CHAPTER CIX.

THE pernicious influence of Jefferson had been felt in every department of the Government; and the careful student of American history will find that to him may be traced every heresy which has infected the counsels of this country.

The jealousy he excited against the Military establishment had protracted the sufferings of the frontier; and, while it weakened the arm, increased the expenditure of the nation.

His hostility to the Secretary of the Treasury, but for Hamilton's superior weight with the Legislature, would have denied to it the necessary resources. His clamors against the Fiscal system had encouraged discontents, which were ripening rapidly into Rebellion; and the embarrassments he interposed to the operations of the Sinking fund had interfered with the reduction of the debt.

His opinions as to the foreign policy of the United States, had they prevailed, would have exerted a not less malignant influence on the destinies of this people. Here and there, some advocate may be found seeking to exhibit him as the friend of Neutrality, but his often avowed opinions and his successive acts all bespeak him the partisan of France.

Those opinions gave to her an undue importance in the estimation of this infant country, and those acts tended to involve it, as a dependent ally, in the great conflict which was convulsing Europe-an alliance the most injurious and unnatural, for what greater contrast could be presented, than the despotic anarchy of that mighty, and then rapacious power, compared with the prudent moderation which belonged to the American Republic. It would have been the alliance of chaos with order.

Jefferson's retirement from office was a source of great gratification to many of the most sagacious statesmen. They hoped increased stability in the Administration. But he had considered well the consequences of every movement that he made. In presenting to Washington, Randolph as his successor, he felt assured that his party would encounter in him no serious obstacles to its policy, and might profit by the influence he enjoyed, flowing from the personal attachment to him of the Presi dent.

With such a person as the medium of communication with foreign powers, with a hostile majority in the popular branch of the legislature-with a large division of the people, sympathizing with France, and stimulated in their hostility to Great Britain by her aggressions, Hamilton's position was environed with difficulties. These difficulties he had thus far surmounted. His policy had essentially prevailed, though marred, in its bold symmetry, by unavoidable concessions.

The opponents of the Government had claimed an exclusive title to the public confidence, they had lured the people into the expectation, that their ascendency in the House of Representatives would unfold the abuses, and terminate the imputed evils of his system. Yet a Session of Congress had passed; and, notwithstanding the most

persevering efforts, not a single instance of corruption or of mismanagement was discovered. The calumnies with which the Secretary of the Treasary had been pursued during the whole of his official career were refuted, and his accusers had been compelled to award to him, by an unanimous act, instead of ostracism, an ovation.

Nor was this his only triumph. Peace had been preserved; and although the future was uncertain, yet the Nation was shown, that every mean had been suggested, consistent with its honor, to avert, and, if unavoidable, to prepare for war.

In despite of the efforts of the opposition-the larger representations of the people had confirmed the existing establishments. Instead of theoretical innovations upon the Fiscal system, auxiliary funds had been granted to meet emergencies; and to provide for the balances due to the Creditor States, thus finally to discharge the debt of the Revolution. The departure from law and from usage which confided to a Committee of the House, the digest of financial measures, instead of requiring them from the officer, who was responsible for their execution. and their success, had neither resulted in the benefits nor in the changes anticipated. There had been deviations, but they were such as would necessarily attend the interference of a numerous body with the comprehensive, and matured economy of a single head of the Fiscal Depart

ment.

Though, in the propositions and discussions of Congress, there was much to censure; yet the final legislation, through the controlling influence of the Senate, had been wise. By one Statute, a tribute had been paid to the kindred obligations of humanity which compensates many errors. Acting in the spirit of the Federal Constitution, which proscribed, after a specified period, the in

troduction of slaves into the United States, a bill was passed, immediately prohibiting the slave trade, and thus originating that benevolent policy which marks a conspicuous era in the history of the human race.

The issue of the recent investigation into the conduct of the Treasury Department removed one great obstacle to Hamilton's retirement from the Cabinet. But the events which had occurred since he intimated that intention, had changed his views. These were announced to the President.

"PHILADELPHIA, May 27, 1794.-SIR: I some time since communicated an intention to withdraw from the office I hold, towards the close of the present Session.

"This I should now put in execution, but for the events which have lately accumulated, of a nature to render the prospect of the continuance of our peace, in a considerable degree, precarious-I do not perceive, that I could voluntarily quit my post at such a juncture, consistently with considerations either of duty or character, and therefore, I find myself reluctantly obliged to defer the offer of my resignation.

"But, if any circumstances should have taken place in consequence of the intimation of an intention to resign, or should otherwise exist, which serve to render my continuance in office, in any degree inconvenient or ineligible, 1 beg leave to assure you, Sir, that I should yield to them with all the readiness naturally inspired by an impatient desire, to relinquish a situation in which even a momentary stay is opposed by the strongest personal and family reasons."

Washington replied:

"The communication which you made, to me some

time ago, of your intention to resign, and to which you refer in your letter of the 27th instant, received yesterday afternoon, I always considered as depending upon events. Of course nothing has been done by me to render your continuance in office inconvenient or ineligible.

"On the contrary, I am pleased that you have determined to remain at your post until the clouds over our affairs, which have come on so fast of late, shall be dispersed."

The pending difficulties with Great Britain, were not the only causes that prompted Hamilton's determination to remain in office.

The wild anarchy excited by the leaders of the Democratic party was now inflamed to a degree that threatened the stability, perhaps, the existence of the Government; and he felt there would be required all the constancy and energy of his character to confront and to subdue it. He was convinced, that the rebellious temper, which had been excited in the interior of Pennsylvania, and which extended to Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, was not merely directed against the Excise laws, but that it was part of "a general explosion" long maturing, and menacing the integrity of the Union. A great crisis was approaching.

In a system of Government like that of the United States, there are few efficiently operative checks. With a Senate so constituted and of such little permanence, great as are its constitutional attributes, all power tends ultimately through the popular branch of the legislature, to the President.

Is he a favorite of the people, his influence will overrule the law. Is he unpopular, he is too feeble to sustain it, and is cast aside for some successful demagogue. Is he bold and unscrupulous, he exerts the will of a despot,