[Previous page]...he could: & so he took
leave. He asked me whether I could not arrange my affairs by going
home. I told him I did not think the public business would admit of
it; that there was never a day now in which the absence of the
Secretary of state would not be inconvenient to the public.
(* 2) He asked me whether I could not arrange my affairs by
going home. I told him I did not think the public business would
admit of it; that there was never a day now in which the absence of
the Secretary of state would not be inconvenient to the public.
"Liberty warring on herself"
Aug. 20. 1793. We met at the President's to examine by
paragraphs the draught of a letter I had prepared to Gouverneur
Morris on the conduct of Mr. Genet. There was no difference of
opinion on any part of it, except on this expression. "An attempt to
embroil both, to add still another nation to the enemies of his
country, & to draw on both a reproach, which it is hoped will never
stain the history of either, that of
liberty warring on herself."
H. moved to strike out these words "that of liberty warring on
herself." He urged generally that it would give offence to the
combined powers, that it amounted to a declaration that they were
warring on liberty, that we were not called on to declare that the
cause of France was that of liberty, that he had at first been with
them with all his heart, but that he had long since left them, and
was not for encouraging the idea here that the cause of France was
the cause of liberty in general, or could have either connection or
influence in our affairs. Knox accordg to custom jumped plump into
all his opinions. The Pr. with a good deal of positiveness declared
in favor of the expression, that he considered the pursuit of France
to be that of liberty, however they might sometimes fail of the best
means of obtaining it, that he had never at any time entertained a
doubt of their ultimate success, if they hung well together, & that
as to their dissensions there were such contradictory accts. given
that no one could tell what to believe. I observed that it had been
supposed among us all along that the present letter might become
public; that we had therefore 3. parties to attend to, -- 1. France,
2. her enemies, 3. the people of the U S. That as to the enemies of
France it ought not to offend them, because the passage objected to
only spoke of an attempt to make the U S. a free nation, war on
France, a free nation, which would be liberty warring on herself,
and therefore a true fact. That as to France, we were taking so
harsh a measure (desiring her to recall her minister) that a
precedent for it could scarcely be found, that we knew that minister
would represent to his government that our Executive was hostile to
liberty, leaning to monarchy & would endeavor to parry the charges on
himself, by rendering suspicious the source from which they flowed.
That therefore it was essential to satisfy France not only of our
friendship to her, but our attachment to the general cause of
liberty, & to hers in particular. That as to the people of the U S.
we knew there were suspicions abroad that the Executive in some of
it's parts was tainted with a hankering after monarchy, an
indisposition towards liberty & towards the French cause; & that it
was important by an explicit declaration to remove these suspicions &
restore the confidence of the people in their govmt. R. opposed the
passage on nearly the same ground with H. He added that he thought
it had been agreed that this correspondence should contain no
expressions which could give offence to either party. I replied that
it had been my opinion in the beginng of the correspondence that
while we were censuring the conduct of the French minister, we should
make the most cordial declarations of friendship to them: that in the
first letter or two of the correspondence I had inserted expressions
of that kind, but that himself & the other two gentlemen had struck
them out; that I thereupon conformed to their opinions in my subseqt.
letters, and had carefully avoided the insertion of a single term of
friendship to the French nation, and the letters were as dry & husky
as if written between the generals of two enemy nations. That on the
present occasion how ever it had been agreed that such expressions
ought to be inserted in the letter now under considn, & I had
accordly charged it pretty well with them. That I had further
thought it essential to satisfy the French & our own citizens of the
light in which we viewed their cause, and of our fellow feeling for
the general cause of liberty, and had ventured only four words on the
subject, that there was not from beginning to end of the letter one
other expression or word in favor of liberty, & I should think it
singular at least if the single passage of that character should be
struck out. -- The President again spoke. He came into the idea that
attention was due to the two parties who had been mentd. France &
the U S. That as to the former, thinking it certain their affairs
would issue in a government of some sort, of considerable freedom, it
was the only nation with whom our relations could be counted on: that
as to the U S. there could be no doubt of their universal attachmt to
the cause of France, and of the solidity of their republicanism. He
declared his strong attachment to the expression, but finally left it
to us to accommodate. It was struck out, of course, and the
expressions of affection in the context were a good deal taken down.
Conversations with Aaron Burr
Jan. 26. 1804. Col. Burr the V. P. calls on me in the evening,
having previously asked an opportunity of conversing with me. He
began by recapitulating summarily that he had come to N. Y. a
stranger some years ago, that he found the country in possn of two
rich families, (the Livingstons & Clintons) that his pursuits were
not political & he meddled not. When the crisis, however of 1800
came on they found their influence worn out, & solicited his aid with
the people. He lent it without any views of promotion. That his
being named as a candidate for V. P. was unexpected by him. He
acceded to it with a view to promote my fame & advancement and from a
desire to be with me, whose company and conversation had always been
fascinating to him. That since those great families had become
hostile to him, and had excited the calumnies which I had seen
published. That in this Hamilton had joined and had even written
some of the pieces against him. That his attachment to me had been
sincere and was still unchanged, altho many little stories had been
carried to him, & he supposed to me also, which he despised, but that
attachments must be reciprocal or cease to exist, and therefore he
asked if any change had taken place in mine towards him; that he had
chosen to have this conversn with myself directly & not through any
intermediate agent. He reminded me of a letter written to him about
the time of counting the votes (say Feb. 1801) mentioning that his
election had left a chasm in my arrangements, that I had lost him
from my list in the admn. &c. He observed he believed it would be
for the interest of the republican cause for him to retire; that a
disadvantageous schism would otherwise take place; but that were he
to retire, it would be said he shrunk from the public sentence, which
he never would do; that his enemies were using my name to destroy
him, and something was necessary from me to prevent and deprive them
of that weapon, some mark of favor from me, which would declare to
the world that he retired with my confidence. I answered by
recapitulating to him what had been my conduct previous to the
election of 1800. That I never had interfered directly or indirectly
with my friends or any others, to influence the election either for
him or myself; that I considered it as my duty to be merely passive,
except that, in Virginia I had taken some measures to procure for him
the unanimous vote of that state, because I thought any failure there
might be imputed to me. That in the election now coming on, I was
observing the same conduct, held no councils with anybody respecting
it, nor suffered any one to speak to me on the subject, believing it
my duty to leave myself to the free discussion of the public; that I
do not at this moment know, nor have ever heard who were to be
proposed as candidates for the public choice, except so far as could
be gathered from the newspapers. That as to the attack excited
against him in the newspapers, I had noticed it but as the passing
wind; that I had seen complaints that Cheetham, employed in
publishing the laws, should be permitted to eat the public bread &
abuse its second officer: that as to this, the publishers of the laws
were appd by the Secy. of the state witht. any reference to me; that
to make the notice general, it was often given to one republican &
one federal printer of the same place, that these federal printers
did not in the least intermit their abuse of me, tho' receiving
emoluments from the govmts and that I have never thot it proper to
interfere for myself, & consequently not in the case of the Vice
president. That as to the letter he referred to, I remembered it,
and believed he had only mistaken the date at which it was written;
that I thought it must have been on the first notice of the event of
the election of S. Carolina; and that I had taken that occasion to
mention to him that I had intended to have proposed to him one of the
great offices, if he had not been elected, but that his election in
giving him a higher station had deprived me of his aid in the
administration. The letter alluded to was in fact mine to him of
Dec. 15. 1800. I now went on to explain to him verbally what I meant
by saying I had lost him from my list. That in Genl. Washington's
time it had been signified to him that Mr. Adams, the V. President,
would be glad of a foreign embassy; that Genl. Washington mentd. it
to me, expressed his doubts whether Mr. Adams was a fit character for
such an office, & his still greater doubts, indeed his conviction
that it would not be justifiable to send away the person who, in case
of his death, was provided by the constn to take his place; that it
would moreover appear indecent for him to be disposing of the public
trusts in apparently buying off a competitor for the public favor. I
concurred with him in the opinion, and, if I recollect rightly,
Hamilton, Knox, & Randolph were consulted & gave the same opinions.
That when Mr. Adams came to the admn, in his first interview with me
he mentioned the necessity of a mission to France, and how desirable
it would have been to him if he could have got me to undertake it;
but that he conceived it would be wrong in him to send me away, and
assigned the same reasons Genl Washington had done; and therefore he
should appoint Mr. Madison &c. That I had myself contemplated his
(Colo. Burr's) appointment to one of the great offices; in case he
was not elected V. P. but that as soon as that election was known, I
saw it could not be done for the good reasons which had led Genl W. &
Mr. A. to the same conclusion, and therefore in my first letter to
Colo. Burr after the issue was known, I had mentioned to him that a
chasm in my arrangements had been produced by this event. I was thus
particular in rectifying the date of this letter, because it gave me
an opportunity of explaining the grounds on which it was written
which were indirectly an answer to his present hints. He left the
matter with me for consideration & the conversation was turned to
indifferent subjects. I should here notice that Colo. Burr must have
thot that I could swallow strong things in my own favor, when he
founded his acquiescence in the nominn as V. P. to his desire of
promoting my honor, the being with me whose company & conversn had
always been fascinating to him &c. I had never seen Co...
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