CHAPTER XVI.

THE TIE.

W

HILE the death of Washington, following

near on the imprudence of Adams, was felt to be a heavy blow to the Federalist party, two men were anxiously watching to improve the occasion for their several purposes. These men were Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.

In the temporary triumph which French insolence had given to the Federalists, and when most of the Republican leaders were inclined to despair of their faction, Jefferson had retained his coolness and presence of mind. His policy was to wait for events, and to take advantage of the least indiscretion on the part of his opponents. The Alien and Sedition Acts first gave him an opportunity to stem the torrent of Federalist success, and there can be no doubt that he was the instigator of that resistance in Virginia and Kentucky, which led to the earliest attempt

to nullify the acts of Congress by a vote of the State legislatures. But his efforts would probably have failed, if Adams had not thrown the game into his hands by dividing the Federalist party. From that moment he saw that he had only to bide his time, and the intestine feuds of his adversaries would leave them at his mercy.

But while Jefferson was thus scheming and waiting, Burr was animating his partisans with the fire of his own restless disposition, and gathering round him all the daring and ambitious spirits amongst the younger members of the democracy. He was at this time in pecuniary difficulties, embarrassed by the result of various speculations, and exposed to some private slanders, which appear to have been without foundation; but he never relaxed his energy in the pursuit of his political objects, and the more desperate his fortunes, the more determined he was to force his way to power.

A new election for President was approaching, and no Washington was there to throw the weight of his influence into the scale. Meanwhile, the schism in the Federalist camp was complete. Not only had Mr. Adams resolved, that General Hamilton should not be left in command of the army, but he had

denounced that gentleman in conversation with an extraordinary display of acrimony, had accused him of being the leader of a British faction, and had got rid of Colonel Pickering and Mr. McHenry from the administration. On his side, Hamilton saw that it was hopeless again to co-operate with Adams. Already in January, 1800, he writes: "The leading friends of the government are in a sad dilemma. Shall they risk a serious schism by an attempt to change; or shall they annihilate themselves, and hazard their cause, by continuing to uphold those who suspect or hate them, and who are likely to pursue a course for no better reason than because it is contrary to that which they approve?"-But, by the May following, his mind was made up. "I will never more," he says, "be responsible for him (Adams) by my direct support, even though the consequence should be the election of Jefferson."

The plan for the electoral campaign, as proposed by Hamilton, was as follows. General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was to be started as the second Federalist candidate, and it was hoped, that, while many would still vote for Adams, parties would be so divided as to secure Pinckney's election for President. The friends of Mr. Adams have ex

hausted their vocabulary, in denouncing what they call the treachery of this scheme; but there does not appear to be any good ground for such a charge. If the Federalists were in a majority, they were of course free to choose the candidate they preferred. If they voted unanimously for Adams, he would be President; if only a portion of them voted for him, it would show that the second candidate was the man of their choice. There was no conceivable reason why Mr. Adams should enjoy a prescriptive right to their suffrages. It may be true, that the splitting of votes favoured the success of the opposite party; but this was a contingency, which Hamilton and his friends were surely entitled to risk, to prevent the supremacy of a man who had described them as a British faction.

The truth seems to be, that the Federalists could not in any case have carried the election. Their divisions had already paralysed their strength, and revived the courage of their opponents, whilst the ebb and flow of public opinion (inconstant in democracies as the moon) had once more given the majority to the Republicans. "The question is not, I fear," said Fisher Ames, "how we shall fight, but how we and all Federalists shall fall "-and the

result proved the correctness of his judgment. Still Hamilton struggled to gain votes for General Pinckney. He undertook a journey through the New England States, was in communication with most of the leaders there, and tried to induce the Federalists generally to act independently of Mr. Adams. It was during the heat of this contest that a singular incident occurred. Provoked by the bitter attacks of the President on himself and his friends, Hamilton had prepared a letter on the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esquire, and had proceeded so far as to have it printed. It is supposed, that he intended it for private circulation, and perhaps to hold in reserve for some future opportunity; but it seems clear, that it was not meant for present publication, when, by mere chance, it fell into the hands of Colonel Burr. That unscrupulous personage, it is said, met the printer's boy with a basket full of pamphlets for General Hamilton, and managed to obtain a copy. Extracts were instantly inserted in the Republican journals, and Hamilton had no alternative but to publish the entire pamphlet. It contained a severe criticism of the President's public career, and some exposure of his personal foibles; but the faults charged against