ason
to fear that confusion and misery were coming rapidly upon us."

The people of the Union, as if governed by one impulse, now turned to
Washington as the man who, above all others, was best qualified to
become the chief magistrate of the nation. He was informally nominated
by Hamilton, almost before the members of the convention that framed and
adopted the constitution had reached their homes. In a paper from which
we have just quoted, published immediately after the adjournment of the
convention, Hamilton said: "If the government be adopted, it is probable
General Washington will be the president of the United States. This will
insure a wise choice of men to administer the government, and a good
administration. A good administration will conciliate the confidence and
affection of the people, and perhaps enable the government to acquire
more consistency than the proposed constitution seems to promise for so
great a country."

It was soon apparent to Washington that the universal sentiment of the
people was in favor of his election to the chief magistracy. Almost
every letter from his friends expressed a desire that he should accept
the office when tendered to him, as it surely would be, by the electors
chosen by the people; and before the elections were held, so general was
the presumption that Washington would be the first president of the
United States, that he received many letters soliciting appointments to
office. These annoyed him exceedingly; for the subject, he said, never
failed to embarrass and distress him beyond measure. The prospect of
again being called into public life, in an arena in which difficulties
more formidable and perplexing than those in a military sphere must be
encountered, gave him great uneasiness. He loved his home, his family,
and the quiet pursuits of agriculture; and he desired, above all earthly
boons, the privilege of reposing among these.

To Hamilton he wrote, as early as August, 1788: "You know me well
enough, my good sir, to be persuaded that I am not guilty of affectation
when I tell you, that it is my great and sole desire to live and die in
peace and retirement on my own farm."

In October he again wrote to Hamilton, saying: "In taking a survey of
the subject, in whatever point of light I have been able to place it, I
will not suppress the acknowledgment, my dear sir, that I have always
felt a kind of gloom upon my mind, as often as I have been taught to
expect I might,