OF RUFUS KING COMPRISING HIS LETTERS, PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL HIS PUBLIC DOCUMENTS AND HIS SPEECHES EDITED BY HIS GRANDSON CHARLES R. KING, M.D. FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, PHILADELPHIA, AND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES VOLUME II. 1795-1799 NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS The Knickerbocker Press PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME. The period embraced in this second volume covers the closing years of the senatorial career of Mr. King, before his transfer to the position of Minister Plenipotentiary and Ambassador to the Court of St. James, and the following three years in that capacity; the matter in the third volume extending to the close of the mission in 1803. The history of the United States during the second term of Washington's administration is full of events which tested the adaptability of the constitution to meet the new questions both domestic and foreign which necessarily arose under its untried provisions. Happily the general policy, which has received the name of federal, prevailed, and the basis of government was firmly founded. Mr. King was largely instrumental in framing and sustaining these measures adopted, as the records clearly show; yet it is much to be regretted that there are many gaps in his private papers, the filling of which might have thrown strong light upon the interesting questions of the day. All, however, that the papers in the possession of the Editor contain as contemporary history is here presented. In reference to the correspondence in the second portion of the volume, during the years of Mr. King's residence in England, it is proper that some explanation should be made. It will be observed that many letters, which have already been given to the public in the lives of some of the distinguished contemporaries of Mr. King, are here republished in order to show the bearing and illustrate the meaning of the letters now first presented. Indeed without them the continuity of the narrative would lack much of interest. In all these cases, and especially in the letters to and from Hamilton, the source from which they have been taken is noted, and where no such reference is made the originals or copies of them are in the possession of the Editor, and are reproduced verbatim, except where relating to matters of no interest to the public. The letters of Pickering, Cabot, Troup, Bingham, and many others, relative to the domestic affairs of the United States and containing their estimate of foreign affairs, are very full and served to keep Mr. King informed of the current opinion and business of the country, helping him in his ministerial work and receiving, in his answers, the effect they produced upon the mind of one deeply interested, but away from their immediate influence at home. But perhaps not less interesting is his official correspondence with the British Government, and with his personal friend Timothy Pickering, both in the latter's private capacity and as Secretary of State. Pickering's letters are contained in a separate volume, copied from the official dispatches, of which the originals are probably in the Archives of the Legation in England; while official communications from Mr. King are preserved in press copies of all his letters, which are all in his own handwriting, carefully arranged in five large folio volumes of about 2000 pages; his letters in cipher deciphered. Of course this correspondence, which extends over seven years-to the end of the next volume,— could not all be reproduced here. Many of the letters relate merely to current matters of detail and, though making part of the history of official acts, are not essential to their elucidation. Nor is there given an unbroken series of letters to and from the Secretary of State, but such selections from them as would show the contemporary diplomatic history as it presented itself to the observation of the intelligent, clear-headed, and careful man, who had the interest of his country always at heart and desired to gain for it every advantage that his position could enable him to obtain. |