The spectacle deeply affected and disturbed him. The Confederation was falling to pieces. Congress, its sole bond of union, was without power, not even daring to make use of the little that was intrusted to it. The moral weakness of men was added to the political weakness of institutions. The States were falling a prey to their hostilities, to their mutual distrust, to their narrow and selfish views. The treaties, which had sanctioned the national independence, were executed only in an imperfect and a precarious manner. The debts contracted, both in the old and new world, were unpaid. The taxes destined to liquidate them never found their way into the public treasury. Agriculture was languishing; commerce was declining; anarchy was extending. In all parts of the country itself, whether enlightened or ignorant, whether the blame was laid on the government, or the want of government, the discontent was general. {88} In Europe, the reputation of the United States was rapidly sinking. It was asked if there would ever be any United States. England encouraged this doubt, looking forward to the hour when she might profit by it. The sorrow of Washington was extreme, and he was agitated and humbled as if he had been still responsible for the course of events. "What, gracious God!" he wrote, on learning the troubles in Massachusetts, "is man, that there should be such inconsistency and perfidiousness in his conduct? It was but the other day, that we were shedding our blood to obtain the constitutions under which we now live; constitutions of our own choice and making; and now we are unsheathing the sword to overturn them. The thing is so unaccountable, that I hardly know how to realize it, or to persuade myself, that I am not under the illusion of a dream." [Footnote 48] [Footnote 48: Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 221.] {89} "We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation. Experience has taught us, that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good, without the intervention of a coercive power." [Footnote 49] [Footnote 49: Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 187.] "From the high ground we stood upon, to be so fallen, so lost, is really mortifying." [Footnote 50] "In regretting, which I have often done with the keenest sorrow, the death of our much lamented friend, General Greene, I have accompanied it of late with a query, whether he would not have preferred such an exit to the scenes which, it is more than probable, many of his compatriots may live to bemoan." [Footnote 51] [Footnote 50: Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 167.] [Footnote 51: Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 226.]