treaty of peace were entered into with that minister; these are now laid before now laid before you for your information.

On the subjects of mutual interest between this country and Spain, negotiations and conferences are now depending. The public good requiring that the present state of these should be made known to the legislature in confidence only, they shall be the subject of a separate and subsequent communication.

DEAR SIR,

TO PATRICK HENRY

MOUNT VERNON, 9 October, 1795.

Whatever may be the reception of this letter, truth and candor shall mark its steps. You doubtless know, that the office of State is vacant; and no one can be more sensible, than yourself, of the importance of filling it with a person of abilities, and one in whom the public would have confidence.

It would be uncandid not to inform you, that this office has been offered to others; but it is as true, that it was from a conviction in my own mind, that you would not accept it, (until Tuesday last, in a conversation with General, late Governor, Lee, he dropped sentiments which made it less doubtful,) that it was not offered first to you.

I need scarcely add, that if this appointment could be made to comport with your own inclination, it would be as pleasing to me, as I believe it would be acceptable to the public. With this assurance, and with this belief, I make you the offer

of it. My first wish is, that you would accept it; the next is, that you would be so good as to give me an answer as soon as you conveniently can, as the public business in that department is now suffering for want of a Secretary.

I persuade myself, Sir, it has not escaped your observation, that a crisis is approaching, that must, if it cannot be arrested, soon decide whether order and good government shall be preserved, or anarchy and confusion ensue. I can most religiously aver I have no wish, that is incompatible with the dignity, happiness, and true interest of the people of this country. My ardent desire is, and my aim has been, (as far as depended upon the executive department,) to comply strictly with all our engagements, foreign and domestic; but to keep the United States free from political connexions with every other country, to see them independent of all and under the influence of none. In a word, I want an American character, that the powers of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves, and not for others. This, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad and happy at home; and not, by becoming the partisans of Great Britain or France, create dissensions, disturb the public tranquillity, and destroy, perhaps for ever, the cement which binds the union.

I am satisfied these sentiments cannot be otherwise than congenial to your own. Your aid therefore in carrying them into effect would be flattering and pleasing to, dear Sir, &c.1

1 The offer of the post of Secretary of State was declined. How the offer was regarded by Washington's critics may be

TO TIMOTHY PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE

[PRIVATE]

DEAR SIR,

MOUNT VERNON, 25 July, 1796.

* I am glad to find, that more smoke than fire is likely to result from the representation of French discontent on account of our treaty with Great Britain. Had the case been otherwise, there would have been no difficulty in tracing the effect to the cause; and it is far from being impossible, that the whole may have originated in a contrivance of the opposers of the government, to see what effect such threats would work; and finding none that could answer their purpose, and no safe ground to stand on, if they pushed matters to extremity, the matter may terminate in gasconade. Be this as it may, the executive has a plain road to pursue, namely, to fulfil all the engagements, which his duty requires; be influenced beyond this by none of the contending parties; maintain a strict neutrality, unless obliged by imperious circumstances to depart from it; do justice to all, and never forget that we are Americans, the remembrance of which will convince us that we ought not to be French or English. With great esteem and regard, I am, &c.1

inferred from Madison's writing to Jefferson: "The offer of the Secretaryship of State to P. Henry is a circumstance which I should not have believed, without the most unquestionable testimony. Col. Coles tells me Mr. Henry read the letter to him on that subject."

1 For other strong expressions regarding his neutrality policy and the difficulty of maintaining it, see Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 22 December, 1795, ante, page 386.

DEAR SIR,

TO JAMES MONROE

PHILADELPHIA, 25 August, 1796.

Your favor of the 24th of March, written in cipher, never got to my hands until the 10th instant at Mount Vernon; nor were the contents of it known to me until my arrival in this city on the 21st. For the information contained in it, and your attention thereto, I offer you my best thanks.

Having no clew by which to discover the fact, I am very much at a loss to conjecture by what means a private letter of mine, written to a friend and sent by an American vessel, should have got into the hands of the French Directory. I shall readily acknowledge, however, that the one you allude to, directed to Mr. Gouverneur Morris, was a long and confidential one 1; but I deny that there is any thing contained in it, that the French government could take exception to, unless the expression of an ardent wish, that the United States might remain in peace with all the world, taking no part in the disputes of any part of it, should have produced this effect, giving it as my further opinion, that the sentiments of the mass of citizens in this country were in unison with mine.

Confidential as this letter was expected to be, I have no objection to its being seen by anybody; and there is certainly some mistake in saying I had no copy thereof, when there is a press one now before me, in which I discover no expression, that in

1 For Washington's letter to Gouverneur Morris, see page

the eye of liberality and candor would be deemed objectionable.

To understand the scope and design of my letter properly, and to give it a fair interpretation, it is necessary to observe, that it was written, (as will appear by the contents of it,) in answer to very long ones from the gentleman to whom it was addressed, which contained much political information of the state of things in different parts of Europe, and related among others the substance of a conversation, in which he and Lord Grenville, as private gentlemen, had just been engaged, and in which it was observed by the latter, that, if they were to judge from the publications in this country, the disposition of it was unfriendly to Great Britain; but in free countries he could readily account for such publications; however, that there was one, which wore a more serious aspect, as indicative of the sense of the government, and he alluded to Colonel Innes's report of his proceedings in Kentucky.

In my noticing this part of Mr. Morris's communication, I tell him, that, with respect to the publication of that report, it was an unauthorized act, and declared by that gentleman, as soon as he saw it in the gazettes, to have been done incorrectly; and that, with relation to the temper of the people of the United States, as it respected Great Britain, his Lordship ought not to be surprised, if it appeared disturbed and irritated, after the sense of the government had been so often expressed in strong remonstrances against the conduct of the