Under cover of the firm of Willing, Morris & Co., of which our financier was a partner, many important and advantageous transactions were made for government, but ostensibly, at the time, for the firm. Being accomplished in this manner, a great saving was secured for the public, in the profits of which the firm did not participate one dollar, as was conclusively shown by an investigation instituted by Mr. Laurens, in Congress, at the instance of Mr. Morris, in order to repel the base slanders that were circulated against this pure and honest patriot. All the accusations that have been brought against Robert Morris, before and since his death, charging him with peculation or speculation in government funds, or of any improper conduct towards his country as a public agent, I pronounce to be basely false; they have no foundation in truth or in fact. Judging from the numerous documents that I have carefully examined, Robert Morris was not only one of the most disinterested patriots of the American revolution, but was one of the most substantial instruments in consummating that glorious enterprise. He was so considered by the illustrious Washington, the Continental Congress, and by all those who were correctly informed of his proceedings. Even general Greene was one of his most ardent admirers, whose biographer, long after the SAGE and the HERO had mouldered beneath the clods of the valley, published a tirade of abuse against Mr. Morris that has sunk Judge Johnson so far below the true dignity of an impartial writer, as to render the efforts of his envy abortive, and of his malice, powerless. His extracts from public documents are garbled, his conclusions are based upon false premises, his innuendoes are ungenerous—his attack is gratuitous and uncalled for, and has justly recoiled upon the proud escutcheon of his own fame. The shafts of slander can never indent the fair reputation of Robert Morris, although hurled like thunderbolts from the whole artillery of malice and revenge. Upon the enduring records of our nation his actions stand in bold relievo, bright as the moon, clear as the sun, and as withering to the opposition of his enemies as the burning sands of Sahara. His honest fame will endure, unimpaired, the revolutions of time.
From the day he assumed the high charge of superintendent of finance, his duties were onerous and multifarious. It was some time after the strong solicitations of Congress were urged upon him before he consented to undertake the delicate and difficult task of managing this department, to which he was elected on the 20th of February, 1781, a dark and dismal period of the revolution. A deep sense of public duty finally induced him to undertake the gigantic work, and in a masterly manner did he execute it. He immediately instituted an examination of the public debts, revenue, and expenditures; he reduced to an economical system the mode of regulating the finances, and of disbursing the public funds; he executed the plans of Congress relating to all monetary matters; he superintended the action of all persons employed in obtaining and distributing supplies for the army; he attended to the collection of all monies due to the United States, either by loans from Europe, from the states, or otherwise; he held a supervision over all the contractors for military supplies; he provided for the civil list; he corresponded with the executive of each state, and with the ministers of the United States, then in Europe for the purpose of obtaining aid, urging upon them the necessity of raising money, and necessarily transacted much business with every department of the government. At the same time he was an active member of the legislature of Pennsylvania. The effects of his powerful financial mind soon invigorated the desponding cause of liberty. Through the agency of the bank of North America, united with his personal responsibility, he improved the national credit, and introduced a rigid economy through all the avenues of public operations. He found himself in an Augean stable, but was the Hercules that could effectually cleanse it. Corrupt agents and corrupting speculators fled before his searching scrutiny, hissing like serpents retiring to their dens.
In all things he acquitted himself nobly, and stood approved by Congress, by his country, his conscience and his God. It is a lasting eulogium upon his name, that he reduced all his transactions to so perfect a system, committing them all to writing, that he was able to produce a satisfactory voucher for each and every public act during is whole career—a circumstance worthy of remark and of imitation. System is the helm, ballast, and mainmast of business.
At the final close of the war, Mr. Morris, fatigued in mind and body, tendered his resignation, which was not accepted by Congress until November, 1784. A large amount of his own notes, given on account of supplies for the government, were then out. To impart confidence to those who held them, he issued a circular, pledging himself to meet them all at maturity, which pledge he faithfully redeemed. At the time of his resignation, he placed himself in the crucible of an examining committee appointed by Congress, before whom he exhibited a perfect map of all his public acts. After the investigation closed, the report of the committee placed him on a lofty eminence, as an able financier and an honest man.
He was solicited by President Washington to accept of the appointment of secretary of the treasury, which he respectfully declined.
Mr. Morris was a member of the convention that framed the federal constitution, and was elected to the first national senate that convened after its adoption. He seldom entered into debate, but when he did, he was truly eloquent, chaste, and logical. He was always heard with great attention, and exercised a powerful influence in the legislative body. His speech in the Pennsylvania legislature against the continental currency, was a specimen of eloquence and conclusive reasoning, seldom surpassed, He also wrote with great facility and strength of language. Although not a classical scholar, he possessed an inexhaustible store of useful and practical information, derived from the richest sources, and applicable to all the public and private relations of life.
When the peace of 1783 proclaimed his country free from further invasion, Mr. Morris again entered largely into commercial speculations. In 1784 he sent a ship to Canton, which was the first that displayed the star spangled banner in that port. He was also the first who attempted the “out of season” passage to China, by doubling the south cape of New Holland, and astonished the English navigators by the arrival of his ship at a season of the year before deemed impracticable. He was the first man who introduced hot and ice houses in this country. He was a friend to every kind of improvement, and did all in his power to promote the interests of his fellow men and of his country. After spending a long life in managing, most skilfully, millions upon millions of capital, he at last split upon the fatal rock of land speculation, and closed his eventful career in poverty, on the 8th of May, 1806, at the city of Philadelphia, sincerely mourned by his country and deeply regretted by his numerous and devoted friends. He had long been afflicted with the asthma, and suffered much during the last years of his useful life. He met the grim messenger of death with fortitude and resignation, and bid a final adieu to earth and its toils, without a murmur or a sigh.
The private character of this public benefactor was, in all respects, amiable, pure, and consistent. He was a large man, with an open, frank, and pleasing countenance, gentlemanly in his manners, and agreeable in all his associations. He was most highly esteemed by those who knew him best. Although no proud monument of marble is reared over his ashes, his name is deeply engraved upon the tablet of enduring fame, and will be revered by every true American and patriot until the historic page shall cease to be read, and civilization shall be lost in chaos.