HAMILTON ACTING COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF--ARRANGEMENT OF GENERAL
OFFICERS--MORTIFICATION OF KNOX--HIS LETTER TO WASHINGTON--A
SOOTHING REPLY--KNOX OFFERS HIMSELF AS AID-DE-CAMP--THE PRESIDENT'S
INDECISION--WASHINGTON'S DECIDED LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT--HIS
ARRANGEMENT OF GENERALS CONFIRMED--TARDINESS IN
RECRUITING--REMISSNESS OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR--ANOTHER LETTER TO
KNOX--HE DECLINES SERVING UNDER HAMILTON--GENERAL PINCKNEY'S
GENEROUS COURSE--MEETING OF THE GENERALS IN
PHILADELPHIA--ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE ARMY--HAMILTON LEFT IN
COMMAND--WASHINGTON'S SUGGESTIONS--CORRESPONDENCE WITH LAFAYETTE.
Having accepted the appointment of commander-in-chief of the provisional
army, Washington entered at once upon the duties of his office by
preparations for its organization. "I have consented to embark once more
on the boundless ocean of responsibility and trouble," he wrote to
Hamilton; and added, "I rely upon you as a coadjutor and assistant in
the turmoils I have consented to encounter." This, as we have observed,
was Washington's desire from the first moment when it appeared probable
that he would be invited to take the leadership of the army; and, as we
have seen, he placed Hamilton first on the list of his generals, in his
suggestions to the secretary of war. His reasons for this selection were
given to the president many weeks afterward, when there appeared to be a
disposition on the part of Adams to reverse the order, and place Knox at
the head of the general staff.
"Although Colonel Hamilton," he said, "has never acted in the character
of a general officer, yet his opportunities, as the principal and most
confidential aid of the commander-in-chief, afforded him the means of
viewing everything on a larger scale than those whose attention was
confined to divisions or brigades, who knew nothing of the
correspondences of the commander-in-chief, or of the various orders to
or transactions with the general staff of the army. These advantages,
and his having served with usefulness in the old Congress, in the
general convention, and having filled one of the most important
departments of government with acknowledged abilities and integrity,
have placed him on high ground, and made him a conspicuous character in
the United States, and even in Europe.... He is enterprising, quick in
his perceptions, and his judgment intuitively great; qualities essential
to a military character." Thus appreciating Hamilton, Washington did not
hesitate to place him in the position of acting commander-in-chief of
the provisional army, it having been stipulated, as we have observed,
that the lieutenant-general should not be called to the field unless
under certain contingencies.
Washington's arrangement of the rank of his major-generals was made
solely with reference to the public good. He apprehended that both Knox
and Pinckney (the latter yet in Europe) would feel aggrieved at the
promotion of Hamilton over their heads, they being his seniors in age
and superiors in rank. Yet he could not act otherwise than in accordance
with the convictions of his judgment. And in placing the veteran Knox
below Pinckney, he consulted the interests of his country rather than
his own feelings.
In communicating to Knox the fact of his appointment, Washington said:
"As you have always found, and I trust ever will find, candor a
prominent part of my character, I must add that causes, which would
exceed the limits of an ordinary letter to explain, are in the way of
such an arrangement as might render your situation perfectly agreeable;
but I fondly hope that the difficulty will not be insurmountable in your
decision." He then informed him that he had chosen Colonel Hamilton as
his second in command, and General Pinckney next; saying of the latter
gentleman, that he was active, spirited, and intelligent, who, it was
understood at the South, had made military tactics as much if not more
his study than any officer in the continental army during the
Revolution. "His character, in other respects, in that quarter," he
said, "before his late embassy, was also high; and throughout the Union
it has acquired celebrity by his conduct as minister and envoy. His
connections are numerous, and their influence extensive. When to these
considerations I add, as my decided opinion, for reasons unnecessary to
enumerate, that if the French intend an invasion of this country in
force, their operations will commence south of Maryland, and probably of
Virginia, you will see at once the importance of embarking this
gentleman and all his connections heartily in all the active scenes that
would follow." He then expressed a hope that, in the impending struggle
for everything that ought to be dear and sacred to freemen, former rank
would be forgotten; and that, among the fit and chosen characters, the
only contention would be, who should be foremost in zeal and patriotism
at that crisis to serve his country, in whatever situation circumstances
might place him.
Knox was deeply mortified by the preference given to Hamilton and
Pinckney; and, in the moments of irritated pride, and at the impulse of
deeply-wounded feelings, he wrote a warm reply to Washington.
"Yesterday," he said, "I received your favor of the sixteenth instant,
which I opened with all the delightful sensations of affection which I
always before experienced upon the receipt of your letters. But I found,
in its perusal, a striking instance of that vicissitude of human affairs
and friendships which you so justly describe. I read it with
astonishment, which, however, subsided in the reflection that few men
well know themselves, and therefore that for more than twenty years I
have been acting under a perfect delusion. Conscious myself of
entertaining for you a sincere, active, and invariable friendship, I
easily believed it was reciprocal. Nay, more; I flattered myself with
your esteem, and respect in a military point of view. But I find that
others, greatly my juniors in rank, have been, upon a scale of
comparison, preferred before me. Of this, perhaps, the world may also
concur with you, that I have no just reason to complain. But every
intelligent and just principle of society required, either that I should
have been previously consulted on an arrangement in which my feelings
and happiness have been so much wounded, or that I should not have been
dragged forth to public view at all, to make the comparison so
conspicuously odious.
"I revere the cause of my country far beyond all my powers of
description. I am charmed with its honorable and dignified proceedings
relatively to foreign nations, under the former and present
administrations of the supreme executive; and I shall be proud of an
honorable opportunity of sealing the truth of these opinions with my
blood. It will be to me a malignant shaft of fate, indeed, if I am to be
excluded from active service by a constant sense of public insult and
injury.
"It would be absurd in me," he said, "to complain of an arrangement
already made, with any view to a change." He then took a general survey
of the whole matter, in an expostulary tone; expressed his belief that
there had been some "management," of which Washington was not apprized;
and that, if there should be an invasion of the South, Mr. Pinckney
might submit to the arrangement for a time. "But, if no such pressure
should exist," he continued, "I have mistaken his character greatly if
he will accept." After many remarks respecting the probable course of
events in connection with the French, he said:--
"If such a train of events should occur (and events infinitely less
probable have occurred in thick succession for the last seven
years), all the military energy of America will be required. Then
an opportunity may be afforded in which a better value may be set
upon my services than at the present, and I may be permitted to
exert myself unshackled by any degradation of character.
"I have received no other notification of an appointment than what
the newspapers announce. When it shall please the secretary of war
to give me the information, I shall endeavor to make him a suitable
answer. At present, I do not perceive how it can possibly be to any
other purport than in the negative.... In whatever situation I
shall be," he said in conclusion, "I shall always remember with
pleasure and gratitude the friendship and confidence with which you
have heretofore honored me."
This letter gave Washington great pain. He loved Knox very sincerely,
and would not, without good cause, say or do anything to wound his
feelings. He always spoke of him with the warmth of the most
disinterested friendship. "There is no man in the United States," he
wrote to President Adams a few weeks later, "with whom I have been in
habits of greater intimacy, no one whom I have loved more sincerely, nor
any for whom I have had a greater friendship. But esteem, love, and
friendship, can have no influence on my mind, when I conceive that the
subjugation of our government and independence are the objects aimed at
by the enemies of our peace, and where possibly our all is at stake."
Washington made an early reply to Knox's epistle. "Your letter," he
said, "has filled my mind with disquietude and perplexity in the
extreme; but I will say nothing in reply, intentionally, that shall give
you a moment's pain." He then entered into an elaborate history of the
circumstances under which the appointments were made, showing that such
haste had been exercised, that the first intimation he had of his
own appointment was from a newspaper paragraph and a private note from
the secretary of war; and that it was impossible for him to consult
General Knox, who was then in Boston, previous to the nomination of the
general officers.
Feeling that his statements in a former letter ought to have been
sufficiently explanatory to General Knox, Washington continued: "I do
not know that these explanations will afford you any satisfaction, or
produce any change in your determination, but it was just to myself to
make them. If 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. And now, notwithstanding the
insinuations, which are implied in your letter, of the vicissitudes of
friendship and the inconstancy of mine, I will pronounce with decision
that it ever has been, and, notwithstanding the unkindness of the
charge, ever will be, for aught I know to the contrary, warm and
sincere.
"I earnestly wished, on account of that friendship, as well as on the
score of military talents, to have had the assistance of you and
Colonel Hamilton in the arduous scenes with which we are threatened. I
wish it still devoutly, as well on public as on private accounts; for
dissentions of this sort will have an unhappy effect among the friends
of government, while it will be sweet consolation to the French
partisans, and food for their pride."
Washington's letter touched the heart of Knox, and soothed his wounded
spirit. "In your welcome and much-esteemed favor," he wrote in reply, "I
recognize fully all the substantial friendship and kindness which I have
always so invariably experienced from you." His former letter was
written, he said, "under a pressure of various ideas, all sharpened by a
strong sense of the comparison which had been publicly made between
others" and himself. But, he said, in conclusion, "it is certainly far
from my intention to embarrass, or to force myself unbidden into a
station designed for another. It is neither my nature nor practice to
excite dissention. I shall, therefore, submit to any proper authority.
But, if an invasion shall take place, I shall deeply regret all
circumstances which would insuperably bar my having an active command in
the field. But, if such a measure should be my destiny, I shall
fervently petition to serve as one of your aids-de-camp, which, with
permission, I shall do with all the cordial devotion and attachment of
which my soul is capable."
During the autumn of 1798, Washington's time was alternately devoted to
the business of his estate, and the duties of his responsible office.
The latter occupied much the larger portion of his thoughts and
exertions. Difficulties, which gave him much trouble in the old war, now
appeared--namely, questions of rank, and tardiness in the
recruiting-service. The friends of Knox, lacking that officer's love and
veneration for Washington, importuned the president, in whose hands
resided the power to make military appointments, to reverse the order in
which the lieutenant-general had named the major-generals. Adams was
secretly hostile to Hamilton at that time, and was not favorable to his
promotion; and he was strongly inclined to place Knox at the head of the
military staff, Pinckney second, and Hamilton third. This inclination
produced some dissentions in his cabinet, when the jealous
irritability of his temper, and his egotistical reliance upon his own
judgment, made him resolve to change the order of the major-generals.
When this subject, and the fact that the president intended to appoint
an adjutant-general without the chief's concurrence, came before
Washington in official form, he wrote a decided letter to Adams, giving
him to understand that he should consider a refusal to place Hamilton in
the front rank, a breach of an agreement, not formally made, but fully
implied, by the terms upon which the commander-in-chief accepted the
appointment--a breach sufficient to justify his own resignation. This
settled the matter, and the arrangement of the major-generals made by
Washington was not changed.
In the same letter, the chief complained of the tardiness in the
recruiting-service. "We are now near the end of September," he said,
"and not a man recruited, nor a battalion-officer appointed, that has
come to my knowledge. The consequence is, that the spirit and
enthusiasm, which prevailed a month or two ago, and would have produced
the _best_ men in a short time, are evaporating fast, and a month or two
hence may induce but a few, and those perhaps of the _worst_ sort, to
enlist. Instead, therefore, of having the augmented force in a state of
preparation, and under a course of discipline, it is now to be raised,
and possibly may not be in existence when the enemy is in the field. We
shall have to meet veteran troops, inured to conquest, with militia or
raw recruits."
Washington also complained, at this time, of the remissness of the
secretary of war in giving him full information. In a friendly but
decisive tone he wrote to Mr. M'Henry on the subject. "Short letters,"
he said, "taking _no notice_ of suggestions or queries, are
unsatisfactory and distressing. Considering the light in which I think
my services have placed me, I should expect more attention from the
_secretary of war_; but from Mr. M'Henry, as a friend and coadjutor, I
certainly shall look for it."
A month later, Washington wrote a friendly letter to Knox, urging him to
accept the proffered appointment. The president had not, till then, made
his final decision as to the relative position of Knox and Hamilton.
The commander-in-chief again dwelt upon the cause of the selection. "If
an amicable arrangement could have been settled between Generals
Hamilton, Pinckney, and yourself, previous to the nomination, it would
have been perfectly satisfactory to me; but driven as I was to make it
myself, at the time and in the manner it was transmitted, I was governed
by the best views and best evidence I could obtain of the public
sentiment relative thereto. The senate acted upon it under an impression
that it was to remain so, and in that light the matter is understood by
the public; and it would be uncandid not to add that I have found no
cause since to believe that I mistook that sentiment.
"We shall have," he continued, "either _no war_ or a _severe contest_
with France. In either case, if you will allow me to express my opinion,
this is the most eligible time for you to come forward. In the first
case, to assist with your counsel and aid in making judicious provisions
and arrangements to avert it; in the other case, to share in the glory
of defending your country, and, by making all secondary considerations
yield to that great and primary object, display a mind superior to
embarrassing punctilios at so critical a moment as the present.
"After having expressed these sentiments, with the frankness of
undisguised friendship, it is hardly necessary to add that, if you
should finally decline the appointment of major-general, there is none
to whom I would give a more decided preference as aid-de-camp, the offer
of which is highly flattering, honorable, and grateful to my feelings,
and for which I entertain a high sense. But, my dear General Knox--and
here, again, I speak to you in the language of candor and
friendship--examine well your mind upon this subject. Do not unite
yourself to the suite of a man whom you may consider as the primary
cause of what you call a degradation, with unpleasant sensations. This,
while it was growing upon you, would, if I should come to the knowledge
of it, make me unhappy; as my first wish would be, that my military
family and the whole army should consider themselves as a band of
brothers, willing and ready to die for each other."
Before this letter reached Knox, he had heard of the decision of the
president to place Hamilton in the position for which Washington had
nominated him, and he had written to the secretary of war, declining the
appointment, if compelled to serve under Hamilton and Pinckney, saying,
"No officer can consent to his own degradation by serving in an inferior
station."
General Pinckney's course was more patriotic and generous. He arrived at
New York, from France, at the middle of October. Washington had awaited
this event with anxiety, for he was fearful that he might have a
repetition of the difficulties with General Knox. But Pinckney
cheerfully acquiesced in the arrangement, and accepted his commission.
He expressed his pleasure at seeing the name of Hamilton at the head of
the major-generals, and applauded the commander-in-chief for his
sagacity and discernment in placing it there. He also expressed his
regret that General Knox had declined his appointment, and that his
feelings had been severely wounded by being outranked. He added, "If the
authority which appointed me to the rank of second major in the army,
will revise the arrangement, and place General Knox before me, I will
neither quit the service nor be dissatisfied."
At the request of the secretary of war, Washington repaired to
Philadelphia as early in November as a due regard to health would allow,
the yellow fever having prevailed in that city during the autumn. He was
requested to meet there Generals Hamilton and Pinckney, to make
arrangements respecting the provisional army about to be raised. M'Henry
had prepared a series of thirteen questions for their consideration, and
Washington propounded fourteen more, all bearing upon the construction
and disposition of the army. For almost five weeks the three generals
were closely engaged in the consideration of this subject, and thus the
result of their deliberations was reduced to proper arrangement, in the
form of two letters to the secretary of war, which were prepared by
Hamilton and signed by Washington. While in Philadelphia on this
occasion, the latter was present at the opening of Congress. This was
his last visit to the seat of the federal government.
Washington returned to Mount Vernon about the twentieth of December,
leaving the executive department of the provisional army in the hands of
General Hamilton. He still adhered to the opinion that there would be no
actual war with France, or at least that the people of the United States
need not have any fear of a French invasion; yet he acted upon the wise
principle of being prepared. On his way home, being detained, he wrote
out some general suggestions for the guidance of the secretary of war in
the disposition of the army.
Arriving at Mount Vernon, Washington was delighted with a letter from
Lafayette, who spoke with much feeling of the pleasure he derived from
conversations with his son about that pleasant home on the Potomac. The
marquis then adverted to politics, and said it was his full persuasion
that the French Directory seriously desired to be at peace with the
United States. Under this conviction, he expressed a hope that
Washington would use his "influence to prevent the breach from widening,
and to insure a noble and enduring reconciliation." In his reply to this
portion of the letter, Washington said, "You have expressed a wish
worthy of the benevolence of your heart." He assured him that no man
could deprecate a rupture between the two governments more than he. "You
add," he said, "that the executive Directory are disposed to an
accommodation of all differences. If they are sincere in this
declaration, let them evidence it by their actions; for words,
unaccompanied therewith, will not be much regarded now. I would pledge
myself that the government and people of the United States will meet
them heart and hand, at a fair negotiation; having no wish more ardent
than to live in peace with all the world, provided they are suffered to
remain undisturbed in their just rights.... On the politics of Europe, I
shall express no opinion, nor make any inquiry who is right or who is
wrong. I wish well to all nations and to all men. My politics are plain
and simple. I think every nation has a right to establish that form of
government under which it conceives it may be most happy, provided it
infracts no right, or is not dangerous to others; _and that no
governments ought to interfere with the internal concerns of another_,
except for the security of what is due to themselves."