simple. I think every nation has a right to establish that form of government under which it conceives it may live most happy; provided it infringes 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."

Washington's national pride, however, had been deeply wounded by the indignities inflicted on his country by the French, and he doubted the propriety of entering into any fresh negotiations with them, unless overtures should be made on their part. As to any symptoms of an accommodation they might at present evince, he ascribed them to the military measures adopted by the United States, and thought those measures ought not to be relaxed,

We have spoken in a preceding chapter of a love affair growing up at Mount Vernon between Washington's nephew, Lawrence Lewis, and Miss Nelly Custis. The parties had since become engaged, to the general's great satisfaction, and their nuptials were celebrated at Mount Vernon on his birthday the 22d of February (1799). Lawrence had recently received the commission of major of cavalry in the new army which was forming; and Washington

made arrangements for settling the newly married couple near him on a part of the Mount Vernon lands, which he had designated in his will to be bequeathed to Miss Nelly.

As the year opened, Washington continued to correspond with the Secretary of War and General Hamilton on the affairs of the provisional army. The recruiting business went on slowly, with interruptions, and there was delay in furnishing commissions to the officers who had been appointed. Washington, who was not in the secrets of the cabinet, was at a loss to account for this apparent torpor. "If the augmented force," writes he to Hamilton, was not intended as an in terrorem measure, the delay in recruiting it is unaccountable, and baffles all conjecture on reasonable grounds."

The fact was, that the military measures taken in America had really produced an effect on French policy. Efforts had been made by M. Talleyrand, through unofficial persons, to induce an amicable overture on the part of the United States. At length that wily minister had written to the French Secretary of Legation at the Hague, M. Pichon, intimating that whatever plenipotentiary the United States might send to France to put an end to the existing differences between the two countries, would be undoubtedly received with the re

spect due to the representative of a free, independent, and powerful nation. M. Pichon communicated a copy of this letter to Mr. William Vans Murray, the American minister in Holland, who forthwith transmitted it to his government. Mr. Adams caught at the chance for an extrication from his belligerent difficulties, and laid this letter before the Senate on the 18th of February, at the same time nominating Mr. Murray to be minister plenipotentiary to the French Republic.

Washington expressed his extreme surprise when the news of this unexpected event reached him. "But far, very far indeed," writes he, "was that surprise short of what I experienced the next day, when, by a very intelligent gentleman immediately from Philadelphia, I was informed that there had been no direct overture from the government of France to that of the United States for a negotiation; on the contrary, that M. Talleyrand was playing the same loose and roundabout game he had attempted the year before with our envoys; and which, as in that case, might mean anything or nothing, as would subserve his purposes best."

Before the Senate decided on the nomination of Mr. Murray, two other persons were associated with him in the mission, namely,

Oliver Ellsworth and Patrick Henry. The three envoys being confirmed, Mr. Murray was instructed by letter to inform the French Minister of Foreign Affairs of the fact, but to apprise him that his associate envoys would not embark for Europe until the Directory had given assurance, through their Minister for Foreign Affairs, that those envoys would be received in proper form and treated with on terms of equality. Mr. Murray was directed at the same time to have no further informal communications with any French agent.

Mr. Henry declined to accept his appointment on account of ill health, and Mr. William Richardson Davie was ultimately substituted for him.

Throughout succeeding months, Washington continued to superintend from a distance the concerns of the army, as his ample and minute correspondence manifests; and he was at the same time earnestly endeavoring to bring the affairs of his rural domain into order. A sixteen years' absence from home, with short intervals, had, he said, deranged them considerably, so that it required all the time. he could spare from the usual avocations of life to bring them into tune again. It was a period of incessant activity and toil, therefore, both mental and bodily. He was for hours in

his study occupied with his pen, and for hours on horseback, riding the rounds of his extensive estate, visiting the various farms, and superintending and directing the works in operation. All this he did with unfailing vigor, though now in his sixty-seventh year.

Occasional reports of the sanguinary conflict that was going on in Europe would reach him in the quiet groves of Mount Vernon, and awaken his solicitude. "A more destructive sword," said he, was never drawn, at least in modern times, than this war has produced. It is time to sheath it and give peace to mankind." *

Amid this strife and turmoil of the nations, he felt redoubled anxiety about the success of the mission to France. The great successes of the allies combined against that power; the changes in the Directory, and the rapidity with which everything seemed verging towards a restoration of the monarchy, induced some members of the cabinet to advise a suspension of the mission; but Mr. Adams was not to be convinced or persuaded. Having furnished the commissioners with their instructions, he gave his final order for their departure, and they sailed in a frigate from Rhode Island on the 3d of November.

*Letter to William Vans Murray.