Part 24 (2/2)
GEORGE WAs.h.i.+NGTON”
[69] The following is a copy of the second proclamation:--
”Whereas, from a hope that the combination against the const.i.tution and laws of the United States, in certain of the western counties of Pennsylvania, would yield to time and reflection, I thought it sufficient, in the first instance, rather to _take measures_ for calling forth the militia than immediately to embody them; but the moment is now come when the overtures of forgiveness, with no other condition than a submission to law, have been only partially accepted; when every form of conciliation not inconsistent with the being of government has been adopted without effect; when the well-disposed in those counties are unable by their influence and example to reclaim the wicked from their fury, and are compelled to a.s.sociate in their own defence; when the proffered lenity has been perversely misinterpreted into an apprehension that the citizens will march with reluctance; when the opportunity of examining the serious consequences of a treasonable opposition has been employed in propagating principles of anarchy, endeavoring through emissaries to alienate the friends of order from its support, and inviting its enemies to perpetrate similar acts of insurrection; when it is manifest that violence would continue to be exercised upon every attempt to enforce the laws; when, therefore, government is set at defiance, the contest being whether a small portion of the United States shall dictate to the whole Union, and, at the expense of those who desire peace, indulge a desperate ambition:
”Now, therefore, I, George Was.h.i.+ngton, president of the United States, in obedience to that high and irresistible duty consigned to me by the const.i.tution 'to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,' deploring that the American name should be sullied by the outrages of citizens on their own government, commiserating such as remain obstinate from delusion, but resolved, in perfect reliance on that gracious Providence which so signally displays its goodness toward this country, to reduce the refractory to a due subordination to the laws, do hereby declare and make known, with a satisfaction which can be equalled only by the merits of the militia summoned into service from the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, that I have received intelligence of their patriotic alacrity in obeying the call of the present, though painful, yet commanding necessity; that a force, which according to every reasonable expectation is adequate to the exigency, is already in motion to the scene of disaffection; that those who shall have confided or shall confide in the protection of government shall meet full succor under the standard and from the arms of the United States; that those who, having offended against the laws, have since ent.i.tled themselves to indemnity, will be treated with the most liberal good faith, if they shall not have forfeited their claim by any subsequent conduct, and that instructions are given accordingly.
”And I do moreover exhort all individuals, officers, and bodies of men, to contemplate with abhorrence the measures leading, directly or indirectly, to those crimes which produce this resort to military coercion; to check, in their respective spheres, the efforts of misguided or designing men to subst.i.tute their misrepresentation in the place of truth, and their discontents in the place of stable government; and to call to mind, that as the people of the United States have been permitted, under the Divine favor, in perfect freedom, after solemn deliberation, and in an enlightened age, to elect their own government, so will their grat.i.tude for this inestimable blessing be best distinguished by firm exertion to maintain the const.i.tution and the laws.
”And, lastly, I again warn all persons whomsoever and wheresoever, not to abet, aid or comfort the insurgents aforesaid, as they will answer the contrary at their peril; and I do also require all officers and other citizens, as far as may be in their power, to bring under the cognizance of the laws all offenders in the premises.
”In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand. Done at the city of Philadelphia, the twenty-fifth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four, and of the independence of the United States of America the nineteenth.
GEORGE WAs.h.i.+NGTON.”
[70] When the use of military force was first suggested, Randolph, the secretary of state, expressed his fears that such a measure would bring on a general collision that might destroy the Union. Governor Mifflin partook of this fear. ”The Pennsylvanians,” says Hildreth, ”at first, were rather backward, and a draft ordered by Mifflin seemed likely--by reason, it was said, of defects in the militia laws--to prove a failure.
But the legislature, on coming together, having first denounced the insurgents in strong terms, to save the delays attendant on drafting, authorized the government to accept volunteers, to whom a bounty was offered. As if to make up for his former hesitation, and with a military sensibility to the disgrace of failing to meet the requisition, Mifflin, in a tour through the lower counties, as in several cases during the Revolutionary struggle, by the influence of his extraordinary popular eloquence, soon caused the ranks to be filled up. As a further stimulus, subscriptions were opened to support the wives and children of the volunteers during their absence,”--_History of the United States_, second series, i, 570.
[71] Among these was Herman Husbands, then a very old man, who had figured conspicuously in the revolutionary movement in North Carolina, previous to the War for Independence, known as _the Regulator war_. He was arrested on suspicion of being an active fomenter of the insurrection. This, however, seems not to have been the case, ”I know that his sentiments were always in favor of the excise law,” wrote a friend of Husbands to the president, ”and that he did all that he could to prevent the people of the western counties from opposing the execution of the law; and I know he is a good friend of liberty and his country.” Husbands was released, at about the first of January, 1795.
[72] Was.h.i.+ngton was so impressed with the sense of danger to be apprehended by the Democratic Societies, that he contemplated making them a topic in his forthcoming annual message to Congress. In a letter to the secretary of state, written at Fort c.u.mberland on the sixteenth of October, he said, ”My mind is so perfectly convinced, that if these self-created societies can not be discontinued they will destroy the government of this country, that I have asked myself, while I have been revolving on the expense and inconvenience of drawing so many men from their families and occupations as I have seen on their march, where would be the impropriety of glancing at them in my speech, by some such idea as the following: 'That, however distressing this expedition will have proved to individuals, and expensive to the country, the pleasing spirit which it has drawn forth in support of law and government will immortalize the American character, and is a happy presage that future attempts, of a certain description of people, to disturb the public tranquillity will prove equally abortive.'”
Mr. Randolph, though a democrat, was favorable to some such expression of sentiment regarding these societies. In a letter, to which the president's was a response, he had intimated the propriety of taking advantage of the prevailing reprobation of the insurrection, to put down those societies. ”They may now, I believe, be crushed,” he said. ”The prospect ought not to be lost.” Was.h.i.+ngton did allude to them in his annual message, as we shall observe presently.
CHAPTER XXVII.
MEETING OF CONGRESS--WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S MESSAGE--HIS VIEWS OF THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION--DENUNCIATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES--DEBATES IN CONGRESS ON THE SUBJECT--WEAKNESS OF THE OPPOSITION--JEFFERSON'S ANGRY LETTER TO MADISON--DECLINE OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES--WAYNE'S SUCCESS--END OF THE INDIAN WAR--HAMILTON AND KNOX RETIRE FROM OFFICE--CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THEM AND WAs.h.i.+NGTON--THEIR SUCCESSORS--CLOSE OF THE THIRD CONGRESS--A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY PROPOSED--WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S VIEWS--HIS DISPOSITION OF NAVIGATION COMPANIES' SHARES.
The members of Congress came tardily to the federal capital in the autumn of 1794; and it was not until the nineteenth of November, sixteen days after the time appointed for the commencement of the session, that they were ready to listen to the president's sixth annual message. As he had intimated to Mr. Jay that he should, Was.h.i.+ngton, in that message, dwelt at considerable length on the subject of the late insurrection, taking a complete outline survey of all the facts and circ.u.mstances, and drawing conclusions therefrom.
”While there is cause to lament,” he said, ”that occurrences of this nature should have disgraced the name, or interrupted the tranquillity, of any part of our community, or should have diverted to a new application any portion of the public resources, there are not wanting real and substantial consolations for the misfortune. It has demonstrated that our prosperity rests on solid foundations, by furnis.h.i.+ng an additional proof that my fellow-citizens understand the true principles of government and liberty; that they feel their inseparable union; that, notwithstanding all the devices which have been used to sway them from their interest and duty, they are now as ready to maintain the authority of the laws against licentious invasions, as they were to defend their rights against usurpation. It has been a spectacle displaying to the highest advantage the value of republican government, to behold the most and the least wealthy of our citizens standing in the same ranks as private soldiers, pre-eminently distinguished by being the army of the const.i.tution--undeterred by a march of three hundred miles over rugged mountains, by the approach of an inclement season, or by any other discouragement. Nor ought I to omit to acknowledge the efficacious and patriotic co-operations which I have experienced from the chief magistrates of the states to which my requisitions have been addressed.
”To every description of citizens, indeed, let praise be given. But let them persevere in their affectionate vigilance over that precious depository of American happiness, the const.i.tution of the United States.
Let them cherish it, too, for the sake of those who, from every clime, are daily seeking a dwelling in our land. And when, in the calm moments of reflection, they shall have traced the origin and progress of the insurrection, let them determine whether it has not been fomented by combinations of men, who, careless of consequences, and disregarding the unerring truth that those who rouse can not always appease a civil convulsion, have disseminated, from an ignorance or perversion of facts, suspicions, jealousies, and accusations of the whole government.”
The boldness of Was.h.i.+ngton was conspicuous in thus officially denouncing the Democratic Societies, because he well knew that his words of severe reprobation would arouse their hottest resentment. But, conscious of his own integrity, and well a.s.sured of the support of all good men, he hesitated not a moment. Some democratic members of the senate, the most prominent of whom were Burr and Jackson, showed great ill feeling; but the majority in that body gave it their approval. In the lower house it created a good deal of angry altercation, for the opposition were powerful there. They exhibited their disapprobation on the first draft of their answer to the president's message, by pa.s.sing the matter over in silence. To this draft an amendment was offered, reprobating the ”self-created societies,” which, ”by deceiving and inflaming the ignorant and weak, may naturally be supposed to have stimulated the insurrection.” It then denounced them as ”inst.i.tutions not strictly unlawful, yet not less fatal to good order and true liberty, and reprehensible in the degree that our system of government approaches to perfect political freedom.”
It was this amendment that caused the debate. Those who opposed it did so cautiously, and exhibited their sense of the waning popularity of these societies, by taking care to disclaim their own personal connection with them. It was contended that the term ”self-created societies” involved all voluntary a.s.sociations whatever; that the right of censure was sacred; and that the societies would retort. Others contended that the question was not, whether the societies were legal, but whether they were mischievous. If they were so, the representatives of the people, presumed to be the guardians of the republic, ought to declare it, and not, by silence, give an implied contradiction to the president's statements.
A motion to strike out the words ”self-const.i.tuted societies” elicited a warm debate. ”It has been argued,” said one of the members (Sedgwick) who traced the origin of these societies to Genet, ”that to censure them might be construed into an attack on the freedom of public discussion.
He was sorry,” he said, ”to see a disposition to confound freedom and licentiousness. Was there not an obvious distinction between a cool, dispa.s.sionate, honest, and candid discussion, and a false, wicked, seditious misrepresentation of public men and public measures? The former was within the province of freemen; it was, indeed, their duty; the latter was inconsistent with moral rect.i.tude, and tended to the destruction of freedom and to the production of every evil that could afflict a community.” The speaker then described the Democratic Societies as ”self-created, without delegation or control, not emanating from the people, or responsible to them; not open in their deliberations; not admitting any but those of their own political opinions; permanent in their const.i.tution, and of unlimited duration.”
These, he said, ”modestly a.s.sumed the character of popular instructors, guardians of the people, guardians of the government. Every man in the administration who had a.s.sented to its acts they had loaded with every species of calumny--slanders--which they knew to be such. They had not even spared that character supposed to have been clothed with inviolability--not the paltry inviolability of const.i.tutional proscription, but an inviolability infinitely more respectable, founded on the public grat.i.tude, and resulting from disinterested and invaluable services.”
The motion upon which this debate arose was finally carried in committee of the whole, but by a very small majority. The struggle was renewed when it was reported to the house. Finally, a compromise was effected by inserting in the address a declaration of great concern on the part of the house, ”that any misrepresentations whatever of the government and its proceedings, either by individuals or combinations of men, should have been made, and so far have been credited as to foment the flagrant outrage which had been committed on the laws.”
It was very evident, from the debates and the votes on this and other questions brought up by the president's message, that the government was growing stronger, and the opposition in Congress weaker. Jefferson, the father of the opposition, who had declared that his retiracy from the political world should be profound, was alarmed at these manifestations of the declining strength of his party, and he was moved to let his voice be heard once more. On the twenty-eighth of December he wrote to Madison, the republican leader in the lower house, an angry letter concerning the president's remarks about the ”self-created societies,”
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