Part 29 (1/2)
4. Footnote: 104,364, of the dollars were received after March, 1780, and although credited forty for one, many did not fetch at the rate of a hundred for one, while 27,775 of them are returned without deducting anything from the above account (and therefore actually made a present to the public).
PART V. WAs.h.i.+NGTON A PRIVATE CITIZEN.
CHAPTER I.
WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S RETURN TO PRIVATE LIFE. 1783-1784.
When Was.h.i.+ngton retired from the command of the army it was undoubtedly his intention to devote the remainder of his life to his favorite pursuit of agriculture. His estate had suffered considerably from his devotion to public duties, and his private affairs now demanded all his attention. The Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania instructed the delegates of that State in Congress to propose a public remuneration for his services, but when the proposition was submitted for his approbation he promptly declined it. This was in strict consistency with his uniform character of disinterestedness. A liberal grant would have been voted by Congress and sanctioned by the nation, but Was.h.i.+ngton would not consent to receive it.
His feelings on finding himself a private citizen are expressed in his correspondence. In a letter to Governor Clinton, written only three days after his arrival at Mount Vernon, he says: ”The scene is at length closed. I feel myself eased of a load of public care and hope to spend the remainder of my days in cultivating the affections of good men, and in the practice of the domestic virtues.”
”At length, my dear marquis,” said he to his n.o.ble and highly-valued friend, Lafayette, ”I have become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac, and under the shadow of my own vine and my own fig tree, free from the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public life, I am solacing myself with those tranquil enjoyments of which the soldier, who is ever in pursuit of fame--the statesman, whose watchful days and sleepless nights are spent in devising schemes to promote the welfare of his own, perhaps the ruin of other countries, as if this globe was insufficient for us all--and the courtier, who is always watching the countenance of his prince in the hope of catching a gracious smile--can have very little conception. I have not only retired from all public employments, but am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction. Envious of none I am determined to be pleased with all, and this, my dear friend, being the order of my march, I will move gently down the stream of life until I sleep with my fathers.”
But a mind accustomed to labor for a nation's welfare does not immediately divest itself of ancient habits. That custom of thinking on public affairs, and that solicitude respecting them, which belong to the patriot in office, follow him into his retreat. In a letter to General Knox, written soon after his resignation, Was.h.i.+ngton thus expressed the feelings attendant upon this sudden transition from public to private pursuits. ”I am just beginning to experience the ease and freedom from public cares, which however desirable, takes some time to realize, for, strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that it was not until lately I could get the better of my usual custom of ruminating, as soon as I awoke in the morning, on the business of the ensuing day, and of my surprise at finding, after revolving many things in my mind, that I was no longer a public man or had anything to do with public transactions.
I feel now, however, as I conceive a wearied traveler must do who, after treading many a painful step with a heavy burden on his shoulders, is eased of the latter, having reached the haven to which all the former were directed, and from his house-top is looking back and tracing with an eager eye the meanders by which he escaped the quicksands and mires which lay in his way, and into which none but the all-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human events could have prevented his falling.”
For several months after arriving at Mount Vernon, almost every day brought him the addresses of an affectionate and grateful people. The glow of expression in which the high sense universally entertained of his services was conveyed, manifested the warmth of feeling which animated the American bosom. This unexampled tribute of voluntary applause, paid by a whole people to an individual no longer in power, made no impression on the una.s.suming modesty of his character and deportment. The same firmness of mind, the same steady and well-tempered judgment, which had guided him through the most perilous seasons of the war, still regulated his conduct, and the enthusiastic applauses of an admiring nation served only to cherish sentiments of grat.i.tude and to give greater activity to the desire still further to contribute to the general prosperity.
Soon after peace was proclaimed Congress unanimously pa.s.sed a resolution for the erection of an equestrian statue of Was.h.i.+ngton, at the place which should be established for the residence of the government.
The Legislature of Virginia, too, at its first session after his resignation, pa.s.sed the following resolution:
”Resolved, That the Executive be requested to take measures for procuring a statue of General Was.h.i.+ngton, to be of the finest marble and best workmans.h.i.+p, with the following inscription on its pedestal:
”The General a.s.sembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia have caused this statue to be erected as a monument of affection and grat.i.tude to George Was.h.i.+ngton, who, uniting to the endowments of the hero, the virtues of the patriot, and exerting both in establis.h.i.+ng the liberties of his country, has rendered his name dear to his fellow-citizens, and given the world an immortal example of true glory.” [5]
In addition to the attention which he bestowed on his own estate Was.h.i.+ngton endeavored to ameliorate the condition of agriculture generally. Nothing could be more wretched than the general state of this useful art in America. To its amelioration by examples which might be followed, and by the introduction of systems adapted to the soil, the climate, and to the wants of the people, the energies of his active and intelligent mind were now in a great degree directed. No improvement of the implements to be used on a farm, no valuable experiments in husbandry, escaped his attention. His inquiries, which were equally minute and comprehensive, extended beyond the limits of his own country, and he entered into a correspondence on this interesting subject with Arthur Young, the celebrated English writer, and with other foreigners who had been most distinguished for their additions to the stock of agricultural science.
Mingled with this favorite pursuit were the multiplied avocations resulting from the high office he had lately filled. He was engaged in an extensive correspondence with the friends most dear to his heart--the foreign and American officers who had served under him during the late war--and with almost every conspicuous political personage of his own, and with many of other countries. Literary men also were desirous of obtaining his approbation of their works, and his attention was solicited to every production of American genius. His countrymen who were about to travel were anxious to receive from the first citizen of the rising Republic, some testimonial bearing his signature, and all those strangers of distinction, who visited this newly-created empire, were ambitious of being presented to its founder. In addition to visitors of distinction, and those who had claims of ancient friends.h.i.+p, he was subjected to the annoyance of visitors, who, without any just pretension to such an honor, made visits to Mount Vernon merely to gratify their curiosity, and to the scarcely less wearisome annoyance of tedious and unnecessary letters. Of these unwelcome intrusions upon his time Was.h.i.+ngton thus complained to an intimate military friend. ”It is not, my dear sir, the letters of my friends which give me trouble or add aught to my perplexity. I receive them with pleasure, and pay as much attention to them as my avocations will permit. It is references to old matters with which I have nothing to do--applications which oftentimes cannot be complied with--inquiries, to satisfy which would employ the pen of an historian--letters of compliment, as unmeaning perhaps as they are troublesome, but which must be attended to--and the common-place business--which employ my pen and my time often disagreeably. Indeed these, with company, deprive me of exercise, and, unless I can obtain relief, must be productive of disagreeable consequences. Already I begin to feel their effects. Heavy and painful oppressions of the head and other disagreeable sensations often trouble me. I am determined therefore to employ some person who shall ease me of the drudgery of this business. At any rate, if the whole of it is thereby suspended, I am determined to use exercise. My private affairs also require infinitely more attention than I have given or can give them under present circ.u.mstances. They can no longer be neglected without involving my ruin.”
It was some time after the date of this letter before he introduced into his family a young gentleman, qualified by education and manners to fill the station of private secretary and friend. This was Mr. Tobias Lear of New Hamps.h.i.+re, who had graduated at Harvard college.
The numerous visits which Was.h.i.+ngton received made Mount Vernon anything but a place of seclusion and repose, and ”during these stirring times Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton performed the duties of a Virginia housewife and presided at her well-spread board with that ease and elegance of manners which always distinguished her.” [2]
This multiplicity of private avocations could not entirely withdraw the mind of Was.h.i.+ngton from objects tending to promote and secure the public happiness. His resolution never again to appear in the busy scenes of political life, though believed by himself and by his bosom friends to be unalterable, could not render him indifferent to those measures on which the prosperity of his country essentially depended.
It is a very interesting fact that Was.h.i.+ngton was among the first, if not the very first of our public men, who were impressed with the importance of connecting the western with the eastern territory, by facilitating the means of intercourse between them. To this subject his attention had been directed in the early part of his life. While the American States were yet British colonies he had obtained the pa.s.sage of a bill for opening the Potomac so as to render it navigable from tide-water to Wills creek, a distance of about 150 miles. The river James had also been comprehended in this plan, and he had triumphed so far over the opposition produced by local interests and prejudices, that the business was in a train which promised success, when the Revolutionary War diverted the attention of its patrons, and of all America, from internal improvements to the still greater objects of liberty and independence. As that war approached its termination, subjects which for a time had yielded their pretensions to consideration, reclaimed that place to which their real magnitude ent.i.tled them, and internal navigation again attracted the attention of the wise and thinking part of society. Accustomed to contemplate America as his country and to consider with solicitude the interests of the whole, Was.h.i.+ngton now took a more enlarged view of the advantages to be derived from opening both the eastern and the western waters; and for this, as well as for other purposes, after peace had been proclaimed, he traversed the western parts of New England and New York. ”I have lately,” said he, in a letter to the Marquis of Chastellux, ”made a tour through the lakes George and Champlain as far as Crown Point; then returning to Schenectady I proceeded up the Mohawk river to Fort Schuyler, crossed over to Wood creek, which empties into the Oneida lake and affords the water communication with Ontario. I then traversed the country to the head of the eastern branch of the Susquehanna and viewed the lake Otsego and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk river at Canajoharie. Prompted by these actual observations, I could not help taking a more contemplative and extensive view of the vast inland navigation of these United States, and could not but be struck with the immense diffusion and importance of it, and with the goodness of that Providence which has dealt His favors to us with so profuse a hand.
Would to G.o.d we may have wisdom enough to improve them. I shall not rest contented until I have explored the western country and traversed those lines (or great part of them) which have given bounds to a new empire.”
The journey here referred to was performed in company with Governor Clinton while the army was encamped at Newburg.
Scarcely had he answered those spontaneous offerings of the heart which flowed in upon him from every part of a grateful nation, when his views were once more seriously turned to this truly interesting subject. Its magnitude was also impressed on others, and the value of obtaining the aid which his influence and active interference would afford to any exertions for giving this direction to the public mind, and for securing the happy execution of the plan which might be devised, was perceived by all those who attached to the great work its real importance. Jefferson, who had taken an expanded view of it concluded a letter to Was.h.i.+ngton containing a detailed statement of his ideas on the subject in these terms:
”But a most powerful objection always arises to propositions of this kind. It is, that public undertakings are carelessly managed and much money spent to little purpose. To obviate this objection is the purpose of my giving you the trouble of this discussion. You have retired from public life. You have weighed this determination, and it would be impertinence in me to touch it. But would the superintendence of this work break in too much on the sweets of retirement and repose? If they would I stop here. Your future time and wishes are sacred in my eye. If it would be only a dignified amus.e.m.e.nt to you, what a monument of your retirement would it be! It is one which would follow that of your public life and bespeak it the work of the same great hand. I am confident that would you, either alone or jointly with any persons you think proper, be willing to direct this business, it would remove the only objection, the weight of which I apprehend.”
In September, 1784, Was.h.i.+ngton fulfilled the intention expressed in his letter to the Marquis of Chastellux, by making a tour to the western country. He went on horseback, using pack-horses for his tent and baggage. He crossed the Alleghenies by Braddock's road, examined his lands on the Monongahela river, and returned through the wilderness by a circuitous route, examining the country in order to determine the practicability of connecting the Potomac and James rivers with the western waters by means of ca.n.a.ls. The whole journey extended some 680 miles. [3]