Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/411

Rh justice, was sent to England as minister early in 1794, and his memorable treaty added fuel to the flame. Meantime a tax on distilled spirits had encountered much opposition in various parts of the country, and in August, 1794, was forcibly re- sisted and defied by a large body of armed insur- gents in the western counties of Pennsylvania. Washington issued a proclamation calling out the militia of the neighboring states, and left home to cross the mountains and lead the troops in person. But the insurrection happily succumbed at his approach, and his presence became unnecessary. The arrogant and offensive conduct of the French minister, M. Genet, irreconcilable dissensions in the cabinet, and renewed agitations and popular discontents growing out of the Jay treaty, gave Washington no little trouble in these latter years of his administration, and he looked forward with eagerness to a release from official cares. Having made up his mind unchangeably to decline another election as president, he thought it fit to announce that decision in the most formal manner. He had consulted Madison at the close of his first term in regard to an address declining a second election. He now sought the advice and counsel of Alexan- der Hamilton, no longer a member of the cabinet, and the farewell address was prepared and pub- lished nearly six months before his official term had expired. That immortal paper has often been printed with the date of 17 Sept., 1796, and special interest has been expressed in the coincidence of the date of the address with the date of the adop- tion of the constitution of the United States. But, as a matter of fact, the address bears date 19 Sept., 1796, as may be seen in the autograph original now in the Lenox library, New York. Mr. James Lenox purchased that precious original from the family of the printer Olaypoole, by whom- it was published in Philadelphia, and to whom the manu- script, wholly in Washington's handwriting, with all its interlineations, corrections, and erasures, was given by Washington himself.

On the following 4th of March, Washington was present at the inauguration of his successor, John Adams, and soon afterward went with his family to Mount Vernon, to resume his agricultural oc- cupations. Serious difficulties with France, were soon developed, and war became imminent. A provisional army was authorized by congress to meet the exigency, and all eyes were again turned toward Washington as its leader. President Adams wrote to him : " We must have your name, if you will permit us to use it. 1 here will be more efficacy in it than in many an army." Ham- ilton urged him to make " this further, this very great sacri- fice." And thus, on 3 July, 1798, Washing- ton, yielding to the entreaty of friends and a sense of duty to his country, was once more commissioned as " Lieutenant - General and Commander-in- chief of all the armies raised, or to be raised, in the United States." The organization and ar- rangement of this new army now engrossed his at- tention. Deeply impressed with the great responsi- bility that had been thrust upon him, and having selected Alexander Hamilton as his chief of staff, to the serious disappointment of his old friend. Gen. Knox, he entered at once into the minutest details of the preparation for war, with all the energy and zeal of his earlier days. Most happily this war with our late gallant ally was averted. Washington, however, did not live to receive the assurance of a result that he so earnestly desired. Riding over his farms, on 12 Dec, to give directions to the mana- gers of his estate, he was overtaken by showers of rain and sleet, and returned home wet and chilled. The next day he suffered from a hoarse, sore throat, followed by an ague at night. His old physician and surgeon, Dr. Craik, who had been with him in peace and in war, was summoned from Alexandria the next morning, and two other physicians were called into consultation during the day. At four o'clock in the afternoon he requested his wife, who was constantly at his bedside, to bring him two papers from his study, one of which he gave back to her as his will. At six o'clock he said to the three physicians around him : " I feel myself go- ing; I thank you for your attentions, but I pray you to take no more trouble about me." He had previously said to Dr. Craik : " I die hard, but I am not afraid to go." About ten o'clock he succeeded with difficul- ty in giving some direc- tions about his funeral to Mr. Lear, his secretary, and on Mr. Lear's assur- ing him that he was understood, he uttered his last words : " It is well." And thus, between ten and eleven o'clock on Saturday night, 14 Dec, 1799, the end came, and his spirit returned to God who gave it. The funeral took place on the 18th. Such troops as were in the neighborhood formed the escort of the little procession ; the general's favorite horse was led behind the bier, the Freemasons performed their ceremonies, the Rev. Thomas Davis read the service and made a brief address, a schooner lying in the Potomac fired minute-guns, the relatives and friends within reach, including Lord Fairfax and the corporation of Alexandria, were in attendance, and the body was deposited in the vault at Mount Vernon. At Mount Vernon it has remained to this day. Virginia would never consent to its removal to the stately vault prepared for it beneath the capitol at Washington. Congress was in session at Philadelphia, and the startling news of Washington's death only reached there on the day of his funeral. The next morning John Marshall, then a representative from Virginia, afterward for thirty-four years chief justice of the supreme court of the United States, announced the death in the house of representatives, concluding a short but admirable tribute to his illustrious friend with resolutions prepared by Richard Henry Lee, which contained the grand words that have ever since been associated with Washington : " First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens." Gen. Lee pronounced a eulogy, by order of both houses of congress, on 26 Dec, in which he changed the last word of his own famous phrase to "countrymen," and it is so given in the eulogy as published by congress. Meantime congress adopted a resolution recommending to the people of the United States to as-