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his qualities: "His mind was at once comprehensive and discriminating; full, yet accurate. He was sagacious and "acute in disentangling involved and difficult subjects;

knowing how to separate appearances from realities; to "distinguish the probable, the true, the practical. The "materials, that constituted his intellectual store, lay in his "mind in methodical arrangement, ready to be applied to "their proper uses, for argument, persuasion, colloquial "communication, or the conduct of life."

On national subjects, which engaged the public attention in the first fifteen years of this century, no man thought more, or more profoundly and justly, than Mr. Cabot. He was listened to with the highest respect and confidence by the most eminent men of the time; and by no one more than his intimate friend, Mr. Ames. No one left Mr. Cabot's presence without being made wiser, if he was capable of being instructed. Not only were the treasures of his mind frankly and freely poured forth, but with a clearness and elegance of expression, and in tones so captivating, that no parallel case can be mentioned.

His life was as pure and blameless, as his intellectual powers were transcendent. He had manifested, in all his public relations, an ardent zeal for the constitution and the union; all his hopes of welfare and personal consideration rested on the republican experiment, that his country was making. No one desired more sincerely, that the experiment should be successful, and, consequently, no one felt more keenly the defeat which Jeffersonism threatened to effect. Of that system of policy he was seriously and conscientiously an opponent. In proportion to his influence was the measure of calumny.

Mr. Cabot is most affectionately and respectfully remembered, by all who had the honor and good fortune to enjoy his friendship. But they who knew him are passing away; the remnant is daily diminishing; and it is sorrowful to feel assured, that so little will be known in distant times of one, whose counsels, while living, were held in the highest veneration. It is to be regretted, that there is nothing preserved of so rich and prolific a mind, but in the memory of those, who are also soon to pass away.

Mr. Cabot was a tall man, well formed, of courteous and elegant manners, and refined aspect; his complexion light,

his eyes blue; his mode of speaking in colloquial intercourse serious and earnest, but not vehement. The dress of his thoughts was clear, strong, and appropriate, and every sentence apparently incapable of amendment.

It was such a man, that Mr. Jefferson would send down to posterity, as a monarchist, disorganizer, and enemy of his country.

*

To these four names, (Strong, Brooks, Gore, and Cabot,) might be added hundreds of others, no longer among the living,) comprising lawyers, merchants, farmers, and mechanics, as well known in their respective spheres as these four were; all of whom thought, on national subjects, as these four thought; and all of whom were conscientiously opponents of Jeffersonism; and all of whom were, consequently, monarchists, disorganizers, and traitors. These men, one and all, regarded with abhorrence the reign of French jacobinism in Europe, and were indignant in seeing Mr. Jefferson's efforts to transplant, or to engraft it on American stock.

These four have not been selected in disregard of others, not less respectable and worthy, but because three of these four began with the American revolution, and labored through it; because one of them was a framer of the national constitution; all four of them strenuous advocates for its adoption; three of them officers under it; and all of them in high offices under the state constitution. The election of such men, by those who knew them well, is some evidence of their intelligence and virtues. †

Such men Thomas Jefferson charges with plots and combinations to subvert the institutions which they had established; and at the very time when their purposes were insuccessful experiment, under their own direction. On the

* It is well remembered to have been one of Mr. Cabot's opinions, that this country must, sooner or later, submit (as in ancient republics) to the termination of freedom, through popular delusion. He thought the natural action of this spirit was most terrible in small communities; and that the prolonged safety of this country would be found, in the diffusion of its inhabitants over a wide surface. He was, therefore, for continuing the unity of the American people, and avoiding the evils of party feeling, when limited to narrow spaces and to small numbers.

+ Caleb Strong died in 1820; George Cabot in 1823; John Brooks in 1825; Christopher Gore in 1827.

continued success of this experiment depended their fame, their property, their personal welfare, the prosperity and happiness of their friends and kindred.

What, then, was Thomas Jefferson's motive? Was he fraudulent and base? Probably not. He was under the delusion which beguiles a vain, wrong-headed, selfish party man. It is such men, who have overturned all former republics. They substitute themselves and their party for the country, the people, the laws, and the constitution; and are, at last, forced into despotism, whether they so intended,

or not.

LETTER LXXII.

FEBRUARY 16, 1834.

THERE are three persons whom Mr. Jefferson is pleased to distinguish, with peculiar emphasis, in his writings, viz. Timothy Pickering, John Lowell, and Stephen Higginson. Mr. Pickering was in the public service from the commencement of the revolution, almost to the close of his long life, in various and in honorable stations. He proved himself to be an able man in all of them, and an officer of incorruptible integrity. This gentleman has but recently deceased; and there are so many now living who knew him well, and who speak of him with the highest respect, that it must be left to those, who are so much better informed, than the writer of these sketches can assume to be, to do him justice, if they think Mr. Jefferson's remarks worth noticing. It must strike them as ludicrous, that a man, who might be selected as a model of republican simplicity and directness, should be publicly charged with plotting, (in conjunction with a London merchant of singular retiredness of deportment, in all things but his mercantile concerns,) to subject his own country to British dominion. Mr. Jefferson may have known how such affairs are managed; but it is believed, that the British ministry and federalists were equally strangers to such modes of managing public interests. The absurdity of supposing, that the British could carry any designs which they may have had by corrupt means, or that any distinguished members of the federal party imagined.

they could accomplish any British purpose through such means, is too glaring to have found admission to any but a distempered mind. The case was much otherwise with the French. The miseries to which they subjected other nations were the consequences of management, no less than of force.

There is a very remarkable record in Mr. Jefferson's 4th volume, page 514, under date of December 25, 1800, concerning the two other persons before named, - John Lowell (sen.) and Stephen Higginson. Though there is no pleasure in copying Mr. Jefferson, this record cannot be understood without taking the whole of it together.

"Colonel Hichborn tells me, what Colonel Monroe had be"fore told me of, as coming from Hichborn. He was giving "me the characters of persons in Massachusetts. Speaking "of Lowell, he said he was in the beginning of the revolu"tion a timid whig, but as soon as he found we were likely "to prevail, he became a great office hunter. And in the very moment of speaking of Lowell, he stopped: Says he, I will give you a piece of information, which I do not ven"ture to speak of to others. There was a Mr. Hale in Mas"sachusetts, a reputable, worthy man, who becoming a little "embarrassed in his affairs, I aided him, which made him

very friendly to me. He went to Canada on some "business. The Governor there took great notice of "him. On his return, he took occasion to mention to me, that he was authorized by the Governor of Canada to "give from three to five thousand guineas, each, to himself, "and some others, not to do anything to the injury of their country, but to befriend a good connexion between England "and it. Hichborn said he would think of it, and asked "Hale to come and dine with him to-morrow. After din(6 ner, he drew Hale fully out. He told him he had his

doubts, but particularly, that he should not like to be "alone in such a business. On that, Hale named to him "four others who were to be engaged, two of whom, said "Hichborn, are now dead and two living. Hichborn, "when he had got all he wanted out of Hale, declined in a "friendly way. But he observed those four men, from that "moment, to espouse the interests of England on every point and on every occasion. Though he did not name "the men to me, yet as speaking of Lowell was what

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brought into his head to tell me this anecdote, I concluded "he was one. From other circumstances respecting Stephen "Higginson, of whom he spoke, I conjectured him to be the "other living one."

"December 26th. In another conversation, I mentioned "to Colonel Hichborn, that, though he had not named "names, I had strongly suspected Higginson to be one of "Hale's men. He smiled and said, if I had strongly sus"pected any man wrongfully, on his information, he would "undeceive me that there were no persons he thought "more strongly to be suspected himself, than Higginson and "Lowell. I considered him as saying they were the men. "Higginson is employed in an important business about our navy."

A personal friend of the late Judge Lowell, and of the late Mr. Higginson, has favored the writer with the following remarks on the foregoing extracts:

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This most extraordinary accusation was entered in Mr. 'Jefferson's diary in 1800, twenty-five years after the sup'posed and imputed transactions and crimes; it was carefully concealed by Mr. Jefferson during his whole life, and 'left to be published to the world half a century after the 'supposed transaction; and when, from Mr. Jefferson's uncommon longevity, it was absolutely certain, that there 'could not be a single surviving witness to an accusation so solemn, and, if unfounded, atrocious. It was upon its face a case, in which a man indulged his passions, to gratify 'his own personal hatred towards men, who differed from 'him in political opinions. This should not be forgotten. 'As to the degree of unfairness, and we may add baseness, of leaving a posthumous charge on record against men of as high and honorable character, as any in New England, and who enjoyed always the entire confidence of the intelligent and astute people of the state of Massachusetts, every man can form an opinion for himself. When history can be so much corrupted and defiled, that a man, consulting his own passions and governed solely by his personal 'prejudices, shall be permitted to state, as facts, such idle ' and unfounded surmises, after the demise of his friends ' and coadjutors, surely there is no security for the truth of 'history, or for the character of individuals employed in the 'great concerns of a nation.

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