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CHAPTER CXLIV.

WHEN Washington's list of officers was received by the President, he prepared a message,* in which the names of Hamilton, Pinckney and Knox were placed in this order. Previous to preparing this message, he remarked, "that Colonel Hamilton (former rank considered,) was not entitled to stand so high, and that he did not know what were the merits which gave Pinckney preference to Knox. McHenry mentioned Washington's opinions, and to prevent misconception, showed the President his letter to Hamilton. It appeared to McHenry at the time that these objections were overcome. The next day, however, the President recurred to them, saying, that "he could not think of placing Hamilton before Knox," who, “for various reasons, (among others, his former rank in the army) was clearly entitled to rank next to Washington. He finally agreed to follow Washington's arrangement, on the Secretary's admitting that "any of the parties, if dissatisfied with the order of arrangement, might have their claims discussed and settled by a board of officers or the Commander-in-chief." The message was laid before the Senate, and the Generals were confirmed in the order

* Washington's Writings. McHenry to Washington, Sept. 19, 1798, xi 542.

stated. When the nominations were taken up for consideration, some of the Senators, who knew the President's antipathy to Hamilton, proposed to act on his nomination, and to defer their decision on the other two till the next day, lest if all were approved on the same day, in which case all their commissions would bear the same date, the President should derange that order, and raise Pinckney and Knox above Hamilton. But the constant usage being referred to, founded on a resolve of the old Congress, that persons nominated and approved on the same day should take rank in the order in which they were nominated and approved, and that surely the President would not violate the rule, the nominations were all confirmed.* Tc prevent embarrassment, Hamilton wrote to Washington on the twenty-ninth of July, disclosing to him his readiness to sacrifice the higher rank to public considerations.

"Your letter of the fourteenth instant did not reach me till after the appointments mentioned in it were made. I see clearly in what has been done a new mark of your confidence, which I value as I ought to do. With regard to the delicate subject of the relative rank of the Major-Generals, it is very natural for me to be a partial judge; and it is not very easy for me to speak upon it. If I know myself, however, this at least I may say, that were I convinced of injustice being done to others in my favor, I should not hesitate even to volunteer a correction of it as far as my consent could avail. But in a case like this, am I not to take the opinion of others as my guide? If I am, the conclusion is, that the gentlemen concerned ought to acquiesce. It is a fact, of which there is a flood of evidence, that a great majority of leading Federal men were of opinion, that in the event of your declining the command of the army, it ought to devolve upon me; and that in case of your acceptance, which everybody ardently desired, the place of second in command ought to be mine. It is not for me to examine the justness of this opinion. The illusions of self-love might be expected too easily to give it credit with me. But finding it to exist,

* Gibbs's "Administration of Washington and Adams," ii. 90.

am I at liberty to seek to postpone myself to others, in whose hands, according to that opinion, the public interests would be less well confided? Such are the reflections which would have determined me to let the business take its course.

"My own opinion, at the same time is, that of the two gentlemen postponed to me, the cause of complaint, if any, applies emphatically to General Knox. His rank in the army was much higher than that either of Pinckney or myself. Pinckney's pretensions on the score of real service are not extensive;-those of Knox are far greater. Pinckney has no doubt studied tactics with great care and assiduity. But it is not presumable, that he is as well versed in the tactics of a General as Knox. Pinckney's rank, at the close of the war, was only nominally greater than mine. It was indeed of more ancient date. But when, in the year seventeen hundred seventy-seven, the regiments of artillery were multiplied, I had good reason to expect that the command of one of them would have fallen to me had I not changed my situation; and this in all probability would have led further. I am aware at the same time there were accidental impediments to Pinckney's progress in preferment; but an accurate comparison would, I imagine, show that on the score of rank merely, the claim of superiority on his part is not strongly marked. As to military service, I venture to believe, that the general understanding of the late army would allow a considerable balance to me. As to civil services since the war, I am extremely mistaken, if in the minds of Federal men there is any comparison between us. The circumstances of the moment, it is true, give him a certain éclat, but judicious men reduce the merit to the two points of prudent forbearance and the firmness not to sacrifice his country by base compliance. In all this, it is very far from my inclination to detract from General Pinckney. I have a sincere regard for him, and hold him in high estimation. At the same time, endeavoring to view the matter with all the impartiality which my situation permits, I must conclude that General Pinckney, on a fair estimate of circumstances, ought to be well satisfied with the arrangement.

"After saying this much, I add, that regard to the public interest is ever predominant with me; that, if the gentlemen concerned are dissatisfied, and the service likely to suffer by the preference given to me, I stand ready to submit our relative pretensions to an impartial decision, and to waive the preference. IT SHALL NEVER BE SAID, WITH ANY

COLOR OF TRUTH, THAT MY AMBITION OR INTEREST has stood in the way of THE PUBLIC GOOD.

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Thus, sir, have I opened my heart to you with as little reserve, as if to myself; willing rather that its weaknesses should appear than that I should be deficient in frankness. I will only add, that I do not think it necessary to make public beforehand, the ultimate intention I have now disclosed. It is possible the difficulties anticipated may not arise."

A few days after the date of this letter, the President abruptly left Philadelphia, without informing either the Secretaries of State or of War of his intended departure. Wolcott was then absent. McHenry, anxious to organize the army and exceedingly embarrassed, wrote to the President, suggesting that Hamilton and Knox should be called into immediate service. Adams replied, on the fourteenth of August, that to call the Generals into immediate service, before the relative rank was settled, would be attended with difficulty.

"In my opinion, as the matter now stands, General Knox is legally entitled to rank next to Washington, and no other arrangement will give satisfaction. If General Washington is of this opinion, and will consent to it, you may call him into actual service as soon as you please. The consequence of this will be, that Pinckney must rank before Hamilton. If it shall be consented to, that the rank shall be Knox, Pinckney and Hamilton, you may call the latter too, into immediate service, when you please. Any other plan will occasion long delay and much confusion. You may depend upon it, the five New England States will not patiently submit to the humiliation that has been meditated for them." *

* The opinions of Adams and Jefferson with regard to Washington are marked. Thus while Adams charges him with meditating "the humiliation of the five New England States,” Jefferson left behind him this extraordinary minute: "The President" (Washington) "speaking with Randolph on the hypothesis of a separation of the Union into Northern and Southern, said, he had made up his mind to remove and be of the Northern." In a paper in Jefferson's autograph, endorsed "Heads of Information given me by E. Randolph."

It was not to be supposed that Knox would readily acquiesce in the priority of Hamilton. Washington sought to soothe him by stating at large the grounds on which he had placed Hamilton first in rank.

"The first of these in the public estimation, Colonel Hamilton," as declared to me, is designated to be second in command; with some fears, I confess, of the consequences, although I must acknowledge at the same time, that I know not where a more competent choice could be made." Again, he wrote him, that "no doubt remained in his mind that Colonel Hamilton was designated second in command (and first, if I should decline in acceptance.) by the Federal characters of Congress, whence alone any thing like a public sentiment relative thereto could be deduced. Although his services during the war were not rendered in the grade of a general officer, yet his opportunities and experience could not be short of those of the officers that served in that rank. Adding these to the important trusts reposed in him in various civil walks of life, he will be found, I trust, upon as high ground as most men in the United States." "If," he observed, "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."

Knox claimed, that all appointments made in the same grade, and on the same day, were to be governed by the former relative rank; and declared, that such a preference would be an insurmountable obstacle to his acceptance of a commission.

ton.

This correspondence Washington enclosed to HamilProfessing his willingness, if that would satisfy Knox, to prefer him to Pinckney, he urged Hamilton "to devote a good deal of his time to the business of recruiting good men, and the choice of good officers." "Write me as often as you can conveniently, and believe me to be what I really am, your sincere and affectionate friend." Hamilton answered on the twentieth of August from New York:

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