Volume II Part 13 (1/2)

[267] Jefferson to Was.h.i.+ngton, Dec. 31, 1793; _Works_: Ford, viii, 136.

[268] Jefferson to Short, Jan. 28, 1792; _ib._, vi, 382.

[269] Marshall, ii, 233.

[270] Generally speaking, the same cla.s.ses that secured the Const.i.tution supported all the measures of Was.h.i.+ngton's Administration. (See Beard: _Econ. O. J. D._, 122-24.)

While the Republicans charged that Was.h.i.+ngton's Neutrality was inspired by favoritism to Great Britain, as it was certainly championed by trading and moneyed interests which dealt chiefly with British houses, the Federalists made the counter-charge, with equal accuracy, that the opponents of Neutrality were French partisans and encouraged by those financially interested.

The younger Adams, who was in Europe during most of this period and who carefully informed himself, writing from The Hague, declared that many Americans, some of them very important men, were ”debtors to British merchants, creditors to the French government, and speculators in the French revolutionary funds, all to an immense amount,” and that other Americans were heavily indebted in England. All these interests were against Neutrality and in favor of war with Great Britain--those owing British debts, because ”war ... would serve as a sponge for their debts,” or at least postpone payment, and the creditors of the French securities, because French success would insure payment. (J. Q. Adams to his father, June 24, 1796; _Writings, J. Q. A._: Ford, i, 506.)

[271] Story, in Dillon, iii, 350.

[272] Gabriel Jones, the ablest lawyer in the Valley, and, of course, a stanch Federalist.

[273] Monroe to Jefferson, Sept. 3, 1793; Monroe's _Writings_: Hamilton, i, 274-75. Considering the intimate personal friends.h.i.+p existing between Monroe and Marshall, the significance and importance of this letter cannot be overestimated.

[274] It was at this point, undoubtedly, that the slander concerning Marshall's habits was started. (See _infra_, 101-03.)

[275] The above paragraphs are based on Justice Story's account of Marshall's activities at this period, supplemented by Madison and Monroe's letters; by the well-known political history of that time; and by the untrustworthy but not negligible testimony of tradition. While difficult to reconstruct a situation from such fragments, the account given in the text is believed to be substantially accurate.

[276] See _Works_: Ford, xii, footnote to 451.

[277] Madison to Jefferson, June 17, 1793; _Writings_: Hunt, vi, 134.

[278] See _infra_, chap. V.

[279] Madison to Jefferson, Sept. 2, 1793; _Writings_: Hunt, vi, 196.

[280] See _infra_, chap. V. Robert Morris secured in this way all the money he was able to give his son-in-law for the Fairfax purchase.

[281] Mrs. Carrington to her sister Nancy; undated; MS.

[282] _Ib._

[283] See _supra_, vol. I, chap. VII.

[284] See, for instance, Jefferson to Short (Sept 6, 1790; _Works_: Ford, vi, 146), describing a single order of wine for Was.h.i.+ngton and one for himself; and see Chastellux's account of an evening with Jefferson: ”We were conversing one evening over a bowl of punch after Mrs.

Jefferson had retired. Our conversation turned on the poems of Ossian.... The book was sent for and placed near the bowl, where by their mutual aid the night far advanced imperceptibly upon us.”

(Chastellux, 229.)

Marshall's Account Book does not show any purchases of wine at all comparable with those of other contemporaries. In March, 1791, Marshall enters, ”wine 60”; August, ditto, ”14-5-8”; September, 1792, ”Wine 70”; in July, 1793, ”Whisky 6.3.9” (pounds, s.h.i.+llings, and pence); in May, 1794, ”Rum and brandy 6-4”; August, 1794, ditto, five s.h.i.+llings, sixpence; May, 1795, ”Whisky 6.16”; Sept., ”wine 3”; Oct., ditto, ”17.6.”

[285] Marshall to Stuart, March 27, 1794; MS., Va. Hist. Soc.

[286] Major George Keith Taylor to Brigadier-General Mathews, July 19, 1794; _Cal. Va. St. Prs._, vii, 223.

[287] Mathews to Taylor, July 20, 1794; _ib._, 224.

[288] Governor Henry Lee ”Commander-in-chief,” to Marshall, July 21, 1794; MS., ”War 10,” Archives, Va. St. Lib.