"He remained at his seat between three and four weeks, during which he was occupied with his private affairs, and, with Major L'Enfant and others, with the location of the new seat of government, on the banks of the Potomac. On Thursday, the last day of June (1791), he started for Philadelphia by way of Frederick, York, and Lancaster, and arrived at the presidential residence about noon on the 6th of July, having been absent nearly three months, and during that period performed a journey of 1,887 miles." {2}
Washington was highly pleased with the result of his observations during this tour. In a letter to Hamilton (June 13th), from Mount Vernon on his return, we have occasion to notice the benefit he derived from his habits of method and forethought in any undertaking which he contemplated. "My return to this place," he writes, "is sooner than I expected, owing to the uninterruptedness of my journey by sickness, from bad weather, or accidents of any kind whatsoever. Having obtained, before I left Philadelphia, the most accurate accounts I could get there of the places and roads through and by which I was to perform my tour, and the distances between the former, I formed my line of march accordingly, fixing each day's journey and the day to halt; from neither of which have I departed in a single instance, except staying, from a particular circumstance, two days in Columbia, and none at Charlotte, instead of one at each, and crossing James river at Carter's ferry, in place of Taylor's, as was my original intention. But the improbability of performing a tour of 1,700 miles (I have already rode more) with the same set of horses, without encountering any accident, by which a deviation would be rendered unavoidable, appeared so great, that I allowed eight days for casualties, and six to refresh at this place, when I should have returned to it. None of the former having happened, accounts for the fourteen days I shall remain here before the meeting of the commissioners." {3}
In relation to this tour in the southern States Marshall says: "In passing through them he was received universally with the same marks of affectionate attachment which he had experienced in the northern and central parts of the Union. To the sensibilities which these demonstrations of the regard and esteem of good men could not fail to inspire, was added the high gratification produced by observing the rapid improvements of the country, and the advances made by the government in acquiring the confidence of the people." The numerous letters written by him after his return to Philadelphia, attest the agreeable impressions made by these causes. "In my late tour through the southern States," said he, in a letter of the 28th of July, to Mr. Gouverneur Morris, "I experienced great satisfaction in seeing the good effects of the general government in that part of the Union. The people at large have felt the security which it gives, and the equal justice which it administers to them. The farmer, the merchant, and the mechanic have seen their several interests attended to, and from thence they unite in placing a confidence in their representatives, as well as in those in whose hands the execution of the laws is placed. Industry has there taken place of idleness, and economy of dissipation. Two or three years of good crops, and a ready market for the produce of their lands, have put everyone in good humor, and, in some instances, they even impute to the government what is due only to the goodness of Providence.
"The establishment of public credit is an immense point gained in our national concerns. This, I believe, exceeds the expectation of the most sanguine among us; and a late instance, unparalleled in this country, has been given of the confidence reposed in our measures, by the rapidity with which the subscriptions to the Bank of the United States were filled. In two hours after the books were opened by the commissioners the whole number of shares was taken up, and 4,000 more applied for than were allowed by the institution. This circumstance was not only pleasing, as it related to the confidence in government, but also as it exhibited an unexpected proof of the resources of our citizens."
This visit had undoubtedly some tendency to produce the good disposition which Washington observed with so much pleasure. The affections are, perhaps, more intimately connected with the judgment than we are disposed to admit; and the appearance of the chief magistrate of the Union, who was the object of general love and reverence, could not be without its influence in conciliating the minds of many to the government he administered, and to its measures. But this progress toward conciliation was, perhaps, less considerable than was indicated by appearances. The hostility to the government, which was coeval with its existence, though diminished, was far from being subdued; and under this smooth exterior was concealed a mass of discontent, which, though it did not obtrude itself on the view of the man who united almost all hearts, was active in its exertions to effect its objects.
The difficulties which must impede the recruiting service in a country where coercion is not employed, and where the common wages of labor greatly exceed the pay of a soldier, protracted the completion of the regiments to a late season of the year, but the summer was not permitted to waste in total inaction.
The act passed at the last session for the defense of the frontiers, in addition to its other provisions, had given to the President an unlimited power to call mounted militia into the field. Under this authority two expeditions had been conducted against the villages on the Wabash, in which a few of the Indian warriors were killed, some of their old men, women, and children were made prisoners, and several of their towns and fields of corn were destroyed. The first was led by General Scott, in May, and the second by General Wilkinson, in September. These desultory incursions had not much influence on the war.
It was believed in the United States that the hostility of the Indians was kept up by the traders living in their villages. These persons had, generally, resided in the United States, and, having been compelled to leave the country, in consequence of the part they had taken during the war of the Revolution, felt the resentments which banishment and confiscation seldom fail to inspire. Their enmities were ascribed by many, perhaps unjustly, to the temper of the government in Canada; but some countenance seemed to be given to this opinion by intelligence that, about the commencement of the preceding campaign, large supplies of ammunition had been delivered from the British posts on the lakes to the Indians at war with the United States. While Washington was on his southern tour, he addressed a letter to the Secretary of State, to be communicated to Colonel Beckwith, who still remained in Philadelphia as the informal representative of his nation, in which he expressed his surprise and disappointment at this interference, by the servants or subjects of a foreign State, in a war prosecuted by the United States for the sole purpose of procuring peace and safety for the inhabitants of their frontiers.
On receiving this communication Colonel Beckwith expressed his disbelief that the supplies mentioned had been delivered; but, on being assured of the fact, he avowed the opinion that the transaction was without the knowledge of Lord Dorchester, to whom he said he should communicate, without delay, the ideas of the American government on the subject.
On the 24th of October (1791) the second Congress assembled in Philadelphia. In his speech, at the opening of the session, the President expressed his great satisfaction at the prosperous situation of the country, and particularly mentioned the rapidity with which the shares in the Bank of the United States were subscribed, as "among the striking and pleasing evidences which presented themselves, not only of confidence in the government, but of resources in the community."