George Washington Declines the Part of El Libertador

L ~ IVIING in London, the capital of the anti-French world, engaged in the daily practice of international negotiation, John Trumbull, the Connecticut-born painter of patriotic tableaux, saw a greater vision than ever he put on canvas. European affairs in early I799 seemed stalled at dead center; an explosion might push Europe either way, to order or to chaos. Napoleon was in Egypt, looking up at forty centuries. Austria had neutralized herself by the Treaty of Campo Formio. Britain stood practically alone against France, except for nominal assistance from Russia and from the minute United States Navy. At home, George Washington had accepted the command of an army not yet raised but stayed at Mount Vernon while the second-in-command, Alexander Hamilton, tried to organize the force in spite of administrative difficulties in the War Department and in the face of John Adams's indifference. Meanwhile, the political factions, their division sharpened by passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts, were warming up for the election of i8oo. At this juncture, the Trumbull brothers, Governor Jonathan, of Connecticut, and Colonel John, tried to draw Washington back to active public life. The politician, naturally enough, asked him to run for president.' The artist had a bigger job for him. John Trumbull addressed the ex-president in these terms: Great changes are occurring in the world. Perhaps you are now destined to act a more important part than heretofore. Last year, the French appeared about to establish an Iberian Republic but allowed themselves to be bought off because of military and political distractions. This year, they seem likely to win a new series of victories, from which only England seems safe. Then France will turn to Spain and Portugal again. Having subdued them, she will be free to overrun their American dependencies, which have been ripe for revolution for a long time. If she

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