2
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
chief end of the Virginia gentleman.
Loyal to king and ehurch, these fox
hunting. deep-drinking and gallant Vir
ginians were ready to risk life and limit
against any odds, in defence of the di
vine right of kings, and the ecclesiastical
supremacy of the Church of England.
Front his four years’ study of the law,
and after mastering completely Coke on
Lyttleton, which he had read and re
read and carefully annotated, Jefferson
stepped into a world of crystallized
wrong and robbery, made up from ages
of legal precedent, and sanctified by so
called religion; but not in vain had he
studied the black letter pages of that
sterling old Whig text book, of. which
Jefferson afterwards wrote:
"C.oke Lyttleton was the universal law
book of students, and a sounder Whig
never wrote, nor of profounder learning
in the orthodox doctrines of the British
Constitution, or in what was called
British liberties.
"Our lawyers were then all "Whigs.
Rut when this black letter text and un
couth but cunning learning got out or
fashion, and the honeyed Mansfieldism
of Blackstone boon me the student’s horn
book, from that moment that profession
(the nursery of our Congress) began to
slide into Toryism, and nearly all the
young brood of lawyers are now of that
line. They suppose themselves, indeed,
to be Whigs, (because they no longer
know what Whigism or Republicanism
means.”
iWhen, therefore, in 17(15, you nig Jef
ferson. fresh from Coke Lyttleton, stood
at the door of the lobby of the House of
Burgesses, in Williamsburg, and heard
Patrick Henry denounce in burning
words the Stamp Act and the whole sys
tem of kingcraft, the seed fell into the
ground well prepared for the truth.
SLAVERY.
In 17(59, Jefferson entered public life
as a member of the House of Burgesses
from his native countyofAlbcmarle. His
first (measure was to provide for the
gradual emancipation of slaves, but it
resulted in utter failure, and is now only
valuable as indicating the settled
opinions of Jefferson upon the subject of
slavery, and his fearlessness in grappling
with the overwhelming public sentiment
of his State in its favor.-
Whilst a slave owner all of his life,
Mr. Jefferson was opposed to the insti
tution and desired its gradual extinction.
Like many intelligent men in the slave
holding states, he deprecated the exist
ence of slavery, but resented the state
ment that the people of these states were
alone repsousible for the evil, or that
those who had* originally introduced
slaves through their own avarice had the
right to interfere afterwards with the
property of the citizens to whom the
slaves had lx*en sold.
„ With prophetic vision. Jefferson saw’
the dreadful panorama of war and deso
lation which must accompany the end of
slavery, unless peaceful means were
adopted for that purpose. (Speaking of
gradual emancipation, he says in his au
tobiography, written when he was sev
enty-seven years old:
‘‘lt was found that the public (mind
would not yet bear the proposition, nor
will it hear it even at this day. Yet the
day is not distant when at must bear
and adopt it. or worse will follow. Noth
ing is more certainly written in the book
of fate than that these people are to be
free, nor is it less certain that the two
races, equally free, cannot live in the
same government.”
One portion of this prediction lias lieen
verified, and African slavery has been
drowned in the tears and blood of both
North and South.
At the same time it is not difficult to
realize how utterly beyond the imagina
tion of any moral man fifty years ago.
must have been the idea, not of emanci
pation, (but that the emancipate! slave
would grasp the ballot and participate
m the government of the country.
We know now that the Negro race,
with its parsitie tendencies and strong
local attachments, will never submit to
colonization, and that this philanthropic
dream has vanished before the logic *.f
events. The negro is a component part
of our civilization, and must so remain.
It as the very irony of history that of
all the slave-holding States, Virginia
should have suffered most in defending
an instiution forced upon her people by
the greed of Old and New England, ill
opposition to the judgment and wishes oi
her most distinguished men.
As far back as 1770, Virginia had pro
tested against the introduction oif Afri
can slaves, hut the protest was silenced
by the royal edict, and the traffic went
on.
In 177(5. Jefferson framed with liis
own hand an indictment of the King of
(Treat Britain, in the following words:
‘‘He lias waged cruel war against hu
man nature itself, violating its .most
sacred rights of life and liberty, in the
persons of a distant people who never
offended him; captivating them and car
rying them into slavery in another hemis
phere. or to incur miserable death in
their transportation thither.
1 |j,is piratical warfare, the oppro
brium-oi infidd powers, is the warfare
of tne;Christian King of {Treat Britain.
Determined to keep open a market where
men should lie bought and sold, he has
Prostituted his negative for .suppressing
every legislative attempt to prohibit or
restrain this execrable commerce.
_ And that this assemblage of horrors
might want mo fact of distinguished die,
lie is now exciting those very people to
ris»* in arms among us and to purchase
that liberty of which 'he has deprived
them by murdering the people on whom
he has obtruded them, thus paying off
former crimes committed against the
liberties of one people with crimes which
he urges them to commit against the
lives of another.”
I hose burning sentences were a part
of the Declaration of Independence as
originally written by Jefferson and re
ported to Congress, hut so strong was
the influence of South Carolina, Georgia
and New England, in favor of the slave
trade that the words were stricken out,
and the lfedaration was adopted as we
now see it.
In 1778. two years later. Virginia made
it a felony to import slaves into her
limits, and in 1787. when she gave to
the 1 in on the Northwest Territory the
most princely gift j n all “the annals of
recorded time.’ Jefferson prepared the
ordinance, and incorporated in its pro
visions. the condition "(hat after the year 1
18(>0 of the Christian era, there shall he
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude
in any of the said Slates, otherwise than
in punishment of crimes, whereof tin*
party shall have been duly convicted to
have Im*c?i |>ersonnlly guilty.”
Again, in the Convention which fram
ed the Federal Constitution of 1789,
when the question of permitting further
importation of slaves was under discus
sion, Mr. Mason, of Virginia, said:
"This infernal traffic originated in the
avarice of British merchants. The
British Government constantly checked
the attempt of Virginia to put a stop to
it. Maryland am. Virginia had already
prohibited the importation of slaves ex
pressly, and North Carolina had done
the same in substance.”
Declaring then in the strongest terms
his opposition to slavery, he concluded
„y stating that “ he lamented that some
of our Eastern brethren had, from a lust
of gain, embarked in this nefarious traf
fic.”
Luther Martin, of Maryland, de
clared the slave trade "to be incon
sistent with the principles of the Revolu
tion and dishonorable to the American
character to have such a fdatute in the
Constitution.”
In this state of things, Gouveneur
Morris, adverting to the circumstance
that the sixtli section of the same article,
then under consideration, contained a
provision “that no navigation act should
pass without the consent of two-thirds
of the members present in each house”—
a provision particularly affecting the in
terests of tilt l New England States —sug-
gested that this, together with the fourth
and fifth sections, should be referred to
a committee, in order that a bargain
might be formed between the parties out
of these elements of special local inter
est on side and the other.
The (suggestion was adopted, and on
the second day afterward the committee
reported; extending the slave trade to
loot), and striking out the provision re
quiring a two-thirds vote to enact a na
vigation law.
When the report came up in the Con
vention. General Pinckney, of South
Carolina, moved to extend the slave
trade to 1808. and the motion was sec
onded by Mr. Gorham, of Massachu
setts.
Mr. Madison earnestly and eloquently
opposed the motion, declaring it to he
dishonorable to the American character,
but his opposition was in vain.
Hand in hand, Massachusetts and
South Carolina led the cohorts of slav
ery, and the motion prevailed, in all the
New England States, with South Caro
lina. Georgia. Maryland and North Caro
lina voting for it. and Virginia. Penn
sylvania. New Jersey and Delaware vot
ing against it.
Luther Martin was a member of the
committee, to which I have alluded, and
in a letter afterward to the Maryland
lionise of Delegates, says:
“I found the Eastern States, notwith
standing their aversion to slavery, w, re
very willing to indulge the Southern
States, at least with a temporary liberty
to prosecute the slave trade, provided
the Southern State in their vnrn would
gratify Pn nt by laying no restriction on
the navigation acts.”
Grand, even in her desolation, Virginia,
noblest of ancient or molern common
wealths, can point to this record and
hear in contemptuous silcenee the taunts
and sneers of the political Pharisees,
who “mock at her calamity.”
DECLARATION OF INDEPEND
ENCE.
Although Jefferson had failed in his
attack on African slavery, he did not for
a moment relax in his opposition to the
arbitrary and oppressive measures of the
British King.
In 1772 the people of Rhode Island be
gan the Revolution by burning the
British war vessel Gaspie, in Narra
gansett Bay, and when the ministers of
George the Third claimed the right to
transport the persons accused from
Rhode Island to England for trial, Jef
ferson saw at once that the time had
come for joint and concerted action be
tween all the colonies. To concede this
claim as to the humblest citizen, was to
surrender the liberties of all. In the
early part of March, 1772, Patrick Hen
ry, Richard Henry Lee, Francis Light
foot Lee, Dabney Carr and Thomas
Jefferson .met at the Raleigh Tavern, in
Williamsburg, Virginia, and drew up the
famous resolutions pledging Virginia to
stand by Rhode Island, and creating a
committee of eleven, whose duty it
should be to corretqiond with the other
colonies, and concert measures for the
general defence.
It is singular with what pertinacity
amidst all the passionate de
hates and resolves of this eventful
period, Jefferson and his associates still
clung to the idea of loyalty to the king.
Not till 1775 did he reluctantly come to
tin* conclusion that the colonies must
separate from tlie mother country.
Thus had the Commons of England ad
vanced step by step until the head of
Charles the First rolled from his should
ers lx*fore his palace at White Hall, and
thus had the Girondists given place to
the revolution, until Loirs the Sixteenth
and Marie Antoinette died beneath the
axe of the Guillotine. In 1774 the jieople
of Boston threw into the harltor tin* fa
mous shipment of tea, and the King oi
England retaliated by closing the port.
Again, Jefferson and his associates met
at the Raleigh Tavern, and resolved to
stand by New England. Massachu
setts and Virginia then stood shoulder
to shoulder, and who could have believed
that in less than a century the same
states would grapple in deadly conflict?
On June 21st, 1775, Jefferson took his
seat as a member of the Continental
‘Congress, and in June, 177(5, wrote, with
his own hand, the Declaration of Ameri
can Independent**, the most sublime ui
uneiation, save one, ever made to the
human race.
That “all governments derive their just
powers from the consent of the govern
ed,” is but a corollary from the divine
injunction. “All things whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye
even so to them.”
Together these two great truths em
brace all the rights and duties of man
kind.
The Declaration, having been reported
to Congress, was debated on tin* second,
third and fourth days of July, and adopt
ed on the afternoon of the fourth, every
member present signing it, except Mr.
Dickinson.
In after years, Mr. Jefferson related
with great humor a ludicrous event con
nected with this solemn transaction.
-Near the hall in which Congress as
sembled was a large livery stable, and
the weather being extremely warm, the
bloodthirsty and and aggressive flies,
which swarmed through the open win
dows, attacked our patriotic fathers, in
abbreviated pants and thin silk stock
ings. with such pertinacity as to termin
ate the debate.
So near the sublime is the ridiculous,
and so wonderfully do the most, insigni
ficant creatures influence the destiny of
man.
THE NEWS AND OBSERVER, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 25, 1809
REFORM IN G VIRGINI A.
Thirteen States had now sprung into
being, with institutions and laws not
only varying as between themselves, hut
with some utterly opposed to the genius
and spirit of the Declaration of Inde
pendence.
In none of the colonies were abuses
so rife and firmly established as in
Virginia. Primogeniture and entail had
created a class of thoughtless elder
brothers and vagabond heirs, who were
reckless and self-indulgent to the very
verge of lawlessness.
The union of Church and State had de
stroyed the rights of conscience, and a
licentious clergy, so far from "leading
the way to Heaven,” were merely ad
juncts to the great houses, where high
play and old Madam rewarded their
complaisant ministry
The world, for hundreds of years, had
listened to the clanking of chains and
shrieks of martyrs, whilst fire and faggot
irradiated the deadly work of religious
bigotry.
Even the Pilgrims, flying from perse
cution, “having landed on Pilgrim Rock,
fallen on their knees and then on the
aborigines,” no sooner found themselves
firmly established in New England,
than they began to torture in the name
of God.
To deny any book of the Old or New
Testaments to he the word of God was
punished by fire or by stripes, and blas
phemy left tfie delinquent without his
ears and with his tongue 1 >ored by a red
hot iron. Men pilloried, branded
and executed for non-conformity to the
established church, and in but three out
of the thirteen colonies was there reli
gious toleration —’Rhode Island, Mary
land and Pennsylvania.
Mr. Jefferson graphically describes the
condition of Virginia:
"The first settlers of this country were
emigrants from England of the English
Church, just at a point of time when it
was flushed with complete victory over
the religion of all other persuasions.
Possessed, as they became, of the power
of .making, administering and executing
the laws, they showed equal intolerance
in this country with their Presbyterian
brethren who had emigrated to the
northern government. The poor Quakers
were flying from persecution in England;
they cast their eyes on these new coun
tries as asylums of civil and religious
freedom, but they found them free only
tor the reigning sect.
“General acts of the Virginia Assem
bly of 1(559, 1(5(52. and K 593. had made
it penal in parents to refuse to have
their children baptized: had prohibited
the unlawful assembly of Quakers: had
made it penal for any master of a vessal
to bring a Quaker into the State: had
ordered those already here, and such as
should come thereafter, to lie imprisoned
until they should abjure the country;
provided a milder punishment for their
first and second return, but death for
their third: had inhibited all persons
from suffering their meetings in or near
tneir houses, entertaining them individu
ally. or disposing of books which support
ed their tenets.
“If no executions took place here, as
did in New England, it was not owing
to the moderation of the church or spirit
of the legislature, as may be inferred
from the law itself, hut to historical cir
cumstances that have not been handed
down to us.
“By our own Act of Assembly of 1705.
if a person brought up in the Christian
religion denies the* existence of a God,
or the Trinity, or asserts there are .more
Gods than one, or denies the Christian
religion to he true, or the scriptures to
he of divine authority, he is punishable
on the first offence by incapacity to hold
any office or employment, ecclesiastical,
civil or military, on the second, by disa
bility to site, to take any gift or legacy,
to be guardian, executor or administra
tor. and by three years’ imprisonment
without bail.
“A father’s right to the custody of his j
own children being founded in law on
his right of guardianship, this being
taken a way,they may of course tie sever
ed from him and put by authority of the
court into more orthodox hands.”
Amidst a storm of opposition and ob
loquy, such as was never before seen on
this continent, Jefferson resolutely at
tacked primogeniture, entail, and the
union of Church and State.
From October tin* 11th to December,
the sth the battle raged daily in the Vir
ginia Assembly, and resulted in a sub- j
st.ant ini victory for Jefferson, although j
the statute for religious toleration did
not finally become a law until 178(5. {
When nearly eighty years old, Mr. Jes- j
for son spoke of this as the .most terrible
contest of his 'long and stormy career. •
Against him' were arrayed the wealthy
families whose large estates were held
by ential. the elder sons whose patri
monies were taken from them, and more
than all. the clergy and established j
church, who resented the statute for re- 1
ligious toleration as a blasphemous at
tack upon religion and a personal outrage
nipm themselves. Jefferson was denounc
ed as a communist, an atheist, a foe to I
religion, and the bitter enmities engen
dered by this conflict harassed him dur
ing life anil assailed his memory after
death.
No one lnew better than Jefferson how
unrelenting is religious intolerance, and
how dangerous the charge of infidelity or
atheism to a public man. but so true xvas
he to the rights of conscience, that in his
long life and under all assaults, he made
no reply to his enemies. He absolutely
denied the right of any being, except his
Maker, to call in-question his religious!
belief, and thus he lived and died.
In a private'letter to Dr. Benjamin
Rush, dated April 21st, 1803, he wrote
of bis religions opinions:
“They are the result of a life of inqui
ry and reflection, and very different
from that anti-Christian system imputed,
to me by those who knew nothing of ;my ,
opinions. To the corruptions of Chris-j
tlimity 1 am indeed opposed, but not to
tin* genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I
am a Christian in the sense in which lie
wished any one to he, sincerely attached
to his doctrines in preference to all oth
ers, ascribing to himself every human ,
excellence, and believing he never claim-.
ed any other.”
To his young grandson, when life had
almost faded away, and he could feel
upon Ids aged brow the Ireath of eterni
ty. he wrote:
“This letter wiii be to you as one from
the dead. The writer will be in the
grave before you can weigh its counsels. I
Your affectionate father ha.-; requested
that I would add-ess you something '
which might missihly have a favorable
influence on the c< urs** of life you have!
t'o run, and I too, as a namesake, feel an
interest in that course. j
“Few words will he necessary with
good disposition on your part. Adore
God. Reverence and cherish your par
ents, Love your neighbor as yourself, i
[ and your country more than yourself.
Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the
ways of Providence, so that the life into
which you have entered be the 'portal to
one of eternal and ineffable bliss. And
if to the dead it be permitted to care for
j the things of this world, every action of
your life will he under my regard.”
i If this be theism or infidelity, what
| honest man or pure woman will not pray
that the world be filled with unbelief?
To Jefferson the doctrines of primo
-1 geniture, entail, and an established
I church were but part and parcel of the
; system which gave to certain families
the divine right of governing their fellow
men. and against this heresy, with all its
i incidents and cor a Maries, he made untir-
I ing and relentless war until the end of
his life.
To him there was but one creed in
matters spiritual or temporal:
| “All governments derive their just
powers from the consent of the govern
ed.”
In addition to the 'legislation abolishing
primogeniture, entail, and an established
church, Jefferson, at the same session of
the Assembly, 'introduced and passed a
bill fixing the terms upon which foreign
i ers should la* admitted as citizens of
Virginia, and this act became the model
for the general naturalization law of the
United States. Under a resolution intro
duced by himself in October. 1770. he
commenced the next summer, in connec
tion with Edmund Pendleton and George
Wythe, a revision of the laws of Vir
ginia. and in 1779, after three years of
arduous labor, the work was completed.
But his great ambition was to establish
a system of common schools, which
should place a 'liberal education within
the reach of every child in Virginia, to
create high schools, found a library at
Richmond, at a cost of two thousand
pounds a year, and change William and
Mary College into a University. With
indefatigable zeal he perfected all the
details, but the war absorbed the entire
resources of the commonwealth, and
long years of eventful history passed be
fore he realized any part of his cherished
plans.
GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA.
On June Ist, 1779. Jefferson was inau
gurated Governor of Virginia, succeeding
Patrick Henry, the first executive of the
State. From the day of his inauguration
to the hour when he retired from office,
he was overwhelmed with difficulties,
before which an ordinary man would
have shrunk appalled and hopeless.
Without navy, arms or money, Jeffer
son was expected to defend an exposed
seaboard, furnish supplies to the Virginia
( troops in the field, and prevent tin* hor-
| rors of an Indian war on the western
I border.
All that could la* done by unflagging
energy and tile wisest forethought lie ac
compiish(*d. but in 1789 the storm of
war hurst with relentless fury upon
Virginia.
Gates was defeated at Camden, the
traitor Arnold sailed up the James, burn
ing and pillaging on either side, until he
captured Richmond, whilst news came
that Washington’s army was on the eve
of dissolution.
In 1781 Cornwallis invaded Virginia
from the South, and a troop of cavalry
dashed upon Montieello with the liojk* of
capturing Governor Jefferson, and his
faithful slaves refused, under bribes and
threats, to give information of the route
he bad taken.
'As always in the hour of national
calamity, a scapegoat was necessary to
appease the popular disquietude, and
j Jefferson was in this instance the victim. I
(.onsoions of liis faithful discharge of du
! tv. lie chafed under these assaults as
never before or after, and although ac
quitted by the unanimous vote of the
Assembly, declared that he would never
accept another public trust, and that,
with the close of the war, his political
career had ended.
Surrounded at Montieello by his family.
| to whom he was tenderly attached, and
with his books and flowers. Jefferson
looked forward to years of quiet happi
ness. such as every man. wont with the
battle of life, has pictured in his day
dreams of the future. But Providence
t had destined otherwise.
In tin* spring of 1782 death rohlied him
of a wife whose beauty and accomplish
ments gave to 'Montieello the most
charming mistress that ever blessed a
, Virginia homo, and from a stupor of grief
Jefferson* awoke, anxious to leave the
J sconces which constantly reminded him
| of his irreparable loss.
Again he plunged into the vortex of
| piliiics. and in 1785 we find him at An
! napolis, ready to take his seat in Con
gress, to which he had been recently
l elected. Again he devoted himself with
untiring assiduity to public business, and,
as chairman of tin* Oommittee on Coins
and (Currency, gave to his country and
the world a system of coinage on the
decimal basis, the most perfect known
I amongst men.
At the same session he introduced the
celebrated ordinance, afterwards enacted
in 1787. by which Virginia gave* to the
I uni'on l lie great States of Ohio. Indiana.
Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.
ENVOY TO FRANCE.
On May 17th, 1784. Jefferson was ap
pointed Envoy Extraordinary to assist
Mr. Adams and Dr. Franklin, then
abroad, in concluding commercial -trea
ties with Great Britain, Holland, and
other governments, on “the footing of
the .most favored nation,” and on March
! 19th. 1785, lie succeeded Dr. Franklin as
minister to France.
Jefferson remained in Europe five
I years, residing in Paris, and watching
| with deepest interest the great drama of
the French Revolution. lie witnessed
the fall of the Bastile, and the massacre
ol tin* Swiss Guards; lull, like Charles
James Fox, he saw through the Id I
and horror the outlines of liberty: and.
unlike Burke, lie beheld in the French
queen, not only a beautiful and unfort
unate woman, hut tin* reckless, self-in
dulgent cause of her husband’s ruin.
" 1 his angel, as gaudily painted in the
rhapsodies of Burke.” the wrote forty
years afterwards, “with some smartness
of fancy, hut no sound sense, was proud,
disdainful of restraint, indignant at all
.obstacles to her will, eager in the pur
suit of pleasure, and firm enough to hold
to her ileslires or perish in their wreck.
“Her inordinate gambling* and dissipa
tions, with those of tlie Count d’Artois
and others of her clique, hinj been a sen
sible item in the exhaust ion of the 'treas
ury. which called into action the reform
ing hand of the nation: and her opposi
tion to it, her inflexible perverseness and
dauntless spirit, led herself to the Guil
lotine, drew the king on with her, and
plunged the world into crimes and
calamities which will forever stain the
pages of modern history. I have ever
believed that, had there been mo queen,
there would have been no Revolution, no
force would have been provoked or ex
ercised.” * i I
Like John Knox, in the days of Mary
| Queen of Scots, Jefferson could not ap
preciate the beauty which looked, with
out pity, on the starving multitude, and
listened, without emotion, to the cries
of her unfortunate people.
Jefferson looked with contemptuous
amazement upon the French Court, feast
ing and dancing at Versailles, while the
hungry people roared and surged through
the streets of Paris.
"Slowly comes «i hungry people, as a
Don creeping Higher,
Glares at one that nods and winks be
hind a slowly-dying fire.”
The glamour of royalty did not seem
to affect this stern republican, who re
jected with scorn the divine night of
kings.
In tone of his letters he writes thus of
the Monarchs then occupying the proud
est thrones of earth:
“While I was in Europe I often amus
ed myself in contemplating the charac
ters of the tnen reigning sovereigns of
Europe. Louis the Sixteenth was a
fool, of my own knowledge, and in de
spite of the answers made for him at
his trial. The King of Spain was a fool,
and of Naples the sarnie. They passed
their lives in hunting, and despatched
two couriers a week over one thousand
miles to let each other know Wliat game
they had killed the preceding days. The
King of Sardinia was a fool. All these
were Bourbons. The Queen'of Portugal.
Braganza, was an idiot by nature, and
so was the King of Denmark. Their
sons, as regents, exercised the powers
of government. The King of Prussia,
successor to Frederick the Great, was a
mere hog in body ns well as in mind.
“Gustavus. of Sweden, and Joseph of
Austria, were really crazy, and George
of England, you know, was in a straight
waistcoat. There remained then none
but old Catherine, who had been too
lately picked up to have lost her com
mon sense.
“In this state Bonaparte found Eu
rope. and it was the state of the rulers
which lost it without a sturggle. These
animals had become without mind and
powerless, and so will every hereditary
monarch he after a few generations.”
Every fibre of Jefferson's being sym
pathized with tlx* unfortunate people
whose sweat and blood had lieen wrung
from them for centuries, to feed these
royal animals, and every hour in Europe
added to his hatred of the monarchical
system.
In February. 1787. he left Paris, and
traveled incognito through the fairest
provinces of France, investigating the
home life of the people, their houses,
food and modes of agriculture.
Besides attending to liis diplomatic
duties and making commercial treaties
with all principal nations of Europe,
Jefferson found time to correspond with
leading scientists upon chemistry, astro
nomy. geology and natural history. He
collected and shipped to the United
States s**eds and plants of all kinds sui
table to our climate, and procured for
Button, the great naturalist, specimens
of the animals and birds peculiar to
this continent.
When in France, he wrote and pub
lished his celebrated “Notes on Virginia.”
which attracted universal attention, and
passed through several editions.
Whilst making treaties, writing philo
sophical essays, and watching the Rev
olution. this remarkable man invented
an improved plough, which was awarded
a medal h.v the Royal Agricultural So
ciety of the Seine, and was exhibited
to William ('. Rives, Minister to Prance
in 1853. as “The Brize Plough of Thom
as Jefferson:” afterwards he invented
the revolving chair, now found in so
many offices and households.
Rice was largely consumed in France,
and anxious to know why the American
article was unable to compete success
fully with that raised in Southern Eu
rope. he made a journey across the Alps
in 1787. into the rice-growing districts,
and being unable to procure some im
proved seed rice, which he discovered
there, on account of laws prohibiting its
exportation, he filled the pockets of his
coat with the liest rice, of the best
rice-producing district of Italy, and sent
it to Charleston. It came to hand
safely, was distributed in quantities
of ten and twelve grains to planters, and
being carefully tended, furnished South
Carolina the best rice in tin* world.
SECRETARY OF STATE.
After five years of unremitting toll
for his county and mankind. Jefferson
was compelled to give attention to his
private affairs, and left Paris in Oeto
lH*r, 1789. with his two daughters, ex
pecting to return within a year. On
November 17. 1789. he landed safely at
Norfolk, and found an invitation from
Washington to become Secretary of
State.
With reluctance. Imt acting under a
sense of public obligation, he accepted
tlie office, and entered upon its duties.
Accustomed, as Jefferson must have
been, to tlie uncertainty of political
events and tin* mutations of public* sen
timent. lie was profoundly astonished to
find that a powerful party had come into
existence in the United States, which dis
trusted the people, and favored a strong,
I if not monarchical government.
! At the head of this party was the Sec
-1 ret ary of the Treasury. Alexander Ham
ilton. a man of rare ability and unques
tionable courage, but without faith in
republican institutions or in any form of
government not possessing m'nnarhicnl
I features.
I That such were Hamilton’s opinions
can not lie doubted.
j In Madison’s debates of the (\invoii
tiion we find Hamilton reported as say
! ing tliat:
"In his private opinion he had no
scruple in declaring. sup|H>rt»*d as lu* wits
h.v tlie opinions of so many of the wise
and good, that the British government
was tlie best in the world.”
He declared that the Senate of the
United States should lx* framed on the
.model of the House of Lords, and in
speaking of the Chief Executive, said:
“The English model is tin* only good
one on this subject. The hereditary in
terests of the King were so interwoven
with that of the nation, and his personal
emoluments so great, that he was placed
above the danger of being corrupted
from abroad, and at the same time he
was sufficiently independent and suffi
ciently controlled, to answer tin* purpose
of the (institution at home.”
The notes written by Hamilton him
self. from which he deli veil this speech,
can be found in his life by liis son. aiul
in them are the following points:
“Here I shall give my sentiments as
the liest form of government, not as a
thing attainable by us. but ms a model
which we ought to approach as near as
possible. British Constitution, best form.
. . . Society naturally divides it
self into two politicail divisions—the few,
ami the many—who have distinct inter
ests . . . and if separated they will
need a mutual cheek. 'This check is a
M (.march. . . . He ought to be
hereditary, and to have so much power
that it will not he his interest to risk
much to acquire more.”
That there was a party in the United
States disposed to Monarchy is put be
yond question by the statements of
Washington, Madison, Jay, John ‘Mar
shall and Monroe. Even John Adams
declared that " the pro]nisition that the
people are the best keepers of their own
liberties is not true; they art* tin* worst
conceivable; they are no keepers at all;
they can neither judge, act, think or will
as a political body . . . Hypocrisy,
simulation and finesse are not more prac
ticed in tlie courts than in ixipular elec
tion's, nor more encouraged by Courts
than people.”
During the war for independence the
Colonies had beCn held together by a
common danger, but even then it was
evident, that, tin* articles of con'f(*dern
tiion must lx* set aside and a stronger
government established. The power to
levy and collect taxes, provide for the
general defence, and act as a Sovereign
within its proper sphere, were necessary
attributes of government demanded by
self-preservation itself.
This necessity created a tendency to
centralization, and the excesses of the
French revolution, at which the world
stood against, furnished what seemed a.
conclusive argument against popular
government. Jefferson soon found him
self almost alone in the elegant society
of New York. The wealth, culture and
refinement of the city were shocked at the
atrocities committed in Paris, and Ham
ilton was their pet and idol.
"1 had left ]•* ranee." Mr. Jefferson
wrote long after, "in tin* first year of her
revolution, in the fervor of national
rights, and zeal for reformation. Mv
conscientious devotion to those rights
could not be heightened, but it had been
aroused and excited by daily exercise.
"The President received me cordially,
and my colleagues and the principal
citizens apparently with welcome. The
courtesies of dinner parties given me, as
a stranger newly arrived among them,
placed me at once tin their familiar so
ciety. But 1 cannot describe the won*
(hr and mortification with which the
table conversation filled me. Politics
were the chief topic, and a preference of
kingly over republican government was
evidently the favorite sentiment.
"An apostate I could not be, nor yet a
hypocrite; and I found myself, for the
most part, the only advocate on the re
publican side of the question, unless
among the guests there chanced to be
some member of that party from the
legislative houses.”
It was not possible that harmony, nor
any relation except that of antagonism,
should exist between Jefferson und Ham
ilton. They were both men of great
ability, positive convictions, and with
views utterly irreconciable as to the gov
ernment.
Jefferson was the incarnate principle
of Democracy, pure and simple, without
alloy.
Hamilton had no sympathy with the
people or popular government. In Feb
ruary, 1892, he wrote* to Gouveneur
Morris, his most intimate friend, and af
terward bus eulogist:
“Mine is an odd destiny. Perhaps no
man in the United States has sacrificed
or dene more for the present constitution
than myself, and. contrary to all my an
ticipations of its fate, as you know from
the beginning, I am still laboring to
prop the frail and worthless fabric.
. . . Every day proves to me more
and more that this American world was
not made for me.”
Notwithstanding the great authority
of Washington, and the influence which
his character exercised upon all who ap
proached him, there soon occurred an
01**11 rupture between the Secretary of
State and the Secretary of the Treas
ury.
In February. 1792. Jefferson mention
ed to the President his intention to
retire from the Cabinet, and, wheat
pressed for his reasons, frankly stated
that it was impossible for Col. Hamilton
and himself to continue together in the
administration, and that now a propo
sition had lieent brought forward, the
decision of which must definitely
determine “whether we live under a
limited or unlimited government.”
"To what proposition do you allude?"
asked the President.
"To that." replied Jefferson, “in the
report, of manufactures (by Hamilton),
which, under color of giving Iwmnties
for tlit* encouragement of particular
manufactures, meant to establish tin*
doctrine that the constitution, in giving
lower lo Congress to provide for the
general welfare, permitted Congress to
take everything under their charge
wli'icli they should deem for the public
welfare. If this was maintained, then
the enumeration of powers in the con
stitution does not at ail constitute the
limits of their authority.”
If Jefferson should mow revisit the
earth he would find the same doctrine
advanced even amongst those who claim
to he exponents of his principles and
teaching.
In tin* meantime all Europe was pre
paring to attack France, and the ques
tion presented to Washington's Cabinet
was whether the United 1 States should
remain neutral or assist the people who
had assisted us in our struggle for In
dependence.
On April 22d. 170”. the proclamation
for neutrality was issued, and on the
same day Citizen Genet arrived in a
French frigate as Minister to the Uni
ted States from the French Republic.
He was received with such tumultu
ous acclamation as was never before
or since given to any ambassador or vis
itor to our shores. Public meetings, ban
quets. oratory and music evidenced tin*
deep feeling of tin* American people for
tin* cause of France. A storm of indig
nation burst upon Washington and his
Cabinet for refusing to give immediate
assistance to our allies of the War for
Independence, then struggling against
the combined despotism of Europe, led
by England.
It is impossible for us to realize now
the popular excitement of those event
ful days, nr the clamor raised about the
government, but Washington and his
Cabinet stood linn, and' the result justi
fied the wisdom of -their course.
Jefferson's correspondence with Genet
and the English Minister, afterwards
published by order of Congress, stands
today and will forever remain the most
wonderful exhibition of learning, skill
and moderation to be found in the an
nals of diplomacy.
VICE-PRESIDENT.
Jefferson retired from Washington’s
Cabinet on January the Ist, 17fM, the
acknowledged leader of the Republican
(Continued ou third page.)