“Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.” His display saps the men of their anger—this man, their leader, he has suffered, too. He has been worn down by the same service that they are demanding compensation for and he has not offered a single complaint. As Washington expresses his confidence in Congress and makes his case, the conspiracy collapses with each word. It had been perfectly timed, the sympathies perfectly played, and a solution is quickly worked out. The Newburgh Conspiracy, as it would
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