CHAPTER IV. — THE NATIONAL BANK ESTABLISHED. 1790.
On his way from New York to Mount Vernon Washington stopped for a short time, as we have seen, in Philadelphia. While there he addressed a letter to his private secretary, Mr. Lear, which is interesting not only for the information it contains respecting his residence, but from its illustrating that remarkable attention to the details of business, which we have already had occasion to notice.
"After a pleasant journey," he writes, "we arrived in this city on Thursday last (September 2, 1790), and tomorrow we proceed—if Mrs. Washington's health will permit, for she has been much indisposed since we came here—toward Mount Vernon. The house of Mr. Robert Morris had, previous to my arrival, been taken by the corporation for my residence. {1}
"It is the best they could get. It is, I believe, the best single house in the city. Yet without additions it is inadequate to the commodious accommodation of my family. These additions, I believe, will be made. The first floor contains only two public rooms (except one for the upper servants). The second floor will have two public (drawing) rooms, and with the aid of one room with a partition in it, in the back building, will be sufficient for the use of Mrs. Washington and the children, and their maids, besides affording her a small place for a private study and dressing-room. The third story will furnish you and Mrs. Lear with a good lodging-room, a public office (for there is no room below for one), and two rooms for the gentlemen of the family. The garret has four good rooms, which must serve Mr. and Mrs. Hyde {2}—unless they should prefer the room over the workhouse—William, and such servants as it may not be better to place in the proposed additions to the back building. There is a room over the stable which may serve the coachman and postillions, and there is a smokehouse, which may possibly be more valuable for the use of servants than for the smoking of meats. The intention of the addition to the back building is to provide a servant's hall and one or two lodging-rooms for the servants. There are good stables, but for twelve horses only, and a coach-house, which will hold all my carriages. Speaking of carriages, I have left my coach to receive a thorough repair, by the time I return, which I expect will be before the 1st of December."
The Legislature, meantime, had appropriated for his residence an elegant house in South Ninth street, which was taken down a few years since, having been occupied by the University, and other buildings were erected on the same lot for the same purpose. But Washington refused to occupy the house offered by the State authorities, because he would not live in a house which was not hired and paid for by himself. He was desirous, however, to have the rent fixed before he entered the house, and he wrote repeatedly to Mr. Lear from Mount Vernon to ascertain what the rent would be. On the 14th of November, 1790, he wrote to Mr. Lear as follows:
"I am, I must confess, exceedingly unwilling to go into any house without first knowing on what terms I do it, and wish that this sentiment could be again hinted in delicate terms to the parties concerned with me. I cannot, if there are no latent motives which govern in this case, see any difficulty in the business. Mr. Morris has most assuredly formed an idea of what ought in equity to be the rent of the tenement in the condition he left it, and with this aid the committee ought, I conceive, to be as little at a loss in determining what it should rent for, with the additions and alterations which are about to be made, and which ought to be done in a plain and neat, not by any means in an extravagant style, because the latter is not only contrary to my wish but would really be detrimental to my interest and convenience, principally because it would be the means of keeping me out of the use and comforts of the house to a late period, and because the furniture and everything else would require to be accordant therewith, besides making me pay an extravagant price, perhaps to accommodate the alterations to the taste of another or to the exorbitant rates of workmen.
"I do not know, nor do I believe, that anything unfair is intended by either Mr. Morris or the committee, but let us for a moment suppose that the rooms (the new ones I mean) were to be hung with tapestry or a very rich and costly paper, neither of which would suit my present furniture; that costly ornaments for the bow windows, extravagant chimney-pieces, and the like were to be provided; that workmen, from extravagance of the times for every twenty shillings' worth of work would charge forty shillings, and that advantage should be taken of the occasion to new paint every part of the house and buildings, would there be any propriety in adding ten or twelve and a half per cent. for all this to the rent of the house in its original state for the two years that I am to hold it? If the solution of these questions is in the negative, wherein lies the difficulty of determining that the houses and lots, when finished according to the proposed plan, ought to rent for so much? When all is done that can be done, the residence will not be so commodious as the house I left in New York, for there (and the want of it will be found a real inconvenience at Mr. Morris') my office was in a front room below, where persons on business were at once admitted, whereas now they will have to ascend two pair of stairs and to pass by the public rooms to go to it. Notwithstanding which I am willing to allow as much as was paid to Mr. Macomb, and shall say nothing if more is demanded, unless there is apparent extortion or the policy of delay is to see to what height rents will rise before mine is fixed. In either of these cases I should not be pleased, and to occupy the premises at the expense of any public body I will not.
"I had rather have heard that my repaired coach was plain and elegant than rich and elegant."
The rent of Mr. Morris' house was finally settled at $3,000 a year, and at this rate it was occupied by Washington till the expiration of his second term as President and his final retirement to Mount Vernon.
Our readers will excuse us for dwelling a little longer on the domestic arrangements of Washington, as disclosed in his letters to Mr. Lear. These details are not only curious and entertaining, as showing the style of living half a century ago, but as exhibiting the modest and economical style in which Washington chose to live; and they refute the calumnies of his political enemies, who, a little later, charged him with anti-republican state and splendor in his style of living. One of his letters to Mr. Lear relates to the servants. "The pressure of business," he writes, "under which I labored for several days before I left New York, allowed me no time to inquire who of the female servants it was proposed or thought advisable to remove here, besides the wives of the footmen, James and Fidas. With respect to Mr. Hyde and his wife, if it is not stated on some paper handed in by Mr. Hyde, it is nevertheless strong on my recollection that his wife's services were put down at $100 and his own at $200 per annum. I have no wish to part with Mr. or Mrs. Hyde; first, because I do not like to be changing, and, second, because I do not know where or with whom to supply their places. On the score of accounts I can say nothing, having never taken a comparative view of his and Fraunces', but I am exceedingly mistaken if the expenses of the second table, at which Mr. Hyde presides, have not greatly exceeded those of the tables kept by Fraunces, for I strongly suspect (but in this I may be mistaken) that nothing is brought to my table of liquors, fruits, or other luxuries that is not used as profusely at his. If my suspicions are unfounded I shall be sorry to have entertained them, and if they are not, it is at least questionable whether under his successor the same things might not be done; in which case (if Hyde is honest and careful, of which you are better able to judge than I am), a change without benefit might take place, which is not desirable if they are to be retained on proper terms. I say they, for if Mrs. Hyde is necessary for the purposes enumerated in your letter, and the cook is not competent to prepare the dessert, make cake, etc., I do not see of what use Hyde will be, more than William, without her. Fraunces, besides being an excellent cook, knowing how to provide genteel dinners, and giving aid in dressing them, prepared the dessert, made the cake, and did everything that is done by Hyde and his wife together; consequently the services of Hyde alone are not to be compared with those of Fraunces; and if his accounts exceed those of Fraunces, in the same seasons—£4 or £5 a week—and at the same time appear fair, I shall have no scruple to acknowledge that I have entertained much harder thoughts of him than I ought to have done, although it is unaccountable to me how other families, on $2,500 or $3,000 a year, should be enabled to entertain more company or at least entertain more frequently than I could do for $25,000."
Respecting the furniture, Washington writes: "Mr. and Mrs. Morris have insisted upon leaving the two large looking-glasses which are in their best rooms, because they have no place, they say, proper to remove them to, and because they are unwilling to hazard the taking of them down. You will, therefore, let them have, instead, the choice of mine; the large ones I purchased of the French minister they do not incline to take, but will be glad of some of the others. They will also leave a large glass lamp in the entry or hall, and will take one or more of my glass lamps in lieu of it. Mrs. Morris has a mangle (I think it is called) for ironing clothes, which, as it is fixed in the place where it is commonly used, she proposes to leave and take mine. To this I have no objection, provided mine is equally good and convenient; but if I should obtain any advantages, besides that of its being up and ready for use, I am not inclined to receive it.
"I have no particular direction to give respecting the appropriation of the furniture. By means of the bow-windows the back rooms will become the largest, and, of course, will receive the furniture of the largest dining and drawing-rooms; and in that case, though there are no closets in them, there are some in the steward's room, directly opposite, which are not inconvenient. There is a small room adjoining the kitchen that might, if it is not essential for other purposes, be appropriated for the Sevres china and other things of that sort, which are not in common use.
"Mrs. Morris, who is a notable lady in family arrangements, can give you much information on all the conveniences about the house and buildings, and I dare say would rather consider it as a compliment to be consulted in these matters, as she is so near, than a trouble to give her opinion of them.
"I approve, at least till inconvenience or danger shall appear, of the large table ornaments remaining on the sideboard, and of the pagodas standing in the smallest drawing-room. Had I delivered my sentiment from here, respecting this fixture, that is the apartment I should have named for it. Whether the green, which you have, or a new yellow curtain, should be appropriated to the staircase above the hall may depend on your getting an exact match in color and so forth of the latter. For the sake of appearances one would not, in instances of this kind, regard a small additional expense."
In these letters, written to Mr. Lear during Washington's residence at Mount Vernon, in the autumn of 1790, he frequently refers to the children under Mrs. Washington's care, who composed a part of the family. In a letter, dated October 3d, he requests Mr. Lear to make inquiries respecting the schools in Philadelphia, with a view to placing Washington Custis, Mrs. Washington's grandson, at the best. If the college is under good regulations, he inquires if it would not be better to put him there at once. Again, in a letter dated October 10th, after speaking of the proper care and instruction of his niece, Miss Harriet Washington, when he should be established in Philadelphia, he refers again to Washington Custis' education, whom he had adopted as a son, and in whom he appears to have taken great interest. {3} He also wishes inquiry to be made as to the higher branches taught at the college, with a view to placing his nephews, George and Lawrence Washington, at that institution in Philadelphia. Having studied the languages, they are engaged, he adds, under Mr. Harrow, in Alexandria, in learning mathematics and French. In a letter dated November 7, 1790, Washington expresses renewed anxiety respecting the education of his adopted son, Washington Custis, who appears to have been about eight years old at this time, and discusses the question of placing him at the college, if his age will admit of it.
On the 17th of November (1790), Washington, writing from Mount Vernon to Mr. Lear at Philadelphia, mentions that he is just setting out for Alexandria to a public dinner given to him by the citizens of that place. In his letter of November 23d, he dates from a tavern on the road, about twelve miles from Baltimore. He was then on his journey from Mount Vernon to Philadelphia in his own traveling carriage with Mrs. Washington, the children, and the servants in attendance on the children, accompanying them in a stage-coach hired for their accommodation.
The party arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday, the 28th of November (1790), and immediately took possession of the house which had been hired for the accommodation of the President and his family. The members of Congress and other public functionaries were mostly at their posts, and a crowd of strangers were resorting to the city, in expectation of the gay and brilliant pleasures and society which are usual in the metropolis in the winter season.
In the President's family, "the rules for receiving visitors and entertaining company," says Dr. Griswold, {4} "continued to be very nearly the same as in New York. Respectable citizens and strangers, properly introduced, were seen by the President every other Tuesday, between the hours of 3 and 4 in the afternoon. The receptions were in the dining-room, on the first floor, in the back part of the house. At 3 o'clock, all the chairs having been removed, the door was opened, and the President, usually surrounded by members of his cabinet, or other distinguished men, was seen by the approaching visitor standing before the fireplace, his hair powdered and gathered behind in a silk bag, coat and breeches of plain black velvet, white or pearl-colored vest, yellow gloves, a cocked hat in his hand, silver knee and shoe-buckles, and a long sword, with a finely-wrought and glittering steel hilt, the coat worn over it, and its scabbard of polished white leather. On these occasions he never shook hands, even with his most intimate friends. The name of everyone was distinctly announced, and he rarely forgot that of a person who had been once introduced to him. The visitor was received with a dignified bow and passed on to another part of the room. At a quarter past 3 the door was closed, the gentlemen present moved into a circle, and he proceeded, beginning at his right hand, to exchange a few words with each. When the circuit was completed he resumed his first position and the visitors approached him in succession, bowed, and retired.
"At the levees of Mrs. Washington he did not consider any visits made to himself, and he appeared as a private gentleman, with neither hat nor sword, conversing without restraint, generally with women, who rarely had other opportunities of meeting him."
Congress assembled for its third session on the 6th of December, 1790, the day which had been appointed by adjournment. But the members had not yet learned to be punctual in their attendance, and it was not till the 8th that a sufficient number took their seats to authorize their entering upon the business of the session. Among the members we recognize some celebrated names. From Massachusetts were Elbridge Gerry, afterward Vice-President of the United States, and Fisher Ames, one of the most illustrious of American orators; from Connecticut, the veteran statesman, Roger Sherman; from New Jersey, the philanthropist, Elias Boudinot; from Pennsylvania, Peter and Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg and George Clymer; from Virginia, James Madison; from North Carolina, Hugh Williamson, and from Georgia, Gen. James Jackson. This is but a portion of the strong array of historical names which adorned the First Congress of the United States under the constitution.
In his speech delivered to Congress at the commencement of their third session, Washington expressed much satisfaction at the favorable prospect of public affairs, and particularly noticed the progress of public credit and the productiveness of the revenue.
Adverting to foreign nations, he said: "The disturbed situation of Europe, and particularly the critical posture of the great maritime powers, whilst it ought to make us more thankful for the general peace and security enjoyed by the United States, reminds us at the same time of the circumspection with which it becomes us to preserve these blessings. It requires, also, that we should not overlook the tendency of a war, and even of preparations for war, among the nations most concerned in active commerce with this country, to abridge the means and thereby, at least, to enhance the price of transporting its valuable productions to their proper market." To the serious reflection of Congress was recommended the prevention of embarrassments from these contingencies, by such encouragement to American navigation as would render the commerce and agriculture of the United States less dependent on foreign bottoms.
After expressing to the House of Representatives his confidence arising from the sufficiency of the revenues already established, for the objects to which they were appropriated, he added: "Allow me moreover to hope that it will be a favorite policy with you not merely to secure a payment of the interest of the debt funded, but, as far and as fast as the growing resources of the country will permit, to exonerate it of the principal itself." Many subjects relative to the interior government were succinctly and briefly mentioned, and the speech concluded with the following impressive and admonitory sentiment: "In pursuing the various and weighty business of the present session, I indulge the fullest persuasion that your consultations will be marked with wisdom and animated by the love of country. In whatever belongs to my duty you shall have all the cooperation which an undiminished zeal for its welfare can inspire. It will be happy for us both, and our best reward, if, by a successful administration of our respective trusts, we can make the established government more and more instrumental in promoting the good of our fellow-citizens, and more and more the object of their attachment and confidence."
The addresses of the two Houses, in answer to the speech, proved that the harmony between the executive and legislative departments, with which the government had gone into operation, had sustained no essential interruption. But in the short debate which took place on the occasion in the House of Representatives a direct disapprobation of one of the measures of the executive government was, for the first time, openly expressed.
In the treaty lately concluded with the Creek Indians, an extensive territory claimed by Georgia, under treaties, the validity of which was contested by the chiefs, had been entirely, or in great part, relinquished. This relinquishment excited serious discontents in that State and was censured by General Jackson, with considerable warmth, as an unjustifiable abandonment of the rights and interests of Georgia. No specific motion, however, was made, and the subject was permitted to pass away for the present.
Scarcely were the debates on the address concluded when several interesting reports were received from Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, suggesting such further measures as were deemed necessary for the establishment of public credit.
It will be recollected that, in his original report on this subject, the secretary had recommended the assumption of the State debts and had proposed to enable the treasury to meet the increased demand upon it, which this measure would occasion, by an augmentation of the duties on imported wines, spirits, tea, and coffee and by imposing duties on spirits distilled within the country. The assumption not having been adopted until late in the session, the discussion on the revenue which would be required for this portion of the public debt did not commence until the House had become impatient for an adjournment. As much contrariety of opinion was disclosed, and the subject was not of immediate importance, it was deferred to the ensuing session, and an order was made requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare and report such further provision as might, in his opinion, be necessary for establishing the public credit. In obedience to this order, several reports had been prepared, the first of which repeated the recommendation of an additional impost on foreign distilled spirits and of a duty on spirits distilled within the United States. The estimated revenue from these sources was $877,500, affording a small excess over the sum which would be required to pay the interest on the assumed debt. The policy of the measure was discussed in a well-digested and able argument, detailing many motives, in addition to those assigned in his original report, for preferring the system now recommended to accumulated burdens on commerce or to a direct tax on lands.
A new tax is the certain rallying point for all those who are unfriendly to the administration or to the minister by whom it is proposed. But that recommended by the secretary contained intrinsic causes of objection which would necessarily add to the number of its enemies. All that powerful party in the United States which attached itself to the local rather than to the general government, would inevitably contemplate any system of internal revenue with jealous disapprobation. They considered the imposition of a tax by Congress on any domestic manufacture as the intrusion of a foreign power into their particular concerns, which excited serious apprehensions for State importance and for liberty. In the real or supposed interests of many individuals was also found a distinct motive for hostility to the measure. A large portion of the American population, especially that which had spread itself over the extensive regions of the West, consuming imported articles to a very inconsiderable amount, was not much affected by the impost on foreign merchandise. But the duty on spirits distilled within the United States reached them, and consequently rendered them hostile to the tax.
A bill which was introduced in pursuance of the report (1791) was opposed with great vehemence by a majority of the southern and western members. By some of them it was insisted that no sufficient testimony had yet been exhibited that the taxes already imposed would not be equal to the exigencies of the public. But, admitting the propriety of additional burdens on the people, it was contended that other sources of revenue less exceptionable and less odious than this might be pointed out. The duty was branded with the hateful epithet of an excise, a species of taxation, it was said, so peculiarly oppressive as to be abhorred even in England, and which was totally incompatible with the spirit of liberty. The facility with which it might be extended to other objects was urged against its admission into the American system, and declarations made against it by the Congress of 1775 were quoted in confirmation of the justice with which inherent vices were ascribed to this mode of collecting taxes. So great was the hostility manifested against it in some of the States that the revenue officers might be endangered from the fury of the people, and in all it would increase a ferment which had been already extensively manifested.
When required to produce a system in lieu of that which they objected to, the opponents of the bill alternately mentioned an increased duty on imported articles generally, a particular duty on molasses, a direct tax, a tax on salaries, pensions, and lawyers, a duty on newspapers, and a stamp act. The friends of the bill contended that the reasons for believing the existing revenue would be insufficient to meet the engagements of the United States were as satisfactory as the nature of the case would admit or as ought to be required. The estimates were founded on the best data which were attainable, and the funds already provided had been calculated by the proper officer to pay the interest on that part of the debt only for which they were pledged. Those estimates were referred to as documents from which it would be unsafe to depart. They were also in possession of official statements showing the productiveness of the taxes from the time the revenue bill had been in operation, and arguments were drawn from these demonstrating the danger to which the infant credit of the United States would be exposed by relying on the existing funds for the interest on the assumed debt. It was not probable that the proposed duties would yield a sum much exceeding that which would be necessary, but should they fortunately do so, the surplus revenue might be advantageously employed in extinguishing a part of the principal. They were not, they said, of opinion that a public debt was a public blessing, or that it ought to be perpetuated. An augmentation of the revenue being indispensable to the solidity of the public credit, a more eligible system than that proposed in the bill could not, it was believed, be devised. Still further to burden commerce would be a hazardous experiment, which might afford no real supplies to the treasury. Until some lights should be derived from experience, it behooved the Legislature to be cautious not to lay such impositions upon trade as might probably introduce a spirit of smuggling, which, with a nominal increase, would occasion a real diminution of revenue. In the opinion of the best judges, the impost on the mass of foreign merchandise could not safely be carried further for the present. The extent of the mercantile capital of the United States would not justify the attempt. Forcible arguments were also drawn from the policy and the justice of multiplying the subjects of taxation and diversifying them by a union of internal with external objects.
Neither would a direct tax be advisable. The experience of the world had proved that a tax on consumption was less oppressive and more productive than a tax on either property or income. Without discussing the principles on which the fact was founded, the fact itself was incontestable that, by insensible means, much larger sums might be drawn from any class of men than could be extracted from them by open and direct taxes.
Against the substitution of a duty on internal negotiations, it was said that revenue to any considerable extent could be collected from them only by means of a stamp act, which was not less obnoxious to popular resentment than an excise, would be less certainly productive than the proposed duties, and was, in every respect, less eligible.
The honor, the justice, and the faith of the United States were pledged, it was said, to that class of creditors for whose claims the bill under consideration was intended to provide. No means of making the provision had been suggested, which, on examination, would be found equally eligible with a duty on ardent spirits. Much of the public prejudice which appeared in certain parts of the United States against the measure was to be ascribed to their hostility to the term "excise," a term which had been inaccurately applied to the duty in question. When the law should be carried into operation, it would be found not to possess those odious qualities which had excited resentment against a system of excise. In those States where the collection of a duty on spirits distilled within the country had become familiar to the people, the same prejudices did not exist. On the good sense and virtue of the nation they could confidently rely for acquiescence in a measure which the public exigencies rendered necessary, which tended to equalize the public burdens and which, in its execution, would not be oppressive.
A motion made by General Jackson to strike out that section which imposed a duty on domestic distilled spirits was negatived by 36 to 16, and the bill was carried by 35 to 21. Some days after the passage of this bill another question was brought forward which was understood to involve principles of deep interest to the government.
Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, had been the uniform advocate of a national bank. Believing that such an institution would be "of primary importance to the prosperous administration of the finances and of the greatest utility in the operations connected with the support of public credit," he had earnestly recommended its adoption in the first general system which he presented to the view of Congress, and, at the present session, had repeated that recommendation in a special report, containing a copious and perspicuous argument on the policy of the measure. A bill conforming to the plan he suggested was sent down from the Senate and was permitted to proceed, unmolested, in the House of Representatives, to the third reading. On the final question a great, and, it would seem, an unexpected opposition was made to its passage. Mr. Madison, Mr. Giles, General Jackson, and Mr. Stone spoke against it. The general utility of banking systems was not admitted, and the particular bill before the House was censured on its merits; but the great strength of the argument was directed against the constitutional authority of Congress to pass an act for incorporating a national bank.
The government of the United States, it was said, was limited, and the powers which it might legitimately exercise were enumerated in the constitution itself. In this enumeration the power now contended for was not to be found. Not being expressly given it must be implied from those which were given or it could not be vested in the government. The clauses under which it could be claimed were then reviewed and critically examined, and it was contended that, on fair construction, no one of these could be understood to imply so important a power as that of creating a corporation.
The clause which enables Congress to pass all laws necessary and proper to execute the specified powers must, according to the natural and obvious force of the terms and the context, be limited to means necessary to the end and incident to the nature of the specified powers. The clause, it was said, was in fact merely declaratory of what would have resulted by unavoidable implication, as the appropriate, and as it were technical, means of executing those powers. Some members observed that "the true exposition of a necessary mean to produce a given end was that mean without which the end could not be produced."
The bill was supported by Mr. Ames, Mr. Sedgwick, Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Boudinot, Mr. Gerry, and Mr. Vining.
The utility of banking institutions was said to be demonstrated by their effects. In all commercial countries they had been resorted to as an instrument of great efficacy in mercantile transactions; and even in the United States their public and private advantages had been felt and acknowledged.
Respecting the policy of the measure no well-founded doubt could be entertained, but the objections to the constitutional authority of Congress deserved to be seriously considered.
That the government was limited by the terms of its creation was not controverted; and that it could exercise only those powers which were conferred on it by the constitution was admitted. If, on examination, that instrument should be found to forbid the passage of the bill, it must be rejected, though it would be with deep regret that its friends would suffer such an opportunity of serving their country to escape for the want of a constitutional power to improve it.
In asserting the authority of the Legislature to pass the bill it was contended that incidental as well as express powers must necessarily belong to every government, and that, when a power is delegated to effect particular objects, all the known and usual means of effecting them must pass as incidental to it. To remove all doubts on this subject, the constitution of the United States had recognized the principle by enabling Congress to make all laws which may be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested in the government. They maintained the sound construction of this grant to be a recognition of an authority in the national Legislature to employ all the known and usual means for executing the powers vested in the government. They then took a comprehensive view of those powers and contended that a bank was a known and usual instrument by which several of them were exercised.
After a debate of great length, which was supported on both sides with ability and with that ardor which was naturally excited by the importance attached by each party to the principle in contest, the question was put and the bill was carried in the affirmative by a majority of nineteen votes.
The point which had been agitated with so much zeal in the House of Representatives was examined with equal deliberation by the executive. The cabinet was divided upon it. Jefferson, the Secretary of State, and Randolph, the Attorney-General, conceived that Congress had clearly transcended their constitutional powers, while Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, with equal clearness, maintained the opposite opinion. The advice of each minister, with his reasoning in support of it, was required in writing, and their arguments were considered by the President with all that attention which the magnitude of the question and the interest taken in it by the opposing parties so eminently required. This deliberate investigation of the subject terminated in a conviction that the constitution of the United States authorized the measure, and the sanction of the Executive was given to the act. {5}
In February, 1791, Vermont, having, in convention, adopted the constitution of the United States, was admitted to the Union. The result of the census of the United States, which had been ordered in 1790, was a total of 3,929,827 souls, of whom 697,897 were slaves.
Besides the establishment of the Bank of the United States and the passage of the excise law, Congress resolved upon having a mint for the national coinage; it authorized an increase of the army and the raising a military force to resist the Indians, and provided for the maintenance of these additional troops; it also appropriated above $1,200,000 to various branches of the public service, making the expenses of the year $4,000,000, part of which had to be met by loans, since the surplus of the former year had been applied to the paying off part of the national debt, as a former act of Congress had directed. We may mention, in this connection, that the exports of the year were computed to amount to some $19,000,000 and the imports to about $20,000,000.
Among the last acts of the present Congress, as already mentioned, was an act to augment the military establishment of the United States.
The earnest endeavors of Washington to give security to the northwestern frontiers, by pacific arrangements, having been entirely unavailing, it became his duty to employ such other means as were placed in his hands for the protection of the country. Confirmed by all his experience in the opinion that vigorous offensive operations alone could bring an Indian war to a happy conclusion, he had planned an expedition against the hostile tribes northwest of the Ohio as soon as the impracticability of effecting a treaty with them had been ascertained.
General Harmar, a veteran of the Revolution, who had received his appointment under the former government, was placed at the head of the Federal troops. On the 30th of September (1790) he marched from Fort Washington with 320 regulars. The whole army, when joined by the militia of Pennsylvania and Kentucky, amounted to 1,453 men. About the middle of October Colonel Harden, who commanded the Kentucky militia, and who had been also a continental officer of considerable merit, was detached at the head of 600 men, chiefly militia, to reconnoiter the ground and to ascertain the intentions of the enemy. On his approach the Indians set fire to their principal village and fled with precipitation to the wood. As the object of the expedition would be only half accomplished unless the savages could be brought to action and defeated, Colonel Harden was again detached at the head of 210 men, 30 of whom were regulars. About ten miles west of Chilicothe, where the main body of the army lay, he was attacked by a party of Indians. The Pennsylvanians, who composed his left column, had previously fallen in the rear, and the Kentuckians, disregarding the exertions of their colonel and of a few other officers, fled on the first appearance of the enemy. The small corps of regulars, commanded by Lieutenant Armstrong, made a brave resistance. After twenty-three of them had fallen in the field the surviving seven made their escape and rejoined the army.
Notwithstanding this check the remaining towns on the Scioto were reduced to ashes, and the provisions laid up for the winter were entirely destroyed. This service being accomplished the army commenced its march toward Fort Washington. Being desirous of wiping off the disgrace which his arms had sustained, General Harmar halted about eight miles from Chilicothe and once more detached Colonel Harden with orders to find the enemy and bring on an engagement. His command consisted of 360 men, of whom 60 were regulars, commanded by Major Wyllys. Early the next morning this detachment reached the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary, where it was divided into three columns. The left division, commanded by Colonel Harden in person, crossed the St. Joseph and proceeded up its western bank. The center, consisting of the Federal troops, was led by Major Wyllys up the eastern side of that river, and the right, under the command of Major M'Millan, marched along a range of heights which commanded the right flank of the center division. The columns had proceeded but a short distance when each was met by a considerable body of Indians, and a severe engagement ensued. The militia retrieved their reputation, and several of their bravest officers fell. The heights on the right having been, from some cause not mentioned, unoccupied by the American troops, the savages seized them early in the action, and attacked the right flank of the center with great fury. Although Major Wyllys was among the first who fell the battle was maintained by the regulars with spirit, and considerable execution was done on both sides. At length the scanty remnant of this small band, quite overpowered by numbers, was driven off the ground, leaving fifty of their comrades, exclusive of Major Wyllys and Lieutenant Farthingham, dead upon the field. The loss sustained by the militia was also considerable. It amounted to upwards of 100 men, among whom were nine officers. After an engagement of extreme severity the detachment joined the main army, which continued its march to Fort Washington.
General Harmar, with what propriety it is not easy to discern, claimed the victory. He conceived, not entirely without reason, that the loss of a considerable number of men would be fatal to the Indians, although a still greater loss should be sustained by the Americans, because the savages did not possess a population from which they could replace the warriors who had fallen. The event, however, did not justify this opinion.
The information respecting this expedition was quickly followed by intelligence stating the deplorable condition of the frontiers. An address from the representatives of all the counties of Virginia, and those of Virginia bordering on the Ohio, was presented to the President, praying that the defense of the country might be committed to militia unmixed with regulars, and that they might immediately be drawn out to oppose "the exulting foe." To this address the President gave a conciliatory answer, but he understood too well the nature of the service to yield to the request it contained. Such were his communications to the Legislature that a regiment was added to the permanent military establishment, and he was authorized to raise a body of 2,000 men for six months, and to appoint a major-general, and a brigadier-general, to continue in command so long as he should think their services necessary.
With the 3d of March, 1791, terminated the first Congress elected under the constitution of the United States. "The party denominated Federal," says Marshall, "having prevailed at the elections, a majority of the members were steadfast friends of the Constitution, and were sincerely desirous of supporting a system they had themselves introduced, and on the preservation of which, in full health and vigor, they firmly believed the happiness of their fellow-citizens, and the respectability of the nation, greatly to depend. To organize a government, to retrieve the national character, to establish a system of revenue, and to create public credit, were among the arduous duties which were imposed upon them by the political situation of their country. With persevering labor, guided by no inconsiderable portion of virtue and intelligence, these objects were, in a great degree, accomplished. Out of the measures proposed for their attainment, questions alike intricate and interesting unavoidably arose. It is not in the nature of man to discuss such questions without strongly agitating the passions, and exciting irritations which do not readily subside.
"Had it ever been the happy and singular lot of America to see its national Legislature assemble uninfluenced by those prejudices which grew out of the previous divisions of the country, the many delicate points which they were under the necessity of deciding, could not have failed to disturb this enviable state of harmony, and to mingle some share of party spirit with their deliberations. But when the actual state of the public mind was contemplated, and due weight was given to the important consideration that at no very distant day a successor to the present chief magistrate must be elected, it was still less to be hoped that the first Congress could pass away without producing strong and permanent dispositions in parties, to impute to each other designs unfriendly to the public happiness. As yet, however, these imputations did not extend to the President. His character was held sacred, and the purity of his motives was admitted by all. Some divisions were understood to have found their way into the cabinet. It was insinuated that between the Secretaries of State and of the Treasury very serious differences had arisen, but these high personages were believed to be equally attached to the President, who was not suspected of undue partiality to either. If his assent to the bill for incorporating the national bank produced discontent, the opponents of that measure seemed disposed to ascribe his conduct, in that instance, to his judgment, rather than to any prepossession in favor of the party by whom it was carried. The opposition, therefore, in Congress, to the measures of the government, seemed to be levelled at the Secretary of the Treasury, and at the northern members by whom those measures were generally supported, not at the President by whom they were approved. By taking this direction it made its way into the public mind, without being encountered by that devoted affection which a great majority of the people felt for the chief magistrate of the Union. In the meantime, the national prosperity was in a state of rapid progress; and the government was gaining, though slowly, in the public opinion. But in several of the State assemblies, especially in the southern division of the continent, serious evidences of dissatisfaction were exhibited, which demonstrated the jealousy with which the local sovereignties contemplated the powers exercised by the Federal Legislature."
A recent writer, speaking of the discussions in the cabinet respecting the bill establishing a national bank, says:
"Jefferson and Randolph were of opinion that Congress, in passing the bill, transcended the powers vested in them by the constitution. Hamilton, on the other hand, maintained it to be purely constitutional.
"It was not an easy task to unite two men of such opposite natures as Hamilton and Jefferson, and make them act in concert in the same cabinet. The critical state of affairs at the first adoption of the constitution, and the impartial preponderance of Washington alone could accomplish it. He applied himself to it with consummate perseverance and wisdom. At heart he felt a decided preference for Hamilton and his views. 'By some,' said he, 'he is considered an ambitious man and therefore a dangerous one. That he is ambitious I readily grant, but his ambition is of that laudable kind which prompts a man to excel in whatever he takes in hand. He is enterprising, quick in his perceptions, and in his judgment intuitively great.'
"But it was only in 1798, in the freedom of retirement, that Washington spoke so explicitly. While in office, and between his two secretaries, he maintained toward them a strict reserve, and testified the same confidence in both. He believed both of them to be sincere and able; both of them necessary to the country and to himself. Jefferson was to him, not only a connecting tie, a means of influence with the popular party which rarely became the opposition; but he made use of him in the internal administration of his government as a counterpoise to the tendencies, and especially to the language, sometimes extravagant and inconsiderate, of Hamilton and his friends. He had interviews and consultations with each of them separately, upon the subjects which they were to discuss together, in order to remove or lessen beforehand their differences of opinion. He knew how to turn the merit and popularity of each, with his own party, to the general good of the government, even to their own mutual advantage. He skilfully availed himself of every opportunity to employ them in a common responsibility. And when a disagreement too wide, and passions too impetuous, seemed to threaten an immediate rupture, he interposed, used exhortation and entreaty, and by his personal influence, by a frank and touching appeal to the patriotism and right-mindedness of the two rivals, he postponed the breaking forth of the evil which it was not possible to eradicate. On the bank question he required from each his arguments in writing, and after maturely weighing them both, he gave the sanction of his signature to the act passed by Congress for its incorporation. From the moment of the incorporation of the Bank of the United States parties assumed the almost perfect forms of organization and principles by which they are marked in our own day. The arguments and imputations of the Republican party, however, were not so much intended to apply to Washington and his measures as to Hamilton, who was considered and acknowledged by all as the head of the Federal party. This fact was sufficiently proved when Washington, at the close of the session of Congress, made an excursion into the southern States. His reception by men of all parties was ample testimony of the fact that he united all hearts, and that, however the measures or the constitution of government might be censured and disapproved, none would refuse to pour the grateful homage of free hearts into the bosom of their veteran chief." Of this excursion we shall give an account in the next chapter.
1. Footnote: This house was in Market street, on the south side, near Sixth street. The market-house buildings then reached only to Fourth street; the town in this street extended westward scarcely so far as Ninth street; good private dwellings were seen above Fifth street; Mr. Morris' was perhaps the best; the garden was well enclosed by a wall.—(Richard Rush, "Washington in Domestic Life," from Original Letters and Manuscripts. Philadelphia, 1857.)
2. Footnote: Mr. Hyde was butler.
3. Footnote: Mr. Curtis was the writer of the "Reminiscences" we have so frequently quoted. He died on the 10th of October, 1857, aged seventy-six years.
4. Footnote: Republican Court.
5. Footnote: Marshall.