and admired by his guests; always ready to communicate knowledge, strong
in his convictions, perpetually writing his sincere sentiments and
beliefs in letters to his friends,--as upright and honest a man as ever
filled a public station, and finally retiring to private life with
the respect of the whole nation, over which he continued to exercise
influence after he had parted with power. And when he found himself poor
and embarrassed in consequence of his unwise hospitality, he sold his
library, the best in the country, to pay his debts, as well as the
most valuable part of his estate, yet keeping up his cheerfulness and
serenity of temper, and rejoicing in the general prosperity,--which
was produced by the ever-expanding energies and resources of a great
country, rather than by the political theories which he advocated with
so much ability."

In Jefferson's own mind, just what was the essence of his political
gospel we ascertain from a succinct yet comprehensive passage in his
able First Inaugural Address. In that address President Jefferson
sets forth instructively what he terms the essential principles
of government, and those upon which, as he conceives, his own
administration was founded and by which it was guided. The governing
principles it affirms are:-- "Equal and exact justice to all men, of
whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce,
and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none;
the support of the state governments in all their rights, as the most
competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest
bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of
the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the
sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care
of the right of election by the people; a mild and safe corrective of
abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peaceable