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
The conviction that the administration would plunge the country into a war was ever
present with Morris; and though he put himself under the constraint of not
prophesying evil, the tone of all his letters showed a deep distrust of the President. He
yearned for the agricultural prosperity of the country as well as its commercial
success, but peace was essential to both. This is plainly shown in the following letter,
written to Mr. Simeon Dewitt at Albany on December 18th, in which he spoke of the
“desirability of cultivating fine wool, as our climate is favorable, especially in the
northern part of our State. We have also great facilities for the manufacture of cloth.
Time and peace are the two things needful to wealth. How far it may corrupt our
minds is a problem on which the patriot should meditate. Perhaps the turbulent scenes
with which we are menaced may (in the bounty of Providence) be intended to give
proper exercise to the political body. I cannot, however, help wishing the storm may
blow over, and leave my evening tranquil. In the pamphlet you send, the portrait of
Madison is, I believe, just, though I am told that he has credit for a degree of industry
which he does not possess. I think him unfit for the station of President, but shall
make no effort either way. That business lies with your political friends. A federal
administration is wholly out of the question, and, were it otherwise, the propriety of
accepting it is, to say the best, doubtful. Speak of my political friends, for as to
myself, there is no doubt that a private station is most suitable.
“It has been said by a confidential friend of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison that they
are determined on going to war with England as soon as they can bring public opinion
up to that measure; but I think there must be some mistake, for they cannot seriously
desire to plunge the country into a situation distressing to all, but ruinous to the
Southern States. That we, the people of America, should engage in ruinous warfare to
support a rash opinion that foreign sailors in our merchant-ships are to be protected
against the power of their sovereign is downright madness, and the attempt to frighten
England by combining a non-importation law with a mosquito fleet of gun-boats is
truly absurd. It has been rashly assumed as a position that our merchants alone would
suffer by war—a great and dangerous mistake. They would indeed lose the ships and
cargoes now afloat, to the ruin of insurers, and some of them would become bankrupt,
whereby not only the banks, but many tradesmen and farmers would suffer severely.
After the hurricane had blown over, merchants who have goods left in their stores
would hold them at prices which few could reach, while all the produce now exported
would be unsalable.”
“I hear [January 13th] that Clinton, the Vice-President, has written to one of his
friends in New York that there is not the least reason to apprehend a rupture with
England.”
It was to thank Madame de Staël that Morris wrote the following letter, January 18th.
After wishing that this year “may bring you much felicity,” he said: “I am to thank
you again for your kind present. When I took up ‘Corinne,’ I was determined to mark
in my memory everything which might look like a fault, and so I did. But before I got
half-way through they were all forgotten. Rare quality of genius! to lead us in the ripe
days, as love in the green ones, wheresoever it will. God forgive me, but I cannot help
regretting that your Scotch lord was not un peu plus entreprenant, that fine moonlight
evening on the shores of the ocean. La pauvre Corinne serait morte au moins avec
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