public view at all, to make the comparison so conspicuously odious.'

After continuing in an expostulatory vein, followed by his own views of the probable course of invasion, he adds, toward the close of his letter-"I have received no other notification of an appointment than what the newspapers announce. When it shall please the Secretary of War to give me the information, I shall endeavor to make him a suitable At present, I do not perceive how it can possibly

answer.

be to any other purport than in the negative."

In conclusion, he writes: "In whatever situation I shall be, I shall always remember with pleasure and gratitude the friendship and confidence with which you have heretofore honored me.

“I am, with the highest attachment," etc.

Washington was pained in the extreme at the view taken by General Knox of the arrangement, and at the wound which it had evidently given to his feelings and his pride. In a letter to the President (25th Sept.), he writes: "With respect to General Knox, I can say with truth there is no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy, no one whom I have loved more sincerely, nor any for whom I have had a greater friendship. But esteem, love and friendship can have no influence on my mind, when I conceive that the subjugation of our government and independence are the objects aimed at by the enemies of our peace, and when, possibly, our all is at stake."

In reply to Knox, Washington, although he thought the reasons assigned in his previous letter ought to have been sufficiently explanatory of his motives, went into long details of the circumstances under which the military appointments had been made, and the important considerations which

dictated them; and showing that it was impossible for him to consult Knox previously to the nomination of the general officers.

"I do not know," writes he, "that these explanations will afford you any satisfaction or produce any change in your determination, but it was just to myself to make them. If there has been any management in the business, it has been concealed from me. I have had no agency therein, nor have I conceived a thought on the subject that has not been disclosed to you with the utmost sincerity and frankness of heart. And now, notwithstanding the insinuations, which are implied in your letter, of the vicissitudes of friendship and the inconstancy of mine, I will pronounce with decision that it ever has been, and, notwithstanding the unkindness of the charge, ever will be, for aught I know to the contrary, warm and sincere.'

The genial heart of Knox was somewhat soothed and mollified by the "welcome and much esteemed letter of Washington, in which," said he, "I recognize fully all the substantial friendship and kindness which I have invariably experienced from you. Still he was tenacious of the point of precedence, and unwilling to serve in a capacity which would compromise his pride. "If an invasion shall take place," writes he, "I shall deeply regret all circumstances which would insuperably bar my having an active commad in the field. But if such a measure should be my destiny, I shall fervently petition to serve as one of your aides-de-camp, which, with permission, I shall do with all the cordial devotion and affection of which my soul is capable."

On the 18th of October, Washington learned through the gazettes of the safe arrival of General Pinckney at New York, and was anxious lest there should be a second part

of the difficulty created by General Knox. On the 21st he writes again to Knox, reiterating his wish to have him in the augmented corps as a major-general.

"We shall have either no war, or a severe contest with France; in either case, if you will allow me to express my opinion, this is the most eligible time for you to come forward. In the first case, to assist with your counsel and aid in making judicious provisions and arrangements to avert it; in the other case, to share in the glory of defending your country, and, by making all secondary objects yield to that great and primary object, display a mind superior to embarrassing punctilios at so critical a moment as the present.

"After having expressed these sentiments with the frankness of undisguised friendship, it is hardly necessary to add that, if you should finally decline the appointment of majorgeneral, there is none to whom I would give a more decided preference as an aid-de-camp, the offer of which is highly flattering, honorable, and grateful to my feelings, and for which I entertain a high sense. But, my dear General Knox, and here again I repeat to you, in the language of candor and friendship, examine well your own mind upon this subject. Do not unite yourself to the suite of a man whom you may consider as the primary cause of what you call a degradation, with unpleasant sensations. This, while it is gnawing upon you, would, if I should come to the knowledge of it, make me unhappy; as my first wish would be that my military family, and the whole army, should consider themselves a band of brothers, willing and ready to die for each other."

Before Knox could have received this letter, he had, on the 23d of October, written to the Secretary of War, declining to serve under Hamilton and Pinckney, on the principle

that "no officer can consent to his own degradation by serving in an inferior station." General Pinckney, on the contrary, cheerfully accepted his appointment, although placed under Hamilton, who had been of inferior rank to him in the last war. It was with the greatest pleasure he had seen that officer's name at the head of the list of major-generals, and applauded the discernment which had placed him there. He regretted that General Knox had declined his appointment, and that his feelings should be hurt by being outranked. "If the authority," adds he, "which appointed me to the rank of second major in the army, will review the arrangement, and place General Knox before me, I will neither quit the service nor be dissatisfied.” *

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Washington taxed anew with the Cares of Office-Correspondence with Lafayette—A Marriage at Mount Vernon-Appointment of a Minister to the French Republic-Washington's Surprise— His Activity on his Estate-Political Anxieties-Concern about the Army

EARLY in November (1798) Washington left his retirement and repaired to Philadelphia, at the earnest request of the Secretary of War, to meet that public functionary and Major-generals Hamilton and Pinckney, and make arrangements respecting the forces about to be raised. The Secretary had prepared a series of questions for their consideration, and others were suggested by Washington, all bearing upon the organization of the provisional army. Upon these

* Letter to the Secretary of War.

Washington and the two major-generals were closely engaged for nearly five weeks, at great inconvenience and in a most inclement season. The result of their deliberations was reduced to form, and communicated to the Secretary in two letters drafted by Hamilton and signed by the commander-in-chief. Not the least irksome of Washington's task, in his present position, was to wade through volumes of applications and recommendations for military appointments; a task which he performed with extreme assiduity, anxious to avoid the influence of favor or prejudice, and sensitively alive to the evil of improper selections.

As it was a part of the plan on which he had accepted the command of the army to decline the occupations of the office until circumstances should require his presence in the field, and as the season and weather rendered him impatient to leave Philadelphia, he gave the Secretary of War his views and plans for the charge and direction of military affairs, and then set out once more for Mount Vernon. The cares and concerns of office, however, followed him to his retreat. "It is not the time nor the attention only," writes he, "which the public duties I am engaged in require, but their bringing upon me applicants, recommenders of applicants, and seekers of information, none of whom, perhaps, are my acquaintances, with their servants and horses to aid in the consumption of my forage, and what to me is more valuable, my time, that I most regard; for a man in the country, nine miles from any house of entertainment, is differently situated from one in a city, where none of these inconveniences are felt." In a letter, recently received from Lafayette, the latter spoke feelingly of the pleasure he experienced in conversing incessantly with his son George about Mount Vernon, its dear and venerated inhabitants, of