all his knowledge of human nature, he found it difficult to understand how any one could differ from him materially.  Moreover, having started with the firm intention of governing without party, he determined, with his usual persistence, to carry it through, if it were possible.  When party feeling had once developed, and division had sprung up between the two principal officers of his cabinet, no greater risk could have been run than that which Washington took in refusing to make the changes which were necessary to render the administration harmonious.  With any lesser man, such a perilous experiment would have failed and brought with it disastrous consequences.  There is no greater proof of the force of his will and the weight and strength of his character than the fact that he held in his cabinet Jefferson and Hamilton, despite their hatred for each other and each other’s principles, and that he not only prevented any harm, but actually drew great results from the talents of each of them.  Yet, with all his strength of grasp, this ill-assorted combination could not last, although Washington resisted the inevitable in a surprising way, and he even begged Jefferson to remain when the impossibility of doing so had become quite clear to that gentleman.

The remonstrance in regard to the Freneau matter had but a temporary effect.  Hamilton stopped his attacks, it is true; but Jefferson did not discontinue his, and he set on foot a movement which was designed to destroy his rival’s public and private reputation.  Hamilton met this attack in Congress, where he refuted it signally; and although the ostensible movers were members of the House, the defeat recoiled on the Secretary of State.  Having failed in Congress and before the public to ruin his opponent, and having failed equally to shake Washington’s confidence in Hamilton or the latter’s influence in the administration, Jefferson made up his mind that the cabinet was no longer the place for him.  He became more than ever satisfied that he was a “wave-worn mariner,” and after some hesitation he finally resigned and transferred his political operations to another field.  A year later Hamilton, from very different reasons of a purely private character, followed him.

Meantime many events had occurred which all tended to show the growing intensity of party divisions, and which were not without their effect upon the mind of the President.  In 1792 it became necessary to consider the question of the approaching election, and all elements united in urging upon Washington the absolute necessity of accepting the presidency a second time.  Hamilton and the Federalists, of course, desired Washington’s reelection, because they regarded him as their leader, as the friend and supporter of their measures, and as the great bulwark of the government.  Jefferson, who was equally urgent, felt that in the unformed condition of his own party the withdrawal of Washington, in addition to its injury to the general welfare, would leave his incoherent forces at the mercy of an avowed and thorough-going Federalist administration.