his mark of their confidence in me, at a crisis so
eventful, is an agreeable and flattering proof of their consideration
towards me, and that nothing short of an absolute necessity could
induce me to withhold my little aid from an administration whose
ability, patriotism, and virtue deserve the gratitude and reverence of
all their fellow citizens."[467]

Such was John Adams's appeal to Patrick Henry and its result. The
appeal to him from Washington--an appeal which he could not resist,
and which induced him, even in his extreme feebleness of body, to make
one last and noble exertion of his genius--happened in this wise. On
the 15th of January, 1799, from Mount Vernon, Washington wrote to his
friend a long letter, marked "confidential," in which he stated with
great frankness his own anxieties respecting the dangers then
threatening the country:--

"It would be a waste of time to attempt to bring to the view
of a person of your observation and discernment, the
endeavors of a certain party among us to disquiet the public
mind with unfounded alarms; to arraign every act of the
administration; to set the people at variance with their
government; and to embarrass all its measures. Equally
useless would it be to predict what must be the inevitable
consequences of such a policy, if it cannot be arrested.

"Unfortunately,--and extremely do I regret it,--the State of
Virginia has taken the lead in this opposition.... It has
been said that the great mass of the citizens of this State
are well-affected, notwithstanding, to the general
government and the Union; and I am willing to believe it,
nay, do believe it. But how is this to be reconciled with
their suffrages at the elections of representatives, ... who
are men opposed to the former, and by the tendency of their
measures would destroy the latter?... One of the reasons
assigned is, that the most respectable and best qualified
characters among us will not come forward.... But, at such a
crisis as this, when everything dear and valuable to us is
assailed; when this party hangs upon the wheels of
government as a dead weight, opposing every measure that is
calculated for defence and self-preservation, abetting the
nefarious views of another nation upon our rights; ... when
measures are systematically and pertinaciously pursued,
which must eventuall