The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-23

Such mellowing influence does wide and
long experience Of life sometimes have,
when one can witness great changes in the
/ situation OF Affairs. that We may be sure it
would not have been without its effect upon
Alexander Hamilton. When the new di-
vision Of parties came, after 1925, there
can hardly be a doubt that he would have
found his place by the side OF Webster
and John Quincy Adams
v.
Admirable az are all the historical papers
in these volumes. it is probable that most
readers will assign pr, eninence to the essay
on Thomas jefferson, the Conservative
Reforrner.' A reformer jefferson was
throughout the whole Of his adult life. up
TO his accession to the Presidency. Then
he showed himself Conservative. Mr.
Fiske shows how indispensable to the sta
blity of the Federal Government was tie
reinsurance given by Jefrersons we'll
known sympathy with the feelings and ideas
Of plain. common people. and how. al the
saroe time. his own political views were
modified by the vast respons bilitss in
I separable from the Office Ct Chief Magis
trate. A man OF such sympathetic in
sight into the popular rIind-a faculty in
which Hamilton was almost as lacking as
Hutchnson-was just the man that was
needed at the head Of our Government
In the first decade 81 the nineteenth century.
jefferson vas needed at the helm in
as much az Hamilton was needed in 1880.
He never could have done the work Of
Hamilton or Of Madison. They were men
II rare constructive genius. he was not
But, when the first work Of construction
had been done and the Government fairly
set 10 work, jefferson was lust the man 20
carry IL along quietly and smoothly, until
its success Passed into tradition. and was
thus assured II ne had been the French
! iconoclast that the federalists supposed
him to be he could not have achieved any
such results. But his career in the Pres
dency shows him, not as Danton. but az
Walpole. Inst. ad Of the general ever
turning which the Federalists had dreadeo
the Administration quietly followed the
lines which Hamilton had laid down. In
other words. il VAS in the hands Of a con-
st.tutional mag strG,e, who acquiesced
in the decision Of such questions by ths
will Of the people Moreover as nov
welding the administration and feeling
the practical merits 81 Iamitons measures
Jefferson was no longer SO ready To con-
denim them In the most important act
Of his Presidency he deserted his strict
constructionist theories and yentured upon
an exercise q power as bold as Hamilton's
assumption Of State debts. The reference
is. Of course. to the purchase OF the Louisl-
ana territory.
| To Jefferson's strong faith in the tench-
abeness Of the great mass Of people, and
to the influence which he consequently
cxerted in favor Of equal political rights.
should be largely attributed the triumph
of universal suf rage, which. so far as adult
white males We're concerned, had been
consul m ted in almost all Of the United
States by the close Of the third decade Of
the nineteenth century. Should we con-
denim him or bless him for the powerful
impetus given by him 10 the movement
Mr. Fiske answers: We often hear people
say that the experiment of universal suf
frage Is a failure, that II simply results in
the sway Of deInagogues, who marshal at
the polls their hordes Of bribed or petted
, followers. This Is no doubt very bad.
! 1t i a serious danger. against which we
must provide. But do these directors
ever stop to think how much worse IL would
La IL the demagogue. instead OF marsha ling
his creatures at the polls. were able to stand
up and inflame their passions with the cry
that in this country they have no vote
no share in making the laws. that they are
kept out OF their just dues by an upper
class of rich men who can make the laws
II your hoi carrier was sulking for the
want Of a vote he would be ten times more
dangerous than any so-called friend OF
labor can now make him. As it is, his
vote does not teach him much. because OF
his dull mind and narrow experience, but
after all II gives him the feeling that he
j. of some account in the world, that his
Individuality is to some extent respected
and this is unquestionahlv one Of the most
powerful and conservative safeguards Of
American civilization. In point of fact
our political freedom and our social wei
fare are to-day in infinitely greater peri
, from Pennsylvania ironmasters and tho
owners Of silver mines in Nevada than
from all the ignorant foreigners that have
hoc' ed to us from Europe Our legacy OF
dan ger for this generation was bequeathec
us by Hamilton, not by Jefferson
In concluding parag a2h our author
recogni yes that the American people tool
. jefferson into their heats as they have
never taken any other statesman unit
Lincoln in these latter days His infu
ence endured his green old age at Monti
c Ito. the favored spot where in the carl,
) DAYS when American independence hac
, hardly been thought Of he used TO si undel
the trees ard chat and dream over theori,,
: Of government and power over mon arc
The ways in which II assorted itself" III,
first term Of his Presidency was sere ne
and as candidate for his cond tern
he simply swept the country. When J.,
died on the Ali Of July. 1920. he J aI l.vet
long enough to see the frui, ion OF lis work
to see the American people in full sym
pa'hy with him and to win back the Is Z, II
, of the great statesman John Adams. fror
, whom he had been 80 long divided. ,oulC
.. there have been no, l'r triumph for Thu
strong and sweet na'ure?" NJ. W, II.
, The Crcd,bilty OF Religion.
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