From George Washington to David Stuart, 8 January 1797
To David Stuart
Philadelphia 8th Jany 1797.
Dear Sir,
Your letter of the 18th Ulto with its enclosures, came to hand in the usual course of the Post; but the pressure of public business has prevented my giving it an acknowledgment until now.
The first thing I shall do after I am settled at Mount Vernon, will be to adjust all my accounts of a private nature; the doing of which, as they ought, has been prevented by public avocations.
What effect Mr Adets conduct has had, or will have on the public mind, you can form a better opinion of than me. One of the objects which he had in view, (in timing the publication) is too apparent to require explanation.1 Some of his own zealots, do not scruple to confess that, he has been too precipitate; and thereby injured the cause he meant to espouse; which is, to establish such an influence in this country as to sway the government, & control its measures. Evidences of this design are abundant, and new proofs are exhibiting themselves every day, to illustrate the fact; and yet, lamentable thought! a large party under real, or pretended fears of British influence, are moving heaven & earth to aid Him in these designs. It is a fact well known, for history proves it, that from the restless temper of the French, and the policy of that nation, they attempt openly, or covertly, by threats or soothing professions—to influence the conduct of most governments. That they have attempted it with us, a little time will shew; but finding a Neutral conduct had been adopted, and would not be relinquished by those who Administered the government—the next step, was to try the people; and to work upon them; several presses, & many Scribblers have been employed to emblazen the improper Acts of the British governmt and its Officers, and to place them in all the most exagerated & odious points of view they we⟨re⟩ Susceptible; to complain that there was not only a deficiency of friendship, but a want of justice also in the Executive, towards France the cause of which say they, is to be found in a predeliction for Great Britain. This not working as well as was expected, from a supposition that there was too much confidence, & perhaps personal regard for the present Chief Majestrate & his politics, the batteries latterly have been levelled at him particularly & personally and although he is soon to become a private citizen, his opinions are to be knocked down, & his character reduced as low as they are capable of sinking it, even by resorting to absolute falsehoods. As an evidence whereof, and of the plan they are pursuing, I send you a letter from Mr Paine to me, Printed in this City & disseminated with great industry. Others of a similar nature are also in circulation.2
To what lengths the French Directory will ultimately go, is difficult to say; but that they have been led to the present point by our own People, I have no doubt. Whether some, who have done this, would choose to accompany them any further, or not, I shall not undertake to decide. But I shall be mistaken if the candid part of my countrymen (although they may be under a French influence) do not see, and acknowledge, that they have imbibed erroneous impressions of the conduct of this government, towards France, when the communication which I promised at the opening of the Session & which will be ready in a few days, comes before the public. It will be seen, if I mistake not also that that country has not such a claim upon our gratitude as has been generally supposed; and that this country has violated no engagement with it; been guilty of no Act of injustice towards it; nor have been wanting in friendship, where it could be rendered without departing from that neutral station we had taken, & resolved to maintain.3
Enclosed also, you will receive a production of Peter Porcupine, alias Wm Cobbet. Making allowances for the asperity of an Englishman; for some of his strong & course expressions; and a want of official information of many facts—it is not a bad thing.4
I rejoice much to hear of Mrs Stuarts restoration to health—& congratulate you, & her on it, & on the birth of a daughter5—My best wishe⟨s⟩ attend her & the family—and with very great regard—I am, Dr Sir Your Affecte
Go: Washington
ALS, PHi: Dreer Collection; ALS (letterpress copy), DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW.
1. Pierre-Auguste Adet, then French minister to the United States, had publicly disparaged U.S. policy toward France in letters of 27 Oct. and 15 Nov. 1796 to Secretary of State Timothy Pickering. Adet had timed the publication of the letters in an effort to influence the presidential election in favor of Thomas Jefferson (see GW to Alexander Hamilton, 2 Nov. 1796, and n.2 to that document; and Hamilton to GW, 19 Nov. 1796, and n.5 to that document).
2. Thomas Paine’s letter to GW of 30 July 1796 accused GW of “double politics” as a president and of “unmilitary conduct” as a general. Bache published the letter in the form of a pamphlet titled Letter to General Washington …, which was printed at his office and announced for publication in the Aurora General Advertiser for 12 Dec. 1796 (see Paine to GW, 30 July 1796, source note).
GW recently had faced other negative press when Revolutionary War-era letters falsely attributed to him were republished in 1796. This forced GW to make an official statement denying their authenticity (see John Carey to GW, 1 Oct. 1796, and n.1 to that document; GW to Carey, 30 Dec. 1796; GW to Benjamin Walker, 12 Jan. 1797; and GW to Pickering, 3 March 1797).
3. Pickering was drafting a letter to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, U.S. minister to France, rebutting Adet’s claims. GW submitted Pickering’s letter and related papers to Congress (see GW to Pickering, 9 Jan.; see also Pickering to GW, 12 Jan.; and GW to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 19 Jan.). Pickering’s letter probably is the “communication” that GW promised Congress in his annual message (GW to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 7 Dec. 1796, and n.25).
4. The enclosed “production” by William Cobbett, alias Peter Porcupine, has not been identified. However, it probably was either Cobbett’s Porcupine’s Political Censor, For November 1796, which included a critique of Adet’s 27 Oct. and 15 Nov. 1796 letters to Pickering, or Porcupine’s Political Censor, For December 1796, which contained Cobbett’s response to Paine’s 1796 letter to GW. Cobbett’s response disparaged Paine and defended GW’s “spotless character.” Cobbett wrote: “The effects of your letter are exactly the contrary to what it was intended to produce. … Your brutal attempt to blacken this character [GW’s] was all that was wanted to crown his honour and your infamy” (Porcupine’s Political Censor, For December 1796 … [Philadelphia, 1796], 18). For the advertised sale of the November issue of Cobbett’s publication, see Daily Advertiser (New York), 3 Jan. 1797; see also Weekly Advertiser, of Reading [Pa.], in the County of Berks, 24 Dec. 1796.
William Cobbett (c.1763–1835) of England served in the army as a young man and came to the United States as a political refugee in 1792. He briefly taught English to French émigrés in Philadelphia before opening a bookseller’s shop there in July 1796. Writing under the pseudonym Peter Porcupine, Cobbett composed several pamphlets and newspaper articles expressing vehement opposition to the French Revolution and to Democratic-Republican ideals. On 4 March 1797, Cobbett began publishing Porcupine’s Gazette and Daily Advertiser, a Federalist, pro-British paper. After facing deportation threats and a lawsuit, Cobbett returned to England in 1800. He resided in the United States from 1817 until 1819 but spent the remainder of his life in Britain. Cobbett briefly represented the borough of Oldham in the House of Commons and published a number of books. Cobbett’s A Little Plain English … on the Treaty, Negociated with his Britannic Majesty … (Philadelphia, 1795) and his A New Year’s Gift to the Democrats … (Philadelphia, 1796) were in GW’s library at the time of his death (see , 49).
5. For the birth on 8 Dec. of Stuart’s daughter Eleanor, and for the health of Stuart’s wife, Eleanor, see Stuart to GW, 18 Dec. 1796.