schemes to undermine the constitution, and which they sincerely believed to exist, were discomfited, that the government would be now administered on its true principles, and that these principles, which, by a train of untoward circumstances, had been brought into a temporary discredit, would be soon reinstated in the affections of the people. The federalists, on the other hand, indulged in the most gloomy anticipations. They feared that Mr. Jefferson, in his devotion to France and to French principles, would use all his influence to strengthen her connexion with the United States, by which their peace would be hazarded, their morals polluted, and their religion subverted. That those parts of the national policy which had been most cherished by the federalists, as likely to give consistency and stability to the general government, would be systematically demolished-as the funding system, the bank, and the navy; and that the great mass of those who held office would be removed to make way for their opponents. It remains to be seen how far the fears of one party and the hopes of the other were realized.

The existing relations between the United States and other nations were pacific, though circumstances were even then at work to bring them into collision with the two most powerful nations of Europe, and finally to cause open hostility with one of them. The good understanding with France seemed to be the more firmly established for the recent rupture. That nation felt the higher respect for the United States for the spirit they had exhibited, and in the complacency which the consciousness of this fact on their part inspired, there was no room for any rankling resentment. The terrors which jacobinism had inspired among the federalists were now allayed by the new government, whose first consul soon let the world see that, whatever other political evils France was to experience, that of anarchy was not to be one. The good will of England was not conciliated by

our renewed amity with her enemy, and she continued to impress American seamen; but this cause of complaint, irritating as it was, hardly seemed sufficient to drive the nation into war, by which it was sure to lose the gainful privileges of neutrality. Spain was still disposed to refuse the port of New Orleans as a place of deposit; but confidence was entertained that it would be obtained by negotiation.

On the 4th of March, 1801, the President elect delivered his inaugural address in the Senate chamber. Though couched in the language of humility, and breathing the spirit of benevolence and liberality, it asserts all the cardinal principles of the republican faith, but in such general terms as not to alarm the fears or irritate the prejudices of his opponents. As it presented to the nation the state of his feelings as well as an outline of the spirit in which he proposed to administer the government, and was, moreover, as a composition, the subject of the warmest eulogy of his partisans, and of the carping criticism of his adversaries, it is here given at length:

"Friends and fellow citizens, called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow citizens which are here assembled, to express my grateful thanks for the favour with which they have been pleased to look towards me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments, which the greatness of the charge, and the weakness of my powers, so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich produce of their industry; engaged in commerce with nations, who feel power and forget right; advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye; when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honour, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved

country, committed to the issue, and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair, did not the presence of many whom I here see, remind me, that in the other high authorities provided by our constitution, I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, on which to rely under all difficulties. To you then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support, which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel, in which we are all embarked, amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world.

66

During the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the animation of discussions and exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely, and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the constitution, all will of course arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All too will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind; let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection, without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things; and let us reflect, that having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance, as despotic as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persccutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient

world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore-that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety; but every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all republicans-all federalists.* If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong; that this government is not strong enough. But would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear that this government, the world's best hope, may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself? I trust not; I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order, as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself-Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found

66

* The expression, we are all federalists-all republicans," was regarded by the federalists as an overture of conciliation; but by a few of his own party, as an act of complaisance unmerited by them and unworthy of himself; and though strictly true in the sense in which Mr. Jefferson used it, as to the great body of the people, who, whatever may be their party names, are equally attached to republican government, and to the federal union, sounded in their ears very much as would the phrase in England, "we are all whigs-we are all tories."

angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer the question. Let us then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican principles; our attachment to union and representative government.Kindly separated by nature, and a wide ocean, from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too highminded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisition of our own industry, to honour and confidence from our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions, and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed indeed and practised in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an over-ruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here, and his greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens; a wise and frugal government, which restraining men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labour the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

"About to enter, fellow citizens, on the exercise of duties, which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and consequently those which ought to shape its administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations: equal and exact