understand his purposes.

Bitter and violent as had been the attacks upon Washington while he
held office, they were as nothing compared to the shout of fierce
exultation which went up from the opposition journals when he finally
retired from the presidency. One extract will serve as an example of
the general tone of the opposition journals throughout the country. It
is to be found in the "Aurora" of March 6, 1797:--

"'Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace,' was the
pious ejaculation of a pious man who beheld a flood of happiness
rushing in upon mankind. If ever there was a time that would
license the reiteration of the ejaculation, that time has now
arrived, for the man who is the source of all the misfortunes
of our country is this day reduced to a level with his
fellow-citizens, and is no longer possessed of power to multiply
evils upon the United States. If ever there was a period for
rejoicing, this is the moment. Every heart in unison with the
freedom and happiness of the people ought to beat high with
exultation that the name of Washington ceases from this day to
give currency to political insults, and to legalize corruption. A
new era is now opening upon us, an era which promises much to the
people, for public measures must now stand upon their own merits,
and nefarious projects can no longer be supported by a name. When
a retrospect has been taken of the Washingtonian administration
for eight years, it is a subject of the greatest astonishment
that a single individual should have cankered the principles of
republicanism in an enlightened people just emerged from the gulf
of despotism, and should have carried his designs against the
public liberty so far as to have put in jeopardy its very
existence. Such, however, are the facts, and with these staring us
in the face, the day ought to be a JUBILEE in the United States."

This was not the outburst of a single malevolent spirit. The article
was copied and imitated in New York and Boston, and wherever the
party that called Jefferson leader had a representative among the
newspapers. It is not probable that stuff of this sort gave Washington
himself a moment's anxiety, for he knew too well what he had done, and
he was too sure of his own hold upon the hearts of the people, to be
in the least disturbed by the attacks of hostile editors. But the
extracts are o