was full and explicit in the expression of
attachment to himself, and of approbation of his administration.
But the unanimity which prevailed in the committee did not extend to
the house.
After amplifying and strengthening the expressions of the report which
stated the regrets of the house that any interruption should have
taken place in the harmony which had subsisted between the United
States and France, and modifying those which declared their hopes in
the restoration of that affection which had formerly subsisted between
the two republics, so as to avoid any implication that the rupture of
that affection was exclusively ascribable to France, a motion was made
by Mr. Giles to expunge from the answer the following paragraphs.
"When we advert to the internal situation of the United States, we
deem it equally natural and becoming to compare the present period
with that immediately antecedent to the operation of the government,
and to contrast it with the calamities in which the state of war still
involves several of the European nations, as the reflections deduced
from both tend to justify, as well as to excite a warmer admiration of
our free constitution, and to exalt our minds to a more fervent and
grateful sense of piety towards Almighty God for the beneficence of
his Providence, by which its administration has been hitherto so
remarkably distinguished.
"And while we entertain a grateful conviction that your wise, firm,
and patriotic administration has been signally conducive to the
success of the present form of government, we can not forbear to
express the deep sensations of regret with which we contemplate your
intended retirement from office.
"As no other suitable occasion may occur, we can not suffer the
present to pass without attempting to disclose some of the emotions
which it can not fail to awaken.
"The gratitude and admiration of your countrymen are still drawn to
the recollection of those resplendent virtues and talents which were
so eminently instrumental to the achievement of the revolution, and of
which that glorious event will ever be the memorial. Your obedience to
the voice of duty and your country, when you quitted reluctantly, a
second time, the retreat you had chosen, and first accepted the
presidency, afforded a new proof of the devotedness of your zeal in
its service, and an earnest of the patriotism and success which have
characterized your administration. As the grateful confidence of the
citizens in the virtues of their chief magistrate has essentially
contributed to that success, we persuade ourselves that the millions
whom we represent, participate with us in the anxious solicitude of
the present occasion.
"Yet we can not be unmindful that your moderation and magnanimity,
twice displayed by retiring from your exalted stations, afford
examples no less rare and instructive to mankind than valuable to a
republic.
"Although we are sensible that this event, of itself, completes the
lustre of a character already conspicuously unrivalled by the
coincidence of virtue, talents, success, and public estimation; yet we
conceive we owe it to you, sir, and still more emphatically to
ourselves and to our nation, (of the language of whose hearts we
presume to think ourselves, at this moment, the faithful interpreters)
to express the sentiments with which it is contemplated.
"The spectacle of a free and enlightened nation offering by its
representatives the tribute of unfeigned approbation to its first
citizen, however novel and interesting it may be, derives all its
lustre (a lustre which accident or enthusiasm could not bestow, and
which adulation would tarnish) from the transcendent merit, of which
it is the voluntary testimony.
"May you long enjoy that liberty which is so dear to you, and to which
your name will ever be so dear; may your own virtue and a nation's
prayers obtain the happiest sunshine for the decline of your days, and
the choicest of future blessings. For our country's sake; for the sake
of republican liberty, it is our earnest wish that your example may be
the guide of your successors; and thus, after being the ornament and
safeguard of the present age, become the patrimony of our
descendants."
In support of this motion, after urging the indelicacy of exulting
over the misfortunes of others by contrasting our happiness with their
misery, Mr. Giles said, that with respect to the wisdom[48] and
firmness of the President, he differed in opinion from the answer; and
though he might be singular, yet it being his opinion, he should not
be afraid to avow it. He had not that grateful conviction there
mentioned, and if he were to come there and express it, he should
prove an inconsistent character. He should not go into a lengthy
discussion on this point, but if they turned their eyes to our foreign
relations, there would be found no reason to exult in the wisdom and
firmness of the administration. He believed, on the contrary, that it
was from a want of wisdom and firmness that we were brought into our
present critical situation. If gentlemen had been satisfied with
expressing their esteem of the patriotism and virtue of the President,
they might have got a unanimous vote; but they could not suppose that
gentlemen would so far forget self-respect as to join in the proposed
adulation.
[Footnote 48: Some objection has been made to the accuracy
of this speech, as reported in the Daily Advertiser. The
author has therefore deemed it proper to make some extracts
from the Aurora, the leading paper of that party, of which
Mr. Giles was a conspicuous member.
Mr. Giles, after stating that "the want of wisdom and
firmness" in the administration, "had conducted the affairs
of the nation to a crisis which threatens greater calamities
than any that has before occurred,"--remarks as
follows:--"Another sentiment in the report he could not
agree to. He did not regret the President's retiring from
office. He hoped he would retire, and enjoy the happiness
that awaited him in retirement. He believed it would more
conduce to that happiness that he should retire than if he
should remain in office. He believed the government of the
United States, founded on the broad basis of the people,
that they were competent to their own government, and the
remaining of no man in office was necessary to the success
of that government. The people would truly be in a
calamitous situation, if one man were essential to the
existence of the government. He was convinced that the
United States produces a thousand citizens capable of
filling the presidential chair, and he would trust to the
discernment of the people for a proper choice. Though the
voice of all America should declare the President's retiring
as a calamity, he could not join in the declaration, because
he did not conceive it a misfortune. He hoped the President
would be happy in his retirement, and he hoped he would
retire." He reverted again to that part of the report which
declared the administration to have been wise and firm in
its measures. "He had always disapproved," he repeated, "of
the measures of that administration with respect to foreign
relations, and many members of the house had also; he was
therefore surprised that gentlemen should now come forward
and wish him, in one breath, to disavow all his former
opinions, without being previously convinced of having been
in an error. For his own part, he conceived there was more
cause than ever for adhering to his old opinion. The course
of events had pointed out their propriety; and, if he was
not much mistaken, a crisis was at hand which would confirm
them. He wished, that while gentlemen were willing to
compliment the President, they would have some respect for
the feelings of others."--_Aurora, December 15th, 1796._]
Mr. Giles said he was one of those citizens who did not regret the
President's retiring from office. He hoped he would retire to his
country seat and enjoy all the happiness he could wish; and he
believed he would enjoy more there than in his present situation. He
believed the government of the United States would go on without him.
The people were competent to their own government. What calamities
would attend the United States if one man alone was essential to their
government! He believed there were a thousand men in the United States
who were capable of filling the presidential chair as well as it had
been filled heretofore. And although a clamour had been raised in all
parts of the United States, more or less, from apprehensions on the
departure of the President from office, yet, not feeling these
apprehensions himself, he was perfectly easy on the occasion. He
wished the President as much happiness as any man; and hoping he would
retire, he could not express any regrets at the event. And it would be
extraordinary, if gentlemen whose names in the yeas and nays are found
in opposition to certain prominent measures of the administration,
should now come forward and approve those measures. This could not be
expected. He, for his part, retained the same opinions he had always
done with respect to those measures, nor should any influence under
heaven prevent him from expressing that opinion--an opinion in which
he was confident, ere long, all America would concur.[49]
[Footnote 49: Dunlap and Claypole's Daily Advertiser,
December 16th, 1796.]
This motion was opposed with great earnestness by the party which had
supported the administration. The advantages which had resulted from
the constitution were said to be too obvious to be controverted; and
it was maintained that a comparison of the present situation of the
United States with its condition anterior to the adoption of that
instrument, or with the condition of foreign powers, was natural and
proper. This comparison was made not for the purposes of exultation,
but of exciting just sentiments respecting their own conduct.
In reply to the observations respecting the President, it was said,
that the whole course of his administration had demonstrated the
correctness with which the terms "wisdom and firmness" were applied to
it. Particular circumstances were stated in which these qualities had
been pre-eminently displayed; but the general impression which facts
had made on the public mind was considered as dispensing with the
necessity of stating the particular facts themselves.
It might be true, they said, that there were many others who could
fill with propriety and advantage the presidential chair, but no man
could fill it who possessed, in an equal degree, the confidence of the
people. The possession of this confidence enabled the chief magistrate
to perform the duties of his office in a manner greatly conducive to
the interests of the nation, and the loss of so valuable a public
servant was certainly just cause of regret. With this sentiment, the
feelings of the community fully accorded. In every part of the United
States, the declarations of their constituents attested the regrets
with which this event was contemplated by them. Those gentlemen who
did not participate in these feelings would have an opportunity to
record their names with their opinions. But those who did participate
in them ought not to be restrained from expressing them.
The motion to strike out was lost; after which the words "the
spectacle of a whole nation, the freest and most enlightened in the
world," were amended, so as to read, "the spectacle of a free and
enlightened nation," and the answer was carried by a great majority.
{1797}
Early in the session, the President communicated to congress in a
special message, the complaints alleged by the representative of the
French republic against the government of the United States. These
complaints embracing most of the transactions of the legislative and
executive departments, in relation to the belligerent powers, a
particular and careful review of almost every act of the
administration, which could affect those powers, became indispensable.
The principal object for the mission of General Pinckney to Paris,
having been to make full and fair explanations of the principles and
conduct of the American government, this review was addressed to that
minister. It presented a minute and comprehensive detail of all the
points of controversy which had arisen between the two nations; and
defended the measures which had been adopted in America, with a
clearness, and a strength of argument, believed to be irresistible. To
place the subject in a point of view, admitting of no possible
misunderstanding, the secretary of state had annexed to his own full
and demonstrative reasoning, documents, establishing the real fact in
each particular case, and the correspondence relating to it.
This letter, with its accompanying documents, was laid before
congress.
Those who read these valuable papers will not be surprised, that the
President should have relied upon their efficacy in removing from the
government of France, all impressions unfavourable to the fairness of
intention which had influenced the conduct of the United States; and
in effacing from the bosoms of the great body of the American people,
all those unjust and injurious suspicions which had been entertained
against their own administration. Should their immediate operation on
the executive of France disappoint his hopes, he persuaded himself
that he could not mistake their influence in America; and he felt the
most entire conviction that the accusations against the United States
would cease, with the evidence that those accusations were
countenanced and supported by a great portion of the American people.
These documents were communicated to the public; but, unfortunately,
their effect at home was not such as had been expected, and they were
consequently inoperative abroad. The fury of political controversy
seemed to sustain no diminution; and the American character continued
to be degraded by reciprocal criminations, which the two great parties
made upon each other, of being under a British, and a French
influence.
The measures particularly recommended by the President in his speech,
at the opening of the session, were not adopted; and neither the
debates in Congress, nor the party publications with which the nation
continued to be agitated, furnished reasonable ground for the hope,
that the political intemperance which had prevailed from the
establishment of the republican form of government in France, was
about to be succeeded by a more conciliatory spirit.
The President contemplated with a degree of pleasure[50] seldom felt
at the resignation of power, his approaching retirement to the
delightful scenes of domestic and rural life.
[Footnote 50: See note No. XV. at the end of the volume.]
It was impossible to be absolutely insensible to the bitter
invectives, and malignant calumnies of which he had long been the
object. Yet in one instance only, did he depart from the rule he had
prescribed for his conduct regarding them. Apprehending permanent
injury from the republication of certain spurious letters which have
been already noticed, he, on the day which terminated his official
character, addressed to the secretary of state the following letter.
[Sidenote: He denies the authenticity of certain spurious letters
published as his in 1776.]
"Dear Sir,
"At the conclusion of my public employments, I have thought it
expedient to notice the publication of certain forged letters which
first appeared in the year 1777, and were obtruded upon the public as
mine. They are said by the editor to have been found in a small
portmanteau that I had left in the care of my mulatto servant named
Billy, who, it is pretended, was taken prisoner at Fort Lee, in 1776.
The period when these letters were first printed will be recollected,
and what were the impressions they were intended to produce on the
public mind. It was then supposed to be of some consequence to strike
at the integrity of the motives of the American Commander-in-chief,
and to paint his inclinations as at variance with his professions and
his duty--another crisis in the affairs of America having occurred,
the same weapon has been resorted to, to wound my character and
deceive the people.
"The letters in question have the dates, addresses, and signatures
here following:
New York, June 12th, 1776.
To Mr. Lund Washington, at Mount Vernon, Fairfax county,
Virginia.
G.W.
June 18th, 1776.
To John Parke Custis, Esqr., at the Hon Benedict Calvert's
Esqr., Mount Airy, Maryland.
G.W.
New York, July 8th, 1776.
To Mr. Lund Washington, Mount Vernon, Fairfax county,
Virginia.
G.W.
New York, July 16th, 1776.
To Mr. Lund Washington.
G.W.
New York, July 15th, 1776.
To Mr. Lund Washington.
G.W.
New York, July 22d, 1776.
To Mr. Lund Washington.
G.W.
June 24th, 1776.
To Mrs. Washington.
G.W.
"At the time when these letters first appeared, it was notorious to
the army immediately under my command, and particularly to the
gentlemen attached to my person, that my mulatto man Billy had never
been one moment in the power of the enemy. It is also a fact that no
part of my baggage, or any of my attendants, were captured during the
whole course of the war. These well known facts made it unnecessary,
during the war, to call the public attention to the forgery by any
express declaration of mine; and a firm reliance on my fellow
citizens, and the abundant proofs they gave of their confidence in me,
rendered it alike unnecessary to take any formal notice of the revival
of the imposition, during my civil administration. But as I can not
know how soon a more serious event may succeed to that which will this
day take place, I have thought it a duty that I owed to myself, to my
country, and to truth, now to detail the circumstances above recited,
and to add my solemn declaration that the letters herein described are
a base forgery, and that I never saw or heard of them until they
appeared in print. The present letter I commit to your care, and
desire it may be deposited in the office of the department of state,
as a testimony of the truth to the present generation and to
posterity. Accept, &c. &c."
[Sidenote: John Adams elected president, and Thomas Jefferson vice
president.]
In February, the votes for the first and second magistrates of the
union were opened and counted in presence of both houses; and the
highest number appearing in favour of Mr. Adams, and the second in
favour of Mr. Jefferson, the first was declared to be the President,
and the second the Vice President, of the United States, for four
years to commence on the fourth day of the ensuing March.
On that day, the members of the senate, conducted by the Vice
President, together with the officers of the general and state
governments, and an immense concourse of citizens, convened in the
hall of the house of representatives, in which the oaths were
administered to the President.
The sensibility which was manifested when General Washington entered,
did not surpass the cheerfulness which overspread his own countenance,
nor the heartfelt pleasure with which he saw another invested with the
powers that had so long been exercised by himself.[51]
[Footnote 51: See note No. XVI. at the end of the volume.]
[Sidenote: General Washington retires to Mount Vernon.]
After the solemnities of the occasion had been concluded, and he had
paid to his successor those respectful compliments which he believed
to be equally due to the man and to the office, he hastened[52] to
that real felicity which awaited him at Mount Vernon, the enjoyment of
which he had long impatiently anticipated.
[Footnote 52: See note No. XVII. at the end of the volume.]
The same marks of respect and affection for his person, which had on
all great occasions been manifested by his fellow citizens, still
attended him. His endeavours to render his journey private were
unavailing; and the gentlemen of the country through which he passed,
were still ambitious of testifying their sentiments for the man who
had, from the birth of the republic, been deemed the first of American
citizens. Long after his retirement, he continued to receive addresses
from legislative bodies, and various classes of citizens, expressive
of the high sense entertained of his services.
Notwithstanding the extraordinary popularity of the first President of
the United States, scarcely has any important act of his
administration escaped the most bitter invective.
[Sidenote: Political situation of the United States at this period.]
On the real wisdom of the system which he pursued, every reader will
decide for himself. Time will, in some measure, dissipate the
prejudices and passions of the moment, and enable us to view objects
through a medium which represents them truly.
Without taking a full review of measures which were reprobated by one
party and applauded by the other, the reader may be requested to
glance his eye at the situation of the United States in 1797, and to
contrast it with their condition in 1788.
At home, a sound credit had been created; an immense floating debt had
been funded in a manner perfectly satisfactory to the creditors: an
ample revenue had been provided; those difficulties which a system of
internal taxation, on its first introduction, is doomed to encounter,
were completely removed; and the authority of the government was
firmly established. Funds for the gradual payment of the debt had been
provided; a considerable part of it had been actually discharged; and
that system which is now operating its entire extinction, had been
matured and adopted. The agricultural and commercial wealth of the
nation had increased beyond all former example. The numerous tribes of
warlike Indians, inhabiting those immense tracts which lie between the
then cultivated country and the Mississippi, had been taught, by arms
and by justice, to respect the United States, and to continue in
peace. This desirable object having been accomplished, that humane
system was established for civilizing, and furnishing them with the
conveniences of life which improves their condition, while it secures
their attachment.
Abroad, the differences with Spain had been accommodated; and the free
navigation of the Mississippi had been acquired, with the use of New
Orleans as a place of deposit for three years, and afterwards, until
some other equivalent place should be designated. Those causes of
mutual exasperation which had threatened to involve the United States
in a war with the greatest maritime and commercial power in the world,
had been removed; and the military posts which had been occupied
within their territory, from their existence as a nation, had been
evacuated. Treaties had been formed with Algiers and with Tripoli, and
no captures appear to have been made by Tunis; so that the
Mediterranean was opened to American vessels.