it, the President forwarded it to him open; requesting him to possess himself thoroughly of its contents, and then seal it. His object was thus explained:

"I wish you to be possessed of the subject, because you may be able to impress on the government of France the inevitable consequences of their taking possession of Louisiana; and though, as I here mention, the cession of New Orleans and the Floridas to us would be a palliation, yet I believe it would be no more, and that this measure will cost France, and perhaps not very long hence, a war which will annihilate her on the ocean, and place that element under the despotism of two nations, which I am not reconciled to the more because my own would be one of them. Add to this the exclusive appropriation of both continents of America as a consequence. I wish the present order of things to continue, and with a view to this I value highly a state of friendship between France and us. You know too well how sincere I have ever been in these dispositions to doubt them. You know, too, how much I value peace, and how unwillingly I should see any event take place which would render war a necessary resource; and that all our movements should change their character and object. I am thus open with you, because I trust that you will have it in your power to impress on that government considerations, in the scale against which the possession of Louisiana is nothing. In Europe, nothing but Europe is seen, or supposed to have any right in the affairs of nations; but this little event, of France's possessing herself of Louisiana, which is thrown in as nothing, as a mere makeweight in the general settlement of accounts-this spęck which now appears as an almost invisible point in the horizon, is the embryo of a tornado which will burst on the countries on both sides of the Atlantic, and involve in its effects their highest destinies. That it may yet be avoided is my sincere prayer; and if you can be the means of informing the wisdom of Bonaparte of all its consequences, you have deserved well of both countries. Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remains uninterrupted."

This was a bold experiment on the ruler of France-the first general and one of the least timid statesmen and diplomatists of modern times!

The morality of the President's attitude rests on the basis of necessity-the right to do that which is indispensable to selfpreservation. The practical consequences involved were the same in a single point-so far as Louisiana was concerned-as those contemplated in Hamilton's Miranda scheme.' But the latter made conquest its primary object, and it proposed to fall upon another power because it was weak and defenceless, not because it was dangerously strong. It indeed made some late show of acting for the purpose of guarding against precisely

That is, supposing him to have intended to annex this territory to the United States, as he sometimes hinted, and not to form it into a separate kingdom as proposed in regard to South America.

what now had taken place,' but if we should assume this to be a sincere ground of action, it would only have put our country in the posture of plundering a weak neighbor to prevent a more dangerous neighbor from plundering it—doing a moral wrong in anticipation, for fear some other power might do that moral wrong. This would be a plea on which nations or individuals could always found a right to rob the weaker.

But when France actually obtained a title to these contiguous provinces, and proposed to make herself our neighbor, she voluntarily, and by no fault of ours, practically commenced a step which all Americans agreed in considering fraught with the extremest danger to our country. Even then we did not attempt secretly to form confederacies to wrest her property from her. We went to her frankly and told her our views. We went boldly to the then strongest nation on earth, and informed her if she persisted in colonizing at a point which gave her the key of our western possessions, she must prepare for war with us and such friends as we could secure to our alliance. And neither was this made the alternative of her yedding up anything that belonged to her without a rightful equivalent. It was the purpose of our Cabinet, the moment it was found France would negotiate on the basis of parting from her newly acquired possessions, to offer her far more for them than they had cost her. Our Cabinet might or might not judge correctly of our danger. But there was nothing dishonorable or immoral in its conduct. There was nothing which required a covering of false pretences to deceive our people or to draw them into a war on fictitious grounds, when, had they known them, they would have abhorred the true ones. There was nothing in the transaction, or in any of its connections, which would require them to be forgotten or disavowed by chief actors within that brief period in which ordinary memories preserve transactions of very secondary importance.

We are not prepared to deny, however, that the President's letter to Livingston showed high diplomatic skill-that it made the most of the circumstances-that it was a shrewd and singu

We do not, however, find this thrown forward originally, and as a prime motive, between the principal and confidential actors. It was afterwards introduced as an excuse to members of Congress when preparations for executing the scheme were asked from that body.

larly daring effort to beat the French Consul at a game he was himself very fond of playing towards other nations. The further chances of the game-the skill of the players-the end which tests the wisdom of the beginning-are to be hereafter recorded.

Before the close of Congress, General Hamilton resorted to his old practice of drawing up a plan, or programme of action, for his party. It was dated April, 1802, and addressed to Bayard. It is worth the study of those who feel interested in the inquiry whether he was a profound and wise statesman, understanding men, and especially understanding his own countrymen, and was borne down only by an overwhelming tide of circumstances which no sagacity could foresee or resist; or whether he was that visionary "projector" we have seen him so recently pronouncing the President-as much of an "exotic" in American affairs as he sometimes suspected himself of being' and as John Adams always declared him to be.

We present the material parts of the plan:

Men are

"Nothg is more fallacious than to expect to produce any valuable or permanent results in political projects by relying merely on the reason of men. rather reasoning than reasonable animals, for the most part governed by the impulse of passion. This is a truth well understood by our adversaries, who have practised upon it with no small benefit to their cause, for at the very moment they are eulogizing the reason of men, and professing to appeal only to that faculty, they are courting the strongest and most active passion of the human heart—vanity!

"It is no less true, that the Federalists seem not to have attended to the fact sufficiently; and that they erred in relying so much on the rectitude and utility of their measures as to have neglected the cultivation of popular favor, by fair and justifiable expedients. The observation has been repeatedly made by me to individuals with whom I particularly conversed, and expedients suggested for gaining good will, which were never adopted. Unluckily, however, for us, in the competition for the passions of the people, our opponents have great advantages over us; for the plain reason that the vicious are far more active than the good passions; and that, to win the latter to our side, we must renounce our principles and our objects, and unite in corrupting public opinion, till it becomes fit for nothing but mischief. Yet, unless we can contrive to take hold of, and carry along with us, some strong feelings of the mind, we shall in vain calculate upon any substantial or durable results. Whatever plan we may adopt, to be successful, must be founded on the truth of this proposition. And perhaps it is not very easy for us to give it full effect; especially not without some deviations from what, on other occasions, we have maintained to be right. But in determining upon the propriety of the deviations, we must consider whether it be possible for us to succeed, without, in some degree,

1 Letter to Morris, February 27th, 1802, already quoted.

employing the weapons which have been employed against us, and whether the actual state and future prospect of things be not such as to justify the reciprocal use of them. I need not tell you that I do not mean to countenance the imitation of things intrinsically unworthy, but only of such as may be denominated irregular; such as, in a sound and stable order of things, ought not to exist. Neither are you to infer that any revolutionary result is contemplated. In my opinion, the present Constitution is the standard to which we are to cling. Under its banners, bond fide, must we combat our political foes, rejecting all changes but through the channel itself provides for amendments. By these general views of the subject have my reflections been guided. I now offer you the outline of the plan which they have suggested. Let an association be formed to be denominated The Christian Constitutional Society.' Its objects to be

"1st. The support of the Christian religion.

"2d. The support of the Constitution of the United States.

"Its organization :

"1st. A council, consisting of a president and twelve members, of whom four and the president to be a quorum.

"2d. A sub-directing council in each State, consisting of a vice-president and twelve members, of whom four, with the vice-president, to be a quorum; and

"3d. As many branches in each State as local circumstances may permit to be formed by the sub-directing council.

"The meeting at Washington to nominate the president and vice, together with four members of each of the councils, who are to complete their own numbers respectively.

"Its means:

"1st. The diffusion of information. For this purpose not only the newspapers but pamphlets must be largely employed; and to do this a fund must be created; five dollars annually, for eight years, to be contributed by each member who can really afford it (taking care not to burden the less able brethren), may afford a competent sum for a competent term. It is essential to be able to disseminate gratis useful publications. Wherever it can be done, and there is a press, clubs should be formed, to meet once a week, read the newspapers, and prepare essays, paragraphs, etc.

"2d. The use of all lawful means in concert to promote the election of fit men; a lively correspondence must be kept up between the different societies.

"3d. The promoting of institutions of a charitable and useful nature in the management of Federalists. The populous cities ought particularly to be attended to; perhaps it would be well to institute in such places-1st, societies for the relief of emigrants; 2d, academies, each with one professor, for instructing the different classes of mechanics in the principles of mechanics and the elements of chemistry. The cities have been employed by the Jacobins to give an impulse to the country; and it is believed to be an alarming fact, that while the question of Presidential election was pending in the House of Representatives, parties were organizing in several of the cities, in the event of there being no election, to cut off the leading Federalists and seize the government.

"The foregoing to be the principal engine, and in addition, let measures be adopted to bring as soon as possible the repeal of the judiciary law before the Supreme Court; afterwards, if not before, let as many legislatures as can be pro

vailed upon, instruct their senators to endeavor to procure a repeal of the repealing law. The body of New England, speaking the same language, will give a powerful impulse. In Congress, our friends to propose little, to agree cordially to all good measures, and to resist and expose all bad. This is a general sketch of what has occurred to me. It is at the service of my friends for so much as it may be worth."

General Hamilton was even more unsuccessful when he attempted to secure the "sweet voices" of the multitude by caresses, than when he acted the natural and vigorous part of Coriolanus.

The passages in which he assures one of the most intimate and confidential of his political correspondents that now no "revolutionary result" is contemplated, that, "in his opinion," they must cling to the Constitution "bona fide," and reject "all changes but through the channel itself provided for amendments," are very suggestive.

This card-castle did not make a favorable impression on a man of equal ability and far greater shrewdness and knowledge of men. Bayard wrote back that "the plan was marked with great ingenuity, but he was not inclined to think that it was applicable to the state of things in this country." He said, "they had the greater number of political calculators," their opponents of "political fanatics;" that "an attempt at association, organized into clubs, on the part of the Federalists, would revive a thousand jealousies and suspicions which now began to slumber;" that they must "not be too impatient;" that two or three years, without any exertion on their part, "would render every honest man in the country their proselyte ;" and finally, that he had "had an opportunity of learning the opinions of the Chief Justice," who "considered the late repealing act as operative in depriving the judges of all power derived under the act repealed," the office however still remaining, a "mere capacity, without a new appointment, to receive and exercise any new judicial powers which the legislature might confer."" And thus dropped the extinguisher on "The Christian Constitutional Society."

The President wrote Joel Barlow, May 3d, giving the political statistics of the United States at the time with great accuracy and force. The following sentences will show what he

1 For letter, see Hamilton's Works, vol. vi. p. 543.