s
family will no longer permit me to neglect their essential interests."
Knox was succeeded in the war department by Colonel Timothy Pickering,
at that time Postmaster-General.

CHAPTER LXXV.
JAY'S TREATY.--PARTY CLAIMS.--DIFFICULTIES WITH FRANCE.--FAREWELL
ADDRESS.

Washington had watched the progress of the mission of Mr. Jay to
England with an anxious eye. He was aware that he had exposed his
popularity to imminent hazard, by making an advance toward a
negotiation with that power; but what was of still greater moment with
him, he was aware that the peace and happiness of his country were at
stake on the result of that mission. It was, moreover, a mission of
great delicacy, from the many intricate and difficult points to be
discussed, and the various and mutual grounds of complaint to be
adjusted. Mr. Jay, in a letter dated August 5th, 1794, had informed
him confidentially, that the ministry were prepared to settle the
matters in dispute upon just and liberal terms; still, what those
terms, which they conceived to be just and liberal, might prove when
they came to be closely discussed, no one could prognosticate.

At length, on the 7th of March, 1795, four days after the close of the
session of Congress, a treaty arrived which had been negotiated by Mr.
Jay, and signed by the ministers of the two nations on the 19th of
November, and was sent out for ratification. Washington immediately
made the treaty a close study; some of the provisions were perfectly
satisfactory; of others, he did not approve; on the whole, believing
the advantages to outweigh the objections, and that it was the best
treaty attainable, he made up his mind to ratify it, should it be
approved by the Senate.

As a system of predetermined hostility to the treaty, however, was
already manifested, and efforts were made to awaken popular jealousy
concerning it, Washington kept its provisions secret, that the public
mind might not be preoccupied on the subject. In the course of a few
days, however, enough leaked out to be seized upon by the opposition
press to excite public distrust, though not enough to convey a
distinct idea of the merits of the instrument.

In the course of this month arrived Mr. Adet, who had been appointed
by the French government to succeed Mr. Fauchet as minister to the
United States.

{Illustration: FROM HOUDON'S BUST. Vol. IV.}

The Senate was convened by Washington on the 8th of June, and the
treaty of Mr. Jay