Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/64

42 dence of the date of the address with the date of the adoption of the constitution of the United States. But, as a matter of fact, the address bears date September 19, 1796, as may be seen in the autograph original now in the Public library, New York. Mr. James Lenox purchased that precious original from the family of the printer Claypoole, by whom it was published in Philadelphia, and to whom the manuscript, 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 occupations. 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. There will be more efficacy in it than in many an army." Hamilton urged him to make "this further, this very great sacrifice." And thus, on July 3, 1798, Washington, 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