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Show Xi TVTIIE STORY or THE FIRST VWSWmTSi !L PV THE PRESIDENT agalnat New Orleans, on the covetsd Mississippi; but till work was tv erf-whore erf-whore steadily undone. Neutrality It Enforced. Washington acted slowly, deliberately deliberate-ly even, with that majesty of elf control, con-trol, that awful courtesy and itlllueia In wrath, that had ever made hi in a master to ba feared In momenta of sharp trial. One by one the unlawful prizes were seized; Justice wss don upon their capture; the false admiralty courta were ahut up. The army of the Utilted Statue waa made ruidy to check the rtslnga In tbo eouth and weat, ahould there be need; the complaints com-plaints of the Hrlllsh minister were silenced by deeda a well aa by wordt; the clamor of thoae who had welcomed wel-comed the Frenchman ao like provln-olala provln-olala waa Ignored, though for a seaaon It seemed the voice of the country Itself; It-self; and the humiliating work, which ought never to have been, necessary, was at laat made effective aud complete. com-plete. (TO BB CONTINUED.! Installment 24 He had taken Jefferson direct from Franco, here for five years be had been watching a revolution come on apace, hurried from atage to stage, not by statesmen who were masters In the art and practice of freedom, like (hoae who had presided In the counsels coun-sels of America, but by demagoguea and phllosophera rather; and the subtle sub-tle air of that age of change bad crept Into the man's thought. He had come back a phllonophlcal radical rather than a statesman. He had yet to learn. In the practical air of America, what plain and steady policy must serve him to w in hard headd men to to his following; and Washington found him a guide who needed watching. watch-ing. Foreign affairs, over which It waa Jefferson's duty to preside, began of a sudden to turn upon the politics of France, where Jefferson's thought waa so much engaged. Tho year 1789, In which America gained self possession and aet up a government soberly planned plan-ned to last, was the year lu which France lost aelf possession and aet out upon a wild quest for liberty which waa to cost her both her traditional polity and all the hopes she had of a new one. In that year broke the storm of the French revolution. It was a dangerous infection that went abroad from France In those first days of her ardor, and nowhere was It more likely to spread than In Atner tea liut Washington's vision In affairs was not obscured. He had not led revolutionary armies without learning learn-ing what revolution meant. "The revolution rev-olution which has been effected In France," ho said. "Is of so wonderful a nature that man can hardly realize real-ize the fuel" hia calm tonoa ringing strangely amidst the enthusiastic cries of the time. "I fear, though It has gone triumphantly through the first piirotysm. It la not the last It has to encounter before matters are finally 3cft!ed. The revolution Is of too great a magnitudn to be effected In so il.ort a spuce aud with the loss of so little blood." He hoped, but did not believe, that It would run Its courae without fatal disorders, and he meant. In any caae. to keep America from the Infection. ?b wi-.s herself but "In a convalescent convales-cent state." as he said, after her own struggle She waa too observant still, moreover, of European politics and opinion, like a province rather than like a nation Inclined to takn aldos as If she were still a child of the European Eu-ropean family, who had flung away from her mother England to cling In pique to an ancient foe. Washingion'a first and almost single object, at every point of policy, was to muke of the provincial states of the Unlou a veritable nation. Independent, at any rate, and ready to be great when Its growth rhould come, and Its self knowledge. "Every true friend to thla country," he said, at laat "must see and feel that the policy of It la not to embroil ourselves with any nation na-tion whatever, but to avoid their dla-putea dla-putea and their politics, and. If they will harass one another, to avail ourselves our-selves of the neutral conduct we have adopted. Twenty years' peace, with auch an Increaae of population and resources re-sources as wo have a rifrht to export, added to our remote situation from the jartrg powers, will In all probability enublo us. In a just csuse. to bid defiance de-fiance to any power on earth;" and auch wenn hia thought and purpose from the first "I want an American character," be cried, "that th powers of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves, our-selves, and not for others." He had charge of a nation In the making, and he meant It should form, under bis care, an Independent character. It was thus be proved himself no sentlmentaliat, but a atateainan. It was stuff of hia character, thla pur- pose of Independence. He would have played a like part of aelf respect for himself among his neighbors on tbe Virginia plantations; and be could neither understand nor tolerate tbe sentiment which made roeji Hi. Jefferson Jef-ferson eager to fling themselves Into European brolla. Truly this man was the American, the men about him provtnciala merely, dependent atlll for their life and thought upon the breath of the Old World, unless, like Hamilton, Hamil-ton, they bad been born and bad stood aloof, or, like (ktuverneur Morrla, had divined Europe In her own capitals with clear, uneriarooured eyes. Fortunately affairs could be held stead. ly enough to a course of wise neutrality and moderation at Erst, while France a revolution wrought only Ita work of Internal overthrow and destruction; and while things went thua opinion bgan alowly to cool. Twaa plain to be seen, aa the months went by. that tbe work being done In France bore no real likeness at all lo tbe revolution In America; and wise men began to s It for what It waa. a social distemper, not a reformation of government effective enough aa purge, to doubt; Inevitable, perhaps; cure of nature's own devising; but by no tneana to be taken part ta by a peoxl not likewiae stricken, atlll free to rhroe a r Wasklagtoa and a few ma of like Inalght stood almost alone In their cool self possession. Every man of generous spirit deemed It his mere duty to extol the French, to join clubs after their manner, In the name of the rights of man, to speak everywhere In praise of the revolution, liut by the time It became necesaary to act to declare the position and policy of the natlon'a government towards France a sober second thought had come, and Washington's task was a little simplified. simpli-fied. The meaaures already adopted by the government, though well enough calculated to render it atrong, had not been equally well planned to make It popular. The power to tax, ao jeal ously withheld but the other day from the Confederation, the new congreaa had begun promptly and confidently to exercise upon a great scale, not only laying dutlea upon Imports, tbe natural resource of the general government, gov-ernment, but also Imposing taxes upon distilled spirits, and so entering the fiscal field of tbe states. Not only had tbe war debts of the states been assumed, but a national bank had been set up (1791). as If still further to make the general government govern-ment sure of a complete mastery In the field of finance. Jefferson and Kan-dolph Kan-dolph had fought the measure in tbe cabinet, aa many a moderate man had fought it In congress, and Washington had withheld bis signature from It till he should hear what they had to urge. Hut he had sent their arguments to Hamilton for criticism, and bad accepted ac-cepted bis answer In fsvor of the bank Jefferson and Randolph bad challenged chal-lenged the measure on the ground that it waa without warrant In the Constitution, Consti-tution, which nowhere gave congress the right to create corporations, fiscal or other Hamilton replied that, besides be-sides the powers explicitly enumerated, enumer-ated, the Constitution gave to congress the power to pass any measure "necessary "nec-essary aud proper" for executing those aet forth; that congress was itself left to determine what might thus seem necessary; and that If It deemed the erection of a bank a proper means of executing the undoubted financial pow-ers pow-ers of the government, tbe constitutional constitu-tional question waa answered. Ily accepting such a view Washing-tlon Washing-tlon sanctioned the whole doctrine of "Implied powers." which Jefferson deemed the very annulment of a written writ-ten and explicit constitution. No bounds. Jefferson believed, could be set to the aggressive sweep of congressional congres-sional pretension If the two bouses were to be given leave to do whatever they thought expedient In exercising tbeir In any case great and commanding command-ing powers. No man could doubt, in tbe face of such measures, what the spirit and purpose of Hamilton were, or of the president whom Hamilton ao strangely dominated Opposition Is Strong. Hlrong measures bred strong opposition. opposi-tion. When the flrat congreaa came together there aeemed to be no par-tlea par-tlea In the country. All men aeemed agreed upon a fair and aplrlted trial of tbe new Conatltutlon. Hut an opposition oppo-sition had begun to gather form before Its two years' term waa out; and in tbe aecond congreaa party lines began to grow definite not for and against tbe Constitution, but for and agalnat an extravagant use of constitutional powers. There waa atlll a majority for the principal measurea ot the administration, administra-tion, but the minority bad clearly begun be-gun to gathnr force both In tbe votes and In the debatea. The reaction waa unmistakable Even Madison, Washington's Wash-ington's stsnch friend and Intimate counsellor, who bad at first been his spokesman In the bouse, began to draw back first doubted and then opposed the policy of the treasury. He bad led the opposition to the bank, and grew more and more uneaay to note the courae affairs were taking. It looked as If tbe administration were determined of aet purpose to Increase In-crease the expenses of the government. govern-ment. In order that they might add to the loans, which were ao acceptable to Influential men of wealth, and double tbe taxes which made tbe power pow-er of tbe government so real In the eyes of the people Steps were urged to create a navy; to develop an army with permanent organization and equipment; and the president Insisted upon vigorous action at the frontiers sgalnet the western Indians. Thla waa part of bla cherished policy. It waa bla way of fulfilling the vision that bad long ago rome to Dim. of a nation apreading Itself down the western slopes of tbe mountaina and over all the broad rrachea of Mtlle land that looked towards the Mississippi; but to many a member of rongresa from the quiet settlements In tbe east It looked like nothing better than a waste of men and of treaaure. teamed Too Imperious. Thw president aeemed even a little too Impetioua in tbe business: Would sometimes come Into the senate la no temper to brook delay la the conald eratlon and adoption of what be proposed pro-posed In such matters When things went wrong through the fault of the commanders ha bad sent to tbe frontier, fron-tier, he stormed In a sudden fury, as sometimes la tke old days of tbe war. scorning soldiers who must , needs blunder and fall. The compulsion of his will grew often a little Irksome to tbe minority In congreaa; and the opposition op-position slowly pulled Itself together as the montha went by to concert a definite policy of action. Washington saw as plainly as any man what waa taking place. He was sensitive to the movements ot opinion; opin-ion; wished above all things to bsve the government supported by tbe people's peo-ple's approval; was never weary of writing to those who were In a position posi-tion to know, to ask them what they and their neighbors soberly thought about the questions and policies under debate; waa never so Impatient as to run recklessly ahead of manifest public pub-lic opinion. He knew how many men had been replld iy the measurea he bad aup-ported aup-ported Hamilton In proposing; knew that a reaction had set In; that oven to e-m to repulse France and to refuse re-fuse her aid or sympathy would surely sure-ly strengthen It. The men who were opposed to bis financial policy were also tho men who mont loved France, now she was mad with revolution. They were the men who dreaded a strong government as a direct menace to the rights alike of individuals and of the suparate states; the men who held a very Imperative philosophy of separation and of revolt against any too great authority. If he showed himself cold towards France, he would certainly strengthen them In their charge that the new government craved power and was Indifferent to the guarantees of freedom. Hut Washington's spirit was of the majestic sort that keep a great and hopeful confidence that the right view will prevail; that the "standard to which the wise and honest will repair" is also the standard to which the whole people will rally at last, If It be but held long and steadily enough on high to be aeen of all. When tbe moment for action came he acted promptly, unhesitatingly, as If In indifference in-difference to opinion. Tbe outbreak of war between France and England made It necessary be should let the country know what he meant to do. "War having actually commenced between France and Great ltrltaln," be wrote to Jefferson In April, 1793, "It behooves the government of this country coun-try to use every means In Its power to prevent the citizens thereof from embroiling us with either of those powers, by endeavoring to maintain a strict neutrality. I therefore require that you will give the subject mature consideration, that such measures as shall be deemed most likely to effect tbls desirable purpose may be adopted without delay. . . . Such other meaaorea aa may be necessary for us to pursue against eventa which It may not be la our power to avoid or control, con-trol, you will also think of, and lay them before me at my arrival In Philadelphia; Phil-adelphia; for which place I shall set out tomorrow." He waa at Mount Vernon when be dispatched these Instructions; but It did aot take him long to reach the seat of government, to ronault his cabinet, and to Issue a proclamation of neutrality neu-trality whose terms no man could mistake. mis-take. It contained explicit threat of exemplary action agalnat any who should preaume to disregard It Centt Cornea From Francs. That very month (April. 1793) Ed mond Charles Genet, a youth still lo bis twenties whom the new republic over sea bad commissioned minister to tbe United Hlates, landed at Charleaton. It pleased blm to take possession of the country, as If It were ot courae an appenage of France. Ha waa hardly aabore before he bad begun be-gun to arrange for tbe fitting out of privateers, to Issue letters of marque to American citizens, and to authorize author-ize French consuls at American ports to act as judges of admiralty In tbe condemnation of prlr.es. As he journeyed nortbwsrd to Philadelphia Phil-adelphia be was joyfully confirmed la his views and purposes by bis reception recep-tion at the bands of the people. He waa everywhere dined and toasted and feted, as if be bad been a favorite prince returned to his subjects. His speeches by tbe wsy rang In a tone of authority and patronsge. He reached Philadelphia fairly mad with the sense of power, and had no conception con-ception of bis real situation till be stood face to face with the president Of that grim coutenance and cold greeting there could be but one Interpretation; Inter-pretation; and the fellow winced to feel that at laat be bad come to a grapple with the country'a government govern-ment It waa. no doubt. In tbe eyea of the sobering man. a atrange aod startling start-ling thing that then took place The country Itself had Dot fully known Vaahlngton till then or Ita own dignity dig-nity either. It had deemed tbe proclamation proc-lamation cf neutrality a party meae-ore. meae-ore. tnto which the president bad been led by the enemlea cf France, the partisans par-tisans of England. Hut the summer undeceived everybody, every-body, even Genet Not content wlta the lawleas mlachlef be had set afoot oo tbe coasts by tbe commissioning of prtvateersmen. that mad youth had hastened to send agenta Into the eouth and west to enlist mn for armed i-pedltlons i-pedltlons against lb Flortdas aad |
