debt was secured, and its ultimate payment provided for; commerce had increased beyond any former example; the amount of tonnage in the ports of the United States had nearly doubled; the imports and exports had augmented in a considerably larger ratio; and the revenue was much more abundant than had been expected. The war with the Indians was conducted to a successful issue; and a peace was concluded, which promised quiet to the frontier inhabitants, and advantages to the uncivilized tribes. Treaties had been made with foreign powers, in which long standing disputes were amicably settled, contending claims adjusted, and important privileges gained to the United States. The relations with France alone remained in a state of incertitude and perplexity; and this was owing to the condition of affairs in Europe, and not to any thing that had grown out of the acts or policy of the American government.

Much having been said and published respecting Mr. Jefferson's conduct towards Washington, after the former retired from the office of Secretary of State, it may have been expected that some additional facts would appear in this narrative. Such an expectation, however, I have no means of gratifying. Among Washington's papers I have found nothing, which can afford any new elucidation. It has been supposed, that, after his death, certain papers were abstracted from his manuscripts, which contained matters unfavorable to Mr. Jefferson. He was in the habit of writing his diary in small books, and some of these books, written during the period in question, are missing. It may be observed also, that, for the last three or four years of his life, there is no record of a correspondence between him and Mr. Jefferson, nor any papers of importance in which the name of the latter is more than incidentally alluded to. When

I mentioned the subject to Judge Washington, he replied cautiously, that he had never charged any person with having abstracted papers. Indeed, the nature of the case scarcely admitted of positive proof. But, without discussing the question, or examining the conjectural evidence which has been adduced, I will only remark, that I am convinced the suspicion of papers having been taken away, for the purpose alleged, must rest on a very slight foundation.

There can be no doubt, however, that Washington's feelings were wounded by some parts of Mr. Jefferson's conduct, as well as by conversations which were reported to him as having been held at Monticello. He had reposed unlimited confidence in Mr. Jefferson, and shown towards him at all times a sincere and unwavering attachment; and he was not prepared to receive the returns of ingratitude and disrespect, which these conversations seemed to imply. The famous letter to Mazzei, however it may be explained, could not have been read by Washington without pain. The unqualified censure of the administration, which it contained, necessarily included him as the head of the administration. After he retired from the Presidency, an insidious letter was sent to him through the post-office, the object of which was to draw from him political remarks and opinions. It was accidentally discovered, that this letter was subscribed with a fictitious signature, and that it came from a person, who resided near Mr. Jefferson, associated intimately with him, and participated in his political sentiments. It was not ascertained, nor perhaps fully believed, that Mr. Jefferson was accessory to this proceeding; but the circumstances were such, as to make a strong impression upon the mind of Washington. It is also remarkable, that, while Mr. Jefferson was VicePresident, although he passed near Mount Vernon in

his journeys between Monticello and Philadelphia, to attend Congress at two regular sessions and one extra session before Washington's death, he never paid him. a visit nor saw him after they separated at the time of Mr. Adams's inauguration.

A decisive judgment on this subject ought not to be formed, however, without considering the position in which Mr. Jefferson was placed, and his own testimony. As the head of a party opposed to the administration, he was the centre of action to that party; and he would necessarily be led to remark on public transactions, and to express his disapprobation of them. As such times, his conversation may have been misinterpreted by his watchful opponents as applying to Washington, when in reality he had in view only the system of measures to which he gave his support. If it is difficult in this case. to separate the measures from the man, and the censure of the one from that of the other, it must be remembered, that the difficulty is inherent in the case itself, and that there was no other way by which Mr. Jefferson could escape from it, entertaining such opinions as he did, than by abstaining altogether from speaking on public affairs. This forbearance was not to be expected, nor was it to be required of him, more than of any other person.

Again, Mr. Jefferson has affirmed that no correspondence took place between him and Washington, during the interval in which none has been found among the papers of the latter; that he always believed him to be firmly attached to the republican principles of the constitution, and determined to sustain them at all hazards; and that neither in the letter to Mazzei, nor on any other occasion, did he intend to include Washington among those, whom he charged with moulding the government into monarchical and aristocratical forms.

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The substance of this declaration is often repeated in his published letters. In one of these, describing the character of Washington, he says; "His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known; no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man." These considerations seem to show at least, that, whatever may have been Mr. Jefferson's feelings, or the part he acted, in times of warm political strife, a calm review of the past, at a later period, brought him to a just estimate of the character and conduct of Washington. But, after all, it is not easy to be convinced, even by his own statements, that he is not in some degree chargeable with delinquency towards him during the latter years of his life.

Being established again at Mount Vernon, and freed from public toils and cares, Washington returned to the same habits of life, and the same pursuits, which he had always practised at that place. It required neither time nor new incitements to revive a taste for occupations, which had ever afforded him more real enjoyment than any others. Although he had been able to exercise a partial supervision over his private affairs, yet he found, that, after an absence of eight years, much was to be done to repair his houses, restore his farms to the condition in which he had left them, and complete his favorite system of agriculture. To these employments he devoted himself with as lively an interest, as if nothing had occurred to interrupt them.

In writing to a friend, a few weeks after he arrived at Mount Vernon, he said that he began his daily course with the rising of the sun, and first made preparations for the business of the day. "By the time I have accomplished these matters," he adds, "breakfast is ready.

This being over, I mount my horse and ride round my farms, which employs me until it is time to dress for dinner, at which I rarely miss to see strange faces, come as they say out of respect to me. And how different is this from having a few social friends at a cheerful board. The usual time of sitting at table, a walk, and tea, bring me within the dawn of candlelight; previous to which, if not prevented by company, I resolve, that, as soon as the glimmering taper supplies the place of the great luminary, I will retire to my writing-table, and acknowledge the letters I have received. Having given you this history of a day, it will serve for a year." And in this manner a year passed away, and with no other variety than that of the change of visiters, who came from all parts to pay their respects or gratify their curiosity.

But, in the midst of these scenes, it once more became his duty to yield to the claim of his country. The French Directory had rejected the overtures for a reconciliation, and committed outrages and insults against the United States, which no independent nation could bear. Mr. Pinckney, the American plenipotentiary, had been treated with indignity, first by a refusal to receive him as minister, and next by an order to leave the territories of the Republic. At the same time, depredations were made upon American commerce by French cruisers, in violation of the treaty which had subsisted betwen the two nations. President Adams summoned Congress, submitted the subject to them, and recommended preparations for military defence. That no method might be left unattempted for bringing about a reconciliation and insuring peace, two envoys extraordinary, John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry, were sent out to join Mr. Pinckney. The three envoys proceeded to Paris, but their mission was unsuccessful.