XV.

_See Page 326._ The following extract from a letter written to General Knox the day before the termination of his office, exhibits the sentiments with which he contemplated this event, and with which he viewed the unceasing calumnies with which his whole administration continued to be aspersed.
"To the wearied traveller who sees a resting place, and is bending his body to lean thereon, I now compare myself; but to be suffered to do _this_ in peace, is too much to be endured by _some_.

To misrepresent my motives; to reprobate my politics; and to weaken the confidence which has been reposed in my administration;--are objects which can not be relinquished by those who will be satisfied with nothing short of a change in our political system.

The consolation, however, which results from conscious rectitude, and the approving voice of my country unequivocally expressed by its representatives--deprives their sting of its poison, and places in the same point of view both the weakness and the malignity of their efforts.
"Although the prospect of retirement is most grateful to my soul, and I have not a wish to mix again in the great world, or to partake in its politics, yet I am not without my regrets at parting with (perhaps never more to meet) the few intimates whom I love.

Among these, be assured you are one." * * * * * NOTE--No.