Washington and the American Republic Part 28

Washington was then at Mount Vernon, and the letter, an extract from which was published, could not have reached him when that paragraph was made public. It pa.s.sed Washington while on his way to Philadelphia, and he did not receive it until the twentieth of October, twelve days after it was written. On the following day, Washington, with a perfect consciousness of his own rect.i.tude at all times and under all circ.u.mstances, and with a n.o.ble generosity to which his a.s.sailant showed himself a stranger, wrote to him as follows:--

"It is not difficult, from the tenor of your letter, to perceive what your objects are. But, that you may have no cause to complain of the withholding of any paper, however private and confidential, which you shall think necessary in a case of so serious a nature, I have directed that you should have the inspection of my letter of the twenty-second of July, agreeably to your request; and you are at full liberty to publish without reserve _any_ and _every_ private and confidential letter I ever wrote to you; nay, more--every word I ever uttered to you, or in your hearing, from whence you can derive any advantage in your vindication. I grant this permission, inasmuch as the extract alluded to manifestly tends to impress on the public mind an opinion that something has pa.s.sed between us, which you should disclose with reluctance, from motives of delicacy with respect to me."

In reference to Randolph's proposition to submit his vindication to the inspection of Washington, the latter remarked, "As you are no longer an officer of the government, and propose to submit your vindication to the public, it is not my desire, nor is it my intention, to receive it otherwise than through the medium of the press. Facts you can not mistake, and, if they are fairly and candidly stated, they will invite no comments."

In December the pamphlet appeared, ent.i.tled, "A Vindication of Mr.

Randolph's Resignation," in which was a narrative of the princ.i.p.al events which we have just been considering, the correspondence between the president and Randolph, the whole of Fauchet's letter, and Randolph's remarks. "From the nature of the circ.u.mstances," says Sparks, "Mr. Randolph had a difficult task to perform, as he was obliged to prove a negative, and to explain vague expressions and insinuations connected with his name in Fauchet's letter." The statements which he made in proof of his innocence were not such as to produce entire conviction. "He moreover," continues Sparks, "allowed himself to be betrayed into a warmth of temper and bitterness of feeling not altogether favorable to his candor. After all that has been made known, the particulars of his conversations with Fauchet and his designs are still matters of conjecture."

In after life, Mr. Randolph deeply regretted the course that he pursued toward Washington at this time. In a letter to Judge Bushrod Washington, written in the summer of 1810, he said: "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."[85]

It was thus with all the a.s.saults ever made upon the character of Washington. They always failed to injure it in the slightest degree; and the sharpest and best-tempered shafts of malignity fell blunted and harmless from the invulnerable shield of his spotless integrity.

FOOTNOTES:

[79] At a civic feast in Philadelphia, on the first of May, which was attended by a great number of American citizens, to celebrate the recent victories of France, the subjoined toasts were given. The managers of the feast sent the following invitation to President Washington:--

"SIR: The subscribers, a committee in behalf of a number of American, French, and Dutch citizens, request the honor of your company to a civic festival, to be given on Friday, the seventeenth of April, appointed to celebrate the late victories of the French republic, and the emanc.i.p.ation of Holland." The feast was postponed until the first of May. Washington did not attend; but the occasion was honored by the presence of the French minister and consul, and the consul of Holland. The following are the toasts:--

"1. 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 evidence that such monsters ever infested the earth.

"2. The republic of France; may the sh.o.r.es of Great Britain soon hail the tri-colored standard, and the people rend the air with shouts of 'Long live the republic!'

"3. The republic of France; may her navy clear the ocean of pirates, that the common high way of nations may no longer, like the highways of Great Britain, be a receptacle for robbers.

"4. 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.

"5. The republic of France; may her example, in the abolition of t.i.tles and splendor, be a lesson to all republics to destroy those leavens of corruption.

"6. The republic of Holland; may the flame of liberty which they have rekindled never be permitted to expire for want of vigilance and energy.

"7. 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.

"8. The republic of Holland; may she again give birth to a Van Tromp and a De Ruyter, who shall make the satellites of George tremble at their approach, and seek their safety in flight.

"9 The republic of Holland; may that fort.i.tude which sustained her in the dire conflict with Philip the Second, and the success that crowned her struggles, be multiplied upon her in the hour of her regeneration.

"10. The republic of Holland; may that government which they are about establishing have neither the balances of aristocracy nor the checks of monarchy.

"11. 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 a.s.sail her.

"12. 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.

"13. The republic of America; may her government have public good for its object, and be purged of the dregs of sophisticated republicanism.

"14. The republic of America; may the alliance formed between her and France acquire vigor with age, and that man be branded as the enemy of liberty who shall endeavor to weaken or unhinge it.

"15. 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."

[80] _Old and New York_, by J. W. Francis, M. D., LL.D. "Edward Livingston," says Doctor Francis, (afterwards so celebrated for his Louisiana Code,) "was, I am informed, one of the violent numbers by whom the stones were thrown."

[81] History of the United States, Second Series, i, 550.

[82] The names of the selectmen who addressed him were Ezekiel Price, Thomas Walley, William Boardman, Ebenezer Seaver, Thomas Crafts, Thomas Edwards, William Little, William Scollay, and Jesse Putnam.

[83] In "No. 6," written, it is supposed, some time in August, Fauchet, alluding to the breaking out of the Whiskey Insurrection, said: "Scarce was the commotion known when the secretary of state [Mr. Randolph] came to my house. All his countenance was grief. He requested of me a private conversation. 'It is all over,' he said to me; 'a civil war is about to ravage our unhappy country. Four men, by their talents, their influence, their energy, may save it. But--debtors of English merchants--they will be deprived of their liberty if they take the smallest step. Could you lend them instantaneous funds sufficient to shelter them from English persecution?' This inquiry astonished me. It was impossible for me to make a satisfactory answer. You know my want of power and my defect of pecuniary means. I shall draw myself from the affair by some common-place remarks, and by throwing myself on the pure and disinterested principles of the republic."

[84] Fauchet had been superseded by M. Adet, and had gone to New York to embark for France, when this difficulty occurred.

[85] Marshall's _Life of Washington_, ii. Appendix, Note xx.

CHAPTER x.x.x.

VIOLENCE OF PARTY SPIRIT--INFLAMMATORY APPEALS TO THE PEOPLE--WASHINGTON MENACED WITH IMPEACHMENT, AND CHARGED WITH PLUNDERING THE TREASURY--NEWSPAPER DISCUSSIONS--HAMILTON IN DEFENCE OF THE TREATY--JEFFERSON'S APPEAL TO MADISON TO COME TO THE RESCUE--PROCEEDINGS IN BOSTON--RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CABINET--ARRIVAL OF YOUNG LAFAYETTE--WASHINGTON'S FRIENDSHIP FOR HIM--CAUTION AND EXPEDIENCY--THE EXILES AND THE CONGRESS--THEIR HOME AT MOUNT VERNON--THEIR DEPARTURE FOR FRANCE.

The ratification of the treaty increased the violence of party spirit.

The batteries of fiercest vituperation were now opened upon the president, and the habitual courtesy with which he had been treated was lost sight of in the fury of party hate.

The opponents of the treaty saw only one more expedient to defeat it, now that they had failed to intimidate Washington or cause him to withhold his signature. They started the idea, as a forlorn hope, that although the president might ratify, it still rested with the house of representatives to refuse, if they chose, the pecuniary means to carry the treaty into effect, and thus to nullify it. They, therefore, resolved to use every effort to accomplish their purposes in this way.

The elections in the several states were not yet completed, and they felt confident that a majority had already been chosen who were hostile to the treaty.

The most inflammatory addresses were circulated, to influence the people against the president and the treaty, and to form a public opinion that should bear with potency upon the supreme legislature. "The president,"

said one of these addresses, "has thrown the gauntlet, and shame on the coward heart that refuses to take it up. He has declared war against the people, by treating their opinions with contempt; he has forfeited his claim to their confidence, by acting in opposition to their will. Our liberties are in jeopardy, and we must either rescue them from the precipice or they will be lost for ever. One hope offers itself to us, and a consolatory one, too--the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES. As we have looked in vain for patriotism from the president, let us turn our eyes toward that body; they are our immediate representatives; they feel our wants, partic.i.p.ate in our injuries, and sympathize in our distresses. They never will submit to have our country degraded; they never will be pa.s.sive under the outrages upon our const.i.tution; they never will be the instruments of voting away the people's rights. As our application to the president has been treated with scorn, let us make our appeal to that body which has the power of IMPEACHMENT, and we shall not find them step-fathers of their country. A treaty which has bartered away their rights can not, will not, be submitted to. Let us then, fellow-citizens, rally round our representatives, and we may still be free!"

Such appeals had a powerful effect; and a writer in the _Aurora_ went so far as to charge Washington with having used the public money for his own private use! The charge was maintained with the most unblushing effrontery. When Congress met, pet.i.tions were forwarded to the house of representatives from all parts of the Union, bitterly denouncing the treaty, and praying that body to stand in the breach and rescue the country from the usurpations of the president and senate. The newspapers discussed the subject with great warmth; and Brockholst Livingston, over the signature of "Decius," a.s.sailed the treaty with great ability. This aroused Hamilton, who had both spoken and written in favor of the treaty. He came to the tournament most gallantly, and, over the signature of "Camillus," he dealt such powerful blows with his battle-axe of fact and logic; that "Decius" was quickly unhorsed.

Jefferson, with his eagle vision, had watched the combat with intense interest from his eyry at Monticello; and when he saw the force of Hamilton's reasoning, and the power it must have upon the people, he shouted to Madison to join the lists and do battle against "Camillus,"

and a smaller champion called "Curtius." "Hamilton," he exclaimed in a letter to Madison on the twenty-first of September, "is really a colossus to the anti-republican party. Without numbers, he is a host within himself. They have got themselves into a defile, where they might be finished; but too much security on the republican part will give time to his talents and indefatigableness to extricate them. We have had only middling performers to oppose to him. In truth, when he comes forward, there is n.o.body but yourself who can meet him. His adversaries have begun the attack, he has the advantage of answering them, and remains unanswered himself. A solid reply might yet completely demolish what was too feebly attacked, and has gathered strength from the weakness of the attack." With his usual alarm-bell notes, Jefferson then spoke of "Hamilton, Jay," etc., as engaged "in the boldest act they ever ventured on to undermine the government;" and exclaimed, in conclusion, "For G.o.d's sake, take up your pen and give a fundamental reply to 'Curtius'

and 'Camillus.'"[86]

The opposition found other champions of the treaty to meet than newspaper writers. The friends of that instrument and the government rallied in various forms. A few days before the president signed the ratification, the Boston Chamber of Commerce, like that of New York, representing a large and influential cla.s.s to be affected by the treaty, pa.s.sed a resolution, with only one dissenting voice, in favor of ratification. Some violent Boston republicans, to counteract these expressions, used the mobocratic argument and paraded an effigy of Jay in the streets, and concluded the performance by burning it, attacking the house of the editor of a federal paper (from which they were repulsed by firearms), and keeping the New England capital in a disturbed state for several days. Philadelphia merchants, on the contrary, in large numbers, signed a memorial taking ground in favor of the treaty. This was imitated elsewhere, and these memorials went into the house of representatives with the denunciatory pet.i.tions.

In the midst of all this storm, Washington remained calm, with his hand firmly resting upon the helm of state, and his eye steadily fixed upon the great compa.s.s and chart of integrity by which his course was always determined. In a reply to a friendly letter from General Knox, who a.s.sured him of a changing opinion in New England in favor of the treaty, he said:--

"Next to a conscientious discharge of my public duties, to carry along with me the approbation of my const.i.tuents would be the highest gratification my mind is susceptible of; but, the latter being secondary, I can not make the former yield to it, unless some criterion more infallible than partial (if they are not party) meetings can be discovered, as the touchstone of public sentiment.

If any power on earth could, or the great Power above would, erect the standard of infallibility in political opinions, there is no being that inhabits this terrestrial globe that would resort to it with more eagerness than myself, so long as I remain a servant of the public. But as I have found no better guide, hitherto, than upright intentions and close investigation, I shall adhere to those maxims while I keep the watch, leaving it to those who will come after me to explore new ways, if they like or think them better."

During the autumn, while these public discussions were at their height, Washington was called upon to reconstruct his cabinet on account of the resignation of Randolph, the secretary of state, and the death of Bradford, the attorney-general, both events having occurred in August.

The president found some difficulty in filling Randolph's place. "In the appointment of the great officers of government," Washington wrote to Colonel Carrington in October, "my aim has been to combine geographical situation, and sometimes other considerations, with abilities and fitness of _known_ characters." He had offered the place successively to Judge Paterson, of New Jersey, Thomas Johnson, of Maryland, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina, and Patrick Henry, of Virginia; but they all declined. In his letter to Henry, who, it was understood, was not very well pleased with the treaty, Washington said:--

"I persuade myself, sir, it has not escaped your observation that a crisis is approaching, that 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, I have no wish that is incompatible with the dignity, happiness, and true interest 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 engagements, foreign and domestic; but to keep the United States free from political connection 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 dissentions, disturb the public tranquillity, and destroy, perhaps for ever, the cement which binds the Union."

After considerable delay, Colonel Pickering was transferred to the department of state, and James M'Henry, of Maryland, was appointed secretary of war. At the close of November, Charles Lee, of Virginia, accepted the office of attorney-general, as the successor of Bradford, and at the opening of Congress the cabinet was in working order, with apparently harmonious elements.

It was during these political agitations that George Washington Lafayette, a son of the marquis, arrived in the United States, to claim an asylum at the hands of Washington. He could not have appeared at a more inopportune moment; for political reasons rendered it inexpedient for the president, as such, to receive him; and to place him in his family might cause perplexities, connected with political affairs, prejudicial to the public tranquillity.