at the present, and I may be permitted to
exert myself unshackled by any degradation of character.

"I have received no other notification of an appointment than what
the newspapers announce. When it shall please the secretary of war
to give me the information, I shall endeavor to make him a suitable
answer. At present, I do not perceive how it can possibly be to any
other purport than in the negative.... In whatever situation I
shall be," he said in conclusion, "I shall always remember with
pleasure and gratitude the friendship and confidence with which you
have heretofore honored me."

This letter gave Washington great pain. He loved Knox very sincerely,
and would not, without good cause, say or do anything to wound his
feelings. He always spoke of him with the warmth of the most
disinterested friendship. "There is no man in the United States," he
wrote to President Adams a few weeks later, "with whom I have been in
habits of greater intimacy, no one whom I have loved more sincerely, nor
any for whom I have had a greater friendship. But esteem, love, and
friendship, can have no influence on my mind, when I conceive that the
subjugation of our government and independence are the objects aimed at
by the enemies of our peace, and where possibly our all is at stake."

Washington made an early reply to Knox's epistle. "Your letter," he
said, "has filled my mind with disquietude and perplexity in the
extreme; but I will say nothing in reply, intentionally, that shall give
you a moment's pain." He then entered into an elaborate history of the
circumstances under which the appointments were made, showing that such
haste had been exercised, that the first intimation he had of his
own appointment was from a newspaper paragraph and a private note from
the secretary of war; and that it was impossible for him to consult
General Knox, who was then in Boston, previous to the nomination of the
general officers.

Feeling that his statements in a former letter ought to have been
sufficiently explanatory to General Knox, Washington continued: "I do
not know that these explanations will afford you any satisfaction, or
produce any change in your determination, but it was just to myself to
make them. If there has been any management in the business, it has been
concealed from me. I have had no agency therein, nor have I conceived a
thought on the subject that has not been disclosed to you wi