the press, touched his sensitive nature at the most tender point. At
that moment, Knox, with peculiar mal-appropriateness, "in a foolish,
incoherent sort of speech," says Jefferson, "introduced the pasquinade,
lately printed, called _The Funeral of George Washington_"--a parody on
the decapitation of the French king, in which the president was
represented as placed on a guillotine. "The president," says Mr.
Jefferson, "was much inflamed; got into one of those passions [which
only for a moment and very rarely occurred] where he can not control
himself; ran on much on the personal abuse that had been bestowed upon
him; defied any man on earth to produce one single act of his, since he
had been in the government, which was not done on the purest motives;
that he had never repented but once the having slipped the moment of
resigning his office, and that was every moment since; that he had
rather be in his grave than in his present situation; that he had rather
be on his farm than to be made an emperor of the world." And yet, he
said with most emphatic indignation, "they are charging me with wanting
to be king!"

When Washington ceased there was a pause. All had remained silent during
this burst of passion, and it was with some difficulty that the
questions at issue were resumed. The president soon recovered his
equanimity, and opened the subject again by saying that there was no
necessity for deciding the question of an appeal to the people on
Genet's recall at that moment. The propositions already agreed to
respecting the letter to Gouverneur Morris might be put into execution,
and events would doubtless show whether an appeal would be necessary or
not. The cabinet agreed to send a circular to all the collectors of
customs, instructing them in their duty respecting ships of the
belligerent nations within the waters of the United States. It was also
agreed that information should be communicated to the British minister
that compensation would be made to the owners of British vessels
captured by French privateers, fitted out within the United States,
previous to the notice given to Genet that such equipments would not be
allowed; but that in future the British government must regard the
efforts of that of the United States, to prevent the arming of
privateers within its waters, as a full discharge of all neutral
obligations. At the same time, Genet was called upon to give up all the
vessels captured previous to the notice ab