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CHAPTER ness, there was a certain weight in this objection: The argument, however, failed altogether, looking at Con1793. gress in its true light, of a thinking as well as acting political organ of the public. So little interest, however, was evinced in the senatorial proceedings, and so seldom was that body enlivened by elaborate discussions, that, for many years to come, no reports exist, of Senate debates, except upon two or three special occasions.

There appeared in the House, of former members, Ames, Goodhue, Sedgwick, Thatcher, and Ward, of Massachusetts; Trumbull and Wadsworth, of Connecticut; Boudinot, Clark, and Dayton, of New Jersey; Hartley, Fitzsimmons, the two Muhlenburgs, Gregg, Scott, and Findley, of Pennsylvania; Mercer and Murray, of Maryland; Madison, Richard Bland Lee, Page, Moore, Parker, and Giles, of Virginia; Macon, of North Carolina; Smith, of South Carolina; Baldwin, of Georgia. But as the House had been largely increased by the new apportionment, a large majority were new members. Among them were Samuel Dexter, Henry Dearborn, and William Lyman from Massachusetts, the two latter voting with the opposition; James Hillhouse and Uriah Tracy, of Connecticut; John Smilie and John Wilkes Kittera, of Pennsylvania; Samuel Smith, of Maryland, a colonel in the Revolutionary army, distinguished in the defense of Mud Island, in the Delaware, now an enterprising merchant and influential citizen of Baltimore, destined to a long political life; John Nicholas, of Virginia; Andrew Pickens, of South Carolina, an active partisan officer of militia during the Revolution. New York had an entirely new delegation, none of whom, however, were greatly distinguished by talents, or influence. The stanch friends of the administration voted for Sedgwick as speaker; the opposition of all sorts, anti-Feder

alists, Republicans, and Democrats, united on Frederic CHAPTER A. Muhlenburg, who was chosen by a majority of ten

votes.

The president's speech, as to the contents of which there had been a good deal of preliminary discussion in the cabinet, designated the proclamation of neutrality as a "declaration of the existing legal, state of things," intended to admonish the citizens of the consequences of a contraband trade or of hostile acts to any of the parties at war; and by declaring a disposition for peace, to quiet any suspicions on the part of the belligerents, and to obtain an easier admission to the immunities belonging to a neutral position. The rules which had been adopted for enforcing the neutrality of the United States were submitted to Congress, and legislation in furtherance of that end was strongly urged.

But while fulfilling all duties toward other nations, it was necessary, the president thought, to place ourselves in a condition of complete defense, so as to be able to exact from them a fulfillment of their duties toward us. "There is a rank due to the United States among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by a reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.". After alluding to the extremely insufficient organization of the militia under the existing laws, the question was suggested, "Whether a material feature in an improvement of it ought not to be to afford an opportunity for the study of those branches of the military art which can scarcely ever be obtained by practice alone?" The president had wished to recommend the fortification of the harbors and the establishment of a military school;

VI.

1793.

Dec. 3.

Dec. 5.

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CHAPTER but the message was generalized as above, in order to VI. meet the cavils of Jefferson, who thought the military 1793. school unconstitutional, and the fortifications inexpedient. After a summary of the state of Indian affairs, the necessity was urged, so soon as the present war should be terminated, of rendering tranquillity permanent by creating ties of interest, especially by the regular supply of the Indians with goods through a fair and just traffic. Two days after the delivery of this speech, a written message was sent to both houses covering the correspondence with Genet, including the complaints against him, and the application for his recall; also Jefferson's former correspondence with the British minister on the nonfulfillment of the treaty of peace, and the mutual claims of the two nations under it; as well as the recent correspondence, both at Philadelphia and London, on the subject of the British order for the stoppage of vessels laden with provisions. The message, as originally drafted by Jefferson, contained a contrast between the conduct of France and England, especially in relation, to commercial facilities, highly favorable to the former. had been objected to by Hamilton, who considered the disposition of the people toward France a serious calamity, and that the executive ought not, by echoing her praises, to nourish that disposition in the people. In his opinion, the balance of commercial favors was decidedly with the British; the commercial offers made by France were the offspring of the moment, growing out of circumstances that could not last. To evade Hamilton's objections, Jefferson consented to some modifications of the message. Hamilton then insisted that the papers relating to the non-execution of the treaty of peace and to the stopping of the corn ships ought not to be communicated, unless in a secret message, as the mat

This

VI.

ters therein discussed were still unsettled, and the tend- CHAPTER ency of the communication was to inflame the public mind against Great Britain. Jefferson was a good deal 1793. alarmed at this threatened suppression of his diplomatic labors; but Washington decided that all the papers should be communicated without any restriction of secrecy, even those respecting the corn ships, which all the cabinet, except Jefferson, had advised to withhold.

The publication of these documents enabled Jefferson to retire from office, which he did at the close of the year, with a good deal of eclat. In the correspondence with Genet, he appeared as the vigorous defender of the administration against the insolence of that embassador. The necessity of submitting these documents to Hamilton's eye had probably infused more spirit into them than they might otherwise have contained, or than suited precisely with the opinions which Jefferson had supported in the cabinet. At the same time, great care had been. taken to avoid saying any thing that might give the least offense to those partisans of France able to distinguish between the French republic and the French minister.

The correspondence with Hammond on the subject of the debts due to the British merchants was of a character to find great favor at the South, especially among the debtors. Not content with setting up that the British had themselves been guilty of the first breaches of the treaty, by carrying away negroes, the property of American citizens, and by refusing to deliver. up the Western posts, Jefferson was bold enough to maintain, on the strength of certain certificates from lawyers and others, swift witnesses on behalf of the honor of their respective states, that no obstructions did, in fact, exist to the collection of British debts, that British merchants. were exposed to no more legal obstacles than any body

CHAPTER else, and that their failure to recover their debts by course VL. of law must be ascribed either to the insolvency of the 1793. debtors, or to the preference of the creditors to look else

Dec. 16.

where for payment. This document had remained unanswered for two years, though the propriety of a rejoinder had once or twice been hinted to Hammond, who had sent it home for instructions. Jefferson seemed to think it unanswerable. The British ministry thought, perhaps, that it exhibited too little candor to invite to a continuation of the correspondence; or they might have been waiting the operation of a suggestion contained in it, that, if the alleged obstacles did exist, they would be of no avail in the federal courts.

Still another document from the pen of Jefferson was given to Congress and the public just at the moment of his resignation-a report prepared in obedience to an old order of the House of Representatives on the privileges and restrictions of the commerce of the United States with foreign countries-strongly tending to promote the opinion, which at that moment hardly needed any stimulus, that the United States were hardly dealt with by Great Britain. It professed to represent things as they stood previous to the breaking out of the late war in Europe, and the great object of it was to show, contrary to the prevailing opinion among merchants, that the regulations of France, even prior to her recent relaxations, were much more favorable to American commerce than those of England. By way of compelling Great Britain to put us on a more equal footing, since she declined to do so by treaty arrangements, it was proposed to adopt, as against her, a system of discriminating duties-the same policy, in fact, which Madison had insisted upon so strenuously in the first Congress, but which Jefferson now proposed in a more systematic and extended form.