There  are  always  a  certain  class  of  persons  ready  to  rejoice
at  the  defeat  of  a  great  man's  plans.  If  he  attempts  greatness,
and,  no  matter  what  virtues  he  may  possess,  is  knocked  down
by  misfortune,  they  will  trample  on  him,  malign  him,  and  finally
crush  him  by  their  weight.  Such  was  Morris's  fate.  Every
one  spoke  of  his  towering  ambition,  and  said  it  was  a  visitation  of
God  upon  him  for  his  daring  wickedness.  Idle  reports  flew,  like
scandal  always  does,  faster  than  truth ;  but  God,  who  has  made
virtue  at  all  times  superior  to  wickedness,  though  not  immediately
manifested,  caused  Ilobert  Morris  to  rise  in  the  estimation  of  all
intelligent  men,  to  be  considered  as  a  man  of  great  and  good
powers  ;  and  he  is  now  revered  and  honored  by  all  lovers  of  liberty.
For  a  period  of  ten  years,  from  1787  to  1798,  he  seems  to  have


ROBERT    MORRIS.  713

been   in  a   whirlpool   of   trouble;    and   then  the   end  came. his

imprisonment.  We  have,  after  a  persevering  search  among  the
records  of  the  Courts,  found  the  time  when  Morris  was  impri-
soned. The  first  commitment  made  out  against  him,  was  at  the
suit  of  John  Ely,  on  the  17th  of  January,  1798,  when  he  was  in  the
custody  of  the  sheriff;  but  on  the  following  day,  the  18th,  John
Bell  issued  out  another  commitment,  when  he  was  non  est  inventus.
