Such was the inflammatory state of parties when on August 1st, Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox, and Randolph arrived at the Morris house to discuss with Washington the disposition to be made of Genêt.
Knox was not given to finesse when his passions were involved. ‘Send him out of the country,’ and without ceremony, he said. Publish all the correspondence in an appeal to the people before Genêt could carry out his threat, urged Hamilton. For forty-five minutes he spoke impassionedly, attacking Genêt, denouncing the Democratic Societies, assailing France. Jefferson, sitting in silence, thought it was an excellent ‘jury speech.’
Randolph spoke in opposition to radical measures, and the meeting adjourned until the morrow.
The next day Hamilton again took the floor and spoke again for three quarters of an hour with unrestrained bitterness. As he sat down, Jefferson rose. He was not alarmed over the Democratic Clubs. They would die if left alone and would grow on proscription and persecution. Publish the facts and decisions of the President on the whole foreign controversy? Those decisions had been reached with divisions in the Cabinet—was it desired to proclaim that condition to the country? Was it desirable to injure our friend France with a stab, in the face of her enemies, the allied kings of Europe?
It was here that Knox broke in with references to Freneau’s attacks on Washington. He had calculated the effect. The President flew into a rage, and the meeting adjourned because of the turmoil and excitement.[830] Determined to manage his own department, Jefferson thereupon sat down to the preparation of a letter to the American Minister in Paris, setting forth with scrupulous fairness and severity the antics of Genêt, and asking his recall. The sting to France was removed with an eloquent protestation of friendship. Hamilton at no time drew so damning and effective an indictment of Genêt, but all this was lost upon him because of the note of friendliness to France.[831]
Twelve days after the first meeting, the Cabinet again sat about the council table in the Morris house listening to the Jefferson draft. It was so unassailable that it was unanimously accepted—with one exception. Jefferson had referred to a possible conflict between the two republics as ‘liberty warring on itself.’ Hamilton moved to strike out these words, Knox parroting his master’s suggestion. Washington favored their retention, expressing the conviction that France, despite her blunders, was fighting for liberty; but Randolph voted with Hamilton and Knox against Washington and Jefferson, and the words were stricken out.[832]
In due time Genêt was recalled. That episode was over. Jefferson had won his fight to prevent a rupture with France—but it had cost him dearly.
XII
As early as May, Jefferson had been able to put his finger on the French and English parties in this country. With the English, the fashionable circles, the merchants trading on English capital, the supporters of the Treasury, the old Tory families; with the French, the small merchants, the tradesmen, mechanics, farmers, ‘and every other possible description of our citizens.’[833] There was no doubt in his mind as to the position of the social circles of Philadelphia—he was made to feel it. The men were courteous in his presence, and he still dined occasionally with the Binghams and Robert Morris, though the ladies were but chillingly polite. The friend of the ‘filthy democrats,’ as Mrs. Washington is said to have called them, was, to them, beyond the pale. Mr. Hammond, the English Minister, was such a charming man! A few of the French noblemen, once numbered among the dissolute loafers of Versailles, were to be found frequently drinking Bingham’s wine, paying courtly compliments to the women, and making love to the daughters of the house a bit clandestinely, as Mrs. Bingham was to find to her dismay a little later. Not a few of the social leaders had been ‘presented’ at court in both France and England, and they never recovered. Others looked forward to a possible presentation as the consummation of a life’s ambition. Kings were adorable creatures, after all, and queens were as ‘sweet queens’ as Fanny Burney found hers, and the nobility was so elegant! As for the ‘people’—were they not as the rabble who had cut off the head of the lovable Louis? And Jefferson was the enemy of kings, the idol of the rabble—and what was worse, their defender. The men thought his principles askew, but the women knew that his heart was black.
Thus it was fortunate that during the exciting summer of 1793, Jefferson could retire to the solitude of his murmuring plane trees and let society buzz. Even the Philadelphia streets were cold to him. Party feeling was running amuck. Old acquaintances pretended not to see each other as they passed. It was true everywhere. Even Noah Webster was complaining bitterly of this party narrowness in New York. ‘Examine the detached clubs at the Coffee-House,’ he wrote, ‘there you will see persons of the same family associated. Go into the private families at dinner and on evening visits, there you will find none but people of the same party.’[834]