Much of this relation is notorious to the world; and many intimate
proofs of it will be found in these notes. From the moment where they
end, of my retiring from the administration, the federalists * got
unchecked hold of General Washington. His memory was already sensibly
impaired by age, the firm tone of mind for which he had been remarkable,
was beginning to relax, its energy was abated, a listlessness of labor,
a desire for tranquillity had crept on him, and a willingness to let
others act, and even think for him. Like the rest of mankind, he
was disgusted with atrocities of the French revolution, and was not
sufficiently aware of the difference between the rabble who were used as
instruments of their perpetration, and the steady and rational character
of the American people, in which he had not sufficient confidence. The
opposition too of the republicans to the British treaty, and the zealous
support of the federalists in that unpopular but favorite measure of
theirs, had made him all their own. Understanding, moreover, that I
disapproved of that treaty, and copiously nourished with falsehoods by
a malignant neighbor of mine, who ambitioned to be his correspondent, he
had become alienated from myself personally, as from the republican body
generally of his fellow-citizens; and he wrote the letters to Mr. Adams
and Mr. Carroll, over which, in devotion to his imperishable fame, we
must for ever weep as monuments of mortal decay.
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