Albert Beveridge - The Life of John Marshall (Volume 2 of 4)

But Washington's letter was already on the way, asking Marshall to undertake this delicate task: —

"In confidence I inform you," wrote Washington to Marshall, "that it has become indispensably necessary to recall our minister at Paris & to send one in his place, who will explain faithfully the views of this government & ascertain those of France.

"Nothing would be more pleasing to me than that you should be this organ, if it were only for a temporary absence of a few months; but it being feared that even this could not be made to comport with your present pursuits, I have in order that as little delay as possible may be incurred put the enclosed letter [to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney] under cover to be forwarded to its address, if you decline the present offer or to be returned to me if you accept it. Your own correct knowledge of circumstances renders details unnecessary." 410 410 Washington to Marshall, July 8, 1796; Washington MSS., Lib. Cong.

Marshall at once declined this now high distinction and weighty service, as he had already refused the United States district attorneyship and a place in Washington's Cabinet. Without a moment's delay, he wrote the President: —

"I will not attempt to express those sensations which your letter of the 8th instant has increased. Was it possible for me in the present crisis of my affairs to leave the United States, such is my conviction of the importance of that duty which you would confide to me, &, pardon me if I add, of the fidelity with which I shoud attempt to perform it, that I woud certainly forego any consideration not decisive with respect to my future fortunes, & woud surmount that just diffidence I have entertain dof myself, to make one effort to convey truly & faithfully to the government of France those sentiments which I have ever believed to be entertained by that of the United States.

"I have forwarded your letter to Mr. Pinckney. The recall of our minister at Paris has been conjectured while its probable necessity has been regretted by those who love more than all others, our own country. I will certainly do myself the honor of waiting on you at Mt. Vernon." 411 411 Marshall to Washington, July 11, 1796; ib.

Washington, although anticipating Marshall's refusal of the French mission, promptly answered: "I … regret that present circumstances should deprive our Country of the services, which, I am confident, your going to France would have rendered it"; and Washington asks Marshall's opinion on the proper person to appoint to the office of Surveyor-General. 412 412 Washington to Marshall, July 15, 1796; Washington's Private Letter Book; MS., Lib. Cong.

The President's letter, offering the French post to Pinckney, was lost in the mails; and the President wrote Marshall about it, because it also enclosed a note "containing three bank bills for one hundred dollars each for the sufferers by fire in Charlestown." 413 413 Washington to Marshall, Oct. 10, 1796; ib. In answer, Marshall indulged in a flash of humor, even at Washington's expense. "Your letter to General Pinckney was delivered by myself to the post master on the night on which I received it and was, as he says, immediately forwarded by him. Its loss is the more remarkable, as it could not have been opened from a hope that it contained bank notes." He also expressed his gratification "that a gentleman of General Pinckney's character will represent our government at the court of France." 414 414 Marshall to Washington, Oct. 12, 1796; Washington MSS., Lib. Cong.

The office of Secretary of State now became vacant, under circumstances apparently forbidding. The interception of Fauchet's 415 415 Genêt's successor as French Minister to the United States. famous dispatch number 10 416 416 Interesting State Papers , 48 et seq. had been fatal to Randolph. The French Minister, in this communication to his Government, portrays a frightful state of corrupt public thinking in America; ascribes this to the measures of Washington's Administration; avows that a revolution is imminent; declares that powerful men, "all having without doubt" Randolph at their head, are balancing to decide on their party; asserts that Randolph approached him with suggestions for money; and concludes: —

"Thus with some thousands of dollars the [French] republic could have decided on civil war or on peace [in America]! Thus the consciences of the pretended patriots of America have already their prices!.. What will be the old age of this [American] government, if it is thus early decrepid!" 417 417 Interesting State Papers , 55.

The discovery of this dispatch of the French Minister destroyed Randolph politically. Washington immediately forced his resignation. 418 418 For able defense of Randolph see Conway, chap. xxiii; but contra , see Gibbs, i, chap. ix.

The President had great difficulty in finding a suitable successor to the deposed Secretary of State. He tendered the office to five men, all of whom declined. 419 419 Patterson of New Jersey, Johnson of Maryland, C. C. Pinckney of South Carolina, Patrick Henry of Virginia, and Rufus King of New York. (Washington to Hamilton, Oct. 29, 1795; Writings : Ford, xiii, 129-30.) King declined because of the abuse heaped upon public officers. (Hamilton to Washington, Nov. 5, 1795; ib. , footnote to 130.) "What am I to do for a Secretary of State?" he asks Hamilton; and after recounting his fruitless efforts to fill that office the President adds that "Mr. Marshall, of Virginia, has declined the office of Attorney General, and I am pretty certain, would accept of no other." 420 420 Washington to Hamilton, Oct. 29, 1795; Writings : Ford, xiii, 131. It is thus made clear that Washington would have made Marshall the head of his Cabinet in 1795 but for the certainty that his Virginia champion would refuse the place, as he had declined other posts of honor and power.

Hardly had the Virginia Legislature adjourned when the conflict over the treaty was renewed in Congress. The Republicans had captured the House of Representatives and were full of fight. They worked the mechanism of public meetings and petitions to its utmost. On March 7 the House plunged into a swirl of debate over the British treaty; time and again it seemed as though the House would strangle the compact by withholding appropriations to make it effective. 421 421 For debate see Annals , 4th Cong., 1st Sess., 423-1291. If the treaty was to be saved, all possible pressure must be brought to bear on Congress. So the Federalists took a leaf out of the book of Republican tactics, and got up meetings wherever they could to petition Congress to grant the necessary money.

In Virginia, as elsewhere, the merchants were the principal force in arranging these meetings. 422 422 Carrington to Washington, May 9, 1796; MS., Lib. Cong. As we have seen, the business and financial interests had from the first been the stanchest supporters of Washington's Administration. "The commercial and monied people are zealously attached to" and support the Government, wrote Wolcott in 1791. 423 423 Oliver Wolcott to his father, Feb. 12, 1791; Gibbs, i, 62. And now Hamilton advised King that "men of business of all descriptions" thought the defeat of the treaty "would greatly shock and stagnate pecuniary plans and operations in general." 424 424 Hamilton to King, June 20, 1795; Works : Lodge, x, 103. Indeed, the one virtue of the treaty, aside from its greatest purpose, that of avoiding war, was that it prevented the collapse of credit and the wreck of Hamilton's financial system.

Washington, with the deceptive hopefulness of responsibility, had, even when it seemed that the people were as one man against the treaty, "doubted much whether the great body of the yeomanry have formed any opinions on the subject." 425 425 Washington to Knox, Sept. 20, 1795; Writings : Ford, xiii, 105-06. The Federalist meetings were designed to show that the "yeomanry," having been "educated," had at last made up its mind in favor of Washington's policy.