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of thofe people, to attribute to them the defign of uniting themfelves with England*, to alarm the citizens for the fate of the confiitution, whilft in reality the revolution threatened only the minifters. This ftep fucceeded; an army is raised :—this military part of the fuppreffion is doubtlefs Mr. Hamilton's; the pacific part, and the fending of commiffioners, are due to the influence of Mr. Randolph over the mind of the President, whom I delight always to believe, and whom I do believe, truly virtuous, and the friend of his fellow-citizens and principles.

"16. In the mean time, although there was a certainty of having an army, yet it was necessary to affure themselves of co-operators among the men whofe patriotic reputation might influence their party, and whofe lukewarmnefs, or want of energy in the exifting conjunctures, might compromit the fuccefs of the plans. Of all the Governors whose duty it was to appear at the head of the requifitions, the Governor of Pennsylvania alone, enjoyed the name

"It was

* Now, reader, obferve well, that this is the language of the French Ambaffador, fpeaking in fecret to his mafters, the Directory. This man fays, that, in order to magnify the danger, it was found neceffary to difguife the views of the infurgents, and to attribute to them the defign of UNITING THEMSELVES TO ENGLAND. fo; and the Hiftorian of the New Annual Register has lent his hand to the bafe political fraud. Let him not plead ignorance, for he has declared himself to be in poffeffion of "the best and most aus thentic intelligence," and has impudently defied his accufers to point out one material omiffion or mifreprefentation. Now, it is well known, that the Report (above inferted) refpecting the militia of Pennfylvania, was published in the autumn of 1794; yet the Hiftorian of the New Annual Regifter fuppreffed the important facts it exhibits. The difpatch of FAUCHET was published in December, 1795; yet no notice has ever been taken of it by the Hiftorian, who has thus fhamefully fuppreffed, as far as lay in his power, the most important State Paper that ever was published in America. The motive of this fuppreffion the reader will be at no los to difcover, when he perceives that the dispatch contains the moft fatisfactory evidence of the turpitude of republicans.

of

of republican: his opinion of the Secretary of the Treafury and of his fyftems was known to be unfavourable. The Secretary of this State poffeffed great influence in the Popular Society of Philadelphia, which in its turn influenced thofe of other States; of courfe he merited attention. It appears, therefore, that these men, with others unknown to me, all having, without doubt, Randolph at their head, were balancing to decide on their party. Two or three days' before the proclamation was published, and of course before the Cabinet had refolved on its measures, Mr. Randolph came to fee me with an air of great eagerness, and made to me the overtures, of which I have given you an account, in my No. 6*. Thus, with fome thousands of dollars, the Republic could have decided on civil war or on peace! Thus the confciences of the pretended patriots of America have already their prices! It is very true that the certainty of these conclufions, painful to be drawn, will for ever exist in our archives! What will be the old age of this Government, if it is thus early decrepit! Such, Citizen, is the evident confequence of the fyftem of finances conceived by Mr. Hamilton. He has made of a whole nation a stock-jobbing, fpeculating, selfifh people. Riches alone here fix confideration; and as no one likes to be despised, they are univerfally fought after. Nevertheless this depravity has not yet embraced the mafs of the people; the effects of this pernicious fyftem have as yet but flightly touched them. Still there are patriots, of whom I delight to entertain an idea worthy of that impofing title. Confult Monroe, he is of this number; he had apprized me of the men whom the current of

* For the purport of this dispatch (No. 6) fee the Analyfis of Randolph's Vindication, vol. ii. p. 371, from which it will appear that Randolph asked the French Ambassador for money.

VOL. I,

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events

events had dragged along as bodies devoid of weight. His friend Madifon is alfo an honeft man. Jefferfon, on whom the patriots caft their eyes to fucceed the Prefident, had forefcen thefe crifes. He prudently retired, in order to avoid making a figure againf his inclination, in fcenes, the fecret of which will, foon or late, be brought to light.

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17. As foon as it was decided that the French Republic purchafed no men to do their duty, there were to be feen individuals, about whose conduct the Government could at least form uneafy conjectures, giving themfelves up with a fcandalous ftentation to its views, and even feconding its declarations. The Popular So2 cieties foon emitted refolutions ftamped with the. fame fpirit, and who, although they may have been advised by love of order, might nevertheless have ömitted or uttered them with lefs folemnity. Then were feen coming from the very men whom we had been accustomed to regard as having little friend. fhip for the fyftem of the Treasurer, harangues without end, in order to give a new direction to the public mind. The militia, however, manifest some repugnance, particularly in Pennfylvania, for the fervice to which they were called. Several officers refign: at laft, by excurfions or harangues, incomplete requifitions are obtained, and scattered volunteer corps, from different parts, make up the deficiency. How much more interefting, than the changeable men whom I have painted above*, were thofe plain citizens who anfwered the folicitations which were made to them to join the volunteers- If we are required, we will

This is the point which will, by and by, arrest our attention. In the mean time, the reader will obferve, that FAUCHET CONfirms my accouut of the arming of the militia, and completely overfets that of his good friend, the Hiftorian of the New Annual Regifter.

march,

march, because we do not wifh not to have a government, but to arm ourselves as volunteers would be in appearance fubfcribing implicitly to the excife fyftem, which we reprobate.'

"18. What I have faid above, authorizes then our refting on the opinion become inconteftable, that in the crifis which has burft, and in the means employed for reftoring order, the true question was the deftruction or the triumph of the Treasurer's plans. This being once established, let us pafs over the facts related in the common dispatches, and see how the Government, or the Treasurer, will take from the very stroke which threatened his fyftem, the fafe opportunity of humbling the adverfe party, and of filencing their enemies, whether open or concealed. The army marched-the Prefident made known that he was going to command it--he fet out for Carlifle-Hamilton, as I have understood, requested to follow him-the Prefident dared not to refufe him. It does not require much penetration to divine the object of this journey: in the Prefident it was wife; it might alfo be his duty. But in Mr. Hamilton it was a confequence of the profound policy which directs all his fteps; a measure dictated by a perfect knowledge of the human heart. Was it not interefting for him, for his party, tottering under the weight of events without, and accufations within, to proclaim an intimacy more perfect than ever with the Prefident, whofe very name is a fufficient fhield against the most formidable attacks? Now what more evident mark could the Prefident give of his intimacy, than by fuffering Mr. Hamilton, whofe name even is understood in the Weft as that of a public enemy, to go and place himself at the head of the army which went, if I may use the expreffion, to caufe his fyftem to triumph against the oppofition of the people? The prefence of Mr. Hamilton with the army must attach it more than ever to his

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party we fee what ideas thefe circumftances give birth to on both fides; all, however, to the advantage of the Secretary.

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19. Three weeks had they encamped in the Weft without a fingle armed man appearing. However, the Prefident, or those who wished to make the most of this new manoeuvre, made it public that he was going to command in perfon. The feffion of Congrefs being very near, it was wifhed to try whether there could not be obtained from the preffes, which were fuppofed to have changed, a filence, whence to conclude the poffibility of infringing the conftitution in its most effential part; in that which fixes the relation of the Prefident with the Legisla ture. But the patriotic papers laid hold of this artful attempt: I am certain that the office of the Secretary of State, which alone remained at Philadelphia (for while the Minifter of Finance was with the army, the Minister of War was on a tour to the province of Maine, 400 miles from Philadelphia), maintained the controversy in favour of the opinion which it was defired to establish. A comparison between the Prefident and the English Monarch was introduced, who, far removed from Weftminfter, yet ftrictly fulfils his duty of fanctioning; it was much infifted on, that the Conftitution declares that the Prefident commands the armed force; this fimilitude was treated with contempt; the confequence of the power of commanding in perfon, drawn from the right to command in chief (or direct) the force of the State, was ridiculed, and reduced to an abfurdity, by fuppofing a fleet at fea and an army on land. The refult of this controverfy was, that fome days after it was announced that the Prefident would come to open the approaching feffion.

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20. During his ftay at Bedford, the Prefident doubtless concerted the plan of the campaign with Mr. Lee, to whom he left the command in chief.

The

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