Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/171

 THOMAS JEFFERSON 135 in the United States. The difference between the two chief members of the cabinet rapidly developed into a personal antipathy, and both of them ardently desired to withdraw. Both, however, could have borne these disagreeable dissensions, and we see in their later letters that the real cause of their longing to resign was the insufficiency of their salaries. Jefferson s estate, much diminished by the war, was of little profit to him in the absence of the master s eye. Gen. Washington, who did equal justice to the merits of both these able men, used all his influence and tact to induce them to remain, and, yielding to the president s persuasions, both made an honest attempt at external agreement. But in truth their feelings, as well as their opinions, were naturally irreconcilable. Their attitude to ward the French revolution proves this. Hamilton continually and openly expressed an undiscriminat- ing abhorrence of it, while Jefferson deliberately wrote that if the movement &quot;had isolated half the earth,&quot; the evil would have been less than the con tinuance of the ancient system. Writing to an old friend he went farther even than this: &quot;Were there but an Adam and an Eve left in every country, and left free, it would be better than as it now is.&quot; On every point of difficulty created by the French revolution the disagreement between the two secre taries was extreme. On other subjects there was little real accord, and it was a happy moment for