Washington and the American Republic Part 41

"I have received no other notification of an appointment than what the newspapers announce. When it shall please the secretary of war to give me the information, I shall endeavor to make him a suitable answer. At present, I do not perceive how it can possibly be to any other purport than in the negative.... In whatever situation I shall be," he said in conclusion, "I shall always remember with pleasure and grat.i.tude the friendship and confidence with which you have heretofore honored me."

This letter gave Washington great pain. He loved Knox very sincerely, and would not, without good cause, say or do anything to wound his feelings. He always spoke of him with the warmth of the most disinterested friendship. "There is no man in the United States," he wrote to President Adams a few weeks later, "with whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy, no one whom I have loved more sincerely, nor any for whom I have had a greater friendship. But esteem, love, and friendship, can have no influence on my mind, when I conceive that the subjugation of our government and independence are the objects aimed at by the enemies of our peace, and where possibly our all is at stake."

Washington made an early reply to Knox's epistle. "Your letter," he said, "has filled my mind with disquietude and perplexity in the extreme; but I will say nothing in reply, intentionally, that shall give you a moment's pain." He then entered into an elaborate history of the circ.u.mstances under which the appointments were made, showing that such haste had been exercised, that the first intimation he had of his own appointment was from a newspaper paragraph and a private note from the secretary of war; and that it was impossible for him to consult General Knox, who was then in Boston, previous to the nomination of the general officers.

Feeling that his statements in a former letter ought to have been sufficiently explanatory to General Knox, Washington continued: "I do not know that these explanations will afford you any satisfaction, or produce any change in your determination, but it was just to myself to make them. If there has been any management in the business, it has been concealed from me. I have had no agency therein, nor have I conceived a thought on the subject that has not been disclosed to you with the utmost sincerity and frankness of heart. And now, notwithstanding the insinuations, which are implied in your letter, of the vicissitudes of friendship and the inconstancy of mine, I will p.r.o.nounce with decision that it ever has been, and, notwithstanding the unkindness of the charge, ever will be, for aught I know to the contrary, warm and sincere.

"I earnestly wished, on account of that friendship, as well as on the score of military talents, to have had the a.s.sistance of you and Colonel Hamilton in the arduous scenes with which we are threatened. I wish it still devoutly, as well on public as on private accounts; for dissentions of this sort will have an unhappy effect among the friends of government, while it will be sweet consolation to the French partisans, and food for their pride."

Washington's letter touched the heart of Knox, and soothed his wounded spirit. "In your welcome and much-esteemed favor," he wrote in reply, "I recognize fully all the substantial friendship and kindness which I have always so invariably experienced from you." His former letter was written, he said, "under a pressure of various ideas, all sharpened by a strong sense of the comparison which had been publicly made between others" and himself. But, he said, in conclusion, "it is certainly far from my intention to embarra.s.s, or to force myself unbidden into a station designed for another. It is neither my nature nor practice to excite dissention. I shall, therefore, submit to any proper authority.

But, if an invasion shall take place, I shall deeply regret all circ.u.mstances which would insuperably bar my having an active command in the field. But, if such a measure should be my destiny, I shall fervently pet.i.tion to serve as one of your aids-de-camp, which, with permission, I shall do with all the cordial devotion and attachment of which my soul is capable."

During the autumn of 1798, Washington's time was alternately devoted to the business of his estate, and the duties of his responsible office.

The latter occupied much the larger portion of his thoughts and exertions. Difficulties, which gave him much trouble in the old war, now appeared--namely, questions of rank, and tardiness in the recruiting-service. The friends of Knox, lacking that officer's love and veneration for Washington, importuned the president, in whose hands resided the power to make military appointments, to reverse the order in which the lieutenant-general had named the major-generals. Adams was secretly hostile to Hamilton at that time, and was not favorable to his promotion; and he was strongly inclined to place Knox at the head of the military staff, Pinckney second, and Hamilton third. This inclination produced some dissentions in his cabinet, when the jealous irritability of his temper, and his egotistical reliance upon his own judgment, made him resolve to change the order of the major-generals.

When this subject, and the fact that the president intended to appoint an adjutant-general without the chief's concurrence, came before Washington in official form, he wrote a decided letter to Adams, giving him to understand that he should consider a refusal to place Hamilton in the front rank, a breach of an agreement, not formally made, but fully implied, by the terms upon which the commander-in-chief accepted the appointment--a breach sufficient to justify his own resignation. This settled the matter, and the arrangement of the major-generals made by Washington was not changed.

In the same letter, the chief complained of the tardiness in the recruiting-service. "We are now near the end of September," he said, "and not a man recruited, nor a battalion-officer appointed, that has come to my knowledge. The consequence is, that the spirit and enthusiasm, which prevailed a month or two ago, and would have produced the _best_ men in a short time, are evaporating fast, and a month or two hence may induce but a few, and those perhaps of the _worst_ sort, to enlist. Instead, therefore, of having the augmented force in a state of preparation, and under a course of discipline, it is now to be raised, and possibly may not be in existence when the enemy is in the field. We shall have to meet veteran troops, inured to conquest, with militia or raw recruits."

Washington also complained, at this time, of the remissness of the secretary of war in giving him full information. In a friendly but decisive tone he wrote to Mr. M'Henry on the subject. "Short letters,"

he said, "taking _no notice_ of suggestions or queries, are unsatisfactory and distressing. Considering the light in which I think my services have placed me, I should expect more attention from the _secretary of war_; but from Mr. M'Henry, as a friend and coadjutor, I certainly shall look for it."

A month later, Washington wrote a friendly letter to Knox, urging him to accept the proffered appointment. The president had not, till then, made his final decision as to the relative position of Knox and Hamilton.

The commander-in-chief again dwelt upon the cause of the selection. "If an amicable arrangement could have been settled between Generals Hamilton, Pinckney, and yourself, previous to the nomination, it would have been perfectly satisfactory to me; but driven as I was to make it myself, at the time and in the manner it was transmitted, I was governed by the best views and best evidence I could obtain of the public sentiment relative thereto. The senate acted upon it under an impression that it was to remain so, and in that light the matter is understood by the public; and it would be uncandid not to add that I have found no cause since to believe that I mistook that sentiment.

"We shall have," he continued, "either _no war_ or a _severe contest_ with France. In either case, if you will allow me to express my opinion, this is the most eligible time for you to come forward. In the first case, to a.s.sist with your counsel and aid in making judicious provisions and arrangements to avert it; in the other case, to share in the glory of defending your country, and, by making all secondary considerations yield to that great and primary object, display a mind superior to embarra.s.sing punctilios at so critical a moment as the present.

"After having expressed these sentiments, with the frankness of undisguised friendship, it is hardly necessary to add that, if you should finally decline the appointment of major-general, there is none to whom I would give a more decided preference as aid-de-camp, the offer of which is highly flattering, honorable, and grateful to my feelings, and for which I entertain a high sense. But, my dear General Knox--and here, again, I speak to you in the language of candor and friendship--examine well your mind upon this subject. Do not unite yourself to the suite of a man whom you may consider as the primary cause of what you call a degradation, with unpleasant sensations. This, while it was growing upon you, would, if I should come to the knowledge of it, make me unhappy; as my first wish would be, that my military family and the whole army should consider themselves as a band of brothers, willing and ready to die for each other."

Before this letter reached Knox, he had heard of the decision of the president to place Hamilton in the position for which Washington had nominated him, and he had written to the secretary of war, declining the appointment, if compelled to serve under Hamilton and Pinckney, saying, "No officer can consent to his own degradation by serving in an inferior station."

General Pinckney's course was more patriotic and generous. He arrived at New York, from France, at the middle of October. Washington had awaited this event with anxiety, for he was fearful that he might have a repet.i.tion of the difficulties with General Knox. But Pinckney cheerfully acquiesced in the arrangement, and accepted his commission.

He expressed his pleasure at seeing the name of Hamilton at the head of the major-generals, and applauded the commander-in-chief for his sagacity and discernment in placing it there. He also expressed his regret that General Knox had declined his appointment, and that his feelings had been severely wounded by being outranked. He added, "If the authority which appointed me to the rank of second major in the army, will revise the arrangement, and place General Knox before me, I will neither quit the service nor be dissatisfied."

At the request of the secretary of war, Washington repaired to Philadelphia as early in November as a due regard to health would allow, the yellow fever having prevailed in that city during the autumn. He was requested to meet there Generals Hamilton and Pinckney, to make arrangements respecting the provisional army about to be raised. M'Henry had prepared a series of thirteen questions for their consideration, and Washington propounded fourteen more, all bearing upon the construction and disposition of the army. For almost five weeks the three generals were closely engaged in the consideration of this subject, and thus the result of their deliberations was reduced to proper arrangement, in the form of two letters to the secretary of war, which were prepared by Hamilton and signed by Washington. While in Philadelphia on this occasion, the latter was present at the opening of Congress. This was his last visit to the seat of the federal government.

Washington returned to Mount Vernon about the twentieth of December, leaving the executive department of the provisional army in the hands of General Hamilton. He still adhered to the opinion that there would be no actual war with France, or at least that the people of the United States need not have any fear of a French invasion; yet he acted upon the wise principle of being prepared. On his way home, being detained, he wrote out some general suggestions for the guidance of the secretary of war in the disposition of the army.

Arriving at Mount Vernon, Washington was delighted with a letter from Lafayette, who spoke with much feeling of the pleasure he derived from conversations with his son about that pleasant home on the Potomac. The marquis then adverted to politics, and said it was his full persuasion that the French Directory seriously desired to be at peace with the United States. Under this conviction, he expressed a hope that Washington would use his "influence to prevent the breach from widening, and to insure a n.o.ble and enduring reconciliation." In his reply to this portion of the letter, Washington said, "You have expressed a wish worthy of the benevolence of your heart." He a.s.sured him that no man could deprecate a rupture between the two governments more than he. "You add," he said, "that the executive Directory are disposed to an accommodation of all differences. If they are sincere in this declaration, let them evidence it by their actions; for words, unaccompanied therewith, will not be much regarded now. I would pledge myself that the government and people of the United States will meet them heart and hand, at a fair negotiation; having no wish more ardent than to live in peace with all the world, provided they are suffered to remain undisturbed in their just rights.... On the politics of Europe, I shall express no opinion, nor make any inquiry who is right or who is wrong. I wish well to all nations and to all men. My politics are plain and simple. I think every nation has a right to establish that form of government under which it conceives it may be most happy, provided it infracts no right, or is not dangerous to others; _and that no governments ought to interfere with the internal concerns of another_, except for the security of what is due to themselves."

CHAPTER XLI.

GLOOMY ASPECT OF AFFAIRS--WASHINGTON'S HOPEFULNESS--THE FRENCH DIRECTORY ALARMED--NEW MISSION TO FRANCE--OPPOSITION TO IT--WASHINGTON'S VIEWS--ENVOYS DEPART FOR FRANCE--NAPOLEON BONAPARTE AT THE HEAD OF FRENCH AFFAIRS--RESULT OF THE MISSION--WASHINGTON AT HOME--CORRESPONDENCE WITH YOUNG CUSTIS--MARRIAGE OF NELLY CUSTIS--PREPARATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS--WASHINGTON MAKES HIS WILL--LETTER TO LAWRENCE LEWIS--PLAN FOR MANAGING HIS ESTATES--WASHINGTON'S LATEST CORRESPONDENCE.

At the opening of the year 1799, the political firmament was dark with the portentous clouds of war. Washington yet viewed them with calmness, for he fully believed that they would pa.s.s by and leave his country unscathed by the lightning and the hail. Already they had begun to break, and let the sunlight through. But these promises were discerned by few, while they were clear and full to the mental eye of the commander-in-chief and other sagacious men. They perceived that the military preparations made so vigorously by the United States had already begun to produce an effect upon the belligerent feelings of the French Directory. The appointment of Washington to the chief command of the American armies had filled the boastful leaders in France with alarm; and the wily Talleyrand, with a sagacity possessed by few of his compeers, had already turned his thoughts toward reconciliation, and made indirect exertions to induce the United States to offer amicable overtures. He at length wrote to the French secretary of legation at the Hague, intimating that any minister plenipotentiary which the American government might be pleased to send to France, to negotiate for the settlement of existing difficulties between the two countries, would undoubtedly be received with all due respect. A copy of this letter was immediately communicated by the secretary to William Vans Murray, the United States minister at the Hague, who transmitted it to his government.

Mr. Murray's despatch gave President Adams much joy. He had been greatly perplexed by the belligerent att.i.tude a.s.sumed by the United States and France toward each other. He now perceived an open door of escape from the whole difficulty; and, apparently without considering the impropriety, under the circ.u.mstances, of making any overtures to the French republic, he laid the whole matter before the senate on the eighteenth of February, at the same time nominating Mr. Murray to be minister plenipotentiary to that republic. The president pledged himself that Mr. Murray should not enter France without having first received direct and unequivocal a.s.surances from Talleyrand that he should be received as full minister, and be treated with by an officer of equal grade.

This nomination took the country by surprise. Much as Washington desired peace, he was unwilling to obtain it by a sacrifice of national dignity.

To Timothy Pickering he wrote on the third of March, saying: "The unexpectedness of the event communicated in your letter of the twenty-first ultimo did, as you may suppose, surprise me not a little.

But far, very far indeed, was this surprise short of what I experienced the next day, when, by a very intelligent gentleman, immediately from Philadelphia, I was informed that there had been no _direct_ overture from the government of France to that of the United States for a negotiation; on the contrary, that M. Talleyrand was playing the same loose and round-about game he had attempted the year before with our envoys, and which, as in that case, might mean anything or nothing, as would subserve his purposes best.

"Had we approached the ante-chamber of this gentleman when he opened the door to us," he continued, "and there waited for a formal invitation into the interior, the governments would have met upon equal ground, and we might have advanced or receded according to circ.u.mstances, without commitment. In plain words, had we said to M. Talleyrand, through the channel of his communication, 'We still are, as we always have been, ready to settle by fair negotiation all differences between the two nations upon open, just, and honorable terms, and it rests with the Directory (after the indignities with which _our_ attempts to effect this have been treated), if they are equally sincere, to come forward in an unequivocal manner, and prove it by their acts'--such conduct would have shown a dignified willingness on our part to negotiate, and would have proved their sincerity on the other. Under my present view of the subject, this would have been the course I should have pursued, keeping equally in view the horrors of war and the dignity of the government."

The disposition throughout the country to avoid war if possible, had great influence upon the president and the senate; but, before the latter made a decision on the nomination of Mr. Murray, the whole subject was seriously considered. It was finally concluded to a.s.sociate two others with Murray. The president accordingly nominated Oliver Wolcott and Patrick Henry. These nominations were immediately confirmed by the unanimous vote of the senate. The latter gentleman declined the commission, on account of his advanced age and increasing debilities, but with the a.s.surance that "nothing short of absolute necessity" could induce him to withhold what little aid he could give "an administration whose abilities, patriotism, and virtue, deserved the grat.i.tude and reverence of all their fellow citizens." Governor William R. Davie, of North Carolina, was appointed in Henry's place; and Mr. Murray, still at the Hague, was instructed to apprize Talleyrand of the appointments, but to inform him that the envoys would not embark until the Directory should give a.s.surances that they would be received with courtesy due to their rank, and treated with on terms of perfect equality. He was also instructed not to have any further informal communications with agents of the French republic.

It was October before the president received a.s.surances of the proper reception of the envoys, and they did not leave for France until November. Meanwhile, although war between the two nations had not been formally declared, it actually existed upon the ocean. Hostile collisions had taken place between vessels belonging to the two governments; and upward of three hundred private American vessels had been armed for self-defence.

From the beginning, some of the best friends of Mr. Adams had deprecated the new mission to France. The nominations had been made by the president without consulting his cabinet; and both Pickering, the secretary of state, and M'Henry, the secretary of war, lamented the occurrence, not only because it was undignified, but because it was likely to complicate the already perplexing relations with the French.

They remonstrated, but the president refused to listen. Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, and other supporters of the administration, were equally opposed to the measure, but the president paid little heed to their opinions. This produced a feud between the president and his cabinet, which made Washington uneasy, for the times were too ominous of mischief to the government to make such feud otherwise than perilous in a degree to the commonwealth. "I have, some time past," wrote Washington to Pickering late in November, just after the departure of the envoys, "viewed the political concerns of the United States with an anxious and painful eye. They appear to me to be moving by hasty strides to a crisis; but in what it will result, that Being, who sees, foresees, and directs all things, alone can tell. The vessel is afloat, or very nearly so, and, considering myself as a pa.s.senger only, I shall trust to the mariners (whose duty it is to watch) to steer it into safe port."

Fortunately for all parties concerned, when the American envoys reached France, a change in the French government had taken place. Napoleon Bonaparte was at the head of the civil and military affairs of the nation, with the t.i.tle of First Consul. The weak Directory had yielded to the increasing powers of that wonderful man, and his energy and audacity had rescued France from impending anarchy and ruin. He promptly received the United States emba.s.sadors; and, several months afterward, he concluded a treaty with them, and gave them such a.s.surances of friendship, that, on their return home, the provisional army was disbanded. The commander-in-chief, meanwhile, had been laid in the grave. Washington did not live to see the clouds break and disperse according to the prophecies of his faith.

We have antic.i.p.ated events, in order that a glimpse might be given of the conclusion of the difficulties with France. Let us now turn back to the beginning of 1799, and consider Washington personally during that last year of his life. To his family it opened with joy, and closed in sorrow.

At the beginning of the year, there were preparations in progress at Mount Vernon for an event which gave pleasure to Washington--the marriage of Lawrence Lewis, his favorite nephew, with Nelly Custis, his adopted daughter, of whose mutual attachment we have already spoken. At the same time, Washington was much perplexed concerning Nelly's brother George, who was then a youth of eighteen, talented but wayward. He had been in college for a few years, first at Princeton and then at Annapolis; and now, on account of his unwillingness to return to the latter place, he had been for some time pursuing his studies at home, under the eye of his foster father, but with indifferent success. The correspondence between them, for several years, to which allusion has already been made, reveals the anxiety with which Washington watched the development of his foster-son--sometimes hoping, sometimes almost despairing, yet always kind, though firm.[130]

Nelly Custis was married at Mount Vernon on Friday, the twenty-second of February, 1799, Washington's birthday. It was a bright and beautiful day. "The early spring flowers were budding in the hedges, and the blue-bird, making its way cautiously northward, gave a few joyous notes in the garden that morning. The occasion was one of great hilarity at Mount Vernon, for the bride was beloved by all; and Major Lewis, the bridegroom, had ever been near to the heart of his uncle, since the death of his mother, who so much resembled her ill.u.s.trious brother, that when, in sport, she would place a chapeau on her head, and throw a military cloak over her shoulders, she might easily have been mistaken for the chief."[131]

It was the wish of Nelly that her foster-father should wear, on that occasion, the splendidly-embroidered uniform which the board of general officers had adopted as the costume of the commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States, but he could not be persuaded to wear a suit bedizened with tinsel. He preferred the plain old continental blue and buff, and the modest, black-ribbon c.o.c.kade. Magnificent white plumes, which General Pinckney had presented to him, he gave to the bride; and to the Reverend Thomas Davis, rector of Christ church, Alexandria, who performed the marriage ceremony, he presented an elegant copy of Mrs. Macaulay's History of England, in eight octavo volumes, saying, when he handed them to him: "These, sir, were written by a remarkable lady, who visited America many years ago; and here is also her treatise on the _Immutability of Moral Truth_, which she sent me just before her death. Read it, and return it to me."

With characteristic modesty, Washington made no allusion to the fact that Mrs. Macaulay (Catharine Macaulay Graham) crossed the Atlantic, in the spring of 1785, for no other purpose, as she avowed, than to see the great leader of the American armies, whom she revered as a second Moses.[132]

During the spring, Washington made preparations for changes and improvements in his estate. He appeared at times to feel that the end of his earthly pilgrimage was near. In a letter written to Mr. M'Henry in March, after alluding to the inconvenience of leaving home, on public business, on account of the demands upon his attention by his private affairs, he said: "This is not all, nor the worst; for, being the executor, the administrator, and trustee, for others' estates, my greatest anxiety is to leave all these concerns in such a clear and distinct form, that no reproach may attach itself to me when I shall have taken my departure for the land of spirits."

In April, he surveyed with his own hands, and made a chart of some lands belonging to him near Alexandria, which he bequeathed to the late Mr.

Custis. "To complete this," he wrote, "employed nearly three days."[133]

In July, he wrote and executed his last will and testament. It was written entirely by himself; and at the bottom of each page of the ma.n.u.script he signed his name in full--GEORGE WASHINGTON.[134]

In September, Lawrence Lewis, who, with his wife, was still residing at Mount Vernon, applied to Washington for a portion of his estate. Lewis was then on a visit with his friends at Fredericksburg, and Washington wrote to him as follows:--

"MOUNT VERNON, _20th September, 1799._

"DEAR SIR: From the moment Mrs. Washington and myself adopted the two youngest children of the late Mr. Custis, it became my intention (if they survived me, and conducted themselves to my satisfaction) to consider them in my will when I was about to make a distribution of my property. This determination has undergone no diminution, but is strengthened by the connection one of them has formed with my family.

"The expense at which I live, and the unproductiveness of my estate, will not allow me to lessen my income while I remain in my present situation. On the contrary, were it not for occasional supplies of money in payment for lands sold within the last four or five years, to the amount of upward of fifty thousand dollars, I should not be able to support the former without involving myself in debt and difficulties.

"But as it has been understood, from expressions occasionally dropped from Nelly Custis, now your wife, that it is the wish of you both to settle in this neighborhood, contiguous to her friends, and as it would be inexpedient as well as expensive for you to make a purchase of land, when a measure which is in contemplation would place you on more eligible ground, I shall inform you that, in the will which I have made, which I have by me, and have no disposition to alter, that the part of my Mount Vernon tract which lies north of the public road leading from the Gum spring to Colchester, containing about two thousand acres, with the Dogue-river farm, mill, and distillery, I have left you. Gray's heights is bequeathed to you and her jointly, if you incline to build on it; and few better sites for a house than Gray's hill and that range, are to be found in this country or elsewhere.

"You may also have what is properly Dogue-run farm, the mill, and distillery, on a just and equitable rent; as also the lands belonging thereto, on a reasonable hire, either next year, or the year following--it being necessary, in my opinion, that a young man should have objects of employment. Idleness is disreputable under any circ.u.mstances; productive of no good, even when unaccompanied by vicious habits; and you might commence building as soon as you please, during the progress of which Mount Vernon might be made your home.

"You may conceive that building before you have an absolute t.i.tle to the land is hazardous. To obviate this, I shall only remark that it is not likely any occurrence will happen, or any change take place, that would alter my present intention (if the conduct of yourself and wife is such as to merit a continuance of it); but be this as it may, that you may proceed on sure ground with respect to the buildings, I will agree--and this letter shall be an evidence of it--that if hereafter I should find cause to make any other disposition of the property _here_ mentioned, I will pay the actual cost of such buildings to you or yours.

"Although I have not the most distant idea that any event will happen that could effect a change in my present determination, nor any suspicions that you or Nelly could conduct yourselves in such a manner as to incur my serious displeasure, yet, at the same time that I am inclined to do justice to others, it behooves me to take care of myself, by keeping the staff in my own hands.