In a second letter, complaining of the injustice with which he had been treated, Knox intimated that he would be willing to serve on the personal staff of the commander-in-chief.  This was all very well; but much as Washington grieved for his old friend’s disappointment, there was to be no misunderstanding in the matter.  He wrote Knox on October 21:  “After having expressed these sentiments with the frankness of undisguised friendship, it is hardly necessary to add that, if you should finally decline the appointment of major-general, there is none to whom I would give a more decided preference as an aide-de-camp, the offer of which is highly flattering, honorable, and grateful to my feelings, and for which I entertain a high sense.  But, my dear General Knox, and here again I speak to you in a language of candor and friendship, examine well your mind upon this subject.  Do not unite yourself to the suite of a man whom you may consider as the primary cause of what you call a degradation, with unpleasant sensations.  This, while it was gnawing upon you, would, if I should come to the knowledge of it, make me unhappy; as my first wish would be that my military family and the whole army should consider themselves a band of brothers, willing and ready to die for each other.”

Knox would not serve; and his ill temper, irritated still further by the apparent preference of the President and by the talk of his immediate circle, prevailed.  On the other hand, Pinckney, one of the most generous and patriotic of men, accepted service at once without a syllable of complaint on the score that he had ranked Hamilton in the former war.  It was with these two, therefore, that Washington carried on the work of organizing the provisional army.  Despite his determination to remain in retirement until called to the field, his desire for perfection in any work that he undertook brought him out, and he gave much time and attention not only to the general questions which were raised, but to the details of the business, and on November 10 he addressed a series of inquiries, both general and particular, to Hamilton and Pinckney.  These inquiries covered the whole scope of possible events, probable military operations, and the formation of the army.  They were written in Philadelphia, whither he had gone, and where he passed a month with the two major-generals in the discussion of plans and measures.  The result of their conferences was an elaborate and masterly report on army organization drawn up by Hamilton, upon whom, throughout this period of impending war, the brunt of the work fell.

Careful and painstaking, however, as Washington was in the matter of appointments and organization, dealing with them as if he was about to take the field at the head of the army, there was never a moment when he felt that there was danger of actual war.  He had studied foreign affairs and the conditions of Europe too well to be much deceived about them, and least of all in regard to France.  He felt from