Crimes of that
magnitude
ought not to remain un-
punished.
punished.
Hamilton - 1834 - Life on Hamilton - v1
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? 118 THE LIFE OF
cessary suffering, privation, and wrong than the American;
and that this is chiefly attributable to the jealousy of power
which was encouraged by demagogues, and to the feeble-
ness of the league whose powers they often arbitrarily ad-
ministered.
These false appearances have been assumed to amuse
(he public mind; and in the emulation of flattery, truth in
all its just proportions has been excluded from the view.
The glory which the two first congresses shed upon the
revolution seems to have dazzled every judgment as to the
conduct of their successors; and instead of those salutary
lessons which are to be derived from their errors and mis-
conduct, the freedom of history has been restrained, and
those lights and shades which form part of every picture in
which man is exhibited, are merged in a general blaze of
indiscriminate admiration.
He will approach nearer to the truth, who while he re-
presents the American people at first earnestly hoping a re-
conciliation with Great Britain, then angered by her mena-
ces, and exasperated by her measures of coercion, entering
upon the contest, stimulated by a sudden and intense desire
of independence, as the only refuge,--in its progress some-
times doubting, often misled, but always true to their prin-
ciples, and in all the ordinary features of their character
raised and exalted, shows that they were sustained through-
out this arduous struggle by the eminent qualities and pre-
eminent popularity of one man, aided by the enlightened
counsels of a few virtuous friends, who seemed raised up by
providence to establish a great nation.
Among the arts of a later period, it has been contended
as an evidence of the virtues of the times, but for the pur-
pose of shielding individual misconduct, that Washington's
course was unimpeded by opposition; and that a man raised
far above his cotemporaries, and resting on the support of
a body as variable as the congress of the confederation, was
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? HAMILTON. 119
not an object of envy, and was at all times secure and firm
in his position when every thing around him was in a state
of fluctuation.
It falls, in natural connexion with the incidents of the
preceding chapter, to show that it was the want of power,
not the want of inclination, which prevented Washington,
now revered as the Father of his Country, from being treat-
ed as a mere soldier of fortune.
The materials for this purpose, from the silence of the
journals of congress, are imperfect; but from amidst the
errors which have been promulgated respecting the pro-
ceedings of those secret councils where falsehood lies in
ambush, enough may be gathered to establish this allega-
tion.
As the origin of the great parties which have since divi-
ded this country had an intimate connexion with the pro-
ject of forcing General Washington from the command of
the army, a brief narrative of these events comes within
the scope of this work.
On the fifteenth of June, 1775, Colonel Washington was
unanimously elected, and on the seventeenth, the day on
which the battle of Bunker's Hill was fought, was commis-
sioned as commander-in-chief.
The enviable distinction of having nominated him to this
place belongs to Thomas Johnson of Maryland, who soon
after signalized his patriotism by hastening from civil life
with a body of Maryland troops, to join the army during its
retreat through New-Jersey, and who as a just tribute to
his virtues and talents was elected the first governor of that
state.
As this circumstance is not only one of great public in-
terest, but had an important bearing on the political desti-
nies of the country, and more especially as it has been er-
roneously supposed that this honour was claimed by John
Adams, a distinguished member of that congress, it becomes
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? 120 THE LIFE OF
important to give the evidence on which this statement rests-
It is found in the following extract of a letter from that gen-
tleman to Colonel Pickering, dated August 6th, 1822. After
giving an account of his journey to Philadelphia in 1775,
in company with Cushing, Samuel Adams, and Paine, "four
poor pilgrims," Mr. John Adams says, "they were met at
Frankfort by Doctor Rush, Mr. Mifflin, Mr. Bayard, and
others, who desired a conference, and particularly caution-
ed not to lisp the word 'Independence. ' They added, you
must not come forward with any bold measures; you must
not pretend to take the lead; you know Virginia is the most
populous state in the union; they are very proud of their
ancient dominion, as they call it; they think they have a
right to take the lead, and the southern states and middle
states are too much disposed to yield it to them. This was
plain dealing, Mr. Pickering; and, I must confess, that
there appeared so much wisdom and good sense in it, that
it made a deep impression on my mind, and it had an equal
effect on all my colleagues. This conversation, and the
principles, facts, and motives suggested in it, have given a
colour, complexion, and character to the whole policy of
the United States from that day to this. Without it, Mr.
Washington would never have commanded our armies, nor
Mr. Jefferson have been the author of the declaration of in-
dependence, nor Mr. Richard Henry Lee the mover of it,
nor Mr. Chase the mover of foreign connexions.
"If I have ever had cause to repent of any part of this
policy, that repentance ever has been, and ever will be, una-
vailing. -- I had forgot to say, nor had Mr. Johnson ever
have been the nominator of Washington for General. "
The signal merit which he had evinced in the war of
seventeen hundred and fifty-six, justly secured to him a pre-
ference over every native American, and public feeling
would have endured no other than a native.
Congress duly appreciated the popular sentiment, and
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? HAMILTON. 121
while they gladly availed themselves of foreign military ex-
perience, two days after* selected Artemas Ward of Mas-
sachusetts, as second in command, to fill the vacancy which
might occur in case of the fall of Washington; thus care-
fully avoiding the possibility of a foreigner being at the
head of their armies.
In a season of profound peace, the revolution opened an
attractive prospect to military men; and foreigners in crowds
proffered their services, urging their pretensions at a time
when it was imagined that military experience could not
be purchased at too high a price.
Of those who were first employed, the most conspicuous
was General Charles Lee, a native of England, who had
served in the British army in America. His romantic
temper led him to seek distinction in the most remote and
opposite regions of Europe ; he became a soldier of fortune,
and served with equal interest in Portugal against the
Spaniards, and in Poland against the Turks. Conscious of
his own superiority, though of humble birth, he endured
with bitter discontent the preference which he alleged, in
his native country, interest enjoyed over unassisted merit.
A sense of disappointment rankled in his breast, and yield-
ing to this influence, and to the impulses of a wayward na-
ture, he became an impetuous republican. With such feel-
ings, the new world suddenly opened an unlimited sphere
to his ambition, and, at the same time, presented to him the
prospect of contending in arms against the men whom pa-
tronage had preferred to him, and of avenging himself upon
those privileged orders, which, in his own estimate of his
talents, he imagined had been the only obstacle to his ad-
vancement. Opinions so congenial with those which were
beginning to prevail in America, strongly recommended
him, and in the first selection of the general staff, he was
* June 17, 1775.
VOL. I. 16
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? 122 THE LIFE OF
appointed a Major General, next in rank to Ward, on whose
resignation he became second in command.
Although his military experience was considerable, such
were the singular eccentricities of his character, that he
soon alarmed those who guided the early councils of the
country, by the most arbitrary acts and startling indiscre-
tions. But nevertheless, he enjoyed the confidence of the
people, who mistook his extravagances for genius, and who
imagined that they saw even in the irregularities of his mind
evidences of resources which only waited an opportunity
for their display.
Led away by the impetuosity of his temper, he often
transcended the strict bounds of his profession; but for
every violation of discipline, his ready wit furnished a plau-
sible excuse, while his reputed knowledge gave him an in-
fluence with the uninformed, to whom he was the more
recommended by the pointed sarcasms which were always
at his command.
His sneers and his apothegms were widely circulated,
and men yielded a tacit approbation to covert jests, which
would have been withheld from an open avowal of disap-
probation.
Under this malign influence, the public consideration of
the commander-in-chief, after the defeat on Long Island,
the evacuation of New-York, the surrender of Fort Wash-
ington, and the retreat through the Jersies, though exalted
by the brilliant enterprises of Trenton and Princeton, be-
gan to diminish. But happily for Washington, most hap-
pily for his country, while disaffection was concentrating
on this half hero, half madman, he was captured, under cir-
cumstances little creditable to his reputation.
The individual who next presented himself to the eye of
faction, was Horatio Gates. Of humble origin, but usher-
ed into life under the auspices of nobility, Gates was ap-
pointed an ensign in the British army, and served in the
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? HAMILTON. 123
West Indies, where he was distinguished by being selected
as bearer of the despatches announcing the capture of Mar-
tinique. He subsequently visited America, and was with
Washington in the defeat of Braddock, in which engage-
ment he received a wound.
He returned to England for a short time, but induced
by similar considerations with those which actuated Gene-
ral Lee, he revisited America, and retired to a plantation
in Virginia, endeavouring there to forget that his native
country had not duly appreciated his value.
At the opening of the revolution, and, it has been stated,
upon the recommendation of General Washington, he was
appointed Adjutant General of the army, and in May, 1776,
was elected a Major General, Thomas Mifflin being cho-
sen to fill the vacancy which the promotion of Gates had
created. In the ensuing month he was directed to take the
command in Canada, and such was the temper he thus
early displayed, that congress found it necessary, soon af-
ter, to pass a resolution, that they had no design to invest
him with a superior command to Schuyler, while the troops
were within the bounds of the states.
By a series of intrigues, he recommended himself to the
favour of a large party in congress, and soon after Schuy-
ler had taken all the preparatory steps for the capture of
Burgoyne, such was the clamour raised against him by the
New-England troops, that he was superseded just in time
to transfer his laurels to the brow of Gates.
The capture of a British army swelled his fame ;-- the
people, bewildered with his success, turned in murmurs to-
wards Washington, and forgetting what he had done, de-
manded, with the levity of recent good fortune, why more
had not been accomplished? Emboldened by this feeling,
the enemies of the commander-in-chief now cast their hopes
upon his rival, as a fit instrument of their designs.
But never was a cabal more unfortunate in its selection.
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? 124 THE LITE OF
Weak and vainglorious, Gates had precisely those traits of
character which would recommend him to the designing,
without the penetration to discover that he was used as a
tool. Presumptuous and irresolute, he engaged in intrigues
which he had not the sagacity to direct, and sought respon-
sibilities which he had not the firmness to sustain.
This man, the giddy object of the hopes and fears of the
discontented, was, through the arts of his partizans, pos-
sessed of the entire confidence of the New-England states,*
where . Washington, though idolized at subsequent periods
of his life, was, at this time, far from being a favourite.
The cause of this may be assigned without difficulty. --
Of the members which composed the American confedera-
cy, the two in all respects the most important and influen-
tial, were the states of Virginia and Massachusetts. Vir-
ginia was the asylum of the cavaliers, -- Massachusetts of
the puritans; and the marked and distinctive traits of cha-
racter of the early settlers, and their attendant prejudices,
continued to present obstacles to any cordiality of feeling.
Their different modes of life, also had an influence in per-
petuating the mutual dislike. The hardy sons of labour in
the east, looked down with disdain, perhaps with envy, on
wealth acquired without personal toil; while the almost
lordly planter, returned with indignation the temper which
could question the tenure of his wealth. With such pre-
disposing causes of collision, it is not matter of surprise that
in New-England, with her more concentrated population
and active capital, the less informed of the people should
ill have brooked that the control of armies, which her war-
like sons principally filled, should be conferred on a soldier
of the south. The jealousy which this selection inspired,
was believed to have led to the resignation of General
Ward, and was not softened by the presence of Washing-
* "He is their idol," said Schuyler, " because he is at their discretion. "
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? HAMILTON. 125
ton before Boston, though followed by the evacuation of
that town, and the removal of the seat of war.
The superior and general intelligence of this population,
imparted to them a spirit of inquiry and vigilance of tem-
per, which entered deeply into the composition of their
character.
Hence flowed their just and early estimate of their co-
lonial rights, which, extending widely through the country,
established the standard of public opinion. -- Hence an ac-
tive and unceasing supervision of the conduct of their rulers,
which constituted each individual a guardian of the inte-
rests of his immediate community. -- Hence a confidence
of opinion, a steadiness of purpose, and an untiring perse-
verance, which form their peculiar, and, perhaps, most va-
luable characteristics.
With these energetic features of character were con-
nected qualities springing from the same source; which,
when they were withdrawn from their ordinary avoca-
tions, produced a spirit of insubordination that rendered
them prone to discontent and difficult of conciliation.
The exertions of Washington to introduce discipline, had
furnished early and unceasing causes of dissatisfaction
among the militia drawn from this section of the country,
who found in the forbearance and connivance of many of
their inferior officers, not only occasions of panegyric, but
motives of continued hostility and embittering comparison:
forming a very large proportion of the combattants during
all the war, they claimed a right to direct, and to control
the councils of their superiors; and while their numbers
gave importance to their clamours, it increased the neces-
sity of yielding to them on occasions, when to yield was to
surrender every principle of authority.
In the frequent drafts made upon her patriotism, the
feelings of the soldiers rapidly extended to the mass of the
people of New-England; and while no portion of the union
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? 126 THE LIFE OF
displayed more devotion to the cause of the revolution, in
none was it more difficult to silence the clamours of the dis-
contented. The superior population, -- the larger quotas
furnished to the army, -- the more faithful discharge of the
public burthens, were among the topics which their pride
naturally dwelt upon, and not without reason; for one state
alone furnished a fourth of the troops which sustained
the revolution: and not less just than forcible was the de-
claration of Hamilton, when, to express his high respect
for her exertions, he said "that Massachusetts was the
pivot on which the revolution turned. " The consciousness
of this gave rise to claims of superiority, which were che-
rished by several of the leading individuals of that part of
the country, who, by encouraging these sentiments served
their own popularity at home, and, as they imagined, con-
firmed their title to a preponderance in the confederacy.
The calamities which befel the army on the invasion of
Canada, and the series of disasters which followed the
battle of Long Island, were alike attributed by them to the
incapacity of the commander-in-chief; and they were only
waiting until some officer should be presented to the na-
tion in a favourable point of view, to support him as a rival
for public confidence, and the highest command.
It has been mentioned that the capture of Lee removed
Him from the public eye, and that the same party then di-
rected their attention to General Gates. The evacuation
of Ticonderoga, by St. Clair, though wholly unknown to
General Schuyler, was a reverse of fortune magnified and
misrepresented, and the opportunity of bestowing on their
favourite so important a command, outweighed every con-
sideration of delicacy to Schuyler, and was the more rea-
dily embraced because it was contrary to the known wishes
of Washington, the judgment of Jay, and the feelings of
New-York, which had evinced a steady determination to
support the commander-in-chief. The hostility of this party,
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? HAMILTON. 127
which was disarmed by the success at Trenton, began to
indicate itself anew after the affair of Germantown, when
the misconduct of part of the troops called forth censures
from head quarters, and led to numerous arrests.
On such occasions, the bravest officers cannot always
escape unmerited obloquy; and, unfortunately, individuals
were found among them who too readily listened to over-
tures to join the cabal.
Letters, written under feelings of irritation, were address-
ed to the northern army, and circulated throughout the
country. The newspapers were called in aid to dissemi-
nate the poison, and as soon as the victory of Saratoga was
announced, the designs of the faction, which was known as
the "Monster Party," were openly evinced in the most as-
siduous attentions to Gates, and extravagant eulogiums on
his conduct, and in marked disrespect of Washington, and
undisguised censures of his policy.
Among the most active partizans of the opposition, were
a few foreigners, who arriving in this country with preten-
sions to the first grades in the army, had been found not to
possess any real title to preferment. Of these, the foremost
was Thomas Conway, who appearing before congress with
the rank of Colonel in the French army, and decorated with
the cross of the order of Saint Louis, -- a vain, weak intri-
guer, had been, in the preceding spring, elected to the com-
mand of a brigade. Soon understood by Washington,
Conway became his enemy, and opened a correspondence
with Gates, in which, by flattering his vanity, and ridicu-
ling the commander-in-chief, he confirmed him in the idea
that he might easily supplant him.
Winter had now closed in, and while Washington was
engaged in efforts to provide for his famishing and almost
naked army, a communication was received from General
Gates, marked with all the insolence of anticipated triumph.
A paragraph in a letter from Conway to Gates, "in which
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? 128 THE LIFE OF
General Washington's conduct was made the subject of
free discussion and injurious remark, was the first occur-
rence which called forth the attention of the commander-in-
chief; to this correspondence Gates lent a willing ear, and
his answers to General Conway's letters were very much
the echoes of the sentiments those letters contained. "* The
inquiries which ensued on the disclosure of this correspond-
ence alarmed Gates, who with a view to fix the imputation
on General Washington of having practised indirect means
to arrive at the contents of his confidential correspondence,
wrote him the letter referred to, throwing out an imputa-
tion that the extracts had been "stealingly copied," which
was transmitted to him through the hands of the President
of Congress.
GATES TO WASHINGTON.
Albany, December 8th, 1777.
SIR,
I shall not attempt to describe what, as a private gentle-
man, I cannot help feeling, on representing to my mind the
disagreeable situation in which confidential letters, when
exposed to public inspection, may place an unsuspecting
correspondent; but as a public officer, I conjure your ex-
cellency to give me all the assistance you can, in tracing
out the author of the infidelity which put extracts from
General Conway's letters to me into your hands.
Those letters have been stealingly copied, but which of
them, when, and by whom, is to me yet an unfathomable
secret.
There is not one officer in my suite, nor amongst those
who have free access to me, upon whom I could, with the
least justification to myself, fix the suspicion, and yet my
uneasines may deprive me of the usefulness of the wor-
* Statement of facts, by Colonel Troup, who was an aid of Gates.
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? HAMILTON. 129
thiest men. It is, / believe, in your excellency's power to
do me and the United States a very important service by
detecting a wretch who may betray me, and capitally in-
jure the very operations under your immediate directions.
For this reason, sir, I beg your excellency will favour me
with the proof you can procure to that effect. But the crime
being eventually so important, that the least loss of time
may be attended with the worst consequences, and it being
unknown to me whether the letter came to you from a mem-
ber of congress or an officer, I shall have the honour of
transmitting a copy of this to the president, that the congress
may, in concert with your excellency, obtain as soon as pos-
sible a discovery which so deeply affects the safety of the
states.
Crimes of that magnitude ought not to remain un-
punished. I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect,
Your excellency's most humble
And most obedient servant,
Horatio Gates.
His Excellency General Washington.
Washington thus replied:
WASHINGTON TO GATES.
Valley Forge, January 4th, 1777.
SIR,
Your letter of the 8th ultimo, came to my hands a few
days ago, and to my great surprise informed me that a copy
of it had been sent to congress,-- for what reason I find my-
self unable to account; but as some end, doubtless, was in-
tended to be answered by it, I am laid under the disagree-
able necessity of returning my answer through the same
channel, lest any member of that honourable body should
harbour an unfavourable suspicion of my having practised
some indirect means to come at the contents of the confi-
dential letters between you and General Conway.
vol. i. 17
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? 130 THE LIFE OF
I am to inform you, then, that Colonel Wilkinson, on his
way to congress, in the month of October last, fell in with
Lord Stirling at Reading, and not in confidence, that I ever
understood, informed his aid-de-camp, McWilliams, that
General Conway had written thus to you: "Heaven has
been determined to save your country, or a weak general
and bad counsellors would have ruined it. " Lord Stirling,
from motives of friendship, transmitted the account, with
this remark, -- " the enclosed was communicated by Colo-
nel Wilkinson to Major McWilliams. Such duplicity of
conduct I shall always think it my duty to defeat. "
In consequence of this information, and without having
any thing more in view than merely to show that gentleman
that I was not unapprized of his intriguing disposition, I
wrote him a letter in these words: "Sir, A letter which I
received last night, contained the following paragraph in a
letter from General Conway to General Gates, he says, --
'heaven has been determined to save your country, or a
weak general and bad counsellors would have ruined it. '
I am," &c.
Neither this letter, nor the information which occasioned
it, was ever directly or indirectly communicated by me to
a single officer in this army out of my own family, except-
ing the Marquis de la Fayette, who having been spoken to
on the subject by General Conway, applied for, and saw,
under injunctions of secrecy, the letter which contained Co-
lonel Wilkinson's information. So desirous was I of con-
cealing every matter that could in its consequences give the
smallest interruption to the tranquillity of this army, or afford
a gleam of hope to the enemy by dissensions therein.
Thus, sir, with openness and candour, which I hope will
ever characterize and mark my conduct, have I complied
with your request. The only concern I feel upon the occa-
sion, finding how matters stand, is, that in doing this, I have
necessarily been obliged to name a gentleman whom I am
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? HAMILTON. 131
persuaded, (although I never exchanged a word with him
on the subject,) thought he was rather doing an act of jus-
tice, than committing an act of infidelity; and sure I am,
that till Lord Stirling's letter came to my hands, I never
knew that General Conway (whom I viewed in the light of a
stranger to you,) was a correspondent of yours, much less
did I expect that I was the subject of your confidential let-
ters. Pardon me, then, for adding, that so far from con-
ceiving that the safety of the states can be affected, or in
the smallest degree injured by a discovery of this kind, or
that I should be called on in such solemn terms to point out
the author, that I considered the information as coming from
yourself, and given with a friendly view to forewarn, and,
consequently, forearm me against a secret enemy; or in
other words, a dangerous incendiary, in which character,
sooner or later, this country will know General Conway.
But in this, as in other matters of late, I have found myself
mistaken. I am, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
Geo. Washington.
The Hon. Major General Gates.
GATES TO WASHINGTON.
SIR,
The letter of the 4th inst. which I had the honour to re-
ceive yesterday from your excellency, has relieved me from
unspeakable uneasiness. I now anticipate the pleasure it
will give you when you discover that what has been con-
veyed to you for an extract of General Conway's letter to
me, was not an information which friendly motives indu-
ced a man of honour to give, that injured virtue might be
forewarned against secret enemies. The paragraph which
your excellency has condescended to transcribe is spurious.
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? 132 THE LIFE OF
It was certainly fabricated to answer the most selfish and
wicked purposes.
I cannot avoid sketching out to your excellency the his-
tory of General Conway's letter from the time that it came
to my hands, by Lieutenant-Colonel Troup, my aid-de-
camp, to whom General Conway delivered it at Reading,
on the 11th of October, to this time, as far as it has affected
me, and the officers of my family.
That letter contained very judicious remarks upon that
want of discipline which has often alarmed your excel-
lency, and I believe all observing patriots. The reasons
which, in his judgment, deprived us of the success we would
reasonably expect, were methodically explained by him;
but neither the weakness of any of our generals, nor "bad
counsellors," were mentioned, and consequently cannot be
assigned or imagined as part of those reasons to which
General Conway attributed some of our losses. He wrote
to me as a candid observer, as other officers in every ser-
vice write to each other for obtaining better intelligence
than that of newspapers, and that freedom renders such
letters thus far confidential in some measure. The judg-
ment of the person who received them points out to him,
according to time and circumstances, the propriety or im-
propriety attending their being communicated when no
particular injunction of secrecy was requested.
Particular actions, rather than persons, were blamed,
but with impartiality; and I am convinced that he did not
aim at lessening, in my opinion, the merit of any person.
His letter was perfectly harmless: however, now that va-
rious reports have been circulated concerning its contents,
they ought not to be submitted to the solemn inspection of
those who stand most high in the public esteem.
Anxiety and jealousy would arise in the breast of very
respectable officers, who, rendered sensible of faults which
inexperience, and that alone may have led them into,
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? HAMILTON. 133
would be unnecessarily disgusted, if they perceived a pro-
bability of such errors being recorded.
Honour forbids it, and patriotism demands, that I should
return the letter into the hands of the writer. I will do it,
but at the same time I declare that the paragraph conveyed
to your excellency as a genuine part of it, was in words as
well as in substance, a wicked forgery.
About the beginning of December I was informed that
letter had occasioned an explanation between your excel-
lency and that gentleman. Not knowing whether the whole
letter or part of it had been stealingly copied, but fearing
malice had altered its original features, I own, sir, that a
dread of the mischiefs which might attend the forgery I
suspected would be made, put me for some time in a most
painful situation. When I communicated to the officers in
my family the intelligence I had received, they all entreat-
ed me to rescue their characters from the suspicions they
justly conceived themselves liable to until the guilty person
should be known. To facilitate the discovery, I wrote your
excellency; but unable to learn whether General Con-
way's letter had been transmitted to you by a member of
congress, or a gentleman in the army, I was afraid much
time would be lost in the course of the inquiry, and that the
states might receive some capital injury from the infidelity
of the person who I thought had stolen a copy of the ob-
noxious letter, was it not probable that the secrets of the
army might be attained and betrayed through the same
means to the enemy?
For this reason, sir, not doubting that congress would
most cheerfully concur with you in tracing out the crimi-
nal, I wrote to the president, and enclosed to him a copy of
my letter to your excellency.
About the same time I was forwarding these letters, Bri-
gadier General Wilkinson returned to Albany. I informed
him of the treachery which had been committed, but I con-
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? 134 THE LIFE OF
cealed from him the measures I was pursuing to unmask
the author. Wilkinson answered, he was assured it never
would come to light, and endeavoured to fix my suspi-
cions on Lieutenant-Colonel Troup, who said he might
have incautiously conversed on the substance of General
Conway's letter with Colonel Hamilton, whom you had
sent not long before to Albany. I did not listen to this in-
sinuation against your aid-de-camp and mine. I considered
it ungenerous; but the light your excellency has just as-
sisted me with, exhibiting the many qualifications which
are necessarily blended together by the head and heart of
General Wilkinson, I would not omit this fact. It would
enable your excellency to judge whether or not he would
scruple to make such a forgery as that which he now stands
charged with, and ought to be exemplarily punished. To
attempt sowing dissensions among the principal officers of
the army, and rendering them odious to each other by false
suggestions and forgeries, is, in my opinion, a crime of the
first magnitude, and involves with it all the consequences of
positive treason. That the forgery now in view was ma-
chinated for injuring General Conway, and perhaps myself,
in your judgment, is now evident to me; and I trust the
detection will operate, as it ought to operate, upon your ex-
cellency, as well as the members of the congress before
whom your letter necessitates me to lay this answer. The
station of the calumniator seems to justify your excellency
for having believed till now that the extract was genuine:
and yet, sir, I cannot help wishing you had sent me a copy
of it immediately after your explanation with General
Conway.
Would that your excellency's prediction relative to him
had not been inserted in your letter which came to me un-
sealed, through the hands of congress. I sincerely wish the
detection of this forgery may render us all more cautious;
and that to procure a fair and dispassionate explanation
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? HAMILTON. 135
whenever insinuations are made to the prejudice of respect-
ed characters, may become an established rule in society,
as well as in public business throughout the United States.
I am with unfeigned respect, sir,
Your excellency's most humble and
Most obedient servant,
Horatio Gates.
January 23d, 1778.
This extraordinary attempt, after having substantially ad-
mitted in his first letter the genuineness of the extract from
Conway's letter, to induce the belief that it was a forgery,
and a forgery committed by Colonel Wilkinson, a member
of his own staff, was thus commented upon.
WASHINGTON TO GATES.
Head Quarters, Valley Forge, February 9th, 1778.
sir:
I was duly favoured with your letter of the 23d last
month, to which I should have replied sooner, had I not
been delayed by business that required my more imme-
diate attention.
It is my wish to give implicit credit to the assurances of
every gentleman; but on the subject of our present cor-
respondence, I am sorry to confess, there happens to be
some unlucky circumstances which involuntarily compel
me to consider the discovery you mention, not so satisfac-
tory and conclusive as you seem to think it. *
+ In a private letter from General Washington to Mr. Jay, dated April 14,
1779, he observes, "I discovered very early in the war, symptoms of coldness
and constraint in General Gates' behaviour to me. These increased as he rose
into greater consequence, but we did not come to a direct breach till the begin-
ning of last year. This was occasioned by a correspondence, which I thought
made rather free with me, between him and General Conway, which acci-
dentally came to my knowledge. The particulars of this affair, you will find
delineated in the packet herewith, endorsed 'Papers respecting General Con-
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? 136 THE LIFE OF
I am so unhappy as to find no small difficulty in recon-
ciling the spirit and import of your different letters, and
sometimes the different parts of the same letter with each
other.
It is not unreasonable to presume, that your first informa-
tion of my having notice of General Conway's letter, came
from himself; there were very few in the secret, and it is
natural to suppose, that he being immediately concerned,
would be the most interested to convey the intelligence to
you. It is also far from improbable, that he acquainted you
with the substance of the passage communicated to me;
one would expect this, if he believed it to be spurious, in
order to ascertain the imposition and evince his innocence,
especially as he seemed to be under some uncertainty as to
the precise contents of what he had written, when I signi-
fied my knowledge of the matter to him. If he neglected
doing it, the omission cannot easily be interpreted into any
thing else than a consciousness of the reality of the extract,
if not literally, at least substantially. If he did not neglect
it, it must appear somewhat strange that the forgery re-
mained so long undetected, and that your first letter to me
from Albany, of the eighth of December, should tacitly re-
cognise the genuineness of the paragraph in question; while
your only concern at that time seemed to be, the "tracing
out the author of the infidelity, which put extracts of Gene-
ral Conway's letters into my hands. " Throughout the
whole of that letter, the reality of the extracts is, by the fair-
est implication, allowed, and your only solicitude was to find
out the person who brought them to light. After making
the most earnest pursuit of the author of the supposed
treachery, without saying a word about the truth or false-
hood of the passage, your letter of the twenty-third ultimo,
way. ' Besides the evidence contained in them of the genuineness of the of-
fensive correspondence, I have other proofs still more convincing, which having
been given me in a confidential way, / am not at liberty to impart. "
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? HAMILTON. 137
to my great surprise, proclaims it in words, as well as sub-
stance, a "wicked forgery. "
It is not my intention to contradict this assertion, but
only to intimate some considerations, which tend to induce
a supposition, that though none of General Conway's letters
to you contain the offensive passage mentioned, there might
have been something in them too nearly related to it, that
could give such an extraordinary alarm. It may be said,
if this were not the case, how easy, in the first instance, to
declare there was nothing exceptionable in them, and to
have produced the letters themselves in support of them?
This may be thought the most proper and effectual way of
refuting misrepresentations, and removing all suspicion.
The propriety of the objections suggested against submitting
them to inspection, may very well be questioned; the vari-
ous reports circulated concerning their contents were, per-
haps, so many arguments for making them speak for them-
selves, to place the matter upon the footing of certainty.
Concealment, in an affair which had made so much noise,
though not by my means, will naturally lead men to con-
jecture the worst, and it will be a subject of speculation
even to candour itself. The anxiety and jealousy you ap-
prehend from revealing the letter, will be very apt to be
increased by suppressing it. It may be asked, why not
submit to inspection a performance perfectly harmless, and
of course conceived in terms of proper caution and delicacy?
Why suppose that "anxiety and jealousy" would have ari-
sen in the breasts of very respectable officers, or that they
would have been necessarily disgusted at being made sen-
sible of their faults when related with judgment and impar-
tiality by a candid observer? Surely they could not have
been unreasonable enough to take offence at a performance
so perfectly inoffensive, "blaming actions rather than per-
sons," which have evidently no connexion with one ano-
ther, and indulgently "recording the errors of inexperience. "
vol. i. 18
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? 138 THE LIFE OF
You are pleased to consider General Conway's letters
as of a confidential nature, observing, that "time and cir-
cumstances must point out the propriety or impropriety of
communicating such letters. " Permit me to inquire, whe-
ther, when there is an impropriety in communication, it is
only applicable with respect to the parties who are the sub-
ject of them? One might be led to imagine this to be the
case, from your having admitted others into the secret of your
confidential correspondence, at the same time that you
thought it ineligible it should be trusted to those officers
whose actions underwent its scrutiny. Your not knowing
whether the letter under consideration "came to me from
a member of congress or from an officer," plainly indicates
that you had originally communicated it to at least one of
that honourable body; and I learn from General Conway,
that before his late arrival at York-Town, it had been com-
mitted to the perusal of several of its members, and was
afterwards shown by himself to three more. It is some-
what difficult to conceive a reason, founded in generosity,
for imparting the free and confidential strictures of this in-
genuous censor on the operations of the army under my
command, to a member of congress; but, perhaps, "time
and circumstances pointed it out. " It must be indeed ac-
knowledged, that the faults of very respectable officers, not
less injurious for being the result of inexperience, were not
improper topics to engage the attention of members of con-
gress.
It is, however, greatly to be lamented, that this adept in
military science, did not employ his abilities in the progress
of the campaign, in pointing out those wise measures which
were calculated to give us "that degree of success we
might reasonably expect. " The United States have lost
much by that unseasonable diffidence, which prevented his
embracing the numerous opportunities he had in council, of
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? HAMILTON. 130
displaying those rich treasures of knowledge and experi-
rience he has since so freely laid open to you. I will not
do him the injustice to impute the penurious reserve, which
ever appeared in him on such occasions, to any other cause
than an excess of modesty; neither will I suppose he pos-
sesses no other merit than of that kind of sagacity, which
qualifies a man better for profound discoveries of errors
that have been committed, and advantages that have been
lost, than for the exercise of that foresight and provident
discernment, which enable him to avoid the one and anti-
cipate the other; but, willing as I am to subscribe to all his
pretensions, and believe that his remarks on the operations
of the campaign were very judicious, and that he has saga-
ciously descanted on many things that might have been
done, I cannot help being a little sceptical as to his ability
to have found out the means of accomplishing them, or to
prove the sufficiency of those in our possession. These
minutiae, I suspect, he did not think worth his attention,
particularly as they might not be within the compass of his
views.
Notwithstanding the hopeful presages you are pleased to
figure to yourself of General Conway's firm and constant
friendship to America, I cannot persuade myself to retract
the prediction concerning him, which you so emphatically
wish had not been inserted in my last. A better acquaint-
ance with him than I have reason to think you have had,
from what you say, and a concurrence of circumstances
oblige me to give him but little credit for the qualities of his
heart, of which, at least, I beg leave to assume the privi-
lege of being a tolerable judge. Were it necessary, more
instances than one might be adduced from his behaviour and
conversation, to manifest that he is capable of all the ma-
lignity of detraction, and all the meanness of intrigue, to
gratify the absurd resentment of disappointed vanity, or to
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? 140 THE LIFE OF
answer the purposes of personal aggrandizement, and pro-
mote the interest of a faction.
I am, with respect, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
Geo. Washington.
Major General Gates.
To this biting sarcasm, which no man conscious of his
innocence would have brooked, General Gates gave the
following submissive reply.
GATES TO WASHINGTON.
SIR,
I yesterday had the honour to receive your excellency's
letter of the 9th instant, and earnestly hope no more of that
time, so precious to the public, may be lost upon the sub-
ject of General Conway's letter. Whether that gentleman
does or does not deserve the suspicions you express, would
be entirely indifferent to me, did he not possess an office of
high rank in the army of the United States; for that rea-
son solely, I wish he may answer all the expectations of
congress.
As to the gentleman, I have no personal connexion with
him, nor had I any correspondence previous to his writing
the letter which has given offence, nor have I since written
to him, save to certify what I know to be the contents of
the letter. He, therefore, must be responsible;-- as I
heartily dislike controversy, even upon my own account,
and much more in a matter wherein I was only accident-
ally concerned.
? 118 THE LIFE OF
cessary suffering, privation, and wrong than the American;
and that this is chiefly attributable to the jealousy of power
which was encouraged by demagogues, and to the feeble-
ness of the league whose powers they often arbitrarily ad-
ministered.
These false appearances have been assumed to amuse
(he public mind; and in the emulation of flattery, truth in
all its just proportions has been excluded from the view.
The glory which the two first congresses shed upon the
revolution seems to have dazzled every judgment as to the
conduct of their successors; and instead of those salutary
lessons which are to be derived from their errors and mis-
conduct, the freedom of history has been restrained, and
those lights and shades which form part of every picture in
which man is exhibited, are merged in a general blaze of
indiscriminate admiration.
He will approach nearer to the truth, who while he re-
presents the American people at first earnestly hoping a re-
conciliation with Great Britain, then angered by her mena-
ces, and exasperated by her measures of coercion, entering
upon the contest, stimulated by a sudden and intense desire
of independence, as the only refuge,--in its progress some-
times doubting, often misled, but always true to their prin-
ciples, and in all the ordinary features of their character
raised and exalted, shows that they were sustained through-
out this arduous struggle by the eminent qualities and pre-
eminent popularity of one man, aided by the enlightened
counsels of a few virtuous friends, who seemed raised up by
providence to establish a great nation.
Among the arts of a later period, it has been contended
as an evidence of the virtues of the times, but for the pur-
pose of shielding individual misconduct, that Washington's
course was unimpeded by opposition; and that a man raised
far above his cotemporaries, and resting on the support of
a body as variable as the congress of the confederation, was
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? HAMILTON. 119
not an object of envy, and was at all times secure and firm
in his position when every thing around him was in a state
of fluctuation.
It falls, in natural connexion with the incidents of the
preceding chapter, to show that it was the want of power,
not the want of inclination, which prevented Washington,
now revered as the Father of his Country, from being treat-
ed as a mere soldier of fortune.
The materials for this purpose, from the silence of the
journals of congress, are imperfect; but from amidst the
errors which have been promulgated respecting the pro-
ceedings of those secret councils where falsehood lies in
ambush, enough may be gathered to establish this allega-
tion.
As the origin of the great parties which have since divi-
ded this country had an intimate connexion with the pro-
ject of forcing General Washington from the command of
the army, a brief narrative of these events comes within
the scope of this work.
On the fifteenth of June, 1775, Colonel Washington was
unanimously elected, and on the seventeenth, the day on
which the battle of Bunker's Hill was fought, was commis-
sioned as commander-in-chief.
The enviable distinction of having nominated him to this
place belongs to Thomas Johnson of Maryland, who soon
after signalized his patriotism by hastening from civil life
with a body of Maryland troops, to join the army during its
retreat through New-Jersey, and who as a just tribute to
his virtues and talents was elected the first governor of that
state.
As this circumstance is not only one of great public in-
terest, but had an important bearing on the political desti-
nies of the country, and more especially as it has been er-
roneously supposed that this honour was claimed by John
Adams, a distinguished member of that congress, it becomes
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? 120 THE LIFE OF
important to give the evidence on which this statement rests-
It is found in the following extract of a letter from that gen-
tleman to Colonel Pickering, dated August 6th, 1822. After
giving an account of his journey to Philadelphia in 1775,
in company with Cushing, Samuel Adams, and Paine, "four
poor pilgrims," Mr. John Adams says, "they were met at
Frankfort by Doctor Rush, Mr. Mifflin, Mr. Bayard, and
others, who desired a conference, and particularly caution-
ed not to lisp the word 'Independence. ' They added, you
must not come forward with any bold measures; you must
not pretend to take the lead; you know Virginia is the most
populous state in the union; they are very proud of their
ancient dominion, as they call it; they think they have a
right to take the lead, and the southern states and middle
states are too much disposed to yield it to them. This was
plain dealing, Mr. Pickering; and, I must confess, that
there appeared so much wisdom and good sense in it, that
it made a deep impression on my mind, and it had an equal
effect on all my colleagues. This conversation, and the
principles, facts, and motives suggested in it, have given a
colour, complexion, and character to the whole policy of
the United States from that day to this. Without it, Mr.
Washington would never have commanded our armies, nor
Mr. Jefferson have been the author of the declaration of in-
dependence, nor Mr. Richard Henry Lee the mover of it,
nor Mr. Chase the mover of foreign connexions.
"If I have ever had cause to repent of any part of this
policy, that repentance ever has been, and ever will be, una-
vailing. -- I had forgot to say, nor had Mr. Johnson ever
have been the nominator of Washington for General. "
The signal merit which he had evinced in the war of
seventeen hundred and fifty-six, justly secured to him a pre-
ference over every native American, and public feeling
would have endured no other than a native.
Congress duly appreciated the popular sentiment, and
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? HAMILTON. 121
while they gladly availed themselves of foreign military ex-
perience, two days after* selected Artemas Ward of Mas-
sachusetts, as second in command, to fill the vacancy which
might occur in case of the fall of Washington; thus care-
fully avoiding the possibility of a foreigner being at the
head of their armies.
In a season of profound peace, the revolution opened an
attractive prospect to military men; and foreigners in crowds
proffered their services, urging their pretensions at a time
when it was imagined that military experience could not
be purchased at too high a price.
Of those who were first employed, the most conspicuous
was General Charles Lee, a native of England, who had
served in the British army in America. His romantic
temper led him to seek distinction in the most remote and
opposite regions of Europe ; he became a soldier of fortune,
and served with equal interest in Portugal against the
Spaniards, and in Poland against the Turks. Conscious of
his own superiority, though of humble birth, he endured
with bitter discontent the preference which he alleged, in
his native country, interest enjoyed over unassisted merit.
A sense of disappointment rankled in his breast, and yield-
ing to this influence, and to the impulses of a wayward na-
ture, he became an impetuous republican. With such feel-
ings, the new world suddenly opened an unlimited sphere
to his ambition, and, at the same time, presented to him the
prospect of contending in arms against the men whom pa-
tronage had preferred to him, and of avenging himself upon
those privileged orders, which, in his own estimate of his
talents, he imagined had been the only obstacle to his ad-
vancement. Opinions so congenial with those which were
beginning to prevail in America, strongly recommended
him, and in the first selection of the general staff, he was
* June 17, 1775.
VOL. I. 16
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? 122 THE LIFE OF
appointed a Major General, next in rank to Ward, on whose
resignation he became second in command.
Although his military experience was considerable, such
were the singular eccentricities of his character, that he
soon alarmed those who guided the early councils of the
country, by the most arbitrary acts and startling indiscre-
tions. But nevertheless, he enjoyed the confidence of the
people, who mistook his extravagances for genius, and who
imagined that they saw even in the irregularities of his mind
evidences of resources which only waited an opportunity
for their display.
Led away by the impetuosity of his temper, he often
transcended the strict bounds of his profession; but for
every violation of discipline, his ready wit furnished a plau-
sible excuse, while his reputed knowledge gave him an in-
fluence with the uninformed, to whom he was the more
recommended by the pointed sarcasms which were always
at his command.
His sneers and his apothegms were widely circulated,
and men yielded a tacit approbation to covert jests, which
would have been withheld from an open avowal of disap-
probation.
Under this malign influence, the public consideration of
the commander-in-chief, after the defeat on Long Island,
the evacuation of New-York, the surrender of Fort Wash-
ington, and the retreat through the Jersies, though exalted
by the brilliant enterprises of Trenton and Princeton, be-
gan to diminish. But happily for Washington, most hap-
pily for his country, while disaffection was concentrating
on this half hero, half madman, he was captured, under cir-
cumstances little creditable to his reputation.
The individual who next presented himself to the eye of
faction, was Horatio Gates. Of humble origin, but usher-
ed into life under the auspices of nobility, Gates was ap-
pointed an ensign in the British army, and served in the
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? HAMILTON. 123
West Indies, where he was distinguished by being selected
as bearer of the despatches announcing the capture of Mar-
tinique. He subsequently visited America, and was with
Washington in the defeat of Braddock, in which engage-
ment he received a wound.
He returned to England for a short time, but induced
by similar considerations with those which actuated Gene-
ral Lee, he revisited America, and retired to a plantation
in Virginia, endeavouring there to forget that his native
country had not duly appreciated his value.
At the opening of the revolution, and, it has been stated,
upon the recommendation of General Washington, he was
appointed Adjutant General of the army, and in May, 1776,
was elected a Major General, Thomas Mifflin being cho-
sen to fill the vacancy which the promotion of Gates had
created. In the ensuing month he was directed to take the
command in Canada, and such was the temper he thus
early displayed, that congress found it necessary, soon af-
ter, to pass a resolution, that they had no design to invest
him with a superior command to Schuyler, while the troops
were within the bounds of the states.
By a series of intrigues, he recommended himself to the
favour of a large party in congress, and soon after Schuy-
ler had taken all the preparatory steps for the capture of
Burgoyne, such was the clamour raised against him by the
New-England troops, that he was superseded just in time
to transfer his laurels to the brow of Gates.
The capture of a British army swelled his fame ;-- the
people, bewildered with his success, turned in murmurs to-
wards Washington, and forgetting what he had done, de-
manded, with the levity of recent good fortune, why more
had not been accomplished? Emboldened by this feeling,
the enemies of the commander-in-chief now cast their hopes
upon his rival, as a fit instrument of their designs.
But never was a cabal more unfortunate in its selection.
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? 124 THE LITE OF
Weak and vainglorious, Gates had precisely those traits of
character which would recommend him to the designing,
without the penetration to discover that he was used as a
tool. Presumptuous and irresolute, he engaged in intrigues
which he had not the sagacity to direct, and sought respon-
sibilities which he had not the firmness to sustain.
This man, the giddy object of the hopes and fears of the
discontented, was, through the arts of his partizans, pos-
sessed of the entire confidence of the New-England states,*
where . Washington, though idolized at subsequent periods
of his life, was, at this time, far from being a favourite.
The cause of this may be assigned without difficulty. --
Of the members which composed the American confedera-
cy, the two in all respects the most important and influen-
tial, were the states of Virginia and Massachusetts. Vir-
ginia was the asylum of the cavaliers, -- Massachusetts of
the puritans; and the marked and distinctive traits of cha-
racter of the early settlers, and their attendant prejudices,
continued to present obstacles to any cordiality of feeling.
Their different modes of life, also had an influence in per-
petuating the mutual dislike. The hardy sons of labour in
the east, looked down with disdain, perhaps with envy, on
wealth acquired without personal toil; while the almost
lordly planter, returned with indignation the temper which
could question the tenure of his wealth. With such pre-
disposing causes of collision, it is not matter of surprise that
in New-England, with her more concentrated population
and active capital, the less informed of the people should
ill have brooked that the control of armies, which her war-
like sons principally filled, should be conferred on a soldier
of the south. The jealousy which this selection inspired,
was believed to have led to the resignation of General
Ward, and was not softened by the presence of Washing-
* "He is their idol," said Schuyler, " because he is at their discretion. "
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? HAMILTON. 125
ton before Boston, though followed by the evacuation of
that town, and the removal of the seat of war.
The superior and general intelligence of this population,
imparted to them a spirit of inquiry and vigilance of tem-
per, which entered deeply into the composition of their
character.
Hence flowed their just and early estimate of their co-
lonial rights, which, extending widely through the country,
established the standard of public opinion. -- Hence an ac-
tive and unceasing supervision of the conduct of their rulers,
which constituted each individual a guardian of the inte-
rests of his immediate community. -- Hence a confidence
of opinion, a steadiness of purpose, and an untiring perse-
verance, which form their peculiar, and, perhaps, most va-
luable characteristics.
With these energetic features of character were con-
nected qualities springing from the same source; which,
when they were withdrawn from their ordinary avoca-
tions, produced a spirit of insubordination that rendered
them prone to discontent and difficult of conciliation.
The exertions of Washington to introduce discipline, had
furnished early and unceasing causes of dissatisfaction
among the militia drawn from this section of the country,
who found in the forbearance and connivance of many of
their inferior officers, not only occasions of panegyric, but
motives of continued hostility and embittering comparison:
forming a very large proportion of the combattants during
all the war, they claimed a right to direct, and to control
the councils of their superiors; and while their numbers
gave importance to their clamours, it increased the neces-
sity of yielding to them on occasions, when to yield was to
surrender every principle of authority.
In the frequent drafts made upon her patriotism, the
feelings of the soldiers rapidly extended to the mass of the
people of New-England; and while no portion of the union
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? 126 THE LIFE OF
displayed more devotion to the cause of the revolution, in
none was it more difficult to silence the clamours of the dis-
contented. The superior population, -- the larger quotas
furnished to the army, -- the more faithful discharge of the
public burthens, were among the topics which their pride
naturally dwelt upon, and not without reason; for one state
alone furnished a fourth of the troops which sustained
the revolution: and not less just than forcible was the de-
claration of Hamilton, when, to express his high respect
for her exertions, he said "that Massachusetts was the
pivot on which the revolution turned. " The consciousness
of this gave rise to claims of superiority, which were che-
rished by several of the leading individuals of that part of
the country, who, by encouraging these sentiments served
their own popularity at home, and, as they imagined, con-
firmed their title to a preponderance in the confederacy.
The calamities which befel the army on the invasion of
Canada, and the series of disasters which followed the
battle of Long Island, were alike attributed by them to the
incapacity of the commander-in-chief; and they were only
waiting until some officer should be presented to the na-
tion in a favourable point of view, to support him as a rival
for public confidence, and the highest command.
It has been mentioned that the capture of Lee removed
Him from the public eye, and that the same party then di-
rected their attention to General Gates. The evacuation
of Ticonderoga, by St. Clair, though wholly unknown to
General Schuyler, was a reverse of fortune magnified and
misrepresented, and the opportunity of bestowing on their
favourite so important a command, outweighed every con-
sideration of delicacy to Schuyler, and was the more rea-
dily embraced because it was contrary to the known wishes
of Washington, the judgment of Jay, and the feelings of
New-York, which had evinced a steady determination to
support the commander-in-chief. The hostility of this party,
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? HAMILTON. 127
which was disarmed by the success at Trenton, began to
indicate itself anew after the affair of Germantown, when
the misconduct of part of the troops called forth censures
from head quarters, and led to numerous arrests.
On such occasions, the bravest officers cannot always
escape unmerited obloquy; and, unfortunately, individuals
were found among them who too readily listened to over-
tures to join the cabal.
Letters, written under feelings of irritation, were address-
ed to the northern army, and circulated throughout the
country. The newspapers were called in aid to dissemi-
nate the poison, and as soon as the victory of Saratoga was
announced, the designs of the faction, which was known as
the "Monster Party," were openly evinced in the most as-
siduous attentions to Gates, and extravagant eulogiums on
his conduct, and in marked disrespect of Washington, and
undisguised censures of his policy.
Among the most active partizans of the opposition, were
a few foreigners, who arriving in this country with preten-
sions to the first grades in the army, had been found not to
possess any real title to preferment. Of these, the foremost
was Thomas Conway, who appearing before congress with
the rank of Colonel in the French army, and decorated with
the cross of the order of Saint Louis, -- a vain, weak intri-
guer, had been, in the preceding spring, elected to the com-
mand of a brigade. Soon understood by Washington,
Conway became his enemy, and opened a correspondence
with Gates, in which, by flattering his vanity, and ridicu-
ling the commander-in-chief, he confirmed him in the idea
that he might easily supplant him.
Winter had now closed in, and while Washington was
engaged in efforts to provide for his famishing and almost
naked army, a communication was received from General
Gates, marked with all the insolence of anticipated triumph.
A paragraph in a letter from Conway to Gates, "in which
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? 128 THE LIFE OF
General Washington's conduct was made the subject of
free discussion and injurious remark, was the first occur-
rence which called forth the attention of the commander-in-
chief; to this correspondence Gates lent a willing ear, and
his answers to General Conway's letters were very much
the echoes of the sentiments those letters contained. "* The
inquiries which ensued on the disclosure of this correspond-
ence alarmed Gates, who with a view to fix the imputation
on General Washington of having practised indirect means
to arrive at the contents of his confidential correspondence,
wrote him the letter referred to, throwing out an imputa-
tion that the extracts had been "stealingly copied," which
was transmitted to him through the hands of the President
of Congress.
GATES TO WASHINGTON.
Albany, December 8th, 1777.
SIR,
I shall not attempt to describe what, as a private gentle-
man, I cannot help feeling, on representing to my mind the
disagreeable situation in which confidential letters, when
exposed to public inspection, may place an unsuspecting
correspondent; but as a public officer, I conjure your ex-
cellency to give me all the assistance you can, in tracing
out the author of the infidelity which put extracts from
General Conway's letters to me into your hands.
Those letters have been stealingly copied, but which of
them, when, and by whom, is to me yet an unfathomable
secret.
There is not one officer in my suite, nor amongst those
who have free access to me, upon whom I could, with the
least justification to myself, fix the suspicion, and yet my
uneasines may deprive me of the usefulness of the wor-
* Statement of facts, by Colonel Troup, who was an aid of Gates.
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? HAMILTON. 129
thiest men. It is, / believe, in your excellency's power to
do me and the United States a very important service by
detecting a wretch who may betray me, and capitally in-
jure the very operations under your immediate directions.
For this reason, sir, I beg your excellency will favour me
with the proof you can procure to that effect. But the crime
being eventually so important, that the least loss of time
may be attended with the worst consequences, and it being
unknown to me whether the letter came to you from a mem-
ber of congress or an officer, I shall have the honour of
transmitting a copy of this to the president, that the congress
may, in concert with your excellency, obtain as soon as pos-
sible a discovery which so deeply affects the safety of the
states.
Crimes of that magnitude ought not to remain un-
punished. I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect,
Your excellency's most humble
And most obedient servant,
Horatio Gates.
His Excellency General Washington.
Washington thus replied:
WASHINGTON TO GATES.
Valley Forge, January 4th, 1777.
SIR,
Your letter of the 8th ultimo, came to my hands a few
days ago, and to my great surprise informed me that a copy
of it had been sent to congress,-- for what reason I find my-
self unable to account; but as some end, doubtless, was in-
tended to be answered by it, I am laid under the disagree-
able necessity of returning my answer through the same
channel, lest any member of that honourable body should
harbour an unfavourable suspicion of my having practised
some indirect means to come at the contents of the confi-
dential letters between you and General Conway.
vol. i. 17
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? 130 THE LIFE OF
I am to inform you, then, that Colonel Wilkinson, on his
way to congress, in the month of October last, fell in with
Lord Stirling at Reading, and not in confidence, that I ever
understood, informed his aid-de-camp, McWilliams, that
General Conway had written thus to you: "Heaven has
been determined to save your country, or a weak general
and bad counsellors would have ruined it. " Lord Stirling,
from motives of friendship, transmitted the account, with
this remark, -- " the enclosed was communicated by Colo-
nel Wilkinson to Major McWilliams. Such duplicity of
conduct I shall always think it my duty to defeat. "
In consequence of this information, and without having
any thing more in view than merely to show that gentleman
that I was not unapprized of his intriguing disposition, I
wrote him a letter in these words: "Sir, A letter which I
received last night, contained the following paragraph in a
letter from General Conway to General Gates, he says, --
'heaven has been determined to save your country, or a
weak general and bad counsellors would have ruined it. '
I am," &c.
Neither this letter, nor the information which occasioned
it, was ever directly or indirectly communicated by me to
a single officer in this army out of my own family, except-
ing the Marquis de la Fayette, who having been spoken to
on the subject by General Conway, applied for, and saw,
under injunctions of secrecy, the letter which contained Co-
lonel Wilkinson's information. So desirous was I of con-
cealing every matter that could in its consequences give the
smallest interruption to the tranquillity of this army, or afford
a gleam of hope to the enemy by dissensions therein.
Thus, sir, with openness and candour, which I hope will
ever characterize and mark my conduct, have I complied
with your request. The only concern I feel upon the occa-
sion, finding how matters stand, is, that in doing this, I have
necessarily been obliged to name a gentleman whom I am
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? HAMILTON. 131
persuaded, (although I never exchanged a word with him
on the subject,) thought he was rather doing an act of jus-
tice, than committing an act of infidelity; and sure I am,
that till Lord Stirling's letter came to my hands, I never
knew that General Conway (whom I viewed in the light of a
stranger to you,) was a correspondent of yours, much less
did I expect that I was the subject of your confidential let-
ters. Pardon me, then, for adding, that so far from con-
ceiving that the safety of the states can be affected, or in
the smallest degree injured by a discovery of this kind, or
that I should be called on in such solemn terms to point out
the author, that I considered the information as coming from
yourself, and given with a friendly view to forewarn, and,
consequently, forearm me against a secret enemy; or in
other words, a dangerous incendiary, in which character,
sooner or later, this country will know General Conway.
But in this, as in other matters of late, I have found myself
mistaken. I am, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
Geo. Washington.
The Hon. Major General Gates.
GATES TO WASHINGTON.
SIR,
The letter of the 4th inst. which I had the honour to re-
ceive yesterday from your excellency, has relieved me from
unspeakable uneasiness. I now anticipate the pleasure it
will give you when you discover that what has been con-
veyed to you for an extract of General Conway's letter to
me, was not an information which friendly motives indu-
ced a man of honour to give, that injured virtue might be
forewarned against secret enemies. The paragraph which
your excellency has condescended to transcribe is spurious.
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? 132 THE LIFE OF
It was certainly fabricated to answer the most selfish and
wicked purposes.
I cannot avoid sketching out to your excellency the his-
tory of General Conway's letter from the time that it came
to my hands, by Lieutenant-Colonel Troup, my aid-de-
camp, to whom General Conway delivered it at Reading,
on the 11th of October, to this time, as far as it has affected
me, and the officers of my family.
That letter contained very judicious remarks upon that
want of discipline which has often alarmed your excel-
lency, and I believe all observing patriots. The reasons
which, in his judgment, deprived us of the success we would
reasonably expect, were methodically explained by him;
but neither the weakness of any of our generals, nor "bad
counsellors," were mentioned, and consequently cannot be
assigned or imagined as part of those reasons to which
General Conway attributed some of our losses. He wrote
to me as a candid observer, as other officers in every ser-
vice write to each other for obtaining better intelligence
than that of newspapers, and that freedom renders such
letters thus far confidential in some measure. The judg-
ment of the person who received them points out to him,
according to time and circumstances, the propriety or im-
propriety attending their being communicated when no
particular injunction of secrecy was requested.
Particular actions, rather than persons, were blamed,
but with impartiality; and I am convinced that he did not
aim at lessening, in my opinion, the merit of any person.
His letter was perfectly harmless: however, now that va-
rious reports have been circulated concerning its contents,
they ought not to be submitted to the solemn inspection of
those who stand most high in the public esteem.
Anxiety and jealousy would arise in the breast of very
respectable officers, who, rendered sensible of faults which
inexperience, and that alone may have led them into,
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? HAMILTON. 133
would be unnecessarily disgusted, if they perceived a pro-
bability of such errors being recorded.
Honour forbids it, and patriotism demands, that I should
return the letter into the hands of the writer. I will do it,
but at the same time I declare that the paragraph conveyed
to your excellency as a genuine part of it, was in words as
well as in substance, a wicked forgery.
About the beginning of December I was informed that
letter had occasioned an explanation between your excel-
lency and that gentleman. Not knowing whether the whole
letter or part of it had been stealingly copied, but fearing
malice had altered its original features, I own, sir, that a
dread of the mischiefs which might attend the forgery I
suspected would be made, put me for some time in a most
painful situation. When I communicated to the officers in
my family the intelligence I had received, they all entreat-
ed me to rescue their characters from the suspicions they
justly conceived themselves liable to until the guilty person
should be known. To facilitate the discovery, I wrote your
excellency; but unable to learn whether General Con-
way's letter had been transmitted to you by a member of
congress, or a gentleman in the army, I was afraid much
time would be lost in the course of the inquiry, and that the
states might receive some capital injury from the infidelity
of the person who I thought had stolen a copy of the ob-
noxious letter, was it not probable that the secrets of the
army might be attained and betrayed through the same
means to the enemy?
For this reason, sir, not doubting that congress would
most cheerfully concur with you in tracing out the crimi-
nal, I wrote to the president, and enclosed to him a copy of
my letter to your excellency.
About the same time I was forwarding these letters, Bri-
gadier General Wilkinson returned to Albany. I informed
him of the treachery which had been committed, but I con-
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? 134 THE LIFE OF
cealed from him the measures I was pursuing to unmask
the author. Wilkinson answered, he was assured it never
would come to light, and endeavoured to fix my suspi-
cions on Lieutenant-Colonel Troup, who said he might
have incautiously conversed on the substance of General
Conway's letter with Colonel Hamilton, whom you had
sent not long before to Albany. I did not listen to this in-
sinuation against your aid-de-camp and mine. I considered
it ungenerous; but the light your excellency has just as-
sisted me with, exhibiting the many qualifications which
are necessarily blended together by the head and heart of
General Wilkinson, I would not omit this fact. It would
enable your excellency to judge whether or not he would
scruple to make such a forgery as that which he now stands
charged with, and ought to be exemplarily punished. To
attempt sowing dissensions among the principal officers of
the army, and rendering them odious to each other by false
suggestions and forgeries, is, in my opinion, a crime of the
first magnitude, and involves with it all the consequences of
positive treason. That the forgery now in view was ma-
chinated for injuring General Conway, and perhaps myself,
in your judgment, is now evident to me; and I trust the
detection will operate, as it ought to operate, upon your ex-
cellency, as well as the members of the congress before
whom your letter necessitates me to lay this answer. The
station of the calumniator seems to justify your excellency
for having believed till now that the extract was genuine:
and yet, sir, I cannot help wishing you had sent me a copy
of it immediately after your explanation with General
Conway.
Would that your excellency's prediction relative to him
had not been inserted in your letter which came to me un-
sealed, through the hands of congress. I sincerely wish the
detection of this forgery may render us all more cautious;
and that to procure a fair and dispassionate explanation
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? HAMILTON. 135
whenever insinuations are made to the prejudice of respect-
ed characters, may become an established rule in society,
as well as in public business throughout the United States.
I am with unfeigned respect, sir,
Your excellency's most humble and
Most obedient servant,
Horatio Gates.
January 23d, 1778.
This extraordinary attempt, after having substantially ad-
mitted in his first letter the genuineness of the extract from
Conway's letter, to induce the belief that it was a forgery,
and a forgery committed by Colonel Wilkinson, a member
of his own staff, was thus commented upon.
WASHINGTON TO GATES.
Head Quarters, Valley Forge, February 9th, 1778.
sir:
I was duly favoured with your letter of the 23d last
month, to which I should have replied sooner, had I not
been delayed by business that required my more imme-
diate attention.
It is my wish to give implicit credit to the assurances of
every gentleman; but on the subject of our present cor-
respondence, I am sorry to confess, there happens to be
some unlucky circumstances which involuntarily compel
me to consider the discovery you mention, not so satisfac-
tory and conclusive as you seem to think it. *
+ In a private letter from General Washington to Mr. Jay, dated April 14,
1779, he observes, "I discovered very early in the war, symptoms of coldness
and constraint in General Gates' behaviour to me. These increased as he rose
into greater consequence, but we did not come to a direct breach till the begin-
ning of last year. This was occasioned by a correspondence, which I thought
made rather free with me, between him and General Conway, which acci-
dentally came to my knowledge. The particulars of this affair, you will find
delineated in the packet herewith, endorsed 'Papers respecting General Con-
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? 136 THE LIFE OF
I am so unhappy as to find no small difficulty in recon-
ciling the spirit and import of your different letters, and
sometimes the different parts of the same letter with each
other.
It is not unreasonable to presume, that your first informa-
tion of my having notice of General Conway's letter, came
from himself; there were very few in the secret, and it is
natural to suppose, that he being immediately concerned,
would be the most interested to convey the intelligence to
you. It is also far from improbable, that he acquainted you
with the substance of the passage communicated to me;
one would expect this, if he believed it to be spurious, in
order to ascertain the imposition and evince his innocence,
especially as he seemed to be under some uncertainty as to
the precise contents of what he had written, when I signi-
fied my knowledge of the matter to him. If he neglected
doing it, the omission cannot easily be interpreted into any
thing else than a consciousness of the reality of the extract,
if not literally, at least substantially. If he did not neglect
it, it must appear somewhat strange that the forgery re-
mained so long undetected, and that your first letter to me
from Albany, of the eighth of December, should tacitly re-
cognise the genuineness of the paragraph in question; while
your only concern at that time seemed to be, the "tracing
out the author of the infidelity, which put extracts of Gene-
ral Conway's letters into my hands. " Throughout the
whole of that letter, the reality of the extracts is, by the fair-
est implication, allowed, and your only solicitude was to find
out the person who brought them to light. After making
the most earnest pursuit of the author of the supposed
treachery, without saying a word about the truth or false-
hood of the passage, your letter of the twenty-third ultimo,
way. ' Besides the evidence contained in them of the genuineness of the of-
fensive correspondence, I have other proofs still more convincing, which having
been given me in a confidential way, / am not at liberty to impart. "
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? HAMILTON. 137
to my great surprise, proclaims it in words, as well as sub-
stance, a "wicked forgery. "
It is not my intention to contradict this assertion, but
only to intimate some considerations, which tend to induce
a supposition, that though none of General Conway's letters
to you contain the offensive passage mentioned, there might
have been something in them too nearly related to it, that
could give such an extraordinary alarm. It may be said,
if this were not the case, how easy, in the first instance, to
declare there was nothing exceptionable in them, and to
have produced the letters themselves in support of them?
This may be thought the most proper and effectual way of
refuting misrepresentations, and removing all suspicion.
The propriety of the objections suggested against submitting
them to inspection, may very well be questioned; the vari-
ous reports circulated concerning their contents were, per-
haps, so many arguments for making them speak for them-
selves, to place the matter upon the footing of certainty.
Concealment, in an affair which had made so much noise,
though not by my means, will naturally lead men to con-
jecture the worst, and it will be a subject of speculation
even to candour itself. The anxiety and jealousy you ap-
prehend from revealing the letter, will be very apt to be
increased by suppressing it. It may be asked, why not
submit to inspection a performance perfectly harmless, and
of course conceived in terms of proper caution and delicacy?
Why suppose that "anxiety and jealousy" would have ari-
sen in the breasts of very respectable officers, or that they
would have been necessarily disgusted at being made sen-
sible of their faults when related with judgment and impar-
tiality by a candid observer? Surely they could not have
been unreasonable enough to take offence at a performance
so perfectly inoffensive, "blaming actions rather than per-
sons," which have evidently no connexion with one ano-
ther, and indulgently "recording the errors of inexperience. "
vol. i. 18
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? 138 THE LIFE OF
You are pleased to consider General Conway's letters
as of a confidential nature, observing, that "time and cir-
cumstances must point out the propriety or impropriety of
communicating such letters. " Permit me to inquire, whe-
ther, when there is an impropriety in communication, it is
only applicable with respect to the parties who are the sub-
ject of them? One might be led to imagine this to be the
case, from your having admitted others into the secret of your
confidential correspondence, at the same time that you
thought it ineligible it should be trusted to those officers
whose actions underwent its scrutiny. Your not knowing
whether the letter under consideration "came to me from
a member of congress or from an officer," plainly indicates
that you had originally communicated it to at least one of
that honourable body; and I learn from General Conway,
that before his late arrival at York-Town, it had been com-
mitted to the perusal of several of its members, and was
afterwards shown by himself to three more. It is some-
what difficult to conceive a reason, founded in generosity,
for imparting the free and confidential strictures of this in-
genuous censor on the operations of the army under my
command, to a member of congress; but, perhaps, "time
and circumstances pointed it out. " It must be indeed ac-
knowledged, that the faults of very respectable officers, not
less injurious for being the result of inexperience, were not
improper topics to engage the attention of members of con-
gress.
It is, however, greatly to be lamented, that this adept in
military science, did not employ his abilities in the progress
of the campaign, in pointing out those wise measures which
were calculated to give us "that degree of success we
might reasonably expect. " The United States have lost
much by that unseasonable diffidence, which prevented his
embracing the numerous opportunities he had in council, of
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? HAMILTON. 130
displaying those rich treasures of knowledge and experi-
rience he has since so freely laid open to you. I will not
do him the injustice to impute the penurious reserve, which
ever appeared in him on such occasions, to any other cause
than an excess of modesty; neither will I suppose he pos-
sesses no other merit than of that kind of sagacity, which
qualifies a man better for profound discoveries of errors
that have been committed, and advantages that have been
lost, than for the exercise of that foresight and provident
discernment, which enable him to avoid the one and anti-
cipate the other; but, willing as I am to subscribe to all his
pretensions, and believe that his remarks on the operations
of the campaign were very judicious, and that he has saga-
ciously descanted on many things that might have been
done, I cannot help being a little sceptical as to his ability
to have found out the means of accomplishing them, or to
prove the sufficiency of those in our possession. These
minutiae, I suspect, he did not think worth his attention,
particularly as they might not be within the compass of his
views.
Notwithstanding the hopeful presages you are pleased to
figure to yourself of General Conway's firm and constant
friendship to America, I cannot persuade myself to retract
the prediction concerning him, which you so emphatically
wish had not been inserted in my last. A better acquaint-
ance with him than I have reason to think you have had,
from what you say, and a concurrence of circumstances
oblige me to give him but little credit for the qualities of his
heart, of which, at least, I beg leave to assume the privi-
lege of being a tolerable judge. Were it necessary, more
instances than one might be adduced from his behaviour and
conversation, to manifest that he is capable of all the ma-
lignity of detraction, and all the meanness of intrigue, to
gratify the absurd resentment of disappointed vanity, or to
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-20 04:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x000275470 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 140 THE LIFE OF
answer the purposes of personal aggrandizement, and pro-
mote the interest of a faction.
I am, with respect, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
Geo. Washington.
Major General Gates.
To this biting sarcasm, which no man conscious of his
innocence would have brooked, General Gates gave the
following submissive reply.
GATES TO WASHINGTON.
SIR,
I yesterday had the honour to receive your excellency's
letter of the 9th instant, and earnestly hope no more of that
time, so precious to the public, may be lost upon the sub-
ject of General Conway's letter. Whether that gentleman
does or does not deserve the suspicions you express, would
be entirely indifferent to me, did he not possess an office of
high rank in the army of the United States; for that rea-
son solely, I wish he may answer all the expectations of
congress.
As to the gentleman, I have no personal connexion with
him, nor had I any correspondence previous to his writing
the letter which has given offence, nor have I since written
to him, save to certify what I know to be the contents of
the letter. He, therefore, must be responsible;-- as I
heartily dislike controversy, even upon my own account,
and much more in a matter wherein I was only accident-
ally concerned.
