Part 47 (1/2)
Diplomatic intercourse had at length been opened with Great Britain, who had sent, on her own motion, Mr. George Hammond as minister Plenipotentiary to the United States. Mr. Hammond arrived at Philadelphia in the autumn of 1791, and soon after entered upon a long correspondence with the Secretary of State respecting the nonexecution of the treaty of peace. The British minister having entrusted to him only powers to negotiate, not to conclude, to make, not to adjust, complaints, the course of the discussion, and the principles avowed by the respective parties, speedily demonstrated the slight probability which existed of their being able to agree upon a commercial treaty.
The Indians in the Northwest still maintaining their att.i.tude of hostility preparations for prosecuting the war with vigor were earnestly pressed. General Wayne was appointed to succeed St. Clair in the command, but the inducements to enter the service were so small that the ranks filled up very slowly and the meditated expedition could not be undertaken prudently during the present year. Meanwhile, the clamor against the war continued to be loud and violent. From respect for opinions extensively professed it was thought advisable to make still another effort to procure peace by a direct communication of the views of the executive. The fate of those who were employed in these efforts was still more to be lamented than their failure. Colonel Harden and Major Truman, two brave officers and estimable men, were severally dispatched with propositions of peace, and each was murdered by the savages.
During the session of Congress Thomas Pinckney was nominated minister plenipotentiary to England, and Gouverneur Morris as minister plenipotentiary to France. Both these nominations were confirmed by the Senate. William Short was appointed minister resident at the Hague and was commissioned, with Mr. Carmichael, to effect a treaty with Spain.
Paul Jones, during the summer, was appointed a commissioner for treating with the Dey of Algiers on the subject of peace and the ransoming of American captives. The letter informing of his appointment did not, however, reach him, for Jones died at Paris on the 18th of July, 1792, in abject poverty and dest.i.tution.
In May (1792), Was.h.i.+ngton wrote to the Earl of Buchan, transmitting his portrait, painted by Mr. Robertson, which had been solicited by the earl. In the same letter he thanked the earl for a box made of the oak that sheltered William Wallace after the battle of Falkirk. In making this present the earl had requested Was.h.i.+ngton, in the event of his decease, to leave it to the man in his own country who should appear, in his judgment, to merit it best. Was.h.i.+ngton wisely decided otherwise, and, in his will, directed it to be returned to the Earl of Buchan.
On the 9th of May (1792), the day after the rising of Congress, Was.h.i.+ngton set out from Philadelphia for Mount Vernon, but returned early in June. In July he went again to Mount Vernon, accompanied by Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton and her two little grandchildren, intending to remain there till near the meeting of Congress, which was to take place in November. During this short residence at his beloved home Was.h.i.+ngton had much to distract his attention from his favorite rural pursuits. He was in constant correspondence with the members of the cabinet and public affairs. To Hamilton he was writing about the resistance to the tax on spirituous liquors, on the dissension between him and Jefferson, and on politics; to General Knox, Secretary of War, on the preparations for Wayne's campaign against the Indians; to Jefferson, Secretary of State, on foreign affairs, on the troubles with the Spaniards in Florida, and on the Indian war, as well as on his quarrel with Hamilton, and to Randolph, Attorney-General, on the state of parties and the licentiousness of the press.
On the subject of newspaper abuse Was.h.i.+ngton appears to have felt a degree of sensitiveness which, at the present, is rare among public men.
Hitherto he appears to have been personally free from this annoyance, but he was unwilling to see his administration calumniated by political demagogues.
Writing to Gouverneur Morris, the American minister in France (October 20, 1792), he says. ”From the complexion of some of our newspapers foreigners would be led to believe that inveterate political dissensions exist among us, and that we are on the very verge of disunion, but the fact is otherwise. The great body of the people now feel the advantages of the general government, and would not, I am persuaded, do anything that should destroy it, but this kind of representations is an evil which must be placed in opposition to the infinite benefits resulting from a free press, and I am sure you need not be told that in this country a personal difference in political sentiments is often made to take the garb of general dissensions.”
Besides the public business which pressed heavily on Was.h.i.+ngton during his present residence at Mount Vernon he found a new source of anxiety in the alarming illness of his nephew, George Augustine Was.h.i.+ngton, to whom the care of the estate had been entrusted since 1789, when the duties of the Presidency had called the chief to the seat of government.
This gentleman had served in the Revolutionary War as aid to Lafayette, with the rank of major. Writing to Lafayette (June 10, 1792), Was.h.i.+ngton says: ”I am afraid my nephew George, your old aid, will never have his health perfectly re-established. He has lately been attacked with the alarming symptom of spitting large quant.i.ties of blood, and the physicians give no hope of a restoration, unless it can be effected by a change of air and a total dereliction of business, to which he is too anxiously attentive. He will, if he should be taken from his family and friends, leave three fine children, two sons and a daughter. To the eldest of the boys he has given the name of Fayette, and a fine-looking child he is.”
George Augustine Was.h.i.+ngton sunk rapidly after this and died at the residence of Colonel Ba.s.sett, where he had gone for a change of air, on the 5th of February, 1793. Was.h.i.+ngton, on hearing of his decease, wrote immediately from Philadelphia, to his widow, [7] condoling with her on the heavy loss, and inviting her to reside, with her children, at Mount Vernon.
In the latter part of October Was.h.i.+ngton returned to Philadelphia, in antic.i.p.ation of the meeting of Congress.
On the 5th of November (1792), Congress again convened. In Was.h.i.+ngton's speech, delivered at the commencement of the session, Indian affairs were treated at considerable length, and the continuance of the war was mentioned as a subject of much regret. ”The reiterated endeavors,” it was said, ”which had been made to effect a pacification had hitherto issued in new and outrageous proofs of persevering hostility on the part of the tribes with whom the United States were in contest.
”A detail of the measures that had been pursued and of their consequences, which would be laid before Congress, while it would confirm the want of success thus far, would evince that means, as proper and as efficacious as could have been devised, had been employed. The issue of some of them was still depending, but a favorable one, though not to be despaired of, was not promised by anything that had yet happened.”
That a sanction, commonly respected even among savages, had been found insufficient to protect from ma.s.sacre the emissaries of peace, was particularly noticed, and the families of those valuable citizens who had thus fallen victims to their zeal for the public service were recommended to the attention of the Legislature.
That unprovoked aggression had been made by the southern Indians, and that there was just cause for apprehension that the war would extend to them also, was mentioned as a subject of additional concern.
”Every practicable exertion had been made to be prepared for the alternative of prosecuting the war in the event of a failure of pacific overtures. A large proportion of the troops authorized to be raised had been recruited, though the numbers were yet incomplete, and pains had been taken to discipline them and put them in a condition for the particular kind of service to be performed. But a delay of operations, besides being dictated by the measures that were pursuing toward a pacific termination of the war, had been in itself deemed preferable to immature efforts.”
The humane system which has since been pursued with partial success, of gradually civilizing the savages by improving their condition, of diverting them in some degree from hunting to domestic and agricultural occupations, by imparting to them some of the most simple and useful acquisitions of society, and of conciliating them to the United States by a beneficial and well-regulated commerce, had ever been a favorite object with the President, and the detailed view which was not taken of Indian affairs was concluded with a repet.i.tion of his recommendations of these measures.
The subject next adverted to in the speech was the impediments which, in some places, continued to embarra.s.s the collection of the duties on spirits distilled within the United States. After observing that these impediments were lessening in local extent, but that symptoms of such increased opposition had lately manifested themselves in certain places as, in his judgment, to render his special interposition advisable, the President added: ”Congress may be a.s.sured that nothing within const.i.tutional and legal limits, which may depend on me, shall be wanting to a.s.sert and maintain the just authority of the laws. In fulfilling this trust I shall count entirely on the full cooperation of the other departments of government and upon the zealous support of all good citizens.”
After noticing various objects which would require the attention of the Legislature, the President addressed himself particularly to the House of Representatives, and said: ”I entertain a strong hope that the state of the national finances is now sufficiently matured to enable you to enter upon a systematic and effectual arrangement for the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt, according to the right which has been reserved to the government. No measure can be more desirable, whether viewed with an eye to its intrinsic importance, or to the general sentiments and wish of the nation.”
The addresses of the two Houses in answer to the speech were, as usual, respectful and affectionate. The several subjects recommended to the attention of Congress, were noticed either in general terms, or in a manner to indicate a coincidence of sentiment between the legislative and executive departments. The turbulent spirit which had manifested itself in certain parts of the Union, was mentioned by both houses with a just degree of censure and the measures adopted by the President, as well as the resolution he expressed to compel obedience to the laws, were approved, and the House of Representatives, in the most unqualified terms, declared opinions in favor of systematic and effectual arrangements for discharging the public debt. But the subsequent proceedings of the Legislature did not fulfill the expectations excited by this auspicious commencement of the session.
At an early day in a committee of the whole House on the President's speech, Mr. Fitzsimmons moved ”that measures for the reduction of so much of the public debt as the United States have a right to redeem, ought to be adopted, and that the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to report a plan for that purpose.”
This motion was objected to by Mr. Madison as being premature. The state of the finances, he thought, was not sufficiently understood to authorize the adoption of the measure it contemplated. The debate, however, soon took a different direction.
On a motion made, directing the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War to attend the House and to give information, severe denunciations were poured forth against the unconst.i.tutionality of subjecting the representatives to the control of the heads of the executive departments. The motions for requiring a report from Hamilton on a plan for redeeming the public debt, and for paying a debt owing to the bank, which were brought in by Mr. Fitzsimmons, renewed the contest, but, although Madison and others opposed the reference to the Secretary of the Treasury, the resolution was carried.
Hamilton's report proposed a plan for the redemption of the debt. But the expenses of the Indian war rendering it unsafe, in his opinion, to rest absolutely on the existing revenue, he also proposed to extend the internal taxes to pleasure horses, or pleasure carriages, as might be deemed most advisable. For the reimburs.e.m.e.nt of the bank, he recommended that power be conferred to negotiate a loan for two million dollars--the dividends on the shares held by the government to be pledged for the interest, and, as the government paid six per cent, to the bank, he relied on the saving that would be effected by borrowing at a lower rate of interest. The consideration of this report was deferred on various grounds, and a motion was made to reduce the military establishment. The debate was long and earnestly contested, but the motion was rejected on the 5th of January, 1793.
A few weeks later another subject was introduced into the House which absorbed the attention of the members and put an end, for the present session, to every measure connected with the finances.