ers
urged that as his name was first on the list he was the ranking officer.
At this Knox took umbrage, for he had outranked Hamilton in the old
army; and so, too, had Pinckney. Knowing the intrigue in Hamilton's
behalf and not a little alarmed at the prospect of having the direction
of the war pass into the hands of a man whom he regarded as a rival,
Adams determined to sign the commissions in the reverse order, thus
giving Knox precedence. The friends of Hamilton were enraged at this
turn of affairs and prevailed upon Washington to write a letter of
protest to the President. Adams was finally persuaded to date all three
commissions alike and to leave the designation of rank to the
commander-in-chief. Washington promptly named Hamilton as
inspector-general with precedence over Pinckney and Knox; whereupon Knox
refused to serve.

The immediate outcome of this controversy was to widen the rift which
was already separating the President from the faction led by Hamilton.
Adams had taken office in the belief that Washington's cabinet advisers
were loyal to him. "Pickering and all his colleagues are as much
attached to me as I desire," he had written just before his
inauguration. But he speedily found that all were accustomed to look to
Hamilton as the virtual leader of the Federalist party. Moreover, he
found himself thrust into the background in the matter of military
appointments, as soon as Hamilton took over the actual work of
organizing the army. The Constitution made him commander-in-chief;
circumstances seemed to conspire, he complained bitterly, "to annihilate
the essential powers given to the President." He had, too, all the
natural aversion of a civilian for military affairs. "Regiments are
costly articles everywhere," he told McHenry testily, "and more so in
this country than in any other under the sun. And if this country sees a
great army to maintain, without an enemy to fight, there may arise an
enthusiasm that seems to be little foreseen."

It would have been strange, indeed, if under these circumstances the
President had not scanned the horizon anxiously for the faintest
intimations of peace. In October, 1798, definite assurances were given
by Talleyrand, through our Minister at The Hague, that France would
receive a new minister from the United States. On February 18, 1799, the
President confounded both friends and foes by sending to the Senate the
nomination of Vans Murray to be Minister to France. The e