He returned to Philadelphia on the 6th of July, much pleased with his tour. It had enabled him, he said, to see, with his own eyes, the situation of the country, and to learn more accurately the disposition of the people, than he could have done from any verbal information. He had looked around him, in fact, with a paternal eye, been cheered as usual by continual demonstrations of a nation's love, and his heart had warmed with the reflection how much of this national happiness had been won by his own patriotic exertions.

"Every day's experience of the government of the United States," writes he to David Humphreys, "seems to confirm its establishment, and to render it more popular. A ready acquiescence in the laws made under it shows, in a strong light, the confidence which the people have in their representatives, and in the upright views of those who administer the government. At the time of passing a law imposing a duty on homemade spirits, it was vehemently affirmed by many that such a law could never be executed in the Southern States, particularly in Virginia and South Carolina. *** But from the best information I could get on my journey respecting its operations on the minds of the people—and I took some pains to obtain information on this point-there remains not a doubt but it will be carried into effect, not only without opposition, but with very general approbation, in those very parts where it was foretold that it never would be submitted to by any one.

"Our public credit," adds he, "stands on that ground, which, three years ago, it would have been madness to have foretold. The astonishing rapidity

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with which the newly instituted bank was filled, gives an unexampled proof of the resources of our countrymen and their confidence in public measures. On the first day of opening the subscription the whole number of shares (twenty thousand) were taken up in one hour, and application made for upwards of four thousand shares more than were granted by the institution, besides many others that were coming in from various quarters."

To his comrade in arms, Lafayette, he also writes exultingly of the flourishing state of the country and the attachment of all classes to the government:

"While in Europe, wars or commotions seem to agitate almost every nation, peace and tranquillity prevail among us, except in some parts of our Western frontiers, where the Indians have been troublesome, to reclaim or chastise whom, proper measures are now pursuing. This contrast between the situation of the people of the United States and those of Europe, is too striking to be passed over, even by the most superficial observer, and may, I believe, be considered as one great cause of leading the people here to reflect more attentively on their own prosperous state, and to examine, more minutely, and consequently approve more fully, of the government under which they live, than they otherwise would have done. But we do not wish to be the only people who may taste the sweets of an equal and good government. We look with an anxious eye to the time when happiness and tranquillity shall prevail in your country, and when all Europe shall be freed from commotion, tumults, and alarms.'

* Writings, x. 171.

Letters from Gouverneur Morris had given him a gloomy picture of French affairs. "This unhappy country," writes he, "bewildered in pursuit of metaphysical whimsies, presents to our moral view a mighty ruin. Like the remnants of ancient magnificence, we admire the architecture of the temple, while we detest the false god to whom it was dedicated. Daws and ravens, and the birds of night, now build their nests in its niches. The sovereign, humbled to the level of a beggar's pity, without resources, without authority, without a friend. The Assembly at once a master and a slave, new in power, wild in theory, raw in practice. It engrosses all functions, though incapable of exercising any, and has taken from this fierce, ferocious people, every restraint of religion and of respect. ** Lafayette has hitherto acted a splendid part. The king obeys but detests him. He obeys because he fears. Whoever possesses the royal person may do whatever he pleases with the royal character and authority. Hence, it happens that the ministers are of Lafayette's appointment.' Lafayette's own letters depict the troubles of a patriot leader in the stormy time of a revolution: a leader warm, generous, honest, impulsive, but not farseeing. "I continue to be forever tossed about on an ocean of factions and commotions of every kind; for it is my fate to be attacked with equal animosity; on one side, by all that is aristocratic, servile, parliamentary, in a word, by all the adversaries of my free and levelling doctrine; on the other, by the Orleans and anti-monarchical factions, and all the workers of disorder and pillage. If it is doubtful whether I may escape per

Sparks' Life of G. Morris, ii. 117-119.

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sonally from so many enemies, the success of our grand and good revolution is, at least, thank heaven, assured in France, and soon it will propagate itself in the rest of the world, if we succeed in establishing public order in this country. Unfortunately, the people have much better learnt how to overturn despotism, than to comprehend the duty of submission to law. It is to you, my dear General, the patriarch and generalissimo of the promoters of universal liberty, that I ought always to render a faithful account of the conduct of your aidede-camp in the service of this grand cause."

And in a subsequent letter: "I would that I could give you the assurance that our troubles were terminated and our constitution established. Nevertheless, though our horizon is still very dark, we commence to foresee the moment when a new legislative body will replace this Assembly; and, unless there come an intervention of foreign powers, I hope that four months from this your friend will have resumed the life of a peaceful and simple citizen.

The rage of party, even between the different shades of patriots, has gone as far as possible without the effusion of blood; but if animosities are far from subsiding, present circumstances are somewhat less menacing of a collision between the different supporters of the popular cause. As to myself, I am always the butt for attacks of all parties, because they see in my person an insurmountable obstacle to their evil designs. In the mean time, what appears to me a species of phenomenon, my popularity hitherto has not been shaken.'

And in another letter, he speaks of the multiplying dangers which menaced the progress of reform in

France: "The refugees hovering about the frontiers, intrigues in most of the despotic and aristocratic cabinets, our regular army divided into Tory officers and undisciplined soldiers, licentiousness among the people not easily repressed, the capital, that gives the tone to the empire, tossed about by anti-revolutionary or factious parties, the Assembly fatigued by hard labor, and very unmanageable. However, according to the popular motto, ça ira, it will do."

When Lafayette thus wrote, faction was predominant at Paris. Liberty and equality began to be the watch-words, and the Jacobin club had set up a journal which was spreading the spirit of revolt and preparing the fate of royalty.

"I assure you," writes Washington, "I have often contemplated, with great anxiety, the danger to which you are personally exposed by your peculiar and delicate situation in the tumult of the time, and your letters are far from quieting that friendly concern. But to one who engages in hazardous enterprises for the good of his country, and who is guided by pure and upright views, as I am sure is the case with you, life is but a secondary consideration.

"The tumultuous populace of large cities are ever to be dreaded. Their indiscriminate violence prostrates, for the time, all public authority, and its consequences are sometimes extensive and terrible. In Paris, we may suppose these tumults are peculiarly disastrous at this time, when the public mind is in a ferment, and when, as is always the case on such occasions, there are not wanting wicked and designing men whose