so odious that it was abandoned. It ought ever to have been the most honorable that any citizen could wear. Mr. Jefferson thought otherwise; and doomed all federalists to struggle in the ranks of opposition under whatsoever name they could assume.

"Federalist" meant no more than attachment to the national union, in contradistinction to those who were opposed to it. Like whig and tory, democrat and jacobin, it signified the principles and actions of a political class. In this relation, federalism ever meant this, and this only, a pure and righteous administration of national and state governments, in strict conformity to the established constitutions. So federalism will be considered in history, and as such will be honored by future generations.

No exemption from human frailty is claimed for federalists. They were a political party. Mr. Jefferson and his associates compelled them to be such party. They may, or may not, be thought to have acted prudently in some respects; and especially, in passing the alien and sedition laws. They thought that the acts of those whom Mr. Jefferson befriended and patronized, endangered the safety of the country, and forced these measures upon them. It is believed that they were right. Whether they were so or not, in these measures, were they an exclusive, vindictive party? Did they turn any man out of office merely for political opinions? Did they make it an indispensable qualification for office, that a candidate should have vowed allegiance to them and hostility to their adversaries? Did they combine postmasters, revenue officers, clerks, printers and every grade of diplomatic and executive agents, in one solid body, to uphold them, right or wrong? These were not the acts of federalists.

The perversions and misrule of party power under the two Presidents, Jefferson and Madison, called forth the patriotic exertions of federalists. Some were in Congress, some in state legislatures; and, sometimes, a federalist was in the chief executive station in some of the states. Many, in private life, could not be tame and silent spectators of the ruinous measures which these two Presidents recommended or adopted. What these federalists

did, as opponents of Jeffersonism, is no less to their honor and credit, than their efforts to establish a government, which these two Presidents, under the guidance of party zeal, did all but annihilate.

It remains to say something of the individuals who did themselves equal honor in founding and sustaining the republic; and in opposing the perverse measures of Jefferson and Madison. To these individuals we are indebted, that there is still such an institution as the national republic of the United States.

LETTER LXXI.

FEBRUARY 10, 1834.

THE writer of these sketches well knew all the men in Massachusetts who were engaged in public life during the administrations of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison. He has heard all of them express their opinions on the state of the country, in those days, in public and in private. With some of them he was intimately associated, and knew their thoughts on all subjects of a political character, as certainly as thoughts can be known, where there is unreserved confidence, and a common interest on the same subject. He never heard, from any one of these men, any opinion hostile to the national constitution or the union of the states; but from all of them, a most unqualified and zealous devotion to the preservation of both. He has heard from all of them, the most decided disapprobation of the public policy of which they were opponents. They were, one and all, from interest, duty and principle, constitutional republicans. Yet they were called monarchists, Anglomen, disorganizers and traitors, because they warned their countrymen of the errors and follies of national rulers.

When Thomas Jefferson first became President, CALEB STRONG was Governor of Massachusetts. He was born in Northampton, in 1744; educated at Harvard University; by profession a lawyer; and was actively engaged in the first scenes of the revolution. As early as 1775, when he was only 31 years of age, he was a member of the committee of public safety. He was in public service during the whole of revolutionary times; a member of the convention which framed the federal constitution, and of that which adopted it in his native state. He was senator in Congress in Washington's time; governor of Massachusetts from 1800 to 1807, and again elected in 1812, and continued in that office during the war. He refused to give up the militia called for at the beginning of the war, because, in his opinion, the call was not warranted by the constitution. In this opinion he was sustained by that of the Supreme Judicial Court. Governor Strong was a tall man, of moderate fullness, of rather long visage, dark compexion and blue eyes. He wore his hair loose, combed over his forehead, and slightly powdered. He had nothing of the polish of cities in his demeanor, but a gentle complaisance and kindness. He was a man of strong mind, calm, cool judgment, and of purest character throughout his life. Perhaps no man in the United States could have been so unlike a monarchist and a traitor as Caleb Strong.

His successor, JOHN BROOKS, was born at Medford, in 1752. By profession a physician, though not favored with a liberal education. He engaged very early in the revolutionary war, and acquired celebrity; and was much distinguished at the capture of Burgoyne. He attracted the notice and enjoyed the confidence and friendship of Washington. He was often a member of the legislature, and was adjutant-general under Governor Strong, in Mr. Madison's war. Without high pretensions to intellectual distinction, he was a man of practical wisdom, sound judgment, and of pure and elevated mind. No man was more esteemed and respected than John Brooks. He was of middle stature, well formed, and of soldierly dignity of manner. Mr. Jefferson

does not mention John Brooks by name, as one of the "worthless and disaffected," but he was of the denounced class of citizens.

CHRISTOPHER GORE is specially named as one of the Anglomen and traitors. He was born in Boston, in 1758, educated at Cambridge, and became an eminent lawyer. He was one of the convention that adopted the constitution, in which he took an active and honorable part. He was the first attorney of the United States, for the Massachusetts district, under the new constitution. In 1796 he was appointed a commissioner to settle the claims for British spoliations under Jay's treaty. He was eight years in England in this employment. On his return, so acceptable had been the performance of his duties in that station, that the most respectable persons united in a festival to do him honor; and a more sincere and cordial testimonial of respect and esteem was never given to any man. He was in the Senate of Massachusetts for two or three years after his return. One of the ablest papers that appeared on the orders in council and the decrees of France, and on the manner in which these had been treated by the national government, was drawn up by him, in the form of a report on a memorial of citizens to the legislature. There are many other public documents from his pen. In 1809 he was chosen Governor. His speeches, in that office, are to be considered in relation to Mr. Jefferson's commentaries on Governor Gore's political tendencies. In 1814 Mr. Gore was senator in Congress from Massachusetts, where he remained about three years, and then withdrew from all public employment. Mr. Gore was rather tall, and, in middle life, of full person and erect, but began to bend forward at an earlier age than common. He was bald on the whole upper surface of his head, at an unusually early period. His hair was tied behind and dressed with powder. His face was round and florid, his eyes black; his manners courteous and amiable. His eloquence was dignified and impressive. In all his relations and deportment, he had the bearing of a polished and well-bred gentleman. With his intimates he was free and social, and had, and deserved to have, many affec

tionate friends. Mr. Gore was a man of very considerable wealth, portions of which he bestowed munificently by will to public institutions, and especially to Harvard University. One can readily see, why a man so circumstanced in the world, should desire that the Union and the national constitution should be preserved, and the latter righteously administered; and it is impossible to discern any motive which such a man could have, for desiring to introduce popular commotion and anarchy. But it is easily to be perceived why Mr. Jefferson may have found it convenient to make such an opponent odious.

One of the eminent men whom Mr. Jefferson is particularly disposed to notice as a monarchist and Angloman, (Mr. Jefferson's favorite name for those whom he considered to be of the English faction,) was GEORGE CABOT. This gentleman was born in Salem in 1752. Before he was 26 years of age he was member of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. In 1787-8 he was a distinguished member of the state convention, on the federal constitution; and for several years senator in Congress. The latter years of his life he was sometimes in the state legislature, and in the executive council. In the deplorable distress, caused by Madison's war, Mr. Cabot consented to be one of the Hartford Convention, in which assembly he was President. Mr. Jefferson had the strongest inducement to depreciate Mr. Cabot, for no man saw more clearly the motives of Mr. Jefferson and the consequences of his policy. All the party malignity Mr. Jefferson. felt for Hamilton, was extended to all Hamilton's political friends, and to none more than to Mr. Cabot and Mr. Ames, who accorded entirely with Hamilton, in his views of national policy. It is no easy task to describe George Cabot in a manner worthy of him, and adapted to make known by words, what he was, as a statesman, a man of information, a patriot, a citizen and a gentleman. His early days were passed in the usual seminaries; and he was for some time at Cambridge University, but left it in his boyhood, for the purpose of qualifying himself for a life of business. He became his own teacher, and for the high elevation, to which he