had been about this matter of the major-generals too much intrigue, by which Washington had been deceived and he himself made a victim; but there seems no good reason to take this view of it, for there is no indication whatever that Washington did not know and understand the facts; and it was on the facts that he made his decision, and not on the methods by which they were conveyed to him.  The propriety of the decision will hardly now be questioned, although it did not tend to make the relations between the ex-President and his successor very cordial.  They had always a great respect for each other, but not much sympathy, for they differed too widely in temperament.  Even if Washington would have permitted it, it would have been impossible for the President to have quarreled with him, but at the same time he felt not a little awkwardness in dealing with his successor, and was inclined to think that that gentleman did not show him all the respect that was due.  He wrote to McHenry on October 1:  “As no mode is yet adopted by the President by which the battalion officers are to be appointed, and as I think I stand on very precarious ground in my relation to him, I am not over-zealous in taking unauthorized steps when those that I thought were authorized are not likely to meet with much respect.”

[Illustration:  HENRY KNOX]

There was, however, another consequence of this affair which gave Washington much more pain than any differences with the President.  His old friend and companion in arms, General Knox, was profoundly hurt at the decision which placed Hamilton at the head of the army.  One cannot be surprised at Knox’s feelings, for he had been a distinguished officer, and had outranked both Hamilton and Pinckney.  He felt that he ought to command the army, and that he was quite capable of doing so; and he did not relish being told in this official manner that he had grown old, and that the time had come for younger and abler men to pass beyond him.  The archbishop in “Gil Blas” is one of the most universal types of human nature that we have.  Nobody feels kindly to the monitor who points out the failings which time has brought, and we are all inclined to dismiss him with every wish that he may fare well and have a little more taste.  Poor Knox could not dismiss his Gil Blas, and he felt the unpleasant admonition all the more bitterly from the fact that the blow was dealt by the two men whom he most loved and admired.  Hamilton wrote him the best and most graceful of letters, but failed to soothe him; and Washington was no more fortunate.  He tried with the utmost kindliness, and in his most courteous manner, to soften the disappointment, and to show Knox how convincing were the reasons for his action.  But the case was not one where argument could be of avail, and when Knox persisted in his refusal to take the place assigned him, Washington, with all his sympathy, was perfectly frank in expressing his views.