The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

AET. 62.] LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 495
Shortly after making this report, Mr. Jefferson retired
from the office of Secretary of State, in conformity with
an intimation he had given some months before; having been prevailed upon by the President, apparently
against his own inclination, to remain till the end of
the year. He was succeeded by Edmund Randolph,
whose place as Attorney-general was supplied by William Bradford of Pennsylvania.
The secretary's report gave rise to Mr. Madison's
celebrated commercial resolutions, which were long debated in the House of Representatives with a degree
of animation, and even of asperity, that had not been
exceeded since the adoption of the funding system.
These resolutions embraced the general principles of
the report, but they aimed at a discrimination in the
smallest degree to derogate from his merit. But, notwithstanding his
extraordinary talents and exalted integrity, it must be considered as singularly fortunate, that he should have experienced a lot, which so seldom
falls to the portion of humanity, and have passed through such a variety
of scenes without stain and without reproach. It must, indeed, create
astonishment, that, placed in circumstances so critical, and filling for a
series of years a station so conspicuous, his character should never once
have been called in question; that he should in no one instance have
been accused either of improper insolence, or of mean submission, in his
transactions with foreign nations. For him it has been reserved to run
the race of glory, without experiencing the smallest interruption to the
brilliancy of his career."
To this eulogy of Mr. Fox, may properly be appended the complimentary letter of Mr. Erskine, afterwards Lord Erskine, to General Washington, though written a year later. It accompanied a book on the causes
and consequences of the war with France.
" London, 15 March, 1795.
"SIR,
"I have taken the liberty to introduce your august and immortal name
in a short sentence, which will be found in the book I send you. I have
a large acquaintance among the most valuable and exalted classes of
men; but you are the only human being for whom I ever felt an awful
reverence. I sincerely pray God to grant a long and serene evening to
a life so gloriously devoted to the universal happiness of the world.
" T. ERSKINE."