MR MOKRIS's VOYAGE TO

TIRES

CHAPTER XXV.

AMERICA.-ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK. HE RE

ΤΟ MORRISANIA.-CHOSEN ΤΟ THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.-ENGAGED IN A CAUSE AT THE BAR WITH HAMILTON.-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.-PART TAKEN BY HIM AS A SENATOR.-HIS TOUR TO CANADA.-HIS POLITICAL OPINIONS.-ORATIONS AND POLITICAL WRITINGS. GENERAL MOREAU.-MADAME DE STAEL'S PROPOSED VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES.

HAVING brought his complicated affairs to a close in Europe, Mr Morris began seriously to think of revisiting his native country. Amidst the infinitude of relations he had contracted, both of friendship and business, it was no easy matter to arrange them all, and to sever attachments, which time and intimacy had cemented, but which were never again to be renewed. By degrees, however, this was accomplished, and he sailed from Hamburg for New York, on the fourth of October, 1798. A more tedious, protracted, disagreeable, and comfortless passage, it has seldom been the lot of luckless voyager to endure. When they had been fifty-seven days at sea, the captain held a council with the mate, into which he asked Mr Morris, to consult on the state of affairs, and determine what was to be done. It was agreed, from a series of probabilities, that the actual position of the ship was somewhere near the east end of Long Island, but the provisions of the crew had run short, and the weather was precarious. A stiff northwester would drive them off to the West Indies, and in such a catastrophe, they would all be in danger of perishing for want of food. The question for the council to decide was, whether they should steer directly for New York, or make the nearest port in Rhode Island. Like men of prudence, they gave a unanimous voice for the latter, and in two days they were safely moored in the harbor of Newport.

But here a new set of calamities sprang up. A drunken pilot was to be dealt with; the captain grew impertinent, surly, and obstinate; snow storms and gales of wind troubled the air and the sea; and ten dismal days and nights were consumed in vain attempts to escape from the smooth waters of Narraganset Bay, and get fairly upon the ocean again. At length a packet came along, bound to New York. Mr Morris resolved at least to have the satisfaction of exchanging one floating prison for another, and went from the ship to the packet. Here matters were little mended, except that the captain was in better humor. A stormy day and a dreary night were spent in beating around Point Judith, with eminent peril of shipwreck. They were next tossed to and fro in the Sound, obliged to put into New London one night, and anchor under the lee shore of Long Island another. At last, twenty-three days from the time he first saw the coast of Rhode Island, he arrived in New York, making a voyage of eighty days from Hamburg; a commentary worth preserving on the present splendid establishments of packets and steamboats, in the great commercial centre of the New World.

It was with no light emotions of joy, that he received the cordial greetings of his friends, who flocked around him as soon as his arrival was known. Just ten years had elapsed, since he sailed from the Capes of Delaware, and it was now gratifying to discover, that time and distance, those potent aids to forgetfulness and insensibility, had not weakened the ties of old attachments, nor dissolved the charm of early friendships. 'It seems,' said he, as if I were not an unwelcome guest in my native country.' The gratulations and hospitality of friends detained him some days in the city, and then he went to Morrisania, and took up his residence on his own domains.

To this stage of his existence he had long been looking forward with pleasing anticipations, and had resolved to pass the remainder of his days in tranquil retirement, on the spot consecrated by the tombs of his ancestors, and the endearing associations of childhood. The first object of his care was to put his

estate in order, which had been little improved by ten years of imperfect culture. He next set himself about a more formidable undertaking. The old house, venerable as it was in its age, and attractive from the reminiscences it revived, was nevertheless leaky and looked runious.' In short, it held out few promises of contented enjoyment to a man, whose habits had taught him to value the elegances, as well as the more substantial comforts of life. He determined to erect a new one. Nature had fully accomplished her part, in affording him one of the finest sites in the world, embracing a beautiful variety of grounds, a prospect of intermingled islands and waters, and in the distance the broad expanse of Long Island Sound. The plan of his house conformed to a French model, and, though spacious and well contrived, was suited rather for convenience and perhaps splendor within, than for a show of architectural magnificence without. Finished, however, according to his taste, it answered the ends of its design, being the home of his after life, the scene of a generous hospitality, and of the full measure of happiness, which fancy and hope had pictured to him in the vista of coming years.

These affairs of building and improvements afforded him a busy occupation. In the mean time another sphere of action. was prepared for him. He was chosen by the legislature of New York to supply a vacancy in the Senate of the United States. He accepted the appointment upon the principle, that it was every man's duty to conform to the wishes of his fellow citizens, who should select him unsolicited to fill a responsible and important office. As soon as he arrived from abroad, his friends beset him on this point, but he took care to let them know early his intention to lead a private life, not meaning to embark again on the stormy ocean of politics.' Such resolutions have been often formed, and as often broken. Mr Morris writes in his Diary, that Lafayette deceived himself, when at the height of power in Paris he said he was weary of public life, and meant to retire. If we may judge from all examples, perhaps from human nature, every man who talks thus, deceives

himself. Who retires from a political career, till his race is run; till he is at the top of ambition's rickety ladder, or till despair whispers the unwelcome truth, that he can mount no higher? Who refuses an office, that carries with it power, consequence, or emolument? Nay, who can be expected to refuse such an office? Who ought to refuse it? Offices must be held by somebody. When we hear men talk of shunning office, of retiring from high public stations, of rejecting splendid offers in prospect, and of despising power and influence, we may lay it down as a general rule, that such men deceive themselves.

Before Mr Morris took his seat in the Senate, he was engaged as counsel in a remarkable law case, which was argued at Albany. A few brief hints in the Diary afford nearly all the information that I have been able to procure, except the report contained in the first volume of Johnson's Cases, and which touches only on the matter of law.

'Albany, February 6th, 1800.-Go to the Court of Errors. Hamilton concludes forcibly. Harrison opens the law, and so does Burr. On our side Troup makes a short good speech. February 8th.-In the Court of Appeals Mr R. Livingston speaks on our side. I follow him.

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'February 10th.-Finish my argument, which has, I observe, produced considerable effect.

'February 11th.-Attend the Court of Errors, and hear the arguments of the adversary. Hamilton is desirous of being witty, but goes beyond the bounds, and is open to a severe dressing.

'February 12th.-The adverse counsel conclude. Colonel Burr is very able, and has I see made considerable impression. I had an opportunity to retort on Hamilton, which I did not use, and am on the whole well pleased that I did not.'

This cause attracted notoriety at the time, from the brilliant constellation of talents comprised in the counsel on both sides. As the arguments were not reported, nothing now remains to give any idea of the display of those talents. There is a venerable and imposing tradition, both in Albany and New York,

that talks loudly, but vaguely, on the subject, and which, like the responses of the Delphian prophetess, leaves you to gather a meaning of high import and wide interpretation. It seems well established, however, that uncommon power of reasoning was elicited, and that the rencounter of wits, particularly between Hamilton and Morris, was sustained with an agility and keenness, highly edifying to the audience. These freedoms are said to have run to a latitude, which was too great even for the indulgence of friendship, and which caused a temporary coldness. If so, it was short, and soon forgotten. The part acted by Morris in this cause gained him much credit, especially on account of the talent and adroitness he discovered, in a set contest with the giants of the day, after having been so long unused to the habits of the bar and forensic debate.

He joined the Senate in Philadelphia on the second of May, but they adjourned a fortnight afterwards, to re-assemble the next session at Washington. The interval was chiefly occupied by Mr Morris in a tour to Canada and Niagara, of which he has given a lively and minute description in a long letter to Mr Parish. One object of his journey was to explore a large tract of new lands, which he possessed on the southern borders of the St Lawrence and Lake Ontario. In November he proceeded to Washington, and was present at the opening of the Senate.

Being now fairly seated in the National Legislature, he must of necessity range himself in the ranks of one of the two great parties, into which the political forces of the nation were at that time divided. From the first origin of these parties he had been absent from the country, and of course had no personal entanglements with either. Considering the tenor of his sentiments, however, we should expect to find him, where he actually appeared, under the banners of the Federalists. There he took a stand, and there he maintained it to the end of his life; sometimes, perhaps, with a zeal that outstripped prudence, but always with an honesty of purpose, a fearlessness of responsibility, and an ingenuous hearty good will, that com