r station, the danger to which the
independence of his country was exposed from the imbecility of the
government was perpetually before his eyes; and, in the latter, his
attention was forcibly directed towards the loss of its reputation,
and the sacrifice of its best interests, which were to be ascribed to
the same cause. Mr. Hamilton, therefore, was the friend of a
government which should possess, in itself, sufficient powers and
resources to maintain the character, and defend the integrity of the
nation. Having long felt and witnessed the mischiefs produced by the
absolute sovereignty of the states, and by the control which they were
enabled and disposed separately to exercise over every measure of
general concern, he was particularly apprehensive of danger from that
quarter; which he, probably, believed was to be the more dreaded,
because the habits and feelings of the American people were calculated
to inspire state, rather than national prepossessions. Under the
influence of these impressions, he is understood to have avowed
opinions in the convention favourable to a system in which the
executive and senate, though elective, were to be rather more
permanent, than they were rendered in that which was actually
proposed. He afterwards supported the constitution, as framed, with
great ability, and contributed essentially to its adoption. But he
still retained, and openly avowed, the opinion, that the greatest
hazards to which it was exposed arose from its weakness, and that
American liberty and happiness had much more to fear from the
encroachments of the great states, than from those of the general
government.

Mr. Jefferson had retired from congress before the depreciation of the
currency had produced an entire dependence of the general on the local
governments; after which he filled the highest offices in the state of
which he was a citizen. About the close of the war he was re-elected
to congress; but, being soon afterwards employed on a mission to the
court of Versailles, where he remained, while the people of France
were taking the first steps of that immense revolution which has
astonished and agitated two quarters of the world. In common with all
his countrymen, he felt a strong interest in favour of the reformers;
and it is not unreasonable to suppose, that while residing at that
court, and associating with those who meditated some of the great
events which have since taken place, his mind might be warmed wit