his "malignant neighbor."
That neighbor was John Nicholas, commonly known as "Clerk John," who,
Mr. Randall says, "was a weak-headed, absurd busybody, with that
restless itching for notoriety which renders a man, destitute of
ability, sense, or delicacy, almost indifferent as to the subject."[125]
Washington was naturally indignant at this attempt to ensnare him, and
his feelings were much disturbed by the alleged secret attacks upon him
and his public measures by Jefferson and his friends. As we have already
observed, he lost confidence in the genuineness of Jefferson's
professions of friendship; and, from this time, there was no
correspondence between them.

At about this time, Washington received the welcome news of the
liberation of his friend Lafayette, and his expected speedy departure
for America. Also a pamphlet on the "Military and Political Situation of
France," by General Dumas, an officer who had served under Rochambeau at
Yorktown. On the subject of his friend's release, he wrote to M. de La
Colombe, who had been Lafayette's adjutant-general when the latter
commanded the National Guard, and who was then in Philadelphia, saying:
"I congratulate you on the happy event of the liberation of our mutual
friend, whose reception in this country will be, I am sure, cordial from
all descriptions of people; from none more than myself. The answer given
by him to the minister is noble, and worthy of himself.[126] The only
regret I should feel on his arrival in America, if it should happen
soon, would be his disappointment at not finding his son here.

"I said all I could with decency, both to him and M. Frestel, to induce
their awaiting direct accounts from the prisoners before their
departure; but the eagerness of the former to embrace his parents in the
first moments of their release from a cruel imprisonment, was not to be
restrained."

These two great men and loving friends never met again on earth.
Circumstances caused Lafayette to remain in Europe, and his visit to
America was deferred more than a quarter of a century, when he came as
the Nation's Guest.

Dumas's pamphlet, to which we have just alluded, and the author's
accompanying letter, awakened pleasant emotions in the bosom of
Washington, for intelligence of an old companion-in-arms was conveyed.
"General Rochambeau," wrote Dumas, "is still at his country-seat near
Vendome. He enjoys there tolerably good health, considering his great
age, and reckons,