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THE PATRIOT 
 
PATRIOTISM 
 
 IN 
 
 WASHINGTON'S TIME 
 
 COLLECTED AND COMPILED 
 
 P/ J. BYRNE, M. D. 
 
 The motives that prompted our Forefathers to declare the "RIGHT 
 
 TO BE A FREE AND INDEPENDENT PEOPLE," 
 
 and which led to the "Declaration of 
 
 Independence." 
 
 JOHN MURPHY COMPANY 
 
 PRINTERS 
 
 BALTIMORES MARYHjAND 
 
 1917 
 

 Copyright 1917, by 
 P. J. BYRNE. M. D. 
 
 FEB -7 1918 
 
 ©CI.A481i>46 
 
 ^Vo ( 
 
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To the brave Boys at the Front, wherever 
 they may be, and to those who stay at Home 
 and ''DO THEIR LITTLE BIT," this volume 
 is dedicated. 
 
 By the Compiler. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chap. I. THE ALBANY PLAN OF UNION FOR THE COLO- 
 NIES 7 
 
 II. THE STAMP ACT AND ITS REPEAL 17 
 
 III. THE BOSTON TEA PARTY 29 
 
 IV. GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON'S ACCOUNT 35 
 
 V. PATRICK HENRY'S CALL TO ARMS 38 
 
 VI. WASHINGTON'S APPOINTMENT AS COMMAN- 
 DER-IN-CHIEF 45 
 
 VII. THE DRAFTING OF THE DECLARATION OF IN- 
 DEPENDENCE 55 
 
 VIII. JOHN ADAMS' ACCOUNT 62 
 
 IX. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE , 65 
 
 X. THE YOUTH OF WASHINGTON 72 
 
 XL FRANKLIN IN FRANCE 74 
 
 XII. TREASON 81 
 
 XIII. ADVENTURES OF MR. JOHN ANDERSON 95 
 
 XIV. HIS EXCELLENCY IS EXPECTED TO BRE.IK- 
 
 FAST 105 
 
 XV. A SOLDIER'S DEATH Ill 
 
 XVI. MAJOR JOHN ANDRE WAS EXECUTED AS A 
 
 SPY AT TAPPAN, NEW YORK, Oct. 2, 1780 ... 116 
 
 XVII. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES . 120 
 
 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 145 
 
 SUMMARY AND CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX 169 
 
Chap. I. THE ALBANY "PLAN OF UNION" 
 FOR THE COLONIES. 
 
 (1754) 
 
 By Benjamin Franklin (See Note). 
 
 It is proposed that humble application be made 
 for an Act of Parliament of Great Britain by virtue 
 of which one general government may be formed in 
 America, including all the said colonies, within and 
 under which government each colony may retain its 
 present constitution, except in the particulars where- 
 in a change may be directed by the said Act, as here- 
 after follows. 
 
 President-General and Grand Council. 
 
 "That the said general government be administered by a 
 President-General, to be appointed and supported by the 
 crown ; and a Grand Council, to be chosen by the representa- 
 tives of the people of the several colonies met in their respec- 
 tive assemblies." 
 
 It was thought that it would be best the President- 
 General should be supported as well as appointed by 
 
 Note — The "Plan" here printed was drawn up by Franklin at 
 the request of a committee which had been entrusted with the task. 
 Franklin based it on an outline which he had drawn up some time 
 before. The Albany Congress, to which the plan was submitted in 
 1754, comprised 25 delegates, representing eight of the colonies — 
 New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New 
 York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Some sort of union 
 had long been desired by the Colonies, and, although this attempt 
 ended in failure, it has historic importance as the most notable 
 attempt at federation made by the Colonies before the Revolution. 
 Franklin ascribed its failure to the fact that the Congress itself 
 "thought there was too much prerogative, and England, too much 
 of the democratic." The Congress became useful, however, in famil- 
 iarizing the people with the idea of union — a familiarity which 
 facilitated in later years the movement for union of action against 
 England. 
 
8 Patriotism in Washington's Time, 
 
 the crown, that so all disputes between him and the 
 Grand Council concerning his salary might be pre- 
 vented, as such disputes have been frequently of mis- 
 chievous consequence in particular colonies, espe- 
 cially in time of public danger. 
 
 The quitrents of crown lands in America might in 
 a short time be sufficient for this purpose. The 
 choice of members for the Grand Council is placed 
 in the House of Representatives of each government, 
 in order to give the people a share in this new gen- 
 eral government, as the crown has its share by the 
 appointment of the President-General. 
 
 But it being proposed by the gentlemen of the 
 Council of New York, and some other counsellors 
 among the commissioners, to alter the plan in this 
 particular and to give the governors and councils of 
 the several Provinces a share in the choice of the 
 Grand Council, or of disallowing the choice made 
 by the House of Representatives, it was said: 
 
 That the government or constitution proposed to 
 be formed by the plan consists of two branches — a 
 President-General, appointed by the crown, and a 
 council, chosen by the people or by the people's rep- 
 resentatives, which is the same thing. 
 
 That by a subsequent article the council chosen by 
 the people can effect nothing without the consent of 
 the President-General, appointed by the crown ; the 
 crown possesses, therefore, full one-half of the power 
 of this constitution. 
 
 That in the British Constitution the crown is sup- 
 posed to possess but one-third, the Lords having 
 their share. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 9 
 
 That this Constitution seemed rather more favor- 
 able for the crown. 
 
 That it is essential to English liberty that the 
 subject should not be taxed but by his own consent 
 or the consent of his elected representatives. 
 
 That taxes to be laid and levied by this proposed 
 Constitution will be proposed and agreed to by the 
 representatives of the people if the plan in this par- 
 ticular be preserved. 
 
 But if the proposed alteration should take place, 
 it seemed as if matters may be so managed as that 
 the crown shall finally have the appointment, not 
 only of the President-General, but of a majority of 
 the Grand Council, for seven out of eleven governors 
 and councils are appointed by the crown. 
 
 And so the people in all the colonies would, in 
 effect, be taxed by their governors. 
 
 It was, therefore, apprehended that such altera- 
 tions of the plan would give great dissatisfaction, 
 and that the colonies could not be easy under such a 
 power in governors and such an infringement of 
 what they take to be English liberty. 
 
 Besides, the giving a share in the choice of the 
 Grand Council would not be equal with respect to 
 all the colonies, as their constitutions differ. In 
 some, both governor and council are appointed by 
 the crown ; in others they are both appointed by the 
 proprietors. In some the people have a share in the 
 choice of the council ; in others both government and 
 council are wholly chosen by the people. 
 
 But the House of Representatives is everywhere 
 chosen by the people; and, therefore, placing the 
 
10 Patriotism in Washington's Time}. 
 
 right of choosing the Grand Council in the represen- 
 tatives is equal with respect to all. 
 
 That the Grand Council is intended to represent 
 all the several Houses of Representatives of the col- 
 onies, as a House of Representatives doth the sev- 
 eral towns or counties of a colony. Could all the 
 people of a colony be consulted and unite in public 
 measures, a House of Representatives would be need- 
 less, and, could all the Assemblies conveniently con- 
 sult and unite in general measures, the Grand Coun- 
 cil would be unnecessary. 
 
 That a House of Commons or the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, and the Grand Council, are thus alike in 
 their nature and intention. And, as it would seem 
 improper that the King or House of Lords should 
 have a power of disallowing or appointing members 
 of the House of Commons, so likewise that a Gov- 
 ernor and Council appointed by the Crown should 
 have a power of disallowing or appointing members 
 of the Grand Council, who, in this Constitution, are 
 to be the representatives of the people. 
 
 If the governors and councils, therefore, were to 
 have a share in the choice of any that are to conduct 
 this general government, it should seem more proper 
 that they choose the President-General. But this 
 being an office of trust and importance to the na- 
 tion, it was thought better to be filled by the imme- 
 diate appointment of the crown. 
 
 Election of Members. 
 
 "Within — months after the passing of such Act the House 
 of Representatives that happen to be sitting within that time, 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 11 
 
 or that shall be especially for that purpose convened, may 
 and shall choose members for the Grand Council in the fol- 
 lowing proportion: that is to say, Massachusetts Bay, 7; 
 New Hampshire, 2 ; Connecticut, 5 ; Rhode Island, 2 ; New 
 York, 4 ; New Jersey, 3 ; Pennsylvania, 6 ; Maryland, 4 ; Vir- 
 ginia, 7; North Carolina, 4; South Carolina, 4. Total, 48." 
 
 It was thought that if the least colony was 
 allowed two, and the other in proportion, the num- 
 ber would be very great and the expense heavy ; and 
 that less than two would not be convenient, as a 
 single person being by accident prevented from ap- 
 pearing at the meeting, the colony he ought to ap- 
 pear for would not be represented. That as the 
 choice was not immediately popular, they would be 
 generally men of good abilities for business and men 
 of reputation for integrity ; and that forty-eight such 
 men might be a number sufficient. But, though it 
 was thought reasonable each colony should have a 
 share in the representative body in some degree, ac- 
 cording to the proportion it contributed to the gen- 
 eral treasury, yet the proportion of wealth or power 
 of the colonies is not to be judged by the proportion 
 here fixed; because it was at first agreed that the 
 greatest colony should not have more than seven 
 members, nor the least less than two; and the set- 
 ting these proportions between these two extremes 
 was not nicely attended to, as it would find itself, 
 after the first election, from the sums brought into 
 the treasury, as by a subsequent article. 
 
 Place op First Meeting. 
 
 "The Grand Council shall meet for the first time at the 
 City of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, being called by the 
 
12 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 President-General as soon as conveniently may be after his 
 appointment." 
 
 Philadelphia was named as being nearer the cen- 
 ter of the colonies, where the commissioners would 
 be well and cheaply accommodated. The highroads 
 through the whole extent are, for the most part, very 
 good, in which forty or fifty miles a day may very 
 well be, and frequently are, traveled. Great part of 
 the way may likewise be gone by water. In sum- 
 mer time the passages are frequently performed in a 
 week from Charleston to Philadelphia and New 
 York; and from Rhode Island to New York through 
 the Sound in two or three days; and from New 
 York to Philadelphia by water and land in two days, 
 by stage, boats and wheel-carriages that set out 
 every other day. The journey from Charleston to 
 Philadelphia may likewise be facilitated by boats 
 running up Chesapeake Bay three hundred miles. 
 But if the whole journey be performed on horse- 
 back the most distant members, viz., the two from 
 New Hampshire and from South Carolina, may prob- 
 ably render themselves at Philadelphia in fifteen or 
 twenty days; the majority may be there in much 
 less time. * * ♦ 
 
 Meetings of the Grand Council and Call. 
 
 "The Grand Council shall meet once in every year, and 
 oftener if occasion require, at such time and place as they 
 shall adjourn to at the last preceding meeting, or as they 
 shall be called to meet at by the President-General on any 
 emergency ; he having first obtained in writing the consent 
 of seven of the members to such call, and sent due and timely 
 notice to the whole." 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 13 
 
 It was thought, in establishing and governing new 
 colonies or settlements, regulating Indian trade, In- 
 dian treaties, etc., there would every year sufiBcient 
 business arise to require at least one meeting, and at 
 such meeting many things might be suggested for 
 the benefit of all the colonies. This annual meeting 
 may either be at a time or place certain, to be fixed 
 by the President-General and Grand Council at their 
 first meeting; or left at liberty, to be at such time 
 and place as they shall adjourn to, or be called to 
 meet at by the President-General. In time of war 
 it seems convenient that the meeting should be in 
 that colony which is nearest the seat of action. The 
 power of calling them on any emergency seemed 
 necessary to be vested in the President-General ; but, 
 that such power might not be wantonly used to 
 harass the members and oblige them to make fre- 
 quent long journeys to little purpose, the consent 
 of seven at least to such call was supposed a con- 
 venient guard. * * * 
 
 Members' Allowance. 
 
 "The members of the Grand Couucil shall be allowed for 
 their service ten shillings sterling per diem, during their ses- 
 sion and journey to and from the place of meeting ; twenty 
 miles to be reckoned a day's journey." 
 
 It was thought proper to allow some wages, lest 
 the expense might deter some suitable persons from 
 the service; and not allow too great wages, lest un- 
 suitable persons should be tempted to cabal for the 
 employment, for the sake of gain. Twenty miles 
 were set down as a day's journey, to allow for acci- 
 
14 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 dental liiiidrances on the road, and the greater ex- 
 penses of traveling than residing at the place of 
 meeting. 
 
 Assent of the President-General. 
 
 "The assent of the President-General shall be requisite to 
 all acts of the Grand Council, and it shall be his office and 
 duty to cause them to be carried into execution." 
 
 The assent of the President-General to all acts 
 of the GraTid Council was made necessary, in order 
 to give the crown its due share of influence in this 
 government, and conect it with that of Great Brit- 
 ain. The President-General, besides one-half of the 
 legislative power, hath in his hands the whole execu- 
 tive power. 
 
 Raise Soldiers and Equip Vessels. 
 
 "They shall raise and pay soldiers and build forts for the 
 defense of any of the colonies, and equip vessels of force to 
 guard the coasts and protect the trade on the ocean, lakes 
 or great rivers ; but they shall not impress men in any colony, 
 without the consent of the Legislature." 
 
 It was thought that quotas of men, to be raised 
 and paid by the several colonies, and joined for any 
 public service, could not always be got together with 
 the necessary expedition. For instance, suppose one 
 thousand men should be wanted in New Plampshire 
 on any emergency. To fetch them by fifties and 
 hundreds out of eveiy colony, as far as South Caro- 
 lina, would be inconvenient, the transportation 
 chargeable, and the occasion, perhaps, passed before 
 they could be assembled ; and, therefore, it would be 
 best to raise them (by offering bounty money and 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 15 
 
 pay) near the place where they would be wanted, to 
 be discharged again when the service should be over. 
 
 Particular colonies are at present backward to 
 build forts at their own expense, which they say 
 will be equally useful to their neighboring colonies, 
 who refuse to join on a presumption that such forts 
 will be built and kept up, though they contribute 
 nothing. This unjust conduct weakens the whole; 
 but forts being for the good of the whole, it was 
 thought best they should be built and maintained by 
 the whole, out of the common treasury. 
 
 In the time of war small vessels of force are some- 
 times necessary in the colonies to scour the coasts 
 of small privateers. These being provided by the 
 Union will be an advantage in turn to the colonies 
 which are situated on the sea, and whose frontiers 
 on the land side, being covered by other colonies, 
 reap but little immediate benefit from the advanced 
 forts. 
 
 Power to Make Laws^ Lay Duties^ Etc. 
 
 "For these purposes they shall have power to make laws, 
 lay and levy such general duties, Imposts or taxes, as to 
 them shall appear most equal and just (considering the 
 ability and other circumstances of the inhabitants in the 
 several colonies), and such as may be collected with the 
 least inconvenience to the people ; rather discouraging luxury 
 than loading industry with unnecessary burdens." 
 
 The laws which the President-General and Grand 
 Council are empowered to make are such only as 
 shall be necessary for the government of the settle- 
 ments, the raising, regulating and paying soldiers 
 for the general service; the regulating of Indian 
 
16 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 trade, and laying and collecting the general dutii 
 and taxes. Thej should also have a power to r 
 strain the exportation of provisions to the enen: 
 from any of the colonies on particular occasions i 
 time of war. But it is not intended that they ma 
 interfere with the constitution and government of tl 
 particular colonies, who are to be left to their ow 
 laws, and to lay, levy and apply their own taxes, j 
 before. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 17 
 
 Chap.II. THE STAMP ACT AND ITS REPEAL. 
 
 (1765) 
 
 The Stamp Act, when its ultimate consequences 
 are considered, must be deemed one of the most mo- 
 mentous legislative acts in the history of mankind; 
 but in England it passed almost completely unno- 
 ticed. The Wilkes excitement absorbed public at- 
 tention, and no English politician appears to have 
 realized the importance of the measure. It is scarce- 
 ly mentioned in the contemporary correspondence of 
 Horace Walpole, of Grenville, or of Pitt. Burke, 
 who was not yet a member of the House of Commons, 
 afterward declared that he had followed the debate 
 from the gallery, and that he had never heard a 
 more languid one in the House; that not more than 
 two or three gentlemen spoke against the bill; that 
 there was but one division in the whole course of the 
 discussion, and that the minority in that division 
 was not more than thirty-nine or forty. In the 
 House of Lords he could not remember that there 
 had been either a debate or division, and he was 
 certain that there was no protest. 
 
 In truth, the measure, although it was by no means 
 as unjust or unreasonable as has been alleged, and 
 although it might perhaps in some periods of colo- 
 nial history have passed almost unperceived, did 
 unquestionably infringe upon a principle which the 
 English race both at home and abroad have always 
 regarded with a peculiar jealousy. The doctrine 
 
18 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 that taxation and representation are in free na- 
 tions inseparably connected, that constitutional gov- 
 ernment is closely connected with the rights of prop- 
 erty, and that no jieople can be legitimately taxed 
 except by themselves or their representatives, lay at 
 the very root of the English conception of political 
 liberty. The same principle that had led the Eng- 
 lish people to provide so carefully in the Great 
 Charter, in a well-known statute of Edward I, and 
 in the Bill of Eights, that no taxation should be 
 drawn from them except by the English Parlia- 
 ment; the same principle which had gradually in- 
 vested the representative branch of the Legislature 
 with the special and peculiar function of granting 
 supplies, led the colonists to maintain that their 
 liberty would be destroyed if they were taxed by a 
 Legislature in which they had no representatives, 
 and which sat three thousand miles from their 
 shore. 
 
 It was a principle which had been respected by 
 Henry VIII and Elizabeth in the most arbitrary 
 moments of their reigns, and its violation by Charles 
 I was one of the chief causes of the rebellion. The 
 principle which led Hampden to refuse to pay 20 
 shillings of ship money was substantially the same 
 as that which inspired the resistance to the Stamp 
 Act. 
 
 It is quite true that this theory, like that of the 
 social contract, which has also borne a great part in 
 the history of political liberty, will not bear a severe 
 and philosophical examination. The opponents of 
 the American claims were able to reply, with un- 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 19 
 
 doubted truth, that at least nine-tenths of the Eng- 
 lish people had no votes; that the great manufac- 
 turing towns, which contributed so largely to the 
 public burdens, were for the most part wholly un- 
 represented; that the minority in Parliament voted 
 only in order to be systematically overruled; and 
 that in a country where the constituencies were as 
 unequal as in England, that minority often repre- 
 sented the large majority of the voters. * * ♦ 
 
 It was a first principle of the Constitution that a 
 member of Parliament was the representative not 
 merely of his own constituency, but also of the whole 
 Empire. Men connected with, or at least specially 
 interested in the colonies, always found their way 
 into Parliament; and the very fact that the colonial 
 arguments were maintained with transcendent 
 power within its walls was sufficient to show that 
 the colonies were virtually represented. 
 
 A Parliament elected by a considerable part of 
 the English people, drawn from the English people, 
 sitting in them, of them, and exposed to their social 
 and intellectual influence, was assumed to represent 
 the whole nation, and the decision of its majority 
 was assumed to be the decision of the whole. If it 
 be asked how these assumptions could be defended, 
 it can only be answered that they had rendered pos- 
 sible a form of government which had arrested the 
 incursions of the royal prerogative, had given Eng- 
 land a longer period and a larger measure of self- 
 government than was enjoyed by any other great 
 European nation, and had created a public spirit 
 sufficiently powerful to defend the liberties that had 
 been won. 
 
20 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Such arguments, however worthless they might 
 appear to a lawyer or a theorist, ought to be very 
 suflScient to a statesman. Manchester and Sheffield 
 had no more direct representation in Parliament 
 than Boston or Philadelphia; but the relations of 
 unrepresented Englishmen and of colonists to the 
 English Parliament were very different. 
 
 Parliament could not long neglect the fierce beat- 
 ings of the waves of popular discontent around its 
 walls. It might long continue perfectly indifferent 
 to the wishes of a population 3,000 miles from the 
 English shore. When Parliament taxed the English 
 people, the taxing body itself felt the weight of the 
 burden it imposed; but Parliament felt no part of 
 the weight of colonial taxation and had, therefore, 
 a direct interest in increasing it. * * * 
 
 The Stamp Act received the royal asssent on 
 March 22, 1765, and it was to come into operation 
 on the first of November following. The long delay 
 which had been granted in the hope that it might 
 lead to some proposal of compromise from America, 
 had been sedulously employed by skilful agitators 
 in stimulating the excitement; and when the news 
 arrived that the Stamp Act had been carried, the 
 train was fully laid, and the indignation of the colo- 
 nies rose at once into a flame. 
 
 A congress of representatives of nine States was 
 held at New York, and in an extremely able State 
 paper they drew up the case of the colonies. They 
 acknowledged that they owed allegiance to the 
 crown, and "all due subordination to that august 
 body, the Parliament of Great Britain," but they 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 21 
 
 maintained that they were entitled to all the inhe- 
 rent rights and liberties of natural-born subjects; 
 "that it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a 
 people and the undoubted right of Englishmen that 
 no taxes be imposed on them but with their own 
 consent, given personally or by their representa- 
 tives;" that the colonists "are not, and from their 
 local circumstances cannot be, represented in the 
 House of Commons of Great Britain ;" that the only 
 representatives of the colonies and, therefore, the 
 only persons constitutionally competent to tax them 
 were the members chosen in the colonies by them- 
 selves ; and that all supplies of the crown being free 
 gifts from the people, it is unreasonable and incon- 
 sistent with the principles and spirit of the British 
 Constitution for the people of Great Britain to grant 
 to his Majesty the property of the colonies." A pe- 
 tition to the King and memorials to both Houses of 
 Parliament were drawn up embodying these views. 
 
 It was not, however, only by such legal measures 
 that opposition was shown. A furious outburst of 
 popular violence speedily showed that it would be 
 Impossible to enforce the Act. In Boston, Oliver, 
 the secretary of the Province, who had accepted the 
 oflSce of stamp distributor, was hung in effigy on a 
 tree in the main street of the town. The building 
 which had been erected as a stamp office was leveled 
 with the dust; the house of Oliver was attacked, 
 plundered and wrecked, and he was compelled by the 
 mob to resign his office and to swear beneath the 
 tree on which his effigy had been so ignominiously 
 hung that he never would resume it. A few nights 
 
22 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 later the riots recommenced with redoubled fury. 
 The houses of two of the leading officials connected 
 with the Admiralty Court and with the Custom- 
 house were attacked and rifled, and the files and 
 records of the Admiralty Court were burned. The 
 mob, intoxicated with the liquors which they had 
 found in one of the cellars they had plundered, next 
 turned to the house of Hutchinson, the Lieutenant- 
 Governor and Chief Justice of the Province. Hutch- 
 inson was not only the second person in rank in the 
 colony, he was also a man who had personal claims 
 of the highest kind upon his countrymen. ♦ ♦ ♦ 
 
 Although Hutchinson was opposed to the policy of 
 the Stamp Act, the determination with which he 
 acted as Chief Justice in supporting the law soon 
 made him obnoxious to the mob. He had barely 
 time to escape with his family when his house, 
 which was the finest in Boston, was attacked and de- 
 stroyed. His plate, his furniture, his pictures, the 
 public documents in his possession, and a noble 
 library which he had spent thirty years in collect- 
 ing, were plundered and burned. 
 
 The flame rapidly spread. In the newly annexed 
 provinces, indeed, and in most of the West India 
 Islands, the Act was received without difficulty, but 
 in nearly every American colony those who had 
 consented to be stamp distributors were hung and 
 burned in effigy, and compelled by mob violence to 
 resign their posts. The houses of many who were 
 known to be supporters of the Act or sympathizers 
 with the government, were attacked and plundered. 
 Some were compelled to flee from the colonies, and 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 23 
 
 the authority of the Home Government was exposed 
 to every kind of insult. In New York the effigy of 
 the Governor was paraded with that of the devil 
 round town and then publicly burned, and threaten- 
 ing letters were circulated menacing the lives of 
 those who distributed stamps. 
 
 When the first of November arrived the bells were 
 tolled as for the funeral of a nation. The flags were 
 hung half-mast high. The shops were shut, and the 
 Stamp Act was hawked about with the inscription, 
 '^The folly of England and the ruin of America." 
 The newspapers were obliged by the new law to bear 
 the staiap, which probably contributed much to the 
 extreme virulence of their opposition, and many of 
 them now appeared with a death's head in the place 
 where the stamp should have been. It was found 
 not only impossible to distribute stamps, but even 
 impossible to keep them in the colonies, for the mob 
 seized on every box which was brought from Eng- 
 land committed it to the flames. Stamps were re- 
 quired for the validity of every legal document, yet 
 in most of the colonies not a single sheet of paper 
 could be found. The law courts were for a time 
 closed, and almost all business was suspended. At 
 last the Governors, considering the impossibility of 
 carrying on public business or protecting property 
 under these conditions, took the law into their own 
 hands and issued letters authorizing noncompliance 
 with the Act on the ground that it was absolutely 
 impossible to procure the requisite stamps in the 
 colony. • ♦ ♦ 
 
24 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Parliament met on December 17, 1765, and the at- 
 titude of the different parties was speedily disclosed. 
 A powerful opposition, led by Grenville and Bed- 
 ford, strenuously urged that no relaxation or indul- 
 gence should be granted to the colonists. In two 
 successive sessions the policy of taxing America had 
 been deliberate!}' affirmed, and if Parliament now 
 suffered itself to be defied or intimidated, its au- 
 thority would be forever at an end. The method of 
 reasoning by which the Americans maintained that 
 they could not be taxed by a Parliament in which 
 they were not represented, might be applied with 
 equal plausibility to the Navigation Act, and to 
 every other branch of imperial legislation for the 
 colonies, and it led directly to the disintegration of 
 the Empire. The supreme authority of Parliament 
 chiefly held the different parts of that Empire to- 
 gether. The right of taxation was an essential part 
 of the sovereign power. The colonial constitutions 
 were created by royal charter, and it could not be 
 admitted that the King, while retaining his own 
 sovereignty over certain portions of his dominions, 
 could by a mere exercise of his prerogative withdraw 
 them wholly or in part from the authority of the 
 British Parliament. 
 
 It was the right and duty of the Imj)erial Legisla- 
 ture to determine in what proportions the different 
 parts of the Empire should contribute to the de- 
 fense of the whole, and to see that no one part 
 evaded its obligations and unjustly transferred its 
 share to the others. The conduct of the colonies, in 
 the eyes of these politicians, admitted of no excuse or 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 25 
 
 palliation. The disputed right of taxation was es- 
 tablished by a long series of legal authorities, and 
 there was no real distinction between internal and 
 external taxation. It now suited the Americans to 
 describe themselves as apostles of liberty, and to 
 denounce England as an oppressor. It was a simple 
 truth that England governed her colonies more lib- 
 erally than any other country in the world. They 
 were the only existing colonies which enjoyed real 
 political liberty. Their commercial system was more 
 liberal than that of any other colony. They had 
 attained, under British rule, to a degree of pros- 
 perity which was surpassed in no quarter of the 
 globe. England had loaded herself with debt in or- 
 der to remove the one great danger to their future; 
 she cheerfully bore the whole burden of their pro- 
 tection by sea. At the Peace of Paris she had made 
 their interests the very first object of her policy, and 
 she only asked them in return to bear a portion of 
 the cost of their own defense. 
 
 Somewhat more than eight millions of English- 
 men were burdened with a national debt of 140,000,- 
 000 pounds. The united debt of about two millions 
 of Americans was now less than 800,000 pounds. 
 The annual sum the colonists were asked to contrib- 
 ute in the form of stamp dutieswas less than 100,000 
 pounds, with an express provision that no part of 
 that sum should be devoted to any other purpose 
 than the defense and protection of the colonies. And 
 the country which refused to bear this small tax 
 was so rich that in the space of three years it had 
 paid 1,755,000 pounds of its debt. No demand could 
 
26 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 be more moderate and equitable than that of Eng- 
 land; and amid all the high-sounding declarations 
 that were wafted across the Atlantic, it was not difli- 
 cult to perceive that the true motive of the resist- 
 ance was of the vulgarest kind. It was a desire to 
 pay as little as possible, to throw as much as pos- 
 sible upon the mother country. 
 
 Nor was the mode of resistance more respectable — 
 the plunder of private houses and custom-houses, 
 mob violence connived at by all classes and perfectly 
 unpunished, agreements of merchants to refuse to 
 pay their private debts in order to attain political 
 ends. If this was the attitude of America within 
 two years of the Peace of Paris, if these were first 
 fruits of the new sense of security which British 
 triumphs in Canada had given, could it be doubted 
 that concessions would only be the prelude to new 
 demands? Already the custom-house oflScers were 
 attacked by the mobs almost as fiercely as the stamp 
 distributors. * * * 
 
 These were the chief arguments on the side of the 
 late ministers. Pitt, on the other hand, rose from 
 his sick bed, and in speeches of extraordinary elo- 
 quence, which produced an amazing effect on both 
 sides of the Atlantic, he justified the resistance of 
 the colonists. He stood apart from all parties, and, 
 while he declared that ''every capital measure" of 
 the late ministry was wrong, he ostentatiously re- 
 fused to give his confidence to their succesors. He 
 maintained in the strongest terms the doctrine that 
 self-taxation is the essential and discriminating cir- 
 cumstance of political freedom. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 27 
 
 The task of the ministers in dealing with this 
 question was extremely difficult. The great majority 
 of them desired ardently the repeal of the Stamp 
 Act, but the wishes of the King, the abstention of 
 Pitt and the divided condition of parties had com- 
 pelled Rockingham to include in his Government 
 Charles Townshend, Barrington and Northington, 
 who were all strong advocates of the taxation of 
 America, and Northington took an early opportunity 
 of delivering an invective against the colonies which 
 seemed specially intended to prolong the exaspera- 
 tion. * * * 
 
 The Stamp Act had already produced evils far 
 outweighing any benefits that could flow from it. 
 To enforce it over a vast and thinly populated coun- 
 try and in the face of the universal and vehement 
 opposition of the people, had proved hitherto im- 
 possible, and would always be difficult, dangerous 
 and disastrous. It might produce rebellion. It 
 would certainly produce permanent and general dis- 
 affection, great derangement of commercial rela- 
 tions, a smothered resistance which could only be 
 overcome by a costly and extensive system of co- 
 ercion. It could not be wise to convert the Ameri- 
 cans into a nation of rebels who were only waiting 
 for a European war to throw ofif their allegiance. 
 Yet this would be tlie almost inevitable consequences 
 of persisting in the policy of Grenville. * ♦ * 
 
 The debates on this theme were among the fiercest 
 and longest ever known in Parliament. The former 
 ministers opposed the repeal at every stage, and 
 most of those who were under the influence of the 
 
28 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Kiiig plotted busily against it. Nearly a dozen 
 members of the King's household, nearly all the 
 bishops, nearly all the Scotch, nearly all the Tories 
 voted against the ministry, and in the very agony 
 of the contest Lord Strange spread abroad the re- 
 port that he had heard from the King's own lips that 
 the King was opposed to the repeal. Rockingham 
 acted with great decision. He insisted on accom- 
 panying Lord Strange into the King's presence and 
 in obtaining the King's written paper stating that 
 he was in favor of the repeal rather than the en- 
 forcement of the Act, though he would have pre- 
 ferred its modification to either course. The great 
 and manifest desire of the commercial classes 
 throughout England had much weight; the repeal 
 was carried through the House of Commons, brought 
 up by no less than 200 members to the Lords, and 
 finally carried amid the strongest expressions of 
 public joy. Burke described it as "an event that 
 caused more joy throughout the British dominions 
 than perhaps any other that can be remembered." 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 29 
 
 Chap. III. THE BOSTON TEA PARTY. 
 
 (1773) 
 
 On Sunday, November 28th, the ship "Dartmouth" ap- 
 peared in Boston harbor with one hundred and fourteen 
 chests of the East India Company's tea. * * * 
 
 Faneuil Hall could not contain the people that 
 poured in on Monday. On the motion of Samuel 
 Adams, who entered fully into the question, the 
 assembly, composed of upward of five thousand per- 
 sons, resolved unanimously that "the tea should be 
 sent back to the place from whence it came at all 
 events, and that no duty should be paid on it." 
 "The only way to get rid of it," said Young, 
 is to throw it overboard." The consignees 
 asked for time to prepare their answer, and "out of 
 great tenderness" the body postponed receiving it to 
 the next morning. Meantime the owner and master 
 of the ship were converted and forced to promise not 
 to land the tea. A watch was also proposed. "I," 
 said Hancock, "will be one of it, rather than that 
 there should be none," and a party of twenty-five 
 persons, under the orders of Edward Proctor as its 
 captain, was appointed to guard the tea ship during 
 the night. The next morning the consignees jointly 
 gave as their answer : "It is utterly out of our power 
 to send back the teas ; but we now declare to you our 
 readiness to store them until we shall receive further 
 directions from our constituents ;" that is, until they 
 could notify the British government. The wrath of 
 
30 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 the meeting was kindling, when the Sheriff of Suf- 
 folk entered with a proclamation from the Governor, 
 ''warning, exhorting and requiring them, and each 
 of them there unlawfully assembled, forthwith to 
 disperse and to surcease all further unlawful pro- 
 ceedings, at their utmost peril." The words were 
 received with hisses, derision and a unanimous vote 
 not to disperse. "Will it be safe for the consignees 
 to appear in the meeting? asked Copley, and all with 
 one voice responded that they might safely come and 
 return; but they refused to appear. 
 
 In the afternoon Rotch, the owner, and Hall, the 
 master of the "Dartmouth," yielding to an irre- 
 sistible impulse, engaged that the tea should return 
 as it came, without touching land or paying a duty. 
 A similar promise was exacted of the owners of the 
 other tea ships whose arrival was daily expected. 
 
 In this way "it was thought the matter would 
 have ended." "I should be willing to spend my for- 
 tune and life itself in so good a cause," said Han- 
 cock, and this sentiment was general; they all voted 
 "to carry their resolutions into effect at the risk of 
 their lives and property." 
 
 Every shipowner was forbidden, on pain of being 
 deemed an enemy to the country, to import or bring 
 as freight any tea from Great Britain till the un- 
 righteous Act taxing it should be repealed, and this 
 vote was printed and sent to every seaport in the 
 Province and to England. ♦ * * 
 
 The ships, after landing the rest of their cargo, 
 could neither be cleared in Boston with the tea on 
 board, nor be entered in England, and on the twen- 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 31 
 
 tieth day from their arrival would be liable to seiz- 
 ure. ''They find themselves," said Hutchinson, "in- 
 volved in invincible diflSculties." Meantime in pri- 
 vate letters he advised to separate Boston from the 
 rest of the Province, and to begin criminal prosecu- 
 tions against its patriot sons. 
 
 ****** 
 
 The sprit of the people rose with the emergency. 
 Two more teaships which arrived were directed to 
 anchor by the side of the "Dartmouth" at Griffin's 
 wharf, that one guard might serve for all. * * * 
 On Saturday, the 11th, Rotch, the owner of the 
 "Dartmouth," is summoned before the Boston com- 
 mittee, with Samuel Adams in the chair, and asked 
 why he has not kept his engagement to take his ves- 
 sel and the tea back to London within twenty days 
 of its an'ival. He pleaded that it was out of his 
 power. "The ship must go," was the answer; "the 
 people of Boston and the neighboring towns abso- 
 lutely require and expect it ;" and they bade him ask 
 for a clearance and pass, with proper witnesses of 
 his demand. "Were it mine," said a leading mer- 
 chant, "I would certainly send it back. Hutchinson 
 acquainted Admiral Montagu with what was pass- 
 ing, on which the "Active" and the "Kingfisher," 
 though they had been laid up for the winter, were 
 sent to guard the passages out of the harbor. At 
 the same time orders were given by the Governor to 
 load the guns at the Castle, so that no vessel, except 
 coasters, might go to sea without a permit. He had 
 no thought of what was to happen; the wealth of 
 Hancock, Phillips, Eowe, Dennie, and so many other 
 
32 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 men of property seemed to him a security against 
 violence, and he flattered himself that he had in- 
 creased the perplexities of the committee. 
 
 The line of policy adopted was, if possible, to get 
 the tea carried back to London uninjured in the ves- 
 sel in which it came. A meeting of the people on 
 Tuesday afternoon directed and, as it were, "com- 
 pelled" Rotch, the owner of the "Dartmouth," to 
 apply for a clearance. At ten o'clock on the 15th 
 Rotch was escorted by his witnesses to the custom- 
 house, where the collector and comptroller unequivo- 
 cally and finally refused to grant his ship a clear- 
 ance till it should be discharged of the tea. 
 
 Hutchinson began to clutch at victory ; "for," said 
 he, "it is notorious the ship can not pass the Castle 
 without a permit from me, and that I shall refuse." 
 
 The morning of Thursday, December 16, 1773, 
 dawned upon Boston a day by far the most momen- 
 tous in its annals. Beware, little town; count the 
 cost, and know well, if you dare defy the wrath of 
 Great Britain, and if you love exile and poverty 
 and death rather than submission. The town of 
 Portsmouth held its meeting on that morning, and, 
 with only six protesting, its people adopted the prin- 
 ciples of Philadelphia, appointed their committee of 
 correspondence, and resolved to make common cause 
 with the colonies. At ten o'clock the people of Bos- 
 ton, with at least two thousand men from the coun- 
 try, assembled in the Old South Church. A report 
 was made that Rotch had been refused a clearance 
 from the collector. "Then," said they to him, "pro- 
 test immediately against the custom-house and ap- 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 33 
 
 ply to the Governor for his pass, so that your vessel 
 may this very day proceed on her voyage for Lon- 
 don." 
 
 The Governor had stolen away to his country 
 house at Milton. Bidding Rotch make all haste, the 
 meeting adjourned to three in the afternoon. At 
 that hour Rotch had not returned. It was inciden- 
 tally voted, as other towns had already done, to ab- 
 stain totally from the use of tea, and every town 
 was advised to appoint its committee of inspection, 
 to prevent the detested tea from coming within any 
 of them. * * * The whole assembly of seven 
 thousand voted unanimously that the tea should 
 not be landed. 
 
 It had been dark for more than an hour. The 
 church in which they met was dimly lighted, when 
 at a quarter before six Rotch appeared and satisfied 
 the people by relating that the Governor had refused 
 him a pass, because his ship was not properly 
 cleared. As soon as he had finished his report Sam- 
 uel Adams rose and gave the word: 'This meeting 
 can do nothing more to save the country." On the 
 instant a shont was heard at the porch; the war- 
 whoop resounded; a body of men, forty or fifty in 
 number, disguised as Indians, passed by the door 
 and, encouraged by Samuel Adams, Hancock and 
 others, repaired to Griffin's wharf, posted guards 
 to prevent the intrusion of spies, took possession of 
 the three tea ships, and in about three hours three 
 hundred and forty chests of tea, being the whole 
 quantity that had been imported, were emptied into 
 the bay without the least injury to other property. 
 
34 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 "All things were conducted with great order, de- 
 cency and perfect submission to the Government." 
 The people around, as they looked on, were so still 
 that the noise of breaking open the tea chests was 
 plainly heard. A delay of a few hours would have 
 placed the tea under the protection of the Admiral 
 at the Castle. After the work was done the town 
 became as still and calm as if it had been holy time. 
 The men from the country that very night carried 
 back the great news to their villages. 
 
 The next morning the committee of correspond- 
 ence appointed Samuel Adams and four others to 
 draw up a declaration of what had been done. They 
 sent Paul Revere as express witli the information to 
 New York and Philadelphia. 
 
 The height of joy that sparkled in the eyes and 
 animated the countenances and the hearts of the 
 patriots as they met one another is unimaginable. 
 The Governor, meantime, was consulting his books 
 and his lawyers to make out that the resolves of the 
 meeting were treasonable. Threats were muttered 
 of arrests, of executions, of transportation of the 
 accused to England ; while the committee of corre- 
 spondence pledged themselves to support and vindi- 
 cate each other and all persons who had shared in 
 their effort. The country was united with the town, 
 and the colonies with one another more firmly than 
 ever. ' * ♦ 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 35 
 
 Chap. IV. GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON'S 
 ACCOUNT. 
 
 The Governor was unable to judge what would be 
 the next step. The secretary had informed him in 
 the hearing of the deputy secretary, that if the Gov- 
 ernor should refuse a pass, he would demand it him- 
 self, at the head of one hundred and fifty men, etc. ; 
 and he was not without apprehensions of a further 
 application. But he was relieved from his suspense, 
 the same evening, by intelligence from town of the 
 total destruction of the tea. 
 
 It was not expected that the Governor would com- 
 ply with the demand ; and, before it was possible for 
 the owner of the ship to return from the country 
 with an answer, about fifty men had prepared them- 
 selves and passed by the house where the people 
 were assembled to the wharf where the vessels lay, 
 being covered with blankets, and making the ap- 
 pearance of Indians. The body of the people re- 
 mained until they had received the Governor's an- 
 swer, and then, after it had been observed to them 
 that, everything wise in their power having been 
 done, it now remained to proceed in the only way 
 left, and that the owner of the ship, having behaved 
 like a' man of honor, no injury ought to be ofifered 
 to his person or property, the meeting was declared 
 to be dissolved, and the body of the people repaired 
 to the wharf and surrounded the immediate actors 
 as a guard and security until they had finished their 
 work. In two or three hours they hoisted out of the 
 
36 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 holes of the ships three hundred and forty-two chests 
 of tea and emptied them into the sea. 
 
 The Governor was unjustly censured by many 
 people in the Province, and much abused by the 
 pamphlet and newspaper writers in England for 
 refusing his pass, which, it was said, would have 
 saved the property thus destroyed; but he would 
 have been justly censured if he had granted it. He 
 was bound, as all the King's governors were, by oath, 
 faithfully to observe the acts of trade and to do his 
 endeavor that the statute of King William, which 
 establishes a custom-house, and is particularly men- 
 tioned in the oath, be carried into execution. His 
 granting a pass to a vessel which had not cleared at 
 the custom-house would have been a direct violation 
 of his oath, by making himself an accessory in the 
 breach of those laws which he had sworn to observe. 
 It was out of his power to have prevented this mis- 
 chief without the most imminent hazard of much 
 greater mischief. The tea could have been secured 
 in the town in no other way than by landing ma- 
 rines from the men-of-war or bringing to town the 
 regiment which was at the Castle, to remove the 
 guards from the ships and to take their places. This 
 would have brought on a greater convulsion than 
 there was any danger of in 1770, and it would not 
 have been possible, when two regiments were forced 
 out of town, for so small a body of troops to have 
 kept possession of the place. Such a measure the 
 Governor had no reason to suppose would have been 
 approved of in England. ♦ * * Notwithstanding 
 the forlorn state he was in, he thought it necessary 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 37 
 
 to keep up some show of authority, and caused a 
 council to be summoned to meet at Boston the day 
 after the destruction of the tea, and went to town 
 himself to be present at it; but a quorum did not 
 attend. The people had not fully recovered from 
 the state of mind which they were in the preceding 
 night. Great pains had been taken to persuade them 
 that the obstruction they had met with, which finally 
 brought on the loss of the tea, were owing to his 
 influence; and, being urged to it by his friends, he 
 left the town and lodged that night at the Castle, 
 under the pretense of a visit to his sons, who were 
 confined there with the other consignees of the tea. 
 Failing in an attempt for a council the next day at 
 Milton, he met them, three days after, at Cambridge, 
 where they were much divided in their opinion. One 
 of them declared against any step whatever. The 
 people, he said, had taken the powers of government 
 into their hands; any attempt to restrain them 
 would only enrage them and render them more des- 
 perate; while another observed that, having done 
 everything else in their power to prevent the tea 
 from being landed, and all to no purpose, they had 
 been driven to the necessity of destroying it, as a 
 less evil than submission to the duty. So many of 
 the actors and abettors were universally known, that 
 a proclamation, with a reward for discoverey, would 
 have been ridiculed. The Attorney-General, there- 
 fore, was ordered to lay the matter before the grand 
 jury, who, there was no room to expect, would ever 
 find a bill for what they did not consider an offense. 
 This was the boldest stroke which had yet been 
 struck in America. 
 
SS Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Chap. V. PATRICK HENRY'S CALL 
 TO ARMS. 
 
 (1775) . 
 
 On Monday, the 20th of March, 1775, the conven- 
 tion of delegates from the several counties and cor- 
 porations of Virginia met for the second time. This 
 assembly was held in the old church in the town of 
 Richmond. Mr. Henry was a member of that body 
 also. The reader will bear in mind the tone of the 
 instructions given by the convention of the preceding 
 year to their deputies in Congress. He will remem- 
 ber that, while they recite with great feeling the 
 series of grievances under which the colonies had 
 labored, and insist with firmness on their constitu- 
 tional rights, they give, nevertheless, the most ex- 
 plicit and solemn pledge of their faith and true alle- 
 giance to his Majesty King George III, and avow 
 their determination to support him with their lives 
 and fortunes, in the legal exercise of all his just 
 rights and prerogatives. He will remember that 
 these instructions contain also an expression of their 
 sincere approbation of a connection with Great Brit- 
 ain, and their ardent wishes for a return of that 
 friendly intercourse from which this country had de- 
 rived so much prosperity and happiness. These sen- 
 timents still influenced many of the leading mem- 
 bers of the Convention of 1775. They could not part 
 with the fond hope that those peaceful days would 
 return again which had shed so much light and 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 39 
 
 warmth over the land ; and the report of the King's 
 gracious reception of the petition from Congress 
 tended to cherish and foster that hope and to render 
 them averse to any means of violence. 
 
 But Mr. Henry saw things with a steadier eye and 
 a deeper insight. His judgment was too solid to be 
 duped by appearances, and his heart too firm and 
 manly to be amused by false and flattering hopes. 
 He had long since read the true character of the 
 British court, and saw that no alternative remained 
 for his country but abject submission or heroic re- 
 sistance. It was not for a soul like Henry's to hesi- 
 tate between these courses. He had offered upon the 
 altar of liberty no divided heart. The gulf of war 
 which yawned before him was, indeed, fiery and fear- 
 ful, but he saw that the awful plunge was inevitable. 
 The body of the convention, however, hesitated. 
 They cast around "a longing, lingering look" on 
 those flowery flelds on which peace and ease and 
 joy were still sporting, and it required all the ener- 
 gies of a mentor like Henry to push them from the 
 precipice and conduct them over the stormy sea of 
 the revolution, to liberty and glory. * * * 
 
 His was a spirit fitted to raise the whirlwind, as 
 well as to ride in and direct it. His was that com- 
 prehensive view, that unerring presence, that perfect 
 command over the actions of men, which qualified 
 him not merely to guide, but almost to create the 
 destinies of nations. 
 
 He rose at this time with a majesty unusual to 
 him in an exordium and with all that self-possession 
 by which he was so invariably distinguished. "No 
 
40 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 man," he said, 'thought more highly than he did of 
 the patriotisDi, as well as abilities, of the very 
 worthy geiitlemen who had just addressed the house. 
 But different men often saw the same subject in dif- 
 ferent lights; and, therefore, he hoped it would not 
 be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, enter- 
 taining as he did, opinions of a character very oppo- 
 site to theirs, he should speak forth his sentiments 
 freely and without reserve. "This,'' he said, 'Svas 
 no time for ceremony. The question before this 
 house was one of awful moment to the countr}'. For 
 his own part, he considered it as nothing less than a 
 question of freedom or slavery. And in proportion 
 to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the 
 freedom of the debate. It was only in this way that 
 they could hope to arrive at truth and fulfil the 
 great responsibility which the}' held to God and 
 their country. Should he keep back his opinions at 
 such a time through fear of giving offense, he should 
 consider himself as guilty of treason toward his 
 country and of an act of disloyalty toward the 
 majesty of heaven, which he revered above all earth- 
 ly kings." 
 
 ''Mr. President," said he, "it is natural to man to 
 indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut 
 our eyes against a painful truth and listen to the 
 song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. 
 Is this," he asked, "the part of wise men, engaged in 
 a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Were we 
 disposed to be of the number of those who, having 
 eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things 
 which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time, 41 
 
 For his part, whatever anguish of spirit it might 
 cost, he was willing to know the whole truth, to 
 know the worst and to provide for it." 
 
 "He had," he said, "but one lamp by which his 
 feet were guided, and tliat was the lamp of experi- 
 ence. He knew of no way of judging of the future 
 but .by the past. And, judging by the past, he 
 wished to know what there had been in the conduct 
 of the British ministry for the last ten years to jus- 
 tify those hopes with which gentlemen had been 
 pleased to solace themselves and the house? Is it 
 that insidious smile with which our petition has 
 been lately received ? Trust it not, sir ; it will prove 
 a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be 
 betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gra- 
 cious reception of our petition comports with those 
 warlike preparations which cover our waters and 
 darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary 
 to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we 
 shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that 
 force must be called in to win back our love? Let 
 us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the imple- 
 ments of war and subjugation — the last arguments 
 to which kings resort. 
 
 "I ask gentelmen, sir, what means this martial 
 array, if its purpose be not to force us to submis- 
 sion? Can gentlemen assign any other possible mo- 
 tive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy in this 
 quarter of the world, to call for all this accumula- 
 tion of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. 
 They are meant for us; they can be meant for no 
 other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us 
 
42 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 those chains which the British ministry have been 
 so long forging. And what have we to oppose to 
 them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been 
 trying that for the last ten years. Have we any- 
 thing new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We 
 have held the subject up in every light of which it is 
 capable, but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort 
 to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms 
 shall we find, which have not been already exhaust 
 ed ? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves 
 longer. Sir, we have done everything that could be 
 done to avert the storm which is now coming on. 
 We have petitioned — we have remonstrated — we have 
 supplicated — we have prostrated ourselves before the 
 throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest 
 the tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament. 
 Our petitions have been slighted ; our remonstrances 
 have produced additional violence and insult; our 
 supplications have been disregarded, and we have 
 been spurned, \Aith contempt, from the foot of the 
 throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge 
 the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is 
 no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free 
 — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable 
 privileges for which we have been so long contend- 
 ing — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble 
 struggle in which we have been so long engaged and 
 which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon 
 until the glorious object of our contest shall be ob- 
 tained — we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must 
 fight ! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts 
 is all that is left us !" 
 
Patriotism in Washington's I^ime. 4^ 
 
 "They tell us, sir," continued Mr. Henry, "that 
 we are weak — unable to cope with so formidable an 
 adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will 
 it be the next week or the next year? Will it be 
 when we are totally disarmed and when a British 
 guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we 
 gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall 
 we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying 
 supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive 
 phantom of hope until our enemies shall have bound 
 us hand and foot. Sir, we are not weak, if we make 
 a proper use of these means which the God of Nature 
 hath placed in our power. Three millions of people 
 armed in the holy cause of liberty and in such a 
 country as that which we possess, are invincible by 
 any force which our enemy can send against us. 
 Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. 
 There is a just God who presides over the destinies 
 of nations and who will raise up friends to fight our 
 battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong 
 alone ; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Be- 
 sides, sir, we have no election. If we were base 
 enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from 
 the test. There is no retreat but in submission and 
 slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking 
 may be heard on the plains of Boston ! The war is 
 inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it 
 come !" 
 
 "It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentle- 
 men may cry peace, peace — but there is no peace. 
 The war is actually begun! The next gale that 
 sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the 
 
44 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 clash of resounding arms ! Our brethren are already 
 ou the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it 
 that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is 
 life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at 
 the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty 
 God — I know not what course others may take; but 
 as for me," cried he, with both his arms extended 
 aloft, his brows knit, every feature marked with the 
 resolute purpose of his soul and his voice swelled to 
 its boldest note of exclamation — ''Give me liberty, 
 OR give me death !" 
 
 He took his seat. No murmur of applause was 
 heard. The effect was too deep. After the trance of 
 a moment, several members started from their seats. 
 The cry, "to arms'" seemed to quiver on every lip, 
 and gleam from every eye. Richard H. Lee arose 
 and supported Mr. Henry with his usual spirit and 
 elegance. But his melody was lost amid the agita- 
 tions of that ocean which the master-spirit of the 
 storm had lifted up on high. That supernatural 
 voice still sounded in their ears and shivered along 
 their arteries. They heard, in every pause, the cry 
 of liberty or death. They became impatient of 
 speech — their souls were on fire for action. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 45 
 
 Chap. VI. WASHINGTON'S APPOINTMENT 
 AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 
 
 (1775) 
 
 The difficult question was, who should be com- 
 mander-in-chief? Adams, in his diary, gives us 
 glimpses of the conflict of opinions and interests 
 within doors. There was a Southern party, he 
 said, which could not brook the idea of a New Eng- 
 land army commanded by a New England general, 
 "Whether this jealousy was sincere," writes he, ''or 
 whether it was mere pride and a haughty ambition 
 of furnishing a Southern general to command the 
 Northern army, I can not say ; but the intention was 
 very visible to me that Colonel Washington was 
 their object, and so many of our stanchest men were 
 in the plan that we could carry nothing without 
 conceding to it. There was another embarrassment 
 which was never publicly known and which was care- 
 fully concealed by those who knew it: the Massa- 
 chusetts and other New England delegates were di- 
 vided. Mr. Hancock and Mr. Gushing hung back; 
 Mr. Paine did not come forward, and even Mr. Sam- 
 uel Adams was irresolute. Mr. Hancock himself 
 had an ambition to be appointed commander-in-chief. 
 Whether he thought an election a compliment due 
 to him and intended to have the honor of declining 
 it, or whether he would have accepted it, I know 
 not. To the compliment he had some pretensions, 
 for at that time his exertions, sacrifices and general 
 
46 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 merits in the cause of his couiitry had been incom- 
 parably greater than those of Colonel Washington. 
 But the delicacy of his health and his entire want of 
 experience in actual service, though an excellent 
 militia oliicer, were decisive objections to him in 
 my mind." * ♦ * 
 
 The opinion evidently inclined in favor of Wash- 
 ington; yet it was promoted by no clique of parti- 
 sans or admirers. More than one of the Virginia 
 delegates, says Adams, were cool on the subject of 
 this appointment, and particularly Mr. Pendleton 
 was clear and full against it. It is scarcely neces- 
 sary to add that Washington, in this as in every 
 other situation in life, made no step in advance to 
 clutch the impending honor. 
 
 Adams, in his diary, claims the credit of bringing 
 the members of Congress to a decision. Kising in 
 his place one day and stating briefly but earnestly 
 the exigencies of the case, he moved that Congress 
 should adopt the army at Cambridge and appoint a 
 general. Though this was not the time to nominate 
 the person, "yet," adds he, "as I had reason to be- 
 lieve this was a jmint of some difficulty, I had no 
 hesitation to declare that T had but one gentleman 
 in my mind for that important command, and that 
 was a gentleman from Virginia who was among us 
 and very well known to all of us, a gentleman whose 
 skill and experience as an officer, whose independent 
 fortune, great talents and excellent universal char- 
 acter would command the approbation of all Amer- 
 ica and unite the cordial exertion of all the colonies 
 better than any other person in the Union. Mr. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 47 
 
 Washington, who happened to sit near the door, as 
 soon as he heard me allude to him, from his usual 
 modesty, darted into the library room. Mr. Han- 
 cock, who was our President, which gave me an op- 
 portunity to observe his countenance while I was 
 speaking on the state of the colonies, the army at 
 Cambridge and the enemy, heard me with visible 
 pleasure, tout when I came to describe Washington 
 for the commander I never remarked a more sudden 
 and striking change of countenance. Mortification 
 and resentment were expressed as forcibly as his 
 face could exhibit them. When the subject came 
 under debate several delegates opposed the appoint- 
 ment of Washington — not from personal affection, 
 but because the army was all from New England 
 and had a general of their own, General Artemus 
 Ward, with whom they appeared well satisfied, and 
 under whose command they had proved themselves 
 able to imprison the British army in Boston, which 
 was all that was expected or desired." 
 
 The subject was postponed to a future day. In 
 the interim pains were taken out of doors to obtain 
 a unanimity, and the voices were in general so 
 clearly in favor of Washington that the dissenting 
 members were persuaded to withdraw their opposi- 
 tion. 
 
 On the 15th of June the army was regularly adopt- 
 ed by Congress and the pay of the commander-in- 
 chief fixed at five hundred dollars a month. Many 
 still clung to the idea that in all these proceedings 
 they were merely opposing the measures of the min- 
 istry and not the authority of the crown, and thus 
 
48 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 the army before Boston was designated as the Con- 
 tinental Arm}', in contradistinction to that under 
 General Gage, which was called the Ministerial 
 Army. 
 
 In this stage of the business Mr. Johnson, of 
 Maryland, rose and nominated Washington for the 
 station of commander-in-chief. The election was by 
 ballot and was unanimous. It was formally an- 
 nounced to him by the President, on the following 
 day, when he had taken his seat in Congress. Kis- 
 ing in his place, he briefly expressed his high and 
 grateful sense of the honor conferred on him and 
 his sincere devotion to the cause. "But/' added he, 
 "lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable 
 to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by 
 every gentleman in the room, that I this day declare, 
 with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself 
 equal to the command I am honored with. As to 
 pay, I beg leave to assure the Congress that, as no 
 pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to 
 accept this arduous employment at the expense of 
 my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to 
 make any profit of it. I will keep an exact account 
 of my expenses. Those, I doubt not, they will dis- 
 charge, and that is all I desire." 
 
 "There is something charming to me in the con- 
 duct of Washington,'' writes Adams to a friend ; "a 
 gentleman of one of the first fortunes upon the con- 
 tinent, leaving his delicious retirement, his family 
 and sacrificing his ease and hazarding all in the 
 cause of his country. His views are noble and dis- 
 interested. He declared when he accepted the mii^hty 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 49 
 
 trust that he would lay before us an exact account 
 
 of his expenses and not accept a shilling of pay." 
 
 » « * 
 
 In this momentous change in his condition, which 
 suddenly altered all his course of life and called 
 him immediately to the camp,Washington's thoughts 
 recurred to Mount Vernon and its rural delights so 
 dear to his heart, whence he was to be again exiled. 
 His chief concern, however, was on account of the 
 distress it might cause his wife. His letter to her 
 on the subject is written in a tone of manly tender- 
 ness. "You may believe me," writes he, "when I 
 assure you, in the most solemn manner, that, so far 
 from seeking this appointment, I have used every 
 endeavor in my power to avoid it, not only from my 
 unwillingness to part with you and the family, but 
 from a consciousness of its being a trust too great 
 for my capacity; and I should enjoy more real hap- 
 piness in one month with you at home than I have 
 the most distant prospect of finding abroad, if my 
 stay were to be seven times seven years. But as it 
 has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon 
 this service, I shall hope that my undertaking is 
 designed to answer some good purpose. I shall rely 
 confidently on that Providence which has heretofore 
 preserved and has been bountiful to me, not doubt- 
 ing but that I shall return safe to you in the fall. 
 I shall feel no pain from the toil or danger of the 
 campaign; my unhappiness will flow from the un- 
 easiness I know you will feel from being left alone. 
 I therefore beg that you will summon your whole 
 fortitude and pass your time as agreeably as pos- 
 
 4 
 
50 Patriotism in Washington's Time, 
 
 sible. Notliing will give me so mucli satisfaction 
 as to hear this, and to hear it from your own pen." 
 
 And to his favorite brother, John Augustine, he 
 writes: ''I am now to bid adieu to you and to every 
 kind of domestic ease for a while. I am embarked 
 on a wide ocean, boundless in its prospect, and in 
 which, perhaps, no safe harbor is to be found. I 
 have been called upon by the unanimous voice of the 
 colonies to take the command of the Continental 
 Army, an honor I neither sought after nor desired, 
 as I am thoroughly convinced that it requires great 
 abilities and much more experience than I am mas- 
 ter of." And, subsequently, referring to his wife: 
 "I shall hope that my friends will visit and endeavor 
 to keep the spirits of my wife as much as they can, 
 for my departure will, I know, be a cutting stroke 
 upon her; and on this account alone I have many 
 disagreeable sensations." 
 
 On the 20th of June he received his commission 
 from the President of Congress. The following day 
 was fixed upon for his departure for the army. He 
 reviewed previously, at the request of their officers, 
 several militia companies of horse and foot. Every 
 one wa^ anxious to see the new commander, and 
 rarely has the public heau ideal of a commander been 
 so fully answered. He was now in the vigor of his 
 days, forty-three years of age, stately in person, 
 noble in his demeanor, calm and dignified in his de- 
 portment; as he sat on his horse, with manly grace, 
 his military presence delighted every eye, and wher- 
 ever he went the air rang with acclamations. * * » 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 51 
 
 He set out on horseback on the 21st of June hav- 
 ing for military companions of his journey Major- 
 Generals Lee and Schuyler, and being accompanied 
 for a distance by several private friends. As an es- 
 cort he had a ''gentleman troop" of Philadelphia, 
 commanded by Capt. M. Markoe; the whole formed 
 a brilliant cavalcade. * * * 
 
 Many things concurred to produce perfect har- 
 mony of operation between these distinguished men. 
 They were nearly of the same age, Schuyler being 
 one year the youngest. Both were men of agricul- 
 tural as well as military tastes. Both were men of 
 property, living at their ease in little rural para- 
 dises — Washington on the grove-clad heights of 
 Mount Vernon, Schuyler on the pastoral banks of 
 the upper Hudson, where he had a noble estate at 
 Saratoga, inherited from an uncle, and the old fam- 
 ily mansion, near the City of Albany, half hid among 
 ancestral trees. Yet both were exiling themselves 
 from these happy abodes and putting life and for- 
 tune at hazard in the service of their country. * * * 
 
 They had scarcely proceeded twenty miles from 
 Philadelphia when they were met by a courier, spur- 
 ring with all speed, bearing dispatches from the 
 army to Congress, communicating tidings of the 
 battle of Bunker's Hill. Washington eagerly in- 
 quired particulars ; above all, how acted the militia ? 
 When told that they stood their ground bravely, 
 sustained the enemy's fire, reserved their own until 
 at close quarters, and then delivered it with deadly 
 effect, it seemed as if a weight of doubt and solici- 
 tude were lifted from his heart. ''The liberties of 
 
52 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 the country are safe!" exclaimed he. The news of 
 the battle of Bunker's Hill had startled the whole 
 countrj'^, and this clattering cavalcade, escorting the 
 commander-in-chief to the army, was the gaze and 
 wonder of every town and village. ♦ ♦ ♦ 
 
 Escorted by a troop of light horse and a cavalcade 
 of citizens, he proceeded to the headquarters pro- 
 vided for him at Cambridge, three miles distant. As 
 he entered the confines of the camp the shouts of 
 the multitude and the thundering of artillery gave 
 note to the enemy beleaguered in Boston of his ar- 
 rival. His military reputation had preceded him 
 and excited great expectations. They were not dis- 
 appointed. His personal appearance, notwithstand- 
 ing the dust of travel, was calculated to captivate 
 the public eye. As he rode through the camp, amidst 
 a throng of officers, he was the admiration of the 
 soldiery and of a curious throng collected from the 
 surrounding country. Happy was the countryman 
 who could get a full view of him to carry home an 
 account of it to his neighbors. The fair sex were 
 still more enthusiastic in their admiration, if we 
 may judge from the following passage of a letter 
 written by the intelligent and accomplished wife of 
 John Adams to her husband : "Dignity, ease and 
 complacency, the gentleman and the soldier, look 
 agreeably blended in him. Modesty marks every 
 line and feature of his face." 
 
 With Washington, modest at all times, there was 
 no false excitement on the present occasion; nothing 
 to call forth emotions of self-glorification. The hon- 
 ors and congratulations with which he was received, 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 53 
 
 the acclamations of the public, the cheerings of the 
 army, only told him how much was expected from 
 him, and when he looked around upon the raw and 
 rustic levies he was to command, "mixed multitude 
 of people, under very little discipline, order or gov- 
 ernment," scattered in rough encampments about 
 hill and dale, beleaguering a city garrisoned by vet- 
 eran troops, with ships of war anchored about its 
 harbor and strong outposts guarding it, he felt the 
 awful responsibility of his situation and the compli- 
 cated and stupendous task before him. He spoke of 
 it, however, not despondingly nor boastfully and 
 with defiance, but with that solemn and sedate reso- 
 lution and that hopeful reliance on Supreme Good- 
 ness which belonged to his magnanimous nature. 
 The cause of his country, he observed, had called 
 him to an active and dangerous duty, but he trusted 
 that Divine Providence, which wisely orders the 
 aflfairs of men, would enable him to discharge it with 
 fidelity and success. 
 
 On the 3rd of July, the morning after his arrival 
 at Cambridge, Washington took formal command of 
 the army. It was drawn up on the common about 
 half a mile from headquarters. A multitude had as- 
 sembled there, for as yet military spectacles were 
 novelties, and the camp was full of visitors, men, 
 women and children, from all parts of the country, 
 who had relatives among the yeoman soldiery. An 
 ancient elm is still pointed out, under which Wash- 
 ington, as he arrived from headquarters, accompan- 
 ied by General Lee and a numerous suite, wheeled 
 
54 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 his horse and drew his sword as commander-in-chief 
 of the armies. * * * 
 
 (This well-preserved elm still stands in Cambridge, en- 
 closed by an iron fence, in the highway, just beyond the 
 grounds of Harvard University.) 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 55 
 
 Chap. VII. THE DRAFTING OF "THE DEC- 
 LARATION OF INDEPENDENCE." 
 
 (177G) 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was naturally urged to prepare the 
 draft. He was chairman of the committee, having 
 received the highest number of votes; he was also its 
 youngest member, and therefore bound to do an 
 ample share of the work; he was noted for his skill 
 with the pen; he was particularly conversant with 
 the points of the controversy; he was a Virginian. 
 The task, indeed, was not very arduous or difficult. 
 Nothing was wanted but a careful and brief reca- 
 pitulation of wrongs familiar to every patriotic 
 mind, and a clear statement of principles hackneyed 
 from eleven years' iteration. Jefferson made no 
 difficulty about undertaking it, and probably had no 
 anticipation of the vast celebrity that was to follow 
 so slight an exercise of his faculties. 
 
 Jefferson then lived in a new brick house out in 
 the fields, near what is now the corner of Market 
 and Seventh streets, a quarter of a mile from Inde- 
 pendence Square. "I rented the second floor," he 
 tells us, "consisting of a parlor and bedroom, ready 
 furnished," rent thirty-five shillings a week; and he 
 wrote this paper in the parlor, upon a writing desk 
 three inches high, which still exists. 
 
 He was ready with his draft in time. His col- 
 leagues upon the committee suggested a few verbal 
 changes, none of which were important ; but during 
 the three days' discussion of it in the house it was 
 
56 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 subjected to a review so critical and severe that the 
 author sat in his place silently writhing under it, 
 and Dr. Franklin felt called upon to console him 
 with the comic relation of the process by which the 
 signboard of "John Thompson, Hatter, Makes and 
 Sells Hats for Ready Money," was reduced to the 
 name of the hatter and the figure of a hat. Young 
 writers know what he suffered, who come fresh from 
 the commencement platform to a newspaper office 
 and have their eloquent editorials (equal to Burke) 
 remorselessly edited, their best passages curtailed, 
 their glowing conclusions and artful openings cut 
 off, their happy epithets and striking similes 
 omitted. 
 
 Congress made eighteen suppressions, six addi- 
 tions and ten alterations, and nearly every one of 
 these changes was an improvement. The author, 
 for example, said that men are endowed with "in- 
 herent and inalienable rights." Congress struck out 
 "injherent"^ — an obvious improvement. He intro- 
 duced his catalog of wrongs by these words: "To 
 prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, 
 for the truth of which ice pledge a faith yet unsul- 
 lied hy falsehood" It was good taste in Congress 
 to strike out the italicized clause. That the pas- 
 sage concerning slavery should have been stricken 
 out by Congress has often been regretted ; but would 
 it have been decent in this body to denounce the 
 king for a crime in the guilt of which the colonies 
 had shared? Mr. Jefferson wrote in his draft: 
 
 "He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, 
 violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 57 
 
 persons of a distant people who never offended him, capti- 
 vating and carrying them into slavery in another hemis- 
 phere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation 
 thither. This pii;atical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel 
 powers in the warfare of the Christian king of Great Brit- 
 ain. Determined to keep open a market where men should 
 be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for sup- 
 pressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain 
 this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of 
 horrors might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now 
 exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to 
 purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by 
 murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them ; 
 thus paying off former crimes which he urges them to 
 commit against the lives of another." 
 
 Surely the omission of this passage was not less 
 right than wise. New England towns had been en- 
 riched by the commerce in slaves, and the Southern 
 colonies had subsisted on the labor of slaves for a 
 hundred years. The foolish king had committed 
 errors enough ; but it was not fair to hold so limited 
 a person responsible for not being a century in ad- 
 vance of his age; nor was it ever in the power of 
 any king to compel his subjects to be slave-owners. 
 It was young Virginia that spoke in this paragraph 
 — Wythe, Jefferson, Madison and their young friends 
 — not the public mind of America, which was des- 
 tined to reach it, ninety years after, by the usual 
 way of agony and blood. * * * 
 
 The "glittering generality" of the document, "all 
 men are created equal," appears to have been ac- 
 cepted, without objection or remark, as a short and 
 simple reprobation of caste and privilege. Readers 
 are aware that it has not escaped contemptuous com- 
 
58 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 ment in recent times. It would have been easy for 
 the author of the Declaration — and I wish he had 
 done so — to put the statement in words which parti- 
 san prejudice itself could not have plausibl}^ pre- 
 tended to misunderstand ; for, as the passage stands, 
 its most obvious meaning is not true. 
 
 The noblest utterance of the whole composition is 
 the reason given for making the Declaration : "A de- 
 cent RESPECT FOR THE OPINIONS OF MANKIND.'' This 
 
 touches the heart. Among the best emotions that 
 human nature knows is the veneration of man for 
 man. 
 
 During the 2nd, 3rd and ith of July Congress was 
 engaged in reviewing the Declaration. Thursday, the 
 4th, was a hot day; the session lasted many hours; 
 members were tired and impatient. Every one who 
 has watched the sessions of a deliberative body 
 knows how the most important measures are re- 
 tarded, accelerated, even defeated, by physical 
 causes of the most trifling nature. Mr. Kinglake 
 intimates that Lord Raglan's invasion of the Crimea 
 was due rather to the after-dinner slumbers of the 
 British Cabinet, than to any well-considered pur- 
 pose. Mr. Jefferson used to relate, with much mer- 
 riment, that the final signing of the Declaration of 
 Independence was hastened by an absurdly trivial 
 cause. Near the hall in which the debates were then 
 held was a livery stable, from which swarms of flies 
 came into the open windows and assailed the silk- 
 stockinged legs of honorable members. Handker- 
 chief in hand, they lashed the flies with such vigor 
 as they could command on a July afternoon, but the 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 59 
 
 annoyance became at length so extreme as to render 
 them impatient of delay and they made haste to 
 bring the momentous business to a conclusion. 
 
 After such a long and severe strain upon their 
 minds, members seem to have indulged in many a 
 jocular observation as they stood around the table. 
 Tradition has it that when John Hancock had affixed 
 his magnificent signature to the paper, he said: 
 "There, John Bull may read my name without spec- 
 tacles!" Tradition also will never relinquish the 
 pleasure of repeating that, when Mr. Hancock re- 
 minded members of the necessity of hanging to- 
 gether, Dr. Franklin was ready with his "Yes, we 
 must, indeed, all hang together, or else most as- 
 suredly we shall all hang separately." And this 
 may have suggested to the portly Harrison — a "lux- 
 urious, heavy gentleman," as John Adams describes 
 him — his remark to slender Elbridge Gerry, that, 
 when the hanging came, he should have the advan- 
 tage, for Gerry would be kicking in the air long 
 after it was over with himself. 
 
 No composition of man was ever received with 
 more rapture than this. It came at a happy time. 
 Boston was delivered, and New York as yet but 
 menaced, and in all New England there was not a 
 British soldier who was not a prisoner, nor a king's 
 ship that was not a prize. Between the expulsion 
 of the British troops from Boston and their capture 
 of New l^'ork was the period of the Revolutionary 
 War when the people were most confident and most 
 united. From the newspapers and letters of the 
 times we should infer that the contest was ending 
 
GO Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 rather than beginuing, ko exultant is their tone; 
 and the Declaration of Independence, therefore, was 
 received more like a song of triumph than a call to 
 battle. 
 
 The paper was signed late on Thursday afternoon, 
 July 4, On the Monday following, at noon, it was 
 publicly read for the first time, in Independence 
 Hquare, from a platform erected by Kittenhouse for 
 the purpose of observing th^ transit of Venus. Cap- 
 tain John Hopkins, a young man commanding an 
 armed brig of the navy of the new nation, was the 
 reader, and it recjuired his stentorian voice to carry 
 the words to the distant verge of the multitude who 
 had come to hear it. In the evening, as a journal 
 of the day has it, "our late king's coat-of-arms was 
 brought from the hall of the State House, where the 
 said king's courts were formerly held, and burned 
 amid the acclaniation of a crowd of spectators." 
 Similar scenes transpired in every center of popula- 
 tion and at every camp and post. Usually the mili- 
 tia companies, the committee of safety and otlier 
 revolutionary bodies marched in procession to some 
 public place, where they listened decorously to the 
 reading of the Declaration, at the conclusion of 
 which cheers were given and salutes fired ; and in 
 the evening there were illuminations and bonfires. 
 In New York, after the reading, the leaden statue of 
 the late king in Bowling Green was "laid prostrate 
 in the dirt" and ordered to be run into bullets. The 
 debtors in prison were also set at liberty. Virginia, 
 before the news of the Declaration had reached her 
 (July 5, 177fi), had stricken the king's name out of 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. Gl 
 
 the prayer book, and now (July 30) Rhode Island 
 made it a misdemeanor to pray for the king as king, 
 under a penalty of a fine of one hundred thousand 
 pounds ! 
 
 The news of the Declaration was received with 
 sorrow by all that was best in England. Samuel 
 Rogers used to give American guests at his break- 
 fast an interesting reminiscence of this period. On 
 the morning after the intelligence reached London 
 his father, at family prayers, added a prayer for the 
 SUCCESS of the colonies, which he repeated every day 
 until the peace. 
 
 The deed was done. A people not formed for em- 
 pire ceased to be imperial, and a people destined to 
 empire began the political education that will one 
 day give them far more and better than imperial 
 sway. 
 
 The ''Declaration" was read to the public in New 
 York in what is now City Hall Park, the army of 
 Washington, recently arrived from Boston, being 
 present. 
 
62 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Chap. VIII. JOHN ADAMS' ACCOUNT. 
 
 You inquire wliy so young a man as Mr. Jefferson 
 was placed at the head of the committee for prepar- 
 ing a Declaration of Independence? I answer: It 
 was the Frankfort advice to jdace Virginia at the 
 head of everything. Mr. Richard Henry Lee might 
 be gone to Virginia, to his sick family, for aught 
 I know, but that was not the reason of Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's appointment. There were three committees 
 appointed at the same time — one for the Declaration 
 of Independence, another for preparing articles of 
 Confederation, and another for preparing a treaty lo 
 be proposed to France. Mr. Lee was chosen for the 
 Committee of Confederation, and it was not thought 
 convenient that the same person should be upon 
 both. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson came into Congress in June, 1775, 
 and brought with him reputation for literature, 
 science and a happy talent of composition. Writ- 
 ings of his were handed about, remarkable for the 
 peculiar felicity of expression. To a silent member 
 in Congress he was so prompt, frank, explicit and 
 decisive upon committees and in conversation, not 
 even Samuel Adams was more so, that he soon 
 seized upon my heart, and upon this occasion I gave 
 him my vote and did all in my power to procure the 
 votes of others. I think he had one more vote than 
 any other, and that placed him at the head of the 
 committee. I had the next highest number, and 
 that placed me the second. The committee met, dis- 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 63 
 
 cussed the subject and then appointed Mr. Jefifer- 
 son and myself to make the draft, I suppose because 
 we were the two first on the list. 
 
 The subcommittee met. Jefferson proposed to me 
 to make the draft. I said, ''I will not." "You 
 should do it." "Oh, no!" "Why will you not? 
 You ought to do it." "I will not." "Why?" "Rea- 
 sons enough." "What can be your reasonsi?" "Rea- 
 son first: You are a Virginian, and a Virginian 
 ought to appear at the head of this business. Rea- 
 son second: I am obnoxious, suspected and unpopu- 
 lar. You are very much otherwise. Reason third: 
 You can write ten times better than I can." "Well," 
 said Jefferson, "if you are decided, I will do as well 
 as I can." "Very well. When you have drawn it 
 up we will have a meeting." 
 
 A meeting we accordingly had, and conned the 
 paper over. I was delighted with its high tone and 
 the flights of oratory with which it abounded, espe- 
 cially that concerning negro slavery, which, though 
 I knew his Southern brethren would never suffer to 
 pass in Congress, I certainly never would oppose. 
 There were other expressions which I would not have 
 inserted if I had drawn it up, particularly that which 
 called the king tyrant. I thought this too personal, 
 for I never believed George to be a tyrant in dispo- 
 sition and in nature; I always believed him to be 
 deceived by his courtiers on both sides of the Atlan- 
 tic, and in his official capacity only cruel. I thought 
 the expression too passionate and too much like 
 scolding, for so grave and solemn a document; but 
 as Franklin and Sherman were to inspect it after- 
 
64 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 ward, I thought it would not become me to strike it 
 out. I consented to report it, and do not now re- 
 member that I made or suggested a single altera- 
 tion. 
 
 We reported it to the committee of five. It was 
 read, and I do not remember that Franklin or Sher- 
 man criticised anything. We were all in haste. 
 Congress was impatient, and the instrument was re- 
 ported, as I believe, in Jefferson's handwriting, as he 
 first drew it. Congress cut off about a quarter of 
 it, as I expected they would; but they obliterated 
 some of the best of it and left all that was excep- 
 tionable, if anything in it was. I have long won- 
 dered that the original draft has not been published. 
 I suppose the reason is, the venement philippic 
 against negro slavery. 
 
 As you justly observe, there is not an idea in it 
 but what had been hackneyed in Congress for two 
 years before. The substance of it is contained in 
 the Declaration of Eights and the violation of those 
 rights, in the Journals of Congress in 1774. Indeed, 
 the essence of it is contained in a pamphlet voted 
 and printed by the town of Boston before the first 
 Congress met, composed by James Otis, as I suppose, 
 in one of his lucid intervals, and pruned and pol- 
 ished by Samuel Adams. 
 
 Adams wrote this account long after the event — • 
 in 1822. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 65 
 
 Chap. IX. DECLARATION OF INDE- 
 PENDENCE. 
 
 ''When, in the course of human events, it becomes 
 necessary for one people to dissolve the political 
 bands which have connected them with another and 
 to assume, among the powers of the earth, the sepa- 
 rate and equal station to which the laws of nature 
 and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect 
 for the opinions of mankind requires that they 
 should declare the causes which impel them to the 
 separation. 
 
 "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all 
 men are created equal; that they are endowed by 
 their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that, 
 among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
 piness. That to secure these rights, governments 
 are instituted among men, deriving their just pow- 
 ers from the consent of the governed; that, when- 
 ever any form of government becomes destructive 
 of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or 
 to abolish it and to institute a new government, lay- 
 ing its foundation on such principles and organizing 
 its powers in such form as to them shall seem most 
 likely to effect their safety and happiness. Pru- 
 dence, indeed, will dictate that governments long es- 
 tablished should not be changed for light and tran- 
 sient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath 
 shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, 
 while evils are sufferable, than td fight themselVes 
 
 6 
 
(56 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 by abolishing the forms to which they are accus- 
 tomed. But when a long train of abuses and usur- 
 pations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces 
 a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, 
 it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such 
 government and to provide new guards for the'?; 
 future security. Such has been the patient suffer- 
 ance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity 
 which constrains them to alter their former systems 
 of government. The history of the present king or 
 Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and 
 usurpations, all having in direct object the establish- 
 ment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To 
 prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 
 
 "He has refused his assent to laws the most whole- 
 some and necessary for the public good. 
 
 "He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of 
 immediate and pressing need, unless suspended in 
 their operation till his assent should be obtained ; 
 and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to 
 attend to them. 
 
 "He has refused to pass other laws for the ac- 
 commodation of large districts of people unless those 
 people would relinquish the right of representation 
 in the Legislature — a right inestimable to them and 
 formidable to tyrants only. 
 
 "He has called together legislative bodies at places 
 unusual, uncomfortable and distant from the re- 
 pository of their public records, for the sole pur- 
 pose of fatiguing them into compliance with his 
 measures. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 67 
 
 "He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly 
 for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on 
 the rights of the people. 
 
 "He has refused for a long time after such dissolu- 
 tions, to cause others to be elected; whereby, the 
 legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have 
 returned to the people at large for their exercise, 
 the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all 
 the dangers of invasion from without and convul- 
 sions within. 
 
 "He has endeavored to prevent the population of 
 these States; for that purpose, obstructing the laws 
 for naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass 
 others to encourage their migration hither, and rais- 
 ing the conditions of new appropriations of lands. 
 
 "He has obstructed the administration of justice 
 by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judi- 
 ciary powers. 
 
 "He has made judges dependent on his will alone, 
 for the tenure of offices and the amount and pay- 
 ment of their salaries. 
 
 "He has erected a multitude of new ofiices and 
 sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people 
 and eat out their substance. 
 
 "He has kept among us, in times of peace, stand- 
 ing armies, without the consent of our legislature. 
 
 "He has affected to render the military indepen- 
 dent of and superior to the civil power. 
 
 "He has combined with others to subject us to a 
 jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unac- 
 knowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their 
 acts of pretended legislation; for quartering large 
 
68 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 bodies of armed troops among us, for protecting them 
 by a mock trial from punishment for any murders 
 which they should commit on the inhabitants of 
 these States; for cutting off our trade with all parts 
 of the world; for imposing taxes on us without our 
 consent; for depriving us, in many cases, of the bene- 
 fits of trial by jury; for transporting us beyond 
 seas to be tried for pretended offenses; for abolish- 
 ing the free system of English laws in a neighbor- 
 ing Province, establishing therein an arbitrary gov- 
 ernment, and enlarging its boundaries ,so as to ren- 
 der it at once an example and fit instrument for in- 
 troducing the same absolute rule into these colonies; 
 for taking away our charters, abolishing our most 
 valuable laws and altering, fundamentally, the forms 
 of our governments ; for suspending our own legisla- 
 tures and declaring themselves invested with power 
 to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 
 
 "He has abdicated government here by declaring 
 us out of his protection and waging war against us. 
 
 "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, 
 burned our towns and destroyed the lives of our 
 people, 
 
 "He is at this time transporting large armies of 
 foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, 
 desolation and tyranny already begun with circum- 
 stances of cuelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in 
 the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the 
 head of a civilized nation. 
 
 "He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken cap- 
 tive on the high seas, to bear arms against their 
 country, to become the executioners of their friends 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 69 
 
 and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 
 "He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, 
 and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of 
 our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose 
 known rule of warfare is an undistinguished de- 
 struction of all ages, sexes and conditions. 
 
 "In every stage of these oppressions we have peti- 
 tioned for redress, in the most humble terms; our 
 repeated petitions have been answered only by re- 
 peated injury. A prince, whose character is thus 
 marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is 
 unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 
 
 '*Nor have we been wanting in attention to our 
 British brethren. We have warned them, from time 
 to time, of attempts made by their legislature to ex- 
 tend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We 
 have reminded them of the circumstances of our 
 emigration and settlement here. We have appealed 
 to their native justice and magnanimity, and we 
 have conjured them by the ties of our common kin- 
 dred, to disavow these usurpations, which would 
 inevitably interrupt our connections and correspond- 
 ence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of jus- 
 tice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, ac- 
 quiesce in the necessity which denounces our sepa- 
 ration, and hold them, as we hold the rest of man- 
 kind — enemies in war ; in peace, friends. 
 
 "We, therefore, the representatives of the United 
 States of America, in general Congress assembled, 
 appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the 
 rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by 
 the authority of the good people of these colonies. 
 
70 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 eolemnl}^ publish and declare that these United 
 Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and inde- 
 pendent States ; that they are absolved from all alle- 
 giance to the British crown, and that all political 
 connection between them and the state of Great 
 Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and 
 that, as free and independent States, they have full 
 power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alli- 
 ances, establish commerce and to do all other acts 
 and things which independent States may of right 
 do. And for the support of this declaration, with a 
 firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, 
 we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our for- 
 tunes and our sacred honor." 
 
 This declaration was coin})osed by Thomas Jeffer- 
 son, member of a committee appointed for the pur- 
 pose. It was signed in the State House at Philadel- 
 phia, in a chamber of the riglit wing, on the ground 
 floor, the first which you enter from the center hall 
 of that building. 
 
 A painting commemorative of this great event, in 
 which are drawn the persons of its illustrious au- 
 thors (whose names are here recorded) in their po- 
 sition at the time of its being presented by the com- 
 mittee for the approval of Congress, has been drawn 
 by an American artist. Colonel Trumbull, and placed 
 in 1819 in the Capitol at Washington. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 71 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK, President. 
 CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary. 
 
 New Hampshire — Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Mat- 
 thew Thornton. 
 
 Massachusetts — Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat 
 Paine, Elbridge Gerry. 
 
 Rhode Island — Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery, Oliver 
 Wolcott. 
 
 Connecticut — Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William 
 Williams. 
 
 New York — William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis 
 Lewis, Lewis Morris. 
 
 New Jersey — Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis 
 Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark. 
 
 Pennsylvania — Robert MOrris, Benjamin Rust, Benjamin 
 Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George 
 Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross. 
 
 Delaware — Caesar Rodney, George Reed, Thomas McKeaa, 
 
 Maryland — Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 
 
 Virginia — George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jef- 
 ferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis 
 Lightfoot Lee. Carter Braxton. 
 
 North Carolina — William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John 
 Penn. 
 
 South Carolina — Edward Rutledge, Thomas Hayward, Jr., 
 Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton. 
 
 Georgia — Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton. 
 
 Of these patriots, the last survivor, Charles Car- 
 roll, died on the 14th of November, 1832, in the 9Gth 
 year of his age. 
 
72 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Chap. X. THE YOUTH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 At the very time of the Congress of Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle, the woods of Virginia sheltered the youthful 
 George Washington, who had been born of a West- 
 moreland planter and whose lot almost from in- 
 fancy had been that of an orphan. No academy had 
 welcomed him to its shades, no college crowned him 
 with its honors; to read, to write, to cipher, these 
 had been his degrees in knowledge. And now, at 
 sixteen years of age, in quest of an honest mainte- 
 nance, encountering the severest toil, cheered on- 
 ward by being able to write to a school friend, 
 "Dear Richard, a doubloon is my constant gain 
 every day, and sometimes six pistols;" himself his 
 own cook, "having no spit but a forked stick, no 
 plate but a large chip;" roaming over spurs of the 
 Alleghanies and along the banks of the Shenandoah, 
 alive to nature, and sometimes "spending the best of 
 the day in admiring the trees and richness of the 
 land; among skin-clad savages, with their scalps 
 and rattles, or uncouth immigrants, "that would 
 never speak English;" rarely sleejung in a bed; 
 holding a bearskin a splendid couch; glad of a rest- 
 ing place for the night upon a little hay, straw or 
 fodder, and often camping the forests, where the 
 place nearest the fire was a happy luxury — this 
 stripling surveyor of the woods, with no companion 
 but his unlettered associates, and no implements of 
 science but his compass and chain, contrasted 
 strangely with the imperial magnificence of the Con- 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 73 
 
 gress of Aix-la-Chapelle. And yet God had selected, 
 not Kaunitz or Newcastle, not a monarch of the 
 house of Hapsburg nor of Hanover, but the Virginia 
 stripling, to give an impulse to human affairs; and, 
 as far as events can depend on an individual, had 
 placed the rights and the destinies of countless mil- 
 lions in the keeping of the widow's son. 
 "Treaty of Aix-la-Cbapelle, 1748. 
 
 From an old book, "True Stories of the Days of Washing- 
 ton," 1869. 
 
T4 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Chap. XI. FRANKLIN IN FRANCE. 
 
 (177G-17S5) 
 
 The early relations between the United States of 
 America and the monarchies of Europe may be stud- 
 ied with advantage by those writers who attach little 
 or no importance to the personal factor in history. 
 The prospects of the young republic were seriously 
 and, to all appearances irretrievably, damnified by 
 the mismanagement of Congress; but the position 
 was saved by the ability, the discretion and the 
 force of one single man. Benjamin Franklin was 
 now past seventy. He had begun to earn his bread 
 as a child of ten; he commenced as an author at 
 sixteen, and he had ever since been working with 
 his hands and taxing his brain unintermittently and 
 to the top of his power. Such exertions were not 
 maintained with impunity. He kept his strength of 
 will unimpaired, his mind clear and lively, and his 
 temper equable, by a lifelong habit of rigid abste- 
 miousness; but he already felt the apj) roach of pain- 
 ful disease that tortured him cruelly before the im- 
 mense undertaking which still lay before him had 
 been half accomplished. In September, 1776, he 
 was elected Commissioner to France by a unanimous 
 resolution of Congress, Franklin, in the highest 
 sense of the term, was a professional diplomatist, 
 for he had passed sixteen years in England as agent 
 for his colony, and his individual qualities had 
 gained for him a political influence and a social 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 75 
 
 standing out of all proportion to the comparatively 
 humble interests which he represented at the British 
 court. The ambassadors of the Great Powers who 
 were resident in London treated him as one of them- 
 selves. He was old enough to be the father of most 
 among them and wise enough to be the adviser of 
 all, and toward the end of his time they united in 
 regarding him as in some sort the doyen of their 
 body. * * * 
 
 From otlier Americans then resident in Paris 
 Franklin received little help and a great deal of 
 most unnecessary hindrance. Silas Deane, who had 
 business knowledge and business aptitudes, was of 
 service in arranging contracts and inspecting war- 
 like stores, and Deane, after Franklin's arrival in 
 Europe, had the good sense to confine himself strict- 
 ly within his own province. But Arthur Lee was 
 an uneasy and a most dangerous yoke-fellow. Lee 
 was a sinister personage in the drama of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution — the assassin of other men's repu- 
 tation and careers, and the suicide of his own. He 
 now was bent on defaming and destroying Silas 
 Deane, whom he fiercely hated, and on persuading 
 the government at home to transfer Franklin to 
 Vienna, so that he himself might remain behind in 
 France as the single representative of America at the 
 Court of Versailles. 
 
 The group of politicians in Philadelphia who were 
 cabaling against George Washington maintained 
 confidential and not very creditable relations with 
 Arthur Lee at Paris. His eloquent brother was his 
 mouthpiece in Congress, and he plied Samuel Ad- 
 
76 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 ams with a series of venomous libels upon Franklin, 
 which were preserved unrebuked, and too evidently 
 had been read with pleasure. 
 
 The best that can be said for Arthur Lee is that, 
 in his personal dealing with the colleagues whom he 
 was seeking to ruin, he made no pretense of a friend- 
 ship which he did not feel, and his attitude toward 
 his brother envoys was, to the last degree, hostile 
 and insulting. He found an ally in Ralph Izard, 
 who lived at Paris, an ambassador in part ib us, two 
 hundred leagues away from the capital to which he 
 was accredited, drawing the same salary as Frank- 
 lin, denouncing him in open letters addressed to the 
 President of Congress, and insisting with querulous 
 impertinence, on his right to participate in all the 
 secret counsels of the French court. Franklin for 
 some months maintained an unruffled composure. 
 He had never been quick to mark offenses, and he 
 now had reached that happy period of life when a 
 man values the good will of his juniors, but troubles 
 himself very little about their disapproval. He ig- 
 nored the provocation given by his pair of enemies 
 and extended to them a hospitality which they, on 
 their part, did not refrain from accepting, although 
 his food and wine might well have choked them. But 
 the moment came when his own self-respect and a 
 due consideration for the public interest forbade 
 Franklin any longer to pass over their conduct in 
 silence, and he spoke out in a style which aston- 
 ished both of them at the time and has gratified the 
 American reader ever since. He castigated Arthur 
 Lee in as plain and vigorous English as ever was set 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 77 
 
 down on paper, and informed Kalph Izard calmly 
 but very explicitly that he would do well to mind his 
 own business. 
 
 Franklin, as long as he was on European soil, had 
 no need to stand upon ceremony when dealing with 
 a refractory countryman, for he was in great au- 
 thority on that side of the Atlantic Ocean. Europe 
 had welcomed him and accepted him, not as a mere 
 spokesman and agent of the government at Philadel- 
 phia, but as the living and breathing embodiment of 
 the American Eepublic. No statesman would do 
 business with anybody but Franklin. No financier 
 would negotiate a loan except with him, or pay 
 over money into other hands but his. "It was to 
 Franklin that both the French and English minis- 
 tries turned as if he were not only the sole represen- 
 tative of the United States in Europe, but as if he 
 were endowed with plenipotentiary power." Nine- 
 tenths of the public letters addressed to the Ameri- 
 can Commissioners were brought to his home; "and" 
 (so his colleagues admitted) "they would ever be 
 carried wherever Doctor Franklin is." He trans- 
 acted his affairs with Louis the Sixteenth's minis- 
 ters on a footing of equality and (as time Went on) 
 of unostentatious but unquestionable superiority. 
 Thomas Jefferson, an impartial and most competent 
 observer, had on one occasion been contending that 
 American diplomatists were always spoiled for use 
 after they had been kept seven years abroad. But 
 this (said Jefferson) did not apply to Franklin, 
 "who was America itself when in France, not sub- 
 jecting himself to French influence, "btit impodng 
 
78 Patriotism in Washington's Time, 
 
 American influence upon France and upon the whole 
 course and conduct of her national policy. * * • 
 
 His immense and (as he himself was the foremost 
 to acknowledge) his extravagant popularity was 
 founded on a solid basis of admiration and esteem. 
 The origin of his fame dated from a time which 
 seemed fabulously distant to the existing genera- 
 tion, llis qualities and accomplishments were genu- 
 ine and unpretentious, and his services to' the world 
 were appreciated by high and low, rich and poor, in 
 every country where men learned from books or 
 profited by discoveries of science. His ''Poor Rich- 
 ard," which expounded and elucidated a code of 
 rules for the every-day conduct of life with sagacity 
 that never failed and wit that very seldom missed 
 the mark, had been thrice translated into French, 
 had gone through many editions and had been rec- 
 ommended by i)riests and bishops for common use 
 in their parishes and dioceses. 
 
 As an inventor and an experimentalist, he was 
 more widely known even than as an author, for he 
 had always aimed at making natural philosophy the 
 handmaid of material progress. Those homely and 
 practical inventions by which he had done so much 
 to promote the comfort and convenience of the aver- 
 age citizen, had caused him to be regarded as a pub- 
 lic benefactor in every civilized community through- 
 out the world. His reputation (so John Adams 
 wrote) was more universal tlian that of Leibnitz or 
 Newton. "His name was familiar to government 
 and people, to foreign countries, to nobility, clergy 
 and philosophers as well as to plebeians — to such 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 79 
 
 a degree that there was scarcely a peasant or a citi- 
 zen, a valet, coachman or footman, a lady's chamber- 
 maid or scullion in the kitchen who did not consider 
 him a friend to human kind." If Franklin, at seven- 
 ty years of age, had visited France as a private tour- 
 ist, his progress through her cities would have been 
 one long ovation, and her enthusiasm transcended 
 all bounds when, coming as an ambassador from a 
 new world beyond the seas, he appealed to French 
 chivalry on behalf of a young nation struggling for 
 freedom. * * * 
 
 When he appeared in public he was dressed in 
 good broadcloth of sober tint; conspicuous with his 
 long, straight hair, whitened by age and not by art, 
 and wearing a pair of spectacles to remedy an old 
 man's dimness of vision, and a cap of fine marten's 
 fur, because he had an old man's susceptibility to 
 cold. 
 
 Franklin's costume had not been designed with 
 any idea of pleasing the Parisians, but it obtained 
 an extraordinary success and has left a mark on 
 history. Fine gentlemen, with their heads full of 
 the new philosophy, regarded his unembroidered 
 coat and unpowdered locks as a tacit but visible pro- 
 test against those luxuries and artificialities which 
 they all condemned, but had not the smallest inten- 
 tion of themselves renouncing. He reminded them 
 of everything and everybody that Jean -Taques Rous- 
 seau had taught them to admire. The Comte de 
 Segur declared that "Franklin's antique and patri- 
 archal aspect seemed to transport into the midst of 
 an enervated and senile civilization a Republican 
 
80 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 of Kome of the time of Cato and Fabius, or a sage 
 who had consorted with Plato." Some compared 
 him to Diogenes, and some to Phocion — about whom 
 they can have known very little — for, if Phocion 
 had been a Pennsylvanian of Anno Domini 1776, he 
 would, beyond all question, have been a strenuous 
 and uncompromising supporter of the British con- 
 nection. Readers of Emile, who then comprised 
 three-fourths of the fashionable world, delighted to 
 recognize in the American stranger an express and 
 living image of the Savoyard Vicar, and it was be- 
 lieved, with some reason, that his views on religion 
 nearly corresponded to those of Rousseau's famous 
 ecclesiastic, although Franklin would most certainly 
 have compressed his profession of faith into much 
 shorter compass. The great French ladies were at- 
 tracted and fascinated by his quiet self-possession, 
 his benign courtesy and his playful yet always ra- 
 tional conversation. The ardor of Franklin's votar- 
 ies sometimes manifested itself with an exuberance 
 which made it diflScult for him to keep his counte- 
 nance. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 81 
 
 Chap. XII. TREASON. 
 
 Perhaps true Patriotism is shown out more clearly 
 when contrasted with its opposite, namely: Treason! 
 No history is complete without its good and bad, its 
 victories and losses ; all told, as near as possible, just 
 as they happened ; and the War of the Revolution is 
 no exception to the rule ; and to leave out one of the 
 most momentous occurrences of those troublous 
 times would be to leave the history incomplete ; and, 
 although true Patriotism needs no light or other 
 glamour over it to make it shine out in all its glory 
 and its true value appreciated, yet the history of the 
 times mentioned would be incomplete without the 
 one DARK spot which stands out so vividly. 
 
 The following extracts from the times and days of 
 the Revolution will not be out of order in the present 
 work. The cause or causes which were potent fac- 
 tors in bringing about the treasonable actions of 
 Benedict Arnold have been laid to many hypothe- 
 ses ; some have said that because he married an Eng- 
 lish woman she may have had something to do with 
 it ; he was ambitious, and he thought he was treated 
 unfairly, that he should have been given a higher 
 command than a garrisoned fort, and a command 
 which would bring into action his restless spirit, 
 and an opportunity to display his extraordinary 
 genius and his military prowess to greater advan- 
 tage. West Point was to him like a prison or a 
 circumscribed space where he was prevented show- 
 ing his "spread-agle" powers to the best advantage, 
 
 6 
 
82 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 He lived over again the Battle of Saratoga, and no 
 doubt every time he stood on the leg which was shot 
 in the cause, or everj' time he dressed the wound 
 that would not heal, he perhaps compared his fate 
 to those who were more fortunate than he and who, 
 to his mind, were inferior to him in military genious, 
 and perhaps he felt piqued and disappointed because 
 he was not preferred to them. Perhaps the winter 
 of 1775-1776, during which Arnold spent in Phila- 
 delphia in company with the woman whom he subse- 
 quently married, and where he often met Major 
 John Andre, and who made himself very agreeable 
 to the General by his dashing ways and boyish ap- 
 pearance, had something to do with his behavior at 
 West Point. Was it the "Old Year out and the 
 New Year in" on that memorable occasion when 
 Major Andr6 introduced General Arnold to Peggy 
 Shippen? (December 31, 1775 — January 1, 1776.) 
 From here up to the beginning of the chapter is by 
 the author (P. J. B.). 
 
 General Arnold had been appointed Governor of 
 Philadelphia, expressly because the condition of the 
 wound which he had received at Saratoga unfitted 
 him for more active service. But the mental dis- 
 comfort of his position bade fair to counterbalance 
 the beneficial effect of bodily rest. Philadelphia was 
 the residence of so many Tories and loyalists, that 
 the greater I3art of the property in it belonged to 
 [)ersons unfavorable to the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, if not disposed to accept almost any terms 
 offered by the British government. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 83 
 
 A practical dilemma had arisen which could only 
 be met by a somewhat summary remedy. Under the 
 pretext of removing private property, a vast amount 
 of goods had been transferred from the city to vari- 
 ous places — to be eventually used, as every one knew, 
 by the supporters of the British government, and 
 even by the British army itself. To prevent this, 
 Congress had ordered that no goods whatever should 
 be removed from Philadelphia until a commission 
 could decide whether such goods belonged legally to 
 the King of England or any of his subjects; and, 
 pending this commission, shops and stores were or- 
 dered to be closed. 
 
 The proclamation to this effect was written by 
 President Reed, but the Governor issued it and had 
 the odium of it. The sleek Philadelphians asked each 
 other why this New Engiander was to rule them by 
 martial law? And it must be owned that Arnold 
 took small pains to propitiate them. His haughty 
 temper, his magnificence — even his friendliness to 
 Tory citizens — offended them ; and a mighty piece of 
 work was made about some wagons belonging to the 
 State which he had impressed in order to save some 
 property belonging to persons obnoxious for having 
 remained in the city during the British occupation. 
 
 The Governor's approaching marriage with the 
 daughter of a Tory gentleman was another griev- 
 ance. It may be imagined how little he was likely 
 to tolerate interference on such a matter as this ! 
 His accounts for the expenses which he had incurred 
 in Canada had been severely challenged, referred 
 from one committee to another, and were still un- 
 settled. 
 
84 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 The plan of a country life bad taken a great hold 
 upon his imagination ever since he had seen Philip 
 Schuyler at home in that fine old manor house near 
 Saratoga, whose flames had lighted Burgoyne's last 
 march. He had gone so far as to submit his enter- 
 prise to the New York deputies in Congress, and 
 John Jay had approved it and had written to tlie 
 Governor of New York State to beg him to use his 
 influence in favor of the scheme. 
 
 Very early in February General Arnold deter- 
 mined to go himself to Kingston, where the Legisla- 
 ture of New York State then sat. On his way he 
 visited the camp at Middlebrook, to which General 
 Washington had now returned. He laid his plans 
 before His Excellency — who, however, listened with 
 a somewhat incredulous smile. His Excellency him- 
 self desired nothing so much as to be able one day 
 to return to that country life which General Arnold 
 was describing so eloquently. ''But you, my dear 
 sir, are, I fancy, a more restless spirit," he observed. 
 "However, the undertaking is a useful one, and 
 would, for some time at least, demand all your ener- 
 gies." 
 
 A disagreeable surprise, however, was awaiting 
 the General. On his return to his ledging he found 
 a messenger just arrived, splashed from head to foot 
 with hard riding and wearing so grave a counte- 
 nance that the General hastily asked if Miss Ship- 
 pen was ill? 
 
 "No sir, she was perfectly well when I left," re- 
 plied the messenger, taking a packet from his pocket, 
 "Will you please to look at this, sir? 'Twas sent 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 85 
 
 to Congress the instant you had left the town. Ma- 
 jor Clarkson agreed with me that you ought to be 
 informed of it as soon as possible." 
 
 ''What!" cries the General, unfolding the packet, 
 ^'Charges! — and printed in the public journals, so as 
 to prejudice me in the eyes of the people! This is 
 the hand of Joseph Reed!" 
 
 A pack of snakes-in-the-grass !" he cried, crum- 
 pling the paper. "They knew weeks ago that I was 
 going away, but they wait till I've turned my back ! 
 The black-hearted turncoat charges me with having 
 shut the stores! Congress ordered it, and he wrote 
 the proclamation! But I'll be righted! I'll de- 
 mand a court-martial! I'll go to Washington this 
 moment! Give me your arm!" 
 
 The discovery that a copy of the original draft 
 had been sent to the various State Governors, and, 
 indeed, to pretty nearly everybody except the ac- 
 cused person himself, did not tend to abate the 
 General's wrath; it could hardly increase it. No 
 one could read the charges without perceiving that 
 the persons who had drawn them up had lost all 
 sense of judicial fairness. 
 
 They were eight in number. The first accused. 
 General Arnold of having, last spring, given a per- 
 mit to a vessel belonging to disaffected persons to 
 come into a port without consulting the Comman- 
 der-in-Chief or the State authorities. 
 
 The second related to the closing of the shops, 
 and accused the Governor of having taken advantage 
 of this to make purchases for his own benefit. The 
 third charged him with imposing menial offices on 
 
86' Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 the sons of freemen of Pennsylvania, when called 
 out by Congress on military duty, and with having 
 justified himself on the ground that the citizen is 
 lost in the soldier. The fourth related to the sloop 
 "Active," a prize taken by some people of Connecti- 
 cut, whose suit Arnold was charged with having 
 illegally purchased. The fifth concerned the wagons. 
 The sixth charged the Governor with furnishing a 
 disaffected person with a pass ; and the seventh, with 
 having ''indecently and disrespectfully" refused to 
 give any explanation about the wagons. 
 
 The last charge was less defined. It accused Ar- 
 nold of having, during his command in Philadel- 
 phia, ''discouraged and neglected" persons who had 
 adhered to their country's cause "with an entire dif- 
 ferent conduct towards those of another character,'' 
 and added that if the said command was, "as is gen- 
 erally believed/' to cost the United States four or 
 five thousand a year, Pennsylvania would be very 
 unwilling to pay any share of it. 
 
 Three, at least, of these charges were obviously 
 vexatious. In the others the frequent recurrence 
 of such expressions as "it is alleged and believed," 
 "it has been publicly charged," "it may be reason- 
 ably inferred," looked, to say the least of it, as 
 though the framers of the indictment had more ill- 
 will than legal proofs. 
 
 Major Clarkson (whose own name appeared in tlie 
 charge about the pass) had instantly issued a card, 
 begging the public to suspend their judgment, and 
 the General himself now sent out another, in which 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 87 
 
 he complained of the unfairness of this attempt to 
 influence the public mind before trial. 
 
 He had demanded a court-martial. The charges 
 were referred to a committee, who reported that only 
 four of them could come under the jurisdiction of a 
 court-martial, the others being matters for a civil 
 suit. The committee further reported that they had 
 no evidence on any charge except the fifth and the 
 seventh — the council, though repeatedly applied to, 
 having not only refused to furnish any, but having 
 threatened the committee and charged them with 
 partiality for asking it. The committee added in 
 conclusion that, after the unexampled measures 
 which the council had employed against General 
 Arnold, they were of opinion that no concession 
 or acknowledgment could be expected from him. 
 
 Upon this the General naturally considered him- 
 self cleared. The committee had expressly acquit- 
 ted him of any intentional wrong. He resigned his 
 command, for which he had Washington's permis- 
 sion, and wrote to Congress to beg them to report 
 on his case at once and so set him right with the 
 public. 
 
 What then was his astonishment and indignation, 
 when the council wrote to Congress that General 
 Arnold had left the State while the charges were 
 pending and that a misunderstanding had prevented 
 them from presenting their testimony. 
 
 By this time the matter had become a State ques- 
 tion. The council had Pennsylvania behind it, and 
 Pennsylvania must be kept in a good humor. So 
 
88 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 after another committee, a court-martial was at last 
 ordered for the 1st of May. 
 
 Before that day arrived the General was married 
 to Peggy Shippen. The ceremony took place in her 
 father's house. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Cornwallis and Major 
 Andr6 were tossing uneasily at sea when General 
 Arnold's trial came on at Morristown. When the 
 1st of May arrived the Council of Pennsylvania said 
 they were not ready with their evidence, so the trial 
 was put off to the 1st of June — by which time the 
 British were going up tlie Hudson and American 
 ojQScers had other things to do than to hold court- 
 martials. 
 
 The General endured the delay very impatiently. 
 He had thought better of leaving the army, and now 
 talked of seeking active service again as soon as his 
 wounds would permit — above all, as soon as his cause 
 was heard. He had spent most of the time at the 
 beautiful country house which he had bought at 
 Mount Pleasant, on the banks of the Schuylkill. 
 
 It was now open war between the General and 
 President Reed. When the discontents in Philadel- 
 phia broke out in October, in the Fort Wilson riot, 
 the President had ordered Arnold to leave the 
 ground. He had obeyed, being no longer Governor 
 of the city, but he had openly said to Mr. Wilson 
 that the President had raised the riot and made no 
 attempt to conceal his contempt for him. 
 
 December was far advanced and the army had 
 gone into winter quarters, when the court-martial 
 met at last. It sat at Morristown, and thither the 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 89 
 
 General went, confident of having honor triumphant- 
 ly vindicated. 
 
 The trial of a General pre-eminent for personal 
 gallantry and still suffering from wounds received 
 in the most brilliant achievement of the whole war, 
 was a spectacle sufficiently odious in itself, and Ar- 
 nold took care to make it as conspicuous as possible. 
 Not content with allowing his wounds to plead for 
 him, he appeared in the epaulettes and sword-knots 
 which Washington had sent him, and in his defense 
 he read the letter which had accompanied them, and 
 also the letter of Congress, presenting him with a 
 horse in the place of the two slain under him at 
 Ridgefield — which horse, as every one knew, he was 
 not yet able to mount. He rehearsed his services 
 and his wrongs and commented with bitter irony on 
 the President and the Council of Pennsylvania mak- 
 ing it a charge against him that he had acted with- 
 out consulting the Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 ^^Islon tali auwilio eget, nee defensoribu^ istis/' 
 he said sarcastically, turning Virgil's line for the 
 benefit of members of the Conway cabal there pres- 
 ent. 
 
 But he wound up with a more damning allusion 
 still, and one which it was still more impossible to 
 misunderstand. 
 
 "I can say," he said, with a deadly emphasis on 
 every word and steadily fixing his eye on Reed's 
 pale face, "I never basked in the sunshine of my 
 general's favor and courted him to his face, when I 
 was at the same time treating him with the greatest 
 disrespect and villifying his character when absent. 
 
do Patriotism in Washington's Time, 
 
 This is more than a ruling member of the Council of 
 the State of Pennsylvania can say — as it is alleged 
 and believed.'' 
 
 Having shot this arrow between the joints of 
 President Reed's armor, the General awaited tlie de- 
 cision of his judges, with very little doubt as to 
 their verdict. 
 
 The trial had occupied many days, and judgment 
 was not given till the end of January. The court 
 acquitted the General on two of the charges and ex- 
 onerated him from all intentional wrong in the 
 others, but found that in the matters of the sloop 
 ^'Active" and the wagons he had behaved impru- 
 dently, considering his position, and sentenced him 
 to be reprimanded by the Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 Arnold was astounded, and public feeling ran so 
 strong that the council themselves made haste to re- 
 quest Congress to dispense with the reprimand — 
 finding, as they said, that the General's sufferings 
 and services were so deeply impressed on their 
 minds as to obliterate every other sentiment. 
 
 But Congress was inexorable — perhaps some of its 
 members were not sorry to compel Washington to 
 rebuke Gates' rival. 
 
 Washington performed the unwelcome task as- 
 signed to him as delicately as possible. ''Our profes- 
 sion is the chastest of all/' said His Excellency, 
 "even the shadow of a fault tarnishes the luster of 
 our finest achievements. The least inadvertence may 
 rob us of the public favor, so hard to be acquired. 
 I reprimand you for having forgotten that, in pro- 
 portion as you have rendered yourself formidable to 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 91 
 
 our enemies, you should have been guarded and tem- 
 perate in your deportment towards your fellow- 
 citizens." 
 
 This was all the censure. His Excellency only 
 added an exhortation to Arnold to exhibit anew 
 those noble qualities which had placed him on the 
 list of his country's most valued commanders — and 
 a promise to furnish him with every opportunity in 
 his power of regaining his country's esteem. 
 
 Mild as this reprimand was, it was still a repri- 
 mand. The indiscretions of which Arnold had un- 
 doubtedly been guilty — his haughty disregard of 
 civil authority, his extravagance and ostentation — 
 were all forgotten in the severity of his punishment. 
 He had been subjected to the indignity of a public 
 rebuke — for the sake, as all his friends said, and as 
 most of the public believed, of conciliating the pow- 
 erful State of Pennsylvania. Nor did the news from 
 the South tend to make the country indifferent to 
 this affront put upon a General who was always 
 fortunate in the field and unfortunate only in the 
 malice of his enemies. 
 
 Arnold at West Point. 
 
 When he first came to West Point, General Arnold 
 appeared to be much depressed in spirits. This may 
 have been due to his wound, which still occasionally 
 troubled him, and to the lameness which must be 
 so peculiarly irksome to a man of unusual strength 
 and activity; but still more to the fact that he 
 allowed his mind to dwell on the public dishonor 
 (for so he persisted in regarding the reprimand) 
 
S2 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 which Congress had put upon him. As Mrs. Arnold 
 had not yet arrived, the first few days were some- 
 what lonely, except for the visits paid and received 
 by Counsellor Smith, of Haverstraw. But the Coun- 
 sellor, whose brother was Chief Justice of New York 
 and whose family were all in the Tory interest, was 
 suffering from a sharp attack of ague and was some- 
 times too much indisposed to come as far as head- 
 quarters, which were at Colonel Beverley Robinson's 
 house, opposite West Point, and some eight or ten 
 miles higher up the river than Haverstraw. 
 
 Meantime very bad news was received from the 
 South. Congress had apointed General Gates to 
 that command when Lincoln was made prisoner at 
 Charleston. He had hardly taken the field, when 
 Lord Cornwallis fell in with him near Camden, on 
 the great Santee river, and totally routed him, with 
 the loss of all his cannon and baggage. Gates had 
 fled, his army was destroyed and Tarleton was in 
 hot pursuit of Sumter. It was but natural that, on 
 this news coming, General Arnold should have made 
 some cutting remarks at the expense of the unlucky 
 Gates, especially as that hero had crowed somewhat 
 too loud on his arrival in the South, as though the 
 victor of Saratoga had but to come and see and con- 
 quer. But these reverses made it all the more nec- 
 essary to do something in the North, and early in 
 September the General told his orderly that His Ex- 
 cellency (who had recrossed and was now at Tap- 
 pan) would be coming in a few days to see Count 
 Rochambeau at Hartford. "And then," he added, 
 ''the blow will be struck." 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 93 
 
 The General had a scheme in his head for estab- 
 lishing signals as the enemy's posts as far as possi- 
 ble. So bold had the news of Camden made Sir 
 Henry Clinton, that a British sloop-of-war had come 
 up the Hudson to within five miles of Verplanck's 
 Point. The General went down in his barge on this 
 errand of the signals, and was a night away, sleep- 
 ing at Mr. Joshua Smith's. On his return he said 
 that he had been fired on from the British gunboats 
 and had had a very narrow escape. He particularly 
 regretted this, as it had prevented his seeing Colonel 
 Beverley Robinson, who had come down to the op- 
 posite side of the river, hoping for an interview. 
 Colonel Robinson's property had been confiscated 
 on his taking the British side, and his object in 
 seeking this interview was to try to recover at least 
 a part of it. 
 
 On the very day that His Excellency was expected 
 he went down the river again, this time as far as 
 Verplanck's Point; a flag came up from the "Vul- 
 ture," the British ship-of-war, with a letter ad- 
 dressed to General Putnam, "or the oflScer com- 
 manding at West Point," so the General, of course, 
 opened it, and found that it was another letter from 
 Robinson, very urgently entreating an interview. 
 
 "I really cannot oblige him by giving up my head- 
 quarters," says Arnold, looking rather bothered. 
 "Why don't he apply to Congress? They've got 
 plenty of time to attend to him !" 
 
 The General took his own barge across to the 
 Ferry, to fetch His Excellency, who had with him 
 the Marquess LaFayette, just returned from France. 
 
94 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 They dined at Haverstraw, at Mr. Smith's, who 
 was all urbanity. After dinner General Arnold 
 took an opportunity of laying Colonel Robinson's 
 letter before His Excellency and asking him whether 
 he thought he might go and hear what Robinson had 
 to say? 
 
 "Certainly not," replies His Excellency, glancing 
 over the letter. "'Twould be a very improper thing 
 for the commander of a post to meet any one him- 
 self. Send a trusty messenger, if you think any end 
 will be served. But this is a matter for the civil 
 authorities." 
 
 Very soon after dinner they went down to the 
 river, where the barge was waiting. As the barge 
 got well beyond midstream they could see the "Vul- 
 ture" round the next point. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 95 
 
 Chap. XIII. ADVENTURES OF MR. JOHN 
 ANDERSON. 
 
 Mr. Smith went in a boat to the "Vulture," to 
 take over a person who was introduced to him as 
 John Anderson, who was to have an interview with 
 a Mr. Gustavus; it was dark; and when they met 
 the person at the Cove, Mr. Anderson did not recog- 
 nize him, but noticed that he limped when he 
 walked; they all went to the house of Mr. Smith, 
 and when there was light enough to see his features, 
 he recognized the person who was called Mr. Gus- 
 tavus to be General Arnold himself. 
 
 When they neared Mr. Smith's house they were 
 challenged by a sentinel, and Mr. Gustavus gives 
 the word. 
 
 "Good God! am I within, the American lines?" 
 says Anderson, in a low voice, to Mr. Gustavus. 
 "You will be perfectly safe at Haverstraw," returns 
 
 Mr. G . It is nearly day, and it is but one day's 
 
 detention; tonight you shall return." 
 
 When it is day they can see the "Vulture" from 
 Mr. Smith's house, which commands a magnificent 
 prospect. 
 
 "What is he?" asks Smith. "He looks like a mere 
 boy. I wonder they sent such a soft young fellow 
 on such a ticklish errand." "He is a clever fellow 
 in his way," replies the General. "He is a mer- 
 chant — but, as you see, he must needs borrow a uni- 
 
96 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 form from an officer in New York to make himself 
 look like a soldier." 
 
 The General looks from him to Smith, and from 
 Smith to him again. ''You must change that coat, 
 Mr. Anderson," he says decidedly. "Mr. Smith will 
 lend you a coat; he's much about your size. I've 
 drawn you up a route; remember, above all, not to 
 go by way of Tarrytown ! You've got my pass." 
 
 Having reiterated these injunctions and made Mr. 
 Anderson promise to sacrifice his borrowed martial 
 plumes, the General departs, leaving Anderson to 
 admire the prospect and wish himself once more 
 safe aboard the "Vulture." 
 
 "Your boots, sir, don't match the rest of your 
 costume," said Mr, Smith; but Mr. Anderson vowed 
 he could not change them. Then he put on his watch 
 coat over all, and said that he was ready. Mr. John 
 Anderson drew his right-hand bridle rein and turned 
 his horse's head into the road leading to Tarrytown, 
 as he had it in his heart to do ever since Major 
 Boyd gave his well-intentioned warning. The cow- 
 boys, at the worst, would only carry him off to New 
 York, and the first captain of a vidette that saw 
 them would set him free. 
 
 Mr. Anderson was so deep in tliought as he rode 
 along that he did not notice three young men, look- 
 ing like Continental Militia, playing cards under a 
 tree, and they were so deep in their game that they 
 did not hear Mr. Anderson's horse's hoofs on the 
 wide bit of grass land which bordered the road, un- 
 til he was nearly upon them. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 97 
 
 "Stop! who goes there?" cries the tallest of the 
 young men — a great big fellow, over six feet high, 
 snatching up his rifle and presenting it at Mr. John 
 Anderson. 
 
 "I hope, gentlemen, you belong to our party," says 
 Mr. Anderson, taking these for the cowboys. 
 
 "What party's that?" asks John Paulding, still 
 pointing his rifle at Mr. Anderson, to which that 
 gentleman replies by asking, "Why, where do you 
 come from?" 
 
 "We come from below," says Paulding. 
 
 At this Mr. Anderson's brow clears and he ex- 
 claims joyfully : "If you're from below, so am I ! 
 I am a British officer, out on particular business, 
 and I hope you won't detain me a moment." 
 
 To convince them that he is really a British oflS- 
 cer, Mr. Anderson pulls out his watch and shows it 
 to them. Paulding looks at it, at Mr. Anderson, 
 and then at his tw^o companions. 
 
 "You must dismount," he says. The other two 
 have got hold of the bridle and now lead the horse 
 on to the grass. 
 
 "I'm happy, gentlemen, to find I am mistaken," 
 he continues, fumbling in his pocket as soon as he is 
 on his feet. I see you belong to the party from 
 above. To convince you that I also belong to the 
 party from above, there's a pass from General Ar- 
 nold ; I'm in his service." 
 
 As Mr. Anderson says all this in a slightly flurried 
 manner, he takes out a small piece of paper and 
 hands it to Paulding. "Look here, Ike," says Pauld- 
 ing, in a low voice, to one of the others. 
 
 7 
 
98 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 '*It ain't no good to me, I can't read it," says Ike, 
 getting a tighter grip on the bridle as he speaks. 
 Nor can his companion read, so Paulding reads 
 aloud : 
 
 "Headquarters, Robinson House, 
 
 "Sept. 22, 1780. 
 "Permit Mr. J. Anderson to pass the Gnards to the While 
 Plains or below, if He chuses. He being on Public Business 
 by my Direction. 
 
 "B. Arnold, M. Genl." 
 
 "That sounds all right," says Ike, and Mr. An- 
 derson, quick as thought, remounts his horse, while 
 Paulding gives him back his pass. Mr. Anderson is 
 just in the very act of reining his horse into the 
 road again, when Paulding suddenly says in a low 
 voice to the others, "I don't like his looks! Don't 
 let him go, Ike! Stop, sir! we ain't done with you 
 yet; you've already give two different accounts of 
 yourself. Are you got any letters or papers about 
 you?" 
 
 ''No, none," says Mr. Anderson, changing color a 
 little. 
 
 "What was that paper as you had in your hand 
 as you was a-coming along?" 
 
 "Only a sketch of my route,' 'says Mr. Anderson, 
 eagerly producing it. "I beg, gentlemen, you'll not 
 detain me longer!" 
 
 "We can't let you go till we've searched you ; you 
 said, you know, you was a British officer," returns 
 Paulding, and, in spite of Mr. Anderson's remon- 
 strances, they compel him to strip, under a great 
 whitewood tree, and discovered that he has upon 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 99 
 
 him a couple of watches — one gold and one silver, 
 seven guineas, and a little Continental money. 
 
 Mr. Anderson submits to this indignity with as 
 good grace as he can, assuring his captors the while 
 that they are incurring a great responsibility in de- 
 taining him — until he is desired to pull off his boots. 
 Then he changes color, but an unarmed man must 
 needs obey three loaded rifles, so he pulls them off. 
 "There's nothing in 'em," says one of the men, tak- 
 ing up and shaking them. 
 
 "Feel of his stockings," says Paulding. 
 
 At this Anderson becomes as white as his own 
 shirt, and mutters what sounds like, "All's gone!" 
 
 "There's papers inside his stockings," says Pauld- 
 ing's lieutenant, on his knees at Mr. Anderson's 
 feet. 
 
 "Give 'em over to me," says Paulding, handing his 
 rifle to the third man, and, looking at the backs of 
 the papers, he exclaims, "This is a spy !" 
 
 Then they examine Mr. Anderson more strictly 
 still, even untieing his queue. But there is nothing 
 else, and they make him dress himself again, he pro- 
 testing all the while that they know not what they 
 are doing and offering them any sum they like to 
 name for delivering him at King's Bridge. 
 
 "Would you give us your horse and saddle, them 
 two watches and a hundred guineas, to let you go?" 
 asks one of them, winking at Paulding. 
 
 "Yes, or any sum you like to name, or any quan- 
 tity of dry goods," says Mr. Anderson eagerly. 
 
 The three consult together, keeping, however, their 
 guns handy. 
 
100 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 They shake their heads. "I will pledge you my 
 honor, gentlemen I" cries Mr. Anderson very earnest- 
 ly. ''Sure, a thousand guineas " 
 
 "Not if you was to offer us ten thousand," says 
 Poulding. ''I'll lay my life as you're a spy, and we 
 mean to take you to our lines." 
 
 They rip open the saddle to see if there are any 
 more papers, order Mr. Anderson to mount, march 
 with him to North Castle, where they hand over to 
 him his watches, papers and money and give him 
 into the custody of Colonel Jamieson, and then they 
 depart. 
 
 The prisoner stoutly maintains his innocence and 
 begs the Colonel to send word of his capture to Gen- 
 eral Arnold, who would, he protested, instantly clear 
 him. The papers found upon him were very com- 
 promising, being full descriptions of the force and 
 stores at West Point, and also of the works them- 
 selves. They were evidently so very important that 
 Colonel Jamieson finally resolved to dispatch them 
 to the Commander-in-Chief and send Mr. Anderson 
 himself back at once under an escort to General 
 Arnold. 
 
 Mr. Anderson was overjoyed when, late in the 
 evening, another young officer made his appearance 
 and informed him that he was to come with him to 
 West Point at once. 
 
 Mr. Anderson's arms were bound behind him, a 
 soldier held the strap and the officer (whose name 
 was Solomon Allen) ordered the escort, in the pris- 
 oner's hearing, to shoot him if he tried to escape. 
 They had gone somewhere about seven miles, when 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 101 
 
 they heard horse's hoofs behind them, and an express 
 came galloping up with a letter for the officer in com- 
 mand of the party. "We are to leave the river road, 
 as the enemy may have parties about, and take you 
 back again by the other way," says the officer, when 
 he had read the letter by the light of a lantern. 
 
 '^There's no fear of a rescue, sir," says poor Mr. 
 Anderson, who sees his last chance disappearing. 
 
 But after a moments hesitation Allen says deci- 
 sively, "We must obey orders!" 
 
 And so they return to North Castle very early 
 next morning; and Allen, with a guard, starts off 
 immediately for West Point, with the letter which 
 is to inform General Arnold that Mr. John Ander- 
 son has been taken near Tarrytown, with important 
 papers concealed on his person. 
 
 Tallmadge was in command of Sheldon's advanced 
 guard, and had been reconnoitering below White 
 Plains. On his return Colonel Jamieson showed 
 him the papers, which were just going to His Ex- 
 cellency, and which were in General Arnold's own 
 handwriting; and Tallmadge took the alarm and de- 
 clared there was more here than met the eye. He 
 tried hard to prevent the letter going to General 
 Arnold, and insisted that Anderson should not see 
 Arnold; his next care was the safe custody of the 
 prisoner. North Castle was too near the enemy's 
 lines, so betimes on Sunday morning he took An- 
 derson to South Salem, Colonel Sheldon's headquar- 
 ters, and kept watch upon him himself. 
 
 The next day, towards the middle of the morning, 
 Mr. Anderson observed that there was a large yard 
 
102 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 in front of the house, and asked to be permitted to 
 stretch his legs there. Major Tallmadge disposed 
 the guard so as to prevent any attempt at escape, 
 and Mr. Anderson walked up and down for an hour 
 or so, with Tallmadge and Lieutenant King, who 
 had come over from North Castle. 
 
 As they pace the yard, Mr. Anderson tells his 
 companions that he is a New York merchant, that 
 he had come with a flag up the Hudson to see a per- 
 son on business, that the wind blew so hard the 
 Dutchmen were afraid to return with the skiff, so, 
 not caring to be detained, he had resolved to return 
 by land. 
 
 As Mr. Anderson walks, talking thus, Major Tall- 
 made watches him narrowly, falling back a little, 
 on pretense of speaking to a sentinel, to see him 
 better. 
 
 "Come here, King," he says, ''Mr. Anderson will 
 excuse you an instant." Then he whispers in King's 
 ear, "Notice his walk." 
 
 "He is no merchant," whispers Tallmade, just as 
 Mr. Anderson turns. "He has been bred to arms!" 
 
 "I've had my own suspicions, too," says King, 
 watching the elastic but measured stride of Mr. An- 
 derson. 
 
 Major Tallmadge leaves them for a while and 
 King returns to the prisoner's side, very thoughtful. 
 Suddenly Anderson exclaims: "I can bear it no 
 longer! I must make a confident of some one, and 
 you, sir, have seemed to befriend a person in dis- 
 tress. Sir, I am not what I appear to be ! I am an 
 officer of the British army, betrayed by a combina- 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 103 
 
 tion of unfortunate circumstances into the vile con- 
 dition of an enemy within your posts ; 'twas without 
 my knowledge and against my express stipulation 
 that I came there! I came in my regimentals; 
 would to God I'd never quitted them! But what 
 could I do? I go, as I believe and am assured, to 
 neutral ground; I find myself unawares within your 
 lines! I'm told I can't return the way I came, nor 
 any way, unless I will consent to change my clothes. 
 Good God ! Mr. King, consider my dilemma and ask 
 yourself what I could do in it ? 
 
 "I suppose, sir," says King very gravely, when Mr. 
 Anderson thus passionately appeals to him, "I sup- 
 pose, sir, I must not ask you your errand?" 
 
 '"Twas, I frankly confess it, one of those advan- 
 tages taken habitually in war," returns Mr. Ander- 
 son. "A person was to give me information; when 
 does a week pass that you do not yourselves receive 
 information in a private manner?" Major Tallmadge 
 becomes more thoughtful and uneasy than ever when 
 he is told this. 
 
 After dinner Mr. Anderson becomes still more 
 restless and uneasy, and at length requests Major 
 Tallmadge to procure him pen, ink and paper, as he 
 wishes to write to General Washington. 
 
 Mr. Anderson was a long while writing his letter, 
 and was dreadfully agitated in the course of it. 
 When he had finished it he read it over carefully, 
 sighing once or twice as he did so. 
 
 "You may as well read it," he says, throwing it 
 across the table to Major Tallmadge and burying his 
 face in his hands. 
 
104 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Tallmadge takes up the letter. It begins "Sir — 
 
 What I have said as yet concerning myself was in -^ 
 
 the justifiable attempt to be extricated; I am too |fl 
 
 little accustomed to duplicity to have succeeded." tR 
 
 "A most unspy-like beginning," thinks Tallmadge, i^ 
 
 glancing pityingly at Mr. Anderson's bowed head. '- 
 
 He reads a little farther, and utters a smothered 
 
 exclamation, at which Mr. Anderson's head sinks ,. 
 lower still, till it rests upon the table. The passage 
 
 which Major Tallmadge has just read runs thus: fc 
 
 "The person in your possession is Major John Andre, * 
 Adjutant-General to the British Army." 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 105 
 
 Chap. XIV. HIS EXCELLENCY IS EXPECT- 
 ED TO BREAKFAST. 
 
 After the General had ridden off to Haverstraw, 
 on Thursday afternoon, Mrs. Arnold invited some 
 friends into her own sitting-room, where she was 
 rocking the cradle. Peggy, as a young mother, was 
 more charming than ever. She could not talk enough 
 of Philadelphia, from which she had hardly ever 
 been away before. She doubted, she said, that she 
 would find West Point very dull after Philadelphia, 
 though, to be sure, she would have been miserable 
 there without the General. 
 
 The next morning, before the sun had dried the 
 heavy autumn dews, His Excellency's servants ar- 
 rived with his baggage and announced that he would 
 be at West Point by breakfast time. 
 
 His Excellency would have been there the day 
 before and had actually left Fishkill, when he met 
 Chevalier de la Luzerne, the new French minister, 
 on his way to visit Kochambeau, and was prevailed 
 upon to turn back and pass the night at Fishkill 
 with the Chevalier, who did not know that he was 
 by this delay contriving for His Excellency to reach 
 West Point in the very nick of time. 
 
 Long before his baggage had arrived, His Excel- 
 lency was in the saddle, with General Knox, the 
 Marquess and their suites. "General, you are going 
 in a wrong direction," says the Marquess, to whom 
 His Excellency allows the familiarity of a son ; "you 
 
106 Patriotism in Washington's Time, 
 
 know that. Mrs. Arnold waits breakfast for us — that 
 road takes us out of our way." 
 
 "Ah, I know you young men are all in love with 
 Mrs. Arnold," returns His Excellency, good humor- 
 edly. "But I must examine the redoubt this side 
 the river, now we're here." His Excellency, how- 
 ever, desires Dr. McHenry and Major Shaw to ride 
 to the house and beg Mrs. Arnold not to wait for 
 him ; he will be there in an hour. 
 
 On His Excellency's aides delivering this message, 
 every one sat down to breakfast, which was laid in 
 that long, low room with the two windows. General 
 Arnold seemed rather absent, while Dr. McHenry 
 was telling him about the Chevalier. His aides, at 
 the farther end of the table, observed to each other 
 in a low voice that he was always put out when the 
 French were being talked of. 
 
 It was about ten o'clock and breakfast was half 
 over, when a message was brought in that Lieuten- 
 ant Allen was come with a letter from Colonel 
 Jamieson. 
 
 "Show him in," says the General, and Allen comes 
 in and presents the letter, explaining that he would 
 have been here before, but his guard being on foot, 
 he could not ride fast. 
 
 "Sit down, sir," says Arnold, slightly introducing 
 the Lieutenant to Mrs. Arnold and the company. 
 Then he opens the letter, and at the first glance 
 rises hastily from his chair, saying that he is wanted 
 at West Point immediately. 
 
 "Tell General Washington I'm called over the 
 river and will soon return," he says to McHenry as 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. lOt 
 
 he goes out, and they hear him ordering his horse 
 to be saddled instantly. 
 
 As Mrs. Arnold was present, of course no remark 
 could be made, and a somewhat awkward silence fell 
 on the party, Peggy herself being rather uneasy as 
 to what it could be which took her husband away 
 when His Excellency was expected every moment. 
 
 In a moment or two a message came that the Gen- 
 eral desired to see Mrs. Arnold for a moment — up- 
 stairs. 
 
 As soon as Peggy is gone, tongues begin to wag. 
 There is nothing, of course, in the General's going 
 over to West Point, especially as he has not been 
 there for some days, but his going without waiting 
 to see His Excellency is certainly rather odd. Lieu- 
 tenant Allen thinks there can be no harm in saying 
 that all he knows is, that a person suspected to be a 
 spy was taken on Saturday near Tarrytown; 'tis 
 just possible there may be something wrong at West 
 Point, and the General may have thought it better 
 not to lose even an hour. 
 
 Just as Allen was offering this vague explanation 
 of the bombshell he seemed to have brought with 
 him, they heard a shriek, then a bell ringing vio- 
 lently, then the General's voice exclaiming in an 
 agitated tone that Mrs. Arnold was taken ill; some 
 one must attend to her directly, and a minute or 
 two after, they heard him gallop away. 
 
 Elijah Blake. 
 
 The soldier states that he enlisted at Keene, New 
 Hampshire, in May, 1780; Captain Houghton, Colo- 
 
108 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 nel Nichols; that he knew General Arnold; that he 
 stood sentry at his door when the said Arnold came 
 out and, not seeing his waiter, the General said to 
 him: 
 
 ''Sentry, lay down your gun and saddle my horse 
 quick;'' that he did so as soon as it could be done, 
 and immediately General Arnold mounted him and 
 said with a loud voice: "General Washington is to 
 be here, sun an hour high;" then said: ''My leg 
 pains me very much;" then he rode across the flat to 
 the river, and forever after abandoned our Cause 
 and joined the Enemy." 
 
 As Major Tallmadge conducts his prisoner from 
 South Salem to West Point, he asks Major Andr6 
 whether he was to have taken an active part in the 
 assault on West Point. 
 
 At the question Andre's eyes light up and his 
 cheeks glow. He forgets that he is a prisoner going 
 to be tried for his life; he forgets that he is talking 
 to his enemy, as he points Tallmadge to a table of 
 land on the west shore. 
 
 "I was to have landed there with a select corps," 
 he says, "and then climb yonder height behind Fort 
 Putnam; it overlooks your parade at West Point. 
 We must have succeeded;, and the key of the country 
 would have been in our hands !" 
 
 As he speaks he seems as though he were entering 
 the fort sword in hand ; Tallmadge takes fire himself 
 and almost forgets what he is listening to. They 
 have agreed on what they call "a cartel;" they may 
 ask each other any question they choose, so long as 
 they do not bring in a third person's name. Here 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 109 
 
 Andre is firm ; he will not even say anything about 
 General Arnold. 
 
 "And what reward was you to have had?" asked 
 Tallmadge, when he is again cool enough to reflect 
 that the exploit which he has been hearing described 
 is the storming of West Point by the British. 
 
 ^The glory, and to serve my king, would have sat- 
 isfied me," says Andre. "But Sir Henry hinted that 
 if we succeeded (and we could not have failed), I 
 was to be made a Brigadier." 
 
 "You could not have failed, indeed," says Tall- 
 madge, as he thinks on what a precipice they have 
 been standing. "You know the ground a vast deal 
 better than I do myself." 
 
 So the barge slides down between the solemn de- 
 files of the Highlands. Though they should fall, 
 they could not cover Arnold's shame. 
 
 As they ride, the prisoner asks Tallmadge a ques- 
 tion which has been hovering on his lips all day and 
 intruding into all his protestations, that he cannot 
 be considered a spy. 
 
 "What do you suppose will be my fate?" he asks, 
 trying hard to speak nnconcernedly. 
 
 Tallmadge does not reply. Andre looks at him, 
 but he has turned his face away. 
 
 "WTiat will they do with me, do you think? he 
 says again, his voice a little changed, strive as he 
 will to keep it indifferent. 
 
 "I had a dear friend, he was my classmate at 
 Yale," says Tallmadge, his o\\ti voice much more 
 constrained and unsteady than the prisoner's. "He 
 went in disguise into your lines at New York to get 
 
110 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 us information, just after our defeat on Long Island. 
 His name was Natlian Hale."' "He was hanged," 
 says Andre in a strange, dull tone, as Tallmadge 
 pauses. ''But he was a spy " 
 
 The Trial. 
 
 The board which was to try Major Andre was as- 
 sembled in the old Dutch Church, a substantial 
 structure standing on a knoll by the side of the post 
 road, and shadowed by a clump of trees. Hither, 
 where the Dutch farmers and their wives and chil- 
 dren used to come up every Sunday in sturdy pro- 
 cession to sit in their high-crowned hats and listen 
 to a sound discourse on sovereign grace, John Andr6 
 was brought on Friday morning to be tried as a spy. 
 
 A great crowd had collected around the church, 
 which was also surrounded by a strong guard. Gen- 
 eral Washington was returned to his old headquar- 
 ters at De Windt's house, near Sneeden's Landing. 
 He had not seen the prisoner and, it was said, did 
 not intend to do so. General Greene wa>s the presi- 
 dent of the board; with him sat Lord Stirling, La 
 Fayette and Steuben, Knox and St. Clair, John 
 Starke, of Bennington, and that rebel namesake of 
 Sir Henry Clinton's. 
 
 There were no witnesses; not even Joshua Smith 
 was called. What need was there? The letter which 
 Major Andr6 wrote at Salem on Sunday afternoon 
 was enough. His only defense was, that he had 
 come unintentionally within the lines, and that he 
 ought to be held to be protected by General Arnold's 
 pass. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. Ill 
 
 Chap. XV. A SOLDIER'S DEATH. 
 
 The messenger who carried General Washington's 
 dispatch to Congress rode so hard that he reached 
 Philadelphia the same night. By Wednesday every 
 one had heard the news. 
 
 During the next few days nothing was talked of 
 in Philadelphia but the treason of General Arnold 
 and the fate of Major Andr6. 
 
 But a public demonstration was not wanting. On 
 Saturday night, just after dark, a procession passed 
 along High street to Market Hill, escorting a dismal 
 pageant. The eflSgy of the traitor was sitting in a 
 cart, holding a mask in one hand and in the other 
 a letter signed — in letters big enough for every one 
 to read — Beelzebub; Arnold was represented with 
 two faces, and behind him stood the devil, pitchfork 
 in hand, and shaking a purse in his ear. 
 
 Five o'clock on Sunday afternoon had been fixed 
 for the execution, and a vast concourse assembled 
 at that hour on a hill but a little way out of Tap- 
 pan, whereon the night before the gibbet had been 
 set up. But the conference at Dobbs' Ferry was so 
 long that the execution was deferred till tomorrow. 
 General Washington was waiting to see whether 
 Benedict Arnold would come to redeem the prisoner. 
 
 A little before noon next day Major Andr6 set out 
 on his last journey. All the general officers then in 
 camp, except His Excellency and his staff, followed 
 General Greene, who led the way. Then came a 
 guard of five hundred men, and in the midst of 
 
112 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 them a wagon with a coflSn in it. Just behind the 
 wagon walked the prisoner. He leaned on the arms 
 of the two captains especially appointed to guard 
 him; but his step was as light as though he had been 
 going on parade, and it was noticed that he kept 
 time to the band, which played a lively tune. He 
 was dressed in full uniform, except that, of course, 
 he wore no sword or sash or gorget. In his bright 
 scarlet coat, faced with green, his buff waistcoat 
 and small clothes, with his hair carefully dressed in 
 a long queue, he appeared the least mournful figure 
 there. 
 
 All the way was lined with people, who saw him 
 pass with grave and pitying faces. One little girl, 
 suddenly stepping out of the crowd, thrust a bag of 
 fresh-gathered peaches into his hand. He smiled 
 and thanked her, and carried them a little way ; but 
 he was come to that hour when the grasshopper is a 
 burden, and he was presently glad to give them to 
 some one near him. 
 
 He had received no reply to his letter. General 
 Washington had, it was said in camp, been disposed 
 to yield; but Greene had insisted that if Major 
 Andr6 was not a spy, he had incurred no penalty 
 whatever. If they did not hang him, they ought to 
 let him go ; there could be nothing between. And so, 
 as his request could not be granted. His Excellency 
 had thought it both more proper and more merciful 
 not to reply at all. 
 
 Andr6 talked as he went, and betrayed no sign of 
 discomposure, until at the foot of the ascent which 
 led up to the appointed place, he came in sight of 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 113 
 
 the gallows. As he saw this symbol of ignominy 
 rising up high into the clear blue air, his counte- 
 nance fell. 
 
 "Gentlemen, I am disappointed !" he said. "I ex- 
 pected my request would have been granted !" 
 
 Meanwhile the wagon had been driven under the 
 gallows. Andre, halting a few yards from it, once 
 more looked around, perhaps he too had dreamed of 
 that horseman coming to die in his stead ! Then, as 
 the guard fell in and the hangman stood ready, he 
 bowed his head a little and looked down at himself, 
 rolling over a stone the while with his foot, biting 
 his lips and shaking his head as though he were 
 thinking, "This surely is not the fruit that grows 
 on gallows trees." 
 
 He was rather pale, except for a small flush which 
 came and went on his left cheek. For a moment or 
 two he seemed to struggle with a choking in his 
 throat, but he betrayed no confusion, and when, all 
 being ready, the commanding oflScer desired him to 
 mount the wagon, he shook hands with Tallmadge 
 and the rest, who were all in tears, and, going to the 
 back of the wagon, laid his hands on the side and 
 made as though he would spring up into it. But 
 the shadow of the gibbet lay on it, and he faltered 
 and did not take the leap, but climbed up and stood 
 there beside his coffin, while all the people held their 
 breath. There was silence so deep that, if that horse- 
 man had been on his way, they could have heard 
 him coming. 
 
 While Andre stood thus the commanding officer 
 (it was Colonel Scammell, the Deputy Adjutant-Gen- 
 eral) read the order of execution. 
 
 8 
 
114 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Major Andr^ had stepped upon the coffin and paced 
 it out once — then, standing still, his hands resting 
 on his hips, he let his eves roam over the wide land- 
 scape and the wider blue sky, looking high above 
 that grim bridge of the gallows which spanned it — 
 and the vast silent multitude come there to see him 
 die. 
 
 So he stood, while Colonel Scammell, the sun 
 flashing on his drawn sword as he sat on his horse 
 close beside the wagon, read from the paper in his 
 hand. 
 
 "Major Andr6," says Scammell, when the reading 
 is over, "if you have anything to say, you can speak 
 now, for you have but a short time to live." 
 
 Major Andre uncovers and bows as he replies : "I 
 have nothing more to say, gentlemen, but this — you 
 all bear me witness that I meet my fate as a brave 
 man." 
 
 Then he gives his hat to his weeping servant and 
 takes the halter from the hangman — who has let his 
 beard grow and blackened his face to disguise his 
 identity — and puts it over his head, first unpinning 
 his stock and shirt collar. He draws the knot close 
 under his ear, and has already blindfolded his own 
 eyes with a white handkerchief, which he took from, 
 the pocket of his coat, when Scammell says aloud 
 that his arms must be bound. On this. Major Andr6 
 takes off the handkerchief while he finds another, 
 not losing his calmness even at this cruel moment, 
 and then replacing it, has this time seen his last of 
 earthly sights. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 115 
 
 The hangman bound his arms behind him, the 
 only office he had been permitted to perform, and, 
 getting off the wagon, went to his horse's head. 
 
 There was an awful silence, and then Scammell let 
 his sword fall, the signal agreed upon, and the 
 wagon was driven off so suddenly that there was no 
 struggle. 
 
 After the first tremendous swing, the quivering 
 rope slowly grew still. Long after that the multi- 
 tude stood in death-like silence, not one of all that 
 vast assembly stirred or spoke (or so at least it 
 seemed) for full half an hour. At the end of that 
 time, with every precaution of decency and respect, 
 the body was cut down and laid in the coffin. 
 
116 Patriotism ix Washington's Time. 
 
 Chap. XVI. MAJOR ANDRE WAS EXECUTED 
 
 AS A SPY AT TAPPAN, NEW YORK, 
 
 OCTOBER 2, 1780. 
 
 No investigation revealed any more than was al- 
 ready known of Arnold's plot. All the officers con- 
 nected with his command were fully acquitted of any 
 knowledge of his designs. An impenetrable mystery 
 still surrounds his treason. We do not know when 
 or by what means he made his first overtures to Sir 
 Henry Clinton. Andr6, so frank and unreserved 
 otherwise, on these points maintained an inviolate 
 silence. In a note in his own hand, made on his 
 copy of Stedman's History, Sir Henry merely says 
 that he had been ''about eighteen months"' in corre- 
 spondence with Arnold. Allowing for the vagueness 
 of this statement, we may probably conclude that 
 Arnold's treason dated from the attack made upon 
 him by the Executive Council of Pennsylvania and 
 the final refusal of Congress to pass his accounts. 
 But all the actors in this dark story seem to have 
 agreed to tell as little as possible. Even conjecture 
 is very meagre on the subject, and can only show 
 us as the possible go-between, a certain lieutenant of 
 the British Army who was in Philadelphia during 
 part of the year 1779 and who had been suspected 
 of being a spy. 
 
 The most searching inquiries failed, likewise, to 
 establish the guilt of Joshua Smith, who persisted 
 in his first assertion, that he had acted in good 
 faith, believing that General Arnold's mysterious 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 117 
 
 visitor brought him information from the enemy. 
 But, though Smith saved his neck, very few of his 
 countrymen believed he was as innocent as he pro- 
 fessed to be. 
 
 OCTOBER 2. — Samuel Adams, Signer of the Declaration 
 OF Independence, Died, 1803. 
 
 Major Andre, British Spy, Hanged at Tappan, N. J., 1780. 
 
 Near the Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey, London, 
 surmounted by an imposing monument of marble to mark 
 approval of his career, the remains of Major Andre, the part- 
 ner in treason of the traitor, Benedict Arnold, were laid with 
 solemn national ceremony, having been transferred from 
 America to England for the purpose forty years after the 
 spy had suffered the penalty of his crime. 
 
 Andr6 was born in London in 1751. He joined the army 
 in early manhood and saw considerable service during the 
 American Revolutionary War, having been an aide-de-camp 
 to the British Commander, Sir Henry Clinton, through whom 
 he was promoted to the rank of Adjutant-General of the 
 British Army. It was in this capacity he entered into the 
 secret corespondence with the infamous traitor, with a view 
 to accomplish, by treason and British gold, what they had 
 been unable to do by fair combat on the field of battle. 
 
 Through the purchase of Arnold the British expected to 
 seize the American fortress and headquarters at West Point 
 and capture Washington and the French generals who were 
 there as guests of the traitor It seeuied, indeed, a provi- 
 dential interposition that the spy and British agent who was 
 carrying the proofs of the treason and the plans for capture 
 should have been intercepted by the three humble patriots — 
 Paulding, Williams and Van Wart — at Tarrytown. The 
 proud, ambitious and guilty Arnold was susceptible to the 
 bribe of Ande, but the sturdy workmen spurned the offer 
 with indignation and delivered him to the nearest military 
 station, after finding the proofs of his guilt upon him. 
 
118 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Every effort was made by Sir Henry Clinton to save Major 
 Andre. Diplomacy and threats were alike unavailing, though 
 every facility was given by Washington for a fair and open 
 trial by the proper military tribunal, and the British spy 
 was found guilty aud hanged at Tappan, N. J., October 2, 
 1780. 
 
 The fate of Major Andr6 made a profound sensa- 
 tion in England, though as little as possible was said 
 about it publicly. The King made such poor amends 
 as he could; he conferred a baronetcy on Andre's 
 brother and erected a monument to him in West- 
 minster Abbey, with an inscription in which the na- 
 ture of the service in which Andr6 perished, and the 
 fate which befell him, are alike concealed beneath 
 a decent veil of words. It was many a long year be- 
 fore the question of whether or no he came under 
 the description of a spy could be approached with 
 even the appearance of calmness, and many more 
 before his death ceased to be called "the only blot on 
 Washington's fame." His enemies had wept for 
 him; his friends might be excused if they found 
 it hard to be just. Many of us have stood before 
 his monument in the Abbey. As one stands there 
 and thinks of Andre's story, those great words, 
 Duty, Glory and Honor, take a more solemn mean- 
 ing, and treachery and infidelity are seen in all their 
 hideous nakedness. It is said that Benedict Arnold 
 was once seen standing there. ♦ * * 
 
 John Andr6 died on the gallows — the most honor- 
 able man who ever went on a dishonorable errand — 
 and Benedict Arnold, escaping Sergeant Champe 
 and the Marquess La Fayette, lived to waste Vir- 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 119 
 
 ginia and burn New London. We may be sure the 
 devil never showed him tJmt picture in his magic 
 lantern ! 
 
 We have forgotten him. But on the books of the 
 Bank of England there is an entry in which the 
 name of Benedict Arnold is set down over against 
 part of the price for which he sold his soul ; it will 
 help witness against him, when all the books are 
 opened, and every secret thing is brought to remem- 
 brance. 
 
 The eight years' struggle came to an end at last 
 and the United Provinces of North America took 
 their place among the nations. 
 
 On the famous 4th of December, when General 
 Washington took that brotherly farewell of his offi- 
 cers at Frances' Tavern, there were among the crowd 
 of war-worn veterans who followed their general 
 along Broadway down to Whitehall Ferry, and stood 
 watching him, when they could not see him for their 
 tears, as he waved his last farewells, until the point 
 of the Battery shut him out from their sight. 
 
120 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Chap. XVII. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 1. Origin of the Constitution : When the Revo- 
 lutionary struggle commenced there were three 
 forms of colonial government in force among the 
 colonies, namely: the provincial or royal, the pro- 
 prietary, and the charter. The provisional or royal 
 government was under the control of a governor, 
 who, appointed by the king, administered afifairs ac- 
 cording to instructions from his royal master. The 
 colonies of this class were New Hampshire, New 
 York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
 Carolina and Georgia. 
 
 2. The proprietary government was under the 
 control of one or more proprietors, who derived 
 their authority by grant and privileges conferred by 
 the king. Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland 
 were subject to the proprietary rule. The charter 
 government secured certain political rights to the 
 people by royal charter. Of this class were Massa- 
 chusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. 
 
 3. On, the 11th of June, 177G, Congress resolved 
 that a committee should be appointed to prepare a 
 form of confederation to be entered into by the 
 colonies. On the 12th of July following this com- 
 mittee, consisting of one from each State, reported 
 a draft of Articles of Confederation. The report 
 was considered and debated from time to time until 
 the 15th of November, 1777, when, with some 
 amendments, it was adopted. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time, 121 
 
 4. These Articles of Confederation were ratified 
 in 1778 by all the States except Delaware and Mary- 
 land, and by Delaware in 1779; but in consequence 
 of the delay on the part of Maryalnd they did not go 
 into efifect until the 1st of March, 1781, the day on 
 which they were signed by the delegates from that 
 State. 
 
 5. It was soon found that the Articles of Con- 
 federation were not adequate to the wants of the 
 government. They were deficient as regards the 
 regulation of commerce, the settling of controversies 
 between the States, the making of treaties with 
 foreign nations, and especially so in not conferring 
 the necessary power upon Congress to liquidate the 
 debts incurred during the war. 
 
 6. Consequently, a convention of delegates from 
 all the States, except Khode Island, met at Philadel- 
 phia in May, 1787, for the purpose of revising the 
 Articles of Confederation, but it was thought best 
 by a majority of the delegates to adopt an entirely 
 new form of government, instead of making any at- 
 tempts to amend the defective one then in existence. 
 Accordingly, on the 17th of September, 1787, after 
 four months' deliberation, the present Constitution, 
 except some changes which were made in after years, 
 was adopted by the Convention. 
 
 7. The new Constitution was submitted to the 
 people, who, in the newspapers, legislative halls and 
 elsewhere discussed it with earnestness and thor- 
 oughness ; the ratification of nine States being requi- 
 site before it could go into efifect. It met with con- 
 siderable opposition; but after it had been adopted 
 
122 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 by all the States, except North Carolina and Rhode 
 Island, it went into operation March 4th, 1789. 
 
 The Constitution was adopted as follows: 
 
 By Delaware, on the 7th of December 1787 
 
 Pennsylvania, on the 12th of December 1787 
 
 New Jersey, on the 18th of December 1787 
 
 Georgia, on the 2nd of January 1788 
 
 Connecticut, on the 9th of January 1788 
 
 Massachusetts on the 6th of February 1788 
 
 Maryland, on the 28th of April 1788 
 
 South Carolina, on the 2.3rd of May 1788 
 
 New Hampshire, on the 21st of June 1788 
 
 Virginia, on the 26th of June 1788 
 
 New York, on the 26th of July 1788 
 
 North Carolina, on the 21st of November . . 1789 
 Rhode Island, on the 29th of May 1790 
 
 The Constitution. 
 PREAMBLE. 
 
 We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more 
 perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquil- 
 lity, provide for the common defense, promote the gen- 
 eral welfare and secure the blesings of liberty to our- 
 selves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this 
 Constitution for the United States of America. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 THT LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Section I. 
 
 All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a 
 
 Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate 
 
 and House of Representatives. 
 
 Section II. 
 1st Clause. The House of Representatives shall be com- 
 posed of members chosen every second year by the people of 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 123 
 
 the several States, and the electors in each State shall have 
 the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous 
 branch of the State legislature. 
 
 2nd Clause. No person shall be a representative who shall 
 not have attained to the age of twenty-five years and been 
 seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall 
 not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which 
 he shall be chosen. 
 
 3rd Clause. Representatives and direct taxes shall be ap- 
 portioned among the several States which may be included 
 within this Union, according to their respective numbers, 
 which shall be determined by adding to the whole number 
 of free persons, including those bound to service for a term 
 of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all 
 other persons.* The actual enumeration shall be made with- 
 in three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the 
 United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, 
 in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of 
 representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thou- 
 sand, but each State shall have at least one representative; 
 and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New 
 Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts 
 eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connec- 
 ticut five. New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania 
 eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten. North Caro- 
 lina five. South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 
 
 4th Clause. When vacancies happen in the representation 
 from any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue 
 writs of election to fill such vacancies. 
 
 5th Class. The House of Representatives shall choose their 
 speaker and other oflicers, and shall have the sole power of 
 impeachment. 
 
 Section III. 
 
 1st Clause. The Senate of the United States shall be com- 
 posed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legisla- 
 
 * See Article XIV of the Amendments. 
 
124 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 ture thereof, for six years, and each Senator shall have one 
 vote. 
 
 2ud Clause. Immediately after they shall be assembled iu 
 consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as 
 equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Sena- 
 tors of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the 
 second year; of the second class at the expiration of the 
 fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the 
 sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second 
 year; and if vacancies happen by resignation or otherwise 
 during the recess of the Legislature of any State, the Execu- 
 tive thereof may make tmpoi-ary appointments until the next 
 meeting of the Legislature, whch shall then fill such vacan- 
 cies. 
 
 3rd Clause. No person shall be a Senator who shall not 
 have attained to the age of thirty years and been nine years 
 a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elect- 
 ed, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall be 
 chosen. 
 
 4th Clause. The Vice-President of the United States shall 
 be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they 
 be equally divided. 
 
 5th Clause. The Senate shall choose their other officers, 
 and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the 
 Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office of Presi- 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 6th Clause. The Senate shall have the sole power to 
 try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they 
 shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the 
 United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside and 
 no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of 
 two-thirds of the members present. 
 
 7th Clause. Judgment in case of impeachment shall not 
 extend further than to removal from office, and disqualifi- 
 cation to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit 
 under the United States, but the party convicted shall 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 125 
 
 nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judg- 
 ment, and punishment, according to law. 
 
 Section IV. 
 
 1st Clause. The times, places, and manner of holding 
 elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be pre- 
 scribed in each State by the Legislature hereof; but the 
 Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regu- 
 lations, except as to the places of choosing Senators. 
 
 2nd Clause. The Congres shall assemble at least once in 
 every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday 
 in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different 
 day. 
 
 Section V. 
 
 1st Clause. Each house shall be the judge of the elec- 
 tions, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a 
 majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; 
 but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and 
 may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent mem- 
 bers in such manner and under such penalties as each house 
 may provide. 
 
 2nd Clause. Each house may determine the rules of its 
 proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, 
 and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. 
 
 3rd Clause. Each house shall keep a journal of its pro- 
 ceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting 
 such parts as may, in their judgment, require secrecy ; and 
 yeas and nays of the members of either house on any ques- 
 tion shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be en- 
 tered on the journal. 
 
 4th Clause. Neither house, during the session of Congress, 
 shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more 
 than three days, nor to any other place than that in which 
 the two houses shall be sitting. 
 
 Section VI. 
 1st Clause. The Senators and Representatives shall re- 
 ceive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by 
 
126 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. 
 They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach 
 of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attend- 
 ance at the session of their respective houses, and in going 
 to and returning from the same; and for any speech or 
 debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any 
 other place. 
 
 2nd Clause. No Senator or Representative shall, during 
 the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil 
 office under the authority of the United States which shall 
 have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have 
 been increased during such time ; and no person holding any 
 office under the United States shall be a member of either 
 house during his continuance in office. 
 
 Section VII. 
 
 1st Clause. All bills for raising revenue shall originate 
 in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may pro- 
 pose to concur with amendments as on other bills. 
 
 2nd Clause. Every bill which shall have passed the 
 House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it 
 become a law, be presented to the President of the United 
 States ; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall re- 
 turn it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall 
 have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on 
 their journal and proceed to reconsider it. If after such 
 reconsideration two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass 
 the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to 
 the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, 
 and, if approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall be- 
 come a law. 
 
 But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be 
 determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons 
 voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the jour- 
 nal of each house, respectively. If any bill shall not be re- 
 turned by the President within ten days (Sunday excepted) 
 after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be 
 a law in like maner as if he had signed It, unless the Con- 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 127 
 
 gress, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which 
 case it shall not be a law. 
 
 3rd Clause. Every order, resolution or vote to which the 
 concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives 
 may be necessary (except in a question of adjournment) 
 shall be presented to the President of the United States; 
 and before the same shall take effect shall be approved by 
 him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by 
 two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, ac- 
 cording to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case 
 of a bill. 
 
 Section "VIII. 
 The Congress shall have power : 
 
 1st Clause. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and 
 excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense 
 and general welfare of the United States ; but all duties, 
 imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United 
 States. 
 
 2nd Clause. To borrow money on the credit of the United 
 States. 
 
 3rd Clause. To regulate commerce with foreign nations 
 and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes. 
 
 3rd Clause. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization 
 and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout 
 the United States. 
 
 5th Clause. To coin money, regulate the value thereof 
 and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and 
 measures. 
 
 6th Clause. To provide for the punishment of counter- 
 feiting the securities and current coin of the United States. 
 
 7th Clause. To establish postofflces and postroads. 
 
 8th Clause. To promote the progress of science and use- 
 ful arts by securing for limited times to authors and in- 
 ventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and 
 discoveries. 
 
128 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 9th Clause. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Su- 
 preme Court. 
 
 10th Clause. To define and punish piracies and felonies 
 committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law 
 of nations. 
 
 11th Clause. To declare war, grant letters of marque and 
 reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and 
 water. 
 
 12th Clause. To raise and support armies ; but no ap- 
 propriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term 
 than two years. 
 
 13th Clause. To provide and maintain a navy. 
 
 14th Clause. To make rules for the government and regu- 
 lation of the land and naval forces. 
 
 15th Clause. To provide for calling forth the militia to 
 execute the laws of the Union and suppress insurrections 
 and repel invasions. 
 
 16th Clause. To provide for organizing, arming and dis- 
 ciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them 
 as may be employed in the service of the United States, re- 
 serving to the States, respectively, the appointment of the 
 officers and the authority of training the militia according 
 to the discipline prescribed by Congress. 
 
 17th Clause. To exercise exclusive legislation in all 
 cases whatsoever over such district (not exceeding ten 
 miles square) as may, by cession of particular States and 
 the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government 
 of the United States ; and to exercise like authority over all 
 places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the 
 State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, 
 magazines, arsenals, dockyards and other needful buildings. 
 
 ISth Clause. To make all laws which shall be necessary 
 and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing pow- 
 ers and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the 
 government of the United States, or in any department or 
 officer thereof. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 129 
 
 Section IX. 
 
 1st Clause. The migration or importation of such per- 
 sons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to 
 admit shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the 
 year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax to 
 duty may be imposed on such importation not exceeding ten 
 dollars for each person. 
 
 2nd Clause. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus 
 shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or 
 invasion the public safety may require it. 
 
 3rd Clause. No bill of attainder or ex post facto Taw 
 shall be passed. 
 
 4th Clause. No capitation or other direct tax shall be 
 laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein 
 before directed to be taken. 
 
 5th Clause. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles ex- 
 ported from any State. 
 
 6th Clause. No preference shall be given by any regula- 
 tion of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over 
 those of another ; nor shaU vessels bound to or from one 
 State be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another. 
 
 7th Clause. No money shall be drawn from the treasury 
 but in consequence of appropriations made by law, and a 
 regular statement and account of the receipts and expendi- 
 tures of all public money shall be published from time to 
 time. 
 
 8th Clause. No title of nobility shall be granted by the 
 United States, and no person holding any office of profit or 
 trust under them shall, without the consent of the Con- 
 gress, accept of any present, emolument, office or title of any 
 kind whatever from any king, prince or foreign state. 
 
 Section X. 
 
 1st Clause. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance 
 or confederation, grant letters of marque and reprisal, coin 
 money, emit bills of credit, make any thing but gold and 
 silver coin a tender in payment of debts, pass any bill of 
 
130 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 attainder, ex post facto law or law impairing the obligation 
 of contracts, or grant anj' title of nobility. 
 
 2nd Clause. No State shall, without the consent of the 
 Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of 
 war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact 
 with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in 
 war, unless actually invaded or in such imminent dnager as 
 will not admit of delay. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 1st Clause. The executive power shall be vested in a 
 President of the United States of America. He shall hold 
 his office during the term of four years, and, together with 
 the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be elected as 
 follows : 
 
 2ud Clause. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as 
 the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors 
 equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives 
 to which the State may be entitled in the Congress ; but no 
 Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of 
 trust or profit under the United States shall be appointed 
 an elector. 
 
 The Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution. 
 1st Clause. The electors shall' meet in their respective 
 States and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, 
 one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the 
 same State with themselves; they shall name in their bal- 
 lots the person voted for as President, and in distinct bal- 
 lots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall 
 make distinct lists of all persons voted for as Vice-President 
 and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall 
 sign and certify and transmit sealed to the seat of the gov- 
 ernment of the United States, directed to the President of 
 the Senate; the President of the Senate shall, in presence of 
 the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the cer- 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 131 
 
 tiflcates and the votes shall then be counted ; the person 
 having the greatest number of votes for President shall be 
 the President, if such number be a majority of the whole 
 number of electors appointed ; and if no person have such 
 majority, then from the persons having the highest num- 
 bers, not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as 
 President, the House of Representatives shall choose imme- 
 diately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the Presi- 
 dent, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation 
 from each State having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose 
 shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of 
 the St^ates, and a majority of all the State shall be necessary 
 to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not 
 choose a President whenever the right of choice shall de- 
 volve upon them, before the fourth day of March next fol- 
 lowing, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in 
 the case of the death or other constitutional disability of 
 the President. 
 
 2nd Clause. The persons having the greatest number of 
 votes as Vice-President shall be the Vice-President, if such 
 number be a majority of the whole number of electors ap' 
 pointed ; and if no person have a majority, then from the 
 two highest numbers on the list the Senate shall choose the 
 Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of 
 two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority 
 of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. 
 
 3rd Clause. But no person constitutionally ineligible to 
 the ofBce of President shall be eligible to that of Vice- 
 President of the United States. 
 
 4th Clause. The Congress may determine the time of 
 choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give 
 their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the 
 United States. 
 
 5th Clause. No person except a natural-born citizen, or a 
 citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption 
 of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of Presi- 
 dent; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who 
 
132 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 shall not have attained to the age of thirty-flve years and 
 been fourteen years a resident within the United States. 
 
 6th Clause. In case of the remvoal of the President from 
 oflBce or of his death, resignation or inability to discharge 
 the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall de- 
 volve on the Vice-President, and the Congress may by law 
 provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or in- 
 ability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring 
 what officer shall then act as President, and such officer 
 shall act accordingly until the disability be removed or a 
 President shall be elected. 
 
 7th Clause. The President shall, at stated times, re- 
 ceive for his services a compensation which shall neither be 
 increased nor diminished during the period for which he 
 shall have been electetl, and he shall not receive within that 
 period any other emolument from the United States, or any 
 of them. 
 
 8th Clause. Before he enter ou the execution of his 
 office he shall take the following oath or affirmation : 
 
 "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faith- 
 fully execute the office of President of the United 
 States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, 
 protect and defend the Constitution of the United 
 States." 
 
 Section II. 
 1st Clause. The President shall be commander-in-chief 
 of the army and navy of the United States, and of the 
 militia of the several States, when called into the actual 
 service of the United States; he may require the opinion, 
 in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive 
 departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their 
 re-spective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves 
 and pardons for offenses against the United States, except 
 in cases of impeachment. 
 
 2nd Clause. He shall have power by and with the ad- 
 vice and consent of the Senate to make treaties, provided 
 two-thirds of the Senators present concur ; and he shall 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 133 
 
 nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the 
 Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers 
 and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court and all other 
 officers of the United States whose appointments are not 
 herein otherwise provided for and which shall be established 
 by law ; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment 
 of such inferior officers as they think proper in the Presi- 
 dent alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of depart- 
 ments. 
 
 3rd Clause. The President shall have power to fill up 
 all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the 
 Senate by granting commissions, which shall expire at the 
 end of their next session. 
 
 Section III. 
 
 He shall from time to time give the Congress informa- 
 tion of the State of the Union and recommend to their con- 
 sideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and 
 expedient ; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene 
 both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement 
 between them with respect to the time of adjournment, he 
 may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper ; 
 he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers ; he 
 shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed and 
 shall commission all the officers of the United States. 
 
 Section IV. 
 The President, Vice-President and all civil officers of the 
 United States shall be removed from office on impeachment 
 for and conviction for treason, bribery or other high crimes 
 and misdemeanors. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Section I. 
 
 The judicial power of the United States shall be vested 
 in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as the 
 Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The 
 judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold 
 
134 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 their offices during good behavior, and shall at stated times 
 receive for their services a compensation, which shall not 
 be diminished during their continuance In office. 
 
 Section II. 
 
 1st Clause. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, 
 in law tind equitj', arising under this Constitution, t"he laws 
 of the United States and treaties made, or which shall be 
 made, under their authority ; to all cases of admiralty and 
 maritime jurisdiction ; to controversies to which the United 
 States shall be a party ; to controversies between two or 
 more States ; between a State and citizens of another State ; 
 between citizens of different States ; between citizens of the 
 same State claiming lauds under grants of different States, 
 and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign 
 states, citizens or subjects. 
 
 2nd Clause. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other 
 public ministers and consuls, and those in which a State 
 shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original 
 jurisdiction. In all the other cases befoi-e mentioned the 
 Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to 
 law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regula- 
 tions as the Congress shall make. 
 
 3rd Clause. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of 
 impeachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be held 
 in the State where the said crimes shall have been commit- 
 ted ; but when not committed within any State the trial 
 shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law 
 have directed. 
 
 Section III. 
 
 1st Clause. Treason against the United States shall con- 
 sist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to 
 their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person 
 shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two 
 witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open 
 court. 
 
 2nd Clause. The Congress shall have power to declare 
 the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 135 
 
 work corruption of blood or forfeiture except during the 
 life of tlie person attainted. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 
 
 Section I. 
 
 Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the 
 
 public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other 
 
 State. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the 
 
 manner on which such acts, records and proceedings shall 
 
 be proved and the effect thereof. 
 
 Section II. 
 1st Clause. The citizens of each State shall be entitled 
 to all privileges and immunities of citizens of the several 
 States. 
 
 2nd Clause. A person charged in any State with treason, 
 felony or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be 
 found in another State, shall on demand of the executive 
 authority of the State from which he fled be delivered up, 
 to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime. 
 
 3rd Clause. No person held to service or labor in one 
 State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, 
 in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dis- 
 charged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered 
 up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may 
 be due. 
 
 1st Clause. New States may be admitted by the Congress 
 into this Union ; but no new State shall be formed or 
 erected within the jurisdiction of any other State ; nor any 
 State be formed by tue junction of two or more States or 
 parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of 
 the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 
 
 2nd Clause. The Congress shall have power to dispose of 
 and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the 
 territory or other property belonging to the United States ; 
 and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to 
 
136 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any par- 
 ticular State. 
 
 Section IV. 
 
 The United States shall guarantee to every State in this 
 Union a republican form of government, and shall protect 
 each of them against invasion ; and on application of the 
 Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature 
 cannot be convened), against domestic violence. 
 
 Article V. 
 
 The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall 
 deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Con- 
 stitution, or, on the application of the Legislatures of two- 
 thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for pro- 
 posing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to 
 all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when 
 ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several 
 States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the 
 one or the other made of ratification may be proposed by 
 the Congress ; provided that no amendment which may be 
 made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and 
 eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses 
 in the ninth section of first article; and that no State, with- 
 out its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in 
 the Senate. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 1st Clause. All debts contracted and engagements en- 
 tered into before the adoption of this Constitution shall be 
 as valid against the United States under this Constitution 
 as under the Confederation. 
 
 2nd Clause. This Constitution and the laws of the United 
 States, which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all 
 treaties made or which shall be made under the authority 
 of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; 
 and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any- 
 thing in the Constitution or laws of any State to the con- 
 trary notwithstanding. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 137 
 
 3rd Clause. The Senators and Representatives before 
 mentioned, and the members of the several State Legisla- 
 tures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the 
 United States and of the several States, shall be bound 
 by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ; but no 
 religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any 
 office or public trust under the United States. 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall 
 be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution be- 
 tween the States so ratifying the same. 
 
 AMENDMENTS 
 
 Proposed by Congress and Ratified by the Legislature of the 
 
 Several States, Pursuant to the Fifth Article of 
 
 the Original Constitution. 
 
 Aeticle I. 
 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment 
 of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or 
 abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right 
 of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the 
 government for a redress of grievances. 
 
 Article II. 
 A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of 
 a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms 
 shall not be infringed. 
 
 Abticle III. 
 No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any 
 house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war 
 but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 
 
 Article IV. 
 
 The right of the people to go secure in their persons, 
 
 houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches 
 
 and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall 
 
 issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirma- 
 
138 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 tion, and particularly describing the place to be searched 
 and the persons or things to be seized. 
 
 Article V. 
 
 No person shall be held to answer for a capital or other- 
 wise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment 
 of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval 
 forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of 
 war or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject for 
 the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; 
 nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness 
 against himself nor be deprived of life or liberty or property 
 without due process of law ; nor shall private property be 
 taken for public use without just compensation. 
 
 Abticle VI. 
 
 In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the 
 right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of 
 the State and district wherein the crime shall have been 
 committed, which district shall have been previously ascer- 
 tained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause 
 of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses 
 against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining wit- 
 nesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel 
 for his defense. 
 
 Abticle VII. 
 
 Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines 
 Imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflcted. 
 
 Article IX. 
 
 The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights 
 shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained 
 by the people. 
 
 Article X. 
 
 The powers not delegated to the United States by the 
 Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved 
 to the States, respectively, or to the people. 
 
pATRi6l:igM IN Washington's Time. 139 
 
 Article XI. 
 
 The judicial power of the United States shall not be con- 
 strued to any suit, in law or equity, commenced or prose- 
 cuted against one of the United States by citizens of an- 
 other State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State. 
 
 Abticle XIII.* 
 
 Section I. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ex- 
 cept as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall 
 have been convicted, shall exist within the United States, or 
 any place subject to their jurisdiction. 
 
 Section II. Congress shall have power to enforce this ar- 
 ticle by appropriate legislation. 
 
 Aeticle XIV. 
 Section I. All persons born or naturalized in the United 
 States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens 
 of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. 
 No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge 
 the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ; 
 nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or 
 property without due process of law, nor deny any person 
 within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 
 
 Section II. Representatives shall be apportioned among 
 the several States according to their respective numbers, 
 counting the whole number of persons in each State, ex- 
 cluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at 
 any election for the choice of electors for President and 
 Vice-President of the United States, repreesntatives in Con- 
 gress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the 
 members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the 
 male inhabitants of such State, being 21 years of age, and 
 citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except 
 for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of 
 representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion 
 which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the 
 
 ♦For the 12th amendment see page 10. 
 
140 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in 
 such State. 
 
 Section III. No person shall be a Senator or Repre- 
 sentative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice- 
 President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the 
 United States, or as a member of any state Legislature, 
 or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to sup- 
 port the Constitution of the United States, shall have en- 
 gaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or 
 given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress 
 may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such 
 disability. 
 
 Section IV. The validity of the public debt of the 
 United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred 
 for payment of pensions and bounties for services in sup- 
 pressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. 
 But neither the United States nor any State shall assume 
 or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrec- 
 tion or rebellion against the United States, or any claim 
 for the loss or emancipation of any slave ; but all such 
 debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. 
 
 Section V. The Congress shall have power to enforce, 
 by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. 
 
 Aeticle XV. 
 Section I. The right of citizens of the United States to 
 vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, 
 or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous 
 condition of servitude. 
 
 Section II. The Congress shall have iwwer to enforce 
 this article by appropriate legislature. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 141 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 My country, 'tis of thee, 
 Sweet land of liberty, 
 
 Of thee I sing; 
 Land where my fathers died. 
 Land of the pilgrim's pride, 
 From every mountain-side 
 
 Let freedom ring. 
 
 My native country, thee — 
 Thy name 1 love; 
 
 I love thy rocks and rills. 
 
 Thy woods and templed hills ; 
 
 My heart with rapture thrills 
 Like that above. 
 
 Let music swell the breeze, 
 And ring from all the trees 
 
 Sweet freedom's song : 
 Let mortal tongues awake; 
 Let all that breathe partake ; 
 Let rocks thy silence break, — 
 
 The sound prolong. 
 
 Our fathers' God to thee, 
 Author of liberty. 
 
 To thee we sing; 
 Long may our land be bright 
 With freedom's holy light ; 
 Protect us by thy might. 
 
 Great God our King, 
 
142 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 (H 
 
 u 
 z 
 
 Q 
 O 
 
 PL, 
 
 CD 
 
 pi; 
 
 H 
 
 w 
 
 M 
 H 
 
 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 143 
 
 ■ifeiHiSl 
 
 ^^ I 
 
 
 *\ ^ 
 
 
144 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 JEFFERSON'S TEN RULES. 
 
 Never put off until tomorrow what you can do 
 today. 
 
 Never trouble another for what you can do for 
 yourself. 
 
 Never spend money before you have earned it. 
 
 Never buy what you don't want because it is 
 cheap. 
 
 Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold. 
 
 We seldom repent of having eaten too little. 
 
 Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 
 
 How much pain the evils have cost us that have 
 never happened. 
 
 Take things always by the smooth handle. 
 
 When angry count ten before you speak; if very 
 angry, count one hundred. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 145 
 
 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 (On his declining a second re-election as President 
 of the United States.) 
 
 Friends and Fellow-Citizens : 
 
 The period for a new election of a citizen to ad- 
 minister the executive government of the United 
 States being not far distant, and the time actually 
 arrived when your thoughts must be employed in 
 designating the person who is to be clothed with 
 that important trust, it appears to me proper, espe- 
 cially as it may conduce to a more distinct expres- 
 sion of the public voice, that I should now apprise 
 you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being 
 considered among the number of those out of whom 
 a choice is to be made. 
 
 I beg you at the same time to do me the justice 
 to be assured that this resolution has not been taken 
 without a strict regard to all the considerations ap- 
 pertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citi- 
 zen to his country; and that in withdrawing the 
 tender of service which silence in my situation might 
 imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for 
 your future interest; no deficiency of grateful re- 
 spect for your past kindness, but am supported by 
 a full conviction that the step is compatible with 
 both. 
 
 The acceptance of and continuance hitherto in 
 the office to which your suffrages have twice called 
 me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to 
 
 10 
 
146 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 the opinion of duty and to a deference for what ap- 
 peared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it 
 would have been much earlier in my power, consist- 
 ently with motives which I was not at liberty to dis- 
 regard, to return to that retirement from which I 
 had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my 
 inclination to do this previous to the election had 
 even led to the preparation of an address to declare 
 it to you ; but mature reflection on the then per- 
 plexed and critical posture of our affairs with for- 
 eign nations and unanimous advice of persons en- 
 titled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the 
 idea. 
 
 I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external 
 as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit 
 of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of 
 duty or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever par- 
 tiality may be retained for my services, that in the 
 present circumstances of our country you will not 
 disapprove of my determination to retire. 
 
 The impressions with which I first undertook the 
 arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. 
 In the discharge of this trust I will only say that 1 
 have, with good intentions, contributed toward the 
 organization and administration of the government 
 the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment 
 was capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of ihe 
 inferiority for any qualifications, experience in my 
 own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, 
 has strengthened the motives to diffidence myself; 
 and every day the increasing weight of years ad- 
 monishes me more and more that the shade of retire- 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 147 
 
 ment is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. 
 Satisfied that if any circumstances have given pe- 
 culiar value to my services, they were temporary, I 
 have the consolation to believe that, while choice 
 and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, 
 patriotism does not forbid it. 
 
 In looking forward to the moment which is in- 
 tended to terminate the career of my public life, my 
 feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep ac- 
 knowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe 
 to my beloved country for the many honors it has 
 conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast 
 confidence with which it has supported me, and for 
 the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of mani- 
 festing my inviolable attachment by services faith- 
 ful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to 
 my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country 
 from these services, let it always be remembered to 
 your praise, and as an instructive example in our 
 annals that, under circumstances in which the pas- 
 sions, agitated in every direction, were liable to 
 mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious — 
 vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging — in situa- 
 tions in which not unfrequently want of success has 
 countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constantcy 
 of your support was the essential prop of the efforts 
 and a guaranty of the plans by which they were ef- 
 fected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I 
 shall carry it with me to my grave as a strong in- 
 citement to unceasing wishes that Heaven may con- 
 tinue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; 
 that your union and brotherly attection may be per- 
 
148 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 petual; that the free constitution which is the work 
 of your hands may be sacredly maintained; that its 
 administration in every department may be stamped 
 with wisdom and virtue ; that, in fine, the happiness 
 of the people of these States, under the auspices of 
 liberty, may be made complete by so careful a pres- 
 ervation and so prudent a use of this blessing as 
 will acquire to them the glory of recommending it 
 to the applause, the affection and adoption of every 
 nation which is yet a stranger to it. 
 
 Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude 
 for your welfare, which cannot end but with ray life, 
 and th€ apprehension of danger, natural to the so- 
 licitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, 
 to offer to your solemn contemplation and to recom- 
 mend to your frequent review, some sentiments 
 which are the result of much reflection, of no incon- 
 siderable observation, and which appear to me all- 
 important to the permanency of your felicity as a 
 people. These will be offered to you with the more 
 freedom, as you can only see in them the disinter- 
 ested warnings of a parting friend, who can possi- 
 bly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. 
 Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your 
 indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former 
 and not dissimilar occasion. 
 
 Interwoven as is the life of liberty with every 
 ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine 
 is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. 
 
 The unity of government which constitutes you 
 one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, 
 for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time, 149 
 
 independence, the support of your tranquillity at 
 home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your 
 prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly 
 prize. But as it is easy to foresee that from dif- 
 ferent causes and from different quarters, much 
 pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to 
 weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; 
 as this is the point in your political fortress against 
 which the batteries of internal and external enemies 
 will be most constantly and actively (though often 
 covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite 
 moment that you should properly estimate the im- 
 mense value of your national Union, to your collec- 
 tive and individual happiness ; that you should cher- 
 ish a cordial, habitual and immovable attachment 
 to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak 
 of it as of the paladium of your political safety and 
 prosperity; watching for its preservation with jeal- 
 ous anxiety, discountenancing whatever may sug- 
 gest even a suspicion that it can in any event be 
 abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first 
 dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion 
 of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the 
 sacred ties which now link together the various 
 parts. 
 
 For this you have every inducement of sympathy 
 and interest. Citizens by birth or choice of a com- 
 mon country, that country has a right to concen- 
 trate your affections. The name of American, which 
 belongs to you in your national capacity, must al- 
 ways exalt the just pride of patriotism more than 
 any appellation derived from local discriminations. 
 
150 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 With slight shades of difference, you have the same 
 religion, manners, habits and political principles. 
 You have in a common cause fought and triumphed 
 together; the Independence and Liberty you possess 
 are the work of joint councils and joint efforts, of 
 common dangers, sufferings and successes. 
 
 But these considerations, however powerfully they 
 may address themselves to your sensibility, are 
 greatly outweighed by those which apply more im- 
 mediately to your interest. Here every portion of 
 our country finds the most commanding motives for 
 carefully guarding and preserving the union of the 
 whole. 
 
 The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with 
 the South, protected by the equal laws of common 
 government, finds in the productions of the latter 
 great additional resources of maritime and commer- 
 cial enterprise and precious materials of manufac- 
 turing industry. The South, in the same inter- 
 course, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees 
 its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. 
 Turning partly into its own channels the seamen 
 of the North, it finds its particular navigation invig- 
 orated; and while its contributes, in different ways, 
 to nourish and increase the general mass of the 
 national navigation, it looks forward to the protec- 
 tion of maritime strength, to which itself is unequal- 
 ly adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with 
 the West, already finds, and in the progressive im- 
 provement of interior communications by land and 
 water will more and more find a valuable vent for 
 the commodities which it brings from abroad or 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 151 
 
 manufactures at home. The West derives from the 
 East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, 
 and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it 
 must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of in- 
 dispensable outlets for its own productions to the 
 weight, influence and the future maritime strength 
 of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an in- 
 dissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any 
 other tenure by which the West can hold this essen- 
 tial advantage, whether derived from its own sepa- 
 rate strength or from an apostate and unnatural 
 connection with any foreign power, must be intrin- 
 sically precarious. 
 
 While then every part of our country thus feels 
 the immediate and particular interest in Union, all 
 the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united 
 mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater 
 resource, proportionable greater security from in- 
 ternal danger, a less frequent interruption of their 
 peace by foreign nations, and what is of inestimable 
 value, they must derive from Union an exemption 
 from those broils and wars between themselves 
 which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not 
 tied together by the same government, which their 
 own rivalship alone would be sufficient to produce, 
 but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments 
 and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence 
 likewise they will avoid the necessity of those over- 
 grown military establishments which, under any 
 form of government, are inauspicious to liberty and 
 which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to 
 republican liberty. In this sense it is that your 
 
152 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Union ought to be considered, as the main prop of 
 your liberty, and that the life of the one ought to 
 endear to you the preservation of the other. 
 
 These considerations speak a persuasive language 
 to every reflecting and virtuous mind and exhibit 
 the continuance of the Union as a primary object 
 of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a 
 common government can embrace so large a sphere? 
 Let experience solve it. To listen to mere specula- 
 tion in such a case were criminal. We are author- 
 ized to hope that a proper organization of the whole, 
 with the auxiliary agency of governments for the 
 respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to 
 the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full 
 experiment. With such powerful and obvious mo- 
 tives to Union, affecting all parts of our country, 
 while experience shall not have demonstrated its im- 
 practicability, there will always be reason to dis- 
 trust the patriotism of those who in any quarter 
 may endeavor to weaken its bands. 
 
 In contemplating the causes w^hich may disturb 
 our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern 
 that any ground should have been furnished for 
 characterizing parties by geographical discrimina- 
 tions — Northern and Southern, Atlantic and East- 
 ern — whence designing men may endeavor to excite 
 a belief that there is a real differece of local inter- 
 ests and views. One of the expedients of party to 
 acquire influence within particular districts is to 
 misrepresent the opinions and aims of other dis- 
 tricts. You cannot shield yourselves too much 
 against the jealousies and heartburnings which 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 153 
 
 spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to 
 render alien to each other those who ought to be 
 bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabi- 
 tants of our Western country have lately had a use- 
 ful lesson on this head ; they have seen, in the nego- 
 tiation by the Executive and in the unanimous 
 ratification by the Senate of the Treaty with Spain, 
 and the universal satisfaction of the event through- 
 out the United States, a decisive proof of how un- 
 founded were the suspicions propagated among them 
 of a policy in the general government and in the 
 Atlantic States, unfriendly to their interests in re- 
 gard to the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to 
 the formation of two treaties, that with Great Brit- 
 ain and that with Spain, which secure to them 
 everything they could desire in respect to our for- 
 eign relations, toward confirming their prosperity. 
 Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preser- 
 vation of these advantages on the Union by which 
 thev were procured? Will they not henceforth be 
 deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would 
 sever them from their brethren and connect them 
 with aliens? 
 
 To the efficacy and permanency of your Union a 
 government for the whole is indispensable. No al- 
 liances, however strict, between the parts can be an 
 adequate substitute; they must inevitably experi- 
 ence the infractions and interruptions which all al- 
 liances in all times have experienced. Sensible of 
 this momentous truth, you have improved your first 
 essay, by the adoption of a Constitution of govern- 
 ment better calculated than your former for an in- 
 
154 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 timate Union, and for the efficacious management 
 of your common concerns. This government, the 
 offspring of your own choice, uninfluenced and un- 
 awed, adopted upon full investigation and mature 
 deliberation, completely free in its principles, in 
 the distribution of its powers, uniting security with 
 energy and contauiug within itself a provision for 
 its own amendment, has a just claim to your confi- 
 dence and your support. Kespect for its authority, 
 compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its meas- 
 ures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental max- 
 ims of true liberty. The basis of our political sys- 
 tems is the right of the people to make and to alter 
 their constitutions of government. But the Con- 
 stitution which at any time exists, until changed by 
 an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is 
 sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the 
 power and the right of the people to establish gov- 
 ernment presupposes the duty of every individual to 
 obey the established government. 
 
 All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all 
 combinations and associations, under whatever 
 plausible character, with the real design to direct, 
 control, counteract or awe the regular deliberation 
 and action of the constituted authorities, are de- 
 structive of this fundamental principle and of fatal 
 tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it 
 an artificial and extraordinary force, to put in the 
 place of the delegated will of the nation the will of 
 a party, often a small but artful and enterprising 
 minority of the community, and, according to the 
 alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 155 
 
 public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted 
 and inconsistent and wholesome plans digested by 
 common councils and modified by mutual interests. 
 
 However combinations or associations of the above 
 description may now and then answer popular ends, 
 they are likely, in the course of time and things, 
 to become potent engines by which cunning, ambi- 
 tious and unprincipled men will be enabled to sub- 
 vert the power of the people and to usurp for them- 
 selves the reins of government, destroying after- 
 ward the very engines which have lifted them to un- 
 just dominion. 
 
 Toward the preservation of your government and 
 the permanency of your present happy state, it is 
 requisite not only that you steadily discountenance 
 irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, 
 but also that you resist with care the spirit of inno- 
 vation upon its principles, however specious the 
 pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect 
 in the form of the Constitution alterations which 
 will impair the energy of the system and thus to 
 undermine what canot be directly overthrown. In 
 all the changes to which you may be invited, remem- 
 ber that time and habit are at least as necessary to 
 fix the true character of governments as of other 
 human institutions; that experience is the surest 
 standard by which to test the real tendency of the 
 existing constitution of a country; that facility in 
 changes upon the credit of mere hypothesis and 
 opinion exposes to perpetaul change from the end- 
 less variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remem- 
 ber, especially, that for the efficient management of 
 
156 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 your common interests, in a country so extensive as 
 ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent 
 with the perfect security of liberty, is indispensable. 
 Liberty itself v^ill find in such a government, with 
 powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest 
 guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name 
 where the government is too feeble to withstand the 
 enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the 
 society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and 
 to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment 
 of the rights of person and property. 
 
 I have already intimated to you the danger of 
 parties in the State, with particular reference to the 
 founding of them on geographical discriminations. 
 Let me now take a more comprehensive view and 
 warn you in the most solemn manner against the 
 baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. 
 
 This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our 
 nature, having its root in the strongest passions of 
 the human mind. It exists under different shapes 
 in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled or 
 repressed; but in those of the popular form it is 
 seen in greatest rankness, and it is truly their worst 
 enemy. 
 
 The alternate domination of one faction over an- 
 other, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural 
 to party dissension, which in different ages and 
 countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormi- 
 ties, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads 
 at length to a more formal and permanent despot- 
 ism. The disorders and miseries which result grad- 
 ually incline the minds of men to seek security and 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 157 
 
 repose in the absolute power of an individual, and 
 sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, 
 more able or more fortunate than his competitors, 
 turns this disposition to the purposes of his own 
 elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. 
 
 Without looking forward to an extremity of this 
 kind (which, nevertheless, ought not to be entirely 
 out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs 
 of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the 
 interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and 
 restrain it. 
 
 It serves always to distract the public councils 
 and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates 
 the community with ill-founded jealousies and false 
 alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against, 
 another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. 
 It opens the door to foreign influence and corrup- 
 tion, which find a facilitated access to the govern- 
 ment itself through the channels of party passions. 
 Thus the policy and the will of one country are sub- 
 jected to the policy and will of another. There is 
 an opinion that parties in free countries are useful 
 checks upon the administration of government and 
 serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This with- 
 in certain limits is probably true, and in govern- 
 ments of a monarchical cast patriotism may look 
 with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit 
 of party. But in those of the popular character, in 
 governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be 
 encouraged. From their natural tendency it is cer- 
 tain there will always be enough of that spirit for 
 every salutary purpose. And there being constant 
 
158 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of 
 public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire 
 not to be quenched, it demands uniform vigilance 
 to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of 
 warming, it should consume. 
 
 It is important, likewise, that the habits of think- 
 ing, in a free country, should inspire caution in those 
 intrusted with its administration, to confine them- 
 selves within their respective constitutional spheres, 
 avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one de- 
 partment to encroach upon another. The spirit of 
 encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all 
 departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the 
 form of government, a real despotism. A just esti- 
 mate of that love of power and proneness to abuse 
 it, which predominates in the human heart, is suflS- 
 cient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The 
 necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of po- 
 litical power, by dividing and distributing it into 
 different depositories and constituting each the guar- 
 dian of the public weal against invasions by the 
 others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and 
 modern — some of them in our country and under 
 our own eyes. To preserve them must be as neces- 
 sary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the 
 I)eople, the distribution or modification of the con- 
 stitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it 
 be corrected by an amendment in the way which the 
 Constitution designates. But let there be no change 
 by usurpation ; for though this, in one instance, may 
 be the instrument of good, it is the customary weap- 
 on by which free governments are destroyed. The 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time, 159 
 
 precedent must always greatly overbalance in per- 
 manent evil any partial or transient benefit which 
 the use can at any time yield. 
 
 Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to 
 political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indis- 
 pensable supports. In vain would that man claim 
 the tributes of Patriotism who should labor to sub- 
 vert these great pillars of human happiness, these 
 firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The 
 mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought 
 to respect and to cherish them. A volume could 
 not trace all their connections with private and pub- 
 lic felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the 
 security for property, for reputation, for life, if the 
 sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which 
 are the instruments of investigation in courts of 
 justice? And let us with caution indulge the sup- 
 position that morality can be maintained without 
 religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influ- 
 ence of refined education on minds of peculiar struc- 
 ture, reason and experience both forbid us to ex- 
 pect that national morality can prevail in exclu- 
 sion of religious principle. 
 
 It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is 
 a necessary spring of popular government. The rule 
 indeed extends with more or less force to every 
 species of free government. Who that is a sincere 
 friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts 
 to shake the foundation of the fabric? 
 
 Promote then, as an object of primary importance, 
 institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. 
 In proportion as the structure of a government gives 
 
160 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 force to public opinion, it is essential that public 
 opinion should be enlightened. 
 
 As a very important source of strength and se- 
 curity, cherish public credit. One method of pre- 
 serving it, is to use it as sparingly as possible, 
 avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace; 
 but remember also that timely disbursements to pre- 
 pare for danger frequently prevent much greater 
 disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the ac- 
 cumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions 
 of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of 
 peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars 
 may have occasioned, not ungerenously throwing 
 upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought 
 to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to 
 your representatives, but it is necessary that public 
 opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them 
 the performance of their duty, it is essential that 
 you should practically bear in mind that toward 
 the payment of debts there must be revenue ; that to 
 have revenue there must be taxes ; that no taxes can 
 be devised which are not more or less inconvenient 
 and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment 
 inseparable from the selection of the proper objects 
 (which is always a choice of difficulties) ought to be 
 a decisive motive for a candid construction of the 
 conduct of the government in making it and for a 
 spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining 
 revenue which the public exigencies may at any time 
 dictate. 
 
 Observe good faith and justice toward the nations, 
 cultivate peace and harmony with all; religion and 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 1(51 
 
 morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that 
 good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be 
 worthy of a free, enlightened and at no distant pe- 
 riod a great nation, to give to mankind the mag- 
 nanimous and too novel example of a people always 
 guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who 
 can doubt but in the course of time and things the 
 fruits of such a plan would richly repay any tempo- 
 rary advantage which might be lost by a steady ad- 
 herence to it? Can it be that Providence has not 
 connected the permanent felicit of a nation with its 
 virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended 
 by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. 
 Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices? 
 
 In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more 
 essential than that permanent, inveterate antipa- 
 thies against particular nations and passionate at- 
 tachments for others, should be excluded; and that 
 in place of them just and amicable feelings toward 
 all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges 
 towards another an habitual hatred or an habitual 
 fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave 
 to its animosity or to its affection, either of which 
 is suflScient to lead it astray from its duty and its 
 interest. Antipathy in one nation against another 
 disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, 
 to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage and to be 
 haughty and intractable when accidental or trifling 
 occasions of dispute occur. Hence frequent col- 
 lisions, obstinate, envenomed and bloody contests. 
 The nation prompted by ill will and resentment 
 sometimes impels to war the government, contrary 
 
 11 
 
162 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 to tlie best calculations of policy. The government 
 sometimes participates in the national propensity 
 and adopts through passion what reason would 
 reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the 
 nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated 
 by pride, ambition and other sinister and pernicious 
 motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the 
 liberty, of nations has been the victim. 
 
 So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one na- 
 tion for another produces a variety of evils. Sym- 
 pathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illu- 
 sion of an imaginary common interest in cases where 
 no real common interest exists, and infusing into 
 one the enmities of the other, betrays the former 
 into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the 
 latter, without adequate inducement or justifica- 
 tion. It leads also to concessions to the favorite 
 nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt 
 doubly to injure the nation making the concessions, 
 by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have 
 been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill will and 
 a disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom 
 equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to am- 
 bitious, corrupted or deluded citizens (who devote 
 themselves to the favorite nation) facility to betray 
 or sacrifice the interests of their own country with- 
 out odium, sometimes even with popularity; gild- 
 ing with the appearance of a virtuous sense of obli- 
 gation a commendable deference for public opinion, 
 or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or fool- 
 ish compliances of ambition, corruption or infatua- 
 tion. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time, 1(58 
 
 As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable 
 ways, such attacliments are particularly alarming 
 to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. 
 How many opportunities do they afford to tamper 
 with domestic factions, to practice the arts of se- 
 dition, to mislead public opinion, to influence or 
 awe the public councils! Such an attachment of a 
 small or weak toward a great and powerful nation 
 dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. 
 Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I 
 conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jeal- 
 ousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; 
 since history and experience prove that foreign in- 
 fluence is one of the most baneful foes of republican 
 government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must 
 be impartial, else it becomes the instrument of the 
 very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense 
 against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign na- 
 tion and excessive dislike of another cause those 
 whom they actuate to see danger only on one side 
 and serve to veil and even second the arts of influ- 
 ence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist 
 the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become 
 suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes 
 usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to 
 surrender their interest. 
 
 The great rule of conduct for us in regard to for- 
 eign nations is, in extending our commercial rela- 
 tions, to have with them as little political connec- 
 tion as possible. So far as we have already formed 
 engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good 
 faith. Here let us stop. 
 
164 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 Europe has a set of primary interests which, to 
 us, have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she 
 must be engaged in fretjuent controversies, the causes 
 of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. 
 Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to impli- 
 cate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicis- 
 situdes of her politics or the ordinary combinations 
 and collisions of her friendships or enmities. 
 
 Our detached and distant situation invites and 
 enables us to pursue a different course. If we re- 
 main one people, under an efficient government, the 
 period is not far off when we may defy material 
 injury from external annoyance; when we may take 
 such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we 
 may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously 
 respected; when belligerent nations, under the im- 
 possibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not 
 lightly hazard the giving us of provocation, when we 
 may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by 
 justice, shall counsel. 
 
 Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situa- 
 tion? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign 
 ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with 
 that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and 
 prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival- 
 ship, interest, humor or caprice? 
 
 It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent 
 alliances with any portion of the foreign world, so 
 far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for 
 let me not be understood as capable of patronizing 
 infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the 
 maxim no less applicable to public than to private 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time, 165 
 
 affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I re- 
 peat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed 
 in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is 
 unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them. 
 
 Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable 
 establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, 
 we may safely trust to temporary alliances for ex- 
 traordinary emergencies. 
 
 Harmony and a liberal intercourse with all na- 
 tions are recommended by policy, humanity and in- 
 terest. 
 
 But even our commercial policy should hold an 
 equal and impartial hand, neither seeking nor 
 granting exclusive favors or preferences ; consulting 
 the natural course of things, diffusing and diversify- 
 ing by gentle means the streams of commerce, but 
 forcing nothing; establishing, with powers so dis- 
 posed, in order to give trade a stable course, to de- 
 fine the rights of our merchants and to enable the 
 government to support them, conventional rules of 
 intercourse, the best that present circumstances and 
 mutual opinion will permit, but temporary and li- 
 able to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as 
 experience and circumstances shall dictate; con- 
 stantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation 
 to look for disinterested favors from another; that 
 it must pay with a portion of its independence for 
 whatever it may accept under that character; that 
 by such acceptance it may place itself in the condi- 
 tion of having given equivalents for nominal favors, 
 and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not 
 giving more. There can be no greater error than 
 
166 Patriotism in Washington's Time. 
 
 to expect, or calculate upon, real favors from nation 
 to nation. It is an illusion which experience must 
 cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 
 
 In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels 
 of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope 
 they will make the strong and lasting impression 
 I could wish — or prevent our nation from running 
 the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of 
 nations. But if I may even flatter myself that they 
 may be productive of some partial benefit, some oc- 
 casional good ; that they may now and then recur to 
 moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against 
 the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against 
 the impostures of pretended patriotism, this hope 
 will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your 
 welfare by which they have been dictated. 
 
 How far in the discharge of my oflScial duties I 
 have been guided by the principles which have been 
 delineated the public records and other evidences 
 of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. 
 To myself the assurance of my own conscience is, 
 that I have at least believed myself to be guided 
 by them. 
 
 In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, 
 my proclamation of the 22nd of April, 1793, is the 
 index to my plan. Sanctioned by your approving 
 voice and by that of your representatives in both 
 houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has 
 continually governed me, uninfluenced by any at- 
 tempts to deter or divert me from it. 
 
 After deliberate examination, with the aid of the 
 best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that 
 
Patriotism in WashiMgtON^s Time. 167 
 
 our country, under all the circumstances of the case, 
 had a right to take and was bound in duty and in- 
 terest to take a neutral position. Having taken it, 
 I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to 
 maintain it with moderation, perseverance and firm- 
 ness. 
 
 The considerations which respect the right to hold 
 this conduct it is not necessary on this occasion to 
 detail. I will only observe that, according to my 
 understanding of the matter, the right, so far from 
 being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has 
 been virtually admitted by all. 
 
 The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be in- 
 ferred, without anything more, from the obligation 
 which justice and humanity impose on every nation, 
 in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain invio- 
 late any relations of peace and amity toward other 
 nations. 
 
 The inducements of interest for observing that 
 conduct will best be referred to your own reflections 
 and experience. With me a predominant motive 
 has been to endeavor to gain time to our country, 
 to settle and mature its yet recent institutions and 
 to progress, without interruption, to that degree of 
 strength and consistency which is necessary to give 
 it, humanely speaking, the command of its own for- 
 tunes. 
 
 Though, in reviewing the incidents of my admin- 
 istration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I 
 am, nevertheless, too sensible of my own defects not 
 to think it probable that I may have committed 
 many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently be- 
 
l68 Patriotism in Washington's Time;. 
 
 seech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to 
 which they may tend. I shall also carry with me 
 the hope that my country will never cease to view 
 them with indulgence, and that after forty-five years 
 of my life dedicated to its service with an upright 
 zeal, the faults of incompetent ability will be con- 
 signed to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the 
 mansions of rest. 
 
 Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, 
 and actuated by that fervent love toward it which is 
 so natural to a man who views in it the native soil 
 of himself and his progenitors for several genera- 
 tions, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that 
 retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without 
 alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst 
 of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good 
 laws under a free government — the ever favorite ob- 
 ject of my heart and the happy reward, as I trust, 
 of our mutual cares, labors and dangers. 
 
 G. Washington. 
 United States, 
 17th September, 1796. 
 
Patriotism in Washington's Time. 169 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX. 
 
 17p5 — Parliament passed the Stamp Act March 8 
 
 The Colonial Congress met in New York Oct. 7 
 
 1766 — Parliament repealed the Stamp Act March 8 
 
 1767 — A bill taxing tea, glass, paper, etc., was passed. .. .June 29 
 
 1768 — A body of British troops arrived at Boston Sept. 27 
 
 1773 — Tea in Boston harbor thrown overboard Dec. 16 
 
 1774 — The Boston Port bill passed by Parliament March 31 
 
 The first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. .Sept. 3 
 1775 — The war commenced with the Battle of Lexington. .April 19 
 
 Allen and Arnold capture Ticonderoga May 10 
 
 Washington was elected Commander-in-Chief June 15 
 
 The Battle of Bunker Hill June 17 
 
 Montreal surrendered to Montgomery Nov. 13 
 
 1776 — Boston was evacuated by the British troops March 17 
 
 Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. .July 4 
 
 1777— ^H owe took possession of Philadelphia Sept. 26 
 
 The Battle of Saratoga was fought Oct. 7 
 
 American Army went into winter quarters at Valley 
 
 Forge Dec. 11 
 
 1778 — France acknowledged the independence of the U. S. .Feb. 6 
 The British, under Clinton, evacuate Philadelphia. .June 18 
 1780 — Arnold plotted to betray West Point to the British. 
 Major John Andre, Adjutant-General, British Army, 
 
 executed as a spy at Tappan, New York Oct. 2 
 
 1781 — ^The Articles of Confederation ratified by the States. 
 
 Lord Comwalis surrendered at Yorktown Oct. 19 
 
 1783 — Washington resigned his commission to Congress .... Dec. 23 
 1787 — Convention at Philadelphia adopted the Constitution 
 
 of the United States Sept. 17 
 
 1789 — George Washington inaugurated President April 30 
 
 1799 — Washington died at Mount Vernon, Va Dec. 14 
 
 1800 — The City of Washington became the Capital of the 
 United States. 
 
 1801 — Thomas Jefferson inaugurated President March 4 
 
 1803 — Louisiana purchased from France April 30