York, who
together with Washington received all the electoral votes of Virginia,
New York, North Carolina, and Georgia. A stray electoral vote from
Pennsylvania brought Clinton's total up to 50, whereas John Adams received
77 votes which re-elected him as vice-president. Jefferson received only
four electoral votes, all from Kentucky, but his poor showing in this
election was wholly due to the intricacy of the electoral system, and his
party meanwhile developed so much strength that when the Third Congress
met on December 2, 1793, the Republicans were strong enough to elect the
speaker.

Undeterred by this circumstance, Hamilton forced the fighting. The
Jeffersonians had been excusing the defeat they had received in attacking
Hamilton in the previous Congress on the ground that the House had acted
without allowing sufficient time for due examination of the evidence. This
plea supplied to Hamilton an occasion for prompt action. Exactly two weeks
after the meeting of Congress he addressed a letter to the Speaker, in
which he declared: "Unwilling to leave the matter on such a footing, I
have concluded to request of the House of Representatives, as I now do,
that a new inquiry may be, without delay, instituted in some mode, most
effectual for an accurate and thorough investigation; and I will add, that
the more comprehensive it is, the more agreeable it will be to me."

Giles promptly took up the challenge, and moved the appointment of a
committee to examine the state of the Treasury Department in all its
particulars. Pending action by the House, a new complication was
introduced, which, though meant as a blow at Hamilton, resulted in a
signal triumph for him. His enemies got hold of a discharged clerk of the
Treasury Department by means of whom they now tried to counteract the
effect of Hamilton's challenge. Two days after Hamilton's letter to the
Speaker, a memorial from Andrew G. Fraunces was laid before the House
making charges which amounted to this: that there was a combination
between Hamilton and other officers of the Treasury Department to evade
payment of warrants so that they could be bought up for speculative
purposes. Hamilton's request for an investigation was allowed to lie on
the table, but the memorial from Fraunces was referred to a select
committee of which Giles was a member. This circumstance turned out to be
much to Hamilton's advantage. Giles was an erect, bold, manly foe; he
could not stomach the s