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crisis in the affairs of his country, which would render retirement inconsistent with his duty, and derogatory to his character.

In the possibility of such an event, his friends pre vailed with him to withhold the publick expression of his design until it should become necessary to direct the attention of the community to a successor. This silence alarmed the party opposed to his administration. His personal influence at the head of government, they conceived, could alone defeat their plans, and prevent a revolution in the National Council. Since the ratification of the British treaty, they had laid aside the decorous language and exteriour respect, which they had, until that period, observed towards the President, and on this occasion they with the utmost virulence assailed his character. His merit as a soldier, and his wisdom and patriotism as a statesman, were denied; and even his honour and honesty as a man were brought into question. Letters, forged and published in 1776, to injure his reputation as the General in the revolutionary war, were at this time republished as genuine, to excite prejudice against him. The queries, which he had confidentially proposed to the deliberation of his Cabinet, were laid before the publick, with comments designed to show, that they indicated a deadly hostility to France. The queries could have come before the publick only by a breach of confidence in some one of the Cabinet. Mr. Jefferson was disposed to prevent any suspicion from resting on the mind of General WASHINGTON, that he was the dishonourable individual, and for this purpose he addressed a letter to him, to which the President gave the following reply.

"If I had entertained any suspicion before, that the queries which have been published in Bache's paper, proceeded from you, the assurances you have given of the contrary would have removed them; but the truth is, I harboured none. I am at no loss to conjecture

from what source they flowed, through what channel they were conveyed, nor for what purpose they and similar publications appear.

"As you have mentioned the subject yourself, it would not be frank, candid, or friendly, to conceal that your conduct has been represented as derogating from that opinion I conceived you entertained of me; that to your particular friends and connexions you have described, and they have denounced me, as a person under dangerous influence, and that if I would listen more to some other opinions, all would be well. My answer has invariably been, that I had never discovered any thing in the conduct of Mr. Jefferson, to raise suspicions in my mind of his sincerity; that if he would vetrace my publick conduct while he was in the administration, abundant proofs would occur to him, that truth and right decisions were the sole objects of my pursuit; that there were as many instances within his own knowledge, of my having decided against as in favour of the person evidently alluded to; and moreover, that I was no believer in the infallibility of the politicks or measures of any man living. In short, that I was no party man myself, and that the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them.

"To this I may add, and very truly, that until the last year or two, I had no conception that parties would, or even could go the lengths I have been witness to; nor did I believe until lately, that it was within the bounds of probability, hardly within those of possibility, that while I was using my utmost exertions to establish a national character of our own, independent, as far as our obligations and justice would permit, of every nation of the earth; and wished by steering a steady course to preserve this country from the horrours of a desolating war, I should be accused of being the enemy of one nation, and subject to the influence of another; and to prove it, that every act

of my administration would be tortured, and the grossest and most insidious misrepresentations of them be made, by giving one side only of a subject, and that too in such exaggerated and indecent terms as could scarcely be applied to a Nero-to a notorious defaulter -or even to a common pickpocket.

"But enough of this. I have already gone further in the expression of my feelings than I intended."

General WASHINGTON was also atrociously cha: ged with having unlawfully drawn money from the publick treasury for his private use. This charge was supported by extracts from the books of the national treasury, and his enemies boasted that they had discovered an indelible blemish in his character; but their triumph was only for a moment. The Secretary of the Treasury published a statement of facts, by which it clearly appeared that the money drawn by the orders of the President had in no year exceeded the appropriations for his salary. He received no publick money but for the support of his family, in some quarters of the year the receipts had overrun the amount due, and in others fallen short; and that the President himself had no concern in the transaction, the busi ness having been conducted by a gentleınan who su perintended his household. The publick frowned his accusers into silence, and the weapon levelled against his reputation fell innoxious to the ground.

The Government of France was too well acquainted with the number and the temper of their friends in the United States, to relinquish the plan formed to obtain a controlling influence in the administration of American affairs. Mr. Fauchet had made formal complaints against the measures of President WASHINGT( N. For a time his remonstrances were made in the lan guage of decency and respect; but at the close of his ministry, he descended to the reproachful manner of his predecessor. Mr. Adet arrived at Philadelphia, while the Senate were deliberating on the British VOL. II.

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treaty, and full communications were made to him on the subject. Colonel Monroe was also furnished with documents, calculated to remove uneasiness from the minds of the French Directory respecting this transaction. But instead of communicating to the Directory the documents and reasonings of his government, while they were deliberating on this subject, and before they had committed themselves by any publick act, he reserved them as answers to complaints, that the government of France might make against the treaty with Great Britain.

The President well knew that France had no just ground of complaint against the United States; but he was apprehensive that her disappointment at the adjustment of a controversy which had long menaced war between Great Britain and America, would induce her to some act of violence. He therefore deemed it highly important, that there should be a Minister at Paris, who fully entered into the views of the Administration. Not being perfectly satisfied with Mr. Monroe, he recalled him, and appointed as his successor, General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. The French having complained of most of the acts of the American Government, in relation to the powers at war, by order of the President these acts were carefully reviewed, a fair and minute detail of all points of difference between the two nations given, and the measures of the Administration defended by unanswerable arguments. Upon this lucid and conclusive vindication of the measures of the Administration, the President relied to remove jealousy from the minds of the Directory, and restore the harmony of the two nations; but unhappily the party at home had taken their ground, and were not by any considerations to be moved from it, and supported by these, the French Directory were not disposed to recede.

At the near approach of the period for the election of a President, it fully appeared, that General WASH

INGTON had not lost his hold on the affections and confidence of his countrymen. The publick sentiment every where indicated a determination to choose no man an elector, on whom implicit confidence could not be placed, to give his suffrage for General WASHINGTON; and it was satisfactorily ascertained, that should the General consent to be a candidate, he would for the third time be unanimously chosen l'resident of the United States.

In this state of the publick mind, in the month of September he published the following address.

"FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS,

"The period for a new election of a citizen, to ad minister the Executive Government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived, when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person, who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the publick voice, that I should now apprize you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those, out of whom a choice is to be made.

"I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured, that this resolution has not been taken, without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that, in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest; no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness; but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

"The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in the office to which your suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would

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