1802. FEDERALISTS DISCOURAGED. 29 ture, this year, prevented the choice, in joint session, of either governor or senator. Not so much by the use of government patronage, or the promise of it, as by infusing into his followers the same zeal and hopefulness which marked him for a successful career, did Jefferson thus advance the Republican cause. The party of the future easily supplants the party of the past. Organization, discreet management, statistical surveys, discipline, were not wanting. But more than this, the faith of the people was appealed to. Instead of groping among musty precedents to find that republics were short-lived, and hence despairing, Jefferson launched America with confidence to sail her own course, and demonstrate to the world that no government is so strong as the government of hearts. "Jefferson and liberty" was but a fife and drum air; yet the dusty files of humanity jogged merrily on to such music the livelong day.* The share they now partook in the rising prosperity of the Union, could not console the Federalist leaders for their loss of political authority. Secure of social consideration, they looked contemptuously upon the new men who pressed forward to occupy their public places. They complained bitterly that slave representation gave the South more than its just share of influence in the national councils. The worst sting of one's forced retirement is the consciousness that the world moves on without missing him. Many of these idle candles flickered slowly out. Of the Essex junto, Parsons, though still at the head of the Massachusetts bar, felt the infirmities of age; the melancholy Ames was dying by inches; Cabot felt disposed to let the world ruin itself; and the lead of that set fell easily to Pickering, who had returned to Salem and his native State, where a judicial office served for sustenance, until some opportunity should occur for restoring him to public life, his more congenial element. Wolcott, who had lost his circuit judge * In recent political campaigns, "Jefferson and Liberty" had been a popular song among Republicans. Its theme was the departure of tyranny's night, and the dawn of a new day of liberty, toleration, and equal rights. The spirit of the words and music was their chief merit. Both this and "Adams and Liberty," which it was meant to supersede, may be found in collections of American songs. ship by the repealing act, became the responsible head of a New York bank, and a financial magnate for the rest of his life. The ex-President found retirement, but not repose, at Quincy, his tempestuous nature struggling under a political reverse, which the opprobrium of those he had led to defeat, and for whose perverseness he was compelled to suffer, together with the comparisons invited by the new administration to his detriment, made terribly humiliating. Forsaken, anxious in money affairs, too, though, not long, fancying affronts from Jefferson which perhaps he had expected in retaliation, Adams tossed like a water-logged vessel, strongly ribbed, going slowly to pieces in a calm, until his brave spouse and the favorite son in whose ambition his own gradually merged, rescued him from danger, and reconciled him at length to public affairs, the new order of things, and the compatriot who had supplanted him in fickle fame.* A far happier privacy was that which rounded the useful existence of the upright and philanthropic Jay, who left politics voluntarily, at the age of fifty-six, devoting a final third of his life to works of benevolence, and surviving all enmities. Cheerful, of independent means, a devout Episcopalian, an anti-slavery champion, his mind did not rust in his country home. "I have a long life to look back upon," he would say, "and an eternity to look forward to." Thriving, like most of his political friends, with the best. briefs professional eminence could command, Hamilton grew, nevertheless, despondent of America, and his personal future; for nothing could reconcile such a spirit to the commonplace of life. Bayard and Charles C. Pinckney had expressed hope that the Republicans would lose ground, but he saw more clearly that they were taking the surest means of gaining ground. He felt himself ostracized by the administration, and confounded with those who had tried to put Burr into authority; advances were not reciprocated, while his anonymous censures, through the press, dropped harmless. He tried to enjoy the beautiful country-seat he had lately purchased, and his garden, * Adams's Gallatin; Adams's Life of John Adams; Randall's Jefferson. John Jay's Life. 1802. FEDERALISTS DISCOURAGED. 31 "the usual refuge," as he would say, "of a disappointed politician." "What can I do better," he asked, gloomily, "than withdraw from the scene? Every day proves to me more and more that this American world was not made for me."* How was it possible, inquired the leaders, to stem the tide of Democracy? This question was discussed in their correspondence. Some had proposed a general conference of the Federalists, but this did not take place. Hamilton submitted the scheme of a "Christian constitutional society," with branches throughout the country; and he thought their party might thus appeal, like Jefferson's, to the vanity, rather than to the reason, of the people. Bayard, however, considered that some more active principle of political opposition was needful, in order to win success.† Ames, strangely oppressed though he was, by the fear that under Jefferson the property rights of good men would be subverted, dwelt, nevertheless, with great sagacity upon the power of a party press. "The newspapers," he wrote, "are an overmatch for any government; they will first overawe, and then usurp it." To increase the circulation of Federal newspapers was his plan for regaining their lost influence. He wanted the rich and powerful to take them up, sustain them, and see that they were edited, not by printers' clerks, but by men of distinguished talent.‡ It was due in part to counsels like this last, that new journals, espousing conservative tenets, now began to make their appearance, of a more wholesome description than those hitherto in favor; newspapers which sought to fulfil the mission. of public instructor, instead of court sycophant. Conspicuous among these were the Evening Post, established in New York city, and the Palladium, in Connecticut; to the latter of which Ames was himself a contributor. An example of dignity and moderation was furnished on the Republican side, in the National Intelligencer,§ of Washington, a journal whose career, * See Hamilton's Works, 1801, 1802; Ames's Letters. Hamilton's Works, April, 1802; 7 John C. Hamilton's Republic. The first number of the National Intelligencer appeared October 31st, 1800. commencing with that of our national capital, was highly prosperous under the patronage of Jefferson and his immediate successors. Of this oracle in government circles, Samuel Harrison Smith was the present conductor, succeeded in later years by the famous firm of Gales & Seaton. The occupation of our permanent capital, in fact, and the changed relation of the two great political parties, gave Jefferson the opportunity he had desired of detaching his administration from the violent journalists of Philadelphia. Metropolitan and provincial newspapers quarrelled bitterly in their politics, and national as well as local measures were praised or denounced by them. But the Fennos, the Baches, the Freneaus, the Duanes, no longer fixed the general attention. 1799, The flagellations of Duane and the Aurora were still felt, however, in Pennsylvania, where, as in New York, the spirit of faction raged fiercely, and there was growling and grappling over the crusts of patronage. McKean, a stately and venerable citizen of more than threescore years, who walked the street with wig curled at the ears, large cocked-hat, and gold-headed cane, made a vigorous State administration, but he was by no means so popular as Miffiin had been, whose death occurred soon after his retirement from office. The moment he obtained control of the State patronage, he began turning out December. the Federalists and putting Republicans into their places. This had been expected, for the campaign was exciting and angry; but in his appointments he showed himself arrogant, a man of favoritism, and somewhat of a pluralist besides. The recordership of Philadelphia, a lucrative position, he bestowed upon Dallas, whom the President, in recognition of his eminent abilities, had also made the United States district attorney; and the Republican legislature of the State had not only to pass an act declaring two such offices incompatible, but to pass it over the governor's veto, before that recordership was vacated. From this time the breach widened between the Republican Executive and the Republican legislature of Pennsylvania; the former socially strong and arbitrary by education; the latter, or rather that wing which represented the levelling Democracy, grandly in the right sometimes, but oftener wrong, and always pas 1801. 1802. POLITICS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 33 sionate. Duane and the Aurora had great influence with this legislative set, consisting largely of country members, while McKean drew after him the learning and conservatism of the State. The President attempted in vain to mediate between the factions, and then maintained neutrality. Each side would have pressed the national patronage to its own use, had he so permitted it. As to the dissensions among Republicans in New York, Jefferson was less impartial. Clinton and Livingston, with their adherents, united in driving the Vice-President out of State influence; while the President, calmly disregarding him in national appointments, kept Federalists in place, rather than gratify Burr's wishes. Other motives justified this course to the public; but Jefferson doubtless determined, without affrouting openly his faithless adjutant, to have him dismissed from the service. To a man of Burr's methods and temperament, patronage was indispensable. His ardent partisans were needy and talented young men, who followed his fortunes to make their own; upon whom he continued to produce the impression less of fixed conviction than of a mysterious capacity for rewarding his friends and punishing his enemies. Apprehending his danger, and uncomfortable in the Vice-Presidency, Burr planned new combinations. He travelled North and South, holding secret conferences with politicians. He nursed the Eastern dislike of Virginia domination. When Washington's birthday was celebrated by the old-fashioned Federalists, at the national capital, he appeared at the feast, and rose with an unexpected toast, "The union of all honest men."* Feb. 22. The strength of the Clinton and Livingston alliance in their State, enabled Edward Livingston to hold the office of Mayor of New York at the same time with the Federal district attorneyship. Nepotism prevailed in this State, those allied by blood or marriage with the leading families receiving the cream of the patronage. The Mayor of New York held office at this time from the Council of Appointment, a sort of Directory, as the constitution of New York State then provided, *Hamilton's Works, 1802. |