The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5 (of 5)
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That war with Britain, during the continuance of the passionate and
almost idolatrous devotion of a great majority of the people to the
French republic, would throw America so completely into the arms of
France as to leave her no longer mistress of her own conduct, was not
the only fear which the temper of the day suggested. That the spirit
which triumphed in that nation, and deluged it with the blood of its
revolutionary champions, might cross the Atlantic, and desolate the
hitherto safe and peaceful dwellings of the American people, was an
apprehension not so entirely unsupported by appearances, as to be
pronounced chimerical. With a blind infatuation, which treated reason
as a criminal, immense numbers applauded a furious despotism,
trampling on every right, and sporting with life, as the essence of
liberty; and the few who conceived freedom to be a plant which did not
flourish the better for being nourished with human blood, and who
ventured to disapprove the ravages of the guillotine, were execrated
as the tools of the coalesced despots, and as persons who, to weaken
the affection of America for France, became the calumniators of that
republic. Already had an imitative spirit, captivated with the
splendour, but copying the errors of a great nation, reared up in
every part of the continent self created corresponding societies, who,
claiming to be the people, assumed a control over the government, and
were loosening its bands. Already were the mountain,[17] and a
revolutionary tribunal, favourite toasts; and already were principles
familiarly proclaimed which, in France, had been the precursors of
that tremendous and savage despotism, which, in the name of the
people, and by the instrumentality of affiliated societies, had spread
its terrific sway over that fine country, and had threatened to
extirpate all that was wise and virtuous. That a great majority of
those statesmen who conducted the opposition would deprecate such a
result, furnished no security against it. When the physical force of a
nation usurps the place of its wisdom, those who have produced such a
state of things no longer control it.
[Footnote 17: A well known term designating the most violent
party in France.]
These apprehensions, whether well or ill founded, produced in those
who felt them, an increased solicitude for the preservation of peace.
Their aid was not requisite to confirm the judgment of the President
on this interesting subject. Fixed in his purpose of maintaining the
neutrality of the United States, until the aggressions of a foreign
power should clearly render neutrality incompatible with honour; and
conceiving, from the last advices received from England, that the
differences between the two nations had not yet attained that point,
he determined to make one decisive effort, which should either remove
the ostensible causes of quarrel, or demonstrate the indisposition of
Great Britain to remove them. This determination was executed by the
nomination of an envoy extraordinary to his Britannic majesty, which
was announced to the senate on the 16th of April in the following
terms:
"The communications which I have made to you during your present
session, from the despatches of our minister in London, contain a
serious aspect of our affairs with Great Britain. But as peace ought
to be pursued with unremitted zeal, before the last resource which has
so often been the scourge of nations, and can not fail to check the
advanced prosperity of the United States, is contemplated, I have
thought proper to nominate, and do hereby nominate John Jay, as envoy
extraordinary of the United States, to his Britannic majesty.
[Sidenote: Mr. Jay appointed envoy extraordinary to Great Britain.]
"My confidence in our minister plenipotentiary in London continues
undiminished. But a mission like this, while it corresponds with the
solemnity of the occasion, will announce to the world a solicitude for
the friendly adjustment of our complaints, and a reluctance to
hostility. Going immediately from the United States, such an envoy
will carry with him a full knowledge of the existing temper and
sensibility of our country; and will thus be taught to vindicate our
rights with firmness, and to cultivate peace with sincerity."
To those who believed the interests of the nation to require a rupture
with England, and a still closer connexion with France, nothing could
be more unlooked for, or more unwelcome, than this decisive measure.
That it would influence the proceedings of congress could not be
doubted; and it would materially affect the public mind was probable.
Evincing the opinion of the executive that negotiation, not
legislative hostility, was still the proper medium for accommodating
differences with Great Britain, it threw on the legislature a great
responsibility, if they should persist in a system calculated to
defeat that negotiation. By showing to the people that their President
did not yet believe war to be necessary, it turned the attention of
many to peace; and, by suggesting the probability, rekindled the
almost extinguished desire, of preserving that blessing.
Scarcely has any public act of the President drawn upon his
administration a greater degree of censure than this. That such would
be its effect, could not be doubted by a person who had observed the
ardour with which opinions that it thwarted were embraced, or the
extremity to which the passions and contests of the moment had carried
all orders of men. But it is the province of real patriotism to
consult the utility, more than the popularity of a measure; and to
pursue the path of duty, although it may be rugged.
In the senate, the nomination was approved by a majority of ten
voices; and, in the house of representatives, it was urged as an
argument against persevering in the system which had been commenced.
On the 18th of April, a motion for taking up the report of the
committee of the whole house on the resolution for cutting off all
commercial intercourse with Great Britain, was opposed, chiefly on the
ground that, as an envoy had been nominated to the court of that
country, no obstacle ought to be thrown in his way. The adoption of
the resolution would be a bar to negotiation, because it used the
language of menace, and manifested a partiality to one of the
belligerents which was incompatible with neutrality. It was also an
objection to the resolution that it prescribed the terms on which
alone a treaty should be made, and was consequently an infringement of
the right of the executive to negotiate, and an indelicacy to that
department.
In support of the motion, it was said, that the measure was strictly
within the duty of the legislature, they having solely the right to
regulate commerce. That, if there was any indelicacy in the clashing
of the proceedings of the legislature and executive, it was to the
latter, not to the former, that this indelicacy was to be imputed. The
resolution which was the subject of debate had been several days
depending in the house, before the nomination of an envoy
extraordinary had been made. America having a right, as an independent
nation, to regulate her own commerce, the resolution could not lead to
war; on the contrary, it was the best means of bringing the
negotiation to a happy issue.
The motion for taking up the report was carried in the affirmative.
Some embarrassment was produced by an amendment offered by Mr. Smith
of South Carolina, who proposed to add another condition to the
restoration of intercourse between the two countries. This was,
compensation for the negroes carried away in violation of the treaty
of peace. The house avoided this proposition by modifying the
resolutions so as to expunge all that part of it which prescribed the
conditions on which the intercourse might be restored. A bill was
brought in conforming to this resolution, and carried by a
considerable majority. In the senate, it was lost by the casting vote
of the Vice President. The system which had been taken up in the house
of representatives was pressed no further.
The altercations between the executive and the minister of the French
republic, had given birth to many questions which had been warmly
agitated in the United States, and on which a great diversity of
sentiment prevailed.
The opinion of the administration that the relations produced by
existing treaties, and indeed by a state of peace independent of
treaty, imposed certain obligations on the United States, an
observance of which it was the duty of the executive to enforce, had
been reprobated with extreme severity. It was contended, certainly by
the most active, perhaps by the most numerous part of the community,
not only that the treaties had been grossly misconstrued, but also
that, under any construction of them, the interference of the
executive acquired the sanction of legislative authority; that, until
the legislature should interpose and annex certain punishments to
infractions of neutrality, the natural right possessed by every
individual to do any act not forbidden by express law, would furnish a
secure protection against those prosecutions which a tyrannical
executive might direct for the crime of disregarding its illegal
mandates. The right of the President to call out the militia for the
detention of privateers about to violate the rules he had established,
was, in some instances, denied; attempts to punish those who had
engaged, within the United States, to carry on expeditions against
foreign nations, were unsuccessful; and a grand jury had refused to
find a bill of indictment against Mr. Duplaine, for having rescued,
with an armed force, a vessel which had been taken into custody by an
officer of justice. Of consequence, however decided the opinion of the
executive might be with respect to its constitutional powers and
duties, it was desirable to diminish the difficulties to be
encountered in performing those duties, by obtaining the sanction of
the legislature to the rules which had been established for the
preservation of neutrality. The propriety of legislative provision for
the case was suggested by the President at the commencement of the
session, and a bill was brought into the senate, "in addition to the
act for punishing certain crimes against the United States." This bill
prohibited the exercise, within the American territory, of those
various rights of sovereignty which had been claimed by Mr. Genet, and
subjected any citizen of the United States who should be convicted of
committing any of the offences therein enumerated, to fine and
imprisonment. It also prohibited the condemnation and sale within the
United States, of prizes made from the citizens or subjects of nations
with whom they were at peace.
Necessary as this measure was, the whole strength of the opposition in
the senate was exerted to defeat it. Motions to strike out the most
essential clause were successively repeated, and each motion was
negatived by the casting vote of the Vice President. It was only by
his voice that the bill finally passed.[18]
[Footnote 18: Previous to taking the question on this bill,
a petition had been received against Mr. Gallatin, a senator
from the state of Pennsylvania, who was determined not to
have been a citizen a sufficient time to qualify him under
the constitution for a seat in the senate. This casual
circumstance divided the senate, or the bill would probably
have been lost.]
In the house of representatives also, this bill encountered a serious
opposition. The sections which prohibited the sale of prizes in the
United States, and that which declared it to be a misdemeanour to
accept a commission from a foreign power within the territory of the
United States, to serve against a nation with whom they were at peace,
were struck out; but that which respected the acceptance of
commissions was afterwards reinstated.
In the course of the session, several other party questions were
brought forward, which demonstrated, at the same time, the strength,
and the zeal of the opposition. The subject of amending the
constitution was revived; and a resolution was agreed to in both
houses for altering that instrument, so far as to exempt states from
the suits of individuals. While this resolution was before the senate,
it was also proposed to render the officers of the bank, and the
holders of stock, ineligible to either branch of the legislature; and
this proposition, so far as respected officers in the bank, was
negatived by a majority of only one vote.[19] A bill to sell the
shares of the United States in the bank was negatived by the same
majority.
[Footnote 19: A clause in the resolution as proposed, which
was understood to imply that the act for incorporating the
bank was unconstitutional, was previously struck out by the
same majority.]
[Sidenote: Inquiry into the conduct of the secretary of the treasury
terminates honourably to him.]
In both houses inquiries were set on foot respecting the treasury
department, which obviously originated in the hope of finding some
foundation for censuring that officer, but which failed entirely. In a
similar hope, as respected the minister of the United States at Paris,
the senate passed a vote requesting the President to lay before that
body, his correspondence with the French republic, and also with the
department of state.[20]
[Footnote 20: See note No. VIII. at the end of the volume.]
The preparations for an eventual war, which the aspect of public
affairs rendered it imprudent to omit, and a heavy appropriation of a
million, which, under the title of foreign intercourse, was made for
the purpose of purchasing peace from Algiers, and liberating the
Americans who were in captivity, created demands upon the treasury
which the ordinary revenues were insufficient to satisfy.
That the imposition of additional taxes had become indispensable, was
a truth too obvious to be controverted with the semblance of reason;
but the subjects of taxation afforded at all times an ample field for
discussion.
The committee of ways and means reported several resolutions for
extending the internal duties to various objects which were supposed
capable of bearing them, and also proposed an augmentation of the
impost on foreign goods imported into the United States, and a direct
tax. It was proposed to lay a tax on licenses to sell wines and
spirituous liquors, on sales at auction, on pleasure carriages, on
snuff manufactured, and on sugar refined in the United States, and
also to lay a stamp duty.
[Sidenote: Internal taxes laid.]
The direct tax was not even supported by the committee. Only thirteen
members voted in its favour. The augmentation of the duty on imposts
met with no opposition. The internal duties were introduced in
separate bills, that each might encounter only those objections which
could be made to itself; and that the loss of one might not involve
the loss of others. The resolution in favour of stamps was rejected:
the others were carried, after repeated and obstinate debates. The
members of the opposition were in favour of raising the whole sum
required by additional burdens on trade, and by direct taxes.
While these measures were depending before congress, memorials and
resolutions against them were presented by the manufacturers, which
were expressed in terms of disrespect that evidenced the sense in
which numbers understood the doctrine, _that the people were
sovereign, and those who administered the government, their servants_.
This opportunity for charging the government with tyranny and
oppression, with partiality and injustice, was too favourable not to
be embraced by the democratic societies, those self proclaimed
watchful sentinels over the rights of the people. A person
unacquainted with those motives which, in the struggle of party, too
often influence the conduct of men, would have supposed a direct tax
to be not only in itself more eligible, but to be more acceptable to
the community than those which were proposed. To the more judicious
observers of the springs of human action, the reverse was known to be
the fact.
[Illustration: George Washington's Bedroom at Mount Vernon
_It was in this room that Washington expired, December 14, 1799. Two
days previously he was exposed in the saddle, for several hours, to
cold and snow, and contracted acute laryngitis for which he was
ineffectually treated in the primitive manner of the period. A short
time before ceasing to breathe, he said: "I die hard; but I am not
afraid to go. I believed from my first attack that I should not
survive it. My breath cannot last long." A little later he murmured:
"I feel myself going. I thank you for your attentions; but I pray you
to take no more trouble about me. Let me go off quietly. I cannot last
long." After giving some instructions about his burial he became
easier, felt his own pulse, and died without a struggle._]
The friends of the administration supported the proposed system
against every objection to it, because they believed it to be more
productive, and less unpopular, than a direct tax. It is not
impossible that what recommended the system to one party, might
constitute a real objection to it with those who believed that the
public interest required a change[21] in the public councils.
[Footnote 21: The declaration was not unfrequently made that
the people could only be roused to a proper attention to the
violation of their rights, and to the prodigal waste of
their money, by perceiving the weight of their taxes. This
was concealed from them by the indirect, and would be
disclosed to them by the direct, system of taxation.]
On the ninth of June, this active and stormy session was closed by an
adjournment to the first Monday in the succeeding November.
[Sidenote: Congress adjourns.]
The public was not less agitated than the legislature had been, by
those interesting questions which had occasioned some of the most
animated and eloquent discussions that had ever taken place on the
floor of the house of representatives. Mr. Madison's resolutions
especially, continued to be the theme of general conversation; and,
for a long time, divided parties throughout the United States. The
struggle for public opinion was ardent; and each party supported its
pretensions, not only with those arguments which each deemed
conclusive, but also by those reciprocal criminations which, perhaps,
each, in part, believed.
The opposition declared that the friends of the administration were an
aristocratic and corrupt faction, who, from a desire to introduce
monarchy, were hostile to France, and under the influence of Britain;
that they sought every occasion to increase expense, to augment debt,
to multiply the public burdens, to create armies and navies, and, by
the instrumentality of all this machinery, to govern and enslave the
people: that they were a paper nobility, whose extreme sensibility at
every measure which threatened the funds, induced a tame submission to
injuries and insults, which the interests and honour of the nation
required them to resist.
The friends of the administration retorted, that the opposition was
prepared to sacrifice the best interests of their country on the altar
of the French revolution. That they were willing to go to war for
French, not for American objects: that while they urged war they
withheld the means of supporting it, in order the more effectually to
humble and disgrace the government: that they were so blinded by their
passion for France as to confound crimes with meritorious deeds, and
to abolish the natural distinction between virtue and vice: that the
principles which they propagated, and with which they sought to
intoxicate the people, were, in practice, incompatible with the
existence of government. That they were the apostles of anarchy, not
of freedom; and were consequently not the friends of real and rational
liberty.
CHAPTER III.
Genet recalled.... Is succeeded by Mr. Fauchet....
Gouverneur Morris recalled, and is succeeded by Mr.
Monroe.... Kentucky remonstrance.... Intemperate resolutions
of the people of that state.... General Wayne defeats the
Indians on the Miamis.... Insurrection in the western parts
of Pennsylvania.... Quelled by the prompt and vigorous
measures of the government.... Meeting of Congress....
President's speech.... Democratic societies.... Resignation
of Colonel Hamilton.... Is succeeded by Mr. Wolcott....
Resignation of General Knox.... Is succeeded by Colonel
Pickering.... Treaty between the United States and Great
Britain.... Conditionally ratified by the President.... The
treaty unpopular.... Mr. Randolph resigns.... Is succeeded
by Colonel Pickering.... Colonel M'Henry appointed secretary
of war.... Charge against the President rejected..... Treaty
with the Indians north-west of the Ohio.... With Algiers....
With Spain.... Meeting of Congress.... President's
speech.... Mr. Adet succeeds Mr. Fauchet..... The house of
representatives call upon the President for papers relating
to the treaty with Great Britain.... He declines sending
them.... Debates upon the treaty making power.... Upon the
bill for making appropriations to carry into execution the
treaty with Great Britain.... Congress adjourns.... The
President endeavours to procure the liberation of Lafayette.
{1794}
That the most material of those legislative measures on which the two
great parties of the United States were divided, might be presented in
one unbroken view, some transactions have been passed over, which will
now be noticed.
In that spirit of conciliation, which adopts the least irritating
means for effecting its objects, the President had resolved to bear
with the insults, the resistance, and the open defiance of Mr. Genet,
until his appeal to the friendship and the policy of the French
republic should be fairly tried. Early in January, this resolution was
shaken, by fresh proofs of the perseverance of that minister, in a
line of conduct, not to be tolerated by a nation, which has not
surrendered all pretensions to self government. Mr. Genet had
meditated, and deliberately planned, two expeditions to be carried on
from the territories of the United States, against the dominions of
Spain; and had, as minister of the French republic, granted
commissions to citizens of the United States, who were privately
recruiting troops for the proposed service. The first was destined
against the Floridas, and the second against Louisiana. The detail of
the plans had been settled. The pay, rations, clothing, plunder, and
division of the conquered lands to be allotted to the military; and
the proportion of the acquisitions to be reserved to the republic of
France, were arranged. The troops destined to act against the Floridas
were to be raised in the three southern states, were to rendezvous in
Georgia, were to be aided by a body of Indians and were to co-operate
with the French fleet, should one arrive on the coast. This scheme had
been the subject of a correspondence between the executive and Mr.
Genet, but was in full progress in the preceding December, when by the
vigilance of the legislature of South Carolina, it was more
particularly developed, and some of the principal agents were
arrested.
About the same time, intelligence less authentic, but wearing every
circumstance of probability, was received, stating that the expedition
against Louisiana, which was to be carried on down the Ohio from
Kentucky, was in equal maturity.
[Sidenote: Genet recalled.]
This intelligence seemed to render a further forbearance incompatible
with the dignity, perhaps with the safety of the United States. The
question of superseding the diplomatic functions of Mr. Genet, and
depriving him of the privileges attached to that character, was
brought before the cabinet; and a message to congress was prepared,
communicating these transactions, and avowing a determination to adopt
that measure within ---- days, unless, in the mean time, one or the
other house should signify the opinion that it was not adviseable so
to do. In this state, the business was arrested by receiving a letter
from Mr. Morris, announcing, officially, the recall of this rash
minister.
[Sidenote: Is succeeded by Mr. Fauchet.]
Mr. Fauchet, the successor of Mr. Genet, arrived in February, and
brought with him strong assurances that his government totally
disapproved the conduct of his predecessor. He avowed a determination
to avoid whatever might be offensive to those to whom he was deputed,
and a wish to carry into full effect the friendly dispositions of his
nation towards the United States. For some time, his actions were in
the spirit of these professions.
[Sidenote: Gouverneur Morris is recalled and is succeed by Mr.
Monroe.]
Not long after the arrival of Mr. Fauchet, the executive government of
France requested the recall of Mr. Morris. With this request the
president immediately complied; and Mr. Monroe, a senator from
Virginia, who had embraced with ardour the cause of the French
republic, and was particularly acceptable to the party in opposition,
was appointed to succeed him.