The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1913-08-16


about the town and spSead to the
country. But congress had come out
of its angry tangle of factions, calm
had returned to the government and
Hamilton's plan stood finished and
complete. He had nationalized <fhe
government as he wished.
jefferson Is chagr'ned.
It was this fact that most struck
the eye of Jefferson when he had set
tied to his work and had come to see
affairs steadily and as, whole at the
seat Of government. He saw Hamia;
ton supreme in the cabinet and in leg
islation-not because either the presi.
dent or congress was weak, but be-
cause Hamilton was a master in his
new field, and both congress and the
president had accepted his leadership.
1t chagrined Jefferson deeply to see
that he had himself assisted at Ham:
ilton's triumph, had himself made 1t
complete, indeed. He could not easily
brook successful rivalry in leadership;
must have expected to find himself.
not Hamilton, preferred in the coun'
sells Of Virginia president; was be-
yond measure dismayed to see the
administration already in the hands,
as it seemed, of man just two months
turned Of thirty-three. He began ere
long to declare that he had been
most ignorantly and innocently made
to hold the CANDLE to the sharp work
of the secretary of the treasury, hay
ing been "a stranger to the circum.
stances" But it was not the circem.
stances of which he had been ignorant;
it was the effect of what he had done
upon his own wish to play the chief
role in the new government.
When he came to a calm scrutiny
of the matter, he did not like the as
sumption of the state debts, and, what
was more serious for a man of politi-
cal ambition, it was bitterly distaste-
full to the very men from whom he
must look to draw a following when
parties should FORM. He felt that he :
had been tricked; he knew that he
had been .outrun in the race for lead.
ership.
What he did not understand or
know how to reckon with was the
place and purpose Of Washington in
the government. Hamilton had been
Washington's aide and confidant when
"a lad Of twenty, and knewrin what way
those must rule who served under
such a chief. He knew that Wash
ington must first be convinced and
won; did@not for a moment doubt that
the president held the reins and was
master; was aware that his own plans
had prospered both in the making and
in the adoption because the purpose
they spoke was the purpose Washing
ton most cherished. Washington had
adopted the fiscal measures as his
own; Hamilton's strength consisted In
having his confidence and support
Washington and Jefferson.
Jefferson had slowly to discover
that leadership in the cabinet was to
be had, not by winning majority OF
the counsellors who sat In it, but by
winning Washington. That masterful
man asked counsel upon every ques-
ton of consequence, but took none
his own judgment did not approve.
He had chosen Hamilton because he
knew his views, Jefferson only be.
cause he knew his influence, ability,
and experience in affairs. When he
did test Jefferson's views he found
them less to his liking than he had ex-
pected. -:
He had taken Jefferson direct from
France, where for i've years he had been
watching revolution come on apace,
hurried from stage to stage, not by
statesmen who were masters in the
art and practice of freedom, like
those who had presided in the coun-
sells of America, but by demagogues
and philosophers rather; and the sub
tie air of that age Of change had ,crept
into the mans thought. He had come
back a philosophical radical rather
than a. statesman. . He had yet to
learn, in the practical air of America.
what plain and steady policy must
serve him to win hard-headed men to
to his following; and Washington
found him a guide who needed watch
Ing. :
Foreign affairs, over which It was
Jetferson's duty to preside, began OF
a. sudden to turn upon the politics of
France, where Jefferson's thought was
30 much engaged. The year 1889. in
which America gained self-possessaon
and set up a government soherly plan
ned to last, was the year In which
rance lost self-possession and set out
upon a wild quest for liberty which
was to cost her both her traditional
polity and all the hopes she had of q
new one. In that year broke the
storm of the French revolution. -, 1y.
It was dangerous infection that
! went abroad from France in those first
days of her ardor, and nowhere was
1t more likely to spread than in. Amer
ica l".y..:......
But Washington'S vision in affair,
| was not 'obscured. He had not led
revolutionary armies without learn
| Ing what revolution meant. .'4'ha raw