“On my return to-day from my farm, where I pass a considerable portion of my time in _laborious relaxation_, I found a copy of the message of the President, of the 1st inst., accompanied by the report of the Committee of Foreign Relations and the declaration of war against Britain, under cover from you.
“Permit me to subjoin to my thanks for this mark of your attention my fervent wish that this momentous measure may, in its operation on the interest and honor of our country, disappoint only its enemies.
“Whether my prayer be heard or not, I shall remain with respectful esteem,
When Marshall went to France as envoy in 1797, he wrote several long and interesting letters to Washington, acquainting him with whatever foreign intelligence might interest him.[41] The following passages from the first letter, a very long one, will show the interest of these papers, and the exactness of the information they convey:--
“DEAR SIR,--The flattering evidences I have received of your favorable opinion, which have made on my mind an impression only to wear out with my being, added to a conviction that you must feel a deep interest in all that concerns a country to whose service you have devoted so large a portion of your life, induce me to offer you such occasional communications as, while in Europe, I may be enabled to make, and induce a hope that the offer will not be deemed an unacceptable or unwelcome intrusion.
“Until our arrival in Holland we saw only British and neutral vessels. This added to the blockade of the Dutch fleet in the Texel, of the French fleet in Brest, and of the Spanish fleet in Cadiz, manifests the entire dominion which one nation at present possesses over the seas. By the ships of war which met us we were three times visited, and the conduct of those who came on board was such as would proceed from general orders to pursue a system calculated to conciliate America. Whether this be occasioned by a sense of justice and the obligations of good faith, or solely by the hope that the perfect contrast which it exhibits to the conduct of France may excite keener sensations at that conduct, its effects on our commerce are the same.
“The situation of Holland is truly interesting. Though the face of the country still exhibits a degree of wealth and population still unequaled in any part of Europe, its decline is visible. The great city of Amsterdam is in a state of blockade. More than two thirds of its shipping lie unemployed in port. Other seaports suffer, though not in so great a degree. In the mean time the requisitions made upon them are enormous. They have just completed the payment of the 100,000,000 of florins (equal to 40,000,000 of dollars) stipulated by treaty; they have sunk, on the first entrance of the French, a very considerable sum in assignats; they made large contributions in specifics, and they pay, feed, and clothe an army estimated, as I am informed, at near three times its real number. It is supposed that France has by various means drawn from Holland about 60,000,000 of dollars. This has been paid, in addition to the natural expenditures, by a population of less than 2,000,000. Nor, should the war continue, can the contributions of Holland stop here. The increasing exigencies of France must inevitably increase her demands on those within her reach.