The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2 - Online Library of ...
The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2 - Online Library of ...
The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2 - Online Library of ...
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<strong>Online</strong> <strong>Library</strong> <strong>of</strong> Liberty: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Diary</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Letters</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Gouverneur</strong> <strong>Morris</strong>, <strong>vol</strong>. 2<br />
[Back to Table <strong>of</strong> Contents]<br />
CHAPTER XLVI.<br />
<strong>The</strong> summer <strong>of</strong> 1806. Letter to Samuel Hunt. <strong>Morris</strong> fears war. Conduct <strong>of</strong> the<br />
administration. Letter to Madame de Staël. General Moreau. Letter to Chief Justice<br />
Marshall. Washington’s character. Details relative to Lafayette’s liberation in 1796.<br />
Waiting for European news. Begs Madame de Staël to come to <strong>Morris</strong>ania.<br />
Napoleon’s victory at Friedl<strong>and</strong>. Letter to Madame Foucault. Letter to the Marquis <strong>of</strong><br />
Stafford.<br />
Several short tours through New York <strong>and</strong> New Engl<strong>and</strong> occupied <strong>and</strong> interested<br />
<strong>Morris</strong> during the summer <strong>of</strong> 1806. <strong>The</strong> pretty farms <strong>and</strong> picturesque country through<br />
which he passed, over hills, <strong>and</strong> down into valleys along the banks <strong>of</strong> streams, made a<br />
charming variety. “I do not remember,” he says, “to have seen anywhere so beautiful<br />
a country.” At home again by the 24th <strong>of</strong> September, he once more resumed the<br />
thread <strong>of</strong> his daily routine. That war was an inevitable consequence <strong>of</strong> the conduct <strong>of</strong><br />
the administration <strong>Morris</strong> was at this time fully convinced, <strong>and</strong>, writing to Samuel<br />
Hunt, <strong>of</strong> Marietta, on October 3d, he gave vent to his impressions <strong>of</strong> the general<br />
demoralization in high places, as follows:<br />
“It is to be noted that sound heads are rarely found in the company <strong>of</strong> rotten hearts.<br />
Vice corrupts alike the judgment <strong>and</strong> the will; whereby it happens that bad projects<br />
are seldom well matured. . . . Let us take up certain suggestions respecting plans<br />
agitated in your quarter. It seems far from impossible that some foreign powers should<br />
wish to see a severance <strong>of</strong> our Union, <strong>and</strong> that they would, at a suitable moment, take<br />
under their protection the ultramontane republic. It is not therefore impossible that<br />
their agents should listen attentively to propositions tending that way, <strong>and</strong> it is not<br />
improbable that, if a scheme <strong>of</strong> this sort should be in agitation, communications<br />
would be made by leading characters with a view to foreign aid. Disobedience would<br />
be encouraged, <strong>and</strong> the noise <strong>of</strong> needy retainers to conspiracy would be called the<br />
voice <strong>of</strong> the people, <strong>and</strong> then, by blasphemous transition, the voice <strong>of</strong> God. But these<br />
subtle contrivers will find themselves egregiously mistaken <strong>and</strong> find, to their cost, that<br />
they have merely given to the body politic a sufficient stimulus to throw <strong>of</strong>f its foul<br />
humors. Our politicians have been much alarmed, I hear, by the apprehension <strong>of</strong> a<br />
peace between Engl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> France, which will, they suppose, be followed by such<br />
measures on the part <strong>of</strong> the latter as may compromise our independence. Our rulers,<br />
like the sluggard, ask a little more sleep <strong>and</strong> a little more slumber, but sooner or later<br />
they will be awakened in no pleasant manner. <strong>The</strong> war between France <strong>and</strong> Engl<strong>and</strong><br />
cannot be eternal. It seems to me that sundry untoward circumstances are like to arise,<br />
<strong>and</strong>, considering the divided <strong>and</strong> defenceless state <strong>of</strong> our country, no common<br />
firmness, skill, <strong>and</strong> dexterity will be required in the management <strong>of</strong> our most<br />
important concerns. Perhaps these ideas flow from the timidity incident to age. At any<br />
rate, I will not, by publishing them, become an alarmist. That Jefferson should lose his<br />
popularity is natural enough, but those who were wedded to his opinions should not<br />
now be permitted to claim a divorce. He, poor creature, could have done nothing had<br />
he not been supported by others. If, indeed, he had, after getting into power, displayed<br />
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 255 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1170