Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/170

134 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS the most material article of his political creed: "Perhaps even this may sometimes err; but its errors are honest, solitary, and short-lived. Let us, then, forever bow down to the general reason of society. We are safe with that, even in its deviations, for it soon returns again to the right way." To other addresses of welcome he replied in a similar tone. He brought to New York a settled conviction that the republican is the only form of government that is not robbery and violence organized. Feeling thus, he was grieved and astonished to find a distrust of republican gov ernment prevalent in society, and to hear a prefer ence for the monarchical form frequently ex pressed. In the cabinet itself, where Hamilton dominated and Knox echoed his opinions, the re public was accepted rather as a temporary ex pedient than as a final good. Jefferson and Hamilton, representing diverse and incompatible tendencies, soon found themselves in ill-accord, and their discussions in the cabinet became vehement. They differed in some degree upon almost every measure of the administration, and on several of the most vital their differences became passionate and distressing. In May, 1791, by openly accepting and eulogizing Thomas Paine s "Rights of Man," a spirited reply to Burke s "Re flections on the Revolution in France," Jefferson placed himself at the head of the Republican party