appear to me. In
this, as in most other matters, we are too slow. When this spirit
first dawned, it might probably have been easily checked; but it is
scarcely within the reach of human ken, at this moment, to say when,
where, or how it will terminate. There are combustibles in every
state, to which a spark might set fire.

"In bewailing, which I have often done with the keenest sorrow, the
death of our much lamented friend General Greene,[38] I have
accompanied my regrets of late with a query, whether he would not have
preferred such an exit to the scenes which it is more than probable,
many of his compatriots may live to bemoan."

[Footnote 38: This valuable officer died in Georgia in the
year 1786.]

Ostensibly, on account of the danger which threatened the frontiers,
but, really, with a view to the situation of Massachusetts, congress
had agreed to augment the military establishment to a legionary corps
of two thousand and forty men, and had detached the secretary of war,
General Knox, to that state, with directions to concert measures with
its government for the safety of the arsenal at Springfield. So
inauspicious was the aspect of affairs, as to inspire serious fears
that the torch of civil discord, about to be lighted up in
Massachusetts, would communicate its flame to all New England, and
perhaps to the union. Colonel Lee, a member of congress, drew the
following picture of the condition of the eastern country at that
time. "General Knox has just returned, and his report, grounded on his
own knowledge, is replete with melancholy information. A majority of
the people of Massachusetts are in opposition to the government. Some
of the leaders avow the subversion of it to be their object, together
with the abolition of debts, the division of property, and a reunion
with Great Britain. In all the eastern states, same temper prevails
more or less, and will certainly break forth whenever the opportune
moment may arrive. The malcontents are in close connexion with
Vermont, and that district, it is believed, is in negotiation with the
government of Canada. In one word, my dear general, we are all in dire
apprehension that a beginning of anarchy with all its calamities is
made, and we have no means to stop the dreadful work. Knowing your
unbounded influence, and believing that your appearance among the
seditious might bring them back to peace and reconciliation,
individuals suggest the propriety of an invita