Part 35 (1/2)
[105] Ent.i.tled ”A View of the Conduct of the Executive of the United States, connected with the Mission to the French Republic, during the Years 1794, '5, & '6.”
[106] Was.h.i.+ngton asked the opinion of his cabinet on the subject of a change of ministers, and at a meeting on the second of July, the three secretaries, Pickering, Wolcott, and M'Henry, addressed a letter to him, in which they said:--
”On the expediency of this change we are agreed. We think the great interests of the United States require, that they have near the French government some faithful organ to explain their real views, and to ascertain those of the French. Our duty obliges us to be explicit. Although the present minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris has been amply furnished with doc.u.ments, to explain the views and conduct of the United States, yet his own letters authorize us to say, that he has omitted to use them, and thereby exposed the United States to all the mischiefs which could flow from jealous and erroneous conceptions of their views and conduct. Whether this dangerous omission arose from such an attachment to the cause of France as rendered him too little mindful of the interests of his own country, or from mistaken views of the latter, or from any other cause, the evil is the same. We, therefore, conceive it to be indispensably necessary, that the present minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris should be recalled, and another American citizen appointed in his stead.... In confirmation of our opinion of the expediency of recalling Mr. Monroe, we think the occasion requires that we communicate a private letter from him, which came to our hands since you left Philadelphia. This letter corresponds with other intelligence of his political opinions and conduct. A minister who has thus made the notorious enemies of the whole system of government his confidential correspondents in matters which affect that government, can not be relied on to do his duty to the latter.
This private letter we received in confidence. Among other circ.u.mstances that will occur to your recollection, the anonymous letters from France to Thomas Blount and others are very noticeable. We know that Montflorence was the writer, and that he was the chancellor of the consul Skipwith; and, from the connection of Mr. Monroe with those persons, we can entertain no doubt the anonymous letters were written with his privity.
”These anonymous communications from officers of the United States in a foreign country, on matters of a public nature, and which deeply concern the interests of the United States in relation to that foreign country, are proofs of sinister designs, and show that the public interests are no longer safe in the hands of such men.”
The attorney-general, in his letter to the president, said: ”I have formed an opinion that our minister plenipotentiary at Paris ought not to be permitted to continue there any longer, than until the arrival of his successor; and that it is not only expedient, but absolutely necessary, that he should be immediately recalled, and another minister appointed. Upon this subject I concur in sentiment with the heads of departments, as expressed in their letter of the second instant.”
The attorney-general then gave, as reasons for his opinion--First, that ”from his letters in the office of the department of state, it appears he has neglected or failed to justify, or truly represent, to the republic of France the conduct and motives of his own country, relative to the treaty with Great Britain.” Secondly, that ”his correspondence with the executive of the United States has been, and is, infrequent, unsatisfactory, reserved, and without cordiality or confidence on his part.”
”I might add other reasons, if they were necessary,” continued the attorney-general; ”for instance, that he corresponds less confidentially with the executive of the United States, than with the opposers and libellers of his administration; and that there is too much reason to believe he is furthering the views of a faction in America, more than the peace and happiness of the United States.”
CHAPTER x.x.xV.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION APPROACHING--METHOD OF ELECTION--MEASURES OF POLITICAL PARTIES--SPURIOUS LETTERS REPUBLISHED--WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS PUBLISHED--RECEPTION OF THE ADDRESS--AFFECTION OF THE PEOPLE--CANDIDATES FOR THE PRESIDENCY--c.o.c.kADE PROCLAMATION--ADET'S CHARGES AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT--APPEAL TO THE Pa.s.sIONS--MEETING OF CONGRESS--THE PRESIDENT'S LAST ANNUAL MESSAGE--ITS RECOMMENDATIONS--MILITARY ACADEMY--WEST POINT--RELATIONS WITH FRANCE--ANSWER OF THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS--PRAISE OF WAs.h.i.+NGTON AND HIS ADMINISTRATION OPPOSED--HIS FRIENDS IN A LARGE MAJORITY--PERSONAL ABUSE--MALIGNANT LETTER FROM THOMAS PAINE, AND ADET'S PAMPHLET--WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S REMARKS ON THEIR PUBLICATION.
The appointed hour for a new presidential election was now drawing near.
At that time no nomination for chief-magistrate was formally made, nor officially announced. The letter of the const.i.tution was adhered to, and the people were called upon to choose electors only, who, when they should meet at the time specified by the const.i.tution, should ballot for whomsoever they pleased for president. Yet the politicians and the leaders of parties in the Congress usually held up to the view of the people candidates who afterward received the consideration of the electoral college. The electors were therefore chosen in reference, first, to their partisan character, and secondly, to their partiality to some particular man prominent in the political field.
It was well known to Was.h.i.+ngton's more intimate friends, that he would not consent to re-election. His reserve on that subject, and the long delay in making a public announcement of his intention to retire to private life puzzled the politicians. The president's political enemies were more active than ever. We have already noticed the publication of certain queries proposed by Was.h.i.+ngton to his cabinet, respecting the reception of Genet, by which it was hoped to prejudice him in the public mind by proving, by implication, his hostility to France. Another weapon used by his unscrupulous enemies, for the purpose of degrading him in the eyes of the American people, was the republication of a series of spurious letters, purporting to have been written by Was.h.i.+ngton. They were first published in London, in 1777, and republished in Rivington's _Royal Gazette_, in February, 1778. These letters, it was charged, were written by Was.h.i.+ngton from the army to members of his family, in which he expressed private views of public affairs quite inconsistent with his acts as commander-in-chief, or his professions as a patriot. It was alleged that Billy, his body-servant, had been captured, and that these letters, or copies of them, were found in a portmanteau in the servant's possession. But the original fabricator of the letters missed his aim. It was well known that Billy had never been in the hands of the enemy;[107] and, in a short time, this attempt to injure Was.h.i.+ngton was forgotten, and the letters were buried in oblivion. But the hyena of political partisans.h.i.+p dragged them from the grave almost twenty years later, and they were republished with a new t.i.tle,[108] and put forth as genuine, very soon after the appearance of two volumes of Was.h.i.+ngton's official letters, which had been copied, by permission, in the office of the secretary of state, carried to London, and there printed.
In order to give more force to the intended effect of these spurious letters, a preface to the new edition was carefully written, which contained the following paragraph:--
”Since the publication of the two volumes of General Was.h.i.+ngton's 'Original Letters to the Congress,' the editor has been repeatedly applied to for the general's 'Domestic and Confidential Epistles,'
first published soon after the beginning of the American war. These epistles are here offered to the public, together with a copious appendix, containing a number of official letters and papers, not to be found in the general's original letters above noticed; but the collection must certainly be looked upon as in a mutilated state, so long as it remains unaccompanied with the epistles, etc., which are now respectfully submitted to the patronage of the public, and which form a supplement absolutely necessary to make the work complete. That this collection of 'Domestic and Confidential Epistles' will be regarded as a valuable acquisition by a very great majority of the citizens of the United States, is presumable from the prevailing taste of all well-informed people.
Men not precluded by ignorance from every degree of literary curiosity, will always feel a solicitude to become acquainted with whatever may serve to throw light on ill.u.s.trious personages.
History represents them acting on the stage of the world, courting the applause of mankind. To see them in their real character we must follow them behind the scenes, among their private connections and domestic concerns.”
Nothing in our modern political warfare has equalled, in meanness and moral turpitude, this a.s.sa.s.sin-stab at the character of a public man.
Was.h.i.+ngton, with proper dignity, treated it as he had done other slanders, with that contemptuous silence which it deserved. But that very silence was construed into an acknowledgment of the truth of the words of the calumny. ”The malignant commentators on this spurious text,” says Marshall, ”would not admit the possibility of its being apocryphal.”
While political and partisan abuse was pouring most copiously upon the head of the president, his Farewell Address appeared. It was published, as we have seen, at about the middle of September, and produced a great sensation throughout the country. The ribald voice of party-spirit was for a moment subdued in tone, if not silenced, for it was deprived of the theme of Was.h.i.+ngton's renomination, which had been a convenient excuse for attacks upon his character. In every part of the Union sentiments of veneration for the author were manifested. Some of the state legislatures directed the address to be entered at large upon their journals. It was published in every newspaper in the land, and in many of those in foreign countries; and in legislative bodies and social and diplomatic circles abroad, it was for some time a fruitful topic of remark. From the time of its publication until the expiration of the term of his presidency, Was.h.i.+ngton received public addresses from all the state legislatures which were convened within that period. Many public bodies, also, addressed him with affectionate words, expressing cordial approbation of his conduct during the eight years that he had filled the office of chief-magistrate of the nation.[109]
Already the strong hold which his person and character had taken of the affections of his countrymen had been fully evinced. Names of men having great political influence had been held up to the people in several states as his successor, but were not satisfactory. ”In districts where the opposition to his administration was most powerful,” says Marshall, ”where all his measures were most loudly condemned; where those who approved his system possessed least influence; the men who appeared to control public opinion on every other subject found themselves unable to move it on this. Even the most popular among the leaders of the opposition were reduced to the necessity of surrendering their pretensions to a place in the electoral body, or of pledging themselves to bestow their suffrages on the actual president. The determination of his fellow-citizens had been unequivocally manifested, and it was believed to be apparent that the election would again be unanimous, when he announced his resolution to withdraw from the honors and the toils of office.”
”The president declining to be again elected,” wrote Oliver Wolcott, ”const.i.tutes a most important epoch in our national affairs. The country meet the event with reluctance, but they do not feel that they can make any claim for the further services of a man who has conducted their armies through a successful war; has so largely contributed to establish a national government; has so long presided over our councils and directed the public administration, and in the most advantageous manner settled all national differences, and who can leave the administration when nothing but our folly and internal discord can render the country otherwise than happy.”
The federalists and republicans now marshalled their forces for the election. Their respective chiefs were brought forward. John Adams, whose official station placed him in the line of promotion, and whose public services, ability, and sterling integrity were well known to the nation, was the choice of the federalists for the presidency, and Thomas Pinckney, the accomplished diplomat, for the vice-presidency. The republican party chose Mr. Jefferson, to use a modern political phrase, as their standard-bearer. With these names as watchwords, the party leaders went into the contest for presidential electors in November.
That contest was warm in every doubtful state. The parties seemed equally balanced, and the final result of the action of the electoral college, unlike the operations of the canva.s.s in our day, could not be determined beforehand.
While the canva.s.s was in progress, Adet, the French minister, imitating Genet, attempted to influence the political action of the American people. The British treaty, the recall of Monroe, and the appointment of Pinckney as his successor at Paris, offended him, and a few weeks after the departure of Pinckney, he made a formal communication of the decree of his government, already mentioned, which evinced a spirit of hostility. In his accompanying letter he entered into an elaborate defence of the decree, and renewed complaints which he had before urged, that British s.h.i.+ps-of-war were allowed to recruit their crews by pressing into their service sailors from American vessels. Further imitating Genet, by appealing to the people, Adet sent his communication to be printed in the _Aurora_, at the same time that it was forwarded to the state department. This was followed, in the course of a few days, by a proclamation, signed by Adet, calling upon all Frenchmen residing in America, in the name of the French Directory, to wear the tri-colored c.o.c.kade, which he termed ”the symbol of a liberty the fruit of eight years' toil and five years' victories;” and a.s.sured those he addressed, that any Frenchman who should hesitate to comply, should not be allowed the aid of French consular chanceries, or the national protection.
Immediately after this ”c.o.c.kade proclamation” was issued, that token of attachment to the French republic abounded. It was worn by many Americans as well as Frenchmen, and it became the badge of party distinction for several years.
Adet followed up his proclamation by another missile, sent simultaneously to the state department and the _Aurora_, demanding ”the execution of that contract [treaty of 1778] which a.s.sured to the United States their existence, and which France regarded as the pledge of the most sacred union between two people, the freest upon earth.” He a.s.sumed that his government was ”terrible to its enemies, but generous to its allies,” and prefaced his summary of alleged violations of the international compact, by a flourish of rhetoric intended to impress the American people.