ng wise counsel
of Dawson, who said that, supported by the justice and policy of their
measures, the approaching administration would not need the aid of
either the alien, sedition, or common law. The opponents of the bill
would not consent to any modification. The last scenes of the session
were of exciting interest.

Freed from the menace of immediate war, the people of plain common sense
recognized that the friendship of Great Britain was more dangerous than
the enmity of France. They dreaded the fixed power of an organized
aristocracy far more than the ephemeral anarchy of an ill-ordered
democracy; they were more averse to class distinctions protected by law
than even to military despotism which destroyed all distinctions, and
they preferred, as man always has preferred and always will prefer,
personal to political equality. The Alien and Sedition laws had borne
their legitimate fruit. The foreign-born population held the balance of
power; a general vote would have shown a large Republican or, it is more
correct to say, anti-Federalist majority. But the popular will could not
be thus expressed. Under the old system each elector in the electoral
college cast his ballot for president and vice-president without
designation of his preference as to who should fill the first place. New
England was solid for Adams, who, however, had little strength beyond
the limits of this Federal stronghold. New York and the Southern States
with inconsiderable exceptions were Republican. Pennsylvania was so
divided in the legislature that her entire vote would have been lost but
for a compromise which gave to the Republicans one vote more than to the
Federalists. Adams being out of the question, the election to the first
place lay between Jefferson and Burr, both Republicans. The Federalists,
therefore, had their option between the two Republican candidates, and
the result was within the reach of that most detestable of combinations,
a political bargain. Mr. Gallatin's position in this condition of
affairs was controlling. His loyalty to Jefferson was unquestioned,
while Burr was the favorite of the large Republican party in New York
whose leaders were Mr. Gallatin's immediate friends and warm supporters.
Both Jefferson and Burr were accused of bargaining to secure enough of
the Federalist vote to turn the scale. That Mr. Jefferson did make some
sacrifice of his independence is now believed. Whether Mr. Gallatin was
aware of any such com