The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5 | Page 2

endeavours to procure the liberation of
Lafayette.
CHAPTER IV.
Letters from General Washington to Mr. Jefferson.... Hostile measures
of France against the United States.... Mr. Monroe recalled and General
Pinckney appointed to succeed him.... General Washington's
valedictory address to the people of the United States.... The Minister
of France endeavours to influence the approaching election.... The
President's speech to congress.... He denies the authenticity of certain
spurious letters published in 1776.... John Adams elected President, and
Thomas Jefferson Vice President.... General Washington retires to
Mount Vernon.... Political situation of the United States at this period....
The French government refuses to receive General Pinckney as
Minister.... Congress is convened.... President's speech.... Three envoys
extraordinary deputed to France.... Their treatment.... Measures of
hostility adopted by the American government against France....
General Washington appointed Commander-in-chief of the American
army.... His death.... And character.

THE LIFE
OF
GEORGE WASHINGTON
CHAPTER I.

G. Washington again unanimously elected President.... War between
Great Britain and France.... Queries of the President respecting the
conduct to be adopted by the American government.... Proclamation of
neutrality.... Arrival of Mr. Genet as minister from France.... His
conduct.... Illegal proceedings of the French cruisers.... Opinions of the
cabinet.... State of parties.... Democratic societies.... Genet calculates
upon the partialities of the American people for France, and openly
insults their government.... Rules laid down by the executive to be
observed in the ports of the United States in relation to the powers at
war.... The President requests the recall of Genet.... British order of 8th
of June, 1793.... Decree of the national convention relative to neutral
commerce.
{1793}
The term for which the President and Vice President had been elected
being about to expire on the third of March, the attention of the public
had been directed to the choice of persons who should fill those high
offices for the ensuing four years. Respecting the President, but one
opinion prevailed. From various motives, all parties concurred in
desiring that the present chief magistrate should continue to afford his
services to his country. Yielding to the weight of the representations
made to him from various quarters, General Washington had been
prevailed upon to withhold a declaration, he had at one time purposed
to make, of his determination to retire from political life.
Respecting the person who should fill the office of Vice President, the
public was divided. The profound statesman who had been called to the
duties of that station, had drawn upon himself a great degree of
obloquy, by some political tracts, in which he had laboured to maintain
the proposition that a balance in government was essential to the
preservation of liberty. In these disquisitions, he was supposed by his
opponents to have discovered sentiments in favour of distinct orders in
society; and, although he had spoken highly of the constitution of the
United States, it was imagined that his balance could be maintained
only by hereditary classes. He was also understood to be friendly to the
system of finance which had been adopted; and was believed to be

among the few who questioned the durability of the French republic.
His great services, and acknowledged virtues, were therefore
disregarded; and a competitor was sought for among those who had
distinguished themselves in the opposition. The choice was directed
from Mr. Jefferson by a constitutional restriction on the power of the
electors, which would necessarily deprive him of the vote to be given
by Virginia. It being necessary to designate some other opponent to Mr.
Adams, George Clinton, the governor of New York, was selected for
this purpose.
Throughout the war of the revolution, this gentleman had filled the
office of chief magistrate of his native state; and, under circumstances
of real difficulty, had discharged its duties with a courage, and an
energy, which secured the esteem of the Commander-in-chief, and gave
him a fair claim to the favour of his country. Embracing afterwards
with ardour the system of state supremacy, he had contributed greatly
to the rejection of the resolutions for investing congress with the power
of collecting an impost on imported goods, and had been conspicuous
for his determined hostility to the constitution of the United States. His
sentiments respecting the measures of the government were known to
concur with those of the minority in congress.
[Sidenote: George Washington again unanimously elected president.]
Both parties seemed confident in their strength; and both made the
utmost exertions to insure success. On opening the ballots in the senate
chamber, it appeared that the unanimous suffrage of his country had
been once more conferred on General Washington, and that Mr. Adams
had received a plurality of the votes.
The unceasing endeavours of the executive to terminate the Indian war
by a treaty, had at length succeeded with the savages of the Wabash;
and, through the intervention