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 />
may be given, taken, or parcelled out, but right is entire, <strong>and</strong> must be wholly kept or<br />
lost. To its full support national honor is pledged. Under these views <strong>of</strong> the subject, it<br />
is not easy to perceive how men <strong>of</strong> clear head <strong>and</strong> sound heart can support the bill. . . .<br />
In the case before us the bill, giving up by implication the claim <strong>of</strong> right, may, when<br />
combined with the manifold disgraces <strong>of</strong> our jack-pudding warfare, be considered as a<br />
project to silence by quibbles the fire <strong>of</strong> seventy-fours. <strong>The</strong> American people cannot<br />
fail to suspect a design to plunge them, by engaging their passions, both in follies <strong>and</strong><br />
crimes for the notable purpose <strong>of</strong> gathering soap-bubbles. <strong>The</strong> day <strong>of</strong> delusion is past.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y who were pre-eminent in the Re<strong>vol</strong>utionary War gave practical lessons <strong>of</strong><br />
disinterested patriotism. Disdaining pr<strong>of</strong>essions, they prepared the way for gentlemen<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essors.”<br />
<strong>Morris</strong> had no faith in the new loan proposed by the Government. “I would not,” he<br />
wrote to Robert Oliver, February 13th, “take it at twenty per cent. discount <strong>and</strong> ten per<br />
cent. interest, for I am <strong>of</strong> opinion that it will never be paid. If there be a severance <strong>of</strong><br />
the Union, we in the North won’t pay it. <strong>The</strong> South can’t pay, <strong>and</strong> wouldn’t pay if<br />
they could. Smuggling has already got far ahead, <strong>and</strong>, with the increase <strong>of</strong> duties,<br />
must advance, so that we never shall collect as much in that way as was once<br />
collected. Duties on exports are, you know, prohibited. <strong>The</strong> question, therefore, is<br />
short. Will they agree to internal taxes for payment <strong>of</strong> the public debt who will not<br />
even propose such taxes to carry on the war. In my opinion they will not, <strong>and</strong> they<br />
have a majority in the Senate, which majority will be increased by new States<br />
whenever the dominant party foresee the want <strong>of</strong> them. Pr<strong>of</strong>essions will not be<br />
wanting now, but those who trust to pr<strong>of</strong>essions from that quarter deserve to suffer.<br />
Of such men it may be said, ‘If they believe not Moses <strong>and</strong> the prophets, neither will<br />
they believe, though one should rise from the dead’—Madison’s proclamation.<br />
“Bonaparte is, I have no doubt, ruined. Long before the first report <strong>of</strong> the Russian<br />
success I had fixed, in my little circle, the 20th <strong>of</strong> October for his departure from<br />
Moscow. I believe the varlet was <strong>of</strong>f a day sooner than I supposed he could have<br />
taken the needful arrangements for so long a march. I believed <strong>and</strong> said he would<br />
endeavor to gain Cracow <strong>and</strong> cross the mountains so as to winter at Prague, the capital<br />
<strong>of</strong> Bohemia. If he save a remnant <strong>of</strong> fifty to eighty thous<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> reach Warsaw, he is<br />
not the less ruined. God grant that those who trusted in him <strong>and</strong> his patron-saint<br />
Beelzebub may with him meet their deserts.”<br />
On the 4th <strong>of</strong> March Mr. Madison entered upon his second term <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>fice. Of his<br />
inaugural address <strong>Morris</strong> wrote to Mr. Parish, on March 6th: “When I read Mr.<br />
Madison’s message I supposed him to be out <strong>of</strong> his senses, <strong>and</strong> have since been told<br />
that he never goes sober to bed. Whether intoxicated by opium or wine was not said,<br />
but I learned last winter that pains in his teeth had driven him to use the former too<br />
freely. <strong>The</strong> administration can do nothing, if the British ministers be not crazy too, for<br />
these cannot but know how impossible it is for us to prosecute the war. Of course,<br />
their reply to our overtures is, ‘We will consider.’”<br />
Again to Mr. Parish he wrote on the 26th: “I was asked, ‘Do you believe that Mr.<br />
Madison has accepted the pr<strong>of</strong>fered mediation <strong>of</strong> Russia?’ I replied, ‘If it was <strong>of</strong>fered,<br />
it was accepted.’ <strong>The</strong> question was then put, ‘How does this accord with your idea<br />
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