singular, yet it being his opinion, he should not be afraid to avow it. He had not that grateful conviction there mentioned, and if he were to come there and express it, he should prove an inconsistent character. He should not go into a lengthy discussion on this point, but if they turned their eyes to our foreign relations, there would be found no reason to exult in the wisdom and firmness of the administration. He believed, on the contrary, that it was from a want of wisdom and firmness that we were brought into our present critical situation. If gentlemen had been satisfied with expressing their esteem of the patriotism and virtue of the President, they might have got a unanimous vote; but they could not suppose that gentlemen would so far forget self-respect as to join in the proposed adulation.

Mr. Giles said he was one of those citizens who did not regret the President's retiring from office. He hoped he would retire to his country seat and enjoy all the happiness he could wish; and he believed he would enjoy more there than in his present situation. He believed the government of the United States would go on without him. The people from the Aurora, the leading paper of that party, of which Mr. Giles was a conspicu- ·

ous member.

Mr. Giles, after stating that "the want of wisdom and firmness" in the administration, "had conducted the affairs of the nation to a crisis which threatens greater calamities than any that has before occurred,"—remarks as follows:-" Another sentiment in the report he could not agree to. He did not regret the President's retiring from office. He hoped he would retire, and enjoy the happiness that awaited him in retirement. He believed it would more conduce to that happiness that he should retire than if he should remain in office. He believed the government of the United States, founded on the broad basis of the people, that they were competent to their own government, and the remaining of no man in office was necessary to the success of that government. The people would truly be in a calamitous situation, if one man were essential to the existence of the government. He was convinced that the United States produces a thousand citizens capable of filling the presidential chair, and he would trust to the discernment of the people for a proper choice. Though the voice of all America should declare the President's retiring as a calamity, he could not join in the declaration, because he did not conceive it a misfortune. He hoped the President would be happy in his retirement, and he hoped he would retire." He reverted again to that part of the report which declared the administration to have been wise and firm in its measures. "He had always disapproved," he repeated, "of the measures of that administration with respect to foreign relations, and many members of the house had also; he was therefore surprised that gentlemen should now come forward and wish him, in one breath, to disavow all his former opinions, without being previously convinced of having been in an error. For his own part, he conceived there was more cause than ever for adhering to his old opinion. The course of events had pointed out their propriety; and, if he was not much mistaken, a crisis was at hand which would confirm them. He wished, that while gentlemen were willing to compliment the President, they would have some respect for the feelings of others."—Aurora, December 15th, 1796.

were competent to their own government. What calamities would attend the United States if one man alone was essential to their government! He believed there were a thousand men in the United States who were capable of filling the presidential chair as well as it had been filled heretofore. And although a clamour had been raised in all parts of the United States, more or less, from apprehensions on the departure of the President from office, yet, not feeling these apprehensions himself, he was perfectly easy on the occasion. He wished the President as much happiness as any man; and hoping he would retire, he could not express any regrets at the event. And it would be extraordinary, if gentlemen whose names in the yeas and nays are found in opposition to certain prominent measures of the administration, should now come forward and approve those measures. This could not be expected. He, for his part, retained the same opinions he had always done with respect to those measures, nor should any influence under heaven prevent him from expressing that opinion—an opinion in which he was confident, ere long, all America would concur.*

This motion was opposed with great earnestness by the party which had supported the administration. The advantages which had resulted from the constitution were said to be too obvious to be controverted; and it was maintained that a comparison of the present situation of the United States with its condition anterior to the adoption of that instrument, or with the condition of foreign powers, was natural and proper. This comparison was made not for the purposes of exultation, but of exciting just sentiments respecting their own conduct.

In reply to the observations respecting the President, it was said, that the whole course of his administration had demonstrated the correctness with which the terms " wisdom and firmness" were applied to it. Particular circumstances were stated in which these qualities had been preeminently displayed; but the general impression which facts had made on the public mind was considered as dispensing with the necessity of stating the particular facts themselves.

It might be true, they said, that there were many others who could fill with propriety and advantage the presidential chair, but no man could fill it who possessed, in an equal degree, the confidence of the people. The possession of this confidence enabled the chief magistrate to perform the duties of his office in a manner greatly conducive to the interests of the nation, and the loss of so valuable a public servant was certainly just cause of regret. With this sentiment, the feelings of the community fully accorded. In every part of the United States, the declarations of * Dunlap and Claypole's Daily Advertiser, December 16th, 1796.

their constituents attested the regrets with which this event was contemplated by them. Those gentlemen who did not participate in these feelings, would have an opportunity to record their names with their opinions. But those who did participate in them ought not to be restrained from expressing them.

The motion to strike out was lost; after which the words "the spectacle of a whole nation, the freest and most enlightened in the world," were amended, so as to read, "the spectacle of a free and enlightened nation," and the answer was carried by a great majority.

1797.

Early in the session, the President communicated to congress in a special message, the complaints alleged by the representative of the French republic against the government of the United States. These complaints embracing most of the transactions of the legislative and executive departments, in relation to the belligerent powers, a particular and careful review of almost every act of the administration, which could affect those powers, became indispensable. The principal object for the mission of General Pinckney to Paris, having been to make full and fair explanations of the principles and conduct of the American government, this review was addressed to that minister. It presented a minute and comprehensive detail of all the points of controversy which had arisen between the two nations; and defended the measures which had been adopted in America, with a clearness, and a strength of argument, believed to be irresistible. To place the subject in a point of view, admitting of no possible misunderstanding, the secretary of state had annexed to his own full and demonstrative reasoning, documents, establishing the real fact in each particular case, and the correspondence relating to it.

This letter, with its accompanying documents, was laid before congress.

Those who read these valuable papers will not be surpised, that the President should have relied upon their efficacy in removing from the government of France, all impressions unfavourable to the fairness of intention which had influenced the conduct of the United States; and in effacing from the bosoms of the great body of the American people, all those unjust and injurious suspicions which had been entertained against their own administration. Should their immediate operation on the executive of France disappoint his hopes, he persuaded himself that he could not mistake their influence in America; and he felt the most entire conviction that the accusations against the United States would cease, with the evidence that those accusations were countenanced and supported by a great portion of the American people.

These documents were communicated to the public; but, unfortunately, their effect at home was not such as had been expected, and they were consequently inoperative abroad. The fury of political controversy seemed to sustain no diminution; and the American character continued to be degraded by reciprocal criminations, which the two great parties made upon each other, of being under a British, and a French influence.

The measures particularly recommended by the President in his speech, at the opening of the session, were not adopted; and neither the debates in Congress, nor the party publications with which the nation continued to be agitated, furnished reasonable ground for the hope, that the political intemperance which had prevailed from the establishment of the republican form of government in France, was about to be succeeded by a more conciliatory spirit.

The President contemplated with a degree of pleasure* seldom felt at the resignation of power, his approaching retirement to the delightful scenes of domestic and rural life.

It was impossible to be absolutely insensible to the bitter invectives, and malignant calumnies of which he had long been the object. Yet in one instance only, did he depart from the rule he had prescribed for his conduct regarding them. Apprehending permanent injury from the republication of certain spurious letters which have been already noticed, he, on the day which terminated his official character, addressed to the secretary of state the following letter.

"Dear Sir,

"At the conclusion of my public employments, I have thought it expedient to notice the publication of certain forged letters which first appeared in the year 1777, and were obtruded upon the public as mine. They are said by the editor to have been found in a small portmanteau that I had left in the care of my mulatto servant named Billy, who, it is pretended, was taken prisoner at Fort Lee, in 1776. The period when these letters were first printed will be recollected, and what were the impressions they were intended to produce on the public mind. It was then supposed to be of some consequence to strike at the integrity of the motives of the American Commander-in-chief, and to paint his inclinations as at variance with his professions and his duty-another crisis in the affairs of America having occurred, the same weapon has been resorted to, to wound my character and deceive the people.

"The letters in question have the dates, addresses, and signatures here following:

* See note, No. XXIII. at the end of the volume.

New York, June 12th, 1776.

To Mr. Lund Washington, at Mount Vernon, Fairfax county, Virginia.

G. W.

June 18th, 1776.

To John Parke Custis, Esqr., at the Hon. Benedict Calvert's, Esqr., Mount Airy,
Maryland,
G. W.

To Mr. Lund Washington, Mount Vernon, Fairfax county, Virginia.

New York, July 8th, 1776.

"At the time when these letters first appeared, it was notorious to the army immediately under my command, and particularly to the gentle men attached to my person, that my mulatto man Billy had never been one moment in the power of the enemy. It is also a fact that no part of my baggage, or any of my attendants, were captured during the whole course of the war. These well known facts made it unnecessary, during the war, to call the public attention to the forgery by any express declaration of mine; and a firm reliance on my fellow citizens, and the abundant proofs, they gave of their confidence in me, rendered it alike unnecessary to take any formal notice of the revival of the imposition, during my civil administration. But as I can not know how soon a more serious event may succeed to that which will this day take place, I have thought it a duty that I owed to myself, to my country, and to truth, now to detail the circumstances above recited, and to add my solemn declaration that the letters herein described are a base forgery, and that I never saw or heard of them until they appeared in print. The present letter I commit to your care, and desire it may be deposited in the office of the department of state, as a testimony of the truth to the present generation and to posterity. Accept, &c. &c."

In February, the votes for the first and second magistrates of the union were opened and counted in presence of both houses; and the highest number appearing in favour of Mr. Adams, and the second in favour of Mr. Jefferson, the first was declared to be the President, and