omitted an occasion of promoting, while I have been in situations to do it with effect; and nothing, even now, in the calm of age and retirement, would excite in me a more lively interest than an approveable plan of raising that respectable and unfortunate people from the state of physical and moral abjection to which they have been reduced by circumstances foreign to them. That the plan now proposed is entitled to unmixed approbation, I am not prepared to say, after mature consideration, and with all the partialities which its professed object would rightfully claim from me.

"I shall not undertake to draw the line of demarcation between private associations of laudable views and unimposing numbers, and those whose magnitude may rivalize and jeopardize the march of regular government. Yet such a line does exist. I have seen the days, they were those which preceded the Revolution, when even this last and perilous engine became necessary; but they were days which no man could wish to see a second time. That was the case where the regular authorities of the government had combined against the rights of the people, and no means of correction remained to them, but to organize a collateral power, which, with their support, might rescue and secure their violated rights. But such is not the case with our government. We need hazard no collateral power, which, by a change of its original views, and assumption of others we know not how virtuous or how mischievous, would be ready organized and in force sufficient to shake the established foundations of society, and endanger its peace and the principles on which it is based. Is not the machine now proposed of this gigantic nature? It is to consist of the ex-presidents of the United States, the vice-president, the heads of all the executive departments, the members of the supreme judiciary, the governors of the several states and territories, all the members of both houses of Congress, all the general officers of the army, the commissioners of the navy, all presidents and professors of colleges and theological seminaries, all the clergy of the United States, the presidents and secretaries of all associations having relation to Indians, all commanding officers within or near Indian territories, all Indian superintendents and agents; all these ex-officio; and as many private individuals as will pay a certain price for membership.

"Observe, too, that the clergy will constitute nineteen-twentieths of this association, and, by the law of the majority, may command the twentieth part, which, composed of all the high authorities of the United States, civil and military, may be out-voted and wielded by the nineteen parts with uncontrollable power, both as to purpose and process. Can this formidable array be

reviewed without dismay? And even the chosen functionaries of the government, in whom I otherwise cherish the most implicit confidence, here leave their official duties, act not by the laws of their station, but by those of a voluntary society, having no limit to their purposes but the same will which constitutes their existence. It will be the authorities of the people and all influential characters from among them arrayed on one side, and on the other the people themselves deserted by their leaders.

"It will be said that these are imaginary fears. I know they are so at present. I know it is as impossible for these agents of our choice and unbounded confidence to harbor machinations against the adored principles of our Constitution, as for gravity to change its direction, and gravid bodies to mount upwards. The fears are indeed imaginary; but the example is real. Under its authority, as a precedent, future associations will arise with objects at which we should shudder at this time. The society of Jacobins, in another country, was instituted on principles and views as virtuous as ever kindled the hearts of patriots. It was the pure patriotism of their purposes which extended their association to the limits of the nation, and rendered their power within it boundless; and it was this power which degenerated their principles and practices to such enormities, as never before could have been imagined. Yet these were men; and we and our descendants will be no more.

"Is there no danger that a new authority, marching independently alongside of the government, may not produce collision, or wrest the object entirely from their hands? And might we not as well volunteer to assist in the management of their foreign, their fiscal, and their military, as for their Indian affairs?† And how many societies, auxiliary to the government, may we not expect to see spring up in imitation of this? In a word, why not take the government out of its constitutional hands, associate them indeed with us, but insure them to be our own by allowing them a minor vote only? Sincerely as I am convinced of the integrity of its views, and highly as I respect many of its intended members, I am bound to say, that, as a dutiful citizen, I cannot in conscience become a member of this society."

All these statements and extracts were necessary in order to convey a more exact knowledge of Jefferson's character, and to show how exaggerated were the fears and how intemperate the attacks of his opponents when he first obtained the office of president. Undisturbed by all this clamor, he adhered with firmness and moderation to the path he had prescribed for himself. His exertions were every where directed to the practice of economy,

*It was on similar grounds that so many declared their opposition to the antidemocratic tendencies of free masonry.

Writings, iv. 345.

the diminution of the public debt, the suppression of unnecessary offices, the reduction of the standing army, and the formation of a militia,—all in the true republican spirit. When, after the savings that had been introduced and a stricter supervision of the administration of the finances, the revenue from the customs sufficed to pay all the expenses of the federal government, all the inland taxes were abolished. It caused no regret to Jefferson, that by the suppression of many offices his own patronage was diminished; and in the same spirit he lived with simplicity, avoided external show, held no so-called levees, and even made no speech in Congress, but contented himself with written messages.

During the four years of his continuance in office, Jefferson had shown so little assumption, his firmness and mildness had so thoroughly won the confidence of his fellow citizens, and moreover his views respecting the further true course of development of the United States had met with such general acceptance, that in the year 1805, on his being chosen president a second time, 162 votes were cast in his favor, and only 14 against him.* As before, in his excellent inaugural address, he recommends moderation and unity and the calming of the passions. "During this course of administration," he says, "and in order to disturb it, the artillery of the press has been levelled against us, charged with whatever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science are deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness, and to sap its safety. They might, perhaps, have been corrected by the wholesome punishments reserved to and provided by the laws of the several states against falsehood and defamation; but public duties more urgent press on the time of the servants of the public, and the offenders have therefore been left to find their punishment in the public indignation. Nor was it uninteresting to the world, that an experiment should be fairly and fully made, whether freedom of discussion, unaided by power, is not sufficient for the propagation and protection of truth; whether a government, conducting itself in the true spirit of its constitution, with zeal and purity, and doing no act which it would be unwilling the whole world should witness, can be written down by falsehood and defamation. The experiment has been made: you have witnessed the result. Our fellowcitizens have looked on cool and collected. They saw the latent source from which these outrages proceeded. They gathered around their public functionaries; and when the constitution called them to the decision by suffrage, they pronounced their verdict, honorable to those who had served them, and consolatory

* Writings, iv. 33. Kufahl, iii. 117.

to the friends of man, who believe that he may and ought to be trusted with the control of his own affairs. No inference is here intended, that the laws provided by the states against false and defamatory publications should not be enforced. He who has leisure renders service to the public morals and public tranquillity, in reforming these abuses by the salutary coercions of the law. But the experiment is noted to prove that, since truth and reason have maintained their ground against false opinions in league with false facts, the press calls for few legal restraints. The public judgment will correct false reasoning and opinion, upon a full hearing of all parties; and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness."*

These internal conflicts would certainly have exhausted many another man to such a degree as to make him lose sight of the future amid the pressure of daily cares. But not so Jefferson; he saw with prophetic eye the inevitable advancement, the lofty destiny of his country, and he determined to establish and secure it by all the means at his command. All the state taxes levied in the interior of the country were abolished as early as 1802, the expenses of the war department greatly diminished, the detested Alien and Sedition Laws repealed, thirty-three and a half millions of debt liquidated, the entire expenditure reduced a million and a half, and fourteen millions collected into the treasury.† Let this be compared with what was done in Europe at the same time. Jefferson knew how to make a prudent use of the ill state of affairs there. In the year 1783, the United States had been wholly excluded from the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico; and there were Americans who rejoiced at these natural, insurmountable barriers. Not 30 Jefferson and the inhabitants of the south-western states, which were continually becoming more active and powerful. If Spain or France were to close the Mississippi, and England the St. Lawrence, what means of communication would be left between the states of the interior, and what outlet would there be for their daily increasing surplus produce? What Peter I. did for Russia, must also be done for North America; the great water communications must be secured, and to attain this object it would be necessary not even to shun a war, for which the American dwellers on the Mississippi were already making preparations on their own account.

Louisiana, or the region extending from New Orleans to St. Louis, and from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean, equal in size to all the states of the Union taken together, must, Jefferson asserted with equal courage and firmness, be gained for the North American republic; its boundaries being thus established *Frances Wright's View of Society and Manners in America, p. 373. ↑ Warden, iii. 489.

unalterably and for perpetual peace, it will present the greatest and most magnificent theatre for the industry of centuries. Many federalists, opponents of Jefferson, inveighed against the idea as foolish and chimerical, declared its execution impossible, and lauded moderation, contentment, a praiseworthy selfrestraint, and a holding fast to former simplicity and to what had already been obtained; they prophesied the wasting of powers already insufficient for the great country they inhabited, unjust and unhappy wars, &c. &c.

Jefferson did not allow himself to be disturbed in the least by this short-sighted and malevolent opposition; but sagaciously watched the course of events, and boldly seized on the opportunities that presented themselves. Louisiana, originally a French settlement, became in 1763 English, in 1783 Spanish, and in 1800 was given up to the conquering Bonaparte. Hereupon Jefferson declared, that the United States could in no wise suffer this, but must be masters of the Mississippi. If France should adhere to the plan of founding a great dominion in these regions, it would lead sooner or later to a war with that country and to the closest connexion with Great Britain. Jefferson wrote to Monroe, the American envoy in Paris: "On the results of your negotiations depend the fature destinies of this republic. If we cannot make this acquisition in a peaceful way, we must prepare ourselves for war; it cannot be far distant."* Bonaparte perceived that he could not protect Louisiana at a distance; he wanted money, and he thought, too, that by a sale he would involve the Americans in a bitter war with the English. For sixty millions of francs the former obtained, in the year 1803, the second half of North America. Never were great wars averted in a more peaceful manner; never for so comparatively small a sum had such wholly inestimable advantages been secured.† The objection of Spain, that, as Bonaparte had not fulfilled all the conditions, he had no right to make a further disposal of the country, was at first not attended to, and afterwards removed. Exploring expeditions were judiciously despatched by Jefferson into the newly obtained and in part wholly unknown western territory, and these confirmed his views and prophecies for the future.‡

Meanwhile the naval war between England and France, or rather the principles on which both of them acted with regard to neutrals, inflicted incalculable injuries on the Americans. "We consider," said Jefferson," the overwhelming power of England

* Barbé-Marbois, Louisiana, 261. Laws of the United States, i. 140. Writings, iv. 7.

† In the Senate 24 were for, and 7 against the acquisition. Of the Representa tives, 89 were for, and 23 against it.

Lewis's Travels. North American Review, li. 96. Murray, i. 487.