Washington and the American Republic Part 37

When Washington concluded his brief valedictory, Mr. Adams arose, took the oath of office, and then delivered his inaugural address, which he had prepared with much care--an address that had the rare good fortune of pleasing all parties. He sketched, with a few brief touches of a master's pencil, an outline history of the federal const.i.tution, defined his own position in regard to it from the beginning, and then thus feelingly alluded to the retiring president:--

"Such is the amiable and interesting system of government (and such are some of the abuses to which it may be exposed), which the people of America have exhibited to the admiration and anxiety of the wise and virtuous of all nations, for eight years, under the administration of a citizen, who, by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, justice, temperance, and fort.i.tude, conducted a people inspired with the same virtues, and animated with the same ardent patriotism and love of liberty, to independence and peace, to increasing wealth and unexampled prosperity, has merited the grat.i.tude of his fellow-citizens, commanded the highest praises of foreign nations, and secured immortal glory with posterity.

"In that retirement which is his voluntary choice, may he long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of his services, the grat.i.tude of mankind, the happy fruits of them to himself and the world, which are daily increasing; and that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of his country which is opening from year to year.

May his name be still a rampart, and the knowledge that he lives a bulwark against all open or secret enemies of his country's peace!"

The hearts of the audience had already been made tender by the farewell words of Washington; and this allusion to him, in the inaugural address of his successor, made tears flow copiously--"Scarcely a dry eye but Washington's, whose countenance was as serene and unclouded as the day,"

wrote Adams to his wife.

With a little tinge of evident jealousy, Adams again wrote to the same correspondent, a few days afterward, saying: "It is the general report that there was more weeping than there has ever been at the representation of any tragedy. But whether it was from grief or joy, whether from the loss of their beloved president, or from the accession of an unbeloved one, or from the pleasure of exchanging presidents without tumult, or from the novelty of the thing, or from the sublimity of it arising from the mult.i.tude present, or whatever other cause, I know not. One thing I know, I am a being of too much sensibility to act any part well in such an exhibition. Perhaps there is little danger of my having such another scene to feel or behold.

"The stillness and silence astonishes me. Everybody talks of the tears, the full eyes, the streaming eyes, the trickling eyes, &c., but all is enigma beyond. No one descends to particulars to say why or wherefore; I am, therefore, left to suppose that it is all grief for the loss of their beloved."

When Washington left the hall and entered his carriage, the great audience followed, and were joined by an immense crowd in the streets, who shouted long and loud as the retiring president and his suite moved toward his dwelling. The new president and all others were forgotten in that moment of veneration for the beloved friend, upon whose face few in that vast a.s.semblage would ever look again. "I followed him in the crowd to his own door," said the late President Duer, of Columbia college, "where, as he turned to address the mult.i.tude, his countenance a.s.sumed a serious and almost melancholy expression, his voice failed him, his eyes were suffused with tears, and only by his gestures could he indicate his thanks, and convey his farewell blessing to the people."

The merchants of Philadelphia, to testify their love for Washington, gave to him a splendid banquet and other entertainments that evening, in the Amphitheatre, which had been decorated with appropriate paintings by Charles Willson Peale, who, twenty-five years before, had painted, at Mount Vernon, the first portrait ever drawn of Washington, in the costume of a Virginia colonel. One of the newspapers of the day thus describes a compliment that was paid to the first president on that occasion, which had been suggested and executed by Mr. Peale:--

"Upon entering the area the general was conducted to his seat. On a signal given the band played 'Washington's March,' and a scene, which represented simple objects in the rear of the princ.i.p.al seat, was drawn up and discovered emblematical paintings. The princ.i.p.al was a female figure as large as life, representing America, seated on an elevation composed of sixteen marble steps. At her left side stood the federal shield and eagle, and at her feet lay the _cornucopia_; in her right hand she held the Indian calumet of peace supporting the cap of liberty; in the perspective appeared the temple of fame; and, on her left hand, an altar dedicated to public grat.i.tude, upon which incense was burning. In her left hand she held a scroll inscribed 'Valedictory;' and at the foot of the altar lay a plumed helmet and sword, from which a figure of General Washington, large as life, appeared retiring down the steps, pointing with his right hand to the emblems of power which he had resigned, and with his left to a beautiful landscape representing Mount Vernon, in front of which oxen were seen harnessed to the plough. Over the general appeared a _Genius_, placing a wreath of laurels on his head."

The heads of departments, foreign ministers, and distinguished strangers in Philadelphia, were present on that gala occasion; and with that display of taste, fashion, gayety, and refinement, ended the public life of Washington.

These honors paid to the retiring chief-magistrate with the most heartfelt sincerity, excited the jealousy, enmity, and malignity of his political enemies in a most remarkable degree. Nothing was too base for them to employ in attempts to injure his character, and lower him in the esteem of his countrymen. A pamphlet written by "Jasper Dwight, of Vermont," and published in December, 1796, which contained most severe strictures upon the Farewell Address, was circulated with increased zeal.[120]

The _Aurora_ overflowed with gall. Its columns were filled with the most virulent attacks upon him. His denunciation of the spurious letters made the calumniators writhe, and, with the fiendish malice of a.s.sa.s.sins, they thrust his character with weapons of foulest form. Three days after his retirement one of the most violent of these attacks appeared in the _Aurora_, attributed to Doctor Lieb, a republican member of the Pennsylvania a.s.sembly. It was dated on the day of Adams's inauguration.

He said:--

"'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,' was the pious e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of a man who beheld a flood of happiness rushing upon mankind. If ever there was a time that would license the reiteration of the exclamation, that time is now arrived; for the man, who is the source of all the misfortunes of our country, is this day reduced to a level with his fellow-citizens, and is no longer possessed of power to multiply evils upon the United States. If ever there was a period for rejoicing, this is the moment; every heart in unison with the freedom and happiness of the people, ought to beat high with exultation that the name of WASHINGTON, from this day, ceases to give a currency to political iniquity, and to legalize corruption.

A new era is now opening upon us, an era which promises much to the people; for public measures must now stand upon their own merits, and nefarious projects can no longer be supported by a name. When a retrospect is taken of the Washingtonian administration for eight years, it is a subject of the greatest astonishment that a single individual should have cankered the principles of republicanism in an enlightened people, just emerged from the gulf of despotism, and should have carried his designs against the public liberty so far, as to have put in jeopardy its very existence. Such, however, are the facts, and, with these staring us in the face, this day ought to be a jubilee in the United States."

These and similar articles excited the public indignation to the highest endurable pitch; and Bache, the publisher of the _Aurora_, was severely beaten, when, a few days afterward, he, with some friends, visited the frigate _United States_, then on the stocks at the Philadelphia navy-yard. A son of the contractor gave the flagellation. The public clamor became so great, that Bache, in mortal fear of further personal violence, thought it prudent to state, in his paper, that Doctor Lieb's article was not written by the editor, but came from a correspondent.

FOOTNOTES:

[111] History of the United States, Second Series, i., 703.

[112] Journals of Congress, February 8, 1797.

[113] Letter of Honorable James Iredell to his wife, February 24, 1797.

[114] The following is Washington's description of the letters:--

"New York, June 12th, 1776. To Mr. Lund Washington, at Mount Vernon, Fairfax county, Virginia.--G. W."

"To John Parke Custis, Esq., at the Hon. Benedict Calvert's, Esq., Mount Airy, Maryland, June 18th, 1776.--GEORGE WASHINGTON."

"New York, July 8th, 1776. To Mr. Lund Washington, at Mt. Vernon, Fairfax county, Virginia.--G. W."

"New York, July 15, 1776. To Mr. Lund Washington.--G. W."

"New York, July 16, 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."

[115] Mrs. Susan R. Echard, daughter of Colonel Read, now (1860) living in Philadelphia, at the age of eighty-four years. The venerable Rembrandt Peale, of the same city, who, two years before, painted Washington's portrait from life, and now in his eighty-third year, was also present in the gallery on that occasion, and his recollection agrees with that of Mrs. Echard.

[116] Craik.

[117] Harrison.

[118] Custis.

[119] Lewis.

[120] It was in the form of a "Letter to George Washington, President of the United States." Dwight was a violent republican, and an uncompromising advocate for the immediate and total abolition of slavery in the United States. Because Washington was a slaveholder, he considered him extremely vulnerable on that point, and in his "Letter"

he twice alludes to the fact.

"Had the French Revolution," he said, "commenced ten years later, or you retired to the shades of Mount Vernon four years ago, the friends of public virtue would still proudly boast of one great man free from the breath of public dispraise, and your fondly partial country, forbearing to inquire whether or not you were chargeable with mental aberrations, would vaunt in you this possession of the phoenix." After making strictures on the events of the past four years, he said: "Would to G.o.d!

you had retired to a private station four years ago, while your public conduct threw a veil of sanct.i.ty round you, which you have yourself rashly broken down. Your fame would have been safe, your country without reproach, and I should not have the mortifying task of pointing out the blind temerity with which you come forward to defend the religion of Christ, who exist in the violation of its most sacred obligations, of the dearest ties of humanity, and in defiance of the sovereign calls of morality and liberty--by dealing in HUMAN SLAVES." Again, after a.s.serting that "posterity will in vain search for the monuments of wisdom" in his administration, he says they will, on inquiry, find that had he obtained promotion, as he expected, for the services rendered after Braddock's defeat, his sword would have been drawn against his country; and that they would discover "that the great champion of American freedom, the rival of Timoleon and Cincinnatus, twenty years after the establishment of the republic, was possessed of FIVE HUNDRED of the HUMAN SPECIES IN SLAVERY, enjoying the fruits of their labor without remuneration, or even the consolations of religious instruction--that he retained the barbarous usages of the feudal system, and kept men in livery--and that he still affected to be the friend of the Christian religion, of civil liberty, and moral equality--and to be, withal, a disinterested, virtuous, liberal, and una.s.suming man."

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

WASHINGTON LEAVES PHILADELPHIA FOR MOUNT VERNON--RECEIVES HONORS BY THE WAY--HIS ARRIVAL HOME--HIS ENJOYMENT OF PRIVATE LIFE--LETTERS TO HIS FRIENDS--HIS OWN PICTURE OF HIS DAILY LIFE--ENTERTAINMENT OF STRANGERS BURDENSOME--INVITES HIS NEPHEW TO MOUNT VERNON--NELLY CUSTIS AND HER SUITORS--WASHINGTON'S LETTER TO HER--LAWRENCE LEWIS PREFERRED--WASHINGTON'S DREAM OF PERMANENT REPOSE DISTURBED BY A GATHERING STORM--EARLY a.s.sOCIATIONS RECALLED--AGAIN SUMMONED INTO PUBLIC LIFE.

Washington left Philadelphia for Mount Vernon on the ninth of March, a private citizen and a happy man. He was accompanied by Mrs. Washington and her grand-daughter, Eleanor Parke Custis; and by George Washington Lafayette and his preceptor, M. Frestel, whose arrival and residence in the United States we have already noticed. George Washington Parke Custis, the brother of Eleanor, or "Nelly," as she was familiarly called, was then in college at Princeton, where he had been for several months. The letters which have been preserved by the Custis family, of the correspondence between Washington and that adopted son, during the college life of the latter, are very interesting, and exhibit the Father of his Country in a light in which he is not viewed by history in her delineation of him, namely, as the father of a talented but wayward boy.

Ever desirous of giving words of encouragement and the meed of praise to the deserving, Washington handed to young Bartholomew Dandridge, his private secretary, on the morning of his departure for Mount Vernon, the following letter:--

"Your conduct, during a six years' residence in my family, having been such as to meet my full approbation, and believing that a declaration to this effect would be satisfactory to yourself, and justice requiring it from me, I make it with pleasure, and in full confidence that those principles of honor, integrity, and benevolence, which I have reason to believe have hitherto guided your steps, will still continue to mark your conduct. I have only to add a wish, that you may lose no opportunity of making such advances in useful acquirements as may benefit yourself, your friends, and mankind; and I am led to antic.i.p.ate an accomplishment of this wish, when I consider the manner in which you have hitherto improved such occasions as offered themselves to you.

"The career of life on which you are now entering, will present new scenes and frequent opportunities for the improvement of a mind desirous of obtaining useful knowledge; but I am sure you will never forget that, without virtue and without integrity, the finest talents and the most brilliant accomplishments can never gain the respect, or conciliate the esteem, of the truly valuable part of mankind."

On his journey to the Potomac, the retired president received every mark of respect, love, and veneration, from the people. "Last evening," said a Baltimore paper of the thirteenth of March, "arrived in this city, on his way to Mount Vernon, the ill.u.s.trious object of veneration and grat.i.tude, GEORGE WASHINGTON. His excellency was accompanied by his lady and Miss Custis, and by the son of the unfortunate Lafayette and his preceptor. At a distance from the city he was met by a crowd of citizens, on horse and foot, who thronged the road to greet him, and by a detachment of Captain Hollingsworth's troop, who escorted him through as great a concourse of people as Baltimore ever witnessed. On alighting at the Fountain Inn, the general was saluted with reiterated and thundering huzzas from the spectators."[121]

"The attentions we met with on our journey," wrote Washington to Mr.

M'Henry, the secretary of war, "were very flattering, and by some, whose minds are differently formed from mine, would have been highly relished; but I avoided, in every instance, when I had any previous knowledge of the intention, and could by earnest entreaties prevail, all parade and escorts." He seldom succeeded, for intelligence of his approach went before him, and citizens and soldiers hastened to do homage to the great Patriot and Chief.

Washington arrived at Mount Vernon on the evening of the fourteenth of March. Never did the threshold of his mansion receive a happier man. The servants flocked around him like children come to greet a returning father, and there was joy in the household and all over the estate of Mount Vernon. The master fairly revelled in the luxury of private life and the repose of domestic enjoyment. Yet he did not sit down, an idle man and indifferent spectator of pa.s.sing events. "Let me pray you to have the goodness," he wrote to Mr. M'Henry, "to communicate to me occasionally such matters as are interesting, and not contrary to the rules of your official duty to disclose. We get so many details in the gazettes, and of such different complexions, that it is impossible to know what credence to give to any of them."

Now, escaped from the turmoils of politics, Washington resolved to cast the burden of speculations concerning them from his mind. During almost his entire administration, the politics of France had been a constant source of anxiety to him, and had given him more real vexation, directly and indirectly, than all other matters of his public life combined. "The conduct of the French government," he now wrote, "is so much beyond calculation, and so unaccountable upon any principle of justice, or even of that sort of policy which is familiar to plain understandings, that I shall not now puzzle my brains in attempting to develop the motives of it."

To Oliver Wolcott he wrote in May: "For myself, having turned aside from the broad walks of political into the narrow paths of private life, I shall leave it with those whose duty it is to consider subjects of this sort [the calling of an extraordinary session of Congress], and, as every good citizen ought to do, conform to whatsoever the ruling powers shall decide. To make and sell a little flour annually, to repair houses (going fast to ruin), to build one for the security of my papers of a public nature, and to amuse myself in agricultural and rural pursuits, will const.i.tute employment for the few years I have to remain on this terrestrial globe. If, also, I could now and then meet the friends I esteem, it would fill the measure and add zest to my enjoyments; but if ever this happens, it must be under my own vine and fig-tree."