9002. WASHINGTON (George), Crown refused.—
The alliance between the States
under the old Articles of Confederation, for
the purpose of joint defence against the aggressions
of Great Britain, was found insufficient,
as treaties of alliance generally are, to enforce
compliance with their mutual stipulations; and
these, once fulfilled, that bond was to expire of
itself, and each State to become sovereign and
independent in all things. Yet it could not but
occur to every one, that these separate independencies,
like the petty States of Greece, would
be eternally at war with each other, and would
become at length the mere partisans and satellites
of the leading powers of Europe. All then
must have looked to some further bond of union,
which would insure internal peace, and a political
system of our own, independent of that of
Europe. Whether all should be consolidated
into a single government, or each remain independent
as to internal matters, and the whole
form a single nation as to what was foreign
only, and whether that national government
should be a monarchy or a republic, would of
course divide opinions according to the constitutions,
the habits, and the circumstances of
each individual. Some officers of the army,
as it has always been said and believed (and
Steuben and Knox have ever been named as
the leading agents), trained to monarchy by
military habits, are understood to have proposed
to General Washington to decide this great question
by the army before its disbandment, and
to assume himself the crown, on the assurance
of their support. The indignation with which
he is said to have scouted this parricide proposition
was equally worthy of his virtue and his
wisdom.—
The Anas. Washington ed. ix, 88.
Ford ed., i, 157.
(1818)
