The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2 - Online Library of ...

Online Library of Liberty: The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2
Genesee lands has swept off what I owed to him, without which I should have been
considerably in his debt.”
“The Chevalier d’Orléans comes to me [May 2d], and I deliver him a blank form of
attorney and a certificate of citizenship. General Dickinson, with whom I dine, seems
desirous of knowing whether I intend to marry. I am told that Miss Dickinson’s
family wish me to espouse her. She is spoken of as a very fine young woman, and I
answer, in general terms, that such a thing is not impossible.”
Here was an opportunity most congenial to the match-making mamma, and not to be
lost, if possible. But this courtier was proof for some years longer against the
beseiging friendly enemy, and the charms of Miss Bayard and of Miss Schuyler failed
to carry the fortress that had already resisted the blandishments of the ladies of
France. Morris quietly went on with his work at Morrisania, and kept his house open
to all comers, from the Chevalier d’Orléans and his suite to the poorest man who
wanted a dinner. A propos of M. d’Orléans, Morris makes an entry in his diary to this
effect:
“Yesterday my coachman overturned M. d’Orléans’ chair, so I must dismiss him.”
Morris’s friends pressed him hard to engage in public life; “which I decline,” he says,
“though they assure me it is deemed necessary by all my friends. Hamilton tells me I
must take an active part in our public affairs, for that the Anti-Federalists are
determined to overthrow our Constitution. This is a painful idea, every way.” But,
apparently, superintending the gathering in of the apples, the cutting up of hogs and
beef and storing them, wholly occupied Morris’s time, and the novelty of the work
satisfied his ambition, for the moment at least. It was, however, not for long that he
was allowed to indulge in these bucolic pursuits, so congenial to his taste, for on
Thursday, December 19, 1799, the news of Washington’s death came, and at the same
moment a request from the corporation of New York that Morris should pronounce
the funeral oration. “This request,” he says, “is distressing, and I pray time till tomorrow
to consider.”
“On Sunday [December 29th] Mr. and Mrs. Hammond and the Chevalier d’Orléans
and his brethren pass the evening here. I read my oration for them, as I am told no
tickets will be given.”
“At eleven o’clock this morning [December 31st] I go to St. Paul’s Church. The
procession does not arrive till after three, and we do not get away till six. Pronounced
my oration badly.”
“To-day [January 1st] I have a number of visitors, among them a deputation from the
‘Cincinnati,’ to request a copy of my oration for the press. This morning I had already
sent it, on a request of the Common Council, to the Recorder. Dine at General
Hamilton’s. I hear that the anti-federal faction are to consider my oration as too cold.”
The condition of public affairs very deeply interested Morris, notwithstanding his
disinclination to take an active part in them, and it was his earnest hope that
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