ses, and perhaps in these alone,
his defects are exhibited. It is certain also that although at times frank
and outspoken to a fault, he was at other times over-complaisant and
insincere. To Aaron Burr, for example, he expressed himself in terms of
friendship which he could hardly have felt; and, once, in writing to a
minister of the gospel he implied, upon his own part, a belief in
revelation which he did not really feel. It seems to be true also that
Jefferson had an overweening desire to win the approbation of his
fellow-countrymen; and at times, though quite unconsciously to himself,
this motive led him into courses which were rather selfish than patriotic.
This was the case, perhaps, in his negotiations with the English minister
after the failure of the embargo. It is charged against him, also, that he
avoided unpleasant situations; and that he said or did nothing to check
the Republican slanders which were cast upon Washington and upon John
Adams. But when this much has been said, all has been said. As a citizen,
husband, father, friend, and master, Jefferson was almost an ideal
character. No man was ever more kind, more amiable, more tender, more
just, more generous. To her children, Mrs. Randolph declared that never,
never had she witnessed a _particle_ of injustice in her father,--never had
she heard him say a word or seen him do an act which she at the time or
afterward regretted. He was magnanimous,--as when he frankly forgave John
Adams for the injustice of his midnight appointments. Though easily
provoked, he never bore malice. In matters of business and in matters of
politics he was punctiliously honorable. How many times he paid his
British debt has already been related. On one occasion he drew his cheque
to pay the duties on certain imported wines which might have come in
free,--yet made no merit of the action, for it never came to light until
long after his death. In the presidential campaigns when he was a
candidate, he never wrote a letter or made a sign to influence the result.
He would not say a word by way of promise in 1801, when a word would have
given him the presidency, and when so honorable a man as John Adams
thought that he did wrong to withhold it. There was no vanity or smallness
in his character. It was he and not Dickinson who wrote the address to the
King, set forth by the Continental Congress of 1775; but Dickinson enjoyed
the fame of it throughout Jefferson's lifetime.

Above all, he w