Essay on the Character and Influence of Washington in the Revolution of the United States of America

Essay on the Character and Influence of Washington in the Revolution of the United States of America

The following Essay is a translation of the Introduction, by M. Guizot, to a French version of Sparks's Life of Washington, and of selected portions of Washington's Writings, which has recently appeared in Paris, in six octavo volumes. M. Guizot is well known, not only as the author of many valuable historical works, but as a practical statesman himself, and therefore peculiarly qualified to appreciate the character of Washington, and to estimate his claims to the gratitude of his country, and the admiration of mankind. The Essay can hardly fail to be read with interest by every countryman of the illustrious man who forms its subject. It is a performance remarkable for the knowledge which it evinces of our own history, for its great political wisdom, its elevated moral tone, and its just discrimination in regard to the character of Washington. {iv} Every American citizen must be highly gratified to find his own veneration for the name of Washington confirmed by this unbiassed tribute from a foreigner so distinguished in literature and politics, as M. Guizot. Nothing has ever been written concerning him in Europe, so accurate, so just, and so profound as this; and it will serve to justify and strengthen that admiration, which has been accorded to him in foreign countries, hardly less than in his own. George S. Hillard. {v} Advertisement Of The French Publishers. No foreign event occurring at a distance ever awakened so lively a sympathy in France, as the Revolution of the United States of America. No great man who was a foreigner has ever, in this country, been the object of general admiration to such an extent as Washington. He has had the applause of both the court and the people, of the old rgime and the new nation. During his life, testimonials of respect were heaped upon him by Louis the Sixteenth; and, at his death, Napoleon directed a public mourning for him, and a funeral oration. [Footnote 1] [Footnote 1: "Bonaparte rendered unusual honors to the name of Washington, not long after the event of his death was made known in France. By what motives he was prompted, it is needless to inquire. At any rate, both the act itself and his manner of performing it are somewhat remarkable, when regarded in connexion with his subsequent career. He was then First Consul. On the 9th of February, he issued the following order of the day to the army, "Washington is dead! This great man fought against tyranny; he established the liberty of his country. His memory will always be dear to the French people, as it will be to all free men of the two worlds; and especially to French soldiers, who like him and the American soldiers, have combated for liberty and equality. The First Consul likewise ordered, that during ten days, black crape should be suspended from all the standards and flags throughout the Republic. On the same day a splendid ceremony took place in the Champ de Mars, and the trophies brought by the army from Egypt were displayed with great pomp. Immediately after this ceremony was over, a funeral oration, in honor of Washington (Eloge Funbre de Washington) was pronounced by M. de Fontanes, in the Hotel des Invalides, then called the Temple of Mars. The First Consul, and all the civil and military authorities of the capital, were present."Sparks's Life of Washington, pp. 531, 532, note.] {vi} It is now forty years since this great man has been reposing, to use his own expression, "in the mansions of rest," at Mount Vernon, by the side of his fathers. But his country has recently reared to him the noblest of monuments, in the publication of his Works, consisting of his Letters, Discourses, and Messages, comprising what was written and spoken by him in the midst of his active career, and forming indeed his lively image and the true history of his life. These are, in truth, his Works. Washington preserved with scrupulous care, either a first draft or an exact copy of every letter he wrote, whether as a public man or a private individual, and whether they related to his own concerns, the management and culture of his farms, or to the interests of the state. {vii} During the period from 1783 to 1787, in his retirement at Mount Vernon, he arranged the first part of this correspondence, containing among other things, whatever had been written by him during the war of independence; and, at his death, he bequeathed all his papers, together with his estate at Mount Vernon, to his nephew, Bushrod Washington, who was for thirty years one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. The entire collection, comprising the letters written by Washington himself, and those addressed to him, filled more than two hundred folio volumes. The Congress of the United States has recently purchased these precious papers, and caused them to be deposited in the national archives. An able editor, Mr. Sparks, already well known by his important historical labors, and especially by editing the "Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States during the War of Independence," (printed at Boston in twelve octavo volumes), has examined these papers and made selections and extracts from them. The family of Washington, his surviving friends, and various intelligent and distinguished persons favored his efforts in executing this patriotic task. {viii} Mr. Sparks has not remained content with the collection of materials, already so ample, which was in his possession; he traveled over America and Europe, and the public and private collections of France and England were liberally opened to him. He has sought out, and brought together from all quarters, the documents necessary to illustrate and complete this authentic biography of a great man, which is the history of the infant years of a great people; and a work in twelve large octavo volumes, adorned with portraits, plates, and fac-similes, under the title of "The Writings of George Washington," has been the result of this labor, which has been performed in all its parts with scrupulous fidelity, patriotism, and a love of the subject. The work is divided into several parts. The First Volume contains a Life of Washington, written by Mr. Sparks. The Second Volume, entitled Part First, contains the Official and Private Letters of Washington, prior to the American Revolution, (from the 9th of March, 1754, to the 31st of May, 1775). The official letters relate to the war of 1754-1758, between France and England, for the possession of the territories lying west of the English colonies. {ix} The Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Volumes (being the Second Part) comprise the Correspondence and the various papers relating to the American Revolution and the War of Independence, (from the 16th of June, 1775, to the 23d of December, 1783). The Ninth Volume (being the Third Fart) is composed of the Private Letters written by Washington from the end of 1783 to the spring of 1789, in the interval between his return to Mount Vernon, after the peace of Versailles, and his elevation to the Presidency of the United States, (from the 28th of December, 1783, to the 14th of April, 1789). The Tenth and Eleventh Volumes (being the Fourth Part) comprise the Official and Private Correspondence of Washington from his elevation to the Presidency to the close of his life, (from the 5th of May, 1789, to the 12th of December, 1799). The Twelfth Volume (being the Fifth Part), contains the Documents and Messages addressed by Washington to Congress, as President of the United States, and also his Proclamations and Addresses to the American people in general, or to particular classes of citizens. {x} Each volume is terminated by an Appendix, in which the Editor has collected a variety of historical documents of great interest, and, generally speaking, hitherto unpublished, which illustrate the principal events of the period, and the most important parts of the life and character of Washington. Finally, numerous and accurate Notes, scattered through the work, give all the information necessary for the complete understanding of the letters and incidents to which they relate. Viewed as a whole and in its details, in its literary execution and in its outward form, the edition is worthy of the great name to which it is consecrated. In 1838, when the work had been just completed, the American Editor, desirous that Washington should be as well known in France as in his own country, applied to M. Guizot, requesting him to make a selection, from the voluminous correspondence, of such portions as seemed most calculated to awaken an interest in the French public, and to superintend their publication in the French language. M. Guizot has made this selection; upon the principle of taking, especially, First, the letters concerning the relations of France and the United States at that period, and the distinguished part which our country acted in that great event; Secondly, those which develope the political views of Washington in the formation of the constitution and the organization of the government of the United States,views full of valuable instruction; Thirdly, those which exhibit in the clearest light the character, the turn of mind, and the manners of the great man from whom they proceeded. {xi} In order to accomplish fully the honorable task which he undertook, M. Guizot was desirous of presenting his own views of the character of Washington, and of his influence in the revolution which founded the United States of America; and these are contained in the Introduction, which is prefixed to our edition. We have spared no pains to make its external appearance worthy of the intrinsic value of its contents. We are indebted to the kindness of General Cass, the minister of the United States in France, for most useful assistance and information; and he has afforded them with a kindness, at once so enlightened and so generous, that we feel it our duty to make a public acknowledgment of our obligations to him. {xii} {13} Character And Influence of Washington. Two difficult and important duties are assigned to man, and may constitute his true glory: to support misfortune and resign himself to it with firmness; to believe in goodness and trust himself to it with unbroken confidence. There is a spectacle not less noble or less improving, than that of a virtuous man struggling with adversity; it is that of a virtuous man at the head of a good cause, and giving assurance of its triumph. If there were ever a just cause, and one which deserved success, it was that of the English colonies in their struggle to become the United States of America. {14} In their case, open insurrection had been preceded by resistance. This resistance was founded upon historical right and upon facts, upon natural right and upon opinions. It is the honorable distinction of England to have given to her colonies, in their infancy, the seminal principle of their liberty. Almost all of them, either at the time of their being planted or shortly after, received charters which conferred upon the colonists the rights of the mother country. And these charters were not a mere deceptive form, a dead letter, for they either established or recognized those powerful institutions, which impelled the colonists to defend their liberties and to control power by dividing it; such as the laying of taxes by vote, the election of the principal public bodies, trial by jury, and the right to meet and deliberate upon affairs of general interest. Thus the history of these colonies is nothing else than the practical and sedulous development of the spirit of liberty, expanding under the protecting influence of the laws and traditions of the country. Such, indeed, was the history of England itself. {15} A Still more striking resemblance is presented in the fact, that the colonies of America, at least the greater part of them and the most considerable among them, either were founded, or received their principal increase, precisely at the period when England was preparing to sustain, or was already sustaining, those bold conflicts against the claims of absolute power, which were to confer upon her the honorable distinction of giving to the world the first example of a great nation, free and well governed. From 1578 to 1704, under Elizabeth, James the First, Charles the First, the Long Parliament, Cromwell, Charles the Second, James the Second, William the Third, and Queen Anne, the charters of Virginia, of Massachusetts, of Maryland, of Carolina, and of New York, were, one after another, recognized, contested, restrained, enlarged, lost, regained; incessantly exposed to those struggles and those vicissitudes, which are the condition, indeed the very essence, of liberty; for it is victory, and not peace, that free communities can lay claim to. {16} At the same time with their legal rights, the colonists had also religious faith. It was not only as Englishmen, but as Christians, that they wished to be free; and their faith was more dear to them than their charters. Indeed, these charters were, in their eyes, nothing more than a manifestation and an image, however imperfect, of the great law of God, the Gospel. Their rights would not have been lost, even had they been deprived of their charters. In their enthusiastic state of mind, supported by divine favor, they would have traced these rights to a source superior and inaccessible to all human power; for they cherished sentiments more elevated than even the institutions themselves, over which they were so sensitively watchful. It is well known, that, in the eighteenth century, the human understanding, impelled by the accumulation of wealth, the growth of population, and the increase of every form of social power, as well as by its own impetuous and self-derived activity, attempted the conquest of the world. Political science, in all its forms, woke into new and vigorous life; as did, to a still greater degree, the spirit of philosophy, proud, unsatisfied, eager to penetrate and to regulate all things. {17} English America shared in this great movement, but serenely and dispassionately; obeying its inherent tendency rather than rushing into new and untried paths. Philosophical opinions were there combined with religious belief, the triumphs of reason with the heritage of faith, and the rights of man with those of the Christian. A noble spectacle is presented to us, when we see the union of historical and rational right, of traditions and opinions. A nation, in such a case, gains in prudence as well as in energy. When time-honored and esteemed truths control man without enslaving him, restrain at the same time that they support him, he can move onward and upward, without danger of being carried away by the impetuous flight of his own spirit, soon to be either dashed in pieces against unknown obstacles, or to sink gradually into a sluggish and paralyzing inactivity. {18} And when, by a further union, still more beautiful and more salutary, religious belief is indissolubly linked, in the very mind of man, to the general progress of opinions, and liberty of reason to the firm convictions of faith,--it is then that a people may trust themselves to the boldest institutions. For religious belief promotes, to an incalculable extent, the wise management of human affairs. In order to discharge properly the duty assigned to him in this life, man must contemplate it from a higher point of view; if his mind be merely on the same level with the task he is performing, he will soon fall below it, and become incapable of accomplishing it in a worthy manner. Such was the fortunate condition, both of man and of society, in the English colonies, when, in a spirit of haughty aggression, England undertook to control their fortunes and their destiny, without their own consent. This aggression was not unprecedented, nor altogether arbitrary; it also rested upon historical foundations, and might claim to be supported by some right. {19} It is the great problem of political science, to bring the various powers of society into harmony, by assigning to each its sphere and its degree of activity; a harmony never assured, and always liable to be disturbed, but which, nevertheless, can be produced, even from the elements of the struggle itself, to that degree which the public safety imperatively demands. It is not the privilege of states in their infancy to accomplish this result. Not that any essential power is in them absolutely disregarded and annihilated; on the contrary, all powers are found in full activity; but they manifest themselves in a confused manner, each one in its own behalf, without necessary connexion or any just proportion, and in a way to bring on, not the struggle which leads to harmony, but the disorder which renders war inevitable. In the infancy of the English colonies, three different powers are found, side by side with their liberties, and consecrated by the same charters,the crown, the proprietary founders, whether companies or individuals, and the mother country. The crown, by virtue of the monarchical principle, and with its traditions, derived from the Church and the Empire. The proprietary founders, to whom the territory had been granted, by virtue of the feudal principle, which attaches a considerable portion of sovereignty to the proprietorship of the soil. {20} The mother country, by virtue of the colonial principle, which, at all periods and among all nations, by a natural connexion between facts and opinions, has given to the mother country a great influence over the population proceeding from its bosom. From the very commencement, as well in the course of events as in the charters, there was great confusion among these various powers, by turns exalted or depressed, united or divided, sometimes protecting, one against another, the colonists and their franchises, and sometimes assailing them in concert. In the course of these confused changes, all sorts of pretexts were assumed, and facts of all kinds cited, in justification and support either of their acts or their pretensions. In the middle of the seventeenth century, when the monarchical principle was overthrown in England in the person of Charles the First, one might be led to suppose, for a moment, that the colonies would take advantage of this to free themselves entirely from its control. {21} In point of fact, some of them, Massachusetts especially, settled by stern Puritans, showed themselves disposed, if not to break every tie which bound them to the mother country, at least to govern themselves, alone, and by their own laws. But the Long Parliament, by force of the colonial principle, and in virtue of the rights of the crown which it inherited, maintained, with moderation, the supremacy of Great Britain. Cromwell, succeeding to the power of the Long Parliament, exercised it in a more striking manner, and, by a judicious and resolute principle of protection, prevented or repressed, in the colonies, both royalist and Puritan, every faint aspiration for independence. This was to him an easy task. The colonies, at this period, were feeble and divided. Virginia, in 1640, did not contain more than three or four thousand inhabitants, and in 1660 hardly thirty thousand. [Footnote 2] [Footnote 2: Marshall's Life of Washington, edition of 1805, Vol. I. p. 76. Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. I. pp. 210, 232, 265.] {22} Maryland had at most only twelve thousand. In these two provinces the royalist party had the ascendency, and greeted with joy the Restoration. In Massachusetts, on the other hand, the general feeling was republican; the fugitive regicides, Goffe and Whalley, found there favor and protection; and when the local government were compelled to proclaim Charles the Second as king, they forbade, at the same time, all tumultuous assemblies, all kinds of merry-making, and even the drinking of the King's health. There was, at that time, neither the moral unity, nor the physical strength, necessary to the foundation of a state. After 1688, when England was finally in possession of a free government, the colonies felt but slightly its advantages. The charters, which Charles the Second and James the Second had either taken away or impaired, were but imperfectly and partially restored to them. The same confusion prevailed, the same struggles arose between the different powers. The greater part of the governors, coming from Europe, temporarily invested with the prerogatives and pretensions of royalty, displayed them with more arrogance than power, in an administration, generally speaking, inconsistent, irritating, seldom successful, frequently marked by grasping selfishness, and a postponement of the interests of the public to petty personal quarrels. {23} Moreover, it was henceforth not the crown alone, but the crown and the mother country united, with which the colonies had to deal. Their real sovereign was no longer the king, but the king and the people of Great Britain, represented and mingled together in Parliament. And the Parliament regarded the colonies with nearly the same eyes, and held, in respect to them, nearly the same language, as had lately been used towards the Parliament itself, by those kings whom it afterwards overcame. An aristocratic senate is the most intractable of masters. Every member of it possesses the supreme power, and no one is responsible for its exercise. In the mean time, the colonies were rapidly increasing in population, in wealth, in strength internally, and in importance externally. Instead of a few obscure establishments, solely occupied with their own affairs, and hardly able to sustain their own existence, a people was now forming itself, whose agriculture, commerce, enterprising spirit, and relative position to other states, were giving them a place and consideration among men. {24} The mother country, unable to govern them well, had neither the leisure nor the ill will to oppress them absolutely. She vexed and annoyed them without checking their growth. And the minds of men were expanded, and their hearts elevated, with the growing fortunes of the country. By an admirable law of Providence, there is a mysterious connexion between the general condition of a country, and the state of feeling among the citizens; a certain, though not obvious, bond of union, which connects their growth and their destinies, and which makes the farmer in his fields, the merchant in his counting-room, even the mechanic in his workshop, grow more confident and high-spirited, in proportion as the society, in whose bosom they dwell, is enlarged and strengthened. As early as 1692, the General Court of Massachusetts passed a resolution, "that no tax should be levied upon his Majesty's subjects in the colonies, without the consent of the Governor and Council, and the representatives in General Court assembled." [Footnote 3] [Footnote 3: Story's Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol. I. p. 62.] {25} In 1704, the legislative assembly of New York made a similar declaration. [Footnote 4] [Footnote 4: Marshall's Life of Washington, Vol. II. p. 17.] The government of Great Britain repelled them, sometimes by its silence, and sometimes by its measures, which were always a little indirect and reserved. The colonists were often silent in their turn, and did not insist upon carrying out their principles to their extreme consequences. But the principles themselves were spreading among the colonial society, at the same time that the resources were increasing, which were destined, at a future day to be devoted to their service, and to insure their triumph. Thus, when that day arrived, when George the Third and his Parliament, rather in a spirit of pride, and to prevent the loss of absolute power by long disuse, than to derive any advantage from its exercise, undertook to tax the colonies without their consent, a powerful, numerous, and enthusiastic party,the national party,immediately sprang into being, ready to resist, in the name of right and of national honor. {26} It was indeed a question of right and of honor, and not of interest or physical well-being. The taxes were light, and imposed no burden upon the colonists. But they belonged to that class of men who feel most keenly the wrongs which affect the mind alone, and who can find no repose while honor is unsatisfied. "For, Sir, what is it we are contending against? Is it against paying the duty of three pence per pound on tea, because burdensome? No; it is the right only, that we have all along disputed." [Footnote 5] Such was, at the commencement of the quarrel, the language of Washington himself, and such was the public sentimenta sentiment founded in sound policy, as well as moral sense, and manifesting as much judgment as virtue. [Footnote 5: Washington to Bryan Fairfax. Washington's Writings, Vol. II. p. 392.] {27} An instructive spectacle is presented to our contemplation, in the number of public associations, which at that time were formed in the colonies;associations, local or general, accidental or permanent; chambers of burgesses and of representatives, conventions, committees, and congresses. Men of very different characters and dispositions there met together; some, full of respect and attachment to the mother country, others, ardently devoted to that American country which was growing up under their eyes and by the labor of their own hands; the former, anxious and dejected, the latter, confident and enthusiastic, but all moved and united by the same elevated sentiment, and the same resolution to resist; giving the freest utterance to their various views and opinions, without its producing any deep or permanent division; on the contrary, respecting in each other the rights of freedom, discussing together the great question of the country with that conscientious purpose, that spirit of justice and discretion, which gave them assurance of success, and diminished the cost of its purchase. In June 1775, the first Congress, assembled at Philadelphia, took measures for the publication of a solemn declaration, for the purpose of justifying the taking up of arms. {28} Two members, one from Virginia, and one from Pennsylvania, were a part of the committee charged with the duty of drawing it up. "I prepared," relates Mr. Jefferson himself, "a draft of the declaration committed to us. It was too strong for Mr. Dickinson. He still retained the hope of reconciliation with the mother country, and was unwilling it should be lessened by offensive statements. He was so honest a man, and so able a one, that he was greatly indulged, even by those who could not feel his scruples. We therefore requested him to take the paper, and put it into a form he could approve. He did so; preparing an entire new statement, and preserving of the former only the last four paragraphs, and half of the preceding one. We approved and reported it to Congress, who accepted it. Congress gave a signal proof of their indulgence to Mr. Dickinson, and of their great desire not to go too fast for any respectable part of our body, in permitting him to draw their second petition to the King according to his own ideas, and passing it with scarcely an amendment. {29} The disgust against its humility was general; and Mr. Dickinson's delight at its passage was the only circumstance that reconciled them to it. The vote being passed, although further observation on it was out of order, he could not refrain from rising and expressing his satisfaction, and concluded by saying, 'There is but one word, Mr. President, in the paper, which I disapprove, and that is the word Congress;' on which Benjamin Harrison rose and said, 'There is but one word in the paper, Mr. President, of which I approve, and that is the word Congress.'" [Footnote 6] [Footnote 6: Jefferson's Memoirs, Vol. I. pp. 9, 10.] Such a unanimity of feeling in the midst of so much liberty was not a short-lived wisdom, the happy influence of the first burst of enthusiasm. During the period of nearly ten years, which the great contest occupied, men the most unlike, who were ranked under the banners of the same national party, young and old, enthusiastic and calm, continued to act thus in concert, one portion being sufficiently wise, and the other sufficiently firm, to prevent a rupture. And when, forty-six years afterwards, [Footnote 7] after having taken part in the violent struggle between the parties which American liberty gave birth to, himself the head of the victorious party, Mr. Jefferson called up anew the recollections of his youth, we may be sure, that it was not without mingled emotions o ......Buy Now (To Read More)

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Ebook Number: 60668
Author: Guizot, François
Release Date: Nov 11, 2019
Format: eBook
Language: English

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Translator: Hillard, George Stillman, 1808-1879