The Life of John Marshall
Chapter 71 : [311] "I believe the intention is to draw the United States into it [war] merely t

[311] "I believe the intention is to draw the United States into it [war] merely to make tools of them.... The conduct of the British government is so well adapted to increasing our danger of war, that I cannot but suppose they are secretly inclined to produce it." (J. Q.

Adams to his father, The Hague, Sept. 12, 1795; _ib._, 409.)

[312] Marshall, ii, 194.

[313] Marshall, ii, 337.

[314] _Ib._, 195; and see Beard: _Econ. O. J. D._, 279.

[315] See this speech in Rives, iii, footnote to 418-19. It is curious that Marshall, in his _Life of Was.h.i.+ngton_, makes the error of a.s.serting that the account of Dorchester's speech was "not authentic." It is one of the very few mistakes in Marshall's careful book. (Marshall, ii, 320.)

[316] Marshall to Stuart, May 28, 1794; MS., Va. Hist. Soc.

[317] It must not be forgotten that we were not so well prepared for war in 1794 as the colonies had been in 1776, or as we were a few years after Jay was sent on his mission. And on the traditional policy of Great Britain when intending to make war on any country, see J. Q. Adams to his father, June 24, 1796; _Writings, J. Q. A._: Ford, i, 499-500.

Also, see same to same, The Hague, June 9, 1796; _ib._, 493, predicting dissolution of the Union in case of war with Great Britain. "I confess it made me doubly desirous to quit a country where the malevolence that is so common against America was exulting in triumph." (_Ib._)

"The truth is that the American _Government_ ... have not upon earth more rancorous enemies, than the springs which move the machine of this Country [England] ... Between Great Britain and the United States no _cordiality_ can exist." (Same to same, London, Feb. 10, 1796; _ib._, 477; also, March 24, 1794; _ib._, 18, 183, 187.)

[318] Marshall, ii, 363.

[319] _American Remembrancer_, i, 9.

[320] Resolution of Wythe County (Va.) Democratic Society, quoted in Anderson, 32.

[321] Ames to Dwight, Feb. 3, 1795; _Works_: Ames, i, 166.

[322] Marshall, ii, 362-64.

[323] _Ib._, 366.

[324] The Boston men, it appears, had not even read the treaty, as was the case with other meetings which adopted resolutions of protest.

(Marshall, ii, 365 _et seq._) Thereupon the Boston satirists lampooned the hasty denunciators of the treaty as follows:--

"I've never read it, but I say 'tis bad.

If it goes down, I'll bet my ears and eyes, It will the people all unpopularize; b.o.o.bies may hear it read ere they decide, I move it quickly be unratified."

On Dr. Jarvis's speech at Faneuil Hall against the Jay Treaty; Loring: _Hundred Boston Orators_, 232. The Republicans were equally sarcastic: "I say the treaty is a good one ... for I do not think about it.... What did we choose the Senate for ... but to think for us.... Let the people remember that it is their sacred right to submit and obey; and that all those who would persuade them that they have a right to think and speak on the sublime, mysterious, and to them incomprehensible affairs of government are factious Democrats and outrageous Jacobins." (Essay on Jacobinical Thinkers: _American Remembrancer_, i, 141.)

[325] See Marshall's vivid description of the popular reception of the treaty; Marshall, ii, 365-66.

[326] Hamilton to King, June 20, 1795; _Works_: Lodge, x, 103.

[327] "An Emetic for Aristocrats.... Also a History of the Life and Death of Independence; Boston, 1795." Copies of such attacks were scattered broadcast--"Emissaries flew through the country spreading alarm and discontent." (Camillus, no. 1; _Works_: Lodge, v, 189-99.)

[328] McMaster, ii, 213-20; Gibbs, i, 207; and Hildreth, iv, 548.

[329] Present-day detraction of our public men is gentle reproof contrasted with the savagery with which Was.h.i.+ngton was, thenceforth, a.s.sailed.

[330] Marshall, ii, 370. Of the innumerable accounts of the abuse of Was.h.i.+ngton, Weld may be cited as the most moderate. After testifying to Was.h.i.+ngton's unpopularity this acute traveler says: "It is the spirit of dissatisfaction which forms a leading trait in the character of the Americans as a people, which produces this malevolence [against Was.h.i.+ngton]; if their public affairs were regulated by a person sent from heaven, I firmly believe his acts, instead of meeting with universal approbation, would by many be considered as deceitful and flagitious." (Weld, i, 108-09.)

[331] Was.h.i.+ngton almost determined to withhold ratification. (Marshall, ii, 362.) The treaty was signed November 19, 1794; received by the President, March 7, 1795; submitted to the Senate June 8, 1795; ratified by the Senate June 24; and signed by Was.h.i.+ngton August 12, 1795. (_Ib._, 360, 361, 368.)

[332] "Was.h.i.+ngton now defies the whole Sovereign that made him what he is----and can unmake him again. Better his hand had been cut off when his glory was at its height before he blasted all his Laurels!" (Dr.

Nathaniel Ames's Diary, Aug. 14, 1795; _Dedham (Ma.s.s.) Historical Register_, vii, 33.) Of Was.h.i.+ngton's reply to the address of the merchants and traders of Philadelphia "An Old Soldier of '76," wrote: "Has adulation ... so bewildered his senses, that relinquis.h.i.+ng even common decency, he tells 408 merchants and traders of Philadelphia that they are more immediately concerned than any other cla.s.s of his fellow citizens?" (_American Remembrancer_, ii, 280-81.)

[333] Was.h.i.+ngton to Jay, May 8, 1796; _Writings_: Ford, xiii, 189.

[334] _American Remembrancer_, ii, 265.

[335] Journal, H.D. (1795), 54-55; and see Anderson, 43.

[336] _American Remembrancer_, ii, 269.

[337] Ames to Gore, Jan. 10, 1795; _Works_: Ames, i, 161.

[338]

"This treaty in one page confines, The sad result of base designs; The wretched purchase here behold Of Traitors--who their country sold.

Here, in their proper shape and mien, Fraud, perjury, and guilt are seen."

(Freneau, iii, 133.)

[339] Jefferson to Monroe, Sept. 6, 1795; _Works_: Ford, viii, 187-88.

[340] _Ib._

[341] Jefferson to Tazewell, Sept. 13, 1795; _Works_: Ford, viii, 191.

The Jay Treaty and Neutrality must be considered together, if the temper of the times is to be understood. "If our neutrality be still preserved, it will be due to the President alone," writes the younger Adams from Europe. "Nothing but his weight of character and reputation, combined with his firmness and political intrepidity could have stood against the torrent that is still tumbling with a fury that resounds even across the Atlantic.... If his system of administration now prevails, ten years more will place the United States among the most powerful and opulent nations on earth.... Now, when a powerful party at home and a mighty influence from abroad, are joining all their forces to a.s.sail his reputation, and his character I think it my duty as an American to avow my sentiments." (J. Q. Adams to Bourne, Dec. 24, 1795; _Writings, J. Q.

A._: Ford, i, 467.)

[342] Charles Pinckney's Speech; _American Remembrancer_, i, 7.

[343] Marshall, ii, 378. The Republicans insisted that the a.s.sent of the House of Representatives is necessary to the ratification of any treaty that affects commerce, requires appropriation of money, or where any act of Congress whatever may be necessary to carry a treaty into effect.

(_Ib._; and see Livingston's resolutions and debate; _Annals_, 4th Cong., 1st Sess., 1795, 426; 628.)

[344] "Priestly's Emigration," printed in Cobbett, i, 196, quoting "Agricola."

[345] "Camillus"; _Works_: Lodge, v and vi. It is impossible to give a satisfactory condensation of these monumental papers. Struck off in haste and under greatest pressure, they equal if not surpa.s.s Hamilton's "First Report on the Public Credit," his "Opinion as to the Const.i.tutionality of the Bank of the United States," or his "Report on Manufactures." As an intellectual performance, the "Letters of Camillus"

come near being Hamilton's masterpiece.

[346] Was.h.i.+ngton to Hamilton, July 29, 1795; _Writings_: Ford, xiii, 76.

[347] The whole country was against the treaty on general grounds; but Virginia was especially hostile because of the sore question of runaway slaves and the British debts.

[348] Was.h.i.+ngton to Randolph, Aug. 4, 1795; _Writings_: Ford, xiii, footnote to 86. See Resolutions, which were comparatively mild; _American Remembrancer_, i, 133-34; and see _Richmond and Manchester Advertiser_, of July 30, and Aug. 6, 1795.

[349] Jefferson to c.o.xe, Sept. 10, 1795; _Works_: Ford, vii, 29.

[350] Jefferson to Monroe, Sept. 6, 1795; _ib._, 27.