plain working men; and exhibiting
in his deportment that practical democracy, that fraternity, which men
in his position, of English blood, never exhibit?"[44]

These events excited the deepest anxiety in the mind of Washington. He
had no confidence whatever in the men at the head of public affairs in
France--the self-constituted government of that unhappy nation. "Those
in whose hands the government is intrusted," he said in a letter to
Governor Lee, "are ready to tear each other to pieces, and will, more
than probably, prove the worst foes the country has." He deeply deplored
the wild enthusiasm which was threatening to involve his country in the
European war then kindling. "Unwise would we be in the extreme," he
wrote to Gouverneur Morris a month before, "to involve ourselves in the
contests of European nations, where our weight would be but small,
though the loss to ourselves would be certain." With such views
Washington hastened back to Philadelphia; for he foresaw the necessity
for announcing the disposition of his country toward the belligerent
powers, and the propriety of restraining as far as possible his
fellow-citizens from taking part in the contest. He immediately
despatched an express to Philadelphia with the following letter to Mr.
Jefferson, the secretary of state:--

"Your letter of the seventh was brought to me by the last post. War
having actually commenced between France and Great Britain, it
behooves the government of this country to use every means in its
power to prevent the citizens thereof from embroiling us with
either of those powers, by endeavoring to maintain a strict
neutrality. I therefore require that you will give the subject
mature consideration, that such measures as shall be deemed most
likely to effect this desirable purpose may be adopted without
delay; for I have understood that vessels are already designated as
privateers and are preparing accordingly. Such other measures as
may be necessary for us to pursue, against events which it may not
be in our power to avoid or control, you will also think of, and
lay them before me on my arrival in Philadelphia, for which place I
will set out to-morrow."

Washington reached Philadelphia on the seventeenth, and on the
nineteenth held a cabinet council, having on the previous day submitted
to each member of his cabinet the following questions for their
consideration:--