The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5 (of 5)
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NOTE--No. III. _See Page 40._
Of the excessive and passionate devotion which was felt for the French
republic, and of the blind and almost equally extensive hostility to
the measures of the administration, the gazettes of the day are
replete with the most abundant proof. As an example of this spirit,
the following toasts are selected, because they were given at a
festival made by persons of some distinction, at which the governor of
Pennsylvania and the minister of France were present.
To commemorate the 14th of July, the anniversary of the destruction of
the Bastille, the officers of the 2d regiment of Philadelphia militia
assembled at Weed's ferry. Eighty-five rounds were discharged from the
artillery in honour of the eighty-five departments of France, and the
following toasts were given:
1st. The _fourteenth_ day of July; may it be a sabbath in the calendar
of freedom, and a jubilee to the European world.
2d. The _tenth_ of August; may the freemen who offered up their lives
on the altar of liberty be ever remembered as martyrs, and canonized
as saints.
3d. May the Bastille of despotism throughout the earth be crumbled
into dust, and the Phoenix of freedom grow out of the ashes.
4th. Nerve to the arm, fortitude to the heart, and triumph to the soul
struggling for the rights of man.
5th. May no blind attachment to men lead France to the precipice of
that tyranny from which they have escaped.
6th. May the sister republics of France and America be as incorporate
as light and heat, and the man who endeavours to disunite them be
viewed as the Arnold of his country.
7th. May honour and probity be the principles by which the connexions
of free nations shall be determined; and no Machiavellian commentaries
explain the text of treaties.
8th. _The treaty of alliance with France_: may those who attempt to
evade or violate the political obligations and faith of our country be
considered as traitors, and consigned to infamy.
9th. _The citizen soldiers_, before they act may they know and approve
the cause, and may remorse attend the man that would think of opposing
the French while they war for the rights of man.
10th. The _youth_ of the _Paris legion_; may the rising generation of
America imitate their heroism and love of country.
11th. The republics of France and America; may the cause of liberty
ever be a bond of union between the two nations.
12th. A dagger to the bosom of that man who makes patriotism a cover
to his ambition, and feels his country's happiness absorbed in his
own.
13th. May _French_, superior to _Roman or Grecian_ virtue, be the
electric fluid of freedom, that shall animate and quicken the earth.
14th. Union and mutual confidence to the patriots of France; confusion
and distress to the counsels of their enemies.
15th. May the succeeding generation wonder that such beings as _kings_
were ever permitted to exist.
Volunteer from the chair.
The rule of proportion; as France acted with respect to America, so
may America act with respect to France!
* * * * *
NOTE--No. IV. _See Page 47._
Of the sensibility of the president to the calumnies against his
administration with which the press abounded, and of their new
direction against him personally, his correspondence furnishes but few
evidences. The first and almost only notice taken of them is in a
private letter of the 21st of July, to his friend General Lee, then
governor of Virginia, an extract from which follows:
"That there are in this, as in all other countries, discontented
characters I well know; as also that these characters are actuated by
very different views:--Some good, from an opinion that the measures of
the general government are impure;--some bad, and (if I might be
allowed to use so harsh an expression) diabolical, inasmuch as they
are not only meant to impede the measures of that government
generally, but more especially to destroy the confidence which it is
necessary the people should place (until they have unequivocal proof
of demerit) in their public servants:--for in this light I consider
myself whilst I am an occupant of office; and if they were to go
further and call me their slave, during this period, I would not
dispute the point with them. But in what will this abuse terminate?
"For the result, as it respects myself, I care not. I have a
consolation within of which no earthly efforts can deprive me;--and
that is, that neither ambitious nor interested motives have influenced
my conduct. The arrows of malevolence, therefore, however barbed and
pointed, can never reach my most valuable part; though, whilst I am
_up_ as a _mark_, they will be continually aimed at me. The
publications in Freneau's and Bache's papers are outrages on common
decency; and they progress in that style in proportion as their pieces
are treated with contempt, and passed over in silence by those against
whom they are directed. Their tendency, however, is too obvious to be
mistaken by men of cool and dispassionate minds;--and, in my opinion,
ought to alarm them; because it is difficult to prescribe bounds to
their effect."
* * * * *
NOTE--No. V. _See Page 48._
They are as follows:
1st. The original arming and equipping of vessels in the ports of the
United States by any of the belligerent parties, for military service,
offensive or defensive, is deemed unlawful.
2d. Equipments of merchant vessels, by either of the belligerent
parties in the ports of the United States, purely for the
accommodation of them as such, is deemed lawful.
3d. Equipments in the ports of the United States of vessels of war in
the immediate service of the government of any of the belligerent
parties, which if done to other vessels would be of a doubtful nature
as being applicable either to commerce or war, are deemed lawful,
except those which shall have made prize of the subjects, people, or
property of France, coming with their prizes into the ports of the
United States pursuant to the seventeenth article of our treaty of
amity and commerce with France.
4th. Equipments in the ports of the United States by any of the
parties at war with France of vessels fitted for merchandise and war,
whether with or without commissions, which are doubtful in their
nature as being applicable either to commerce or war, are deemed
lawful, except those which shall have made prize, &c.
5th. Equipments of any of the vessels of France, in the ports of the
United States, which are doubtful in their nature as being applicable
to commerce or war, are deemed lawful.
6th. Equipments of every kind in the ports of the United States, of
privateers of the powers at war with France, are deemed unlawful.
7th. Equipments of vessels in the ports of the United States, which
are of a nature solely adapted to war, are deemed unlawful; except
those stranded or wrecked, as mentioned in the eighteenth article of
our treaty with France, the sixteenth of our treaty with the United
Netherlands, the ninth of our treaty with Prussia, and except those
mentioned in the nineteenth article of our treaty with France, the
seventeenth of our treaty with the United Netherlands, the eighteenth
of our treaty with Prussia.
8th. Vessels of either of the parties, not armed, or armed previous to
their coming into the ports of the United States, which shall not have
infringed any of the foregoing rules, may lawfully engage or enlist
therein their own subjects or citizens, not being inhabitants of the
United States, except privateers of the powers at war with France, and
except those vessels which shall have made prize, &c.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. VI. _See Page 64._
The earnestness as well as force with which the argument against this
measure was pressed on the British cabinet, and the extreme irritation
it produced on the public mind, contrasted with the silence of the
executive respecting a much more exceptionable decree of the national
convention, and the composure of the people of the United States under
that decree, exhibits a striking proof of the difference with which
not only the people, but an administration, which the phrensy of the
day accused of partiality to England, contemplated at that time the
measures of the two nations.
On the 9th of May, 1793, the national convention passed a decree
relative to the commerce of neutrals; the first article of which is in
these words: "The French ships of war and privateers may stop and
bring into the ports of the republic, such neutral vessels as are
loaded, in whole or in part either with provisions belonging to
neutrals and destined for enemy ports, or with merchandise belonging
to enemies."
On the 23d of May, in consequence of the remonstrances of Mr. Morris,
the convention declared, "that the vessels of the United States are
not comprised in the regulations of the decree of the 9th of May." On
the 28th of the same month the decree of the 23d was repealed, and on
the first of July it was re-established. But on the 27th of July it
was again repealed, and thus the decree of the 9th of May was left in
full operation against the vessels of the United States.
So far was this regulation from affecting the sentiments of America
for France, that its existence was scarcely known.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. VII. _See Page 90._
Before these resolutions were offered, the strength of parties was in
some measure tried in a fuller house than that which had elected the
speaker.
A rule had been entered into by a former congress providing, that on
the discussion of confidential communications from the president, the
house should be cleared of all persons except the members and clerk.
On taking up a confidential message relative to the truce between
Portugal and Algiers, the doors as usual were closed. The next day
when the subject was resumed, Mr. Nicholas expressed his opinion that
there was no necessity for shutting the galleries; upon which the rule
was mentioned with a request that it should be read. Mr. Madison moved
a reconsideration of this rule. In the course of the debate on the
motion, it was said by its advocates that secrecy in a republican
government wounds the majesty of the sovereign people--that this
government is in the hands of the people--and that they have a right
to know all the transactions relative to their own affairs. This right
ought not to be infringed incautiously, for such secrecy tends to
diminish the confidence of the people in their own government.
In reply to these remarks it was said, that because this government is
republican, it will not be pretended that it can have no secrets. The
President of the United States is the depositary of secret
transactions. His duty may lead him to communicate them to the members
of the house, and the success, safety, and energy of the government
may depend on keeping those secrets inviolable. The people have a
right to be well governed. They have interests as well as rights, and
it is the duty of the legislature to take every possible measure to
promote those interests. To discuss the secret transactions of the
government publicly, was the ready way to sacrifice the public
interest, and to deprive the government of all foreign information.
Afterwards the rule was amended so far as to leave it in the
discretion of the house, after receiving a confidential message, to
debate upon it in private or in public.
Among the resolutions reported from the committee of the whole house
on this occasion, was one for appointing a committee to report the
naval force which would be necessary for the protection of the
commerce of the United States against the Algerine corsairs, together
with an estimate of the expense. It was moved to amend this resolution
by adding, "and the ways and means for defraying the same." This
motion revived the old party question of calling on the secretary of
the treasury to report ways and means. The amendment was carried, Ayes
46. Noes 44.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. VIII. _See Page 147._
The private correspondence of Mr. Morris with the president exhibits a
faithful picture, drawn by the hand of a master, of the shifting
revolutionary scenes which with unparalleled rapidity succeeded each
other in Paris. With the eye of an intelligent, and of an
unimpassioned observer, he marked all passing events, and communicated
them with fidelity. He did not mistake despotism for freedom, because
it was sanguinary, because it was exercised by those who denominated
themselves the people, or because it assumed the name of liberty.
Sincerely wishing happiness and a really free government to France, he
could not be blind to the obvious truth that the road to those
blessings had been mistaken. It was expected by his enemies that the
correspondence which was asked for would disclose something which
might be deemed offensive to the rulers of the republic, and
consequently furnish additional matter for charging the administration
with unfriendliness to France.
The resolution requesting all the correspondence, not even excluding
that which the president might think proper to withhold, involved
considerations of some delicacy, respecting which it was proper that
the rights of the executive should be precisely understood. It was,
therefore, laid before the cabinet, and, in conformity with their
advice, the President sent a message to the senate informing them that
he had examined the correspondence they requested, and had caused it
to be copied, except in those particulars which in his judgment, for
public considerations, ought not to be communicated; which copies he
transmitted to them. The nature of these papers, he added, manifested
the propriety of their being received as confidential.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. IX. _See Page 164._
This opinion derived fresh confirmation from a notification
transmitted in August, 1794, by the governor of Upper Canada to
Captain Williamson, who was establishing a settlement on the Great
Sodus, a bay of lake Ontario, about twenty miles from Oswego, and
within the state of New York. Captain Williamson not being at the
place, Lieutenant Sheaff, the bearer of the message, addressed a
letter to him, in which he said, that he had come with instructions
from the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada to demand by what
authority an establishment had been ordered at that place, and to
require that such a design be immediately relinquished for the reasons
stated in the written declaration accompanying the letter.
The written declaration was in these words:
"I am commanded to declare that, during the inexecution of the treaty
of peace between Great Britain and the United States, and until the
existing differences respecting it shall be mutually and finally
adjusted, the taking possession of any part of the Indian territory,
either for the purposes of war or sovereignty, is held to be a direct
violation of his Britannic majesty's rights, as they unquestionably
existed before the treaty, and has an immediate tendency to interrupt,
and in its progress to destroy that good understanding which has
hitherto subsisted between his Britannic majesty and the United States
of America. I, therefore, require you to desist from any such
aggression."
In the same spirit, complaints had been made as early as 1792, of
encroachments made by the people of Vermont on a country confessedly
within the territorial line of the United States, but inhabited by
persons said to live under the protection of the British garrisons.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. X. _See Page 205._
_On receiving the resignation of the secretary, the
President addressed a letter to him expressive of the sense
he entertained of his services. This letter is not found in
the letter book, but its purport may be collected from the
following answer._
Philadelphia, February 3d, 1795.
"SIR,--My particular acknowledgments are due for your very kind letter
of yesterday. As often as I may recall the vexations I have endured,
your approbation will be a great and precious consolation.
"It was not without a struggle that I yielded to the very urgent
motives which impelled me to relinquish a station in which I could
hope to be in any degree instrumental in promoting the success of an
administration under your direction; a struggle which would have been
far greater had I supposed that the prospect of future usefulness was
proportioned to the sacrifices to be made.
"Whatever may be my destination hereafter, I entreat you to be
persuaded (not the less for my having been sparing in professions)
that I shall never cease to render a just tribute to those eminent and
excelling qualities which have been already productive of so many
blessings to your country--that you will always have my fervent wishes
for your public and personal felicity, and that it will be my pride to
cultivate a continuance of that esteem, regard and friendship, of
which you do me the honour to assure me."
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XI. _See Page 216._
The following toasts which were given at a civic feast in Philadelphia
on the first of May, attended by a great number of American citizens,
to celebrate the victories of France, and which was honoured by the
presence of the minister and consul of the French republic, and of the
consul of Holland, then subdued by the arms of France, will furnish
some idea of the prevailing spirit of the times.
1st. The republic of France; whose triumphs have made this day a
jubilee; may she destroy the race of kings, and may their broken
sceptres and crowns, like the bones and teeth of the Mammoth, be the
only evidences that such monsters ever infested the earth.
2d. The republic of France; may the shores of Great Britain soon hail
the tricoloured standard, and the people rend the air with shouts of
long live the republic.
3d. The republic of France; may her navy clear the ocean of pirates,
that the common highway of nations may no longer, like the highways of
Great Britain, be a receptacle for robbers.
4th. The republic of France; may all free nations learn of her to
transfer their attachment from men to principles, and from individuals
to the people.
5th. The republic of France; may her example in the abolition of
titles and splendour be a lesson to all republics to destroy those
leavens of corruption.
6th. The republic of Holland; may the flame of liberty which they have
rekindled never be permitted to expire for want of vigilance and
energy.
7th. The republic of Holland; may her two sisters, the republics of
France and America, form with her an invincible triumvirate in the
cause of liberty.
8th. The republic of Holland; may she again give birth to a Van Tromp
and De Ruyter, who shall make the satellites of George tremble at
their approach, and seek their safety in flight.
9th. The republic of Holland; may that fortitude which sustained her
in the dire conflict with Philip II. and the success that crowned her
struggles, be multiplied upon her, in the hour of her regeneration.
10th. The republic of Holland; may that government which they are
about establishing have neither the balances of aristocracy, nor the
checks of monarchy.
11th. The republic of America; may the sentiment that impelled her to
resist a British tyrant's will, and the energy which rendered it
effectual, prompt her to repel usurpation in whatever shape it may
assail her.
12th. The republic of America; may the aristocracy of wealth founded
upon the virtues, the toils, and the blood of her revolutionary armies
soon vanish, and like the baseless fabric of a vision, leave not a
wreck behind.
13th. The republic of America; may her government have public good for
its object, and be purged of the dregs of sophisticated republicanism.
14th. The republic of America; may the alliance formed between her and
France acquire vigour with age, and that man be branded as the enemy
of liberty who shall endeavour to weaken or unhinge it.
15th. The republic of America; may her administration have virtue
enough to defy the ordeal of patriotic societies, and patriotism
enough to cherish instead of denouncing them.
It was not in Philadelphia alone that this temper was manifested. In
every part of the United States, the love of France appeared to be a
passion much more active with immense numbers, than that of America.
Her victories were celebrated with enthusiasm, her heroes were toasted
on public occasions, and moderation with regard to England was deemed
a crime not readily to be pardoned.
General Washington received an invitation to attend this feast in the
following terms.
SIR,--The subscribers, a committee in behalf of a number of American,
French, and Dutch citizens, request the honour of your company to a
civic festival, to be given on Friday, April 17th, appointed to
celebrate the late victories of the French republic, and the
emancipation of Holland.
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XII. _See Page 231._
A letter addressed to his government in October, 1794, by the minister
of the French republic was intercepted by the captain of a British
frigate and forwarded to Mr. Hammond, by whom it was delivered about
the last of July to the secretary of the treasury, who, on the arrival
of the President in Philadelphia, placed it in his hands. This letter
alluded to communications from Mr. Randolph which, in the opinion of
the President, were excessively improper. The ecclaircissements which
the occasion required were followed by the resignation of the
secretary. For the purpose, he alleged, of vindicating his conduct, he
demanded a sight of a confidential letter which had been addressed to
him by the President, and which was left in the office. His avowed
design was to give this as well as some others of the same description
to the public in order to support the allegation, that in consequence
of his attachment to France and to liberty, he had fallen a victim to
the intrigues of a British and an aristocratic party. The answer given
to this demand was a license which few politicians in turbulent times
could allow to a man who had possessed the unlimited confidence of the
person giving it. "I have directed," said the President, "that you
should have the inspection of my letter of the 22d of July, agreeable
to your request: and you are at full liberty to publish without
reserve _any_ and _every_ private and confidential letter I ever wrote
_you_: nay more--every word I ever uttered to or in your presence,
from whence you can derive any advantage in your vindication."
As the asperity with which Mr. Randolph spoke of the President on
other occasions as well as in his vindication, was censured by many,
it may rescue the reputation of that gentleman from imputations which
might be injurious to it to say that, some time before his death, he
had the magnanimity to acknowledge the injustice of those imputations.
A letter to the honourable Bushrod Washington, of July 2d, 1810, a
copy of which was transmitted by Mr. Randolph to the author, contains
the following declarations among others of similar import. "I do not
retain the smallest degree of that feeling which roused me fifteen
years ago against some individuals. For the world contains no
treasure, deception, or charm which can seduce me from the consolation
of being in a state of good will towards all mankind; and I should not
be mortified to ask pardon of any man with whom I have been at
variance for any injury which I may have done him. If I could now
present myself before your venerated uncle, it would be my pride to
confess my contrition that I suffered my irritation, let the cause be
what it might, to use some of those expressions respecting him which,
at this moment of my indifference to the ideas of the world, I wish to
recall, as being inconsistent with my subsequent conviction. My life
will I hope be sufficiently extended for the recording of my sincere
opinion of his virtues and merit, in a style which is not the result
of a mind merely debilitated by misfortune, but of that Christian
philosophy on which alone I depend for inward tranquillity."
* * * * *
NOTE--No. XIII. _See Page 231._
This place was offered to Mr. Henry, a gentleman of eminent talents,
great influence, and commanding eloquence. He had led the opposition
to the constitution in Virginia, but, after its adoption, his
hostility had in some measure subsided. He was truly a personal friend
of the President, and had lately manifested a temper not inimical to
the administration. The chief magistrate was anxious to engage him in
the public service, but was aware of the embarrassments which must
result from placing in so confidential a station, a person whose
opinions might lead him to thwart every measure of the executive. It
was, therefore, necessary to come to some explanations with Mr. Henry
on this subject, and the letter which invited him into the department
of state opened the way for this explanation by stating truly the
views and character of the administration. "I persuade myself, sir,"
said the President, "it has not escaped your observation, that a
crisis is approaching which must, if it can not be arrested, soon
decide whether order and good government shall be preserved, or
anarchy and confusion ensue. I can most religiously aver that I have
no wish incompatible with the dignity, happiness, and true interests
of the people of this country. My ardent desire is, and my aim has
been (as far as depended upon the executive department) to comply
strictly with all our foreign and domestic engagements; but to keep
the United States free from political connexions with _every_ other
country;--to see them independent of _all_, and under the influence of
_none_. In a word, I want an _American_ character; that the powers of
Europe may be convinced we act for _ourselves_ and not for _others_.
This, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad, and
happy at home; and not by becoming the partisans of Great Britain or
France, create dissensions, disturb the public tranquillity, and
destroy, perhaps forever, the cement that binds the union.