Rival Caesars
Page 20
“It is a fearful night,” remarked Jefferson. “I cannot stand this frightful Northern climate in winter time. The frost and cold winds pierce into my marrow bones. I must get back into Old Virginia. “God’s Country” is good enough for me. I wouldn’t live here for every acre of land in the whole State.
“Besides I am not as you know supposed to be here. I had great difficulties to contend with in arranging so that this interview should be kept in every way sub rosa.”
“We might have met at an Inn,” remarked Hamilton in reply. “Only I thought it more judicious to discuss this matter where we could be neither seen nor heard. I am sorry, however, the afternoon has turned out to be so bleak and cold. I myself was born in the genial climate of the Caribbean Sea and feel these New England winters very severely.
“However, as we are here, we might as well proceed with the business in hand. The sooner we get through, the sooner we get home.”
“I have come according to your invitation sent to me through General Smith. I meet you in all good faith and am now prepared,” said the Sage of Monticello, “to hear what your ‘weighty proposition may be. Meanwhile, Mr. Hamilton, please remember, that I (as a Southern gentleman and candidate for the Presidency) cannot consider any proposition whatsoever, that has the slightest tinge of 'doubtful or unfair' methods. Nor can I consider anything that conflicts with my basic principles.”
“As to that, my dear Mr. Jefferson,” replied Hamilton, “you need not be the least alarmed. I am a soldier and a gentleman, and, rest assured, nothing in any way subversive of the highest honor and fair play (between man and man) shall proceed from me. My position and reputation must in no way be jeopardized. I pledge you my word of honor that I have now no suggestion to offer you that is not strictly fair and above board. Indeed, there is no other way to settle the matter and necessity is above all law. Yet, my proposition is not by any means of a nature that either you or I would like to hear shrieked from the housetops or shouted by the town-crier. There are many things Mr. Jefferson that are perfectly proper and legitimate, which nevertheless it would be injudicious, very injudicious, to publicly proclaim.”
Here a rustling noise was heard overhead and a heavy piece of plaster fell with a crash at their feet. Both men looked up at the scaffolding overhead, but mutually concluded that the plaster fell by accident, or was blown down by a gust of wind. However, this was not so.
Upon the scaffolding wrapped in a great fur cloak lay a man stretched out listening intently to every word. It was John Swartwout. He had arrived about ten minutes before and taken this method of concealing himself. Both Hamilton and Jefferson had been for many years closely watched by the agents of Burr. Thus the conference became known to Burr. Hence many things.
“Very well, Mr. Hamilton, proceed,” spake Jefferson, “I am all ears. I wish to get through with it for the cold is dreadful.”
“You wish to be president of the United States Mr. Jefferson?” inquired Hamilton.
“I do.”
“Well, I can decide the election in your favor,” said General Hamilton (the Chief of the Federal Caucus.) “But I have conditions Mr. Jefferson.”
“Explain, Mr. Hamilton.”
“I will do so,” said Hamilton, “but beforehand I wish to know if you are prepared to pledge me your word of honor never to divulge what I say to any living soul under any circumstances, now or hereafter.”
“I pledge you my word of honor to that effect,” replied the inventor of the rotary office stool. “What is spoken to me in private shall remain private forever, even though it be to my injury. I am not a man to betray confidences.”
“Then I will proceed,” replied General Hamilton. “I will make you president on certain conditions, private conditions between you and me, you and me alone.”
“Name your conditions, but first explain to me your power to cause my election.”
“In the first place then,” said Hamilton, “there are 16 States in the Union, that is to say, there are 16 State votes to be cast for President. Eight of these votes are cast for you and 6 for Burr. Two are doubtful, for the votes of two States have been absolutely delegated to two individuals, and these two individuals are very friendly disposed towards me and not wholly unfriendly towards Burr. Nevertheless they may possibly be induced to cast the votes of their respective States, Vermont and Maryland, for you.
“You know what that means. Without gaining over one of those two States you cannot win the Presidency. Now, Mr. Jefferson, I can control them both. Whatever side I desire them to take they will go to that side. I also possess means of influencing two other States. You are doubtless well aware of all this, as well aware of it as I am.
“Thus I can make your votes 9 by simply sending the signal to either Bayard of Delaware, or General Morris of Vermont. Or by going the right way to work I can make Burr's votes 8 and then it is possible for my friends to win over one of your votes and thus make Burr's 9 and elect him President.
“Two of the States that have gone Federal are prepared to vote for Burr at any time I think it judicious. Indeed the Federals are not unfavorable to Burr, because unlike you, he sees nothing to object to in the consolidation of authority, i. e., in a more binding Union.
At heart he is also well known to be of aristocratic instincts, whereas you are feared as being a hopeless Leveler, a sort of philosophic Marat, ready to set up a guillotine in Union Square. The fact is, Mr. Jefferson that while I personally am convinced of your sterling honesty and unyielding patriotism, yet you must be aware that men of property and position are alarmed at your preachments, therefore very unwilling that the control of the Army and Government should pass into the hands of such a Leveler and Revolutionist as they believe you to be.[*]
Except in your own Southern States (and among the non-propertied class) you are regarded as an unsafe man to be entrusted with the reins of Power, more especially in view of the wild mob-terror recently let loose in France, and believed to be indirectly inspired by your own principles and writings. There is little doubt that when La Fayette and his army returned to France, they carried with them the germs of the Reign of Terror.
These things are undeniable Mr. Jefferson and therefore if you are to be President it is essential that you should at least give some assurance, (it may be private and confidential assurance), that you will not carry your principles too far, discountenance dangerous agitations, guard the status-quo, protect property and uphold the national credit.”
To this Jefferson replied calmly, though internally much agitated: “I think I perceive what you mean, General Hamilton. I know that within your own party lines, your power is that of a dictator, but I had no conception until now that you could also manipulate the votes of my party.”
“I can do it,” said Hamilton with emphasis. “I can do it and without doubt.”
“What pledge can you give me, General Hamilton of your ability to perform what you say you can?”
Hamilton thereupon drew forth a packet of legal and other documents from out the inner pocket of his coat. He opened them up in the gathering dusk and handed them one by one to Jefferson who as he read handed them back again. After Jefferson had concluded the reading of all the papers, Hamilton refolded them and carefully put them back in his pocket.
Between the planks of the scaffolding above, the dark eager face of John Swartwout peered down listening with absorbing attention to every word of the two great statesmen.
Hamilton after a pause and scrutinizing glance at Jefferson again spoke, saying: “You now see, Mr. Jefferson, that I can make my word good. Two of these men are ready to do my bidding willingly and one (if needed) I can gain over. Then there is that fourth man, whose own casting vote decides the vote of his state. He would not dare to vote against my wish. He is in no position to defy me and you know it Mr. Jefferson.
“There are no witnesses here to repeat this conversation and therefore both you and I are safe in speaking frankly to one's another, face to face.
“In the voting within the Electoral College you and he are 'equal.' Strange is it not?” said Hamilton smilingly and laying considerable and somewhat ironic stress on the word 'equal.' “After 27 ballots you and he are still absolutely even.”
“From your own point of view Mr. Hamilton, I see no fault to find with your logic. I have other reasons besides your documentary proofs to satisfy and convince me that you say true. The knowledge of this made me willing to meet you tonight. I acknowledge your arguments and I accept your proofs, while deploring the weakness and duplicity of men. But, sorrow and anger on my part cannot now alter the actual circumstances. Without doubt Mr. Hamilton you are the Warwick of the Situation. But what are your conditions? I am curious to hear your demands. Name them?”
As Jefferson talked there was a perceptible tremor in his voice. Though a very tall rawboned man his voice was not equal to the expectations aroused by his stature. It was weak and somewhat like that of a woman. On this account he was an impossible orator though, as a writer of beautiful and sentimental sentences, he excelled.
He continued saying:
“It would mortify me to have it said in after years that I owed my elevation to Major General Hamilton, leader of the Opposition, the man whom I have so strongly denounced on every possible occasion.
“Politics is a curious game, Hamilton; a cut-throat game. Like misfortune it makes men acquainted with strange bedfellows. Truly, it is no business for a gentleman. It would corrupt the principles of a saint.”
“Perfectly true, Mr. Jefferson. Politics is not a game for saints. It is a hard business and those who enter upon it must be hard. We must accept conditions, even as we find them, no matter how unpleasant they may be to us personally We are not as gods that we can purify the world by raging against the heathen with the breath from our mouths. We are not mad enough to believe that we can overturn the methods of nature or change the minds of men in the course of our little lifetime.
“Let us therefore do the best we can with the things that are, and waste not strength on Quixotic efforts to transmute men into angels.
“Even if a man does set himself out to redeem the millions, born and unborn, he must first secure his own position. And by the time he has accomplished that iron task, his enthusiasm for Humanity will be somewhat damped down.
“Burr is right when he says “democratic Institutions must be worked out logically,” and you perceive Mr. Jefferson the obvious logic of the present crisis in your fortunes. This is the opportunity of your lifetime. Now you can realize your ambition and give your 'principles' a practical test in an environment of extraordinary favorableness.
“You ask my conditions. They are as follows:
“I desire a written guarantee, to be deposited in the Bank of * * * that during your term of office as president, you will not (if elected by my favoring intervention) remove from office any of our Federal appointees to the number, etc., here scheduled. (Hamilton handed a blue document to Jefferson.)
“Next, that the English Treaties as they now stand shall remain unaltered, and that no aid be given by your administration whatsoever to this Corsican Caesar (Napoleon Bonaparte) whom I know you are somewhat inclined to favor.
“Next, that no effort be countenanced that trends in the direction of changing the Constitution or of further weakening the Federal Union.
“Next that you will preserve our present Financial System intact; and uphold the decisions and operation of the Supreme Court.
“Next that you will uphold the public credit at home and abroad, cease all talk of repudiation, aid in maintaining the efficiency of the Navy and make every possible effort for the acquisition of New Orleans.”
“Such terms would bind me hand and foot,” replied Jefferson, evidently much perturbed. “If I acceded to your demands I would be utterly powerless; and in the eyes of my friends and supporters I would also be disgraced. They would say I am a man of straw; that I do not carry out my election pledges; that I am but a man of words and, that I have no backbone. Indeed, if I agreed to such terms I would be merely a make-believe president, a sort of impotent Grand Llama giving voice and authority to the policy of others. No, Mr. Hamilton, I will not become president by Capitulation; I will not be humiliated and made a dummy ruler over a free people.”
“You are over punctilious, Mr. Jefferson,” said Hamilton. “There is no king or ruler in any civilized nation who can strictly speaking carry out his own will. All are hedged around by conditions and precedents that to overstep would bring ruin upon them. The days of the absolute monarch (who is not a conquering general like Napoleon) are numbered. All American Presidents are intended to be conditional rulers. It will be no humiliation for you to be numbered among them.
“Your best friend indeed may never know of the proposed Compact. Except you inform them they shall never be informed by me. And as for your last argument it is merely sentiment. You will have an immense patronage and considerable power even after complying with my not unreasonable requirements. Surely, if I help you, it would only be fair for you to help me. One good turn deserves another.
“Again is it not better for you to be president under conditions than not to be president at all. This may be your last chance, Mr. Jefferson.”
“I will not accept your conditions, Mr. Hamilton,” said the author of the Declaration of Independence.
“Then you cannot be elected, Mr. Jefferson,” spake General Hamilton. “I am absolute master of the position. The election is in my hands. I hold, beyond question the balance of power. I can raise the scale in which you stand, or, I can lower it and elevate your rival, whom I know you mortally detest, though he is the ablest of your lieutenants.
“Now I invited you here, Mr. Jefferson, in order that we might come to some mutual modus vivendi, that might possibly eliminate Burr forever. You know enough of diplomacy and practical statecraft to be aware that such Compacts as I have proposed to you are made in every country on earth. Wherever the material interests of men clash there must be war or diplomacy, men must come to blows or make an agreement. You are not able to conquer me, nor am I able to conquer you: therefore let us come to an understanding and make concessions.”
“But if I refuse,” replied Jefferson, “what then?”.
“Then the armistice is at an end we must fight it out and you (being the older man) are more likely to weary of the conflict than I am.
“Should you persist in this refusal I straightway make Burr's votes 8. This will cause a tie. My friends in the Electoral College are obstinate. They will stand by me to the last, each man for his own good reason. You have read what Bayard wrote to me by the last carrier pigeon.
“Now in the event of a tie that cannot be in any way arranged then the election is thrown into the House of Representatives; and there again my friends hold the balance.
“Thus I can elect Burr as easily as I can elect you. Further, Burr is a mere matter-of-fact man (without previous theories) and cares not a jot for the constitution or what is written therein. Without doubt he stands ready to accept any Compact I may propose to him.”
“Well, then suppose I agree,” replied Jefferson, who now thought to find out more as to the Master Manipulator's real power.
“If you agree I shall be truly glad. I have one more condition, however. It is this. If I appoint you to the presidency and make Burr vice president, then Burr is shelved for four years,but is not entirely overthrown. At the end of his term he may again become a formidable foe to me and an entrenched rival to you. He has a strange faculty for bringing things to pass.
“Now, you will be Burr's colleague for four years and during that period I shall expect you to aid me in discrediting him before the public. Like you yourself I also regard him as a very able, very ambitious, but very dangerous man. He is by
nature of strong aristocratic instincts, and you know that a bankrupt aristocrat is a very dangerous personality in any state, especially if he is (at the same time) a good soldier, a good lawyer and an eloquent politician.
“In a republic such a man is as much of a menace to the status quo as a crownless king in a monarchy. Around him ever gather all the elements of discontent and rebellion.
“If you and I, therefore, (you as leader of one great party and I of the other,) conjointly endeavor to destroy his fame and influence (especially in the North where his strength lies) we must, of course succeed. No mortal power could prevent us. Public opinion is for all practical purposes confined to the ranks of the two great parties, whose policy is controlled almost absolutely by you and me.
“No one man dare stand up against both of us at once. He would be snuffed out like a candle. Except he had an army at his back he could not withstand us. Our editors, correspondents, and agents would quickly dispose of him. Burr, I say, must be removed from our path.
“But in addition. Mr. Jefferson, there is a threat involved. If you fail to come to terms I will, without hesitation, elect Burr upon the same condition.
“Remember that the public has learnt to regard you not as a man of action, but rather as a philosopher, who philosophizes in such a way as to please the mob.
“You must thus perceive, my dear Mr. Jefferson, that whether you agree or do not agree I am prepared for either alternative.”
Now Hamilton had no real intention whatever of electing Burr. He merely used the threat of doing so to terrify Jefferson into a more tractable frame of mind. During the whole of the interview he was congratulating himself on the success of his maneuver and thinking, “I’ve got him (Jefferson) exactly where I wanted him.”