The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5: Commander in Chief of the American Forces During the War; which Established the Independence of his Country and First; President of the United StatesMarshall, John
History
The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5: Commander in Chief of the American Forces During the War; which Established the Independence of his Country and First; President of the United States
Marshall, John
Generals -- United States -- Biography; Presidents -- United States -- Biography; Washington, George, 1732-1799
The letter, without the aid of the interpolated sentence, could not
fail to cherish this sentiment. It states explicitly an unequivocal
division and a decided hostility between those who administered the
government, and the great body of land holders, who, in this country,
are the people. The first were Anglican and monarchical, the last were
republican, and, in the language of the Moniteur, "the friends of
France." What so certain to produce or continue the rupture of
communication mentioned by the editor as the opinion that this
statement was true? If we could doubt, our doubts are removed by the
declaration that it would produce "discussions in the United States
which may afford a triumph to the party of good republicans, the
friends of France;" and by the declaration of Mr. Adet.
The interpolated sentence then does not vary the import of the letter,
nor change the impression it made in France, and must make on the mind
of the reader.
Were it otherwise, Mr. Jefferson should have directed his reproaches
towards himself for the countenance his silent acquiescence gave to
the opinion that the whole letter was genuine--not towards the great
body of his countrymen who yielded implicit faith to this imposing
testimony.
Could such a letter from such a personage be entirely overlooked by
the biographer of Washington? Having assumed the task of delineating
the character, and detailing the actions and opinions of the great
soldier and statesman of America, an essential part of which was to be
looked for in the difficulties and the opposition he encountered and
overcame, could a transaction which contains such strong intrinsic
evidence of those difficulties and that opposition be passed over in
total silence? These questions were revolved in his mind while engaged
in this part of the work; and the result to which his judgment
conducted him was a conviction that, though he might forbear to make
those strictures on the letter which the relative situation of the
writer and the individual so seriously criminated seemed to invite,
his duty required him to notice it so far as it indicated the violence
of party spirit at the time, the extreme to which it was carried, the
dangers to which it led, and the difficulties which the wise and firm
mind of Washington was doomed to encounter.
The remarks of the French editor were quoted because they have a
strong tendency, especially when connected with subsequent events, to
explain the motives by which the Directory was actuated in its
aggressions on the United States, and to justify the policy of the
Washington administration. These remarks did not grow out of the
interpolated sentence, nor were they confined to it. They apply to the
whole letter. That sentence is not cited, nor is any particular
allusion made to it, in the note which is charged with "exaggerating,
recording, and sanctioning the forgery." How then could Mr. Jefferson
deliberately make the charge?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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