as future events will
permit, oblivion. My temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men;
and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any personal feuds or dissentions
with those who are embarked in the same great national interest with,
myself; as every difference of this kind must in its consequence be very
injurious."

After this affair subsided, Washington said,--

"I made a point of treating Gen. Gates with all the attention and
cordiality in my power, as well from a sincere desire of harmony, as from
an unwillingness to give any cause of triumph among ourselves. I can
appeal to the world, and to the whole army, whether I have not cautiously
avoided offending Gen. Gates in any way. I am sorry his conduct to me has
not been equally generous, and that he is continually giving me fresh
proofs of malevolence and opposition. It will not be doing him injustice
to say, that, besides the little underhand intrigues which he is
frequently practising, there has hardly been any great military question,
in which his advice has been asked, that it has not been given in an
equivocal and designing manner, apparently calculated to afford him an
opportunity of censuring me, on the failure of whatever measures might be
adopted."

After the defeat of Gates at Camden, the Prince de Broglie wrote that "I
saw General Gates at the house of General Washington, with whom he had had
a misunderstanding.... This interview excited the curiosity of both
armies. It passed with a most perfect propriety on the part of both
gentlemen. Mr. Washington treated Mr. Gates with a politeness which had a
frank and easy air, while the other responded with that shade of respect
which was proper towards his general." And how fair-minded Washington
was is shown by his refusal to interfere in an army matter, because,
"considering the delicate situation in which I stand with respect to
General Gates, I feel an unwillingness to give any opinion (even in a
confidential way) in a matter in which he is concerned, lest my sentiments
(being known) should have unfavorable interpretations ascribed to them by
illiberal Minds." Yet the friendship was never restored, and when the two
after the war were associated in the Potomac company, Washington's sense
of the old treachery was still so keen that he alluded to the appointment
of "my bosom friend Genl G-tes, who being at Richmond, contrived to edge
himself in to the commission."

Thomas Conway was Washington's trad