hitherto been annoyed and perplexed by having to manage
a divided cabinet; he was now threatened with that cabinet's
dissolution. Mr. Hamilton had informed him by letter, that private as
well as public reasons had determined him to retire from office
towards the close of the next session; probably with a view to give
Congress an opportunity to examine into his conduct. Now came a letter
from Mr. Jefferson, dated July 31st, in which he announced his
intention to withdraw; "at the close of the ensuing month of
September, I shall beg leave to retire to scenes of greater
tranquillity, from those for which I am every day more and more
convinced that neither my talents, tone of mind, nor time of life fit
me."

Washington was both grieved and embarrassed by this notification. Full
of concern, he called upon Jefferson at his country residence near
Philadelphia; pictured his deep distress at finding himself, in the
present perplexing juncture of affairs, about to be deserted by those
of his cabinet on whose counsel he had counted, and whose places he
knew not where to find persons competent to supply; and, in his
chagrin, again expressed his repentance that he himself had not
resigned as he had once meditated. The public mind, he went on to
observe, was in an alarming state of ferment; political combinations
of various kinds were forming; where all this would end he knew not. A
new Congress was to assemble, more numerous than the last, perhaps of
a different spirit; the first expressions of its sentiments would be
important, and it would relieve him considerably if Jefferson would
remain in office, if it were only until the end of the session.

Washington had the highest opinion of Jefferson's abilities, his
knowledge of foreign affairs, his thorough patriotism; and it was his
earnest desire to retain him in his cabinet through the whole of the
ensuing session of Congress; before the close of which he trusted the
affairs of the country relating to foreign powers, Indian
disturbances, and internal policy, would have taken a more decisive,
and it was to be hoped agreeable form than they then had. A compromise
was eventually made, according to which Jefferson was to be allowed a
temporary absence in the autumn, and on his return was to continue in
office until January.

In the meantime Genet had proceeded to New York, which was just then
in a great agitation. The frigate Ambuscade, while anchored in the
harbor, had been challen