13. CHAPTER XIII.
CONTAINING OBSERVATIONS.
IN some things in the above, I may be considered
as having a fling at president Jefferson, in the article of
not looking at the nature of things, or judging nicely upon
them; though, I will acknowledge, that in some matters
I erred with him: approving of an embargo, and not
seeing until a late day, that the policy was ineffectual. I
approved of gun-boats to some extent, and may do so
still; but, not so as to supersede a navy, which was the
error of the president; though, if I recollect right, it
was the project of Thomas Paine.
It is natural for a person to think what he would have
done, had he been in the situation of another, even though
he never had the idea of being in that situation. But
having an interest in common with others in the management
of the helm, it becomes more essentially natural
for one to think what ought to be done; and it is not an
after thought with me in saying that I saw the first error
of the Jeffersonian administration; and this was in
the attack upon the Federal Judiciary, which was a cingulum
to bind the states; the belt of Protagoras, to keep
together the bundle of sticks which had been so well arranged
by the constitution. The next error was the repeal
of the excise and the stamp duties. The people
had become reconciled to the excise, and I do not recollect
a single petition for a repeal. The objection to the
stamp duties was founded in a prejudice against the
name; because the Britons had had such an act, and had
attempted to enforce the like upon these colonies, on the
principle that the parliament had the power, as was declared,
“to bind us in all cases whatsoever,” and this
without representation in that body. It was an objection
also, that it was not productive to a great amount; the
remedy for which was to increase the duty: it was a
mode of taxation the best that was ever devised. It fell
upon the monied men, and the poor paid little or nothing.
The next error was, the not continuing, or reviving
the direct tax, and to a greater amount than before; not
upon improvements by building, and on windows, &c.
but upon the value of the soil, and the proportion holden
by any one. What would I have done with the revenue
arising from these? I would have had a navy augmented
by this time to fifty ships of the line, an hundred frigates,
and two hundred sloops of war, with brigs and
schooners in proportion. These things are not an after
thought with me; for I can vouch the new president,
the then secretary of state, James Madison, that in Philadelphia,
in the summer of 1805, I stated to him all
these errors; and as a consequence of these, the paying
tribute to the Barbary powers, when with a navy
which we might by that time have had, we could have
burnt up their towns like wasps' nests.
It was upon these grounds that I have said a thousand
times, that Jefferson, so far as respected our interior
arrangements, was not a great commander. I saw
it before he was three months at the helm of government.
My idea of his talents upon a great scale had been high;
but they were lessened. But it is only with regard to
the management of the interior, that I had applied
the dignus regnandi si non regnavisset. I was always
with him in his apprehensions of John Bull; and I
deplored his errors only because he left himself in a situation
to invite the horns of that madest of all mad cattle
Good fences restrain fencebreaking beasts, and preserve
good neighbourhoods.
All idea of the nonsense of French influence, I have
ever rejected from my creed; nor did I go so far as to
be of opinion that Bonaparte had usurped the government
in France; for there was no government when that
man took the helm; so that if he did usurp it, it was only
as respected the Bourbons, and not as respected the
French people. There was no government in France at
the time he took the helm; there anarchy, the guillotine,
and despotism. The people were ready to “call upon
the mountains and the rocks to cover them.” But the
now Elba emperor deserves the contempt of the world,
also for his want of true wisdom, and his injustice with
regard to Spain, Russia, Holland, &c. &c. As to his
conscriptions of the French people, it is nothing more
than our militia laws. It is ridiculous to call in question
the principle; but
the use that was made of it.
This chapter, when the scenes have passed away
to which it refers, may be struck out, or omitted in the
subsequent editions of this work.
