ww^ >>(.¦' 0> i/Q HH^ (jfl-a. BOSTON . WELLS AND LILLY— COURT-STREET. 1829. DISTRICT OP MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT: District Clerk''s Office* BEIT REMEMBERED, that on the first day of January, A. D. 1829, in the fiftf- third year of tfae Independenee of ibe tJtiited ^t^^S of Americ^ WeUs dnd Lilly, df the said District, have deposited in this Office tbe Title of a Bookj the Right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to tvU : " The Life of Slfaridpre Gejry. With Contemporary Letters. From the close of the American Revolution. By James T. Austin." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the XJnitea States, entitled *• An Act for tlie encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein mentioned ;" and also to an Act, entitled, " An act supplementary to an Act, entitled An Act for the encourage- mem of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned ; and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of Dengning, EngraviDg, and Etching Historical, and other Prints." JNO. W. DAVIS, Cla-k qfthe District of Massachusetts, ADVERTISEMENT. The continuation of the Biography promised in the first volume is now submitted to the public ; — sooner indeed than was then intended — but in de ference to the opinion of many whom the author did not feel at liberty to disregard. Boston, Massachusetts, January 1, 1829. CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I. State of the country Convention at Annapolis At Philadelphia form a constitution of government for the United States Details of its progress - 1 CHAPTER II. Disapproves the constitution His letter to the legislature of Massachusetts Objections considered Parties on the merits ofthe constitution Judge Dana proposes to annihilate Rhode Island ..Massachusetts convention to consider the constitution of the United States Proceed ings in convention Governour Hancock Constitu tion adopted . - - - - 38 CHAPTER III. Popular feeling in Massachusetts on the adoption ofthe con stitution Letter to General Warren The Federal party become a majority Consequences Mr. Gerry a candidate for Congress Letter to the Electors Letter to the Governour To General Warren ' - 79 CHAPTER IV. First Congress of United States Parties therein Speech on amendments to the Constitution The pub lic creditors Employments of private life Origin of the Democratic party Commentary on the account of it given by the biographer of Washington French revo lution British treaty Chosen to the Electoral Col- VI CONTENTS. PAGE lege of Massachusetts Votes for Mr. Adams Cor respondence with Mr. Jefferson on the election With a lady - - 98 CHAPTER V. Cabinet of President Adams Mr. Gerry nominated on a mission to France Hostility of Mr. Pickering Ac ceptance urged by Mr. Jefferson Letter from Mr. Otis Arrival in Paris State of France Retrospective history of the connexion bet,vi[e,en France and the United States 146 CHAPTER VI. History ofthe joint mission of Messrs. Pinckney, Marshall and Gerry to the French republic... Messrs. Marshall and Pinckney leave France Mr. Gerry remains His conduct _ . . . . 190 CHAPTER VII. Commentary on the mission to France, and strictures on colonel Pickering's publications in relation to it - 239 CHAPTER VIII. Commentary on the mission couduued Further strictures on Mr. Pickering's publications - 279 CHAPTER IX. Returns to Massachusetts Proposed fpr Governour of the Commonwealth.....,..Private life.,. Pecuniary a,nd domestic misfortune Character Member of the electoral college of Massachusetts.. Presides at a meet ing in relation to the attack on the frigate Chesapeake - 296 CHAPTER X. Elected Governour of Massachusiettia. Concili^tpry tem per of the administration Degree of doctor of laws conferred on him by Harvard College.... Inaugui^ation of CONTENTS. VU PAGE president Kirkland Reelected governour of Massachu setts Policy of the administration changed Speech to the legislature Measures of the republican party Their character considered Doctrine of libel Correspondence with judge Parker Message to the le gislature on the same subject Message on the resour ces of the state Complies with a requisition of the government of the United States for a detachment of mi htia Is superseded as governour of Massachusetts 313 CHAPTER XI. Elected vice-president of the United States Address of congratulation from his friends in Massachusetts, Na tional and state policy Presides in the senate of the United States The cabinet His opinion of the op position in Massachusetts Sudden death Funeral Proposed bill to continue his salary to his widow lost in the house of representatives His monument Inscription , - . . 403^ 494 ERRATA. Page 21, note, for cong. read eonv. Page 83, ISth line, for disunion read discuasion. Page 104, Sth line, dele the subject of. Page 227, 17th line, for 1748 read 1798. Page 279, 15th line, dele the semicolon after the vroti/orgollen. Page 307, 29th Une, tot for read/rom. Page 328, Sth line, for mass read MassachuseUt. Page 399, 6th line, for show read sheto. TXZI2 £.XFZi Ot ELBRIDGE GERRY. CHAPTER I. State of the country Convention at Annapolis At Philadel phia form a constitution of government for the United States Details of iis progress. A FORMER volume has recounted the agency of this distinguished citizen in the service of his coun try, from the dawn of the revolution until after the peace of 17H3. It closed at a period when retir ing from the scenes of his former labours, he was entering on new engagements in private life, with the honours of a well earned popularity, and the richer treasure of domestic happiness. The relaxation then allowed him was hardly in terrupted by a place in the house of representa tives of Massachusetts, to which his fellow towns men immediately elected him on his return from the congress of the United States, as a mark of VOL. II. 1 2 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. their affection and respect.* But the habits of his life were too strongly interwoven with the public interest to render him an indifferent spectator of political affairs, which notwithstanding the cessa tion of hostilities, were not less alarming than dur ing the most disastrous periods of the war. The government of the United States had a merely nominal existence in 1786. Foreign pow ers beheld its weakness almost without disguising their contempt. They seemed to be guided by a belief, that, altho' the relation of the colonies to Great Britain had been nominally dissolved, there was a natural inability in a people to preserve the forms of self-government, aud that a period of an archy would place the spoils of freedom within their reach, or that the new nation would revert to its former dependence, chastened and humbled by the wearisome and useless exertions it had made. The condition of things at home presented the same gloomy appearance. The authority of con gress had fallen from its original dignity. It was manifest that it could not long compress or direct the separate power of the states, whose conflict ing interests threatened every day a dissolution of the confederacy. The high personal character, which had once constituted the principal sanction * Congress having passed a resolve for appointing commis sioners to settle with the contractors ofthe army, the office was conferred on Mr. Gerry, but lie declined accepting it. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 3 of its measures, was departing from its councils. The statesmen of the revolution, dissatisfied with its imbecility, had mostly retired to other depart ments ; the few who remained were unable to pre serve its original energy. Some of them honestly believed that its vitality could not be prolonged, and that patriotism might permit it to expire, in the hope of evoking from its ashes a spirit of higher capacity and power. MR. KING TO MR. GERRY. New- York, Jan. 7, 1787- My Dear Sir, Congress is not yet organized, and it is uncer tain when it will be ; the anxiety and dissatisfac tion still continues, which has for some time exist ed, concerning the government of these states. God only knows what will prove the issue. It is most certain that things will not long continue in their present condition if foreseeing the dangers which hang over us, we do not unite in measures calculated to establish the public happiness ; I am confident that no man will be able to bear up against the calamitous events, which will other wise force themselves into existence. You have seen the Virginia law for the appoint ment of delegates to a convention in Philadelphia in May ; Gen. Washington, Mr. Wythe, Randolph, 4 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. Madison and others are appointed for this con vention. Pennsylvania have appointed Mifflin, the two Morris, Fitzsimmons and three others on the part of that state ; Hamilton, who is a member of the assembly of this state, will exert himself to in duce them to send members ; Jay and others are opposed to the measure, not alone because it is un authorized, but from an opinion that the result will prove inefficacious. General Washington will not attend, although there will be at the same time and place a gene ral meeting of deputies from all the state societies of the Cincinnati. If Massachusetts should send deputies, for Godsake be careful who are the men ; the times are becoming critical ; a movement of this nature ought to be carefully observed by every member of the community. I beg you to be assured of the constant friend ship of Your's sincerely, Rufus King, Hon. Mr. Gerry, Among the most obvious causes for the embar-- rassments and distress of the country was the con dition of its commerce. In separating from Great Britain, the United States had become with re gard to that country a foreign nation, and could not expect an exemption from her navigation laws, LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 5 at least without conceding an equivalent, which there was no general authority to regulate or prof fer. The importance of the American trade had been felt both before and during the war of the revolution, and it readily presented itself to the statesmen of the day as an instrument to be used for the securing of reciprocal advantages with the commercial countries of Europe. It was therefore determined to take such measures as would place this great interest under one central power, who should direct it for the general good, and a con vention for this purpose was projected to assemble at Annapolis in Maryland. Delegates were ac cordingly appointed by several states, to convene there on the first Monday of Sept. 1786; and Mas sachusetts authorized "Lieut, governour Gushing, Elbridge Gerry, Francis Dana and Stephen Hig- ginson to meet such commissioners as might be ap pointed by other states of the union, for the pur* pose of considering the trade of the United States, of examining the relative situation and trade of the said states, of considering how far an uniform sys tem in their commercial regulations might be ne cessary to their common interest and permanent harmony, and of reporting to the United States in congress assembled such an- act relative to this great object as when agreed to by them, and con firmed by the legislature of every state, will en able the United States in congress assembled ef fectually to provide for the same." 6 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. In this cautious manner was the first step taken to establish a government of authority over the se parate states. But the measure was evidently too limited and inefficient for the purposes intended. The commissioners from Massachusetts viewed it in this light, and severally declined accepting the appointment, and the delegates of the few states who assembled at the time designated, did little more than give currency to a conviction that a radical change in the organization of the govern ment would be necessary for its safety. A project was gradually maturing to hold a general convention in Philadelphia, with exten sive powers and ampler duties. In Massachusetts a rebellion had broken out against the local gov ernment, and the rebels had resorted to arms. The utmost energy of the civil and an expensive exertion of military power was required to suppress it. The danger of such a state of things, and the practical illustration of the doctrine, that a govern ment strong enough to execute the laws was de manded for the personal security of the citizens, turned men's minds more seriously to the 'duty of providing such stability as should prevent the law less repetitions of outrage. The character of the state was elevated by the firmness and decision of its constituted authorities, and an argument deduc ed from these circumstances for providing the same useful power for the emergencies of the nation. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 7 MR. KING TO MR. GERRY. 'New-Yore, Feb. II, 1787. My Dear Friend, I congratulate you on the favourable situation of the government in the western counties ; Lincoln has undoubtedly answered the most sanguine ex pectations of his friends, and indeed I confess has accomplished, by the aid of warrants, what I did not apprehend could be effected in that cautious manner of proceeding. The declaration of the existence of a rebellion will do great honour to the government, constitu tion and Massachusetts. I can already mark good consequences in the opinions, which it authorizes relative to our vigour and spirit. I feel myself a much more important man than I was in the hu mility of a few days past. I hope the most extensive and minute attention will now be paid to the eradicating of every seed of insurgency ; remember however that punish ment to be efficacious should not be extensive ; a few and those of the most consequence should be the victims of law. Do you attend the legisla ture ? How will they stand on the plan of a con vention at Philadelphia ? For a number of rea sons, although my sentiments are the same as to the legality of this measure, I think we ought not to oppose, but to coincide with this project. Let 8 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. the appointment be numerous, and if possible let the men have a good knowledge of the constitu tions and various interests of the several states, and of the good and bad qualities of the confede ration. Events are hurrying us to a crisis ; prudent and sagacious men should be ready to seize the most favourable circumstances to establish a more per fect and vigorous government. I hope you will be at leisure to attend the convention. Madison is here. I presume he will be preparing himself for the convention ; you know he is a delegate for Virginia ; he professes great expectation as to the good effects of the measure. Farewell, R. King. The articles of confederation, which feeble as they were, yet formed the only cord of connexion between the states, did not seem to authorize a general convention of delegates without the advice and consent of the United States in congress as sembled. In some parts of the country their ap probation was not deemed indispensable, in others the movements of the local legislatures were re tarded by a deference to the only authority, which had even the semblance of a control over national affairs. Popular feeling soon gave a suitable di rection to congress, and on 21st February 1787, LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 9 they resolved, in pursuance of the provisions of the confederation that a convention of delegates, to be appointed by the several states, be holden at Phi ladelphia, on the second Monday of that year, " for the sole and express purpose of revising the arti cles of confederation, and reporting to congress and the several legislatures, such alterations and provisions therein, as shall, when agreed to in congress and confirmed by the states render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of the government and the preservation of the union." This act of congress gave all the legality, which the existing forms of government required to the proposed assembly, and a convention was formed at the time and place appointed in the resolve by delegates from all the states of the union, except ing Rhode Island. Sixty-five persons were elect ed members of the convention. Of these, fifty- five attended its sessions. Six of them had af fixed their signature to the declaration of inde pendence in 1776. Among the others were the most distinguished names on the merit roll of the country, and at their head the illustrious leader of the American armies, who again lent the weight of his high personal character to secure with the fortress of civil institutions, the liberties he had protected through the vicissitudes of war. The legislature of Massachusetts, on the 10th of March, appointed to the honourable and respon- VOL. II. 2 10 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. sible trust of representing its interests, and the common interest of the union in the convention at Philadelphia, Francis Dana, Elbridge Gerry, Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King and Caleb Strong. The great importance attached to the duty is de monstrated by the imposing weight of character selected for its performance. The convention being organized, Edmund Ran dolph, formerly governour of Virginia, on 29th May, proposed for consideration fifteen resolutions, as the groundwork of a constitution, and Charles Pinckney of South Carolina offered a draught of a national government in sixteen articles. These several propositions were referred to a committee of the whole convention, and formed a text for debate. The august tribunal to whom this important subject was intrusted, was the first in the history of mankind in which a great and free people had undertaken by their representatives to establish the principles and forms of civil government. Its members brought to the mighty task a rare spirit of patriotism and unimpeached integrity. But their situation was wholly without precedent. Questions presented themselves which philosophy had never attempted to solve, nor experience, that better teacher in politics, been called upon to de cide. The same intelligence and ability of mind and the same honest desire to promote the common LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 11 good, might from education or habit or local situation reason very differently on topics, which this convention were called to decide. As the condition of affairs, which rendered some modifi cation of the existing government necessary, was traced to one or another set of causes, so unques tionably would be considered the propriety of erecting a new building, or endeavouring to repair the tottering fabric, which had become wholly un- suited to the times. Among the delegates in convention were many, who had been practically sensible with what limp ing steps the measures of congress had proceed ed in the days of revolution, and how imperfectly its want of authority had been aided by such auxiliary motives as could be brought to bear on the people. They had felt the wastefulness and ruin produced by the negligence or the obstinacy of those, on whom the government were obliged to rely without the power to command. They had beheld the army at one time almost disband ed, because there existed no coercive power to fill its ranks ; and famishing and freezing at an other, because there was no lawful way of appro priating to its use the resources of the country. They had seen the credit of the country exhaust ed in war, when yet it was rich in those means on which credit might properly be based ; and in peace they had found commerce languishing, in dustry paralyzed, and the character of the nation 12 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. degraded, because no concentrated power could direct its natural spirit of enterprise, or arrange with its rivals a fair competition in proportion to its means. These members might naturally enough consider the weakness of the public arm as the cause of general distress, and be expected to place their dependence for future prosperity only on a government strong enough to secure obedience to its will. On the other side were many among the dele gates at Philadelphia, who in the appropriate walks of civil life had first been called to withstand the encroachments of established authority ; who had commenced their labours in the public service by investigating and explaining the rights of the peo ple in opposition to the claims of the government ; who had learned as an axiom in politics, that power, by its own appropriate energy, however obtained, or by whomsoever possessed, will in crease and extend and perpetuate itself; and trac ing to this principle all the misery and desolation of the recent war, and all the sufferings and sa crifices, which had been required to bring it to a close, might very reasonably entertain a jealousy of every depositary of political power and rely for the security of public liberty on the inability of invading it. With too little power in the government, it was obvious that neither independence nor tranquillity could be preserved ; with too much, a battery LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 13 would be erected hostile to liberty. Where was the exact point in which the advantages of autho rity could be realized without its dangers, and freedom preserved without the hazard of anarchy .? On this great question the records of history were silent ; the memorials of former ages were those of licentiousness or despotism. Rulers and peo ple were so constantly in conflict that hostility be tween them seemed an unavoidable condition of human society. On such a debateable field it is not surprising that the members of the American convention could at first find no neutral ground. In addition to the difficulties already enumerated others exist ed in the condition of the country, scarcely less perplexing. The delegates who assembled were representatives of sovereign states, met together in confederacy, each of whose members was equal to either of the others. In its integral character, each state exercised all the powers of an inde pendent political body, and the new sovereignty, if one was to be created, could obtain no other authority than what was shorn from these separate parts. But the equality existing among these parts was that of rights, and not of strength. They differed among themselves in territory, po pulation, wealth, physical and moral resources, and in whatever other means of advancement one people could have over another. If a contribution to the common head was to be made in proportion 14 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GEERY. to the relative condition of the parts, they would retain after the existence of the new government, all their original inequality, and the smaller having an inferior share of power, could not be expected very cordially to accede to the plan. If any other principle was adopted, a sacrifice would be exact ed of the larger, in which it was against all the analogies of human conduct to expect they would readily concur. Concession and compromise became therefore indispensable ; but whatever is thus produced, though it may have the support of all, rarely pos sesses the approbation of any. When the common good is to be purchased by individual sacrifice, he whose former rights are curtailed finds it often very difficult to realize that he has received an equivalent in exchange. There will naturally be a struggle to make the substrac- tion as little as possible, and a reluctance both in demanding and yielding, which may destroy the beneficial purposes of the original design. The inconvenience of this state of things was fully felt by the delegates at Philadelphia. A question of authority early presented itself for the consideration of the convention, and might by one form of decision have been fatal to the hopes of the country. The resolve of the conti nental congress authorized the assembling of de legates for the sole and express purpose of revis ing the articles of the confederation and reporting LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 15 amendments. The commission to the Massachu setts members, and to all others appointed by a state legislature under the operation of this act, expressly or by necessary implication confined their authority to this exact object. The mem bers from Virginia and some others had been ap pointed in pursuance of the recommendation made by the former convention at Annapolis, indepen dent of any resolve of congress, and were not therefore absolutely bound by its terms. Not withstanding this difference, was it not the ex pectation of the whole people that the confede ration should be revised merely and not destroyed ; that amendments should be made to the old sys tem and not that a new one should be formed, and would the adoption of either of the plans pro posed conform to the authority of the delegates ? This question, which is not without plausibility on either side, was of primary importance in an assembly which could not consistently begin a sys tem of free government in an act of usurpation, or expect the confidence of the people while they transgressed their authority. It was seized upon with masterly skill by some members of the con vention who found that the majority were likely to adopt a system, which they could not approve, and who hoped by the practice of legislative tac tics of this sort to defeat what they could not in any other way successfully oppose. But the con- 16 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. vention was rather a committee to advise, than a senate to decree ; they could only recommend, they could not enact ; and however limited might have been the request, which their constituents made of them, no harm could be done by submit ting to the deliberation and good sense of the community what the authority of the people, and not the acts of the convention must afterwards legalize in order to give it effect. If the authority conferred by congress or by the several states on the convention at Philadelphia, extended only to the proposing of repairs in the old edifice, it is fortunate they were bold enough to disregard the strict letter of their duty in a fair execution of the spirit of it, and instead of propping up the disjointed and crazy building to commence that splendid architecture, in which safely reposes the liberties of their country. In deciding thus to do, the division was not made by the line, which finally distinguished the different parties. All the members from Massachusetts were in the majority. When these preliminaries were settled, the way was yet hardly opened for the successful prosecu tion of the grand design. Another question pre sented itself not connected with any difficulties of detail. It was, whether the new constitution should establish a federal or a national govern ment ; that is to say, whether it should act upon the states as states, or upon the people compos- LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 17 ing the states in their individual capacity of citi zens. This important question was not only to be decided prior to all arrangements about the powers or form of the new government, but it entered so intimately into every part of the system, that it was a constantly recurring cause of dissension and debate. The propositions of governour Randolph, or as they were commonly called, the Virginia plan, avowedly constituted a national government, but the tone and vigour of the government was to be raised or depressed, not more by the degree of power to be given to it, than the manner in which its power should be deposited. Whenever that part of the Virginia plan was under consideration in which these points were presented, great con trariety of opinion among the members was alarm ingly made manifest. The discussions, which these important and con flicting subjects excited, occupied the convention until the l.'ith June. During this period the dis position of the members was in a good degree de veloped, the advantage of concerted action was apparent, and the union thus produced began to establish something like the lines of party. The courteous and conciliatory temper with which the session commenced, though sometimes infringed in the ardour of debate, still maintained its influence among the members, while difficulties in the way of any satisfactory conclusion began to present VOL. II. 3 18 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. themselves in a manner, which it was feared com promise could not remove. In this stage of the convention Mr. Patterson of New Jersey offered a series of resolutions pro posing what he considered a plan of government strictly federative, in contradistinction to that al ready discussed, which was supposed to be wholly national. These resolutions resulted from the consultations of members dissatisfied with the schemes hitherto debated, and by way of distinction were called the Jersey resolutions. In the forms of proceeding, according to the rules and orders of the house, they were moved as a substitute for the plan of Virginia. The differences between the two were principally the following : The Virginia plan pro posed a legislature, to derive its powers from the people, and to consist of two branches. The Jer sey resolutions deduced the legislative authority from the states, and vested it in a single body. By the Virginia plan, as it was then drawn out, the legislative authority extended to all national concerns, had a veto on all state laws, and could be directed by the will of the majority. The Jer sey resolutions confined this authority to certain enumerated subjects and required in many cases, the concurrence of more than a majority of mem bers. The Virginia plan placed the executive power in a single officer, removable only by im peachment ; the other placed the executive power LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 19 in a plural number, removable on application of a majority of the states. The Virginia plan provid ed for inferior judiciary tribunals ; that of New Jersey made no arrangement in this particular. At this period it is obvious that the convention had made but little progress in the scheme of that splendid edifice, alike bold and beautiful, which they afterwards completed. The two plans were however sufficiently mark ed and distinct to bring on again discussions, which well nigh caused the convention to sepa rate. The views and feelings of the members had by this time become pretty well understood among themselves. An observer of no common accuracy and intellectual strength, in an official communica tion justifying his own final negative, has classed them in three parties, of very different sentiments. One, though a small one, wished to abolish and an nihilate all state governments, and to bring for ward one general government over this extensive continent, of a monarchical nature, under certain restrictions and limitations. The second party was not for the abolition of the state governments, nor for the introduction of a monarchical government under any form, but they wished to establish such a system as could give their own states undue power and influence in the government over the other states. It is in this second class he intend ed to include both Mr. Gerry and governour Ran dolph. If, by undue power and influence, the 20 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. learned commentator meant only that power and influence which wealth, population and territory, would naturally confer in an association where these were unequally possessed, the description is not to be complained of as unfair. Another party, according to the same writer, considered by him truly federal and republican, and nearly equal in number to the other two, were for proceeding upon terms of federal equality ; they were for taking the existing system as the basis of their proceedings, and remedying such defects, or giving such new powers as experience made ne cessary. The existing system, it is known, ac knowledged the perfect equality of all and every of the confederated states. From this latter party emanated the Jersey resolutions. In the discussions, which followed the introduc tion of the resolutions from Jersey, col. Hamilton, from New- York, presented his views in a scheme altogether different from either, which had come before the convention. He said he had well considered the subject, and was convinced that no amendment of the confederation could answer the purpose of a good government, so long as state go vernments did in any shape exist, and he had great doubts whether a national government on the New Jersey plan could be made effectual. The scheme of col. Hamilton proposed that the legislature should consist of two branches, the one to be elect ed for three years, the other for good behaviour, LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 21 the former by the people, the latter by electors chosen by the people. The executive was to con sist of a single individual, with the unpretending name of governour, to be elected by electors chosen by electors elected by the people, to hold his of fice during good behaviour, to have the sole ap pointment of the chief officers of the departments, and the nomination of all others except ministers to foreign courts. The government of the Union was also to appoint the chief executive magistrate of each of the states, in whom was to be placed an unqualified power of negativing any law about to be passed in the state over which he presided. The inferior points of his system conformed to the boldness of these prominent parts.* * Journal of conf. p. 130. Pickering's Review, p. 172. Mar shall's biography of Washington, in a note to page 353 of vol.5, adds, " It has been published by the enemies of Mr. Hamilton, that he was in favour of a president and senate who should hold their office during good behaviour." Whether by enemy or friend the publication was substantially true, unless indeed some equivocation may be played upon the words "in favour," and that it may be conceived he was in fact not in favour of his own proposition. Col. H. himself, in a letter to Col. Pickering in 1803, when the extreme unpopularity of such a proposition was most manifest, and after the overthrow of the political party of which those gentlemen were the chiefs, owing, as it unquestionably was, to their high toned notions of government, availed himself of some such ingenious distinction. He avows making the proposition, which it was well known to him was on record, and would one day be published. " The highest toned propositions, which I made in the convention were for a president, senate and judges, during good behaviour ;" but he leaves the reader to infer that 22 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. It is probable the three schemes at that time before the convention, may be considered as au- bis mind had not settled down definitively in approbation of his own proposals. " I may add (he says, referring to his project in convention) that in the course of the discussions in the conven tion, neither the propositions thrown out for debate, nor even those voted in the earlier stages of deliberation, were considered as evidences of a deliberative opinion in the proposer or voter." That they show the tendency and bias of the proposer's mind can hardly admit of doubt. But the apology is unavailing. His proposition was not thrown out for debate. He did not venture to urge a direct discussion of it ; but that it was no light or ca sual suggestion is proved by the dignity of the place and the high intellectual character ofthe speaker, and by the strong corrobo rative language at other times u?ed by him in the course of dis cussion. Nor can it be excused on the idea that it was in the earliest stages of deliberation. The proposition was made on the ISth day of June, when the general sentiments ofthe dele gates had matured and ripened, and when parties marked by their settled peculiarities of opinion were already defined. It was introduced on a great and grave occasion, when tbe whole force and strength of each individual was called into exertion, and at a time when the existence of any constitution might depend on a single vote. There is a completeness in the scheme of col. H. which might excuse a nian from being consid ered among his " enemies" if he did publish that the proposer was in favour of something more than a repubhcan govprnment. The appointment of a governour to each state by the executive of the union, and the unqualified veto, which such governour would have on the state legislatures, would so far change the relative character ofthe state governments that a friend of state sovereignty might be excused for considering them annihilated ; yet, in his letter above cited, col. H. declares, " I never contem plated the abolition ofthe state governments." Col. Hamilton's system was introduced by a speech, in which he maintained and defended the principles, which led to such startling and novel results. In a mode of illustration not exactly in tbe style of eloquence for which he was afterwards LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 23 thorizing the remark of the attorney general of Maryland before alluded to ; at any rate they pre sented three forms of government, as distinct from each other, as the classes into which, according to his account, the convention were divided. The plan of colonel Hamilton was never dis tinctly brought into debate ; that of New Jersey was, after a sharp contest, on motion of Mr. King, voted to be inadmissible ; and again the conven tion seriously betook themselves to the task of arranging in detail the successive propositions first submitted from Virginia. In this object, however, the predominant feelings of the friends of the re jected systems were constantly appearing in their contrarient efforts to consolidate the national pow er, or to strengthen the authority of the states, and to give a more popular form to the projected go vernment. As an example of this may be men tioned the debate on the tenure of the office of senator. On one side it was moved (by Mr. Read of Delaware) that it should be during good beha viour. Nine, seven, six and four years were sever ally proposed ; Mr. Sherman of Connecticut re marked, a bad government is the worse for being distinguished, he remarked, " I confess that my plan and that from Virginia, are very remote from the ideas of the people. Perhaps the Jersey plan- is nearer their expectation. But the people are gradually ripening in their opinions of government — they begin to be tired of an excess of democracy ; and what even is the Virginia plan but pork still, with a little change of the sauce." 24 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. long. Frequent elections give security and even permanency. In Connecticut we have existed 132 years under an annual government, and as as long as a man behaves himself well, he is never turned out. Col. Hamilton. We are now forming a repub lican government. Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. Those who mean to form a solid republican government, ought to pro ceed to the confines of another government. Mr. Gerry. It appears to me that the Ameri can people have the greatest aversion to monarchy, and the nearer the new government approaches to it, the less chance have we for their approbation. After this debate the question was carried for five years, and a biennial rotation. But the utmost strength of the opposing par ties was displayed ou the question of representa tion. It was now well understood that neither the federative plan of New Jersey nor the monar chical scheme offered by the delegate from New- York, could be successful, but that the Virginia resolutions must be modified to the acceptance of the convention or its members would separate without coming to any result. But this again brought into operation all those principles, feelings and attachments, general and local, by which the several parties in the conven tion were already designated. To-preserve under LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 25 a national government that federative principle, which should give each member of the confedera cy an equality of power still continued the first object of the advocates of state rights, which those who were desirous of a consolidated government, and those who were willing to preserve the state sovereignties in their relative importance here found a common ground, on which their efforts might be united. The difficulties on this perplexing subject, and the fluctuating opinions ofthe convention are seen in the progress of the examination, and the differ ent votes of the convention at different times. Governour Randolph's original draught directed the members of the first* branch to be chosen by the people of the states and those of the second by the first, out of a proper number of persons nominated by the individual legislatures, but their relative numbers were not defined by him. In the debate on 7th June, this was altered, and it was resolved that the members of the second branch should be chosen by the state legislatures. On the 11th June, the convention decided that "the right of suffrage in the first branch of the nation al legislature ought not to be according to the rule established in the articles of confederation," (which gave each state one vote) "but according to * In the early period of the convention the popular branch ofthe legislature was usually called the first: and the senate the second. It was subsequently changed. VOL. II. 4 26 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. some equitable ratio of representation," and after wards that the representation should be in pro portion to the whole number of white and other free citizens of every age, sex and condition, including those bound to servitude for a term of years, and three-fifths of all other persons not comprehended in the foregoing description, except Indians, not paying taxes in each state." And this modification was at that time agreed to by all the states but New Jersey and Delaware. The con vention then refused to sustain a motion that in the second branch of the national legislature each state should have one vote, but resolved that the right of suffrage in the second branch ought to be according to the rule established for the first, which latter proposition was supported by all the large states and opposed by all the small ones, except ing only that New-York voted against it. As yet however nothing definite was settled. The several propositions of governour Randolph and the modifications and amendments of the con vention were on the 19th June presented by the committee of the whole to the house in the shape, which the votes of the committee had given them, by which it appeared to be the sense of the com mittee that the equality of the states was not to be allowed in either branch of the legislature, but a rule was to be established according to some equitable ratio of representation, which ratio was yet to be ascertained. On the question whether LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 27 these resolutions should be accepted by the house they who disapproved the report, " found it ne cessary" to use the words of the attorney general of Maryland " to make a warm and decided oppo sition," to which he himself contributed by speak ing " vpwards of three hours.''"' The report in favour of inequality in the first branch was sus tained, but when the question on a like inequality in the second branch was taken in the conven tion, five states were in favour and five against it ; the vote of the eleventh, which had only two members on the floor, being lost by division of opinion between the delegates. In such a state of disagreement as to this most important and essential part of the system, the convention might well be considered as approach ing to the termination of their labours, and aban doning to all the storms of anarchy the country, which they had not ability to preserve. But the good genius of the nation prevailed. A commit tee of compromise was appointed, consisting of one from each state, of which Mr. Gerry was elected chairman, who reported that happy ar rangement, which substantially now forms the con stitution of the United States. It was not how ever accomplished without great difficulty, and produced new discussions in the committee of a like temper and earnestness with that, which had marked the discussions in the house. We met, says Mr. Martin, and discussed the subject of 28 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. difference ; the one side insisted on inequality of suffi-age in both branches, the other insisted on equality in both ; each party was tenacious of its sentiments. When it was found that nothing could induce us to yield the inequality in both branches, they at length proposed by way of compromise, if we would accede to their wishes as to the first branch, they would agree to the equal representa tion in the second. To this itwas answered, that there was no merit in the proposal ; it was only consenting, after they had struggled to put both their feet on our necks, to take one of them off, provided we would consent to let them keep the other on, when they knew at the same time, they could not put one foot on our necks, unless we would consent to it, and that by being permitted to keep on that one foot, they would afterwards be able to place the other foot on whenever they pleased. A majority of the select committee (he conti nues) at length agreed to a series of propositions by way of compromise, part of which related to the representation in the first branch nearly as the system is now published, and part of them to the second branch, securing in that an equal represent ation, and reported them as a compromise upon the express terms that they were wholly to be ac cepted or wholly to be rejected ; upon this com promise a great number of the members so far en gaged themselves that if the system was progress- LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 29 ed upon agreeably to the terms of compromise they would lend it their names by signing it, and would not actively oppose it, if their states should appear inclined to adopt it. Some however, in which number was myself, who joined in the re port, agreed to proceed upou those principles, and see what kind of a system would ultimately be formed upon it, yet reserved to themselves in the most explicit manner the right of finally giving a solemn dissent to the system if it was thought by them inconsistent with the freedom and happiness of their country. This will explain why the mem bers of the convention so generally signed their names to the system ; not because they thoroughly approved or thought it a proper one, but because they thought it better than the system attempted to be forced on them. This report of the select committee was after long dissension adopted by a majority of the con vention, and the system was proceeded in accord ingly. Near a fortnight, perhaps more, was spent in the discussion of this business, during which we were on the verge of dissolution, scarce held to gether by the strength of a hair, though the public papers were announcing our extreme unanimity. The report produced by the committee of com promise, and accepted by the house, established the relative rank of the several states as they would stand in representation under the forms of the new constitution, a great and difficult subject, but not 30 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. the only one, which had occasioned an alarming di versity of opinion. The chairman of that committee, without pledg ing himself for his vote on the final questions before the convention, laboured to bring about a satisfac tory result of this intricate subject, which ought to exculpate him from every suspicion of being hostile to the specific objects of the convention, or of maintaining an irreconcilable animosity to the plan in progress. At the time when this important committee were endeavouring to reconcile the conflicting sentiments of their colleagues, it is evident he must have been sensible of the advantage of ac complishing the duty assigned him, and that there was a possible, and even highly probable expect ation of doing so in the way indicated by the course the convention had pursued. Factious hostility to any rational form of gene ral government, imputed to those who did not con cur in the eventual labours of the delegates, can with no propriety be charged on one who devoted so many anxious hours to the elaborating a practi cable scheme as was employed by the members of this efficient committee, in whose power it would have been, at any moment, to have brought the business of the convention to an unsuccessful ter mination. The report of this committee, by affording some prospect that one of the most unmanageable points LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 31 of controversy was not fatally decisive of success, revived the hopes of the assembly, and excited a new spirit of exertion. A draught of the consti tution, as it was presented by the resolutions adopt ed in the progress of discussion, was printed for the exclusive use of the members. After being again revised and amended, a new edition was printed for the same purpose. Both of them, and more essentially the first, differ from the instrument, which received the signature of the members and became the supreme law of the land. In these documents the modifications successively made in the form of the constitution may be traced, some of them serving only to show the slow progress by which the charter of government attained its even tual excellence, and others marking changes of a serious character, which the maturer judgment, or often the temporizing policy of the parties recom mended for adoption. These tracks of the progress of the convention are like old charts of a well known coast, more re garded by the antiquary, who traces out the errors of the first adventurers, than by the navigator who has no interest beyond the most recent discoveries. They will not however escape the researches of a curiosity eager to take every shoal and current in the great sea of political liberty. The preamble to the first printed copy of the proposed constitution differs from the one finally accepted in omitting to state the objects for which 32 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. the constitution is framed. It is simply, "We, the people of the states of New-Hampshire, Sic. do ordain, declare and establish the following con stitution, for the government of ourselves and our posterity." With regard to the executive power are the fol lowing provisions : The executive power of the United States shall be vested in a single person. His style shall be The President of the United States of America, and his title shall be his Excellency. He shall be elected by joint ballot by the legislature. He shall hold his office during the term of seven years, but shall not be elected a second time. He shall appoint officers in all cases not other wise provided by this constitution. He shall be commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states." The important limitation now found in the constitution, confining this au thority over the militia to their being in actual ser vice, is omitted. There is no recognition of a vice-president. With regard to the legislative power there are the following provisions : The legislative power shall be vested in a con gress, to consist of two separate and distinct bo dies of men, a house of representatives and a se nate. All bills for raising or appropriating money, and LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 33 for fixing the salaries of the officers of government, shall originate in the house of representatives and shall not be altered or amended by the senate. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in pursuance of appropriations that shall originate in the house of representatives. No tax or duty shall be laid by the legislature on articles exported from any state, nor on the mi gration or importation of such persons as the seve ral states shall think proper to admit, nor shall such migration or importation be prohibited. The legislature of the United States shall have authority to establish such uniform qualifications of the members of each house, with regard to pro perty, as to the said legislature shall seem expe dient. The members of each house shall be ine ligible and incapable of holding any civil office un der the authority of the United States, during the time for which they shall respectively be elected, and the members of the senate shall be ineligible to, and incapable of holding any such office for one year afterwards. The members of each house shall receive com pensation for their services, to be ascertained and paid by the state in which they shall be chosen. Of the senate it is declared, The senate of the United States shall have power to make treaties, and to appoint ambassa dors, and judges of the supreme court. VOL. II. 5 34 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. The senate shall choose its own president, and other officers. Authority is also given to the senate to consti tute a special court, composed of commissioners, to decide conclusively on all controversies between states as to jurisdiction or territory, and all contro versies concerning lands claimed under different grants of two or more states. The judicial power is extended to all other " controversies between two or more states," and " to the trial of impeachment of officers of United States." The election of a treasurer of the United States is given to the two houses, and is to be made by joint ballot. The second printed edition of the constitution conforms more nearly to its ultimate provisions. The changes, which had been ordered, are incorpo rated, and the arrangement and collocation of sub jects are methodized and put into more appropriate form. In addition to some amendments of detail and of provisions, which had probably escaped attention at an earlier review, care is evidently bestowed on the phraseology, and effort made to correct as far as might be the ambiguity of expression. For instance, this reprint contains the following enactments : " The president shall at stated times receive a fixed compensation for his services, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected." LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 35 The strict grammatical construction prohibits any alteration in his duties and not his emolu ments. It was on motion so altered as to read in conformity to the meaning of the draughtsman. The president shall at stated times receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be in creased nor diminished. Again, the clause printed as follows : " The mi gration or importation of such persons as the seve ral states now existing shall think proper to admit, &c." is amended to read, "such persons as any of the states, &c." Other verbal alterations, the import of which would be apparent only to an exact and critical eye, were made with a freedom, which shows the solicitude of the convention to present in a shape the most unexceptionable, as well the great princi ples they established as the language in which they should be secured. The desire of the convention to arrive at such a result, as notwithstanding the intrinsic difficulties of the task should receive the support of all its members, was manifested as well by the closeness of their application* as by the frequent modification of the articles, which from time to time was per mitted. * On the 18th August the convention resolved to meet punc tually at 10 o'clock every morning, Sundays excepted, and sit till 4 o'clock P. M., at which time the president should adjourn the convention, and that no motion for adjournment be allowed. 36 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. MR. GERRY TO GENERAL WARREN. Philadelphia, Aug. 13, 1787. My Dear Sir, It is out of my power in return for the informa tion you have given me to inform you of our pro ceedings in convention, but I think they will be complete in a month or six weeks, perhaps sooner. Whenever they shall be matured I sincerely hope they will be such as you and I can approve, and then they will not be engrafted with principles of mutability, corruption or despotism, principles which some, you and I know, would not dislike to find in our national constitution. I wish you had accepted a seat in congress, for the next year will be important. Adieu my dear sir. — Make my respects, &c. Your sincere friend, E. Gerry. Hon. J. Warren. On the 17th September 1787, this celebrated assembly announced to the country the result of its deliberations. Thirty-eight members sub scribed the plan proposed. Sixteen signatures are wanting. Among the latter in addition to the subject of this memoir, was governour Randolph and Mr. Mason of Virginia, Mr. Lansing and chief LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 37 justice Yeates of New- York, and Mr. Martin of Maryland. Mr. Strong* of Massachusetts obtained leave of absence before the final question was ta ken, so that the instrument bears the names of only two members from that state. It is somewhat remarkable that while governour Randolph supplied the original materials out of which the constitution was elaborated, they suffer ed such changes in their passage through the or deal of the convention that he thought proper to withhold his consent to the plan, which they even tually assumed. * Afterwards governour ofthe commonwealth. 38 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. CHAPTER II. Objects to the constitution His letter to the legislature of Massachusetts Objections considered Parties on the merits ofthe constitution. Judge Dana proposes to annihilate Rhode Island Massachusetts convention to consider the constitution ofthe United States Proceedings in convention His letter to the president Governour Hancock Constitution adopted. The period, which has elapsed since the conven tion at Philadelphia terminated its session has al lowed ample opportunity for ascertaining the com petency of the constitution, which the wisdom of that assembly presented to the American people, for the great purposes it was intended to accom plish. Under the government, which from that time was established, the United States as a na tion have acquired rank, wealth and power, which the eye of patriotism in the widest range of its prophetic vision could never have foreseen. The strength of the government for all purposes of na tional protection, and its inaptitude to any exertion adverse to the most perfect political liberty dem onstrate the exact balance of those combined and contrarient principles, which render it formidable where power is to be exercised for general good, and harmless where an undue exertion of autho rity would endanger the personal security of the citizen. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 39 How much the prosperity of the country is at tributable to the constitution of its government, how much has resulted from geographical position, what share has its cause in the intelligence, virtue and enterprise of the people, and how much has resulted from the prudence and ability of the suc cessive administrations of its affairs, cannot now with any exactness be ascertained. The road on which we have travelled, though not without im pediments and danger, has conducted us as we know to an elevated and commanding station ; what might have been the termination of another path is shut out from all human observation. En joying the great national blessings with which Pro vidence has indulged us, we are forbidden to sup pose that any other than the course we have taken could have been equally prosperous. Under the operation of the constitution the country has been eminently happy ; and success so far as it has been procured by the instrumen tality of the form of government, may be justly claimed by the advocates of that form as proof of their forecast and political skill. It is however to be considered that the constitution reported by the convention, although accepted and ratified by the people, has never been, or for a single year on ly, the actual frame of government for the nation. Amendments of a character if not essentially to change its original features, yet calculated to sof ten and remould them, were proposed at the first 40 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. session of the first congress in New-York, and by the assent of the people became very soon a part of the fundamental law of the country. Between the advocates in the convention for one form or another the question is yet open to discussion whe ther the existing constitution with all its early amendments is conformable to the principles urg ed by those, who gave it originally their assent, or restores it to the plan of those, who were induc ed to withhold from it at first the sanction of their names. Mr. Gerry, as has been already remarked, was one of a minority in the convention who disapprov ed some of the principles, which the constitution finally assumed, and having arrived at the conclu sion in his own mind that it did not comport with the well being of the country, with regret indeed but without hesitation he refused it the sanction of his name. This act of refusal, even admitting the validity of the objections, which existed in his own mind, has been charged upon him as impolitic, injudicious and unwise. He had laboured, it was said, with an industry and perseverance in the details of the scheme, which demonstrated a belief in the neces sity of some essential change in the existing order of things; it must have been manifest that such change could only be the result of compromise and concession, and no practical statesman would be lieve that, when such were the means of operation. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 41 all his own favourite objects would be preserved. The difficulties, too, experienced by him, during four months of close application to this arduous la bour, must have satisfied any man that a new con vention would meet only to encounter new diffi culties, and that the results, in their present form, if not the most desirable, were in fact the only ones, which could ever be obtained. To a states man, it was apparent that the alternative was not between this constitution and a better, but be tween this and none. The objections thus urged did not pass without due consideration, but they seemed to him to put policy in opposition to principle, and in such case the habit of his life left him in no doubt on which side to take his stand. The question was indeed momentous. To recommend to others what the party himself did not approve ; to become responsi ble for consequences, the dangers of which were as firmly believed as if they were visible ; to place the confiding and industrious people of a great na tion under a power, which might crush them by its weight, or embark them on the stormy ocean of politics, in a vessel too frail to encounter the perils of the voyage, was a course of too doubtful integ rity to be easily adopted. It was that indeed which many honourable members of the convention were willing to take, for reasons unquestionably satisfactory to themselves, but in the mind of the delegate from Massachusetts, compromise had its VOL. II. 6 42 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. limits, and concession its legitimate bounds ; be yond these his ideas of duty forbade him to pass, and poising himself on his own character, he as sumed the responsibility of acting on the principles, which his judgment approved. In communicating to his constituents, the legis lature of Massachusetts, the constitution adopted by the convention at Philadelphia, Mr. Gerry an nounces his own dissent, and maintains his opin ions in the following letter. MR. GERRY TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF RE PRESENTATIVES OF MASSACHUSETTS. New- York, Oct. 18, 1787. Gentlemen, I have the honour to enclose, pursuant to my commission, the constitution proposed by the fede ral convention. To this system I gave my dissent, and shall submit my objections to the honourable legislature. It was painful for me, on a subject of such national importance, to differ from the re spectable members who signed the constitution. But conceiving as I did that the liberties of Ame rica were not secured by the system, it was my duty to oppose it. My principal objections to the plan are, that there is no adequate provision for a representation of the people ; that they have no security for the LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 43 right of election ; that some of the powers of the legislature are ambiguous, and others indefinite and dangerous ; that the executive is blended with and will have an undue influence over the legisla ture ; that the judicial department will be op pressive ; that treaties of the highest import ance may be formed by the president, with the advice of two-thirds of a quorum of the senate, and that the system is without the security of a bill of rights. These are objections, which are not local, but apply equally to all the states. As the conven tion was called for " the sole and express purpose of revising the articles of confederation, and report ing to congress and the several legislatures, such alterations and provisions as shall render the fede ral constitution adequate to the exigencies of gov ernment and the preservation of the union." I did not conceive that these powers extended to the formation ofthe plan proposed, but the convention being of a different opinion, I acquiesced in it, being fully convinced, that to preserve the union, an efficient government was indispensably neces sary, and that it would be difficult to make proper amendments to the articles of confederation. The constitution proposed has few, if any federal fea tures, but is rather a system of national govern ment ; nevertheless, in many respects, I think it has great merit, and by proper amendments may be adapted to the " exigencies of government and preservation of liberty." The question on this 44 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. plan involves others of the highest importance : First, Whether there shall be a dissolution of the federal government. Secondly, Whether the seve ral state governments shall be so altered, as in ef fect to be dissolved. Thirdly, Whether, in lieu of the federal and state governments, the national constitution now proposed shall be substituted with out amendment. Never perhaps were a people called upon to decide a question of greater magni tude. Should the citizens of America adopt the plan as it now stands, their liberties may be lost ; or should they reject it altogether, anarchy may ensue. It is evident therefore that they should not be precipitate in their decisions ; that the sub ject should be well understood, lest they should re fuse to support the government, after having hastily accepted it. If those who are in favour ofthe con stitution, as well as those who are against it, should preserve moderation, their discussions may afford much information, and finally direct to a happy issue. It may be urged by some, that an implicit confidence should be placed in the convention ; but however respectable the members may be who signed the constitution, it must be admitted that a free people are the proper guardians of their rights and liberties ; that the greatest men may err, and that their errors are sometimes of the greatest mag nitude. Others may suppose that the constitution may be safely adopted, because therein provision is made to amend it. But cannot this object be LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 45 better attained before a ratification than after it ? And should a free people adopt a form of govern ment under conviction that it wants amendment ? Some may conceive that, if the plan is not ac cepted by the people, they will not unite in ano ther : but surely while they have the power to amend, they are not under the necessity of reject ing it. I have been detained here longer than I expected, but shall leave this in a day or two for Massachusetts, and on my arrival shall submit the reasons (if required by the legislature) on which my objections are grounded. I shall only add, that as the welfare of the union requires a better constitution than the confedera tion, I shall think it my duty, as a citizen of Mas sachusetts, to support that, which shall be finally adopted, sincerely hoping it will secure the liberty and happiness of America. I have the honour to be, gentlemen, with the highest respect for the honourable legislature and yourselves, your most obedient and very humble servant, E. Gerry. To the Hon. Samuel Adams, Esq. President of the Senate, and the Hon. James Warren, Esq. Speaker of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts. This official letter sets forth the most prominent objections which, at the period of the promulgation of the constitution, that instrument had to encoun- 46 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. ter. But it is obviously not written in the spirit of a partizan. Popular topics, calculated to excite the passions of the people, and elsewhere used with adroitness, ad captandum vulgus, are not enume rated ; the advantages of the new system are too freely admitted for the purposes of an irreconcilable hostility ; and the intention of supporting it, if le gally ratified, is the submission of a good citizen to the authority of the laws, and not the evidence of that spirit of rebellion, which would retaliate its own disappointment by indiscriminate confusion. It may be proper to review the objections, which were thus contemporaneously made to the consti tution of the United State's by the subject of this memoir, and ascertain, if possible, how far they have received any countenance from time. Of the truth of the first assertion, no one, it would seem, could now honestly entertain a doubt. The passions, which in that period of controversy obscured the judgment of the community, have been tranquillized, and no longer obscure that proud principle of independence, which adheres, against all the allurements of popular favour, to the performance of duty. The convention had deliberated under the strict est injunctions of secrecy. Its arguments, opinions or motives could be known only by their results. It enumerated among its members men of the most distinguished talents, the most exalted virtue, and the most extensive influence. The name of its LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 47 president was a tower of strength. What a con vention, thus constituted, proposed to the people, could not want support ; what they on their great responsibility recommended, had already the ad vantage of anticipated success ; and the individual, who in a conclave of such men dared trust his own judgment, and risk his character and fame in opposition to their influence, ventured on a perilous duty, which nothing but conscious integrity would attempt, and the most fearless independence enable him to perform. The objection, which is first presented alleges that there is no adequate security for a representa tion by the people. The security, so far as one is provided, is con tained in the second section of Art. 1, which estab lishes a definite representation in the house of representatives, until an enumeration of the inhabi tants of the United States, a representation at all times of one from each state, and a subsequent repre sentation, according to a ratio, which is to be de termined by congress. There is, therefore, de facto, no security except the pleasure of congress, for any representation after the first census, except for one representative for each state ; and as the pleasure of congress could be declared only by the concurrent vote of the two branches, in one of which the states were equally represented, and might desire to preserve that equality in the other, or their equal weight in the union, by a diminished 48 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. number of representatives in the house, the objec tion is theoretically at least made out, and re solves itself into another form of expression, for guarding the relative rights of the states. The danger here gravely apprehended, strikes us now as exceedingly fanciful ; but, in the ex cited state of mind, which that perplexing sub ject, the relative importance of the great and small states in the confederacy, occasioned, was naturally 'enough to be expected. The constitution had fixed the minimum of re presentation. It indicated without requiring an increase. Was not that indication a sufficient se curity ? Would congress, having the right, dare to make the ratio for a second representative so high, as virtually to exclude any state from the privilege of an increased representation ? or would the senate venture, against the will of the popular branch, to insist on such an anomaly. In the pub lic sentiment and the ultimate power of the people, was to be found the security sought for. In every form of civil government is somewhere an ulti mate power, which is liable to be abused ; to guard against the tendency to abuse is the part of wis dom ; to prevent its possibility is eminently hope less. The intention of the constitution to secure a gra dually increasing representation of the people in the house of representatives, within such limits as would not embarrass the despatch of business, is LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 49 indicated by its successive provisions : that each state shall always have one delegate ; that an enumeration of the people shall take place within three years, and afterwards every ten years ; and that, until the first enumeration, there shall be sixty-five repre sentatives. The security for conforming to this intention would not be more adequate, if its pro visions were more precise. The security for the observance of any provision ofthe constitution, can not be found in the constitution itself. It is derived from the virtue of the people, and the fidelity of their agents. The constitution is a chart only, by which the vessel should be steered ; whether she keeps her course, mainly depends on the officer at the helm. The objection, considered in reference to the sentiments and feelings of the time, is entitled to much greater respect than if tried by the standard of present opinion. The first amendment proposed by the congress, of the United States was intended to obviate its force, and was ratified by a majority of the states, but the constitutional number of nine did not assent to it, whereby it failed to become part of the frame of government. The want of a more definite arrangement in this particular, has as yet produced no practical evil. Other difficulties have occurred under the article in question, but the apprehension has probably subsided, which classed too small a house of representatives among the practical evils of the American government. VOL. H. 7 50 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. Indeed, if the theory of the early statesmen be true, that power every where has a principle of expansion, a vitality that keeps it constantly grow ing and extending itself, the result may as well be found in the house of representatives, as in any other depository of this vigorous germ. It is not easy to see why such an assembly may not extend, or endeavour to extend its authority, as well as an individual, in whom by the theory such inclination is a necessary incident to the possession of power. A tendency of this sort has occasionally been im puted to individual members. The first president of the United States interposed his authority in a case of some delicacy, against the pretensions of the whole house. Its weight and influence, as a department of the government, has been regularly increasing from the first operation of the constitu tion, and the most distant of the evils, which threaten the American people, is want of power or indisposition to exercise it, on the part of their im mediate representatives. The objection that there is no security for the right of election, refers to the 4th section of 1st article, by which the manner of holding elections for senators and representatives is vested in the state legislatures, with a power in congress at any time to make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. The fair exercise of this power by congress could never be objectionable ; by their abusing it LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 51 the electors might be put to extreme inconvenience, and the right rendered of no value. This extraor dinary power over the legislation of the states, formed every where a formidable argument with the opposition ; but it has not, in practice, been the cause of any complaint. Again it is objected, that the executive is blend ed with and will have an undue influence over the legislature. The first branch of the objection is in point of fact true ; but the argument so profoundly main tained in the writings of the Federalist, has de fended the provision of the constitution in this re spect from even theoretical impropriety. The prophecy of the other part has not been fulfilled. On the other hand, the democratic principles of the constitution, which pervade and animate the whole system, but are chiefly placed in the popu lar branch of the legislative department, have con stantly and steadily advanced in strength and im portance. If there be danger in disturbing the exact balances, which the constitution has adjusted, it will come from the opposite quarter to that, which was predicted by its early opponents. The power and the will of the people are irre sistible agents in whatever government they are admitted as elements of its composition, and not only exert their functions in that branch which is the place of their appropriate activity, but extend their influence into all the collateral departments, as we 52 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. find in a garrison town, the air of military life dis playing somewhat of its character in the manners of the peaceful citizen ; or in Catholic countries, the peculiarities of the predominant faith control ling the customs and habits of those even who are not within the pale of the church. In a government like that prescribed by the con vention, establishing the grand democratic axioms that the people are the source of authority, and their happiness its sole object, the checks and re straints on the popular will, which were imposed to produce strength, stability and decision, would be found wonderfully well contrived, if they were able to promote for any length of time these salutary objects ; the apprehension of their counteracting the great design of the government was as lit tle to be justified by theory as it has been un founded in experience. If the hereditary power of the British crown, with a permanent and powerful aristocracy, has not been able at all times to maintain itself against even a partial represent ation of the people, the alarm surely was needless that any station provided in the American consti tution could withstand, much less corrupt and con trol, the representatives of the people or the states. That the judicial department will be oppressive was a much more plausible objection, which may yet be, if it has not been unfortunately realized. Tiiis was a new power in the confederacy. It is of necessity intrusted to a very small number of LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 53 men rendered independent of the popular will by the tenor of office, and appointed to their high stations not by means of that connexion, which creates a sympathy with their fellow citizens, but because of their professional distinction uiider a good administration, or their political zeal and party attachment under a bad one ; a course of life, which in the one case renders them in some degree unacquainted with the state of the public mind, or in the other prepares them to disregard it. In the report of the convention too it is to be re membered that the judicial power of the United States extended to cases, in which a state itself might be a defendant, whereby the whole doctrine of a confederacy of sovereign states was annihilat ed and an association of political corporations sub stituted in its place. The latter authority has been limited by an ar ticle of amendment ; and the high and honourable character of the judicial department has done much to preserve the confidence of the people ; but cases have arisen alarmingly confirming the fears of the opponents of the constitution, and others cannot but follow, in which great sections of the country may not think the objection was unreasonable. Indeed when it found that in the exercise of le gitimate authority a majority of seven or ten men may set aside the statutes of congress, or of any of the states, which have passed all the forms of their respective constitutions, because in the opin- 64 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. ion of this small body they are in violation of the supreme law of the land, it cannot be doubted that the cautious republicans of the convention might well fear that the power would be oppressive. That other modes of revision in regard to this necessary power had their several inconveniences is no answer to the objection urged against this. The control over the proceedings and decrees of a state legislature and astate judiciary, which sub ject the debateable proposition of constitutionality to the decision of three or four individuals appoint ed by the president of the United States, is in the ory a most dangerous state of things, and it may be well for the public peace if in after time it be exercised with so much integrity and intelligence, that it shall not justify the fears entertained by opponents to the constitution in the convention of '89. It is further to be alleged in excuse for the sus picions at the commencement of the constitution in regard to the judicial department, that the theory of representation, which elsewhere per vades the system, is here entirely abandoned. It was impossible in the nature of things and has not been attempted. No restriction is laid on the ap pointing power, and it would therefore be possible in the literal exercise of the trust committed to the president, that with the consent of the senate a large part of the country should feel that it had no security on the judicial bench. To those, who found in the practicability of abuse a reason for LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 55 suspecting it, this might have been sufficient to justify opposition, but in yielding to it they did not rely enough on that general public sentiment, which is the very atmosphere of a republican government, and is produced by the intelligence and integrity of the people themselves. The treaty making power is confessedly one of the strong points of the constitution, which the jealous republicans of the day may be excused for considering with alarm. Its operation has excited much angry feeling and arrayed the citizens in ranks of party as violent as those of battle, but there is nevertheless in the very essence of this government a redeeming principle, which compels all the functionaries to make their habitual homage to the public sentiment, or more properly speaking so to act that the popular sentiment shall support the correctness of their proceedings when it shall dispassionately exercise its judgment. It is this, which supplies the want of a bill of rights and ren ders harmless whatever other articles might seem ingly tend to entrench on the great charter of liberty. If the amendments proposed by congress at its first session and which now make part of the con stitution, were properly adopted, the further objec tion, made by Mr. Gerry before its ratification, was well founded, viz. that the powers of the le gislature were ambiguous, indefinite and danger ous. These amendments propose and establish 56 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. ten distinct and important limitations. If the powers, which they restrain, would without the amendments have been enjoyed by congress, the constitution would properly have authorized the exercise of authority, which it is plain the people did not intend ; if otherwise, its language was am biguous. If it were doubtful whether the powers not delegated to the United States nor prohibited to the states, were reserved to the states respect ively, or to the people, the constitution was am biguous in an essential provision ; and that it was doubtful must be admitted from the adoption of the amendment ; or if there was no doubt in the case, and the constitution conferred such a national character on the government of the United States that it took in virtue of its sovereignty whatever it was not expressly prohibited from taking, a form of government was adopted so essentially different from that now existing, that the advocates of the present establishment could not consistently ap prove it. The indefiniteness and ambiguity of all written constitutions and of all political declarations, and indeed of language in its most perfect form, are constantly witnessed and lamented. They are without doubt inseparable from the nature of the human mind and the limitation of its powers. It is however the good fortune of the people of these states that whatever of this common imbe cility exists in their constitution has not yet real- LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 57 ized the apprehensions of their friends. But even at this moment its exact meaning is not universal ly admitted. Its powers are to be settled by a construction, which extends or compresses them as one or another of those rules are applied, which have advocates in different parts of the country. Hence it was well observed by an eminent mem ber of the convention, on being felicitated on the appropriate arrangements they had formed, " that the practicability of the constitution would de pend on the construction that should be put on the powers it conferred." It is to be remarked that all the objections sug gested by Mr. Gerry regarded the tendency of the constitution to impair the liberties of the people and the sovereignty of the states, and that it was on this precise ground that all the opposition it experienced throughout the United States was founded. All the amendments, from whatever quarter proposed, were calculated to restrain this supposed bias. From those who favoured colonel Hamilton's propositions it met with no obstacle or opposition. It is apparent therefore that the convention had carried the provisions for a strong government to the utmost extent, which the peo ple would bear. In Mr. Gerry's view they were extended further than was consistent with politi cal freedom, and if this question had been sub mitted to the people it cannot be doubted that their answer would by a vast majority have been VOL. II. 8 68 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. given in the affirmative. But a very different pro position was presented. Shall the constitution be accepted as it is, or must the country still hold to the floating fragments of the confederation, which like a stranded ship, was expected every moment to fall in pieces. The chance of another convention, or a more popular government, or of continuing as a united people, under existing forms, was equally despe rate, and the question therefore to be decided by the freemen of the United States was in fact not whether they approved the plan offered them by the convention, but whether such a government as it provided was not preferable to the anarchy and confusion which might follow its rejection. Rejection indeed was not contemplated by Mr. Gerry. He inclined to accept it conditionally, and seems to have thought that while the people bad " the power to amend they were not under the necessity of rejecting it." There is one remark however, which he submitted to the legislature, that should have exempted him from the severe animadversions to which he was subjected, as it certainly shows that his opposition would be con trolled and limited by an intelligent spirit of pa triotism. " As the welfare of the union," he says, " re quires a better constitution than the confederation, I shall think it my duty to support that, which shall LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 59 be finally adopted." This liberality of feeling distinguished Mr. Gerry's conduct in the whole business of the convention. From a distinguished member of that body from South Carolina,* the following extract of a letter may be introduced as an offset in some degree for the severe censures with which he was assailed. " Your sentiments, my friend, respecting the effect politics should have in private life entirely coincide with my own. I felt it a misfortune that I should be compelled by such judgment as God had given me to differ so greatly from a man, whose judgment I so highly venerate, and whose inde pendence and integrity I bore witness to during the whole session. I ardently wished my friend Gerry to think as I did, that the constitution, with all its imperfections, is the only thing that can rescue the states from civil discord and foreign contempt. Reflecting maturely on the little dispo sition of most of the states to submit to any go vernment, I preferred giving my consent to a trial of the constitution with all its imperfections ; that there are parts I do not like, you well know ; I ardently wish to draw in public as I ever shall in private life in unison with a person for whom I have so great an esteem as for Mr. Gerry, but I shall not less admire his independent spirit, his disinterested conduct and his private worth be- * Hon. Peirce Butler. 60 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. cause we differ on measures of great public con cern." It is somewhat remarkable that several strong points of objection to the constitution, which could not upon any other principle than the unsatisfac tory one of a compromise have been acceded to by Mr. Gerry, and which would certainly in the eastern states, have been most popular topics of crimination, find no place in his public letter. Upon the subject of the ratio of representation in either branch of the legislature he is wholly silent. Nothing is urged against the constitution upon the ground of its admitting the slaves of the southern states to swell their share of representation, nor is the insecurity of the state constitutions brought out very prominently, although in the convention he had urged this as a reason why the United States officers should take an oath to support the constitution of the states, as a provision more ne cessary than the one under debate, which provid ed for an oath of allegiance by the state-officers to the constitution of the United States. It cannot be that these subjects were without due weight in his mind, but he had probably come to the conclusion that however it might be desir able to modify them, no reasonable expectation could exist of changing them for others more de sirable, and believing that the proposed constitu tion had in many respects great merits he was willing to urge no objection merely with a view LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 61 to victory as a partizan, but to present those only, which might by proper measures be finally ob viated. In the illustrious names, which were put forward as advocates and friends of the new system, many minds found a conclusive evidence in its favour, which they would not have discovered in the in strument itself. The argument ex auctoritate, was pressed to its utmost limit, when probably those distinguished individuals were doubtful of its even tual success, and for a cause differing essentially from that of its open assailants, were quite as dis trustful of its merits. That such were the sentiments of colonel Ha milton are disclosed not only by his original pro position, but by his subsequent conduct. In proof of this an anecdote has been recorded by Mr. Jef ferson, which he sanctions by the solemn declara tion " for the truth I attest the God who made me." Before the president set out on his southern tour in April 1791, he addressed a letter of the 14th of that month, from mount Vernon to the secretary of state, the treasury and of war, desir ing that, if any important case should arise during his absence, they would consult and act on them, and he requested that the vice-president should also be consulted. This was the only occasion on which that officer was ever requested to take part in a cabinet question. Some occasion of 62 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. consultation arising, I invited those gentlemen (and the attorney general, as well as I remember) to dine with me in order to confer on the subject. After the cloth was removed, and our question argued and dismissed, conversation began on other matters, and by some circumstance was led to the British constitution, on which Mr. Adams observ ed " purge that constitution of its corruption, and give to its popular branch equality of representa tion, and it would be the most perfect constitution devised by the wit of man." Hamilton paused and said, " purge it of its corruption, and give to its popular branch equality of representation, and it would become an impracticable government : as it stands at present, with all its supposed defects, it is the most perfect government, which ever ex isted." The same eminent authority thus describes the feelings of the president of the convention. *' I do believe that general Washington had not a firm confidence in the durability of our govern ment. He was naturally distrustful of men, and inclined to gloomy apprehensions ; and I was ever persuaded that a belief that we must at length end in something like a British constitution had some weight in his adoption of the ceremonies of levees, birth days, pompous meetings with con- * Mr. JeflTerson to Dr. Jones, MS. pubUshed in the Boston Pa triot, 22d July '28. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 63 gress and other forms of the same character, cal culated to prepare us gradually for a change, which he believed possible, and so let it come on with as little shock as might be, to the public mind. These are my opinions of general Washington, which I would vouch at the judgment seat of God, having been formed on an acquaintance of thirty years." The opinions or doubts, which are thus unhesi tatingly attributed by Mr. Jefferson to the most eminent of American patriots, have derived coun tenance from his address to the people of the United States, on declining another election. There is no where in that address any strong ex pression of confidence in the permanency of the constitution. It is not described as the " palla dium of liberty," " the impregnable barrier of free dom," " the great citadel of free institutions," as in other places it has been distinguished. On the contrary, it is mentioned in very cautious terms as an improvement merely on the past. " You have improved upon your first essay by the adop tion of a constitution of government better calcu lated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns." The whole tenor of the address proceeds on an apprehension that the government does not pos sess inherently a power of self-preservation, and that the dangers to which it was exposed might overturn it. Hence the impressive admonition 64 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. against popular combinations, injudicious altera tions, factions, party spirit, and the insidious wiles of foreign influence. Hence too the props, which are to support it ; the encouragement of institu tions for diffusive education and the cultivation of public manners, good faith in foreign intercourse and a spirit that should be neutral, as well as a political neutrality, during foreign wars ; and hence too that prophetic apprehension that all these would not prevent the downward path of the republic. " In offering you, my countrymen," is his sin cere and affectionate language, " these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish, that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course, which has marked the destiny of na tions." What course and what destiny ? The course which has led from liberty to despotism, the course of anarchy, revolution and civil war. The destiny that subjected Rome to the Csesars, and every where but in this new world had exiled all princi ples of public liberty. It is not from this to be inferred, that these statesmen had an abstract preference for monar chical or even strong government. Not at all. The just deduction is that they considered a popu lar government as an experiment, as a hazardous LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 65 and unpromising experiment, and to be made suC' cessful only by the strength of the infusion of those higher principles which it contained. The report of the convention was no sooner known to the people than it divided them into two opposite and irritable factions. Before the com-- plicated provisions of this new government could be explained, and certainly before the reasons could be understood, by which they were opposed or de fended, it was manifest that it had its friends and its enemies, who were assuming towards each other the temper and manners of organized and hostile parties. Its adoption depended on its being ratified by nine states, and the voice of each state was to be expressed by a convention elected by the citizens of the state expressly and solely for that purpose. To influence public opinion, and to obtain a major vote in these state conventions, was the great ob ject of rivalry. It cannot be doubted that, for some time after its promulgation, the constitution had for its opponents a great majority of the people of the United States. The novelty of its provisions, the change they made in relation of the states, and the uncertain ty always attending any new operations, in which wealth and numbers are concerned, were sufficient of themselves to array against it a formidable force ; but this force was, in almost every section of the country, led on by men the most known and VOL. II. 9 66 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. distinguished in the past history of the nation ; by men in whose intelligence, integrity and patriotism, implicit confidence had been reposed in the days of revolution and war. Comparatively a new set of men were the fathers of the constitution, who had yet to acquire that glory, upon which its oppo nents were already permitted to recline. Enthusiasm proportioned to the interests de pending, and ardent as the character of those who took the lead on the great question before the peo ple, excited the advocates of the constitution to immense efforts to secure the ratification they de sired, while its opponents, though not wanting in their duty as watchmen of the public rights, seem to have contented themselves with such exertion as their public station required. The press indeed displayed the conflicting opinions of the parties in every possible form, while earnestness aud perse verance seemed to indicate a consciousness that effort would secure the prize. Something of the boldness of the prevailing temper may be learned from judge Dana's letter to Mr. Gerry, dated at Newport, Rhode Island, where he was temporarily residing for the benefit of his health, and dated only a few days before the convention separated. " This state (Rhode Island) will not choose dele gates to the convention, nor order on their delegates to congress. I hope they will not, as their neglect will give grounds to strike it out of the union, and divide its territory between their neighbours. Thus, LIFE OF ELBRIDGE. GERRY. 67 extend Connecticut down to the Narraganset shore, and running up north through Pawtuxet river to our south line, so as to leave Providence, Newport, and all the islands, to Massachusetts, which, as it would give the commercial part of the state to Massachusetts, would best accord with the spirit and genius of our people, while the residue would perfectly coincide with that of Connecticut. According to my best observation, such a division of this state would meet the best approbation of the commercial part of it, though they are afraid to take any open measures in the present state of things, to bring it about. Their interest must dic tate such a measure ; they never can be secure under the present form of government, but will al ways labour under the greatest mischief any people can suffer, that of being ruled by the most ignorant and unprincipled of their fellow citizens. This state is too insignificant to have a place on an equal footing loith any of the others in the Union, unless it be Delaware. Therefore a bold politician would seize upon the occasion their abominable antifede- ral conduct presents, for annihilating them as a separate member of the union." This must have seemed strange language to the advocates of state rights. In the discussions and debate upon the ratifica tion of the constitution, its friends had a manifest advantage, independent of the merits of the instru ment, in the state of the question before the people. 68 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. They had to justify and maintain an examina ble, defined, written law, of whose evils and ineffi cacy nothing could be known, but in the way of conjecture or alarm. The confederation had almost expired by its own weakness, and no other had been prepared to take its place, but the one they were urging the people to accept. Between that and the uncertain, undefined and conjectural ar rangement, which either in a better or a worse form, might hereafter be proposed, if indeed the anarchy, into which the whole community was re solving itself, would allow any other to be pro posed, the choice could not be doubtful. It was not necessary for them to defend the new consti tution as a perfect, or even an unobjectionable form of government ; their case was made out, if the people could be satisfied that the new govern ment was better than none, and that whatever amendments it required might be safely trusted to the operation of time. The report of the convention having been laid before congress, it was by that body, on 28th September 1787, " Resolved, that it be transmitted to the several legislatures, in order to be submitted to a convention of delegates, chosen in each state by the people thereof, in conformity to the resolves of the convention, made and provided in that case." In obedience to this resolve, delegates on the part of Massachusetts met in convention at Boston, on the ninth day of January 1^8. Mr. Gerry, LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 69 who had a short time previous to the election re moved from his native town of Marblehead, and established his residence in the village of Cam bridge, the seat of Harvard University, was not re turned a member of the convention, either because his recent inhabitancy did not make him eligible, or more probably because his opinions, in regard to the constitution, were not in conformity to those of his new neighbours. The convention of Massachusetts consisted of three hundred and sixty members, among whom were many of the most distinguished and honoura ble citizens of the state. It was understood at the commencement of the session, from the opinions expressed by the members, or the known senti ment in the towns from which they were dele gates, that a majority were opposed to a rati fication, but it was soon discovered that, what ever might be the force of numbers, that of talents, ability and power in debate, was most triumphantly with the advocates of the new constitution. A host of talented young men, destined at a future day to lead in the legislation or jurisprudence of the state, had seats in this assembly, and brought to the interesting discussion of great political ques tions those rare intellectual endowments by which the state, in all its departments, has since most eminently profited. Professional men were mostly in favour of the new government ; educated men and men of property, with many exceptions indeed, 70 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. favoured its adoption ; and in the collisions and conflict of opinion, the plain, unlettered common sense of its opponents were no match for the prac tised eloquence, the logic, and the learning of its friends. Governour Hancock, who was supposed unfriend ly to the constitution, was chosen president of the convention, but ill health detained him from its meetings, by means of which all the influence of the acting president, judge William Gushing, was in possession of its advocates. Mr. Samuel Adams was in a good measure neutral. To supply the defect arising from want of political experience and character, the majority invited Mr. Gerry to take a seat in the convention, for the purpose of giving such information as should from time to time be required of him. As each of his colleagues in the convention of Philadelphia was a member of that of Massachusetts, the invitation had the invidious character of a compliment to Mr. Gerry, and a reflection upon their integrity or judgment. In the mean time, no management was omitted by the other side to secure in numbers the su periority they possessed in talent. The efforts within doors were seconded by every possible exer tion abroad. The newspapers teemed with essays in every. variety of form, and what argument was unable to effect, satire, lampoon and scurrility were exhaust ed to accomplish. Some arts were re^rted to. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 71 which were supposed to be justified by the great ness of the object. Personal addresses, not un mixed with threats", were made to some of the members, and a marked distinction in private in tercourse was observed towards the " irreclaim able malignants," and those who might be per suaded to change their opinions. A report was soon circulated, that the constitution would be adopted ; and as a consequence a vessel was put on the stocks at one of the northern ship yards, that it might appear that the very first prospect of a new government would encourage ship building, commerce, and consequently agricul ture, while in truth the money necessary for the purpose was obtained by voluntary assess ment, rather to secure the constitution, than to make a voyage. Encouraged by the change of some few in the assembly, it was thought politic to get rid of Mr. Gerry, whose known opinion and high personal character gave a confidence to the opponents of the constitution, which it would be difficult to de stroy. The awkwardness of his situation rendered this no troublesome task. To make the matter more sure, and more aggravating, the giving of the blow was assigned to a friend, long and intimately asso ciated with him in the trying scenes of national embarrassment. In witftdrawing from the convention, Mr. Gerry 72 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. addressed a letter to the presiding officer, the fol lowing extracts from which sufficiently explain the cause. EXTRACT PROM MR. GERRY'S LETTER TO VICE- PRESIDENT CUSHING. After having on Saturday morning stated an an swer to the question proposed the preceding eve ning, I perceived that your honourable body were considering a paragraph, which respected an equal representation of the states in the Senate, and one of my honourable colleagues observed that this was agreed to by a committee consisting of a member from each state, and that I was one of the number. This was a partial narrative of facts which I conceived, placed my conduct in an unfa vourable point of light, probably without any such intention on the part of my colleague. I was thus reduced to the disagreeable alterna tive of addressing a letter to your honour, for cor recting this 'error, or of sustaining the injuries re sulting from its unfavourable impression, not in the least suspecting that when I had committed myself to the convention, without the right of speaking in my own defence, any gentleman would take an undue advantage, from being a member of the house, to continue the misrepresentation by suppressing every attempt on my part to state the facts. I accordingly informed your honour that I LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 73 was preparing a letter, to throw light on the sub ject, and at my request, you was so obliging as to make this communication to the house. My sole object was to state the matter as it respected my conduct ; but I soon perceived that it was misun derstood by the Hon. Judge Dana, who rose with an appearance of party virulence that I did not expect, and followed one misrepresentation with another, by impressing the house with the idea that I was entering upon their debates. I request ed leave repeatedly, to explain the rnatter, but he became more vehement, and I was subjected to strictures from several parts of the house until it adjourned, without even being permitted to declare that I disdained such an intention, and did not merit such unworthy treatment." The discussions in convention still proceeded ; the learning of the law, the sacredness of the pulpit, and the worldly wisdom of the mercantile profession were successively put in requisition, and delighted, and instructed, and overwhelmed an ad miring multitude ; but the leaders of the consti tution party were afraid to trust the question to a final vote. There yet remained a stern mass of opposition, which although argued down and silenced in a great degree, was not disheartened nor converted. A new measuje was devised, on the success of which great confidence was reposed. The gov ernour had held his own opinions in reserve ; both VOL. II. 10 74 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. parties chose to claim his vote. In this doubtful state of things, each was anxious to secure his in fluence, while they, who were not his friends, at tributed his absence not so much to disease, which was the assigned cause, as to a desire of knowing which side should be taken for popularity. Although the leading advocates of the constitu tion were not the personal friends of his excel lency, some, over whom they exercised great in fluence, were supposed to be much in his confi dence ; and if by their means he could be brought to give his name to the constitution, it was thought that there would no longer be any doubt of the result. A select few of the advocates for the constitu tion waited upon the governour in his sick cham ber ; they congratulated him that upon his vote, and those it would draw with it, depended the greatest question, which could ever agitate the country. They represented to him the glory he would acquire in the adopting of so momentous a matter by his own personal exertion, and the po pularity to be gained, by accomplishing this object in a manner that must be universally acceptable. The desire of securing a better form of govern ment than the existing confederation, was known to him extensively to prevail, and while the be nefits of the proposed constitutiA rendered it in many respects desirable, the objeftions, which had been made to it, had been fully and anxiously LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 75 considered. They were disposed to take that middle course, which consulting and uniting the judgment of the most able and upright men on both sides, could not fail to meet general approba tion. With this view, they had prepared a series of amendments, which had been the result of most anxious deliberation. These could not indeed be incorporated into the constitution by the vote of a state, but they could accompany the ratification as the wish and expectation of this important member of the confederacy, and be by that measure finally secured. They tendered to his excellency the honour of proposing them in convention. The reputation of having devised this middle course, the credit of announcing it, the imperishable glory of its success, they had deemed it respectful to offer to him, that to the fame of having given his official sanction to the declaration of his country's independence, might be added that of securing for it a permanent constitution of government. The charm was irresistible. Wrapped in his flannels, Hancock in a day or two took the chair of the convention, and a scene ensued more in the character of a dramatic representation, than of that serious and important business, which was the occasion of the assembly. In a speech, wise and plausible enough in it self, but sufficiently ludicrous to those behind the scenes, the governour and president announced the anxiety of his mind, his doubts, his wishes, his 76 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE dJERRY. conciliatory plan, his recommendation to adopt the constitution without qualification, and to propose for future amendment such alterations as respect for the opinions of the dissatisfied, or a careful re gard for public liberty rendered prudent and advis able. The accession of such a man as Hancock, to the party of the advocates for accepting the con stitution, was not without great effect. His high character and consideration in the community, the reserve, which circumstances had seemed to im pose upon him, the calmness with which he came into the assembly, the effort, which in defiance of disease, he again made in the cause of his country, the moderation of his councils, which appeared to take a fortunate middle course between the vio lence of opposing factions, had a most imposing effect on the convention, and seemed already to secure an anticipated triumph. The measure it self was discreet and judicious, and the subtlety of its accomplishment was wholly concealed from those on whose mind it was intended to operate. Encouragement now dawned on the advocates of the constitution, but the favour of the leading op positionists was not conciliated, and the final ques tion was too important to be submitted to any pos sible chance. It had been the policy of the constitution party to operate in conversation and at private inter views, as well as in open debate on those of the LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 77 opposite side, whom by any means of persuasion it had been thought possible to change. An aged and reverend gentleman, conspicuous for the firm ness of his opposition and the plain sincerity of his character, was by that tacit understanding, which regulated the affairs of this assembly, placed under the surveillance of a distinguished member of the legal profession. In the course of the session, the influence of this honest clergyman had greatly strengthened the confidence of his neighbours and friends, and the plainness and directness of his ob jections, and his terse and comprehensive mode of expression, disturbed the efforts of more rhetorical, and perhaps more logical declaimers. It was the good fortune of the gentleman above mentioned, to convert him from an opponent into a favourer of the constitution, so that notwithstand ing his previous sentiments, his vote on the ques tion of ratification was promised in the affirmative. But his vote secured was only one point gained, and the ingenious commander was desirous of turn ing the artillery be had captured on the ranks in which it had formerly been borne. For this pur pose, the reverend gentleman was urged to speak in convention, and give evidence of his new faith. " I cannot," said he, " obtain the floor ; the young men are so ardent and quick of motion, that they almost always precede me." "But I can," was the reply of the individual who had been instru mental in the change of his political creed. " Do 78 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. you rise when the convention opens in the morn ing ; I will do the same ; if the president allows me the floor I will surrender it to you." On the following day, the good old gentleman rose to speak. Haifa dozen voices from each side of the house, addressed the chair at the same mo ment ; but the presiding officer gave the individual referred to the privilege of; opening the debate. " Sir," said he, addressing the president, " I have some remarks to submit to the convention, but I see a venerable gentleman opposite to me, desi rous of speaking, who though differing from me in some opinions, I am always accustomed to listen to with profound respect. I beg leave to waive my right in his favour." The change in the mind of the reverend prose lyte was then first made known to the convention, and produced in the ranks of his former associates, an unaffected alarm, insomuch that one of their number, disregarding the decorum of debate, could not refrain from a strong exclamation of surprise, in the language of the Psalmist, " Help Lord, for the godly man faileth." The question was at length taken, on a ratifica tion of the constitution by the convention of Mas sachusetts, and passed in the affirmative, by a ma jority of nineteen out of three hundred and fifty-five members who voted. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 79 CHAPTER III. Popular feeling in Massachusetts on the adoption of the Constitu tion Letter to General Warren The Federal party become a majority Consequences Mr. Gerry a candidate for Con gress Letter to iheElectors Letter to the Governour To General Warren. The triumph of the constitution party in Mas sachusetts was celebrated with all the pageantry of conquest. No victory of the revolution was an nounced with greater enthusiasm, and on no occa sion was the exultation of success more offensively displayed. The vanquished in battle had been treated with greater kindness than those in debate. Instead of the courteous demeanour, which the gal lant conqueror of a foreign foe deems it honoura ble to assume, there was a display of that super cilious superiority, which marks the triumphs of a servile war. The state of parties, neither in the convention nor among the people, could have justi fied this extravagant rejoicing, had it not been con sidered the most effective measure to swell the actual strength of the majority, and to extend the influence of Massachusetts into states whose con ventions were yet to assemble. Doubtful of the real state of public opinion, the constitution party determined to assume its control, and to secure 80 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. by apparent acclamation, what had been carried with exceeding difficulty through the forms of de bate. The measure was a wise one. Men naturally love the side of power. The appearance of supe rior strength overawes opposition, and gathers to its standard that vast mass of the community, who always belong to the party of the strongest. The constitution was about to become the law of the land, and the ambitious, who were desirous of its honours, the interested, who might solicit the employments it would confer, and the discontented, whom any change must benefit, added the force of their numbers and their influence to those intelli gent patriots, who were the supporters of its pro visions, from a belief of their inherent propriety. The great exultation at the time, the formation of political parties with reference to the question decided, and the superiority, which subsequent success seems to have stamped on the judgment of the advocates of the constitution, have transferred the honour of the event to those whose manage ment was in truth successful rather than their cause. A general sentiment prevailed that a new form of government was necessary for the existence of the American republic ; and as general an opinion that the constitution, as it came from the conven tion at Philadelphia, would not answer the purpo ses intended. But the real question presented to the people, was whether the proposed constitution LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 81 should be accepted as it was, with the hope of ob taining after it went into operation, such amend ments as were desirable, according to the provi sion for that purpose contained in the fifth article, or whether the ratification should be delayed until the amendments were first incorporated. It is certainly true, that this was a most import ant practical difference, and might well excite much of the controversy, which ensued, but as in all the leading states amendments were in fact recom mended, and the most important of them were as speedily as practicable incorporated into the con stitution according to the forms of law, two infer ences are deducible : Jst, That those members of the convention at Philadelphia who declined sign ing the constitution, were sustained in their refu sal by a large majority ofthe immediate representa tives of the people : 2ndly, That the amazing suc cess of this great experiment on the practicability of free institutions, is not to be ascribed solely to the provisions of the constitution, as at first pro posed, but to its actual condition after these im portant alterations were made in it : and it is not a little surprising, that notwithstanding the con stitution, if it must have remained as it was first promulgated, would have been rejected by an im mense vote,* and that the indispensable necessi- * An unqualified ratification was given by Delaware, Pennsyl vania, New-Jersey, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, and after the new government had gone into operation, by North Carolina. VOL. II. 11 Amend- 82 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. ty of important amendments was admitted in the state conventions, and that those amendments Vvere in truth afterwards incorporated, they whose great object was accomplished by the adoption of these amendments, should have been considered and treated as the vanquished party, and that those who were willing to accept of a government in a form to which the people would not consent, should have been considered, and should have consider ed themselves as victors on this great political arena. The discussions, which were held in the several conventions, and by the instrumentality of the press, did not indeed limit the subject of difference to the point above supposed. The occasion was one, which enlisted the pride of men, and made them competitors rather for victory than for truth. Exaggeration, misrepresentation and mistake, were Amendments were proposed by the conventions of Massachu setts, South Carolina, New-Hampshire' Virginia and New-York. Rhode Island ratified the constitution in June 1790, proposing amendments. The ratification of Pennsylvania was made on 12th December succeeding the convention, and was charged at the time with being urged with unfair precipitancy. It occasion ed some disgraceful riots, and other marks of popular tumult. This is the only large state, which accepted the constitution with out limitation. The commentaries and declaration of rights by other states, which do not form part of the constitution itself, have nevertheless exercised an important influence iu the con struction of the powers, which that instrument confers, and form a contemporaneous exposition of its articles, entitled to great respect. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 83 the natural consequences. Among much profound learning, in which the science of civil government was elaborately and thoroughly explained, and which will serve while men continue free, indelibly to mark the line between liberty and licentious ness, and to define what force is required for the purposes of government, without danger to personal freedom, there was mingled whatever could in flame the passions and exasperate the feelings of the community. They who favoured the new system, concealed or diminished its objectionable provisions, and defended such as were of doubtful utility ; the other side, in retaliation, magnified its supposed evils, and sounded an alarm for public liberty probably beyond their fears. The year 1788 was passed by the statesmen of the United States under all the agitation and ex citement, which attends the disHiuen of great ques tions of political interest, and with the anxiety that awaits the progress of an important and uncertain event. Not satisfied with having accomplished their purposes in Massachusetts, the majority, as now they must be termed, seemed to consider it requi site for their complete triumph to run down the re putation of all, by whom they had been obstructed. Past political services, and the character of those revolutionary patriots, which should have been con sidered the property ofthe nation, were of no avail in the all absorbing interest of the present divi- 84 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. sions, and it was apparent that a new party was to be formed, whose title to the confidence of the people was to rest on the zeal or ability with which they had smoothed the way for the adop tion of the new constitution. MR. GERRY TO GENERAL WARREN. Cambridge, June 28, 1788. My Dear Sir, I wish you would so order your arrangements as to favour us with a part of your time, although the alarm of our being together might be such as to station sentries at Charlestown bridge, and the fortifications for the defence of the federalists in Boston. It is diverting to hear the manner in which these people amuse themselves at our expense. They suggest that I shall not be able to keep this place ; and should it be true, I tell them I hope to find purchasers out of Boston. Others say I am much affected by political events, and disposed to grow melancholy, and so long as this is attended with a mens conscia recti, they may think as they please ; for melancholy is like madness, which has a pleasure none but madmen know. The convention of New- York will, I am well informed, annex a bill of rights to a conditional LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 85 ratification, which will remove all our objections, and it is believed Virginia will do the same. Pat rick Henry has been brilliant in that convention, and very severe on who is reprobated for his duplicity and versatility. 1 know not what judgment to form with respect to the final event, but trust in Providence for protection from the thraldom, which may be apprehended, unless the new constitution shall be modified and amended. Do not let be deterred from visiting us, for fear that she and may be again distin guished in Boston by the appellation of the anti- federal ladies. Your's in great friendship, E. Gerrt. Notvvithstanding the light and playful spirit of this letter, Mr. Gerry felt severely the revulsion of public opinion, and the loss of that bright popu larity, the sunshine and full splendour of which had hitherto shone upon his political path. In another letter, alluding to the same topic, he remarks : " The vigilant enemies of free govern ment have been long in the execution of their plan to hunt down all who remain attached to revolution principles ; they have attacked us in detail and have deprived you, Mr. S. Adams and myself in a great measure of that public confidence to which a faithful attachment to the public interest entitles 86 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. us, and they are now aiming to throw Mr. Han cock out of the saddle, who, with all his foibles, is yet attached to the whig cause- There seems to be a disposition in the dominant party to es tablish a nobility of opinion, under whose control in a short time, will be placed the government of the union and the states, and whose insufferable arrogance marks out for degradation all who will not submit to their authority. It is beginning to be fashionable to consider the opponents of the constitution as embodying themselves with the lower classes of the people, and that one forfeits all title to the respect of a gentleman, unless he is one of the privileged order. Is this, my friend, to be the operation of the free government, which all our labours in the revolution have tended to pro duce .?" The state of affairs at this period was excessive ly galling to honourable men, who next to the conscientious discharge of duty derived their best reward from the approbation of the people, and now saw all the high objects of their laudable am bition broken at a blow. But such was the angry temper of the public mind, or rather such the state to which an interested part of the community was disposed to excite it, that not only they who had decidedly opposed the constitution, but those even who had not been conspicuously zealous in its de fence, were exposed to the pitiless pelting of the storm, and devoted to obloquy and disgrace. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 87 Divided as the people were, on the question of acceptance, it is no mark of their stability, that those who were called to pronounce the conscien tious decision of their judgment should lose their favour by placing themselves in opposition ; and certainly less to the credit of their justice, that even an error of judgment on this debateable propo sition should cancel the debt of gratitude, which the whole revolution had accumulated. But other ages show the insecurity of popular favour, and other periods of our own history are not deficient in lessons, which teach its unsubstantial and evan escent existence. The boldness of the party, which had not long before been even a weak minority, in assuming a control of public feeling, and fearlessly and rash ly assailing the long tried and well favoured ser vants of the people, whose claim on the affections of their fellow citizens might have given currency even to a bad cause, would be much more the sub ject of surprise, if its success had not transfixed our astonishment. Such however, was the rapid change of public sentiment that the constitution party, which at the elections for the convention had, in many places, not dared to avow themselves, was now a most imposing and resistless majority, and flushed with all the pride of unexpected success, were little disposed to regard the feelings, the services, or the character of their defeated adversaries. Indeed, 88 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. in the intemperance of the time, the constitution question superseded almost every where, all other considerations. The few days of service in the state convention were esteemed of more impor tance than whole campaigns in the field ; and he who had only his services in the cabinet of the revolution, as his credentials to public favour, was almost sure to be superseded by the greater popu larity of more recent favourites. Thus in the election for members of congress, at the commencement of the new government, Mr. Fisher Ames, then only known as a young debater of talents, prevailed over the immortal father of the revolution, Samuel Adams. General Warren, whose public character has been displayed in cor respondence with the subject of this memoir, and who had long enjoyed the esteem, and received the honours of his native state, was unsuccessful in Plymouth ; and so many others divided the votes with Mr. Gerry, who was a candidate in Middle sex, that no choice was made on that first theatre of American independence. The election of senators under the new govern ment was equally decisive of the temper of the times. For many years Mr. Gerry had enjoyed the most implicit confidence of the general court ; no mark of their highest esteem had ever been with held from him ; and on every occasion in which his name was presented for their ballots, it had re ceived nearly an unanimous vote. Now indeed LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 89 the case was changed ; so changed that his friends were unwilling to expose him to the mortification of defeat, by proposing him, according to their first design, as a candidate for the senate of the United States.* The result showed their prudence. Mr. Strong Was chosen by both branches, without opposition. But the friends of amendments proposed as his colleague. Dr. Charles Jarvis, personally a great favourite with the people, who though he voted for the constitution in the convention, was known to consider with great respect, the objections that had been made to it, and to be as solicitous as Mr. Gerry, to secure the alterations, which had been proposed. The house of representatives at three successive ballots gave him a majority of votes ; but the senate nonconcurred in the appointment, and each time returned a different candidate. The choice finally settled on honourable Tristram Dal ton, who had declared in the state convention his perfect satisfaction with the constitution as it stood, without any preference for the amendments proposed. By a most fortunate selection of a distinguishing name, the advocates for the constitution, who were *More liberal sentiments prevailed in Virginia, where Richard Henry Lee, the mover of the declaration of independence, and a strenuous opponent of the constitution was elected to the senate ofthe United States against James Madison, its most powerful advocate, VOL. II. 12 90 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. fast forming and organizing themselves into a dis tinct party in the state, assumed the appellation of federalists ; yet inasmuch as the chief objec tion to the new government consisted in its not being a federal, but a national system, this pat ronymic might more justly have been claimed by the opposite side. The term however was popu lar, and the popular party seized it, and under its influence have justified the remark of a judicious observer of affairs, that they who make ballads and songs for the people have commonly more in fluence than those who make the laws. A second ballot was ordered for Middlesex, and not only the personal friends of Mr. Gerry, but that political party, to which he might now be said to belong, insisted on again placing his name be fore the public. The zeal of the one excited the exertions of the other, and efforts were made by both, corresponding to the importance of the con test. The competitor of Mr. Gerry on the first trial had been Mr. Nathaniel Gorham, a gentleman of character and property, whose family had long been residents in the county. He had himself presided as chairman of the committee of the whole, in the convention at Philadelphia, and was distinguished as an advocate for the constitution in the convention of Massachusetts. At the sec ond trial the votes were divided among several competitors. On this occasion the public press opened its batteries of detraction, as if to prove the LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 91 Utter insecurity of reputation, when faction is de sirous of destroying it. To judge by some of the journals of that day, it would be thought that the " antifederal" candidate for Middlesex had neither experience, talents, or public character ; that he was some obscure, or not trustworthy individual, who for the first time had entered upon public life in the convention, and grossly mistaking, or willfully counteracting, or from personal interest desirous of defeating the public sentiment, was properly to end his labours with the scene in which they had commenced. Disgusted with the virulence of the enemies by whom he was assailed, and averse from reengaging in the routine of legislative duty, in which he had all his life been employed, Mr. Gerry addressed the following letter to the electors of Middlesex ; Friends and Fellow Citizens : It appearing from your suffrages that I am one of your candidates for a federal representative, give me leave for this evidence of your confidence, to express my warmest acknowledgments, but at the same time to request that such of you as may again be disposed to honour me with your votes, will turn your attention to some other candidate ; for although I have been long honoured with the confidence of my countrymen, and am conscious that a regard to their political happiness has been the sole motive of my conduct, yet circumstanced 92 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. as I am, an election would by no means be agree able. Since however my name is again, without any effort or inclination of my own, brought into public view, I embrace this opportunity to explain that conduct, for which I have been treated with so much invective and abuse. When the question on the constitution was put in the federal convention, conceiving myself to be in a land of liberty, where the privilege of delibe rating and voting with freedom would be firmly supported, I voted against the constitution, because in my opinion, it was in many respects defective. Had my opinion been founded in error, it would have been only an error of judgment. But five states having ratified the constitution, in the ful lest expectation of amendments, and two having rejected it, no one can, I think, deny that my opinion has been confirmed by a majority of the union. An attempt has been made by means of invective, to impair or destroy the privilege men tioned ; a privilege, which no good citizen will ever permit to die in his hands, and which the good sense of the community will protect as one of the pillars of a free state. Some have endeavoured to represent me as an enemy to the constitution ; than which nothing is more remote from truth. Since the commence ment of the revolution, I have been ever solicitous for an efficient federal government, conceiving LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 93 that without it we must be a divided and unhap py people. A government too democratical, I have deprecated; but wished for one that should pos sess power sufficient for the welfare of the union, and at the same time be so balanced as to secure the governed from the rapacity and domination of lawless and insolent ambition. To an uncondi tional ratification I was therefore opposed, be cause thereby every necessary amendment would be precarious. But as the system is adopted, I am clearly of opinion that every citizen of the ratifying states is in duty bound to support it, and that an opposition to a due administration of it would not only be unjustifiable, but highly cri minal. Amendments every citizen has a right to urge without exciting a spirit of persecution, which is unnecessary in a good cause, and never gains pro selytes in a bad one. Every friend of a vigorous government must, as I conceive, be desirous of such amendments as will remove the just appre hensions of the people, and secure their confidence and affection. To defeat amendments of this de scription, must be in effect to defeat the constitu tion itself. When the question on amendments shall have received a constitutional decision, I shall cheerfully acquiesce, and in any event, shall be happy to promote the interests of the respectable county of Middlesex, of this commonwealth, and of the United States. 94 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. The part, which I have had to act, and the un candid treatment, which I have received in this matter will, I trust, justify me in being thus ex plicit, for I am conscious that every part of my po litical conduct has had for its object, the public welfare. I am, with the highest respect. Your humble servant, E. Gerry. Whether this declaration was intended to aid, or prevent his election, his friends would not with draw his name, and notwithstanding a powerful competition, they succeeded in electing him on the second ballot, by a small majority. In his letter of acceptance to the governour, he says, " I am deeply impressed with this honoura ble testimony of the electors of Middlesex, after I had repeatedly informed them of my declining the appointment. This however has placed me in a situation, which of all others I wished to avoid ; being thereby reduced to the disagreeable alterna tive of disappointing my fellow citizens, who have conferred on me their suffrages, or of filling a place, which the most cogent reasons had urged me to decline. Under these circumstances, in the criti cal state of public affairs, I have preferred the lat ter, being determined to sacrifice every personal consideration, to the acceptance of the office ; that desirous as lam ofthe establishment of a LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 96 federal government, no act of mine may have the least appearance of impeding it." The sincerity of his views is made more appa rent by a letter to his confidential friend. MR. GERRY TO GENERAL WARREN. Cambridge, Februart 15, 1789. My Dear Sir, I suspect you will consider me as manifesting a disposition to change my principles, or of a want of resolution to adhere to them, when I tell you it is probable I shall go to congress. Indeed if this be your opinion, you will alter it when I assure you of all political events in which I have been interested, my election I consider as most unfor tunate to myself. I had not, during its pendency, the most remote idea of acceptance, but thought of it with horror. I now think the measure one of all others that threatens destruction to my peace, interest and welfare, and yet such has been the torrent of abuse against me, that no person here will listen to my declining ; my best friends say they shall be sacri ficed by my refusal, and that I myself shall be considered as an obstinate opposer of the govern ment, which is an opinion that has recently been much circulated. Should I decline then, I am to be considered as 96 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. a non-juror in Great Britain, or an Irish Catholic, and sooner than so live, I would quit the continent. In accepting, I see nothing but two years of ex treme disagreeables. To gratify my friends, and to avoid the consequences menaced, I have selected a certain positive evil ; whether it be the least of the two, I am yet to learn. In another letter to the same gentleman, after having taken his seat in congress, he thus writes : " I cannot accept your compliments, for I assure you my situation here is a very awkward one. I foresaw that it would be impossible for me to feel easy in a branch of the federal legislature where I had few or no connexions or friends. Whatever the state of my case may be upon republican prin ciples, I cannot separate it in my mind from an idea of degradation, when I reflect that the flower of my life has been spent in the arduous business of the revolution, and see a preference given to those who have endured very few of its toils ; but we both know that republics were never remarkable for the constancy of their attachment, and there fore private life is the place in which we are most to look for happiness, especially when the road to political honours lies through the mazes of intrigue, servility and corruption. I have had so much to do with legislation, that I feel an aversion to any fur ther occupation of that kind, and am satisfied that retirement would most contribute to my own and my family's happiness, therefore I fear not any LIFE OF ELBRIDGE! GERRY. 97 mortification from my enemies ; but from my friends I do indeed experience it, by their urging me to places, which are neither pleasant, lucrative nor honourable. Their measures put me in trammels ; had I declined, it would have been said and believed that I was a determined enemy to the federal gov ernment, and my friends would have been reproach ed for supporting a man, who would not attend con gress to procure the amendments he had warmly in sisted upon. Indeed I should have been obliged to leave the state, to seek a more agreeable residence, which could only have been done by the sacrifice of much property ; I have therefore been obliged, by accepting this place, to submit to a temporary mortification to counteract the malignity of invete rate foes. " I cannot but smile at the art or folly, for I know not which is the true cause, of those who represent me as being elated at my appointment, when the acceptance is indeed forced upon me by circumstances, which operate as a great injustice to myself. As to the new government, I am and always was a federalist, but not in their sense of the term. I feel bound in honour to support a system that has been ratified by a majority of my fellow citizens ; to oppose it would be to sow the seeds of civil war, and to lay a foundation for mili tary tyranny. I shall be a spectator merely, until I can form some adequate idea of men and mea sures." VOL. II. 13 98 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. CHAPTER lY. Pirst Congress of United States Parties therein. ...Speech on amendments to the Constitution The public creditors Em ployments of private life Origin ofthe Democratic party Commentary on the account given by the biographer of Washing ton French revolution British treaty Chosen to the Electoral College of Massachusetts Votes for Mr. Adams Correspondence with Mr. Jefferson on the election M'ith a lady. The government of the United States, under the federal constitution, was organized at New- York in April 1 789. There was a charm of novelty in its arrangements well calculated to aid its intrin sic merits, and secure a propitious popularity. Congress however like the nation itself, was composed of men, who in the national or state conventions, or in the primary assemblies of the people, had taken opposite views of the new frame of government, and formed different estimates of its worth. Principles, which were brought into the earlier discussion of its character, had lost none of their force, and passions, which collision excited, if they had in some degree subsided, were certain ly not extinguished. Honest men of all parties were disposed to give the new system a fair setting off, and to provide all reasonable equipments for its long and profitable voyage. Opposition was unorganized. Indeed as the constitution was the supreme law of the land, they who objected to its LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 99 ratification, now that their original objections were unavailing, professed to treat it with the respect due to sovereign authority. The political elements collected in the first con gress, notwithstanding these appearances, could not easily assimilate ; and their natural repulsion was increased by artificial excitements. They by whose efforts the government had been called into being, felt themselves its natural guardians, and were unwilling to share their honours with less fortunate companions ; while the other class, who considered their oath of fidelity as security for al legiance, resented as derogatory and offensive every attempt at discrimination. It was soon apparent that lines of division would be drawn, not easily to be effaced. The state elections had given to the federalists* * In the course of an early debate, Mr. Gerry took occasion to remark that he did not like the term national, in a resolution then before the house. However correct it was abstractly consider ed, it had acquired in the debates on the constitution, a technical meaning, and was used to designate a consolidation, and not a confederacy of the states. The term federal too, he said, properly belonged to those, who really desiring a federal union, had felt it a duty to oppose one, which in their view had few fedral princi ples, and it was improper that the friends of amending the system should be called antifederalists, inasmuch as they eminently w«re the advocates of a federal government. As the question had been presented to the people, it was between those who were then for ratifying the constitution, and those who would have delayed it, or between ratifiers and anti-ratifiers. These then should have been their denominations, which by abbre viation might entitle them to the appellatives rats, and anti-rat^ 100 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. decided superiority in numbers, and an imposing weight of character. Ambition, not easily ex cluded from an assembly of statesmen, secured for them the arrangements and confederacy of a politi cal party. Power was in their hands, and its natu ral tendency to self-confidence and pride was not diminished by the mode of acquiring it. Stern republicans, who had resisted the existing form from a jealous apprehension of its conse quences, found in thus realizing their fears, new cause of respect for their judgment, and none for relinquishing opinions, which experience seemed to them gradually to confirm. Other incidents strengthened these convictions. There appeared to one class of the community too much conformity in the external form of the new government to the pageantry of European courts, in levees, audiences and addresses, not suited to the plain habits of an un ostentatious democracy. Efforts to confer high ti tles on its great functionaries,* to make a discri mination in the rank and emoluments of the two branches of the legislature ; to fix compensation for services beyond the standard of like duties in the states, and above all, the latitude of construction, which there was a supposed inclination to give to the language of the constitution, early filled many minds with serious apprehensions. * The president to be called his highness. So at first voted in the senate. Some newspapers proposed that the members of the house of representatives should be called honourable ; sena tors to be addressed as right honourable. LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 101 The exercise of government patronage was a further, and as it always has been, an irritating subject of dissatisfaction and uneasiness. The friends of amendments, now generally and most unwisely held up in the light of an opposition ac cording to English precedent, began to apprehend that if they were not marked by a stern principle of exclusion from participating in the honours of public employment, they were beheld with suspi cion and slight regard. The composition of the cabinet and appoint ments to which the personal knowledge of the president extended, were not included in their dis satisfaction, but beyond that line the unfriendly influence of a government party was thought to be visible. Indeed the personal character of the president was fortunately for the country a rock, on which the whole community rested. Implicit confidence was placed in his patriotism and ability ; and his alternate gratification and reproof of the leaders of each party, restrained the tumult of the waves, which at that early period threatened to sweep from before them the then unsettled fabric of free dom. It was perhaps pardonable to believe that men, who opposed the constitution, would embarrass the government. But there were measures of such novel and intricate character incident to the establishment of a federative empire, that a more 102 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. candid consideration of the motives of the public agents is now due to their fame. A desire to secure such amendments to the national charter as had been deemed necessary by the states, was indeed the anxious wish of those statesmen with whom Mr. Gerry had acted. To motives derived from a conviction of their intrinsic importance, were ad ded without doubt those, which addressed them selves to their pride of opinion and their character before the people; but even the question of amend ments they were willing to postpone to the more urgent subjects, which the organization of a new government pressed on their notice. Mr. Gerry, who unquestionably spoke the senti ments of this class, gave ample evidence of their disposition to aid in good faith those measures of general interest for which the government was in stituted, and of the reluctance with which they would be driven into opposition by illiberality or harshness. " I am of opimon," he said in debate, " that we should despatch the important subjects now on the table, and reserve the great questions concerning the form of the constitution, to a period of tran quillity and leisure. It is indeed a momentous subject, and very near my heart, and I shall be glad to set about it as speedily as possible ; but 1 would not stay the operations of government on that account. I think our political ship should be first got under way, and that she be not suffered LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 103 to lay by the wharf, until she beats off her rudder, or runs a wreck on shore. I wish an early day may be assigned for the consideration of amend ments, to prevent the necessity, which the states may feel themselves under of calling a new con vention. If I am not one of those fascinated ad mirers of the system who consider it all perfection, I am not so blind nor so uncandid, that I cannot see, or will not acknowledge it has beauties. It partakes of humanity ; there is blended in it virtue and vice, excellence and error. If it be referred to a new convention, we risk some of its best pro perties. My opinion was openly given, that it ought not to have been ratified without amend ments, but as the matter now stands, I am firmly of opinion that the salvation of America depends on the establishment of this government, whether amended or not. If this constitution, which is now ratified, be not supported, I despair of ever having a government for these United States." The sentiments thus expressed, were those to which candid men could take no exception. They were the honest sentiments of a class of the com munity, which if not then an actual majority, was numerous and respectable enough not wantonly to have been assailed. It tended nothing to una nimity, that such men found themselves looked upon with suspicion, and their professions listened to with an incredulity that was little else than an imputation upon them of stratagem and fraud. 104 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. The feelings, which this state of things excited, were not calmed or conciliated by the measures proposed and adopted by congress. There was a radical difference of principle among the members, as great, as could be found on tbo-oubjcct of the subject of the constitution itself, in the proposi tions of Mr. Pendleton and the scheme of Colonel Hamilton. Notwithstanding this fact, which would sooner or later produce more open discordance, Mr. Gerry and his political friends lent with good faith the aid of their abilities and experience to the mea sures of the government. In the commercial and financial departments, where previous application had given him great facility and acquaintance, he was early put in requisition, and in forming the first tariff and tonnage bills, he laboured with great industry and perseverance. Information, which is now easily acquired through regular channels, and is systematized by the assistance of clerks, was then obtained by the exertion of individual mem bers. The vast mass of documents, which went into the composition of these first bills of revenue, were collected, arranged and consolidated, by his personal labour.* With zeal for an efficient and energetic admin istration, and a sincere desire to cooperate in es tablishing it, his views and those of his friends * The voluminous correspondence and the immense statistical abstracts among his papers, is authority for the remark in the text. LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 105 were in many respects so different from the ma jority of congress, that they could not escape the imputation of conducting a concerted opposition. \ " It is my rule," said he in a private letter, " to support such measures as I think good or harmless, and to oppose those, from whatever quarter they come, which are in my opinion of a different cha racter ; but when the project is ripened into a law, I feel bound to respect it, however its passage may have been procured. But this does not satisfy a certain class. of men, who have very pompous no tions of government, and seem disposed to make those powers, which were objectionable in the theory of government, felt and feared in the prac tice of it. There is a strong disposition to make the administration exclusive, and if there was not more resistance in the character of the president than there is in the provisions of the constitution, such would be most decidedly the case. A fair compe tition among honourable men gives alarm. There are those who wish to increase the value of their chances, by diminishing the number of rivals, and to hold nearly one half the community in a state of alienage, so that they may be no more trusted than the partizans of the pretender. Even this would be less intolerable, if they were willing to take the credit of their design, but while they are themselves the origin and cause of opposition, by a superciliousness, which belongs to the better sort, they contrive to represent the true friends of VOL. II. 14 106 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. the people as promoters of strife and division. All this is painful to us as citizens of a country, which has suffered so much for freedom, and exceedingly unpleasant to those who are called into its coun cils. The judiciary bill will surprise you. It now stands so that we are to have a court with original jurisdiction in cases affecting life, liberty and pro perty, witholit an appeal, and composed of judges not removable except by conviction on impeach ment. But you will consider me as a great anti- federalist, and to preserve your good opinion I will not enter into a further explanation of matters de pending. They may be changed in their progress, and I suppose come out perfectly federal, which I know you will think perfection itself." / Mr. Gerry undervalued his influence in this first congress of the United States. True indeed, the spirit of party had its residence there, and the general character of a statesman was not a suffi cient badge of honour, without wearing the colours under which he was enrolled. It was true also that the rank, in which Mr. Gerry was usually found, was not the party of the strongest, and that the general supervision and direction of affairs, to which he had been for many years accustomed, had passed to other hands ; but on subjects of diffi culty and importance, it was impossible that he should not be listened to with attention and re spect. In the discussions, which agitated that as sembly, in all matters connected with finance, on '^ LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 107 the proposed discrimination between the public cre ditors, on funding the indents of the state treasu ries, and the assumption of the state debts, he ex pressed very largely his opinions, and was most generally in the majority of the house. In the protracted debate upon the first report of the secretary of the treasury, Mr. Gerry enter ed very fully in defence of some of its proposi tions, which might have afforded a popular theme for opposition, if there had been a settled design to embarrass the operations of the government. After defending the power of congress to as sume and pay the state debts, he enquires, Who are the holders of state certificates ? Some of the state creditors, he replies, were officers and sol diers of the late army. The first army of the United States was raised, armed and clothed by the states. The officers and soldiers have as strong a claim on the justice of the country, as those who were enlisted at the close of the war ; a greater indeed, as they came forward in those dark moments, when to the dangers of ordinary warfare, were superadded the penalties of rebel lion. These men acknowledge no difference in their rights because they were enlisted by state instead of continental authority ; for they were adopted by congress, formed into one army, fought the same battles, and shared the same hardships. Another part of the state creditors, are men, who furnished supplies for the union, during the 108 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. late war. Can any one, who recollects the cir cumstance, imagine a difference between them and continental creditors, except that they came forward in our extremest need, when the more distant authority of congress was inadequate to the occasion. Part of the state debts were conti nental debts assumed by the state on the earnest recommendation of congress ; other parts were occasioned by the states having undertaken expe ditions against the common enemy for the general good, or having paid to their citizens interest on the continental debt. It is said the proposed assumption will raise the importance of the union and depress the states. If I thought so I should oppose it, because the constitutional balance between the states and the union, ought to be preserved. I view the consti tutions of the united and individual states, as form ing a great political machine, in which the small wheels are as essential as the large ones, and if either are deranged, the movement will be imper fect ; but I humbly conceive a contrary policy will have the effect predicted. Suppose congress refuse to assume the state debts ; they will make, as they are able, provision for their own creditors, but it is doubtful if each of the states can make a similar arrangement, and if they fail, the discrimination will most materially impair their respectability. The United States creditors will naturally magnify the honesty, integrity and ability LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 109 of the general government, and hold in contempt and derision, the injustice or poverty of the local authorities. A clamour might be raised against the state governments, made more general by the con trast between them and the nation, and the pecu niary interests of a large class of citizens, operat ing to their injury, may have a prejudicial effect on their permanency or their strength. The national government may incline to oppress the states, and I ask whether they would not be better able to resist this attack if they had no creditors to provide for. The common maxim is, out of debt, out of danger, but the opposite ar gument reverses it, and in my opinion, very un soundly. A discrimination will establish two contending parties. They who look to the union for their payments will be desirous of extending its power of taxation, revenues, resources and credit. They who look for their payments to the states, will [)e prone to diminish the continental power, for the purpose of enlarging the funds from which they are to derive their reward. This discord will de feat the operation of both. It has been suggested that the state debts may not have been fairly liquidated. I should think from personal observation there was no ground for this fear. The creditors of Massachusetts have had their accounts adjusted quite as strictly as those 110 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. of the federal government. Other states have acted in the same manner. It is said we are unacquainted with the ability of the union, and therefore it is improper to pledge the public faith for the payment of a debt, which may possibly exceed its means. I do not now, and never did, despair of the ability of the United States to pay their debts. Our finances are in deed deranged, but we are taking measures to ex tricate ourselves from the evil of such a situation, and should not be deterred from ascertaining the amount we owe, from present inability to pay it. By the secretary's report, we can now pay two thirds the interest. With increasing resources and a gradual diminution of the interest, we may eventually discharge the whole. But let me not be misunderstood. I would not pledge the gov ernment to what it could not perform. I would not subject it to any engagement, which it might not be able to make good. But the acknowledg ment of our obligation is one thing, the mode of discharging it, another. The best interest of the creditors as well as the nation, is to make such arrangement as by securing the actual perform ance of what is just, will so modify the means as not to make it inconveniently onerous. The se cretary's report goes on the ground of admitting the force of all the public contracts. He allows no preference as to continental creditors, among LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. Ill whom, if their claims could be examined, would be found weightier causes of difference than exist between the classes, whose rights are severally referable to the states or the nation. There is the same principle to prevent discrimination in either case. Indeed by the constitution, the effi cient means of revenue are conveyed to the feder al government. The states are almost wholly without them, and it cannot be reasonable that they should give up the resources for paying the interest on their debts, unless those debts are assumed by the nation. If indeed sir, with limit ed resources and a heavy debt, the states are to commence the operations of the new confederacy, the smaller will soon be crushed ; the larger will be scarce able to get along. Their independeuce is but nominal ; their sovereignty must exist but in name, and a consolidated government take the place of the system, which such a measure would destroy. With the second congress of the United States, Mr. Gerry terminated his services in the legisla ture. He had declined reiterated and importunate solicitations to be a candidate for reelection, and retired to his farm and family at Cambridge. Many reasons produced a disinclination to be longer concerned in political affairs. The citizens ofthe United States were fast forming themselves into fierce and irreconcilable parties, and it was the policy of the dominant power, to identify the op- 1 1 2 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. position with hostility to the constitution itself. That hostility on the part of Mr. Gerry had pass ed away, and not only in conformity with his early declaration, that he would submit to the will of the majority, but because the recent amendments had essentially changed its character, he was dis posed to give it a fair trial and an honest support. There was, however, --in the early measures of congress, much to excite the apprehension of so jealous a republican, always alive to the dangers of political power, and habitually regardful of pub lic liberty ; and without participating in that spirit of party, which rallied its members on all occa sions, under their several banners, he was too fre quently found opposing the measures of the ma jority, to be classed among their friends. On the other hand, when the movements of the adminis tration met the approbation of his. judgment, he was not deterred from lending them his support, although the occasion might be one, which the op position had selected as favourable for a combined attack. The integrity and independence, or if any one so chooses to call it, the singularity of mind, which would not submit to be bound by the shackles of party, would not give to either side a security for his vote, and would obviously in the end deprive him of the favour of both. But his most intimate personal friends were chiefly among those, whose attachments combined them with the government. Against these he LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 113 could not very frequently take a stand without dissatisfaction to them, nor be on their side with out violence to himself. Nor was the state of affairs in congress calculated to gratify his ambi tion or reward the long labours of experience. He who had been one of the chief leaders and direc tors of the administration, when the whole au thority of government was confided to the dele gates ofthe states, could find little pleasure in being one of the lower branch of a deliberative assem bly, where the charge of arranging and directing the great movements of the political machinery, was in other hands. A new generation of states men had arisen since the declaration of indepen dence, whose active spirit, under the peculiar condition of things, elevated them over those earli er patriots, by whom the resistance of the colo nies had been first promoted. Motives equally strong were also derived from his personal concerns. A young and numerous family claimed that attention, which their mother's infirm health could but partially bestow, and threw on him the responsibility of forming their princi ples, superintending their education, and preparing them for the duties of society. As a father, he found a field for his labours, upon which he entered with all the zeal and more than all the pleasure, which the patriot and statesman had experienced in different pursuits. Peculiarly kind and affectionate in his disposition, the culture VOL. II. 15 114 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. of the infant mind had an irresistible charm for him, while his benevolent feelings and affable manners endeared him to the young objects of his regard. Perhaps no individual of any profession or em ployment, certainly none whose temper had been so often tried in the angry tempests of political discussion, was more thoroughly mild, placid and placable. If experience had not shown how in flexible were his purposes, and how perseveringly he pursued them in the great concerns of public duty, if the firmness with which he maintained his sentiments, or the untiring eff(>rts, by which they were inculcated, had not been repeatedly displayed in critical situations of political life, it might have been supposed that the softer elements of human nature were too intimately mingled in his character, to enable him to maintain the rank he obtained among statesmen ; while on the other hand those, who were acquainted with the mild and gentle spirit, which displayed itself at home, and witnessed the conciliatory temperament, which rendered him the favourite and friend of the youth ful circle, might well have been surprised at the vigorous efforts and the immovable firmness of his public conduct. This delineation of his pri vate character, is very different from the picture presented by political adversaries, who saw him only when considerations of public duty imposed their irresistible weight upon his mind. In the LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 115 angry collisions of a later period, and in the per sonal resentments growing out of an unfortunate state of affiairs, there were many, who believed what the press seemed desirous of establishing, that the leader of the republican party had the ascerbity of temper, the ferocity and vindictive- ness, which belonged to the Brissots and Dan- tons, to whom they chose to resemble him, and that the government of Massachusetts was want ing at one period in nothing but power to have resembled itself to the most busy period of the revolutionary guillotine. Such is the distorting atmosphere of party, and the credulity, which un der its excitement, receives the most monstrous fictions for truth. Mr. Gerry passed the succeeding four years in the superintendence of his farm, and the cultiva tion of those young plants of a more endearing de scription, which providence had intrusted to his care. Efforts were made in vain to draw him into various situations of a public character. The citi zens of Middlesex, elected him in May 179.3, to the senate of the commonwealth, but he declined the honour of a seat in that body, and would not permit himself to be named as a candidate either for the council or the house of representatives, as he was repeatedly solicited to do by his friends.* ^ A very flattering effort was made to draw hira back to pub lic life, which profitable and honourable as it was, he had the resolution to withstand. The commissioners under the sixth 116 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. Even the correspondence, which he had hitherto extensively carried on, seems during this interval to have been in some degree relinquished. All the energy of mind, which for so many years had been devoted to his country, were confined to the little territory under his control, and the young republic of which he was the natural head. Of this period of tranquillity and peace he often afterwards spoke with unmingled satisfac tion, and was inclined to consider it as the hap piest passage of a long life. His residence was near the seat of the university at Cambridge. Few young men resorted to that institution with out desiring the privilege of his acquaintance. The hospitality of his mansion and the urbani ty of his manners, domesticated the most respec table of them in his family circle. Strangers, whom curiosity or interest led to that centre of literary attraction, were received in a manner suit ed to the rank he had held in the public councils, article ofthe treaty of London, consisting of two Americans and two Englishmen, assembled in Philadelphia in May 1797, and an attempt was to be made to choose the fifth, which would com plete the board, by mutual consent. The government of the United St.ites were very desirous he should bean American, and deeming it probable if some highly respectable and well known character was nominated, the British would accept him, .they were anxious to propose Mr. Gerry. The business would have conformed in some degree with his accustomed habits of mind, and in other respects would have been both agreeable and lu crative, but he dechned permitting his name to be submitted to the board. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 117 although the hospitality of a generous disposition, made an inconvenient Inroad on his property. Like most of those, who had been actively con cerned in the direction of the revolution, Mr. Gerry had retired from the service of the country with no other emolument than the honours it con ferred. The fluctuation of affairs, which had re quired a constant watchfulness over private con cerns, and incessant public employment, which ob structed it, prevented not merely the increase, but almost the preservation of those means, which the early patriots had carried into the contest. For tunes had been realized indeed in the changes of the times, but the Deity who presided over the distribution of wealth, seemed to consider that the statesmen and soldiers of the country had re ward enough in the glory they acquired, and that opulence was to be conferred as a compensation for the want of other titles of respect. " It is necessary for me," said Mr. Gerry in a letter of this date, " to become a farmer, and to endeavour to preserve those resources, which po litical engagements have allowed me little oppor tunity, and I might say, less inclination to im prove." During these four years of domestic seclusion, those dissensions, the germ of which was starting when Mr. Gerry retired from congress, had struck their roots deep and firm, and extended over the entire continent. It was impossible that he could 118 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. either have been careless of the progress of events, or indifferent to their consequences. His temporary removal from the sphere of operations, made him, unquestionably, a calmer observer, and probably a less heated partizan, than those who were more actively engaged in the labours of the field, so that on his return to public life he was unwilling to sacrifice private friendship and the habits and attachments of former years to the stern Moloch of the day ; yet his prin ciples always assimilated, and his conduct soon identified him with the great democratic party of the United States. This party, which for nearly the whole. dura tion of the existing government, embraced a vast majority of the American people, has in some parts of the country, and particularly in the native state of Mr. Gerry, been for nearly an equal period wholly deprived of political power. While its members in some sections have enjoyed all the honours of the people, they have in others been treated almost as outlaws, with the humiliation, which attaches to an inferior and degraded caste. The political class to whom the subject of this memoir most intimately belonged, have found among their other misfortunes, that their motives were misunderstood, their principles mi-sstated, and their conduct defamed. The leading histo rian of the country, whose own great talents suit ed so well the subject most interesting to Ameri- LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 119 cans, which he selected for his theme, has by a series of sarcastic and derogating animadversions, contributed to propagate the favourite opinion of their adversaries, that this disturbing power in the state was a fermenting mass of faction, ignorance and disappointment. The lion, says the fable, was not the sculptor of the piece. Before the formation of the constitution, the distresses, which had been occasioned by the ope rations of the war, had amassed themselves in a degree, which in many places deranged the whole economy of life. Debts had accumulated, specie vanished, and the enforcement of creditor rights often dissolved the only sources from which re muneration could proceed. Time was necessary for the reaction of public energies. There were found, as a consequence of this state of things, two classes of men, one of whom insisted on the strict execution of the letter of the bond, the other were willing to delay for a convenient period, the exertion of judicial power, upon the principle, that as the war had in many cases wholly destroy ed the claims of the creditor, by annihilating his debtor's property, and sometimes his life, so in all it had produced a good reason for lenity and delay. To this incident it has pleased the biographer before alluded to^ to trace the commencement of political parties, and omitting even the plausible reasons, by which the one defended its opinions, to trace the origin of the democracy of the coim- 120 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. try through a systematic hostility to the constitu tion, up to a nefarious disregard of personal obli gations, and a contemptuous indifference to the validity of private contracts, the demands of jus tice, and the security of law ; and as in this division of the community, the affluent would naturally be on one side, andmen of more mo derate circumstances on the other, so the for mer are, by necessary inference, identified with the honour, the virtue, and the character, which are attached to a good government, and the latter with those demoralizing habits, which spring up among men, whom revolution could not impo verish, nor rebellion destroy. Neither hostility to the constitution, nor oppo sition to the government can fairly be traced to this source. On these latter points men were di vided who acted together on the first. The con dition of things before the convention at Philadel phia, was not one, which can identify the opposi tion to their projected system with any preconcert ed design of subverting it ; and dissatisfaction with the constitution, as it came from the hands of its framers, is improperly charged to be a motive for subsequent opposition to the govern ment. No individual did more to secure the suc cess of the administration than the first secretary of state, who is well known to have been dis pleased with the original principles of the con stitution. No one did more to establish the great LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 121 democratic party of the United States than he who was the projector and defender of the constitution in the convention, and its leading advocate before the people. The instances alluded to are not cases of individual exception ; they are examples fol lowed by vast multitudes, and refute the imputa tion that the administration commenced under the auspices of wealth and integrity, and was beaten down by poverty and fraud. If the origin of the great democratic party is to be traced to a period antecedent to that in which it was formed, it may be sought in those highly enlightened and honourable sentiments, in which the revolution was commenced and accomplished. The chivalrous leaders of those perilous times persuaded themselves that the happiness of the people was the only legitimate object of govern ment ; that the means of the people were not to be exacted without their consent, nor was their consent to be expected for an useless or wasteful expenditure. The British government, by viola ting these principles, raised that storm, which swept away their authority ; the new government was objectionable as it failed to secure them, and the administration reprehensible by its similar tendencies. For the correctness of the facts, or the accu racy of the deductions, which combined this party together it is not necessary to contend, but it is VOL. 11. 16 122 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. proper to demand for them higher motives than sordid cupidity or profligate injustice. The class of men who, anterior to the com mencement of hostilities, had so freely discussed the tendencies of political power towards des potic exertion, and who had, with pertinacity and courage, contended for the rights of the people in all controversies between the colonies and the em pire, may have extended their analogies too far in applying them to a government elected by the citizens over which it was placed. Be it so. It is a question of fact, which posterity may settle against them, and still leave their honour unques tioned and their integrity unimpeached. The intimation that poverty and faction first opposed the constitution, and then the adminis tration of the government erected under it, was made to receive countenance by the fact, that the wealth, which the government created, readily en listed on its side. The new constitution went into operation, when the debt of the revolution had depreciated to an eighth of its nominal value. This had passed, in a great degree, from meritorious creditors, who had expended their property or their blood to acquire it, into the hands of speculation and traffic. In many instances the funds, concealed when patriotism required them to be expended, were lavished in the acquisition of those certifi cates, which the country had issued in evidence, as well of its justice as its poverty. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 123 A vast proportion of the whole debt of the nation had changed hands. The duty of pro viding for its payment was universally admitted. The right of discrimination between the original owners and their assignees, though long and ably maintained, was of doubtful character, and the faith of the nation, which finally redeemed all its promises with interest, raised into existence an army of pensioners, who were ready, with the com mon feelings of household troops, to prove their devotion by the excesses of their zeal. The accumulation of fortune, thus suddenly produced, aided the administration, not only by its actual strength, but by that appearance of respect ability, which opulence never fails to confer. Causes intrinsic and immovable, for the for mation of the great parties of the country, may also be traced, without disparagement to either, in an original difference of opinion concerning the arrangement of political power. The opposite and counteracting forces of the states and the nation, it was admitted on all hands, were neces sary to preserve the relative proportions of the whole and the parts, as the centripetal and cen trifugal forces maintain the balance of the solar system. But the principle was more easily admit ted than applied. What the proportion should be was not ascertained. A desire improperly to in crease or weaken these forces, was ascribed by each party, with sincerity no doubt, to its opponent, as premeditated "wrong. 124 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. The plan of col. Hamilton, for the distribution and continuance of the powers of government, had more real than ostensible friends. They, who con sidered it as the beau ideal of a good constitution, would endeavour to render the actual condition of the existing one as conformable to its principles as its established forms would allow ; while others, who saw the prerogatives of authority advanced further than, in their opinion, the safety of public liberty permitted, would on all questions calculated to increase them take the side of opposition. In every written law involving extensive con cerns and matters of detail, much is unavoidably to be settled by construction. To ascertain which of two meanings is the intention of the enacting power, forms no small part of the common business of the judiciary department ; and the most curious facility of language has never yet presented a series of propositions, whose exact meaning was univer sally admitted. There is certainly no exception to the common ambiguity of language in the con stitution of the United States. Hence a cause of great difference of opinion. By one class of states men it was considered wise to expand its powers by construction, and in all those cases, which admitted of two modes of interpretation, to adopt that, which should strengthen the principles of power. The opposite course reconciled itself more easily with the views of another class. The motives, which led to results thus deduced were impeached LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 125 instead of being traced, as they ought to have been, to that formation of mind, education and character, which might vindicate their integrity. Hence the favourers of a strong government, who chose to consider themselves federalists, were designated as aristocrats and supporters of oligarchy ; the friends of a more popular system, who claimed the appellation of republicans, were represented as de mocrats, demagogues, and hypocritical courtiers of the people. The connexion between the dignity of office and the intelligence, which deserved it, was inge niously claimed by the dominant party, and not only the daily press, but works of more permanent authority, have countenanced this suggestion, and a sneer of contempt at the absurdity of argument or the frivolity of fear, which disturbed the party in opposition, is but ill disguised by the affected impartiality of history. In a bill proposed at the first congress, organiz ing a department of the treasury, a clause was inserted, making it the duty of the secretary to digest and report plans for the improvement and management of the revenue, and the support of public credit. It was opposed under an appre hension of the extension it would give to ministe rial influence, its imitation of the British parlia ment, and as a precedent, which would be extend ed to countenance the personal introduction of these ministers on the floor of the house. Upon 126 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. the discussion of the bill, says the biographer of Washington, Mr. Gerry remarked, that " he had no objection to obtaining information, but he could not help observing the great degree of importance gentlemen were giving to this and the other ex ecutive officers. If the doctrine of having prime and great ministers of state were once well estab lished, he did not doubt he should soon see them distinguished by green or red ribbon insignia of court favour and patronage." It might be well twenty years after the danger had passed, to ridicule the means by which it was defeated, by way of proof that there never was any cause of alarm. But if members of the cabinet had been admitted on the floor of congress to explain, and of course enforce their schemed of finance and policy ; if the secretary of the treasu ry might personally have opened his budget, and the secretary of state his schemes of foreign or domestic relations, the executive power would have acquired an increased momentum, at the ex pense of the representative rights of the people. The effort shows the views of the different mem bers of congress, not merely on the details of this particular subject, but on principles so funda mental as naturally to separate them like the dif ferent elements of the material world. In the importance and novelty of the measures brought into discussion, both in the halls of con gress and in the assemblies of the people, difficul- LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 127 ties enough presented themselves to vindicate the judgment of any one from reproach, on whichever side he was found. Ignorance only would be self- confident or rash. It is not unlikely indeed, that a desire of participating in the enjoyment of pow er influenced the champions of the day, and that the spoils of victory might have been among the inducements to the contest ; but what candour is there in ascribing more honourable motives to those who fought to preserve their authority, than to their competitors, who were striving to obtain it ? On both sides were men of high principles, ardent patriotism, great experience and rare in tellectual capacity. At the head of the govern ment was a tower of strength, which they of the adverse faction wanted. The federalists claimed him as their leader. But Washington was above the atmosphere of party. He belonged to his country, to the cause of civil liberty, to posterity, mankind. He alone by the force of that sound judgment, which on so many occasions had con tributed to the safety of the state, could maintain a dignified neutrality in the midst of the wasting warfare that was raging around him. If in the asperity of remark on the administration, an arrow of obloquy was aimed at the chief magistrate, it rung harmlessly on the shield of public opinion. Whatever in the councils of the nation satisfied the opposing party, was with affectionate regard ascribed to' his personal virtues; other measures 128 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. were traced to the influence of the counsellors who surrounded him. In the first arrangement of his cabinet, the ge nerous confidence of the president had collected a fair representation of the different opinions, which agitated the country. Circumstances in which he had no agency, produced a resignation of some members, and its composition essentially changed. The weight and influence of the government became essentially federal, and this advantage of position they, who possessed it, were naturally desirous to preserve. While in the domestic concerns of the country so many disturbing forces intervened to prevent the regular gravitation of the system, the French revolution burst on the astonished world, like a comet, that from its horrid hair shook pestilence and war. For a people who were endeavouring to throw off the yoke of oppression, there was naturally ex cited, in those who had successfully performed the hazardous experiment, a strong and operative sympathy. Gratitude for the services of that na tion, was a motive of unmeasured force. The early friends of the American republic were in hostility with its ancient and still suspected ene my. They presented a spectacle, in which free dom and the popular will were arrayed against the authority of long established power. When the American administration, with an intelligence LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 129 and caution suited to the circumstances of a grow ing but unsettled empire, took the position of neutrality and repressed the exuberance of feel ings honourable indeed but unsafe and unwise, it produced a suUenness of temper and a sentiment of distrust, as if they too were joining in a conspiracy of kings, and avowing the common affinity by which government, no matter what is its form, places itself by the side of government in any con test for popular rights. But neutrality was too obviously suited to the interests of the United States to be demolished by the escalade of opposition ; and that generous en thusiasm, which at its first excitement would have rushed into battle, was succeeded by more sober judgment and calmer feelings, the best advocates of peace. The executive opened a negotiation with the British government, and the treaty, which re sulted from it, unchained the fierce spirit of hos tility and separated the community into irrecon cilable factions. Passion and those personal and private motives, by which the elements of party are blown into a blaze, operated with all their force, and they, who had other motives for re sentment, saw in this measure that fatal error, which properly managed would unsettle the pow er of their rivals. The treaty itself and the man ner of its being negotiated, presented points of extreme difficulty, justifying almost any view of it, VOL. II. 17 130 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. which the statesmen of the day found themselves disposed to take. It is not to the present purpose to detail the ar guments, which with a power of intellect as hon ourable to the intelligence, as indicative of the strong feelings of the American people, were urged on the question of ratifying the treaty negotiated by Mr. Jay. It is necessary only to allude to the motives of the party, by whom its rejection was enforced. In vindication of their judgment, may be cited the authority of its friends. " The enlightened negotiator," says Mr. Hamil ton, "not unconscious that some parts ofthe treaty were less well arranged than was to be desired, had himself hesitated to sign it. When the treaty arrived, it was not without full deliberation and some hesitation that I resolved to support it." In the senate its ratification was recommended by a mere constitutional majority. In the house of representatives, on a question introduced to test the opinion of that body, there was a vote of thirty- seven in its favour to sixty-two against it. The president doubted what to do, and balanc ing in his mind the objections and advantages, with great delay and anxious reflection, finally assented to a conditional acceptance. Of the commercial advantages of the treaty of London, many undoubtedly ventured an opinion who were incompetent to decide. But its political character was on a level with every capacity. It LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 131 was supposed to be the first step, and a very con clusive one, in taking sides between the two great belligerents, and with a bold spirit of opposition to the sentiments and feelings of the people, to have selected the wrong one. In the character and objects and governments of the hostile nations, were traced a resemblance to the character and sentiments of conflicting par ties in the United States, and the aristocratic and monarchical tendencies of the constitution, gradu ally expanding in the progress of administration, were here it was alleged fully blown out and de veloped ; and by a natural association, the govern ment that was but in name republican, would be found on the side of kings in a crusade against liberty and the rights of man. These ungenerous imputations on the one side, were met with corresponding severity on the other. To such violence were the angry feelings of the community excited, that when the brutality and ignorance of the French democrats were stripping society of its forms of decency and order, subvert ing the institutions of religion, and confounding all distinctions of education, morality and wealth, the same appellation, with a view of expressing a similarity of temper, was ordinarily bestowed on the opposition party to the federal govern ment, until the name of a democrat became as odious as that of a witch or a tory ; and when 132 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. the jacobins of Paris, the ferocious murderers of age and infancy and innocence, were dripping with human blood, and celebrating their infernal orgies round the guillotine, like cannibals at a feast, their name was in the cominon language of the day affixed to a numerical half of the American people, with a design to have them considered as instigated by like horrible perversity. Less causes than these, have in other ages raised the standard of civil war, and less moderation and patience than marked the insulted party of the opposition, might have repeated in the fair fields of our country the scenes of Hexam or Bosworth. The progress of events abroad, and the arts by which each of the two American parties were iden tified with a foreign policy, had a tendency to strengthen the administration and weaken its as sailants. The French revolution was not found to be that desirable and rational march of liberty, which had at first claimed the sympathies of the actors in our own. The anarchy, which it encour aged, the subversion of law, order and government which it threatened, and often times accomplished, the vast force, which it concentrated, and the little justice or humanity, which directed it, alienated the affections, which it took no care to conciliate, and its frightful excesses made the several adminis trators of its power, objects of fear, horror and sur prise. During the storm, which was thus shaking to LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 133 its centre the government and very existence of the American confederacy, Mr. Gerry was in the retirement of his farm and his family, watching its progress with anxiety and solicitude, but not exposed to any undue share of its evils. The ex citement and irritation, which personal conflict necessarily produces, it -was thus his good fortune to escape, and with more calmness and delibera tion to observe the movements of contending par ties. On most questions of domestic policy he was entirely in unison with his former associates. Of the foreign politics of the country he had in some respects a different opinion. The dan gerous operation of the English government, on the feelings, manners and principles of the country, he realized with all the force, which had been ascribed to them, and was particularly fearful of increasing a connexion, which should give to its influence the authority, which was denied to its power. The resources and the profligacy of the French nation were in his mind causes of alarm, that should suggest a course of prudence and policy calculated to preserve the neutral and favourable position of the United States. The ad miration, which their early efforts had excited, had yielded to astonishment at their singular success, and horror at the want of principle by which their power was directed. Partiality for French politics, or a sympathy for French principles, then so com monly charged on his party, whether true or false 134 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. with regard to them collectively, was wholly un founded in its application to him. While such conflicting interests and jarring opi nions agitated the people of the United States, they were called upon to select a successor to the only man, whose ascendency over the public mind could control the licentiousness of faction, by com manding universal confidence and esteem. Great and radical differences on the essential principles of government gave to this contest all the zeal, which sincerity and judgment could bring into the field. With these the fiercest passions were enlisted, and ambition, pride, the love of power and desire of retaliation, the lordly feelings, which delight in maintaining an ascendency, and the proud spirit that revolts at it, arrayed themselves under opposing banners, with a parade little short of military triumph. Mr. Gerry, without being previously consulted by his fellow citizens, was called into the electoral college of Massachusetts, and gave his vote for Mr. Adams. It occasioned the following corres pondence. MR. GERRY TO MR. JEFFERSON. Cambridge, March 27, 1797. My Dear Sir, Permit me, with great sincerity, to congratulate you on your appointment to the office of vice pre- LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 135 sident of the United States. It was, in my mind, a very desirable object, and a wish, which I ardent ly expressed at the meeting of the electors ; but as we were unanimously of opinion that Mr. Adams' pretensions to the chair were best, it was impossible to give you any votes, without annulling an equal number for him ; otherwise you would cer tainly have had mine, and I have reason to think se veral others for vice president. The constitution, as it respects these elections, makes a lottery of them, and is I think imperfect. There was proba bly a plan laid, by coupling Mr. Pinckney with Mr. Adams, to secure so many votes in this list for the former, as with those for him in other lists, would bring him into the chair ; but this was fortunately seen through and defeated : and I flatter myself that the elections will eventually have a happy effect on the public mind, by the accommodating disposition of the president and vice president, their mutual friendship for each other and the pursuit of a gene ral system of moderation, exploding foreign influ ence of every kind, in every department of govern ment. Being unconnected with parties, whose extremes I confess have been disagreeable to me, and have detached me from politics, I am a re tired spectator, enjoying nevertheless the uncon trolled right of judging for myself, and of express ing independently to my friends, my ideas of the measures springing from public and of the artifices from private views. Thus circumstanced, give me 136 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. leave to express my apprehensions, that the con sequence of this election will be repeated strata gems to weaken or destroy the confidence of the president and vice president in each other, from an assurance, that if it continues to the end of the president's administration, the vice president will be his successor ; and perhaps from a dread of your political influence. Indeed I think such an operation has already commenced, and that you will discover it ; but your mutual good sense will see through the project and defeat it. Wishing you to possess a full share of the public confidence, which I am sure you always merited, and with it much private happiness, I remain Your sincere friend, E. Gerry. MR. JEFFERSON TO MR. GERRY. PHUADELPHIA, MaT 13, 1797. My Dear Friend, Your favour of the 27th of March did not reachme till April 21st, when I was within a few days of set ting out for this place, and I put ofFacknowledging it till I should come here. I entirely commend your dispositions towards Mr. Adams, knowing his worth as intimately, and esteeming it as much as any one, and acknowledging the preference of his claims, if LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 137 any I could have had, to the high office conferred on him. But in truth I had neither claims nor wishes on the subject ; though I know it will be difficult to obtain belief of this. When I retired from this place and the office of secretary of state, it was in the firmest contemplation of never more returning here. There had indeed been suggestions in the public papers, that I was looking towards a suc cession to the president's chair ; but feeling a con sciousness of their falsehood, and observing that the suggestions came from hostile quarters, I con sidered them as intended merely to excite public odium against me. I never in my life exchanged a word with any person on the subject, till I found my name brought forward generally, in competi tion with that of Mr. Adams. Those with whom I then communicated could say, if it were necessary, whether I met the call with desire, or even with a ready acquiescence ; and whether, from the mo ment of my first acquiescence, I did not devoutly pray that the very thing might happen that has happened. The second office of this government is honourable and easy, the first is but a splendid misery. You express apprehensions that strata gems will be used to produce a misunderstand ing between the president and myself. Though not a word having this tendency has ever been hazarded to me by any one, yet I consider as a certainty that nothing will be left untried to alienate him from me. These machinations will VOL. II. 18 138 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. proceed from the Hamiltonians by whom he is sur rounded, and who are only a little less hostile to him than to me. It cannot but damp the pleasure of cordiality when we suspect that it is suspected. I cannpt help fearing that it is impossible for Mr. Adama to believe that the state of my mind is what it really is ; that he may think I view him as an obstacle in my way. I have no supernatu ral power to impress truth on. the mind of another, nor he any to discover that the estimate, which he may form on a just view of the human mind as generally constituted, may not be just in its appli cation to a special constitution. This may be a source of private uneasiness to us ; I honestly confess that it is so to me at this time ; but neither of us are capable of letting it have effect on our public duties. Those who may endeavour to se parate us, are probably excited by the fear that f might have influence on the executive councils. But when they shall know that I consider my office as constitutionally confined to legislative functions, and that I could not take any part whatever in ex ecutive consultations, even were it proposed, their fears may perhaps subside, and their object be found not worth a machination. I do sincerely wish with you, that we could take our stand on a ground perfectly neutral and independent towards all nations. It has been my constant object through public life ; and with respect to the Eng- LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 139 lish and French particularly, I have too often expressed to the former my wishes and made to them propositions, verbally and in writing, ofiScial- ly and privately, to official and private characters, for them to doubt of my views, if they could be content with equality. Of this they are in pos session of several written and formal proofs, in my own hand writing. But they have wished a mo nopoly of commerce and influence with us, and they have in fact obtained it. When we take notice that theirs is the workshop to which we go for all we want ; that with them centre, either im mediately or ultimately, all the labour of our hands and lands ; that to them belongs, either openly or secretly, the great mass of our navigation ; that even the factorage of their affairs here is kept to themselves by factitious citizenships ; that these foreign and false citizens now constitute the great body of what are called our merchants, fill our sea ports, are planted in every little town and district of the interior country, sway every thing in the former place by their own votes and those of their dependents, in the latter by their insinuations aijd the influence of their ledgers ; that they are ad vancing fast to a monopoly of our banks and pub lic funds, and thereby placing our public finances under their control ; that they have in their alliance the most influential characters, in and out of office. When they have shown that by all these bearings on the different branches of the government, they 140 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. can force it to proceed in any direction they dic tate, and bend the interests of this country entire ly to the will of another ; when all this, I say is attended to, it is impossible for us to say we stand on independent grounds, impossible for a free mind not to see and to groan under the bondage in which it is bound. If any thing after this could excite surprise, it would be, that they have been able so far to throw dust into the eyes of our own citi zens, as to fix on those who wish merely to re cover self-government, the charge of subserving one foreign influence, because they resist submission to another. But they possess our printing presses, a powerful engine in their government of us. At this very moment they would have drawn us into war on the side of England, had it not been for the failure of her bank. Such was their open and loud cry and that of their gazettes till this event. After plunging us in all the broils of the European na tions, there would remain but one act to close our tragedy, that is, to break up our union : and even this they have ventured seriously and solemnly to propose, and maintain by argument, in a Con necticut paper. I have been happy however in believing, from the stifling of this effort, that that dose was found too strong, and excited as much repugnance there as it did horror in other parts of our country, and that whatever follies we may be led into as to foreign nations, we shall never give up our union, the last anchor of our hope, and that LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 141 alone, which is to prevent this heavenly country from becoming an arena of gladiators. Much as I abhor war, and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind, and axiously as I wish to keep out of the broils of Europe, I would yet go with my brethren into these rather than separate from them. But I hope we shall keep clear of them, notwith standing our present thraldom, and that time may be given us to reflect on the awful crisis we have passed through, and to find some means of shield ing ourselves in future from foreign influence, com mercial, political, or in whatever other form it may be attempted. I can scarcely withhold myself from joining in the wish of Silas Deane, that there were an ocean of fire between us and the old world. A perfect confidence that you are as much attached to peace and union as myself, that you equally prize independence of all nations and the blessings of self-government, has induced me free ly to unbosom myself to you, and let you see the light in which I have viewed what has been pass ing among us from the beginning of this war. And I shall be happy at all times in an intercom munication of sentiments with you, believing that the dispositions of the different parts of our coun try have been considerably misrepresented and misunderstood in each part as to the other, and that nothing but good can result from an exchange of opinions and information between those whose 142 LIFE QF ELBRIDGE GERRY. circumstances and morals admit no doubt of the integrity of their views, I remain with constant and sincere esteem, dear sir. Your affectionate friend and servant, Th. Jefferson. The design alluded to by Mr. Gerry, has since been distinctly avowed by the leader of the party,* and the declaration made by Mr. Jefferson, that the projectors of the scheme under the pretence of friendship for Mr. Adams, were only less hostile to the one than the other, was within a short time placed wholly beyond dispute.! In answer to a letter of congratulation, the fol lowing was received from a lady, who in the ele vated sphere she was called to fill, displayed all that dignity and elegance, which entitles her to the admiration and respect of the community, as her private virtues and amiable character secured the affection of her domestic circle, and the es teem of her friends. * " It is true that the faithful execution of this plan would have given Mr. Pinckney a somewhat better chance than Mr. Adams, nor shall it be concealed that an issue favourable to the former would not have been disagreeable to me, as indeed I declared at the time, in the circles of my confidential friends." — Letter from A. Hamilton on the public conduct, Sfc. of J. Adams, page 17i t Ibjd. page 18. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 143 MRS. ADAMS TO MR. GERRY. QuiNCT, December 31, 1796. Dear Sir, Your obliging favour of December 28th, I re^ ceived by the hand of Dr. Welch. I thank you sir, for your congratulations, which receive their value from the sincerity with which I believe them fraught. The elevated station in which the suf frages of our country have placed our friend, is encompassed with so many dangers and difficul ties, that it appears to me a slippery precipice, surrounded on all sides with rocks, shoals and quicksands. There is not any man, in whom again can be united, such an assemblage of fortunate circumstances, to combine all hearts in his favour, and every voice in unison, as has been the singu lar lot of the president of the United States. Yet even he, with the full tide of favour and affection, hais tasted the bitter cup of calumny and abuse, an imported cup, a foreign mixture, a poison so subtle as to have infected even native Americans. What must a successor expect, who has near half the country opposed to his election ? as well as all the friends of the rival candidates mortified at their defeat. You sir, have been too long conversant in pub lic life, and full well know " the pangs and heart aches" to which it is subject, not personally to mix commiseration with your congratulations. 144 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. At my time of life, the desire and wish to shine in public is wholly extinguished. * Retirement to Peacefield, the name which Mr. Adams has given to his farm, is much more eligible to me, particularly as my health has se verely suffered by my residence at Philadelphia. But personally I shall consider myself as the small dust of the balance, when compared to the inter ests of a nation. To preserve peace, to support order, and continue to the country that system of government under which it has become prosperous and happy, the sacrifice of an individual life, im portant only to its near connexions, ought not to be taken into consideration. I fully agree with you in sentiment as it res pects the election of Mr. Jefferson. I have long known him, and entertain for him a personal friendship, and though I cannot accord with him in some of his politics, I do not believe him culpa ble to the extent he has been represented. Placed at the head of the senate, I trust his conduct will be wise and prudent. I hope it will be a means of softening the animosity of party, and of cement ing and strengthening the bond of union. There never was any public or private animosi ty between Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson. Upon the subject of Paine's Rights of Man, there was a disagreement in sentiment. Mr. Jefferson " does not look quite through the deeds of men." Time has fully disclosed whose opinion was well founded. The gentleman you alluded to as an active agent LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 146 in the election, has no doubt his views and de signs. There are some characters more supple than others, more easily wrought upon, more ac commodating, more complying. Such a person might be considered as the ostensible engine, which a master hand could work. To what other mo tive can be ascribed the machiavelian policy of placing at the head of the government, a gentle man not particularly distinguished for any impor tant services to his country, and scarcely heard of beyond the state, which gave him birth, until sent upon a public embassy. " Corruption wins not more than honesty." I feel sir, when addressing you, the confidence of an old friend, and that an apology is unnecessary for the freedom of communication. Be pleased to present my compliments to Mrs. Gerry. It would give me pleasure to receive a friendly visit from her and from you. I am, dear sir. With sentiments of respect and esteem, Your friend and humble servant, Abigail Adams. VOL. II. 19 146 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. CHAPTER V. Cabinet of president Adams Mr. Gerry nominated on a mission to France Hostility of Mr. Pickering Acceptance urged by Mr. Jefferson Letter from Mr. Otis Arrival in Paris State of France Retrospective history ofthe connexion between France and the United States. The election of Mr. Adams was a signal tri umph to the federal party. It gave them, for at least four years, the command of the government, the influence of place and patronage, and the van tage ground of their opponents, which they lost no time to improve. The executive chief was not it is true, selected by their voluntary preference. Men of leading influence among them entertained serious doubts of his fitness for the station, but " to preserve the harmony of their party, they thought it better to indulge their hopes than listen to their fears."* Those of them, who were desirous of an undue share of influence, who from behind the throne would be greater than the throne itself, anticipat ed from the character of Mr. Adams insurmount able obstacles to their schemes of personal ambi tion. The experience of the president in the ser vice of his country at home and abroad, through all the troubles of the revolution, and since the * Hamilton's letter, page 16. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 147 organization of its government, and the natural temperament of his mind justly proud of its re sources, and confident in its strength, were not likely to devolve on the aspiring spirits, who sur rounded him, the attributes of office, while he himself should hold a barren sceptre in his hand. The attempt to render him a mere automaton under their control, and the resistance, which his integrity and pride roused in opposition, soon pro duced that disunion in his cabinet, which mainly contributed to its fall. The views of the president were however es sentially those of the federal party, as they related to measures of domestic policy or foreign inter course ; and the spirit of his first communication to congress, was well calculated to elevate the confidence of his friends, and to diminish the in fluence of his opponents. It spoke of the disposition of France to alienate the people of the United States from their govern ment ; a charge, the belief of which caused higher resentment than almost any other on the long ca talogue of wrongs, and it gave point to the accu sation, by something more than an intimation, that a conduct so demoralizing had already been en couraged by a party at home. The energy, with which the speech incited the citizens of the Unit ed States to convince France they were " not a degraded people humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority, fitted to be the 148 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. miserable instruments of foreign influence, and regardless of national honour, character and in terest," implied an accusation against all that class of the community, who by recommending a policy different from his own, had tended to produce the disgraceful condition at which he spurned. The popular language of the day described the republican party as a French party, and the speech of the president was calculated to fix upon them the seal of reproach. It left a sting, which high and honourable men could not but resent. It was con trived, at some expense indeed, to bring to the aid of the executive those principles of loyalty and at tachment to their political institutions of which the Americans are proud, by describing the oppo- sers of the administration as miserable instruments of foreign influence, regardless of national honour, character and interest. In the existing state of things, the first effort of sound policy was to restore the amicable rela tions between the United States and France, or if that was impossible, to bring to the standard of the administration a strong accession of force from the opposing ranks, by making the impos sibility apparent. The president therefore avowed his design of instituting a " fresh attempt at negotiation, and his intention to promote and accelerate an accom modation on terms compatible with the rights, du ties, interests and honour of the nation." LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 149 In this declaration of the president subsequent events proved he was sincere. If the language of his coadjutors be taken for true, it is not now to be doubted that the same integrity of intention influenced their councils. But the great republican party, while they hailed every effort with accla mation, which might tend to preserve the bless ings of peace, yet with the jealousy, which be longed to such times, doubted whether the parade of negotiation was any thing more than an artful effort to reconcile the nation to the alternative of war. By this great section of the community it was believed, that the past intercourse of the countries was not carried on in good faith by the American ministers ; and that the show of negotiation was artfully contrived to demonstrate its inefficiency, with a view to enlist the public sentiment in mea sures, which must necessarily follow the failure of an amicable settlement. They imputed to their rivals a desire, as old as the constitution, to con vert the government into something stronger than a mere representative republic, and as the first step in this drama, to draw a closer connexion with England, whose government and forms of administration, and whose principles of civil policy were more accordant with their own. They im puted to them a desire of producing such a state of public affairs as would place at the command of the executive an imposing military force, an in- 150 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. creased revenue, a vast official patronage, and a coercive power over the personal liberty of its citizens. Public opinion it was certain must be elevated by the occurring of a crisis, to fa cilitate the progress of such operations, and the failure of a negotiation, which would necessarily produce a formal war, would be the consummation of their hopes. Not only did the republican party hold opinions diametrically opposite to these grand schemes, but the great body of the federalists it was known needed only to discover them, to overwhelm them with reprobation. The plan belonged to the ele vated few, who could expect to succeed in it only by those master strokes of policy, for which if their inclination suited, they were not deficient in ability. This conspiracy against the public liberty, im puted to the leaders of the dominant party and proclaimed by their opponents like the prophecies of Cassandra to incredulous ears, has since been wonderfully countenanced by the disclosures, which the then president has made ;* and it may be now taken for true, that it was a combination of a comparatively small circle of influential men, against the sense of the nation, and that these were even less guided by motives of personal am bition and desire of authority, than by a zeal for their country's welfare, which in their opinion * President Adams' letters. No. 2, p. 66. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 151 could be preserved from dissolution in its weak ness, only by the tonics of their philosophy. The fact that such a plan existed in the cabinet, explains many of the measures, which form the history of those interesting times. In pursuance of the president's declaration, he instituted a commission to the French republic, and as a pledge of his own sincerity, he proposed to place among its members some distinguished individual of the party, whose course of policy com manded the confidence of the opposition. In a private interview with Mr. Jefferson, the appoint ment was offered to him, but declined. The in terior of the cabinet is so well drawn by Mr. Ad ams, that it may be best described in his own words.* " From Mr. Jefferson I went to one of the heads of depart ments, whom Mr. Washington had appointed, and I had no thoughts of removing. Indeed I had then no objection to any of the secretaries. I asked him what he thought of sending Mr. Madison to France, with or without others ? Is it determined to send to France at all ? Determined ? Nothing is determined till it is executed, smiling. But why not ? — I thought it deserv ed consideration. — So it does ; but suppose it determined, what do you think of sending Mr. Madison ? Is it determined to send Mr. Madison ? No ; but it deserves consideration. Sending Mr. Madison will make dire work among the passions of our parties in congress, and out of doors, through the states ! Are we for ever to be overawed and directed by party passions ? All this conversation on my part was with the most perfect civility, good humour, and indeed familiarity ; but I found it excited a pro found gloom and solemn countenance in my companion, which * Correspondence ofthe late president Adams, p. 63. 152 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. after some time broke out in " Mr. President, we are willing to resign.'' Nothing could have been more unexpected to me than this observation. Nothing was further from my thoughts than to give any pain or uneasiness. I had said nothing that could possibly displease, except pronouncing the name of Madison. I restrained my surprise, however, and only said, I hope nobody will resign : I am satisfied with all the public ofiicers. Upon further enquiries ofthe other heads of departments, and of other persons, I found that party passions had so deep and extensive roots, that I seriously doubted whether the senate would not negative 3Ir. Madison if I should name hira. Rather than expose him to a negative, or a doubtful contest in the senate, I concluded to omit him. If I had nominated Madison, I should have nominated Hamilton with him. The former, I knew, was much esteemed in France ; the latter was rather an object of jealousy. But I thought the French would tolerate one for the sake ofthe other. And I thought too that the man ners ofthe one would soon wear off the prejudices against hira, and probably raake him a greater favourite than the other. But having given up Madison, I ought to give ¦ up Hamilton too. Who then should I name .' I mentioned Mr. Dana and Mr. Ger ry to the heads of departments and to many leading members in both houses. They all preferred Mr. Dana. But it was evident enough to me, that neither Dana nor Gerry was their man. Dana was appointed, but refused. I then called the heads of departments together, and proposed Mr. Gerry. AU the five voices unanimously were against him. Such inveterate preju dice shocked me. I said nothing, but was determined I would not be the slave of it. I knew the man infinitely better than all of them. He was nominated and approved, and finally saved the peace ofthe nation; for he alone discovered and furnished the evidence that X. Y. and Z. were employed by Talleyrand ; and he alone brought home the direct, formal and oiBciaJ as surances upon which the subsequent commission proceeded, and peace was made." The secretary of state has denied this statement of the president. He says, " I have before stated, that when Mr. Adams first proposed Mr. Gerry LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 16S for one of the envoys, the heads of departments objected, and that Mr. Adams gave way and sub stituted chief justice Dana, of Massachusetts, but on his declining, Mr. Adams recurred to Mr. Ger ry, and in a manner to preclude any further oppo sition. As to senators, I am perfectly persuaded I never spoke to any one of them. We had en tire confidence in general Pinckney and general Marshall, and only wished to save them from be ing embarrassed with a difficult and troublesome associate, and such to their extreme vexation and delay, Mr. Gerry proved to be."* A difficult and troublesome associate any one would be, whose views either of the foreign Of domestic relations of his country differed from a majority of his colleagues. At the moment when Mr. Gerry's name was proposed to the cabinet, he held a rank in the councils of the country above that, which had then been attained by either of his colleagues, and the apprehension, if it truly existed on the mind of the secretary, that he would be a difficult and troublesome associate, must have arisen from his belief that it would be difficult to bend the integrity of his mind from the principles he espoused, and troublesome to carry negotiation to the point, which the secretary de sired, when a party to its progress had different views of the interest of his country. But the clamour, which the cabinet made against * Pick. Review, p. 137. VOL. II. 20 154 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. the president's nomination, was more than com pensated by the confidence, which it gave to the republican party. From all quarters letters poured in upon Mr. Gerry urging his acceptance, and placing the re sponsibility of a refusal on such grounds as left him without the possibility of declining. From the mass of these solicitous epistles, the following, from the great leader and champion of his party, is selected as well for the powerful reasons, which it enumerates, as for the influence, which it had in producing the acceptance, which it urged. MR. JEFFERSON TO MR. GERRY. FHII.ADELFHIA, JuNE 21, 1797. My Dear Friend, It was with infinite joy to me that you were yesterday announced to the senate as envoy ex traordinary, jointly with general Pinckney and Mr. Marshall, to the French republic. It gave me certain assurance that there would be a pre ponderance in the mission sincerely disposed to be at peace with the French government and nation. Peace is undoubtedly at present the first object of our nation. Interest and honour are also national considerations ; but interest, duly weighed, is in favour of peace, even at the expense of spoliations past and future ; and honour cannot now be an LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 155 object. The insults and injuries committed on us by both the belligerent parties from the beginning of 1793 to this day, and still continuing by both, cannot now be wiped off by engaging in war with one of them. As there is great reason to expect this is the last campaign in Europe, it would' cer tainly be better for us to rub through this year as we have done through the four preceding ones, and hope that on the restoration of peace we may be able to establish some plan for our foreign con nexions more likely to secure our peace, interest and honour in future. Our countrymen have di vided themselves by such strong affections to the French and the English, that nothing will secure us internally, but a divorce from both nations ; and this must be the object of every real American, and its attainment is practicable without much self-denial ; but for this, peace is necessary. Be assured of this, my dear sir, that if we engage in a war during our present passions and our present weakness in some quarters, that our union runs the greatest risk of not coming out of that war in the shape in which it enters it. My reliance for our preservation is in your acceptance of this mis sion. I know the tender circumstances, which will oppose themselves to it ; but its duration will be short, and its reward long. You haveitiiLyour power_by accepting and determining thexharacter of the mission, to secure the present peace and eternal union of your country. If you decline, on jjiDtives of private pain, a substitute may be named 156 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. who has enlisted his passions in the present con test, and by the preponderance of his vote in the mission, may entail on us calamities, your share in which and your feelings will outweigh what ever pain or temporary absence from your family could give you. The sacrifice will be short, the remorse would be never ending. Let me then my dear sir, conjure your acceptance, and that you will by this act seal the mission with the con fidence of all parties. Your nomination has given a spring to hope, which was dead before. I leave this place in three days, and therefore shall not here have the pleasure of learning your determin ation, but it will reach me in my retirement and enrich the tranquillity of that scene. It will add to the proofs, which have convinced me that the man who loves his country on its own account, and not merely for its trappings of interest or power, can never be divorced from it ; can never refuse to come forward when he finds that she is engaged in dangers, which he has the means of warding off. filake then an effort, my friend, to renounce your domestic comforts for a few months, and reflect that to be a good husband and a good father, at this moment you must be also a good citizen. With sincere wishes for your acceptance and success, I am with unalterable esteem, dear sir. Your affectionate friend and servant, Th. Jefferson. Mr. Gerry. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 157 To the above may be added one from a gen tleman who, well known to be of the federal party, was not considered of the conclave who formed the majority of the cabinet. MR. OTIS TO MR. GERRY. Philadelphia, June 22, 1797. Dear Sir, It was with peculiar pleasure that I this day certified the advice and consent of the senate to your appointment, to be envoy extraordinary to the republic of France, by a large and respectable majority. I hope, however dear and amiable your family and the great pleasures of domestic retire ment, you will once more step forward to the aid of your country, whose independence and happi ness you have contributed, by great and unremit ted exertion, to achieve, against every considera tion that may suggest itself to your mind. You will go under peculiar advantages, in perfect con fidence of both the great parties into which our country is unhappily divided, and from long ex perience, acquainted with its general interests. Selfish considerations do not preponderate in your mind ; if however, you can serve your health, which I am persuaded a sea voyage at this season would do, and your country at the same time, both pursuits are laudable. In the name of your many good friends, and in conformity to my own incli- 158 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. nations to see you again in public life, I repeat my solicitations that you would make an effort and gratify as^well as serve your country. My best respects to Mrs. Gerry, and tell her I expect her aid in doing away every objection that may present itself to your acceptance of an hon ourable appointment, in this very critical state of our public affairs. With assurances of my best wishes and respects, I have the honour to be, sir. Your most humble servant, Sam'l A. Otis. The Hon. Elbridge Gerry. Nothing could have been more unexpected to Mr. Gerry than the appointment, which thus re quired him to enter again into public service. The condition of his private affairs and the peculiar situation of his family presented almost insuper able obstacles to the task assigned him. Yielding however to the inducements, which Mr. Jefferson had powerfully arrayed, at a sacrifice of personal feeling, which it would be difficult to describe, and an abandonment of private interest, which never afterwards was repaired, Mr. Gerry embarked for Europe on the 9th August, 1797. The American envoys arrived at Paris at a pe riod peculiarly inauspicious to their views.* They * The state of society was not exactly that, which an Ameri can would have preferred. In a familiar letter to one of his fa- LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 159 found the republic elated by conquests, and tri umphing as well in its policy as its arms. The military strength of Europe, which originally threatened the destruction of the new nation, was scattered and overthrown. " The conspiracy of kings," to destroy the principles of liberty was annihilated, and her victorious troops released from the discouraging duty of defending her own terri tories, had engaged in a war of conquest, whose glory surpassed the proudest periods of her power. Spain, Portugal, Holland had successively yield ed to her arms. Italy was conquered. Rome submitted its pontifical pride to her dictation. Germany, by the treaty of Campo Formio, was under her control. Vienna and Venice had seen her flag wave in triumph on their walls. A million bayonets, directed by military genius as original as astonishing, were ready to extend her conquests to the limits of the world. Nor were the interior affairs of the republic cal culated to encourage in her government a less haughty spirit or a less offensive demeanour. mily, Mr. Gerry says, " The morning after my arrival I was wait ed on by the musicians of the executive, and the succeeding morning by a deputation of Poissards or fishwomen for presents. Major Rutledge was kind enough to negotiate for me, by which means I avoided the kind caresses of the ladies, and an interview with the gentlemen. They expected fifteen or twenty guineas, which each of us, according to custom was obliged to give them. When the ladies get sight of a minisier, as they did of my col leagues, they smother them with their delicate kisses ! So much for the dignity of the corps diplomatique. MS. letter, 9tk Octo ber 1797. 160 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. The power of the directory had just been con firmed by the revolution of IJith Fructidor [4th Sept. 1797] and an authority, nominally that of the people, but in truth of the army, had escaped from the danger of dissolution by the boldness of its councils, and perpetuated itself by disregarding the constitution to which it owed its existence. The executive directory had overcome its ene mies, and amid excesses of all kinds contrived to retain the favour of the people. It now wielded . the military force of the nation, and felt all the pride and importance, which could be derived from this vast array of influence and power. A second negotiation with England, conducted with lord Malmsbury by the ministers of the direc tory, had been broken off, having exhibited the obstinacy and the haughtiness of the parties rather than any sincere desire for peace. To the French nation therefore only one enemy remained, and upon that enemy the force and the indignation of the whole population was about to be concentred. " Although," say the directory, " so much has been done, so many kings conquered, so many people set free, and the republic itself established by the valour of its armies, yet the country ex pected one more sacrifice, since that enemy, who had been the original cause of all the horrors and miseries they had suffered, both from foreign and civil war, remained to be crushed. The safety of LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 161 the reptiblic is endangered whilst the English government exists.* Bonaparte, after concluding a treaty with the emperor, so astonishingly favourable to France, that it has been supposed to have added an entire fifth to her ample military means, was himself ready to take command of the force, which the haughtiness of the republic destined to achieve the last of its labours. The success of this effort, which was to complete the conquest of the worldy was riot more the subject of national exertion than ¦pcfpular enthusiasm. The feelings of the commu nity were excited by past success to a species of madness in this great effort of aggrandizement, and with an ardour characteristic ofthe country, already anticipated their complete success. It was true indeed, that the naval strength of the mistress of the ocean gave some opposi tion to efforts, which must be made within her reach, and that the resources at her command were well arranged to protract the period of her overthrow ; but however these incidents might affect the rulers of France, they had apparently little force on the minds of the people, and seem ed principally operative in accumulating such mag nificence of force as would look down opposition. The popular belief was that England was on the point of revolution ; that oppressed by a ruinous * Proclamation ofthe Directory, Nov. 1797. VOL. II. 21 163 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. debt, and borne down by unequalled taxation, the nation was already more than half conquered, and that the appearance of a formidable force, under which the disaffected could rally without fear, would almost without a blow complete the tri umph of the invaders. If the difficulties of the extravagant enterprise were better known to the directory and its gene rals, somewhat of a similar delusion prevailed over even the soundness of their judgment. That a powerful internal opposition existed in Great Bri tain was beyond doubt ; how far it would aid an invading enemy was a matter of speculation. De luded by their success on the continent, and cal culating on their arts as well as arms, the gov ernment of France did not permit themselves to doubt, that when the flag of the republic should be fairly planted on the British shore, it would be hailed as the standard of liberty, a signal for the demolition of the monarchy and the dissolution of the government. With feelings of ancient hostility and rivalship were mingled something of resentment and indig nation at the obstacles, which delayed their anti cipated triumph. They looked to the destruction of this last enemy as an event certainly to happen, but protracted by circumstances vexatious indeed but not formidable, which while they delayed the gratification, served only to sharpen the eager spirit of revenge. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 163 It could not facilitate the objects of the Ameri can embassy, that the principal cause of complaint against the nation it represented, was an imputed attachment to the great enemy of the republic, with whom it had recently by treaty drawn closer the ties of alliance and friendship, and that an identity of principles and interest had grown up between them, which it vs^as the policy of the republic to discredit and condemn. In the character of the individuals composing the French government, the American ambassa dors found no cause for greater satisfaction. The recent revolution had deposed Carnot and Bar- thelemi. To Barras, Reubel and Lepaux were ad ded Neufchateau and Merlin, the latter more than suspected of having a direct interest in the captures made by French privateers on the American com merce. None of them were distinguished for talent or respected for public services. They col lectively supported their little less than imperial station, by a courage that nothing could intimi date, and a ready disposition to disregard for per sonal aggrandizement any restraints, which honour or justice would ordinarily have power to impose. As secretary for foreign affairs, Talleyrand, now known as well for the versatility and greatness of his genius as for the profligacy of his character and the successful hypocrisy of his life, contrived to exercise an almost unlimited authority, without being able to obtain confidence ; suiting himself 164 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. exactly to the exigencies of the government by the powers of his intellect and the flexibility of his principles. At such a period of triumph, of confidence and hope, before men who limited their ambition nei ther by precedent nor virtue, the envoys of the American government presented themselves at Paris. They carne, it was well known, to com plain, to remonstrate, to demand redress. They came to unfold the unfriendly disposition of the French government towards the only people whq had established free institutions upon popular prin ciples, and had demonstrated the practicability of the system, which the French nation professed to support ; and they came to add to their representa-. tion of wrongs they were suffering, their grief at the inconsistency of a policy, which alienated from the only republic in Europe the only other republic in the world. They came too, with the character and the feelings of the representatives of a free people, proud of the independence of their coun try, iindismayed by the general overthrow of kingsi and the revolution of empires, to urge before the gigantic victors of Europe the rights of justice in the language of equality. It might have been foreseen that such an em bassy would be received with coldness, and sub jected to such inconveniences as the eourse of diplomacy can readily present ; but it was hardly to have been aiiticipated that an extraprdinary and LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 165 important delegation of unusual dignity of charac-. ter, as well in the forms by which it was instituted as by the number and respectability of the indi viduals composing it, would have been obliged to remain six months in the capital qf a nation, nomi nally at peace with their country, not merely un accredited biit exposed to personal and official mortifications of the most humiliating kind ; and finally to return, not only without affecting tbct object of their mission, but without the common courtesy of an official discussion pf it. To aggravate the evils incident to so painful a. situation, an unfortunate and serious misunder-, atanding, the common accident of joint missions,, arose between the envoys themselves, the blame, of which, although the high and honourable dis tinctions subsequently bestowed by their country on the individuals concerned, may be considered as exculpating each of them successively, fell at t;be tiine principally upon one. To place the conduct of the envoys in a proper light, the history of the mission will be distinctly stated and such remarks will be added as are due to the individual, whose share in it gives occasion to its being mentioned in this place., A brief retrospect of events, previous to this extraordinary mission to France, is necessary to a correct estimate of American policy. The commencement of the French revolution found the American people ardently and univer- 166 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. sally interested in its success. Grateful for the aid accorded to them in their own struggle, they joyfully beheld the blessings of freedom dawning upon France. Proud of their own liberty, it was natural for them to believe that no political society could admit of more desirable advantages. In their feelings for the prosperity of republican France there was an enthusiasm proportioned to the sublimity of the scene it presented. A chivalrous and gallant people had for ages been bound in the fetters of despotism. They now broke their chains and were free. The first impulse to this noble act was derived from Ame rica. They who had been to the rest of the civil ized world a model of intellectual character and learning and taste, envied for their wealth, power and renown, whose glory for ten centuries had thrown its dazzling rays over the history of man kind, and whose arts and arms had divided the empire of the world, condescended to receive from this young nation the most valuable jewel within their ancient domain. America had borrowed from France her power and wealth to establish the foun dations of her empire, but she repaid the vast obligation with more than an equivalent, in giving to France the principles of civil liberty, and in structing her in the knowledge that freedom was the first requisite for public happiness. Pride, sympathy, gratitude, principle, all com bined to make the French revolution not merely LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY 167 popular in the United States, but ardently and enthusiastically supported by the American people. For a long period after its commencement there was probably nothing short of their own indepen dence for which they felt a more zealous concern. The interest, which was excited for the prosperity of their ancient allies was increased by those still unsettled feelings of animosity, which survived towards their former foe. There were resent ments not allayed, recollections of past injuries not effaced, mournful memorials of the calamities of war every where to be seen through the coun try, which enlisted their inclinations as strongly against one party as more generous sentiments excited them in favour of the other, and led them to see in the measures of the English government against France, only that enmity to freedom, which had been manifested toward themselves. The first check to that exaggerated gratitude, which was rapidly hurrying the United States into war, was the proclamation of neutrality issued by president Washington on the 22d day of April 1793. That cautious and intelligent statesman, and the profound councillors of his cabinet, well knew that the primary duty of the American people was to preserve their own yet unsettled institutions. They knew the United States were in no condi tion for another war. A government yet untried by experience, and depending for its permanency 168 UrE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. on the success of its first operations, would most Unwisely hazard the chances of a new contest. The elastic spirit of a young people, it was seen, Tt'as beginning to throw off the evils of their re- dent condition, to refill their exhausted treasury, to diminish their public debt, to revive their de cayed commerce, and to reanimate their natural enterprise. For these desirable objects a few years of peace were indispensable, and the first measure of that wisdom, which then guided the affairs of the nation, was to counteract the incli nations of the people, until their calmer judgment applauded the restraint. Peace with both the belligerents and the ad vantage of a neutral attitude, which could profit by their sacrifices, became the pole star of the American government, and however difficult the navigation, however dangerous the adverse winds and counter currents of the voyage, it was by this direction that policy commanded them to steer. The vast objects, which the United States had to accomplish, the immense, and but that they have been realized, the incredible advanta ges of a neutral character, were not more obvi ous to her government than, it was seen by the belligerents respectively, would be to them an opposite course. Against the machinations and violence of both of them, and the prejudice and passion of their own citizens, this desirable posi tion was to be maintained by the American gov ernment. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 169 Circumstances of exceeding delicacy and diffi culty were constantly occurring, which might lead immediately to war. The rulers of France early conceived an opinion that there was a necessa ry opposition between the people and their gov ernment ; or at least that this was universally true except only in France. The course of their policy as well as arms alarmed many of the most intelligent of the American patriots, and the predictions and warnings, which Edmund Burke sounded in Europe, found among the reflecting statesmen in the western hemisphere many res ponsive hearts. The mission of Mr. Genet, the whole of whose extravagant diplomacy in this country might be recounted in proof, alarmed still more the appre hensions of impartial men, who saw that a popular attachment to his country and its cause superseded the regard that should have been paid to the one which he visited, and that on questions of national jurisdiction, about which intelligent men could not differ, a strong feeling often carried by acclama tion his opinions against those of the government. While the conduct of the minister of France evidently displayed a determination to appeal from the government to the people of the United States, and seduce their affections into a war, which their judgment would not sanction, a measure of his country gave some appearance of interest to the object of his wishes. The ports of the French VOL. II. 22 170 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. colonies were thrown open to American commerce, and the " hasty credulity" of mercantile enter prise, lost no time to improve the gainful opportu nity. Whether the motive for this act was to secure a commerce to their own subjects in neu tral bottoms, which their scanty marine could not carry on, or more artfully to draw the enemies cruisers on the rich freights that would be present ed to their cupidity, and thus contrast an admira tion for their own generosity with indignation at their enemies rapacity ; or whether it was in truth the evidence of that friendly spirit, which repub lics should feel for each other, was at the time a subject of discussion, but it was at singular vari ance with an order of the national convention, which allowed French ships to bring in for adju dication such neutral vessels as were loaded in whole or in part, either with provisions destined for enemy ports, or merchandise belonging to enemies. Threats that were unexecuted, whether from inability or good will, had much less effect on the public mind than a liberality, which could be un derstood, and in contrast with the colonial system of other nations the free trade to French colo nies was highly appreciated. The denunciations of their decrees were hardly felt, but the mercan tile advantages, in those instances which escaped the hostility of their enemy, were fully possessed. While therefore influential and leading men in and LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 171 out of the government of the United States began to find in the revolution, as it was proceeding in France, principles destructive of liberty and law, private property, personal security and moral con duct, the general feeling of the public mind cemented still stronger the original attachment, and by dividing more distinctly its admirers and its enemies increased that internal hostility, which jthreatened the peace of the nation. So long as the measures of France tended even against the exertions of intelligent men, to bring the two countries into a connexion of a more in timate character, her great enemy, regardless of national law or the obligations of the existing treaty, was accumulating subjects of complaint, and indemnifying herself for tbe loss of popular favour by extensive devastations on the commerce of the United States. An order of council^ which when intrusted to her powerful navy was no dead letter in the sta tute book, authorized British cruisers to stop all vessels loaded wholly or in part with provisions, bound to any port in France or occupied by the armies of France. This insane attempt to starve a whole people, which with as much insult as inr justice, was justified by cited aphorisms from po litical writers, was. enforced by the indiscriminate destruction of neutral property, which it swept as with a whirlwind from the ocean. Nor did even the profligacy of the pretence, which was given for 172 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. it, secure credit to the grounds upon which it was defended. In America it was believed to be part of a plan for the subversion of free governments, and to have been started at a time when partial successes and the strength of the coalition gave some expectation that France would be over thrown. The vexatious practice of impressment added new fuel to the flame of popular animosity. The detention of the western posts in direct vio lation of the treaty of 1783, though justified as a retaliation for deficiencies on the part of the United States in the execution of the same com pact, was regarded as a voluntary addition to the miseries of an Indian war, which it was supposed to encourage if not excite, while the whole system of the English navigation laws was complained of as intentionally severe and ruinous to the com merce of the United States. Other instances of injustice and wrong in the conduct of the belligerents seemed to demonstrate that in their efforts for mutual injury, no sentiment of justice was felt for neutral rights ; and while each, by every possible art, was endeavouring to force the United States into a war with the other, the taunting intimation of one of them was in train to be realized, that a nation, which would not fight for honour would be obliged to contend for existence. But high and chivalrous principles better suited the spirit of the people than the condition of the LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 173 country. They were adapted to an athletic and robust nation rather than one whose strength was yet in the gristle. If the policy of peace must be abandoned it would be well in selecting an enemy to make sure of a friend. On the selection of that friend the people of the United States were greatly divided, while the strength of the popular feeling was not exactly re echoed by the public functionaries. The French government, amid all its acts of injustice and inju ry, affected to speak with the United States as friends. In the glowing language, which marked their official despatches, they say, " An analogy of political principles ; the natural relations of com merce and industry; the efforts and immense sacri fices of both nations in the defence of liberty and equality ; the blood, which they have spilled to gether ; their avowed hatred for despots ; the mo deration of their political views ; the disinterest edness of their councils ; and especially the suc cess of the vows they have made in presence of the Supreme Being to be free or die, all combine to render indestructible the connexions, which they have formed." " Doubt it not citizens, we shall finally destroy the combination of tyrants ; you, by the picture of prosperity, which in your vast countries has suc ceeded to a bloody struggle of eight years ; we by that enthusiasm, which glows in the breast of every Frenchman. Astonished nations, too long the 174 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. dupes of perfidious kings, nobles and priests, will eventually recover their rights, and the human race will owe to the American and French nations their regeneration and a lasting peace." It was this very " analogy of political princi ples," so captivating to the nation at large, that alarmed the minds of the administration and in duced them to put obstacles in the way of a more intimate fraternization. The British government, on the contrary, which *' wounds by its pride and offends by its haughtiness,"* while the objects it was contending for were more congenial to na tional security, so far from affecting in its diplo matic intercourse to secure popular favoiir, allow ed eighteen months to expire without deigning to give an answer to an elaborate and profound argu ment made by the American secretary of statet in complaint of the conduct and principles of the government of Great Britain towards the United States. As a last effort to prevent a war, into which cir cumstances were rapidly hurrying the country, a special mission, on iGth April 1794, was insti tuted to the court of St. James, and intrusted to a citizen eminently distinguished in the annals of the country, and then holding the high office of chief justice of the United States. At the request * Marshall, vol. v. p. 481. t American state papers, Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Hammond, 29th May 1792. Mr. Hammond to Mr. Randolph, 21st February 1794. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 175 of the French government Mr. Morris was recall ed from the republic and the diplomatic inter course confided to Mr. Monroe. The alarm, which the unexpected nomination of Mr. Jay produced on one half of the population of the United States, was in some degree quieted by the appointment that followed to the government of France. The duties and objects of the first were not distinctly known, but the selection of the other was received by the party of the republicans as evidence of the president's impartiality ; and as each of those ministers was known to carry to the court, to which he was sent, sentiments that were not likely to obstruct an amicable arrangement, there was a calm over the public mind, a prelude to the storms that were soon to confound it, when the results of these missions should be announced. Mr. Jay, as is well known, concluded the treaty of London, which on its ratification terminated all existing causes of controversy with Great Britain, and arranged a new system of commercial inter course. Mr, Monroe was recalled by the presi dent, not without some marks of dissatisfaction, which his candid disclosures easily dispelled.* The negotiation of any treaty with England, would no doubt have increased the difficulties of pacification with France. But in regard to this she complained that her faith had been abused by * Monroe's View, &c. 176 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. misrepresentations and concealment, and her rights violated by sacrifices and concessions. The instructions under which Mr. Monroe act ed were drawn in conformity to his well known political principles, in which no member of the senate had given more evidence of sincerity or zeal. He was instructed to declare " that the pre sident had been an early and decided friend of the French republic ; that whatever reason there may have been under our ignorance of facts and policy to suspend an opinion upon some of its im portant transactions, yet that he was immutable in his wishes for its accomplishment, incapable of assenting to the right of any foreign prince to meddle with its interior arrangement, and per suaded that success would attend its efforts." He was directed to let it be seen " that in case of war with any nation on earth, we shall consider France as our first and natural ally, to dwell upon the sense we entertain of their past services and their more recent interposition in our behalf with the Dey of Algiers," and alluding to Mr. Jay's mis sion to England, he was instructed to declare the motives of that mission to be to obtain immediate restitution for our plundered property and restitu tion of the [western] posts. The sentiments of the executive thus commu nicated to Mr. Monroe, were repeated in stronger language by the two houses of Congress. The revolution was emphatically declared to be the LIFE OP ELBRIDGU GERRY. 177 cause of liberty, " under that standard whenever it shall be displayed, the affections of the United States will always rally ; the successes of those who stand forth as her avengers will be gloried in by the United States, and will be felt as the suc cesses of themselves and the other friends of hu manity. Yes — representatives of our ally, your communication has been addressed to those who take a deep interests in the prosperity and happi ness of the French Republic." With such instructions from one department of the government, and a knowledge of such senti ments in the other, Mr. Monroe presented himself to the rulers of France. His reception was bril liant and flattering, and the conduct, which he pursued, and the language, which he used, was too faithful to his own principles to raise a doubt that all this profusion of attachment covered any thing deceptive. The condition of things in France was not with out uneasiness. The treaty between the two re publics had been violated. The commerce of the United States was harassed and plundered. The minister, whom Mr. Monroe succeeded, was not only without the confidence of the government, but an object of particular jealousy and suspicion. The popular favour towards the United States was diminishing by means of reports brought by offi cers of the fleet of unfriendly treatment in Ameri can ports, and a suspicion was entertained that VOL. II. 23 178 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. the mission of Mr. Jay was intended to pave the way for an abandonment of the one people and an alliance with the other. By declarations, the authority for which were found in his instructions, and with a zeal, which had been announced to him as the motive for his selection to the embassy,* the American minister succeeded in putting affairs in good order, and began to accommodate arrangements to his satis faction, when the treaty negotiated with England was communicated to the directory, and produced as was to have been supposed resentment and in dignation. The fact that a commercial treaty had been ne gotiated with their rival, that some of its features were in themselves objectionable and injurious, that no overtures had been made to France for the same'dbjects, that not only entire secrecy had been observed as to the pendency of the negotiation, but that the objects and powers of the minister had been misrepresented or concealed, produced on the haughty victors of a thousand enemies, not less the feelings of indignation than the less toler able expression of disgust and contempt. While the cause of the United States thus lost its popularity in the eye of the government * Mr. Monroe was informed that he was selected " on account of his known political character and principles." In the Senate ofthe United States he had moved to suspend the fourth article ofthe treaty of peace with Great Britain, of 1783. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 179 of France, with singular adroitness it saw fit to discriminate between the administration and its minister, whom it exonerated from the suspi cion even of intentional deception. Falling in with the declarations of the party in the United States to which he belonged, and adopting the language of its public journals, the directory chose to consider the American minister as much de ceived as themselves. Craftily pursuing their de sign to separate the people from the government, they affected to believe that this treaty was an other evidence of the combination of rulers against the defenders of the rights of man. The sensibility of the French government was not realized by that of the United States. Be lieving as they declared, that an independent na tion might conduct its diplomacy without the ad vice or permission of other powers, and that in the treaty with England they had exercised only their unquestionable rights, they did not admit that France had any just cause of complaint ; and hav ing secured by it so much of their cardinal policy as preserved peace with one of the belligerents, an attempt was to be made to complete the desir able object by a new effort with the other. Mr. Monroe was recalled, and Charles C. Pinck ney of South Carolina, appointed to succeed him. If the causes for Mr. Monroe's selection were complimentary to France or useful to his own country, the want of similar qualifications in bis 180 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. successor, denoted either a diminution of that civility or an opinion that it did not produce its expected consequences. In the domestic parties of the country these gentlemen were under differ ent banners. Mr. Monroe's departure from the French capital was as brilliant as his reception. An audience of leave was accorded to him, and in answer to his address the most flattering testimonials of respect was bestowed upon him by the president director. Unfortunately the speech of Barras on that occa sion, and the commentary made on it by the ex ecutive of the United States, gave new occasion for umbrage and increased the difficulties in the way of amicable accommodation.* * Speech ofthe president director Barras. " By presenting to day the letters of recall to the executive di rectory, you gave to Europe a very strange spectacle. France rich in her liberty, surrounded by a train of victories, strong in the esteem of her allies, will not abase herself by cal culating the consequences ofthe condescension of the American government to the suggestions of her former tyrants. Moreover the French republic hopes that the successors of Columbus, Ra leigh and Penn, always proud of liberty, will never forget that they owe it to France. They will weigh in their wisdom the magnanimous benevolence of the French people with the crafty caresses of certain perfidious persons who meditate bringing them back to their former slavery. Assure the good American people sir, that like them we adore liberty, that they will always have our esteem, and that they will find in the French people repub lican generosity, which knows how to grant peace as it does to cause its sovereignty to be respected. As for you, Mr. minister plenipotentiary, you have corabatted for principles. You have LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 181 The recall of Mr. Monroe was followed by the refusal of the directory to receive Mr. Pinckney, and a declaration " that they would no longer re cognise or receive a minister plenipotentiary from the United States, until after the reparation of the grievances demanded of the American government, which the French republic has a right to expect." In the preceding November, the French minis ter in the United States announced the termina tion of his functions, and in an address nominally to the secretary of state, but in reality to the peo- known the true interests of your country. Depart with our re gret. In you we give up a representative to America, and retain the remembrance of the citizen whose personal qualities did honour to that title." Speech of president Adams. " With this conduct of the French government, it will be pro per to take into view the public audience given to the late min ister of the United States on his taking leave of the executive directory. The speech of the president discloses sentiments more alarming than the refusal of a minister because more dan gerous to our independence and union, and at the same time Studiously marked with indignities towards the government of the United States. It evinces a disposition to separate the people of the United States from the government ; to persuade them that they have different affections, principles and interests, from those of their fellow citizens whom they themselves have chosen to manage their common concerns, aud thus to produce divisions fatal to our peace. Such attempts ought to be repelled with a decision that shall convince France and the world that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable instruments of foreign influence, and regardless of national honour, character and interest." 182 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. pie, encouraged the idea, which seemed to be the leading principle of his country's policy, that the functionaries of the American government and the party who supported them entertained principles and feelings hostile to the French cause, and were desirous, notwithstanding all their pretensions to the contrary, to involve the two nations in war. The irritable state of feeling, which existed be tween the countries, the belief, which a large party in the United States honestly professed, that in the conduct of affairs with the French republic the government of the United States had been unwise and insincere, and the use, which that na tion made of this division of opinion to embarrass the American government, were if no other causes existed, formidable obstacles to a continuance of peace. But the collisions of interest or force had accumulated a vast mass of serious complaint. On the part of France it was alleged that the treaty of Paris was infringed because prizes made by French vessels of war were not allowed to be adjudicated upon in American ports by the consular agents of the republic. That English vessels of war, which had made prizes on the republic or its citizens were not ex cluded from the ports of the United States, as by the 17th article of the same treaty they should have been. That the consular convention had become illu sory from the obstacles thrown in the way of its execution by the American government. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 183 That an attack had been made by a British ves sel of war on a public vessel of France within the waters of the United States with intention to seize the person and papers of the French minister to the United States, supposed to have been on board, and that this gross invasion of the sovereignty of the United States so injurious to France had been passed over with impunity. But all other causes of complaint lost their im portance in comparison with those, which were connected with the late treaty of London. " The United States," said the French minister, " besides having departed from the principles of the armed neutrality during the war for their in dependence, have given to England to the detri ment of their first allies, the most striking marks of an unbounded condescension by abandoning the limit given to contraband by the law of nations, by their treaties with all other nations, and even by those of England, with a greater part of the maritime powers. Is it not evidently estraying from the principles of neutrality to sacrifice exclu sively to that power the , objects proper for the equipment and construction of vessels .? They have gone further. They have consented to ex tend the denomination of contraband even to pro- * Such answers as the American government could give to these complaints were ably stated in the letters of Mr. Monroe to the French minister. The administration by recalling him intimated to the American people that thc displeasure of France 184 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. On the other side of this account current of in justice and wrong, the Americans presented the frightful system of hostility, which under one or another decree of the national convention let loose on their defenceless commerce the whole French marine, and the profligacy and notorious corrup tion of their judicial tribunals, which consumma ted by chicanery and fraud what rapacity and pira cy even had subdued. A distressing embargo had been laid on their property and seamen at Bordeaux. Bills and other evidence of debt, given by the colonial government in the West Indies, were un paid and merchandise taken for public use was ap propriated without compensation. To all this was added the alleged attempt to sow distrust and division between the government and people, and to destroy by their arts what escaped the power of their arms. In a review of these discouraging circumstan ces, Mr. Adams determined " to institute a fresh attempt at negotiation ;" certain if it succeeded, to secure a most favourable position for his country, and confident if it failed through the obstinacy or was owing less to the existence of good cause than to his neglect in not making satisfactory explanations. The publication of his correspondence restored him to the favour of his country, by completely disapproving the suggestion, and the secretary of state did not escape the odium of that intentional duplicity, which charged on an agent ofthe government the consequences justly attributable to the government itself. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 185 wilfulness of France, to draw to his standard that great body of his fellow citizens, who though opprobriously stigmatized in his cabinet, he well knew to be Americans at heart. It was probably beyond the range of intelligence or ingenuity to carry on negotiations with each belligerent in a manner that would subserve the real interests of the United States, without giving plausible if not substantial cause of complaint to one or both. The executive might indeed have selected its ally and bid its will avouch it, but policy adopted a different language. Yet I must not For certain friends that are both his and mine. Whose loves I may not drop. When therefore the determination was settled to make the first experiment with Great Britain, the delicacy of the relation to France became every day more attenuated. The departure of Mr. Jay for the court of St. James was a public act, which as it could not be concealed, it was obviously politic to announce with the appearance of candour, but the very com munication of this fact gave new cause for disa greement. The French minister, Mr. Fauchet, insisted that he was told the mission contemplated only an adjustment of our (American) complaints, excluding all commercial arrangements. The sec retary denied that he said more than to assure VOL. II. 24 186 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. him, " Mr. Jay was instructed not to weaken our engagements with France-" It is not now necessary to discuss the question whether a commercial treaty with England would not ipso facto weaken our engagements with France ; nor whether the stipulations in the treaty of London could be executed without such conse quence ; or however these might be, whether when a minister had been directed to negotiate a commercial treaty, the admitted language of the secretary was any thing else than equivocation, to conceal the real design. The intimacy of the connexion between France and the United States, if weakened by recent causes of complaint, treaties and popular feeling still supposed to exist; and it therefore required, in the opinion of the former, as evidence of the sin cerity of the latter, that a frank and full disclo sure of its intentions should be made ; and some countenance is undesignedly given to this expecta tion by the fact, that before the conclusion of the treaty a communication of some kind was made to the French minister, and before its ratification the treaty was submitted to him for his commentaries and opinion. France thereupon complains, " It was a little matter only to allow the English to avail them selves of the advantages of our treaty, it was ne cessary to assure these to them by the means of a contract, which might serve at once as a reply to LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 187 the claims of France and as peremptory motives for refusals, the true motive of which it was re quisite incessantly to disguise to her under spe cious pretexts. Such was the object of Mr. Jay's mission to London, such was the object of a ne gotiation enveloped from its origin in the shadow of mystery and covered with the veil of dissimu lation."* The American answer maintains that the right to form these treaties has been so universally asserted and admitted that it seems to be the in separable attribute of sovereignty, to be question ed only by those who question the right of a nation to govern itself, and to be ceded only by those who are prepared to cede their independence. The complaint as to what should not be done in a specific case is thus answered by an allegation of abstract right. Hence the replication of the French minister in very strong terms. " When the agents oi the republic complained of this mys terious conduct, they were answered by an appeal to the independence of the United States, solemnly sanctioned in the treaties of 1778 — a strange manner of contesting a grievance, the reality of which was demonstrated by the dissimulation, to which recourse was had — an insidious subterfuge, which substitutes for the true point of the ques tion a general principle, which the republic can- * Mons. Adet to secretary of state. 188 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. not be supposed to dispute, and which destroys by aid of a sophism that intimate confidence, which ought to exist between two allies, and which above all ought to exist between the French re public and the United States." Again the French government complained of the abusive language of certain public journals of the United States, and were answered with the abstract propositions that " the genius of the constitution and the opinion of the people of the United States cannot be overruled by those who administer the government," and " that among those deemed most sacred is the liberty of the press." Now the real subject of complaint was not that the administration did not put down these offen sive journals by force of law, but that they were known to encourage them by personal patronage, and thus under colour of a professed inability to control the public press, aided and abetted its con ductors in disseminating opinions injurious to the cause of France. The French minister further commenting on the insincerity of the American government, alleges that it was thought proper to send to the French republic persons whose opinions and connexions are too well known to hope from them dispositions sincerely conciliatory, and contrasts that conduct with the eagerness to send to London ministers well known for sentiments corresponding with the object of their mission. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 189 Stripped of the thin veil, which diplomatic forms throw on this subject, the French minister asserts, " The people of the United States are divided into two great parties, differing in their views of the correct policy of the country. One of these is desirous of a more intimate union with England, the other with France. In negotiations with the former power the compliment of select ing negotiators from the party, which deemed its duty to the United States to consist in friendship with England, was paid to her, and the conse quence was successful negotiation. No such com pliment is paid to France and no such consequence can ensue." The Americans could only reaffirm their concili atory temper without denying the facts, from which a different conclusion had been drawn. 190 UFE OF CLBRIDGE GERRY. CHAPTER VI. History of the joint mission of Messrs. Pinckney, Marshall and Crerry, to the French republic. Messrs. Marshall and Pinekney leave Frame. Mr. Creny remains. ~....IMs conduct. The American envoys met in Paris on the 4th October 1797, and the next day announced their arrival to the minister of foreign affairs, assuring him that the United States were desirous of ter minating all differences between themselves and the French republic, and of restoring that harmony and good understanding, and that commercial and friendly intercourse, which from the commence ment of their political existence until lately had happily subsisted ; and that the president had ap pointed them jointly and severally envoys extraor dinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the French republic, for the purpose of accomplishing these great objects. They requested an opportunity to present their letter of credence, and assured him of their ardent desire for the speedy restoration of harmony and friendship between the two repub lics. On the Sth the envoys had an interview with the minister of foreign relations. The letter of credence was delivered and cards of hospitality received. They were informed that " the direc- LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 191 tory had directed the minister to make a report relative to the situation of the United States with regard to France, which would be fiinished in a few days, when he would let them know what steps were to follow." In a day or two the private and confidential secretary of the minister intimated to the private secretary of one of the envoys, that the directory were exasperated at some parts of the president's speech at the opening of the last session of con-r gress, and would require an explanation ; that the envoys would probably not have a public audience until their negotiation was finished, that persons might be appointed to treat with them, who, would report to the minister, and he would have the di rection, though not actually the conducting of the negotiations. This communication, circuitous and informal enough, paved the way for subsequent measures equally singular and extraordinary. A gentleman of respectability privately inform ed general Pinckney, that another person whom he could introduce, would suggest a plan for ac commodation at the instance of Mons. Talleyrand, which if'proposed to him by the American envoys, would undoubtedly facilitate negotiations- After much unofficial parade and affectation of secrecy, the envoys, who found no authorized and ostensible agent of the republic to discourse with, were introduced to these anonymous personages. 192 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. The substance of the propositions thereupon sub mitted to them was, that the envoys should pro pose to give a softening turn to some parts of the president's speech, should advance under cover of a masked loan some millions of dollars for the French treasury, and in addition to this substan tial part of the treaty, should " address themselves to the private gratification of certain high officers of government, by compliance with diplomatic usage," which being interpreted was understood to mean, supply a fund of fifty thousand pounds sterling for distribution to prominent individuals. To induce the envoys as of their own accord to make these propositions, the haughty temper and ir ritable feeling of the directory towards the United States were adverted to, and the friendly exertion of Mons. Talleyrand under such a stimulus, was promised in their behalf; an exertion, which his late successful diplomacy with the emperor, it was said, enabled him to make with advantage. The power of France was displayed in all its greatness. A war in the north against England was prepar ing. On the coast an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, directed by the genius of Bo naparte, would invade England, and overturn its government ; or if not adequate to this result, the alarm spread through the nation, and the enormous expenses consequent upon it would as certainly effect its ruin, unless prevented by an humiliating peace. LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 193 In such an event, which was more than merely probable, what, it was asked, would be the dif ference in the situation of the United States, if they were at peace or war with France .'' In the former case the commerce of the world would flow into their channels, relieved from the exactions of England ; in the latter the fate of Venice might forewarn them of their own. It was urged that in the present condition of France, vast advantages would result to the United States from delay, which was in effect to gain their cause, and that policy required they should make any arrange ment not absolutely extravagant. A more direct attempt was made on the fears of the envoys. Perhaps you think, they were told, that in returning and exposing to your countrymen the unreasonableness of the demands of this gov ernment you will unite them in resistance. You are mistaken. You ought to know that the diplo matic skill of France and the means she possesses in your country, are sufficient to enable her with the French party in America, to throw the blame, which will attend the rupture of the negotiations, on the federalists as you term yourselves ; on the British faction as that class of your citizens are termed by France. You may assure yourselves this will be done. Such was the language of these unaccredited and nameless individuals, who either with or with out authority found their way to the drawing VOL. II. 25 194 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. room and the breakfast table of the American en voys ; and they having no other individuals with "tvhom to discuss the relations of the two coun tries, condescended to hear them. The answer of the envoys was delivered with a frankness suited to the purity of their character. They unanimously resolved not to purchase -the right of negotiation. If negotiations were opened, they professed a willingness to discuss any propo sition made by the French government ; if it ex ceeded their powers, they were ready, they said, to consult with all practicable expedition the gov ernment of the United States. They expressed their readiness, if the difficulties attending the proposition for a loan, and the embarrassments in cident to a reclamation for illegal depredations on the commerce of the United States should retard an immediate completion of a treaty, to postpone these important subjects for future discussion, and place the present relations of the two nations on an amicable basis. They asserted the early and invariable attachment of the United States to re publican France, and proposed to discuss any measures, which had given her offence, in the con fidence of being able to make satisfactory explana tions. On the advantages of neutrality, they said it was unnecessary to dilate. All the efforts of their government had been exerted to maintain it. Referring to other suggestions, the envoys remark ed, that America had never contemplated a politi- LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 195 cal connexion with Great Britain ; whether the reputed danger of that government was real or not they could not decide, but it was evident to them that both the belligerents had much reason to wish for peace. They declared their conviction that France miscalculated on the state of parties in America ; that her extreme injustice would unite all parties against her, and produce a common sen timent of hostility so soon as it should be ascer tained that to past injuries, which she would not redress, were added new wrongs aggravated by contempt. They complained of the embarassment of their condition. They were called to pledge their coun try to a great amount, for demands as extravagant as unexpected, without discussing the justice or the policy, on which they were founded ; without assurance that they were not preliminaries to much greater yet concealed ; without any promise that the rights of their country would thereafter be re spected, and without a document to prove that persons to whom they were required to unbosom themselves, were empowered even by the minis ter, much less by the directory, to hold any con versation with them. On the 21st October Mr. Gerry proposed to his colleagues to adopt the following resolution. To the question, whether the propositions in formally and confidentially communicated to us as private citizens, at the request, as is stated of Mons, 196 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. Talleyrand in his private capacity, will be adopt ed as the basis of a treaty, this answer is given, that it is highly probable some of the propositions communicated on 19th and 20th October will be considered as the basis of a treaty and others as inadmissible, but that it is impossible to discuss or come to a decision on them until they are pre sented to us in an official character. The original of this note is endorsed " intended to be given Saturday, 21st October."* The en dorsement is in general Pinckney's handwriting.f On 3d November the envoys relate that they told one of these intrusive messengers that they should at any time be glad to see him as a private citizen, but " that they had determined to receive no propositions, unless the persons who bore them had acknowledged authority to treat." Neverthe less, either as private citizens, or in some other capacity, the anonymous gentlemen were received by the envoys ; their conversation was noted in the private journal of Mr. Marshall, and the transcript of that journal communicated to the American government as late as the 17th December. For a long period the American embassy had contented itself with listening to unaccredited agents, without seeking such interviews with the minister himself, as might, under ordinary circum stances lead to mutual good understanding. * Mr. Gerry's MS. p.rper3. t Mr. Gerry's letter to president Jefferson, MS. 13th January 1801. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 197 On the 22d October it was intimated to Mr. Gerry that the minister had expected to have seen the American envoys, and to have conferred with them individually on the affairs of their mission, and had authorized this communication to be made to him. Mr. Gerry sent for his colleagues, and general Pinckney and general Marshall expressed their opinion, that not being acquainted with M. Talleyrand they could not with propriety call on him, but that according to the custom of France he might expect this of Mr. Gerry, from a pre vious acquaintance in America. With this per sonal selection Mr. Gerry "reluctantly complied,"* and several interviews in the ordinary course of civility were had between them, in which, as the most interesting topic of the day, certainly one most interesting to his visitor, M. Talleyrand oc casionally discussed the relations of France and the United States. Meanwhile thirty days had elapsed and no com munication in writing was received from the direc tory or its officers. It was proposed therefore by onie of the envoys to address to the minister of foreign affairs an official note, calling his attention to their situation, and demanding that steps should be taken to open negotiations. Proper as this measure would be under ordinary circumstances, it seemed to Mr. Gerry that in the present irritable state of the French government, * Envoys' letter of Sth November 1797, American state papers vol. iii. p. 495, 2d edition. 198 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. no good could be expected by it ; that any urgency on the part of the Americans would serve rather to exasperate than to reconcile ; and he proposed therefore that communications in cypher should be made to their own government, describing in de tail their present situation. The delay this would occasion did not seem to him a sufficient objection to it, inasmuch as it was not proposed by the envoys to quit Paris ; and the American govern ment, by a timely knowledge of affairs, would.be better able to select such alternative as was pre sented. The personal observation, which even his limited intercourse with the minister had afforded, enabled him to speak with more confidence on this point.* This first disagreement among the envoys was not of serious consequence. Mr. Gerry, at their request, without yielding the opinion he advanced, that the letter would be useless, joined in one under date of 11th November, in which the en voys remind the minister of the promised com munication, they had anxiously but in vain ex- * Mr. Pickering, in his review p. 117, in stating this fact adds also that Mr. Gerry proposed to have "six copies made out and transmitted to his government." The perils of navigation, which then obstructed the ocean are in a great degree forgotten, and the readers of the review would be astonished at the folly of a pretence, which it is more than insinuated was a contrivance to waste time. Yet Mr. Pickering's own despatches to the envoys were transmitted in the same number of sets, and "onebj a despatch boat sent on purpose." American state papers, vol iv. p. 153. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 199 pected to receive ; they repeat that the preser vation of friendship with France was dear to the American nation, the loss of it a subject of un feigned regret, and that the recovery of it by every means, which consist with the rights of an independent nation engages their constant atten tion ; that the president of the United States had given it in charge to the envoys to discuss candidly the complaints of France, to offer frankly those of the United States, and to review and alter existing treaties, so as to consist with the mutual interest and satisfaction of the contracting parties ; that they were anxious to commence this task and would be truly happy to restore that harmony, which it was their wish as well as duty, if possible to effect between the citizens of the two repub lics. To this letter no answer was returned. The envoys were given to understand that it had been laid before the executive directory, who would command their minister what steps to pursue. Previous to the writing of this letter, the en voys addressed to their government a minute ac count of all their discourse with informal agents, " in thirty-six quarto pages of cypher and eight pages of cyphered exhibits." At the first interview between Mr. Gerry and the French minister, at which the other two envoys, " because they were not acquainted with Mons. Talleyrand," had refused to be present, that minister distinctly stated that the directory 200 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. had determined not to treat with the envoys, un less they previously made reparation for some parts of the president's speech at the opening of congress, that an arrette declaratory of this inten tion would be communicated in a few days ; but if the envoys had any propositions to offer, he would with alacrity communicate them to the directory ; that considering the circumstances and services of the same kind, which France had for merly rendered to the United States, the best way for them would be to offer to make a loan to France, either by taking Batavian inscriptions for fifteen or sixteen millions of florins or in some other way, which might be devised. The good effect of this waiver of etiquette, if indeed any of the artificial forms of private society could exist between important official functionaries in such a situation, was thus distinctly seen. Two independent facts were learned with formality, precision and authority. First, that no treaty would be made with the envoys without an apo logy for the president's speech or an equivalent. Second, that a voluntary offer of a loan would be accepted as an equivalent. Mr. Gerry on his return communicated these facts to his colleagues. Their consultation upon them resulted in desiring one of those mysterious prolocutors, who still attended them, to inform Mons. Talleyrand in substance that neither would be accepted. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 201 In consequence of the visit made by Mr. Gerry to Mons. Talleyrand, the latter invited the former to one of his customary dinners ; the civility was returned by the American, and something like an intercourse that might give opportunity for concil iatory arrangements might have been effected, but the separation of one gentleman from his colleagues placed them all in so unpleasant a situation, that it was impossible he could consent to continue it. The minister's personal attentions, with a single exception, were afterwards declined, and affairs were left to the ordinary chance of official and diplomatic procedure. The letter of 11th November remained without answer, and on the 24th December the envoys reported to their government their opinion, that if they were to wait six months longer, without they stipulated the payment of money and a great deal of it, in some shape or other, they would not be able to accomplish the objects of their mission, even if they were officially received, unless the projected invasion of England was to fail, or a total change take place in the persons, who directed the affairs of the government. In this conclusion all the envoys united, although on very different grounds. So anxious were these ministers to supply the want of regular diplomatic proceedings by all the information in their power, that the idle prattle of a lady, who according to Mr. Pinckney, " was well VOL. II. 26 202 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. acquainted with Mons. Talleyrand," and by him afterwards described as " known to be connected with Mr. Pinckney," was transmitted by that gen tleman in an official form to his government, as additional evidence of the disposition of thfe direc tory to make the payment of money the basis of negotiation.* * " A lady understood to be Madame de V'Hette, the celebrat ed belle and bonne of Voltaire, was also concerned in this trans action." " As to the lady an intimation is given that that part ofthe affair was not much to the credit of the Americans." — Lyman'' s Diplomacy ofthe United States, p. 86. The able author of this useful and generally accurate work, is here we think under some mistake. The lady referred to was one acquainted with general Pinckney, and her communication was made to him and by him alone to the American government. Mr. Gerry writes to Mons. Talleyrand, " 1 cannot give you the name of any lady, for no one has made any political communications, to me since my arrival in Paris." Madame Villette was the widow of a gentleman of fortune, a colonel in the king's service. Her uncle was a general ofiicer, and her brother commanded the corps which defended the queen at Versailles, where he lost his life. Madame was on Robes pierre's list of proscription, and was confined ten months in pris on, expecting every day to be summoned to the guillotine. Her daughter, then only seven years of age, was her only companion. She was not at this period remarkable for personal attractions. The imprisonment had made great inroad on her health. She is described by a gentleman in Paris, as " equally distinguished for the goodness of her heart, her excellent morals, and the rich ness of her mind." The intimations not much to the credit of the Americans, should have been confined to one individual. Talleyrand ri dicules the folly, which saw any thing important in her re mark, " lend us says she to him one day, money in our war, we lent it to you in yours;" " and a conversation thus simple is taken up by Mr. Pinckney, who finds it necessary to write LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 203 While affairs remained in this doubtful condi tion, the envoys faithful to their trust, and anxious to leave no effort unattempted, which talents, in dustry and duty could accomplish, laid before the French minister under date of 17th January, a voluminous defence ofthe American policy, a jus tification of the conduct of the United States, and a powerful appeal against that course of conduct, which by the sanction of the directory, had sacri ficed their mercantile capital, violated the privi leges of their flag, and exposed their mariners to captivity. The letter begins by declaring that the envoys ofthe United States had been hitherto restrained, by the expectation of entering on their mission in the forms usual among nations, from addressing the executive directory through the minister of for eign affairs, those explanations and reclamations, with which they are charged by the government they represent. If that expectation was to be relinquished yet the unfeigned wish of the Unit ed States to restore, that harmony between the two republics, which they have so unremitting ly sought to preserve, rendered it the duty ofthe envoys to lay before the government of France, every thing and to poison it, is mysteriously sent by him to his government, as if it had any relation to the clandestine proposi tion made by the intriguers. Thus minute is distrust. Thus is prejudice led astray in its reasonings. In this manner are thei politics of som« men a pest to social intercourse." — American state papers, 4th vol. p. 234. 204 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. however informal the communication may be deemed, some considerations in addition to those heretofore submitted relative to the subsisting dif ferences between the two republics. This admirable state paper, which may com pare advantageously with the ablest diplomatic correspondence in the American archives, was draughted by general Marshall, and submitted to Mr. Gerry for revision and amendment. During the time it was under his eye it under went important alterations in its style and man ner, to give it that softening and courteous form of address, which should neither contain, nor give reasonable pretence for a complaint that it did contain, any offensiveness of language, and al though it was decidedly his opinion that there were reasons, which argument could not reach, for the unpromising condition of things, he agreed with his colleagues in subscribing the amended despatch. While the most careful and successful regard appears to have been paid to the composition of this able performance to suit it to the temper of the haughty tribunal to which it was addressed, it lost nothing of the character, which belonged to a free and powerful people complaining of the in juries they had suffered, and describing the pa tience and the perseverance, with which they had peaceably sought redress. It displays every where the most anxious desire for an honourable recon- LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 205 ciliation, and affects not to conceal the grief of vio lated friendship in the unfortunate separation of the only republics in the world. The personal feel ings of the writers, and the circumstances to which they appeal for the proof of their sincerity, were too forcibly expressed not to be true. " Bringing with them," says the letter, " the temper of their government and country, searching only for the means of effecting the objects of their mission, they have permitted no personal conside rations to influence their conduct, but have waited under circumstances beyond measure embarrassing and unpleasant, with that respect, which the Ame rican government has so uniformly paid to that of France, for permission to lay before you, citizen minister, the important communications with which they have been charged." " If, citizen minister, there remains a hope that these desirable objects can be effected by any means, which the United States have authorized, the envoys would still solicit, and still respectfully attend the developement of those means. If on the contrary no such hope remains, they have only to pray that their return to their own country may be facilitated, and they will leave France with the most deep felt regret, that neither the real and sincere friendship, which the government of the United States has so uniformly and unequivocally displayed for this great republic, nor its continued efforts to demonstrate the purity of its conduct and 206 UFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. intentions, can protect its citizens, or preserve them from the calamities, which they have sought by a just- and upright conduct to avert." These communications had no effect. There were points, which could not be overcome by any power of language ; obstacles, which the diplo macy of the French governnient, whose most fa miliar art was deception, raised in the road, by their willingness to transfer to the agents of the American republic imputations, which its own annals would prove to have been very frequently attributable to itself. The directory believed, or affected tb believe, that the American administration was wholly in sincere in its pacific and friendly professions, that it was under English influence, and sought only a plausible pretence to join the " conspiracy of kings." They believed, or affected to believe, that the English cabinet, having by the power of France been obliged to acknowledge the indepen dence of the states, aspired at least to influence their policy, and introduce monarchical establish ments ; that it endeavoured to fortify, by similarity of constitutional forms, habits common to the English and American people. That many citi zens of the United States could be found, who were seriously reconciled to the English system of government ; that men called by public confidence to the administration of affairs in the United States had written in favour of the British constitution, LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 207 merely to prepare the way for such a system in their own country. That to men of these senti ments war was indispensable, and a war too with the French republic ; that by means of a war they could raise armies and obtain supplies ; that by means of war against their old friends, against brothers and republicans, it would be easy to ac celerate their wishes, to excite civil commotion, to shock all former ideas of political morality, to stigmatize as seditious the honourable defenders of principles, and to crush, under the pageantry and force of monarchical institutions, the simple and unostentatious forms of representative govern ment. * Preposterous as these imputations now seem, they derived in the minds of the rulers of France, great confidence from the language and conduct of parties in the United States. Americans attribut ed such opinions to some of their fellow citizens, and in the war of recrimination, which was carried on in the gazettes of the day, all public spirit, all national pride and all sentiments of patriotism seemed to be lost for ever. The country was divided into factions, and would be ruined by the prevalence of either one over the other. * If the opinion supposed to have been entertained by colonel Hamilton and before cited, page 62, had reached the ears of citizen plenipotentiary Genet as it had Mr. Jefferson's, it would undoubtedly have been communicated with additions and embel lishment, and have served to confirm the imputations recorded in the text. SOS LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. But the French directory chose to extend their erroneous suspicions to the characters of the dis tinguished citizens, who with equal purity of at tachment to their own country were deputed to represent its interests with the government of republican France. Two of these, it was said, if not believed, two of them were infected with the same anti-republi can principles ; and any attempt at negotiation with them would prove abortive ; because it was a part of the political drama, in which they were actors, to close all avenues of honourable peace, and to give strength and popularity to their party at home by so managing affairs as to produce a rupture and throw the blame of it on the govern ment of France. Their associations and intimates, their oral and written opinions, known through the machinery of a vigilant police, justified as was said, all these suspicions. They did not come to make peace, but to prove that no peace could be made. Under the guise of a desire to negotiate with France, their real design was to show to America that there was no alternative but war. These unreasonable and ill founded jealousies, it was apparent, could neither be written down by logical arguments on national rights, or eloquent complaints pf public wrongs. On 4th February, while these opinions were professed by the directory, Mons. Talleyrand in- LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 209 vited Mr. Gerry to meet him, and having enjoined upon him profound secrecy, informed him that the ex;ecutive directory were dissatisfied and embar rassed by the opinions and conversation of his colleagues; that it had determined not to treat with them, but signified their willingness to enter upon negotiations with him ; and the minister added that his departure or refusal would produce an immediate declaration of war against the United States. " Astonished," says Mr. Gerry, in a letter to Mons. Talleyrand, " at this communication, I in formed you that I had no powers to treat sepa rately, the measure was impossible, and that had my powers been adequate, a treaty made under sUch circumstances could never be ratified by my government. You differed from me ; we reason ed Upon it, and each adhered to his opinion. I urged in vain the unreasonableness of admitting prejudices against my colleagues without inform ing them of the causes thereof, the good effect in retnoving them, which might result from such in formation, and the necessity of making known to them all that had now passed between us. You held me to the promise of secrecy, adding that if I would negotiate, we could soon finish a treaty, for the executive directory were not in the habit of spending much time about such matters. You desired another interview, in which, after a dis cussion of the subject, I confirmed and adhered to VOL. II. 27 210 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. fiiy determination. In this state affairs remained some time, and I flattered myself with the hope, that failing in the proposition for negotiating with me separately, your next would be to accredit the three envoys ; in such an event the secrecy men tioned would have been proper." When Mr. Gerry returned from his first visit to Mons. Talleyrand, he informed general Marshall that communications and propositions had been made to him by that minister, which he was not at liberty to impart to general Pinckney or himself, that he had also propounded some questions which had produced changes in the proposition, but that as soon as he could obtain liberty the whole matter should be laid before him. There needed nothing else. Mr. Marshall in his commentary on this extraordinary occurrence in his private journal, expresses his conviction, that the substance of this communication was a determinatioji to order his and general Pinckney'is departure from France. The last named gentle man also in a few days assured Mr. Gerry that he was apprized of the nature of this private in terview, and immediately mentioned the fact. Whether these gentlemen, by any such associations or opinions as had been ascribed to them, had any reason to apprehend such a measure, or whether to embarass and divide the envoys, it was made with the forms of privacy to one and covertly con veyed to the others, must be matter of conjecture. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 211 On the 25th "February Mr. Talleyrand's secre tary called on Mr. Gerry and desired him to con sult the other envoys, and inform him whether they would consent to a loan payable after the war, adding that this proposal had not before been made. The proposition with all its circumstan ces was submitted by Mr. Gerry to his colleagues and thoroughly discussed. The manner in which it was entertained will presently be stated. Preceding these circuitous and extraordinary events, that is to say on the IBth January, as a prelude to the threatened war, which Moris. Tal leyrand had assured Mr. Gerry, he alone.Jiad pow er to avert, the two legislative councils had de creed that every vessel found at sea and loaded in whole or in part with merchandise, the produc tions of England, should be declared prize, who ever the ovvner of these goods or merchandise might be. The pressure of this decree on the commerce of their country induced the envoys to rescind their determination hot to make an informal visit to the minister. On the 27th February they demanded an audience, and were received on the 2d March. At this and the interviews which followed, the French minister reproached the envoys for the dis tance and the coldness they had observed in their intercourse with him, and asserted in answer to their vindication, that it was neither friendly or usual, but had increased the displeasure of the 212 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. directory. He adverted again to the effect pro duced by the president's speech, and of the neces sity of a loan of money, as an evidence of the sin cerity of their professions, which must be tested by something of more value than words. All the envoys reprobated a loan as a measure, which would entangle them with other nations, as a departure from their neutrality, as unjust, impo litic, and a violation of instructions, which it would be useless for them to transcend. Talleyrand again remarked that his government insisted on some proposition, which would prove that it was not about entering into arrangements with a people or their agents, who were unfriendly to its interest, but finding ' that a loan as at first proposed would not be acceded to, he changed his ground, and suggested what his secretary had be fore communicated to Mr. Gerry, that it should be contracted to be payable after the war, and in supplies to St. Domingo. So constructed, he said, it would effectually prevent any just complaint by other belligerents. At any event this was the only condition, on which the directory would open negotiations, and this acceded to, the adjustment of complaints would be easy. If wrong had been done to the United States it would be repaired, but if this was not admitted, tbe distance and cold ness between the two governments would be in creased. The envoys having had two interviews with LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 213 Mons. Talleyrand on 2d March, although he was not authorised by the executive directory to hold them officially, desired another on the sixth, which was accordingly appointed. At this last interview they rejected absolutely his new modified proposi tion, declining any loan in whatever terms, time or manner it should be made. ; Between the 2d and 6th this matter was dis cussed, as after the 27th February it had before been by the envoys. The separate opinions of the members are not disclosed in their voluminous communications ; nor in the statement made to Mons. Talleyrand does it appear, but that their resolution was unanimous. Such however was not the fact. A difference of opinion existed among the envoys. That ofthe majority has been commended to" the admiration of the world, while the dissenting individual, whose error if it was one, was a mere error of judgment, and wholly harmless because it was unknown at the time both in France and America, has been calumniat ed, misrepresented and abused, as if he were ready to sacrifice his country's interest, honour, character and independence. In the conferences of the envoys relative to the condition of things thus presented by the minis ter's secretary and confirmed by their direct ap plication to the minister himself, it was acceded to by all of them that the haughty temper of the re public demanded as a preliminary, what with more 814 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. propriety should have been the subject Of nego tiation. Their instructions Were in the following terms, " that no aid be stipulated in favour of France during the present war," and it was admitted that they excluded all power in the envoys to negotiate a loan during its continuance. Mr. Gerry thought that as to a loan payable after the war, the in structions were ambiguous. Messrs. Marshall and Pinckney maintained that they were as perempto ry in the one case as the other. " I considered," said Mr. Gerry, " that as our instructions contained not a Word respecting a loan after the war, it was not manifest from them either that tbe government would approve or disapprove such a loan if made by tbe envoys, as a necessary measure of accommodation, and although the pro viding that no aid be stipulated during the war, might imply that aid might be stipulated after the war, yet it appeared probable to me such a contin gency had not been anticipated hy our govern ment." To the objection that whatever might be the terms, yet in effect a loan payable at any time, would be a loan, on which money could be raised for present use, Mr. Gerry said that he could con sent to the proposed loan under no circumstances unless in the treaty to be made this possibility could be prevented ; that if this Ueaty contained a stipulation to avoid the loan in case any such use LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 215 was made of it, such provision he thought would do away the objection. But it was after all a question of expediency. France had made a series of vexatious captures of the ships and merchandise of the United States, to an araoimt of many million of dollars. By ac tual war, the undoubted right of the United States for a reclamation of all that vast amount of pro perty would be lost forever. A treaty with the dis advantage of a loan might give restitution to the suffering merchants, whose property to this im mense amount had either been already paid over to the captors, or was now in progress of condem nation. That war with the French people in ad dition to all the misery, which necessarily attend ed a resort to arms, in tbe destruction of human life, in the interruption of domestic pursuits, and in the dangers which might be apprehended to the new government and almost untried constitution of the United States, would as a mere matter of pecuniary calculation, be of vastly more damage to the finances of their country. Its amount would be incalculable, and its consequences on the credit and revenues of the union, just now beginning to recover themselves from the disasters of the revolution, could hardly be well anticipated. The power and resources of France prevented all dan ger of loss from the loan, which would be re paid to us according to the stipulated teims, and iflight be negotiated on our credit merely without any considerable advance. 216 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. Mr. Gerry adverted to the divided condition of the American people, as an argument that would prove almost any sacrifice less dangerous than a war not supported by the public will, and which might produce the most serious civil dissensions. A war with France, he said, would throw tJhe United States almost of necessity into the arms of England, already struggling for its existence under circumstances of unparalleled embarrassments.- It was this connexion he feared much more than-th© forced, great as it waSj of the French arms. On the point of honour Mr. Gerry did not ad mit that he felt less sensibly or delicately than either of his colleagues, but by no means conced ed that the modified proposition of a loan under the existing circumstances of the case, could be injurious to the honour, or derogatory to the in dependence of the United States. The honour of a country, he contended, could never be consulted by adopting a measure, which hazarded its existence. In the valour of his coun trymen, in their firmness, resolution and enduring courage, he had unlimited confidence ; he had been a witness of their wonderful efforts in the darkest periods of the revolutionary contest, but there were limits to all human ability. If France succeeded in her vast efforts for the subjugation of England, our destruction as the ally of England was certain ; if she failed, we had contracted an alliance in no degree less productive of ruin. LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 217 There could be no point of national honour in such a dilemma. A jealous honour, he contended, would before now have involved us in a quarrel with both the belligerents. We_ had__suffered wrongs -fr^m both of them, not-less- insulting in manner than serious in amount. With one we had effected a negotiation by yielding a principle not less vital, and probably not less embarrassing, than the loan now demanded by the other. Was it now necessary to our character to become of a sudden so nicely fastidious, and having without war borne all kinds of injuries, voluntarily incur the most awful calamity of nations upon a doubt ful question of national honour .'' If the Roman pride, which permits no second injury, had in our case already been violated, if the true interest and happiness of a young nation, feeling sensibly its wrongs, and rapidly acquiring the strength, which it now wanted to avenge them, was its best and highest honour, in which all the duty of all its citizens concentrated, was that not best preserved by a little longer patience in the path we had travelled ? Mr. Gerry added that it was well to speak plain. He had not found in the opinions of his colleagues that flexibility, which persons earnest after peace would have practised. That their demeanour was cold, reserved and distant at least if not back ward. That had they yielded to the conferences proposed by the minister, it might have been possi- VOL. II. 28 318 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. ble that some modification of the proposed terms could have been effected. He did not assign to them any other than the most honourable and patriotic motives, but they seemed to him to act on the conviction that France was insincere in her pro posals, and never intended to do more than amuse us with the appearance of accommodation, without intending to make a treaty that would reconcile the two nations on terms compatible with our in dependence. He differed from them altogether. They stood now on the brink of an awful re sponsibility. He willingly encountered it. He would have his own determination known to the American people. They must pay the expenses of the war, and their blood must flow in expiation of its causes. It was true he was outvoted, and his colleagues had a right to deliver the opinion of the commission. He would not embarrass them by informing the French government of this differ ence of opinion, but it must be remembered, and to this end he desired to record his solemn pro testation, that no part or share of this refusal was attributable to him.* Notwithstanding this, Mr. Gerry declared, he would not at present agree to a loan, nor at any time accede to it without the sanction of his govern- * The private journal of Mr. Marshall, for the inspection of which the author is indebted to colonel Pickering, attributes substantially most of the foregoing arguments to Mr. Gerry, which are extended and confirmed in his papers. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 219 ment. His only difference with his colleagues was narrowed down to this. They absolutely re fused to consider the proposition, and met it with an unqualified negative. He was willing to open negotiations on the basis of a loan, to be made after the war, and to prepare a treaty ad referendum, reserving to himself the right of a decision on the whole matter, when a decision should be eventual ly necessary. It was obvious that the loan was a small matter. In a pecuniary light to the French nation it was a trifle. It was solicited as proof of a friendly spirit on the part of a people, with whom the directory pretended to be irritated, and as a conciliation to the French nation, whose attachment to the Ame ricans had very greatly diminished. In the subsequent stages of this negotiation, Mr. Gerry endeavoured to persuade the French minister that the loan ought not to be insisted on. At a conference on the 6th of March, he urged the impolicy of this demand, and maintained that a treaty on liberal principles, such as those on which the treaty of commerce between the two nations was first established, would be infinitely more advantageous to France than the compara tively trifling benefit she would derive from a loan ; such a treaty would produce a friendship and attachment on the part of the United States to France, which would be solid and permanent, and produce benefits far superior to those of any loan which might be made. 230 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. In this effort he was equally unsuccessful, and affairs seemed rapidly tending to a crisis. On the 13th of March, a distinguished citizen of the republic, supposed with good reason by general Marshall,* to be deputed for the purpose by Mons. Talleyrand, called on the general, and under injunctions of secrecy, except as to his col leagues, informed him " that the directory was de termined to give passports to general Pinckney and himself, and to retain Mr. Gerry ; that this order would be kept up a few days to give time to make propositions conforming to the views of this government. That if they were not made Talleyrand would be compelled to execute the order. General Marshall told him if the pro position in expectation of which the order was kept up was a loan, it was perfectly unnecessary to keep it up a single day ; that the subject had been considered for five months, and the opinion with respect to the injunctions of positive duty concerning it were incapable of being shaken ; that as to himself, if it was impossible to effect the object of the mission, he did not wish to stay another day in France, and would as cheerfully depart the next day as at any future time. The messenger reasoned, as often before, on the pro priety of assuming the powers, which were re quired, as being indispensably necessary for the welfare of the country. He did not pretend to * General Marshall's Journal, MS, LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 321 say that the demands of France were just, nor did the minister pretend to place the demand on that ground, or to expect compliance on that account, but because a compliance would be useful to our country ; that France thought herself sufficiently powerful to give the law to the world, and exact ed from all around her money to enable her to finish successfully her war against England. All the nations around her, (and he enumerated them) had been compelled to contribute to this object. There was no instance in which France had de sisted from a demand once made, and it might be relied on she would not desist from the demand made on us. After some further conversation, in which general Marshall persisted in the declaration that no money proposition could or would be made, he returned to the subject of retaining Mr. Gerry. He said it was expected America would consider this as manifesting an unwillingness on the part of France to break entirely with us, and that the government of the United States would annex to Mr. Gerry two other persons, who might do what was necessary for our country, or have a stronger disposition to reconcile the two republics. He hinted a desire that some propositions of the sort should come from us. General Marshall told him, " if two of us should return, our government would act as its own judgment should dictate. That if France was desirous that two of us should return to represent fully to our government the state of 222 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. politics in this country, and meant to leave to our decision, who should stay or go, we should arrange that matter as might comport with our own opin ion of propriety and the interests of our country ; that if on the contrary, France chose to decide for us, and select for the United States the minister who should represent them, the act must be entire ly the act of France, and they would not have the smallest concern with it." "You know very well," said the general, " if any of us returns to the United States, I am resolved to be one ; but that I would contribute to no arrange ment of the sort proposed, because I conceive that a minister ought to represent the country and the interests of that country which deputed him, and not that to which he was deputed, and consequent ly he ought to be chosen by those who deputed him, and not by those to whom he was deputed. He replied, that my observation was very just in itself, and would apply if France rejected us all, and demanded a fourth man from America, but that we were all three equally trusted and chosen hy the government of the United States, and France only selected from among us one, whose dispositions were believed to be friendly to this government, and who might safely be permitted to stay among them. That general Pinckney and myself, and especially myself, were considered as being sold to the English. He would not conceal from me that our positive refusal to comply with LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 323 the demands of France, was attributed principally to me, who was considered entirely English. That he had assured the minister, he was mistaken. That I was restrained from agreeing to the loan, from want of power, and not by want of will, but the opinion was persisted in. I felt some little resentment, and answered, that the French gov ernment thought no such thing ; that neither the government nor any man thought me English, but they knew I was not French ; they knew I would not sacrifice my duty and the interests of my country to any nation on earth, and therefore I was not a proper man to stay, and was branded with the epithet of being English."* This indecent and disreputable imputation, which while it glanced from, without injuring the honourable character of the upright and virtuous statesman to whom it was addressed, reflects on its author the disgrace it was vainly intended to affix on general Marshall, was soon after followed by an official letter from the minister to the en voys. It bears date the 18th of March, and was intended as an answer to their letter of 17th January. In this letter Talleyrand assumes a style suit ed to the haughty temper of his government. He maintains that the priority of grievances and complaints belonged to the French republic ; that all the grievances of which the American envoys * MS. Journal of general Marshall. 324 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GEERY. complained grew out of measures, which the con duct of the United States had justified. He com plains that the republic was deceived in the ne gotiation, and sacrificed by the treaty of London of 1 794 ; that in this treaty the federal govern ment had made to Great Britain concessions the most unheard of, the most incompatible with the interests of the United States, and the most dero gatory to their alliance with France ; that by it every thing had been calculated to turn the neu trality of the United States to the advantage of England, and that France was thereby left free to avail itself of the preservative means, with which the law of nature, the law of nations and prior treaties furnished her. He complained that American newspapers under the direct control of the cabinet had since the ratifi cation of that treaty redoubled their calumnies against the republic, against her principles, her magistrates, and her envoys. The executive direc tory had seen itself denounced in a speech of the president, as endeavouring to produce anarchy and division in the United States. He accuses the government of the United States of a desire to adhere at every hazard, to the spirit of the treaty at London, without giving to France an opportu nity for equal advantage, as evidence of which he adverts to the instructions of the envoys, which he says were not drawn up with the desire of at taining pacific results. The intention, which he LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. attributes to the government of the United States, he says, is so little disguised that nothing speras to have been neglected to manifest them to every eye. It is probably with this vievr that it wa3 thought proper to send to the French repnbUp persons whose opinions and connexions ar§ too well known to hope from them dispositions siB'- eerely conciliatory. He adds the following para-- graph. " It is only in order to smooth the way pf ^i§r eussions, that the undersigned has entered intp the preceding explanations. It is with the sanji^ view that he declares to the commissioners ant} envoys extraordinary, that notwithstanding the kind of prejudice, which has been entertained with respect to them, the executive directory is disposed to treat with that one of the three, whose opinions, presumed to be more impartial, proniise in the course of the explanations more of thait reciprocal confidence, which is indispensable." The replication of the American envoys wa§ presented on the 3d of April. In clear and for? cible language, with firmness, frankness and plain ness suited to the character of the United States, this reply meets, answers, refutes every topic in succession, which was contained in the minister's letter. It denies his accusations, it corrects his mis-statements, it overturns his arguments, and presents another splendid instance of the powerful defence, which integrity and talents and learioing VOL. II. 29 226 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. are capable of making for the injured rights of the country. To the part relative to themselves the letter replies, " The opinions and relations of the under signed are purely American, unmixed with any particle of foreign tint. If they possess a quality on which they pride themselves, it is an attach ment to the happiness and welfare of their coun try ; if they could at will select the means of manifesting that attachment, it would be by effect ing a sincere and real accommodation between France and the United States, in promoting the interests of both, and consistent with the independ ence of the latter." To the offer of the directory to treat with one of their number, the envoys reply, " The result of a deliberation on this point is that no one of the undersigned is authorized to take upon himself a negotiation, evidently intrusted, by the tenor of their powers and instructions to the whole, nor are there any two of them who can propose to withdraw themselves from the task committed to them by their government, while there remains a possibility of performing it. " It is hoped the prejudices said to have been conceived against the ministers of the United States will be dissipated by the truths they have stated. " If in this hope they shall be disappointed, and it should be the will of the directory to order LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 227 passports for any number of them, you will please accompany such passports with letters of safe con duct, which will entirely protect from the cruisers of France the vessels, in which they may respec tively sail, and give to their persons, suit and pro perty that perfect security to which the laws and usages of nations entitle them." This letter of the envoys to Mons. Talleyrand was followed by one from him to Mr. Gerry, inti mating a belief that his colleagues had withdrawn from the territories of the republic, and express ing a desire to resume with him reciprocal com munications upon the interests of the United States of America and the French republic. Tq this Mr. Gerry replied. MR. GERRY TO MONS. TALLEYRAND. Paris, April 4, 17(46. (Germinal 15th, an 6.) S had the honour, citizen minister, of receiving your letter of the 14th Germinal (the 3d inst.) and Mr. Deutrement, who delivered it, informed me, that it was intended to be shown to general Pinckney and general Marshall. Whilst my colleagues and myself, to whom the government of the United States have intrusted the affairs of the embassy, had a joint agency therein, I have carefully imparted to them all the 238 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. propositions which you have requested, and the relative conferences, and to yourself our decisions thereon ; regretting at the same time, the unfor tunate and embarrassing circumstances which im posed on me this disagreeable task. But as by the tenor of your letter, it is now expected that they will quit the territory of the French republic, it will be impossible for me to be the medium of, or to take any measures which will be painful to my colleagues, or not to afford them all the assist ance in my power ; and it would be moreover in consistent with the line of conduct, which you tVell know, citizen minister, I have uniformly ob served, for removing the unfavourable impressions which existed on the part of this government against them. Indeed in our last letter, there is a conditional applicatipn for passports, which as it appears to me, supersedes the necessity of a hint to them on this subject ; and general Marshall is waiting impatiently for an answer to that part of it, which respects a letter of safe conduct, for the vessel in which he and his suite may take passage for the United States, to determine whether he shall embark from France or from Great Britain, but the unfortunate situation of general Pinckney with respect to the critical state of his daughter's health, renders it utterly impossible for him to de part liilder existing circumstances. You have proposed, citizen minister, the 5th or t't'h of this decade for me to resume (reprendre) LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 339 our reciprPcal communications, upon the interests of the French republic and of the United States. The reciprocal communications, which we have had, were such only as I have alluded to in the be ginning of this letter ; unless your proposition ac companied with an injunction of secrecy, for me to treat separately, is considered in that light. To resume this subject will be unavailing, because the measure, for the reasons which I then urged, is Utterly impracticable. I can only then cQuferJn- formally and unaccredited, on any subject respect- ing^pur mission, and comnnunicate to th^^pvern- ment of the United States the result of such con ferences, being in my individual capacity uhau- jhoiized_to -giv^-the^na-anncifflcicir stamp.'~~Never- theless every measure in my power, and in con formity with the duty I owe to my country, shall be zealously pursued to restore harpaony, and cor dial friendship between the two republics. I had the honour of calling on you last evening, for the purpose of making this communication verbally ; but as you were absent, to prevent misconceptions, I have thought it best to reduce it to writing. Accept I pray you, citizen minister, the assur ances of my perfect esteem and respect. E. Gerry. To the minister of foreign affairs ofthe French republic. 230 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. The joint agency of the envoys had now ter minated. After divers perplexing embarrassments respecting passports, general Marshall at length received them about the 12th of April, and imme diately embarked for the United States.* Mr. Pinckney detained in Europe by the sickness of a member of his family, as speedily, as possible quitted Paris. Mr. Gerry on the positive declar ation of the minister, by order of the directory, that his departure from Paris would be attended by an immediate declaration of war, which would be suspended by his remaining till the sense of his government could be obtained, consented under these circumstances not to demand his passports. On the departure of Messrs. Marshall and Pinck ney, Mons. Talleyrand proposed, as already men tioned, to proceed immediately on a separate ne gotiation with Mr. Gerry, which proposition he rejected without hesitation, declaring, and against the minister's repeated efforts, maintaining the position that his whole power terminated with the departure of his colleagues. * Some difiiculty occurred in general Marshall's obtaining a letter of safe conduct for the vessel in which he proposed to em bark, which induced him to express a design if it was refused, of returning through England. The same confidential agent of Mons. Talleyrand, with whom he had formerly conversed, said to him on learning this, that it would give great offence to the government of France, and injure him in the opinion of his own countrymen; and that it would be immediately published by this government, that he had gone to England to receive the wages he had earned by breaking off the treaty with France J LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. 331 On the 20th April he addressed to Mons. Tal leyrand the following letter, which distinctly dis closes the peculiar and painful situation in which he was placed, and the terms which by a perfect understanding with the minister, were to be the conditions of his continuance in the French capital. MR. GERRY TO MONS. TALLEYRAND. Paris, April 20, 1798. (1 Flokeal, an 6.) Citizen Minister, — My colleagues having been under the necessity of departing from Paris, have left me in the most painful situation : as it res pects themselves, the government and nation which I had the honour with them to represent, and my personal circumstances. The alternatives present ed to my choice, were the continuance of ray resi dence here, or an immediate rupture on my de parture ; 1 have chosen the former, prompted by every consideration of the duty I owed my coun try. The object of this government in my remaining here, as announced in your official note of the 14tli Germinal, (3d April) was " to resume our recipro cal communications on the interests of the French republic and of the United States." My answer informed you that " I could only confer informally and unaccredited, on any subject respecting our mission, and communicate to the government of 232 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. the United States the result of such conferences ; being in my individual capacity, unauthorised to give them an official stamp." This then I consid er as the line of conduct well understood to be ob served on my part ; and in the present state of affairs, citizen minister, I flatter myself, that pro positions for terminating all differences, for the restoration of harmony and friendship, and for the reestablishment of commerce between the United States and France, will be promptly made on the part of the latter ; that they will be such, as cor responding with the justice and magnanimity of this great nation, and with sound policy, will en sure success ; that I shall have an opportunity of soon embarking for the United States, and pre senting them to my government for their consider ation; and that all further depredations on our commerce, by French cruisers, will in the interim be prohibited. If in forming this arrangement I can render any services, you may be always sure of my immediate and cheerful cooperation. Measures like these will at once extinguish those coals of discord, which kindled into a flame, must be destructive of the respective interests of the two republics ; will not only restore, but increase, if possible, their former confidence ; and terminate in a competition for excelling each other in mutual acts of generosity and kindness. In any event, citizen minister, I flatter myself it will not be thought necessaiy for me to remain LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 333 long in France, as the state of my family and af fairs requires my immediate return to the Unite'd States ; and as their consul-general vteill continue his residence here, which, pending negotiation, will answer every political purpose. I pray you, citizen minister, to accept the assurances of my most perfect esteem and regard. . E. Gerry. To the minister of foreign affairs ofthe French republic. Things had hardly settled on these new terms, when the publication of the despatches of the en voys to the American government returned to Eu rope, and put the people as well as government pf France in a flame. Talleyrand demanded the names of the in triguers, who taking advantage of the insulated situation in which the envoys had kept themselves, had endeavoured to deceive them, and of whose devices he felicitated Mr. Gerry in not having been the dupe. The avowed object of this de mand was to ascertain for the official information of the directory, by whom had been made the pro position of money for corrupt distribution. In compliance with this request, Mr. Gerry communicated the real names of the parties, who in the published communications of the envoys, had been by the American secretary of state dis tinguished by letters of the alphabet. VOL. II, 30 234 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. On the 26th July, Mr. Gerry quitted Paris. The interval between the departure of his col leagues and his own, was passed in an effort of the minister to enter upon negotiations with him, although he had professed his entire want of au thority to engage in, and his determination under existing circums.tances, even if he had the authori ty, to decline its exercise. In the letters which passed between them, Mons. Talleyrand in the name of the directory, announced the pacific disposition of the French government. He announced the willingness of that government to give Mr. Gerry a public recep tion, the obtaining of which he declared rested solely on himself. The demand of a loan, and explanation for president's speeches, were aban doned ; a regret too earnestly urged not to have been sincere, was expressed by action as well as language, that Mr. Gerry determined to depart, and positive assurances were given of the recep tion of another minister in his place, with the re spect due to the nation he would represent. To favour the belief of a better disposition, than had before existed, an arrete was forwarded to Mr. Gerry at Havre, restraining the irregular and vex atious conduct of French privateers in the West India seas, and assurances given that all other ar rangements should conform to the just expecta tions of the United States. The despatches of the American envoys had produced a wonderful excitement. In England, LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 235 as well as in America, they were supposed to dis play the corruption and profligacy of the govern ment of France, and unexampled assiduity was discovered to print and circulate with the ut most possible publicity copies of these despatches through every part of Europe. The indignation of the directory was excited, but a cooler judg ment suspended its effects. The over zealous anxiety of England to in volve the two nations in war, indicated to the rulers of France the great advantage which was expected by her ancient enemy from an alliance with the United States. The causes from which so great good was anticipated, were examined and appreciated ; the power, the influence, and the character of the American people were more care fully ascertained. The strength which such an union would bestow on the last enemy, which re mained to her, and a growing respect for the for titude and resources of that enemy, changed the councils of the politic directory and produced that successful negotiation, which by a change of their own policy, the United States were subsequently able to effect, and after a short interval of ambig uous hostility confirmed the two nations in the re lations of peace. The excitement occasioned in the United States, by the publication of the despatches of the envoys, was almost unexampled. The demand of money for corrupt distribution, 236 LIFE OP ELBRIDGE GERRY. was considered not merely as evidence of the baseness and venality of an unprincipled govern ment, but resented as an insult on the integrity of the United States. The proposed loan, which certainly was no uncommon thing in national di plomacy, was connected without much judgment in the public mind with the bribe, which was to precede it ; and those who were not influenced by questions of pretended honour, were terrified by danger of national ruin. A war fever, producing that delirium which is the usual accompaniment of such an epidemic, spread rapidly through the country, and was in flamed and aggravated by men, who in a subse quent period of our history discovered war to be among the most terrible of all national calamities. An impression was made on popular opinion favourable to the administration of the national government, so that the opposition, which had be fore nearly or quite divided the physical strength of the country, rapidly lost its numerical force. In the excitement, and under the delusion of the moment, the residence of Mr. Gerry at Paris, was severely censured by the administration, and his immediate recall announced by the secretary of state, in a letter which hardly preserved the form of official civility.* * This letter bearing date 25th June 1798, was communicated to congress with the president's message covering Mr. Gerry's despatches, and to most readers not particularly attentive to dates, it would seem that his remaining in France was in viola- LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 237 Preparation was made for a war, which was in tended to demonstrate the greatness and glory of the United States. Its burthens could hardly be felt at such a moment of unnatural irritation. The condition, which the great party who had been in opposition to lAe then administration had endeav oured to avert, appeared now rapidly approaching, while they had for a time at least, lost that hold on the good opinion of the public, which could alone enable them to prevent it. Mr. Gerry arrived in the United States on the 1st October 1798, and communicated tothe secre tary of state the letters which had passed between him and the French minister since the departure of his colleagues from Paris, with other proceedings already adverted to. These despatches were laid before congress on the 15th of January 1799. Unwilling however to permit them to go alone, and apprehensive of the effect, which they might produce on the republi can party, broken in a good degree and disabled, but by no means annihilated, the secretary follow ed them by a commentary, intended no doubt to overwhelm Mr. Gerry with irretrievable disgrace, to support the high and lofty pretensions of the government, to keep up that fervour without which armies, navies, taxes, and the appendages of milita- tion of its order. But this letter was never received by Mr. Ger ry. If it was ever sent to Europe, it passed him on his return. " My first knowledge of its existence," he says in a letter to the president, " was in the public newspaper." 238 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. ry institutions could not derive support, to gather round the administration the pride, patriotism and wealth of the nation, and to expose its opponents to disgrace, as aliens to the interest and welfare of their country. There commenced at this mointent a series of measures which has marked the succeeding period as the epoch of the reign of terror. The leaders of the dominant party were carrying their policy to extremes, which alarmed the eminent citizen who presided in the councils of the country, and al though checked and controlled by' his firmness and the reproof which he bestowed on the most distin guished of those concerned, and particularly on the secretary of state, whom he dismissed from his station, it produced such reaction in the public mind, as to destroy forever the ascendency of the federal party in the United States. LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 239 CHAPTER VII. Commentary on, the mission to France, and strictures on colonel Pickering's publications in relation to it. The most obvious subject of remark, on a re view of this extraordinary mission, is the submis sion of the envoys to communications with indi viduals producing no evidence of official rank ; the affected secrecy of these intrusive agents ; and the great consequence given to the affair, by the minute recapitulation of every trifling circum stance, in official despatches to the American government. If the conduct of the envoys in these undignifi ed conferences was evidence of their anxiety for peace, the detailed communication, which they made of it, was not less calculated for war. It is a single instance in the history of public mis sions that so much should be recounted, where so little was performed ; although it cannot be believed that the republican envoys were indeed the first on whom the arts of European diplomacy were essayed. But the censure, if deserved, is divisible among all the members of the embassy. In the report of the secretary of state, the dissent of one of them is no where intimated, although he was 340 LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. aware that on the 20th October Mr. Gerry pro posed to his colleagues that they should put an end to all informal negotiation. It was so determined ; and the only subject of regret, for which all of them are to account, is found in their departure from this judicious reso lution. The preference and selection of Mr. Gerry from his colleagues, by the minister of the direc tory, is the next subject of remark, and has been most adroitly used to the injury of his fame. To be selected by an enemy implies treachery to a friend. It ha^ been said with sarcastic impu tation, that if the French government could treat with him and not with his colleagues, he must have been less attached to America than they were, or more subservient than they would be to the interests of France. The insinuation is made with something of temper in the journal of one of the envoys, it is brought forward in the report of the American secretary, and alleged in plainer terms in his subsequent review. Could the inference be well drawn the fact would indeed be disgraceful ; but it is not per ceived why, if any dependence is to be placed on the allegations of the French minister, his whole statement should not be received with equal credit, and why therefore his refusal to receive Messrs. Marshall and Pinckney as envoys of the United States, on the pretence that they were English- LIFE OF ELBRIDGE GERRY. 241 men in their principles and policy, does not as well establish that position, as his readiness to receive Mr. Gerry proves him to have been French? The truth is that no fair deduction, except a desire to sow discord in the embassy and the country, can justly be made from the conduct of this artful diplomatist.* Neither his language nor his conduct should be received as evidence against the agents of the United States. It was not what he thought, but what they did ; not his imputations but their con duct, which establishes their character. The two honourable men, on whom his offensive neglect and pretended suspicion would fasten the traitor ous-charge of being Englishmen at heart,- refuted the slander by the patriotism of their lives ; and the other, whom his insidious flattery chose to in dicate as devoted to France, held the same shield against his disreputable imputation. The rejec tion of the two envoys, on the pretence of their * Mons. Talleyrand's own reasons for his preference of Mr. Gerry, and rejection of his colleagues, were thus subsequently stated. "The advantages that I prized in him, are common to all Americans who have not manifested a predilection for England. Can it be beheved that a man who should profess a hatred or contempt of the French republic, or should manifest himseif the advocate for royalty, can inspire the directory with a favourable opinion of the government of the United States. I should have disguised the truth if I had left this matter ambiguous. It is not to wound the independence of that government to point out to a sincere friend of peace the shoals he ought to avoid." — Talleyrand to Pichon, 28unitus, trade tibi domine, et munus est niihi jucundissimum, has vestes officiales, coronis victorum potentium, honorabiliores, chartam, tabulas publicas, sigillum et claves ; symbola aequ^ ac officii testimonia. Omnibus juri- bus, auctoritatibus, potestatibus et previligiis Praesidis Uni versitatis te munio. Hac sede consecrata te stabilio, et Collegii Harvardiani Prtesidem te annuncio ; quo nomine primd te ex animo saluto. In te omnium oculi conjiciuntur. Tu eris, quasi civitas in monte sita, conspicuus: et sic luceat vestra lux apud hoscffi juveneSjUt vestra facta videntes nostrum patrem qui est in coelo adorent. 406 APPENDIX. RESPONSUM PRiESIDIS. Ulustrissime Domine, Gubernator. Quanta solicitudine meipsum hujus sellae AcademicsB digni tate ornatum sentio, verbis exsequi non possum, M^que dicere oportet. Tu, domine, qui onus muneris jaa suscepti recte peiT- pendisti, bene intelligis, atque omnes qui secum cogitant quo" loco sum, intellecturij quae curEe animum meujn oxeroont. Inter Omnes constat quo affectu, quanto studio, quibus preci bus et lachrymis hujusce Societatis fundainenta pdsiierunt nostri inajores ; et quam multi, olim et nUper| opes, cOnSilid, labofes ei libera impenderunt. * ' ¦ - », Mihi iinperito, imparatoque curatibnem institutionid tktn cUrae, tam antiquae mandatam esse video. Ita numfm divibo placuet. Recte mihi indicasti domine, quod homines a me juste eXpec- tent, et verbis benignis mihi profecto animum addidisti. Dubi- lare non possum quin tu, Harvardiae alumnus et semper ami cus ; tu, publicis, privatisque virtlitibus praestans, et VirOs intet claros, qui libertatem Americanam ancipitem feliciter dssei'ere ccEperunt, semper nominandus; quin tu, vir excellenti^sitne, in rebus agendis diu versatus, et hunc in summo dignitatis grada constitutus, mihi piro merito lubenter sublevare praesto fuerisj etiamque confide, cseterbs in collegii rebus occujiktbs, qUod dd illos attinet, adjumentomihi sferapei- adfuturos. Quod superest, deum optimum maximuni'dot]fi{fi.3K^tij JTesu Christi Deum et Patrem veneremur, et prebenmli'.ut'fl.SSis'ctir- sum rectum ostendat, atque hunc diem tam serium quaHn festuOi, nostra) Academicae totique reipublicae et eccleteiae pro henevo- lentiae stia faustum atque felicem evadere sinat. REPLICATIO GUBERNATORIB. Restat Domine, hac solemnitate summa, nomine Gubemato- rum Universitatis summorum tibi gratulari, benedictionem et gratiam divinam tibi obsecrare. In vestra aemulatione, sedulitate, et fidelitate official! suam confidentiam exprimere ; te juvare et sustinere in hoc muhere honorabili, suam mentem et decisio- nem declarare ; denique, quod juventutes harvardiani, obedien- tiam, affeotionem, et reverentiam tibi semper rtianifestabUUt, fide confirmare. ., APPENDIX B. (Page 343.) -Boston, Council Chamber, December 17, 18II. The governour havmg on the 14th of August-last, requested the opinion of the council on the following points, viz. "who of the sheriffs and clerks of the_judicial courts ought to be super seded as a measure requisite to promote the public welfare ;" and the council on the 16th ofthe same month, having expressed their opinion, that the sheriffs of twelve, and the clerks of fifteen coun ties, named by the council shouldjbe superseded, have been si lent, in regard to the sheriff and clerk of the county of Suffolk, excepting some remarks, relative to the postponement of the nomination ofthe latter. The sheriff of Suffolk, being a gentle man of amiable manners, correct morals, and in what relates to himself of good conduct in his office, and being approved in other respects by many persons in that county friendly to the national and state governments, but being at the same time very obnox ious to a number of others, equally friendly to government, is under circumstances very embarrassing to the governour. The unpopularity of this sheriff, it is conceived arises from the same cause as that of the sheriff of Essex ; a cause, which rendered indispensable the preference to him of another candidate. The govennduS" aBud.es. l»' the misconduct of some deputies of both shert^j ^d*ih "particular to a deputy of Suffolk, against whom Henry Warren, Esq. of Plymouth has exhibited the complaint, contained in the document No. 1. In the nomination of officers, the candidate who has appeared to unite in the greatest degree, the approbation of the people, and who in every other respect, has had equal pretensions, has had the preference. If in this instance, the incumbent should be nominated, it is manifest, that the. measure would produce great uneasiness on the part of many firm friends of government. The proceedings of these are con tained in the document No. 2. Thus circumstanced the gover nour requests the opinion ofthe council, whether the nomination and appointment of Col. Samuel Bradford, to the office of sheriff for Suffolk, will promote the public welfare, iu an equal degree wilh one of the other candidates for this office .' Major Gibbs, 408 , APPENDIX. whose pretensions are contained in two papers, numbered 3, and Capt. Amos Binney, mentioned irf'the document No. 3, are can didates. The opinions on this subject of the members of the council respectively, are requested in writing. E. Gerbt. Council CfnAMBER, Jahuart 15, 1812. Hia exdellendy the governour in a communication of the 17th of December last liaving' requested tftejppinion ofthe council respecting the sheriff of the county of Si^olk, and^fi that com munication having referred ^tp a former one made the 14th of August last, in which he reqiJested the opiniOTi of the council, " who of the sheriffs and clerks ofthe judicial courts, ought to be superseded as a measure requisite to promote me public wel fare :" The council in a communication made to his excellency the 16th ofthe same month of August, expressed their opinion that the sheriffs of twelve counties therein named ought to be supersed ed, and as the council understood the governour to request their opinion respecting all the sheriffs, and as it had become the duty of the executive to appoint sheriffs in all the counties, the coun cil did intend to express their opinion respecting all of them, and to be understood to be in favour of a reappointment of all those whom they had not designated as proper to be superseded as a measure requisite to promole the public welfare?. Oji a revision ofthe subject as it respects the several sheriffs th^.(iounoil see no sufficient cause to reverse their opinion, and agreeMrig*- with his excellency that "the sheriff of Suffolk" is "a gentleman of amiable manners, correct morals, and in what relates to himself of good conduct in his office, aud being approved in other respects by many persons in that county friendly to government" are (as on the former occasion) unanimously of opinion that the pubhc welfare does not require that he should be superseded.;' Wm. Grat, Samuei, Fowber, Mahshall Spring, Aa. Hili., ,. • ' '¦' M- KiNSLET, Thomas B.'Adams. ' ¦" THE END. 3 9002 00507 9539