Great Events in the History of North and South America

by Charles A. Goodrich

These matters becoming known in America, excited general indignation. The spirit of party appeared to be extinct. "Millions for defence, not a cent for tribute," the language of Mr. Pinckney to the French government, resounded from every quarter of the Union. The treaty of alliance with France was declared by congress to be annulled; and authority was given for capturing armed French vessels. Provision was made for raising a regular army, and in case events should render it expedient, for augmenting it. A direct tax and additional internal duties were laid. To the command of the armies of the United States, President Adams, with the unanimous advice of the senate, appointed George Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief. Washington reluctantly accepted the office, declaring, however, that he cordially approved the measures of the government.

The first act of hostility between the two nations, appears to have been committed by the Insurgente, which captured the American schooner Retaliation, and carried her into Guadaloupe. Soon after, the Constellation, under the command of Captain Truxton, went to sea, and in February, 1799, he encountered the Insurgente, which, after a close action of about an hour and a half, he compelled to strike. The rate of the Constellation was thirty-two guns; that of the Insurgente, forty. The former had three men wounded, one of whom shortly after died, and none killed; the latter had forty-one wounded, and twenty-nine killed. This victory, so brilliant and so decisive, with such a wonderful disparity of loss, gave great eclat to the victor and to the navy.

Treaty with France.—The bold and decided tone of the Americans, added to their preparations for prosecuting a war with vigor—and, perhaps, more than all, the success of the American navy in various engagements, had the desired effect. Overtures for renewing the negotiations were received from the French directory, which were immediately responded to by the president, by the appointment of Oliver Ellsworth, chief justice of the United States, Patrick Henry,[65] then late governor of Virginia, and William Vans Murray, minister at the Hague, envoys extraordinary for concluding a peace. On their arrival at Paris, they found the directory overthrown, and the government in the hands of Napoleon Buonaparte, as first consul. By him they were promptly received, and a treaty was concluded on the 30th of September, 1800; soon after which, the provisional army in America was, by order of congress, disbanded.

Death of Washington.—The good and the great must die, and, at length, America was called to mourn the departure of the good and illustrious Washington. He did not live, much as he desired that event, to witness the restoration of peace.

On Friday, December 13th, while attending to some improvements upon his estate, he was exposed to a light rain, which that same night induced an inflammatory affection of the windpipe. In the morning his family physician, Dr. Craik, was called in; but the utmost exertions of medical skill were applied in vain. Believing, from the commencement of his complaint, that it would prove fatal, Washington succeeded, though with difficulty, in expressing a desire that he might be permitted to die without being disquieted by unavailing attempts to rescue him from his fate. When no longer able to swallow, undressing himself, he retired to his bed, there to await his dissolution. To his friend and physician he said, with difficulty, "Doctor, I am dying, and have been dying for a long time; but I am not afraid to die." Respiration became more and more contracted and imperfect, until half-past eleven on Saturday night, when, retaining the full possession of his intellect, he expired without a struggle. Thus, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, died the "Father of his country." Intelligence of this event, as it rapidly spread, produced spontaneous, deep, and unaffected grief, suspending every other thought, and absorbing every different feeling.

Congress unanimously resolved upon a funeral procession in memory of Washington. On the appointed day the procession moved from the legislative hall to the German Lutheran church, where an oration was delivered by General Lee, a representative from Virginia. The procession was grand and solemn; the oration, eloquent and impressive: throughout the Union, similar marks of affection were exhibited—the whole nation appeared in mourning. Funeral orations, commemorative of his virtues, were pronounced in almost every city and town, and many were the tears shed by young and old, as the excellencies of his character were portrayed, and the services which he had rendered in achieving the independence, and contributing to the happiness of his country, were reviewed.

Washington deserved all the public honors which were paid him, and yet he needed none of them to add to the celebrity of his name, or the glory of his achievements. Wherever the story of his greatness, and of his patriotic services, has travelled, it has elicited the admiration and homage of mankind. Indeed, among civilized people of all countries, his name has become a household word, and is identified with all that is wise, and pious, and patriotic. By the aged warriors of our Western tribes—now indeed few and far between—he is still remembered as "our Father:" his name is familiar to the wandering Bedouin, and his fame has penetrated to the mountain fastnesses of the roving Tartar. And in all future time—at least while the American republic has a name and a place on the earth—or while the record of her Revolution, and the establishment of her government shall last—the name of Washington will be remembered with gratitude and joy. "His country is his monument, and her history his epitaph."

The character of Washington has been so often portrayed, that we shall not deem it necessary to enter upon a formal review of it in these pages. It may be, perhaps, a more grateful service which we render, to garner up some "tributes" to his exalted worth, which have been paid him by some of the most distinguished men in other countries.

Said Mr. Fox, in the British parliament, in a speech delivered during Washington's second presidential term: "Illustrious man! deriving less honor from the splendor of his situation than the dignity of his mind: before whom all borrowed greatness sinks into insignificance, and all the potentates of Europe (excepting the members of our own royal family) become little and contemptible!"—Said Napoleon—a man not wont to lavish his praises—and yet a man who understood and could appreciate noble qualities existing in others—said Napoleon—"Washington is dead! The great man fought against tyranny; he established the liberty of his country. His memory will always be dear to the French people, as it will to all freemen of the two worlds."

Byron has added his testimony to the excellency and glory of Washington—a tribute of praise which, it is said, he has no where in any of his writings paid to a British hero, not even to Wellington himself. "After taxing his misanthropy for the bitterest forms of speech, to be applied to the fallen Napoleon, and to mock at the fearful reverses of the French emperor's fortune, he, by some strange impulses, winds up his scorching lyric with these few lines:"