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4
| The Life and Times
t * OF *
j THOMAS JEFFERSOX
• Being the First Part of a History of the United States
Copyright, 1903, by Tho*. K. tDatson*”Mll Right* Roterood
- — —?—. ■-" i u 1 'j . i ~;-> - . - . .1"
CHAPTER XXXVIH.
Determined to make our government
resemble the English, it wag a darling
project with Hamilton, Jay and other
federalists of that type to bring about
friendly relations with Great Britain.
It was no easy task. England's temper
Was ugly. She was sore over the loss of
her colonies. She was aching to revenge
herself upon America and upon France.
She refused to give up the forts o n the
northwest frontier. As Jefferson demon
strated in a masterly state paper, her ex
cuses were flimsy, untenable. She could
not answer his argument, and did not try.
She simply held on to the forts. From
these forts Indians went forth, fired with
hatred and whisky, to make war upon
American settlements.
But the federalists justified Great
Britain. Jay declared the fault to be ours.
She claimed and exercised the right to
halt our ships upon the seas, to search
them, and to drag from our decks such
Sailors as her navy might need. Her pre
tense was tile retaking of her own sea
men: her practice was to take whom she
» pleased.
But tho federalists curbed their Indigna
tion successfully, and from them no loud
protest Was heard. And when France
sent over her minister. Genet, and tho
time came when our government had to
show its hand, it suddenly appeared more
friendly to our late foe than to our late
ally.
Without exception, our historians have
treated the Genet episode from the stand
point of the old federalist party. There
fore, the average American gets an im
pression so misleading as to be wholly
false. The democracy of France, like the
democracy in America., had made war
upon a king and had established a re
public Tn our struggle, French money
and French blood had been poured out in
our behalf It was not the money of the
king of France; It was nqt the blood of
the king of France; it was tho bio id and
the money of tho people of France. The
.powerful undertow of sympathy with
America which had dragged the French
minister off his feet, and made tho French
alliance imperative, came, not from the
torpid king, but from the people. Every
time the royal pen was laid to paper in
' America's behalf it was done under pro
‘ test.
These people who had rushed to Ameri
ca's aid in the darkest hour of the revo
lution had now accomplished a revolution
of their own. America's example had en
couraged them, inspired them, shown
them tho way. Now that the French
monarchy was down and democracy tri
umphant. Great Britain bad chosen to in
terfere. had made the king'-’ cause her
own. and hi 1 . rated herself to the
tinholly purpo o < r ’"storing in Europe the
tyranny of ;I ri-1- r.ici and king.* Great
Britain had blockaded France and dis-
<*Sce full . cut i ■ .-* author’s "The Story
of France and Napoleon ”)
missed from London tho French minister.
"War was begun Before th- French re
public over published her declaration. (
What more natural than that the I
French people, at this crisis, should look!
to the American people for sympathy and
help! There w r- the. two republics; tlv lr
common enemy was monarchical England.
Without French aid. tho American re
public could not have been established.
America still owed France a huge debt—
partly of gratitude, partly of prosaic cash.
And France, in rending Genet to Amen
ca. virtually said to us what Beauregard's
messenger said to Johnston on the eve of
Manassas. "If you w'ant to help me, now
is the time!"
Genet came He was young: he was
untutored in statecraft and the ways of
diplomacy: he was fresh from scenes of
democratic i-xcit-inent; the gospel of
brotherly love was burning hotly within
him. Never for one moment did he doubt
that the heart of th- American people
beat warm)', for the young French re
public. He expected to be re vived wl'h
open arms, with the gladdest smile of
greeting, with the <-10.--a.-st ling of fra
ternity
Ha l not mg Lafayette broken out of
convention,' rest: dis in Fiance, and
hastened to th arms of Washington?
Had not young Roell.imbeau led the lines
at the final issnnlt at Yorktown?
Oh, were we n >t all brothers in the holy
cause of «t--’it- r-i.--, ? G-net assumed that
we were. Impb. itl. bellev-d that we Were,
unhesitatingly m-te-i upon th- conviction
tha’ wo wore
For at Ch t t.,n. where he landed,
first th-r. was nothing to correct his im
pressions. Everybody was glad to see
him. Shouts of w>’e-me >os- around him.
Open arms were thrown about him in the
brotherly err. : . <•. Gv. ti-.ms tilled his
young heart with patriot!/ rapture.
Commissions * > send out privateers
against tic British'.' Whx of course. Gov
ernor Moultrie was the same old hero who
had won that first victory over the com
mon > >.enty- G .v-ri - Moultrie would
sign commissions to tit out the privateers.
Cheerfully.
And so lie did, the treaty with France
npp< siring to 1-iml the Americans to do
that very thing.
Private-is put to s-, and British com
mere? !>• a: all t i suffer. G-net set out for
Phtlad- ’pl a land. His journey was
lilo a royal progrr s Th- hearts of tho
I ■ ->ple v. with him Where else could
be ■ ■ so >on forget
Di< 1 t gratitude? Wag she in
capabl- of g'-n- sous enthusiasm for
Frau - :r. th- Freis h efforts to establish
n r-public? Had America no responsive
chord wb h might be touched by tlia
struggles of other people for political
freedom?
Til- liis ’orians are cold. They sneer at
Genet They mock his references to lib-,
erty, / lit; fraternity They heap rid-»
Ictile upon his "sentimental appeals."
"Sentiment." it would seem, is. historical
ly. a felony.
French enthusiasm for our struggles
might have been natural, even commend
able; but tho idea was preposterous that
Americans should have enthusiasm for
the struggle in France. This historical
tone grows out. of the necessity of the
case The British faction dominated
Washington's cabinet; th" British fac
tion set its face like fjint against Genet;
the British faction was able to convince
Washington that he ought to Ignore what
France had done for us. and to virtually
say to Great Britain and the French,
"Fight it out between yourselves."
Treaty or no treaty. America will "hands
off.'*
So that when Genet reached Philadel
phia, and had lapped himself In the lux
ury of unbounded enthusiasm there, and
then tvent into the presidential presence,
expecting his official welcome to be of
the very- warmest kind, he suddenly en
countered an iceberg. He was enlightened
as to the situation with cruel candor and
promptitude.
Washington's greeting was formal, and
certainly not warm. Washington’s proc
lamation was, practically, a repudiation
of the treaty. Washington's orders as to
the privateers recognized no obligations
to France, and indicated no friendship.
Genet's disillusion was complete and
most painful.
The struggling French republic, like the
thirteen American colonies, was sorely in
need of money. Genet asked for no gifts.
The return of the donations the French
had given to aid tho struggling colonies
was not expected; but Genet did ask that
the subsequent jsums, which /had been
loaned, might now be repaid.
Hamilton refused. The debts were not
due, and it would be inconvenient to
pay them. Should America discharge tho
debts before they were due Great Brit
ain might take offense!
Can any' American citizen of the present
dav read that statement and not feel
ashamed?
But this was not all. Genet, deeply
hurt at the refusal to pay. and at the
reason aligned, proposed to transfer tho
French claims to American merchants in
exchange for food and clothing for tho
needy soldiers of Franco, who, barefoot
ed, ip rags, and almost unfed, were fol
lowing tlia. ilng in the cause of liberty,
just as the poor American soldiers had
done only a few years before.
And Washington's government, domi
nated by Hamilton, refused to allow Ge
net that poor privilege!
Great Britain, might not like it!
Is it any wonder that young Genet
lost his temper?
The American of tills day who can read
this chapter in our history and be proud
of it will also be proud of the attitude
of our government when Great Britain,
partly by the help of supplies bought
from us in violation of treaty, was tram
pling the life out of tile South African
republics. But no other citizen can be
proud utf it.
Yes. young Genet Jost his temper, and,
like all men in a passion, did things
that hurt his cause. He gave John Jay,
Hamilton, Rufus King and other feder
alists the excuse to say that lie had in
sulted the president. Genet appealed to
Washington to correct the slander, and
Washington tightened the mantle of
presidential dignity around him, refus
ing to notice the appeal
Democratic societies had sprung up
everywhere, and Genet had multitudes of
friends; but he could not afford to match
himself against Washington, nor did he
try. He protested as well as he could,
but he was powerless. Jefferson was se
cretly in sympathy with him almost to
the last; but even Jefferson realized that
the issue could not be met on the ground
where the federalists had put it. He.
abandon-d Genet to his fate, which, In
di cd, was not personally ruinous to
Genet, for the young man won the heart
and hand of the daughter of Governor
Clinton, of New York, and settled down
To the life of private citizen.
Not only were the Drill 1; assured that
this government would pay all damages
inflicted by the privateers fitted out from
our ports, but they' were permitted to
seize French property on American ves
sels. as well as American property on
American vessels. if such property
chanced to be foodstuffs on the way to
....ngry France!
Worse than all—during the entire pw
nod covered by the controversy with
Genet. British war vessels continued to
capture American seamen wherever and
whenever they could, and to impress
them to service, exile and death on Eng
lish ships!
Greater humiliations were never en
dured than those we bore in the efforts
to make terms with England. We broke
with a true and tried friend to prepare
the way for alliance with an Inveterate
enemy. The reason assigned by Hamil
ton, Jay and the federalists generally
was that another war with Great Britain
would ruin us.
'Io keep peace we inflicted upon our- I
selves and upon Frame cruel wrong—
and yet we had England to fight, after
Had we kept faith, had we been true
to treaty, had we paid France our debts
of gratitude and of money, who can say
that it might not have been better for
us as well as for France?
Great Britain divided her foes--thanks
to Hamilton. She fought France, and
kept ns from aiding her. And then she
fought us. when France could not help
us. Bad we made common cause, she
might not have attacked either. Thus
each of the three nations suffered be
cause of the 'broken treaty'.
Before the revolution there had, of
course, been no national political par
ties. Whigs and torles there were, and
divisions on local colonial questions. Dur
ing the war all Americans who fought
for Independence were classed as whig*,
those opposed as tories. When the new
constitution was on trial those who fa
vored it were called federalists, those
opposed anti-federalists. By the time
Jefferson had taken in the full signifi
cance of the Hamilton policies, an oppo
sition lifted its head, and took the name
republican. By that name ho himself al
ways referred to his i>arty. Its founder
believed that Hamilton and his followers
were aiming at monarchy. This did not
necessarily mean that Jefferson thought
Hamilton aimed at setting up a king; it
meant that republican ideals, democratic
principles, were ’being put aside. If this
tendency was to be checked, if tho mon
archical spirit was to toe kept out, then
organized opposition was necessary. To
organize this opposition and to dedicate
the new government to the true republi
can Ideals, (became the mission of Jef
ferson's life.
And therein consists his greatness.
Edmund Randolph was perhaps quite
as brainy’ a man as Jefferson; Patrick
Henry? in some respects excelled him;
Madison, in his own narrower limits, was
as efficient; but in combination of high
qualities, and in consecration of lofty
purpose, none of these bear comparison
to Jefferson.
With him, as with Hamilton, the pur
pose was to found a. system, establish a
creed, shape the future of generations yet
unborn. To do this was a duty, a mis
sion. He had no option; It was work
Imposed upon him by the law of his na
ture. He believed in tho people, was
willing to trust the people; the name of
which he grew proudest was "the man
of the people." At all point# his system,
his creed, collided with that of Hamil
ton. Tho things Hamilton was seeking
to do wore those which Jefferson most
abhorred.
Ho did not want Europe repeated here.
Above all things, ho dreaded that. Had
American pioneers fled to this continent
to escape pho abuses of European sys
tems only to have those abuses intro
duced again? After all tho aacrlflco# and
THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION: ATLANTA, GA., MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 1903.
victories of the revolutionary war, in
which king, aristocracy and class legisla
tion had Hjeen cast aside, were we to
voluntarily fasten upon our necks the
same yoke in another form? Was hu
manity never to learn its lesson? Was
the past never to be respected as a
teacher?
The conception of Mr. Jefferson was
that the world was making one more
great effort to evolve a higher, better!
system of government than Europa had
ever known; and it galled him to see
that statesmen like Hamilton, were
merely' attempting to secure such legis
lation. establish such Institutions. as
would give us ns good a system as the
abominably' upjusi system of Great Brit
ain.
Right or wrong, this was Jefferson’s
attitude: anil to understand him. it is
necessary to place one's self at. that
point of view.
He detested Hamilton, not as a personal
enemy, but as Jh" most dangerous cham
pion of the anti-republican, anti-demo
cratic splri>. He hated, npt the man,
but the system.
Washington Ijjid endeavored to govern
with a non-partisan cabinet. The at
tempt/ was a failure. Parties sprang up
at the very council board, tho two great
secretaries, striking at ep.eh other llko
fighting-cocks.
Hamilton's party established a news
paper organ, Fenao’s Gazette.
Jefferson’s party founded Freneau’s Ga
zette.
The rival papers hammered each other
and the leaders on each side in the man
ner since urown so familiar. Hamilton
was npt spared, Jefferson was assaulted,
Washington himself roundly abused.
Freneau was a clerk In the state de
partment, with a salary’ of $250 per year.
The president seemed to think that Jef
ferson should dismiss the troublesome
editor, but the secretary declined to do
so. Those who claim that Jefferson was
deficient In courage have many obstacles
to overcome, and this braving of the
wrath of Washington is one of them.
But Mr. Jefferson had no fondness for
the heated atmosphere of personal dis
pute and wrangle"; by nature he pre
ferred the ealm of llbcjrles ami the up
per regions of philosophic thought.
Speeches he would not make, newspa
per controversies he would pot wage.
Flans of campaign he would furnish to
lieutenants, marching orders to battal
ions. but for the actual scene of strife,
the hurly-burly of knock down and drag
out, he was unfitted, lb- feared no one.
shrank from no position, compromised no
principle, to save himself, deserted no
friend because the world was against
him; but yet lie had that high sense of
personal dignity’ which held him aloof
from any line of action inconsistent with
his ideal of the statesman. A Wel
lington might not be afraid to take off his
CI/.V to tight the regimental bully; but
no om would expect to see a Wellington
do a thing of that kind.
It wa s Wellington’s business to plan
tile campaign anjj direct the combats of
Other men. Let bullies light bullies.
But while Mr. Jefferson took no hand
in this, newspaper xvar, Hamilton did.
Holding his rival responsible for all that.
Fremau had written,. Hamilton assailed
Jeffersqji violently, but the purpose fail
ed. Jefferson paid no attention to him.
President Washington was grieved and
scandalized at this state of things in his
non-paitisan cabinet. in the nobles
spirit lie endeavored to compose the un
seemly strife. But each secretary was
without fault in his own eyes, and the
breach was not healed. Hamilton wrote
the president a letter of justification, and
Jefferson did likewise—and federalists I
have nev<T mused Io resent tin- fact th it i
of the two filters Jefferson's is the
stronger.
His position having become irksome to
him, Mr. Jeff.-rson offered more than once
to resign. At the urgent request of the
president, however, he held on till Jan
uary J. 171'4, when he retired, carrying
yvith him as warm ff letter of commenda
tion as Washington could write.
in The True Thomas Jefferson Mr.
■William Elery Curtis states that Jeffers m
"was compelled to resign from the cabi
net ” This surprising statement is not
only contradicted by ail the previous
biographers of Mr. Jefferson, but is con
tradicted by Washington himself.
In bis letter of January 1, 17'JI. he says
to Mr. Jefferson:
"1 yesterday received with sincere re
gret your resignation of the office of
secretary of state. Since it lias been im
possible to prevail upon you to forego any
longer' the Indulgence of your desire for
private life, the event, however anxious 1
am to prevent it, must be submitted to."
lie then goes on to pay a high tributq
to his retiring secretary.
If Mr. Curl is had Investigated his sub
ject. he would have learned that General
Washington sought to win Jefferson back
to service of his administration by offer
ing a special mission to Spain. Mr Jef
ferson declined in a letter which bears
date September 7, 179-1.
The statements made by Mr. Curtis that
Washington wished Jefferson out of the
cabinet, that Jefferson promised several
times to get out, and that lie was at last
forced out, are untrue.
Mr. Jefferson’s popularity and reputa
tion were greatly increased by liis record
as secretary of state. He had diligently
applied himself to the routine work of his
department. improvTng the postal service;
arranging treaties with Indian tribes;
laying off the. new federal city- and plan
ning its public buildings; making exhaus
tive studies and reports on uniformity of
coinage, weights and measures, and all
such other matters as then fell within the
duties of secretary’ of state. It was upon
his recommendation that the government
decided to coin Its own money, and the
mint at Philadelphia, was established. His
correspondence with Genet and with the
English minister. Mr. Hammond, was
highly approved, and the opposition which
he had made to Hamilton’s policies gave
him.his first, prominence as the leader of
distinct political party. The sentiment
which he represented, the principles of
which made himself the exponent and
champion, were as yet unorganized; but
they were powerful, and Jefferson xvas
their prophet. It began to appear then,
as it more clearly appears now. that, as
Hamilton stood for a class and for a gov
ernment of special privilege, Jefferson
stood for 11,0 mass of the people and a
government of equal rights to all.
Yet, so great was his tact, his smooth
ness of manner and method, that he
probably’ counted as many personal
friends among Hamilton’s followers as
Hamilton hlmsnFf could claim. Although
he did not treat his friends ns if they
might ono dny become enemies—thus has
tening the coming of that day—he did be-
»'/ '
(
j
have toward hfs enemies very’ much as if
they’ might a.t some future time see their
error and become friends—as most of
them actually did. in fact. Jefferson
united in himself two distinct qualities:
he was a consummate man of the world
in his social relations with others, and,
tit the same time, he fought for his creed
with the stubbornness of a fanatic.
He li<j,d all the reforming zeal of Lu
ther, without his brutality; and all the
echol<#rl” polish of Erasmus, without his
timidity. He was not content to merely
draw the curtains, drink tea in the li
brary, and slay dragons theoretically: not
content to leave his brethren out in the
storm, while he himself lounged, in slip
pered feet, by the cheerful blaze, wielding
never a battle ax or lance on any field,
carrying no weapon heavier than a pen.
From the memorable day of Patrick
Henry's speech In the Burgesses, when
Jefferson, the college student, had stood
In the door of the lobby listening, he had
been in the very front rank of the fighters,
lie had written the first resolutions whlcn
declared for independence, at a time
when Henry and Washington were still
posing as subjects of the king. His "Sum
mary View” was the bravest paper in nil
the literature of thnt. early day. and
tho ablest. It put his neck in tho halter,
in the event rebellion did not succeed.
’Time and again he had come forward
in public bodies with papers that were
rejected for tho reason that they were too
bold. Never had a line of his been put
aside because it was too timid. Jefferson’s
timidity is a biographical product solely—
planted by the imaginative, kept alive by
the Imitative, and swallowed by the sim
ple.
The li>lc on the Declaration of Indepen
dence was hardly dry’ when this same
timid Jefferson hurried to Virginia, chal
lenged the proud, strong aristocracy of
the Old Dominion to the field, and un
horsed it in fair tight. Then he accom
plished what French revolutionists found
it so hard to do, and what Mr. Gladstone
found jt so h.'Hd to do in Ireland, and
what no man lias been able to do in Eng
land to tliis day—ho disestablished the
sialo church.
Not only that! He told the whites they
ought to free the blacks; and told the
rich they ought to tax themselves to edu
cate the poor! More than that, even—he
told old William and Mary college that
they' must turn out two ridiculous doc
tors of divinity and otherwise modernize
her antiquated institution.
Yet so scholarly a writer as Henry
Cabot Lodge makes timidity a salient
feature of Jefferson's character; and Mr.
Roosevelt continually repeats that he was
"weak and vacillating!"
Tho last patent Mr. Jefferson issued
xviiile he was secretary of slate was to Eli
Whltm-y for the cotton gin.
Mr. Whitney was doubtless an original
inventor and was entitled to the patent
lie got and tlie fortum In- made: but just
as certainly as thei- v. -re steam boats
before Fulton's th'!, vvas a cetton gin
before Whitney's! Within a few miles of
where the pre-sent writer lives an inven
live, enterprising genius. Jesse Bull, who
moved into Georgia from Maryland, op
erated a. primitive cotton gin with a pack
ing box tun by an iron screw.
The descendants of Jesse Bull were
schoolmates of the author, and he has
seen ancient papers pre? rved in the fam
ily , and has heard the talk of old citizens
who were conversant with neighborhood
traditions. There is no doubt that, the
cotton gm, like the steam boat, like the
sewing machine, and like the breech
loading gtm, had entered into the heads
of others than the final patentee. Colo
nel Tarleton ’’ad a bre< - li-loadiug gtm in
our revolutionary war, and there is one in
tlie Tower of London which must be
hundreds of year-; old. Thnt the invention
was offer/-1 to Napoleon Bonaparte by a
Prussian mechanic is well known. There- |
fore, in the case of the eotlon gin there |
is nothing incredible in tlie story that '
Jesse Bull was using both gin and press i
wli' ii Mliitmy was working out his idea
of the gin.
Tlie patent office liail just been estab
lished, and Bull may have known noth
ing of it till too late. Whituey was fi -tn
the north, was intimate with General
Nathaniel Green, and tlaough his intro
duction could reach the patent office
with everything in his favor. He got
the patent, and then used the lederal
courts Io Stop Jesse Bl 11. The cases in
the federal courts never came to a triai,
for reasons which cannot now be known.
GIIAPTER XXXIX.
L-urir.g bis term in tlie cabinet Mr. Jef
ferson had been to Monti.olio for an oc
casional vacation, but not long enough to
get his affairs in order.
l.e n.’W found them in bad shape. The
overseer, it appears, had let everything
go to wa-te. There were one hundred
and fifty-four negro slaves and three
sheep The lences and buildings were
dilapidated, tlie mountain slope fields
were washed into gullies and. "galls."
The yield of wheal seems to have got
down to where it was a case of "nip ami
tu. a" to get Hu- seed back. The ono
crop an the place which net er failed
was —debts.
WTicii Mr. Jefferson set out for I ranee
lie had left many unpaid aeeimuls be-
Jdnd liim, not including the British in
cumbrance on the lands. These various
obligations soon made an inti rest charge
upon his resources of about $2,0V0 per
year.
Tlie mansion at Monticello had never
been completed, lie was still at work
on it. Europe had given him some new
ideas, and into ids model home some
oi: these new Ideas must go. Changes had
to be made, additions planned, perfec
tions worked out—regardless of cost.
The dome had not been put on; some of
the walls were not even ready for the
roof. At such tasks slaves were kept
employed; and, had the vverseers been
asked what was the matter With Mr.
Jefferson's affairs, they might have re
plied that a good deal of his financial
unhealthiness was due to the everlasting
labor and expense connected witli the
building of the model house.
When Mr. Curtis slates that the entire
cost of this building was less than SS,OOO,
he comes almost as near the facts as
wnen he says that Washington compelled
Jefferson’s resignation from tlie cabinet.
Martha Jefferson had married Thomas
Mann Randolph (February 23, 1790), and
she now had two children. Mr. Jeffer
son was so devoted to his daughter and
her children that Monticello continued
to be her home.
Marla is described as being “a vision
of beauty." She was soon to become
the wife of John Eppes. Both of Mr.
Jefferson's sons in law were in congress
while he was president.
A democrat to the core, In principle,
Mr. Jefferson was a grand seigneur in
By * t
i THOMAS E. WATSON |
; Author of •
iStory o/ France,” "Napoleon, Etc. |
DEDICATION i.n- 1 •
Because he has consecrated his wealth, talent and energies to the ,m H ov e ment ,he because he Is today working with splendid
' cause he has shown an earnest, fearless and consistent interest in the cause of the w a P • HEARST this work. <.
ability along; the same lines which Mr. Jefferson marked out a hundred years «rg;o, I dedica > - THOS. E. WAPSON.
' Thomson, Ga.. June 17, 1903- ——
J 1- . ; ,—. _..... 4-
his manner of life. Tho flock of sheep
might dwindle to three, but the number
of saddle horses was eight. Thirty
seven bushels of wheat was the crop
for 1794, and the servants who dawdled
about the mansion probably exceeded
that number. On his home farm of 2.000
acres ft was necessary to buy’ five more
horses before he could get his fourth
plow going, there being eight horses to
the plow.
At this time, 1794, it appears from his
land-roll that his estate had shrunk to
T0.G47 acres, comparatively little of which
was In cultivation. It does not seem that
there was any net Income at all, now,
from the farms. There was a $30,000 grist
mill on the Rivanna, which did not pay;
there was the weaving of cloth, the forg
ing of nails and the other farm Indus
tries common to large plantations of
that day, but Monticello was never a
. farm in the sense that Mount Vernon
was. Washington was a practical farm
er. made the business yield a profit; Mr.
Jefferson was not a practical farmer, and
did not make his land pay. At least,
that Is tho opinion the present writer
has reached .after considerable investiga
tion.
Back at Monticello, Mr. Jefferson put
hfs whole heart Into the work of reno
vation. Trim lines of fruit trees, to
run where zig-zag fences had rotted,
were set—an idea brought from France.
Artistic touches on house and grounds,
on lawn, terrace and garden, were ex
pensively applied—suggestions brought
from Italy pr England. New ways of
rotating crops, restoring, land. Increasing
the output, w’ere tried—Jiints picked up in
conversations with learned academical
farmers or from books which were con
vincing to the mind.
It was a delight to Mr. Jefferson to
apply’ his mechanical and mathematical
gifts to practical purposes. He doted
on experiment. He burned to make im
provements. He reached out to grasp
new fields !n thought and achievement.
He realized the vast possibilities of chem
istry when a savant like Buffon was
classing tlie science with cookery; ho saw
a living machine worked by’ a screw in
Paris, and expressed the belief that the,
screw propeller in water would be even
more effective. He redued to writing
a mathematical formula for making an
improved mold-board for ti turn-plow, and
took a good prize on it in France.
He mado for his own use a folding-chair,
a copy-press, an extension top to his
carriage, a one-horse "sulky.” and mimer
ous ot.her Inventions, any one of which
would have made somei yankee’s fortune.
He Introduced the first threshing-machine
ever brought to this country, and he was
one of the first to import Merino Sheep.
He was a man whose originality some
times crossed the line of the ludicrous.
The interior of bls house gives some
evidence of this. For instance, there, was
an opening in the wall between Ills wife's
bed room and bis own. the bed occu
pying the open space. 'l'iiUs be could en
ter tjie bed at night from his room, and
she from hers. In like manner they
could separate of mornings. A. good ar
rangement. but peculiar
It w ts just such oddities ns these which
caused some matter-of-fact people to
make fun of the sage of Monticello. Tol
eration is yet a myth, and th" unwritten
law is that you mngt conform.
Mr Jefferson was not a conformer,
had no such reverence for antiquity as to
resent the appearance, of the new moon
and to resist a. change in the weather;
consequently, he often did things which
shocked the conservatives
Days of joy these were to this lover of
naur/j in all Jjer moods, in all her myriad!
displays of sublimity or beauty. To whom
did a tlower speak in a language more
touching than to tins great statesman?
Be would bend over violet or lily, over
tulip or rose, with a r i.pt enjoyment which
never grew old. m-ver gr- w cold. With
every’ return of tlie spring his love was
of y’.quth for the Howers.
And the birds-the birds! Did the
musicians of the woods ever have a
better friend? Be loved their presence,
loved their beauty loved their song, lov/ d
their love of life.
Read his letters to the children; note
his yearning to plant in their hearts the
love of birds and flowers. See how eav
nesth he Instills into young minds the
true refinement to which every charm of
nature is a poem without rhyme, a song
without words.
As a. young lawyer he sketched out his
plans for the home ideal, and the care
with which lie expected to attract tlie
birds to come and live with him was
written down with sober earnestness.
Protect the birds! When presdent of
the United States he wrote his daughter:
"I sincerely congratulate you on the ar
rival of the mocking bird. Learn the
children to venerate it as a superior be
ing in tho form of a bird, as a being
which will haunt them if any harm is
done to itself or its eggs.”
In spite of debts and tlie devastations
of overseers, therefore. Mr. Ji-fferson
spent happily the year 1794 at Monticello,
taking only a casual interest in passing
events. Bls time hlld not come to change
the policies of the government.
Until Washington's second term should
expire there would be no good tlgiitiug
chance for an opposition party. Be
could and would write letters to certain
prominent friends here and there, keep
ing in touch with public affairs, at the
same time that he was putting out peach
trees and watching the progress of lu
cerne and peas. When the whisky rebel
lion broke out. in Pennsylvania, and dis
appeared at the advance of tlie troops,
Mr. Jefferson's sympathies were rather
with the malcontents than with the law,
for the exercise he thought was infernal.
When John Jay went to England, nego
tiated a treaty which left Great Britain
free to continue tile seizure of our ships
and our sailors, while it forbade us to ex
port cotton and a good many other
tilings he saw as clearly as any one how
tiie honor of tlie nation had been sacri
ficed to New England commerce; but
when Washington gave the treaty his
sanction, he. like thousands of others,
had to swallow liis indignation and hope
for better things.
He witnessed the complete triumph of
the British faction in Washington's cab
inet, and deplored it. He saw Edmund
Randolph, the young Virginian who had
left everything, broken every tie, to Join
Washington and serve Ills country—saw
him cast out. on no other proof than a
doubtful sentence found in the captured
dispatches of the French minister.
At tlie time General Washington, as Mr.
Jefferson thought, was in his decline.
Age had impaired liis memory and the
firmness of his mind. He was surrounded
by inferior men, who were under Hamil
ton's sway, and the president was con-
trolled by them to a greater extent than
he realized. So thought Mr. Jefferson.
A letter of his to Mazzei, the Italian
who had been bls neighbor, alluded to
the English faction which had secured
control, and they were called "apos
tates . . . men who were Samsons in
the field and Solomons in the council, but
who have had their heads shorn by the
harlot, England."
The British faction, ever ready to put
Washington between themselves and the
enemy, thrust him forward once more,
claiming that Jefferson’s reference was to
him.
This Mr. Jefferson denied, contending
that his reference was to Hamilton, Jay
and others of the federalist party.
The federal papers attacked Mr. Jeffer
son on account of this letter, just as they
attacked him on other points, and ho paid
no more attention to this attack than he
did to the others. When Mr. Curtis says
that "never before had he avoided a
newspaper controversy," hfs statement
amounts to nothing more than an addi
tion to the errors already contained in
The True Thomas Jefferson. Never was
Mr. Jefferson a newspaper cont roversial iet
till he fell into the clutches of William
Elcroy Curtis. This author further states
thnt from the time of the Mazzie letter
Washington and Jefferson "ceased all
correspondence and intercourse.
The slightest comparison of dates will
convince even Mr. Curtis that he has
erred. Tho Mazzie letter caused no rup
ture between Washington and Jefferson
n.t the time.
Subsequent to that friendly letters
passed, cordial personal relations con
tinued to exist, and Washington enter
tained Jefferson nt. his table. They part
ed affectionately’ after John Adams in
auguration.
It was a letter which John Nicholas
wrote Washington, long after the Mazzie
letter, which caused Washington to ex
press the doubt as to Jefferson’s sincerity.
The contents of tlie Nicholas letter are
not known.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Jefferson was
always careful to draw a distinction be
tween Washington and the Hamilton-
Wolcott-Pickering clique, which too often
Influenceci him. In none of his most pri
vate letters will expressions disrespectful
to the father of his country be found.
And when Mount Vernon had lost its
master, the land In mourning, tlie Eng
lish channel fleet lowering its flags, and
Napoleon Bonaparte paying public, tribute
to the simple private citizen who slept on
the Potomac, what was the attitude of
tlie rivals, Thomas Jefferson and Alex
ander Hamilton’
The political foe. Jefferson, penned the
in -st discriminating and permanently val
uable tribute that has ever been paid
to Washington's character; while Hamil
ton. the political friend of the dead man,
wrote that cold and selfish fitter in
which he told the heart-broken widow
how serviceable Washington had been to
him! Hamilton had lost an aegis nec
essary to his protection and to his
schemes- and that was the thought which
was uppermost in the Hamilton mind as
tho Masons elapped their hands over
and beside tho bier, and tile war horse,
riderless forevermore, followed his mas
ter to his tomb.
Even while death had the great sol
dier by tlie throat, choking his life out
with frightful cruelty, a letter from the
precious old federalist clique was On its
way to Mount Vernon ontreating Wash
ington to run again for tho presidency
in order that they might remain in the
high places from which tlie people were
about to east them!
CITAPTEK XL.
So rapid has been tho growth of op
position to the policies of Washington's
administration that it was only by what
Hamilton called "a kind of miracle" that
in- did not receive his rebuke at the
next election. Had Thomas Jefferson
been our second president, owing Tiis
success, as he would have done, to Ills
disapproval of the federalist measures,
history would have been compelled to
say that Washington retired from office
miller a vote of censure.
Aided by all tho advantages of patron
age, position, and Washington's over
shadowing influence. John Adams de
feated Thomas Jefferson by only 3 votes,
and these were due to some accidental
circumstances.
A more pathetic figure than Adams dur
ing tlie four years of his presidency has
seldom been seen in that high office.
An approved patriot, a man of great
ability and experience, he entered upon
his duties heavily handicapped by his
.surroundings ami by the infirmities of
liis own character. Mr. Adams was
learned, honest and capable, but his van
ity, jealousy, irritability amounted al
most to monomania. His situation was
even worse than his temper, for the
election had shown that he was prac
tically the president of a minority. To
make bls lot peculiarly wretched, this
minority was factious. It worshiped
three gods, tile least of whom was Ad
ams. Washington first, Hamittch sec
ond. Adams third and last, was the order
in which federalism bowed to its divinl
ties.
Besides all this, Adams inherited the
complications Washington had made,
without succeeding to Washington’s ca
pacity to deal with them.
Tlie woes of our second president began
witli his inauguration. Ou that day, when
all right-minded people should have wor
shiped the rising sun, Adams, they had
perversely prostrated themselves before
Washington, the setting sun. Everybody
had eyes and acclamations for Washing
ton; few, indeed, paid proper attention to
Adams. I'lie in-going president would
have been more than human had he not
been hurt; and being just human, he suf
fered.
This, however, was trivial and tempo
rary; Washington would go to Mount Ver
non, and Philadelphia would then belong
to president Adams. Such would have
been the case had not Adams himself or
dered otherwise. Making tlie mistake
which doomed him, he took s
cabinet Just as lie found it. thus saddling
himself with councilors who had grown
accustomed to the dictation of Hamilton.
Fastened in this way to policies and to
advisers which lie could not control, the
president stumbled along from one defeat
and humiliation to another, until he had
turned liis political friends into enemies
without having changed enemies into
friends. For tlie first of ids troubles Mr.
Adams was not responsible.
President Washington had sent James
Monroe on a mission to France, and had
recalled him in disgrace.
Monroe was not the ablest of Virgin
ians, but Geoi-e Washington himself was
not a truer, cleaner man. As a mere
schoolboy James Monroe had run off to
the war, had fought gallantly, had led
the attack on the British In the streets of
Trenton, and had got a bullet in his
shoulder which he carried the remainder
of his life. Monroe had served with tha
French, appreciated the help the French
gave us at that crisis, and carried to
France a lively recollection of the days
when he and the French officers had gone
into battle side by side to face British
guns.
Gouverneur Morris had been our min
ister to France succeeding Jefferson, and
Morris had given the republicans such of
fense that they insisted upon his recall.
Washington sent Monroe, after having
tendered the place to others, who declined.
Monroe was young, and had not yet
lost capacity for enthusiasm. Caught up
in the whirlwind of democratic passion
in Paris, the young Virginian's conduct
was very different from that of the Brit Is.i
aristocrat, Gouverneur Morris.
The national convention of France
(which had just overthrown Robespl>?r:s
and put an end to the reign of terror)
gave Monroe a public reception. Over
looking Genet's treatment, making no
references to the broken a’Mtince of 1778.
nor to our refusnj to pay France some of
the debt we owed her when her need was
so great, tlie French national convention
greeted James Monroe with loud applause,
and the president gave him the brotherly
embrace.
The convention decreed that the flags
of the United States and of Franca
should be intertwined; and. thus joined
together, should be displayed in the kali
of the convention as a sign to all the
world of the union and the eternal friend
ship of the two people—of the sister re
publics!
Join the flags together; hang them la
the hall where the universe can see;
France is not ashamed nor afraid to fi t
every monarchy in Europe know how h<r
people love Americans and their repubii :
Thus the voice of France! And this was
at a time when every king in the civilized
world was banded against her and mar h-
Ing upon her.
What was the response of our govern
ment? Edmund Randolph, acting under
the orders of Washington and his cabinet,
wrote to Monroe a. stinging letter of 1 -
buke. His course had been too friend! .
It would embarrass us with England.
! Monroe should have expressed his g" .id
I wiil to the French republic privately, "be
cause the dictates of sincerity do not
mand that we should render notorious til
our feelings in favor of that nation." In
otlfr words, our friendship must be of
the cautious sort which shrinks fr m
open avowal.
Thomas Paine, had aided the French
revolution as he had aided ours. He ■ 1
risked his head first for the republicans
when the king was still strong, and t’.- n
for mercy when democracy was victorjo .a
and the king's life demanded. He had
stood against all odds opposing the king's
1 execution. Robespierre's faction marked
him for the guillotine. The July re if'
against Robespierre saved him But ’ •
still lay in jail, ami his suffering was
great.
Gouverneur Morris had refused to lift a
finger jn his behalf. In fact, Morris seen
rd quite willing to lift a couple of fing
on tlie otli'-r side.
Neither would Washington intercede.
Monroe had not forgotten, nor was i '
ashamed. He interposed in behalf f
Paine, got him out of jail, took him to ;
own house, and there gave him sh f -;a n,
and protection. '
Impartial history reviewing this t:
action will not make comparisons ir:
ous to Monroe!
Afterwards came lai's mission to
land, his violation of the plain tern: '
liis instructions, his treaty, which t ’’
France over and which sacrificed
ciple and honor In tlie Inter< st of fi
| England trade. Os course, the ii
(ion of France was extreme, l-’ror
point of view, America had us< ’Ft
against Groat Britain, and was v
making a sacrifice of her to Great 1
Not content with violating her
with France, she was making w "
land a treaty most injurious to 1':
l-’rom tho French point of view, w
the feeling of resentment natural”
Tlie British faction in Wash "
cabinet was no longer willing tha: ’
Monroe should be minister to
His recall was sent, and C. C. I'
was named to succeed him.
Now, th" ill luck of John Ad-:
that ho fell heir to this qiinrr-’l.
Tho French government. lon]/
Monroe’s recall as an unfriendly
fused to receive Pinckney; but i -
fusal came too late to embarrn.
ington. ft. caught Adams at tlie
old of his administration.
During Washington's term Grei’
ain had heaped insults upon
made a bloody record along our
western frontier; had seized o n
chantmen; had impressed our
M hen the French minister, F.i a I
returned to France, preparations
capture had been made by tin
in our own harbors. Even after '
treaty, British ships contlniii
depredations, seizing our w ssel
men. Washington had done notl’.i
eraiism was helpless to pn ve.-.i
venge the outrages.
Besides, Hamilton was so !
that British alliance of his that
permanently angered him.
Adams succeeded to all this -c<> 1 n t
possibly have escaped it, for it w
him at the very moment he step; .-I ' '
the presidency. Neither could ' 8
escaped the French snarl. It w
already. Hamilton and Waslii.
made it; Adams was left to s
der it.
Badgered by France, baited bv r "
son's republicans, undermined b ' n
cabinet, John Adams found t!>
deney to De what Jefferson ha.! :i 1
xxas, a splendid misery"—the r
being much more apparent tlian ti- '■
dor.
The whole nation rallied to tlie 1
faction Yvln-n Talleyrand made ' ” ‘
brated "X. Y. Z." attempt t ■
tribute from the grand embus' •’ ,l
Adams had sent to negotiate J. r I ' e;
and there was wild talk of ' I ’ " I '. l '
invasion. Congress voted suppli- s W.c-’-
Ington was placed in command f 8
aimy of defense, an,l preparat ill’s ’ ’ ‘
on an extensive scale for war
Ileie, again, there were rm*i’! ; -i‘ 1 ' ■'
fur Adams.
General Wirshington named H-'in
to rank next to himself in 'l'-'' '
army; and, owing to Washing! u'- ' as °'
this meant that Hamilton would be
ing commander in chief. General K”’x
had ranked Hamilton in the old
and he now claimed precedence- Ad.m'.s
sided with Knox. But Hamilton held ;
cabinet In the hollow of his hand: arM
the cabinet threw its full weight tor
Hamilton. Washington insisted tha: Ham-