XIII. other party received it with dejection, as another obsta- CHAPTER cle in the way of peace. The newly-appointed consul general for St. Domingo had already sailed thither, and, soon after, General Maitland, lately in command of the English forces there, arrived at Philadelphia from England, with whom, in conjunction with Liston, the English embassador, an arrangement was entered into as to the trade of the island. Information having been received that Toussaint had complied with the conditions required, the president issued his proclamation reopening commerce. A civil war, which had broken out between Toussaint and Rigaud, rendered this trade at first less profitable than had been hoped; but an order from France presently removed Rigaud from his command, and the Spanish part of the island having submitted also to Toussaint's authority, he became sole governor of the whole. He still acknowledged, in name, the authority of the French republic, but acted in all things as an independent chief. During eight years of civil war the island had suffered severely, but a considerable number of the old white proprietors still remained in it, to whom Toussaint extended every protection. He even invited back those who had fled to the United States and elsewhere, an invitation which several accepted. Many of the late slaves were willing to work for wages or on shares; and, under Toussaint's judicious rule, the agriculture of the is land began to revive. V.-U 1799. April Juna XIV. 1799. CHAPTER XIV. VIRGINIA, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA. REVISION OF THE CHAPTER PENDING the session of Congress, a warm canvass had been going on in Virginia preliminary to the March elections. The Federal party now, for the first time, had become strong enough, in that state, to offer battle to the opposition. Though much occupied in corresponding with the Secretary of War and others as to the organization of the additional regiments and of the army generally, Washington entered with great zeal into this Jan. 15. canvass. In a letter to Patrick Henry, urging him to offer, if not as a candidate for Congress, at least for the Assembly, he very fully expressed his sentiments. "It would be a waste of time," he wrote, "to attempt to bring to the view of a person of your observation and discernment the endeavors of a certain party among us to disquiet the public mind with unfounded alarms, to ar raign every act of the administration, to set the people at variance with their government, and to embarrass all Nov. 20. its measures. Equally useless would it be to predict what must be the inevitable consequences of such a policy, if it can not be arrested. "Unfortunately, and extremely do I regret it, the WASHINGTON'S POLITICAL VIEWS. 307 XIV. State of Virginia has taken the lead in this opposition. CHAPTER I have said the state, because the conduct of its Legis lature, in the eyes of the world, will authorize the ex- 1799 pression, and because it is an incontrovertible fact that the principal leaders of the opposition dwell in it, and that, with the help of the chiefs in the other states, all the plans are arranged and systematically pursued by their followers in other parts of the Union; though in no state except Kentucky, that I have heard of, has legislative countenance been obtained beyond Virginia. "It has been said that the great mass of the citizens of this state are well affected, notwithstanding, to the general government and the Union; and I am willing to believe it-nay, do believe it; but how is this to be reconciled with their choice of representatives, both to Congress and their state Legislature, who are opposed to the general government, and who, by the tendency of their measures, would destroy the Union? Some among us have endeavored to account for this inconsist ency; but, though convinced themselves, they are unable to convince others, unacquainted with the internal policy of the State. "One of the reasons assigned is, that the most respectable and best-qualified characters among us will not come forward. Easy and happy in their circumstances at home, and believing themselves secure in their liberties and property, they will not forsake their occupations, and engage in the turmoil of public business, or expose themselves to the calumnies of their opponents, whose weapons are detraction. "But at such a crisis as this, when everything dear and valuable to us is assailed; when this party hangs upon the wheels of government as a dead veight, oppos ing every measure that is calculated for defense and self XIV. CHAPTER preservation, abetting the nefarious views of other na tions upon our rights, preferring, as long as they dare 1799. contend openly against the spirit and resentment of the people, the interest of France to the welfare of their own country, justifying the former at the expense of the latter; when all the acts of their own government are tortured, by constructions they will not bear, into attempts to infringe and trample upon the Constitution, with a view to introduce monarchy; when the most unceasing and the purest exertions which were made to maintain a neutrality, proclaimed by the executive, approved unequivocally by Congress, by the state Legislatures, nay, by the people themselves in various meet ings, and to preserve the country in peace, are charged with being measures calculated to favor Great Britain at the expense of France, and all those who had any agency in it are accused of being under the influence of Great Britain and her pensioners; when measures are systematically and pertinaciously pursued which must eventually dissolve the Union or produce coercion; I say, when these things have become so obvious, ought, characters who are best able to rescue their country from the pending evil to remain at home? Rather, ought they not to come forward, and by their talents and influence stand in the breach which such conduct has made on the peace and happiness of this country, and oppose the widening of it? "Vain will it be to look for peace and happiness, or for the security of liberty or property, if civil discord should ensue. And what else can result from the policy of those among us who, by all the measures in their power, are driving matters to extremity, if they can not be counteracted effectually? The views of men can only be known or guessed at by their words or actions. WASHINGTON'S POLITICAL VIEWS. 309 Can those of the leaders of the opposition be mistaken CHAPTER if they are judged by this rule? That they are followed by numbers who are unacquainted with their designs, 1799 and suspect as little the tendency of their principles, I am fully persuaded. But if their conduct is viewed with indifference; if there are activity and misrepresentation on one side, and supineness on the other, their numbers accumulated by intriguing and discontented foreigners under proscription, who were at war with their own governments, and the greater part of them with all governments, they will increase, and nothing short of Omniscience can foretell the consequences." "There are, I have no doubt, very many sensible men who oppose themselves to the torrent, that carries away others who had rather swim with than stem it, without an able pilot to conduct them; but these are neither old in legislation nor well known in the community. Your weight of character and influence in the House of Representatives would be a bulwark against such dangerous sentiments as are delivered there at present. It would be a rallying-point for the timid and an attraction for the wavering. In a word, I conceive it to be of immense importance, at this crisis, that you should be there; and I would fain hope that all minor considerations will be made to yield." This letter of Washington's, it is curious to observe, was written almost simultaneously with those of Jefferson, already quoted, to Gerry, Pendleton, and Madison, stimulating them to new attacks on the administration. Of the leaders of the opposition referred to in it, and of whom Washington, in a previous letter to his nephew Bushrod, had remarked that "they had points to carry from which no reasoning, no inconsistency of conduct, no absurdity can divert them," Jefferson was undoubt |