OCR Text |
Show SA VVTHfE STORY OY THE TTRST PSIIIINtV Zfc BY THE PRESIDENT Installment 25 Towards the close of June, Washington Wash-ington ventured to go for a little while to Mount Vernon for rest. At once there was trouble. A privateer was found taking arms and stores aboard In the very river at Philadelphia; Jefferson Jef-ferson allowed her to drop down to Chester, believing Genet instead of the agents of the government; and she was upon the point of getting to sea before Washington could reach the seat of government. Jefferson was not In town when the president arrived. "What Is to be done In the case of the "Little Sarah,' now at Chester?" came Washington's hot questions after him. "Is the minister of the French republic to set the acts of this government gov-ernment at defiance with Impunity? And then threaten the executive with ' an 'appeal to the people? What must the world think of such conduct, and of the United States In submitting to It? Circumstances press for decision; and as you have had time to consider them, I wish to know your opinion upon them, even before tomorrow, for the vessel may then be gone." It was indeed too late to stop her; a gross violation of neutrality had been permitted under the very eyes of the secretary of state. Washington stayed henceforth In Philadelphia, in personal person-al control of affairs. It was an appeal ap-peal to the people that finally delivered deliv-ered Genet Into his hands. Washington Washing-ton revoked the exequatur of one Du-plaine, Du-plaine, French consul at Boston, for continuing to ignore the laws of neutrality; neu-trality; Genet declared he would appeal ap-peal from the president to the sovereign sov-ereign state of Massachusetts; rumors of' the silly threat got abroad, and Genet demanded of the president that he deny them. Washington answered with a chilling rebuke; the correspondence correspond-ence was given to the public prints; and at last the country saw the ' French minister for what he was. A : demand : for his recall had been resolved re-solved upon in the cabinet In August; by February, 1704, ; the slow processes i of diplomatic action were complete, and a successor had arrived. Genet did not venture to return to his distracted distract-ed country; but he was as promptly and as readily- forgotten in America. Some might find it. possible to love France still; but. no one could any ; longer stomach Genet. . ' Washington had divined French affairs af-fairs much too clearly to be for a moment mo-ment tempted to think with anything but contempt of the French party who had truckled to, Genet. It was his clear perception what the danger would be should America be drawn Into In-to the gathering European wars that had led him to accept a second term as president. It had been his wish, to remain only four years in the arduous office; but he had no thought to leave a task unfinished; knew that he was In the very midst of the critical business busi-ness of holding the country to the course which should make it a self-respecting self-respecting nation; and consented to submit himself once more to the vote of the electors. Elected for Second Term. Parties were organizing, but there was no opposition to Washington. He received again a unanimous vote; and John Adams was again chosen vice-president. vice-president. The second inauguration (March, 1793) seemed but a routine confirmation of the first But the elections to congress showed a change setting in. In the senate the avowed supporters of the administration admin-istration had still a narrow majority; but in- the house they fell ten votes short of control; and Washington had to put his policy of neutrality into execution ex-ecution against the mad Genet with nothing but doubts how he should be suppor'-ed. The insane folly of Genet saved the president serious embarrassment, embar-rassment, after all; made the evidence that Washington was right too plain to be missed by anybody; and gave the country at last vision enough to see what was in fact the course of affairs abroad, within and without unhappy un-happy France. Before that trying year 1793 was out, an attack upon Hamilton In the aouse, though led by Madison, had failed; Jefferson had left the cabinet; and the hands of those who definitely Mid heartily supported the president were not a litle strengthened. There was sharp bitterness between parties a bitterness sharper as yet. Indeed, than their differences of view; but the "federalists," who stood to the support of Washington and Hamilton, were able, none the less, to carry their more Indispensable measure even an act of neutrality which made the president's pres-ident's policy the explicit law of the land. The sober secoud thought of the country was slowly coming about to their aid. Doubts About England. The air might have cleared altogether alto-gether had the right method of deal-lug deal-lug with France been the only question ques-tion that pressed; but the ill fortune of the time forced the president to seem not only the recreant friend of France, but also the too complacent partisan of England. Great Britain seemed as mischievously mischiev-ously bent upon forcing the United States to war as Genet himself had been She would not withdraw her garrisons from the border D03ts: It was believed that she was inciting the Indians to their savage Inroads upon the border, as the French had done In the old days; she set herself to destroy neutral trade by seizing all vessels that carried the products of the French Islands or were laden with provisions for their ports; she would admit American vessels to her own West Indian harbors only upon sufferance, and within the limits of a most jealous restriction. It gave a touch of added bitterness to the country's feeling against her that she should thus levy as it were covert war upon the Union while affecting af-fecting to be at peace with it, as if she counted on its weakness, especially especial-ly on the seas; and congress would have taken measures of retaliation, which must certainly have led to open hostilities, had not Washington intervened, inter-vened, despatching John Jay, the trusted chief justice, across sea as minister extraordinary, to negotiate terms of accommodation; and so giving giv-ing pause to the trouble. Whisky Riots Suppressed. While the country waited upon the negotiation, It witnessed a wholesome object-lesson in the power of its new government In March, 1791, congress had passed an act laying taxes on distilled dis-tilled spirits: 'twas part of Hamilton's plan to show that the federal government govern-ment could and would use its great authority. The act bore nowhere so hard upon the people as in the vast far counties of Pennsylvania and Virginia, Vir-ginia, beyond the mountains and there the very allegiance of the people peo-ple had been but the other day doubtful, doubt-ful, as Washington very well knew. How were they to get their corn to market over the long roads if they were not to be permitted to reduce its bulk and Increase its value by turning turn-ing it into whisky? The tax Beemed to them intolerable, and the remedy plain. They would not pay it. They had not been punctilious to obey the laws of the states; they would not bo-gin bo-gin obedience now by submitting to the worst laws of the United States. At first they only amused themselves them-selves by tarring and feathering an exciseman ex-ciseman here and there; but resistance resist-ance could not stop with that in the face of a government bent upon having hav-ing its own way. Opposition organized itself and spread, till the writs if federal courts had been defied by -Solent mobs and the western counties of Pennsylvania were fairly quick with incipient insurrection. had said, "and my aim has been, and will continue to be, neither to stretch nor to relax from them in any instance in-stance whatever, unless compelled to it by Imperious circumstances," and that was what he meant the country to know, whether the law's purpose was good or bad. Wrath Over English Treaty. The next year the people knew what Mr. Jay had done. He reached New York May 28, 1796; and the treaty he brought with him was laid before the senate on the Sth of June. On the 2d of July the country knew what he had agreed to and the senate had ratified. There was an instant outburst out-burst of wrath. It swept from one end of the country to the other. The treaty yielded so much, gained so little, that to accept it seemed a veritable humiliation. The northwestern northwest-ern posts were, indeed, to be given up at last; the boundaries between English Eng-lish and American territory were to be determined by commissioners; unrestricted un-restricted commerce with England herself, and a free direct trade with her East Indian possessions, were conceded; con-ceded; but not a word was said about the impressment of American seamen; American claims for damages for un-coveted un-coveted trade with the West Indian referred to a commission, along with American debts to Englishmen; the coveted trade with the West Indies islands was secured only to vessels of seventy tons and under, and at the cost of renouncing the right to export ex-port sugar, molasses, coffee, cocoa, or cotton to Europe. Washington agreed with the senate that ratifications of the treaty ought not to be exchanged without a modification modifi-cation of the clauses respecting the West Indian trade, and October had come before new and better terms could be agreed upon; but he had no doubt that the treaty as a whole, ought to be accepted. The opposition party in congress had refused to vote money for an efficient navy, and so had made it impossible to check British aggressions; aggres-sions; they must now accept this unpalatable un-palatable treaty as better at any rate than war. Storm Rages Fiercely. It was hard to stand steady in the storm. The country took fire as it had done at the passage of the Stamp Act. Harder things had never been said of king and parliament than were now said of Washington and his advisers. ad-visers. Many stout champions stood to his defence none stouter or more -isai Washington and His Family. For two years Washington watched the slow gathering of the storm, warning warn-ing those who resisted, keeping congress con-gress abreast of him in' preparation for action when the right time shotild come, letting all the country know what was afoot and prepare its mind for what was to come. It must have won him to a stern humor to learn that seven thousand armed men had gathered in mass-meeting on Brad-dock's Brad-dock's field to defy him. At last he summoned an army of militia out of the states, sent it straight to the lawless law-less counties, going with it himself till he learned there would be no serious resistance and taught the country what was back of federal law. Hamilton Hamil-ton had had his way, the country its lesson. Jefferson's Sneer. "The servile copyist of Mr. Pitt thought he must have his alarms, his insurrections and plots against the constitution." aneered Jefferson. "It aroused the favorite purposes of strengthening government and increasing increas-ing the F'blic debt; and therefore an Insurrection was announced and proclaimed pro-claimed and armed against and marched against, but could never be found. And all this under the sanction sanc-tion of a name which has done too much good not to be sufficient to cover cov-er harm also." "The powers of the executive of this country are more definite and better bet-ter understood, perhaps, than those of any other country," Washington formidable than Hamilton, no longer a member of the cabinet, for imperative private interests had withdrawn him these six months and more, but none the less redoubtable in the field of controversy. For long, nevertheless, the battle went heavily against the treaty. Even Washington, for once, stood a little while perplexed, not doubting his own purpose, indeed, but very anxious what the outcome should be. Protests Pro-tests against his signing the treaty poured in upon him from every quarter quar-ter of the country; many of them earnest almost to the point of entreaty, en-treaty, some hot with angry comment. His reply, when he vouchsafed any, was always that his very gratitude for the approbation of the country In the past fixed him but the more firmly firm-ly In his resolution to deserve it now by obeying his own conscience. "It is very desirable," he wrote to Hamilton, "to ascertain, if possible, after the paroxysm of the fever is a little abated, what the real temper of the people is concerning it; for at present the cry against the treaty is like that against a mad dog"; but he showed himself very calm to the general gen-eral eye, making his uneasiness known only to his Intimates. The cruel abuse heaped upon him cut him to the quick. "Such exaggerated and indecent terms." he cried, "could scarcely be applied to a Nero, a notorious no-torious defaulter, or eves to a common com-mon pickpocket" But the men who meered and stormed, talked of usurpation and impeachment, im-peachment, called him base, incompe- i lent, traitorous even, were permitted ! to see not so much as the quiver of an eyelid as they watched him go steadily from step to step in the ! course he had chosen. Abuse Is Regretted. At last the storm cleared; the bitter months were over; men at the ports saw at length how much more freely trade ran under the terms of the treaty, and remembered that, while they had been abusing Jay and maligning the president, Thomas Pinckney had obtained a treaty from Spain whlch-settled the Florida boundary, bound-ary, opened the Mississippi without restriction, re-striction, secured a place of deposit at New Orleans, and made commerce with the Spaniards aa free as con merce with the French. The whole country felt a new impulse im-pulse of prosperity. The "paroxysm of the fever" was over, and sham came upon the men who had so vilely abused the great president and had made him wish, In his bitterness, that he were in his grave rather than in the presidency; who had even said that he had played false in the Revolution, Revo-lution, and had squandered publio moneys; who had gone beyond threats of impeachment and dared to hint at assassination! They saw the end of his term approach, and would have recalled their insults. But they had alienated his great spirit forever. Becomes Flat Federalist. When he had seen parties forming in his cabinet in the quiet days of his first term as president, he had sought to placate differences; had tried to bring Hamilton and Jefferson to a cordial understanding which should be purged of partisan bias, as he meant his own judgments to be; had deemed parties unnecessary and loyalty to the new constitution the only standard of preferment to office. But he had come to another mind in the hard years that followed. "I shall not, whilst I have the honor hon-or to administer the government, bring a man into any office of consequence conse-quence knowingly," he declared in the closing days of 1795, "whose political tenets are adverse to the tenets which the general government are pursuing; for this, in my opinion, would be a sort of political suicide"; and he left the presidency ready to call himself very flatly a "Federalist" of the party par-ty that stood for the constitution and abated nothing or its powers. "You could as soon scrub a blacka-more blacka-more white," he cried, "as to change the principle of a protest Democrat" "he will leave nothing unattempted to overturn the government of this country." coun-try." (TO BE CONTINUED.) |