But Hamilton was in the saddle, booted and spurred, and riding hard toward the realization of his conception of government, followed by an army that fairly glittered with the brilliancy of many of his field marshals, and which was imposing in the financial, social, and cultural superiority of the rank and file; an army that could count on the greater part of the press to publish its orders of the day, and on the beneficiaries of its policies to fill its campaign coffers. And it was at this juncture that Jefferson began the mobilization of an army that would seem uncouth and ragged by comparison. The cleavage was distinct; the ten-year war was on.

As a preliminary to the story of the struggle, it is important to know more of the character and methods of the man who dared challenge Hamilton’s powerful array and something of the social atmosphere in Philadelphia where the great battles were fought.

CHAPTER V
THOMAS JEFFERSON: A PORTRAIT

I

IN the personal appearance of Thomas Jefferson there was little to denote the powerful, dominating leader and strict disciplinarian that he was. Unlike Hamilton, he did not look the commander so much as the rather shy philosopher. The gruff Maclay, on seeing him for the first time, was disappointed with his slender frame, the looseness of his figure, and the ‘air of stiffness in his manner,’ while pleased with the sunniness of his face.[354] He was of imposing height, being more than six feet, and slender without being thin.[355] All contemporaries who have left descriptions refer to the long, loosely jointed limbs, and none of them convey an impression of grace. His hair, much redder than that of Hamilton, was combed loosely over the forehead and at the side, and tied behind. His complexion was light, his eyes blue and usually mild in expression, his forehead broad and high. Beneath the eyes, his face was rather broad, the cheek-bones high, the chin noticeably long, and the mouth of generous size. The casual glance discovered more of benevolence than force, more of subtlety than pugnacity. Nor, in that day of lace and frills, was there anything in his garb to proclaim him of the élite. His enemies then, and ever since, have made too much of his loose carpet slippers and worn clothes, and the only thing they prove is that he may have had the Lincolnian indifference to style. Long before he made his ‘pose’ in the President’s house for the benefit of the groundlings, we find a critic who was to be numbered among his followers complaining because his clothes were too small for his body.[356] The truth, no doubt, is that he dressed conventionally, because men must, and was careless of his attire.

Certain it is that when she first met him, Mrs. Bayard Smith, who had been unduly impressed with the Federalist references to the ‘coarseness and vulgarity of his manners,’ was astonished at the contradiction of the caricature by the man. ‘So meek and mild, yet dignified in his manners, with a voice so soft and low, with a countenance so benign and intelligent’ she found him.[357] In truth there was enough dignity in his manner to discourage the stranger on a first approach, as Tom Moore found to his disgust. Even Mrs. Smith thought his ‘dignified and reserved air’ chill at first;[358] and a French admirer who made a sentimental journey to Monticello thought him somewhat cold and reserved.’[359] ‘The cold first look he always cast upon a stranger’[360] appears too often in the observations of his contemporaries to have been imaginary.

As some have found fault with his dress, others have criticized a slovenly way of sitting—‘in a lounging manner, on one hip commonly, with one of his shoulders elevated much above the other’;[361] while another—a woman too—was charmed at the ‘free and easy manner’ in which he accepted a proffered chair.[362] The natural deduction from the contradictions is that he seated himself as comfortably as possible with little regard to the picture in the pose. There is a manifest absurdity in the idea that the man who moved familiarly in the most cultured circles of the most polished capital in Europe could have been either impossible in dress or boorish in manner.

But there is one unpleasant criticism of his manner that cannot be so easily put aside—a shiftiness in his glance which bears out the charge of his enemies that he was lacking in frankness. The most democratic member of the first Senate, meeting him for the first time, was disappointed to find that ‘he had a rambling vacant look, and nothing of that firm collected deportment which I expected would dignify the presence of a Secretary or Minister.’[363] Another found that ‘when speaking he did not look at his auditor, but cast his eyes toward the ceiling or anywhere but at the eye of his auditor.’[364] This weakness was possibly overemphasized, for he was notoriously shy.

Aside from this, there is abundant evidence that there was an ineffable charm in his manner. One who objected to his ‘shifty glance’ was favorably impressed with ‘the simplicity and sobriety’ of his deportment, and found that while ‘he was quiet and unobtrusive ... a stranger would perceive that he was in the presence of one who was not a common man.’[365] He was free of the affectations of pedantry, courteous and kindly, modest and tolerant. Thus he appeared to excellent advantage in conversation, and, with one exception, all who knew him and have left their impressions found him an entertaining and illuminating talker. Maclay, who was certainly not the most competent of judges, thought his conversation ‘loose and rambling,’ and yet admitted that ‘he scattered information wherever he went, and some even brilliant sentiments sparkled from him.’[366] It is probable that the gout-racked radical confused conversation with set speeches, and quite as possible that on this particular occasion, when Jefferson was meeting with a curious senatorial committee, he was not inclined to tell all he knew.

Certainly the polished nobleman, familiar with the most intellectual circles of Paris, who found his ‘conversation of the most agreeable kind,’ and that he possessed ‘a stock of information not inferior to that of any other man,’ and ‘in Europe ... would hold a distinguished rank among men of letters,’ was quite as competent a judge as the Senator from the wilderness of Pennsylvania.[367] Among men his manner of conversation was calm and deliberate, without the Johnsonian ex-cathedra touch, and yet he ‘spoke like one who considered himself as entitled to deference.’[368] Among friends, and particularly women, he appears to have been deferential and captivating in his tactful kindness. Then when, ‘with a manner and voice almost femininely soft and gentle,’ he ‘entered into conversation on the commonplace topics of the day,’ at least one woman found that ‘there was something in his manner, his countenance and voice that at once unlocked [her] heart.’[369]