mine? I proposed a
straightforward bargain, which you understood as well then as you do
now. You realized to the full what the interests of the country
demanded, and in a rare moment of disinterested patriotism you agreed to
a compromise in which you saw no detriment to yourself. What you did not
anticipate was the irritation of your particular State, and the
annoyance to your vanity of permitting a younger man to have his way.
Now let me hear no more of this holding a candle, and the tricking of an
open mind by a wily one, unless you are willing to acknowledge that your
brain was too weak to grasp a simple proposition; in which case you had
better resign from public office."

"I know that is what you are trying to force me to do," gasped
Jefferson, almost speechless between rage and physical fear; for
Hamilton's eyes were flashing, his body curved as if he meditated
immediate personal violence. "But I'll not do it, sir, any more than I
or anyone else will be deluded by the speciousness of your language. You
are an upstart. You have no State affinities, you despise them for a
very good reason--you come from God knows where--I do not even know the
name of the place. You are playing a game. You care nothing for the
country you were not born in. Unless you can be king, you would treat it
as your toy."

"For your absurd personalities I care nothing," said Hamilton, reseating
himself. "They are but the ebullitions of an impotence that would ruin
and cannot. But take heed what you write, for in injuring the Secretary
of the Treasury you injure the prosperity of the country; and if you
push me too far, I'll expose you and make you infamous. Here comes the
President. For God's sake bottle your spite for the present."

The two men did not exchange a remark during the rest of the sitting,
but Jefferson boiled slowly and steadily; Hamilton's words had raised
welts under which he would writhe for some time to come. When the
Cabinet adjourned he remained, and followed Washington into the library,
under cover of a chat about seeds and bulbs, a topic of absorbing
interest to both. When their legs were extended before the fire,
Jefferson said, as abruptly as if the idea had but just presented
itself:--

"Mr. President, we are both Virginians, and had cut our wisdom
teeth--not that for a moment I class myself with you, sir--while young
Hamilton was still in diapers."

"Children do not wear diapers in the West Indies," interrupted