M'Kenney's Ferry, 25th December, 1776, 6 o'clock, P. M.
Dear Sir,—Notwithstanding the discouraging accounts I have received from Col. Reed, of what might be expected from the operations below, I am determined, as the night is favourable, to cross the river, and make the attack on Trenton in the morning. If you can do nothing real, at least create as great a diversion as possible.
I am, sir, your most obedient servant,
GEO. WASHINGTON.
[L] The following extracts from General Reed's letter to his Excellency the President and the Honorable the Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania, dated Philadelphia, 22d July, 1777, assigning his reasons for not accepting the office of Chief Justice, may serve to prove his opinions of the constitution at that time. "If there is any radical weakness of authority proceeding from the Constitution; if in any respects it opposes the genius, temper or habits of the governed, I fear, unless a remedy can be provided, in less than seven years, government will sink in a spiritless langour, or expire in a sudden convulsion. It would be foreign to my present purpose to suggest any of those alterations, which, in my apprehension are necessary to enable the constitution to support itself with dignity and efficiency, and its friends with security. That some are necessary I cannot entertain the least doubt. With this sentiment, I feel an insuperable difficulty to enter into an engagement of the most solemn nature, leading to the support and confirmation of an entire system of government, which I cannot wholly approve." Again, "the dispensation from this engagement,[M] first allowed to several members of the Assembly, and afterwards to the militia officers, has added to my difficulties, as I cannot reconcile it to my ideas of propriety, the members of the same state being under different obligations to support and enforce its authority." But he adds, "If the sense of the people who have the right of decision, leads to some alterations, I firmly believe it will conduce to our happiness and security; if otherwise, I shall esteem it my duty, not only to acquiesce, but to support as far as lays in my power, a form of government confirmed and sanctified by the voice of the people." Here, then, he says, "he feels an insuperable difficulty to enter into an engagement of the most solemn nature, leading to the support and confirmation of an entire system of government, which he cannot wholly approve; but he shall think it his duty to acquiesce, and support the government,—if confirmed and sanctified by the voice of the people." How inconsistent, then, must his conduct appear, when it is notorious, that he took a decided part in support of government, accepted of his seat in Council, and afterwards the Presidency, long before the sense of the people was expressd[TN] by the fabricated instructions to the members of Assembly, requiring them to rescind the resolution for calling a convention for the purpose of revising the constitution. And yet he says, in the 27th page of his pamphlet, he "so effectually vindicated every part of his conduct, that every gentleman present, (myself excepted,) acknowledged his mistake."
These were the ostensible reasons for not accepting the Chief Justiceship, and taking the oath of office; but an oath of another kind, no doubt, induced him to decline this appointment. He had not taken the oath of allegiance which the law, (passed the 13th June, 1777,) required of every male white inhabitant; nor did he take it, as appears by the publication signed Sidney, in the Pennsylvania Journal, No. 1565, 12th February, 1783,) till the 9th of October, 1778, which was the very day he was elected a Councillor for the County of Philadelphia. And though disfranchised of all the rights of citizenship, and incapable of being elected into, or serving in any office, place, or trust, in this commonwealth, Mr. Reed dared to disregard the voice of the people, and violate the law, by accepting the Presidency, and exercising the powers of government annexed to that office. If he had taken the oath of allegiance, agreeable to law, why did he take it again, on the day he was elected a councillor? as the mere oath of office only, upon that occasion, would have been required of him.
As Mr. Reed has not touched this point in his pamphlet, or furnished his friends with a single argument to defend him, against a charge supported by authentic proofs from public records, the public have very justly pronounced him guilty. If certificates can be produced of his oaths of abjuration and allegiance, agreeable to law, why have they not been published? If he is not defranchised[TN] of the rights of citizenship, why was his vote refused at the last election? or is this one of the subjects reserved for "legal examination?" and if so, why does he not suspend the public opinion by such information?
[M] By the "dispensation from this engagement," above mentioned, is meant, that the oath prescribed by the constitution was dispensed with, and many members of Assembly were permitted to take another oath, in which they were not bound to support the constitution.
[N] That this opinion was not entertained by Congress, may reasonably be inferred from the following letter: