My dearest life, continue to write to me, as my heart clings with delight only to what comes from you. (Marshall to his wife.)He is a plain man, very sensible and cautious. (Adams.)Our poor insulted country has not before it the most flattering prospects. (Marshall at Antwerp.)
My dearest life, continue to write to me, as my heart clings with delight only to what comes from you. (Marshall to his wife.)
He is a plain man, very sensible and cautious. (Adams.)
Our poor insulted country has not before it the most flattering prospects. (Marshall at Antwerp.)
"PhiladelphiaJuly 2nd1797.
"My dearest Polly
"I am here after a passage up the bay from Baltimore.... I dined on saturday in private with the President whom I found a sensible plain candid good tempered man & was consequently much pleased with him. I am not certain when I shall sail.... So you ... my dearest life continue to write to me as your letters will follow me should I be gone before their arrival & as my heart clings with real pleasure & delight only to what comes from you. I was on friday evening at the faux hall of Philadelphia.... The amusements were walking, sitting, punch ice cream etc Music & conversation.... Thus my dearest Polly do I when not engaged in the very serious business which employs a large portion of my time endeavor by a-[muse]ments to preserve a mind at ease & [keep] it from brooding too much over my much loved & absent wife. By all that is dear on earth, I entreat you to do the same, for separation will not I trust be long & letters do everything to draw its sting. I am my dearest life your affectionate
"J Marshall."[549]
FIRST PAGE OF A LETTER FROM JOHN MARSHALL TO HIS WIFEFIRST PAGE OF A LETTER FROM JOHN MARSHALL TO HIS WIFE(Facsimile)
So wrote John Marshall at the first stage of his journey upon that critical diplomatic mission which was to prove the most dramatic in our history and which was to be the turning-point in Marshall's life. From the time when Mary Ambler became his bride in 1783, Marshall had never been farther away from his Richmond home than Philadelphia, to which city he had made three flying visits in 1796, one to argue the British Debts case, the other two to see Robert Morris on the Fairfax deal and to hasten the decision of the Supreme Court in that controversy.
But now Marshall was to cross the ocean as one of the American envoys to "the terrible Republic" whose "power and vengeance" everybody dreaded.[550]He was to go to that now arrogant Paris whose streets were resounding with the shouts of French victories. It was the first and the last trans-Atlantic voyage Marshall ever undertook; and although he was to sail into a murky horizon to grapple with vast difficulties and unknown dangers, yet the mind of the home-loving Virginian dwelt more on his Richmond fireside than on the duties and hazards before him.
Three days after his arrival at Philadelphia, impressionable as a boy, he again writes to his wife: "My dearest Polly I have been extremely chagrined at not having yet received a letter from you. I hope you are well as I hear nothing indicating the contrary but you know not how solicitous how anxiously solicitous I am to hear it from yourself. Write me thatyou are well & in good spirits & I shall set out on my voyage with a lightened heart ... you will hear from me more than once before my departure."
The Virginia envoy was much courted at Philadelphia before he sailed. "I dined yesterday," Marshall tells his wife, "in a very large company of Senators & members of the house of representatives who met to celebrate the 4th of July. The company was really a most respectable one & I experienced from them the most flattering attention. I have much reason to be satisfied & pleased with the manner in which I am received here." But flattery did not soothe Marshall—"Something is wanting to make me happy," he tells his "dearest Polly." "Had I my dearest wife with me I should be delighted indeed."[551]
Washington had sent letters in Marshall's care to acquaintances in France commending him to their attention and good offices; and the retired President wrote Marshall himself a letter of hearty good wishes. "Receive sir," replies Marshall, "my warm & grateful acknowledgments for the polite &, allow me to add, friendly wishes which you express concerning myself as well as for the honor of being mentioned in your letters."[552]
A less composed man, totally unpracticed as Marshall was in diplomatic usages, when embarking on an adventure involving war or peace, would have occupied himself constantly in preparing for the vast business before him. Not so Marshall. While waitingfor his ship, he indulged his love of the theater. Again he tells his wife how much he misses her. "I cannot avoid writing to you because while doing so I seem to myself to be in some distant degree enjoying your company. I was last night at the play & saw the celebrated Mrs. Mary in the character of Juliet. She performs that part to admiration indeed but I really do not think Mrs. Westig is far her inferior in it. I saw," gossips Marshall, "Mrs. Heyward there. I have paid that lady one visit to one of the most delightful & romantic spots on the river Schuylkil.... She expressed much pleasure to see me & has pressed me very much to repeat my visit. I hope I shall not have time to do so."
Marshall is already bored with the social life of Philadelphia. "I am beyond expression impatient to set out on the embassy," he informs his wife. "The life I lead here does not suit me I am weary of it I dine out every day & am now engaged longer I hope than I shall stay. This dissipated life does not long suit my temper. I like it very well for a day or two but I begin to require a frugal repast with good cold water"—There was too much wine, it would seem, at Philadelphia to suit Marshall.
"I would give a great deal to dine with you to day on a piece of cold meat with our boys beside us to see Little Mary running backwards & forwards over the floor playing the sweet little tricks she [is] full of.... I wish to Heaven the time which must intervene before I can repass these delightful scenes was now terminated & that we were looking back on our separation instead of seeing it before us. Farewell my dearest Polly. Make yourself happy & you will bless your ever affectionate
"J. Marshall."[553]
If Marshall was pleased with Adams, the President was equally impressed with his Virginia envoy to France. "He [Marshall] is a plain man very sensible, cautious, guarded, and learned in the law of nations.[554]I think you will be pleased with him,"[555]Adams writes Gerry, who was to be Marshall's associate and whose capacity for the task even his intimate personal friend, the President, already distrusted. Hamilton was also in Philadelphia at the time[556]—a circumstance which may or may not have been significant. It was, however, the first time, so far as definite evidence attests, that these men had met since they had been comrades and fellow officers in the Revolution.
The "Aurora," the leading Republican newspaper, was mildly sarcastic over Marshall's ignorance of the French language and general lack of equipment for his diplomatic task. "Mr. Marshall, one of our extra envoys to France, will be eminently qualified for the mission by the time he reaches that country," says the "Aurora." Some official of great legal learning was coaching Marshall, it seems, and advised him to read certain monarchical books on the old France and on the fate of the ancient republics.
The "Aurora" asks "whether some history of France since the overthrow of the Monarchy would not have been more instructive to Mr. Marshall. The Envoy, however," continues the "Aurora," "approved the choice of his sagacious friend, but very shrewdly observed 'that he must first purchase Chambaud's grammar, English and French.' We understand that he is a very apt scholar, and no doubt, during the passage, he will be able to acquire enough of the French jargon for all the purposes of the embassy."[557]
Having received thirty-five hundred dollars for his expenses,[558]Marshall set sail on the brig Grace for Amsterdam where Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, the expelled American Minister to France and head of the mission, awaited him. As the land faded, Marshall wrote, like any love-sick youth, another letter to his wife which he sent back by the pilot.
"The land is just escaping from my view," writes Marshall to his "dearest Polly"; "the pilot is about to leave us & I hasten from the deck into the cabin once more to give myself the sweet indulgence of writing to you.... There has been so little wind that we are not yet entirely out of the bay. It is so wide however that the land has the appearance of a light blue cloud on the surface of the water & we shall very soon lose it entirely."
Marshall assures his wife that his "cabin is neat & clean. My berth a commodious one in which Ihave my own bed & sheets of which I have a plenty so that I lodge as conveniently as I could do in any place whatever & I find I sleep very soundly altho on water." He is careful to say that he has plenty of creature comforts. "We have for the voyage, the greatest plenty of salt provisions live stock & poultry & as we lay in our own liquors I have taken care to provide myself with a plenty of excellent porter wine & brandy. The Captain is one of the most obliging men in the world & the vessel is said by every body to be a very fine one."
There were passengers, too, who suited Marshall's sociable disposition and who were "well disposed to make the voyage agreeable.... I have then my dearest Polly every prospect before me of a passage such as I could wish in every respect but one ... fear of a lengthy passage. We have met in the bay several vessels. One from Liverpool had been at sea nine weeks, & the others from other places had been proportionately long.... I shall be extremely impatient to hear from you & our dear children."
Marshall tells his wife how to direct her letters to him, "some ... by the way of London to the care of Rufus King esquire our Minister there, some by the way of Amsterdam or the Hague to the care of William Vanns [sic] Murr[a]y esquire our Minister at the Hague & perhaps some directed to me as Envoy extraordinary of the United States to the French Republic at Paris.
"Do not I entreat you omit to write. Some of your letters may miscarry but some will reach me & my heart can feel till my return no pleasure comparable to what will be given it by a line from you telling me that all remains well. Farewell my dearest wife. Your happiness will ever be the first prayer of your unceasingly affectionate
"J. Marshall."[559]
So fared forth John Marshall upon the adventure which was to open the door to that historic career that lay just beyond it; and force him, against his will and his life's plans, to pass through it. But for this French mission, it is certain that Marshall's life would have been devoted to his law practice and his private affairs. He now was sailing to meet the ablest and most cunning diplomatic mind in the contemporary world whose talents, however, were as yet known to but few; and to face the most venal and ruthless governing body of any which then directed the affairs of the nations of Europe. Unguessed and unexpected by the kindly, naïve, and inexperienced Richmond lawyer were the scenes about to unroll before him; and the manner of his meeting the emergencies so soon to confront him was the passing of the great divide in his destiny.
Even had the French rulers been perfectly honest and simple men, the American envoys would have had no easy task. For American-French affairs were sadly tangled and involved. Gouverneur Morris, our first Minister to France under the Constitution, had made himself unwelcome to the French Revolutionists; and to placate the authorities then reigning in Paris, Washington had recalled Morris and appointedMonroe in his place "after several attempts had failed to obtain a more eligible character."[560]
Monroe, a partisan of the Revolutionists, had begun his mission with theatrical blunders; and these he continued until his recall,[561]when he climaxed his imprudent conduct by his attack on Washington.[562]During most of his mission Monroe was under the influence of Thomas Paine,[563]who had then become the venomous enemy of Washington.
Monroe had refused to receive from his fellow Minister to England, John Jay, "confidential informal statements" as to the British treaty which Jay prudently had sent him by word of mouth only. When the Jay Treaty itself arrived, Monroepublicly denounced the treaty as "shameful,"[564]a grave indiscretion in the diplomatic representative of the Government that had negotiated the offending compact.
Finally Monroe was recalled and Washington, after having offered the French mission to John Marshall, appointed Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina as his successor. The French Revolutionary authorities had bitterly resented the Jay compact, accused the American Government of violating its treaty with France, denounced the United States for ingratitude, and abused it for undue friendship to Great Britain.
In all this the French Directory had been and still was backed up by the Republicans in the United States, who, long before this, had become a distinctly French party. Thomas Paine understated the case when he described "the Republican party in the United States" as "that party which is the sincere ally of France."[565]
The French Republic was showing its resentment by encouraging a piratical warfare by French privateers upon American commerce. Indeed, vessels of the French Government joined in these depredations. In this way, it thought to frighten the United States into taking the armed side of France against Great Britain. The French Republic was emulating the recent outrages of that Power; and, except thatthe French did not impress Americans into their service, as the British had done, their Government was furnishing to America the same cause for war that Great Britain had so brutally afforded.
In less than a year and a half before Marshall sailed from Philadelphia, more than three hundred and forty American vessels had been taken by French privateers.[566]Over fifty-five million dollars' worth of American property had been destroyed or confiscated under the decrees of the Directory.[567]American seamen, captured on the high seas, had been beaten and imprisoned. The officers and crew of a French armed brig tortured Captain Walker, of the American ship Cincinnatus, four hours by thumbscrews.[568]
When Monroe learned that Pinckney had been appointed to succeed him, he began a course of insinuations to his French friends against his successor; branded Pinckney as an "aristocrat"; and thus sowed the seeds for the insulting treatment the latter received upon his appearance at the French Capital.[569]Upon Pinckney's arrival, the French Directory refused to receive him, threatened him with arrest by the Paris police, and finally ordered the new American Minister out of the territory of the Republic.[570]
To emphasize this affront, the Directory made a great ado over the departure of Monroe, who responded with a characteristic address. To this speech Barras, then President of the Directory, replied in a harangue insulting to the American Government; it was, indeed, an open appeal to the American people to repudiate their own Administration,[571]of the same character as, and no less offensive than, the verbal performances of Genêt.
And still the outrages of French privateers on American ships continued with increasing fury.[572]The news of Pinckney's treatment and the speech of Barras reached America after Adams's inauguration. The President promptly called Congress into a special session and delivered to the National Legislature an address in which Adams appears at his best.
The "refusal [by the Directory] ... to receive him [Pinckney] until we had acceded to their demands without discussion and without investigation, is to treat us neither as allies nor as friends, nor as a sovereign state," said the President; who continued:—
"The speech of the President [Barras] discloses sentiments more alarming than the refusal of a minister [Pinckney], because more dangerous to our independence and union....
"It evinces a disposition to separate the people of the United States from the government, to persuade them that they have different affections, principles and interests from those of their fellow citizens whom they themselves have chosen to manage their common concerns and thus to produce divisions fatal to our peace.
"Such attempts ought to be repelled with a decision which shall convince France and the world that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable instruments of foreign influence, and regardless of national honor, character, and interest.
"I should have been happy to have thrown a veil over these transactions if it had been possible to conceal them; but they have passed on the great theatre of the world, in the face of all Europe and America, and with such circumstances of publicity and solemnity that they cannot be disguised and will not soon be forgotten. They have inflicted a wound in the American breast. It is my sincere desire, however, that it may be healed."
Nevertheless, so anxious was President Adams for peace that he informed Congress: "I shall institute a fresh attempt at negotiation.... If we have committed errors, and these can be demonstrated, we shall be willing to correct them; if we have done injuries, we shall be willing on conviction to redress them; and equal measures of justice we have a right to expect from France and every other nation."[573]
Adams took this wise action against the judgment of the Federalist leaders,[574]who thought that, since the outrages upon American commerce had beencommitted by France and the formal insult to our Minister had been perpetrated by France, the advances should come from the offending Government. Technically, they were right; practically, they were wrong. Adams's action was sound as well as noble statesmanship.
Thus came about the extraordinary mission, of which Marshall was a member, to adjust our differences with the French Republic. The President had taken great care in selecting the envoys. He had considered Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison,[575]for this delicate and fateful business; but the two latter, for reasons of practical politics, would not serve, and without one of them, Hamilton's appointment was impossible. Pinckney, waiting at Amsterdam, was, of course, to head the commission. Finally Adams's choice fell on John Marshall of Virginia and Francis Dana, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts; and these nominations were confirmed by the Senate.[576]
But Dana declined,[577]and, against the unanimous advice of his Cabinet,[578]Adams then nominated Elbridge Gerry, who, though a Republican, had, on account of their personal relations, voted for Adams for President, apologizing, however, most humbly to Jefferson for having done so.[579]
No appointment could have better pleased that unrivaled politician. Gerry was in general agreement with Jefferson and was, temperamentally, an easy instrument for craft to play upon. When Gerry hesitated to accept, Jefferson wrote his "dear friend" that "it was with infinite joy to me that you were yesterday announced to the Senate" as one of the envoys; and he pleaded with Gerry to undertake the mission.[580]
The leaders of the President's party in Congress greatly deplored the selection of Gerry. "No appointment could ... have been more injudicious," declared Sedgwick.[581]"If, sir, it was a desirable thing to distract the mission, a fitter person could not, perhaps, be found. It is ten to one against his agreeing with his colleagues," the Secretary of War advised the President.[582]Indeed, Adams himself was uneasy about Gerry, and in a prophetic letter sought to forestall the very indiscretions which the latter afterwards committed.
PART OF LETTER OF JULY 17, 1797, FROM JOHN ADAMS TO ELBRIDGE GERRY DESCRIBING JOHN MARSHALLPART OF LETTER OF JULY 17, 1797, FROM JOHN ADAMS TO ELBRIDGE GERRY DESCRIBING JOHN MARSHALL(Facsimile)
"There is the utmost necessity for harmony, complaisance, and condescension among the three envoys, and unanimity is of great importance," the President cautioned Gerry. "It is," said Adams, "my sincere desire that an accommodation may take place; but our national faith, and the honor of our government, cannot be sacrificed. You have known enough of the unpleasant effects of disunion among ministers to convince you of the necessity of avoiding it, like a rock or quicksand.... It isprobable there will be manœuvres practiced to excite jealousies among you."[583]
Forty-eight days after Marshall took ship at Philadelphia, he arrived at The Hague.[584]The long voyage had been enlivened by the sight of many vessels and the boarding of Marshall's ship three times by British men-of-war.
"Until our arrival in Holland," Marshall writes Washington, "we saw only British & neutral vessels. This added to the blockade of the dutch fleet in the Texel, of the french fleet in Brest & of the spanish fleet in Cadiz, manifests the entire dominion which one nation [Great Britain] at present possesses over the seas.
"By the ships of war which met us we were three times visited & the conduct of those who came on board was such as wou'd proceed from general orders to pursue a system calculated to conciliate America.
"Whether this be occasion'd by a sense of justice & the obligations of good faith, or solely by the hope that the perfect contrast which it exhibits to the conduct of France may excite keener sensationsat that conduct, its effects on our commerce is the same."[585]
It was a momentous hour in French history when the Virginian landed on European soil. The French elections of 1797 had given to the conservatives a majority in the National Assembly, and the Directory was in danger. The day after Marshall reached the Dutch Capital, the troops sent by Bonaparte, that young eagle, his pinions already spread for his imperial flight, achieved the revolution of the 18th Fructidor (4th of September); gave the ballot-shaken Directory the support of bayonets; made it, in the end, the jealous but trembling tool of the youthful conqueror; and armed it with a power through which it nullified the French elections and cast into prison or drove into exile all who came under its displeasure or suspicion.
With Lodi, Arcola, and other laurels upon his brow, the Corsican already had begun his astonishing career as dictator of terms to Europe. The native Government of the Netherlands had been replaced by one modeled on the French system; and the Batavian Republic, erected by French arms, had become the vassal and the tool of Revolutionary France.
Three days after his arrival at The Hague, Marshall writes his wife of the safe ending of his voyage and how "very much pleased" he is with Pinckney, whom he "immediately saw." They were waiting "anxiously" for Gerry, Marshall tells her. "Weshall wait a week or ten days longer & shall then proceed on our journey [to Paris]. You cannot conceive (yes you can conceive) how these delays perplex & mortify me. I fear I cannot return until the spring & that fear excites very much uneasiness & even regret at my having ever consented to cross the Atlantic. I wish extremely to hear from you & to know your situation. My mind clings so to Richmond that scarcely a night passes in which during the hours of sleep I have not some interesting conversation with you or concerning you."
Marshall tells his "dearest Polly" about the appearance of The Hague, its walks, buildings, and "a very extensive wood adjoining the city which extends to the sea," and which is "the pride & boast of the place." "The society at the Hague is probably very difficult, to an American it certainly is, & I have no inclination to attempt to enter into it. While the differences with France subsist the political characters of this place are probably unwilling to be found frequently in company with our countrymen. It might give umbrage to France." Pinckney had with him his wife and daughter, "who," writes Marshall, "appears to be about 12 or 13 years of age. Mrs. Pinckney informs me that only one girl of her age has visited her since the residence of the family at the Hague.[586]In fact we seem to have no communication but with Americans, or those who are employed by America or who have property in our country."
While at The Hague, Marshall yields, as usual, to his love for the theater, although he cannot understand a word of the play. "Near my lodgings is a theatre in which a french company performs three times a week," he tells his wife. "I have been frequently to the play & tho' I do not understand the language I am very much amused at it. The whole company is considered as having a great deal of merit but there is a Madame de Gazor who is considered as one of the first performers in Paris who bears the palm in the estimation of every person."
Marshall narrates to his wife the result of thecoup d'étatof September 4. "The Directory," he writes, "with the aid of the soldiery have just put in arrest the most able & leading members of the legislature who were considered as moderate men & friends of peace. Some conjecture that this event will so abridge our negotiations as probably to occasion my return to America this fall. A speedy return is my most ardent wish but to have my return expedited by the means I have spoken of is a circumstance so calamitous that I deprecate it as the greatest of evils. Remember me affectionately to our friends & kiss for me our dear little Mary. Tell the boys how much I expect from them & how anxious I am to see them as well as their beloved mother. I am my dearest Polly unalterably your
"J Marshall."[587]
The theaters and other attractions of The Hague left Marshall plenty of time, however, for serious and careful investigations. The result of these he details to Washington. The following letter shows not only Marshall's state of mind just before starting for Paris, but also the effect of European conditions upon him and how strongly they already were confirming Marshall's tendency of thought so firmly established by every event of his life since our War for Independence:—
"Tho' the face of the country [Holland] still exhibits a degree of wealth & population perhaps unequal'd in any other part of Europe, its decline is visible. The great city of Amsterdam is in a state of blockade. More than two thirds of its shipping lie unemploy'd in port. Other seaports suffer tho' not in so great a degree. In the meantime the requisitions made [by the French] upon them [the Dutch] are enormous....
"It is supposed that France has by various means drawn from Holland about 60,000,000 of dollars. This has been paid, in addition to the national expenditures, by a population of less than 2,000,000.... Not even peace can place Holland in her former situation. Antwerp will draw from Amsterdam a large portion of that commerce which is the great source of its wealth; for Antwerp possesses, in the existing state of things, advantages which not even weight of capital can entirely surmount."
Marshall then gives Washington a clear and striking account of the political happenings among the Dutch under French domination:—
"The political divisions of this country & its uncertainty concerning its future destiny must also have their operation....
"A constitution which I have not read, but which is stated to me to have contain'd all the great fundamentals of a representative government, & which has been prepar'd with infinite labor, & has experienc'd an uncommon length of discussion was rejected in the primary assemblies by a majority of nearly five to one of those who voted....
"The substitute wish'd for by its opponents is a legislature with a single branch having power only to initiate laws which are to derive their force from the sanction of the primary assemblies. I do not know how they wou'd organize it.... It is remarkable that the very men who have rejected the form of government propos'd to them have reëlected a great majority of the persons who prepar'd it & will probably make from it no essential departure.... It is worthy of notice that more than two thirds of those entitled to suffrage including perhaps more than four fifths of the property of the nation & who wish'd, as I am told, the adoption of the constitution, withheld their votes....
"Many were restrain'd by an unwillingness to take the oath required before a vote could be receiv'd; many, disgusted with the present state of things, have come to the unwise determination of revenging themselves on those whom they charge with having occasion'd it by taking no part whatever in the politics of their country, & many seem to be indifferent to every consideration not immediately connected with their particular employments."
Holland's example made the deepest impression on Marshall's mind. What he saw and heard fortified his already firm purpose not to permit America, if he could help it, to become the subordinate or ally of any foreign power. The concept of the American people as a separate and independent Nation unattached to, unsupported by, and unafraid of any other country, which was growing rapidly to be the passion of Marshall's life, was given fresh force by the humiliation and distress of the Dutch under French control.
"The political opinions which have produc'd the rejection of the constitution," Marshall reasons in his report to Washington, "& which, as it wou'd seem, can only be entertain'd by intemperate & ill inform'd minds unaccustom'd to a union of the theory & practice of liberty, must be associated with a general system which if brought into action will produce the same excesses here which have been so justly deplor'd in France.
"The same materials exist tho' not in so great a degree. They have their clubs, they have a numerous poor & they have enormous wealth in the hands of a minority of the nation."
Marshall interviewed Dutch citizens, in his casual, indolent, and charming way; and he thus relates to Washington the sum of one such conversation:—
"On my remarking this to a very rich & intelligent merchant of Amsterdam & observing that if one class of men withdrew itself from public duties& offices it wou'd immediately be succeeded by another which wou'd acquire a degree of power & influence that might be exercis'd to the destruction of those who had retir'd from society, he replied that the remark was just, but that they relied on France for a protection from those evils which she had herself experienc'd. That France wou'd continue to require great supplies from Holland & knew its situation too well to permit it to become the prey of anarchy.
"That Holland was an artificial country acquired by persevering industry & which cou'd only be preserv'd by wealth & order. That confusion & anarchy wou'd banish a large portion of that wealth, wou'd dry up its sources & wou'd entirely disable them from giving France that pecuniary aid she so much needed. That under this impression very many who tho' friends to the revolution, saw with infinite mortification french troops garrison the towns of Holland, wou'd now see their departure with equal regret.
"Thus, they willingly relinquish national independence for individual safety. What a lesson to those who wou'd admit foreign influence into the United States!"
Marshall then narrates the events in France which followed thecoup d'étatof September 4. While this account is drawn from rumors and newspapers and therefore contains a few errors, it is remarkable on the whole for its general accuracy. No condensation can do justice to Marshall's review of this period of French history in the making. It is of first importance, also, as disclosing his opinions of the Government he was so soon to encounter and his convictions that unrestrained liberty must result in despotism.
"You have observed the storm which has been long gathering in Paris," continues Marshall. "The thunderbolt has at length been launch'd at the heads of the leading members of the legislature & has, it is greatly to be fear'd, involv'd in one common ruin with them, the constitution & liberties of their country.... Complete & impartial details concerning it will not easily be obtained as the press is no longer free. The journalists who had ventur'd to censure the proceedings of a majority of the directory are seiz'd, & against about forty of them a sentence of transportation is pronounced.
"The press is plac'd under the superintendence of a police appointed by & dependent on the executive. It is supposed that all private letters have been seiz'd for inspection.
"From some Paris papers it appears, that on the first alarm, several members of the legislature attempted to assemble in their proper halls which they found clos'd & guarded by an arm'd force. Sixty or seventy assembled at another place & began to remonstrate against the violence offer'd to their body, but fear soon dispersed them.
"To destroy the possibility of a rallying point the municipal administrations of Paris & the central administration of the seine were immediately suspended & forbidden by an arrêté of the directoire, to assemble themselves together.
"Many of the administrators of the departments through France elected by the people, had been previously remov'd & their places filled by persons chosen by the directory....
"The fragment of the legislature convok'd by the directory at L'Odéon & L'école de santé, hasten'd to repeal the law for organizing the national guards, & authoriz'd the directory to introduce into Paris as many troops as shou'd be judg'd necessary. The same day the liberty of the press was abolish'd by a line, property taken away by another & personal security destroy'd by a sentence of transportation against men unheard & untried.
"All this," sarcastically remarks Marshall, "is still the triumph of liberty & of the constitution."
Although admitting his lack of official information, Marshall "briefly" observes that: "Since the election of the new third, there were found in both branches of the legislature a majority in favor of moderate measures & apparently, wishing sincerely for peace. They have manifested a disposition which threaten'd a condemnation of the conduct of the directory towards America, a scrutiny into the transactions of Italy, particularly those respecting Venice & Genoa, an enquiry into the disposition of public money & such a regular arrangement of the finances as wou'd prevent in future those dilapidations which are suspected to have grown out of their disorder. They [French conservatives] have sought too by their laws to ameliorate the situation of those whom terror had driven out of France, & of those priests who had committed no offense."
Marshall thus details to Washington the excuse of the French radicals for their severe treatment of the conservatives:—
"The cry of a conspiracy to reëstablish royalism was immediately rais'd against them [conservatives]. An envoy was dispatched to the Army of Italy to sound its disposition. It was represented that the legislature was hostile to the armies, that it withheld their pay & subsistence, that by its opposition to the directory it encourag'd Austria & Britain to reject the terms of peace which were offer'd by France & which but for that opposition wou'd have been accepted, & finally that it had engag'd in a conspiracy for the destruction of the constitution & the republic & for the restoration of royalty.
"At a feast given to the armies of Italy to commemorate their fellow soldiers who had fallen in that country the Generals address'd to them their complaints, plainly spoke of marching to Paris to support the directory against the councils & received from them addresses manifesting the willingness of the soldiers to follow them.
"The armies also addressed the directory & each other, & addresses were dispatched to different departments. The directory answer'd them by the stronge[st] criminations of the legislature. Similar proceedings were had in the army of the interior commanded by GenḷHoche. Detachments were mov'd within the limits prohibited by the constitution, some of which declar'd they were marching to Paris 'to bring the legislature to reason.'"
Here follows Marshall's story of what then happened, according to the accounts which were given him at The Hague:—
"Alarm'd at these movements the council of five hundred call'd on the directory for an account of them. The movement of the troops within the constitutional circle was attributed to accident & the discontents of the army to the faults committed by the legislature who were plainly criminated as conspirators against the army & the republic.
"This message was taken up by Tronçon in the council of antients & by Thibideau in the council of five hundred. I hope you have seen their speeches. They are able, & seem to me entirely exculpated the legislature.
"In the mean time the directory employed itself in the removal of the administrators of many of the departments & cantons & replacing those whom the people had elected by others in whom it cou'd confide, and in the removal generally of such officers both civil & military as cou'd not be trusted to make room for others on whom it cou'd rely.
"The legislature on its part, pass'd several laws to enforce the constitutional restrictions on the armies & endeavored to organize the national guards. On this latter subject especially Pichegru, great & virtuous I believe in the cabinet as in the field, was indefatigable. We understand that the day before the law for their organization wou'd have been carried into execution the decisive blow was struck."
Marshall now relates, argumentatively, the facts as he heard them in the Dutch Capital; and in doing so, reveals his personal sentiments and prejudices:—
"To support the general charge of conspiracy in favor of royalty I know of no particular facts alleged against the arrested Members except Pichegru & two or three others.... Pichegru is made in the first moment of conversation to unbosom himself entirely to a perfect stranger who had only told him that he came from the Prince of Conde & cou'd not exhibit a single line of testimonial of any sort to prove that he had ever seen that Prince or that he was not a spy employ'd by some of the enemies of the General.
"This story is repel'd by Pichegru's character which has never before been defil'd. Great as were the means he possess'd of personal aggrandizement he retir'd clean handed from the army without adding a shilling to his private fortune. It is repel'd by his resigning the supreme command, by his numerous victories subsequent to the alleged treason, by its own extreme absurdity & by the fear which his accusers show of bringing him to trial according to the constitution even before a tribunal they can influence & overawe, or of even permitting him to be heard before the prostrate body which is still term'd the legislature & which in defiance of the constitution has pronounc'd judgment on him.
"Yet this improbable & unsupported tale seems to be receiv'd as an established truth by those who the day before [his] fall bow'd to him as an idol. I am mortified as a man to learn that even his old army which conquer'd under him, which ador'd him, which partook of his fame & had heretofore not join'd their brethren in accusing the legislature, nowunite in bestowing on him the heaviest execrations & do not hesitate to pronounce him a traitor of the deepest die."
Irrespective of the real merits of the controversy, Marshall tells Washington that he is convinced that constitutional liberty is dead or dying in France:—
"Whether this conspiracy be real or not," he says, "the wounds inflicted on the constitution by the three directors seem to me to be mortal. In opposition to the express regulations of the constitution the armies have deliberated, the result of their deliberations addressed to the directory has been favorably received & the legislature since the revolution has superadded its thanks.
"Troops have been marched within those limits which by the constitution they are forbidden to enter but on the request of the legislature. The directory is forbidden to arrest a member of the legislature unless in the very commission of a criminal act & then he can only be tried by the high court, on which occasion forms calculated to protect his person from violence or the prejudice of the moment are carefully prescrib'd.
"Yet it has seized, by a military force, about fifty leading members not taken in a criminal act & has not pursued a single step mark'd out by the constitution. The councils can inflict no penalty on their own members other than reprimand, arrest for eight & imprisonment for three days. Yet they have banished to such places as the directory shall chuse a large portion of their body without the poor formality of hearing a defense.
"The legislature shall not exercise any judiciary power or pass any retrospective law. Yet it has pronounc'd this heavy judgment on others as well as its own members & has taken from individuals property which the law has vested in them."
Marshall is already bitter against the Directory because of its violation of the French Constitution, and tells Washington:—
"The members of the directory are personally secur'd by the same rules with those of the legislature. Yet three directors have depriv'd two of their places, the legislature has then banished them without a hearing & has proceeded to fill up the alledg'd vacancies. Merlin late minister of justice & François de Neufchatel have been elected.
"The constitution forbids the house of any man to be entered in the night. The orders of the constituted authorities can only be executed in the day. Yet many of the members were seiz'd in their beds.
"Indeed, sir, the constitution has been violated in so many instances that it wou'd require a pamphlet to detail them. The detail wou'd be unnecessary for the great principle seems to be introduc'd that the government is to be administered according to the will of the nation."
Marshall now indulges in his characteristic eloquence and peculiar method of argument:—
"Necessity, the never to be worn out apology for violence, is alledg'd—but cou'd that necessity go further than to secure the persons of the conspirators? Did it extend to the banishment of the printers & to the slavery of the press? If such a necessity did exist it was created by the disposition of the people at large & it is a truth which requires no demonstration that if a republican form of government cannot be administered by the general will, it cannot be administered against that will by an army."
Nevertheless, hope for constitutional liberty in France lingers in his heart in spite of this melancholy recital.
"After all, the result may not be what is apprehended. France possesses such enormous power, such internal energy, such a vast population that she may possibly spare another million & preserve or reacquire her liberty. Or, the form of the government being preserved, the independence of the legislature may be gradually recover'd.
"With their form of government or resolutions we have certainly no right to intermeddle, but my regrets at the present state of things are increased by an apprehension that the rights of our country will not be deem'd so sacred under the existing system as they wou'd have been had the legislature preserved its legitimate authority."[588]
Washington's reply, which probably reached Marshall some time after the latter's historic letter to Talleyrand in January, 1798,[589]is informing. He "prays for a continuance" of such letters and hopes he will be able to congratulate Marshall "on the favorable conclusion of your embassy.... To predict the contrary might be as unjust as it is impolitic, and therefore," says Washington, "mum—on that topic. Be the issue what it may," he is sure "that nothing which justice, sound reasoning, and fair representation would require will be wanting to render it just and honorable." If so, and the mission fails, "then the eyes of all who are not willfully blind ... will be fully opened." The Directory will have a rude awakening, if they expect the Republicans to support France against America in the "dernier ressort.... For the mass of our citizens require no more than to understand a question to decide it properly; and an adverse conclusion of the negotiation will effect this." Washington plainly indicates that he wishes Marshall to read his letter between the lines when he says: "I shall dwell very little on European politics ... because this letter may pass through many hands."[590]
Gerry not arriving by September 18, Marshall and Pinckney set out for Paris, "proceeding slowly in the hope of being overtaken" by their tardy associate. From Antwerp Marshall writes Charles Lee, then Attorney-General, correcting some unimportant statements in his letter to Washington, which, when written, were "considered as certainly true," but which "subsequent accounts contradict."[591]Down-heartedly he says:—
"Our insulted injured country has not before it the most flattering prospects. There is no circumstance calculated to flatter us with the hope that our negotiations will terminate as they ought to do.... We understand that all is now quiet in France, the small show of resistance against which Napoleon march'd is said to have dispersed on hearing of his movement."
He then describes the celebration in Antwerp of the birth of the new French régime:—
"To-day being the anniversary of the foundation of the Republic, was celebrated with great pomp by the military at this place. Very few indeed of theinhabitants attended the celebration. Everything in Antwerp wears the appearance of consternation and affright.
"Since the late revolution a proclamation has been published forbidding any priest to officiate who has not taken the oath prescribed by a late order. No priest at Antwerp has taken it & yesterday commenced the suspension of their worship.
"All the external marks of their religion too with which their streets abound are to be taken down. The distress of the people at the calamity is almost as great as if the town was to be given up to pillage."[592]
Five days after leaving Antwerp, Marshall and Pinckney arrived in the French Capital. The Paris of that time was still very much the Paris of Richelieu, except for some large buildings and other improvements begun by Louis XIV. The French metropolis was in no sense a modern city and bore little resemblance to the Paris of the present day. Not until some years afterward did Napoleon as Emperor begin the changes which later, under Napoleon III, transformed it into the most beautiful city in the world. Most of its ancient interest, as well as its mediæval discomforts, were in existence when Marshall and Pinckney reached their destination.
The Government was, in the American view, incredibly corrupt, and the lack of integrity among the rulers was felt even among the people. "The venality is such," wrote Gouverneur Morris, in 1793, "that if there be no traitor it is because the enemy has not common sense."[593]And again: "The ... administration is occupied in acquiring wealth."[594]Honesty was unknown, and, indeed, abhorrent, to most of the governing officials; and the moral sense of the citizens themselves had been stupefied by the great sums of money which Bonaparte extracted from conquered cities and countries and sent to the treasury at Paris. Time and again the Republic was saved from bankruptcy by the spoils of conquest; and long before the American envoys set foot in Paris the popular as well as the official mind had come to expect the receipt of money from any source or by any means.
The bribery of ministers of state and of members of the Directory was a matter of course;[595]and weaker countries paid cash for treaties with the arrogant Government and purchased peace with a price. During this very year Portugal was forced to advance a heavy bribe to Talleyrand and the Directory before the latter would consent to negotiate concerning a treaty; and, as a secret part of the compact, Portugal was required to make a heavy loan to France. It was, indeed, a part of this very Portuguese money with which the troops werebrought to Paris for the September revolution of 1797.[596]
Marshall and Pinckney at once notified the French Foreign Office of their presence, but delayed presenting their letters of credence until Gerry should join them before proceeding to business. A week passed; and Marshall records in his diary that every day the waiting envoys were besieged by "Americans whose vessels had been captured & condemned. By appeals & other dilatory means the money had been kept out of the hands of the captors & they were now waiting on expenses in the hope that our [the envoys'] negotiations might relieve them."[597]A device, this, the real meaning of which was to be made plain when the hour should come to bring it to bear on the American envoys.
Such was the official and public atmosphere in which Marshall and Pinckney found themselves on their mission to adjust, with honor, the differences between France and America: a network of unofficial and secret agents was all about them; and at its center was the master spider, Talleyrand. The unfrocked priest had been made Foreign Minister under the Directory in the same month and almost the day that Marshall embarked at Philadelphia for Paris. It largely was through the efforts and influence of Madame de Staël[598]that this prince of intriguers wasable to place his feet upon this first solid step of his amazing career.
Talleyrand's genius was then unknown to the world, and even the Directory at that time had no inkling of his uncanny craft. To be sure, his previous life had been varied and dramatic and every page of it stamped with ability; but in the tremendous and flaming events of that tragic period he had not attracted wide attention. Now, at last, Talleyrand had his opportunity.
Among other incidents of his life had been his exile to America. For nearly two years and a half he had lived in the United States, traveling hither and yon through the forming Nation. Washington as President had refused to receive the expelled Frenchman, who never forgave the slight. In his journey from State to State he had formed a poor opinion of the American people. "If," he wrote, "I have to stay here another year I shall die."[599]
The incongruities of what still was pioneer life, the illimitable forests, the confusion and strife of opinion, the absence of National spirit and general purpose, caused Talleyrand to look with contempt upon the wilderness Republic. But most of all, this future master spirit of European diplomacy was impressed with what seemed to him the sordid, money-grubbing character of the American people. Nowhere did he find a spark of that idealism which had achieved our independence; and he concluded that gold was the American god.[600]
Fauchet's disclosures[601]had caused official Paris to measure the American character by the same yardstick that Talleyrand applied to us, when, on leaving our shores, he said: "The United States merit no more consideration than Genoa or Genève."[602]
The French Foreign Minister was not fairly established when the American affair came before him. Not only was money his own pressing need, but to pander to the avarice of his master Barras and the other corrupt members of the Directory was his surest method of strengthening his, as yet, uncertain official position. Such were Talleyrand's mind, views, and station, when, three days after Gerry's belated arrival, the newly installed Minister received the American envoys informally at his house, "where his office was held." By a curious freak of fate, they found him closeted with the Portuguese Minister from whom the very conditions had been exacted which Talleyrand so soon was to attempt to extort from the Americans.
It was a striking group—Talleyrand, tall and thin of body, with pallid, shrunken cheeks and slumberous eyes, shambling forward with a limp, as,with halting speech,[603]he coldly greeted his diplomatic visitors; Gerry, small, erect, perfectly attired, the owl-like solemnity of his face made still heavier by his long nose and enormous wig; Pinckney, handsome, well-dressed, clear-eyed, of open countenance;[604]and Marshall, tall, lean, loose-jointed, carelessly appareled, with only his brilliant eyes to hint at the alert mind and dominant personality of the man.
Talleyrand measured his adversaries instantly. Gerry he had known in America and he weighed with just balance the qualities of the Massachusetts envoy; Pinckney he also had observed and feared nothing from the blunt, outspoken, and transparently honest but not in the least subtle or far-seeing South Carolinian; the ill-appearing Virginian, of whom he had never heard, Talleyrand counted as a cipher. It was here that this keen and cynical student of human nature blundered.
Marshall and Talleyrand were almost of an age,[605]the Frenchman being only a few months older than his Virginia antagonist. The powers of neither were known to the other, as, indeed, they were at that time unguessed generally by the mass of the people, even of their own countries.