[95] History of the United States, second series, i, 603.
[96] Letter to Mrs. Adams, April 30, 1796.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
jefferson's apprehensions concerning jay's treaty—his opinion of gallatin—of the treaty-making power—his letter to mazzei—its effects—disclosure of a confidential paper—jefferson disclaims any participation in the act—his letter to washington, and the reply—ungenerous attacks on washington's character—provision for carrying the treaty into effect—diplomatic changes—washington at mount vernon—efforts to procure the liberation of lafayette—washington's letter to the emperor of germany—washington's farewell address—its authorship.
According to the prediction of Vice-President Adams, the British treaty, after having been “mauled and abused,” was “acquiesced in.” “The treaty will go into operation, and be supported by a great majority of the people,” wrote Jay on the first of May; “a majority comprising the greater part of the men most distinguished by talents, worth, and weight.”[97]
But there were many honest men—men who loved their country, were jealous of its honor, and ready to make personal sacrifices, if necessary, for the commonwealth—who regarded the triumph of the government party, on this occasion, as a public calamity. Among these was Mr. Jefferson, who, from his retirement at Monticello, sent forth, now and then, the thunderbolts of his wrath against political opponents and their measures. He had watched the progress of the treaty in every stage of the ordeal to which it was subjected in Congress, and occasionally gave his views to his friends. He was deeply enamored of Gallatin, and with acute perception, as time demonstrated, he foresaw the value of the young Genevese to his adopted country. “If Mr. Gallatin,” he said, in a letter to Madison on the sixth of March, concerning the operations of the treasury, “would undertake to reduce this chaos to order, present us with a clear view of our finances, and put them into a form as simple as they will admit, he will merit immortal honor.”
After Gallatin's speech on the treaty, Mr. Jefferson again wrote to Madison, saying, “It is worthy to be printed at the end of the Federalist, as the only rational commentary on the part of the constitution to which it relates.” In reference to the power of the house of representatives, in the matter of treaties, Mr. Jefferson remarked in the same letter, “I see no harm in rendering their sanction necessary, and not much harm in annihilating the whole treaty-making power, except as to making peace. If you decide in favor of your right to refuse your co-operation in any case of treaty, I wonder on what occasion it is to be used, if not in one where the rights, the interest, the honor, and faith of our nation are so grossly sacrificed; when a faction has entered into a conspiracy with the enemies of their country, to chain down the legislature at the feet of both; when the whole mass of your constituents have condemned this work in the most unequivocal manner, and are looking to you as their last hope to save them from the effects of the avarice and corruption of the first agent, the revolutionary machinations of others, and the incomprehensible acquiescence of the only honest man [the president] who has assented to it. I wish that his honesty and his political errors may not furnish a second occasion to exclaim—'curse on his virtues, they have undone his country.'”[98]