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4
t The Life and Tinies
t OF
| THOMAS JEFFERSON
+ Being the First Part of h History of the United States
4- Copyright, 1903, Thor. B. Right?
CHAPTER XLV.
One of the eternally convincing proofs
of Mr. Jefferson’s range of vision as J
statesman, is the importance which ht
attached to the west while it was still
a wilderness. He was quick to encouragt
George Rogers Clarke when he offered t<
Invade the vast Illinois country. When
governor of Virginia he pushed the
frontier of his state to the banks of the
Mississippi, and held it there with a fort.
M hile minister to France he had urged
Ledyard to go across Europe to Kamchat
ka. pass the strait, and from the shores oi
the Pacific explore, the country back to
the settlements in the east.
When Spain had demanded full control
of the Mississippi, and John Jay had pro
posed to yield to the Spanish dema mis for
the closure of the river. Jefferson and
Madison both realized what Jay and
Washington did not—the vast importance
of the Mississippi to the American people.'
Professor John Fiske, in bis Critical
Period of American History, holds up
George McDuffie, “the very able senator
from South Carolina, ’’ m the scorn of
posterity because Mr. McDuffie Jailed to
foresee the value of the unpeopled wilder
ness in the northwestern part of the re
public. This was very shortsighted in
Mr. McDuffie, and serves to lower him as
a statesman. But South Carolina was not
the only state which had a “very able
senator.’’ Massachusetts had one—Daniel
Webster—a "very able senator,’’ Indeed.
The value of the northwestern lands
was passed upon by him as well as by
McDuffie, and Professor John Fiske, of
New England, fails to cite the opinion of
Mr. Webster.
The very able Senator from Massa
chusetts expressed himself in these
words:
“What do we want with this vast
worthless area? This region of savages
and wild beasts, of deserts of shifting
sands and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus
and prairie-dogs? To what use could
we ever hope to pait these great deserts,
or those endless mountain Hinges, im
penetrable and covered to their base with
eternal snow? What can we ever hope
to do with the western coast, a coast,
of three thousand miles. rock bound,
cheerless, uninviting, and not a harbor
on it? What use have we for this
country?’’
Thus Daniel Webster, “the very able
senator’’ from Massachusetts. All of
■which merely goes bo show that neither
George McDuffie nor Daniel Wrtbster had
the farseeing vision of statesmanship
which Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon
Bonaparte possessed. For each of these
marvelous men fully realized the vast
possibilities of the western wilderness,
just as the much reviled John iriw hart
foreseen it. Ono of the first fruits of
vcitory which Napoleon snatched at was
Louisiana. The bestial, impotent Bour
bons had lost it; he the upstart Corsi
can. would have it back. And in 1860 he
got. it—the imperial domain .-it of which
has been carved some fourteen of the
bests states and territories of the union.
Mr. Jefferson bad cast longing eyes upon
this glorious region, and had dreamed of
the day when it would be ours. To
every movement of the Spaniards on the
Mississippi he was acutely sensitive
When they withdrew our right of de
posit at New Orleans he was prompt In
having it restored—doing it by patient
diplomacy bloodlessly. when the federal
ists in congress were striving to force
him into war.
On the Instant that it became known
in this country that Napoleon had se
cured the huge prize and me ,nt to de
velop a colonial empire between the great
river and the Pacific ocean Mr. Jeffer
son's peace talk gave way to sterner
language. lie said as plainly as words
could make it that France Woifd not be
allowed to establish i ■ 'lonial empire
here, thus throwing Into the face of Na
poleon Bonaparte the first de.l-,. it ion of
• imething which resembled th.- ' M ciroe
doctrine ’’
But peace was always better than war,
and Mr. Jefferson, while making threats,
offered to trade Let France sell ns New
Orleans and part of Florida.
That Napoleon was swerved one hair’s
breadth from his course by anything Mr.
Jefferson .-aid t did no student can al
lege.
Nor is it true that the n volt of tile ne
groes in San Domingo had anything to
do with it. Had not England broken the
peace of Amiens, Napoleon would have
made the attempt to hold Louisiana in
spite of Jefferson, in spite of Livingston
nnd Monroe, and In spite of the negroes of
San Domingo
The expedition which General Victor
was to have led to Louisiana was al
ready prepared, and sailing orders had
been issued, when it suddenly appeared
that there would be another struggle to
the death with Great Britain. This, and
this only, changed Napoleon's purpose. In
the twinkling of an eye he did change,
just as he afterwards changed his plan
against England to the plans against
Austria- which carried him to Austerlitz
nnd made William Pitt roll up the map
of the wor'd and turn his tired face to
the wall.
Livingston had made no headway in his
efforts to buy a portion of the Louisiana,
country, nor would James Monroe, whom
Jefferson hurried across with secret in
structions have had any better success.
But Napoleon's circumstances changed,
his mind changed, and from sullen "Nay’’
he shifted his tone to eager "Yea.” That
Is all th< re Is of It. He said to his min
ister: “I know the value of what I sell.
I regret its loss deeply. But I am power
less to hold it England will seize it.
Offer it to the United States—sell the
whole of Louisiana. Do this at once."
Asolutely he flung to us. almost in spite
of ourselves, wb.it we had not asked for
end what he would have kept but for the
certainty that Great Britain would get it.
The only questions Livingston and Mon
roe h id to settle were (1) whether they
should take the responsibility In buying
the whole country and (21 what price they
would pay Tliej decided wisely to ac
cept the entire property and they agreed
to pay what amounted t.i .*ls/100.000.
Had Jefferson not been prompt, had
our ministers not been men of nerve, had
Napoleon not been capable o f rapid de
cision. Louisiana would doubtless been
the first prize of the British fleet in the
war which broke out twelve days later.
Had England got her clutches upon that
immense region, who can say that we
ever could have loosed them? The power
which has hel l Canada on the north
might have made good against us the line
of the Mlssisippi.
To Jefferson's initiative and farsighted
ness we owe it that we secured without
bloodshed, for a trifling sum of money,
a territory which doubled our republic,
Assured its expansion to the gulf of
Mexico and to the Pacific, and thus lifted
us. by a stroke of genius. Into a world
• s power of the first class.
Hamilton had dreamed of something
a akin to this to be achieved by a doubtful
e bloody war with Spain and France, in
11 which we should have entangled our
e selves in a dangerous alliance with Great
o Britain.
H His Miranda scheme., looked at in the
most favorable light, amounted to that—
a bloody, doubtful war, and a danger-
B ous. entangling alliance. Once over her#
vith her fleets ami armies. Great Britain
- 1 might not have been willing to go when
” we said go.
1 Jefferson, pursuing a plan different in
3 spirit and in principle, secured all the re
sults which Hamilton's most brilliant suc-
* cess could have won, without the risk,
the bloodshed, and the entangling British
r alliance. In selling Louisiana, Napoleon
1 did not neglect the people. He provided
for them, using expressions which did
3 credit to his heart ns well as his head.
If Lucien and Joseph Bonaparte ever
' had the bath tub squabble with their
mighty brother, which Henry’ Adams and
James K. Hosmer dwell on so lovingly, it
but increases one's contempt, for the.
* brothers.
Napoleon had adopted the only course a
statesman could adopt. To give Louisiana
back to Spain would have been a folly
J which even so stupid a. man as Joseph
Bonaparte might have understood.
A barren debate lias arisen over the re
spective merits of Livingston and Mon
roe In the Tjouisiana purchase.
As a southern man. intimate with Jef
ferson and Madison. Monroe may have
better appreciated the grandeur of Jef
ferson’s aims. Livingston was certainly
nearer to the ideas of John Jay. for he
wrote Madison:
“I would rather have confined our views
to smaller objects, and I think that If we
succeed It would be good policy to ex
change Hie west bank (of the Mississippi)
with Spain for the Floridas, reserving
New Orleans.”
This is what Livingston wrote nt the
time. Not what he said to Talleyrand, or
Barbe M'arbois. or Napoleon, but his ma -
turely considered opinion given to his own
government.
Think of it! He was willing to swap
the western continent from the Mississippi
to the Pacific for the Islpnd of New Or
leans and the Floridas’ There is no room
left for doubt. Livingston must be class
ed not with Jefferson, but with George
McDuffie and Daniel Webster, each of
whom was a "very able senator ”
Mr. Livingston afterwards wrote in a
very different strain. But that is a very
different matter. Most of us can see what
will happen after It has happened.
In buying Tzuisiana Mr. Jefferson maco
no hollow pretense that the constitution
gave him authority, lie frankly admit
ted Hint it was outside the- constitution,
and T»>eded the sanction of the people.
He acted updn the principle th it It was
a case which had not brt’n foreseer, had
not been provided for, but which was
of such vital and certain beflent to the
union that It must be done, law or no
law. An overwhelmin'/ national neces
sity breaks treaties and written com
pacts -a most dangerous doctrine, hut
on- which Is recognized.
The American peace commissioners
acted by virtue of this unwritten law in
making a treaty with England separate
from France.
The delegates to the constitutional con
vention of 1757 obcyi 1 the same rule when
they disregarded their instructions and
made a. new constitution.
More rectnlv. Jay noted In that spirit
in making his treatv with Great Britain
A dangerous principle, most assuredly,
and one whose only justification is the
existence of irresistible national interest,
from which national consent will be pre
sumed.
Jefferson actel upon this principle, and
the nation ratified wb.it he had done.
Congress and the people were not only
satisfied, they were 'delighted. Jeffer
son’s praises rescinded throughout the
land. In New England alone was dis
approval heard.
As earh- as 1756 leaders in Massachu
scTls declared that if Jay's attempts to
< !ose the Mississippi were not successful
In congress it wt»s time for the New
England states to withdraw from the
union and to form a confederation by
themselves.
In 1792 and in 1794 similar talk was rife;
. in 1796 Lieutenant Governor Wolcott, of
Connecticut, said that if Jefferson were
elect' d presiilent he would favor a sepa
ration of the northern from the southern
states.
The purchase of Louisiana intensified
this sectional jealousy, the New England I
federalists foreseeing the growth of a
western world which would be injurious
to eastern commerce. They declared that
the eastern states would b? compelled to
establish an eastern empire. This disun
ion sentiment continued to grow until
Josiah Quincy declared in congress that
it the bill for tlie admission of Louisiana,
passed the bond of the union would be
dissolved, aud that as it would be the
right of tj.ll the states to secede, it would
be the duty of sorne—“amicably if they
can. violently ls they must.”
it Is only when we contrast the wisdom
of Mr. Jefferson with su.-h shortsighted
men as those wJiy threatened to break
up the union because l )e had gained
Louisiana for it, that we begin to real
ize the difference between q statesman
and a ivijpdrum politician.
Our new empire wag promptly reduced
to possession, and Mr. Jeffersoq set on
foot an exploring expedition to open up
to the knowledge of the world the mys
terious regions of the far west.
Starting out from St. a small
' band of American under the two Virgin
ians, Lewis and Clarke, cipgsed the
Roel;y mountains and made their way to
Where, the Columbia river enters the
Pacific ocean. At a cost of $:1.50t«, Jeffer
son, through the work of tjiese explor
ers, not otjJ.v acquired knowledge of the
Loyi-iaiia purchase, but laid the founda
tion to our claim to the Oregon country
whose value Mr. Webster was, so far from
understanding.
Mr. Roosevelt, in his Winning of the
West, grudges Mr. Jefferson any credit,
for the Louisiana purchase, being far
less generous to the southern statesman
than was another great northern writer,
James G. Blaine.
In his Twenty Years of Congress. Mr.
Blaine bears frank and full testimony
to Jefferson, and he clearly demonstrates
how much our republic gained by Jef
ferson's initiative and promptitude.
Mr. Roosevelt contends that the Ameri
can people would b,ave got the territory
anyhow. It was only a question of time.
How could Mr. Roosevelt know that?
We have wanted Canada bad enough,
several times, but we have never got it.
Even as these lines are being written
(May, 1903) American citizens by the
THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION: ATLANTA. GA.. MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 7, 1903.
thousand are pouring into Canadian ter
ritory from our northwest, but England
still holds the land and our Americans
will become subjects of Great Britain.
Emigration cares less albout forms of
government and national names than it
does about conditions of soil, climate,
wages, cost of living, richness of mines,
and a freedom of opportunity.
So as to Louisiana. Americans would
have streamed across the Mississippi to
settle the land beyond, but had England!
been its sovereign lord the emigrant
might have had as little thought of
throwing off the British dominion as lie
now has in settling in Canada.
Had M;. Jefferson been "timid, weak,
ar.d vacillating,” had he wafted just a
tow days longer, the breaking out of the
war would have caught him with the
Louisiana business unsettled. Groat Brit
ain would have seized 4t as French ter
ritory. He Is a prophet, indeed, who can
predict that We "would have got Louisi
ana anyhow" had England been allowed
to get her strong hands on it.
During former administrations the Mo
hammedan powers of the Mediterranean
had remained our "great and good
friends,” at a cost of $2,000,060. Jefferson
determined to put an end to tribute
paying. Recurring to his old Paris plans,
he sent war vessels to the Medlterrunetin
and began to persuade the infidels witli
guns. Partly by hard fighting and part
ly by negotiation ar.d one final ransom of
$60,000, Jefferson wrung tin honorable
peace from the Mohammedans and they
troubled him no more.
In the year 1800. John Adams bring
president. Commodore Bainbridge was
compelled by the bey of Algiers to carry
Algerine dispatches to the sultan at Con
stantinople. and the American man of
war, the George Washington, sailed
through the Dardanelles with the "pi
rate” flag at the masthead.
Adams did nothing about it; Jefferson
did. He made it Impossible for that kind
of degradation to befall us .again.
CHAPTER XLVT.
The leader of Mr. Jefferson’s adminis
tration on the floor of the house in con
gress was one of the most vividly pic
turesque figures that lias ever appeared
in our political history. John Randolph,
of Roanoke, was born in 1773, and among
his ancestors he counted not only the
Scotch earls of Murray, but Pocahontas,
the daughter of a king. Whether a line
age of this sort Justifies Inordinate pride
is a fair question for debate. That the
Scotch earls of Murray at some time Or
other were cattle thieves, just as most of
the other feudal lords of Normandy,
France. Germany find England were
plunderers by sea or land need not be
seriously doubted; yet. as earls go, they
stood high. Pocahontas, too. was only the
daughter of a naked Indian, who cooked
bls lisii with tho scales on and the en
trials undisturbed within, while the little
princess, in all the charms of unclothed
nature, would play with the Jamestown
boys, "turnins » somerset” equal to any
of them. Yet. after all, she was a prin
cess, and just as the prince of Wales in
England w ilked behind the African chief
because he was a king, so the. descendants
of Pocahontas were proud of their de
scent from the alleged savior of Smith
because she was a princess. Besides fami
ly pride, John Randolph inherited vast
family estates—lands, houses, negroes,
horses, cattle—but no cash to speak of,
and the inevitable British debt. Randolph
complained, early ami feelingly, of the
condition In which he found his estate,
and refers to "the scuffle with negroes
and overseers for something like a. pit
tance of rent and profit upon my land and
stock.”
A Charleston bookselle:. who saw Ran
dolph in 1776, describes him as "a tall,
gawky, flaxen-haired stripling, with a
complexion of good parchment color,
beardless chin, and as much assumed
self-confidence as any two-footed animal
1 ever saw " Later In life Randolph look
ed like an old shriveled woman. Dis bones
had no flesh, his voice was a feminine I
shriek, his face was literally coveted with j
countless wrinkhs. Ills color that, of old,;
yellow parchment. Beard he never had;
and he was a bundle of nerves, whose ca
pa-city for suffering was pathetic. Things
which other men of less sensitive organ!
zation would never notice tortured him
to distraction. He was quick to love a; I
to hate. There was a. quality which we
call "womanly" in both his loves and his
hates.
He was the slave of impulse and temper,
irritable to the last degree, Incapable of
sustained, systematic labor.
Imperfectly educated, his genius undis
ciplined. his faculties untrained, he was
nevertheless a most effective speaker. On
the hustings he was superb, a master of
a. crowd. When Robert Tombs was at the
Vnlverslty of Virginia, he rode 60 miles
to hear John Randolph make one of his
last speeches, and Mr. Toombs alwa.v..
referred to it as one of the most powerful
of speeches.
The self-confidence to which the Char
leston book dealer referred as assumed
was not assumed. Randolph's confidence
in himself was real, and was unlimited. At
a public, dinner in 1795 he dared to propose
as a toast. "George Washington may he
be damned!”
When this sentiment met dlsaproval the
bold youth added, "If lie signs Jay’s
His very first dash into politics was a
race for congress and the first opponent,
whom he met in public debate was Pat
rick Henry. No small game for "Jack
Randolph." He struck at the antlered
stag. He was only 26 when lie thus
threw himself against the Washington-
Henry-Marshall Influence In Virginia, and
lie was victorious. Such a triumph was
not calculated to lessen his self-esteem.
It must have been a sight to see Ran
dolph dismount from his splendid saddle
horse at the door, and go stalking into
the house of representatives with a cap
on his head, a whip in ills hand, top
boots on his feet, and a pair of pointer
dogs at his heels. It made no difference
to him whether business had begun or
not; he would loudly salute tils friends,
and, after drawing off bis gloves, fire
away at whatever subject happened to
be before the house, if some member
whom he disliked was on the floor lie
would, as apt as not, turn round, and
noisily walk out.
Brilliant, eccentric, brave, honest, ready
to tongue-lash anybody who offended
bint, cursed with a restless disposition
which craved excitement, and a morbid
temper which made it next to impossible
for him to work in harmony with others,
he tormented himself, quarreled with
relatives, cast off friends, broke with
political associates, and became almost
an Jshmaelite. Yet a few ot tho best mon
loved him, one of the finest constituencies
• •-I-• 4* -I-
In America stood true to him, and a very
considerable percentage of southern peo
ple believed that he was the most, clear
sighted and consistent statesman the
soqth ever had.
Between Thomas Jefferson and John
Randolph there could never have been
much In common.
They were relatives, but not so close as
to be intimate. They both loved books,
but in a different way. John Randolph's
3,500 volumes were the companions of
lonely hours, to be read whenever the
whim seized him, and dropped when he
was tired.
Be was no student, and while his mind
was richly stored with the treasures of
literature, he was complete master of no
subject whatc-er.
Irregular, insubordinate, impatient of
rule or restraint, such a methodist as Jef
ferson was certain, sooner or later, to
provoke his captain’s temper and reckless
tongue.
But at first, Randolph as house leader
and Jefferson as president got on well
enough. One tad to be extremely anxious
for a row. infeed, to pick a fuss with
so mild, so ratient, so conciliatory, so
adroit a politician as Jefferson.
The republican party was young, it
was enjoying the first great victory Ji
had won. its -hint was still its prophet,
nothing had ytt occurred to cause divis
ions, and therefore during the first year
or so of the Jefferson administration,
John Randolph, chairman of the ways
and means committee and house leader
for the. executive, was the most powerful
man tn congress.
He was no leider. lit was a boss. Ht
drove his men ly the force of his tempei
and the furj > . ht' tongue. Ills pointed
finger was a Since-; bis wit a sword ol
fire. Still, tiie party being obedient, the
president suptKiie und Randolph ortho
dox, he was < t’ective He put adminis
tration measurts through under whip and
spur. So long as he spoke in the name
of the party ,e was irresistible. Men
might curse hip in their hearts, but
they dared no vote against him.
But troubles arose. There was the
impeachment V-Judge Chase, in which
the president ltd thrown out no aid and
comfort to th prosecution. Randolph
had caught a ir<i fall, and been sorely
bruised, and a presidential balm was
forthcoming 'hen there was tiie Yazoo
fraud busines, wherein the state of
Georgia had lot, ’through a bribed legis
lature, 40,000,00 i acres of land, and where
in James Madson, Matthew Lyon and
other proniineit republicans had in
dorsed a proportion to let the land com
panies itav- 5.000,)X) acres, in compro
mise, as compensation to alleged innocent
purchasers. Randclph could sev no inno
cence in at y punhaser of this Yazoo
land, and his Truth flamed fiercely
against comprimin and compromisers.
Ho denounced Lyo., and l.yon denounced
him; he denounce’ Madison, and the sec
retary of stat> Ara,| him. He denounced
o-.ucuu urangi-j ’ ,e cabinet officer who
had taken a fj trout tho land compa
nies and was Iping to push the com
promise throng'
In ti is -*.r't)L we must admire Ran
oolph and sym\ hlze w|th hjm I|p h . l(]
been in Georgi^, rlng . t]lf . Yazoo ,
turn, nnd knew! abo(Jt it He kn „ w
tiiat a greedj rflL rat j on ha<l corrup ted
the legislature atl prpptratet] ;| tr „, n( . n .
dons piece of r« . He muv huv(j
been present at W isVi „ ( . whpn
JaS, jn tbp
or the ,fembl e dV|. 1tm .,,, all llie
state and aV ltjtude of . ivn( „
brought V .. , ii[n
hvaven’ .hrough a 1., |ss
the detested 5 azoo acV (n .. r . H( b ,
felt that the fraud A ' )bf< ’ <j( ,
Georgia had been so anii ))ar|
boon - promptly and \, j( c . Xl , lor( . d
and roped a ed. that L'\ uM bl . „„
question of innocent j.mA , n , pri
ing this land-no matter
oral judge might say. ,
The- beat, tiie violence, ti • , e
which Randolph manifested"’. : ? I ’’ 1 '
. „ ms fight
against tne Yazoo -orrupi.o,
ts are to
his credit.
As an honest man and fii
gressman he staked his politKj* ' ' "
tiie issue- ombatilng Madisi.t ( uH
son, Lyon, Granger and everyi
who refused to help him punish. \
cality of the Yazoo gang.
There were two sides, ns there
always are. Jffferson had prevailot > ‘''
the state of Georgia to cede tne dil’ 11
Yazoo grant to tiie general govern! ll
with tie- understanding that Get;
should be paid $1,250,660 out of tin- 1
ceeds of the first sales of public lad
To avoid all trouble and compllcatiq.
the administration was in favor of cor». r .
promising with th-.- so-called
purchasers by yielding to them 5,000,(KM»
acres of land. But the taking of a fee
by the postmaster general from the
claimants to lobby their bill through cast
the shadow of a scandal upon the whole
administration, and one cannot escape
the suspicion that tiie Y'azoo grant,
conceived in fraud, remained a source of
corruption to the last.
But the actual breach between Ran
dolph and Jefferson occurred on tire
proposition to acquire Florida. The pres
ident was proceeding about the business
with that diplomacy which in tiie Louisi
ana case had been successful. He was
making public threats to fight Spain
while by secret message he was asking
congress for money to be used In ne
gotiation. To the public there was a
revelation, to the initiated a secret. Tills
principle, or want of principle (as the
case may be) had worked well enough
for Louisiana, and Randolph bad been
the presidential agent. But now the
floor leader revolted. In his own mind
he drew a distinction between the two
cases, and to the amazement of congress
he began an opposition. Soon the ter
rors of his tongue were loosed upon the
president. Al first there was a flurry
in administration circles—almost a panic
—but it soon passed. Jefferson's Confi
dence did not forsake him. his following
in congress stood the. strain, and when
Randolph set up his independent stand
ard the merest handful went witli him.
For many and many a year Randolph
remained in the public service, most of
tiie time in the house, one term in the
senate, one mission to Russia, always
conspicuous, always courageous. often
right, generally In the minority, but
nothing more than a brilliant free-lance,
without decisive influence.
When one reads his letters to friends
whom he really honored and his descrip
tions of ills travels in Europe, one re
grets that the literature of his country
lost a mind so rich and so brilliant.
As a. conversationalist, when familiar
ly spending an evening within a small
congenial circle, ho was at his best; and
none excelled him then.
New Englanders were not. as a rule,
feverishly fond of John Randolph, but
By 'F ✓ I
THOMAS E. WATiSON j
Author of •
‘‘6j6e »Story of France,” “Napoleon,” Etc. j
j DEDICATION •
i Because he has consecrated his wealth, talent and energies to the improvement of the conditions under which the masses of our •
( cause he has shown an earnest, fearless and consistent Interest In the cause of the weak and ♦ he ,f ) PP r , e . s ’® ! t ucwiJt ihu ivork P " T *
ability along the same lines which Mr. Jefferson marked out a hundred years ago, I dedicate to WILLIAM RANDOLPH 11 kAR.b t s • WAT c nls , J
( Thomson, Ga., June 17, 1903. ' ’ ' pr
notice tiie impression he made upon a
senator from Massachusetts, Elijah
Mills; “He Is really a most singular and
interesting man. He dined with us yes
terday. He was dressed in a rough,
coarse, short hunting coat, with small
clothes and boots, and over his boots a
pair ot coarse cotton leggings, tied with
strings around his legs. He engrossed
almost the whole conversation, and was
exceedingly amusing as well as eloquent
and instructive.”
With tho sole exception of Randolph.
Jefferson had no serious troubles w'ith his
lieutenants. His cabinet was singularly
harmonious. James Madison, secretary of
state; Albert Gallatin, of the treasury;
Henry Dearborn, of war; Gideon Granger,
postmaster general; Levi Lincoln, attor
ney general; Robert Smith, secretary of
tho ijpvy, were all excellent officers, and
loyal to the chief.
Congress was probably' never handled
so adroitly and successfully as it was by
Mr. Jefferson
CHAPTER XLVII
Aaron Burr quietly took his place as
vice president, and made a model offi
cer. Senators who had sat under John
Adams must have felt refreshed by the
change.
When General Washington became pres
ident, and Mr. Adams vice president, all
was confusion, and <jf doing things
had to be adopted before things them
selves could be done. Here was infinite
field for discussion and for display
of knowledge of the ways of other peo
ples.
Whether the president and vice presi
dent were like- Roman consuls, or Spar
tan kings, or Carthaginian suffetes, Mr. '
Adams did not know for certain; but be
was anxious to find out. and more than
willing to talk about it from the chair.
“I am possessed <jf two separate pow
ers; the one in esse, the other in posse.
I am vice president. In this I am poth
lug. but may be everything. But 1 am
also president of the senate; what shall
I do when President Washington comes’
I can not be president then. No, gentle
men, 1 can not. I wisli you gentlemen to
think what I shall be ”
M itli a confusion remotely resembling
Hamlet’s, Mr. Adams made earnest efforts
to understand himself, locate hinjsv.if and
adjust himself. In nearly every debate
he took an active part. Senators who, ig
the progress of their remarjis. went astray
on _piat.ters of fact or argument, he set
right from the chair. Frequently ho
would address the senate for neaJly an
hour at a time; and that day which pass
ed without several speeches of vacying
length from Vice Resident Adams were
exceptional. A great stickler for forms
be was constantly telling the senate how
certain things were done in the house of
lords of England: and on the first address
of Washington to congress his clerk in
phra.se—Wi,h ‘ Adams ’ H >’Proval. the royal
"His gracious speech.”
M hen it gradually dawned upon Mr
Adams that lie and Washington were not
to be treated as Rojnan consuls, Spartan
kings or Carthaginian suffetes, his dis-,
gust grew apace—so much so that when
Senator Jlaciay and others stoutly con-'
tended for the simple manners of democ
racy, Adams declared that had lie known ,
the.. America n people would come to such ;
a. pass he aould never have taken up <
arms agalnsj, Great Britain. (
Fussy, consequential, pompous, garru
lous. without digqijy of person or of
manner, his fact- often expanded in a
vacant laugh. Hohn Adams wa s not the
man to bq imposing or ipipressive as a
presiding officer over the senate of the
United States.
Jefferson had. of course, adopted a dif
feient standard when he came to preside
over the senate; and nothing more was
beai d of the creisuls, the kings, or th
- Romans. Grecians and Cartha
ginians wore suffered to rest in peace.
The vice president no longer acted ns
schoolmaster for senators. Under Jeffer
son's firm, gentle control, the senate be
gan to assume the character befitting the
most responsible body in the new world.
Aaron Burr followed the example of
Jefferson; and his conduct as president of
the senate compelled unstinted pralso
from friends and foes alike. He was a
model of decorum, was rigidly impartial,
and was conspicuously capable. When
his term expired, he delivered a brief
farewell address, which created a pro
found impression, and which even in the
report handed down to u»j
ilses the speaker in the estimation of all
ho will read it.
lie received opinion about Burr i« that
was a politj- -I adventurer, without
e or thought for the law, the country,
for thq human race. In that cou
pon, one paragraph in his short speech
ry striding—
house is a sanctuary; a citadel
. |(. and of liberty; and it is here
her< here > 111 ,llis exalted refuge—
inada“- v Wl>ere, that resistance win be
and j t ll * storms of political frenzy
consti lleT ‘t arts of corruption. If the
sacrlle’ 1 be destined to perish by the
the usif hands of the demagogue or
agonies wl >ich God avert, its expiring
\Vhntj« l)e witnessed on this floor.”
the lang ls!< “ h may be, this l« not
mere sb a nor the conception of a
Henry had trlfler. _Just as Patrick
ciples in seenf een ’he centralizing prin-
Burr realize"' w constitution. Aaron
the United S’ predominant power of
the prediction Senate. In each ease,
man, for the , s that of the states
parejjt. were not then so ap-
"Storms of p
one danger; "tl. a ! frenzy was the
tion” was the ofc'Ht arts of corrup
looks in upon tjjiAnvbodv who now
and mentally ext,ri!t«d States senate
reseiitatives and btherefrom tiie rep
ent arts of corruiivrii-s of "tiie si
sidgrable doubt as It will be in con
a quorum to do biisliher lie has left
Dwarfing the house,
president, tiie senate gflmdowing the
lie: and "the silent aps the repub
govern tiie senate corruption”
With the election of .1
reer of Alexander Ilamlltpn the ca
was not foreseen by blal'-d. This
realized by him until the rt was it
ageraent which the Virgiftl'ul inan
in his first administration Hspiayed
fiuit in ills second, and altrpe its
mous, election. Not till then mari
ten give up the ghost polit.amil
late as January, 1804, h<- seenlj So
nursed the hope that JeffersonVave
something very desperate, revolt do
and anarchist’/--somcth.l«ig whl ’fey,
justify the federalist predictions id
kindle the federalist hopes. On TV- <
day, January 18, 1804, we And the
eminent patriots of New York—Rufus
King, Gottverneur Morris and Alexander
Hamilton—dining together at King’s.
These notable three were "alarmed at
the conduct of our rulers, and think the
constitution Is about to be overturned.”
Hamilton and King "apprehend a
bloody anarchy.” Morris thinks that tho
constitution has already been overturn
ed. Anarchy i| about to ensue in which
property will be sacrificed. The only dif
ference between those three New York
jratrlo-ts is that King and Hamilton be
lieve there w’Jll he anarchy rfcompa/.fcd
by bloodshed, while Morris thinks that
the ruthless Jeffersonians will be con
tent with the confiscation of houses,
lands, mules, horses, cows, etc.
Indeed, Hamilton was at sea—adrift on
•the gicat ocean without coilpass or rud
der. All his fine plans and schemes had
failed. His party was de>ad, and about
to be buried. He had lost the great
Washington, who had been his shield.
"FTls own parscnal and political unpopu
larity now rested upon him with stifling
weight. He was bankrupt in his finances.
His tortuous intrigues with men and par
ties bad raised up against him an army
of venomous enemies. Jefferson would
have nothing to do with him—neither
wanting his support nor fearing his op
position. His advice was not sought on
any earthly subject, and his newspaper
criticisms were treated with the con
tempt they deserved. Passed forever
vere the days when he could dictate the
policies of cabinets ar.d control the votes
of congress. The only possible hope for
Hamilton was that the country might
become involved In war. In that event,
Us courage and ability would assml-dly
have guaranteed h!m a brilliant career,
I rovlded a friendly president was ready
to give him high appointment. In civil
life he had no outlook whatever. A
comfortable Jaw practice, a dreary
struggle with debt, and a deciding ca
pacity for labor was Ills prospect.
Hamilton had matured early—wonder
fully so—but his limit of expansion had
soon been reached; and in ISO! he was
certainly not a growing man. He had
paid the penalty of precocity. The de
cay had set in at pn age when other |
men, not so rapid in early growth, were
still expanding in knowledge and wis
dom In politics Hamilton and Burr had
reached the point where each could
knife the other in New York without
being able to do more. Burr could get
r.o office—Hamilton barred tiie way. Ham
ilton could get none—Burr and his own
unpopularity blocked the path.
For many years Hamilton had pur
sued Burr, in letters and private conver
sation, with every sort of accusation. (
Burr's private remarks were used against (
lim; idle reports were repeated and ex- 1
iggerated; ard the most injurious sus- 4
Melons became facts of the jealous, em- ,
Jittered Hamilton. During all the years
he two men were on friendly terms, din
rg at each other's house, their families
ningllng freely in social intercourse. In
act, Burr does not stem to have known J
low rabid was Hamilton's hatred, n<>r
low offensive bls language. When Burr ;
id find It out, when he did realize how
nveterate had been Hamilton's hospital- 1
1 It,v, he resolutely determined to call hinr
to account.
With Burr's first note in that fatal cor
respondence Hamilton seemed to have
l>°en suddenly conscious of his great im
prudence -and his great danger. In many
of his letters against his rival, previous
to that I| st correspondence-letters which
are half frantic with jealousy, malice
and treacherous eagerness to deal a
stealthy stab—Hamilton leaves upon the
modern reader the impression that he
was afraid of Burr.
At all events, the correspond'nee lead
ir R up to the duel does not increase one's
tespect for Hamilton. As John Randolph
said, the letters of Hamilton show a.
consciousness of inferiority to h’s antag
onist.
"On one side there is labored obscuri
ty, much equivocation, and maj»y at
tempts .at evasion, not unmixed with a
little blustering; on the other an tm
tshakfn adherence to his object and an
t ndeviating pursuit of it, not t > be elud
ed or baffled. It reminded me of a sink
ing fox pressed by a vigorous old hound,
where no shift Is permitted to avail
him.”
When Gottverneur Morris beard tiie re
sult of the duel he hastened to the bed
side of his dying friend. Hamilton was
speechless. Morris sat by him till he
expired, ft was a tragic scene—the dead
busband and father, the frantic wife and
children; the grief-stricken, sympathiz
ing friends. Morris was asked to pro
nounce the ft neral oration. This request
caused some embarrassment to Morris,
end his diary reflects it. He says that
the subject Is difficult. “The first point
in bls biography is that he was a
stranger of illegitimate birth; some mode
must be contrived to pass this over
handsomely, lie was indlscreat, vain and
opinionated; these things must be told
or the character will be incomplete, lie
was in principle opposed to republican
and attached to monarchical govern
ment His share in forming our constitu
tion must be mentioned, and his unfavor
able opinion cannot therefore be con
cealed. un
"The most important part of his lira
was his administration of the finances
The system he proposed was rtli.
wrong ffi one respect; moreover it"has
been the subject of some just and n o
unjust criticism. n i milch
"I can neither commit mvself to .1
approval, nor is ;t prudent t f 1
others All must, somehow or'other"'be
reconctleu. He was In n-'ineinlJ J ’ “T
to dueling, yet he fell in a duel.” PP ° Se<l
In other entnes | n his diary, made „
few days later, Morris states flint it.,
ilton "has died insolvent." owing- flftv or
Fixty thousand dollars, and leaving prop
' voi,w probab!y
The wife and seven children "will h»
left destitute; end charitable friends take
advantage ot the profound public svm
pathy to set on foot a subscription"
Gouverneur Morris was one of the
ablest and most honest men of his time
a personal and political friend of
under Hamilton. The estimate of the
dead man, which was written when Mo •-
rin was under the softening spell of cir
cumstances. most eloquently pleading for
mercy to Hamilton, is certainly in strip
ing contrast with the rhapsodies of
Sske V and John
If ever there was a man who knew
Hamilton tr.orougbly, It was Gouvi-rne*
Morns. And nc man was belter qualified
to weigh the true worth of Hamil m
for Morris was himself a practice! s„ c
cessful financier, a statesman of rare tn
telligehce. a student of men and meas
ures, capable of forming a cool, discrlm-
inating, accurate judgment of his fel
low man.
CHAPTER XLVIH.
To avoid anirther such complication nt
has threatened to defeat the will of the
people at tiie time of Jefferson's first
election, a constitutional amendment,
providing that tho president and vice
president should bo separately voted fur,
was adopted during his first term. Un
der the operation < f the new law lie re
ceived at tiie election of IMH 162 electoral
votes, while the opposite ticket got
but 14.
In the mad struggle between Great
Britain and France, neutral commerce
wa-s swept off the gea. Between British
orders in council and French decrees, no
safety ground was left—the ships that
missed the English whirlpool founder?!
on the French ttx ks. All efforts to make
terms with th? belligerents vert vain.
England contemiptuously spumed our
overtures, and Franco could do nothing
unless England would alter het rules.
Outrages without number were commit
ted upon our merchant vessels by both
England and France. An English war
ship, the Leopard, attacked one r.f our
battle ships, the Chesapeake, catching it
unprepared, and forced it to haul down
its flag, after riddling the ship and lit
tering its deck with dead and wounded
British officers then went on board tho
Chesapeake, had the vessel searched, and
took away three American-born negroes
who wete not British subject o , but who
had served on, and deserted from, a Brit
ish man of war* In truth, the insolence
of our mother country toward us during
the period when we could not help our
selves was something almost incredible.
It did not commence with Jefferson's
administration, as Henrj' Adams' histo
ries would imply. On the contrary, it
was a continuation of the strife begun
in the revolutionary war. It never had
entirely ceased. It continued under
Washington; and it ma ie itself felt in
the time of Adams. The Jay treaty did
not put an end to it entirely.
When the Jay treaty expired, Mr.
Jefferson di.l his utmost to secure bet
ter term's, but was unable to do so.
After ever so many snubs, delays and
illscouragenients, Jamrs Monroe and Wil
liam Pinckney signed a treaty which vi
olated their instructions. It was so far
short of what was needed ami what was
fair and juist, that Mr. Jeff-rson rejected
t without ever, taking the advice of the
seriate.
study of the relations between the
'rdfed States and Great Britain from lhe
onclusion of the peace of Faris, in 1753.
lown to the battle of New Orleans, in
815, is dismal reading. It is a long, long
hapter of insolence, oppression, fla
grant outrage of the stronger nation to
rard the weaker.
Who Inflamed the Indians during
Washington’s administration, throw tho
r—thwest into panic, lit the sky with the
arnes of burning homes, speeding the
•erk of tomahawk and scalpjng-krr,!fe.
lying the train of events wKfch led to
he ambuscade and massacre of the
.-my of St. Clair? Great Britain did it.
Who kidnaped thousands of our citizens
—matching them from wife, child, homo
and freedom—and chained them to a de
tested service, scourged them with cruel
1.-sh- compelled them to fight their own
countrymen, or hung them without pity
at the yardarm? Great Britain did it.
Vi ho insulted our ministers, contemptu
ously refused to make, amends for ad
mitted wrongs, rebuffed every advance
tee made toward friendship, fomented
sedition here among our own people cor
responding with traitors, encouraging
treason, and plotting with them a rebel
lion against the government? Great
Britain did It.
The record is there for all to see.
What was Mr. JeFt.-am, to do? Neither
of his predecessors had provided a.
standing army*. The people w°re intense
ly jealous of such a force. Public sen
timent did not yet demand a war. New
England, especially, preferred for things
to remain as they were.
In spite of orders in council, French
decrees, and wholesale seizures there
were men engaged in commerce who pre
ferred to continue to take the risks.
But, after all, governments are respon
sible in natural affairs; not individuals.
Mi Jefferson could not afford to have
the flag insulted on every sea, our ships
condemned, our citizens carried away
into slavery.
The government must do something;
and by an overwhelming majority con
gress laid an embtirgo upon foreign com
merce. That is. no American ship could
clear for a foreign port, and no foreign
ships could enter ours.
The whole country suffered under this
embargo. The shipowners of the mari
time states and the planters of the. south
were equally hard hit; but the manu
facturers of New England coined money.
For the time, they enjoyed a complete
monopoly of the domestic market—the
true aim of all tariffs.
While other sections were groaning un
der the embargo—produce unsold debts
unpaid, and no money in circulation—New
England had more surplus cash than
could readily find profitable investment.
Nevertheless, her people put up a clamor
ous opposition to the law. and illicit trade
was brisk, open, and defiant.
Congress passed a force hill, to enable
the president to execute the law This
aggravated New England s discontent
The Massachusetts legislature declared
the enforcing act to be unconstitutional
and not legally binding Courts and
juries refused to convict violators of the
law. Connecticut likewise nullified it bv
legislative enactment, r.nd bv th,, refusal
of her governor to honor the preside! .A
requisition for militia to enforce the law
Beset by foreign f O e s on the one hand
the Ji <lOm ;7 lic T treaso » an<l rebellion on
the other. Mr. Jefferson’s position was
dep arable While he thoroughly beiiev.'al
in the embargo, and thought that per
sistence in that policy would force Eng
and to terms tas Madison always be
>?t P i or '>”• Imeasnre was
-d
His friend and house Ipvhr x-s i .
uiy^ I, l^ ) in ; r "'” 1 "'”
June E PM! “ ,0 "'nbargo on
The date finally fixed was March 4
onl ” toreo nrsp with France and
theT for the. em-
o t u repealing act merely serving
n° a tio n nj ,ter »-- as'to otlmf
The Student can. if he will, see clearlv
enough, ail along here, the evil effects
of the original mistake made bv Wash
Ratdlffe. T \- h p P ' a l«h a deserter named
neJ hung hllu at Halifax