England puritan killjoy than a Virginia gentleman for protesting at this modest display. Nor did it
save the President from occasional great discomfort and even peril to his life on several
occasions during these official journeys, including a near-drowning on crossing the Severn a
mile from Baltimore-'I was in imminent danger from the unskilfulness of the hands and the
dullness of her sailing,' he recorded crossly-and a plunge, white coach and all, into the
Ocquoquam Creek. Traveling around rough-hewn America in the 1790s it was impossible for
anyone, however grand, to keep his dignity for long. The wonderful thing about Washington was
that, even in the midst of travel, or while listening to an endless series of fifteen toasts (plus
speeches) at a rustic dinner in Maryland, he retained the respect of all. One of his staff, Tobias
Lear, said he `was almost the only man of an exalted character who does not lose some part of
his respectability on an intimate acquaintance.’
Despite the differences within the Cabinet, and the stealthy emergence of two great parties in the
state-both of them represented in it-there was general agreement that Washington's presidency
had been a success. Both Adams and Jefferson, on behalf of North and South, and both factions,
strongly urged Washington to stand again. That might not have been decisive, for in 1792
Washington was almost painfully anxious to return to Mount Vernon. But he was persuaded by
the ladies. Washington responded strongly to intelligent, perceptive women. He preferred them
even to clever, able young men like Hamilton. His favorites were Henrietta Liston, the sweet and
intuitive wife of the Scotsman Robert Liston, the British envoy, and Eliza Powell, wife of the
former mayor of Philadelphia, Sam Powell. In 1790 the national capital had been removed from
New York to Philadelphia (where it remained until Washington itself began to emerge in 1800)
and Mrs Powell wanted her grand friend to preside there in state. So she persuaded the President
to lean to the side of duty rather than inclination, and her wiles tipped the balance.'69 Mrs Liston
may have helped to sway him too-she took the view, as did most of the British elite, that
Washington was a sensible' man, unlike some of the Revolutionaries, a man whosegood
feelings' and bottom' addedrespectability' to America as a negotiating partner and possible
future friend.
During his second term, Washington leaned more heavily on the federalists and took less
trouble to conciliate the others. A break with Jefferson was probably inevitable, as Washington's
monumental patience wore thin. Towards the end of Washington's first term, Madison, identified
as Jefferson's closest political associate, had emerged virtually as leader of the opposition in
Congress. In 1791, even before the election, the two men had gone on a so-called 'botanizing
expedition' up the Hudson, where they had conferred with a motley group of malcontents-Aaron
Burr (1756-1836), a sharp-faced New York lawyer, enemy and opponent of Hamilton there, who
was using an organization called the Sons of St Tammany to build up a factional city machine;
George Clinton (1739-1812), son of an Irish immigrant, the fiercely oppositional governor of the
state; and various members of the Livingston family, a grand New York dynasty who, for
reasons mysterious to Hamilton and the President, aligned themselves with the `rabble.' This was
the first party-political convention in American history, for the opposition New Yorkers formed a
coalition with the states' rights Virginians and one result of the new alliance was a decision to
bring Madison's old classmate, Philip Freneau, to Philadelphia to run the opposition newspaper,
the National Gazette. His editorials infuriated the President.
What brought matters to a head was the outrageous behavior of the increasingly radical and
bloodthirsty government in France, and in particular of their irresponsible ambassador. On
November 29, 1792, before Washington's second term had even begun, the sansculottes in Paris