To George Washington from Robert Rutherford, 23 January 1797
From Robert Rutherford
Philada January 23d 1797
Dear Sir
From motives the most pure and a very generous impulse, I have hastily committed my sentiment to paper, as I fear for our common Country, and please to be assured, your reputation & peace of mind, is very dear to me, because I have ever considered you, as an honest Man, a patriot and firm friend to this people. The Crisis is Critical & Very important. I am aware of the difficulty’s you had in the introduction of our Excellent Goverment and the Waring passions, interests, and even Gigantic prejudices of Two great rival nations. The English have too long reaped the most extensive profits, from our commerce, to yield up the lucritive business, without practizing every artifice to retain it. The French, have doubtless, the same thing in View, and having been our friends, on the most trying occasion, consider themselves intitled. So that this great national article is embarrassed, & demands delicacy & address. The French Republic, by way of retaliation, as it were, are capturing our Vesels and in this there appears to be some colour of Justic[e], or the maritime Strength of the united states must ultimately, have been brought into opperation against that people.1 The Vesels, Provisions & above all the American Seamen. to say truth this Conduct of the French, has been produced by a Conduct Similar in that of the English,2 and I still hope that when the French Republic recur to Justice, and moderation the goverment, will Justly Consider that we could not prevent either, and after making us feel their power & resentment they will return to friendship dictated by principles of equity and sound policy, and that by Your wisdom, moderation, and Patriotism, the great business will be adjusted, consonant with your Ideas. When that Republic presented their flag,3 & recently in reply to the House of Delegates, which I am convinced were sincere, I will tell you in the fulness of my heart, that an amicable close of this business would more fully establish your character; (already very high) than any measure of Your life, as a great Majority of the People, of every age and Sex, are extremely desirous to be on good terms with the French Republic, as a great & powerful Sister & benefactor.4 We no doubt have nothing to do with European politics, in our Situation, and the art & address is to steer in such a manner as to avoid offending any. The American mind has been amused, & much abused, by Low insolent Scribblers, who under pretext of order and Good Goverment, have presumed to make Your Virtues a rallying point, and have insulted, the best Patriots, who would Support you with their fortunes, & even their Lives, if it were necessary.5 The difficulty, is in avoiding European politics, without offence, to either Britain, or a Sister Rebublic, rising by our Example, to the highest pitch of human improvement & power. We have indeed Just Cause of Complaint, in what respects the British Goverment, by an indiscriminate Carnage on our frontier, while the people are our ancestors and really possess many Virtues.6 A commerce with that nation, is to us, a loosing traffick, and they really Cannot hurt us. Yet sound policy, perhaps, forbids Crushing them altogether, but that their Violences on the ocean should be restrained is surely right. Your generous patriotic mind I am sensible has been hurt, by some publications, but please to be assured that very few, were engaged in the matter, & your magnanimity & goodness of heart, will commit these to lasting oblivion as personal insult, passion, or prejudice, I am conscious will not influence you, on the present, great & Very important occasion, when the peace & happiness of a great people, who look up to you as a common Parent, is at Stake. I beg pardon, for this obtrusion of sentiment. Please to be assured, that I have no Vanity in offering my opinions, or in writing to one Superior in every respect & that will Certainly do what is right & best. So that be the result what it may, I beg that this incoherent letter may be wholy with Yourself, as it surely will remain, only in the breast of Dear Sir Your affectionate and Most obedient Humble servant
R. Rutherford
ALS, DLC:GW.
Rutherford at this time represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1. The French Directory’s decree of 2 July 1796 had authorized the capture of neutral vessels bound to British ports. The decree was a retaliatory measure for the British interception of neutral ships en route to French ports (see GW to Alexander Hamilton, 2 Nov. 1796, and n.2 to that document; see also Timothy Pickering to GW, 12 June 1796; and Pickering to GW, 15 July 1796). As a result of this and other decrees, U.S. shipping interests in Europe and the West Indies incurred a loss of more than $12,000,000 between 1793 and 1800 (see 517–18).
2. For British orders calling for the seizure of ships and goods destined for French ports and colonies, see Edmund Randolph to GW, 13 March (first letter) and 3 April 1794; and Joseph Brown to GW, 2 April 1794, and n.5 to that document.
3. For the flag presented by France’s Committee of Public Safety for display in the halls of Congress and for French minister Pierre-Auguste Adet’s delivery of the flag to GW, see GW to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 4 Jan. 1796.
4. The “reply to the House of Delegates” probably refers to GW’s message of 16 Dec. 1796 to the U.S. House of Representatives, in which he expressed his determination to restore peace and good relations with France. That message was a reply to the House’s address to him of the same date (see U.S. House of Representatives to GW, 16 Dec. 1796, n.7).
5. Attacks on GW’s character and policies had appeared during the past year in newspapers and other publications. Former French minister Pierre-Auguste Adet also had written Secretary of State Timothy Pickering lengthy missives criticizing the Washington administration’s foreign policy toward France (see John Carey to GW, 8 Sept. 1796; GW to Carey, 30 Dec. 1796; GW to Alexander Hamilton, 2 Nov. 1796; Hamilton to GW, 19 Nov. 1796; GW to David Stuart, 8 Jan. 1797; Edward Newenham to GW, 15 Feb. 1797; and GW to Timothy Pickering, 3 March 1797).
6. Rutherford had expressed a similar idea in a speech he had given before Congress in April 1796 during deliberations over a resolution “for carrying into effect” the Jay Treaty. Rutherford pronounced: “Has the Treaty of 1783 been faithfully observed? Or is there a sentence in that Treaty that looked towards the American people that has not been violated? And has not this violation been the cause of horrid, indiscriminate carnage on our extended frontier?” Rutherford further asked, “what can induce a great nation to wreak an unavailing vengeance on men … and on innocent women and children?” (, 4th Cong, 1st sess., 1116–18). Rutherford’s speech concerned the British violation of Article VII of the 1783 definitive treaty of peace, which required the evacuation of the western posts, and the resulting Indian depredations on the frontier (see , 155).
Following the Revolutionary War, the British failed to surrender northwestern frontier posts, as required by the 1783 definitive treaty of peace. The British incited Indian resistance to westward expansion of white settlers, and gave Indians false promises of support in the event of conflict with the United States. The British in fact provided the Indians little to no aid in the numerous raids and battles between Indians and Americans that became prevalent in the 1790s.