The Indianapolis journal., 1891-02-22
WASHINGTON IN HIS OWN TIME.

and of such capacity in all pub
lie affairs as entities him to a place
in the front rank of the worlds public
men in modern times. To-day men in
all parties vie with each other In ascrib-
ing to him all those qualities which are
necessary to make an ideal citizen and
a great and incorruptible leader. 1t is
now the universal judgment of this age
that to him, more than any other man,
this Nation owes it's establishment under
the federal Constitution, and that he is
fairly entitled to the title, Father of
his Country" These trIte reflections are
made because q considerable ele-
ment of the people of his own time
did not appreciate his character and his
work. Indeed, it may be said that from
the time he took command of the
revolutionary army until he retired to
private life, in 1897, he was the worst
abused, the most traduced man in Amer
lea. 1t was natural that his manage
ment of the campaigns of seven years
of war should be criticised, because a
large portion of the human family have
no other capacity; but there was no act
of his during that period which justified
a suspicion of the purity of his motives.
Nevertheless, during those seven years
not the least of his perple,zities were the
hostility of men on his own side and the
intrigues of others who professed to be-
his supporters. Even after the declara-
tion of peace and he had resigned the
command of the army, accounted for
every dollar of public money, and had
retired to his farm, when he
might have made himself the head
of the new Nation, his foes did
not cease to attribute to him a purpose
to acquire monarchical powers. While
the Constitution was being formed, and
during the struggle TO secure its ratif-
cation by the States, Washington and
his associates were accused of purpose
to set up an anti-republican form of gov
ernment. When he became President,
an opposition was at once organized-an
unscrupulous. demagogic and virulent
opposition. Jefferson secretly sympa-
thized with that opposition while he was
yet in Washington's Cabinet. He actu-
ally made one Freneau a clerk in the
State Department, which enabled him
to publish q paper which assailed the
administration and annoyed Washing
ton himself. More and moro jefferson
became identified with this opposition,
whose hostility was displayed in abuse
and slander. While processing the high
est regard for Washington in public, in
private jefferson was saying that he was
well-meaning but weak man who was
the tool of ahler men. He records in his
journal in 1893, with evident exultation.
the fact that at Cabinet meeting WASH
ington "got into one OF those passions
when he has no command of himself;
ran on much about the personal abuse
which had been bestowed upon him." etc.
Democratic clubs were formed in all the
cities. which devoted themselves chiefly
to abuse of Washington, while the op-
position press was foul and scurrilous in
its abuse. Forged letters, purporting to
have been written by Washington,
which were printed in England, and
sent hither during the war to influence
public sentiment, in which he declared
himself sick of the revolution, and desir-
Gus of retiring if safety could be guar
anteed him, were republished. He was
charged with robbing dhe government
and of bciDg false TO his trust. Soon
after his retirement from the Cabinet,
in January, 1892, jefferson wrote the
celebrated Mazzei letter, which, because
of its unexpected publication, caused
great stir. The following are its mate
rial portions:
The aspect of our politics has wonder
fully changed since you left u.s. In place
of that noble love of liberty and republi-
can government which carried us triumph
antly through the war. an Anglican. mon
archical. aristOcratic party has sprung up,
whose avowed object Is to draw over us the
substance, as they have already done the
forms. of British government The main
body of our citizens, however, remain true
to republican principles; the whole landed
interest Is republican, and so is the great
mass of talent. Against Us are the execu-
tive, judiciary. and two out of three
branches OF the Legislature, all the officers
Of the government all who want to be
OH GERS, all timid men who prefer the calm
of despotism to the boisterous sea of lib
erty. IL would give you q fever
were / to name the apostates who have
gone over to these heresies; men who were
Samsons in the field and Solomons in coun-
Gil, but who have had their heads shorn by
the harlot. England.
During Washington's second term his
traducers became simply vilifiers, and
some of them became law-breakers.
Thomas Paine. who was then a drunk
ard, issued a virulent pamphlet in which
Washington was declared tyrant, a
monarchist and the betrayer of his coun-
try. Columns of detraction might be
presented to show the vileness of the
abuse daily poured upon one of the
noblest and purest of men. but the fol-
lowing extract from the Aurora, of Dec.
%, 1876, will suffice as sample:
If ever nation was debauched by a man.
the American Nation has been debauched
by Washington. If ever q nation was de-
ceived by q man. the American Nation has
been deceived by Washington. Let his
conduct, then. be an example to future
ages. Let the history of the federal gov
ernment instruct mankind that the mask
of patriotism may be worn TO conceal the
fouIesr designs against the liberties of the
people.
Finally, when Washington retired
from Office, this same paper went into
the ecstasy of vituperation, as the fol-
lowing uuotation from AN article Of rho