4 o _ \/^'^i&V ■ f° "^ ''"' \* °-i- •" .^ .. '^ •it.;^^ -'^w. %/" y^^: %^^ ':^ ^•l°Xv .- ^o • s V ,0' ^- /^^^mm/ /:'\ ^>^;' /^^ v-o^ ^ ■ ,- -.'* ,/ % -'^P.* ,*^ "^^ % X^ ■' • • s v *^^ *.. ^<}>°,<. 0' sL!rl'* "^P^ .^' . .- -^ 0^ v^ . ^ .V * "^ '^t,' i'^ -^v^^^ . - rV <^^. >*' %. ""' ^"^ .^'-\ /Uo ;> «i THE CHARACTER OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, AS EXHIBITED IN HIS OWN WRITINGS BY THEODORE DWIGHT. BOSTON: WEEKS, JORDAN & COMPANY, No. 131 Washin^on Street. 1839. E3i Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1839, by WEEKS, JORDAN & COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. Harden & Kimball, Printers, No. 3 School Street. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Introductory remarks — Diiferent opinions of Mr. Jefferson's char- acter- -His Correspondence left for publication — Causes of the Federalists' opposition to Mr. Jeiferson — Mr. Jefferson long in public employment — Was opposed to the Constitution — Corres- pondence on that subject — Attachment to Revolutionary France — Report on Commerce — Madison's Resolutions — Intended to turn the trade of the United States from Great Britain to France — The sentiments of Federalists justified by events — Mr. Jeffer- son's confidence in Bonaparte — Change in his feelings in 1814. CHAPTER II. The Federalists opposed to Mr. Jefferson because he used the gov- ernment patronage to promote his own and his party's interests — Case of the removal of the New Haven collector — Letter to the New Haven merchants — Collector not removed for want of integrity, capacity or fidelity — Attempt to fix the charge of polit- ical intolerance upon Mr. Adams — If it lay against any person, it was Gen. Washington — Doors of honor, &c., burst open by Mr. Jefferson's election — Origin of the doctrine that a change of administrition involves the principle of a change of subor- dinate ofiicers — His election considered by him as a revolution — All executive officers viewed by him as executive agents — Proved by a letter to J. MuiiDe. CHAPTER III. FedcTalists opposed to Mr. Jefferson because of his known oppo- sition to an independent Judiciary — Letter to Ritchie, December 25, 1820— To Melish, January 1813— To Nicholas, December, 1313 — To Barry, July, 1822 — Importanct of Judicial Indepen- IV. CONTENTS. dence — Language used by Mr. Jeffersoa on ihe subject — His opposition to Courts manifested in the prosecution of Burr — Re- view of Burr's alleged conspiracy, and the proceedings of the government in relation to it — More attempted lo be made of it than the facts would warrant — Nothing said about it by the Ex- ecutive, after the Message at the opening of the session, until January 22 — Article published on the same subject in the Rich- mond Enquirer — Burr's arrest and trial — Correspondence relat- ing to the trial — Attack upon Judge Marshall's character — Mr. Jefferson objects in this affair political — Charges the Federalists with favoring Burr — Correspondence on the subject — Hostility to Judge Marshall on the ground of Burr's acquittal. CHAPTER IV. Federalists opposed Mr. Jefferson on the ground of his unsound and dangerous opinions respecting the constitution — Correspon- dence with Mrs. Adams — Friendship for Mr. Adams — Paying Callendar — His acquaintance with Callendar — Discharge of per- sons convicted under the sedition law, because he conceived the law a nullity — His sentiments respecting the power of the execu- tive to decide on the constitutionality of laws. The executive and judicial powers equal in this case — The sincerity of Mr. Jef- ferson's professions of friendship for Mr. Adams — Publication of Paine's Rights of Man — Mr. Jefferson's letter to general Washington in relation to it. CHAPTER V. Mr. Jefferson's opinion that one generation of men cannot bind J another, individually or collectively, to the fulfilment of obliga- tions — Letter to James Madison on the subject, dated Septem- ber, 1789 — to doctor Gem — to J. W. Eppes — to J. Cartwright, dated June, 1824 — Examination of his principle — Mr. Jefferson a mere partizan in politics — Letter to F. Hopkinson, March, 1789 — Correspondence respecting the operations of the federal government, 1790, 1791 — Origin of the Ana — Monarchy — Con- troversy of those days between the advocates of kingly and re- publican government. CONTENTS. V- CHAPTER VI. Annapolis Convention, 1786— Difference of opinion in that body between a republican or kingly government — Account of that Convention from Pitkin's History — From the Life of Jay — At- tempts of the friends of a kingly government, at the Convention, to prevent the formation of a republican government, for the purpose of introducing a monarchy — The charge shoAvn by facts to be unfounded — Only five of the thirteen States represented— His knowledge of the Convention derived from hearsay — No proof of it has ever been adduced — The same charge made against the same party at the Convention which framed the Constitution in 1787 — The Ana utterly unworthy of credit — Mr. Jefferson's enmity against A. Hamilton, its origin and its object — The charge of monarchical principles intended to promote his own interests. CHAPTER VII. Mr. Jefferson had no regard for the constitution if it stood in the way of his interests — Treaty-making power — Opposed to Mr. Jay's treaty with Great Britain — Attempts to prevent its ratifi- cation — Doctrine advanced by him regarding the power of the representatives over treaties — Letters to Monroe and Madison — Gallatin's and Madison's opinions — Livingston's resolution in the House of Representatives — Arguments used on both sides in debate — Resolution adopted by House of Representatives — Mr. Jefferson's sentiments opposed to the constitution, of which he seemed to be sensible — His sentiments contradicted in the case of the treaty with France, in 1831 ; but urged against that treaty by members of the French legislature — Livingston at this time minister at Paris, and obliged to act in opposition to the sentiments avowed by him on Mr. Jay's treaty. CHAPTER VIII. Mr. Jefferson a secret enemy of general Washington — Ambitious of being considered as the greatest political character of his country — Willing to concede to Washington pre-eminence as a military officer, but not as a statesman — Formed a French party soon after his return from France — Accused the federalists of British VI. CONTENTS. partialities — Aristocratic and monarchical propensities — Procla- mation of neutrality— Strongly opposed by the French party- Extracts from newspapers concerning it — Attacks upon the executive as the enemy of France — Philip Freneau and the National Gazette — Conversation between general Washington and Mr. Jefferson respecting that paper— His enmity to Wash- ington more manifest after the Whisky insurrection broke out — President's speech to congress, November, 1794 — Allusion to democratic societies as the sources of it — Mr. Jefferson's opin- ion of insurrections, November, 1787 — Sentiments respecting the] Whisky insurrection — Democratic societies and the Cincin- nati — Judge Marshall's account of the insurrection, and its sup- pression — Letter to Mazzei — to James Madison — Effects of general Washington's popularity — John Jay's corruption — Let- ter to Aaron Burr respecting Washington ! CHAPTER IX. Mr. Jefferson afraid to attack general Washington's character openly — Letter to W. Jones, January, 1814, a specimen of his insidiousness — Great body of republicans think of Washington as he does — His belief that we should eventually come to some- thing like the British constitution had some weight in his adopt- ing levees, &x. — Pains taken by the federalists to make him Triew Jefferson as a theorist, &c. — Jefferson never saw Wash- ington after the former left the state department, otherwise these impressions would have been dissipated — Letter from Jefferson to M. Van Buren, June, 1824 — Notice of charges in a work published by T. Pickering — Letter to Mazzei — Not a word in that letter that would not be approved by every republican in the United States — Not a word in that letter about France — By forms of British government was meant levees, &c. — Subject of ceremonies at Washington's second election referred to heads of departments — Jefferson and Hamilton thought there was too much ceremony — The phrase, " Samsons in the Jield,'^ Tciesmt the society of the Cincinnati — Jefferson says general Washington knew this — Never had any reason to believe that general Wash- ington's feelings towards him ever changed — Washington a sin- cere friend to the republican principle — Knew Jefferson's suspi- CONTENTS. Vll. cions of Hamilton — After the retirement of his first cabinet, gene- ral Washington fell into federal hands — Eemarks on this letter. CHAPTER X. The society of Cincinnati could not have been meant by the phrase " Samsons in the field " — The language of the Mazzei letter, as published in Jefferson's Works, absurd — Jefferson's last parting with general Washington — The time of his death, as stated in the letter to Van Buren not true — Federalists, pretending to be Washington's friends, did what they could to sink his character — The measures of his second administration not imputable to him, but to his counselors — Not approved by the republicans — Answers of the houses to his speech when about to retire, op- posed by Giles — Judge Marshall's account of the feelings of the republican party upon the ratification of the British treaty — Letters to Melish, W. Jones, and John Adams — Jefferson says general Washington was not a federalist — No truth in the asser- tion that Washington was not a federalist — Letter to Jay, May, 1796 — ^-Letter to Jefferson, July, 1796— No correspondence after this letter appears on Washington's books with Jefferson — Let- ter to La Fayette, December, 1798 — to Timothy Pickering, Jan- uary, 1799— To P. Henry, January, 1799— Letters to H. Lee— [Bache's and Freneau's papers, and western insurrection] — Let- ter to J. Jay — Washington not a republican in the sense of Jef- ferson — Washington a federalist — Letter to B. Washington, May, 1799 — Jefferson's letters intended for history. CHAPTER XI. Mr. Jefferson's last parting with general Washington at Mr Adams's inauguration, March, 1797 — Washington's faculties impaired — He had become alienated from Jefferson — general Washington's powers of mind never stronger than at the period alluded to — The origin, character, and object of Jefferson's Ana — Persons employed in collecting materials for the work — Story of Sir I. Temple, Hamilton, King and Smith — Story of governor Clinton and a militia general — Conversation between Langdon and Cabot, reported by Lear — Story from Baldwin and Skinner — Jefferson's account of the convention of 1787 — Account not Vlll. CONTENTS. entitled to credit — The constitution made by federalists — Op- posed by Jefferson's republicans — The account of both conven- tions untrue — Not a delegate from the eastern states at Annapo- lis — Assumption state debts part of a system of corruption — Scheme Hamilton's, Washington ignorant of the plan — Hamil- ton a monarchist — Conversation at Jefferson's dinner table — Conversation in August, 1791, between Jefferson and Hamilton about the constitution — Hamilton's opinion of it — Practice of noting do\\Ti private conversations insidious — Such evidence un- worthy of credit — Conversation between Jefferson and Wash- ington, October, 1792 — Jefferson informed Washington that Hamilton was a monarchist — Character of Hamilton by judge Marshall — Washington's letter, accepting Hamilton's resigna- tion. CHAPTER XII. Mr. Jefferson's policy to render the federalists unpopular by stig- matizing them as monarchists — In his letter to Mazzei he char- ges general Washington with being a monarchist — John Adams originally a republican — Essex federalists — No proof adduced to support the charge — Truth to be ascertained by the measures of the government while under their control — Judiciary — Pay- ment of the national debt — Hamilton's funding system adopted — National bank — Opposed by the republicans — Its constitution- ality established by the supreme court and acknowledged by congress— Not monarchical — The true ground of opposition its being owned and managed by federalists — Establishment of a navy — Its necessity and utility universally admitted — Mr. Jef- ferson's opposition to the British treaty and wish to screen Ge- net, evidence of his attachment to France — Jefferson discovered nothing monarchical in the federalists until after his party was formed — Letter to Carmichael, March, 1791 — Sentiments in the Ana in 1818 — His greatest apprehension of monarchy arose from the levees, &c. — All ground of fear had been removed be- fore his Ana were written. CHAPTER XIII. The federalists had no confidence in Mr. Jefferson as a politician CONTENTS, IX. — His election a revolution — To ascertain the nature of that revolution his messages to congress must be examined — No act alluded to in his messages to congress as having a monarchical tendency — No original national measures recommended by him but gun-boats and dry docks — Letter to'Nicholson on gun-boats — Committee' under Madison on gun-boats — Secretary of navy's re- port to that committee — Correspondence between general Wash- ington and Nicholas, &c., respecting John Langhorne. CHAPTER XIV. Mr. Jefferson's feelings on his return from France in 1789 — Found here a preference for kingly government prevalent — Mr. Jef- ferson an ambitious man — Called himself a republican and his opponents monarchists — Monarchy talked of at dinner parties — Attacks upon Hamilton — Asserts that Hamilton introduced a draft of a constitution to the convention for a monarchy— Letter from Hamilton to T. Pickering on his proposition for a constitu- tion — No monarchical feature in it — The charge of monarchical principles in the federalists traced by Jefferson to the conven- tions of 1786 and 1787 — Judge Marshall's notice of the conven- tion of 1787 — Names of some of the principal members of that body — Mr. Jefferson's artful manner of establishing his claim to a republican character — Letter to R. M. Johnson — Conversa- tion with general AVashington — Character of the early federal- ists — Great courage necessary to attempt the destruction of gen- eral Washington's character. CHAPTER XV. Alien and sedition laws — Reasons for passing the alien law — Copy of the act — Zealously opposed by Mr. Jefferson — His opinion of it as expressed in his letters — Urges Pendleton to write against it — Copy of parts of the sedition law — His opinion of it as ex pressed in a letter to Mrs. Adams — Petitions to congress for the repeal of the laws — Report of committee in the house of repre- sentatives — Letter to Madison, February, 1799, giving an ac- count of the proceedings in the house on the report — Law re- specting alien enemies— Still in force— Extract from Tucker's Life of Jefferson — His object in opposing the law to court popu. X. CONTENTS. larity, and render the federalists unpopular — Letter from gener- al Washington to Spotswood, on the alien and sedition laws — Letter toB. Washington — Prosecutions under the sedition law- Persons convicted pardoned by Jefferson — Prosecutions in Con- necticut — Case of Rev. Dr. Backus — Letter from Jefferson to W. C. Nicholas, professing ignorance of these cases — Facts to show that he was acquainted with them. CHAPTER XVI. The Federalists believed Mr, Jefferson insincere and hypocritical — Professed great friendship for John Adams in a letter to Mrs. Adams, in 1804— In a letter to general Washington, in 1791, he charges Mr. Adams with apostacy to monarchy — The friendly intercourse between them not interrupted by this apostacy, but by Mr. Adams's appointments to office at the close of his admin- ~ istration— Apparent that Jefferson had, upon coming into the secretary of state's office, laid his plan to place himself at the head of the government — Hamilton, being a more formidable ob- stacle to his ambition than Adams, became the object of peculiar animosity — Correspondence between general Washington and Jefferson and Hamilton, in August, 1792, respecting dissensions in the cabinet — Washington's letter to Jefferson — Letter to Ham- ilton — 3Ir. Jefferson's answer, September, 1792 — Reasons for em- ploying Freneau — Objections to the constitution, that it wanted a bill of rights, &c. — Says Hamilton's objection was, that it wanted a king and house of lords — Hamilton made great exertions in the formation and adoption of the constitution — Jefferson did nothing — Hamilton's answer to Washington's letter, August, 1792 — Washington's confidence in Hamilton never shaken by Jeffer- son's attempts to that end — Jefferson never appealed to the coun- try, as suggested in his letter. CHAPTER XVII. Mr. Jefferson made use of unworthy means to gain popularity — Alleges that he had more confidence in the people than general Washington had ; which was the only point on which they dif- fered — He assumed the title of " Friend of the People " — Dress- CONTENTS. ' XI. ed plainly — affected unassuming manners — professed never to have written a word for newspapers — He urged others to write — In one instance he wrote himself, but proposed to procure somebody to father it — Tells Madison he must take up his pen in reply to Hamilton — Letter to E. Pendleton, Jan. 1799, urges him to write on the negociation with France — Letter to Madison, and calls upon him to write — The federalists viewed Jefferson as an unbeliever in Christianity — Letter to Dr. Priestly, JMarch, 1804 — Letter to Dr. Rush, April, 1803 — estimate of the merits of the doctrines of Jesus, compared with the others — Letter to J. Adams, August, 1813— Letter to W. Short, April, 1820— Jef- ferson a materialist J Jesus on the side of spiritualism — Paul the first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus — Letter to Short, Aug. 1820 — The God of the Jev/s cruel, vindictive, capricious, and unjust — Letter to J. Adams, April, 1823 — The three first verses of John, 1st chapter, mistranslated — Jefferson not a Christian — doubtful whether he believed in a God — His translation of John 1st absurd — Recapitulation of the subjects in the work — Conclu- sion. Ekrata. — Oa page 64, line 20, read, least color; 65, 5th line from bottom, judice ; 11 , 2d line from bottom, insert instead of after the word that ; 95, line 5, Tea.d,Jiftt/ years ; 103, line 5, read are called ; 106, first line, read address ; 116, 2d line from bottom and on pa.s^es 187, and 193, read Backers paper; 117 and 121, read gulped; 121, 2d line from bottom, read changed; 123, 4th line from bottom, read 1795 ; and on pages 125, 144, 158, read Mazzei ; 305, line 10 from bottom, read Tapping Reeve ; 308, line 18 from top, read David M. Randolph. CHARACTER OF JEFFERSON. CHAPTER I. introductory remarks — Diflferent opinions of Mr. Jefferson's char- acter — His Correspondence left for publication— Causes of the Federalists' opposition to Mr. Jefferson — Mr. Jefierson long in public employment — Wets opposed to the Constitution — Corres- pondence on that subject — Attachment to revolutionary France — Report on Commerce — Madison's Resolutions — Intended to turn the trade of the United States from Great Britain to France — The sentiments of Federalits justified by events — Mr. Jeffer- son's confidence in Bonaparte — Change in his feelings in 1814. Nearly forty years have elapsed since the first election of Thomas Jefferson to the office of president of the Uni- ted States. That event was then considered by him, and is still claimed by his partizans, to have been a revolution in the political condition of this country scarcely if at all inferior in importance to that which severed the United States from their allegiance to the government of Great Britain. There ought to be a good foundation on which to rest such a claim as this. If it had been advanced ori- ginally for the mere purpose of promoting the views and interests of a political party, it might be suffered to pass out of remembrance with many other things of a some- what similar character that are now nearly forgotten. But 2 14 THE CHARACTER OF a new generation of men have grown up since the period above alluded to, who know very little of the characters, principles or services of those who formed the constitution of the United States, or of the policy which was adopted and pursued by the men who organized the government, and, for the first twelve years of its existence, influenced and directed its operations. Mr. Jefl^erson and his friends claim the merit of having accomplished ''the revolution of 1801 " with as much confidence as if such an event had actually been achieved, and had been brought about by their own personal exertions. Federalists and federalism are used by them as terms of reproach, applicable, in their opinion, to a large number of men and a series of meas- ures which, it would seem from their language, deserve nothing short of unqualified reprobation. Without trou- bling themselves to examine the characters of the persons alluded to. or to discuss and understand the nature and tendency of their system of measures, they arrive at their object by a much shorter and easier route. In order to avoid the trouble of examination, they content them- selves with stigmatizing both with opprobrious names which stupidity itself can learn to repeat, and which, when once got by heart, answer all the purposes that their artful inventors had in view when they introduced them to pub- lic use. And although the federalists, as a political party, have long ceased to act, or even to exist, such has been the effect of this peculiar kind of political machinery, and the despotic influence of party spirit, that the term has been and is still relied upon, by every modification of the par- ty which has held the power of the general government, for nearly forty years past — from March, 1801, to the present time — as the source of their own popularity and the maintenance of their supremacy and power over the THOMAS JEFFERSON. 15 affairs of the nation. A political engine which, under such a variety of circumstances, and in the hands of so many different individuals, could be safely relied upon for such important consequences, must have been the device of no ordinary mind ; and when it is added that it origi- nated with Mr. Jefferson, those who are well acquainted with his character will cease to wonder ; and those who are not, may gain some insight into it from the following pages. It is very doubtful whether, in the whole extent of polit- ical history, a more singular and extraordinary personage can be found than Thomas Jefferson. Flattered, admired, and extolled by his partizans, as the greatest of statesmen and patriots — viewed by his opponents as an artful and dangerous intriguer, visionary in his notions, unsound in his principles, selfish in his feelings and opinions, and ambitious in his views and projects — no person can be surprised to hear that the sentiments entertained of his principles and character, by the parties which then prevail- ed in the country, were widely and essentially different from each other. The federalists formed their estimate of both from the facts which fell under their observation while he was engaged in the active concerns of the government, and from evidence which they occasionally derived from other sources. His immediate friends took much for grant- ed in forming their opinions of his merit. They gave him full credit for the services he had rendered during the rev- olutionary struggle, particularly as the author of the de- claration of independence. On the strength of these ser- vices, without understanding precisely their nature, extent or importance, they claimed much in favor of his talents and patriotism ; and, as he was as necessary to their in- terests as they were to the success of his ambitious pro- 16 THE CHARACTER OF jects, they required but little positive proof of what they might expect from his future services and influence. In such a state of things, it is not to be wondered at that his opponents should become, in the warm confl.icts of politi- cal parties, objects of the greatest animosity to his devoted friends and admirers. It so happened that Mr. Jefferson, at his death, left be- hind him very voluminous collections of letters, addressed to his multiplied correspondents, and other written docu- ments, which, since his death, have been published to the world by his grandson, to whose care they were confided. It is to be presumed they were selected, prepared and ar- ranged by himself, and that his representative had nothing to do but to place them, according to that arrangement, be- fore the public. The internal evidence in favor of this supposition is very strong. But whether the fact was so, or they were left to the discretion of the editor, is of no importance in the view which will here be taken of their contents. Their authenticity is neither denied nor doubt- ed ; and it is, therefore, of no moment to the world at large by whose agency they were placed before them. In this work, so far as may be necessary for the accomplishment of the object which the author has in view, they will be freely scanned ; and the main purpose of the writer will be to show, that the estimate which the federalists formed of his principles and character, political, moral and reli- gious, was not merely justifiable but strictly correct — that his works show that all and more than all they said of him was true. Mr. Jefferson spent a large part of a very long life in public employment. In the course of his political career, he held many important offices, and among them that of chief magistrate of the United States. Previously to the THOMAS JEFFERSON. 17 commencement of the French revolution, he was appoint- ed to the office of minister plenipotentiary of the United States to the court of France, where he remained until the year 1789, when he returned to this country, and from general Washington received the appointment of secretary of state under the newly formed national government. Before that time, he had been generally considered as a man of learning and talents, thoroughly versed in the po- litical affairs of the nation, and sincerely devoted to its welfare and prosperity. There was, moreover, an extra- ordinary degree of popularity attached to his name, from the circumstance that he was chairman of the committee who reported the declaration of independence ; and it was understood that he was the principal draftsman of that fa- mous document. Before the formation of the present fed- eral government, political parties, like those which have since divided and distracted the country, were unknown. Local views and interests operated upon the minds of men in various cases, and gave rise to differences of opinion upon different subjects ; but the Union had never before been divided into two great political parties, as it was very shortly after the new government was formed and organized. This division, however, took place very soon after its organization, and the names of federalists and an- ti-federalists soon came into common use. But as the lat- ter term indicated opposition to the constitution, Mr. Jef- ferson, with an adroitness that marked all his movements as the head of a party, soon devised the more captivating title of republican for his adherents to adopt as their watch- word and countersign. This new designation was well conceived for the purpose which he had in view when he threw it out as a bait for his followers. It held out the idea of a sincere and devoted regard for the general polit- 2# 18 THE CHARACTER OF ical feeling and sentiment of the country, and, by implica- tion at least, charged those to whose principles and meas- ures he was opposed, with the heinous offence of aristo- cratic or monarchical predilections and propensities. This, it will be perceived, was an ingenious mode of securing popularity to himself, and at the same time of rendering his opponents suspected and odious. And it answered all the purposes which its author had in view — it established him, in popular opinion at least, as the friend, the " man of the people ; " and in the end it destroyed the political in- fluence and credit of those who framed and supported the constitution and government. Its more remote effects have been alluded to. It remains to this day, notwithstanding the changes of men and the vicissitudes of parties and politics, the talisman which enables those who use it to govern and control the public councils of the nation. One cause for Mr. Jefferson's unpopularity with the fed- eralists was his well known opposition to the constitution of the United States. At the time when the convention met by which it was formed, and until after its adoption by the states, he was in France as minister plenipotentia- ry from this country. It was well understood here, that he had imbibed many of the wild and visionary notions of the early revolutionists of that nation ; and when he came to see the constitution which was prepared, and was about to be submitted to the people of the United States for their approbation, he began to discover many serious ob- jections to it. His letters to his American friends and correspondents, contain abundant evidence of his dislike to that instrument. In page 64 of his biography of himself, prefixed to the first volume of his memoirs, published since his death, he says — " This convention (which framed the constitution) met at Philadelphia on the 25th THOMAS JEFFERSON. 19 of May, 1787. It sat with closed doors, and kept all its proceedings secret until its dissolution on the 17th of Sep- tember, when the results of its labors were published all together. I received a copy, early in November, and read and contemplated its provisions with great satisfaction. As not a member of the convention, however, nor probably a single citizen of the Union, had approved of it in all its parts, so I, too, found articles which I thought objectiona- ble. The absence of express declarations ensuring free- dom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of the per- son under the uninterrupted protection oiihe habeas corpus, and trial by jury in civil as well as in criminal cases, ex- cited my jealousy ; and the re-eligibility of the president for life I quite disapproved." This memoir appears to have been written in January, 1821, when Mr. Jefferson was 77 years of age, and many years after he had retired from public life. In a letter to John Adams, (vol. 2, page 265,) dated Paris, November 13, 1787, he says — "How do you like our new constitution ? I confess there are things in it Avhich stagger all my dispositions to subscribe to what such an assembly has proposed. The house of federal representatives will not be adequate to the management of affairs, either foreign or federal. Their president seems a bad edition of a Polish king. He may be elected from four years to four years for life. Reason and experience prove to us that a chief magistrate, so continuable, is an office for life. When one or two generations shall have proved that this is an office for life, it becomes, on every succes- sion, worthy of intrigue, of bribery, of force, and even of foreign interference. It will be of great consequence to France and England to have America governed by a Galloman or an Angloman. Once in office, and possess- 30 THE CHARACTER OF ing the military force of the Union, without the aid or check of a council, he would not be easily dethroned, even if the people could be induced to withdraw their votes from him. I wish that at the end of four years they had made him forever ineligible a second time. Indeed, I think all the good of this constitution might have been couched in three or four new articles to be added to the good, old, and venerable fabric, which should have been preserved even as a religious relique." In a letter to James Madison, dated Paris, December 20, 1787, (vol. 2, 272,) [after enumerating several things in the constitution which he likes,] he says — " I will now tell you what I do not like. First, the omission of a bill of rights, providing clearly and without the aid of sophism, for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction of monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of fact triable by the laws of the land, and not by the laws of nations." " The second feature I dislike, and strongly dislike, is the abandonment, in every instance, of the principle of rotation in office, and most particularly in the case of the president. Reason and experience tell us that the first magistrate will always be re-elected, if he may be re-elect- ed. He is then an officer for life. This once observed, it becomes of so much consequence to certain nations to have a friend or foe at the head of our affairs, that they will interfere with money and with arms. A Galloman or an Angloman will be supported by the nation he be- friends. If once elected, and at a second or third election out-voted b}'- one or two votes, he will pretend false votes, foul play, hold possession of the reins of government, be supported by the states voting for him, especially if they THOMAS JEFFERSON. 21 be the central ones, lying in a compact body themselves, and separating their opponents ; and they will be aided by one nation in Europe, while the majority are aided by another. The election of a president of America, some years hence, will be much more interesting to certain na- tions of Europe than ever the election of a king of Poland was. Reflect on all the instances in history, ancient and modern, of elective monarchies, and say if they do not give foundation for my fears; the Roman emperors, the popes while they were of any importance, the German emperors till they became hereditary in practice, the kings of Poland, the deys of the Ottoman dependencies." After a series of observations upon the subject, he says — "I own I am not a friend to a very energetic govern- ment. It is always oppressive. It places the governors^ indeed, more at their ease at the expense of the people. The late rebellion in Massachusetts has given more alarm than I think it should have done. Calculate that one re- bellion in thirteen states in the course of eleven years, it is but one for each state in a century and a half. No country should be so long without one." In a letter to E. Carrington, dated Paris, December 21, 1787, he says — " As to the new constitution, I find my- self nearly a neutral. There is a great mass of good in it, in a very desirable form ; but there is also, to me, a bitter pill or two." In a letter to general Washington, dated Paris, May 2, 1788, he says — " I had intended to have written a word on the subject of the new constitution, but I have already spun out my letter to an immoderate length. I will just observe, therefore, that according to my ideas, there is a great deal of good in it. There are two things, however, which I dislike strongly. 1. The want of a declaration 22 THE CHARACTER OF of rights. I am in hopes the opposition in Virginia will remedy this and produce such a declaration. 2. The perpetual re-eligibility of the president. This I fear will make that an office for life first, and then hereditary. I was much an enemy to monarchies before I came to Eu- rope. I am ten thousand times more so since I have seen what they are. There is scarcely an evil known in these countries which may not be traced to their king as its source, nor a good which is not derived from the small fibres of republicanism existing among them. I can further say with safety, there is not a crowned head in Europe whose talents or merits would entitle him to be elected a vestryman by the people of any parish in America. How- ever, I still hope that before there is danger of this change taking place in the office of president, the good sense and free spirit of our countrymen will make the changes neces- sary to prevent it." In a letter to Francis Hopkinson, dated Paris, March 13, 1789, after a somewhat extended view of his opinion respecting the constitution and of his political sentiments, he says — " These are my sentiments, by which you will see I was right in saying, I am neither a federlist nor anti- federalist ; that I am of neither party, nor yet a trimmer between parties." Many more passages of a similar character might be cited from his writings to show that he was on many ac- counts opposed to the constitution. As a number of his letters got abroad, his sentiments respecting ii became known, and the public were extensively informed of the opinions which he entertained concerning it. This is a sufficient vindication of the federalists — who were the authors of the constitution and were mainly instrumental in procuring its adoption, and when the government was THOMAS JEFFERSON. 23 formed under it, of establishing the great system of politi- cal measures which has been continued in operation until the present time — for viewing him with feelings of doubt and suspicion when he came to take an active part in the affairs of the nation. They thought it would require all the talents, public spirit, and energy of its friends, to estab- lish it and put it into operation. They, therefore, very naturally felt strong reluctance at the idea of placing it under the control of a man who was well known to be opposed to many of its important principles and provisions. Another source of apprehension on the part of the fed- eralists towards Mr. Jefferson, was a firm persuasion that he entertained an inordinate attachment to revolutionary France. Having been minister from this country to that from the summer of 1785 to the close of the year 1789, he had lived in the midst of all the preparatory measures for the French revolution. Alluding to this period, he says — " I had left France in the first year of her revolu- tion, in the fervor of natural rights. and zeal for reforma- tion. My conscientious devotion to these rights could not be heightened, but it had been aroused and excited by daily exercise.'"^ Naturally enthusiastic and visionary, fond of theories, and entertaining Utopian notions of so- ciety and government, it is scarcely possible that with such a peculiar cast of mind he should not have imbibed the wildest sentiments of that distracted era. That such was the fact, the following passage in a letter to J. Madison, dated Paris, January 30, 1787, furnishes striking evidence. " Nothing should be spared on our part to attach this coun- try to us. It is the only one on which we can rely for sup- port under every event. Its inhabitants love us n)ore, I think, than they do any other nation on earth. This is * Jefferson's Writings, vol. 4, p. 446, (Ana). 24 THE CHARACTER OF very much the effect of the good dispositions with which the French officers returned." Again (in his Ana, vol. 4, page 496,) he calls " France the only nation on earth sincerely our friend." Feelings of this description he carried into public life when he entered upon the office o^ secretary of state under the new government. As early as February, 1791, he was instructed " to make a report as to the nature and extent of the privileges granted to American commerce, as well as the restrictions imposed upon it by foreign nations ; and also as to the measures, in his opinion, proper for the improvement of the com- merce and navigation of the United States."* This report, as was well known at the time, gave rise to the celebrated commercial resolutions submitted to the House of Representatives of the United States in January, 1794. " The substance of the first, says Mr. Pitkin, was, that the interest of the United States would be promoted by further restrictions and higher duties, in certain cases, on the manufactures ^r\di 7iavigation of foreign nations. The additional duties were to be laid on certain articles manufactured by those European nations which had no commercial treaties with the United States.^^ This was carried by a small majority. " The last of the resolutions declared, that provision ought to be made for ascertaining the losses sustained by American citizens from the opera- tion of particular regulations of any country contravening the laws of nations ; and that these losses be reimbursed, in the first instance, out of the additional duties on the manufactures and vessels of the nation establishing such regulations."! The discussion of these resolutions showed, that their * Pitkin's Pol. and Civ. Hist. U. S., vol. 2, 406. t Ibid, 407. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 25 object was political as well as commercial, and it was ap- parent that the effect of them would be to transfer the trade of the United States from Great Britain to France. In the course of it, a proposition was offered to the house, by a member of the name of Clark, which declared that until the British government should make restitution for all losses and damages sustained by the citizens of the United States from British armed vessels, contrary to the law of nations, and also until the western posts be given up by the British, all commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain, so far as respects the products of Great Britain and Ireland, should be prohibit- ed.'"^ Had this measure baen carried into effect, it is easy to see that it would have turned the mercantile concerns of this country away from Great Britain and directed them immediately to France — the object which Mr. Jef^ ferson was undoubtedly desirous of accomplishing ; and in a letter to Tench Coxe, dated May 1, 1794, he expresses his decided approbation of Mr. Clark's proposition of cut- ting off all communication with the nation which has used us so atrociously. Although his professed object in the adoption of this measure was to punish the injustice of Great Britain towards the United States, no reasonable person can doubt that his approbation of the measure arose from the consideration that it would have a direct tendency to accomplish the great object he had recom- mended to Mr. Madison in January, 1787, that " nothing should be spared on our part to attach France to us." With a full belief that Mr. Jefferson entertained this strong partiality to France, it is not to be wondered at that sober, reflecting men, of sounder principles and more correct views, should withhold their confidence from him, * Pitkin's Pol. and Civ. Hist., vol. 2, p. 412. 3 26 THE CHARACTER OF or that they should look with apprehension to the effects of his political influence and conduct. It was perfectly well known, in this country as well as in Europe, that not only the political but the moral and religious character of the French people had become wild, extravagant and de- praved. During the earliest stages of their revolution, all the restraints of government were cast off, the rabble ob- tained the entire ascendency, and were guilty of the most terrible excesses ; and Paris became a scene of riot, blood- shed, and every kind of atrocity which human ingenuity could devise and savage barbarity could execute. Power was seized by the most sanguinary villains and cut throats, and no person's life, against whom their vengeance was directed, was safe for a day, and scarcely for an hour. In short, that city for years exhibited Mr. Jefferson's favor- ite spectacle of " the tempestuous sea of liberty." At the same time, Christianity was scouted from the nation, the grossest infidelity and the greatest profligacy of principle and conduct prevailed through the community, and the great body of the people became ferocious atheists. That those who considered the state of things in revolutionary France with dread and abhorrence should be apprehen- sive of evil consequences from the influence and principles of a man who had witnessed the beginning of these evils in that country and had returned to this, with his mind excited by the fervor of reformation, and disposed to at- tach this nation to that as the only one on which we could rely for support, is not surprising. Those who were on the stage of life at the time Mr. Jefferson returned from France, and had opportunity not only to witness the commencement of the French revolu- tion but to see its progress and its close, will be able to determine how far the federalists were justifiable in enter- THOMAS JEFFERSON. /i/ taining suspicions of the soundness and practical utility of his political principles. The experiment has decided the question so conclusively that there is not, at the present time, the least possible room for dispute or cavil. Its ca- reer began in civil commotions, in riots and massacres at home, in wantonly shedding the blood of each other; and it soon extended itself to other countries, and in a short time involved Europe in the most sanguinary, destructive and desolating wars that were ever known in that portion of the globe since the introduction of civilization and the establishment of Christianity. Notwithstanding the ob- vious tendency of the revolutionary measures of that coun- try, and the lawless spirit which marked all their proceed- ings, at home and abroad, such was the wild, enthusiastic character of his mind, that he was never thoroughly cured of the revolutionary mania until the revolution itself was brought to a close by the establishment of a military des- potism. In a letter to Tench Coxe, dated May 1, 1794, after he had left the office of secretary of state, he says, " Your letters give a comfortable view of French affairs, and later events seem to confirm it. Over the foreign powers I am confident they will triumph completely ; and I cannot but hope that that triumph, and the consequent disgrace of the invading tyrants, is destined, in the order of events, to kindle the wrath of the people of Europe against those who have dared to embroil them in such wickedness, and to bring, at length, kings, nobles and priests, to the scaflfolds which they have been so long del- uging with human blood. I am still warm whenever I think of these scoundrels, though I do it as seldom as I can, preferring infinitely to contemplate the tranquil growth of my lucerne and potatos." In the following year, in a letter to W, B. Giles, dated April 27, 1795, he 28 THE CHARACTER OF says, "I sincerely congratulate you on the great prosperities of our two first allies, the French and Dutch. If I could but see them now at peace with the rest of their continent, I should have little doubt of dining with Pichegru in Lon- don, next autumn ; for I believe I should be tempted to leave my clover for a-while, and go and hail the dawn of liberty and republicanism in that island." Republicanism seemed to be, at the outset, ihe great charm which drew towards France Mr. Jefferson's most enthusiastic affections, as well as admiration. But when that farce was ended, and the government had assumed a totally different form, being nothing less than a severe and unqualified despotism under the name of a consulate, such was his ardor in favor of that nation that he appeared to transfer his confidence, as well as his esteem, to the dic- tator who controlled its aflfairs. In a letter to Robert R. Livingston, dated November 4, 1803, during his first pe- riod as president, when speaking of the Louisiana treaty, he says, " Mr. Pichon, according to instructions from his government, proposed to have added to the ratification a protestation against any failure in time or other circum- stances of execution on our part. He was told, that in that case we should annex a counter protestation, which would leave the thing exactly where it was; that this transaction had been conducted, from the commencement of the negociation to this stage of it, with a frankness and sincerity honorable to both nations, and comfortable to the heart of an honest man to review ; that to annex to this last chapter of the transaction such an evidence of mutual distrust was to change its aspect dishonorably for us both, and contrary to truth as to us ; for that we had not the smallest doubt that France would punctually execute its part; and I assured Mr. Pichon that I had more confidence THOMAS JEFFERSON, 29 in the word of the first consul than in all the parchment we could sign." How long Mr. Jefferson continued to entertain feelings of this sort for Bonaparte may perhaps be ascertained by what follows. After the conqueror of Europe had himself been conquered and dethroned, and banished to the island of Elba, in the Mediterranean, in a letter to John Adams, dated July 5, 1814, the tide of admiration seems to have changed with the change of fortune, and he speaks of him in a very harsh and unkind manner, as follows : — " Shall you and I last to see the course the seven-fold wonders of the times will take ? The Attila of the age dethroned, the ruthless destroyer of ten millions of the human race, whose thirst for blood appeared unquenchable, the great oppressor of the rights and liberties of the world, shut up within the circuit of a little island of the Mediterranean, and dwindled to the condition of a humble and degraded pensioner on the bounty of those he has most injured. How miserably, how meanly, has he closed his inflated career! What a sample of the bathos will his history present ! He should have perished on the swords of his etiemies under the walls of Paris. " But Bonaparte was a lion in the field only. In civil' life a cold-blooded, calculating, unprincipled usurper, with- out a virtue; no statesman, knowing nothing of commerce, political economy, or civil government, and supplying ig- norance by bold presumption. I had supposed him a great man until his entrance into the Assembly des Cinq Cens, eighteenth Brumaire, (an. 8.) From that date, however, I set him down as a great scoundrel only. To the won- ders of his rise and fall, we may add that of a Czar of Muscovy, dictating, in Paris, laws and limits to all the 30 THE CHARACTER OF successors of the CsBsars, and holding even the balance in which the fortunes of this new world are suspended." This extract contains facts enough, under Mr. Jeffer- son's own authority, to justify the federalists for the opinion they formed of Bonaparte's character, the objects which he, and of course the nation which supported him in pur- suing those objects, had in view, the dangers which they ap- prehended from his supremacy, and the controling influ- ence which he would be able to exert, after having sub- jugated Europe including Great Britain, over the affairs and interests of this country. The federalists viewed Bonaparte throughout his career as an Attila — a "scourge of God," more nearly resembling his great predecessor than any other personage mentioned in modern history ; and it was for a close adherence to him and his measures that they considered Mr. Jefferson as a dangerous man to be placed over the government of their country. They looked with strong apprehensions to the consequences of electing a man to the office of chief magistrate who was friendly to " the ruthless destroyer of ten millions of the human race ; " to one " whose thirst for blood appeared unquenchable," and who was " the great oppressor of the rights and liberties of the whole world " — " a cold-blooded, calculating, unprincipled usurper, without a virtue." Mr. Jefferson says he " had supposed him to be a great man until his entrance into the assembly," in the eighth year ; " from that date he set him down as a great scoundrel only." The federalists having obtained an earlier insight inta his real character, differed essentially from Mr. Jefferson concerning him. They did not form their opinions of him on the comparatively trifling circumstance of his con- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 31 duct on the occasion alluded to. They had but little con- fidence in the characters and conduct of the principal lead- ers in the revolutionary conflict, and in none less than him. And the farther the revolutionists advanced in their tre- mendous career, the more strongly were their early opin- ions and sentiments, respecting both the men and their objects, confirmed ; and they were not under the necessity, at so late a period, of acknowledging their error and alter- ing their whole course of thought, as well as of conduct, with regard lo them. And yet, on the simple ground that the federalists had formed these correct sentiments respecting revolutionary France and Frenchmen at an earlier period than himself, Mr. Jefferson, for many years, stigmatized them as Anglo- men, friends of monarchy, aristocrats, enemies of freedom, republicanism and the rights of men. By pursuing this course, and rousing up popular prejudice and vulgar pas- sion, he succeeded in depriving them of the public respect and confidence, and in elevating himself to the head of the government. 32 THE CHARACTER OF CHAPTER II. The Federalists opposed to Mr. Jefferson because he used the gov- ernment patronage to promote his own and his party's interests — Case of the removal of the New Haven collector — Letter to the New Haven merchants — Collector not removed for want of in- tegrity, capacity or fidelity — Attempt to fix the charge of polit- ical intolerance upon Mr. Adams — If it lay against any person, it was Gen. Washington — Doors of honor, &c., burst open by Mr. Jefferson's election — Origin of the doctrine that a change of administration involves the principle of a change of subordi- nate officers — His election considered by him as a revolution — All executive officers viewed by him as executive agents — Proved by a letter to J. Munroe. The federalists were opposed to Mr. JefTerson on the ground that he made use of the patronage of the govern- ment to promote the views and interests of himself and his party, without any reference to the public welfare. His immediate predecessor in office, John Adams, had appoint- ed Elizur Goodrich collector of the port of New Haven, Conn. This gentleman performed the duties of his office with strict fidelity to the government, and in a manner entirely acceptable to the inhabitants and merchants of that place. Upon hearing of his removal, the latter united in a respectful but frank and decided remonstrance against the measure, expressing in the fullest manner their appro- bation of his character and conduct, and requesting that he might be restored to his place. In his reply to this appli- cation, Mr. Jefferson, without suggesting the slightest charge against Mr. Goodrich as an officer of the govern- ment, places his removal from office solely on political THOMAS JEFFERSON. 33 ground. He says, " The removal, as it is called, of Mr. Goodrich, forms another subject of complaint. Declara- rations by myself in favor of political tolerance, exhorta- tions to harmony and affection in social intercourse, and to respect for the equal rights of the minority, have, on certain occasions, been quoted and misconstrued into assu- rances that the tenure of offices was to be undisturbed. But could candor apply such a construction ? It is not indeed in the remonstrance that v^re find it ; but it leads to the explanations which that calls for. When it is consid- ered that, during the late administration, those who were not of a particular sect of politics were excluded from all office ; when, by a steady pursuit of this measure, nearly the whole offices of the United States were monopolized by that sect ; when the public sentiment at length declared itself, and burst open the doors of honor and confidence to those whose opinions they more approved ; was it to be imagined that this monopoly of office was to be continued in the hands of the minority ? Does it violate their equal rights to assert some rights in the majority also ? Is it political intolerance to claim a proportionate share in the. direction of the public affairs ? Can they not harmonize in society unless they have everything in their own hands ? If the will of the nation, manifested by their va- rious elections, calls for an administration of government according with the opinions of those elected ; if, for the fulfilment of that will, displacements are necessary, with whom can they so justly begin as with persons appointed in the last moments of an administration, not for its own aid, but to begin a career at the same time with their suc- cessors, by whom they had never been approved, and who could scarcely expect from them a cordial co-operation? Mr. Goodrich was one of these. Was it proper for him 34 THE CHARACTER OF to place himself in office without knowing whether those whose agent he was to he^ would have confidence in his agency ? Can the preference of another as the successor of Mr. Austin be candidly called a removal of Mr. Good- rich ? If a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained ? those by death are few, by resignation none. Can any other mode than that of removal be proposed ? This is a painful office ; but it is made my duty, and I meet it as such. I proceed in the operation with deliberation and inquiry, that it may injure the best men least, and effect the purposes of justice and public utility with the least private distress ; that it may be thrown as much as possible, on delinquency, on op- pression, on intolerance, o?z anti-revolutionary adherence to our enemies. " The remonstrance laments that a change in the ad- ministration must produce a change in the subordinate officers ; in other words, that it should be deemed neces- sary for all officers to think with their principal. But on whom does this imputation bear ? On those who have excluded from office every shade of opinion which was not theirs, or on those who have been so excluded ? I lament sincerely that unessential differences of opinion should ever have been deemed sufficient to interdict half the society from the rights a?id the blessings of self-gov- ernment^ to proscribe them as unworthy of every trust. It would have been to me a circumstance of great relief had I found a moderate participation of office in the hands of the majority. I would gladly have left to time and accident to raise them to their just share. But their total exclusion calls for prompter corrections. I shall correct the procedure ; but that done, return with joy to that state of things when the only questions concerning a candidate THOMAS JEFFERSON. 35 shall be, Is he honest ? Is he capable ? Is he faithful to the constitution ? " It will be borne in mind that Mr. Goodrich was not re- moved from office in consequence of any imputation upon his integrity, his capacity, or his fidelity. In each of these particulars he was not only above reproach, but even above suspicion. Indeed it was not Mr. Jefferson's object to inquire into these traits of his character. He acknowl- edges that he had departed from the state of things in which such an inquiry could properly be made ; and at the close of his letter, devoutly expresses the hope that, when he has corrected the errors of his predecessors, Washington and Adams, in selecting candidates and making appointments, he shall return with joy to that state, and make those qualifications the sole objects of in- quiry. It is, then, to be considered as indisputable, that in removing Mr. Goodrich and appointing his successor, Mr. Jefferson had no regard to the qualifications of integ- rity, capacity, and fidelity to the constitution, but was ac- tuated by different motives and another spirit; and it must necessarily follow that his objects were political, per- sonal and selfish ; and his remarks in attempting to vin- dicate his course, are founded altogether upon that idea. He says, that during the late administration, those who were not of a particular sect of politics were excluded from office. This attempt to confine the charge of intolerance to Mr. Adams's administration is a mere trick. Mr. Adams was in office but four years. Probably he left the offices generally as he found them, occupied by those who had been placed in them by general Washington. It is certain he made very few removals ; and it may be said with safety, that not one was made for political reasons. If there was anything sectarian then in the system of ap- 36 THE CHARACTER OF pointments to office, it was chargeable more to general Washington than lo Mr. Adams. But as general Wash- ington's popularity was much greater than Mr. Adams's, and the country had hardly ceased mourning for his death, with characteristic cunning Mr. Jefferson charges the se- clusion of his own sect from office to the account of Mr. Adams. That sect, however, had scarcely a name or an existence when general Washington's administration com- menced ; and when the first appointments under the gov- ernment were made, reference could not have been had to political distinctions. A state of things existed in which the inquiry respecting the integrity, capacity and fidelity to the constitution, could be made and was made ; nor was it necessary to return to that practice, as it had not been departed from. Mr. Jefferson, then, on the score of intolerance, had no ground of complaint, against either Mr. Adams or General Washington. This brings his case down to one of a mere political character. He had been elected president by a party, and was under the ne- cessity of rewarding his partizans with offices and in- comes; and here may be found the origin of the doctrine of " contending for victory and dividing the spoils." New York, with all its claims to practical distinction in this re- spect, is not entitled to the merit of having invented this system. But, saj^s Mr. Jefferson, " when the public sentiment at length declared itself, and burst open the doors of honor and confidence to those whose opinions they more approv- ed, was it to be imagined that this monopoly of office was still to be continued in the hands of the minority ? Does it violate their equal rights, to assert some rights in the majority also ? " He obviously goes upon the ground, that the great political struggle which terminated in his own THOMAS JEFt'ERSON. 37 election — -an event of so much importance in his opinion, as well as in that of his warm partizans, as to be dignified with the character of a revolution — was a m.ere conflict for office. The rights and the blessings of self-govern- ment of which he speaks as belonging to the majority, must of necessity be the emoluments of office, because the great contest through which they had just passed had put them in possession of the administration of the govern- ment. All the rights which they could claim beyond this were what, in more modern and more simple language, are called the " spoils of victory." Again — Mr. Jefferson says, " If the will of the nation, manifested by their vari- ous elections, calls for an administration of government according with the opinions of those elected ; if, for the fulfilment of that will, displacements are necessary, with whom can they so justly begin as with persons appointed in the last moments of an administration, not for its own aid, but to begin a career at the same time with their suc- cessors, by whom they had never been approved, and who would scarcely expect from them a cordial co-operation." Here the idea is first started under our government, that a change in the administration involves the principle of a thorough change in subordinate offices — or in other words, that the great revolution in eighteen hundred meant noth- ing more than to make Mr. Jefferson president that Tie might have it in his power to bestow offices upon his parti- zans. It can imply nothing more nox less than this ; for the administration of the government, so far as the execu- tive branch of it is concerned, cannot depend upon the political principles or sentiments of the collectors of the customs, or any other subordinate class of ministerial of- fice holders. The idea, therefore, that the election of a new chief magistrate calls upon the various subordinate 4 38 THE CHARACTER -OF officers to assist in an administration according with the political opinions of that officer, as suggested in the sen- tence just quoted, is absurd. Such an idea cannot exist, because those officers have nothing to do with the admin- istration of the government. Their duties are the same uncler all administrations ; and they consist entirely and exclusively in the faithful collection of the imposts on merchandize, and the punctual payment of the money re- ceived from that source into the treasury. These duties were strictly performed by Mr. Goodrich ; and, of course, he did everything which the laws required of him as a faithful officer of the government, notwithstanding the re- sult of the election which had recently occurred, by which Mr. Jefferson had been placed at the head of that govern- ment. In what sense, then, is the expression, when speaking of Mr. Adams's appointments, from whom the new administration could not expect a cordial co-operation, to be understood ? It must mean something beyond the performance of the legitimate duties of the office of col- lector, because those duties were strictly and punctiliously performed by that gentleman. Co-operation with the ad- ministration, then, must necessarily have intended, in Mr. Jefferson's understanding of the phrase, services devoted to the promotion of his own personal and political interests, to the furtherance of his selfish views and projects, and the continuance of the predominance of the party of which he was the avowed and acknowledged head. And this expla- nation of his language is rendered clear and indisputable by what immediately follows in this extraordinary letter. " Mr. Goodrich," he says, " was one of these " — that is, one of the persons appointed by Mr. Adams, from whom he, that is Mr. Jefferson, could not expect a cordial co- -operation. And he then significantly asks — " Was it THOMAS JEFFERSON. 39 proper for him to place himself in office without knowing whether those whose agent he was to be would place con- fidence in his agency ? " Without stopping to notice the absurdity of the suggestion, that Mr. Goodrich had placed himself in office, it is of more importance to ascertain what is meant by the expression whose agent he was to be. It has already been remarked, that Mr. Goodrich's lawful business was to collect the revenue at New Haven and pay the monies received by him into the national treasury. In doing this he was the agent of the government, not of the executive. The imposts upon merchandize were laid by con- gress, not by the executive; and the money received from them was to pay the debts and expenses of the government, not for the profit or benefit of the executive branch of the government. Nothing, therefore, beyond the faithful col- lection and punctual payment of the receipts of his office could have been legitimately required of him ; this was the extent of his agency : and if anything further was exacted or expected from him, it must have been intended for sel- fish or party purposes, and of course must have been illegal- ly demanded. For such purposes, men of integrity, capaci- ty and fidelity to their constitutional duties were removed from office by Mr. Jefferson, for the sole object of intro- ducing others into their places who would become execu- tive agents, possess executive confidence, perform executive services, and promote the views and interests of an indi- viduaV or a party, instead of confining themselves and their labors to the more circumscribed and legitimate circle of constitutional requirements. Who can fail to trace to this pernicious source the cor- rupt and disgraceful practise which, at a subsequent period, so extensively prevailed, of forcing every office-holder to become the tool of the executive branch of the government 40 THE CHARACTER OF — of the universal bestowinent of offices as the price of servitude under that grasping ambitious power, and as the reward of entire and absolute devotion to the plans, po- litical intrigues, and corrupt system of measures, of a bold and greedy party ? That Mr. Jefferson, in removing the New Haven collec- tor and other faithful officers from their places, was actua- ted by no other principle or motive than those which have here been ascribed to him, is acknowledged in this letter. He remarks, that after having corrected the procedure un- der the former administrations, " he shall with joy return to that state of things, when the only questions concerning a candidate shall be, Is he honest ? Is he capable ? Is he faithful to the constitution? " He had, then, as has been remarked, departed from that state of things; and, of course, while thus wandering from the path of duty, he must have asked a very different series of questions. What the nature of those questions was can be easily ima- gined. It must necessarily have been of a kind which had no reference to the constitutional duties of the execu- tive head of the government, but such as were unknown to the constitution, and of course dangerous to the inter- ests, the general welfare, and the constitutional liberties of the people. If it could be necessary to place this matter in a still clearer and stronger light, reference might be had to a let- ter to James Monroe, dated March 7, 1801, immediately after Mr. Jefferson had been sworn into office, in which he says — " These people," (the federalists,) " I always exclude their leaders, are now aggregated with us, they look with a certain degree of affection and confidence to the admin- istration, ready to become attached to it, if it avoids in TJHOMAS JEFFERSON. 41 the outset acts which might revolt and throw them off. To give time for a perfect consolidation seems prudent. I have firmly refused to follow the counsels of those who have desired the giving offices to some of their leaders, in order to reconcile. I have given', and will give, only to republicans under existing circumstances. But I believe with others, that deprivations of office, if made on the ground of political principles alone, would revolt our new converts, and give a body to leaders who now stand alone. Some I know must be made. They must be as few as possible, done gradually, and done on some malversation, or inherent disqualification. Where we shall draw the line between retaining all and none is not yet settled, and will not be till we get our administration together; and perhaps even then, we shall proceed a tatons, balancing our measures according to the impression we perceive them to make." Is there any ground for wonder, or even surprise, that the federalists withheld their confidence from a man who entertained such sentiments as these ; and from whose ad- ministration they reasonably expected such pernicious consequences as such an example, protected and supported by popular delusion, was calculated to produce — conse- quences which the country now realize in all their force and eflfect ? 4# 42 THE CHARACTER OF CHAPTER III. Federalists opposed to Mr. Jefferson because of his known oppo- sition to an independent Judiciary — Letter to Ritchie, December 25, 1820— To Melish, January 1813— To Nicholas, December, 1813 — To Barry, July 1822 — Importance of Judicial Indepen- dence — Language used by Mr. Jefferson on the subject — His opposition to Courts manifested in the prosecution of Burr — Review of Burr's alleged conspiracy, and the proceedings of the government in relation to it — More attempted to be made of it than the facts would warrant— Nothing said about it by the Ex- ecutive, after the Message at the opening of the session, until January 22 — Article published on the same subject in the Rich- mond Enquirer — Burr's arrest and trial — Correspondence rela- ting to the trial — Attack upon Judge Marshall's character — Mr. Jefferson's objects in this affair political — Charges the Federalists with favoring Burr — Correspondence on the subject — Hostility to Judge Marshall on the ground of Burr's acquittal. The federalists entertained strong fears of the effects of Mr. Jefferson's influence at the head of the government, from his known hostility to an independent judiciary. Placing much reliance upon that very important branch of the government as the expounders of the constitution and the laws, and depending upon their intelligence and integ- rity for the establishment of the true principles of both, they viewed the absolute independence of the courts of all popular influence and control, as an indispensable charac- teristic of a safe and useful judiciary. The following ex- tracts from his works will show what Mr. Jefferson's sen- timents on that subject *were. In a letter to Thomas Ritchie, dated December 25, 1820, he says, — TJIOMAS JEFFERSON. 43 " The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our constitution from a co-ordination of a general and special government to a general and su- preme one alone. This will lay all things at their feet, and they are too well versed in English law to forget the maxim, ^^ Boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem." We shall see if they are bold enough to take the daring stride their five lawyers have lately taken. If they do, then, with the editor of our book in his address to the public, I will say, ' that against this every man should raise his voice,' and more, should uplift his arm. Who wrote this admirable address ? Sound, luminous, strong, not a word too much, nor one which can be changed but for the worse. That pen should go on, lay bare these wounds of our constitution, expose these decisions seriatim, and arouse, as it is able, the attention of the nation to these bold speculators on its patience. Having found from ex- perience that impeachment is an impracticable thing, a mere scare-crow, they consider themselves secure for life, they skulk from responsibility to public opinion, the only remaining hold on them under a practice first introduced into England by lord Mansfield. An opinion is huddled up in conclave, perhaps by a majority of one, delivered as if unanimous and with the silent acquiescence of lazy or timid associates, by a crafty chief judge, who sophisticates the law to his mind by the turn of his own reasoning. A judiciary law was once reported by the attorney-general to congress, requiring each judge to deliver his opinion seriatim and openly, and then to give it in writing to the clerk to be entered in the record. A judiciary indepen- dent of a king or executive alone, is a good thing ; but 44 THE CHARACTER OF independence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in a republican government." In January, 1813, Mr. Jefferson, in a letter to Mr. Melish, makes use of the following language : — " The party called republican is steadily for the support of the present constitution. They obtained at its commence- ment all the amendments to it they desired. These rec- onciled them to it perfectly^ and if they have any ulterior views, it is only, perhaps, to popularize it further by shortening the senatorial term, and devising a process for the responsibility of judges more practicable than that of impeachment." In a letter to Nicholas, dated December 11, 1821, he says, " I fear that we are now in such another crisis, with this difference only, that the judiciary branch is alone and single-handed in the present assaults on the constitu- tion. But its assaults are more sure and deadly as from an agent seemingly passive and unassuming. May you and your contemporaries meet them with the same determina- tion and effect as your father and his did the alien and sedition laws, and preserve inviolate a constitution which, cherished in all its chastity and purity, will prove, in the end, a blessing to all the nations of the earth." In a letter to William T. Barry, dated July 2, 1822, he says, " So also in the cixnl revolution of 1801. Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican track. To preserve it in that will require unremitting vigilance. Whether the surrender of our opponents, their reception into our camp, their assumption of our name and apparent accession to our objects, may strengthen or weaken the genuine principles of republicanism, may be a good or an evil, is yet to be seen. I consider the party THOMAS JEFFERSON. 45 division of whig and tory the most wholesome which can exist in any government, and well worthy of being nour- ished to keep out those of a more dangerous character. We already see the 'power installed for life, responsible to no authority, (for impeachment is not even a scare-crow,) advancing with a noiseless and steady pace to the great object of consolidation. The foundations are already deeply laid by their decisions for the annihilation of con- stitutional state rights, and the removal of every check, every counterpoise, to the engulphing power of which themselves are to make a sovereign part. If ever this vast country is brought under a single government it will be one of the most extensive corruption, indifferent and incapable of a wholesome care over so wide a spread of surface. This will not be borne, and you will have to choose between reformation and revolution. If I know the spirit of this country, the one or the other is inevitable. Before the canker is become inveterate, before its venom has reached so much of the body politic as to get beyond control, remedy should be applied. Let the future ap- pointment of judges be iox four or six years, and removable by the president and senate. This will bring their con- duct, at regular periods, under revision and protection, and may keep them in equipoise between the general and special governments. We have erred in this point by copying England, where certainly it is a good thing to have the judges independent of the king. But we have omitted to copy their caution also, which makes a judge removable on the address of both legislative houses. That there should be public functionaries independent of the nation, whatever may be their demerit, is a solecism in a republic of the first order of absurdity and inconsistency." 46 THE CHARACTER OF These were Mr. Jefferson's sentiments down almost to the close of his life ; the last letter from which they have been taken was written only four years before that event. Finding in it the same general spirit of hostility to. an in- dependent judiciary, it is fair to conclude that the feeling formed a part of the constitution of his mind. As popular applause was the idol of his life, he would gladly have subjected courts to the most dangerous and most mis- chievous of all the great variety of influences which could assail them, viz: popular caprice and popular passion. The human mind cannot conceive a good reason for bring- ing courts under this species of control. When the con- stitution was formed, the enlighterj^ed and virtuous patriots and statesmen who framed it, and the people by whom it was afterwards adopted and established, considered the independence of that great branch of the government as an article of fundamental importance. Without a pro- vision for that purpose there is very little probability that it would have been adopted. Without it, it would have been comparatively of but little value. But instead of in- telligent, upright, independent and fearless courts, Mr. Jefferson would have subjected them to the fluctuations of popular opinion and party passion, subject to the changes of political divisions, and liable to be called to account for any and every decision which should prove to be obnox- ious to the feelings of a rabble, and to be displaced from office at the demand of a mob. For these are the usual, and it may be added the only modes in which popular opinion can be formed into a court of impeachment, to arraign, try and determine on the conduct and qualifi- cations of judges. Without an independent judiciary, where the laws will be faithfully and intelligently ex- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 47 pounded and justice impartially and fearlessly adminis- tered, the rights and liberties of no country can be safe, but injustice, oppression and tyranny will inevitably prevail. Such was the animosity of Mr. Jefferson to the supreme court, that in giving vent to his feelings, he makes use not merely of loose, but even contradictory expressions. He says, " the party called republican is steadily for the sup- port of the present constitution. They obtained at its commencement all the amendments to it they desired. These reconciled them to it perfectly, and if they have any ulterior views, it is only perhaps to popularize it further by shortening the senatorial term, and devising a process for the respo'nsibility of the judges, more practicable than that of impeachment." If the party called republican had obtained all the amendments they wished, and were per- fectly satisfied with the constitution, it is a little remarka- ble that they should be desirous of amending it a little more ; and especially in two such material particulars as those here mentioned. But Mr. Jefferson's hostility to an independent judiciary, was, if possible, more strikingly manifested in the course of the judicial proceedings which were instituted against Aaron Burr, after the suppression of what at the time was called an insurrection against the government of the United States. That event, whatever was its real nature or its object, has in a good degree passed out of mind. But it may be useful, in giving these various traits of Mr. Jeffer- son's character, to relate some historical facts connected with it, as having a tendency to elucidate the peculiarity of his genius, and the means which he could use for the accomplishment of a favorite object. It is well known that Burr, who during the first four years of Mr. Jefferson's administration was vice president 48 THE CHARACTER OF of the United States, was, at a subsequent period, charged by him with treasonable operations against the national gov- ernment and Union. The events on which this charge was founded, occurred in the year 1806. This was considered as an object of sufficient importance to be introduced, in very general terms .however, into the president's message at the opening of the session of congress of December of that year ; and to form the subject of a more special com- munication in the month of January following. Still later in the session, Messrs. Bollman and Swartwout, who had been arrested at New Orleans as joint conspirators with Burr, were brought as state prisoners to the city of Wash- ington, and held for sometime in custody on the charge of treason. Two other individuals, Ogden and Alexander, were also arrested at New Orleans and transported to Baltimore, as accomplices in the same offence. The two former, after being imprisoned for some time on the charge of treason, by order of the circuit court of the district of Columbia, were discharged from confinement by the su- preme court of the United States, on the ground that the proof adduced of treasonable conduct was not sufficient to hold them in prison on that charge. Ogden was taken before a state magistrate at Baltimore, and discharged for ' the want of proof of any offence ; and Alexander, who was carried to Washington, was released because no accu- sation was made against him. Subsequently, Burr was apprehended, taken to Richmond, in Virginia, where, af- ter a labored trial, he was acquitted by the jury. Thus, it happened, after the union had been kept for nearly a year in a state of fermentation, and no less than five persons had been arrested and transported, either by land or by water, many hundreds of miles, accused of treason, while the public feelings were kept for a long pe- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 49 riod in a state of impassioned excitement, the very extra- ordinary circumstance took place, notwithstanding the most unwearied exertions of the executive branch of the government to subject the persons accused to the penahies of the law, that not a single individual was ever convicted of any offence, of any description, connected with this al- leged conspiracy against the liberties of the country. That much more was attempted to be made out of it than the truth would warrant is evident from the facts that have just been mentioned. That Mr. Jefferson was actuated by other motives than a mere regard to the safety of the union and the constitution can hardly be question- ed, now the parties and the policy which were involved in the controversy have passed away. That he had in this, and in all other cases, a higher regard to his own feelings and interests than to those of his country and its govern- ment, does not admit of a reasonable doubt. The follow- ing document, though in form unofficial, may be consider- ed as having proceeded from executive authority. It was published at Richmond on the same day that the presi- dent's message respecting " Burr's conspiracy " was deliv- ered to the house of representatives at Washington. That the proceedings of that department in regard to this sub- ject were calculated for political effect cannot be doubted. That the arrests which have been mentioned w^re plan- ned beforehand, and were intended to produce or at least to heighten the general impression expected from the " con- spiracy," will satisfactorily appear from what follows. After the delivery of the message at the opening of the session of congress in December, 1806, no information of any moment was communicated to congress from the executive on that subject, until late in the month of Janua- ry following. At the same time, rumors were in constant 5 50 THE CHARACTER OF circulation at the seat of government respecting the pro- gress of the conspirators and the formidable nature of the conspiracy. At length, on the 16th of January, a resolu- tion was adopted by the house of representatives^ by a vote of 109 to 14, calling upon the president for informa- tion respe(-ting the alleged combination against the peace and safety of the Union. The minority of fourteen was composed exclusively of the devoted friends and partizans of the administration. On the 22d of January, a message containing, professedly, a historical account of Burr's pro- ceedings, from their commencement to the date of the message, so far as the executive thought it proper to dis- close them, was sent to the house of representatives. On the same day an article was published in a newspaper, called the Enquirer, at Richmond, Virginia, which is re- cited at length herein, as tending to disclose some facts not generally known relating to this " insurrection." Everything of any importance in the official message to the house of representatives is to be found in this article, and some very material ones in the latter which are not contained in the former. This will convince every mind that the newspaper document proceeded from the cabinet; and the facts stated in it will probably satisfy most people, that personal feelings and politics were intimately connect- ed with Mr. Jefferson's conduct in relation to this famed transaction. \From the Richmond Enquirer, Jan. 22, 1807.] " Burr's Conspiracy. The following letter casts more pure light upon the conspiracy of Aaron Burr, than any communication which has yet been published. It is de- rived from the same ' high authority ' as the letter which appeared two weeks since in the Enquirer, on the same subject." THOMAS JEFFERSON. 51 " Washington, Jan. 15, 1807. " I hasten to communicate to you the information brought from Kentucky and New Orleans by a mail which arrived here yesterday. It has taken me half a day to collect from the different persons who have receiv- ed letters, the intelligence contained in them. I shall not take time to digest it into any order, but I am satisfied I need not hesitate to rely on the interest it will excite. " There is no account of any seizures having been made upon the Ohio, since that of the Muskingum flotilla, nor can it be said with certainty that the boats under Blannerhasset and Tyler, which left the neighborhood of Marietta with great precipitance upon the first alarm given them by the government of Ohio, have not passed Cincin- nati, notwithstanding the prompt and decisive measures taken by governor TifRn to intercept them there, and com- pletely effected their escape from that state. Mr. Graham, after having given the information he had collected to the legislature of Ohio, which received him and then closed its doors, and after having witnessed the prompt and vig- orous measures, both legislative and executive, which his disclosures produced, immediately repaired to Kentucky, the legislature of which state was in session at his arrival. He was admitted to a private meeting of that body, to which he made the same discoveries. The same measures followed with equal zeal and dispatch. Precisely the same law passed without delay, and parties of militia were immediately ordered to Louisville, to the mouth of Trade- water, and the mouth of Cumberland river and Tennessee, for the purpose of stopping and detaining all boats and all persons passing downwards. The militia moved with alacrity, and the loyalty of the state became at once as it was before asserted by its representatives here to be steady 52 THE CHARACTER OF and strong-. Nothing of the operations of these parties has yet reached this place. " The name of Graham being mentioned, it is requisite to give you some information about that person. He is the same who was formerly secretary of legation to Spain, and is now secretary to the territorial government of Orleans. Being accidentally in this place during the first days of November last, he received from the executive, which had full confidence in his integrity, discretion and constancy, private instructions, with a secret authority and creden- tials, to follow the footsteps of colonel Burr and his lead- ing partizans, to notice their measures, to endeavor to dis- cover their views, and if possible, to get full possession of their plan of operations. Such was his prudence and dexterity that he was never suspected, and overtures were even made to him by Blannerhasset and others to join them in the scheme. The result of his labors and the substance of his communication to the legislatures of Ohio and Kentucky is, that the armament was destined in the first place against New Orleans, the wealth of which was to be seized and made use of to allure adventurers from all parts for an expedition against Mexico, which colonel Burr hoped to overrun, and by the influence of the gold and silver he would acquire over the needy and the bold in the United States, in the islands, and in the country of Mexico itself, efTectually to subdue and finally to convert it into a kingdom for himself. " The success of the freebooters in their repeated incur- sions into the wealthier parts of the Spanish territories, on either side of the Isthmus, about the close of the seven- teenth century, was sufficient to inspire with such a de- sign a mind so daring, so lofty, and so desperate as that of colonel Burr. He no doubt believed, that if Morgan had THOMAS JEFFERSON. 53 been such a man as himself, he would never have quitted Panama, but would have extended and organized his con- quests, and established a Welch dynasty in the richest country in America. " That this was his ultimate design, and was the real line to his followers, there can be no question. In order to mask the grand scheme, he assumed several lesser plans, which were perhaps altogether feigned. He held out to the partizans of Spain, that his view was to restore Louisiana to its ancient proprietors, and he had commenced a deep intrigue upon the Missouri, to alienate the people of that territory from the United States of which there is proof in a deposition of the sheriff of St. Charles, transmitted to me by a friend in that country, and now in my possession. " He assured the people of the Ohio river, when he did not expect to engage them in his service, that his design was to colonize the tract of country twenty-five miles square upon the Washita and Red river, which had been granted by a Spanish governor to a German in the Span- ish service, and had been purchased, he said, by himself in partnership with others. He observed that the persons he had engaged were bound to perform military service, because war with Spain was inevitable. That he had for that reason directed them to leave behind for one year, all their female connections, and had prepared arms and mili- tary stores, with provisions for a length of time, in order to be ready to bring a strong auxiliary force into the field in behalf of his country if occasion should require. He gave the most solemn assurances, of which there is writ- ten proof in possession of a gentleman lately appoint- ed to the senate from Kentucky, that his scheme was viewed with the greatest satisfaction by the executive gov- ernment of the United States, because it resembled their 5^ 54 THE CHARACTER OF favorite plan of creating a military colony upon the south- western frontier, by giving a bounty in lands to able bodi- ed men who would settle immediately, and engage to per- form military service for so many years ; which plan the legislature had not sanctioned. " This he used with some effect, but sacrificed forever, his former reputation for veracity, which with the world has been unimpaired until now, although it is now said, it was long ago blasted with his acquaintance. " I do not hesitate to pronounce, that his designs are completely frustrated. Should that part of his flotilla, which once escaped governor TifRn, have continued fortu- nate in escaping him again at Cincinnati, and in passing the Kentucky militia; should the boats built upon the Cumberland river, and the Tennessee, be lucky enough, to form a junction with it, and the whole proceed down the Mississippi, and all this is rendered too probable by the date of events and the discontinuance of the accounts of seiz- ures, still their capture is certain. " By letters from New Orleans, as late as the 9th of December, which arrived yesterday, accounts are brought of the exertions of general Wilkinson and governor Clai- borne, to prepare for the defence of that place against at- tacks from the side of the sea, not the river. " All the gun vessels of the United States in that quar- ter were in the river, and were advancing up it. " The regular army of the United States had returned again to the Mississippi, and had arrived in New Orleans. " The militia of that city were in motion. " The French inhabitants had displayed a zeal and spirit in their loyalty which renders them worthy of their new country. *' General Wilkinson and sfovernor Claiborne had con- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 55 vened the merchants of New Orleans, in full assembly. The former, in an animated address, after denouncing colonel Burr, exhorted them to assist him in his efforts for the defence of their city, and solemnly swore, in the enthusiastic style peculiar to him, that if it were taken by the vessels he would perish in the endeavor to repel the assault. The meeting adopted, unanimously, some spirit- ed and patriotic resolutions. " The governor was requested by those who would be the first sufferers by the measure, to lay an embargo im- mediately, which he did without hesitation. " A considerable sum was subscribed to be distributed as bounty among the sailors who would engage to serve on board the ships. " Many of the guns of the city were placed upon the merchantmen in the river, and a respectable fleet was sud- denly formed to repel one which was expected from the West Indies, " It is by no means certain that there is any ground at all for this apprehension. Colonel Burr, when he made proposals to general Wilkinson to join in the scheme, as- sured him that the late commodore Truxton was in Ja- maica collecting a fleet to meet them at the mouth of the Mississippi. This is one of the numerous dishonorable falsehoods of that deluded man. Truxton had too much regard for his former reputation, and too much honor to engage in this affair. He communicated at once the pro- posals made to him, and remains slill on his farm, near Amboy in Jersey. " Perhaps the falsehood may extend no farther than the name of Truxton, and some of Miranda's vessels may be expected, but more probably the whole is false. " Colonel Burr, by the last accounts, was still at the 56 THE CHARACTER OF house of general Jackson, in Tennessee, who entertained him without the smallest suspicion of his treasonable con- duct. " A pilot boat has been lately despatched from New York ; it is conjectured to meet him somewhere on the coast of Florida and take him off. Information of the sailing of this boat has been forwarded to general Wilkin- son. I am inclined, myself, to think that he will not go to the coast lest he should be apprehended by the Span- iards. He cannot venture to New Orleans, for he must have learned of the arrest of his accomplices by general Wilkinson, which was to have taken place about the 12th of December, soon after which they were to be shipped for this place. " Those men on the 9th remained still ignorant that they were to be apprehended as traitors, and thought themselves safe in having separated so early from their chief, although they had acted under his authority in descending the river. I am disposed to conjecture that colonel Burr will endeavor to meet such of his boats as may have escaped somewhere on the Mississippi, above general Wilkinson's advanced party, and will place himself in the centre of baron Bastrop's grant, with the view to maintain boldly that he never had any other scheme in agitation. " Should this be his resolution it will be extremely dif- ficult for justice to pursue him with effect through all his wily doublings. When he has conversed upon the sub- ject of his expedition, he has been so artful in blendinpr all his different plans together, that it is not probable he has committed himself in discourses so fully as to produce his cum conviction. When he has written without disguising THOMAS JEFFERSON, hi his matter, he has always used cyphers. Unless some of his accomplices will confess, it will be doubtful how the trial will terminate. " There is no certainty yet as to the source from which he has derived his funds. My own conjecture rests where it did from the commencement, upon the late Spanish ambassador, as to the largest portion of them ; upon the force of party zeal in certain characters, and upon individual resentment and desire of revenge, per- haps, for some small aids in addition. " I have no time to make observations, or I should take pleasure in expatiating upon the value of this glorious ex- ample of rebellion, suppressed without expense of blood or treasure, in strengthening the affection and confidence of the friends of our republican system, and in lessening the distrust of others." Having succeeded in arresting Burr, and bringing him for trial within reach of executive exertion and influence, every effort that human ingenuity could devise, or a spirit of vindictive resentment could make use of to insure a conviction, was brought into exercise. The well-known and universally acknowledged principles of law regulating trials for criminal offences, were spurned and scouted by Mr. Jefferson ; chief-justice Marshall having thought prop- er to apply those principles to the case of this state pris- oner, was reviled and calumniated in a coarse and ungen- tlemanly manner by the chief magistrate of the nation. These facts will abundantly appear from a steady and an- imated correspondence which Mr. Jefferson kept up with the prosecuting attorney for the district of Virginia, during Burr's confinement and trial. The following extracts will show the great length to which he suffered himself to be carried by his feelings in relation to this subject. 58 THE CHARACTER OF In a letter to AVilliam B. Giles, dated April 20, 1807, Mr. Jefferson says — " That there should be anxiety and doubt in the public mind in the present defective state of the proof, is not wonderful ; and this has been sedulously encouraged by the tricks of the judges to force trials before it is possible to collect the evidence, dispersed through a line of two thousand miles from Maine to Orleans. ^^ " The first ground of complaint was the supine inatten- tion of the administration to a treason stalking through the land in open day. The present one, that they have crushed it before it was ripe for execution, so that no overt acts can be produced. This last may be true ; though I believe it is not. Oar information having been chiefly by way of letter, we do not know of a certainty yet what will be proved. We have set on foot an inquiry through the whole of the country which has been the scene of these transactions, to be able to prove to the courts, if they will give lime, or to the public by way of communication to congress what the real facts have been. For obtaining this, we are obliged to appeal to the patriotism of particu- lar persons in different places, of whom we have requested to make the inquiry in their neighborhood, and on such information as shall be voluntarily offered. Aided by no process or facilities from the federal courts, but frowned on by their new-born zeal for the liberty of those whom we would not permit to overthrow the liberties of their country, we can expect no revealments from the accom- plices of the chief offender. Of treasonable intentions, the judges have been obliged to confess there is probable appearance. What loop-hole they will find in the case when it comes to trial, we cannot foresee. Eaton, Stod- dart, Wilkinson, and two others whom I must not name, will satisfy the world, if not the judges, of Burr's guilt," THOMAS JEFFERSON. 59 " But a moment's calculation will show that this evi- dence cannot be collected under four months, probably five, from the moment of deciding when and where the trial shall be. I desired Mr. Rodney expressly to inform the chief justice of this, inofficially. But Mr. Marshall says, ' more than five weeks have elapsed since the opin- ion of the supreme court has declared the necessity of proving the overt acts, if they exist. Why are they not proved ? ' In what terms of decency can we speak of this ? As if an express could go to Natchez or the mouth of Cum- berland and return in five weeks, to do which has never taken less than twelve. Again, ' If, in November or De- cember last, a body of troops had been assembled on the Ohio, it is impossible to suppose the affidavits establishing the fact could not have been obtained by the last of March.' But I ask the judge where they should have been lodged ? At Frankfort ? at Cincinnati ? at Nashville ? St. Louis ? Natchez ? New Orleans ? These were the probable places of apprehension and examination. It was not known at Wash'mgton until the 26th of March, that Burr would escape from the western tribunals, be retaken, and brought to an eastern one : and in five days after (neither five months nor five weeks as the judge calculated) he says, it is ' impossible to suppose the affidavits could not have been obtained.' Where? At Richmond he certainly meant, or meant only to throw dust in the eyes of his au- dience. But all the principles of law are to be perverted which could bear on the favorite offenders, who endeavor to overturn this odious republic. ' I understand,' says the judge, ^probable cause of guilt to be a case made out by proofs furnishing good reason to believe,' &c. Speak- ing as a lawyer, he must mean legal proof, i. e. proof on oath, at least. But this is confounding probability and 60 THE CHARACTER OF proof. We had always before understood that where there was reasonable ground to believe guilt, the offender must be put on his trial. That guilty intentions were proba- ble, the judge believed. And as to the overt acts, were not the bundle of letters of information in Mr. Rodney's hands, the letters and facts published in the newspapers. Burr's flight, and the universal belief or rumor of his guilt, proba- ble ground for presuming the facts of enlistment, military guard, rendezvous, threat of civil war or capitulation, so as to put him on trial ? Is there a candid man in the United States who does not believe some one if not all of these overt acts to have taken place ? " If there ever had been an instance in this or the pre- ceding administrations, of federal judges so applying principles of law as to condemn a federal or acquit a republican offender^ I should have jjudged them in the present case with more charity. All this, however, will work well. The nation will judge both the offender and judges for themselves. If a member of the executive or legislature does wrong, the day is never far distant when the people will remove him. They will see then, and amend the error in our constitution which makes any branch independent of the nation. They will see that one of the great co-ordinate branches of the j^overnment, set- ting itself in opposition to the other two, and to the com- mon sense of the nation, proclaims impunity to that class of offenders which endeavors to overturn the constitution, and are themselves protected in it by the constitution it- self: for impeachment is a farce which will not be tried again. If their protection of Burr produces this amend- ment, it will do more good than his condemnation would have done." The attack here made upon judge Marshall, who tried THOMAS JEFFERSON. 61 Burr, appears to be upon the alleged charge, that he hur- ried the trial on before the government had a fair opportu- nity to make the necessary preparation ; and the sugges- tion is clearly made that this proceeded from a disposition to screen him from justice. That Mr. Jefferson was de- sirous not only of punishing, but of crushing the man who was his competitor for the office of president, before the house of representatives, is very apparent. That he wish- ed to turn the case not only against the court, but against the federalists, is equally clear. And vindictive as his feelings towards Burr obviously were, there is no room to doubt that he was quite as anxious for the political effect which he was endeavoring tc produce, as he was that jus- tice should be faithfully administered. The truth undoubtedly was, that he had taken up Burr more upon the ground of suspicion than on that of sub- stantial proof, and he was irritated at the course pursued by the court in applying the plain principles of law to his case, as would have been done in that of an ordinary in- dividual brought within the jurisdiction of the court for trial for a criminal offence. He says the information he had received was chiefly by way of letter, and that he did not know to a certainty what would be proved — that he had set on foot an inquiry through the whole scene of Burr's transactions, in order to prove to the courts if they would give time, or to congress and the public if they would not, what the real facts had been. It is then per- fectly clear, in the first place, that he had not procured his proofs, and in the second, that he did not even know what facts had occurred which he could charge against the ac- cused. Can any man wonder that judge Marshall did not think proper to put off the trial, and hold the prisoner in custody for four months, which is the shortest period 6 62 THE CHARACTER OF mentioned by Mr. Jefferson as necessary to ascertain the facts and collect the evidence to support them, merely ta give him time to make out and support the charges ? Mr. Jefferson was bred a lawyer; and he need not have gained anything more than a very moderate degree of acquaintance with the principles of law and the prac- tice of courts to have ascertained that no court could have postponed a trial on such grounds as were urged by him. No man is justified in bringing any person before even a grand-jury, much more before a court, without having previously ascertained that at least an offence had been committed, and that witnesses to prove it could be obtain- ed. If these witnesses could not be produced at the out- set, proof of their absence or other sufficient cause for their not being present must be adduced, in which their names must be specified and the importance of their testi- mony be regularly sworn to. But no well regulated tri- bunal ever postponed a trial, and held a culprit in prison in the mean time, in order to give the prosecutor time and opportunity to scour a thousand or two miles of country to hunt up grounds of accusation and evidence to substan- tiate them. The truth unquestionably was in this case, as in all others susceptible of such a direction, he wished so to conduct the controversy with Burr, both in the country and in the court, as to produce a political effect beneficial to himself and his party views and interests. He had set on foot an inquiry in order to prove facts not only to the courts, but to the public, through the medium of communications to congress. In doing this, he complains not only of not be- ing aided by process or facilities from the federal courts, but of being frowned upon by the new-born zeal of those courts for the liberty of those whom he would 7iot suffer to THOMAS JEPFERSON. 63 overthrow the liberties of their country. A more unfound- ed and malicious charge was never alleged or insinuated against any man, much more against as upright, intelligent and virtuous a judge as ever adorned the bench of justice. Not content with this, he proceeds to make a specific charge against judge Marshall. " But," says he, "all the principles of law are to be perverted which would bear on the favorite offenders who endeavor to overturn this odi- ous republic." Conscious of the grossness of his charges against the chief justice, he endeavors by a suggestion equally gross to justify himself by a reference to the previous conduct of the court. " If," says he, '* there had ever been an in- stance, in this or the preceding administrations, of federal judges so applying principles of law as to condemn a federal or acquit a republican offender, I should have judg- ed them in the present case with more charity. All this, however, will icork welly There is some consolation, un- der all these trials of his patience, patriotism and love of justice, that this perversion of law and contempt of jus- tice, will produce a good effect upon party politics — for that is the obvious meaning of the expression, " All this will work well." And to leave no doubt upon any mind that this con- struction of his language is correct, the following extract from the same letter is adduced as evidence. " The fed- eralists, too, give all their aid, making Burros cause their ovjn, mortified only that he did not separate the union or overturn the government, and proving that had he had a little dawn of success they would have joined him to in- troduce his object, their favorite monarchy, as they would any other enemy, foreign or domestic, who could rid them 64 THE CHARACTER OF of this hateful republic for any other government in ex- change." The same accusation is contained in a letter addressed to James Bowdoin, April 2, 1807. He says, " The fact is, that the federalists make Burr's cause their own, and exert their whole influence to shield him from punish- ment, as they did the adherents of Miranda. And it is unfortunate that federalism is still predominant in our ju- diciary department, which is consequently in opposition to the legislative and executive branches, and is able to baffle their measures often." These charges against the federalists, it will be observed, are contained in private letters to Mr. Jefferson's confidential friends, and of course we are to conclude were not intend- ed to see the light ; and in all probability they were never exposed to the public until they appeared in his posthu- mous volumes. It is not probable that he credited his own declarations, because there was no evidence laid be- fore the country at the time, nor has there been since, which gave the last color to them. They were, beyond all question, unfounded and false. The federalists never had any political connection with Aaron Burr. When the ques- tion whether he or Mr. Jefferson should be president of the United States came before the house of representatives, a choice of evils was presented to that body. They had very little confidence in the character or patriotism of either ; but they preferred Burr to Jefferson. And this probably was the source of this extreme animosity towards them ; for it is one of the remarkable traits of his character, that he never forgave the man who endeavored to check him in the ca- reer of ambition. In a letter to Dr. Logan, dated May 11, 1805, is the following passage: — "I see with infinite THOMAS JEFFERSON. 65 pain the bloody schism which has taken place among out friends in Pennsylvania and New York, and will probably take place in other states. The main body of both sec- tions mean well, but their good intentions will produce a great public evil. The minority, whichever section shall be the minority, will end in coalition with the federalists and some compromising of principle ; because these will not sell their aid for nothing. Republicanism will thus lose, and royalism gain some portion of that ground which we thought we had rescued to good government. I do not express my sense of our misfortunes from any idea that they are remediable. I know that the passions of men will take their course, that they are not to be con- trolled but by despotism, and that this melancholy truth is the pretext for despotism. The duty of an upright ad- ministration is to pursue its course steadily, to know^ noth- ing of these family dissensions, and to cherish the good principles of both parties. The war ad internecionem, [the war of extirmination,] which we have waged against federalism, has filled our latter times with strife and un- happiness. We have met it with pain, indeed, but with firmness, because we believed it the last convulsive effort of that hydra which we had conquered in the field." In a letter to George Hay, district-attorney, who was carrying on the prosecution against Burr, dated June 20, 1807, Mr. Jefferson says, " I did not see till last night the opinion of the judge on the sub'pmna duces tecum against the president. Considering the question there as coram non judia, I did not read his argument with much atten- tion. Yet I saw readily enough that, as is usual where an opinion is to be supported, right or wrong, he dwells much on smaller objections and passes over those which are solid. Laying down the position generally that al! 6^ 66 THE CHARACTER OF persons owe obedience to subpoenas, he admits no excep- tion unless it can be produced in his law books." In another letter to the same person, dated Sept. 7, 1807, after Burr's acquittal, he says, " I am happy in having the benefit of Mr. Madison's counsel on this occa- sion, he happening now to be with me. We are both strongly of opinion that the prosecution against Burr for misdemeanor should proceed at Richmond. If defeated, it will heap coals of fire on the head of the judged It is apparent from these extracts, and particularly from the closing sentence in the last, that Mr. Jefferson not only experienced feelings of disappointment and extreme mortification at Burr's acquittal, but of much deeper re- sentment towards the great judge before whom he was tried. Judge Marshall supported through a long life the highest reputation for learning, talents, integrity and in- dependence of mind. He was an ornament to the bench, and an honor to his country; and his character will be had in the most honorable remembrance, not only by all the upright and virtuous inhabitants of this country, but throughout the civilized world, when those who vilified him in the administration of justice will be forgotten, or recollected only to be contemned and despised. On the head of such a man Mr. Jefferson wished, merely for the gratification of his vindictive spirit towards a man who had escaped his vengeance as well as the penalty of the law, to heap coals of fire. In another letter to Mr. Hay, he says, " Those whole proceedings, (in Burr's trial,) will be laid before congress, that they may decide whether the defect has been in the evidence of guilt, or in the law, or in the application of the law^ and that they may provide the proper remedy for the past and the future." Here there is undoubtedly a broad hint at an impeachment of THOMAS JEFFERSON. 67 the chief justice, for a wilful perversion of the law for the purpose of preventing Burr's conviction. Much more might be adduced on this subject; but here is abundant evidence that the opinions which the federal- ists entertained respecting Mr. Jefferson's hostility to an independent judiciary were well founded and just. In their estimation, this was one of the great fundamental principles of the constitution, without which it would hardly have been worth the formality of adoption ; and with such feelings and such sentiments, they could not fail of being opposed to the elevation of a person to the office of chief magistrate whose sentiments were so much at variance with their own, and whose influence in regard to the proper constitutional standing and weight of the court they had every reason to believe would be exerted for the most mischievous and dangerous purposes. They also contain abundant evidence of his dislike of courts, and particularly of a judiciary so independent as that neither executive frowns, nor popular passion or fa- vor, could^ have any influence over its official conduct. This was precisely the situation in which those who form- ed and those who adopted the constitution intended it should be placed. Mr. Jeflerson's hostility to this part of that instrument obviously was that it would place one branch of the government out of his reach and beyond his control. He was not at all satisfied with the power of impeachment as the means of securing that good behav- ior which was the tenure of judicial office. He calls it a farce, a mere scare-crow, totally inefficacious to keep the courts within the scope of popular influence, or what he calls responsibility to the people. But a stronger objection, in his mind, lay against the court itself. This was, its federalism. If the judges, un- 68 THE CHARACTER OF der the influence of federalism or any other feeling or principle, had perverted justice or sanctioned a violation of law, they would have been justly liable to an impeach- ment ; and if charges of that description had been proved and substantiated, the senate, as constituted during his administration, would have sustained it. But his objec- tion to the conduct of judge Marshall in the trial of Burr was not that he did not regard the law, but, in reality, that he did. In his letter to Giles, he says, " That there should be anxiety and doubt in the public mind in the present defective state of the proof is not wonderful; and this has been sedulously encouraged by the tricks of the judge to force trials before it is possible to collect the evi- dence dispersed through a line of two thousand miles, from Maine to Orleans." " Our information having been chiefly by way of letter, we do not know of a certainty yet what will be proved. We have set on foot an inquiry through the whole of the country which has been the scene of these transactions, to be able to prove to the courts, if they will give time, or to the public by way of communication to congress, what the real facts have been." From this passage, it is apparent that he had a prisoner in custody charged with the highest crime known to the law, not only without evidence to prove his guilt but even to establish the preliminary fact that the crime had been committed. And he was angry with judge Marshall that he would not pervert the plain principles of law and the practice of courts, by retaining the person accused in prison until he could scour the country for proof to make out his case. And to show the extreme looseness of his sentiments on the subject of criminal justice, in answer to a remark from the bench that probable cause of guilt must THOMAS JEFFERSON. 69 be made out by proof, he says, " That guilty intentions were probable the judge believed. And as to the overt acts, were not the bundle of letters of information in Mr. Rodney's hands, the letters and facts published in the newspapers. Burr's flight, and the universal belief or rumor of his guilt, probable ground for presuming the facts of enlistment, military guard ? " &c. 70 THE CHARACTER OF CHAPTER IV. Federalists opposed Mr. Jefferson on the ground of his unsound and dangerous opinions respecting the constitution — Correspon- dence with Mrs. Adams — Friendship for Mr. Adams — Paying Callendar — His acquaintance with Callendar — Discharge of per- sons convicted under the sedition law, because he conceived the law a nullity — His sentiments respecting the power of the execu- tive to decide on the constitutionality of laws. The executive and judicial powers equal in this case — The sincerity of Mr. Jef- ferson's professions of friendship for Mr. Adams — Publication of Paine's Rights of Man — Mr. Jefferson's letter to general Washington in relation to it. The federalists viewed Mr. Jefferson as entertaining loose and dangerous opinions respecting the principles and authority of the constitution of the United States, and that he would, in any peculiar exigency, give it such a con- struction as would make it answer his own purposes. During the administration of the senior president Adams, many of the measures of the government were particularly odious to Mr. Jefferson and his party. Such feelings very naturally produced a coolness, if not something more, be- tween these two high officers of the government. In the year 1804, Mrs. Adams addressed a letter of condolence to Mr. Jefferson on the death of his daughter, which drew from him an answer, in which, with a degree of skill and dexterity that no other man could practice, he paved the way for a reconciliation between the two rival dignitaries ; in which attempt he ultimately succeeded. Mr. Adams, with strong powers of mind and great pride of character, THOMAS JEFFERSON. 71 was not proof against flattery ; and Mr. Jefferson, who understood his character well, knew where to apply its power in such a manner as to secure his object. In his answer to Mrs. Adams, which is dated June 13, 1804, after noticing the particular object of her letter, he says — " Mr. Adams's friendship and mine began at an earlier date. It accompanied us through long and important scenes. The different conclusions we had drawn from our political reading and reflections were not permitted to less- en mutual esteem ; each party being conscious they were the result of an honest conviction in the other. Like dif- ferences of opinion existing among our fellow citizens, at- tached them to the one or the other of us, and produced a rivalship in their minds which did not exist in ours. We never stood in one another's way. For if either had been withdrawn at any time, his favorers would not have gone over to the other, but would have sought for some one of homogeneous opinions. This consideration was sufficient to keep down all jealousy between us, and to guard our friendship from any disturbance by sentiments of rivalship; and I can say with truth, that one act of Mr. Adams's life, and one only, ever gave me a moments personal displea- sure. I did consider his last appointments to office as per- sonally unkind. They were from among my most ardent political enemies, from whom no faithful co-operation could ever be expected ; and laid me under the embarrass- ment of acting through men whose views were to defeat mine, or to encounter the odium of putting others in their places. It seems but common justice to leave a successor free to act by instruments of his own choice. If my re- spect for him did not permit me to ascribe the whole blame to the influence of others, it left something for friendship to forgive, and after brooding over it for some little time, 72 THE CHARACTER OF and not always resisting the expression of it, I forgave it cordially, and returned to the same state of esteem and re- spect for him which had so long subsisted. Having come into life a little later than Mr. Adams, his career hps pre- ceded mine, as mine is followed by some other ; and it will probably be closed at the same distance after him which time originally placed between us. I maintain for him, and shall carry into private life, a uniform and high measure of respect and good will, and for yourself a sin- cere attachment." On the 22d of July, 1822, Mr. Jefferson wrote a second letter to Mrs. Adams, acknowledging the receipt of one from her, in which it would seem, she had complained of his extending his favors to some worthless foreigners who were then in the country, and engaged in writing against him and his administration. Among them was a man of the name of Callendar, a British subject, who was obliged to leave his own country to avoid prosecution for seditious publications against its government. Taking shelter here, which had unfortunately been considered as " a refuge for oppressed humanity " from other parts of the world, he had resumed his former employment, and was writing against our government. The fact that Mr. Jefferson had contributed a sum of money for the relief of this political vagabond had leaked out, and it would seem by his letter to Mrs. Adams, it had been mentioned in her letter to him, probably as evidence of his unfriendly feelings towards Mr. Adams. In answer to her, he says — " Your favor of the first instant was duly received, and I would not again have intruded on you but to rectify cer- tain facts which seem not to have been presented to you under their true aspect. My charities to Callendar are considered as rewards for his calumnies. As early, I THOMAS JEFFERSON. 73 think, as 1796, I was told in Philadelphia that Gallendar, the author of the ' Political Progress of Britain,' was in that city, a fugitive from persecution for having written that book, and in distress. I had read and approved the book. I considered him as a man of genius, unjustly per- secuted. I knew nothing of his private character, and im- mediately expressed my readiness to contribute to his re- lief and to serve him. It was a considerable time after that, on application from a person who thought of him as I did, I contributed to his relief, and afterwards repeated the contribution. Himself I did not see until long after, nor ever more than two or three times. When he first began to write, he told some useful truths in his coarse way ; but nobody sooner disapproved of his writing than I did, or wished more that he would be silent. My chari- ties to him were no more meant as encouragements to his scurrilities, than those I give the beggar at my door are meant as rewards for the vices of his life and to make them chargeable to myself. In truth, they would have been greater to him had he never written a word after the work for which he fled from Britain. With respect to the calumnies and falsehoods which writers and printers at large published against Mr. Adams, I was as far from stooping to any concern or approbation of them as Mr. Adams was respecting those of Porcupine, Fenno, or Rus- sell, who published volumes against me for every sentence vended by their opponents against Mr. Adams. But I never supposed Mr. Adams had any participation in the atrocities of these editors, or their writers. I knew myself incapable of that base warfare, and believed him to be so. On the contrary, whatever I may have thought of the acts of the administration of that day, I have ever borne testi- mony to Mr. Adams's personal worth ; nor was it ever im- 7 74 THE CHARACTER OF peached in my presence without a just vindication of it on my part. I never supposed that any person who knew either of us could believe that either of us meddled in that dirty work. But another fact is, that I ' liberated a wretch who was suffering for a libel against Mr. Adams.' I do not know who was the particular wretch alluded to ; but I discharged every person under punishment or prose- cution under the sedition law, because I considered and now consider that law to be a nullity as absolute and as palpable as if congress had ordered us to fall down and worship a golden image ; and that it was as much my duty to arrest its execution in every stage, as it would have been to have rescued from the fiery furnace those who should have been cast into it for refusing to worship the image. It was accordingly done in every instance, without asking what the offenders had done, or against whom they had offended, but whether the pains they were sufTering were inflicted under the pretended sedition law. It was certainly possible that my motives for contributing to the relief of Callendar, and liberating sufferers under the sedition law, might have been to protect, encourage and reward slander ; but they may also have been those which inspire ordinary charities to objects of distress, meritorious or not, or the obligation of an oath to protect the constitution violated by an unauthorized act of con- gress. Which of these were my motives must be decided by a regard to the general tenor of my life. On this I am not afraid to appeal to the nation at large, to posterity, and still less to that Being who sees himself our motives, who will judge us from his own knowledge of them, and not on the testimony of Porcupine or Fenno." These letters have been copied in order that the princi- ples advanced in a third epistle to the same lady, dated THOMAS JEFFERSON. 75 September 11, 1804, may be more fully understood. In the following extract from the last mentioned letter will be found sentiments of a most extravagant description re- specting the powers of the executive branch of the govern- ment over the judiciary ; and at the same time, the origin of those advanced at a subsequent period by Andrew Jackson, when claiming a similar authority over the same branch of the government, may be distinctly traced. " You seem to think it devolved on the judges to decide on the validity of the sedition law. But nothing in the constitution has given them a right to decide for the exec- utive, more than to the executive to decide for them. Both magistracies are equally independent in the sphere of ac- tion assigned to them. The judges, believing the law constitutional, had a right to pass a sentence of fine and imprisonment; because the power was placed in their hands by the constitution. But the executive, believing the law to be unconstitutional, were bound to remit the execution of it; because that power had been confided to them by the constitution. That instrument meant that its co-ordinate branches should be checks on each other. But the opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action, but for the legislature and executive also in their spheres^ would make the ptdiciary a despotic branchy This principle of construction, when carried into prac- tical effect, proceeds very far towards the destruction of the independence of the judiciary. According to this doc- trine in all cases to which it applies, the co-ordinate doc- trine, as here laid down, goes the length of determining that the executive, whenever it differs in opinion from the courts on a constitutional question, may interpose its par- 76 THE CHARACTER OF doning power if the case happens to be of a kind which admits of its application ; or if not, to withhold its aid in carrying the sentence of the court into execution, and thus to annihilate the co-ordinate power of the judiciary. Such a construction is not only highly mischievous in its ten- dency and consequences, but it is a gross slander upon the convention who formed the constitution and the gen- eration of men by whom it was adopted. If once estab- lished as the rule of conduct, it must necessarily show that both the convention and the people fell into the gross error of providing, in their constitution, different branches of gov- ernment of such equal powers that one would be able en- tirely to prevent another from performing its appropriate duties. Such, however, was Mr. Jefferson's dislike to courts, such an inconvenience was an independent judi- ciary to him in the prosecution of his wild Utopian system of republicanism, as well as his schemes of personal am- bition, that, rather than be constantly embarrassed by a co- ordinate authority, established for the very purpose of keeping the proceedings of the other branches within the boundaries of the constitution, he would plunge into such a fatal absurdity in order to relieve himself from the in- cumbrance of judicial restraint. The friends of Mr. Adams, and, indeed, the community at large, were surprised to find the intimacy which had once subsisted between him and Mr. Jefferson, but which had been interrupted by the political occurrences they were obliged to encounter under the national government, renewed towards the close of their lives. In the year 1812, a correspondence commenced between them, and on Mr. Jefferson's part, at least, it was prosecuted with a good degree of vigor; for in the fourth volume of his posthumous works there are nearly thirty letters from him THOMAS JEFFERSON. 77 to Mr. Adams. Those who are acquainted with the pe- culiar structure of that gentleman's mind will not be sur- prised to find that he was flattered into a renewal of their former intimacy. As a specimen of Mr. Jefferson's inge- nuity and skill in managing a case of this kind, and as additional proof of the art and address used by him in his letters to Mrs. Adams, the following passages of a letter from him to Mr. Adams, dated January 21, 1812, are adduced : — " A letter from you calls up recollections very dear to my mind. It carries me back to the times when, beset with difficulties and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his right of self-government. Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us and yet passing harmless under our hark, we knew not how, we rode through the storm with heart and hand and made a happy port." " Of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, I see now living not more than half a dozen on your side of the Potomac, and on this side myself alone. You and I have been wonderfully spared, and myself with remarka- ble health and a considerable activity of body and mind. I am on horseback three or four hours of every day ; visit three or four times a year a possession I have ninety miles distant, performing the w^inter journey on horseback. I walk little, however, a single mile being too much for me ; and I live in the midst of my grandchildren, one of whom has lately promoted me to be a great grandfather. I have heard with pleasure that you also retain good health, and a greater power of exercise in walking than I do. But I would rather have heard this from yourself; and that wri- ting a letter like mine, full of egotisms and of details of 7:^ 78 THE CHARACTER OF your health, your habits, occupations and enjoyments, I should have the pleasure of knowing that, in the race of life, you do not keep in its physical decline the same dis- tance ahead of me which you have done in political honors and achievements. No circumstances have lessened the interest I feel in these particulars respecting yourself; none have suspended for one moment my sincere esteem for you, and I now salute you with unchanged affection and respect." The same show of friendly feeling and regard runs through the series of letters, and was continued until within three years of the time of their death. At the pe- riod of this renewed correspondence, Mr. Jefferson had no feelings of rivalship to indulge, nor any fears of being dis- appointed in his projects of ambition. His anxiety re- spected the future ; and he was obviously m.uch engaged in laying up materials for his own history. A reconcil- iation with such a man as Mr. Adams was, doubtless, an object of importance in his view of the subject; and it was accomplished in the manner that has been stated. In order to form a just estimate of Mr. Jefferson's sin- cerity in making these ardent professions of esteem and friendship for Mr. Adams, it v\^ill be proper to advert to an earlier expression of his feelings towards him. Early in the year 1791, the first part of Paine's Rights of Man was published in England, and a copy having been received in this country, it was republished in Philadel- phia. Prefixed to it was a recommendatory note from Mr. Jefferson to the publisher, addressed by the former to the latter. As this note alluded to a series of articles written by Mr. Adams, and published in the newspapers, which were spoken of by Mr. Jefferson as containing political heresies, and the reference was of such a nature and in THOMAS JEFFERSON. 79 such terms as were calculated to wound Mr. Adams's feelings, Mr. Jefierson thought it expedient to write an account of his agency in the matter to general Washing- ton, who was then absent from the seat of government on a journey through the southern states. The following is a copy of his letter on that occasion. It is not to be found among Mr. Jefierson's correspondence, but is contained in general Washington's writings, published by Mr. Sparks, volume 10, page 159. It is introduced by the editor of those volumes in the following manner. " During the absence of the president on his tour through the southern states, Mr. Jefferson wrote to him as follows, respecting his agency in the republication of the first part of Paine's 'Rights of Man.'" " Philadelphia, May 8th. The last week does not fur- nish one single public event worthy of communicating to you ; so that I have only to say, ' all is well.' Paine's an- swer to Burke's pamphlet begins to produce some squibs in our public papers. In Fenno's paper they are Burkites, in the others they are Painites. One of Fenno's was evi- dently from the author of the Discourses on Davila. I am afraid the indiscretion of a printer has committed me with my friend Mr. Adams, for whom, as one of the most honest and disinterested men alive, I have a cordial esteem, increased by long habits of concurrence in opinion in the days of his republicanism ; and even since his apostacy to he- reditary monarchy and nobility, though we differ, we difTer as friends should do. Beckley had the only copy of Paine's pamphlet and lent it to me, desiring when I should have read it, that I should send it to a Mr. J. B. Smith, who had asked it for his brother to reprint it. Being an utter stranger to J. B. Smith, both by sight and character, I wrote a note to explain to him why I (a stranger to him) sent 80 THE CHARACTER OF him a pamphlet, namely, that Mr. Beckley had desired it ; and, to take off a little of the dryness of the note, I added, that I was glad to find that it was to be reprinted, that something would at length be said against the 'political heresies which had lately sprung up among us, and that I did not doubt our citizens would rally again round the standard of common sense. " That r had in my view the Discourses on Davila^ which had filled Fenno's papers for a twelve-month with- out contradiction, is certain ; but nothing was ever further from my thought than to become myself the contradictor be- fore the public. To my great astonishment, however, when the pamphlet came out, the printer had prefixed my note to it without having given me the most distant hint of it. Mr. x\dams will unquestionably take to himself the charge of political heresy, as conscious of his own views of draw- ing the present government to the form of the English constitution, and I fear will consider me as meaning to in- jure him in the public eye. I learn that some Anglomen have censured it in another point of view, as a sanction of Paine's principles tends to give oflfence to the British gov- ernment. Their real fear however, is, that this popular and republican pamphlet, taking wonderfully, is likely at a single stroke to wipe out all the unconstitutional doctrines which their bell-vjether Davila has been preaching for a twelve^month. " I certainly never made a secret of my being anti- monarchical, and anti-aristocratical ; but I am sincerely mortified to be thus brought forward on the puhlic stage, where to remain, to advance, or to retire, will be equally against my love of silence and quiet, and my abhorrence of dispute." It would have been more characteristic, if Mr. Jefferson THOMAS JEFFERSON. 81 had made this attack upon his friend, Mr. Adams, in a more secret and clandestine manner ; and all the regret that he experienced on this occasion, appears to have arisen from the circumstance, that his sentiments respecting that gentleman had been thus disclosed, and he brought upon the public stage, where to remain, advance or retire, would be against his love of silence. 82 THE CHARACTER OF CHAPTER V. Mr. Jefferson's opinion that one generation of men cannot bind another, individually or collectively, to the fulfilment of obliga- tions — Letter to James Madison on the subject, dated Septem- ber, 1789 — to doctor Gem — to J. W. Eppes — to J. Cartwright, dated June, 1824 — Examination of his principle— Mr. Jefferson a mere partizan in politics— Letter to F. Hopkinson, March, 1789 — Correspondence respecting the operations of the federal government, 1790, 1791 — Origin of the Ana — Monarchy — Con- troversy of those days between the advocates of kingly and re- publican government. Among the strange and extravagant opinions which Mr. Jefferson had formed, and of the soundness of which he had apparently reasoned himself into a full and fixed be- lief, was the notion that one generation of men had no right to bind another, either in a collective or individual capacity, to the fulfilment of obligations assumed by the former. In a letter to James Madison, dated Paris, Sep- tember 6, 1789, he says : — " I sit down to write to you without knowing by what occasion I shall send my letter. I do it because a subject comes into my head which I would wish to develope a lit- tle more than is practicable in the hurry of the moment of making up general despatches. " The question, whether one generation of men has a right to bind another, seems never to have been started either on this or our side of the water. Yet it is a ques- tion of such consequences as not only to merit decision, but a place also among the fundamental principles of every THOMAS JEFFERSON. 83 government. The course of reflection in which we are immersed here, on the elementary principles of society, has presented this question to my mind ; and that no such obligation can be transmitted 1 think very capable of proof. I set out on this ground, which I suppose to be self-evi- dent, that the earth belongs in usufruct to the living : that the dead have neither powers nor rights over it. The por- tion occupied by any individual ceases to be his when himself ceases to be, and reverts to the society. If the society has formed no rules for the appropriation of its lands in severalty, it will be taken by the first occupants, and these will generally be the wife and children of the decedent. If they have formed rules of appropriation, those rules may give it to the wife and children, or to some one of them, or to the legatee of the deceased. So they may give it to his creditor. But the child, the lega- tee, or creditor takes it not by natural right, but by a law of the society of which he is a member and to which he is subject. Thus no man can, by natural rights oblige the lands he occupied, or the persons who succeed him in that occupation, to the payment of debts contracted by him. For if he could, he might, during his own life, eat up the usufruct of the lands for several generations to come ; and then the lands would belong to the dead, and not to the living, which is the reverse of our principle. " What is true of every member of the society individu- ally, is true of them all collectively ; since the rights of the whole can be no more than the sum of the rights of the in- dividuals. To keep our ideas clear when applying them to a multitude, let us suppose a whole generation of men to be born on the same day, to attain mature age on the same day, and to die on the same day, leaving a succeeding generation in the moment of attaining their mature age, all together. 84 THE CHARACTER OF Let the ripe age be supposed of twenty-one years, and their period of life thirty-four years more, that being the average term given by the bills of mortality to persons of twenty- one years of age. Each successive generation w'ould, in this way, come and go off the stage at a fixed moment, as individuals do now. Then, I say, the earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and incumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence. At twenty-one years of age, they may bind themselves and their lands for thirty-four years to come ; at twenty-two for thirty-three ; at twenty-three for thirty-two ; and at fifty-four for one year only ; because these are the terms of life which remain to them at the respective epochs. But a material difference must be noted between the succession of an individual and a whole generation. Individuals are parts only of a society, sub- ject to the laws of the whole. These laws may appropri- ate the portion of land occupied by a decedent to his credi- tor rather than to any other, or to his child on condition that he satisfies the creditor. But when a whole genera- tion, that is, the whole society, dies, as in the case we have supposed, and another generation or society succeeds, this forms a whole, and there is no superior who can give their territory to a third society, who may have lent money to their predecessors beyond their faculties of paying. " What is true of generations succeeding one another at fixed epochs, as has been supposed for clearer concep- tion, is true of those renewed daily, as is the actual course THOMAS JEFFERSON. 85 of nature. As a majority of the contracting generation will continue in being for thirty-four years, and a new majority will then come into possession, the former may extend their engagements to that term and no longer. The conclusion, then, is, that neither the representatives of a nation, nor the whole nation itself assembled, can validly engage debts beyond what they may pay in their own time ; that is to say, within thirty -four years from the date of the engagement. " To render this conclusion palpable, suppose that Louis the XIV. and XV. had contracted debts in the name of the French nation to the amount of ten thousand milliards, and that the whole had been contracted in Holland. The interest of this sum would be five hundred milliards, which is the whole rent-roll or net proceeds of the territory of France. Must the present generation have retired from the territory in which nature produces them and ceded it to the Dutch creditors ? No ; they have the same rights over the soil on which they were produced as the preced- ing generations had. They derive these rights not from them, but from nature. They, then, and their soil are by nature clear of the debts of their predecessors. To pre- sent this in another point of view, suppose Louis XV. and his cotemporary generation had said to the money- lenders of Holland, Give us money that we may eat, drink and be merry in our day ; and on condition that you will demand no interest until the end of thirty-four years, you shall then forever after receive an annual interest of fifteen per cent. The money is lent on these conditions, is di- vided among the people, eaten, drunk, and squawdered. Would the present generation be obliged to apply the produce of the earth and of their labor to replace their dis- sipation ? Not at all. 8 86 THE CHARACTER OF " I suppose that the received opinion, that the public debts of one generation devolve on the next, has been suggested by our seeing habitually in private life, that he who succeeds to lands is required to pay the debts of his predecessor ; without considering that this requisition is municipal only, not moral, flowing from the will of the society which has found it convenient to appopriate the lands of a decedent on the condition of a payment of his debts ; but that between society and society, or generation and generation, there is no municipal obligation, no um- pire but the law of nature. " The interest of the national debt of France being, in fact, but a two thousandth part of its rent-roll, the payment of it is practicable enough ; and so becomes a question merely of honor or of expediency. But with respect to future debts, would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare, in the constitution they are forming, that nei- ther the legislature nor the nation itself can validly con- tract more debt than they may pay within their own age, or within the term of thirty-four years ? and that all fu- ture contracts shall be deemed void as to what shall re- main unpaid at the end of thirty-four years from their date. This would put the lenders, and the borrowers also, on their guard. By reducing, too, the faculty of borrowing v/ithin its natural limits, it would bridle the spirit of war, to which too free a course has been procured by the inat- tention of money-lenders to this law of nature, that suc- ceeding generations are not responsible for the preceding. " On similar ground it may be proved that no society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation ; they may manage it, then, and what proceeds from it, as they please during their usufruct. They are masters, too, THOMAS JEFFERSON. 87 of their own persons, and consequently may govern them as they please. But persons and property make the sum of the objects of government. The constitution and the laws of their predecessors are extinguished, then, in their natural course, with those whose will gave them being. This could preserve that being until it ceased to be itself, and no longer. Every constitution, then, and every law naturally expires at the end of thirty-four years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force and not of right. It may be said that the succeeding generation exercising, in fact, the power of repeal, this leaves them as free as if the constitution or law had been expressly limited to thirty- four years only. In the first place, this objection admits the right in proposing an equivalent. But the power of repeal is not an equivalent. It might be, indeed, if every form of government were so perfectly contrived ihat the will of the majority could always be obtained fairly and without impediment. But this is true of no for.n. The people cannot assemble themselves ; their representation is unequal and vicious. Various checks are opposed to every legislative proposition. Factions get possession of the public councils, bribery corrupts them, personal inter- ests lead them astray from the general interests of their constituents; and other impediments arise so as to prove to every practical man that a law of limited duration is much more manageable than one which needs a repeal. " This principle that the earth belongs to the living and not to the dead is of very extensive application and con- sequences in every country, and most especially in France. It enters into the resolution of the questions, whether the nation may change the descent of lands holden in tail ; whether they may change the appropriation of lands given anciently to the church, to hospitals, colleges, orders of 88 THE CHARACTER OF chivalry, and otherwise in perpetuity ; whether they may abolish the charges and privileges attached on lands, in- cluding the whole catalogue ecclesiastical and feudal ; it goes to hereditary offices, authorities and jurisdictions, to hereditary orders, distinctions and appellations, to perpet- ual monopolies in commerce, the arts or sciences, with a long train oi et ceteras ; and it renders the question of re- imbursement a question of generosity and not of right. In all these cases the legislature of the day could author- ize such appropriations and establishments for their own time, but no longer ; and the present holders, even where they or their ancestors have purchased, are in the case of bona fide purchasers of what the seller had no right to convey. " Turn the subject in your mind, and particularly as to the power of contracting debts, and develop it with that cogent logic which is so peculiarly yours. Your sta- tion in the councils of our country gives you an opportu- nity of producing it to public consideration, of forcing it into discussion. At first blush it may be laughed at as the dream of a theorist, but examination will prove it to be solid and salutary. It would furnish matter for a fine preamble to our first law for appropriating the public rev- enue ; and it will exclude, at the threshhold of our new government, the ruinous and contagious errors of this quarter of the globe, which have armed despots with means which nature does not sanction for binding in chains their fellow-men. We have already given, in ex- ample, one effectual check to the dog of war by transfer- ing the power of declaring war from the executive to the legislative body, from those who are to spend to those who are to pay. I should be pleased to see this second obstacle held out by us, also, in the first instance. Na THOMAS JEFFERSON. 89 nation can make a declaration against the validity of long contracted debts so disinterestedly as we, since we do not owe a shilling which will not be paid, principal and inter- est, by the measures you have taken within the time of our own lives." Immediately after the letter from which the foregoing extracts are made, in the same volume of Mr. Jefferson's works, is one addressed to Dr. Gem, without date of time or place, of which the following is a copy : — " The hurry in which I wrote my letter to Mr. Madison, which is in your hands, occasioned an inattention to the difference between generations succeeding each other at fixed epochs and generations renewed daily and hourly. It is true that in the former case the generation when at twenty-one years of age may contract a debt for thirty- four years because a majority of them will live so long. But a generation consisting of all ages, and which legis- lates by all its members above the age of twenty-one years, cannot contract for so long a time because their majority will be dead much sooner. Buffon gives us a table of twenty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety-four deaths, stating the ages at which they happened. To draw from these the result I have occasion for, I suppose a society in which twenty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety-four persons are born every year, and live to the age stated in Buffon's table. Then the following in- ferences may be drawn. Such a society will consist con- stantly of six hundred and seventeen thousand seven hun- dred and three persons, of all ages. Of those living at any one instant of time, one half will be dead in twenty- four years and eight months. In such a society, ten thou- sand six hundred and seventy-five will arrive every year at the age of twenty-one years complete. It will Constant- sa 90 THE CHARACTER OF ly have three hundred and forty-eight thousand four hun- dred and seventeen persons, of all ages above twenty-one years ; and the half of those of tw^enty-one years and up- wards living at any one instant of time will be dpad in eighteen years and eight months, or say nineteen years. " Then the contracts, constitutions and laws of every such society become void in nineteen years from their date." Lest it should be supposed that these letters were written when Mr. Jefferson's mind was filled with enthusiastic zeal in the cause of liberty, by the first breaking out of the French revolution, and that age and experience might have cooled his ardor on that intoxicating subject, it will appear that he carried the wild and impracticable notions which he had thus early imbibed along the course and up to the close of his long life. In a letter to John W. Eppes, his son-in-law, and as it would seem, at the time, chair- man of the comimittee of ways and means in the house of representatives of the United States, dated June 24, 1813, he says : — " The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead. The will and the power of man expire with his life by nature's law. Some societies give it an artificial continuance for the encouragement of industry ; some refuse it, as our aboriginal neighbors, whom we call barbarians. The gen- erations of men may be considered as bodies or corpora- tions. Each generation has the usufruct of the earth dur- ing the period of its continuance. When it ceases to ex- ist, the usufruct passes on to the succeeding generation, free and unincumbered, and so on, successively, from one generation to another forever. We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the sue- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 91 ceeding generation more than the inhabitants of another country. Or the case may be likened to the ordinary one of a tenant for life, who may hypothecate the land for his debts during the continuance of his usufruct ; but at his death the reversioner (who is for life only) receives it exon- erated from all burthen. The period of a generation, or the term of its life, is determined by the laws of mortality, which varying a little only in different climates offer a general average to be found by observation." He then adverts to Buffon's theory respecting the period of human life, and after stating it much in the same man- ner as in a former letter already quoted, he says — " At nineteen years, then, from the date of a contract, the ma- jority of the contractors are dead and their contract with them." He then states a case for the purpose of illustra- ting the principle for which he is contending, which de- stroys one half the adult citizens of the community which forms the basis of his estimate ; and then says — " Till then," that is, to the time of their deaths, " being the ma- jority, they may rightfully lay the interest of their debt an- nually on themselves and their fellow-revellers, or fellow- champions. But at that period, say at this moment, a new majority have come into place, in their own rights, and not under the rights, the conditions or laws of their prede- cessors. Are they bound to acknowledge the debt, to con- sider the preceding generation as having had a right to eat up the whole soil of their country in the course of a a life, to alienate it from them (for it would be an aliena- tion to the creditors), and would they think themselves either legally or morally bound to give up their country and emigrate to another for subsistence ? Every one will say no : that the soil is the gift of God to the living, as much as it had been to the deceased generation ; and that 92 THE CHARACTER OF the laws of nature impose no obligation on them to pay this debt. And although, like some other natural rights, this has not yet entered into any declaration of rights, it is no less a law, and ought to be acted on by honest gov- ernments." In a letter to major John Cartrwight, dated June 5, 1824, two years only before his death, (vol. 4, 396,) he says, " Can one generation bind another, and all others, in suc- cession for ever? I think not. The Creator has made the earth for the benefit of the living, not the dead. Rights and powers can only belong to persons, not to things, not to mere matter unendowed with will. The dead are not even things. The particles of matter which composed their bodies make part now of the bodies of other animals, vegetables or minerals of a thousand forms. To what, then, are attached the rights they held while in the form of men ? A generation may bind itself as long as its ma- jority continues in life ; when that has disappeared, anoth- er majority is in place, holds all the rights and powers their predecessors once held, and may change their laws and institutions to suit themselves. Nothing, then, is un- changeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man." The general principle here advanced is, that no man can by natural right subject the lands in his occupation, or the persons who may succeed him in that occupancy, to the payment of his debts. After a pretty long train of reason- ing to establish this principle, Mr. Jefferson comes to this result — " That neither the representatives of a nation, nor the whole nation itself assembled, can validly engage debts beyond what they may pay in their own time, that is to say, within thirty-four years of the date of the en- gagement, or by a different estimate of life in nineteen THOMAS JEFFERSON. 93 years." In the first place, it would seem necessary to establish the great point, that all mankind must die at fifty-four years of age ; because the principle must fail in its application in every instance where a man's life is pro- longed beyond that period. It is true, that he makes out an average from Bufibn's estimate of the duration of hu- man life, which goes to fix that as the average extent of existence ; but as the privilege of being freed from the ob- ligation of pre-contracted debts is claimed to be a natural, inherent, inalienable right of man, it is not to be regulated or controlled by the laws of society. Indeed, if once sub- jected to the laws of the civil state, its natural character is lost; for if a majority of the individuals in a community can determine anything about it, they can determine everything about it. A natural right is not under the con- trol of a majority. It adheres to the individual in all situ- ations ; and nothing but the exercise of absolute despotic power can deprive him of his inherent privilege. But it may be difficult, in the second place, to keep every individual belonging to the majority alive during the thirty-four years after he has attained the full age of twenty-one. Some of them undoubtedly will die ; and it would not be strange if at least half of them should drop by the way. What would become of the principle in such a case ? and especially if a whole generation should, ac- cording to the supposition, all be born at a moment ? That it is, in Mr. Jefferson's phraseology, the usufruct only of the ground which a living man can claim, need not be denied, because it is certain that a dead man can neither till the ground nor use its fruits. Nor, in mtiny cases, can a sick man do either. But it does not follow, that because he cannot cultivate the soil, nor eat its pro- ducts, that the right in that soil belongs to the man who 94 THE CHARACTER OF can first enter and take possession of it after his death, and hold it free from all liability to discharge the honest debts of the former owner. This can never be admitted until the laws and institutions of society are abolished, and men are reduced once more to a savage state. There is no middle ground where they can meet, and live together in an uncivilized and even barbarous condition, in which every man's will must be his law, and every man's arm his own minister of justice. Besides, if it is to depend in any degree upon the votes of " the society," it yields the whole controversy ; because where men vote they must submit to a majority; and where a majority govern by general consent, it is a civil state in which all their af- fairs must necessarily be governed by the general rule — a rule to which all must submit. Mr. Jefferson does not confine his doctrines to the mere disposition of lands and the obligation to pay either pub- lic or private debts. He goes far beyond this. He says, " But persons and property make the sum of the objects of government. The constitution and the laws of their pre- decessors are extinguished, then, in their natural course with those whose will gave them being. This could pre- serve that being until it ceased to be itself, and no longer. Every constitution, then, and every law naturally expires at the end of thirty-four years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force and not of right." The plain and necessary meaning of this is, that no constitution of government, and no law enacted under such constitution, can regularly exist more than thirty-four years, but every community living under a constitution formed and adopted by their own voluntary acts, will at the end of that short period be thrown into a state of na- ture, destitute of all government and all law, and every indi- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 95 vidual belonging to such a conimunity will, of course, be left to do that which is right in his own eyes. Agreeably to this principle, the United States would be now consid- erably advanced towards the end of the natural life of a second constitution — forty years having elapsed since the adoption of the present. The meaning of this is, that every country which is favored with a constitution, formed and adopted by their own free choice, must have a politi- cal revolution every thirty-four years ; and this resulting from an inherent defect in the very nature of civil society, which is incapable of establishing or forming any system of government which can last longer than that period. Nobody who sees such sentiments as these from Mr. Jef- ferson can be surprised at hearing him, when alluding to Shay's insurrection, exclaim, " God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion." — " What signi- fy a few lives in a century or two ? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of pat- riots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." But, it may be asked, what would have been the condi- tion of the United States, if at the time of the organiza- tion of the new government, instead of George Washing- ton, Thomas Jefferson had been placed at the head of it, with all the influence and control over a majority of the country which he afterwards acquired and exercised? The great fundamental principles of the government, and of course its future direction and character, would have been regulated and influenced by a wild enthusiastic the- orist, destitute of any practical views of national aflTairs, but regulated by a visionary and philosophical standard, principles of the most absurd, preposterous and mischiev- ous character would have been established — such as would have plunged the public concerns into inextricable 96 THE CHARACTER OF disorder and would necessarily have terminated in inevi- table ruin. Tucker's Life of Jefferson contains Mr. Madison's an- swer to the letter from Mr. Jefferson to him, whith has been quoted in this work. Much as he was devoted to Mr. Jefferson's opinions on most subjects, he could not yield to the extravagance of the sentiments which that letter contains. Was it to be expected that men of sense and sobriety would feel any confidence in a man who en- tertained such wild, visionary, and impracticable senti- ments as those to which this corespondence relates ? It is certain that the federalists did not. " As the reader may be curious to see Mr. Madison's views of this novel principle in legislation, an extract of his reply to the preceding letter is here subjoined ; and although we may be disposed to question with him both the justice and the expediency of such a principle adopted without discrimination, yet we cannot but yield our re- spect to the ever active spirit of benevolence which dic- tated it. Mr. Jefferson's very sanguine temper was never so likely to mislead his judgment as in schemes for the promotion of human happiness and advancing the condi- tion of civil society." "New York, February 4, 1790. " Dear sir, — Your favor of January 9, inclosing one of September last, did not get to hand until a few days ago. The idea which the latter evolves is a great one, and sug- gests many interesting reflections to legislators, particularly when contracting and providing for public debts. Wheth- er it can be received in the extent to which your reason- ings carry it, is a question which I ought to turn more in my thoughts than I have yet been able to do, before J should be justified in making up a full opinion on it. THOMAS JEFFERSON. • 97 " My first thoughts lead me to view the doctrine as not, in all respects, compatible with the course of human af- fairs. I will endeavor to sketch the grounds of my scep- ticism." [Mr. M. then copies Mr. Jefferson's main proposition, beginning with the passage in his letter, '' As the earth belongs to the living," &;c., and says, " This I understand to be the outline of the argument."] " The acts of a political society may be divided into three classes : — " 1. The fundamental constitution of the government. "2. Laws involving some stipulation which renders them irrevocable at the will of the legislature. " 3. Laws involving no such irrevocable quality. " 1. However applicable in theory the doctrine may be to a constitution, it seems liable, in practice, to some weighty objections. " Would not a government ceasing of necessity at the end of a given term, unless prolonged by some constitu- tional act previous to its expiration, be too subject to the casualty and consequences of an interregnum ? " Would not a government so often revised become too mutable and novel to retain that share of prejudice in its favor which is a salutary aid to the most rational govern- ment? " Would not such a periodical revision engender perni- cious factions that might not otherwise come into existence, and agitate the public mind more frequently and more violently than might be expedient ? " 2. In the second class of acts involving stipulations, must not exceptions, at least, to the doctrine be admitted ? " If the earth be the gift of nature to the living, their title can extend to the earth in its natural state only. The 9 98 THE CHARACTER OF improvements made by the dead form a debt against the living who take the benefit of them. This debt cannot be otherwise discharged than by a proportionate obedience to the will of the authors of the improvements. " But a case less liable to be controverted may, perhaps, be stated. Debts may be incurred with a direct view to the interest of the unborn as well as of the living. Such are debts for repelling conquest, the evils of which descend through many generations. Debts may be incurred prin- cipally for the benefit of posterity; such, perhaps, is the debt incurred by the United States. In these instances the debt might not be dischargeable within the term of nineteen years. " There seems, then, to be some foundation in the na- ture of things, in the relation which one generation bears to another, for the descent of obligations from one to anoth- er. Equity may require it. Mutual good may be pro- moted by it ; and all that seems indispensable in stating the account between the dead and the living is to see that the debts against the latter do not exceed the advances made by the former. Few of the incumbrances entailed on nations by their predecessors would bear a liquidation even on this principle. '* 3. Objections to the doctrine as applied to the third class of acts must be merely practical. But in that view alone they appear to be material. " Unless such temporary laws should be kept in force by acts regularly anticipating their expiration, all the .rights depending on positive laws, that is, most of the rights of property, would become absolutely defunct, and the most violent struggles ensue between the parties in- terested in reviving and those interested in reforming the •antecedent state of property. Nor does it seem improb- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 99 able that such an event might be suffered to take place. The checks and difficulties opposed to the passage of laws, which render the power of repeal inferior to an opportu- nity to reject, as a security against oppression, would have rendered the latter an insecure provision against anarchy. Add to this, that the very possibility of an event so hazardous to the rights of property could not but depreciate its value ; that the approach of the crisis would increase the effect ; that the frequent return of periods su- perseding all the obligations depending on antecedent laws and usages must, by weakening the sense of them, co-op- erate with motives to licentiousness already too powerful ; and that the general uncertainty and vicissitudes of such a state of things would, on one side, discourage every useful effort of steady industry pursued under the sanction of existing laws, and, on the other, give an immediate ad- vantage to the more sagacious over the less sagacious part of society. " I can find no relief from such embarrassments but in the received doctrine that a tacit assent may be given to established governments and laws, and that this assent is to be inferred from the omission of an express revocation. It seems more practicable to remedy by well constituted governments the pestilent operation of this doctrine, in the unlimited sense in which it is at present received, than it is to find a remedy for the evils necessarily springing from an unlimited admission of the contrary doctrine. " Is it not doubtful whether it be possible to exclude wholly the idea of an implied or tacit assent, without sub- verting the very foundation of civil society ? " On what principle is it that the voice of the majority binds the minority ? " It does not result, I conceive, from a law of nature, but from compact founded on utility. 100 THE CHARACTER OF " A greater proportion might be required by the funda- mental constitution of society, if under any particular cir- cumstances it were judged eligible. Prior, therefore, to the establishment of this principle, unanimity was neces- sary ; and rigid theory accordingly pre-supposes the assent of every individual to the rule which subjects the minority to the will of the majority. If this assent cannot be given tacitly, or be not implied where no positive evidence for- bids, no person born in society, could on attaining ripe age, be bound by any acts of the majority; and either a unanimous renewal of every law would be necessary as often as a new member should be added to the society, or the express consent of every new member be obtained to the rule by which the majority decides for the whole." (Vol. 1, page 291.) The federalists were opposed to Mr. Jefferson on the ground that he was a mere partizan in politics, and almost immediately after his arrival in this country from France, in the year 1789, he first formed and then placed himself at the head of the party opposed to the constitution and to the measures of the government under general Washing- ton's administration, and as their leader, attempted to pro- mote his own ambitious views and interests by all the means which he could devise and employ for the purpose. One of the most efficient of those means was slander. The feder- alists believed him to be capable of descending to measures of the most unworthy nature for the purpose of accom- plishing his favorite object, viz: — his own aggrandizement. In their opinion, no man was more fond of popularity; and they believed that no man was less scrupulous about the means he employed to obtain it. They believed that the world never produced a more accomplished demagogue ; and that no man ever lived who understood the art of se- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 101 curing popular favor, or of managing popular feeling, so as to make it subserve his own interests, better than he. That they understood his character in these respects, will be apparent to those who will read the following extracts from his works. In a letter to F. Hopkinson, dated Paris, March 13, 1789, (vol. 2, Jefferson's Works, page 438,) he says — "I am not a federalist, because I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in any- thing else, where I was capable of thinking for myself Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all. Therefore, I protest to you, I am not of the party of federalists. But I am much farther from that of the anti-federalists. I approved from the first moment of the great mass of what is in the new constitu- tion ; the consolidation of the government ; the organiza- tion into executive, legislative, and judiciary; the subdi- vision of the legislative ; the happy compromise of interests between the great and little states by the different manner of voting in the different houses ; the voting by persons instead of states; the qualified negative on laws given to the executive, which, however, I should have liked better if associated with the judiciary also, as in New York ; and the power of taxation. I thought at first that the latter might have been limited. A little reflection soon convinced me it ought not to be. What I disapproved from the first moment, also, was the want of a bill of rights to guardl liberty against the legislative as well as executive branches of the government, that is to say, to secure freedom in re- ligion, freedom of the press, freedom from monopolies, freedom from unlawful imprisonment, from a permanent 9^ 102 THE CHARACTER OF military, and a trial by jury, in all cases determinable by the laws of the land. I disapproved also the perpetual re- eligibility of the president. To these points of disappro- bation I adhere." — " These are my sentiments, by which you will see I was right in saying, I am neither federal- ist nor anti-federalist ; that I am of neither party, nor yet a trimmer between parties. These, my opinions, I wrote within a few hours after I had read the constitution to one or two friends in America. I had not then read one single word printed on the subject. I had never had an opinion in politics or religion which I was afraid to own. A costive reserve on these subjects might have procured me more esteem from some people, but less from myself. My great wish is to go on in a strict but silent performance of my duty ; to avoid attracting notice, and to keep my name out of the newspapers, because I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise." On the 7th of August, 1790, Mr. Jefferson, in a letter to M. Pinto, says — " The new government (of the United States) has now, for some time been under way, and so far gives a confidence that it will answer its purposes." On the 13th of May, 1791, in a letter to Fulwar Skip- with, he says — " In general, our affairs are proceeding in a train of unparalleled prosperity. This arises from the real improvements of our government ; from the unbound- ed confidence reposed in it by the people, their zeal to support it, and their conviction that a solid union is the best rock of their safety ; from the favorable seasons which, for some years past, have co-operated with a fertile soil and genial climate to increase the productions of agri- culture ; and from the growth of industry, economy, and domestic manufactures. So that I believe I may say, with THOMAS JEFFERSON. 103 truth, that there is not a nation under the sun enjoying more present prosperity, nor with more in prospect." Something more than eighty pages at the end of the fourth volume of Mr. Jefferson's " Correspondence," are made up of what is called " Ana."" The matter of these pages is said to have been taken from " memoradums on loose scraps of paper," made by him when he held the of- fice of secretary of state. They were preserved, he says, " for their testimony against the only history of that period, which pretends to have been compiled from authentic and unpublished documents." The very first sentence contain- ed in them after the introductory notice from which the above passage is copied, is as follows : — " But a short review of facts =^ =^ ^ ^ =^ will show, that the contests of that day were contests of principle be- tween the advocates of republican and those of kingly government, and that had not the former made the efforts they did, our government would have been, even at this early day, a very different thing from what the successful issue of those efforts have made it." In what manner this blank should be filled, probably no person living knows. Let it be as it may, it will be diffi- cult to reconcile the language made use of in it with the declarations in the letters to Messrs. Pinto and Skipwith above referred to. But as this is not a solitary instance in which Mr. Jefferson's remarks will be found to be directly at variance with each other, a mere cursory notice of their contradictory character will be sufficient for the present purpose. 104 THE CHARACTER OF CHAPTER VI. Annapolis Convention, 1786 — Difference of opinion in that body between a republican or kingly government — Account of that Convention from Pitkin's History — From the Life of Jay — At- tempts of the friends of a kingly government, at the Convention, to prevent the formation of a republican government, for the purpose of introducing a monarchy — The charge shown by facts to be unfounded — Only five of the thirteen States represented — His knowledge of the Convention derived from hearsay — No proof of it has ever been adduced — The same charge made against the same party at the Convention which framed the Constitution in 1787 — The Ana utterly unworthy of credit — Mr. Jefferson's enmity against A. Hamilton, its origin and its object — The charge of monarchical principles intended to promote his own interests. Mr. Jefferson proceeds in his Ana to say that " The want of some authority which should procure justice to the public creditors, and an observance of treaties with foreign nations, produced, some time after, the call of a convention of the states at Annapolis. Although at this meeting a difference of opinion was evident on the q7ie.s- tio7i of a republican or kingly government, yet, so general through the states was the sentiment in favor of the for- mer that the friends of the latter confined themselves to a course of obstruction only, and delay, to everything pro- posed ; they hoped that nothing being done, and all things going from bad to worse, a kingly government might be usurped and submitted to by the people as better than anarchy and wars, internal and external, the certain con- sequences of the present want of a general government. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 105 The eflfect of their manoeuvres, with the defective atten- dance of deputies from the states, resulted in the measure of calling a more general convention to be held at Phila- delphia." The following account of the Annapolis convention is copied from Pitkin's Political and Civil History of the United States, (vol. 2, page 218—19.) " In January 1786, the legislature of that state (Vir- ginia) appointed a number of gentlemen ' to meet such commissioners as were or might be appointed by the other states in the union, at such time and place as should be agreed upon by said commissioners, to take into consider- ation the trade and commerce of the United States ; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial in- tercourse and regulations might be necessary to their common interest and permanent harmony ; and to report to the several states such an act relative to this great ob- ject as, when unanimously ratified by them, would enable the United States, in congress assembled, effectually to provide for the same.' It was afterwards agreed that this meeting should be held at Annapolis, in Maryland, in September of the same year. Commissioners from the states of Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York only attended. Delegates were appointed by New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and North Carolina, but did not attend. In consequence of such a partial representation of the states, the commis- sioners present thought it improper to proceed on the im- portant business with which they were intrusted. They were now more than ever sensible of the necessity of a general convention of all the states, and were also satisfied that the powers of this convention should extend to other objects than merely the regulation of trade and commerce. lOQ THE CHARACTER OF They, therefore, drew up a report and addressed to the states, in which, after stating the defects of the federal government, and that the situation of the United States ' was delicate and critical, calling for an exertion of the virtue and wisdom of all the members of the confederacy,' they recommended to all the states to concur in the ap- pointment of commissioners to meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday in May, 1787, to take into considera- tion the situation of the United States, to devise such further provisions as should appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the Union." In the " Life of John Jay," (vol. 1, page 254) there is the following account of this convention: — "In January, 1786, the legislature of Virginia proposed a convention of delegates, to be appointed by state legislatures, and to meet at Annapolis the ensuing September, to devise a uniform system of commercial regulations which should be binding on the whole confederacy when ratified by all the states. It was to this convention that Mr. Jay alluded in his letter to general Washington of the 16th of March, 1786. ' The convention proposed by Virginia may do some good, and would, perhaps, do more if it compre- hended more objects.' " The limited object of the convention failed to excite general interest, and the required unanimity of thirteen states prevented much efTort to secure what was supposed to be unattainable. Only five states were represented in the convention, and their delegates wisely abstained from taking measures in relation to the subject for which they had been convened. They, however, took a step which led to important results. They recommended a con- vention of delegates from all the states to be held at Phil- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 107 adelphia the ensuing spring, for revising the articles of confedeiation." It was at this convention, composed as it was of a minority in numbers of the states, that Mr. Jefferson, in the passage above quoted from his " Ana,"" says, " a dif- ference of opinion was evident on the question of a repub- lican and kingly government, yet so general through the states was the sentiment in favor of the former, that the friends of the latter confined themselves to a course of ob- struction only, and delay, to everything proposed ; they hoped, that nothing being done, and all things going from bad to worse, a kingly government might be usurped and submitted to by the people as better than anarchy and wars, internal and external, the certain consequences of the pre- sent want of a general government." It is difficult to give credit to the assertions respecting this convention contain- ed in the foregoing passage. In the first place, as but five of the thirteen states were represented in that body, they could not of course enter upon the business for which they were appointed. It is therefore not to be supposed that they would engage in a discussion of the comparative merits and advantages of the tw^o kinds of government; especially as they were not sent on an errand which re- quired such a discussion. The commission given by the legislature of Virginia to their own delegates was " to take into consideration the trade and commerce of the United States ; to consider how far a uniform system, in their com- mercial intercourse and regulations, might be necessary to their common interest and permanent harmony ; and to re- port to the several states such an act relative to this great ob- ject as, when uTianimondy ratified by them, would enable the United States, in congress assembled, effectually to pro- vide for the same." Although this measure originated with 108 THE CHARACTER OF the state of Virginia, its object, as far as its future opera- tion and effects were concerned, was general. The sub- ject referred to them, ahhough national, was exclusively commercial; they were to agree on the form of a bill to secure that object, which, when it had received the unanimous assent of the thirteen states in congress, was to become a general law. But there being only five states present, they had no power to act at all ; and, of course, separated, without doing anything. Can it be believed that in a body thus constituted, and thus situated, a ques- tion could have arisen on the comparative merits of re- publican and kingly governments ? Besides, would Mr. Jefferson mean to convey the idea that Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, to say nothing of Delaware, actually sent persons to repre- sent them on such an occasion who were monarchists in principle and feeling? It would be a gratifying circum- stance if the names of those v^rho attended at Annapolis from those states could be ascertained, as their political standing and character might probably be known. We have no doubt that they would prove to be altogether above even the suspicion of entertaining such heretical sentiments on government. Mr. Jefferson proceeds to say, that the effect of their manoBUvres, that is those who attended the Annapolis con- vention, with the defective attendance of deputies from the states, resulted in the measure of calling a more gen- eral convention to be held at Philadelphia. What ma- ncsuvring occurred on that occasion he does not explain. Nor is it easy to imagine what necessity there could have existed for the exercise of any, for their duties were of a plain and simple kind — the convention had failed, no part of the business for which it was appointed could be trans- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 109 acted, because the object was national and required una- nimity, and but five of the thirteen states were represent- ed ; and nothing remained for them, except a measure about which they volunteered, which was to recommend to all the states to appoint delegates to another convention. This required neither artifice nor cunning — it was impos- sible to cheat the states on the subject of the proposition ; and none but a man who valued himself for skill and ad- dress in imposing upon the public mind, or a downright idiot, would have ever dreamed of attempting it. Mr. Jefferson, probably aware of the difEcully of mak- ing the world credit such an improbable account as this, adds at the close of it the remark that, " What passed through the whole period of these conventions, I have gone on the information of those who were members cf them^ being absent myself on my mission to France." This was undoubtedly the (^mmencement of the system of party " manceuvring^'' which he afterwards practiced with such extraordinary success in his political career, in claiming for himself and his followers the exclusive title of republicans, and stigmatizing the federalists as mon- archists ; for in the next sentence after that above quoted, he says — "At this," (that is the convention which met in Philadelphia in 1787, and formed the constitution) " the same party exhibited the same practices, and with the same views of preventing a government of concord, which they foresaw would be republican, and of forcing through anarchy their way to monarchy. But the mass of that convention was too honest, too wise and too steady to be baffled and misled by their manoeuvres." These charges, of course, like the former, must have depended on hearsay evidence. It is a little remarkable, that no direct proof of their correctness has ever been adduced, though fifty years 10 110 THE CHARACTER OF have now elapsed, and the whole generation of those who were members of that body are in their graves. These " Ana'' it will be recollected, were prepared for future use from " memorandums on loose scraps of paper, taken out of his pocket in the moment, and laid by to be copied fair at leisure, which, however, they hardly ever were." These scraps, he says, " ragged, rubbed, and scribbled as they were," he had bound with the others. At the end of twenty-five years or more from their dates, he had given the whole a calm revisal, when the passions of the time had passed away, and the reasons of the transactions acted alone on the judgment. Some of the informations he had recorded, he cut out from the rest, because he had seen they were incorrect, or doubtful, or merely personal, or private ; and he would perhaps have thought the rest not worth preserving, but for their testimony against the only history of that period, which pretended to have been com- piled from authentic documents. These " memorandums," then, were made and preserved for the purpose oi testifying against a history of the period, by which it is to be presum- ed he meant the life of George Washington, hy John Mar- shall. What degree of credit is due to evidence made up in this manner, and for such a purpose, will be left to the common sense and integrity of mankind to decide. One circumstance, however, should be borne in mind, that it is entirely unsupported by any witnesses or proof except the naked assertion of its author. The reputation of Mar- shall's work, then, may be safely trusted, on the unquestion- able evidence which it carries upon its face, of its own in- trinsic credit and merit and the unsullied and unimpeach- able integrity and veracity of its author. Happy would it be for Mr. Jefferson's memory if his " Ana " stood upon as firm a basis. THOMAS JEFFERSON. Ill Mr. Jefferson brings the same charge against the con- vention at Philadelphia that he had before preferred against that at Annapolis. He says the same party which had made its appearance at Annapolis was found at Phila- delphia, where they exhibited the same practices and with the same views of preventing a government of concord, which they foresaw would be republican, and of /orciTz^ through anarchy their way to monarchy. In support of this declaration, he produces not a particle of evidence ; but undoubtedly relies either upon the hearsay accounts which he says he derived from those who were members of the convention, or, what is more probable, upon his own pro- lific imagination. Not a witness is named, nor is any source of proof referred to except that of hearsay just mentioned. He alludes, however, to a story that has been much circulated through the country, respecting a project which it was alleged general Hamilton suggested, of a system in some respects more energetic in it:- character than that which was finally adopted and incorporated into the constitution. There is no room for doubt, that Mr. Jef- ferson, upon his return from Europe and taking his seat in the national cabinet, found the reputation of general Ham- ilton for talents and patriotism so high that it became an object of great importance with him, in the prosecution of his plans of personal ambition, to lessen at least, if he was not able to destroy, the popularity and influence of that great man, and to render him an object of distrust and odium. Whilst Mr. Jefferson was in Europe, he was of course entirely out of the way of the difficulties and dis- tresses which the government and the country had experi- enced for several years previously to the adoption of the federal constitution. In the adoption of that constitution, no person had made greater exertions, or produced more 112 THE CHARACTER OF important effects, than general Hamilton. Whatever views he might have entertained on any particular topics during the discussions in the convention which formed it, in its principles and provisions, as finally adjusted, he fully acquiesced, and his name stands among those who signed it ; and in procuring its adoption by the people, his extra- ordinary and almost unrivalled talents were zealously and successfully exerted. To impair an influence thus honorably acquired, and beneficially exercised, became an object of the highest importance to the success of Mr. Jef- ferson's views of personal ambition and aggrandizement. Accordingly, he began a system of political hostility against general Hamilton which he never relinquished until that object was accomplished. Indeed, such was the bitterness of his enmity towards that great statesman, to whom the country are under such incalculable obligations, that he carried it on with a somewhat concealed but impla- cable malignity, that age could not cool nor time abate, even when he had passed the age of three-score years and ten, and which finally accompanied him into the solitude and darkness of the grave. The great basis of this warfare against talents and pat- riotism was the general charge of a monarchical propensi- ty — a disposition to change the republican system of the United States into a monarchy. In order to render this charge sufficiently efficacious, it became necessary to in- volve in it the other influential friends and supporters of the constitution — that constitution to which Mr. Jefferson had manifested, on various grounds, a decided opposi- tion, but which general Hamilton and his federal friends, associates, and fellow-laborers, against that opposition, had by their united efforts and by: the exercise of their wis- dom, public spirit, and patriotic devotion to their country, formed, adoped and put into successful operation. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 113 CHAPTER VII. Mr. Jefferson had no regard for the constitution if it stood in the way of his interests — Treaty-making power — Opposed to Mr. Jay's treaty with Great Britain — Attempts to prevent its ratifi- cation — Doctrine advanced by him regarding the power of the representatives over treaties — Letters to Monroe and Madison— Gallatin'si and Madison's opinions — Livingston's resolution in the House of Representatives — Arguments used on both sides in debate — Resolution adopted by House of Representatives — Mr. Jefferson's sentiments opposed to the constitution, of which he seemed to be sensible — His sentiments contradicted in the case of the treaty with France, in 1831 ; but urged against that treaty by members of the French legislature — Livingston at this time minister at Paris, and obliged to act in opposition to the sentiments avowed by him on Mr. Jay's treaty. The federalists had no confidence in Mr. Jeflferson's re- gard for the constitution if his interests or his policy were in danger of being injured, or his views and plans thwart- ed by a strict adherence to its provisions or its principles. By the second section of the second article of the con- stitution of the United States, it is declared that the presi- dent shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur. And in the sixth article it is provided that "This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law law of the land." This language is too plain, too precise, and too explicit to be mistaken. Every person who is al 10* 114 THE CHARACTER OF all acquainted with the English tongue knows that a su- preme law is paramount over all others ; and, of course, that such a law requires universal obedience from all de- scriptions of people. Neither the president of the United States, nor the senators or representatives in congress ; neither the governors or legislative bodies, nor the courts of the several states, are exempt from this great and in- dispensable obligation. The constitution itself, and the laws made in pursuance of its authority, according to the provision just quoted, are laws of this description. And treaties formed by the president and senate, in conformity with the same clause of the constitution, are also supreme laws, and require universal obedience and observation. It will appear in the course of this work, that Mr. Jef- ferson was most decidedly opposed to the treaty formed be- tween the United States and Great Britain in the year 1794, and which was commonly called Mr. Jay's treaty. That this treaty was highly advantageous to the United States was proved in a most conclusive manner by its effects. But it adjusted some of the difficulties between this country and Great Britain, and, of course, was viewed by the adherents of the French revolutionists as unfavorable to the projects and policy of that country ; and hence it was very ill re- ceived by them, and made the subject of much party heat and violence. In this light it was considered by Mr. Jefferson, who was extremely hostile to Great Britain and equally devoted to the interests of the French. This will account for the rancorous animosity which he felt towards the treaty, and, as was perfectly natural, towards those who ratified and carried it into execution. As it had been negotiated, ratified and established in strict con- formity with the provisions of the constitution, it could not be directly and legitimately destroyed or evaded. It THOMAS JEFFERSON. 115 therefore became necessary to devise some plan by which the end they had in view might be attained, and the evil which they appeared to dread might be avoided. Having failed in their attempts to overawe George Washington, and to induce him by the force of popular clamor to with- hold his signature from the treaty, the next attempt was to defeat it in the legislative department of the govern- ment, by refusing to enact the necessary measures for car- rying it into execution. Accordingly a bold and decided stand was made by Mr. Jefferson's partizans in the house of representatives of the United States, as soon as the treaty was laid before them, and a call was made upon them to adopt the measures necessary for that purpose. After a long, animated, and highly impassioned debate, in which the constitutional right of congress to withhold the legislative acts necessary to the execution of a treaty, after it had been ratifiedby the president and senate, was most vehemently urged and maintained ; in the end the acts were passed, the appropriations required by the stipula- tions in the treaty were made, and the treaty itself was confirmed and established. The doctrine thus assumed, and which came very near being adopted, and the precedent established by the house of representatives, was, probably, the invention of Mr. Jefferson ; or, if not, it received his cordial approbation. In the third volume of his works, (page 318,) is a letter to Wm. B. Giles, dated Dec. 31, 1795, in which he says, " I am well pleased with the manner in which your house have testified their sense of the treaty ; while their refusal to pass the original clause of the reported answer proved -their condemnation of it, the contrivance to let it disappear silently respected appearances in favor of the president, who errs as other men err, but errs with integrity. Ran- 116 THE CHAHACTER OF dolph seems to have hit upon the true theory of our con- stitution ; that when a treaty is made, involving matters confided by the constitution to the three branches of the legislature conjointly, the representatives are as frek as the president and senate were to consider whether the national interest requires or forbids their giving the forms and force of law to the articles over which they have a power. ^^ In the same book, (page 323,) in a letter to colonel Mon- roe, dated March 21, 1796, he says, "The British treaty has been formally, at length, laid before congress. All America is a-tiptoe to see what the house of representa- tives will decide on it. We conceive the constitutional doctrine to be that, though the president and senate have ' the general power of making treaties, yet, wherever they include in a treaty matters confided by the constitution to the three branches of the legislature, an act of legislation will be requisite to confirm these articles, and that the house of representatives^ as one branch of the legislature, are perfectly free to pass the act or refuse it, governing themselves by their own judgment, whether it is for the good of their constituents to lei the treaty go into effect or not. On the precedent now to be set will depend the fu- ture construction of our constitution, and whether the powers of legislation shall be transferred from the presi- dent, senate and house of representatives, to the president and senate and Piamingo, or any other Indian Algerine or other chief. It is fortunate that the first decision is to be in a case so palpably atrocious as to have been pre- determined by all America." In a letter to James Madison, (page 324,) and dated March 27, 1796, he says, " I am much pleased with Mr. Gallatin's speech in Backe's paper of March the 14th. It is worthy of being printed at the end of the Federalist, as THOMAS JEFFERSON. 117 the only rational commentary on the part of the constitu- tion to which it relates. Not that there may not be ob- jections and difficult ones to it, and which I shall be glad to see his answers to ; hut if they are never answered they are more easily to he gulphed down than those which lie to the doctrines of his oppo7ients, which do, in fact, annihilate the whole of the powers given by the constitution to the legislature. According to the rule established by usage and common sense of construing one part of the instru- ment by another, the objects on which the president and senate may exclusively act by treaty are much reduced, but the field on which they may act with the sanction of the legislature is large enough ; and I see no harm in ren- dering their sanction necessary, and not much harm in annihilating the whole treaty-making power, except as to making peace. If you decide in favor of your right to re- fuse co-operation in any case of treaty, I should wonder on what occasion it is to be used if not in one where the rights, the interests, honor and faith of our nation are so grossly sacrificed ; where a faction has entered into a con- spiracy with the enemies of their country to chain down the legislature at the feet of both ; where the whole mass of your constituents have condemned this work in the most unequivocal manner, and are looking to you as their last hope to save them from the effects of the avarice and corruption of the first agent, the revolutionary machina- tions of others, and the incomprehensible acquiescence of the only honest man who has assented to it. I wish that his honesty and his political errors may not furnish a sec- ond occasion to exclaim, ' Curse on his virtues, they have undone his country.'' " He thus explicitly approves the doctrines advanced by Mr. Gallatin when discussing the subject. Mr. Gallatin 118 THE CHARACTER OF said, " If the power of making treaties is to reside in the president and senate unlimitedly, in other words, if in the exercise of this power the president and senate are to be restrained by no other branch of the government, the pres- ident and senate may absorb all legislative power; the executive has nothing to do but to substitute a foreign na- tion to the house of representatives, and they may legis- late to any extent." — " He should not say that the treaty is unconstitutional ; but he would say, that it was not the supreme lavir of the land until it received the sanction of the legislature. That the constitution and laws made in pursuance thereof, and treaties made under the authority of the United States, are declared to be the supreme law of the land. The words are, ' under the authority of the United States,' not signed and ratified by the president ; so that a treaty clashing in any of its provisions with the express powers of congress, until it has so far obtained the sanction of congress, is not a treaty under the authori- ty of the United States."* " The views of Mr. Madison," says Mr. Pitkin, (page 461,) " on this important question, were generally in ac- cordance with those expressed by Mr. Gallatin." — " He considered that construction the most consistent, most in accordance with the spirit of the constitution, and freest from difficulties, which left with the president and senate the power of making treaties, but required, at the same time, the legislative sanction and co-operation in those cases where the constitution had given express and speci- fied powers to the legislature." One of the persons who took an active part in the de- bates upon the treaty was Edward Livingston, a member of the house of representatives from the state of New * Pitkin's Pol. and Civ. Hist., vol. 2, page 460—63. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 119 York. He contended with great earnestness, that it was incident to the power of legislation vested by the constitu- tion in the house, that upon every question coming before them for examination and decision, they must have the right of rejection as well as of adoption, otherwise they were mere machines, with no other powers in the specific case before them than to register the decrees of the pres- ident and senate. After the ratification of the treaty in the manner pre- scribed in the constitution, this gentleman offered a resolu- tion to the house, " requesting the president to lay before the house a copy of the instructions to the minister of the United States who negotiated the treaty with Great Bri- tain, together with the correspondence and other docu- ments relative to the said treaty." In discussing this re- solution, says judge Marshall, " By the friends of the ad- ministration it was maintained, that a treaty was a contract between two nations, which, under the constitution, the president, by and with the consent of the senate, had a right to make, and that was made when, by and with such advice and consent, it had received his final act. Its obli- gations then became complete on the United States, and to refuse to comply with its stipulations was to break the treaty and to violate the faith of the nation. " By the opposition it was contended, that the power to make treaties, if applicable to every object, conflicted with powers which were vested exclusively in congress. That either the treaty-making power must be limited in its oper- ation so as not to touch objects committed by the constitu- tion to congress, or the assent and co-operation of the house of representatives must be required to give validity to any compact so far as it might comprehend those ob- jects. A treaty, therefore, which required an appropriation 120 THE CHARACTER OF of money or any act of congress to carry it into effect, had not acquired its obligatory force until the house of repre- sentatives had exercised its powers in the case. They were at full liberty to make or to withhold such appropria- tion, or other law, without incurring the imputation of violating any existing obligation, or of breaking the faith of the nation. "=^ During the same session, '* a resolution," says Mr. Pitkin, " was submitted, [to the house of representatives] declaring the constitutional power of that body in relation to treaties, and on the 17th of April was adopted, fifty-seven to thirty- five, and entered on the journals. After referring to the section of the constitution concerning treaties, it declared, ' that the house of representatives do not claim any agency in making treaties ; but that when a treaty stipulates regu- lations on any of the subjects submitted by the constitu- tion to the power of congress, it must depend for its execu- tion^ as to such stipulations, on a law or laws to be passed by congress ; and it is the constitutional right and duty of the house of representatives, in all such cases, to deliber- ate on the expediency or inexpediency of carrying such treaty into effect, and to determine and act thereon as in their judgment may be most conducive to the public good.'"! That the doctrines which Mr. Jefferson labored so ear- nestly and so zealously to enforce and establish were in di- rect violation of the constitution will, at this time, scarcely be denied. That a treaty which had been formed and ratified according to the provision of the constitution, and of course had become a supreme law of the land, could still be prevented from going into operation by a refusal * Life of Washington, vol. 5, page 651. t Pol. and Civ. Hist., vol. 2, page 468. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 121 on the part of the house of representatives to adopt the necessary measures for carrying it into effect, is not only absurd and mischievous but degrading to the national government. The treaty, having been ratified according to the plain provision of the constitution, had become a supreme law, v^^hich the house of representatives were bound by the most solemn obligations to obey ; and a re- fusal on their part to carry it into effect would have been a plain and willful breach of the oath they had taken when admitted to their seats. And yet, Mr. Jefferson, from an undue attachment to revolutionary France and a settled spirit of hostility to Great Britain, exerted himself in a secret manner, but with all his talents and address, to in- duce that branch of the national legislature to be guilty of this gross misconduct. Nor was he unconscious of the impropriety of his own conduct. By the language made use of in his letter to Mr. Madison, when speaking of his argument on this great question, he acknowledges that there may be objec- tions, and difficult ones, to it to which he should be glad to see his answers. But, he adds, if they are never answer- ed, they are the more easily to be gulphed down than those which lie to the doctrines of his opponents. In other words, he could swallow an unconstitutional argument that favor- ed a heterodox opinion of his own more easily than he could yield to a constitutional one that would overthrow his own unconstitutional hypothesis. The government of the United States, at a later period of its history, had an opportunity to examine the sound- ness of the principles advanced and vehemently maintained by Mr. Jefferson and his principal adherents on this sub- ject, in a case where one of the parties was charged, and where their own pecuniary interests were more imme- 11 122 THE CHARACTER OF diately involved. In the case alluded to, France instead of Great Britain was directly concerned. Reference is here made to the treaty between the government of the last mentioned nation and the United States, entered into in the year 1831. By this treaty, France had agreed to pay to the United States twenty-five millions of francs as an indemnity for spoliations upon the commerce of Amer- ican citizens during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. The treaty had been ratified by both the parties, according to the forms prescribed by their several constitutions. It has been seen, that the principle adopted by Mr. JefTerson and his friends in the house of representatives of the United States when Mr. Jay's treaty was before them was, that when a treaty had been ratified by the president and senate which contained articles that required legisla- tive aid to carry those articles into effect, the house of rep- resentatives, being a branch of the legislative power, had a right to exercise their judgment, and to pass or not pass the necessary acts for that purpose, according as the treaty was or was not likely, in their opinion, to be beneficial to their country. When the treaty with France was laid before the legislative body of that nation for the purpose of obtaining an act to appropriate the money necessary to pay the indemnity stipulated for in that document, the measure was vehemently opposed by a portion of the chamber of deputies on the specific ground advocated in the house of representatives of the United States in the case of the treaty with Great Britain, that the treaty was not beneficial hut injurious to France. The first person who spoke in opposition to the appro- priation bill was M. Boissy D' Anglais, and the following is the first sentence in his speech : — " If the treaty submitted to us offered any real advan- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 123 tages for France, if it were established on principles of jus- tice and reciprocity, I should not oppose the bill now be- fore you ; but as I find in it none of those characters, I think we should not agree to the payment of an enormous sum which the unfortunate situation of our finances does not allow us to part with gratuitously." On this ground he argued the question throughout his speech. M. Bignon made a long and very ingenious speech, in which he took the same general ground and made it the principal basis of his objections. In the course of it he said : — " The government of the TJiiited States knows, better than any other, that in a representative government, no political convention containing a stipulation for any pay- ment whatever can be considered definitive until the con- sent of the body which has the right of voting the appro- priation has been obtained in that particular stipulation." Other members adopted the same course of reasoning in the progress of the debate, but enough has been quoted for the purpose of establishing the fact mentioned, viz: that the ground on which the French treaty was opposed in the chamber of deputies was precisely the same with that advocated by Mr. Jeflferson and his friends against the British treaty. At the time when this difficulty occurred at Paris rela- tive to the execution of the treaty of 1831, the minister from the United States to the French government was Mr. Edward Livingston, whose name has been already mentioned as a member of the house of representatives of the United States in 1790, and an active opponent of the measures necessary for the execution of the treaty with Great Britain. As a diplomatic agent he found himself under the necessity of taking different ground from that 124 THE CHARACTER OF which he had occupied nearly forty years before in the legislative assembly of his own country, and assert princi- ples and adopt a course of reasoning not only diametrically opposite to those which he had advocated as sound and legitimate in his earlier years, but precisely similar to those used by the federalists on Mr. Jay's treaty. Finding such doubts and delays in the French chamber of deputies in regard to the execution of the treaty, the executive branch of the United States government took fire ; and for a considerable time, it was a very serious question whether we should not be involved in a war with that nation on that simple ground. But the history of the case ought to be received by the people of this republic as an important admonitory lesson, to be more upon their guard against the arts and designs of ambitious politicians, who are more anxious to promote their own personal and party interests than to consult the general welfare or preserve a reputation for consistency either in their principles or con- duct. Mr. Jefferson's system, if such it may be called, was one of expedients. He always adopted the project that promised to be useful at the moment in extricating him from an unexpected embarrassment, or in the accom- plishment of a favorite object, trusting to future events for what might occur. By placing too much confidence in his skill to get through difficulties, or too great a subser- viency to his management or dictation in the case under consideration, they suffered him, in his eagerness to carry a favorite measure, to establish an important precedent which not only placed the government in a mortifying sit- uation, but came very near involving the country in a calamitous and vindictive war. And this was owing to his total disregard of one of the plainest provisions of the constitution* THOMAS JEFFERSON. 125 CHAPTER VIII. BIr. Jefferson a secret enemy of general Washington — Ambitious of being considered as the greatest political character of his country — Willing to concede to Washington pre-eminence as a military officer, but not as a statesman — Formed a French party soon after his return from France — Accused the federalists of British partialities — Aristocratic and monarchical propensities — Procla- mation of neutrality — Strongly opposed by the French party — Extracts from newspapers concerning it — Attacks upon the executive as the enemy of France — Philip Freneau and the National Gazette — Conversation between general Washington and Mr. Jefferson respecting that paper — His enmity to Wash- ington more manifest after the Whiskey insurrection broke out — President's speech to congress, November, 1794 — Allusion to democratic societies as the sources of it — Mr, Jefferson's opin- ion of insurrections, November, 1787 — Sentiments respecting the Whiskey insurrection — Democratic societies and the Cincin- nati — Judge Marshall's account of the insurrection, and its sup- pression — Letter to Mazzoi — to James Madison — Effects of general Washington's popularity — John Jay's corruption — Let- ter to Aaron Burr respecting Washington ! The federalists believed that Mr. Jefferson, although a professed friend of general Washington, was in reality his secret and malignant enemy. General Washington was probably deluded by the frequency and the warmth of Mr. Jefferson's declarations on that subject, and for a consider- able time believed that he was what he professed himself to be, his sincere fi;iend and warm admirer. If his pro- testations were insincere and hypocritical — and about this there seems to be but little room for doubt — it is difficult to assign a satisfactory cause for it, except those feelings 11# 126 THE CHARACTER OF of selfishness by which very few persons were ever more uniformly influenced than himself. Mr. Jefferson's ambi- tion was, unquestionably, to be considered and acknowl- edged as the greatest political and civil character of his country ; and whoever stood in the way of his ambition was of course the object of his jealousy and animosity. Feelings of this kind undoubtedly were the foundation of his unrelenting enmity to general Hamilton, and led him into the long train of calumnies which have been al- luded to. General Washington's military services and character, brilliant as they were, gave Mr. Jefferson no uneasiness. He had no disposition " to seek the bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth." That species of fame could not be attained but through hazards which he had no desire to encounter ; and he was therefore willing gen- eral Washington should enjoy all the fame as a soldier that he had acquired. But to act the part of a statesman, to perform the duties of civil chief of the government, in his opinion, doubtless, required greater acquirements and different talents from those which the latter possessed. Hence it will appear, that notwithstanding many marked expressions of esteem and respect are scattered along in his correspondence, there is at the same time clearly discov- erable, in various instances, a spirit of hostility which it is difficult to account for except upon the ground which has just been suggested. It has been shown, that Mr. Jefferson returned from France in December, 17S9, filled with enthusiasm in favor of the revolutionary movements in that kingdom. His partizans imbibed a similar spirit from him, and in a short time a strong French party was formed in this country. In order to conceal their real objects, under his tutelage they soon began to accuse those who did not adopt his senti- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 127 ments and feelings and enroll themselves under his banner, of British partialities, and of course, of being aristocrats and monarchists. And so highly were the passions of the coun- try roused, that there was great danger that the government would be forced into a war with one country or the other by the mere effect of party passion and collision. Foreseeing the evils which such a state of things must necessarily produce, and the calamities which a war would inevitably bring upon the country, general Washington, with that de- gree of firmness and independence which ever marked his conduct, published his proclamation of neutrality, which kept the country firm and steady, and checked the pro- gress of things towards a rupture with either nation. The following account of this measure is from Marshall's Life of Washington. " A proclamation of neutrality being deemed a measure which was rendered advisable by the situation of the United States, the attorney general was directed to pre- pare one in conformity with the principles which had been adopted. On the 22d of April, this instrument was laid before the cabinet, and being approved, was signed by the president and ordered to be published. " This measure derives importance from the considera- tion, that it was the commencement of that system to which the American government afterwards inflexibly ad- hered, and to which much of the national prosperity is to be ascribed. It is not less important in another view. Being at variance with the prejudices, the feelings and the passions of a large portion of the society, and being pre- dicated on no previous proceedings of the legislature, it presented the first occasion which was thought a fit one for openly assaulting a character around which the affec- tions of the people had thrown an armor heretofore deem- 128 THE CHARACTER OF ed sacred, and for directly criminating the conduct of the president himself. It was only by opposing passions to passions, by bringing the feeling in favor of France into conflict with those in favor with the chief magistrate, that the enemies of the administration could hope to obtain the victory. " For a short time, the opponents of this measure treat- ed it with some degree of delicacy. The opposition prints occasionally glanced at the executive ; considered all gov- ernments, including that of the United States, as naturally hostile to the liberties of the people ; and ascribed to this disposition the combination of European governments against France, and the unconcern with which this combi- nation was contemplated by the executive. At the same time, the most vehement declamations were published for the purpose of inflaming the public resentments against Britain ; of enhancing the obligations of America to France ; of confirmxing the opinion that the coalition of European monarchs was directed, not less against the United States than against that power to which its hos- tility was avowed ; and that those who did not embrace this opinion were the friends of that coalition and equally the enemies of America and France. " These publications, in the first instance sufficiently bitter, quickly assumed a highly increased degree of acri- mony." (Vol. 5, page 408.) In reference to this same subject, Mr. Pitkin, in his Political and Civil History of the United States, says : — " The prejudices of the people against Great Britain, arising from recent as well as ancient causes of controver- sy, and their partialities in favor of France, were made subservient to the views of the leaders of the opposition, and brought to bear against the administration of the gen- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 129 eral government. And though few would openly declare that the United States ought to make common cause with the new republic, yet many openly took part with the French minister against their own government, and advo- cated measures which, if adopted, would necessarily bring them in collision with the enemies of France. While the president was using all the means in his power to preserve his country from the calamities of war, he was accused of particular friendship for Great Britain and of hostility to France, of favoring one at the expense of the other ; nay, was charged with an intention of joining the coalition against France. " The following extracts from two of the leading and most influential opposition newspapers of the day will serve, among others of a similar character, to show the spirit which prevailed against the father of his country. " As early as July, 1793, the National Gazette, printed at the seat of government, and edited by one of the clerks in the department of state, had the following paragraph — ■ ' The minister of France, I hope, will act with firmness and with spirit. The people are his friends or the friends of France, and he will have nothing to apprehend ; for, as yet, the people are sovereign of the United States. Too much complacency is an injury done his cause, for as every advantage is already taken of France, (not by the people) further condescension may lead to further abuse. If one of the leading features of our government is pusil- lanimity, when the British lion shows his teeth, let France and her minister act as becomes the dignity and justice of their cause, and the honor and faith of nations.' " It is no longer possible to doubt, said the General Ad- vertiser, also published at Philadelphia, that the intention of the executive of the United States is, to look upon the 130 THE CHARACTER OF treaty of amity and commerce which exists between France and America, as a nullity ; and that they are prepared to join the league of kings against France." (Vol. 2, page 386-7.) This state of things occurred during the time of Genet's residence here as the minister of France. His conduct, it is well known, was marked with such a degree of violence, illegality and insolence, that it became impossible, consist- ently with any regard to national dignity, for the adminis- tration to hold any official intercourse or correspondence with him ; and he was at length at their request recalled by his own government. Whilst here, and recognized as the representative of the French government, among other things, he undertook the task of establishing " democratic societies " in several of the large towns and cities, in imi- tation of the jacobin clubs of his own country, in the ex- pectation that these institutions would be able to exert the same influence in the United States that their pro- genitors had exercised in France — that is, to overawe and control the government. This was to be brought about by inflaming the popular passions, and enkindling popular resentment against their own government. Such was the source of Jacobinical influence and dominion ; and as it had succeeded in that nation, it was taken for granted that it would prove equally successful here. That they were favored by Mr. Jefferson is perfectly clear from his own works ; and was no secret at the time of their forma- tion and operations. The passage quoted above from the National Gazette, taken in connection with other facts, is sufficient evidence of the truth of this remark. The editor of that paper was Philip Freneau, a clerk in the office of the secretary of state, whilst Mr. Jefferson occupied that important station. Under the direction of this man, who THOMAS JEFFERSON. 131 received a salary from the public treasury, that paper was one of the most violent and virulent among the democratic journals in its attacks not only upon federalists and the government, but upon general Washington himself. This Mr. Jefferson was perfectly aware of, for it was done un- der his own eye, and by one who was employed by him in the public service. In the 4th volume of his works, page 485, is the following passage : — " May the 23d. I had sent to the president, yesterday, draughts of a letter from him to the provisory executive council of France, and of one from myself to Mr. Ternant, both on the occasion of his recall. I called on him to-day. He said there was an expression in one of them which he had never before seen in any of our public communica- tions, to wit, ^^ 02cr republic.^^ The lette* prepared for him to the council, begun thus : ' The citizen Ternant has deliv- ered to me the letter wherein you inform me, that yielding, &c., you had determined to recall him from his mission as your minister plenipotentiary to ou7' republic.' He had underscored the words our republic. He said that certain- ly ours was a republican government, but j^et we had not used that style in this way ; that if anybody wanted to change its form into a monarchy, he was sure it Avas only a few individiials, and that no man in the United States would set his face against it more than himself: but that this was not what he was afraid of; his fears were from another quarter ; that there was more danger of anarchy being introduced. He adverted to a piece in Freneau's paper of yesterday ; he said he despised all their attacks on him personally, but that there never had been an act of the government, not meaning in the executive line only, but in any line, which that paper had not abused. He was evidently sore and warm, and I took his intention to be, 132 THE CHARACTER OP that I should interpose in some way with Freneau, perhaps withdraw his appointment of translating clerk to my office. But I will not do it. His paper has saved our constitu- tion, which was galloping fast into monarchy, and has been checked by no one means so powerfully as by that paper. It is well and universally known, that it has been that paper which has checked the career of the monocrats ; and the president, not sensible of the designs of the party, has not, with his usual good sense and sang froid, looked on the efforts and effects of this free press and seen that though some bad things have passed through it to the pub- lic, yet the good has preponderated immensely." This was the man who was constantly avowing the highest esteem, respect and even friendship for general Washington, who was little short of sycophantic in his professions of regard, but who was fostering at the public expense a worthless, unprincipled tool of his own, and fur- nishing him, by favor of his own patronage, with the means and opportunity of vilifying the man whom he pre- tended so much to admire as his own friend and the great benefactor of his country. Nay, even upon discovering that general Washington " was evidently chafed " at being the object of such unmerited abuse, and that he was de- sirous of Mr. Jefferson's interference to put an end to such calumnies, and "-perhaps'' that he should dismiss Freneau from his service, he says, with a manifest air of gratification, " I will not do it. His paper has saved our constitution, which was galloping fast into monarchy." Is not this de- cisive proof that Mr. Jefferson was the secret but deter- mined enemy of Washington ? This spirit of hostility towards general Washington shows itself in Mr. Jefferson's correspondence more dis- tinctly after the breaking out and suppression of what THOMAS JEFFERSON. 133 has been called the " whisky insurrection," in Pennsyl- vania. After that disturbance had been quelled by a mil- itary force, congress came together, viz., in November, 1794. General Washington in his speech at the opening of the session, after adverting to the insurrection, and in the lan- guage of judge Marshall, — " After bestowing a high encomium on the alacrity and promptitude with which persons in every station had come forward to assert the dignity of the laws, thereby furnish- ing an additional proof that they understood the true prin- ciples of government and liberty, and felt their inseparable union, he added, — " ' To every description indeed of citizens, let praise be given. But let them persevere in their affectionate vigil- ance over that precious depository of American happiness — the constitution of the United States. And when in the calm moments of reflection they shall have retraced the origin and progress of the insurrection, let them deter- mine whether it has not been fomented by combinations of men who, careless of consequences, and disregarding the unerring truth that those who rouse cannot always appease a civil convulsion, have disseminated, from an ignorance or perversion of facts, suspicions, jealousies and accusa- tions of the whole government.' " ^ This attack on democratic societies as having had an agency in producing the insurrection, was not to be par- doned by Mr. Jefferson. Insurrections were an impor- tant part of his political system. In a letter to colonel Smith, dated at Paris, November 13, 1787, (vol. 2, page 267 of his works,) he says, " The British ministry have so long hired their gazetteers to repeat and model into every form lies about our being in anarchy, that the world * Life of Washington, vol. 5. p. 596—7. 12 134 THE CHARACTER OF has at length believed them, the ministers themselves have come to believe them, and what is more wonderful we have believed them ourselves. Yet where does this anar- chy exist? Where did it ever exist, except in the. single instance of Massachusetts ? And can history produce an instance of rebellion so honorably conducted ? I say noth- ing of its motives. They were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. -God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all and always well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such mis- conceptions it is a lethargy, the foj-erunner of death to the public liberty. We have had thirteen states independent for eleven years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion ? And what country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two ? The tree of liberty must be re- freshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants ; it is its natural manure." It was not to be expected that the man who could talk in this flippant and cold-hearted manner about Shays's in- surrection, or of rebellion in the abstract, would manifest any uneasiness or regret at the whisky disturbance ; and when he found that general Washington made it the ground of serious charge against his favorite machinery, it was very natural for him to complain and manifest symptoms of resentment. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 135 " The denunciation of the democratic societies," says he, "is one of the extraordinary acts of boldness of which we have seen so many from the faction of monocrats. It is wonderful, indeed, that the president should have per- mitted himself to be the organ of such an attack on the freedom of discussion, the freedom of writing, printing and publishing. It must be a matter of rare curiosity to get at the modifications of these rights proposed by them, and to see what line their ingenuity would draw between democratical societies, whose avowed object is the nour- ishment of the republican principles of our constitution, and the society of the Cincinnati, or self-created one, carv- ing out for itself hereditary distinctions, lowering over our constitution eternally, meeting together in all parts of the Union periodically with closed doors, accumulating a cap- ital in their separate treasury, corresponding secretly and regularly, and of which society the very persons denoun- cing the democrats are themselves the father?, founders and high officers. Their sight must be perfectly dazzled by the glittering of crowns and coronets not to see the ex- travagance of the proposition to suppress the friends of general freedom, while those who wish to confine that freedom to the few are permitted to go on in their princi- ples and practices. I here put out of sight the persons whose misbehavior has been taken advantage of to slander the friends of popular rights ; and I am happy to observe that, as far as the circle of my observation and information extends, every body has lost sight of them, and views the abstract attempt on their natural and constitutional rights in all its nakedness. I have never heard, or heard of, a single expression or opinion which did not condemn it as an inexcusable aggression. And with respect to the trans- actions against the excise law it appears to me that you 136 THE CHARACTER OF are all swept away in the torrent of governmental opin- ions, or that we do not know what these transactions have been. We know of none which, according to the defini- tions of the law, have been anything more than riotous. There was, indeed, a meeting to consult about a separa- tion. But to consult on a question does not amount to a determination of that question in the affirmative, still less to the acting on such a determination ; but we shall see, I suppose, what the court lawyers and courtly judges and would-be ambassadors will make of it. The excise law is an infernal one. The first error was to admit it by the constitution ; the second, to act on that admission ; the third, and last, will be, to make it the instrument of dis- membering the Union, and setting us all afloat to choose what part of it we will adhere to. The information of our militia returned from the westward is uniform that, though the people there let them pass quietly, they were objects of their laughter not of their fear ; that one thou- sand men could have cut off their whole force in a thou- sand places in the Allegany ; that their detestation of the excise law is universal, and has now associated to it a detestation of the government ; and that separation which, perhaps, was a very distant and problematical event, is now near and certain and determined in the mind of every man. I expected to have seen some justification of arming one part of the society against another ; of de- claring a civil war the moment before the meeting of that body which has the sole right of declaring war ; of being so patient of the kicks and scoffs of our enemies and rising at a feather against our friends ; of adding a million to the public debt and deriding us with recommendations to pay it if we can, &c., &c. But. the part of the speech which was to be taken as a justification of the armament, THOMAS JEFFERSON. 137 reminded me of Parson Saunders's demonstration why minus into minus makes plus. After a parcel of shreds of stuff from ^sop's Fables and Tom Thumb he jumps all at once into his ergo^ minus multiplied into minus makes plus. Just so the fifteen thousand men enter after the fa- bles into the speech." ^ It will be recollected that this whole passage is intended to be a direct and severe attack upon general Washington ; and this founded altogether upon the measures adopted un- der his direction, to suppress the insurrection, and to ridi- cule the remarks contained in his speech respecting the de- mocratic societies. Mr. Jefferson calls those remarks an at- tack on the freedom of discussion, writing, printing and publishing. It is a difficult thing to ascertain how a de- nunciation, as he calls the speech, of those associations had anything to do with the freedom of discussion, or writ- ing, or printing, or publishing. But, as it was the prac? tice among his followers, to take everything that he said for truth, and without the trouble of examination, he doubt- less presumed this declaration would be treated in the same manner, and therefore thought it expedient to make the general charge against the president. He alleges, too, that the avowed object of those societies was, " to nourish the republican principle of oiir constitution ; " and to show the difference between them and the society of the Cin- cinnati, he accuses the latter of " carving out for itself he" reditary distinctions, lowering over the constitution eter- nally," &c., of which society he says, " the very persons denouncing the democrats are themselves the fathers, founders, and high officers." General Washington was the president of the general society of the Cincinnati — it had been in existence more than ten years when this let- * Jefferson's Works, vol. 3, page 307. 12# 138 THE CHARACTER OP ter was written. It has existed now more than fifty years. Whatever was the avowed or real object of the democratic societies, established under the supervision and auspices of one of the most impudent, factious, insolent, and mischievous diplomatists that ever visited or disturbed the peace of any government or country. Mr. Jefferson never saw the day, and he lived to a very advanced age, when he could point to a single act or measure of the Cincinnati which in the slightest degree infringed upon the rights, liberties, or privileges of the people of the United States. The charge, coming from such a source, and on such an occasion, shows how little regard its author had to truth or justice, when urged on to any course of conduct by apprehensions of danger to his own interest or popularity. He professed to respect and esteem general Washington, and was very lavish of his expressions of regard whenever occasion called for them. But the moment that upright, independ- ent and virtuous magistrate, in the performance of his official duties, found himself under the necessity of putting a check to the progress of a mischievous faction, led by an unprincipled foreigner, in the garb of a minister pleni- potentiary, that moment he was denounced as an enemy to republicanism, and to the common rights and liberties of the inhabitants of the country. The truth was, a for- midable insurrection against the laws of the United States had broken out in Pennsylvania, of which judge Marshall gives the following account. After stating what had pre- viously occurred, he says : — " Charging himself with the service of these processes, the marshal repaired in person to the country which was the scene of these disorders. On the 15th of July, while employed in the execution of his duty, he was beset on the road by a body of armed men, who fired on him, but for- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 139 tunately did him no personal injury. At day-break, the ensuing morning, a party attacked the house of general Nevil, the inspector ; but he defended himself resolutely, and obliged the assailants to retreat. " Knowing well that this attack had been pre-concerted, and consequently apprehending that it would be repeated, he applied to the militia officers and magistrates of the county for protection. The answer was, that * owing to the too general combination of the people to oppose the reve- nue system, the laws could not be executed so as to afford him protection : that should the posse comitatus be order- ed out to support the civil authority, few could be gotten that were not of the party of the rioters.' " On the succeeding day, the insurgents reassembled to the number of about five hundred to renew their attack on the house of the inspector. On finding that no protec- tion could be afforded by the civil authority, he had appli- ed to the commanding officer at Fort Pitt, and had obtain- ed a detachment of eleven men from the garrison, who were joined by major Kirkpatrick. Successful resistance to so great a force being obviously impracticable, a parley took place, at which the assailants, after requiring that the inspector and all his papers should be delivered up, de- manded that the party in the house should march out and ground their arms. This being refused, the parley ter- minated, and the assault commenced. The action lasted until the assailants set fire to several adjacent buildings, the heat from which was so intense that the house could no longer be occupied. From this cause, and from the apprehension that the fire would soon be communicated to the main building, major Kirkpatrick and his party surren- dered themselves. " The marshal and colonel Pressly Nevil were seized 140 THE CHARACTER OF on their way to general Nevil's house, and detained until two the next morning. The marshal, especially, was treated with extreme rudeness. His life was frequent- ly threatened, and was probably saved by the inter- position of some leading characters who possessed more humanity or more prudence than those with whom they were associated. He could only obtain his safety or liber- ty by entering into a solemn engagement, which was guaranteed by colonel Nevil, to serve no more process on the western side of the Allegany mountains. " The marshal and inspector having both retired to Pittsburg, the insurgents deputed two of their body, one of whom was a justice of the peace, to demand that the for- mer should surrender all his process, and that the latter should resign his office ; threatening in case of refusal, to attack the place, and seize their persons. These demands were not acceded to ; but Pittsburg affording no security, these officers escaped from the danger which threatened them by descending the Ohio ; after which theyf ound their way by a circuitous route to the seat of government. " The perpetrators of these treasonable practices would, of course, be desirous to ascertain their strength, and to discover any latent enemies who might remain unsuspect- ed in the bosom of the disaffected country. To obtain this information, the mail from Pittsburg to Philadelphia was stopped by armed men, who cut it open, and took out the letters which it contained. In some of these letters, a direct disapprobation of the violent measures which had been adopted was openly avowed ; and in others, expres- sions were used which indicated unfriendly dispositions towards them. Upon acquiring this intelligence, delegates were deputed from the town of Washington to Pittsburg, where the writers of the offensive letters resided, to de- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 141 mand the banishment of the offenders. A prompt obedi- ence to this demand was unavoidable ; and the inhabitants of Pittsburg, who were convened on the occasion, engaged to attend a general meeting of the people, who were to as- semble the next day in Braddock's field, in order to carry into effect such further measures as might be deemed ad- visable with respect to the excise and its advocates. They also determined to elect delegates to a convention which was to meet on the 14th of August at Parkinson's ferry. The avowed motives to these outrages were to compel the resignation of all officers engaged in the collection of the duties on distilled spirits ; to withstand by force of arms the authority of the United States, and thereby to extort a repeal of the law imposing those duties, and an alteration in the conduct of the government. " Affidavits attesting this serious state of things were laid before the executive.'"^ Although the government had endeavored for more than three years to conciliate this spirit, but without success, and it had become absolutely necessary to suppress it or to let the power of the nation fall before it, presenting an alternative respecting which George Washington could not for a moment hesitate ; yet, before proceeding to extremi- ties, he moved towards his ultimate object with the utmost caution, taking every step required by law, and finally is- suing a proclamation, in which, after recapitulating the measures which the government had adopted, he informed the insurgents that in his judgment it " was necessary to take measures for calling forth the militia in order to sup- press the combinations aforesaid, and to cause the laws to be duly executed, and he had accordingly determined so to do; feeling the deepest regret for the occasion, but with- * Life of "Washington, vol. 5, page 583. 142 THE CHARACTER OF al the most solemn conviction that the essential interests of the Union demanded it; that the very existence of gov- ernment, and the fundamental principles of social order were involved in the issue; and that the patriotism and firmness of all good citizens were seriously called upon to aid in the suppression of so fatal a spirit.'"^ After noticing the measures taken to order out a body of militia, judge Marshall says : — " Meanwhile the insurgents omitted nothing which might enlarge the circle of disaffection. Attempts were made to embark the adjacent counties of Virginia in their cause, and their violence was extended to Morgantown, at which place an inspector resided, who saved himself by flight, and protected his property by advertising on his own door that he had resigned his office. They also made similar excursions into the contiguous counties of Pennsylvania lying east of the Allegany mountains where numbers were ready to join them. These deluded men, giving too much faith to the publications of democratic societies, and to the furious sentiments of general hostility to the administration, and particularly to the internal taxes, with which the papers in the opposition abounded, seem to have entertained the opinion, that the great body of the people were ready to take up arms against their govern- ment, and that the resistance commenced by them would spread throughout the Union, and might terminate in a revolution."! This is a concise history of the proceedings for the sup- pression of this formidable insurrection, — a disturbance which Mr. Jefferson, in the quotation from a letter ad- dressed to James Madison, speaks of as an affair which, * Life of Washington, vol. 5, page 585. f Life of Washington, vol. 5, page 586. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 143 according to the definitions of law, was nothing more than riotous. He acknowledges, indeed, that there was a meet- ing to consult about a separation of the Union ; but he says, " to consult on a question, does not amount to a de- termination of that question in the affirmation, still less to the acting on such a determination." But, he says " we shall see what court lawyers, and courtly judges, and would-be ambassadors will make of it." And then he adds, as a decisive proof of his feelings towards the case, and especially towards the government, which had taken , measures to suppress it, " The excise laio is an infernal oney The course pursued and the measures resorted to by general Washington for putting down this insurrection, which, as has been seen, threatened the very existence of the Union and the government, indicated not only great firmness in the performance of his official duty, but a high degree of attachment to the constitution and country, as well as a manifestation of public spirit and patriotism — but it is very apparent, that when he stood in the way of Mr. Jefierson's notions of freedom, and showed a disposi- tion to still the turbulent waves of his *' tempestuous sea of liberty," his professions of friendship and admiration vanished into air ; and he was so much disturbed at see- ing the influence of the jacobin clubs of this country de- stroyed that he expected, in a case in which the president merited and received from all the real friends of the con- stitution and government the warmest testimonials of ap- probation, "some justification for arming one part of socie- ty against another ; of declaring civil war the moment be- fore the meeting of that body which has the sole right of declaring war ; of being so patient of the kicks and scoffs of our enemies, and rising at a feather against our friends.'* 144 THE CHARACTER OF Having, as has been shown, entered upon the task of calumniating general Washington, Mr. Jefferson after- wards became more direct in his attacks upon his reputa- tion. In his famous letter to Mazzoi, he charges him ex- plicitly with belonging to an Anglo-monarchic-aristocratic party. " We have," says he, " against us {republicans) the executive power. ^^ General Washington constituting at that time the executive branch of the government, there is no room for Mr. Jefferson to escape from the charge of slandering that great man. Even in the version of this letter, as published in his works since his death, and which was manifestly prepared for the inspection of the public and of future generations, he does not attempt to explain away this expression. He says " against us republicans are the executive, the judiciary," &c. In both, the accusa- tion, in plain terms, is, that general Washington had become an English monarchist and aristocrat in his feelings and sentiments, and of course was opposed to Mr. Jefferson and his friends, who were republicans. No man who was as well acquainted with general Washington's history as Mr. Jefferson was, and possessed common honesty, could have charged him with monarchical principles, or anti-re- publican propensities. And yet here such a charge is direct- ly made by a man thoroughly informed of his character and conduct — one who professed himself to be his sincere friend and ardent admirer. A specimen of the warmth of his manner of making professions to him, before the date of the Mazzoi letter, may be found in the third volume of his works, page 306, in a letter to the secretary of state, dated September 7, 1794 — about a year and a half before the date of the Mazzoi letter, and a little more than three months before the date of the letter on the denunciation of democratic societies, and the whisky insurrection — " It is THOMAS JEFFERSON. 145 a great pleasure to me," says he, " to retain the esteem and approbation of the president, and this forms the only- ground of any reluctance at being unable to comply with every wish of his. Pray convey these sentiments and a thousand more to him which my situation does not permit me to go into." In a letter to James Madison, however, dated March Si7, 1796, just before the date of the Mazzei letter, when urging that gentleman to the adoption of certain principles in relation to the treaty-making power in the constitution, and in allusion to Mr. Jay's treaty, as it is commonly call- ed, he says, — " If you decide in favor of your right to re- fuse co-operation in any case of treaty, I should wonder on what occasion it is to be used if not in one where the rights, the interest, the honor and faith of our nation are so grossly sacrificed ; where a faction has entered into a conspiracy with the enemies of their country to chain down the legislature at the feet of both ; where the whole mass of your constituents have condemned this work in the most unequivocal manner, and are looking to you as their last hope to save them from the efl^ects of the avarice and cor- ruption of the first agent, the revolutionary machinations of others, and the incomprehensible acquiescence of the only honest man who has assented to it. I wish that his honesty and his political errors may not furnish a second occasion to exclaim, ' curse on his virtues, they have un- done his country.^ " The " first agent," here, who is charged with " avarice and corruption," undoubtedly means John Jay, who nego- tiated the treaty which called forth this ebullition of froth and passion. Mr. Jay was one of the most pure, disinter- ested, public-spirited, able and virtuous patriots and states- 13 146 THE CHARACTER OF men which this country ever produced ; and who, in this very instance, negotiated one of the most valuable treaties that the United States have ever entered into with any foreign power. And it was for assenting to and signing this treaty, that Mr. Jefferson broke out in the manner above recited. The secret of his opposition to this treaty was, an impression he had imbibed that it was favorable to Great Britain and of course injurious to France; and that consideration alone was sufficient to give rise to his hostility to it, and to excite a spirit of enmity to general Washington himself, even if it had not previously existed. But Mr. Jefferson's correspondence contains further evidence that he was hollow-hearted in his professions of friendship for general Washington. In a letter to colonel Burr, dated June 17, 1797, he says : — " I had always hoped that the popularity of the late pres- ident being once withdrawn from active effect, the natural feelings of the people towards liberty would restore the equilibrium between the executive and legislative depart- ments, which had been destroyed by the superior weight and effect of that popularity ; and that their natural feel- ings of moral obligation would discountenance the un- grateful predilection of the executive in favor of Great Britain. But, unfortunately, the preceding measures had already alienated the nation who were the object of them, had excited reaction from them, and this reaction has on the minds of our citizens an effect which supplies that of the Washington popularity. This effect was sensible on some of the late congressional elections, and this it is which has lessened the republican majority in congress. When it will be reinforced must depend on events, and these are so incalculable that I consider the future char- acter of our republic as in the air; indeed its future for- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 147 T tune will be in the air if war is made on us by France, and if Louisiana becomes a Gallo-American colony." It is perfectly obvious that Mr. Jefferson considered general Washington's popularity — notwithstanding it was the result of greater public services than any other man ever rendered the country, and was founded upon the purest morals, the utmost disinterestedness, and the high- est degree of personal worth and political integrity and virtue — as a great public calamity; and the evil consisted in the fact, that we had been preserved from a close and intimate alliance with France during the most stormy and sanguinary periods of her revolutionary career. And he mourns, with great apparent sincerity, that his relinquish- ment of public office and return to private life had not been attended with the consequences that he had antici- pated ; for the people had not so suddenly forgotten his eminent services, and their obligations to him for benefits which no other man ever had rendered, and which there was very little probability that any other man would ever have it in his power to render to the country. The truth was, the people had not, at their elections, strengthened the democratic party in the house of representatives as he expected, which was what he meant by restoring the equi- librium between the executive and legislative departments. Having seen what sentiments Mr. Jefferson at different times entertained of general Washington's measures and conduct, the charge of monarchical principles directly al- leged against him in the letter to Mazzei, the support af- forded Freneau in carrying on his newspaper, in which general Washington was constantly and grossly traduced as being under British influence, having British principles and propensities, with being, in Mr. Jefferson's own lan- guage, an Anglo-man, and, in frequent suggessions, that 148 THE CHARACTER OF his object was to change our republican system into a mo- narchical one — what will every frank, upright, unbiased mind think of this great professed champion of republican- ism, freedom, and all that goes to make the man'of the people, at hearing him say in a letter to Mr. Melish, dated January 13, 1813, — " You expected to discover the difference of our party ^ principles in general Washington's valedictory and my . inaugural address. Not at all. General Washington did not harbor one principle of federalism. He was . neither an Anglo-man, a monarchist nor a separatist. He sincerely wished the people to have as much self- government as they were competent to exercise them- selves. The only point on which he and I ever differed in opinion was, that I had more confidence than he had in the natural integrity and discretion of the people, and in the safety and extent to which they might trust them- selves with a control over their government. He has as- severated to me a thousand times his determination that the existing government should have a fair trial, and that in support of it he would spend the last drop of his blood. He did this the more repeatedly because he knew general Hamilton's political bias and my apprehensions from it. It is a mere calumny, therefore, in the monarchists to as- sociate general Washington with their principles. But that may have happened in this case which has been often seen in ordinary cases, that, by often repeafmg an untruth men come to believe it themselves. It is a mere artifice in this party to bolster themselves up on the revered name of that first of our worthies." ^ " The only point on which he and I ever diflTered in opinion was, that I had more confidence than he in the * Jefferson's "Works, vol. 5, page 185. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 149 natural integrity of the people, and in the safety and ex- tent to which they might trust themselves with a control over their government." Did not general Washington and he differ about the funding system, the assumption of the state debts, on the proclamation of neutrality, on the British treaty, on the necessity of ^suppressing the whisky insurrection and the means adopted for that purpose? Whether Mr. Jeirerson came to this conclusion by often repeating the same idea until he believed it, according to the rule mentioned in the foregoing extract, or not, cannot now be determined; but it appears to be a case that falls very naturally within the scope of the maxim he has there laid down. 13=^ 150 THE CHARACTER OF CHAPTER IX. Mr. Jefferson afraid to attack general Washington's character openly — Letter to W. Jones, January, 1814, a specimen of his insidiousness — Great body of republicans think of Washington as he does — His belief that we should eventually come to some- thing like the British constitution had some weight in his adopt- ing levees, &c. — Pains taken by the federalists to make him view Jefferson as a theorist, &c. — Jefferson never saw Wash- ington after the former left the state department, otherwise these impressions would have been dissipated — Letter from Jefferson to M. Van Buren, June, 1824 — Notice of charges in a work published by T. Pickering — Letter to Mazzei — Not a word in that letter that would not be approved by every republican in the United States — Not a word in that letter about France — By forms of British government was meant levees, &c. — Subject of ceremonies at Washington's second election referred to heads of departments — Jefferson and Hamilton thought there was too much ceremony — The phrase, " Samson 's in tliefield,^^ meant the society of the Cincinnati — Jefferson says general Washington knew this — Never had any reason to believe that general Wash- ington's feelings towards him ever changed — Washington a sin- cere friend to the republican principle — Knew Jefferson's suspi- cions of Hamilton — After the retirement of his first cabinet, gene- ral Washington fell into federal hands — Remarks on this letter. That Mr. Jefferson v^as afraid to run the risk of openly- attacking general Washington's principles or character is beyond a doubt. But that he took every opportunity, by insinuations, suggestions, and various other means which no other man ever knew how to employ with so much effect, to depreciate his understanding and talents, to lower him in the estimation of those with whom he was inti- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 151 mate, to make him the object of party animosity and news- paper rancor and calumny — and this with so much art and address as to make it appear to a cursory observer that he was his sincere admirer and friend — cannot be doubted. And such was emphatically the course which he pursued towards his memory when he was preparing materials for future generations to read, and which he doubtless intend- ed should form the basis of their opinions respecting his own talents and character. At page 234 of the fourth volume of his posthumous works is a letter to Dr. Walter Jones, dated January 2, 1S14, which furnishes a remark- able specimen of the manner in which Mr. Jefferson could exercise his ingenuity in praising general Washington in one breath and in taking off the force of what he had said in his favor in the next. It is as follows : — " You say that in taking general Washington on your shoulders to bear him harmless through the federal coali- tion, you encounter a perilous topic. I do not think so. You have given ihe genuine history of the course of his mind through the trying scenes in which it was engaged, and of the seductions by which it was deceived but not depraved. I think I knew general Washington intimately and thoroughly, and were I called on to delineate his character it should be in terms like these. " His mind was great and pow^erful, though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon or Locke ; and a^ far as he saw no judgment ever was sounder. It was slow in ope- ration, being little aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion. Hence the common remark of his officers of the advantages he derived from councils of war where, hearing all suggestions, he selected whatever was best; and certainly no general ever planned his battles more judiciously. But if deranged during the course of 152 THE CHARACTER OF the action, if any member of his plan ivas dislocated hy sud- den circumstances, he was slow i7i readjustment. The consequence was, that he often failed in the field, and rarely against an enemy in station, as at Boston and York. He was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest unconcern. Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every cir- cumstance, every conf)ideration was maturely weighed ; re- fraining if he saw a doubt, but, when once decided, going through with his purpose whatever obstacles opposed. His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known — no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the word, a wise, a good, and a great man. His temper was naturally irritable and high-toned, but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and habitual ascendency over it. If ever, however, it broke its bonds, he was most tremendous in his wrath. In his expenses he was honorable, but exact ; liberal in contributions to whatever promised utility, but frowning and unyielding on all visionary projects and all unworthy calls on his charity. His heart was not vjarm in its affec' lions, but he exactly calculated every man's value and gave him a solid esteem proportioned to it. Although in the circle of his friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in conversation, his colloquial talents were not above mediocrity, possessing neither co- piousness of ideas nor fluency of words. In public, when called on for a sudden opinion, he was unready, short and embarrassed. Yet he wrote readily, rather difl^usely, in an easy and correct style. This he had acquired by con- versation with the world, for his education was merely reading, writing and common arithmetic, to which he THOMAS JEFFERSON. 153 added surveying at a later day. His time was employed in action chiefly, reading little, and that only in agriculture and English history. His correspondence became neces- sarily extensive, and with journalizing his agricultural proceedings occupied most of his leisure hours within doors. On the whole, his character was, in its mass, per- fect, in nothing bad, in few points i7idiffere7it ; and it may truly be said, that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have mer- ited from man an everlasting remembrance. For his was the singular destiny and merit of leading the armies of his country successfully through an arduous war for the es- tablishment of its independence ; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and or- derly train ; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example. " How then can it be perilous for you to take such a man on your shoulders ? I am satisfied the great body of republicans think of him as I do. We were, indeed, dis' satisfied with him on his ratification of the British treaty. But this was short-lived. We knew his honesty, the wiles with which he loas encompassed, and that age had already begun to relax the firmness of his purposes ; and I am convinced he is more deeply seated in the love and gratitude of the republicans than in the pharisaical hom- age of the federal monarchists. For he was no monarchist from preference of his judgment. The soundness of that gave him correct views of the rights of man, and his se- vere justice devoted him to them. He has often declared to me that he considered our new constitution as an ex- 154 THE CHARACTER OF perirnent on the practicability of republican g-overnment, and with what dose of liberty man could be trusted for his own good; that he was determined the experiment should have a fair trial, and would lose the last drop of his blood in support of it. And these declarations he repeated to me the oftener and the more pointedly, because he knew my suspicions of colonel Hamilton's views, and probably had heard from him the same declarations which I had, to wit, ' that the British constitution, with its unequal rep- resentation, corruption and other existing abuses, was the most perfect government which had ever been established on earth, and that a reformation of these abuses would make it an impracticable government.' He was naturally distrustful of men and inclined to gloomy apprehensions ; and I was ever persuaded that a belief that we must at length end in something like a British constitution^ had some weight in his adoption of the ceremonies of levees, birth-days, pompous meetings with congress, and other forms of the same character calculated to prepare us grad- ually for a change which he believed possible, and to let it come on with as little shock as might be to the public mind. " These are my opinions of general Washington which I would vouch at the judgment seat of God, having been formed on an acquaintance of thirty years. I served with him in the Virginia legislature from 1769 to the revo- lutionary war, and again a short time in congress until he left us to take command of the army. During the war and after it we corresponded occasionally, and in the four years of my continuance in the office of secretary of state our intercourse was daily, confidential and cordial. After I retired from that office, great and malignant pains were taken by our federal monarchists, and not entirely THOMAS JEFFERSON. 155 without effect^ to make him view me as a theorist, holding French principles of government which would lead infal- libly to licentiousness and anarchy. And to this he list- ened the more easily from my known disapprobation of the British treaty. I never saw him afterwards or these malignant insinuations should have been dissipated before his just judgment as mists before the sun. I felt on his death, with my countrymen, that ' verily a great man hath this day fallen in Israel.'" It is a little remarkable that if general Washington had determined to lose the last drop of his blood, if necessary to a fair experiment of our republican system of govern- ment, that he should, at the same time, feel so little confi- dence in it as to believe that we must at last end in some- thing like a British constitution, and, under this belief, that he was gradually preparing the minds of the people for its introduction so as not to produce too great a shock to their feelings. The suggestion is preposterous, and the measures which are mentioned as having been adopted for that purpose absurd and ridiculous. Could general Washington have ever been so weak as to imagine that levees, and birth-nights, and pompous meetings with con- gress, would have a tendency to reconcile the people of the United States to the establishment of a monarchy? The idea is probably repeated in this letter for the purpose of giving additional force to the remarks made in a letter to Mr. Madison, dated August 3, 1797, on the appearance in this country of the Mazzei letter, in which Mr. Jefferson endeavors to get rid of the natural construction put upon an expression in that singular document, in which he charges the Anglo-monarchical party (meaning the fede- ralists) with endeavoring to draw over us the substance, as they had done the form, (or, as he says in explanation, 156 THE CHARACTER OF the forms,) of the British constitution. To gel rid of the obvious meaning of this passage, viz., that by the expres- sion giving us the form of the British constitution, he had reference to our constitution, he insists that tlie word should have been forms, and that he referred entirely to levees, -jbirth-nights and pompous inauguration proces- sions, &c. Before this explanation is admitted as satis- factory, it must be acknov^^ledged that Mr. Jefferson must not only have held the understanding of the people at large, but that of general Washington and his associates, in absolute contempt ; otherwise he would not have sup- posed that the former could have been imposed upon by so shallow a pretence, and that the latter must have been no better than mere dolts to have flattered themselves that a monarchy could ever have been brought to pass by such ridiculous means. This explanation, however, was pre- pared for future history, and not intended to be made public until after his death. And as it was done late in life, when age had, in some measure at least, impaired his faculties, his discernment probably was not as acute as it had once been. If this is not the true solution of the dif- ficulty, if he was in possession of his full powers of mind when he wrote this letter and laid it by for posthumous use, he must have believed that he had obtained such an ascendency over the understandings as well as the feel- ings and passions of men that they would believe anything he should tell them, however preposterous in itself or how little soever it might be supported by fact or reason. Nor is the explanation of the cause of general Wash- ington's alienation from Mr. Jefferson in any respect more satisfactory. The charge of being " a theorist," and " hold- ing French principles of government," was not made for the first time after he retired from the office of secretary of THOMAS JEFFERSON. 157 state. It was openly preferred against him, by the friends of the constitution of the United States and the support- ers of general Washington's administration, from the be- ginning; and his works show that it was well founded. And it was impossible in the nature of things that general Washington should not have been fully informed on the subject ; and if his judgment was as sound and his jus- tice as inflexible as is averred in the letter to Dr. Jones, it must have followed that he saw, felt, and of course ad- mitted its correctness. There is no room for doubt, as will herea,fter be made manifest, that it was the appearance of the Mazzei letter which produced the coolness on the part of general Washington. That great and virtuous man was not formed to submit patiently to so unfounded and so base an imputation from one in whom he had confided and for whom he had entertained feelings both of respect and friendship, as thai of being a monarchist in principle, and of course of secretly aiming to undermine and destroy the republican government and institutions of his country which he had made such unexampled efforts and sacrifices to establish, and which he had repeatedly, in the most public and solemn manner, sworn to support. Such a charge implied an accusation of deep and detestable hypoc- risy, as well as a total want of both moral and political integrity on his part ; and if there was any one species of offence which was more abhorrent to his nature than any other, it was that of hypocrisy. In the 4th volume of Mr. Jefferson's Works (page 399,) is a letter to Martin Van Buren, dated June 29, 1824. It acknowledges the receipt of one from Mr. Van Buren, com- municating to Mr. Jefferson a book published by colonel Timothy Pickering, containing strictures upon a work that had been printed by Mr. John Adams, formerly president 14 158 THE CHARACTER OF of the United States. In his book, colonel Pickering had noticed Mr. Adams's publication, and in the course of his remarks referred to Mr. Jefferson, which drew from him the principal part of this letter. The following is ' an ex- tract from it : — " The other allegation is equally false. In page 34, he quotes Dr. Stuart as having, twenty years ago, informed him that general Washington, ' when he became a private citizen,' called me to account for expressions in a letter to Mazzei, requiring, in a tone of unusual severity, an expla- nation of that letter. He adds of himself, ' in what man- ner the latter humbled himself and appeased the just re- sentment of Washington will never be known, as some time after his death, the correspondence was not to be found, and a diary for an important period of his presiden- cy was also missing.' The diary being of transactions during his presidency, the letter toMazzoi not known here until some time after he became a private citizen, and the pretended correspondence of course after that — I know not why this lost diary and supposed correspondence are brought together here, unless for insinuations worthy of the letter itself. The correspondence could not be found, indeed, because it had never existed. I do affirm, that there never passed a word, writteii or verbal, directly or indirectly, between general Washington and myself on the subject of that letter. He would never have degraded himself so far as to take to himself the imputation in that letter on the ' Samsons in combat.' The whole story is a fabrication, and I defy the framers of it, and all mankind, to produce a scrip of a pen between general Washington and myself on the subject, or any other evidence more worthy of credit than the suspicions, suppositions and pre- sumptions of the two persons here quoting and quoted for THOMAS JEFFERSON. 159 it. Witli Dr. Stuart I had not much acquaintance. I supposed him to be an honest man, knew him to be a very- weak one, and like Mr. Pickering, very prone to antipa- thies, boiling with party passions, and under the dominion of these readily welcoming fancies for facts. But, come the story from whomsoever it might, it is an unqualified falsehood. " This letter to Mazzei has been a precious them.e of crim- ination for federal malice. It was a long letter of business, in which was inserted a single paragraph only of political information as to the state of our country. In this infor- mation there was not one word which would not then have been, or would not now be approved by every republican in the United States, looking back to those times, as you will see by a faithful copy now enclosed of the whole of what that letter said on the subject of the United States or of its government. This paragraph, extracted and trans- lated, got into a Paris paper at a time when the persons in power there were laboring under very general disfavor, and their friends were eager to catch even at straws to buoy them up. To them, therefore, I have always imputed the interpolation of an entire paragraph additional to mine, which makes me charge my own country wiih ingratitude and injustice to France."^ There was not a word in my * Mr. Jefferson roundly asserts that there was not a word in his letter to Mazzei respecting France, and that the passage in it, as first published in this country, which speaks of our ingratitude to France^ was an interpolation. On the truth of this declaration, the public will form their own conclusions. That such a passage should have been fabricated is, to say the least, extraordinary, and in the author's view, extremely improbable ; especially, when the whole drift of his feelings and sentiments with respect to that nation is taken into consideration, and when we find him on other occasions expressing a similar sentiment respecting our indebted- 160 THE CHARACTER OF letter respecting France or any of the proceedings or rela- tions between this country and that. Yet this interpolated paragraph has been the burden of federal calumny, has been constantly quoted by them, made the subject, of un- ceasing and virulent abuse, and is still quoted, as you see by Mr. Pickering, (page 33,) as if it were genuine and really written by me. And even judge Marshall makes history descend from its dignity, and the ermine from its sanctity, to exaggerate, to record and to sanction this for- gery. In the very last note of his book, he says, ' a letter from Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Mazzei, an Italian, was publish- ed in Florence, and republished in the Moniteur, with very severe strictures on the conduct of the United States.' And instead of the letter itself, he copies what he says are the remarks of the editor, which are an exaggerated com- mentary on the fabricated paragraph itself, and silently leaves to his reader to make the ready inference that these were the sentiments of the letter. Proof is the duty of the affirmative side. A negative cannot be possibly prov- ed. But, in defect of impossible proof of what was not in the original letter, I have a press copy still in my posses- sion. It has been shown to several, and is open to any one who wishes to see it. I have presumed only that the interpolation was done in Paris. But I never saw the let- ter in either its Italian or French dress, and it may have been done here, with the commentary handed down to ness to France. In a letter to Arthur Campbell, dated September 1, 1797, not quite a month after that to Mr. Madison requesting his advice how to act concerning this very letter to Mazzei, he says, " It is true that a party has risen up among us, endeavoring to separate us from all friendly connection with France, to unite our destinies with those of Great Britain, and to assimilate our government to theirs." " We owe gratitude to France, justice to England, good will to all, and subservience to none." THOMAS JEFFERSON. 161 posterity by the judge. The genuine paragraph, re-trans- lated through Italian and French into English, as it ap- peared here in a federal paper, besides the mutilated hue which these translations and re-translations of it produced generally, gave a mistranslation of a single word, whick entirely perverted its meaning and made it a pliant and fertile text of misrepresentation of my political principles. The original, speaking of an Anglican, monarchical and aristocratical party which had sprung up since he left us, states their object to be ' to draw over us the substance, as they had already done the forms of the British govern- ment.' Now the forms here meant were the levees, birth- days, the pompous cavalcade to the state house on the meeting of congress, the formal speech from the throne, the procession of congress in a body to re-echo the speech in an answer, &c. &c. But the translator here, by sub- stituting form in the singular number for forms in the plural, made it mean the frame or organization of our gov- ernment, or its form of legislative, executive and judiciary authorities, co-ordinate and independent : to which form it was inferred that I was to be an enemy. In this sense they always quoted it, and in this sense Mr. Pickering still quotes it, (pages 34, 35, 38,) and countenances the in- ference. Now general Washington perfectly understood what I meant by these forms, as they were frequent sub- jects of conversation between us. When, on my return from Europe, I joined the government in March, 1790, at New York, I was much astonished, indeed, at the mimicry I found established of royal forms and ceremonies, and more alarmed at the unexpected phenomenon, by the mo- narchical sentiments I heard expressed and openly main- tained in every company, and among others by the high members of the government, executive and judiciary (geu- 14# 162 THE CHARACTER OF eral Washington alone excepted,) and by a great part of the legislature, save only some members who had been of the old congress and a very few of recent introduction. I took occasion, at various times, of expressing to general Washington my disappointment at the symptoms of a change of principle, and that I thought them encouraged by the forms and ceremonies which I found prevailing, not at all in character with the simplicity of republican government, and looking as if wishfully to those of Eu- ropean courts. His general explanations to me were, that when he arrived at New York to enter on the executive administration of the new government, he observed to those who were to assist him, that placed as he was in an office entirely new to him, unacquainted with the forms and ceremonies of other governments, still less apprized of those which might be properly established here, and him- self perfectly indifferent to all forms, he wished them to consider and prescribe what they should be ; and the task was assigned particularly to general Knox, a man of parade, and to colonel Humphreys, who had resided some time at a foreign court. They, he said, were the authors of the present regulations, and that others were proposed so highly strained that he absolutely re- jected them. Attentive to the difference of opinion pre- vailing on this subject, when the term of his second elec- tion arrived, he called the heads of departments together, observed to them the situation in which he had been at the commencement of the government, the advice he had taken, and the course he had observed in compliance with it ; that a proper occasion had now arrived of revising that course, of correcting in it any particulars not approved in experience ; and he desired us to consult together, agree on any changes we should think for the better, and that he THOMAS JEFFERSON. 163 should willingly conform to what we should advise. We met at my office. Hamilton and myself agreed at once that there was too much ceremony for the character of our government, and, particularly, that the parade of the in- stallation at New York ought not to be copied on the pre- sent occasion, that the president should desire the chief justice to attend him at his chambers, that he should ad- minister the oath of office to him in the presence of the higher officers of the government, and that the certificate of the fact should be delivered to the secretary of state to be recorded. Randolph and Knox differed from us, the latter vehemently : they thought it not advisable to change any of the established forms, and we authorized Randolph to report our opinions to the president. As these opinions were divided, and no positive advice given as to any change, no change was made. Thus the forms which I had censured in my letter to Mazzei, were perfectly under- stood by general Washington, and were those which he himself but barely tolerated. He had furnished me a proper occasion for proposing their reformation, and my opinion not prevailing, he knew I could not have meant any part of the censure for him. " Mr. Pickering quotes, too, (page 34) the expression in the letter of ' the men who were Samsons in the field and Solomons in the council, but who had had their heads shorn by the harlot England ; ' or, as expressed in their re-translation, ' the men who were Solomons in council and Samsons in combat, but whose hair had been cut off by the whore England.' Now this expression also was perfectly understood by general Washington. He knew that I meant it for the Cincinnati generally, and that, from what had passed between us at the commencement of that institution, I could not mean to include him. When the 164 THE CHARACTER OE first meeting was called for its establishment, I was a member of the congress then sitting at Annapolis. Gen- eral Washington wrote to me, asking my opinion on that proposition, and the course, if any, which I thought con- gress would observe respecting it. I wrote him frankly my own disapprobation of it ; that I found the members of (Congress generally in the same sentiment ; that I thought they would take no express notice of it, but that in all ap- pointments of truth, honor, or profit, they would silently pass by all candidates of that order and give a uniform preference to others. On his way to the first meeting in Philadelphia, which I think was in the spring of 1784, he called on me at Annapolis. It was a little after candle- light, and he sat with me until after midnight, conversing, almost exclusively, on that subject. While he was feel- ingly indulgent to the motives which might induce the of- ficers to promote it, he concurred with me entirely in con- demning it ; and when I expressed an idea that, if the hereditary quality were suppressed, the institution might perhaps be indulged during the lives of the officers now living and who had actually served, ' No,' he said, ' not a fibre of it ought to be left, to be an eye-sore to the public, a ground of dissatisfaction, and a line of separation be- tween them and their country :' and he left me with a de- termination to use all his influence for its entire suppres- sion. On his return from the meeting, he called on me again, and related to me the course the thing had taken. He said that from the beginning he had used every endeavor to prevail on the officers to renounce the project altogether, urging the many considerations which would render it odious to their fellow-citizens and disreputable and injuri- ous to themselves ; that he had at length prevailed on most of the old officers to reject it, although with great THOMAS JEFFERSON. 165 and warm opposition from others, and especially the younger ones, among whom he named colonel William S. Smith as particularly intemperate. But that in this state of things, when he thought the question safe and the meeting drawing to a close, major L'Enfant arrived from France with a bundle of eagles, for which he had been sent there, with letters from the French officers who had served in America, praying for admission into the order, and a solemn act of their king permitting them to wear its ensign. This, he said, changed the face of matters at once, produced an entire revolution of sentiment and turn- ed the torrent so strongly in an opposite direction that it could be no longer withstood : all he could then obtain was a suppression of the hereditary quality. He added, that it was the French applications, and respect for the ap- probation of the king, which saved the establishment in its modified and temporary form. Disapproving thus of the institution as much as I did, and conscious that I knew him to do so, he could never suppose that I meant to in- clude him among the Samsons in the field, whose object was to draw over us the form, as they made the letter say, of the British government, and especially its aristocratic member, an hereditary house of lords. Add to this, that the letter saying, ' two out of the three branches of leg- islature were against us,' was an obvious exception of him ; it being well known that the majorities in the two branches of senate and representatives were the very in- struments which carried, in opposition to the old and real republicans, the measures which were the subjects of con- demnation in this letter. General Washington, then, un- derstanding perfectly what and whom I meant to desig- nate, in both phrases, and that they could not have any application or view to himself, could find in neither any 166 THE CHARACTER OF cause of offence to himself, and therefore neither needed nor ever asked any explanation of them from me. Had it even been otherwise, they must know very little of gen- eral AVashington, who should believe to be within the laws of his character what Dr. Stuart is said to have imputed to him. Be this, however, as it may, the story is infa- mously false in every article of it. My last parting with general Washington was at the inauguration of Mr. Adams, in March, 1797, and was warmly affectionate ; and I never had any reason to believe any change on his part^ as there certainly was none on mine. But one ses- sion of congress intervened between that and his death, the year folloioing, in my passage to and from which, as it happened to be not convenient to call upon him, I never had another opportunity ; and as to the cessation of cor- respondence observed during that short interval, no partic- ular circumstance occurred for epistolary communication, and both of us were too much oppressed with letter-writing to trouble either the other with a letter about nothing. " The truth is, that the federalists, pretending to be the exclusive friends of general Washington, have ever done what they could to sink his character by hanging theirs on it, and by representing as the enemy of republicans him who, of all men, is best entitled to the appellation of the father of that republic which they were endeavoring to subvert, and the republicans to maintain. They cannot deny, because the elections proclaimed the truth, that the great body of the nation approved the republican measures. General Washington was himself sincerely a friend to the republican principles of our constitution. His faith, per- haps, in its duration might not have been as confident as mine ; but he repeatedly declared to me, that he was de- termined it should have a fair chance for success, and that THOMAS JEFFERSON. 167 he would lose the last drop of his blood in its support against any attempt which might be made to change it from its republican form. He made these declarations the oftener, because he knew my suspicions that Hamilton had other views, and he wished to quiet my jealousies on th^s subject. For Hamilton frankly avowed, that he con- sidered the British constitution, with all the corruptions of its administration, as the most perfect model of govern- ment which had ever been devised by the wit of man — professing, however, at the same time, that the spirit of this country was so fundamentally republican, that it would be visionary to think of introducing monarchy here, and that, therefore, it was the duty of its administrators to con- duct it on the principles their constituents had elected. " General Washington, after the retirement of his first cabinet and the composition of his second, entirely federal, and at the head of which was Mr. Pickering himself, had no opportunity of hearing both sides of any question. His measures, consequently, took more of the hue of the party in whose hands he was. These measures were certainly not approved by the republicans ; yet were they not im- puted to him, but to the counselors around him ; and his prudence so far restrained their impassioned course and bias, that no act of strong mark, during the remainder of his administration, excited much dissatisfaction. He lived too short a time after, and too much withdrawn from infor- mation, to correct the views into which he had been delud- ed ; and the continued assiduities of the party drew him into the vortex of their intemperate career, separated him still farther from his real friends, and excited him to ac- tions and expressions of dissatisfaction which grieved them, but could not loosen their affections from him. They would not suffer the temporary aberration to weigh 168 THE CHARACTER OF against the immeasurable merits of his life ; and although they tumbled his seducers from their places, they preserv- ed his memory embalmed in their hearts with undimin- ished love and devotion; and there it will forever remain embalmed, in entire oblivion of every temporary thing which might cloud the glories of his splendid life. It is vain, then, for Mr. Pickering and his friends to endeavor to falsify his character, by representing him as an enemy to republicans and republican principles, and as exclusive- ly the friend of those who were so ; and had he lived longer, he would have returned to his ancient and unbias- ed opinions, would have replaced his confidence in those whom the people approved and supported, and would have seen that they ivere only restoring and acting on the prin- ciples of his own first administration. " I find that I have written you a very long letter, or rather a history. The civility of having sent me a copy of Mr. Pickering's diatribe would scarcely justify its ad- dress to you. I do not publish these things, because my rule of life has been never to harass the public with send- ings and provings of personal slanders ; and least of all would I descend into the arena of slander with such a champion as Mr. Pickering. I have ever trusted to the justice and consideration of my fellow citizens, and have no reason to repent it or to change my course. At this time of life, too, tranquility is the summum bonum. But though I decline all newspaper controversy, yet when falsehoods have been advanced, within the knowledge of no one so much as myself, I have sometimes deposited a contradiction in the hands of a friend which, if worth preservation, may, when I am no more nor those whom I might offend, throw light on history, and recall that into the path of truth." THOMAS JEFFERSON. 169 This extraordinary document having been obviously prepared to " throw light on history " when Mr. Jefferson was no more, it has been thought expedient to give it at length, in order that his views upon several important topics contained in it might be clearly and fully under- stood. The first subject that is worthy of notice is the account given by Dr. Stuart to colonel Pickering, that a portion of a correspondence between general Washington and Mr. Jefferson, and of general Washington's diary relative to the Mazzei letter, was not, after general Washington's death, to be found. Mr. Jefferson pronounces the whole story to be a fabrication ; and adds, " I defy the framers of it, and all mankind, to produce a scrip of a pen between general Washington and myself on the subject." Wheth- er this denial is intended to apply to the story of the loss of the diary as well as the correspondence, is not perfectly clear from the language made use of. The challenge to produce it is confined to the latter; and if that had been surreptitiously obtained from the Washington papers and destroyed, there was no risk in making it. And situated as he was at the time of writing this article he had the strongest personal inducements, especially as there was no person living to contradict him, to make the case as fa- vorable to his own interests as was in his power ; and, therefore, if he was less scrupulous about the means used for the purpose, it cannot be a matter of surprise to any person acquainted with his character and the circumstan- ces in which he was placed. The manner in which he attempts to discredit Dr. Stu- art is very characteristic. He says that he had but little acquaintance with him ; that he supposed him to be an honest man, but knew him to be a very weak one, and, 15 170 THE CHARACTER OF like Mr. Pickering, very prone to antipathies, boiling with party passions and under their dominion, readily welcom- ing fancies for facts. The loss of part of the diary was asserted many years before the date of this letter l^y gen- eral Washington's family connections, and the fact has always been understood and believed upon the most un- questionable testimony. If general Washington consid- ered Mr. Jefferson's calumnies of sufficient importance to warrant him in calling for an explanation of the Mazzei letter, nothing is more probable than that he WTOte to him for that purpose. Of the probability of his having done so, every man, after examining the circumstances, will form his own opinion. It will be well to bear in mind, however, that Mr. Jefferson's affirming or denying a thing to exist is not always conclusive evidence that such is the case, as it is believed will satisfactorily appear when this work is finished. It is, however, not a little remarkable that he should attempt to discredit Dr. Stuart as a witness on the ground that he was under the influence of party passions and was prone to welcome fancies for facts. Mr. Jefferson may be justly styled, in the language of ma- sonry, the grand master of parties and party feelings in this country. As soon as he returned from France and took his seat in the national cabinet, he commenced the formation and establishment of the party which, under his auspices and by the force of his influence and exertions, became the prevailing power in the Union, and has con- tinued, under one leader and another, but all invoking his name and principles, down to the present time. It has already been shown from under his own hand that, when he entered upon the duties of chief magistrate of the Uni- ted States, his earliest complaint was, that " the sect " of federalists alone held offices under the government and THOMAS JEFFERSON. 171 that he should make removals until he had introduced re- publicans enough to restore an equilibrium. The party that he thus formed and brought into power became as vindictive tovi^ards their opponents as they were greedy for office; and Dr. Stuart's party-passions must have been heated to a seven-fold degree, if they exceeded in intensity those of the demagogues of whom Mr. Jefferson was the leader. And as for substituting fancies for facts, no man who considered himself, or was viewed by his followers as having a claim to the title of great^ was ever more re- markable for the adoption of the same practice than him- self. Having disposed of Dr. Stuart, Mr. Jefferson proceeds, in his letter to Mr. Van Buren, to a long train of remarks upon the use which the federalists have made of the letter to Mazzei. He says it had been a precious theme of fed- eral malice. Having made it the subject of a critical examination in another work it is not necessary for the author to go over the same ground again. Mr. Jef- ferson says that, in translating it, a single word having been improperly rendered in the singular number instead of the plural, that is, the word form instead of forms, it entirely perverted its meaning and made it the fertile text of misrepresentation of his political principles. And he labors very earnestly to show that, instead of alluding to the constitution of the United States as containing the form of a monarchical government which the monarchical party were endeavoring to draw over us, he had reference only to the president's levees, birth-days, and other cere- monies which were practiced at the seat of government. It is difficult to imagine anything more consummately ridiculous and absurd than for a man for whom his par- tizans have united to affix the title not merely of great but 172 THE CHARACTER Of of illustrious, gravely, and in a document which he had deliberately prepared for posthumous publication and for the express purpose of throwing light on history, gravely to tell future generations that he was extremely fearful lest George Washington and his cabinet should change a republican government which he and his federal friends had just formed, organized and put in operation, into a monarchy, the very kind of government they had just succeeded in throwing off from their country. No man of sense and of common honesty will believe any such thing. But they will believe that in making use of this language in a private letter to a foreigner, at the distance of four thousand miles, he had reference to the constitu- tion of the United States, which is strictly a form of gov- ernment; whilst levees and birth-nights, &g., are in no sense forms of government, and have no relation Xo forms of government, nor could they, in the nature of things, have had any tendency to change our government into a monarchy, however frequent, fashionable or fascinating they might have been. The highest grade of office they were calculated to produce was a master of ceremonies, who, of all the varieties of form which ambition may be supposed to assume is the least likely to terminate in a monarch or a sovereign of any description. And, as if Mr. Jefferson was bent upon making himself ridiculous, after taking great pains to display the fears which he derived from this source to the liberties of the country, and after having, in the earlier parts of his cor- respondence and the later entries in his "^7ia," uniformly spoken of Alexander Hamilton as the most decided mon- archist, in sentiment at least, that there was in the Union, when giving an account of a formal meeting of the cabinet at the commencement of general Washington's second pe- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 173 riod in office in order to consult upon the important ques- tion whether it was expedient to aher or abrogate any of these anti-republican practices of the first administration, he says, " Hamilton and myself agreed at once that there was too much ceremony for the character of our govern- ment, and proposed alterations, while Randolph and Knox differed from them; and the consequence was, that no reformation of this threatening evil was effected. Here, then, it appears that Randolph, a Virginia democrat and a Jeffersonian republican, was in favor of continuing these dangerous monarchical ceremionies at the imminent haz- ard not only of our liberties but of the very nature of our government, whilst Alexander Hamilton — the man who, in Mr. Jefferson's opinion, was the most devoted monarchist in the nation, and a monarchist, too, on the principle of cor- ruption — was decidedly in favor of abrogating the very ceremonies which, according to the notions of Mr. Jeffer- son, were calculated to introduce the kind of government to which he gave the preference over all others. The person who can swallow all this nonsense need be under no apprehensions of ever being suffocated by absurdities of any description. Mr. Jefferson then enters upon a long disquisition upon the phrase in the letter, " Samsons in the field and Solo- mons in council, whose heads had been shorn by the harlot England.'^ He says, " this expression was perfectly un- derstood by general Washington." If so it must have been by the exercise of his own ingenuity and discern- ment, for it has been seen by his declaration in this letter that nothing had ever passed between him and general Washington on the subject of this letter. He acknowl- edges that he never saw general Washington after its publication in this country, and he avers that he never 15^ 174 THE CHARACTER OF wrote anything to him concerning it. He says that gene- ral Washington knew he meant it for the Cincinnati gen- erally, and that, from what passed between them at the commencement of that institution, he could not niean to include him. That Mr. Jefferson was opposed to the Cincinnati, and was, or pretended to be, apprehensive that an association purely benevolent and charitable in its con- stitution and objects, and composed of men who had fought, suffered and bled in achieving their country's free- dom and independence, would prove mischievous and per- haps be the means of changing the republic into a monarchy, there is no room to doubt. That he had in reality any such fears is far more questionable. And when he found that, after all his efforts to instill such suspicions and jeal- ousies as he affected to entertain into the pure and vir- tuous mind of Washington, and notwithstanding all his endeavors to alarm him on that subject, Washington ac- cepted, and held for years, the office of president general over the society, it is little short of ludicrous to find Mr. Jefferson, at so late a period, going back to the old ground, and ascribing the phraseology above referred to in the Mazzei letter to his apprehensions respecting the objects of that institution. At the time when the Mazzei letter was written, the society had existed for more than twelve years. The manner in which their evil designs were to be accomplished is not specified. An Irish judge in South Carolina wrote a pamphlet to warn the country against them, but like most modern prophecies the fulfillment never occurred. Mr. Jefferson was, as usual, more cau- tious and more cunning in his prognostications of evil. He dealt in general, undefined apprehensions, throwing out to the populace and their leaders cant phrases, like that of Samsons in the field and Solomons in council, the THOMAS JEFFERSON. 175 probable effect of which he understood as well as any man who ever lived. But as it is now more than fifty years since the society of the Cincinnati was formed, and a very large proportion of the members have passed off the stage of life, and none of his evil forebodings ever came to pass, it is not unreasonable to conclude that his fears were affected and not real, and that his object in giving them out was, as it always was through life, in a prime degree selfish and sinister. There is very little more probability that general Washington, when he saw the letter to Mazzei, supposed the expression " Samsons in the field and Solomons in council," alluded to the society of the Cincinnati than that he imagined that it had ref- erence to the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. A small number of the revolutionary officers did, indeed, go into public life. Among these was general Knox, who was the first secretary of war under general Washington's ad- ministration, appointed to that office immediately after the organization of the government. He was the man from whom the plan of establishing the society is said to have originally proceeded. After holding the office of secretary of war nearly five years, he resigned it in December, 1794. It is very certain that during that period general Wash- ington, notwithstanding all Mr. Jeflerson's insinuations and suggestions, had formed no suspicions of his alle- giance to his country, or of his designs or even wishes to introduce a monarchy into the United States. Upon ac- cepting his resignation the president expressed" himself in a letter to him as follows: — "I cannot suffer you, how- ever, to close your public service, without uniting to the satisfaction which must arise in your own mind from con- scious rectitude, assurances of my most perfect persuasion that you have deserved well of your country. 176 THE CHARACTER OF "My personal knowledge of your exertions, while it authorizes me to hold this language, justifies the sincere friendship which I have borne you and which will accom- pany you in every situation of life." Mr. Jefferson, with an intimate and thorough acquaintance with general Washington for thirty years, must have ascertained that he would not have expressed himself in respectful and even affectionate language to any man of whose merit he entertained a single doubt, and much more to any man who had been plotting the destruction of his country's freedom. The inference is therefore clear and irresistible that he had no suspicions of general Knox, and there is as little reason to believe that he had any fears of such designs in the society of the Cincinnati at large, because he never would have suffered himself to be placed at its head if such had been the case. Mr. Jefferson, however, says further that, " Disapprov- ing of the institution as much as I did, and conscious that I knew him to do so, he could never suppose that I meant to include him among the Samsons in the field, whose object was to draw over us the form, as they made the letter say, of the British government, and especially its aristocratic member and hereditary house of lords. Add to this that the letter saying, ' that two out of the three branches of legislature were against us,' was an obvious exception of him ; it being well known that the majorities in the two branches of senate and representatives were the very instruments which carried, in opposition to the old and real republicans, the measures which were the subjects of condemnation in this letter." THOMAS JEFFERSON. 177 CHAPTER X. The society of Cincinnati could not have been meant by the phrase " Samsons in the field '' — The language of the Mazzei letter, as published in Jefferson's "V\"orks, absurd — Jefierson's last parting with general "Washington — The time of his death, as stated in the letter to Van Buren not true — Federalists, pretending to be Washington's friends, did what they could to sink his character — The measures of his second administration not imputable to him, but to his counselors — Not approved by the republicans — Answers of the houses to his speech when about to retire, op- posed by Giles — Judge Marshall's account of the feelings of the republican party upon the ratification of the British treaty — Letters to Melish, W. Jones, and John Adam's — Jefferson says general Washington was not a federalist — No truth in the asser- tion that Washington was not a federalist — Letter to Jay, May, 1796 — Letter to Jeflerson, July, 1796 — No correspondence after this letter appears on Washington's books with Jefferson — Let- ter to La Fayette, December, 1798 — to Timothy Pickering, Jan- uary, 1799— To P. Henry, January, 1799— Letters to H. Lee— [Backe's and Freheau's papers, and western insurrection] — Let- ter to J. Jay — Washington not a republican in the sense of Jef- ferson — Washington a federalist — Letter to B. Washington, May, 1799 — Jefferson's letters intended for history. That the society of the Cincinnati, as a body, were not, and could not have been, the persons alluded to in the expression " Samsons in the field," is evident from the fact, that very few of them had gone into public life. A great proportion of the officers of whom that society was composed, had returned to their homes, and engaged in dif- ferent occupations and pursuits, taking no further part in the political concerns of the country, than to lend their sup- 178 THE CHARACTER OF port, according to their principles, by their suffrages and their example, to the constitution, government and laws of the Union, and the general republican institutions of the nation. If the original letter to Mazzei was in the' precise form in which what Mr. Jefferson calls a press copy of it appears in his posthumous works, he must have expressed himself in a very careless and inaccurate manner. In that he says, " against us are the executive, the judiciary, two out of three branches of the legislature.^' Neither the executive, nor the judiciary, is a branch of the legislature. The constitution divides the government into three branch- es — legislative, executive and judicial. The first section of that instrument says, ^^All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a congress of the United States, which shall consist of a senate and house of representa- tives." In this letter, as first published in this country, the expression was, " the executive and the judiciary, two of the three branches of our government. '^ This phraseo- logy was perfectly correct, and such as might have been expected from a scholar, who understood the meaning and use of language, and from a statesman, who had long held one of the high offices of the government. And it will not be an easy task to persuade any reasonable mind, that Mr. Jefferson could have expressed himself so loosely, and so inaccurately, on a ^subject so familiar to him as that of the great divisions of power in the constitution of the United States. The language of the improved copy of the letter is nonsensical. In the letter as first published, it is clear and explicit; and just such as he might be ex- pected to mqj^'e use of on such an occasion as that which called forth the letter. That the copy published in his works, was modified so as to answer the object he had in view, there is very little room to doubt. He wanted to THOMAS JEFFERSON. 179 provide a way to except general Washington from the gen- eral charge of anti-republicanism, alleged against the fed- eralists generally in the letter ; and under the influence of that feeling, he changed the phraseology of the letter in such a manner as he thought would admit of such an exception. In endeavoring, however, to guard himself against one evil, he left himself exposed to the full force of another, as will be shown hereafter in some further re- marks upon this singular composition. Mr. Jefferson then says, " My last parting with general Washington was at the inauguration of Mr. Adams, in March, 1797, and was warmly affectionate ; and I never had any reason to believe any change on his part, as there certainly was none on mine. But one session of congress intervened between that and his death the year following, in my passage to and from which, as it happened to be not convenient to call on him, I never had another opportuni- ty ; and as the cessation of correspondence observed dur- ing that short interval, no particular circumstance occurred for epistolary communication, and both of us were too much oppressed with letter-writing, to trouble, either the other, with a letter about nothing." This passage is one of the most extraordinary that can be found in Mr. Jefferson's extensive correspondence. General Washington died on the 14ih of December, 1799. From March 4, 1797, to December 14, 1799, is two years, nine months, and ten days. Mr. Jefferson says, " But one session of congress intervened between Mr. Adams's in- auguration, viz. March 4, 1797, and general Washington's death, December 14, 1799. Mr. Adams called an extra- ordinary session in May, 1797. Congress again met in November, 1797, some weeks earlier than the usual time of their assembling, and they continued in session until 180 THE CHARACTER OF the July following — being one of the longest sessions that has ever occurred. In December, 1798, the usual annual session commenced ; and in December, 1799, the fourth session begun, ten days before general Washington's death. Thus, in order to shorten the time during which no inter- course occurred between himself and general Washing- ton, after Mr. Adams's inauguration, and to give a plausi- ble reason for their not meeting after that event, Mr. Jef- ferson strikes out a year at least from the lapse of time, and two entire sessions of congress, and a small part of a third, from the events of the period. And what renders it the more extraordinary is the fact, that during the whole of the time alluded to, Mr. Jefferson was vice president of the United States, and by virtue of his office president of the senate, and was actually present, and presided over that body, at each of these sessions. Of course, he could not have been ignorant of the fact that they were held in regular order. By adverting to general Washington's correspondence, recently published by J. Sparks, it will be seen, that from about the middle of November, 1798, to the middle of December following, general Washington was in Philadelphia, which was at that time the seat of government. When he left that city for Mount Vernon, congress had been in session about two weeks. Whether the vice president had, during that period, taken his seat as president of the senate, or not, the auther of this work has not the means of ascertaining. If he had, he must have been in Philadelphia before general Washington left it. If he had not, he postponed the time of enter- ing upon his official duties to a very late period, and it might have been with the view of avoiding a meeting with him. Mr. JefTerson says, " The truth is, that the federalists THOMAS JEFFERSON. 181 pretending to be the exclusive friends of general Wash- ington, have ever done what they could to sink his charac- ter, by hanging theirs on it, and by representing as the enemy of republicans him, who, of all men, is best entitled to the appellation of the father of that republic which they were endeavoring to subvert, and the republicans to main- tain." That general Washington believed those to be his friends who supported his administration, and defend- ed the measures which he recommended and approved, who agreed with him and with whom he agreed in senti- ment on all important national questions, and who treated hitn on all occasions with the highest degree of esteem, re- spect and confidence, cannot be doubted. That those who opposed and thwarted the general course of his adminis- tration, endeavored to defeat the great measures which he recommended, misrepresented his principles, falsified his sentiments, accused him of entertaining monarchical predilections and propensities, and endeavored by false- hood and calumny to injure, and, as far as was in their power, to destroy his character, were justly considered by him as his enemies, cannot be denied. The former were federalists ; the latter were, to a man, what Mr. Jefferson so ostentatiously calls republicans. Mr. Jefferson says in the letter to Mr. Van Buren, " general Washington, after the retirement of his first cabinet and the cornposiiion of his second, entirely federal, and at the head of which was Mr. Pickering himself, had no opportunity of hearing both sides of any question. His measures, consequently, took more the hue of the party in whose hands he was. These measures certainly were not approved by the republicans; yet were they not imputed to him, but to he counselors around him." — Thus to avoid the charge of federalisnj on behalf of general Washington, Mr. Jefferson reduces him to the degraded condition of a dupe — a man not suflered 16 182 THE CHARACTER OF to exercise his own judgment or understanding, but im- posed upon by artful advisers, who deprived him of the privileges of a free agent, and made him a tool in their own hands. The federalists manifested none of this kind of friendship for him. They admired the soundness of his principles, the clearness of his understanding, the correct- ness of his judgment, and the purity of his motives; and above all, his entire independence of all selfishness and all party views and interests. Mr. Jefferson in his letter to Dr. Jones, heretofore refer- red to, says, " We were, indeed, dissatisfied with him on his ratification of the British treaty. But this was short- lived." So long after the ratification of that treaty as near the close of his second administration, he gave notice to congress of his intention to withdraw from public life ; the answers of both houses to that annunciation, evinced an undiminished veneration for his character, their grate- ful sense of the eminent services he had rendered his country, and the regret they felt at his retiring from office ; but Mr. William B. Giles, a member from Virginia, an in- timate and confidential friend of Mr. Jefferson, and one of his most approved republicans, moved in the house of representatives, to strike out the passage from the answer which expressed a grateful conviction that his wise, firm, and patriotic administration, had been signally conducive to the success of the present form of government. In his remarks on the question, Mr. Giles said, " If he stood alone in his opinion, he would declare, that he was not convinced that the administration of the government for these six years had been wise and firm. He did not re- regret the president's retiring from office. He hoped he would retire, and enjoy the happiness that awaited his re- tirement. He believed it would more conduce to that hap- ^piaess that he should retire than if he should remain in THOMAS JEFFERSON. 183 office."^ In this measure of republican friendship for gen- eral Washington, Mr. Giles obtained the votes of ten of the members of the house in addition to his own. These are the people whom Mr. Jefferson calls general Washing- ton's real friends, who preserved his memory embalmed in their hearts. Judge Marshall, however, presents their friendly feel- ings in a somewhat different light. After giving an ac- count of the proceedings on the British treaty, he says — *' If the ratification of the treaty increased the number of its open advocates, by stimulating the friends of the ad- ministration to exert themselves in its defence, it seemed also to give increased acrimony to the opposition. Such hold had the president taken of the affections of the peo- ple, that even his enemies had deemed it generally neces- sary to preserve, with regard to him, external marks of decency and respect. Previous to the mission of Mr. Jay, charges against the chief magistrate, though frequently in- sinuated, had seldom been directly made ; and the cover under which the attacks upon his character were conduct- ed, evidenced the caution with which it was deemed neces- sary to proceed. That mission visibly affected the deco- rum which had been usually observed towards him, and the ratification of the treaty brought into open view sensa- tions which had long been ill concealed. With equal virulence, the military and political character of the presi- dent was attacked, and he was averred to be totally desti- tute of merit either as a soldier or a statesman. The calumnies with which he was assailed were not confined to his public conduct ; even his qualities as a man were the subjects of detraction. That he had violated the con- stitution in negotiating a treaty without the previous ad- vice of the senate, and in embracing within that treaty * Pitkin's Pol. and Civ. Hist., vol. 2, page 495. 184 THE CHARACTER OF subjects belonging exclusively to the legislature, was open- ly maintained, for which an impeachment was publicly suggested ; and that he had drawn from the treasury for his private use more than the salary annexed to his office was unblushingly asserted." Let it be remembered, that the party from whom these attacks proceeded, and by whom these charges were made, was formed by Mr. Jeffer- son, that they were under his absolute control and direc- tion, depended entirely on his countenance and influence for their growth and success, and could have been at any moment checked or silenced in their career, if he had thought it expedient to exert his power over them. That power not having been exercised, he is justly responsible for the general course pursued by them, as well as for the particular measures by which their schemes were carried into effect. That the view which has been taken of this subject, and that the facts disclosed furnish sufficient evidence that Mr. Jefferson w^as the enemy of general Washington, it is be- lieved cannot be denied. At the same time, whilst Mr. Jefferson was, in the se- cret and artful manner that has been described, endeavor- ing to undermine general Washington's reputation, and depreciate his talents and patriotism, he had sagacity enough to know, that it would not be safe for him to come out openly, and without disguise, and attack him before the nation. But whilst endeavoring by insinuations, and covert suggestions, to injure his character, he still car- ried on the farce of professing to be his friend and admir- er ; and ascribed all his errors and mistakes in palicy and measures, to the undue and improper influence exercised over him by his federal associates. But being perfectly aware of his extensive popularity, and of the extreme at- tachment of the people of the United States to him as THOMAS JEFFERSON. 185 their great benefactor, as well as of their sincere and fer- vent gratitude for his services, both civil and military, Mr. Jefferson took great pains to inculcate the idea, that gen- eral Washington was, in reality, what in the Jefferson vo- cabulary was called, a " republican ; " but that, by the in- fluence and address of those who were associated with him in the government, he had been drawn into an approval of their measures; and, at the same time, if he had been left tohimself, he would have gone cordially with the Jeffer- son party. In a letter to Mr. Melish, dated January 13, 1813, (vol. 4, Jefferson's Works, page 182) he says, '* You expected to discover the difference of our pari)'- principles in general Washington's valedictory and my inaugural ad- dress. Not at all. General Washington did not harbor one pri7iciple of federalism. He was neither an Anglo- man, a monarchist, nor a separatist. He sincerely wish- ed the people to have as much self-government as they were competent to exercise themselves. The only point on which he and I differed in opinion, was, that I had more confidence than he had in the natural integrity and discretion of the people, and in the safety and extent to which they might trust themselves with a control over their government." In a letter to Dr. Walter Jones, which has been referred" to in this work, he says, " I am satisfied the great body of republicans think of him as I do. We were, indeed, dis- satisfied with him on his ratification of the British treaty. But this was short-lived. We knew his honesty, the wiles with which he was encompassed, and that age had already begun to relax the firmness of his purposes, and I am convinced he is more deeply seated in the love and gratitude of the republicans than in the pharisaical hom- age of the federal monarchist." It is well known that Mr. Jefferson and his partizans,, 16^ 186 THE CHARACTER OF much as they professed to dislike the general policy and the specific measures of general Washington's adminis- tration, affected to be much more shocked by the course pursued under Mr. Adams's administration. In a letter from general Washington to president Adams, dated June 17, 1798, (Washington's Writings, voL 4, page 241,) he says, " I pray you to believe, that no one has read the various approbatory addresses which have been presented to you with more heart-felt satisfaction than I have done." In another letter to president Adams, (in the same work,, page 261,) dated July 13, 1798, he says, " It was not pos- sible for me to remain ignorant of, or indifferent to, recent transactions. The conduct of the directory of France to- wards our country, their insidious hostilities to its govern- ment, their various practices to withdraw the aflTections of the people from it, the evident tendency of their arts and those of their agents to countenance and invigorate oppo- sition, their disregard of solemn treaties and the laws of nations, their war upon our defenceless commerce, their treatment of our minister of peace, and their demands amounting to tribute, could not fail to excite in me cor- responding sentiments with those which my countrymen have so generally expressed in their affectionate addresses to you. Believe me, sir, no one can more cordially ap- prove of the wise and prudent measures of your adminis- tration. They ought to inspire universal confidence, and will, no doubt, combined with the state of things, call from congress such laws and means as will enable you to meet the full force and extent of the crisis." In order to show that there was not the slightest foun- dation in truth for the pretence on the part of Mr. Jef- ferson that general Washington was not a federalist, but that he was in reality " a republican," according to the meaning which he gave to the title, the following, out of THOMAS JEFFERSON. 187 a multitude of papers of the same description, in his cor- respondence published by Sparks, may be adduced. In a letter to John Jay, dated May 8, 1796, (vol 11, page 123,) he says, " I am sure the mass of citizens in these United States mean well, and I firmly believe they will always act u-ell whenever they can obtain a right un- derstanding of matters; but in some parts of the Union, where the sentiments of their delegates and leaders are adverse to the government and great pains are taken to inculcate a belief that their rights are assailed and their liberties endangered, it is not easy to accomplish this; es- pecially as is the case invariably when the inventors and abettors of pernicious measures use infinitely more indus- try in disseminating the poison than the well-disposed part of the community in furnishing the antidote. To this source all our discontents may he traced, and from it all our embarrassments proceed. Hence serious misfortunes, originating in misrepresentation, frequently flow and spread before they can be dissipated by truth. " These things do as you have supposed, fill my mind with concern and with serious anxiety." In a letter to Thomas Jofl^erson, dated July 6, 1796, (Ibid, 138) he says— " If I had entertained any suspicions before, that the queries which have been published in Backe's paper pro- ceeded from you, the assurance you have given of the contrary w^ould have removed them ; but the truth is, I harbored none. I am at no loss to conjecture from what source they flowed, through what channel they were con- veyed, and for what purpose they and similar publications appear. They were known to be in the hands of Mr. Parker in the earky part of the last session of congress. They were shown about by Mr. Giles during the ses- 188 THE CHARACTER OF sion, and they made their public exhibition aboiil the close of it. " Perceiving and probably hearing, that no abuse in the gazettes would induce me to take notice of anonymous publications against me, those who were disposed to do me such friendly offices, have embraced without restraint every opportunity to weaken the confidence of the people ; and by having the whole game in their hands, they have scrupled not to publish things that do not as well as those which do exist, and to mutilate the latter so as to make them subserve the purposes which they have in view. " As you have mentioned the subject yourself, it would not be frank, candid, or friendly to conceal that your con- duct has been represented as derogating from that opinion T had conceived you entertained of me; that to your par- ticular friends and connections you have described, and they have denounced me as a person under a dangerous influence ; and that, if I would listen more to some other opinions, all would be well. My answer invariably has been, that I had never discovered anything in the conduct of Mr. Jefferson to raise suspicions in my mind of his in- sincerity ; that if he would retrace my public conduct while he was in the administration, abundant proofs would occur to him, that truth and right decisions were the sole objects of my pursuit ; that there were as many instances within his own knowledge of my having decided agamst as in favor of the opinions of the person evidently alluded to : and, moreover, that I was no believer in the infallibility of the politics or measures of any man living. In short, that I was no party man myself, and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them. " To this I may add, and very truly, that until within the last year or two, I had no conception that parties would or even could go to the length I have been witness THOMAS JEFFERSON. 189 to; nor did I believe until lately, that it was within the bounds of probability, hardly within those of possiljility, that while I was using my utmost exertions to establish a national character of our own, independent, as far as our obligations and justice would permit, of every nation of the earth, and wished, by steering a steady course, to preserve this country from the horrors of a desolating war, I should be accused of being the enemy of one nation, and subject to the influence of another; and to prove it, that every act of my administration would be tortured, and the grossest and most insidious misrepresentations of them be made, by giving one side only of a subject, and that too in such exaggerated and indecent tern»s as could scarcely be ap- plied to a Nero, a notorious defaulter, or even to a com- mon pick-pocket." In a note subjoined to this letter, it is said, " No corres- pondence after this date between Washington and JeifTer- son appears in the letter books, except a brief note the month following, upon an unimportant matter. It has been reported and believed, that letters or paper s^ supposed to have jjassed between them, or to relate to their inter- course icith each other at subsequent dates, were secretly withdrawn from the archives of Mount Vernon, after the death of the former. Concerning this fact, no positive testimony remains, either for or against it, among Wash- ington's papers, as they came into my hands." In a letter from general Washington to general La- fayette, dated December 2-5, 1798, (Ibid, 376,) he says— " It has been the policy of France, and that of t}i£ opposi- tion party among ourselves, to inculcate a belief that all those who have exerted themselves to keep this country in peace, did it from an overweening attachment to Great Britain. But it is a ^olemn truth, and you may count upon it, that it is void of foundation, and propagated for 190 THE CHARACTER OF no other purpose, than to excite popular clamor against those whose aim was peace, and whom they wished out of their v'ayy In a letter to Timothy Pickering, dated August 29, 1797, (Ibid, 387,) he says, " That France had stepped far be- yond the line of rectitude, cannot be denied; that she has been encouraged to do so by a 'party among ourselves is, to my mind, equally certain." In a letter to Patrick Henry, dated January 15, 1799, (Ibid, 387,) he says— " It would be a waste of time to attempt to bring to the view of a person of your observation and discernment, the endeavors o/'fl^ certain party among us to disquiet the public mind with unfounded alarms; to arraign every act of the administration ; to set the people at variance with their government; and to embarrass all its measures. Equally useleiss would it be to predict what must be the inevi- table consequences of such a policy, if it cannot be ar- rested. " Unfortuately, and extremely do I regret it, the state of Virginia has taken the lead in this opposition. I have said the state, because the conduct of its legislature in the eyes of the world will authorize the expression, and be- cause it is an incontrovertible fact, that the principal lead- ers of the opposition dwell in it, and that, with the help of the chiefs in other stales, all the plans are arranged, and systematically pursued by their followers in other parts of the Union ; though in no state except Kentucky, that I have heard of, has legislative countenance been obtained beyond Virginia." " But, at such a crisis as this, when every thing dear and valuable to us is assailed; when this party hangs upon the wheels of government as a .dead weight, opposing every measure that is calculated for defence and self-pre- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 191 servatlon, abetting the nefarious views of another nation upon our rights, preferring, as long as they dare contend openly against the spirit and resentment of the people, the interest of France to the welfare of their own country, justifying the former at the expense of the latter; when every act of their own government is tortured by construc- tions they will not bear, into attempts to infringe and trample upon the constitution with a view to introduce monarchy; when the most unceasing and the purest exer- tions which were making to maintain a neutrality, pro- claimed by the executive, approved unequivocally by con- gress, by the state legislatures, nay, by the people them- selves in various meetings, and to preserve the country in peace, are charged with being measures calculated to favor Great Britain at the expense of France, and all those, who had any agency in it are accused of being under the influ- ence of the former and her pensioners ; when measures are systematically and pertinaciously pursued, which must eventually dissolve the Union or produce coercion ; I say, when these things have become so obvious, ought charac- ters who are best able to rescue their country from the pending evil to remain at home ? Rather ought they not to come forward, and by their talents and influence stand in the breach which such conduct has made on the peace and happiness of this country, and oppose the widening of it? " Vain will it be to look for peace and happiness, or for the security of liberty or property, if civil discord should ensue. And what else can result from the policy of those among us, who, by all the measures in their power, are driving matters to extremity, if they cannot be counteract- ed eflfpctually ? The views of men can only be known, or guessed at, by their words or actions. Can those of the leaders of opposition be mistaken, then, if judged by this 192 THE CHARACTER OF rule ? That they are followed by numbers who are un- acquainted with their designs, and suspect as little the tendency of their principles, I am fully persuaded. But, if their conduct is viewed with indifference, if there are activity and misrepresentation on one side, and supineness on the other, their numbers accumulated by intriguing and discontented foreigners under proscription, who were at war with their own governments, and the greater part of them with all governments, they will increase, and nothing short of Omniscience can foretell the consequences." The following extracts from general Washington's let- ters will show how far the allegation that he was not a federalist but was one of Mr. Jefferson's republicans, is en- titled to credit. In the 10th volume of Washington's Writings, (page 857,) is a letter to Henry Lee, from which the following passage is copied — " That there are in this, as well as in all other countries, discontented characters, I well know ; as also that these characters are actuated by very different views ; some good, from an opinion that the measures of the general government are impure ; some bad, if I might be allowed to use so harsh, an expre^'sion, diabolical, inasmuch as they are not only meant to impede the measures of that gov- ernment generally, but more especially as a great means towards the accomplishment of it, to destroy the confidence, which it is necessary for the people to place, until they have unequivocal proof of demerit, in their public servants. In this light I consider myself, whilst I am an occupant of office ; and if they were to go further and call me their slave during this period, 1 would not dispute the point. " But in what will this abuse terminate? For the re- sult, as it respects myself, I care not ; for I have a consola- tion within, that no earthly efforts can deprive me of, and THOMAS JEFFERSON, 193 that is, that neither ambitious nor interested motives have influenced my conduct. The arrows of malevolence, there- fore, however barbed and well pointed, never can reach the most vulnerable part of me ; though, while I am up as a mark, they will be continually aimed. The publications ' in Freneau's and Backers papers are outrages on common . decency ; and they progress in that style, in proportion as their pieces are treated with contempt, and are passed by in silence by those at whom they are aimed. The ten- dency of them, however, is too obvious to be mistaken by men of cool and dispassionate minds, and, in my opinion, ought to alarm them ; because it is difficult to prescribe bounds to the effect." At page 428, of the same volume, is a letter to the same gentleman, in which it is said — " It is with equal pride and satisfaction I add, that as far as my information extends, this insurrection [in Penn- sylvania] is viewed with universal indignation and abhor- rence, except by those who have never missed an opportuni- ty by side blov'S or otherwise to attack the general govern- ment ; and even among these there is not a spirit hardy enough yet openly to justify the daring infractions of law and order ; but by palliatives they are attempting to sus- pend all proceedings against the insurgents until congress shall have decided on the case, thereby intending to gain time, and if possible to make the evil more extensive, more formidable, and of course more difficult to counteract and subdue. " I consider this insurrection as the first formidahle fruit of the democratic sode^ze^, brought forth, I believe, too prematurely for their own views, which may contribute to the annihilation of them. " That these societies were instituted by the artful and designing members (many of their body I have no doubt 194 THE CHARACTER OF mean well, but know little of the real plan,) primarily to sow among the people the seeds of jealousy and distrust of the government, by destroying all confidence in the ad- ministration of it, and that these doctrines have be^n bud- ding and blowing ever since, is not new to any one uho is acquainted with the character of their leaders, and has been attentive to their mancEuvres. I early gave it as my opinion to the confidential characters around me, that if these societies were not counteracted, (not by prosecutions, the ready way to make them grow stronger,) or did not fall into disesteem from the knowledge of their origin, and the views with which they had been instituted by their father Genet, for purposes well known to the government, they would shake the government to its foundation. Time and circumstances have confirmed me in this opinion ; and I deeply regret the probable consequences ; not as they will aflect me personally, for I have not long to act on this theatre, and sure I am that not a man amongst them can be more anxious to put me aside, than I am to sink into the profoundest retirement, but because I see, under a dis- play of popular and fascinating guises, the most diabolical attempts to destroy the best fabric of human government and happiness that has ever been presented for the accept- ance of mankind^ In a letter to Burgess Ball, at the 437th page of the same volume, is the following passage — " I hear with the greatest pleasure of the spirit which so generally pervades the militia of every state that has been called upon on the present occasion ; and of the decided discountenance the disturbers of public peace and order have met with in their attempts to spread their nefarious doctrines, with a view to poison and discontent the minds of the people against the government; particularly endeavoring to have it believed that their liberties were assailed, and that all THOMAS JEFFERSON. 195f the wicked and abominable measures that can be devised under specious guises are practiced to sap the constitution, and lay the foundation of future slavery. " The insurrection in the western counties of this state (Pennsylvania) is a striking evidence of this, and may be considered as the first ripe fi-uits of the democratic socie- ties. I did not, I must confess, expect it would come to maturity so soon, though I never had a doubt that such conduct would produce some such issue, if it did not meet the frowns of those who were well disposed to order and good government ; for can anything be more absurd, more arrogant, or more pernicious to the peace of society, than for self-created bodies, forming themselves into permanent censors, and under the shade of night in a conclave re- solving that acts of congress which have undergone the most deliberate and solemn discussion by the representa- tives of the people, chosen for the express purpose, and bringing with them from the different parts of the Union the sense of their constituents, endeavoring as far as the nature of the thing will admit, to form their will into laws for the government of the whole ; I say, under these cir- cumstances, for a self-created permanent body (for no one denies the right of the people to meet occasionally to peti- tion for or remonstrate against any act of the legislature) to declare that this act is unconstitutional, and that act is pregnant with mischiefs, and that all who vote contrary to their dogmas are actuated by selfish motives or under foreign influence, nay, are traitors to their country ? Is such a stretch of arrogant presumption to be reconciled with laudable motives, especially when we see the same set of men endeavoring to destroy all confidence in the ad- ministration by arraigning all its acts, without knowing on what ground or with what information it proceeds?" In a letter to John Nicholas, dated March 8, 1798, he 196 THE CHARACTER OF says, " But as the attempts to explain away the constitu- tion and weaken the government are now become so open, and the desire of placing the affairs of this country under the influence and control of a foreign nation is so* appa- rent and strong, it is hardly to be expected that a resort to covert means to effect these objects will be longer re- garded." The following is an extract of a letter to John Jay, (Washington's Writings, volume 10, page 452.) "That the self-created societies, which have spread themselves over this country, have been laboring inces- santly to sow the seeds of distrust, jealousy, and of course discontent, thereby hoping to effect some revolution in the government, is not unknown to you. That they have been the fomenters of the western disturbances admits of no doubt in the mind of any one who will examine their conduct; but fortunately they precipitated a crisis for which they were not prepared, and thereby have unfolded views which will, I trust, effectuate their annihilation sooner than it might otherwise have happened; at the same time that it has afforded an occasion for the people of this country to show their abhorrence of the result, and their attachment to the constitution and the laws ; for I believe that five times the number of militia that was re- quired would have come forward, if it had been necessary, in support of them." These extracts from general Washington's private cor- respondence, without reference to his public acts whilst president of the United States, will satisfy any reasonable and upright mind, that there was not the slightest ground for the pretence on the part of Mr. Jefferson, that he was not a federalist, in principle as well as in conduct ; and still less for the assertion, that he was what the latter called a republican — that is, a member of his own am- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 197 bilious, aspiring party. No person can doubt for a moment to whom general Washijigton alludes, when he speaks of the opposition — the leaders of that party — or the language of his letter to Patrick Henry, who was originally opposed to many things in the constitution, but more opposed to the principles of the democratic, or republican party, when he expresses his regret that the state of Virginia had ta- ken the lead in that opposition ; and justifies the charge by saying that the principal leaders of that opposition dvjell in Virginia — when he says this party " hangs upon the wheels of government as a dead weight, opposing every measure that is calculated for defence and self-preserva- tion, abetting the nefarious views of another nation upon our rights, preferring, as long as they dare contend openly against the spirit and resentment of the people, the inter- est of France to the welfare of their own country." He meant the democratic party, called by Mr. Jefferson the republican party, of which he was the founder and the ac- knowledged head, and over which he maintained the most controlling influence and the most absolute sway. But to put the question of general Washington's feder- alism beyond the reach of doubt or cavil, and of course to fix upon all Mr. Jefferson's declarations and suggestions on that subject the mark of falsehood, the following extract from a letter to judge Washington, dated May 5, 1799, is adduced : — " Your letter of the 26th ultimo, as also that of the 10th, has been duly received. The election of generals Lee and Marshall are grateful to my feelings. I wish, how- ever, both of them had been elected by greater majorities ; but they are elected, and that alone is pleasing. " As the tide is turned, I hope it will come in with a full flow ; but this will not happen if there is any relaxation on the part of the federalists. We are sure there will be 17* 198 THE CHARACTER OF none on the part of the republicans, as they have very er- ro7ieously called themselves^ It would have been difficult for Mr. Jefferson, vi'ith all his ingenuity in evading the force of truth, and his extra- ordinary skill in presenting any favorite topic to the public mind under false coloring, and in supporting it by falla- cious reasoning, to pervert the meaning of this plain and explicit language. He might, and probably he would have resorted to the explanation that general Washington's powers of mind, which he had some years before alleged had given way, had at the date of this letter entirely fail- ed; and that he must have been unconscious not only of what he said, but of what he thought. This letter is dated more than two years after he had retired from the admin- istration of the government; and, of course, he had, dur- ing that period, been out of the way of the corrupting in- fluence of federal advisers and councilors, and in a situa- tion to act according to the dictates of his own unbiassed understanding and judgment. As it was impossible for him to mistake his own sentiments on a subject which had occupied his thoughts and governed his conduct for the eight years during which he had been at the head of the government, and as his administration had been uni- formly regulated by federal principles, the attempt to re- present him as having been, at heart, a Jefferson ian repub- lican, was a calumny upon his pure and exalted character. It will be borne in mind, that Mr. Jefferson's letter to Walter Jones, which has been quoted, is dated in 1814, and that-to Martin Van Buren, June 29, 1824 — the last two years before his death, and twenty-five years after the death of general Washington. His object in writing the letter at such a late period of his life, was doubtless what he says at the close of it had been his practice in other cases ; viz., to leave it in the hands of a friend and to " throw THOMAS JEFFERSON. 199 light on history, and recall that into the path of truth." Fortunately for general Washington's reputation, he left behind him abundant materials for the light of history, which will destroy every attempt of Mr. Jefferson, how- ever secretly and artfully made, to misrepresent his prin- ciples, or defame his understanding or character. 200 THE CHARACTER OF CHAPTER XI. Mr. Jefferson's last parting with general Washington at Mr. Adams's inauguration, March, 1797 — "Washington's faculties impaired — He had become alienated from Jefferson — general Washington's powers of mind never stronger than at the period alluded to — The origin, character, and object of Jefferson's Ana — Persons employed in collecting materials for the work — Story of Sir I. Temple, Hamilton, King and Smith — Story of governor Clinton and a militia general — Conversation between Langdon and Cabot, reported by Lear — Story from Baldwin and Skinner — Jefferson's account of the convention of 1787 — Account not entitled to credit — The constitution made by federalists — Op- posed by Jefferson's republicans — The account of both conven- tions untrue — Not a delegate from the eastern states at Annapo- lis — Assumption state debts part of a system of corruption — Scheme Hamilton's, Washington ignorant of the plan — Hamil- ton a monarchist — Conversation at Jefferson's dinner table — Conversation in August, 1791, between Jefferson and Hamilton about the constitution — Hamilton's opinion of it — Practice of noting down private conversations insidious — Such evidence un- worthy of credit — Conversation between Jefferson and Wash- ington, October, 1792 — Jefferson informed Washington that Hamilton was a monarchist — Character of Hamilton by judge Marshall — Washington's letter, accepting Hamilton's resigna- tion. It will be recollected, that in his letter to Martin Van Buren, a large extract from which has been quoted above, Mr. Jefferson says, " My last parting with general Wash- ington was at the inauguration of Mr. Adams, in March, 1797, and was warmly affectionate ; and I never had any reason to believe any change on his part, as there was cer- tainly none on mine." THOMAS JEFFERSON. 20l One of the most remarkable circumstances in the char- acter of Mr. Jefferson is, that in the course of his history, sentiments of the most contradictory description will be found on almost all subjects. In the introductory remarks to his "j4?2a," which bear date February 5, 1818, he says, " From the moment of m^ retiring from the administration, the federalists got un- checked hold of general Washington. His memory was already sensibly impaired by age, the firm tone of mind for which he had been remarkable, was beginning to relax, its energy was abated, a listlessness of labor, a desire for tranquility had crept on him, and a willingness to let others act, and even think for him. Like the rest of man- kind, he was disgusted with atrocities of the French revo- lution, and was not sufficiently aware of the difference be- tween the rabble who were used as instruments of their perpetration, and the steady and rational character of the American people, in which he had not sufficient confi- dence. The opposition too of the republicans to.the Brit- ish treaty, and the zealous support of the federalists in that unpopular but favorite measure of theirs, had made him all their own. Understanding, moreover, that I dis- approved of that treaty, and copiously nourished with falsehoods by a malignant neighbor of mine, who ambi- tioned to be his correspondent, he had hecorae alienated from myself 'personally^ as from the republican body gener- ally of his fellow citizens ; and he wrote the letters to Mr. Adams and Mr. Carroll, over which, in devotion to his im- perishable fame, we must forever weep as monuments of mortal decay." It would be degrading to general Washington's reputa- tion, to say a word in attempting to vindicate it against this charge of mental decay and intellectual imbecility. His correspondence, between the period here alluded to, 202 THE CHARACTER OF and the time of his death, is before the world, in which the search after proof of the assertion made by Mr. Jefferson on that subject will be vain. The extraordinary powers of his mind were never more strikingly displayed than during the period alluded to. But the passage above quoted contains a direct and positive contradiction of the declaration in the letter to Martin Van Buren, that he never had any reason to believe there was any change in general Washington's friendly feelings towards him ; for here he expressly says he had become alienated from him, as well as fro7n the republican body generally. It has been shown from general Washington's own declarations, multiplied to a great number, that he viewed the party which Mr. Jefferson called republican, in the same light in which they were viewed by the federalists generally ; and by his own declaration, that he had lost his confidence in the head of that party, Mr. Jefferson himself; or, in his own language, had become alienated from him. Reference has been frequently made, in the course of this work, to that portion of Mr. Jefferson's posthumous volumes which is called "J-wa." It is obviously a collec- tion of materials for history, and was intended to establish his own reputation in future ages as a statesman and poli- tician, and particularly as the great republican friend and benefactor of his country, who, by his persevering and dis- interested zeal and patriotic devotion to its highest inter- ests, preserved its republican constitution and prevented the introduction of a monarchical government in its stead. This collection he made the depository of a large portion of his slanders upon the federalists as a body, and particu- larly upon Alexander Hamilton, as one of the most able and distinguished individuals in their number. It will be observed, that all the entries in the *'Ana " were made by himself; but the materials of which they are composed, THOMAS JEFFERSON. 203 are said to have been derived from many different sources. A man like him, when possessed of the means of paying for such services, will always have persons enough about him of a suitable character and a proper disposition to perform the services which his pursuits and objects might require; and it appears that he was abundantly furnished with agents of this description. One of the persons who appears to have been thus em- ployed by him in this degrading service, was John Beck- ley, who for a number of years was clerk of the house of representatives of the United States. That he was well fitted for the business, is manifest from the fruits of his labors, as they were from time to time reported to his prin- cipal. In the 4S5th page of the 4th volume of Jefferson's Works, is the following statement : — "June the 7th, 1793. Mr. Beckley, who has returned from New-York within a few days, tells me that while he was there, sir John Temple, consul-general of the northern states for Great Britain, showed him a letter from sir Gregory Page Turner, a member of parliament for a borough in Yorkshire, who, he said, had been a member for twenty-five years, and always confidential for the min- isters, in which he permitted him to read particular passa- ges of the following purport : ' that the government was well apprized of the predominancy of the British interest in the United States ; that they considered colonel Hamilton, Mr. King, and Mr. W. Smith of South Carolina, as the main supports of that interest ; ihat particularly they con- sidered colonel Hamilton, and not Mr. Hammond, as their effective minister here ; that if the anti-federal interest, (that was his term) at the head of which they considered Mr. Jefferson to be, should prevail, these gentlemen had secured an asylum to themselves in England.' Beckley could not understand whether they had secured it Mcttz- 204 THE CHARACTER OF selves^ or whether they were only notified that it was se- cured to them. So that they understand that they may go on boldly in their machinations to change the govern- ment, and if they should be overset, and choose to with- draw, they will be secure of a pension in England, as Arnold, Deane, &c. had. Sir John read passages of a letter (which he did not put into Beckley's hand, as he did the other) from lord Grenville, saying nearly the same things." This ridiculous story was too absurd even for Mr. Jeffer- son to swallow entire, for it is said in a note at the word themselves, that it was wTitten in the margin (of the man- uscript it is presumed) that it was ^^ Impossible as to Ham- ilton; he ivasfar above that ; " — leaving it to be consider- ed as a matter of fact, as far as his opinion went, that the charge against the other persons named, one of whom cer- tainly was, and it is believed the other was, as little liable to such an imputation as was general Hamilton, was true. And yet, Mr. JefTerson left this entry on his "J./ia," and placed it among his archives, for publication after his death. Under the same date with the foregoing is the follow- ing — " Beckley tells me that he has the following fact from governor Clinton. That before the proposition for the present general government, i. e. a little before Hamilton conceived a plan for est2.blishing a monarchical govern- ment in the United Stales, he wrote a draft of a circular letter, which was sent to about persons, to bring it about. One of these letters, in Hamilton's hand-writing, is now in possession of an old militia general up the North river, who at that time was thought orthodox enough to be entrusted in the execution. This general has given notice to gavernor Clinton, that he has this paper, and that he will deliver it into his hands, and no one's else. Clinton THOMAS JEFFERSON. 205 intends, the first interval of leisure, to go for it, and he will bring it to Philadelphia. Beckley is a man of perfect truth, as to what he affirms of his own knowledge, but too credulous as to what he hears from other s.^^ As this is all that ever was heard from this very impor- tant document, and as it came to Beckley's knowledge by hearsay only, it is reasonable to conclude, that he was un- der the influence of too great credulity when he reported it to Mr. Jefferson — for there is no room to doubt that the whole is a fabrication. There is in this extraordinary collection of gossiping scan- dal, a still further article from this same Mr. Beckley: — ■ " December the 1st, 1793 "' — just before Mr. Jeffer- son resigned the office of secretary of state — " Beckley tells me he had the following fact from Lear. Langdon, Cabot, and some others of the senate, standing in a knot before the fire after the senate had adjourned, and growl- ing together about some measure which they had just lost ; ' Ah ! ' said Cabot, ' things will never go right until you have a president for life, and an hereditary senate. Lang- don told this to Lear, who seemed struck with it, and declared he had not supposed there was a man in the United States who could have entertained such an idea." There are strong reasons for believing that this, as well as many other tales recorded in these " J.?ia," is a sheer fabrication. Men whose occupation is tale-bearing, are very rarely worthy of credit. Mr. Jefferson himself, as has been seen, declares Beckley to have been too credu- lous as to what he hears from others ; and his associate in this transaction has been considered by many persons as worse than credulous. Mr. Cabot was thoroughly ac- quainted with the human character, and as little likely to expose himself to the enmity of those around him as any man who ever lived. Mr. Langdon and he were diamet- 18 206 THE CHARACTER OF ricall}^ opposed in politics — Mr. Cabot being a federalist, and Mr. Langdon a thorough Jeffersonian democrat. It is not to be believed, certainly without more creditable testi- mony than that of either Beckley or Lear, that he would place himself in the power of those who he must have known would watch every word he uttered, and if, in an un- guarded moment, he should so far forget himself as to make use of a single expression that could be made a handle of to prejudice him in the minds of his countrymen, the oppor- tunity would not be lost or neglected. And when we find in Mr. Jefferson's " memorandums," charges of a similar character with this against almost every distinguished fed- eralist, it is difficult, if not impossible, to resist the conclu- sion, that the whole have been made up to answer the pur- pose he had in view. Tliat purpose, if an opinion is to be formed from the nature of the materials which are con- tained in his works, and a regard is had to the time when they were professedly scraped together, was undoubtedly to subserve his personal ambition. If they were kept concealed in his own bureau until the time of his death, and never brought into light, then his object was, according to his own declaration, to correct the only historical work of the period, viz., the life of Washington by judge Marshall. But after reading the following extract from the " J[?z 289 motives of policy or security. The citizen, "being a mem- ber of the society, has a right to remain in the country, of which he cannot be disfranchised, e-xcept for offences first asceriaitied on presentment and trial by jury. " It is answered thirdly, that the removal of aliens, though it may be inconvenient to them, cannot be consid- ered as a punishment inflicted for an offence, but, as before remarked, merely the removal, from motives of general safety, of an indulgence which there is danger of their abusing, and which we are in no manner bound to grant or continue. " The 'act in addition to an act, entitled an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States,' commonly called the sedition act, contains provisions of a twofold nature ; first, against seditious acts, and second, against libelous and seditious writings. The first liave never been complained of, nor has any objection been made to its validity : the objection applies solely to the second ; arid on the ground, in the first place, that congress has no power by the constitution to pass any act for punishing libels, no such power being expressly given, and all pow- ers not given to congress being reserved to the states re- spectively, or to the people thereof. " To this opinion it is answered, that a law to punish false, scandalous and malicious writings against the gov- ernment, with intent to stir up sedition, is a law necessary for carrying into effect the power vested by the constitu- tion in the government of the United States, and in the departments and officers thereof, and consequently such a law as congress may pass : because the direct tendency of such writings is to obstruent the acts of the government by exciting opposition to them, to endanger its existence by Tendering it odious and contemptible in the eyes of the people, and to produce seditious combinations against the 25 290 THE CHARACTER OF laws, the power to punish which has never been question- ed : because it would be manifestly absurd to suppose thai a government might punish sedition, and yet be void of power to prevent it by punishing those acts, which plainly and necessarily lead to it. And because under the general power to make all laws proper and necessary for carrying into effect the powers vested by the constitution in the gov- ernment of the United Slates, congress has passed many laws for which no express provision can be found in the constitution, and the constitutionality of which have never been questioned ; such as the first section of the act now under consideration for punishing seditious combinations ; the act passed during the present session, for punishing persons who, without authority from the government, shall carry on any correspondence relative to foreign affairs with any foreign government ; the act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, which defines and punishes misprision of treason ; the 10th and 12th sec- tions, which declare the punishment of accessories to pira- cy, and of persons who shall confederate to become pirates themselves, or to induce others to become so; the 15th section, which inflicts a penalty on those who steal or falsify the record of any court of the United States; the 18ih and 21st sections of which provide for the punish- ment of persons committing perjury in any court of the United Stales, or attempting to bribe any of their judges ; the 22d section, which furnishes those who obstruct or re- sist the progress of any court of the United Stales, and the 23d against rescuing offenders who have been convicted of any capital offence before those courts; provisions, none of which are expressly authorized, but which have been- considered as constitutional because they are necessary and proper for carrying into effect certain powers expressly given to congress. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 291 " It is objected to this act, in the second place, that it is expresslj^ contrary to that part of the constitution which declares that ' congress shall make no law respecting^ an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the liberty of the press,' The act in question is said to be an ' abridgment of the liberty of the press,' and therefore unconstitutional. "To this it is answered, in the first place, that the lib- erty of the press consists not in a license for every man to publish what he pleases, without being liable to punish- ment if he should abuse this license to the injury of others, but in a permission to publish, without previous restraint, whatever he may think proper, being answerable to the public and individuals for any abuse of this permission to their prejudice; in like manner as the liberty of speech does not authorize a man to speak malicious slanders against his neighbor, nor the liberty of action justify him in going by violence into another man's house, or in as- saulting any person whom he may meet in the streets. In the several states, the liberty of the press has always been understood in this manner, and no other; and the consti- tution of every state, which has been framed and adopted since the declaration of independence, asserts ' the liberty of the press,' while in several, if not all, their laws provide for the punishment of libelous publications, which would be a manifest absurditjr and contradiction, if the liberty of the press meant to publish anything and everything, with- out being amenable to the laws for the abuse of this li- cense. According to this just, legal, and universally ad- mitted definition of ' liberty of the press,' a law to restrain its licentiousness, in publishing false, scandalous and ma- licious libels against the government, cannot be considered as 'an abridgment' of its 'liberty.' "It is answered, in the second place, that the liberty of 292 THE CHARACTER OF the press did never extend, according to the laws of any state, or of the United States, or of England, from whence our laws are derived, to the publication of false^ scandalous and malicious writings against the government, written or published with intent to do mischief, such publications be- ing unlawful and punishable in every state ; from whence it follows undeniably, that a law to publish seditious and malicious publications is not an abridgment of ' the liber- ty of the press,' for it would be a manifest absurdity io say, that a man's liberty was abridged for doing that which he never had a liberty to do. " It is answered, thirdly, that the act in question cannot be unconstitutional, because it makes nothing penal that was not penal before, and gives no new powers to the court, but is merely declaratory of the common law, and useful for rendering that law more generally known and more easily understood. This cannot be denied, ff it be admitted, as it must be, that false, scandalous, and mali- cious libels against the government of the country, pub- lished with intent to do mischief, are punishable by the common law; for by the 2d section of the 3d article of the constitution, the judicial power of the United States is expressly extended to all offences arising under the constitu- tion. By the constitution the government of the United States is established, for many important objects, as the GOVERNMENT OF THE COUNTRY ; and libels against that gov- ernment, iBereficxre, are offences arising under the constitu- tion, and consequently are punishable at common law by the courts of the United States. The act, indeed, is so far from having extended the law, and the power of the court, that it has abridged both^ and has enlarged instead of abridging the 'liberty of the press;' for at common law, libels against the government might be punished with fine and imprisonment al the discretion of the court, where- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 293 as the act limits the fine to two thousand dollars, and the imprisonment to two years ; and it also allows the party accused to give the truth in evidence for his justification, which by the common law was expressly forbidden. "And lastly, it is answered, that had the constitution intended to prohibit congress from legislating at all on the subject of the press, which is the construction whereon the objections to this law are founded, it would have used the same expressions as in that part of the clause which re- lates to religion and religious tests ; wheYeas the words are wholly different; "congress," says the constitution, (amendment 3d,) " shall make no law respecting an es- tablishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise hereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or the press." Here it is manifest that the constitution intended to prohib- it congress from legislating at all on the subject of reli- gious establishments, and the prohibition is made in the most express terms. Had the same intention prevailed re- specting the press, the same expressions would have been used, and congress would have been " prohibited from pass- ing any law respecting the press." They are not, howev- er, " prohibited " from legislating at all on the subject, but merely from abridging the liberty of the press. It is ev- ident they may legislate respecting the press, may pass laws for its regulation, and to punish those who- pervert it into an engine of mischief, provided those laws do not *' abridge" its "liberty." Its liberty, according to the well known and universally admitted definition;, consists in permission to publish, without previous restrain'.t upon the press, but subject to punishment afterwards for improp- er publications. A law, therefore, to impose previous re- straint upon the press, and not one to inflict punishment on wicked and malicious publications, would be a law tO' 25=^ 294 THE CHARACTER OF abridge the liberty of the press, and as such unconstitu- tiona}. " The foregoing reasoning is submitted as vindicating the validity of the laws in question. " Although the committee believe, that each of the meas- trres adopted by congress during the lastsessioti is suscept- ible of an analytical JTJstification, on the principles of the consliiution and national policy, yet they prefer to rest their vindication on the true ground of considering them as parts of a general system of defence, adapted to a cri- sis of extraordinary difficulty and danger. '* It cannot be denied that the power to declare war; to raise and support armies ; lo provide and maintain a navy ; to suppress insurrections and repel invasions, and also the power to defray the necessary expense by loans or taxes, are vested in congress. Unfortunately for the present generation of mankind, a contest has arisen and rages with unabated ferocity, which has desolated the fairest portion of Europe, and shaken the fabric of society through the civi- lized world. From the nature and effects of this contest, as developed in the experienceof nations, melancholy inferences must be drawn, that it is onsusceptible of the restraints which have either designated the objects, limited the dura- tion, or mitigated the horrors of national contentions. In the internal history of France, and in the conduct of her forces and partizans in the countries which have fallen under her power, the public councils of our country were required to dfecern the dangers which threatened the United States, and to guard not only against the usual consequences of war, but also against the effects of an unprecedented com-' binalion to establish new principles of social action on the subversion of religioUf morality, law and governments Will it be said, that the raising of a small army, and an eventual provision for drawing into the public service a I'HOMAS JEFFfiRSOil. 29^ coftsiderabk proportion of the whole force of the countryj was in such a crisis unwise or improvident? " If such should be the assertion, let it be candidly con- sidered, whether some of our fertile and flourishing states did not, six months since, present as alluring objects for the gratification of ambition or cupidity as the inhospitable cli- mate of Egypt? What then appeared to be the conipar- ative difficulties between invading America and sdbverting the British power in the East Ifidies ? If this was a pro- fessed, not a real object, of the enterprise, let it be asked, if the sultan of the Ottoman Empire was not really the friend of France at the time when his unsuspecting de- pendencies were invaded ; and whether the United States were not at the same time loaded with insults and assailed with hostility? If, however, it be asserted, that the system of France is hostile only to despotic or monarchical gov- ernments, and that our security arises from the form of our constitution, let Switzerland, first divided and disarm- ed by perfidious seductions, now agonized by relentless power, illustrate the consequences of similar credulity. Is it necessary at this time to vindicate the naval armament J rather may not the enquiry be boldly made, whether the guardians of the public weal would not have deserved and received the reproaches of every patriotic American, if a contemptible naval force had been longer permitted to in- tercept our necessary supplies, destroy our principal source of revenue, and seize, at the entrance of our harbors and rivers, the products of our industry destined to our foreign markets ? If such injuries were at all to be repelled, is not the restriction which confined captures by our ships solely to armed vessels of France, a sufficient proof of our mod- eration ? " If, therefore, naval and military preparations were ne- cessary, a provision of funds to defray the consequent ex- 296 THE CHARAdTEtl OP penses was of course indispensable ; a review of all the measures that have been adopted since the establishment of* the government, will prove that congress have not been un- mindful of the wishes of the American people to avoid an accumulation of the public debt ; and the success which has attended these measures affords conclusive evidence of the sincerity of their intentions. But to purchase sufficient quantities of military supplies, to establish a navy, and pro- vide for all the contingencies of an army, without recourse to new taxes and loans, was impracticable ; both measures were in fact adopted, — in devising a mode of taxation, the convenience and ease of the least wealthy class of the peo- ple were consulted as much as possible, and although the expenses of assessment have furnished a topic of complaint, it is found that the allowances are barely sufficient to en- sure the execution of the law, even aided as they are by the disinterested and patriotic exertions of worthy citizens; besides, it ought to be remembered that the expenses of organizing a new system, should not on any principle, be regarded as a permanent burden on the public. '* In authorizing a loan of money, congress have not been inattentive to prevent a permanent debt ; in this particular, also, the public opinion and interest have been consulted. On considering the law, as well as the manner in which it is proposed to be carried into execution, the committee are well satisfied in finding any excess in the immediate charge upon the revenue is likely to be compensated by the facil- ity of redemption, which is secured to the government. " The alien and sedition acts, so called, form a part, and, in the opinion of the committee, an essential part in these precautionary and protective measures adopted for our security. "France appears to have an organized system of con- duct towards foreign nations — to bring them within the THOMAS JEFFERSON. 297 sphere and under the doaiinion of her influence and con- trol. It has been unremittingly pursued under all the changes of her internal polity. Her means are in wonder- ful coincidence with her ends. Among these, and not the least successful, is the direction and employment of the ac- tive and versatile talents of her citizens abroad, as emissa- ries and spies. With a numerous body of French citizens and other foreigners, and admonished by the passing scenes- in other countries, as well as by aspects in our own, know- ing they had the power, j^nd believing it to be their duty^ congress passed the law respecting aliens, directing the dangerous and suspected, to be removed and leaving to the inoffensive and peaceable a safe asylum. " The principles of the sedition law, so called, are among the most ancient principles of our governments. They have been ingrafted into statutes, or practiced upon as max- ims of the common law, according as occasion required. They w^ere often and justly applied in the revolutionary war. Is it not strange, that now they should first be de- nounced as oppressive, when they have long been recog- nized in the jurisprudence of these states ? " The necessity that dictated these acts, in the opinion of the committee, still exists. " So eccentric are the movements of the French govern- ment, we can form no opinion of their future designs to- wards our country. They may recede from the tone of menace and insolence, to employ the arts of seduction, be- fore they astonish us with their ultimate designs. Our safely consists in the wisdom of the public councils, a co- operation on the part of the people with the government, by supporting the measures provided for repelling aggres- sions, and an obedience to the social laws. " After a particular and general review of the whole sub- ject referred to their consideration^ the committee see na 298 THE CHARACTER OF ground for rescinding these acts of the legislature. The complaints preferred by some of the petitioners may he fair- ly attributed to a diversity of sentiment naturally to be ex- pected among a people of various habits and education widely dispersed over an extensive country ; the innocent misconceptions of the American people will, however, yield to reflection and argument, and from them no danger is to apprehended. " In such of the petitions as are conceived in a style of vehement and acrimonious remo.nstrance, the committee perceive too plain indications of the principles of that exotic system which convulses the civilized world. With this system, however organized, the public councils cannot safely parley or temporize ; whether it assumes the guise of patriotism to mislead the affections of the people — whether it be employed in forming projects of local and eccentric ambition, or shall appear in the more generous form of open hostility, it ought to be regarded as the bane of public as well as private tranquillity and order. "Those to whom the management of public affairs is now confided, cannot be justified in yielding any establish- ed principles of law or government to the suggestions of modern theory ; their duty requires them to respect the lessons of experience, and transmit to posterity the civil and religious privileges which are the birth-right of our country, and which it was the great object of our happy constitution to secure and perpetuate. " Impressed with these sentiments, the committee beg leave to report the following resolutions : — " Resolved, That it is inexpedient to repeal the act pass- ed the last session, entitled " An act concerning aliens." " Resolved, That it is inexpedient to repeal the act pass- ed the last session, entitled ' An act in addition to the [act entitled An act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States. ' THOMAS JEFFERSON. 299 " Resolved^ That it is inexpedient to repeal any of the laws respecting the navy, military establishment or reve- nue of the United States." This report is inserted at length on account of its great importance, being the only public document which presents a full view of the origin of the alien and sedition laws, the principles on which they were founded, and the clear, sound, and unanswerable constitutional argument by which they were supported and justified. Without attempting, however, to overthrow, or even to answer the reasoning contained in it, Mr. Jefferson laid by none of his virulence and animosity towards those act?: ; but made use of them as long as it was necessary for his political purposes, to forward his own views and vilify his opponents. This re- port, as has been remarked, was dated on the 21st of Feb- ruary, 1799. On the 26th of that month, in a letter to James Madison, (Jeff. Works, vol. 3, page 423,) he says, " Yesterday witnessed a scandalous scene in the house of representatives. It was the day for taking up the report of their committee against the alien and sedition laws, &;c. They held a caucus and determined that not a word should be spoken on their side, in answer to any thing which should be said on the other. Gallatin took up the alien and Nicholas the sedition law ; but after a little while of common silence, they began to enter into loud conversa- tions, laugh, cough, &c., so that for the last hour of these gentlemen's speaking they must have had the lungs of a vendue master to have been heard. Livingston, however, attempted to speak. But after a few sentences the speak- er called him to order, and told him what he was saying was not to the question. It was impossible to proceed. The question was taken and carried in favor of the report, fifty-two to forty-eight ; the real strength of the two parties is fifty-six to fifiy." 300 THE CHARACTER OF During the same session of congress at which the alien and sedition laws were enacted, the following act was passed, under the title of " An act respecting alien ene- mies." " That, whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted or threatened, against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government, and the pres- ident of the United States shall make public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age oi ourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained secured, anti removed, as alien enemies. And the president of the United States shall be, and he is hereby authorized, in any event, as aforesaid, by his proclamation thereof, or other public act, to direct the conduct to be observed on the part of the United States towards the aliens who shall become liable as aforesaid, the manner and the degree of the restraint to Vt^hich they shall be subject, and in what cases and upon what security their residence shall be permitted, and to provide for the removal of those v^^ho, not being permitted to reside within the United States, shall refuse or neglect to depart therefrom, and establish any other regulations which shall be found necessary in the premises and for the public safety. " That after any proclamation shall be made as afore- said, it shall be the duty of the several courts of the United States, and of each state havingcriminal jurisdiction, and of the several judges and justices of the courts of the United States, and they shall be, and are hereby respectively au- thorized upon complaint, against any alien or alien one- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 301 .mies, as aforesaid, who shall be resident and at large, within such jurisdiction or district, to the danger of the public peace or safety and contrary to the tenor or intent of such proclamation or other regulations w:iiich the presi- dent of the United States shall and may establish in the premises, to cause such alien or aliens to be duly appre- hended and convened before such court, judge, or justice; and after a full examination or hearing on such complaint, and sufficient cause thereior appearing, shall and may or- der such alien or aliens to be removed out of the territory of the United Stales, or to give sureties of their good be- havior, or to be otherwise restrained, conformably to the proclamation or regulations which shall and may be estab- lished as aforesaid, and may imprison or otherwise se- cure such alien or aliens until the order which shall and may be made, as aforesaid, shall be performed." This act was passed without any provision limiting its duration, and it is now in the statute book of the United States, and in force ; and in the war with Great Britain in 1812, it was enforced by Mr. Madison, then president of the United States, against British subjects residing in the United States, numbers of whom were ordered to remove from the Atlantic cities back into the country, and to re- main there until the return of peace. That Mr. Jeiierson's hostility to the alien and sedition law proceeded, in some measure at least, from feelings and views pf a political character, rather than from a sin- cere conviction that they were unconstitutional, may be safely inferred from what has been said. Additional proof in support of this remark, as it regards the alien law, may be derived from Tucker's Life of Jefierson, a work recent- ly published. In the second volume of the work, page 45, it is said, " During the ten years that the present federal government had been in operation, many questions had 26 302 THE CJHARACTER OF arisen concerning the interpretation of the constitution. But there had been no instance in which the opinion that that instrument had been violated was so decided, or in which the supposed infraction had excited so much 'sensi- bility, as these two laws, [alien and sedition laws,] which were always coupled together in the public mind as hav- ing originated in the same policy, and as leading to the same tendency. But in point of fact it was the law that abridged the freedom of the press which was most looked at; and the other was condemned by most Americans, like the stork in the fable, for the society in which it was found, and for the sake of soothing the great mass of for- eigners who were not yet naturalized, the greater part of whom, particularly the Irish and French, were attached to the republican party.'''' Mr. Jefferson was perfectly aware of the importance of securing the votes as well as the feelings of the foreigners, who early began to flock in great numbers to this country. Hence he recommended, shortly after his accession to the office of president, an alteration in the naturalization law, shortening materially the period of residence before a for- eigner could be admitted to the rights of citizenship. He knew what description of persons would be the most likely to quit their own countries and take refuge in the United States, and that a little flattery and a show of regard for their welfare, would attach them to his interests and his party ; especially as it was called " the republican party." These considerations very naturally would, and undoubt- edly did, call forth his enmity to the alien law ; and coup- ling it with the sedition law, which had reference to the press, it was an easy task for him to excite the public pas- sions, over which he had an almost absolute command, against both these measures. Both of them were unques- tionably warranted by the constitutional authority of con- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 303 gress ; but in hands as dextrous as his, and with a party as blindly devoted to their leader as his were, it accom- plished the objects he had in view, which were, to elevate himself and depress his opponents. In addition to what has been adduced in vindication of the alien and sedition laws, and in support of their consti- tutionality, the following extract of a letter from gene- ral Washington to Alexander Spotswood, dated Philadel- phia, November 22, 1798, (Wash. Corres. vol. 11, page 345,) containing his sentiments on that subject, will be read with interest : — " Your letter of the 13th inst. inclosing a publication under the signature of Gracchus on the alien and 'sedi- tion laws, found me at this place deeply engaged in busi- ness. " You ask my opinion of these laws, professing to place confidence in my judgment. For this complimei.t I thank you. But to give opinions unsupported by reasons might appear dogmatical, especially as you have dec iared that Gracchus has produced ' thorough conviction in your mind of the unconstitutionality and inexpediency of the acts above mentioned.' To go into an explanation on these points I have neither leisure nor inclination, because it would occupy more time than I have to spare. " But I will take the liberty of advising such as are not * thoroughly convinced,' and whose minds are yet open to conviction, to read the pieces and hear the arguments which have been advanced in favor of as well as those against the constitutionality and expediency of those laws before they decide ; and consider to what lengths a certain description of men in our country have already driven, and seem re- solved to drive matters, and then ask themselves if it is not time and expedient, to resort to protecting laws against aliens, (for citizens you certainly know are not afl^ected by 304 THE CHARACTER OF that law,) who acknowledge no allegiance to this country, and in many instances are sent among us, as there is the best circumstantial evidence to prove, for the express pur- pose of poisoning the minds of our people, and sowing dissensions among them, in order to alienate their affec- tions from the government of their choice, thereby endeav- oring to dissolve the union, and of course the fair and hap- py prospects which were unfolding to our view from the revolution." In a letter to Bushrod Washington, dated December 31, 1798, (Ibid. 386,) is the following passage relating to the same subject : — "'By this conveyance I have sent to general Marshall the charge of judge Addison to the grand juries of the county courts of the fifth circuit of the state of Pennsyl- vania, and requested him, after he had read it, to give it to you, or dispose of it in any other manner he might think proper. This charge is on the liberty of speech and the press, and is a justification of the alien and sedition laws. " But I do not believe, that anything contained in it, in Evans's pamphlet or in any other writing, will produce the least change in the conduct of the leaders of opposition to the measures of the general government. They have points to carry, from which no reasoning, no inconsistency of conduct, no absurdity, can divert them. If, however, such writings should produce conviction in the minds of those who have hitherto placed faith in their assertions, it will be a fortunate event for this country." Various prosecutions were brought before the United States courts for violations of the sedition law, and convic- tions obtained, in the discussion of which cases the consti- tutionality of the act was fully considered and adjudicated, and the penakies prescribed in it were enforced. Still, Mr. Jefferson's opposition to both the laws was steady, un- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 305 remitted and vehement ; the federalists were accused of having violated the constitution in enacting both the stat- utes, and, as has been seen, upon coming into the office of president of the United States, he exercised the power of pardoning vested in him by the constitution, and dis- charged every person convicted under the sedition law from prison and punishment, professedly on the simple ground that the law was unconstitutional, and, therefore, null and void. And it is well known to every person who was on the stage of life at the time and paid any atten- tion to passing events, that he was more indebted to the clamor raised by himself and echoed by his partizans against these two acts of congress as being unwarranted by the constitution, than to any other cause, for the success of his ambitious project of raising himself to the chief magistracy of the nation. That the acts were clearly con- stitutional no intelligent and upright mind, after examin- ing the foregoing report, can doubt. That the clamor against them was intended for party purposes and personal interests is equally unquestionable. At the circuit court of the United States, held in the district of Connecticut in April, 1806, bills for libelous publications were found against three persons, viz : Thom- as Collier, a printer, Thaddeus Osgood, a young clergy- man, and Tappan Reeve, a judge of the superior court of that state. These prosecutions were necessarily at com- mon law, because the far-famed sedition law had expired. In the course of several successive terms of the court, an additional number of prosecutions for seditious and libelous publications were instituted against different persons. After harrassing the defendants in these cases by arrests, holding to bail, attendance from term to term upon the court, em- ploying counsel, and in all the variety of forms in which litigation is so singularly fertile, they all failed, (with the 26=^ 306 THE CHARACTER OF exception, perhaps, of one,) either for insufficiency in the indictments, the want of jurisdiction in the court, or by the district attorney entering nolle prosequi. The expenses to which the United States were subjected by these prosecu- tions must have been very large, as great numbers of wit- nesses were summoned from term to term, and in attend- ance through a great part of the time the court was in session. Several of these cases were for alleged libels upon Mr. Jefferson ; and they were instituted and con- ducted in court by a district attorney whom he had ap- pointed to the office — an officer who must, of course, have possessed his confidence. On the 22d of January, 1807, during Mr. Jefferson's administration, a member of the house of representatives of the United States from the state of Connecticut, introduced to that house the following resolution. " Resolved, that the secretary of the treasury be directed to lay before this house copies of the accounts containing the respective charges which have been adjust- ed by the accounting officers of the treasury in cases of public prosecutions before the circuit court of the United States, holden in the districc of Connecticut, in the months of April and September, in the year one thousand eight hundred and six." On the 28th of January, 1807, " The speaker laid before the house a letter from the secretary of the treasury, inclosing copies of the accounts of expenses incurred in public prosecutions before the circuit court of the United States for the district of Connecticut, in the months of April and September, one thousand eight hun- dred and six, in obedience to a resolution of the house, of the twenty-second instant, which were read and ordered to be committed to the committee of the whole house, to whom was committed, on the second instant, a motion for the ap- pointment of a committee ' to inquire whether prosecutions at common law could be sustained in the courts of the THOMAS JEFFERSON. 307 United States for libelous publications or defamatory words, touching persons holding offices or places of trust under the United States; and whether it would not be proper, if the same be sustained, to allow the parties pros- ecuted the liberty of giving the truth in evidence.' " Among these prosecutions was one against the Rev. Azel Backus, of Bethlehem, in the state of Connecticut, a clergyman of distinguished talents and highly esteemed for learning and piety. After the expiration of the sedi- tion law of the United States, which contained a provision authorizing, in prosecutions under it, the truth to be given in evidence in justification of the party prosecuted, the le- gislature of Connecticut passed an act with a similar pro- vision. Finding that the district attorney appeared to be determined, first or last, to bring the case against Dr. Backus to trial, a messenger was despatched in his behalf to Virginia, to summon witnesses from that state to prove the truth of the matters alleged against him in the indict- ment. One of those witnesses was the honorable James Madison, then secretary of state and afterwards president of the United States. Upon ascertaining what testimony would be required of him, he informed Mr. Jefferson that he had been called upon to testify, and what would be the nature of the testimony which was expected from him. Upon learning this, and, at the same time, being informed that several other witnesses had been summoned to attend the court, Mr. Jefferson gave notice to them that they need not obey the summons, as the cases would be disposed of without trial ; and they, therefore, did not attend. These facts were stated in open court by Dr. Backus's counsel ; the case against him was continued to another term of the court, and eventually was dismissed without trial. In the 4th volume of Mr. Jefferson's works, page 129, is a letter from him to Wilson C. Nicholas, dated June 13, 1809, of which the following is an extract : — 308 THE CHARACTER OF " I had observed in a newspaper (some years ago, I do not recollect the time exactly,) some dark hints of a prose- cution in Connecticut, but so obscurely hinted that I paid little attention to it. Some considerable time after it was again mentioned, so that I understood that some prosecu- tion was going on in the federal court there for calumnies uttered from the pulpit against me by a clergyman. I immediately wrote to Mr. Granger, who, I think, was in Connecticut at the time, stating, that I had laid it down as a law to myself to take no notice of the thousand calum- nies issued against me, but to trust my character to my own conduct and the good sense and candor of my fellow- citizens ; that I had found no reason to be dissatisfied with that course, and I was unwilling it should be broke through by others as to any matter concerning me ; and I therefore requested him to desire the district attorney to dismiss the prosecution. Some time after this, I heard of subpcsnas being served on general Lee, Davis M. Eandolph and oth- ers, as witnesses to attend the trial. I then, for the first time, conjectured the subject of the libel. I immediately wrote to Mr. Granger to require an immediate dismission of the prosecution. The answer of Mr. Huntington, the district attorney, was, that these subpcEnas had been issued by the defendant without his knowledge ; that it had been his intention to dismiss all the prosecutions at the first meeting of the court, and to accompany it with an avowal of his opinion that they could not be maintained, because the federal court had no jurisdiction over libels. This was accordingly done. I did not till then know that there were other prosecutions of the same nature, nor do I now know what were their subjects, but all went off together; and 1 afterwards saw, in the hands of Mr. Granger, a let- ter written by the clergyman, disavowing all personal ill- will towards me, and solemnly declaring he had never ut- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 309 tered the words charged. I think Mr. Granger either showed me or said there were affidavits of at least half a dozen respectable men, who were present at the sermon, and swore no such expressions were uttered, and as many equally respectable who swore the contrary. But the clergyman expressed his gratification at the dismission of the prosecution. I write all this from memory, and after too long an interval of time to be certain of the exactness of all the details; but I am sure there is no variation ma- terial, and Mr. Granger, correcting small laxes of memory, can confirm everything substantial. Certain it is that the prosecutions had been instituted, and had made consider- able progress, without my knowledge ; that they were disapproved of by me as soon as known, and directed to be discontinued. The attorney did it on the same ground on which I had acted myself in the cases of Duane, Cal- lendar and others ; to wit, that the sedition law was un- constitutional and null, and my obligation to execute what was law involved that of not suflfering rights secured by valid laws to be prostrated by what was no law. I always understood that the prosecutions had been invited by judge Edwards, and the marshall, being ]»epublican, had sum- moned a grand jury partly or wholly republican ; but that Mr. Huntington declared from the beginning against the jurisdiction of the court, and had determined to enter nolle prosequi before he received my directions." In the year 1808, a pamphlet was published in Connect- icut, under the title of "A Letter to the President of THE United States, touching the 'prosecutions under his patronage before the circuit court in the district of Con- necticut ; containing a faithful narrative of the extraor- dinary measures pursued^ and of the incidents, both serious and laughable, that occurred during the yendencij of these abortive 'prosecutions.'" This publication was understood 310 THE CHARACTER OP at the time to have been written by a gentleman of the bar, of the highest respectability for talents and character, who, having been engaged as counsel in the prosecutions alluded to, was perfectly acquainted with their origin, pro- gress and termination. The facts, and the dates which he gives, will enable any person to form an opinion re- specting the truth of Mr. Jefferson's declarations to Mr. Nicholas respecting his want of knowledge of the exist- ence of the cases, and of the time and manner of his first becoming acquainted with their having been instituted. The facts that the indictments for libels were found by the grand jury, the parties arrested, brought before the court and admitted to bail, the cases continued ; that the indictments were quashed for insufficiency, renewed, continued and quashed again, or voluntarily withdrawn by the prosecuting attorney, were all matters of so much notoriety, of such common conversation and of newspaper commentary, that if the subject had not been, as has been stated, brought before congress and made the subject of inquiry there, it would have been little short of marvelous if the knowedge of the existence of these prosecutions had not reached the earsxif Mr. Jefferson. The following is an extract from the editor's preface to Hampden's pamphlet : — " It is a subject of some regret that Hampden has not interwoven with his narrative a detailed statement of the measures taken by the president to prevent the witnesses summoned in Virginia, in the case of Mr. Backus, from attending the court, together with certain et ceteras con- nected therewith. This is a very curious history ! It will be laid before the public." The reason is then stated, and the author of the preface proceeds to remark as follows, — " In one of the southern states, a few months since, I became acquainted with the gentleman who sunjmoned • THOMAS JEFFERSON. 311 the several witnesses in Virginia; among whom were colonel Walker and Mr. Madison. This gentleman in- formed me that he saw and conversed freely with the for- mer, and was assured by him that, painful as was the na- ture of the summons served on him, he should obey the mandate of the court, and must consequently testifj^ to all the material facts alleged in the public prints respecting Mr. Jefferson's conduct towards his lady. He further stated to my informant, (what was previously understood to be the fact,) that Mr. Madison was the person confi- dentially employed by Mr. Jefferson to effect, if possible, a reconciliation for the insult, and was the bearer of several letters to him on the subject. Having summoned colonel Walker and two or three other witnesses, my informant proceeded to the seat of Mr. Madison with a subpcena for his attendance. But while there that gentleman received a letter from the president, a part of which letter he read, acquainting him, (Mr. M.) that, in case he should be sub- poenaed his attendance would be unnecessary, as the in- dictment against Mr. Backus was to receive a q^iietus. The other witnesses summoned in Virginia were fur- nished with notifications of similar import, and conse- quently neither of them attended the court." This pas- sage is cited for the purpose of adding strength to the pre- sumption that Mr. Jefferson's declarations in his letter to Mr. Nicholas respecting these cases cannot be true. 312 THE CHARACTER OF CHAPTER XVI. The Federalists believed Mr. Jefferson insincere and hypocritical — Professed great friendship for John Adams in a letter to Mrs. Adams, in 1804 — In a letter to general Washington, in 1791, he charges Mr. Adams with apostacy to monarchy — The friendly intercourse between them not interrupted by this apostacy, but by Mr. Adams's appointments to office at the close of his admin- istration— Apparent that Jefferson had, upon coming into the secretary of state's office, laid his plan to place himself at the head of the government — Hamilton, being a more formidable ob- stacle to his ambition than Adams, became the object of peculiar animosity — Correspondence between general Washington and Jefferson and Hamilton, in August, 1792, respecting dissensions in the cabinet — Washington's letter to Jefferson — Letter to Ham- ilton — Mr, Jefferson's answer, September, 1792 — Reasons for em- ploying Freneau — Objections to the constitution, that it wanted a bill of rights, (tec. — Says Hamilton's objection was, that it wanted a king and house of lords — Hamilton made great exertions in the formation and adoption of the constitution — Jefferson did nothing — Hamilton's answer to Washington's letter, August, 1792 — Washington's confidence in Hamilton never shaken by Jeffer- son's attempts to that end — Jefferson never appealed to the coun- try, as suggested in his letter. One great objection that the federalists had to Mr. Jef- ferson was, that they believed him to be habitually insin- cere and hypocritical — that in his professions of esteem, respect and even friendship, for many individuals, he was deceitful and hollow-hearted — that his devotion to the peo- ple's rights was affected for the purpose of gaining popu- larity, and opening the way for the accomplishment of his future views of personal aggrandizement. Hence they viewed his affectation of a superior regard for republican- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 313 ism as designed to forward his plans for the establishment of a political party, for the purpose of gratifying his own ambitious feelings and projects. In pursuance of this gen- eral scheme of political selfishness, he had the assurance, in a sly and underhand manner, to charge his associates in the government, particularly Hamilton, Knox, and even Washington, with not only entertaining monarchical senti- ments, but some of them with the adoption of measure.-^ intended eventually to change the form of the government and introduce a monarchy in its stead. In his correspon- dence towards the close of his life, it has been seen by ex- tracts from his letters to Mrs. Adams, as well as to Mr. Adams himself, that he professed an old, long standing, cordial, and warm attachment to that gentleman — that a friendship which commenced in early life had been con- tinued through all the trials and vicissitudes of their pub- lic career; and finally, when both were advanced to ex- treme old age, it glowed with all the fervor of youth. In his letter to Mrs. Adams of June 18, 1804, which has been referred to in this work, and which contained the first overture for the renewal of their friendly intercourse, Mr. Jefl^erson says, " Mr. Adams's friendship and mine began at an earlier date. It accompanied us through long and important scenes. The diflTerent conclusions we had drawn from our political reading and reflections were not permit- ted to lessen mutual esteem ; each party being conscious they were the result of an honest conviction in the other." And he adds, " I can say with truth, that one act of Mr. Adams's life, and one only, ever gave me a moment's per- sonal displeasure." He then refers to the last appoint- ments by Mr. Adams, just as his administration was com- ing to a close. The letter from which these passages are copied, is da- ted, it will be recollected, in 1804. In a letter to general 27 314 THE CHARACTER OF Washington, written in 1791 — twenty-three years before, and but a little more than a year after he entered the office of secretary of slate — he charges Mr. Adams, in direct terms, with apostacy to hereditary monarchy and nobility. He docj:, indeed, express some apprehensions that the in- discretion of a printer may have committed him with Jm friend Mr. Adams, " for whom, as one of the most honest and disinterested men alive, he had a cordial esteem, in- creased by long habits of concurrence in opinion in the days of his republicanism, and even since his apostacy to heredi- tary monarchy and 7iobility, though we differ, we differ as friends should do.^' The charge of entertaining monarchical sentiments, ac- cording to Mr. Jefferson's view of the subject, was one of the most aggravated in the whole catalogue of political of- fences. In the case of general Hamilton, against whom he steadily and perse veringly alleged it, it was the basis of the deepest and most envenomed reproach. When wri- ting his note to the printer of the Rights of Man, he ex- presses his gratification that that work was to be printed, that something was likely to be said against the political heresies that had lately sprung up among us. In this last remark, he acknowledges he had in view the Discourses on Davila — a work of which it was well known Mr. Adams was the author. And yet, more than twenty years after- wards, when he was endeavoring, through a correspon- dence with Mrs. Adams, to cajole Mr. Adams to a recon- ciliation, after expressing the early and long continued friendship that had existed between them, he says, there never had been but a single act of his that had given him (Mr. Jefferson) personal displeastire. That act was, not his apostatizing from republicanism to monarchical princi- ples — not because Mr. Adams was plotting treason against the constitution and government of his country, by endeav- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 315 oring to change it from a republic to a monarchy : these, it would seem, were not of sufficient importance to check or interrupt the tide of friendship which had so long flowed between them. It was a matter of deeper interest than these. It was the nomination of a number of distinguish- ed persons to be judges of the courts, or to other offices, whose only disqualification was that they were federalists — who, he says, were his ardent political enemies, froni whom he could expect no faithful co«nperation. Laying plots for the overthrow of the constitution and government with a design to change our system from a republic to a monarchy, gave him no personal uneasiness ; whilst the ap- pointment of federalists to office was a serious injury to his feelings, and a mark of personal hostility on the part of Mr. Adams. It is perfectly apparent from the contents of the letter from Mr. Jefferson to general Washington, that the for- mer had, immediately after coming into the government, laid the plan by which he intented to place himself at the head of the nation. That plan was to form a political party upon the captivating basis of republicanism in op- position to the federalists, to charge the latter with mo- narchical principles and designs, render thejTi suspected and odious, and establish himself and his followers as the ardent and exclusive friends of the people, and thus accom- plish the grand objects of his life, viz. personal popularity and political aggrandizement. In the case of general Ham- ilton, monarchical sentiments, in Mr. Jefferson's view, constituted a most atrocious offence against the nation. Similar sentiments, as it regarded Mr. Adams, though ori- ginally stamped with apostacy, formed nothing more seri- ous than an honest difference of opinion between friends. General Hamilton was obviously, in Mr. Jefferson's view, a much more formidable obstacle in the way of his ambi- 316 THE CHARACTER OF tion, than Mr. Adams. Hence the extreme heinousness of the principles ascribed to the former beyond those of the latter. But the duplicity which could adopt such diflferent language, and express such different feelings, respecting the same person, as he did towards Mr. Adams, if there were no other proof to support the charge, would stamp him with deep and disgraceful dissimulation and hypocrisy. It has been seen, that Mr. Jefferson, by his own state- ments, charged general Hamilton frequently, in conversa- tion with general Washington, not only with entertaining monarchical sentiments, but having designs of changing the government of the United States into a monarchy. By the following correspondence it will appear, that on one occasion, at least, he put his sentiments on that subject into writing, and entered into many particulars to convince general Washington of the truth of his allegations. The dissensions in his cabinet, and particularly between the secretaries of state and the treasury, had, as early as the the year 1792, become so serious as not only to cause him much inconvenience, but to excite in his mind many fears that if continued they must result in very important con- sequences to the government. In order to avoid such an evil, and, if possible, to reconcile these high officers of the government, he addressed to each of them a letter on the subject, and received from each his answer. Neither of these documents appears in Mr. Jefferson's correspondence published since his death. They are all copied from gen- eral Washington's Writings, published by Mr. Sparks, in 1836. The letter to Mr. Jefferson is dated the 23d of August, 1792, and the following is an extract from it : — "How unfortunate, and how much to be regretted is it, that while we are encompassed on all sides with avowed enemies and insidious friends, internal dissensions should THOMAS JEFFERSON. 317 be harrowing and tearing our vitals. The latter, to me, is the most serious, the most alarming, and the most afflict- ing of the two ; and, without more charity for the opinions and acts of one another in governmental matters, or some more infallible criterion by which the truth of speculative opinions, before they have undergone the test of experi- ence, are to be forejudged, than has yet fallen to the lot of fallibility, I believe it will be difficult, if not impracticable, to manage the reins of government, or to keep the parts of it together;, for if, instead of laying our shoulders to the machine after measures are decided on, one pulls this way and another that, before the utility of the thing is fairly tried, it must inevitably be torn asunder; and in my opin- ion, the fairest prospect of happiness and prosperity that ever was presented to man will be lost perhaps forever. "My earnest wish and my fondest hope, therefore, is, that instead of wounding suspicions and irritating charges, there may be liberal allowances, mutual forbearances, and temporizing yieldings on all sides. Under the exercise of these, matters will go on smoothly, and, if possible, more prosperously. Without them, everything must rub; the wheels of government will clog ; our enemies will tri- umph, and by throvi^ing their weight into the disaffected scale, may accomplish the ruin of the goodly fabric we have been erecting." On the 26th of the same month, in the same year, he wrote a letter to general Hamilton, then secretary of the treasury, from which the following is an extract : — " Differences in political opinions are as unavoidable as, to a certain point, they may perhaps be necessary; but it is exceedingly to be regretted, that subjects cannot be dis- cussed with temper on the one hand, or decisions submit- ted to without having the motives which led to them im- 27=^ 318 THE CHARACTER OF properly implicaied on the oiher ; and this regret borders on chagrin, when we find that men of abilities, zealous patriots, having the same general objects in view, and the j*ame upright intentions to prosecute them, will not exer- cise more charily in deciding on the opinions and actions of one another. When matters get to such lengths, the imtural inference is, that both sides have strained the cords beyond their bearing, and that a middle course would be found the best until experience shall have decided on the right way, or (which is not to be expected, because it is denied to mortals) there shall be some infallible rule by which we could forejudge events. " Having premised these things, I would fain hope that liberal allowences will be made for the political opinions of each other; and instead of those wounding suspicions and irritating charges with which some of our gazettes are so strongly impregnated, and which cannot fail, if per- severed in, of pushing matters to extremity and thereby tearing the machine asunder, that there may be mutual forbearance and temporizing yielding on all sides. With- out these I do not see how the reins of government are to be managed, or how the union of the states can be much longer preserved. " How unfortunate would it be if a fabric so goodly, erect- ed under so many providential circumstances, and in its first stages having acquired such respectability, should, from diversity of sentiments or internal obstructions some of the acts of government, (for I cannot prevail on myself to believe that these measures are as yet the de- liberate acts of a determined party,) be brought to the verge of dissolution. Melancholy thought ! But, at the same time that it shows the consequences of diversified opinion when pushed with too much tenacity, it exhibits evidence also of the necessity of accommodation, and of THOMAS JEFFERSON. 319 the propriety of adopting such healing measures as may restore harniiony to the discordant members of the union and the governing powers of it." On the 9th of September, 1792, Mr. Jefferson replied to general Washington in a letter from which the following extract is taken : — " I now take the liberty of proceeding to that part of your letter wherein you notice the internal dissensions which have taken place within our government, and their disa- greeable effect on its movements. That such dissensions have taken place is certain, and even among those who are nearest to you in the administration. To no one have they given deeper concern than myself; to no one equal morti- fication at being myself a part of them. Though I take to myself no more than my share of the general observa- tions of your letter, yet I am so desirous even that you should know the whole truth, I believe no more than the truth, that I am glad to seize every occasion of developing to you whatever I do or think relative to the government, and shall therefore ask permission to be more lengthy now than the occasion particularly calls for, or would other- wise perhaps justify. " When 1 embarked in the government, it was with a determination to intermeddle not at all with the legisla- ture, and as little as possible with my co-departments. The first and only instance of variance from the former part of my resolution, I was duped into by the secretary of the treasury, and made a tool for forwarding his schemes, not then sufficiently understood by me ; and of all the errors of my political life, this has occasioned me the deep- est regret. It has ever been my purpose to explain this to you, when from being actors on the scene we shall have become uninterested spectators only. The second part of rny resolution has been religiously observed with the war 320 THE CHARACTER OF department ; and, as to that of the treasury, has never been farther swerved from than by the mere enunciation of my sentiments in conversation, and chiefly among those who, expressing the same sentiments, drew mine from me. "If it has been supposed that I have ever intrigued among the members of the legislature to defeat the plans of the secretary of the treasury, it is contrary to all truth. As I never had the desire to influence the members, so neither had I any other means than my friendship, which I valued too highly to risk by usurpations on their freedom of judgement and the conscientious pursuit of their own sense of duty. That I have utterly, in my private conver- sations, disapproved of the system of the secretary of the treasury, I acknowledge and avow ; and this was not mere- ly a speculative difference. His system flowed from prin- ciples adverse to liberty, and was calculated to undermine and demolish the republic, by creating an influence of his department over the members of the legislature. I saw this influence actually produced, and its first fruits to be the establishment of the great outlines of his project by the votes of the very persons, who, having swallowed his bait, were laying themselves out to profit by his plans; and that, had these persons \vithdrawn, as those interested in a question ever should, the vote of the disinterested major- ity was clearly the reverse of what they made it. These were no longer the votes then of the representatives of the people, but of deserters from the rights and interests of the people ; and it was impossible to consider their decisions, which had nothing in view but to enrich themselves, as the measures of the fair majority, which ought always to be respected. "If what was actually doing begat uneasiness in those who wished for virtuous government, what was further proposed was not less threatening to the friends of the con- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 321 stitution. For, in a report on the subject of manufactures (still to be acted on) it was expressly assumed, that the general government has a right to exercise all powers which may be for the general welfare, that is to say, all the legitimate powers of government ; since no government has a legitimate right to do what is not for the welfare of the governed. There was indeed a sham limitation of the universality of this power to cases where money is to be employed. But about what is it that money cannot be em- ployed ? Thus the object of these plans taken together is to draw all the powers of government into the hands of the general legislature, to establish means for corrupting a sufficient corps in that legislature to divide the honest votes, and preponderate by their own the scale which suit- ed, and to have that corps under the command of the sec- retary of the treasury for the purpose of subverting step by step the principles of the constitution, which he has so often declared to be a thing of nothing, which must be changed. " Such views might have justified something more than mere expressions of dissent, beyond which, nevertheless, I never went. Has abstinence from the department commit- ted to me been equally observed by him ? To say nothing of other interferences equally known, in the case of the two nations with which we have the most intimate connexions, France and England, my system was to give some satis- factory distinctions to the former, which might induce them to abate their severities against our commerce. I have al- ways supposed this coincided with your sentiments ; yet the secretary of the treasury, by his cabals with members of the legislature, and by high toned declamation on other occasions, has forced down his own system, which was exactly the reverse. He undertook, of his own authority, the conferences with the ministers of these two nations, 322 THE CHARACTER OF and was on every consultation provided with some report of a conversation with the one or the other of them adapt- ed to his views. " These views thus made to prevail, their execution fell of course to me; and I can safely appeal to you, who have seen all my letters and proceedings, whether I have not carried them into execution as sincerely as if they had been my own, though I ever considered them as inconsistent with the honor and interest of our country. That they have been inconsistent with our interest is but too fatally proved by the stab to our navigation given by the French. So that if the question be, by whose fault is it that colonel Hamilton and myself have not drawn together? the an- swer will depend on that to two other questions. Whose principles of administration best justify, by their purity, conscientious adherence ? And which of us has, notwith- standing, stepped farthest into the control of the depart- ment of the other? " To this justification of opinions, expressed in the way of conversation, against the views of colonel Hamilton, I beg leave to add some notice of his late charges against me in Fenno's Gazette ; for neither the style, matter, nor venom of the pieces alluded to can leave a doubt of their author. Spelling my name and character at full length to the public, while he conceals his own under the signature of" An American," he charges me, first, with having writ- ten letters from Europe to my friends to oppose the present constitution while depending; secondly, with a desire of not paying the public debt; thirdly, with setting up a paper to decry and slander the government. " The first charge is most false. No man in the United States, I suppose, approved of every tittle in the constitu- tion ; no one, I believe, approved more of it than I did ; and more of it was certainly disapproved by my accuser than THOMAS JEFFERSON.' 323 by me, and of its parts most vitally republican. Of this the few letters I wrote on the subject (not half a dozen, I believe,) will be a proof; and for my own satisfaction and justification, I must tax you with the reading of them when I return to where they are. You will there see that my objection to the constitution was, that it wanted a bill of rights, securing freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom from standing armies, trial by jury, and a constant habeas corpus act. Colonel Hamilton's was, that it want- ed a king and house of lords. The sense of America has approved my objection, and added the bill of rights, not the king and lords. I also thought a longer term of ser- vice, insusceptible of renewal, would have made a presi- dent more independent. My country has thought other- wise, and I have acquiesced implicitly. He wished the general government should have power to make laws bind- ing the states in all cases whatsoever. Our country has thought otherwise. Has he acquiesced ? Notwithstand- ing my wish for a bill of rights, my letters strongly urged the adoption of the constitution, by nine states at least, to secure the good it contained. I at first thought that the best method of securing the bill of rights wouldbe, for four states to hold off till such a bill should be agreed to. But the moment I saw Mr. Hancock's proposition to pass the constitution as it stood, and give perpetual instructions to the representatives of every state to insist on a bill of rights, I acknowledged the superiority of his plan, and ad- vocated universal adoption. " The second charge is equally untrue. My whole cor- respondence while in France, and every word, letter and act on the subject since my return, prove that no man is more ardently intent to see the public debt soon and sa- credly paid off than I am. This exactly marks the differ- ence between colonel Hamihon's views and mine, that I 324 THE CHARACTER OF would wish the debt paid to-morrow : he wishes it never to be paid, but always to be a thing wherewith to corrupt and manage the legislature. " Thirdly, I have never inquired what number of sons, relations, and friends of senators, representatives, printers, or other useful partisans colonel Hamilton has provided for among the hundred clerks of his department, the thou- sand excisemen, custom-house officers, loan officers, &c. &c., appointed by him, or at his nod, and spread over the Union : nor could ever have imagined, that the man, who has the shuffling of millions backwards and forwards from paper into money and money into paper, from Europe to America and America to Europe, the dealing out of treas- ury secrets among his friends in what time and measure he pleases, and who never slips an occasion of making friends vi^ith his means ; that such a one, I say, would have brought forward a charge against me for having ap- pointed the poet Freneau translating clerk to my office with a salary of two hundred and fifty dollars a year. " The fact stands thus. While the government was at New-York, I was applied to on behalf of Freneau to know if there was any place within my department to which he could be appointed. I answered, there were but four clerkships, all of which I found full, and continued with- out any change. When we removed to Philadelphia, Mr. Pintard, the translating clerk, did not choose to remove with us. His office then became vacant. I was again ap- plied to there for Freneau, and had no hesitation to pro- mise the clerkship for him. I cannot recollect whether it was at the same time, or afterwards, that I was told he had a thought of setting up a newspaper there ; but whether then, or afterwards, I considered it as a circumstance of some value, as it might enable me to do what I had long wished to have done, that is, to have the material parts of THOMAS JEFFERSON. 325 the Leyden Gazette brought under your eye and that of the public, in order to possess yourself and ihem of a juster view of the affairs of Europe than could be obtained from any other public source. This I had ineffectually attempt- ed through the press of Mr. Fenno while in New-York, selecting and translating passages myself at first, then hav- ing it done by Mr. Pintard, the translating clerk. But they found their way too slowly into Mr. Fenno's papers. Mr. Backe essayed it for me in Philadelphia ; but his, being a daily paper, did not circulate sufficienlly in other states. He even tried, at my request, the plan of a weekly paper of recapitulation from his daily paper, in hopes that that might go into the other stales ; but in this, too, we failed. " Freneau, as translating clerk and the printer of a pe- riodical paper likely to circulate through the states, (uni- ting in one person the parts of Pintard and Fenno,) re- vived my hopes that the thing could at length be eflected. On the establishment of his paper, therefore, I furnished him with the Leyden Gazettes, with an expression of my wish tliat he would always translate and publish the ma- terial intelligence they contained ; and have continued to furnish ihem from time to time as regularly as I received them. But as to any other direction or indication of my wish how his press should be conducted, what sort of intelli- gence he should give, what essays encourage, I can pro- test, in the presence of Heaven, that I never did, by mysel/ or any other, directly or indirectly, write, dictate or procure any one sentence or sentiment to be inserted in his or any other gazette to which my name was not affixed, or that of my office, I surely need not except here a thing so foreign to the present subject as a little paragraph about our Algerine captives which I put once into Fenno's pa- per, 28 326 THE CHARACTER OP " Freneau's propositions to publish a paper having been about the time the writings of Publicola and the Dis- courses ON Davila had a good deal excited the public at- tention, I took it for granted, from Freneau's character, which had been marked as that of a good whig, that he would give free place to pieces written against the aristo- cratical and monarchical principles these papers had in- culcated. This having been in my mind, it is likely enough I may have expressed it in conversation with others; though I do not recollect that 1 did. To Freneau I think I could not, because I had still seen him but once, and that was at a public table, at breakfast, at Mrs. Ellsworth's, as I passed through New York the last year ; and I can safely declare that my expectations looked only to the chastisement of the aristocratical and monarchical writers, and not to any criticisms on the proceedings of the gov- ernment. " Colonel Hamilton can see no motive for any appoint- ment but that of making a convenient pariizan. But you, sir, who have received from me the recommendations of a Rittenhouse, Barlow, Paine, will believe that talents and science are sufficient motives with me in appointments to which they are fitted ; and that Freneau, as a man of gen- ius, might find a preference in my eye to be a translating clerk, and make good title, moreover, to the little aids I could give him as the editor of a gazette, by procuring subscriptions to his paper as I did, some before it appeared, and as I have with pleasure done for the labors of other men of genius. I hold it to be one of the distinguishing excellences of an elective over hereditary successions, that the talents which nature has provided in sufficient propor- tion, should be selected by the society fot the government of their afTairs rather than that this should be transmitted through the loins of knaves and fools, passing from the debauchees of the table to those of the bed/ THOMAS JEFFERSON. 327 " Colonel Hamilton, alias " Plain Facts," says, that Fre- rreau's salary began before he resided in Philadelphia. I do not know what quibble he may have in reserve on the word " residence.^^ He may mean to include under that idea the removal of his family ; for I believe he removed, himself, before his family did, to Philadelphia. But no act of mine gave commencement to his salary before he so far took up his abode in Philadelphia, as to be sufficiently in readiness for the duties of his office. As to the merits or demerits of his paper, they certainly concern me not. He and Fenno are rivals for the public favor; the one courts them by flattery, the other by censure ; and I be- lieve it will be admitted thai the one has been as servile as the other severe. But is not the dignity, and even decency of government committed, when one of its prin- cipal ministers enlists himself as an anonymous writer or paragraphist for either the one or the other of them ? No government ought to be without censors ; and where the press is free, no one ever will. If virtuous, it need not fear the fair operation of attack and defence. Nature has giv- en to man no other means of sifting out the truth, either in religion, law or politics. I think it as honorable to the government neither to know nor notice its sycophants or censors, as it would be undignified and criminal to pamper the former and persecute the latter. ^' When I came into this office, it was with a resolution to retire from it as soon as I could with decency. It pret- ty early appeared to me, that the proper moment would be the first of those epochs at which the constitution seems to have contemplated a periodical change or removal of the public servants. In this I was confirmed by your resolu- tion respecting the same period, from which, however, I am happy in hoping you have departed. 1 look to that pe- riod with the longing of a wave-worn mariner, who has at 328 THE CHARACTER OF length the land in view, and shall count the days and hours which still lie between me and it. In the mean while my main object will be to wind up the business of my office, avoiding- as much as possible all new enterprises. With the affairs of the legislature, as I never did intermeddle, so I certainly shall not now begin. I am more desirous to predispose everything for the repose to which I am with- drawing, than expose it to be disturbed by newspaper con- tests. " If these however cannot be avoided altogether, yet a re- gard for your quiet will be a sufficient motive for deferring it till I become merely a private citizen, when the propri- ety or impropriety of what I may say or do may fall on myself alone. I may then, too, avoid the charge of mis- applying that time which, now belonging to those who employ me, should be wholly devoted to their service. If my own justification or the interests of the republic shall require it, I reserve to myself the right of then appealing to my country, subscribing my name to whatever I write, and using with freedom and truth the facts and names necessary to place the cause in its just form before that tri- bunal. To a thorough disregard of the honors and emol- uments of office, I join as great a value for the esteem of my countrymen ; and conscious of having merited it by an integrity which connot be reproached, and by an enthu- siastic devotion to their rights and liberty, I will not suffer my retirement to be clouded by the slanders of a man whose history, from the moment history can stoop to no- tice him, is a tissue of machinations against the liberty of the country which has not only received and given him bread, but heaped its honors on his head." There are some things in this letter that are worthy of notice. Mr. Jefferson complains much in it of general Hamil- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 329 ton's interference in the business of the department of state; while on his part, he avers, that he never meddled with the concerns of the treasury, any further than to utter ex- pressions of dissent from the measures proposed by the head of that department. On this subject he uses the following language : — " To say nothing of other interfer- ences equally known, in the case of the two nations with which we have the most intimate connections, France and England, my system was to give some satisfactory distinc- tions to the former, which might induce them to abate their severities against our commerce. I have always sup- posed this coincided with your sentiments ; yet the secre- tary of the treasury, by his cabals with members of the legislature and by high toned declamation on other occa- sions, has forced down his own system, which was exactly the reverse." On what grounds Mr. Jefferson formed the opinion that general Washington entertained the same sentiments with himself respecting the relations that ought to subsist be- tween this country and France, it is not easy to ascertain. General Washington's wishes, as far as they can be gath- ered from his system of policy, and the measures whi^h he adopted whilst at the head of the government, were for the observance of a strict neutrality between those two great rival powers, to do exact justice, and maintain a strict friendship with both. That he ever entertained, for a mo- ment, a disposition to purchase the good will of France, by giving " satisfactory distinctions " to that nation, over Great Britain, and especially for the purpose of inducing the French to " abate their severity against our commerce," cannot, in justice to his character, and from a regard to the honor of the United States, be admitted for a moment. That great man could never have consented to degrade the nation over which he presided by purchasing immu^ 28^ 330 THE CHARACTER OF nity from foreign injustice, or foreign resentment, by pay- ing tribute to any power, and especially, in such a servile and dastardly manner as is here suggested. He would have run the risk of any " stab " which they might have attempted to give " to our navigation," rather than debase his country before any power on earth. Mr. Jefferson goes much at length, in this letter, into the reasons why he appointed Philip Freneau translating clerk in the department of state. His objects, according to his own explanation of them, were principally two — to reward his poetical genius, and to have a man at hand who could translate and publish articles, from time to time, from the Leyden Gazette. With regard to the first, it is not easy to imagine what precise value poetical talents possessed in Mr. Jefferson's estimation. Freneau's talents in that department of literature were far from being extra- ordinary ; but if ihey were suited to Mr. Jefferson's taste, and as poets deal largely in fiction it is probable they were, they may have been worth, in his view, two hundred and fifty dollars a year. Of how much importance the publi- cations in a Dutch newspaper were to general Washington, for whose particular benefit Mr. Jefferson seems to have been desirous of introducing the contents of that gazette into this country, or to the government, cannot now be as- certained. It is probable they were of a revolutionary character, and friendly to French principles, or he would not have been so anxious to bring them to the knowledge of his countrymen. But it is difficult to avoid the suspicion notwithstand- ing the pains taken in this letter to shut it out of view, that Mr. Jefferson, in patronizing Freneau, had more im- mediate reference to the importance of the newspaper he was establishing at the seat of government than he had to his poetical talents, or the translation and publication of THOMAS JEFFERSON. 331 the matter in the Leyden Fazette. The character of his paper has already been alluded to. It was a vehicle of the most virulent and scurrilous abuse of the government of this country, and even of general Washington himself, and at the same time was devoted to the furtherance of Mr. Jefferson's ambitious views and interests. And it has been seen in what light Mr. Jefferson considered it, when upon general Washington's mentioning it in conversation with him, as of an abusive and malignant character. " He adverted," says Mr. Jefferson, " to a piece in Freneau's pa- per of yesterday ; he said he despised all their attacks up- on him personally, but that there had never been an act of the government, not meaning in the executive line only, but in any line, which that paper had not abused." And Mr. Jefferson then adds — " He was evidently sore and warm, and I took his intention to be, that I should inter- pose in some way with Freneau, perhaps withdraw his ap- pointment of translating clerk to my office. But I will not do it. His paper has saved our constitution, which was galloping fast into monarchy, and has been checked by no one means so powerfully as by that paper." To say noth- ing of the gross indelicacy of this passage towards gener- al Washington, it will be recollected, that it related to a person for whom Mr. Jefferson professed to entertain the highest esteem and respect, and who had it in his power, had he thought i expedient to exercise it, to remove him from the office which he held, and thus rid himself of the annoyance derived from both the principal and the agent. In reply to the charge of having been opposed to .he constitution, which had been made against him in a news- paper, and which he ascribes to general Hamilton, he says, " My objection to the constitution was, that it wanted a bill of rights, securing freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom from standing armies, trial by jury, and a 332 ^ THE CHARACTER OF constant habeas corpus act. Colonel Hamilton's was, that it wanted a king and house of lords" Mr. Jefferson, as will be seen by the extracts from his printed works in this volume, instating his objections to the constitution, frequently mentioned the want of the per- petual security of the writ of habeas corpus as one. And yet he was the first president of the United States, under whom a proposition was made to suspend its operation ; and a bill, growing out of a confidential message to the senate of the United States, actually passed that body, sus- pending the habeas corpus, on the 23d of January, 1807. This measure which was professedly intended to aid the government in suppressing what was called the conspiracy of Aaron Burr, was adopted in the senate the day after the delivery of a message to both houses on that subject, from the general tenor of which it was apparent, that whatever danger had threatened the union from that com- bination, it had passed away, and some of the persons con- cerned in it as principals had been arrested at New Orleans, and sent as prisoners to the seat of government, in order to be tried for the crimes alleged against them. This ex- travagant measure therefore had become altogether unne- cessary. But Mr. Jefferson states explicitly in this letter to gener- al Washington, that general Hamilton's objection to the constitution was, " that it wanted a king and house of lords." That this charge was not true, is absolutely cer- tain, as general Hamilton never attempted to accomplish such an object. Nor does Mr. Jefferson, in the multitude of instances, and the great variety of forms, in which he accuses general Hamilton of monarchical principles and propensities, produce a particle of evidence in support of the charges. If he relied on the general project of a con- stitution which general Hamilton presented to the conven- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 333 tion for their consideration, and which is published in this work, it does not in any measure prove the allegation. In- deed, there is not now, and there never was, any credible evidence before the public, that general Hamilton ever made any specific objection to the constitution, or ever en- tertained such a wish. On the contrary, he supported it in the general convention by which it was formed ; he joined in recommending it, under his own signature, to the peo- ple of the United States ; he exerted his great talents through the press to prepare the public mind for its favora- ble reception ; and it was undoubtedly, in a great degree, owing to his influence and exertions, that it was adopted by the convention of the staie of New York. To set off against this array of efforts in the formation and establish- ment of the constitution, Mr. Jefferson cannot boast of a single exertion of talent or influence, either in its forma- tion or its adoption, in its favor. He contented himself with stating to his friends and correspondents, objections of divers kinds, and yielded to some things in it a cold and apparently reluctant assent. And yet, he has the har- dihood to bring this weighty accusation against general Hamilton before general Washington, who was president of the convention which framed the constitution, and who, of course, must have known every act, proposition and project of general Hamilton's before that body ; and who had, besides, witnessed his conduct as a member of his cab- inet after the government was organized and had com- menced its operations. Mr. Jefferson endeavors, in this letter, to satisfy general Washington, that he never attempted, whilst he was sec- retary of state, to intrigue with the members of congress, to defeat the plans of the secretary of treasury ; and he says, he never had a wish to influence them in their pub- 334 THE CHARACTER OF lie duties, at the same time, he acknowledges, that in pri- vate conversations he wholly disapproved of the system of that officer. The case does not seem to admit of much further effort at intrigue than the expression of opinions in private conversation. And as his opinions usually had the force of law with his adherents, he admits all that was necessary to render him liable lo the general charge of having endeavored to influence members in their legis- lative conduct. And when his famous commercial report, made just as he was retiring from office, is remembered, and the great pains he took afterwards to excite opposition to the British treaty, and the alien and sedition laws — the latter while he was vice-president — it will require no great stretch of credulity to believe, that he was not entirely qui- escent respecting the course of the public affairs alluded to, at a time when he was on the spot, and certainly took a deep interest in their general character. His uniform and vindictive opposition to general Hamilton, will always render him liable, at least, to the suspicion. General Hamilton's answer to general Washington's let- ter of August 26, 1792, is as follows : — " I have the pleas- ure of your private letter of the 26th of August. The feelings and views which are manifested in that letter, are such as I expected would exist. And I most sincerely re- gret the causes of the uneasy sensations you experience. It is my most anxious wish, as far as may depend upon me, to smooth the path of your administration, and to ren- der it prosperous and happy. And if any prospect shall open of healing or terminating the differences which exist, I shall most cheerfully embrace it ; though I consider my- self as the deeply injured party. The recommendation of such a spirit is worthy of the moderation and wisdom which dictated it. And if your endeavors should prove unsuccessful, I do not hesitate to say, that in my opinion THOMAS JEFFERSON. 335 the period is not remote, when the public good will require SUBSTITUTES for the differing members of your administra- tion. The continuance of a division there must destroy the energy of government, which will be little enough with the strictest union. On my part there will be a most cheerful acquiescence in such a result. " I trust, sir, that the greatest frankness has always marked, and will always mark, every step of my conduct towards you. In this disposition I cannot conceal from you, that I have had some instrumentality of late in the re- taliations, which have fallen upon certain public characters, and that I find myself placed in a situation not to be able to recede for the present. " I considered myself as compelled to this conduct by reasons public as well as personal, of the most cogent na- ture. I know that I have been an object of uniform op- position from Mr. Jefferson, from the moment of his com- ing to the city of New York to enter upon his present of- fice. 1 know from the most authentic sources, that I have been the frequent subject of the most unkind whispers and insinuations from the same' quarter. I have long seen formed a party in the legislature under his auspices, bent upon my subversion. I cannot doubt from the evidence I possess, that the National Gazette was instituted by him for political purposes, and that one leading object of it has been to render me, and all the measures connected with my department, as odious as possible. "Nevertheless, I can truly say that, except explanations to confidential friends, I never, directly or indirectly, retal- iated or countenanced retaliation till very lately. I can even assure you, I was instrumental in perverting a very severe and systematic attack upon Mr. Jefl^erson by an as- sociation of two or three individuals, in consequence of .the persecution which he brought upon the vice-president, 336 THE CHARACTER OF by his indirect and light letter to the printer transmitting Paine's pamphlet. " As long as 1 saw no danger to the government from the machinations which were going on, I resolved to be a silent sufferer of the injuries which were done me. I de- termined to avoid giving occasion to anything which could manifest to the world dissensions among the principal char- acters of the government; a thing which can never hap- pen without weakening its hands, and in some degree throwing a stigma upon it. " But when I no longer doubted, that there was a formed party deliberately bent upon the subversion of measures, which in its consequences would subvert the government; when I saw that the undoing of the funding system in par- ticular (which, whatever may be the original merits of that system, would prostrate the credit and honor of the nation, and bring the government into contempt with that description of men who are in every society the only firm supporters of the government.) was an avowed object of the party, and that all possible pains were taking to pro- duce that effect by rendering it odious to the body of the people, I considered it as a duty to endeavor to resist the torrent, and, as an effectual means to this end, to draw aside the veil from the principal actors. To this strong impulse, to this decided conviction, I have yielded. And I think events will prove that I have judged rightly. " Nevertheless, I pledge my honor to you, sir, that if you shall hereafter form a plan to reunite the members of your administration upon some steady principle of co-operation, I will faithfully concur in executing it during my contin- uance in office — and I will not, directly or indirectly, say or do a thing that shall endanger a feud." Nothwithstanding the very artful and labored attempt, in Mr. Jefferson's letter, to lower general Hamilton's prin- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 337 ciples and character in general Washington's estimation, it has been seen by the letter from the latter to the former upon his leaving the treasury department, it was entirely without effect. That event occurred nearly two years af- ter the date of this correspondence, and from the language of the letter alluded to, which will be found in this work, general Hamilton carried with him into retirement the full- est confidence, as well as the most sincere esteem and res- pect, of general Washington. Nor is it known that Mr. Jefferson ever made his threat- ened appeal to the country, under his own signature, in or- der to place his cause before that tribunal. Whether his want of success in convincing general Washington of gen- eral Hamilton's treasonable designs against the country discouraged him from an effort with the people, or he be- came convinced that the safer, and it was certainly the more characteristic mode, that of retailing his slanders through the medium of a posthumous publication, would be the more discreet course to pursue for the attainment of his object, will be left to the reader's judgement to decide. 29 338 THE CHARACTER OF CHAPTER XVII. Mr. Jefferson made use of unworthy means to gain popularity — Alleges that he had more confidence in the people than general Washington had ; which was the only point on which they dif- fered—He assumed the title of " Friend of the People "—Dress- ed plainly — affected unassuming manners — professed never to have v;ritten a word for newspapers — He urged others to write — In one instance he wrote himself, but proposed to procure somebody to father it — Tells Madison he must take up his pen in reply to Hamilton— Letter to E. Pendleton, Jan. 1799. urges him to write on the negociation with France — Letter to Madison, and calls upon him to write — The federalists viewed Jefferson as an unbeliever in Christianity — Letter to Dr. Priestly, March, 1804 — Letter to Dr. Rush, April, 1803 — estimate of the merits of the doctrines of Jesus, compared with the others — Letter to J. Adams, August, 1813— Letter to W. Short, April, 1820— Jef- ferson a materialist ; Jesus on the side of spiritualism — Paul the first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus — Letter to Short, Aug. 1820 — The God of the Jews cruel, vindictive, capricious, and unjust — Letter to J. Adams, April, 1823 — The three first verses of John, 1st chapter, mistranslated— Jefferson not a Christian — doubtful whether he believed in a God — His translation of John 1st absurd — Recapitulation of the subjects in the work — Conclu- Mr. Jefferson, like all other demagogues, made use of unworthy, indirect, and servile means to gain popular fa- vor, with the view of accomplishing his ambitious projects. In one of his letters quoted in this work, he says, the only point in which general Washington aud he differed in opin- ion, was, that he had more confidence in the natural integri- ty of the people, and in the safety and extent -to which they might trust themselves with a control over their govern- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 339 ment, than general Washington had. Governing his con- duct through life by this confidence, he courted popular fa- vor by the most fulsome flattery, and the most obsequious "adulation. He early adopted the captivating title of the " Friend of the People,"" asserted not only their right but their capacity for what he called self- government, exhib- ited himself in public in the plainest garb, and with the most unassuming manners declaimed with much earnest- ness against pomp and show, as being inconsistent with republican simplicity, and indicative of an aristocratic and even of a monarchical tendency ; and on all occasions, pro- fessed the greatest anxiety for the liberties, privileges, and security of the people. So firmly fixed was this habit of seeking popularity among the lov/er classes of the commu- nity, that it was manifested on various occasions, even at a late period of his life, when it might naturally have been expected bis thoughts would have been occupied with sub- jects of more importance. In a letter to Elbridge Gerry, dated June 11, 1812, when speaking of the political con- dition of Massachusetts, he says, " But I trust that such perverseness will not be that of the honest and well mean- ing mass of the federalists of Massachusetts ; and that when the questions of separation and rebellion shall be nakedly proposed to them, the Gores and the Pickerings will find their levees crowded with silk-stocking gentry but no yeomanry; an army of ofHcers, without soldiers." And in a letter to the Marquis de La Fayette, dated in Jan- uary, 1815, he says, " The yeomanry of the United States are not the canaille of Paris. We might safely give them leave to go through the United States recruiting their ranks, and I am satisfied they could not raise one single regiment, (gambling merchants and silk-stocking clerks ex- cepted,) who would support them in any eflfort to separate from the union." Such language would have better be- 340 THE CHARACTER OF come an electioneering ofRce-hunter, when addressing the low rabble of a city, than a man who had held the office of president of the United States, and was well advanced beyond seventy years of age. But it may serve to point out the source of the modern policy of the leading parti- zans and demagogues of this country, in arraying the poor in a warfare against the rich, and exciting the low and vul- gar passions of the worthless members of the community against talents, character and property. The practice of making use of low artifice, to promote his own objects of popularity and ambition, was manifest- ed by him in a variety of ways, and on different occa- sions, as is sufficiently apparent from many passages of his correspondence. In a letter from Mr. Jefferson to general Washington, dated June 19th, 1796, he says,"! have formerly men- tioned to you, that from a very early period of my life, I have laid it down as a rule of conduct never to write a word for the public papers. From this I have never departed in a single instance ; and on a late occasion, when all the world seemed to be writing, besides a rigid adher- ence to my own rule, I can say with truth, that not a line for the press was ever communicated to me by any other, except a single petition referred for my correction ; which I did not correct, however, though the contrary, as I have heard, was said in a public place, by one person through error, through malice by another." This declaration of his never having written for the newspapers was repeated so often in Mr. Jefferson's letters, that the conclusion is forced upon the mind, that he viewed this species of absti- nence as highly meritorious. There is, however, a legal maxim purporting, that any act which a man procures to be done by another person, is considered as having been done by himself; and of course, the principal, is held to THOMAS JEFFERSON. 341 be responsible for the acts of the agent. In a letter from Mr. Jeiferson to James Madison, dated August 3d, 1797, he urges the latter to visit him, as he is anxious to consult with him on several matters, one of which he says is, " the subject of a petition now enclosed to you, to be pro- posed to our district, on the late presentment of our repre- sentative by the grand jury ; the idea which it brings for- ward is still conjintd to my own breast. It has never been mentioned to any mortal, because I first wished your opin- ion on the expediency of the measure. If you approve it, I shall propose to =^ ^ =^ or some other, to father it, and to present it to the counties at their general muster. This will be in time for our assembly. The presentment going in the public papers just at the moment when congress was together, produced a great efTact both on its friends and foes in that body, very much to the disheartening and mortification of the latter. I wish this petition, if ap- proved, to arrive there under the same circumstances, to produce the counter effect so wanting for their gratification. I could have wished to receive it from you again at our court on Monday, because ^ ^ ^ and =^ ^ =^ will be there, and might also be consulted, and commence measures for putting it into motion." In a letter to the same, dated Jan- uary 3, 1798, he says, " Monroe's book is considered as masterly by all those who are not opposed in principle, and it is deemed unanswerable. An answer, however, is commenced in Fenno's paper of yesterday, under the sig- nature of Scipio. The real author not yet conjectured. As I take these papers merely to preserve them, I will forward them to you, as you can easily return them to me on my arrival at home ; for I shall not see you on my way, as mean to go by the eastern shore and Petersburg. Per- haps the paragraphs in some of these abominable papers may draw from you now and then a squib. ^^ In another 29^ 342 THE CHARACTER OF letter to the same, dated April 5, 1798, he says, " You will see in Fenno, two numbers of a paper signed Mar- cellus. They promise much mischief, and are ascribed, without any difference of opinion, to Hamilton. You must, my dear sir, take up your pen agairist this champion. You know the ingenuity of his talents ; and there is not a person but yourself who can foil him. For heaven's sake, then, take up your pen, and do not desert the public cause altogether." In a letter to Edmund Pendleton, dated January 29, 1799, after mentioning the effects produced by an ad- dress from that gentleman which had been running through the republican papers, and what he calls the wicked use that had been made of the French negotiation, and saying that a short and simple recapitulation of the correspondence was necessary, which should be levelled to every capacity, he says, " Nobody in America can do it so well as yourself, in the same character of the father of your country, or any form you like better, and so concise, as, omitting nothing material, may yet be printed in hand- bills, of which we could print and disperse ten or twelve thousand copies under letter covers, through all the United States, by the members of congress when they return home." In a letter to James Madison, dated February 5, 1799, he says, " A piece published in Bache's paper on foreign influence has had the greatest currency and effect. To an extraordinary first impression, they have been obliged to make a second, and of an extraordinary number. It is such things as these the public want. They say so from all quarters, and that they wish to hear reason in- stead of disgusting blackgiiardism. The public sentiment being now on the creep, and many heavy circumstances about to fall into the republican scale, we are sensible that ;this summer is the season for systematic energies and sac- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 343 rifices. The engine is the press. Every man must lay his purse and his pen under contribution. As to the for- mer, it is possible I may be obliged to assume something for you. As to the latter, let me pray and beseech you to set apart a certain portion of every post-day to write what may be proper for the public. Send it to me while here, and when I go away I will let you know to whom you may send, so that your name shall be sacredly secret. You can render such incalculable services in this way as to lessen the effect of our loss of your presence here." Whether Mr. Jefferson's declaration, that he never wrote a word for a newspaper in his life, be true or not, is a point that need not be determined. Every person who shall read the foregoing extracts from his letters, will form his own opinion. That he was extremely urgent with his friends to perform that service for his party and their prin- ciples, and stimulated them to the duty by every motive that he could lay before them, cannot be denied; and in one instance, that with characteristic caution and cunning, he had prepared an article, in the shape of a petition, in- tended to counteract the effects of a presentment of a grand jury, and was expressly designed to be published in the newspapers, at a critical moment which was expected to arrive, is certain from his own declaration. He did not, it is true, mean to acknowledge it as his own offspring. But it is said to have been no uncommon thing for him to be placed in a similar situation, with regard even to those who might have claimed a nearer relationship to him than such as is formed by the artificial ties of political partizanship, but who he did not openly acknowledge as such. As far forth as these intimate friends and councillors of his en- gaged, at his solicitation, in newspaper disquisitions, he is as much responsible for their productions, according to the maxim above alluded to, as if they had been written by 344 THE CHARACTER OF his own hand. Under such circumstances, it was hardly worth his while to acquit himself of the charge of having never written for the newspapers, nor will he gain much credit for his assertions, when he was so anxious to induce his friends to write, and when it is well known that he placed at least as much confidence in his own talents as he did in those of any other man. The federalists viewed Mr. Jefferson as an unbeliever in Christianity ; and whatever might have been originally the state of his mind on the subject, that during his resi- dence in France, he had imbibed the loose sentiments of their revolutionists and infidel philosophers, and was there- fore an unfit man to be elected chief magistrate of a nation professedly Christian. To prove the justice of their esti- mate of his character, the following extracts from his let- ters are adduced. In the 3d volume of Mr. Jefferson's works, page 461, is a letter from him to Dr. Joseph Priestly, dated March 21, 1804, of which the following is an extract : — " I learned some time ago that you were in Philadel- phia, but that it was only for a fortnight ; and I supposed you were gone. It was not till yesterday I received infor- mation that you were still there, had been very ill, but were on the recovery. I sincerely rejoice that you are so. Yours is one of the few lives precious to mankind, and for the continuance of which every thinking man is solicitous. Bigots may be an exception. What an effort of bigotry in politics and religion have we gone through. The barba- rians really flattered themselves they should be able to bring back the times of Vandalism, when ignorance put everything into the hands of power and priestcraft. All advances in science were proscribed as innovations. They pretended to praise and encourage education, but it was to be the education of our ancestors. We were to look back- THOTAS JEFFERSON. 345 wards, not forwards, for improvement : the president him- self declaring in one of his answers to addresses, that we were never to expect to go beyond them in real science. This was the real ground of all the attacks on you : those who live by mystery and charlatanerie, fearing you would render them useless by simplifying the Christian philoso- phy, the most sublime and benevolent but most perverted system that ever shone on man, endeavored to crush your well earned and well deserved fame. But it was the Lil- liputians upon Gulliver. Our countrymen have recovered from the alarm into which art and industry had thrown them ; science and honesty are replaced on their high ground ; and you, as their great apostle, are on its pin- nacle." In the 506th page of the same volume, is a letter to doc- tor Benjamin Rush, dated April 21, 1S03, from which the following extract is taken : — " In some of the delightful conversations with you, in the evenings of 1798-99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions through which our country was then la- boring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic : and I then promised you that, one day or other, I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anli- Christian system imputed to me by those who know noth- ing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed ; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which he wished any one to be ; sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others ; ascribing to himself every human excellence ; and believing he never claimed any other. At the short intervals since these conversa- tions, when I could justifiably abstract my mind from pub- lic afl!airs, the subject has been under contemplation. But 346 THE CHARACTER OF the more I considered it, the more it expanded beyond the measure of either my time or information. In the mo- ment of my late departure from Monticello, I received from doctor Priestly his little treatise of ' Socrates and Jesus compared.' This being a section of the general view I had taken of the field, it became a subject of reflection while on the road and unoccupied otherwise. The result was to 'arrange in my mind a syllabus or outline of such an estimate of the comparative merits of Christianity as I wished to see executed by some one of m.ore leisure and information for the task than myself. This I now send you, as the only discharge of my promise I can probably ever execute. And in confiding it to you, I know it will not be exposed to the malignant perversions of those who make every word from me a text for new misrepresenta- tions and calumnies. I am, moreover, averse to the com- munication of my religious tenets to the public ; because it would countenance the presumption of those who have en- deavored to draw them before that tribunal, and to seduce public opinion to erect itself into that inquisition over the rights of conscience, which the laws have so justly pro- scribed. It behooves every man who values liberty of con- science, for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others ; or their case may, by change of circumstances, be- come his own. It behooves him, too, in his own case, to give no example of concession, betraying the common right of independent opinion, by answ^ering questions of faith, which the laws have left between God and himself. " Syllabus of an estimate of the merit of the doctrines of Jesus compared vnth those of others. " In a comparative view of the ethics of the enlightened nations of antiquity, of the Jews and of Jesus, no notice should be taken of the corruption of reason among the an- cients, to wit, the idolatry and superstition of the vulgar, THOMAS JEFFERSON. 347 nor of the corruptions of Christianity by the learned among its professors. " Let a just view be taken of the moral principles incul- cated by the most esteemed of the sects of ancient philoso- phy, or of their individuals ; particularly Pythagoras, Soc- rates, Epicurus, Cicero, Epictetus, Seneca, Antoninus. " I. Philosophers. 1. Their precepts related chiefly to ourselves, and the government of those passions which, unrestrained, would disturb the tranquillity of our minds. In this branch of philosophy they were reall}'- great. "2. In developing our duties to others, they were short and defective. They embraced, indeed, the circles of kin- dred and friends, and inculcated patriotism, or the love of our country in the aggregate, as a primary obligation: towards our neighbors and countrymen they taught justice, but scarcely viewed them as within the circle of benevo- lence. Still less have they inculcated peace, charity, and love to our fellow-men, or embraced with benevolence the whole family of mankind. " II. Jews. 1. Their system was deism ; that is, the be- lief of one only God. But their ideas of him and his at- tributes were degrading and injurious. " 2. Their ethics were not only imperfect, but often ir- reconcilable with the sound dictates of reason and morali- ty, as they respect intercourse with those around us ; and repulsive and anti-social as respecting other nations. They needed reformation, therefore, in an eminent degree. " IIL Jesus. In this state of things among the Jews, Je- sus appeared. His parentage was obscure ; his condition poor ; his education null ; his natural endowments great ; his life correct and innocent: he was meek, benevolent, patient, firm, disinterested, and of the sublimest eloquence, " The disadvantages under which his doctrines appear are remarkable. 348 THE CHARACTER OF " 1. Like Socrates and Epictetus, he wrote nothing him- self. " 2. But he had not, like them, a Xenophon or an Ar- rian to write for him. I name not Plato, who only- used the name of Socrates to cover the whimsies of his own brain. On the contrary, all the learned of his country, en- trenched in his power and riches, w^ere opposed to him, lest his labors should undermine their advantages ; and the committing to writing his life and doctrines fell on unlet- tered and ignorant men, who wrote, too, from memory, and not till long after the transactions had passed. " 3. According to the ordinary fate of those who attempt to enlighten and reform mankind, he fell an early victim to the jealousy and combination of the altar and the throne, at about thirty-three years of age, his reason not having yet attained the maximum of its energy, nor the course of his preaching, which was but of three years at most, pre- sented occasions for developing a complete system of morals. " 4. Hence the doctrines which he really delivered were defective as a whole, and fragments of what he did deliver have come to us mutilated, misstated, and often unintelli- gible. " 5. They have been still more disfigured by the cor- ruptions of schismatizing followers, who have found an in- terest in sophisticating and perverting the simple doctrines he taught by engrafting on them the mysticisms of a Gre- cian sophist, frittering them into subtleties, and obscuring them with jargon, until they have caused good men to re- ject the whole in disgust, and to view Jesus himself as an impostor. " Notwithstanding these disadvantages, a system of mor- als is presented to us, which, if filled up in the style and spirit of the rich fragments he left us, would be the most perfect and sublime that has ever been taught by man. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 349 " The question of his being a member of the Godhead, or in direct communication with it, claimed for him by some of his followers and denied by others, is foreign to the present view, which is merely an estimate of the intrin- sic merit of his doctrines. " 1. He corrected the deism of the Jews, confirming them in their belief of one only God, and giving them jusf- er notions of his attributes and government. " 2. His moral doctrines, relating to kindred and friends, were more pure and perfect than those of the most correct of the philosophers, and greatly more so than those of the Jews ; and they went far beyond both in inculcating uni- versal philanthropy, not only to kindred and friends, to neighbors and countrymen, but to all mankind, gathering all into one family under the bonds of love, charity, peace, common wants and common aids. A development of this head will evince the peculiar superiority of the system of Jesus over all others. " 3. The precepts of philosophy, and of the Hebrew code, laid hold of actions only. He pushed his scrutinies into the heart of man ; erected his tribunal in the region, of his thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain- head. " 4. He taught, emphatically, the doctrine of a future state, which was either doubted or disbelieved by the Jews; and wielded it with efficacy, as an important incentive, supple- mentary to the other motives to moral conduct." In a letter to John Adams, dated August 22, 1813, (4th- vol. JeflTerson's works, page 204,) is the following pas- sage : — " Your approbation of my outline to Dr. Priestly is a great gratification to me ; and I very much suspect that if thinking men would have the courage to think for them- selves, and to speak what they think, it would be found 30 350 THE CHARACTER OF they do not differ in religious opinions as much as is sup- posed. I remember to have heard Dr. Priestly say, that if all England would candidly examine themselves, and confess, they would find that Unitarianism was really the religion of all : and I observe a bill is now depending in parliament for the relief of anti-Trinitarians. It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticisms that three are one, and one is three ; and yet that the one is not three, and the three are not one : to divide mankind by a single letter into omoou- sians and omoiousians. But this constitutes the craft, the power, and the profit of the priests. Sweep away their gossamer fabrics of factitious religion, and they would catch no more flies. We should all then, like the Qua- kers, live without an order of priests, moralize for our- selves, follow the oracle of conscience, and say nothing about what no man can understand, nor therefore believe ; for I suppose belief to be the assent of the mind to an in- telligible proposition." The letter to William Short, dated April 13, 1820, from which the following extract is taken, will be found in the 4th volume of Jefferson's works, page 320. " Your favor of March 27th is received, and, as you re- quest, a copy of the syllabus is now enclosed. It was ori- ginally written to Dr. Eush. On his death, fearing that the inquisition of the public might get hold of it, I asked the return of it from the family, which they kindly com- plied with. At the request of another friend, I had given him a copy. He lent it to his friend to read, who copied it, and in a few months it appeared in the Theological Mag- azine of London. Happily, that repository is scarcely known in this country ; and the syllabus, therefore, is still a secret, and in your hands I am sure it will continue so. *' Bpt while this syllabus is meant to place the charac- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 351 ter of Jesus in its true light, as no impostor himself, but a great reformer of the Hebrew code of religion, it is not to be understood that I am with him in all his doctrines. I am a materialist; he takes the side of spiritualism: he preaches the efficacy of repentance towards forgiveness of sin ; I require a counterpoise of good works to redeem it, &;c. &c. It is the innocence of his character, the purity and sublimity of his moral precepts, the eloquence of his in- culcations, the beauty of the apologues in which he conveys them that I so much admire ; sometimes, indeed, needing indulgence to eastern hyperbolism. My eulogies, too, may be founded on a postulate which all may not be ready to grant. Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biographers, 1 find many passages of fine imagina- tion, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence ; and others, again, of so much ignorance, so much absurdi- ty, so much untruth, charlatanism and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. 1 separate, there- fore, the gold from the dross ; restore to him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and roguery of others, of his disciples. Of this band of dupes and im- postors, Paul was the great Coryphceus and first corrupt- er of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpola- tions and falsifications of his doctrines led me to try to sift them apart. I found the work obvious and easy, and that his part composed the most beautiful morsel of morality which has been given to us by man. The syllabus is therefore of his doctrine, not all of mine. I read them as I do those of other ancient and modern moralists, with a mixture of approbation and dissent." At the 325th page of the same volume, there is another letter to Mr. Short, from which the following extract is ta- ken : — 352 THE CHARACTER OF " I owe you a letter for your favor of June the 29th, which was received in due time ; and there being no sub- ject of the day of particular interest, I will make this a supplement to mine of April the 13th. My aim in^ that was, to justify the character of Jesus against the fictions of his psuedo followers, which have exposed him to the inference of being an impostor. For if we could believe that he really countenanced the follies, the falsehoods, and the charlatanisms which his biographers father on him, and admit the misconstructions, interpolations, and theori- zations of the fathers of the early and the fanatics of the latter ages, the conclusion would be irresistible by every sound mind, that he was an impostor. I give no credit to their falsifications of his actions and doctrines, and to res- cue his character, the postulate in my letter asked only what is granted in reading every other historian. When Livy and Siculus, for example, tell us things which coin- cide with our experience of the order of nature, we credit them on their word, and place their narrations among the records of credible history. But when they tell us of calves speaking, of statues sweating blood, and other things against the course of nature, we reject these as fables not belonging to history. In like manner, when an historian, speaking of a character well known and established on satisfactory testimony, imputes to it things incompatible with that character, we reject them without hesitation, and assent to that only of which we have better evidence. I say, that this free exercise of reason is all I ask for the vin- dication of the character of Jesus. We find in the writ- ings of his biographers matter of two distinct descriptions. First, a ground work of vulgar ignorance, of things impos- sible, of superstitions, fanaticisms, and fabrications. Inter- mixed with these, again, are sublime ideas of the supreme Being, aphorisms and precepts of the purest morality and THOMAS JEFFERSON. 353 benevolence, sanctioned by a life of humility, innocence, and simplicity of manners, neglect of riches, absence of worldly ambition and honors, with an eloquence and per- suasiveness which have not been surpassed. These could not be inventions of the groveling authors who relate them. They are far beyond the powers of their feeble minds. They show that there was a character, the sub- ject of their history, vi^hose splendid conceptions were above all suspicion of being interpolations from their hands. Can we be at a loss in separating such materials, and as- scribing each to its genuine author? The difference is obvious to the eye and to the understanding, and we may read as we run to each his part ; and I will venture to affirm that he who, as I have done, will undertake to winnow this grain from its chaff, will find it not to require a mo- ment's consideration. The parts fall asunder of them- selves, as would those of an image of metal and clay. " There are, I acknowledge, passages not free from ob- jections, which we may with probability ascribe to Jesus himself; but claiming indulgence from the circumstances under which he acted. His object was the reformation of some articles in the religion of the Jews, as taught by Mo- ses. That sect had presented for the object of their wor- ship, a being of terrific character, cruel, vindictive, ca- pricious, and U7ijitst. Jesus, taking for his type the best qualities of the human head and heart, wisdom, justice, goodness, and adding to them power, ascribed all of these, but in infinite perfection, to the supreme Being, and form- ed him really worthy of their admiration. " Moses had either not believed in a future state of ex- istence, or had not thought it essential to be explicitly taught to his people. Jesus inculcated that doctrine with emphasis and precision. Moses had bound the Jews to many idle ceremonies, mummeries, and observances, of no 30^ 354 THE CHARACTER OF effect towards producing the social utilities which consti- tute the essence of virtue ; Jesus exposed their futility and insignificance. The one instilled into his people the most anti-social spirit towards other nations; the other preached philanthropy and universal charity and benevo- lence. The office of reformer of the superstitions of a nation is ever dangerous. Jesus had to walk on the per- ilous confines of reason, and religion : and a step to right or left might place him within the gripe of the priests of the superstition, a blood-thirsty race, as cruel and remorse- less as the being whom they represented as the family God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, and the local God of Israel. They were constantly laying snares, too, to en- tangle him in the web of the law. He was justifiable, therefore, in avoiding these by evasions, by sophisms, by misconstructions, and misapplications of scraps of the prophets, and in defending himself with these their own weapons, as sufficient ad homines^ at least. That Jesus did not mean to impose himself on mankind as the son of God, physically speaking, I have been convinced by the ^writings of men more learned than myself in that lore. iBut that he jnight comcientiously believe himself inspired from above, is very possible. The whole religion of the Jews, inculcated on him from his infancy, was founded in the divine inspiration. The fumes of the most disordered imaginations were recorded in their religious code, as spe- cial communications of the Deity; and as it could not but happen that, in the course of ages, events would now and then turn up to which some of these vague rhapsodies might be accommodated by the aid of allegories, figures, types, and other tricks upon words, they have not only preserved their credit with the Jews of all subsequent times, but are the foundation of much of the religions of those who have. schisraatized from them. Elevated by THOMAS JEFFERSON. ' 355 the enthusiasm of a warm and pure heart, conscious of the high strains of an eloquence which had not been taught him, he might readily mistake the coruscations of his own fine genius for inspirations of a higher order. This belief carried, therefore, no more personal imputation than the belief of Socrates, that himself was under the care and admonitions of a guardian dasmon. And how many of our wisest men still believe in the reality of these inspirations, while perfectly sane on all other subjects. Excusing, therefore, on these considerations, those passa- ges in the gospels which seem to bear marks of weakness in Jesus, ascribing to him what alone is consistent with the great and pure character of which the same writings furnish proofs, and to their proper authors their own triv- ialities and imbecilities, I think myself authorized to con- clude the purity and disposition of his character, in opposi- tion to the impostures which those authors would fix upon him ; and that the postulate of my former letter is no more than is granted in all other historical works." Mr Jefferson introduces the subject of religion into sev- eral other letters, of a later date than that from which the preceding extracts are taken, which contain sentiments of a character somewhat similar to those already quoted ; but it is not necessary to copy them here. One additional let- ter only will be noticed. In the 4th volume of his works, page 363, is a letter to John Adams, dated April 11, 1823, (a little more than three years before his death) from which the following ex- tract is taken : — " The wishes expressed in your last favor, that I may continue in life and health, until I become a Calvinist, at least in his exclamation of ' Mon Dieu ! jusgu^ a quand V would make me immortal. I can never join Calvin in ad- dressing his God, He was indeed an atheist, which 1 can 356 THE CHARACTER OF never be ; or rather his religion was doemonism. If ever man worshipped a false God he did. The being described in his five points is not the God whom you and I acknowl- edge and adore, the creator and benevolent governor of the world; but a doemon of malignant spirit. It would be more pardonable to believe in no God at all, than to blas- pheme by the atrocious attributes of Calvin. Indeed, I think that every Christian sect gives a great handle to atheism by their general dogma, that, without a revelation, there would not be sufficient proof of the being of a God. Now one sixth of mankind only are supposed to be Chris- tians : the other five-sixths then, who do not believe in the Jewish and Christian revelation, are without a knowledge of the existence of a God ! This gives completely a gain de cause to the disciples of Ocellus, Timaeus, Spinosa, Di- derot and D'Holbach. The argument which they rest on as triumphant and unanswerable is, that in every hypoth- esis of cosmogony, you must admit an eternal pre-exist- ence of something; and according to the rule of sound philosophy, you are never to employ two principles to solve a difficulty when one will suffice. They say, then, that it is more simple to believe at once in the eternal pre-exist- ence of the world as it is now going on, and may forever go on by the principle of reproduction which we see and witness, than to believe in the eternal pre-existence of an ulterior cause, or creator of the World, a being whom we see not and know not, of whose form, substance, and mode, or place of existence, or of action, no sense informs us, no power of the mind enables us to delineate or comprehend. On the contrary, I hold, (without appeal to revelation) that when we take a view of the universe, in its pants, general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to perceive and feel a conviction of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom of its composition. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 357 The movements of the heavenly bodies, so exactly held in their course by the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces ; the structure of our earth itself, with its distribution of lands, waters and atmosphere ; animal and vegetable bodies, examined in all their minutest panicles ; insects, mere atoms of life, yet as perfectly organized as man or mammoth ; the mineral substances, their generation and uses; it is impossible, I say, for the human mind not to believe, that there is in all this design, cause and effect, up to an ultimate cause, a fabricator of all things from matter and motion, their preserver and regulator while permitted to exist in their present forms, and their regenerator into new and other forms. We see, too, evident proofs of the necessity of a superintending power to maintain the uni- verse in its course and order. Stars, well know^n, have disappeared, new ones have come into view ; comets, in their incalculable courses, may run foul of suns and plan- ets, and require renovation under other laws ; certain races of animals are become extinct ; and were there no restor- ing power, all existences might extinguish successively, one by one, until all should be reduced to a shapeless chaos. So irresistible are these evidences of an intelligible and powerful agent, that, of the infinite numbers of men who have existed through all time, they have believed, in the proportion of a million at least to unit, in the hypothesis of an eternal pre-existence of a creator, rather than in that of a self-existent universe. Surely this unanimous senti- ment renders this more probable than that of the few in the other hypothesis — cause and effect. " Of the nature of this being we know nothing. Jesus tells us, that ' God is a spirit,' but without defining what a spirit is. Down to the third century, that it was still deem- ed material ; but of a lighter and subtler matter than our gross bodies. 358 THE CHARACTER OF " Calvin's character of the supreme Being seems chiefly copied from that of the Jews. But the reformation of these blasphemous attributes, and substitution of those more worthy, pure and sublime, seems to have been the chief object of Jesus in his discourses to the Jews : and his doctrine of the cosmogony of the world is very clearly laid down in the three first verses of the first chapter of John, [quoting the passage in Greek.] Which, truly translated, means, ' In the beginning God existed, and rea- son (or mind) was with God, and that mind was God. This was in the beginning wiih God. All things were created by it, and without it was not one thing which was made.' Yet this text, so plainly declaring the doctrine of Jesus, that the world was created by the supreme intelli- gent Being, has been perverted by modern Christians to build up a second person of their tri-theism, by a mistrans- lation of the word logos. One of its legitimate meanings, indeed, is, *a word.' But in that sense it makes an un- meaning jargon : while the other meaning, ' reason,' equal- ly legitimate, explains rationally the eternal pre-existence of God, and his creation of the world. Knowing how in- comprehensible it was that ' a word,' the mere action or ar- ticulation of the organs of speech, could create a world, they undertook to make of this articulation a second pre-existing being, and ascribe to him, and not to God, the creation of the universe. The atheist here plumes himself on the uselessness of such a God, and the simpler hypothesis of a self-existent universe. The truth is, that the greatest enemies to the doctrines of Jesus are those calling them- selves the expositors of them, who have perverted them for the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehen- sible, and without any foundation in his genuine words. And the day will come, when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme Being as his father, in the womb of THOMAS JEFFERSON. 359 a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought, in these Uni- ted States, will do away all this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this the most venerated reformer of human errors." From the general tenor and spirit of the letter to Dr. Priestly, one would naturally conclude that Mr. Jefferson would place himself in the ranks of Socinianism. This was the creed of that famous ecclesiastic ; and as he had reduced the principles of [his faith far below the Christian standard, Mr. Jefferson was probably induced to think fa- vorably of his system. But il has been seen, by his sub- sequent letters on this subject, that he adopted a plan much inferior in the scale of orthodoxy to that of Priestly. Tuck- er, in his life of Jefferson recently published, thinks bun- self authorized, by all that is known of Mr. Jefferson's system of faith, to say, that he was a Theist — that is, that he believed in a God. It is extremely difficult for the mind to conceive that any man, living under the full and clear light of Christianity, can be an atheist. Mr. Jeffer- son does frequently speak in such a manner as to lead the world to conclude that he acknowledged in his creed the existence of a supreme Being. But there are expressions in his writings, that give room at least for a doubt, whether he even reached the point of faith conceded to him by his biographer. It is very certain that he did not believe at all in the divine origin of Christianity, and, of course, not in the inspiration of the Scriptures, even of the New Tes- tament. In his letter to Dr. Rush, when speaking of the Saviour, he says, " His parentage was obscure ; his con- dition poor ; his education null ; his natural endowments great ; his life correct and innocent ; he was meek, benev- olent, patient, firm, disinterested, and of the subhmest el- 360 THE CHARACTER OF oquence." This is placing him upon the ground of a mere man, possessed, indeed, of extraordinary qualities, but nothing above the rank of a human being — and he says that he believes he never claimed any other thati hu- man excellence. And he considers him unfortunate in hav- ing written none of his own doctrines, but depended upon others to perform that task ; and those were unlettered and ignorant men. This makes it perfectly clear, that Mr. Jefferson did not believe that " all Scripture was given by inspiration," as he places the New Testament upon the same footing with the works of Xenophen and Arrian, and of course other reputable works of profane authors. He considered the doctrines which Christ really deliver- ed defective, as a whole ; fragments only of which have come down to us, and those mutilated, mis-stated, and often unintelligible. That Christ might conscientiously be- lieve himself inspired, he thinks very possible ; and he asks, " how many of our wisest men still believe in the reality of these inspirations, while perfectly sane on all other subjects." On such considerations, he is willing to excuse " those passages in the gospels which seem to bear marks of weakness in Jesus, ascribing to him what alone is consistent with the great and pure character of which the same writings furnish proof, and to their proper authors their own trivialities and imbecilities." Mr. Jefferson says, the Saviour's doctrine respecting the creation of the world is clearly laid down in the three first verses of the first chapter of John, and says the Greek, when truly translated, means that ",In the beginning God existed, and reason or mind, was with God, and that mind was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were created by it, and without it was not one thing which was made." If there is any meaning in this, it is that reason, or mind, which it would seem in his opin- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 361 ion means the same thing, is God, and created the world. This text, he says, " so plainly declaring the doctrine of Jesus, that the world was created by the supreme intelli- gent Being, has been perverted by modern Christians to build a second person of their tri-lheism by a mistransla- tion of the word Logos. One of its legitimate meanings, indeed, is ' a word.' But in that sense, it makes an un- meaning jargon : while the other meaning, ' reason,' equal- ly legitimate, explains rationally the eternal pre-existence of God, and his creation of the world." If Mr. Jefferson had taken the trouble to read a little further in the same chapter, he would have found a difficulty in his system in following passage, which his translation of Logos would not have obviated — " He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. " He came unto his own, and his own received him not.. " But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe oni his name. " Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. " And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotr- ten of the Father, full of grace and truth." According to Mr. JeflTerson's doctrine, whatever Logos means, whether word or reason or mind, if the passage, just quoted speaks the truth, that word or reason or mind was made flesh, and dwelt on the earth — that the world was made by him, but the world knew him not, and no criticism was ever more childish and contemptible, than his attempt to convey the idea that the " Word " spoken of by St. John, meant no more than the mere action or artic- ulation of the organs of speech. John meant to say that 31 362 THE CHARACTER OF the Log-OS which he named created the world, that all things were made by him, and without him was not any- thing made that was made, and that he was made Jlesh^ and dwelt among the Jews. If he believed that reason, or mind, was capable of doing all this, his feelings need not to have been alarmed at any degree of credulity with which he might be accused, by either Christians or infidels. The history of the creation in the Bible — the only one that does, or ever did exist — says, "And god said let THERE BE LIGHT : and there was lights If this account of that great event is to be credited — and all Christians be- lieve it — the world was created by the articulation of a very short sentence. And the truth of the story is after- wards reaffirmed in the scriptures in the concise but very emphatic passage, " He spake and it was done, He com' maiidedy and it stood fast.'''' However difficult it might have been for Mr. Jefferson to believe in the existence of omnipotence in any being, and that the exertion of such a power could create a world, he says, that without ap- pealing to revelation, " when we take a view of the uni- verse, in its parts, general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to perceive and feel a conviction of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every at- om of its composition." The Christian has no difficulty on this subject. He appeals to revelation, and believes it to be the work of an all-wise and an all-powerful God. But Mr. Jefferson, obviously unwilling to take the scrip- tures for authority, thinks reason, or mind, was God, and that one of those properties actually created the world. But which system requires the greatest stretch of creduli- ty — to believe that the world was created, and is governed by the exertion of reason or by the fiat of an all-wise and omnipotent Being ? By his theory, he falls into the gross absurdity of degrading the author of the creation to d THOMAS JEFFERSON. 363 mere inoperative and inefficient agent, and this, apparent- ly, for the sole purpose of getting rid of the scriptural ac- count of that marvelous but most interesting event. But, upon recurring to one of his letters to Mr. Adams, it will be found that his notions of the supreme Being fall much below the standard even of reason or mind. " Of the nature of this being," he says, " we know nothing. Je- sus tells us that 'God is a spirit,' but without defining what a spirit is. Down to the third century, that it was still deemed material ; but of a lighter and subtler matter than ouF gross bodies." In his letter to Mr. Short, he says, " it is not to be understood that I am with him (Je- sus) in all his doctrines. I am a materialist; he takes the side of spiritualism." As neither Mr Jefferson, nor any other person, ever saw or discovered a material supreme Being, and as he expressly disclaims the Christian's God, it would seem ne- cessarily to follow, that he believed in no God; or in oth- er words, that he was an atheist. That he was so, may be fairly inferred from the lan- guage he uses when speaking of the God of the Bible. This is not merely irreverent ; it is blasphemous. " Jesus," he says, " had to walk on the perilous confines of reason and religion, and a step to right or left, might place him within the gripe of the priests of the superstition, a blood- thirsty race, as cruel and remorseless as the being whom they represented as the family God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, and the local God of Israel," — a being who, in another place, he describes as of a terrific character, cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust. " I can never," says he in a letter to Mr. Adams, "join Calvin in address- ing his God. He was indeed an atheist, which I can nev- er be ; or rather his religion was daemonism. If ever man worshiped a false God, he did. The being described in 364 THE CHARACTER OF his five points, is not the God whom you and I acknowl- edge and adore, the creator and benevolent governor of the world ; but a dcernon of a malignant spirit. It would be more pardonable to believe in no God at all than to blaspheme by the atrocious attributes of Calvin. Indeed, I think that every Christian sect gives a great handle to atheism by their general dogma, that, without a revelation, there would not be sufficient proof of the being of a God." It cannot be necessary to adopt any train of reasoning to show that a man who disbelieves the inspiration and di- vine authority of the Scriptures — who not only denies the divinity of the Saviour but reduces him to the grade of an uneducated, ignorant and erring man — who calls the God of Abraham, (the Jehovah of the Bible,) a cruel and re- morseless being — cannot be a Christian. Nor, after seeing this, can it excite any surprise to find him, when speaking of the Saviour, saying, " Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and the most lovely benevolence ; and others, again, of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism and im- posture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradic- tions should have proceeded from the same being. I sep- arate the gold from the dross, restore to him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and roguery of others of his disciples. Of this band of dupes and im- postors, Paul was the great Corypkcsus and Jlrst corrupt- er of the doctrines of Jesus. ''^ * Since writing the foregoing account of Mr. Jefferson's reli- gious character, the following fact on that subject has been com- municated to the author by a gentleman of the highest respecta- "bility. A senator of the United States, having occasion to examine Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts— one of ihe books belong- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 365 In the foregoing pages, will be found some of the rea- sons why the federalists were opposed to Mr. Jefferson as a candidate for the office of president of the United States. The number might easily have been enlarged ; but the list is numerous enough for the object which the author has in view. They considered him as originally opposed to the con- stitution of the United States — as indulging an undue and dangerous attachment to the principles and measures of the leaders of revolutionary France — they believed that, if once placed at the head of the government, he would make use of its patronage and power to promote his own personal interests, and to cherish and foster those of his party — that he entertained a deeply-rooted and inveterate hostility to an independent judiciary — that his senti- ments respecting the co-ordinate powers of the different branches of government, and especially of the executive and judicial, were unsound and dangerous — that he had imbibed the strange and absurd vagary, that one genera- tion of men could not, individually or collectively, do any act that would be obligatory upon their successors of an- other generation — they considered him as a mere partizan ing to Mr. Jefferson's library which was purchased by congress — came across the passage where the author of that work gives an account of the preaching of the celebrated Roger Williams to the Indians, in the course of which, he spoke to them of the " general resurrection;" upoa heariiig this his ignorant, uncivilized audi- ence gave a shout of unbehef in so strange a doctrine. On the margin opposite this account, in Mr. Jefferson's hand writing, it was written, " Indians are riot so stupid as to believe this." This was shown to a senator from Virginia, who instantly recognized the entry upon the margin to be in Mr. Jefferson's hand writing, and was about to erase it, when the gentleman told him he must return the volume to the library os he received it. Some time afterwards he saw it again, and the erasure had been made. 31=^ 366 THE CHARACTER OF in politics, who would sacrifice the welfare of his country to promote that of his political associates — that he would pay no regard to the provisions or principles of the consti- tution if they stood in the way between him and a favor- ite object — they believed him to be a secret, insiduous en- emy of Washington, and that he did every thing he dared to destroy his popularity, influence and character — they had no confidence in his talents as a statesman, but con- sidered him as a visionary theorist, governed by the ab- stract, dangerous and impracticable notions of revolution- ary France, instead of the sound, reasonable and practi- cal principles of experience and wisdom — that without the slightest foundation in truth, but for the sole purpose of jrendcring them unpopular and odious, and to promote his ■own-interests, he accused the federalists of being monarch- ists, and of endeavoring to change our government into a monarchy founded upon a similar model with that of Great Britain — that he opposed the alien and sedition laws, not because they were unconstitutional, but for the purpose of courting popularity with foreigners residing in the coun- try, with the view of rendering the federalists unpopular. The federalists had no confidence in Mr. Jeflferon's veraci- ty — they considered him as habitually insincere and hyp- ocritical — they viewed his attacks upon the political char- acter of Hamilton as vindictive and malignant, and intend- ed to destroy the reputation of a man whom he viewed .as a rival — that he would descend to the low means and artifices of a practiced intriguer and demagogue to gain favor with the lowest classes of the community — that he was, as it respected religious belief, an infidel of the gross- est character, and bordering closely on atheism. The ev- idence in support of these various charges and allegations, is the best of which the nature of the case admits, for it is .drawn almost exclusively from his own writings. The THOMAS JEFFERSON. 367 only question will be, whether it supports the charges and allegations for which it is adduced. If it does not, the au- thor is incapable of weighing testimony. If it does, he has accomplished the object which he had in view; which was, to vindicate the character and policy of the federal- ists from aspersions as unjust and defamatory as were ever uttered — to rescue them, as individuals and as a politi- cal party from the reproaches cast upon them by Mr. Jef- ferson and his adherents ; and to show that they were dis- tinguished public benefactors, and virtuous, patriotic and disinterested friends of the constitution and liberties of their country. To their talents Mr. Jefferson himself, however unwillingly, was forced to bear abundant testimo- ny ; of course, their claim to them will not be denied or disputed by his admirers and followers. If his own character, as exhibited in this work, appears disadvantageously, it will be remembered that, however little flattering it would have been to his vanity, or howev- er mortifying it may be to the feelings of his friends or to the pride of those who afTect to consider him the boast and ornament of his country, the portrait is drawn by him- self, and therefore must be a likeness. At the same time, the fact will not be lost sight of, that the materials which have been made use of in the delineation of this charac- ter were prepared for this express purpose by Mr. Jefferson himself, when he had a full opportunity to review the events of a very long life, which was just then drawing near to its close, and to select from the great mass those, and those only, on which he wished to rest his claim for the applause and approbation of future generations. Ev- ery circumstance, therefore, recorded by him with the view of being afterwards transferred to his annals, must be considered as possessing, in his own estimation, much real importance, and as being designed to convey his fame 368 THOMAS JErFERSON. to the latest period of time. Whatever opinions the pres- ent race of men may form of Mr. Jefferson's political and moral sentiments and principles as they are displayed in this work, it is certain that the exhibition is such as he in- tended should be prepared and presented to the world, as the foundation of his claim to pre-eminence over the dis- tinguished pBtriots and statesmen of his country. APPENDIX The following are extracts from a letter to general Washington from James Madison, dated April 16th, 1787. The reader will nat- urally be led to compare the suggestions in this letter, with those by general Hamilton, in his letter to colonel Pickering. " Having been lately led to revolve the subject which is to un- dergo the discussion of the convention, and formed in my mind some outlines of a new system, I take the liberty of submitting them without apology to your eye. " Conceiving that an individual independence of the states is to- tally irreconcilable with their aggregate sovereignty, and that a consolidation of the whole into one simple republic would be as in- expedient as it is unattainable, I have sought for some middle ground, which may at once support a due supremacy of the nation- al authority, and not exclude the local authorities wherever they can be subordinately useful. " I would propose as the groundwork, that a change be made in the principle of representation. According to the present form of the Union, in which the interv'-ention of the states is in all great cases necessary to effectuate the measures of congress, an equality of suffrage does not destroy the inequality of importance in the several members. No one will deny that Virginia and Massa- chusetts have more weight and influence, both within and without congress, than Delaware or Rhode Island. Under a system which would operate in many essential points without the intervention of the state legislatures, the case would be materially altered. A vote in the national councils from Delaware would then have the same effect and value as one from the largest state in the Union. I am ready to believe that such a change will not be attended with much difficulty ; a majority of the states, and those of the greatest 370 APPENDIX. influence, will regard it as favorable to them. To the northern states it will be recommended by their present populousness ; to the southern, by their expected advantage in this respect. The less states must in every event yield to the predominant will. But the consideration which particularly urges a change in the representa- tion, is, that it will obviate the principal objections of the larger states to the necessary concessions of power. " I would propose next, that in addition to the present federal powers, the national government should be armed with positive and complete authority in all cases which require uniformity ; such as the regulation of trade, including the right of taxing both ex- ports and imports, the fixing the terms and forms of naturaliza- tion, (Sec. " Over and above this positive power, a negative in all cases nhat- soever on the legislative acts of the states, as heretofore exercised by the Mngly prerogative, appears to me to be absolutely necessary, and to be the least possible encroachment on the state jurisdictions. With- out this defensive power, every positive power that can be given on paper will be evaded and defeated. The states will continue to invade the national jurisdiction, to violate treaties and the law of nations, and to harass each other with rival and spiteful measures dictated by mistaken views of interest. Another happy effect of this prerogative would be its control over the internal vicissitudes of state policy, and the aggressions of interested majorities on the rights of minorities and of individuals. The great desideratum, which has not yet been found for republican governments, seems to be some disinterested and dispassionate umpire in disputes between different passions and interests in the states. The majority, who alone have the right of decision, have frequently an interest, real or supposed, in abusing it. In monarchies, the sovereign is more neutral to the interests and views of different parties ; but unfortu- nately he too often forms interests of his own, repugnant to those of the whole. Might not the national prerogative here suggested be found sufficiently disinterested for the decision of local questions of policy, whilst it would itself be sufficiently restrained from the pur- suit of interests adverse to those of the whole society ? There has not been any moment since the peace, at which the representatives of the Union would have given an assent to paper money or any other measure of a kindred nature. The national sucrem|icy ought also to be extended, as I conceive, ine national sucremac CR-. a1 APPENDIX. 371 to the judiciary departments. If those who are to expound and apply the laws, are connected by their interests and their oaths with the particular states wholly, and not with the Union, the participa- tion of the Union in the making of the laws may be possibly ren- dered unavailing." — Washington's Correspondence, by Sparks, 9th Volume, (Appendix.) ^ '^%'m'y\ ^-^z /%. ^^«^ ''-^-o^ o, =^ ^-„.^'^ =-/. ^ 4 o^ ^O .HO, -^ ^OV ^^^^ * ^¥ A > O ♦ « ft * >^ 4 <5>^<^/ „0 ^ ' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011 838 402 7