t, he should prefer the latter. But when in his turn he felt
the stings that previously, under his management, had goaded even
Washington out of his self-control, Jefferson could not help saying that
'a suspension of the press would not more completely deprive the nation
of its benefits than is done by its abandoned prostitution to
falsehood.'

Before September, 1791, Mr. Jefferson thought that our affairs were
proceeding in a train of unparalleled prosperity, owing to the real
improvements of the Government, and the unbounded confidence reposed in
it by the people. Soon a jealousy of Hamilton came upon him, and the
displeasure of playing a second part: he began to look for relief in the
ranks of the malcontents. He then perceived monarchical longings in the
Administration party, and prophesied corruption, despotism, and a loss
of liberty forever, if they were to be allowed to interpret the
Constitution in their way. Washington was the Atlas whose broad
shoulders bore up the Federalists. Bache, of the _Aurora_, with whom
Jefferson's word was law, and Freneau, of the _Gazette_, who had
received from Jefferson a clerkship in the Department of State, accused
the General of a desire to subvert the Constitution: the reserve of his
manners was said to proceed from an affectation of royalty; they even
ventured to charge him with perverting the public money. Jefferson
refused to check these base attacks, and wrote in the same vein himself
in the famous letter to Mazzei. But after the battle had been fought, he
perceived that Washington had a hold stronger than party feelings on the
affections of Americans. It would never do to leave his name and fame in
the custody of Federalists. And so Mr. Jefferson turned about and denied
that he had ever made any charges against General Washington. On the
contrary, he felt certain that Washington did not harbor one principle
of Federalism. He was neither an Angloman, a monarchist, nor a
separatist. Bache he (Jefferson) knew nothing about; over Freneau he had
no control; and the Mazzei letter had been misprinted and
misinterpreted. In spite of his hatred of England, and his fears lest
the English 'form' should be adopted in the United States, Jefferson, in
1788, had recommended the English form to Lafayette for the use of
France. And in spite of the admiration for France, which with him and
the Democrats was an essential article of the party faith, he took
offence with the French Government