Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/169

 THOMAS JEFFERSON 133 New York. During his absence in France, his youngest daughter, Lucy, had died, leaving him Martha and Maria. On Sunday, March 21, 1790, he reached New York, to enter upon the duties of his new office. He hired a house at No. 57 Maiden Lane, the city then containing a population of 35,000. His colleagues in the cabinet were Alexan der Hamilton, secretary of the treasury; Henry Knox, secretary of war; and Edmund Randolph, attorney-general. Jefferson s salary was only $3,500, and that of the other three members of the cabinet but $3,000, a compensation that proved painfully inadequate. He soon found himself ill at ease in his place. He had left Paris when the fall of the Bastile was a recent event, and when the revolutionary move ment still promised to hopeful spirits the greatest good to France and to Europe. He had been con sulted at every stage of its progress by Lafayette and the other Republican leaders, with whom he was in the deepest sympathy. He left his native land a Whig of the Revolution; he returned to it a Republican-Democrat. In his reply to the con gratulations of his old constituents, he had spoken of the &quot;sufficiency of human reason for the care of human affairs.&quot; He declared &quot;the will of the majority to be the natural law of every society, and the only sure guardian of the rights of man.&quot; He added these important words, which contain