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lic duties, at the same time, he acknowledges, that in private conversations he wholly disapproved of the system of that officer. The case does not seem to admit of much further effort at intrigue than the expression of opinions. in private conversation. And as his opinions usually had the force of law with his adherents, he admits all that was necessary to render him liable to the general charge of having endeavored to influence members in their legislative conduct. And when his famous commercial report, made just as he was retiring from office, is remembered, and the great pains he took afterwards to excite opposition to the British treaty, and the alien and sedition laws-the latter while he was vice-president-it will require no great stretch of credulity to believe, that he was not entirely quiescent respecting the course of the public affairs alluded to, at a time when he was on the spot, and certainly took a deep interest in their general character. His uniform and vindictive opposition to general Hamilton, will always render him liable, at least, to the suspicion.

General Hamilton's answer to general Washington's letter of August 26, 1792, is as follows:-"I have the pleasure of your private letter of the 26th of August. The feelings and views which are manifested in that letter, are such as I expected would exist. And I most sincerely regret the causes of the uneasy sensations you experience. It is my most anxious wish, as far as may depend upon me, to smooth the path of your administration, and to render it prosperous and happy. And if any prospect shall open of healing or terminating the differences which exist, I shall most cheerfully embrace it; though I consider myself as the deeply injured party. The recommendation of such a spirit is worthy of the moderation and wisdom which dictated it. And if your endeavors should prove unsuccessful, I do not hesitate to say, that in my opinion

the period is not remote, when the public good will require SUBSTITUTES for the differing members of your administration. The continuance of a division there must destroy the energy of government, which will be little enough with the strictest union. On my part there will be a most cheerful acquiescence in such a result.

"I trust, sir, that the greatest frankness has always marked, and will always mark, every step of my conduct towards you. In this disposition I cannot conceal from you, that I have had some instrumentality of late in the retaliations, which have fallen upon certain public characters, and that I find myself placed in a situation not to be able to recede for the present.

"I considered myself as compelled to this conduct by reasons public as well as personal, of the most cogent nature. I know that I have been an object of uniform opposition from Mr. Jefferson, from the moment of his coming to the city of New York to enter upon his present office. I know from the most authentic sources, that I have been the frequent subject of the most unkind whispers and insinuations from the same quarter. I have long seen formed a party in the legislature under his auspices, bent upon my subversion. I cannot doubt from the evidence I possess, that the National Gazette was instituted by him for political purposes, and that one leading object of it has been to render me, and all the measures connected with my department, as odious as possible.

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"Nevertheless, I can truly say that, except explanations to confidential friends, I never, directly or indirectly, retaliated or countenanced retaliation till very lately. I can even assure you, I was instrumental in perverting a very severe and systematic attack upon Mr. Jefferson by an association of two or three individuals, in consequence of the persecution which he brought upon the vice-president,

by his indirect and light letter to the printer transmitting Paine's pamphlet.

"As long as I saw no danger to the government from the machinations which were going on, I resolved to be a silent sufferer of the injuries which were done me. I determined to avoid giving occasion to anything which could manifest to the world dissensions among the principal characters of the government; a thing which can never happen without weakening its hands, and in some degree throwing a stigma upon it.

"But when I no longer doubted, that there was a formed party deliberately bent upon the subversion of measures, which in its consequences would subvert the government; when I saw that the undoing of the funding system in particular (which, whatever may be the original merits of that system, would prostrate the credit and honor of the nation, and bring the government into contempt with that description of men who are in every society the only firm supporters of the government,) was an avowed object of the party, and that all possible pains were taking to produce that effect by rendering it odious to the body of the people, I considered it as a duty to endeavor to resist the torrent, and, as an effectual means to this end, to draw aside the veil from the principal actors. To this strong impulse, to this decided conviction, I have yielded. And I think events will prove that I have judged rightly.

"Nevertheless, I pledge my honor to you, sir, that if you shall hereafter form a plan to reunite the members of your administration upon some steady principle of co-operation, I will faithfully concur in executing it during my continuance in office and I will not, directly or indirectly, say or do a thing that shall endanger a feud."

Nothwithstanding the very artful and labored attempt, in Mr. Jefferson's letter, to lower general Hamilton's prin

ciples and character in general Washington's estimation, it has been seen by the letter from the latter to the former upon his leaving the treasury department, it was entirely without effect. That event occurred nearly two years after the date of this correspondence, and from the language of the letter alluded to, which will be found in this work, general Hamilton carried with him into retirement the fullest confidence, as well as the most sincere esteem and respect, of general Washington.

Nor is it known that Mr. Jefferson ever made his threatened appeal to the country, under his own signature, in order to place his cause before that tribunal. Whether his want of success in convincing general Washington of general Hamilton's treasonable designs against the country discouraged him from an effort with the people, or he became convinced that the safer, and it was certainly the more characteristic mode, that of retailing his slanders through the medium of a posthumous publication, would be the more discreet course to pursue for the attainment of his object, will be left to the reader's judgement to decide.

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CHAPTER XVII.

Mr. Jefferson made use of unworthy means to gain popularityAlleges that he had more confidence in the people than general Washington had; which was the only point on which they differed-He assumed the title of "Friend of the People "--Dressed plainly affected unassuming manners--professed never to have written a word for newspapers-He urged others to write -In one instance he wrote himself, but proposed to procure somebody to father it-Tells Madison he must take up his pen in reply to Hamilton-Letter to E. Pendleton, Jan. 1799, urges him to write on the negociation with France-Letter to Madison, and calls upon him to write-The federalists viewed Jefferson as an unbeliever in Christianity-Letter to Dr. Priestly, March, 1804-Letter to Dr. Rush, April, 1803-estimate of the merits of the doctrines of Jesus, compared with the others-Letter to J. Adams, August, 1813-Letter to W. Short, April, 1820-Jefferson a materialist; Jesus on the side of spiritualism—Paul the first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus-Letter to Short, Aug. 1820-The God of the Jews cruel, vindictive, capricious, and unjust-Letter to J. Adams, April, 1823-The three first verses of John, 1st chapter, mistranslated-Jefferson not a Christiandoubtful whether he believed in a God-His translation of John 1st absurd-Recapitulation of the subjects in the work—Conclusion.

Mr. Jefferson, like all other demagogues, made use of unworthy, indirect, and servile means to gain popular favor, with the view of accomplishing his ambitious projects. In one of his letters quoted in this work, he says, the only point in which general Washington and he differed in opinion,'was, that he had more confidence in the natural integrity of the people, and in the safety and extent to which they might trust themselves with a control over their govern

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