of private life to those of public, which had nothing
in them agreeable to me. I explained to him the
circumstances of the war which had first called me
into public life, and those following the war, which
had called me from a retirement on which I had determined.
That I had constantly kept my eye on my own home,
and could no longer refrain from returning to it.
As to himself, his presence was important; that he
was the only man in the United States who possessed
the confidence of the whole; that government was founded
in opinion and confidence, and that the longer he remained,
the stronger would become the habits of the people
in submitting to the government, and in thinking it
a thing to be maintained; that there was no other
person, who would be thought any thing more than the
head of a party. He then expressed his concern
at the difference which he found to subsist between
the Secretary of the Treasury and myself, of which
he said he had not been aware. He knew, indeed,
that there was a marked difference in our political
sentiments, but he had never suspected it had gone
so far in producing a personal difference, and he
wished he could be the mediator to put an end to it.
That he thought it important to preserve the check
of my opinions in the administration, in order to keep
things in their proper channel, and prevent them from
going too far. That as to the idea of transforming
this government into a monarchy, he did not believe
there were ten men in the United States whose opinions
were worth attention, who entertained such a thought.
I told him there were many more than he imagined.
I recalled to his memory a dispute at his own table,
a little before we left Philadelphia, between General
Schuyler on one side and Pinckney and myself on the
other, wherein the former maintained the position,
that hereditary descent was as likely to produce good
magistrates as election. I told him, that though
the people were sound, there were a numerous sect
who had monarchy in contemplation; that the Secretary
of the Treasury was one of these. That I had
heard him say that this constitution was a shilly-shally
thing, of mere milk and water, which could not last,
and was only good as a step to something better.
That when we reflected, that he had endeavored in
the convention, to make an English constitution of
it, and when failing in that, we saw all his measures
tending to bring it to the same thing, it was natural
for us to be jealous; and particularly, when we saw
that these measures had established corruption in
the legislature, where there was a squadron devoted
to the nod of the Treasury, doing whatever he had
directed, and ready to do what he should direct.
That if the equilibrium of the three great bodies,
legislative, executive, and judiciary, could be preserved,
if the legislature could be kept independent, I should
never fear the result of such a government; but that
I could not but be uneasy, when I saw that the executive
had swallowed up the legislative branch. He said,