ave arisen from difference of opinion, and
the attacks which have been made upon almost all the measures of
government and most of its executive officers, have for a long time
past filled me with painful sensations, and can not fail, I think,
of producing unhappy consequences at home and abroad."

To Hamilton he wrote three days afterward, expressing his regret that
subjects could not be discussed with temper on the one hand, or
decisions submitted to without the motives which led to them improperly
implicated on the other. "When matters get to such lengths," he said,
"the natural inference is that both sides have strained the cords beyond
their bearing, and that a middle course would be found the best, until
experience shall have decided on the right way, or (which is not to be
expected, because it is denied to mortals) there shall be some
infallible rule by which we could forejudge events.

"Having premised these things, I would fain hope that liberal allowances
will be made for the political opinions of each other, and, instead of
those wounding suspicions and irritating charges with which some of our
gazettes are so strongly impregnated, and which can not fail, if
persevered in, of pushing matters to extremity and thereby tearing the
machine asunder, that there may be mutual forbearance and temporizing
yielding _on all sides_. Without these, I do not see how the reins of
government are to be managed, or how the union of the states can be much
longer preserved.... My earnest wish is that balsam may be poured into
all the wounds which have been given, to prevent them from gangrening,
and from those fatal consequences which the community may sustain if it
is withheld."

These letters were answered by Hamilton and Jefferson on the same day
(September the ninth), one dated at Philadelphia and the other at
Monticello. "I most sincerely regret," wrote Hamilton, "the causes of
the uneasy sensations you experience. It is my most anxious wish, as far
as may depend upon me, to smooth the path of your administration, and to
render it prosperous and happy. And if any prospect shall open of
healing or terminating the differences which exist, I shall most
cheerfully embrace it, though I consider myself as the deeply injured
party. The recommendation of such a spirit is worthy of the moderation
and wisdom which dictated it. And if your endeavors should prove
unsuccessful, I do not hesitate to say that, in my o