From George Washington to Henry Knox, 4 April 1796
To Henry Knox
Philada 4 April 1796.
My dr Sir,
Before this will have reached you, you must have seen in the gazettes that I have taken the liberty (without a previous consultation) to nominate you the Commissioner for ascertaining the true St Croix & the Eastern boundary of the U. States, agreeably to the fifth article of the treaty lately entered into with G. Britain. I hope it will be convenient & agreeable for you to accept the trust, the appointment having been confirmed by the Senate.1
As the gazettes will give you in detail a resolution of the House of Representatives, calling upon the President for all the papers (excepting such as might respect pending treaties) relative to that treaty; also the debates thereupon, & my answer, it is unnecessary to repeat them.2 I am beginning to receive what I had made my mind up for on this occasion—the abuse of Mr Bache & his correspondents.3 The answer which I have given, is referred to a committee of the whole house for wednesday next;4 the probable result of which, it is too early yet to predict or even to guess at. These are unpleasant things, but they must be met with firmness. Present me to Mrs Knox & the family in acceptable terms & be assured of the friendship & affecte regard of
G: Washington
P.S. At a proper time, after knowing whether you accept the appointmt or not, you will hear officially from the Secretary of State.5
LB, DLC:GW.
1. A report on Knox’s nomination appeared in the Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia) for 31 March (see also GW to the U.S. Senate, same date). For Article V of the Jay Treaty, see 249.
2. For the House resolution adopted on 24 March, see GW to the Cabinet, 25 March, n.1; for the reply, see GW to the U.S. House of Representatives, 30 March.
3. A communication in Benjamin Bache’s Aurora General Advertiser (Philadelphia) for 1 April dismissed GW’s reply to the House as “an ingenious summary of the arguments of the minority in the discussion upon the resolution.” His attempt to “lecture” the House about the Constitution was “indelicate, to say the least,” and “the House have a right to differ, unless he be proved the oracular expositor of all parts of the constitution.” The paper also reported that a correspondent was not surprised that GW had “refused the constitutional and just request of the House of Representatives; for he is of opinion, that those papers were of such a nature, that they could not be disclosed without unmasking the administration in such manner as to produce horror in the mind of every true & virtuous American.” The same Aurora contained another item: “An Irishman was heard to observe upon reading the answer from the executive to the house that one free people by their exertions in maintaining their liberty had struck the President with wonder, it is to be hoped that another will in the same way make him stare if they do not open his eyes.”
The Aurora for 2 April printed a satirical letter addressed to GW that expressed “the support and adoration of a Loyal Englishman.” The Englishman wrote: “You frowned the Democratic societies into annihilation: you are now committed against the Democratic branch of the Legislature. … I hope, sir, you will have more firmness and dignity, than to expose the arcana of State, the sanctum sanctorum, to such an insignificant body. As you have adopted the language of the kings of France, pray adopt their conduct also; and should your subjects in Congress refuse to register your edicts, send them with contempt to ‘the obscure corners’ from whence they came. You can then summon a bed of justice, composed of the worthy ‘successors in form’ to the old heads of department.—They will register your decrees without hesitation. … If your councils should not be remarkable for their wisdom or sound policy, your debates would not be very tedious, your minorities very formidable, nor would there be that danger of Jacobinism which prevails in such a many headed monster, as a House of Representatives.”
4. The following Wednesday was 6 April. On that date the House, by a roll call vote, formed a committee of the whole to discuss GW’s message, and after discussion resolved to continue the next day ( 8:313–14).