YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in cooperation with Yale University Library, 2008. You may not reproduce this digitized copy of the book for any purpose other than for scholarship, research, educational, or, in limited quantity, personal use. You may not distribute or provide access to this digitized copy (or modified or partial versions of it) for commercial purposes. CoprBIGHT, 1920, BT CHAELES SCRIBNEE'S SONS Published April, 1920 FIGURES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY ALEXANDER HAMILTON BY HENRY JONES FORD FIGURES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY Now Ready THOMAS JEFFERSON By David Saville Muzzey JEFFERSON DAVIS By Armistead C. Gordon STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS By Louis Howland ALEXANDER HAMILTON By Henry Jones Ford Further volumes will follow at short intervals, the list inclu Mng WASHINGTON, LINCOLN, WEB STER, GRANT, LEE, CLEVELAND, and others. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, PUBLISHERS PREFACE Little material is available for a biography of Alexander Hamilton beyond that collected by his son, John Church Hamilton, and his grandson, Allan McLane Hamilton. Much that once existed was lost. Tuckerman's "Life of General Philip Schuyler" relates that many letters from Hamilton and other pohtical papers were burned by a son of one of Schuyler's executors, because he regarded them as containing expressions too personal to be exposed to any risk of publicity. The loss to American history is as great asr that inflicted by Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress, when he destroyed his memoirs for a like reason. A bowdlerized style of writing history and biography was once in vogue that made such suppression of truth seem actually meritorious, and damage was done that can never be repaired. Ham ilton's reputation has suffered greatly by it. His career was too vivid and salient, his statesmanship too incisive, his self-revelation too candid to admit of the bowdlerizing process, and he cannot be judged fairly unless all is brought out and put in the scales. Such has been my aim in the present work. My vi PREFACE special acknowledgments are due to my friend, Mr. Charles R. Williams, of Princeton, for his care in verifying references, in correcting the proofs, and for helpful criticism. Princeton, March 23, 1920. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Birth and Family Connections ... 1 II. A Picked-Up Education 13 III. The Outbreak of the Revolution ... 24 IV. In the State Militia 39 V. At Headquarters 55 VI. The Conduct of the War 65 VO. First Essays in Statesmanship 80 VIII. Alliance with a Patroon Family ... 97 IX. A Breach with Washington 114 X. The Start Toward National Union . . 129 XI. The Crumbling of the Confederation . 143 XII. Law Practice 159 XIII. The National Movement 172 XIV. The Wonderful Year 186 XV. A Breach in the Constitutional Scheme 206 XVI. Hamilton's Recommendations Defeated 223 XVII. A Fateful Bargain 242 vii viii CONTENTS CHAPTBB PA0E XVIII. The Anti-Hamilton Campaign 260 XIX. The Influence of the French Revolution 278 XX. Retirement from Office 292 XXI. Private Direction of Public Affairs . 301 XXII. The Breach with Adams 315 XXIII. The Duel with Burr 329 XXIV. Apparent Failure 346 XXV. Revised Estimates 357 Index . . 375 ALEXANDER HAMILTON ALEXANDER HAMILTON CHAPTER I BIRTH AND FAMILY CONNECTIONS At present the term West Indies suggests something foreign and remote. Such was not the case when Alexander Hamilton was born in Nevis, one of the chain of islands known as the Lesser Antilles. The British possessions in this quarter were considered to be an integral part of the newer England that had been planted in the western world. A compilation of laws published in 1704, for the use of "gentlemen trading to or concerned in her Majesty's planta tions," mentions them in the order, Virginia, Jamai ca, Barbados, Maryland, New England, New York, Carolina. In our own time the Lesser Antilles seem rather farther away than Europe, since a quick and regular ferry has been established across the Atlan tic. But in the colonial period intercourse between the Antilles and the mainland was easier than be tween the different colonies on the mainland. The brigantines, which were the usual means of convey- ance,"made the voyage with speed and comfort, as compared with the conditions of land travel at that 2 ALEXANDER HAMILTON time. People looking about for places in which to settle would naturally include the West Indies in their survey of American opportunities. Thus it was that the Reverend Hugh Knox, who did so much for Hamilton's early education, found his way there. He arrived in America from Ireland in 1753, studied for the ministry under the Reverend Aaron Burr, at Newark, New Jersey, and after or dination went to St. Croix as pastor to the settlers there. To view Hamilton's birthplace as it was then regarded, Nevis should be thought of simply as an outlying American colony. Nevis is one of the group known as the Leeward Islands, the northernmost of the Lesser Antilles. It has an area of only fifty square miles, almost round in form, the centre, a peak of 3,200 feet, rising so gradually that, viewed from the sea, the island looks like a perfect cone. Settled originally from St. Kitts, Nevis has been a British colony since 1628.. Here Alexander Hamilton was born, January 11, 1757. At that time the West Indies figured grandly in the world's affairs. With slave labor and with the demand then existing for their products, the islands were reservoirs of wealth for whose possession all the powers of western Europe had contended, produc ing the diversity of national ownership that has come down to our own times. The great planters lived in magnificent style. Nowhere probably in BIRTH AND FAMILY CONNECTIONS 3 the western world was there such a display of luxuri ous dress, fine equipage, and profuse hospitality as in the West Indian capitals. The fame of this grandeur was world-wide. It was a theme that in spired poetic fancy, and the great West Indian staple was the subject of an epic that ranked as a notable poem in its day, but is now preserved from oblivion only by references to it in Boswell's Life oj Johnson. The author, Doctor James Grainger, while on a visit to the West Indies, married the widow of a Nevis planter. He wrote a poem in four books on the cultivation of the sugar-cane, which was published in England in 1764. His ac count of the way in which the cane suffered from attacks of vermin began with a line over which Doctor Johnson made merry: "Now, Muse, let's sing of rats." But this appeared only in the first edition, and the poem was received with so much favor that piratical editions of it were printed. Grainger eventually settled in St. Kitts, where he died in 1766. Hamil ton, who was then nine years old, must have known the poet, as St. Kitts and Nevis are so close together that they form one community. With the decay of the sugar interest the social grandeur of Hamil ton's age passed away. The great stone mansions of the wealthy planters were built with a solidity that might have insured their perpetuity in any 4 ALEXANDER HAMILTON other climate, but with the decline of prosperity many became untenanted, windows would be broken, there would be no one to close the storm-shutters, and, when the tremendous blasts of a West Indian hurricane gained admittance to the interior, away would go the roof, and only the walls would be left standing, soon to be buried in tropical thickets. Now lizards frisk and land-crabs scuttle in the ruins of houses that were brilliant social centres in Ham ilton's day. A circumstance that was brought up against Hamilton in his pohtical career — particularly by John Adams — was the illegitimacy of his birth. The bare legal fact is indisputable, but it is far from meaning what that fact would ordinarily imply. It was a result of the lax conditions of the times, which produced irregular social consequences in all the American colonies, and it was the habit to make allowances for them. One may be sure that the great patroon, General Schuyler, would never have given his daughter to Hamilton if a social stigma had actually rested upon him. Scottish and Hugue not families were prominent in the British occupa tion of the Lesser Antilles, and Alexander Hamilton came of both these stocks. Among the Huguenot families was one originally named Faucette, which became Englished as Fawcett. John Fawcett, who settled in Nevis, was a medical practitioner until his gains were large enough to enable bim to retire BIRTH AND FAMILY CONNECTIONS 5 from professional work and live as a wealthy planter. His wife Mary, of whose family there is apparently no record, was twenty years younger and had means of her own. They built a great house on their country estate and had also a town house for occupancy when the Captain-General was holding his official court in Nevis and the fashionable season was at its height. After twenty years of married life, when Doctor Fawcett had become gouty and irritable, his wife demanded and obtained a separate maintenance. The only child left at home at the time of the separation was Rachel, born after her sisters had grown up. The mother moved to an estate she owned on St. Kitts, taking with her Rachel, then four years old. Great care was taken with Rachel's education, and she was proficient in languages and in the young-lady accomplishments of the day — painting, singing, and ability to play the harp and the guitar. She is described as having fair hair with a reddish tinge, sparkling gray eyes, a complexion of the marked whiteness which seems almost peculiar to the sheltered gentlewomen of the tropics, with features finely modelled and full of vivacity and charm. She became the mother of Alexander Hamilton, but that was after an unhappy experience producing conditions from which she escaped by an irregular union. When she was sixteen her mother arranged for her a marriage with John Michael Levine, a Dane of 6 ALEXANDER HAMILTON wealth and social position, who had come to St. Croix with the idea of buying an estate there and settling down to the life of a planter. The wedding was a fashionable event, followed by a trip to Europe, Mrs. Fawcett accompanying the bridal couple. After remaining long enough to see her daughter presented at court and splendidly received in Copenhagen society, Mrs. Fawcett returned to the West Indies, the Levines following some months after. Meanwhile the young bride had had some revulsion of feeling which turned her against her husband. Watching her chance, she ran away to her mother, boarding a ship just as it was leaving St. Croix for St. Kitts, while her husband was at tending some state function. The differences be tween them — whatever they were — were never set tled, and she never returned to her husband, but a boy born after the separation was turned over to the father's care while still a small infant. After some years of the forlorn life of a grass- widow the young woman met James Hamilton and the two fell deeply in love. He was the fourth son of Alexander Hamilton, of Grange, in Ayrshire, Scotland, who was the fifteenth in descent from David Hamilton, who had a charter of land from his uncle, Alan Hamilton, of Lethberd, confirmed by the overlord, Archibald, Earl of Douglas, January 29, 1411. Like many another cadet of ancient Scottish lineage, James Hamilton had emigrated in search of BIRTH AND FAMILY CONNECTIONS 7 better opportunities for advancement than he could find at home. He reached St. Kitts, where he had a kinsman, Wilham Hamilton, an old friend of the Fawcetts. William was a man of local eminence, a physician, a planter, and a member of the Council. James Hamilton was a well-educated and well-born Scottish gentleman. When the two met he was about twenty-one and Rachel Levine was about twenty. The two met often in society, for Rachel's friends stood by her and she moved in the best circles. Mrs. Fawcett died and a beautiful, attrac tive, accomplished young woman was left alone. The two wanted to marry and could not. Efforts to free Rachel were unavailing. Finally the two decided to unite outside of the law. The circum stances of the case received much indulgent consid eration, but the investigations made by Mrs. Ather ton on the spot show that the couple experienced social censure. This explains the inconvenient ar rangement made for their married life. Rachel had through inheritance from her father a place in Nevis, to which they moved, although Hamilton's business was in St. Kitts and he had to cross the two-mile strait between the two islands almost daily. But the kinsfolk and old friends of the Fawcetts and Hamiltons stood by the young couple, their home was hospitable and attractive, they drew about them a circle of friends, and obtained a recognized position in Nevis society. 8 ALEXANDER HAMILTON The circumstances should be viewed not only with regard to local conditions but also with regard to the general conditions then existing as to marriage law in the British Empire. The old canon law, which admitted of the annulment of marriage entered into by an inexperienced girl under duress, had been overthrown, and secular jurisprudence had not yet extended its cognizance to such situations. From the traditional information collected by Mrs. Ather ton it appears that Rachel had been much averse to the marriage with Levine and gave way only under pressure. The only way in which she could have obtained divorce was by a special act of Parliament, always a matter of great expense and difficulty, and quite unattainable in St. Kitts. It is plain that the behavior of James Hamilton and his consort stood quite apart in moral quahty from that which com monly attends an irregular union. Rachel always had the position of an honored wife, and received social recognition as such. In later years the Ham iltons of Scotland were glad to claim relationship, but there is no evidence of their interest until Alex ander Hamilton had become famous. But, while his birth and rearing had none of the disadvantages which the term illegitimate might suggest, he did experience some of the inconve niences of poverty, not, however, to a greater extent than was probably a help in fortifying his character. James Hamilton went into business in St. Kitts, BIRTH AND FAMILY CONNECTIONS 9 had trouble with his partners, withdrew from the firm, and set up for himself. His wife sold her St. Kitts estate to provide him with capital, which was sunk in unsuccessful enterprises, and the family was impoverished. Peter Lytton, husband of one of Rachel's elder sisters, gave James Hamilton the position of manager of a cattle estate on St. Croix, and he moved there with his family. The Hamil tons were kindly received by the Lyttons and also by the Mitchells, the family into which the other sister had married. But James Hamilton made a failure of his management, fell out with his brother-in-law, and in the third year after the family settlement in St. Croix he went to St. Vincent in search of employ ment. He kept in correspondence with his wife, but was never able to re-establish bis household, and his family became dependent upon his wife's rela tives. The Lyttons took Mrs. Hamilton and her children into their own home, allotting to her use an upstairs wing of their great mansion. Two years passed by, and James Hamilton had not succeeded in doing any better in business than to earn a small salary; then came a final severance through the death of Mrs. Hamilton, February 16, 1768. She was then only thirty-two years old. James Hamil ton hved for many years after, remaining on St. Vincent, where he died on June 3, 1799. Notwith standing his separation from his family, his famous son regarded him with affection. A letter has been 10 ALEXANDER HAMILTON preserved from Alexander Hamilton to his brother, written from New York, June 23, 1785, in which he said: But what has become of our dear father? It is an age since I have heard from him or of him, though I have written him several letters. Perhaps, alas, he is no more, and I shall not have the pleasing opportunity of con tributing to render the close of his life more happy than the progress of it. My heart bleeds at the recollection of his misfortunes and embarrassments. Sometimes I flat ter myself his brothers have extended their support to him; and that he now enjoys tranquillity and ease. At other times I fear he is suffering in indigence. Should he be alive, inform him of my inquiries; beg him to write to me, and tell him how ready I shall be to devote myself and all I have to his accommodation and happiness. Eventually Alexander Hamilton invited his father to make his home with him. In a letter of June 12, 1793, the father wrote: "My bad state of health has prevented my going to sea at this time." More over, the war between England and France made travel dangerous. But he added: "We daily expect news of a peace, and when that takes place, provided it is not too late in the season, I will embark in the first vessel that sails for Philadelphia." The letter sent "respectful compliments" to Mrs. Hamilton and the children, and closed with wishes of health and happiness to his "dear Alexander," subscribed BIRTH AND FAMILY CONNECTIONS 11 by "your very affectionate father, James Hamilton." Although the elder Hamilton hved for six years after the date of that letter, he was never well enough to attempt the voyage, and the two never met after the son left the West Indies. That they corre sponded regularly is attested by Hamilton's letter of 1797 to a Scotch kinsman, in which he said: It is now several months since I have heard from my father, who continued at the island of St. Vincent's. My anxiety at this silence would be greater than it is were it not for the probable interruption and precariousness of intercourse which is produced by the war. I have strongly pressed the old gentleman to come and reside with me, which would afford him every enjoyment of which his advanced age is capable; but he has declined it on the ground that the advice of his physicians leads him to fear that the change of climate would be fatal to him. The next best thing for me is, in proportion to my means, to endeavor to increase his comforts where he is. From the same letter it appears that the Lyttons and the Mitchells, who Uved in affluence during Hamilton's boyhood, were then in straitened cir cumstances. Hamilton's expense-book, July 1, 1796, records a donation of one hundred dollars to Mrs. Mitchell. This book also records money sent to Hamilton's father and younger brother, to the amount of several thousand dollars, during the years 1796 to 1799, when Hamilton was himself in 12 ALEXANDER HAMILTON difficulties over the insufficiency of his income to sustain expenditure required by his position. Little is known about the career of Hamilton's younger brother, except that he remained in the West Indies and was obscure in character and fortune. CHAPTER II A PICKED-UP EDUCATION Alexander Hamilton was eleven years old when his mother died; his brother James was five years younger. Alexander's education seems to have been desultory, but he learned to speak French fluently. That language has always had a commercial value in the Lesser Antilles that brings it into extensive use, and a clever child is apt to pick up some knowl edge of it. Hamilton acquired fluency by continual practice with his mother. In other studies he was helped by the Reverend Hugh Knox, who was a fre quent visitor at the Lytton mansion, and who lent the boy books and took an active interest in his progress. After his mother's death Alexander went to hve with his aunt, Mrs. Mitchell. Her husband had made a fortune in the slave trade; he owned a large general store and also plantations yielding sugar, molasses, and rum. He had a town house in Christianstadt, and, hving there, Hamilton was now able to go regularly to school with Knox, who hved in the same town. He was one of a small class of students to whom the Presbyterian pastor gave les sons in Latin and mathematics, but Hamilton could not have gone far in his studies, as he was only 13 14 ALEXANDER HAMILTON twelve years old when he went to work for Nicholas Cruger, proprietor of a large general store. Such rudiments of learning as he had received were stead ily improved by assiduous reading. Evidence of his youthful ambition is given by a letter from Ham ilton to his chum, Edward Stevens, saying: ... for to confess my weakness, Ned, my ambition is prevalent, so that I contemn tne grovelling condition of a clerk, or the like, to which my fortune condemns me, and would willingly risk my life, though not my charac ter, to exalt my station. I am confident, Ned, that my youth excludes me from any hopes of immediate prefer ment, nor do I desire it; but I mean to prepare the way for futurity. I'm no philosopher, you see, and may be justly said to build castles in the air; my folly makes me ashamed, and beg you'll conceal it; yet Neddy, we have seen such schemes successful, when the projector is con stant. This letter, which is a stock quotation in Hamilton biographies, is usually presented as evidence of pre cocious ambition, but this is not really a remarkable circumstance. Nothing is more common than for youth to have such dreams. Alexander Hamilton hit the mark, but myriads have had like aims who missed the mark and settled down to obscure for tunes. The letter is a remarkable one to have been written by a boy not yet thirteen, but it is remark able not so much for its declaration of purpose as for its revelation of the writer's character. Its A PICKED-UP EDUCATION 15 youthful pomposity attests his familiarity with the literary models of the age. The style is a clever boy's imitation of the rolling periods of the eigh teenth-century historians and essayists. Hamilton turned out to be one of the small class of men of whom it has been justly said that they appear as levers to uplift the earth and roll it into another course, but they do not attain to such rare functions by the high range of their ambition but by the large development of their powers. "The grovelling con dition of a clerk" which he contemned was probably of great value as a discipline; for nothing braces the mind so much as training in ability to apply its powers to disagreeable tasks. Certain it is that Hamilton put his mind to his work as a clerk with energy and success, and it was by doing well what was then in his sphere of opportunity that larger prospects were opened. His ability was such that his employer trusted him with important affairs, and in 1770 he was left in charge of the business while Mr. Cruger was on a trip to America. The diversi fied experience which Hamilton obtained in business management, and the habits of accuracy and cir cumspection which trading pursuits tend to develop, were good training for the career which made him famous. Hamilton's desire for a college education was well known to friends and relatives. They had the means to gratify that desire, and withheld it rather 16 ALEXANDER HAMILTON from inattention or from inertia than from positive unwillingness. A chance event produced a concen tration of influence that was decisive. In August, 1772, a terrible hurricane swept St. Croix, causing great wreckage and ruin. Hamilton wrote an ac count of it which was pubhshed in a St. Kitts news paper, there being no Enghsh newspaper in St. Croix. It attracted much attention and caused a strong sentiment that so clever a youth ought to have the best advantages. Arrangements were then made by his aunts for sending him to America for a college education. There have been many in stances of such benefactions to promising youths in West Indian annals, but the case of Alexander Ham ilton is the most illustrious. He sailed on a vessel bound to Boston, which was reached in October, 1772, and he at once took passage for New York. He never returned to the West Indies, but spent the rest of his hfe in the United States. It has been generally assumed in biographies that Hamilton's interest in the American struggle was excited by the influences of his collegiate career, but it is probable that he brought that interest with him, for the same issues were quite as absorbing to thought in the West Indies as on the American con tinent. Indeed, the constitutional temper which was manifested in those times has been better pre served in the West Indies than in continental Amer ica. As the English in Ireland have preserved the A PICKED-UP EDUCATION 17 Shakesperian pronunciation that has been lost in England itself through phonetic change; as Nova Scotia has preserved seventeenth-century customs that have died out in Scotland itself; as one may find in the West Indies features of the seventeenth- century organization of local government that have disappeared in the mother country; so too one may note rehcs of pohtical thought, characteristic of all the American colonies in Hamilton's boyhood, still preserved in the West Indies, although now extinct in the United States through the pohtical transfor mations it has experienced. St. Kitts and Nevis have lost the representative assemblies they possessed in Hamilton's day, and the local legislature is now nominated by the Crown. But Barbados still man ages its own affairs under a charter of the same type as was originally granted to Virginia and Massachu setts, and while these have long since adopted other constitutional arrangements, the Barbados charter is still in operation and the colonial assembly occu pies the same position and displays the same consti tutional spirit as was evinced by the Virginia House of Burgesses and by the Massachusetts General Court in the colonial period. An instance of this spirit, displayed in 1816, may be exhibited as a spec imen of pohtical doctrine which was clamorous throughout the West Indies during Hamilton's boy hood. A bill had been introduced in the British House of Commons providing for a local official, 18 ALEXANDER HAMILTON with fees fixed by imperial authority. This proposal was denounced by the Barbados Assembly in terms that exactly reproduce what was common doctrine in all the American colonies when Hamilton was a child. The speaker of the Barbados Assembly de clared: There is a right which every British subject possesses, destroyed by no lapse of time or circumstance, namely, that as the burdens of the people are borne by the great mass of the community, they cannot be imposed without the consent of those who represent the interests and sym pathize with the wants of the bulk of the people. It mat ters not on what soil an Englishman may have fixed his hut, or in what uncongenial climate he may earn a pre carious subsistence; the pittance of his industry is safe, except for the aids for the general benefit voted by the power of the representative system. American legislative bodies have been reformed out of all hkeness to their original pattern, and the representative assembly has declined to a singularly humble and subordinate position in the constitu tional scheme, so it is now rather in Barbados than anywhere in the United States that such a constitu tional atmosphere is preserved as that in which Alexander Hamilton grew up. The Stamp Act, which was the beginning of the series of measures lhat provoked the American Revolution, was passed m 1765, when Hamilton was eight years old. One may be sure that he often heard it discussed, for A PICKED-UP EDUCATION 19 resentment was as keen and protests were as em phatic in the West Indies as on the mainland. In St. Kitts the people burned all the stamped papers sent to the island and made the official distributors resign. These measures were carried out in a sys tematic way, with a show of orderly procedure. Those taking part in them moved over to Nevis in a body to assist the settlers there to do likewise. In both islands the Stamp Act was defeated by sohd resistance. The issues that culminated in the American Revolution were thus familiar knowledge in the islands and gave as strong a tincture to the ideas and prepossessions of the rising generation as on the American continent. When during this troublous period Alexander Hamilton arrived in New York to begin his college education, he was already an ardent American patriot. He brought with him letters of introduction which obtained for him access to the best society, into which he was received with the easy "hospitality of the times. The bright, clever, attractive West In dian lad soon made friends of lifelong value. The support of the Livingston and Schuyler families was the basis of the power which Hamilton acquired in New York pohtics and acquaintanceship with mem bers of these families began while he was attending Francis Barber's grammar school at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. This school had no provision for lodgers and students boarded around as they them- 20 ALEXANDER HAMILTON selves arranged. It was a common thing for those well introduced to be invited into the homes of the neighboring gentry. In this way Hamilton lived for some time with the family of Elias Boudinot, already a prominent man in New Jersey pohtics. Another of the friends made by Hamilton in this period was William Livingston, at whose house, Liberty Hall, he stayed frequently, meeting there men who became eminent. Among them was John Jay, who married one of Livingston's daughters. Livingston himself became governor of New Jersey during the Revolution. In biographies of Hamilton written by his own descendants it is asserted that he went to Barber's school to prepare for Princeton, that in httle over a year he was ready and would have entered there except for the fact that President Witherspoon re fused him permission to go through in shorter time than was allowed by the curriculum. There is no record at Princeton of the application Hamilton is said to have made, but so many circumstances har monize with the family tradition that it may be regarded as well authenticated. It is quite char acteristic of Hamilton's nature and of his circum stances that he should have desired to get his college degree as soon as possible. It cannot be doubted that it was his original intention to go to Princeton. The Reverend Hugh Knox, his first instructor, was a Princeton man; so was Barber, under whose tuition A PICKED-UP EDUCATION 21 Hamilton placed himself; so too was Boudinot, with whom he hved. That, after all, he should have turned aside to King's College, New York, was cer tainly an afterthought, and the only probable ex planation of it is that he was refused the privilege he desired of passing from class to class as he was able to qualify. King's CoUege, the germ of Columbia University, did not then rank with Princeton in reputation or in equipment. The maintenance of the regular curric ulum was the work of only one man, the Reverend Doctor Myles Cooper, who gave the courses in Latin, Greek, English, mathematics, and phUosophy. Ham- Uton took them aU. In company with his friend, Edward Stevens, who was studying medicine, Ham ilton also attended the lectures of Doctor Samuel Clossey, who had the chair in anatomy. The only other known member of the faculty was Doctor Peter Middleton, who lectured on chemistry. Ham- Uton entered as a private student, attached to no particular class but aUowed to attend any. He ap- pUed himseff to his studies with great diligence, employing a tutor and scheduling his days so that no time should be wasted. But, after all, he never finished his coUege course and was not graduated, as the outbreak of the Revolutionary War caused the coUege to be deserted for the camp. Hairrilton, like many other young men at that time, was pre maturely withdrawn from study and thrown into 22 ALEXANDER HAMILTON war and pohtics by the pressure of events. The prominent dates show how brief were his opportuni ties for systematic education. He arrived in New York October, 1772; in the autumn of 1773 he en tered King's CoUege; in 1774 the Continental Con gress held its first session, and in that same year HamUton began his career as a pubhc speaker and a pamphleteer. But a student animated by definite purpose and pursuing it with steady, concentrated effort can do a great deal in two years, and there is ample evidence that HamUton acquired sound schol arship, and with it the power of applying his mind with energy and success to any task. He kept on with his studies after he left coUege to join the army. A pay-book ke'pt by Hamilton in 1776, as commander of a New York company of artiUery, is interspersed with notes and reflections upon pohtical phUosophy and public finance, and it contains a list of books which is given below just as he wrote it: Rousseau's Emilius. Smith's History of New York. Leonidas.View of the Universe. Lex Mercatoria. Millot's History of France. Memoirs of the House of Brandenburgh. Review of the characters of the principal Nations of Europe. Review of Europe. History of Prussia. A PICKED-UP EDUCATION 23 History of France. Lassel's Voyage through Italy. Robinson's Charles V. Present State of Europe. Grecian History. Baretti's Travels. Bacon's Essays. Philosophical Transactions. Hobbes' Dialogues. Plutarch's Morals. Cicero's Morals. Orations — Demosthenes. Cudworth's Intellectual System. Entick's History of the late War. European Settlements in America. Ralt's Dictionary of Trade and Commerce. Winn's History of America. Montaigne's Essays. Hannlton's military career interrupted but did not suspend his studies. He resumed them when ever he had any spare time, and in this way he turned to good account the long spells of leisure which camp life often aUows. It wiU be seen later that during military service he found time to develop the ideas which eventuaUy he apphed to the organ ization of the government and to the management of public finance. CHAPTER III THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION In its traditions King's College was stanchly loyal ist; the faculty deplored the movements of colonial sentiment, and conditions became so uncongenial to Doctor Clossey that in 1774 he resigned and went back to England. President Cooper added the weight of his authority to some solemn warnings issued by conservative leaders, and soon had his students arrayed against him. At a mass meeting held on July 6, 1774, in what is now known as City Hall Park, to stir up New York opinion in favor of joint action with the other colonies against British dealings with Massachusetts, HamUton, then only seventeen years old, was one of the speakers. Doubt less the opportunity was conferred in recognition of the presence of a body of collegians in the crowd, and as a means of enlisting their support, but he spoke with a power that made a distinct impression. At this period he began to write for Holt's Journal, and his criticisms of British pohcy in its columns attracted the notice of leading men. There is a reference to them in John Jay's correspondence. The chief source of information on the detaUs of Hamilton's behavior at this time is Robert Troup, born the same year as Hamilton, his classmate in 24 OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION 25 coUege and his comrade in arms. He ought, there fore, to be a good witness, but he did not commit his recoUections to writing until after Hamilton's death, and when his statements are coUated with facts of record it becomes evident that they are not always accurate. Troup supplied his recoUections to sev eral inquirers. The earliest extant statement from him is preserved in the collection of HamUton papers in the Library of Congress. It bears date March 22, 1810, and is addressed to the Reverend Doctor John Mason, who attended Hamilton on his death-bed. In it Troup says: The General, in his sentiments on government, was originally a monarchist. He was versed in the history of England, and well acquainted with the principles of the English constitution, which he admired. Under this bias towards the British monarchy, he took a journey to Bos ton, soon after the destruction of the East India tea by people in disguise and called the Mohawk Indians, when the public mind was in a state of violent fermentation. Whilst at Boston his noble and generous heart, agitated by what he saw and heard, listed him on the side of Amer ica. From Boston he returned to New York a warm Republican, and quite an enthusiast for resisting the claims of the British Parliament; and his enthusiasm im pelled him first to advocate the cause of America with his pen and afterwards to vindicate it with his sword. This account of a Boston trip has been adopted and enlarged upon by subsequent biographers, but, 26 ALEXANDER HAMILTON all things considered, it is probable that no such trip took place, and that — writing after the lapse of thirty-six years — Troup has confused with subse quent events the mention he doubtless heard HamU ton make of visiting Boston when he first landed in America. The Boston tea riots took place Decem ber 16, 1773, at a period when HamUton was in his first term at King's CoUege, applying himself to his studies under a schedule strictly controlling his time. It is quite unlikely that he would break away to make the then long and tedious trip from New York to Boston unless there was some strong occasion for it, and no such occasion is known. Troup's account of Hamilton's motives is demonstrably false, al though his errors are such as naturaUy occur if recol lections are not carefully checked off by exact rec ords. Internal evidence shows that there was no such change in Hamilton's views at this time as the account assumes. He was originally a monarchist, but so was every one else. Up to July 4, 1776, the general attitude was that of loyalty to the crown, combined with denial of the legislative authority of the Enghsh Parhament over the colonies. "The most valid reasons can be assigned for our aUegiance to the King of Great Britain," wrote HamUton in his pamphlet The Farmer. Refuted, "but not one of the least force, or plausibility, for our subjection to parliamentary decrees." In the same pamphlet he expressed an ardent wish that the differences be- OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION 27 tween "the parent state and the colonies" may be reconcUed, and he declared: "I am a warm advocate for limited monarchy, and an unfeigned weU-wisher to the present royal famUy." Just such views were held in the British West Indies in HamUton's chUd- hood. The Reverend Hugh Knox, HamUton's pas tor and teacher at St. Croix, was in fuU sympathy with them, as is attested by his letters to Hamilton. In 1777 Mr. Knox prepared and sent to the Continental Congress for pubhcation, an argument in favor of the American cause entitled, An Address to America by a Friend in a Foreign Government. A statement made by HamUton himself is cited as evidence that he experienced a change of heart through a trip to Boston. In the "Advertisement" prefaced to The Farmer Refuted he remarked that it is a fair query, How can he be sure that his views are not the result of prejudice? and he answers: "Be cause he remembers the time, when he had strong prejudices on the side he now opposes. His change of sentiment (he firmly beheves) proceeded from the superior force of the arguments in favor of the American claims." The style of this utterance is merely that of the exordium, an introduction meant to prepare the reader's mind for the statement and argument that follow. Hamilton was simply con forming to a rhetorical pattern then taught in the schools. The language used does not point to ideas recently caught up, but rather to those of 28 ALEXANDER HAMILTON gradual development. It was such as one would use who had inherited strong loyalist prejudices, and had had to surrender them under the instruc tions of experience, and this might weU have been Hamilton's West Indian experience. People do not speak of "remembering a time" when referring to a recent event, such as that Boston trip would have been had it taken place. The internal evidence supplied by HamUton's writings demonstrates that he did not write in any spirit of affection for New England. At that time New England was not in high repute with its neigh bors. HamUton took care to distinguish between New England behavior and the nature of the consti tutional issues. He does not express approval of the Boston tea riots, but he complains that, "instead of trying to discover the perpetrators, and commenc ing a legal prosecution against them, the Parhament of Great Britain interfered in an unprecedented manner, and inflicted a punishment upon a whole province." He argues that it is not to be supposed that the colonies were acting merely out of sympathy with Massachusetts, for "had the rest of America. passively looked on, whUe a sister colony was sub jugated, the same fate would graduaUy have over taken aU." It was the habit of Tory pamphlet eers to cite New England traits and happenings to the discredit of that section, and it is noticeable that Hamilton does not attempt to refute such OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION 29 charges but simply avoids them as being beside the point. His argument is that aU the colonies have a common interest in defending charter rights against aggression. "Hence, while om- ears are stunned with the dismal sound of New England's repubhcan- ism, bigotry, and intolerance, it behooves us to be on our guard." To view Hamilton's Uterary activities in their proper setting, it should not be supposed that pro ducing a pohtical pamphlet was then any extraor dinary performance. In the eighteenth century it rained pamphlets whenever there was a pohtical storm. The newspaper press had begun to be a medium for the expression of pubhc opinion; it was not yet an organ of pubhc opinion. The traditional view was that it was a gross indecency for news papers to indulge in pohtical comment, but the Rev olutionary movement suppressed such scruples, and communications on pubhc affairs from Cato, Camil- lus, Decius, Senex, Agricola, and such-like classical worthies frequently appeared in the newspapers. That would do for short pieces, but when an argu ment was drawn out to any length the pamphlet was the ordinary recourse. It was the fashion of the times either to figure as one of the great men of an tiquity or else to speak as a rural sage. The cele brated Farmer's Letters of John Dickinson in 1768 were so called because they purported to come from "a farmer" who had "received a liberal education" 30 ALEXANDER HAMILTON and was accustomed to spending much of his time in a library which he thought "the most valuable part of his small estate." Hence he had acquired a greater knowledge of history, law, and pohtical institutions than is usuaUy attained by men of his class; and therefore he felt moved to offer his thoughts upon the situation. So, too, when the Reverend Doctor Seabury produced his pamphlet, Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress, he signed it "A Westchester Farmer." In reply HamUton produced a pamphlet in December, 1774, entitled A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress from the Calumnies of Their Enemies. Doc tor Seabury rejoined in a pamphlet entitled Congress Canvassed by a Westchester Farmer. Hamilton re phed in a pamphlet entitled The Farmer Refuted ; or, a More Comprehensive and Impartial View of the Disputes Between Great Britain and the Colonies, In tended as a Further Vindication of the Congress. In reading these pamphlets, the one produced before HamUton was eighteen, the other a httle after, one is not at aU surprised that Doctor Cooper found it hard to beheve that such a youth could have produced such "weU-reasoned and cogent pohtical discussions." That phrase exactly characterized them. Not only do they make a remarkable exhibi tion of precocious abUity, but, on making no aUow- ance for the youth of the author, they stand in the first rank of the political pamphlets of the Revolu- OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION 31 tionary period. The Full Vindication is about 14,- 000 words in length. There is more strut in the style than was characteristic of Hamilton later on, but that is the only mark of juvenUity in the pro duction. The deep analysis and the logical coher ence that are the specific traits of Hamilton's state papers are weU marked in these products of his youth. What could go straighter to the mark than this, in rejoinder to comment on so much fuss about a trifling impost ? "They endeavor to persuade us," he said, "... that our contest with Britain is founded .entirely upon the petty duty of three pence per pound on East India tea; whereas the whole world knows it is built upon this interesting question, whether the inhabitants of Great Britain have a right to dispose of the hves and properties of the inhabitants of America, or not." Reviewing the faUure of remonstrance and petition, he pointed out that aU that was left was a choice between non importation and armed resistance. At that time Congress recommended non-importation. The aim of HamUton's argument was to justify the measures of Congress, and he set systematicaUy to work to show first that that pohcy was reconcUable with the strictest maxims of justice. Next he proceeded to examine whether it had also the sanction of sound pohcy. "To render it agreeable to good pohcy, three things are requisite. First, that the necessity of the times requires it; secondly, that it be not the 32 ALEXANDER HAMILTON probable source of greater evUs than those it pretends to remedy; and, lastly, that it have a probabUity of success." He drew out the argument under each of these three heads with an amount of information and with a soberness of estimate that are certainly marveUous in one of his years. The bombast so natural to youth on fire with patriotic indignation is quite absent. He does not boast of American great ness, but he points out that, since Great Britain could not send out a large army, "our superiority in number would overbalance our inferiority in dis cipline. It would be a hard, if not impracticable task, to subjugate us by force." On comparing the anticipations of military and economic conditions made in this pamphlet with those which actually ensued, it must be credited with remarkable pre science. The succeeding pamphlet, The Farmer Refuted, was a stiU more elaborate argument. It contained over 35,000 words, and as originaUy pubUshed ran to 78 pages. It is marred by some of the smart per sonal aUusions that inferior disputants are apt to im port into controversy. Comparing his opponent to one of the characters in Pope's Dunciad,he remarked: '"Pert dullness' seems to be the chief characteristic of your genius as weU as his." Later on he makes a much neater stroke, when, after citing some harsh terms applied to himself by his opponent, he ob served: "With respect to abuse, I make not the least OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION 33 doubt but every reader will aUow you to surpass me in that." However cleverly such gibes may be made, they are the cheapest stuff that can be em ployed in controversy; but at this period such stuff was used profusely by those who did not have Ham Uton's excuse of youth. In the main, the pamphlet is a sohd and dignified argument resting upon his torical and economic data of great fulness and exact pertinence. The argument is devoted to stating, de veloping, and proving the thesis that to disclaim the authority of the British Parhament does not imply a breach of aUegiance to the Crown. This was the doctrine with which colonial resistance to imperial authority began. It was a doctrine which admitted of fighting the King's troops whUe professing loyalty to the King, and this, of course, made it necessary to draw out some very fine distinctions. HamUton's pamphlet is as good a sample of legal ingenuity in this line as is to be found in any tract of the times. In addition to legal acuteness, the pamphlet is marked by observations upon the economic aspects of the struggle, displaying an ability to think pre cisely and correctly upon such matters which doubt less owed something to HamUton's own commercial experience. In contending that America had suffi cient resources to provide for her own needs, he made a declaration that was prophetic of his own states manship. "In such a countiy as this," he said, "there can be no great difficulty in finding business 34 ALEXANDER HAMILTON for aU its inhabitants. Those obstacles which, to the~ eye of timidity or disaffection seem like Alps, would, to the hand of resolution and perseverance, become mere hillocks." Not only his writings but also his conduct at this period shows that this youth of eighteen was as remarkable for the sobriety as for the power of his intelligence. It is characteristic of times of excite ment that disorderly outbreaks of popular sentiment receive special indulgence. Riots become patriotic demonstrations; outrages upon persons and prop erty become evidences of zealous devotion to the cause. At the same time that HamUton was active in measures for organized resistance to British pohcy he was quite as active in opposing the rowdy ism that attached itself to the movement. Accord ing to Troup, HamUton intervened to save Doctor Cooper from attack by a mob. The story goes that as the mob approached Cooper's residence Hamilton and Troup ascended the steps, and Hamilton made a speech to the crowd "on the excessive impropriety of their conduct and the disgrace they were bringing on the cause of hberty, of which they professed to be the champions." Doctor Cooper, seeing HamU ton from an upper window, and not being able to hear what he was saying, mistook his purpose, and shouted to the mob: "Don't listen to him, gentle men; he is crazy." The delay occasioned by Ham- OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION 35 ilton's resolute stand enabled Doctor Cooper to make his escape. That on some occasion HamUton did speak and act as Troup described need not be questioned. It was quite in keeping with his character. But that it had the decisive connection with Doctor Cooper's escape which appears in the traditional narrative is more than doubtful. J. C. HamUton makes the in cident a feature of the commotion which fiUed the city as a result of the shots fired by the man-of-war Asia, wounding several persons on the Battery. But this affair occurred on August 23, 1775. Ac cording to data in the New York colonial archives, the mob attack which drove out Doctor Cooper took place on the night of May 10, 1775, but he got word of the approach of the mob from a former pupU and took refuge in the house of a Mr. Stuyvesant, re maining there the next day until evening, when he took refuge with Captain James Montague, com manding the British man-of-war Kingfisher, which vessel conveyed Doctor Cooper to England.1 This account is corroborated by Doctor Cooper's verses, written on the anniversary of his escape, pubhshed in the Gentleman's Magazine for July, 1776. In it he relates how he was roused from sleep by a "heaven-directed youth" and warned that a mob 1 Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, vol. VIII, p. 297. 36 ALEXANDER HAMILTON was approaching. He says that they wrecked his home, but "Meanwhile, along the sounding shore, Where Hudson's waves incessant roar, I take my weary way; And skirt the windings of the tide, My faithful pupil by my side, Nor wish the approach of day." There is nothing to indicate that the faithful pupil who aided Doctor Cooper's escape was Ham ilton, although it ' might have been. But there is ample evidence that he condemned and opposed the mob spirit. One of its targets was the printer, James Rivington, from whose press Tory pamphlets had been issued. So, too, had Whig pamphlets, among them Hamilton's own productions; but Riv ington was known to side with the Tories, and his press was regarded as a centre of Tory influence. But the blow did not fall upon him from his own townsmen. On November 23, 1775, a company of horsemen from Connecticut, commanded by Israel Sears, rode into town declaring that they had come to destroy Rivington's press. It is related that HamUton again interposed, and was so indignant at this raid from another province that he even ap pealed to the people to resist the Connecticut ma- raudersby force. The mob, however, followed the lead of the raiders, and Rivington's establishment OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION 37 was wrecked and pillaged. A few days later Hamil ton wrote a long letter to John Jay, then a member of the Continental Congress, which gives signal evi dence of his calm statesmanship. After referring to the raid on Rivington's press, he observed : In times of such commotion as the present, while the passions of men are worked up to an uncommon pitch there is great danger of fatal extremes. The same state of the passions which fits the multitude, who have not a sufficient stock of reason and knowledge to guide them, for opposition to tyranny and oppression, very naturally leads them to a contempt and disregard of all authority. The due medium is hardly to be found among the more intelligent; it is almost impossible among the unthinking populace. When the minds of these are loosened from their attachment to ancient establishments and courses, they seem to grow giddy and are apt more or less to run into anarchy. These principles, too true in themselves, and confirmed to me both by reading and my own experi ence, deserve extremely the attention of those who have the direction of public affairs. In such tempestuous times, it requires the greatest skill in the political pilots to keep men steady and within proper bounds. . . . This laying down of general principles was the preface to a practical recommendation, which was that troops should be stationed in New York, both to repress Tories and to preserve order. He sug gested that they might be "raised in Philadelphia, the Jerseys, or any province except New England." Jay communicated HamUton's views to Nathaniel 38 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Woodhull, president of the Provincial Congress of New York, with some comments of his own con demning the New England exploit. The notion that the forceful arguments produced by HamUton at this period were improvisations in spired by the zeal of a new convert may be dismissed as unfounded. Constitutional views so mature and so weU documented take time for their growth. The issues involved had been before Hamilton's mind from the time he was eight years old, and he had long been gathering information upon them. But, even so, one cannot read the pamphlets and letters without astonishment that a youth of eighteen, actively engaged in a popular movement and ex posed to aU of its excitements, should be able to keep such a cool head and to display such a com bination of energy and sagacity. One must admit that here is clear evidence of genius, an outpouring of power and capacity beyond anything that might be expected from the circumstances of the case or be accounted for on any theory of heredity. CHAPTER IV IN THE STATE MILITIA It wiU be a view of HamUton's position at this period that wUl best accord with known facts, if we regard the distinction now usuaUy imputed to his youthful activities as being reflected upon them by his sub sequent fame. He had certainly distinguished him- seff by his pamphlets, in the opinion of competent judges, but that did not constitute popular distinc tion. The force of argument and the dignity of style that mark those productions are better calcu lated to impress those who think than those who feel, and popularity belongs to those who can appeal most effectively to the feeling of the hour. The bulk of the literary output of the times consisted of sarcastic poems, personal quips, scurrilous tirades, burlesques, and facetiae. Probably few people in turbulent New York at that time heard of Hamil ton's pamphlets. They were known and admired in a restricted circle, but that circle included men of leadership and influence, whose good opinion was valuable. Besides the two pamphlets he wrote in reply to Doctor Seabury, he also produced a pam phlet in 1775, entitled Remarks on the Quebec Bill, which is shorter than its predecessors and is inferior 39 40 ALEXANDER HAMILTON to them in quality. It is plainly an appeal to Protestant bigotry. It discusses the pohcy of the British Government in Canada in support of a con tention that "arbitrary power, and its great engine, the Popish rehgion, are, to aU intents and purposes, estabUshed in that province." According to Troup's reminiscences, HamUton, Troup, and other students formed a military com pany in 1775, known as "Hearts of Oak." It was driUed and instructed by Major Fleming, who had been an adjutant in the British Army. It has been assumed on the strength of Troup's recoUections that the Hearts of Oak participated in the removal of the cannon from the Battery in the course of which the British man-of-war Asia fired upon the crowd. Troup relates that during this bombard ment "HamUton, who was aiding in the removal of the cannon, exhibited the greatest unconcern, al though one of his companions was killed by his side." It is entirely probable that the coUegians were in the crowd at the Battery, and that they lent a hand to the efforts of the troops to remove the cannon; but contemporaneous chronicles make no mention of the participation of the Hearts of Oak in that affair. There were twenty-one can non posted on the Battery, and the order for their removal was issued by the Provincial Congress of New York, that they might be transferred to forts then ordered to be constructed in the Highlands of IN THE STATE MILITIA 41 the Hudson. Captain John Lamb, in command of a company of artiUery, assisted by a detachment of infantry from Colonel John Lasher's battalion, per formed this service, in the course of which shots were fired from the shore against a barge belonging to the Asia, killing one of her crew. The Asia retali ated by a bombardment that wounded three persons in the crowd and damaged neighboring property, but kiUed nobody. This took place on August 23, 1775. It may be doubted whether the Hearts of Oak were then in existence. Their motto, "Freedom or Death," inscribed on the hatbands which belonged to their uniform, suggests that they were one of the numerous volunteer military companies that sprang up after Montgomery used that watchword in the battle of Quebec, in which he was kUled, December 31, 1775. A return of the mihtia companies in New York City made in August, 1775, does not mention the Hearts of Oak, but a return in 1776 mentions a corps of that name commanded by Captain John Berrian.1 The definitely established facts indicate that whUe the Continental Congress was taking the first steps in armed resistance to British pohcy, HamUton was assiduously pursuing his studies, civU and military. Custis's Reminiscences, written in his old age and 1 Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. VIII, p. 601; Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, vol. Ill, p. 108. 42 ALEXANDER HAMILTON showing marks of inaccuracy, relates that at one time HamUton thought of returning to St. Croix. Custis, a stepson of Washington and an inmate of his household, saw and heard a great deal of Hamil ton, and is not likely to be mistaken as to the bare fact, although the melodramatic setting he gives it is improbable. That such a notion occurred to HamUton harmonizes with other facts in his situa tion at this period. He had come to America to get a coUege education with funds provided by his West Indian relatives for that purpose. After the flight of Doctor Cooper and under the distractions of the times King's CoUege began to break up. It may weU have occurred to HamUton whether it was not his duty to return to the West Indies with his remaining funds. He decided that the circum stances warranted a conversion of his funds to new uses, and he applied for the command of a company of artiUery which was included in the hst of forces authorized by the New York Provincial Convention; was examined as to his fitness, and his commission was issued March 14, 1776. He employed the last of his funds in recruiting this company. On AprU 6 the treasurer of King's College was notified by a Committee of Safety that the buUding was needed for military purposes. The coUege library and other apparatus were then deposited in the City HaU, the remaining students were dispersed, and the college building was turned into an army hospital. IN THE STATE MILITIA 43 It is evident that HamUton was already regarded as a youth of military promise, for Lord Stirling, who took command of the Continental forces in New York on March 6, 1776, requested Ehas Boudi not to engage HamUton for him as a member of his staff. Boudinot rephed that "Mr. HamUton had already accepted the command of artiUery, and was therefore deprived of the pleasure of attending your Lordship's person as brigade major." It was a marked distinction for a youth of nineteen, but not an unusual one in those times when youths of edu cation and intelligence were much in demand to supply staff service to the numerous mihtia generals. Hamilton applied himself with characteristic thoughtfulness and diligence to drilling and exercis ing his company. Custis relates that in the sum mer of that year General Greene saw him driUing his company in the Fields (now City Hall Park) and was so impressed by his ability that he made his ac quaintance, invited him to his quarters, and formed such an opinion of him that eventually he introduced him to Washington, with recommendations that bore fruit in Hamilton's appointment to Washing ton's staff. HamUton's correspondence at this time attests his thoroughness in the discharge of his mili tary duties. Several of his letters to the Provincial Congress are preserved, dealing with matters per taining to the discipline and equipment of his com pany with intelligence and good judgment. The 44 ALEXANDER HAMILTON exact and cautious character of his observations is well illustrated by a communication in August, 1776, in which he recommends one of his sergeants for a commission, remarking that "he is a very good dis ciplinarian — possesses the advantage of having seen a good deal of service in Germany, has a tolerable share of common sense, and will not disgrace the rank of an officer and gentleman." The sergeant so recommended got his commission and made a good officer. Hamilton's artillery company was among the forces with which Washington tried to oppose the British attack upon New York in August, 1776. Washington had a total force of 28,500 officers and men with which to oppose Howe's a: my of over 31,000. The American Army was composed of twenty-five regiments, recruited by order of the Continental Congress, and therefore the lineal pred ecessors of our present regular army, and in addi tion there were forty-six regiments or battalions of State mihtia. The militia officers had not the training or experience to look properly after their men, and there was so much sickness that on the day of the battle of Long Island Washington had only about 19,000 effectives, whUe Howe had over 24,000. Among Washington's troops uniforms were the exception, and most of the soldiers were dressed in citizens' clothes. For arms the troops had old flintlocks, fowling-pieces, rifles, and some good IN THE STATE MILITIA 45 English muskets. Lacking discipline, they of course also lacked cohesion. In the battle, fought on August 27, the American troops were outflanked and defeated, and Lord Stir ling and General Sullivan, on whose divisions the brunt of the attack fell, were both captured by the British, who took prisoner in aU ninety-one Ameri can officers. Washington, who had remained in New York, uncertain where the attack would fall, hurried forward reinforcements as soon as news arrived of the British movements, and this brought Hamilton's company into the action. The Ameri can lines were crumpled up so that it was not possi ble to make a stand, but it appears that Hamilton's company acted as a rear-guard in the retreat, in the course of which he lost a field-piece and his baggage. One of Hamilton's chums fared even worse on that day. Lieutenant Robert Troup was one of a special patrol of five commissioned officers detaUed to watch Jamaica Pass. Their watch was so poor that the whole party was surprised and captured, and thus the way was opened for the flanking movement that struck the American line unawares and produced a rout and a disorderly retreat.1 Washington, who possessed a mind that no calam ity could stun and an energy of character that no circumstances could paralyze, exerted himself with •"See Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, vol. Ill, p. i77. 46 ALEXANDER HAMILTON considerable success in rearranging his forces on new lines at Brooklyn. But some British men-of-war made their way into Mushing Bay and the Ameri can rear was exposed to possibihties of attack that made retreat advisable. This was so skilfuUy man aged that the army was drawn back to New York without loss. Washington's situation was stUl very perilous, as his army was beginning to melt by the desertion of mihtia, who began to leave by groups and even whole companies. Scott's brigade, to which HamUton's company was attached, was now posted on the East River front. Washington re garded the position as defensible if he had troops that could be depended upon. Writing to Congress on September 2, he said: "Till of late I had no doubt in my own mind of defending this place, nor should I have yet, if the men would do their duty, but this I despair of. It is painful, and extremely grating to me, to give such unfavorable accounts, but it would be criminal to conceal the truth at so critical a junc ture." His best generals strongly advised evacua tion of the city, and on September 12 the removal of the army to hnes on Harlem Heights was begun, but was not completed by the 15th, when the British occupied the city. On that day Scott's brigade was stiU on the East River front, about the foot of what is now Fifteenth Street. A force of British, under cover of fire from five British frigates, made a land ing in Kip's Bay, where some militia regiments were IN THE STATE MILITIA 47 posted. They were seized with panic and ran away in a manner which Washington described as "dis graceful and dastardly." Scott's brigade had to make an immediate retreat, or else it might have been surrounded and captured. General Putnam, to whose division the brigade belonged, was in great difficulties, and the escape of this division is attrib uted largely to the efforts of Aaron Burr, who was one of Putnam's aides. Burr, who knew the ground thoroughly, led it over to the Bloomingdale road, and after a circuitous march of about twelve mUes the division reached Harlem Heights with little loss, to the joy of the other brigades, who had given it up for lost. It was on Harlem Heights that HamUton first met Washington, according to J. C. HamUton, who re lates that, "on the inspection of an earthwork he was throwing up, the commander-in-chief entered into conversation with him, invited him to his tent, and received an impression of his military talent." This account does not taUy weU with the account given by Custis that HamUton was recommended to Washington by General Greene. It is probably an embellished version of the fact that Washington met and talked with HamUton in the course of his arrangements for fortifying his lines. In the circum stances that was almost inevitable. But it is alto gether unlikely that Washington had any time for general conversation when he was working under 48 ALEXANDER HAMILTON great pressure to rearrange his disheartened and demoralized forces. It was at this juncture that Washington made one of the strokes characteristic of his generalship. The British by this time thought the Colonials such easy marks that a force of about 300 had the temerity to push up to the lines, sound ing bugle-calls of the sort used at a fox-hunt. Wash ington, who had a- quick military eye, saw a chance to hearten his troops. Drawing the attention of the British by some weak skirmishing on their front, he sent out a flanking expedition which came near bag ging them. As it was, they had to run and, rein forcements being thrown in by both sides, there was considerable of a battle, in which the British were beaten and had to retreat. This engagement, in which not more than 1,800 took part on the Ameri can side, became known as the battle of Harlem Heights. It was a smart affair, and Washington wrote that it "inspirited our troops prodigiously." It is not likely that HamUton took any part in this affair, as the brigade to which he belonged was not engaged. His work on Harlem Heights con tinued to be that in which Washington found him engaged, the fortification of his part of the line and careful preparation against possible attack. But no attack took place. Howe, who did his work leisurely but with professional competency, in a few weeks flanked Washington out of the Harlem Heights posi tion by sending a force through Hell Gate to make IN THE STATE MILITIA 49 a landing in Westchester County, threatening Wash ington's communications. Washington therefore moved to a new position, his right flank resting on the Bronx and his left flank on Chatterton's Hill. On October 28 the British made an attack, and, when it appeared that its chief weight would fall on the left flank, Captain Alexander HamUton's two-gun bat tery was among the reinforcements sent to Chatter- ton's HiU. The attacking force, numbering about 4,000 men, were met by a fire before which they re- coUed, but on moving up again they extended more to the left of the American position. The mihtia stationed there gave way, compeUing a general re treat on the American side. This affair on Chatterton's HiU is known as the battle of White Plains. On the American side not over 1,600 troops were engaged, and they inflicted severer losses than they sustained, but the effect was to cause Washington to make another masterly retreat. During the night he fell back to the heights of North Castle, occupying so strong a posi tion that Howe decided not to attack. According to British historians, Howe concluded that Wash ington could not be induced to risk a decisive en gagement, and that the Americans knew the coun try too well to be cut off, so he desisted from pur suit and turned to other operations, which were quite successful. On November 16 he attacked Fort Washington, on the Hudson, and Washington, 50 ALEXANDER HAMILTON who watched the fighting from Fort Lee, had the mortification of seeing the garrison forced to sur render. This disaster closed the campaign in the vicinity of New York, during which the American Army lost most of its artiUery — 218 pieces of all cahbre — while 329 officers and 4,100 men were taken prisoner by the British. Hamilton passed through all these gloomy experi ences, and he and his httle battery were in the rem nant of the American Army that stiU clung to Wash ington's desperate fortunes. An anecdote obtained by Washington Irving from "a veteran officer of the Revolution" gives a glimpse of HamUton in this retreat. Said this officer: "I noticed a youth, a mere stripling, small, slender, almost delicate in frame, marching beside a piece of artiUery, with a cocked hat pulled down over his eyes, apparently lost in thought with his hand resting on the cannon, and every now and then patting it as he mused, as if it were a favorite horse, or a pet plaything." One obtains another glimpse of HamUton during this retreat through Custis's Memoirs. He relates that at the passage of the Raritan, near New Bruns wick, Hamilton attracted the notice of the com mander-in-chief, who whUe posted on the river bank, and contemplating with anxiety the passage of the troops, was charmed by the brilliant courage and admirable skUl displayed by a young officer of artillery, who directed a battery against the enemy's IN THE STATE MILITIA 51 advanced columns that pressed upon the Americans in their retreat by the ford. The general ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzgerald, his aide-de-camp, to ascertain who this young officer was, and bid him repair to headquarters at the first halt of the army. According to Custis, who was so situated that he might have received the information from Wash ington's own hps, the personal regard of Washington for Hamilton dated from that incident. From New Brunswick the American troops re treated by the road passing through Princeton. J. C. Hamilton quotes "a friend" as saying: "WeU do I remember the day when Hamilton's company marched into Princeton. It was a model of disci pline; at their head a boy, and I wondered at his youth; but what was my surprise when struck with his shght figure, he was pointed out to me as that Hamilton of whom we had already heard so much." In the course of this campaign Washington ad hered to his Fabian tactics, avoiding a general en gagement and watchful of opportunity to make sudden counter-strokes. His great exploit was the surprise of the Hessians at Trenton, during their Christmas festivities, foUowed up by the battle of Princeton. HamUton took part in these affairs, in which his company sustained losses reducing its strength to about thirty men. This force was among the fragments of the original army which still re mained with Washington when he established his 52 ALEXANDER HAMILTON winter quarters at Morristown, early in January, 1777. During that winter Hamilton became one of Washington's secretaries, and on March 1, 1777, he was formaUy appointed an aide-de-camp, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. HamUton sent notice of this event to the New York Convention, advising them of the appointment, and asking instructions as to what should be done with the remnant of the company, suggesting that "the Continent wiU read ily take it off your hands." The Convention rephed that "it is determined to permit that company to join the Continental Army, for which you wiU take the necessary steps." This event closed HamUton's service in the State mihtia and marked the beginning of his distinctly national career. In taking up arms in the service of the American colonies Hamilton did not sever his relations with his West Indian relatives and friends. On February 14, 1777, he wrote to the Reverend Hugh Knox, at St. Croix, what Knox characterized as a "very cir cumstantial and satisfactory letter." It appears from Knox's reply, which has been preserved, that in this letter HamUton mentioned his appointment on Washington's staff. Knox wrote that HamUton's account of his services and advancement "has given high satisfaction to aU friends here." The good clergyman was himseff overjoyed. " Mark this ! " he wrote; "you must be the Annalist and Biographer, IN THE STATE MILITIA 53 as well as the Aide-de-Camp, of General Washington and the Historiographer of the American War!" Mr. Knox pressed this point, saying: "This may be a new and strange thought to you: but if you survive the present trouble, / aver — few men wiU be as weU qualified to write the history of the present glorious struggle. God only knows how it wiU terminate. But however that may be, it will be a most inter esting story." This letter, from the clergyman under whom Ham Uton began his studies, is important in several ways. It testifies to the high opinion of HamUton's abilities among those who had known him from his infancy. It shows that the sympathy of the West Indian set to which Hamilton belonged was strongly on the side that Hamilton had espoused, so that HamUton's action was no severance of old ties. Mr. Knox ex pressed the hope that he would "justify the choice, and merit the approbation, of the great and good General Washington — a name which wiU shine with distinguished lustre in the annals of history — a name dear to the friends of the Liberties of Mankind!" When it is considered that HamUton's letter must have borne a tale of disaster, it is evident that the clergyman's ardor in the American cause must have been deep and strong to express itself in such a way at such a time. It is a great pity that Hamilton's letter to which this was a reply has never been 54 ALEXANDER HAMILTON recovered. It would doubtless have supplied an exact account of Hamilton's activities in America up to the beginning of his personal association with General Washington. CHAPTER V AT HEADQUARTERS Hamilton's reports made in closing his connec tion with the State mihtia mention sickness as hav ing caused delay in submitting them. A letter from a Provincial committee, dated AprU 2, 1777, says that they are sorry to hear of his "indisposition." The letter from Mr. Knox of April 21, 1777, con gratulates HamUton upon his "recovery from a long and dangerous illness." It also appears that Gen eral Washington was Ul about the same time. A letter of Gouverneur Morris, March 26, 1777, refers to the "universal joy" it caused "to hear of the General's recovery." When HamUton was appointed aide-de-camp he had just turned twenty, while Washington had just turned forty-five. The physical contrast between them was very marked. Washington was six feet two inches taU, with unusuaUy large Umbs. HamUton was only about five feet seven, just the height of Napoleon Bonaparte. His hair — a lock of which I have examined — was sandy red, and authentic accounts leave no doubt that his complexion was of the ruddy Scottish type. Wil liam Sullivan, a Massachusetts Federalist lawyer, 55 56 ALEXANDER HAMILTON politician, and historian, gave this account of Ham ilton's appearance as a guest at a dinner-party in December, 1795: "He was under middle size, thin in person, but remarkably erect and dignified in his deportment. His hair was turned back from his forehead, powdered and coUected in a club be hind. His complexion was exceedingly fair, and varying from this only by the almost feminine rosiness of his cheeks. His might be considered, as to figure and color, an uncommonly handsome face. When at rest, it had a rather severe and thoughtful expression; but when engaged in con versation, it easUy assumed an attractive smUe. He was dressed in a blue coat with bright buttons; the skirts of his coat were unusuaUy long. He wore a white waistcoat, black silk smaU clothes, white sUk stockings. The gentleman, who received him as a guest, introduced him to such of the company as were strangers to him; to each he made a formal bow, bending very low, the ceremony of shaking hands not being observed." This description of HamUton's looks and bearing at the age of thirty-eight wiU do quite weU for him at the age of twenty, for his sense of personal dignity was as strongly marked then. Timothy Pickering, who was Washington's adju tant-general in 1777, said that Washington was then unhandy with his pen. "When I first became ac quainted with the General," Pickering related, "his AT HEADQUARTERS 57 writing was defective in grammar, and even in spell ing, owing to the insufficiency of his early education; of which, however, he graduaUy got the better in the subsequent years of his life, by the official peru sal of some exceUent models, particularly those of Hamilton; by writing with care and patient atten tion; and reading numerous, indeed multitudes of, letters to and from his friends and correspondents." The year in which Pickering first became ac quainted with Washington was the same year in which Hamilton was appointed aide-de-camp, so it exhibits Washington as he was when Hamilton's service began. Washington had difficulty in getting a military secretary to his liking, or else found it hard to retain an aide-de-camp assigned to that function. The duties were heavy and multifarious, for, in addition to directing the army under his im mediate command, Washington was charged with a general supervision of military arrangements. What government there was was an improvised thing without proper organs, and he was expected to act as a sort of secretary of war without means for executing that office. A view of the difficulties into which he was plunged is afforded by a letter of April 23, 1776, from Washington to Congress: "I give in to no kind of amusement myself, and con sequently those about me can have none, but are confined from morning tiU evening, hearing and answering the applications and letters of one and 58 ALEXANDER HAMILTON another, which wUl now, I expect, receive a consid erable addition, as the business of the northern and eastern departments, if I continue here, must, I suppose, pass through my hands. If these gentle men had the same relaxation from duty as other officers have in their common routine, there would not be so much in it. But to have the mind always upon the stretch, scarce ever unbent, and no hours for recreation, makes a material odds. Knowing this, and at the same time how inadequate the pay is, I can scarce find inchnation to impose the neces sary duties of their office upon them." From the account Pickering gives of the battle of the Brandywine, September 11, 1777, it appears that Robert H. Harrison of Maryland was then serving as mUitary secretary, although HamUton's staff ap pointment took effect the previous March. At this time Hamilton's staff duties were not so confining but that he could take part in expeditions of a skir mishing character. On September 18 he went with a smaU party of horse to destroy some stocks of flour in some mUls on the Schuylkill, which the British were likely to seize. Hamilton took the precaution of securing a flat-bottomed boat in case a sudden retreat should be necessary. It turned out to be a wise arrangement, as the British were at hand, and as Hamilton and his men rowed across the river they were fired upon, "by which means," wrote HamUton, "I lost my horse — one man was AT HEADQUARTERS 59 kiUed and another wounded." That Hamilton kept his wits about bim in this exciting situation is shown by the fact that he at once dispatched a message to John Hancock, President of Congress, saying: "If Congress have not left Philadelphia they ought to do it immediately without faU." The same night he sent another message to the same effect, calhng attention to the advance of the British, and remark ing: "This renders the situation of Congress ex tremely precarious, if they are not on their guard." The effect of this warning, in which Hamilton acted on his own judgment, was to cause Congress to ad journ to Lancaster, about sixty mUes west of Phila delphia. Hamilton himself went to PhUadelphia to bring off aU the supphes he could before the Brit ish arrived, and on the 22d he sent another report to President Hancock, at Lancaster, saying that "every appearance justified the supposition" that the enemy was about to cross the river to the PhUa delphia side. As it turned out, the British occupa tion of PhUadelphia took place on September 26. The indications are that it was not until after this affair that Hamilton attained the position of inti macy and influence with Washington he certainly occupied before the year was out. Washington found in bim a secretary always apt and ready, clear-headed and weU informed. In addition to his inteUectual qualifications, HamUton possessed an advantage which he probably owed to his commer- 60 ALEXANDER HAMILTON cial training. His handwriting was beautifully dis tinct and legible. His original papers preserved in the Library of Congress are, in sheer mechanics, on a level with the work of a professional engrossing clerk. It was inevitable that having found such a treasure Washington would make steady use of it, and it is evident that he got into the habit of trust ing much to HamUton's ability and good judgment. Custis gives an intimate account of scenes at headquarters. Washington was attended through out the war by bis body-servant, WiU Lee, a stout, active negro who was a famous horseman. Billy, as everybody caUed him, always slept in call of his master. It was Washington's practice to turn over in his mind every morning the business to be at tended to during the day, and sometimes he would he on his couch thinking over matters after his aides had been dismissed for the night. When dispatches arrived, or when he had reached some conclusion requiring immediate action, the word would go to Billy: "CaU Colonel HamUton." It is noticeable that after HamUton took charge complaints of clerical difficulties cease to appear in Washington's familiar letters. It is also a plain in ference that HamUton was able to organize and sys tematize the work so that he himseH was not en gulfed by it, for from time to time he was employed by Washington on important missions. Washing ton's own letters certify this fact. When the news AT HEADQUARTERS 61 of Burgoyne's surrender reached Washington, Octo ber, 1777, he sent HamUton to confer with General Gates, bearing a letter saying: "Our affairs having happUy terminated at the northward, I have, by the advice of my general officers, sent Colonel Hamilton, one of my aides, to lay before you a full state of our situation. . . . From Colonel HamUton you will have a clear and comprehensive view of things, and I persuade myself you wiU do aU in your power to facilitate the objects I have in contemplation." This was certainly an important trust to confide to a youth of twenty. Although necessarily occupied most of the time by staff duties, it appears that Hamilton was eager to be where the fighting was going on. Custis relates an incident of the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, which has doubtless received some melodramatic color in its transmis sion, but the main facts are quite in keeping with the characteristics both of Hamilton and Washing ton. The behavior of General Lee had upset Wash ington's plans and left the army exposed to great peril. Washington was so incensed that he called Lee to his face "a damned poltroon." Lafayette, who was present, says it was the only time he "ever heard General Washington swear. ' ' HamUton leaped from his horse and, drawing his sword, said: "We are betrayed; your Excellency and the army are betrayed, and the moment has arrived when every true friend of America and her cause must be ready 62 ALEXANDER HAMILTON to die in their defence." HamUton was not in the habit of using such stUted language, but that he suspected treachery and sprang to meet it is quite probable. Washington's part in this anecdote bears the stamp of authenticity, both as to words and action. "Pointing to the Colonel's horse that was cropping the herbage, Washington calmly observed, 'Colonel Hamilton, you will take your horse.'" One outcome of the discussion over General Lee's behavior was a duel between him and Colonel Lau rens, in which HamUton acted as Laurens's second, and Major Edwards acted for Lee. It appears from a statement drawn up by the seconds that the imme diate occasion of the duel was that "General Lee had spoken of General Washington in the grossest and most opprobrious terms of personal abuse, which Colonel Laurens thought himself bound to resent, as well on account of the relation he bore to General Washington as from motives of personal friendship and respect for his character." Laurens was one of Washington's aides-de-camp. The duel took place on Christmas Eve, 1778, and was fought with pistols, each advancing and firing when he saw fit. Lee was shghtly wounded in the right side at the first discharge. He demanded another exchange of shots, but the seconds inter vened and decided that the affair should end where it was. Lee, while insisting upon his right to criti cise Washington's military abilities, disavowed any AT HEADQUARTERS 63 intention of reflecting upon Washington's character as a man, and denied ever having spoken of him in terms of personal abuse. HamUton and Edwards made a minute of the affair, in which they conclude : "Upon the whole, we think it a piece of justice to the two gentlemen to declare, that after they met, their conduct was strongly marked with aU the po liteness, generosity, coolness and firmness, that ought to characterize a transaction of this nar ture." In this year Hamilton came of age, and there are strong evidences of his increasing usefulness to Washington. He was picked out for services requir ing shrewdness and good judgment as weU as intre pidity. He is a prominent figure in aU of Washing ton's dealings with Congress and with other com manders, and always acquitted himself with credit. His prominence, of course, attracted the mahce of the Tories. One of their prints in 1779 contained the report: "It is said httle HamUton, the poet and composer to the Lord Protector, Mr. Washington, is engaged upon a Uterary work which is intended to give posterity a true estimate of the present rebelhon and its supporters, in case Clinton's hght bobs should extirpate the whole race of rebels this cam paign." An item pubhshed in 1780 says that " Mrs. Washington has a mottled tom-cat (which she calls in a complimentary way, 'HamUton,') with thirteen yeUow rings around his tafl, and that his flaunting it 64 ALEXANDER HAMILTON suggested to the Congress the adoption of the same number of stripes for the rebel flag." So long as communications were possible HamUton tried to keep in touch with his friends at St. Croix by letters to Mr. Knox. There is no better ex planation of Washington's strategy than HamUton gave in a letter recounting the disasters of 1777. He prepared his West Indian friends for more bad news by admitting American inability to stand against British troops, but went on to say: "It may be asked, if, to avoid a general engagement, we give up objects of the first importance, what is to hinder the enemy from carrying every important point and ruining us? My answer is, that our hopes are not placed in any particular city or spot of ground, but in the preserving a good army, furnished with proper necessaries, to take advantage of favorable oppor tunities, and waste and defeat the enemy by piece meal. Every new post they take, requires a new division of their forces, and enables us to strike with our united force against a part of theirs." This out lines the pohcy that was in the end successful. CHAPTER VI THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR The influences that shaped Hamilton's career and energized his activities as a statesman cannot be appreciated without taking into account the char acteristics of the struggle as they were revealed in actual experience. The men who led the movement for armed resistance to British pohcy were well aware that this would cause a dissolution of pubhc order that would bring in a train of miseries. But they thought that civil war, with aU its risks, was preferable to the surrender of constitutional rights through submission to the jurisdiction of the British Parhament over the colonies in the matter of taxa tion. Nevertheless, they felt keenly and much de plored the turbulence and anarchy produced by the disorders of the times. It has been noted that HamUton, whUe stiU at coUege, observed this ten dency, analyzed its nature, and urged upon John Jay the necessity of stationing troops in New York to keep order. A diary kept by the Reverend Mr. Shewkirk, pastor of the Moravian Church, New York, has this entry, June 13, 1776: "Here in town very unhappy and shocking scenes were exhibited. On Monday night some men caUed Tories were car ried and hauled about through the streets, with 65 66 ALEXANDER HAMILTON candles forced to be held by them, or pushed in their faces, and their heads burned; but on Wednesday, in the open day, the scene was by far worse; several, and among them gentlemen, were carried on rails; some stripped naked and dreadfully abused." Hamilton's orderly mind detested such ruffianism, of which there were many instances. Alexander Graydon's Memoirs describes "the fashion of tar ring, feathering, and carting" inflicted upon the Tories. One of the victims was Isaac Hunt, then a lawyer but subsequently a clergyman with a charge in Barbados. He became the father of Leigh Hunt, the Enghsh poet, essayist, and journalist. Graydon mentions that, when Doctor Kearsley, a prominent citizen of PhUadelphia, was carted because of his Tory opinions, he "was seized at his own door by a party of the mihtia, and in the attempt to resist them received a wound in his hand from a bayonet." Mihtia of this class were the very kind whose liabil ity to panic and precipitate retreat was the con tinual source of military disaster. Graydon is a trustworthy witness. He was twenty-three when the Revolutionary War began, and on January 6, 1776, he was commissioned cap tain in a Pennsylvania regiment. He was well edu cated, a lawyer by profession, and he went into the war with just such patriotic motives as had actuated Hamilton, whom Graydon greatly admired. Gray don relates that when he joined the army in New THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR 67 York it was characterized by "irregularity, want of discipline, bad arms, and defective equipment in aU respects." Among the "miserably constituted bands from New England" the only force deserving respect was a Marblehead regiment under John Glover. Graydon was informed that "it was no unusual thing in the army before Boston, for a colonel to make drummers and fifers of his sons, thereby, not only being enabled to form a very snug, economical mess, but to aid also considerably the revenue to the family chest." Graydon, who had been much impressed with New England valor by the accounts that reached him of Bunker HiU, was puzzled to account for the poor quahty of the New England troops, and particularly the absence of gentry among them. "There were some, indeed, in the higher ranks, and here and there a man of decent breeding, in the capacity of an aide-de-camp or a brigade major; but anything above the condi tion of a clown, in the regiments we came in contact with, was a rarity." But conditions were not much better in the mihtia from other provinces. Gray don relates that the colonel of his own regiment ob tained leave of absence to visit his family and never returned. Graydon himself and some other officers were tempted to foUow "his Ulaudable example," so disgusted were they with the jobbery of the Pro vincial CouncU, who "went on in the manufacture of majors and colonels, in utter disregard of the 68 ALEXANDER HAMILTON claims of the officers in service, and sometimes of the coarsest materials." At the time when Wash ington was with the remnant of his army at Morris- town suffering from lack of men and supplies, Gray don notes that "captains, majors, and colonels had become 'good cheap' in the land; but unfortunately, those war functionaries were not found at the head of their men; they generally figured as bar-keepers, condescendingly serving out smaU measures of liquor to their less dignified customers." It might be supposed that this account could be explained away as an explosion of spleen, but the case is put as strongly by other observers. When Baron de Kalb joined the army he was astonished to find that the blacksmith attached to his troop held a captain's commission. The Reverend Jacob DuchS, chaplain of Congress, in a letter to Washing ton, October 16, 1777, remarked: "As to the army itself, what have you to expect from them ? Have they not frequently abandoned even yourself in the hour of extremity? Have you, can you have, the least confidence in a set of undisciplined men and officers, many of whom have been taken from the lowest of the people, without principle and without courage ? Take away those that surround your per son, how few are there that you can ask to sit at your table!" Washington's own opinion did not greatly differ from this, as many expressions in his letters attest. THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR 69 Writing under date of February 10, 1776, of the army he commanded before Boston, he remarked: "To be plain, these people are not to be depended upon if exposed"; but he added: "I do not apply this only to these people. I suppose it to be the case with aU raw and undisciplined troops." Writ ing soon after the engagements at Trenton and Princeton, the most creditable affairs of the New Jersey campaign, he said of the mUitia: "I am sure they never can be brought fairly up to an attack in any serious affair." In a letter written in 1780 HamUton gave this account of the condition of the army: "It is now a mob, rather than an army; without clothing, with out pay, without provision, without morals, without discipline. We begin to hate the country for its neglect of us. The country begins to hate us for our oppressions of them." The Chevalier de la Luzerne, who was sent to the United States by the French Government to view the situation, reported April 16, 1780: "It is difficult to form a just conception of the depreda tions which have been committed in the manage ment of war supphes — forage, clothing, hospitals, tents, quarters, and transportation. About nine thousand men employed in this service, received enormous salaries and devoured the subsistence of the army, whUe it was tormented with hunger and the extremes of want." 70 ALEXANDER HAMILTON The Congressional politicians had constantly in mind what happened to the Enghsh Parliament after they had aUowed OUver Cromwell to create a disciplined army. John Adams, the chairman of the War Board of Congress, was a timid man. When news came of the approach of the British to PhUadelphia from the southwest he rode northeast as far as Trenton, in his panic-stricken rush to get as far away as possible, before directing his course to Lancaster, where Congress was to reassemble, making his way thither through Bethlehem — a route so circuitous that it more than doubled the length of his journey. But there was no risk so great to his mind as aUowing a regular army to be formed. Adams's adherence to the principle of the casual levies for short terms was so deeply resented by HamUton that it was a leading count of his famous indictment of Adams over twenty years later. In addition to being an inefficient body, the Con tinental Congress was a corrupt and extravagant body. Officers' commissions were treated as a pat ronage fund in which members felt bound to secure equitable allotments. In addition to costly pro fusion there was favoritism so gross that Washing ton had sometimes to protest. The favor of a mem ber of Congress might be a more potent source of advancement than brave and capable service in the field. The immediate cause of Arnold's treason was the neglect of his claims in favor of much less deserv- THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR 71 ing officers who had pohtical influence. In such respects, however^ the Continental Congress was quite true to type. Government by an assembly has been everywhere and always corrupt, extrava gant, and inefficient government. The only consti tutional function that an assembly can properly dis charge is to serve as a control over the government in behalf of the people, but the integrity of this function can be secured only by shutting it out from any participation in appointments to office or dis bursement of pubhc funds. Then and only then wiU it hold to strict accountabUity the administra tive officers who do make appointments and dis bursements. But this is representative government of the modern type, stiU rare in practice; in the eighteenth century it was unknown. Most of the assembhes that had existed in Europe had been abolished as intolerable impediments to efficient government. Those that stiU survived bore the feudal pattern of class interest and partitioned sov ereignty, and even in England, where the represen tative type was eventuaUy developed, it was stUl inchoate in form and unrecognized in its essential character. In its general characteristics the Con tinental Congress was like the Commonwealth Par hament that CromweU turned out of doors; but sug gestions made to Washington that he ought to do likewise were indignantly rejected by that loyal Virginian gentleman. 72 ALEXANDER HAMILTON The Continental Congress was probably no more addicted to corruption than is usually the case with assemblies of its type, but there is evidence that rapid deterioration took place. It was referred to in the Reverend Jacob Duche's letter already men tioned. He said to Washington : " The most respect able characters have withdrawn themselves, and are succeeded by a great majority of Uhberal and violent men. Your feelings must be greatly hurt by the representation from your native province. ... As to those of my own province, some of them are so obscure that their very names never met my ears before, and others have only been dis tinguished for the weakness of their understandings and the violence of their tempers. . . . From the New England provinces can you find one that as a gentleman you could wish to associate with ? unless the soft and mUd address of Mr. Hancock can atone for his want of every other qualification necessary for the station he fills. Bankrupts, attorneys, and men of desperate futures are his colleagues." This estimate of the character of Congress, made by the clergyman who was then acting as its chap lain, is corroborated by a letter written by Henry Laurens, who succeeded Hancock as president of Congress. A letter he wrote in the summer of 1778, in which he referred to "scenes of venahty, peculation and fraud" in Congress, was intercepted by the British and published to discredit the Ameri can cause. THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR 73 Although Congress was probably no more corrupt than the Commonwealth Parliament in England, yet, so far as there is material for comparison, it is to be inferred that it was much more fond of ex travagant display. The Puritan composition of the Commonwealth Parhament kept down the showy vices. Congress seemed to revel in display. The men of whom it was originaUy composed included provincial magnates who hved in a lavish way themselves and regarded that as a proper incident of high station. The standard they set up was imitated by others at the pubhc expense, in aU branches of the civU government. An instructive document of the times is a biU for the entertainment given, December 1, 1778, in honor of the election of Joseph Reed as president of the Pennsylvania Coun cU. The biU, contracted at a time when the army lacked food and clothing, amounted to £2,295 15s. It included such items as " 116 large bowls of punch," "2 tubs of grog for artiUery soldiers," "1 gallon spirits for beU ringers," "96 wine glasses broke," "5 decanters broke." 1 The festivities about Congress were never greater than during the darkest period of the American cause. Washington wrote that ' ' party disputes and personal quarrels are the great business of the day, whilst the momentous concerns of an empire, a great and accumulating debt, ruined finances, depreciated money, and want of credit, 1 The itemized account is given in A. S. Bolles's Pennsylvania, Province and State, vol. II, p. 45. 74 ALEXANDER HAMILTON which in its consequences is the want of everything, are but secondary considerations and postponed from day to day and from week to week, as if our affairs wore the most promising aspect. . . . And yet an assembly, a concert, a dinner or a supper, wUl not only take men off from acting in this busi ness, but even from thinking of it." In his personal correspondence HamUton sharply criticised the character of Congress. Writing to Governor Chnton, February 13, 1778, he said: "Many members of it are, no doubt, men in every respect fit for the trust, but this cannot be said of it as a body. FoUy, caprice, a want of foresight, comprehension and dignity, comprise the general tenor of their action." HamUton was so indignant with the behavior of a member of Congress that he twice assaUed him in the pubhc press, over the sig nature "Publius," which later he used for his Fed eralist articles. He prefaced his attacks by a letter to the printer of the New York Journal,, in which he said that "when a man appointed to be the guar dian of the State and the depositary of the happiness and morals of the people, forgetful of the solemn relation in which he stands, descends to the dishon est artifices of a mercantile projector, and sacrifices his conscience and his trust to pecuniary motives, there is no strain of abhorrence of which the human mind is capable, no punishment the vengeance of the people can inflict, which may not be applied to THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR 75 him with justice." Two articles foUowed in which the member of Congress was told that he had shown that "America can already boast of at least one pubhc character as abandoned as any history of past or present times can produce." The man HamUton thus censured was a signer of the Declara tion of Independence, Samuel Chase of Maryland. The particular charge against him was that, when General Wadsworth, the commissary-general, was arranging for purchases of flour, Chase delayed action by the committee of Congress, meanwhile forming "connections for monopoUzing that article, and raising the price upon the pubhc more than one hundred per cent." HamUton denounced this pro ceeding as "an infamous traffic," and he character ized Chase as a man in whom love of money and love of power predominated, and who was content with the merit of possessing quahties useful only to himself. The affair made a great stir at the time, but the charge did not prevent Chase from arriving at eminence in Maryland, and in 1796 he was ap pointed a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, from which office an ineffectual effort was made to remove him by impeachment. Hamilton's term of service as Washington's mili- tary secretary covered the period when the mal administration was at its worst. Drafts of the most important reports made to Congress by Washington on general conditions exist among the Hamilton 76 ALEXANDER HAMILTON papers in his handwriting. Among those is the long report of January 28, 1778, on the reorganization of the army, addressed by Washington to the commit tee of Congress that visited the camp at VaUey Forge; the report on the organization of the office of inspector-general, May 5, 1778, and also the actual plan as adopted by Congress, February 18, 1779; also, a number of reports on military discipline. He who prepares the reports of another person is in a position to influence that person's views and pohcy, and there is evidence that HamUton wielded such influence. John Laurens, one of Washington's aides, was sent on a mission to France in 1781 to obtain aid in money and supphes. His instructions are all in the handwriting of Hamilton, with the exception of the four closing lines, which are in the handwriting of Washington. This document bears distinctly the marks of Hamilton's style and gives expression to his characteristic ideas on govern ment. Hamilton's personal authorship is distinctly set forth in a comprehensive draft of miHtary regu lations which HamUton proposed, "submitting to his ExceUency the Commander-in-chief, to distin guish such as may be pubhshed under his own authority in General orders, and such as wUl require the sanction and authority of the Committee of Congress." In a report to Congress on the miHtary situation, August 20, 1780, Washington made a stern indict- THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR 77 ment of the pohcy to which Congress had obsti nately adhered. This report, which defines issues on which Congress has been at variance with expert authority in every national crisis down to our own times, bears the marks of HamUton's composition in every line. It declares that "to attempt to carry on the war with militia against disciplined troops would be to attempt what the common sense and common experience of mankind wiU pronounce im practicable." The practice of short enlistments is characterized as "pernicious beyond description," and a draft for three years or the length of the war is declared to be the only effectual method. Then foUowed this eloquent passage: Had we formed a permanent army in the beginning, which, by the continuance of the same men in service, had been capable of discipline, we never should have had to retreat with a handful of men across the Delaware in 1776, trembling for the fate of America, which nothing but the infatuation of the enemy could have saved; we should not have remained all the succeeding winter at their mercy, with sometimes scarcely a sufficient body of men to mount the ordinary guards, liable at every moment to be dissipated, if they had only thought proper to march against us; we should not have been under the necessity of fighting at Brandywine, with an unequal number of raw troops, and afterwards of seeing Philadelphia fall a prey to a victorious army; we should not have been at Valley Forge with less than half the force of the enemy, destitute of everything, in a situation neither to resist nor 78 ALEXANDER HAMILTON to retire; we should not have seen New York left with a handful of men, yet an overmatch for the main army of these States, while the principal part of their force was de tached for the reduction of two of them; we should not have found ourselves this Spring so weak, as to be insulted by five thousand men, unable to protect our baggage and magazines, their security depending on a good counte nance, and a want of enterprise in the enemy; we should not have been the greatest part of the war inferior to the enemy, indebted for our safety to their inactivity, endur ing frequently the mortification of seeing inviting oppor tunities to ruin them pass unimproved for want of a force, which the country was completely able to afford; to see the country ravaged, our towns burnt, the inhabi tants plundered, abused, murdered with impunity from the same cause. Nor have the ill effects been confined to the military line. A great part of the embarrassments in the civil departments flow from the same source. The derange ment of our finances is essentially to be ascribed to it. The expenses of the war, and the paper emissions have been greatly multiplied by it. We have had, a great part of the time, two sets of men to feed and pay, the discharged men going home and the levies coming in. . . . Our officers are reduced to the disagreeable necessity of per forming the duties of drill sergeants to them, and with this mortifying reflection annexed to the business, that by the time they have taught those men the rudiments of a sol dier's duty, their term of service will have expired, and the work is to recommence with an entire new set. The consumption of provision, arms, accoutrements, stores of every kind, has been doubled in spite of every precaution I could use, not only from the cause just mentioned, but from the carelessness and licentiousness incident to militia THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR 79 and irregular troops. Our discipline also has been much injured, if not ruined, by such constant changes. The fre quent calls upon the militia have interrupted the cultiva tion of the land, and of course have lessened the quantity of its produce, occasioned a scarcity, and enhanced the prices. In an army so unstable as ours, order and econ omy have been impracticable. . . . There is every reason to believe the war has been protracted on this account. Our opposition being less, made the successes of the enemy greater. The fluctuation of the army kept alive their hopes, and at every period of the dissolution of a considerable part of it, they have flattered themselves with some decisive advantages. Had we kept a permanent army on foot, the enemy could have had nothing to hope for, and would in all probability have listened to terms long since. ... It is an old maxim, that the surest way to make a good peace is to be well prepared for war. It was while undergoing such experiences that HamUton began to form the plans which he even- tuaUy appUed to the organization of pubhc authority. CHAPTER VII FIRST ESSAYS IN STATESMANSHIP About the time that Hamilton became an aide to Washington, he was asked to correspond with the New York Convention through a committee, then composed of Gouverneur Morris, Robert Livingston, and William Allison. In a letter of March 20, 1777, he gave his understanding of the arrangement as being that, so far as his leisure would permit and his duty warrant, he should "communicate such pieces of inteUigence as shall be received, and such com ments upon them as shall appear necessary to con vey a true idea of what is going on in the miHtary line." That the Convention should have thought it important to establish such relations with a youth of twenty, might easily be construed as evidence of the deep impression already made by Hamilton's personality upon the pubhc men with whom he was brought in contact; but a more probable opinion is that at the outset the arrangement was the expres sion of provincial solicitude, not to say jealousy, about transactions to which the State was a party and which yet lay beyond the bounds of State authority. The particularist spirit was then the strongest force in American politics, and, although 80 FIRST ESSAYS IN STATESMANSHIP 81 yielding much to the military necessities of the situ ation, it did so reluctantfy and with large reserve. The result of this arrangement was a series of reports from Hamilton on the progress of the cam paign and the prospects of the American cause, showing such clear vision and sound judgment that his reputation as a publicist, started by his early pamphlets, was confirmed, extended, and perma nently estabhshed. General recognition of Hamil ton's position among the leading men of New York dates from this period. The hospitality which Hamilton had received on arriving in New York was no more than was then readUy extended to any visitor who had the dress and manners of pohte society. Its significance of individual value was shght. But the position he speedily acquired after becoming the correspondent of the New York Con vention was decidedly that of individual distinction. In a few months leading men were consulting him about the form of government to be adopted in New York. In May, 1777, Gouverneur Morris sent a pamphlet describing the scheme he proposed. In reply HamUton remarked that whUe considering it "in the main as a wise and excellent system, I freely confess it appears to me to have some faults." There is no indication that Morris regarded this as a pre sumptuous attitude for a youth of twenty to take. Morris argued the case, defending the partitions of authority and system of checks he proposed on the 82 ALEXANDER HAMILTON usual ground of the caprice and instabiHty of the mass of the people. HamUton's comment is sur prising in its discernment of the principles upon which democratic government may be and has been safely estabhshed. He observed: "That instability is inherent in the nature of popular governments I think very disputable; unstable democracy is an epithet frequently in the mouths of poHticians, but I beheve that from a strict examination of the mat ter — from the records of history, it wiU be found that the fluctuations of governments in which the popular principle has borne a considerable sway, have proceeded from its being compounded with other principles; and from its being made to operate in an improper channel. Compound governments, though they may be harmonious in the beginning, wiU introduce distinct interests, and these interests wiU clash, throw the State into convulsions, and produce a change or dissolution. When the delib erative or judicial powers are vested whoUy or partly in the coUective body of the people, you must expect error, confusion, and instability. But a representa tive democracy, where the right of election is weU secured and regulated, and the exercise of the legis lative, executive, and judiciary authorities is vested in select persons, chosen reaUy and not nominally by the people, wUl, in my opinion, be most likely to be happy, regular and durable." This judgment, now so abundantly vindicated by FIRST ESSAYS IN STATESMANSHIP 83 the experience of Switzerland, Australia, New Zea land, Canada, and even httle Barbados, with its negro electorate, under a simple form of representa tive democracy, as contrasted with the results of the compound government adopted by American States, displays a prescience that, for the period, is simply amazing. At that time the prevailing opin ion in Europe was that absolutism had been the form of government most successful in preserving pubhc order, whereas aU other forms that had been tried had faUed on that essential point. Although in England the actual form precluded absolutism, so acute and dispassionate a thinker as Hume held that "we shaU at last, after many convulsions and civU wars, find repose in absolute monarchy, which it would have been happier for us to have estab lished peaceably from the beginning." At a time when HamUton was imbibing pohtical ideas in his boyhood in the West Indies, Ohver Goldsmith was describing republics as places "where the laws gov ern the poor and the rich govern the laws," and was contending that every diminution of the power of the sovereign was "an infringement upon the real liberties of the subject." The concept of represen tative democracy, guarded against abuse of power, not by partition or limitation of authority but by exact accountabUity and fuU responsibility for every act of power, was quite unknown at the time Ham Uton wrote. The plebeianizing of authority had 84 ALEXANDER HAMILTON begun in New England, through the town-meeting system which Congregationalism had extracted from mediaeval parish arrangements, but nowhere was democracy in greater disrepute. John Adams's vo luminous writings on pohtics are a continual dirge on the iniquity of democracy. Compoun^government, giving the people a shee of power but conferring the real control upon magisterial authority, was the most extreme concession thought to be practicable. Hamilton's views had no effect upon the character of the State constitution adopted by New York in 1777. Indeed, his ideas had not then been put into systematic form, but were expressed merely in the way of dissent from the principles upon which the scheme of a State constitution was framed. How ever, the processes of his thought had already begun which eventually found practical expression in the organization of national authority. The ideas which he eventually put into practical effect, in his work as Secretary of the Treasury, were first stated in papers prepared whUe in winter quarters at Morris- town in 1779-80. The first of these, the extant draft of which is undated, affords internal evidence that it was written about November, 1779. It is in the form of a letter, addressed to a member of Con gress who is not mentioned by name. J. C. Hamil ton, in his biography, says that it was sent "to Robert Morris, then a delegate from Pennsylvania to Congress," and this statement has been generaUy FIRST ESSAYS IN STATESMANSHIP 85 accepted by subsequent biographers. But Robert Morris was not at that time a member of Congress, his term having expired November 1, 1778. And if the letter was to Robert Morris, why was it sent anonymously ? HamUton was then on easy terms with Morris, but the letter says that, "though the writer has reasons which make him unwilling to be known, if a personal conference with him should be thought material he wiU endeavor to comply"; and that he may be communicated with by letter "di rected to James Montague, Esquire, lodged in the Post Office at Morristown." It was not Hamilton's wont to be so shy, nor is there any other mark of such a feeling in his correspondence at this period. It is at least a plausible conjecture that this letter was addressed to Major-General John Sullivan, then a member of Congress from New Hampshire. Hel commanded a division at Trenton, Brandywine, and) Germantown, and in miHtary rank Hamilton wasj much his inferior. This would account for the cau-i tious approach made by HamUton. Certain it is I that Sullivan received such a deep impression of Hamilton's abihty as a financier that he thought of having HamUton appointed to the position of super intendent of finance, and wrote to Washington about it. If Hamilton's letter was to Sullivan and was followed by personal interviews, that would explain Sullivan's behavior, which otherwise seems unac countable. The letter discussed the means of estab- 86 ALEXANDER HAMILTON li^^gj^ationAUaank^gndJt is the earliest known American project of that character. As it turned out, nothing came of Sullivan's proceedings. In February, 1781, he wrote to Washington: "I found the eyes of Congress turned upon Robert Morris as financier. I did not therefore nominate Colonel HamUton, as I foresaw it would be a vain attempt." Hamilton himself had strongly recommended Morris for that post, and when some difficulties oc curred between Morris and Congress as to the extent of his authority HamUton addressed to him the most earnest plea in favor of his retention of the office. "I know of no other in America," he said, "who unites so many advantages; and of course every impediment to your acceptance is to me a subject of chagrin. I flatter myseff Congress wiU not preclude the pubhc from your services by an obstinate refusal of reasonable conditions; and, as one deeply interested ih the event, I am happy in beheving you wiU not easUy be discouraged from undertaking an office, by which you may render America, and the world, no less a service than the estabhshment of American independence! 'Tis by introducing order into our finances — by restoring pubhc credit — not by gaining battles, that we are finally to gain our object." This letter bears date of April 30, 1781, at which time HamUton had not long turned twenty^our. Thus it appears that he had aHeady adopted the FIRST ESSAYS IN STATESMANSHIP 87 economic criterion of pohtical values, which was the guiding principle of his statesmanship. The letter does not merely urge Morris to face Hksome respon sibilities; it goes on to discuss the ways and means. "In expectation that aU difficulties wUl be removed," he remarked, "I take the Hberty to submit to you some ideas relative to the objects of your depart ment." He proceeds at a length of over 14,000 words to offer what is, in fact, a systematic treatise on pubhc finance, from the standpoint of American needs and interests, strongly recommending "the institution of a National Bank," for which he offers detaUed plans digested into twenty articles, each of which is accompanied by explanatory remarks. At that time Robert Morris was forty-seven years old. In twenty years~of successfuTactivity as a PhUadelphia merchant he had gained a competence and was more desirous of taking his ease than of increasing his engagements. But his position and abUity kept attracting pubhc employment, and wherever he was management of financial arrange ments seemed to drift naturaUy to him, not so much by express assignment as on the principle that the willing horse draws the load. Although he was elected Superintendent of Finance on February 20, 1781, he was loath to accept the troublesome office and HamUton's advice and suggestions can hardly have failed to influence his decision. He did not shrink from responsibihty, but, like every man of 88 ALEXANDER HAMILTON his calibre, he detested ignorant and incompetent interference. The idea with which the Congressional politicians started out was apparently that it would be the function of the superintendent to be a sort of managing clerk acting under a committee of Con gress. Morris properly insisted that "the appoint ment of all persons who are to act in my office, under the same roof, or in immediate connection with me, should be made by myseff," after agreement with Congress as to their number and their pay. He also was firm on the point that he should have an absolute power of dismissal. Congress, always more intent upon its patronage than anything else, was very reluctant to grant these reasonable demands, but at last grudgingly yielded, and on May 14 Mor ris formally accepted.his appointment. In aU these matters HamUton's influence was steadUy exerted in Morris's favor. HamUton's scheme of a national bank, as then drawn up, has been criticised by experts as contain ing some of the financial faUacies of the age. The treatise supphes internal evidence that it was based upon study of European models, and it is stamped with the ideas of the times. As Professor Sumner has justly observed: "It is the statesmanship of it that is grand; not the finance." The quahty of his statesmanship had already been more brilUantly revealed, in a letter of Septem ber 3, 1780, to James Duane, a New York member FIRST ESSAYS IN STATESMANSHIP 89 of Congress, who had requested HamUton's opinion as to the way to correct the defects of the govern ment. HamUton criticised the organization and/ the behavior of Congress. He held that " the man-/ ner in which Congress was appointed would war rant, and the pubhc good required, that they should have considered themselves as vested with fuU power to preserve the republic from harm." By the phrase he italicized he avoided discussion of the origin and extent of the authority intentionaUy granted to Congress, consideration of which would have opened a subject interminable in its nature, as has since often been shown. He went to the heart of the matter by pointing out that Congress had in fact "done many of the highest acts of sov ereignty, which were always cheerfully submitted to: the declaration of independence, the declaration of war, the levying of an army, creating a navy, emitting money, making alliances with foreign pow ers, appointing a dictator, etc." But Congress had been "timid and indecisive" in matters auxUiary and subordinate to the sovereignty they had actuaUy assumed and exercised. The gist of Hamilton's re-_ marks upon this point is that. by faffing to seize the. . taxing powers they had sunk into a state of helpless dependence on the States. "That power which holds the purse strings absolutely must rule." Con federation had had no practical result. "The par ticular States have no further attended to it than 90 ALEXANDER HAMILTON as it suited their pretensions and convenience." But, even were it respected, the Confederation was inadequate. "It is neither fit for war or peace." Hamilton then appealed to the lessons of history to show that a government cannot maintain itseH un less it can act directly upon its citizenship through its own pohce power. "The idea of an uncontroUa- ble sovereignty in each State over its internal pohce wiU defeat the other powers given to Congress and make our union feeble and precarious." It would be even more so than the league of the Swiss can tons, which had been maintained through ties of union due to special circumstances. "These ties wUl not exist in America; a little time hence some. of „ the States wiU be powerful empires; and we are so remote from "other nations, that we shaU have aU the leisure and opportunity we can wish to cut each other's throats." The time came when this grim anticipation was fulfilled, through the constitutional defect that HamUton instanced. It took a civil war to destroy State pretensions of uncontroUable sov ereignty. In addition to being subject to defect of power, Congress was addicted to misuse of power. "Con gress have kept the power too much in their own hands, and have meddled too much with details of every sort. Congress is, properly, a deUberative corps, and it forgets itseff when it attempts to play the executive." This observation, quite as applica- FIRST ESSAYS IN STATESMANSHIP 91 ble to Congress now as when it was written, he ex plains by considerations even more cogent now than then: "It is impossible such a body, numerous as it is, and constantly fluctuating, can ever act with suffi cient decision or with system. Two-thirds of the members, one-half the time, cannot know what has gone before them, or what connection the subject in hand has to what has been transacted on former oc casions. The members who have been more per manent, wiU only give information that promotes the side they espouse in the present case, and wUl as often mislead as enlighten. The variety of business must distract, and the proneness of every assembly to debate must at aU times delay." The remedy, he urged, was to create^xecjili^^^.artmentsJ.each with one manat its Head. "As these men wUl be, of course, at aU times under the direction of Con gress, we shaU blend the advantages of a monarchy and a republic in our constitution." He points out that this would not lessen the importance of Con gress. "They would have precisely the same rights and powers as heretofore, happily disencumbered of the detaU. They would have to inspect the conduct of their ministers, dehberate upon their plans, origi nate others for the pubhc good; only observing this rule— that they ought to consult their ministers, and get aU the information and advice they could from them, before they entered into any new measures, or made changes in the old." The adoption of such a 92 ALEXANDER HAMILTON system, he held, "would give new life and energy to the operations of the government. Business would be conducted with dispatch, method and sys tem. A mUlion abuses now existing, would be cor rected, and judicious plans would be formed and executed for the public good." Government of this nature is yet to be introduced in the United States, and the characteristic defects of Congress when that body was originally formed have been perpetuated; but HamUton's plan is an exact anticipation of what has been effected in the organization and procedure of the Congress of Swit zerland, whose model was arrived at by correcting the defects of the American Constitution in just the way that HamUton recommended, accompHshing just those results of economy and efficiency which he predicted. The most democratic country in the world has a constitution exactly such as HamUton proposed for the United States. It is more than resemblance; it is identity, although arrived at inde pendently by Swiss pubhcists, forming one of the most interesting paraUels in history, and certainly the most complete. Proceeding to a consideration of the steps to be taken to accomplish the needed improvements, Ham ilton observed that the only practical alternative was either for Congress to resume and exercise sov ereign authority or else to caU a convention of the States to form a new constitution. The first plan FIRST ESSAYS IN STATESMANSHIP 93 he did not beheve to be reaUy avaUable. It "wUl be thought too bold an expedient by the generahty of Congress; and, indeed, their practice hitherto has so riveted the opinion of their want of power, that the success of this experiment may very well be doubted." The other mode, the convention plan, he thought was practicable, and he gave this account of the powers that should be granted to the general government: "Congress should have complete sov ereignty in aU that relates to war, peace, trade, finance; and to the management of foreign affairs; the right of declaring war; of raising armies, officer ing, paying them, directing their motions in every respect; of equipping fleets, and doing the same with them; of building fortifications, arsenals, mag azines, etc., etc.; of making peace on such conditions as they think proper; of regulating trade, determin ing with what countries it shaU be carried on, grant ing indulgences; laying prohibitions on all the arti cles of export or import; imposing duties; granting bounties and premiums for raising, exporting or im porting, and applying to their own use the product of these duties — only giving credit to the States on which they are raised in the general account of rev enues and expenses; instituting Admiralty, Courts, etc.; of coining money; establishing banks on such terms, and with such privUeges as they think proper; appropriating funds, and doing whatever else relates to the operations of finance; transacting everything 94 ALEXANDER HAMILTON with foreign nations; making affiances, offensive and defensive, treaties of commerce, etc., etc." On comparing this project with the scheme actu- aUy introduced by the adoption of the Constitution, a general resemblance wih be noted, but some im portant differences wiU appear. The most impor tant is that HamUton reserved to the States a field of taxation which the Constitution opened concur rently to the national government, with the result that the field has been so extensively occupied as to crowd State authority out of it to an extent that leaves it httle available for State use. The raising of money "by internal taxes," which Hamilton then thought ought to be reserved to State authority, is now so largely a federal function that the States have been practicaUy deprived of the most commo dious and lucrative sources of revenue in that field. State apportionment of credit for revenue raised from duties upon exports or imports, figured in Ham ilton's scheme, and was probably meant to conciliate the particularist tendencies then so powerful. It did not find a place in the Constitution. Moreover, the HamUton plan confers more power and dignity upon Congress than have been actually reaUzed under the Constitution, but this has been due more to the char acter of political development under the Constitution than to the language of the Constitution itself. At present Congress by no means has complete control over the particulars mentioned by Hamilton; but the FIRST ESSAYS IN STATESMANSHIP 95 legal basis of power upon which Congress acts is as ample as was originaUy that of the British Parha ment, and the actual inferiority of Congress is to be attributed to defects in the way in which its consti tutional authority has been organized and apphed. Its lack of direct contact with the administration — a circumstance not provided by the Constitution but by its own rules — is the principal cause of its inferi ority. The most remarkable feature of the HamUton plan, and the most impressive evidence of the cool, dispassionate, enlightened character of his statesman ship, is the exalted station he sought to provide for Congress, at a time when Congress had become so corrupt and inefficient that the sharpest censures were passed upon its character. The usual tendency is to take power away where it has been abused, and provide new securities for pubhc order by a new distribution of authority and by imposing new checks, limitations, and restraints. This process has been carried out in American State constitutions until they form as great a labyrinth of particular agency and coordinate powers as ever existed under the feudal system, to which in essence American pohtics are a reversion. That a young man only Jiwenty-three years (rfjage^acting in circumstances whoseordmajy^ect was to produce deep aversion, should have discerned that the true remedy for the misconduct of Congress lay in enlarging its powers 96 ALEXANDER HAMILTON and in augmenting its responsibffities, was an amaz ing exhibition of piercing insight, no parallel for which is to be found at that period except in the writings of Edmund Burke. HamUton anticipated the means by which democracy has reaUy been estabhshed, wherever that result has been actu- aUy attained. It has not yet been attained in the United States because those means have not yet been employed. The characteristic principle of feudalism — fractional sovereignty — stiU rules Ameri can pohtics, and responsible government is just be ginning to appear as the proper goal of effort. As democratic principles of government advance in the United States, the more wonderful wiU it appear that in the darkest night there was a youthful statesman who had the vision of a day so remote that it has stUl to dawn in its perfect power and beauty. CHAPTER VIII ALLIANCE WITH A PATROON FAMILY Graydon, in his Memoirs, gives a striking picture of the social position held by HamUton. Graydon, who had been a prisoner of war for eight months in the hands of the British, sought the American camp, then at Morristown, as soon as he was released, and was entertained at Washington's quarters. "Here, for the first time," Graydon relates, "I had the pleasure of knowing Colonel Hamilton. He pre sided at the General's table, where we dined; and in a large company in which there were several ladies, among whom I recoUect one or two of the Miss Liv ingstons and a Miss Brown, he acquitted himself with an ease, propriety and vivacity, which gave me the most favorable impression of his talents and accomplishments — talents, it is true, which did not indicate the sohd abilities his subsequent career has unfolded, but which announced a brilliancy which might adorn the most polished circles of society." The officers about Washington were of his own selection, and the contrast between the tone of man ners at headquarters and that which was usuaUy displayed by officers of the class who got their positions through Congressional patronage, was 97 98 ALEXANDER HAMILTON such as ladies would be quick to recognize. The character of many holders of commissions was such as to give point to General Conway's query: "Did Congress see you before they appointed you ? " The social distinction of the Washington circle was aug mented in 1777 by the arrival of the Marquis de Lafayette and other French officers. HamUton's familiar knowledge of French facilitated intimacies that had an important bearing on the issues of the war. At the time Lafayette joined the army Wash ington was under a cloud, and an intrigue to displace him was under way. Lafayette wrote home that Washington's "best friends, Greene, HamUton and Knox, were decried." Attempts were made to win Lafayette to the side of the Congressional cabal, but they did not move him. He wrote: "Attached to the General, and still more to the cause, I did not hesitate, but held to him whose ruin was antici pated." This was really the turning-point of the Revolu tionary struggle. It was saved by the French affi ance after it had been ruined by the behavior of Congress. The relations into which Hamilton easily and naturally entered with the French officers, pro viding them with a source of clear and accurate in formation, exerted an influence of inestimable value at this crisis. At the same time it identified Ham ilton with coteries possessing the social brilliancy and distinction always attractive to women, and pro- WITH A PATROON FAMILY 99 vided for him friendships that were sometimes at tended by embarrassments. To one lady, who had apphed in behaH of friends who wanted to pass through the American Hnes, Hamilton softened his refusal by writing in a style of high-flown gallantry, concluding with the remark: "Trifling apart, there is nothing would give me greater pleasure than to have been able to serve Miss Livingston and her friends on this occasion, but circumstances reaUy did not permit it." In December, 1779, HamUton wrote a letter to his intimate friend, John Laurens, in which, after some banter on Laurens's personal affairs he turns to his own, saying: "And now, my dear, as we are upon the subject of wife, I empower and command you to get me one in Carolina. Such a wife as I want wUl, I know, be difficult to be found, but if you succeed, it wiU be the stronger proof of your zeal and dex terity. Take her description — she must be young, handsome (I lay most stress upon a good shape), sensible (a Httle learning wiU do), weU bred (but she must have an aversion to the word ton), chaste and tender (I am an enthusiast in my notions of fidelity and fondness), of some good nature, a great deal of generosity- (she must neither love money nor scold ing, for I dislike equally a termagant and an econ omist). In politics I am indifferent what side she may be of. I think I have arguments that will easily convert her to mine. As to religion a moder- 100 ALEXANDER HAMILTON ate stock will satisfy me. She must beheve in God and hate a saint." In the succeeding portion of the letter HamUton turns it all off as a joke. " I am ready to ask myself what could have put it into my head to hazard this jeu de folie. Do I want a wife? No. I have plagues enough without desiring to add to the num ber that greatest of aU. . . ." At that time he had already met the lady who was to become his wife, although his relations with her had not then advanced beyond bare acquain tance. When Hamilton was sent by Washington on a mission to General Gates in the autumn of 1777, he visited the Schuyler mansion at Albany, and among those to whom he was introduced was Gen eral Schuyler's second daughter, Ehzabeth, then just turned twenty. Colonel Tench Tilghman, who had had that honor some two years before, described her as "a brunette with the most good-natured, dark, lovely eyes that I ever saw, which threw a beam of good humor and benevolence over her en tire countenance." He remarked: "I was prepos sessed in favor of this young lady the moment I saw her." If HamUton was simUarly impressed on his first meeting, there is no record of it, and his letter of 1779 to Laurens does not suggest that his fancy had then been caught by any one. The circum stances of Hamilton's visit in 1777 were such as to give anxious occupation to his thoughts. Washing- WITH A PATROON FAMILY 101 ton's authority as commander-in-chief was being undermined and Gates's attitude was disrespectful. It is quite possible that when he then visited General Schuyler to confer on the situation, the casual intro duction he received to the daughter made no im pression on him at the time. The young lady was, of course, differently circumstanced, and those bright eyes of hers could hardly have faded to note Hamil ton's handsome appearance and polished manners. Phihp Schuyler, born in 1733, inherited a large estate from his father, and he was eminent and active in provincial affairs at the outbreak of the Revolution. Like Washington himseH, Schuyler was a representative of the landed gentry whose adhe sion to the Revolutionary movement gave to it in fluence and respectability without which it would probably have coUapsed. He belonged to one of the great patroon famUies of New York, affied by ties of close kinship to the Van Cortlandts and the Van Rensselaers. When men of the lawyer-poli tician type obtained the ascendancy in Congress, Schuyler became a mark for their intrigues. He was the general in command of the forces coUected to repel Burgoyne's invasion, and, hke Washington at the same period, he had all he could do in main taining the show of an armed force, lack of order, discipline, and equipment precluding any operation more important than an occasional foray. He be haved with fine magnanimity when Congress super- 102 ALEXANDER HAMILTON seded him in favor of Gates, who arrived in time to take credit for the battle of Saratoga, the fruit of Schuyler's management. At the time of HamUton's mission Congress was inclined to supersede Wash ington also, and did, in fact, pass an order prohibit ing him from exercising any considerable authority in the northern department without first consulting General Gates and Governor Clinton. Schuyler now opportunely entered Congress as a delegate from New York, and his presence in that body exerted a strong influence toward the preservation of Wash ington's authority and toward improvement in the behavior of Congress. It was at this point that intimacy between HamU ton and the Schuyler famUy reaUy began. During the winter and spring of 1779-80, when Washing- 1 ton's headquarters were at Morristown, General Schuyler took a house there for his family. Mrs. Washington and the wives of several officers were also Hving in Morristown, so that an agreeable society was formed. HamUton was brought into intimate relations with it as Washington's secretary, and his wit, vivacity, and good-breeding inspired liking and esteem. Schuyler was very intimate with Washington. They were men of the same class, nearly of the same age, with like habits of thought and standards of conduct. Washington warmly sympathized with Schuyler and deplored the shabby treatment he had WITH A PATROON FAMILY 103 experienced from Congress. Schuyler was active and influential in his support of Washington. His position as one of the New York patroons made it impossible for his enemies to divest him of pohtical importance. He had his own intelligence depart ment, which included even agents in Canada, and all his resources were at Washington's service. His presence in Congress in 1780 was of inestimable value to Washington, as Schuyler was able to secure the appointment of a committee of three, with him seH at the head, to effect changes and reforms in the army much desired by Washington. With. Schuyler himself HamUton now began an intimacy that lasted the rest of his life. Schuyler was then forty-seven; HamUton was twenty-three. Schuyler's large experience in pubhc affairs and in timate knowledge of aU the personal springs of action probably served as a valuable source of in formation to HamUton. Ehzabeth Schuyler was with her father at Morristown, and HamUton was soon in love with her. They were both born in the same year, but Hamilton was older by seven months. It is an astonishing proof of the force of HamUton's vocation for statesmanship that at the very time he was courting his sweetheart he produced the remark able papers described in the preceding chapter. An incident of that period preserved by tradition shows that HamUton was not whoUy exempt from dis turbance by love's sweet fever. Once after spending 104 ALEXANDER HAMILTON an evening with Miss Schuyler his thoughts were so full of her that on returning to his quarters in camp he could not remember the countersign, and was held back by the sentinel until a friend arrived who could give HamUton the word. HamUton's passion for Ehzabeth Schuyler was described by him in a letter to one of her sisters — probably Mrs. Angelica Church, written sometime during 1780. It is written in the high-flown style of the period, that seemed to go naturaUy in com pany with wigs, satin knee-breeches, lace ruffs, tow ering coiffure, trailing silk gowns, and stately man ners, but which is much too pretentious for modern taste. Availing himself of a commission from Miss Schuyler to forward a letter to her sister, HamUton wrote: "I venture to teU you in confidence, that by some odd contrivance or other your sister has found out the secret of interesting me in everything that concerns her; and though I have not the happiness of a personal acquaintance with you, I have had the good fortune to see several very pretty pictures of your person and mind which have inspired me with a more than common partiahty for both." He then offers it as proof of the good opinion he has formed that he may venture thus to introduce himself and even make her his confidant: Phlegmatists may say I take too great a license at first setting out, and witlings may sneer and wonder how a man the least acquainted with the world should show so WITH A PATROON FAMILY 105 great facility in his confidence — to a lady. But the idea I have formed of your character places it in my estima tion above the insipid maxims of the former or the ill- natured jibes of the latter. I have aheady confessed the influence your sister has gained over me — yet notwithstanding this, I have some things of a very serious and heinous nature to lay to her charge. — She is most unmercifully handsome and so per verse that she has none of those pretty affectations" which are the prerogatives of beauty. Her good sense is desti tute of that happy mixture of vanity and ostentation which would make it conspicuous to the whole tribe of fools and foplings as well as to men of understanding so that as the matter now stands it is little known beyond the circle of these. — She has good nature, affability and vivacity unembellished with that charming frivolousness which is justly deemed one of the principal accomplish ments of a belle. In short, she is so strange a creature, that she possesses all the beauties, virtues and graces of her sex without any of those amiable defects which from their general prevalence are esteemed by connoisseurs necessary shades in the character of a fine woman. The most determined adversaries of Hymen can find in her no pretext for their hostility, and there are several of my friends, philosophers, who railed at love as a weakness, men of the world who laughed at it as a phantasie, whom she has presumptuously and daringly compelled to ac knowledge its power and surrender at discretion. I can the better assert the truth of this, as I am myself of the number. She has had the address to overset all the wise resolutions I had been framing for more than four years past, and from a rational sort of being and a professed contemner of Cupid has in a trice metamorphosed me into the veriest inamorato your perhaps . . . 106 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Here there is a portion of the manuscript that is quite illegible, and, although what foUows is plain enough, it is aU in the same Grandisonian style, of which a sufficient sample has been given. It was quite the fashion then, and Enghsh liter ature affords many models of that sort of thing. The Marquis de ChasteUux, who visited Washing ton's headquarters in this year, and pubhshed an account of his American travels, remarked upon the frequent toasting of sweethearts and the elaborate gaUantries at formal dinners. It should be noted that HamUton's employment of this style in writing to Mrs. Church had a defensive use. If nothing had come of the affair it might have been passed off as merely the language of compliment. This affected style was dropped forthwith as soon as Hamilton was accepted as Miss Schuyler's affi anced, and his letters thereafter are simple, direct, sincere, manly, and tender, almost devoid of per sonal compliment except that highest sort which is implied by the character of the matter. The posi tion now tacitly assigned 'to her is that of a woman of good sense and intelligence, whose interest in pubhc affairs is as keen as HamUton's own. Under date of September 6, 1780, HamUton tells her of Gates's defeat in South Carolina, and of his flight, leaving "his troops to take care of themselves, and get out of the scrape as weU as they could." After referring to the general dismay occasioned by this WITH A PATROON FAMILY 107 reverse, HamUton's sanguine disposition crops out in the remark: "This misfortune affects me less than others, because it is not in my temper to repine at evUs that are past, but to endeavor to draw good out of them, and because I think our safety depends on a total change of system, and this change of system wiU only be produced by misfortune." Arnold's treason occurred during the period of HamUton's courtship, and as soon as the news was received HamUton was sent to Verplanck's Point to try to intercept Arnold; but on his arrival he found that Arnold, always rapid and energetic in his movements, had aHeady made good his escape and was then safe on board the Vulture, an EngHsh sloop-of-war. HamUton at once took measures for the protection of West Point, taking upon himseH to issue instructions, concerning which he at once wrote to Washington: "I hope your ExceUency wiU approve these steps, as there may be no time to be lost." On the same day, September 25, 1780, he wrote to Miss Schuyler, giving her an account of the affair which overflows with kindness and mag nanimity with respect to Mrs. Arnold. He said: I went in pursuit of him but was much too late; and could hardly regret the disappointment, when, on my return, I saw an amiable woman, frantic with distress for the loss of a husband she tenderly loved; a traitor to his country and to his fame; a disgrace to his connections: it was the most affecting scene I ever was witness to. . . . 108 ALEXANDER HAMILTON All the sweetness of beauty, all the loveliness of inno cence, all the tenderness of a wife, and all the fondness of a mother showed themselves in her appearance and conduct. . . . This morning she is more composed. I paid her a visit, and endeavored to soothe her by every method in my power, though you may imagine she is not easily to be consoled. In his dealings with Major Andr6, the unfortunate British officer whose transactions with Arnold brought him into the American lines and who was hanged as a spy, Hamilton displayed miHtary se verity coupled with refined and chivalrous personal consideration. Writing to Miss Schuyler on October 2, 1780, he said: Poor Andre suffers to-day. Everything that is ami able in virtue, in fortitude, in delicate sentiment, pleads for him; but hard-hearted policy calls for a sacrifice. He must die.— I send you my account of Arnold's affair; and to justify myself to your sentiments, I must inform you that I urged a compliance with Andre's request to be shot; and I do not think it would have had an ill effect; but some people are only sensible to motives of policy, and sometimes from a narrow disposition, mistake it. When Andre's tale comes to be told, and present resent ment is over, the refusing him the privilege of choosing the manner of his death will be branded with too much obstinacy. It was proposed to me to suggest to him the idea of an exchange for Arnold; but I knew I should have forfeited his esteem by doing it, and therefore declined it. As a WITH A PATROON FAMILY 109 man of honor, he could but reject it, and I would not for the world have proposed to him a thing which must have placed me in the unamiable light of supposing him capa ble of meanness, or of not feeling myself the impropriety of the measure. I confess to you I had the weakness to value the esteem of a dying man, because I reverenced his merit. The account of Arnold's affair to which, he refers was probably the same as that which he sent to his friend, Colonel John Laurens, the same month. It is written with great literary skill, and the account it gives of the execution of Andr6 is deeply affecting from the simphcity and completeness with which it narrates the incidents. Hamilton's comments upon Andre's personal characteristics and behavior are marked throughout by generosity and high-mind- edness. Mingled with these letters between a statesman and a gentlewoman properly interested in public affairs by her social station, were, of course, other letters in which there was the ardent outpouring of a lover's heart. Among the few letters of this other type that have been preserved is one that is undated but which from its aUusions to events may be safely assigned to October, 1780. In it HamUton wrote: I have told you and I told you truly that I love you too much. You engross my thoughts too entirely to allow me to think of anything else. You not only employ my 110 ALEXANDER HAMILTON mind all day, but you intrude on my sleep. I meet you in every dream and when I wake I cannot close my eyes again for ruminating on your sweetness. 'Tis a pretty story indeed that I am to be thus monopolized by a little nut brown maid like you, and from a soldier metamorphosed into a puny lover. I believe in my soul you are an en chantress; but I have tried in vain, if not to break, at least to weaken the charm, and you maintain your em pire in spite of all my efforts, and after every new one I make to withdraw myself from my allegiance, my partial heart still returns and clings to you with increased attach ment. To drop figures, my lovely girl, you become dearer to me every moment. From other portions of this letter it appears that they were arranging for their marriage. He speaks of the difficulties he is having in getting his leave from headquarters, owing to the absence of other members of Washington's staff, but he declares: "I wiU not be delayed beyond November." He brings up the question of dress. "You will laugh at me for consulting you about such a trifle, but I want to know whether you would prefer my receiving the nuptial benediction in my uniform or in a different habit. It will be just as you please, so consult your whim and what you think most consistent with propriety." Of course, like all lovers with power to turn a phrase, HamUton wrote verses to his sweetheart. Some experiments in that hne are also reported of him in his student days, but the little known of WITH A PATROON FAMILY 111 them suggests he was too much the exact thinker to soar freely in flights of poetic fancy. Naturally, his efforts were liked by bis sweetheart. She lived to be ninety-seven, and when she died, in a tiny bag hanging from her neck were found these verses written by Hamilton : ANSWER TO THE INQUIRY WHY I SIGHED "Before no mortal ever knew A love like mine so tender — true — Completely wretched — you away And but half blessed e'en while you stay. "If present love [Ulegible] face Deny you to my fond embrace No joy unmixed my bosom warms But when my angel's in my arms." The exact date of Hamilton's marriage has not been preserved, but it is supposed to have taken place in December, 1780. If so, it must have been early in that month. Under date of December 9 he wrote to General Washington from Albany on army business there, and in ending his letter remarked: "Mrs. Hamilton presents her respectful compliments to Mrs. Washington and yourseff. After the holidays we shall be at headquarters." Remembering HamUton's declaration that he would "not be de ayed beyond November," and consider ing the determination with which he pursued his 112 ALEXANDER HAMILTON objects, it seems a permissible conjecture that the marriage really took place in the latter part of No vember, and this supposition tallies very well with the tenor of the letter of December 9. If the wed ding had just taken place, it seems unlikely that HamUton would already be so occupied with army business at Albany as that letter indicates. At any rate, it is certain that the wedding was celebrated in the Schuyler family mansion at Albany, a stately buUding of yeUow brick, with every thing upon an ample scale. The main haU, entered through the handsome colonial doorway, was sixty feet long. The drawing-room, in which presumably the wedding took place, was spacious and ornate, with deep window-seats and broad mantels hand somely carved. General Schuyler had given cordial approval to HamUton's suit, and, although details are lacking, there can be no doubt that the wedding was a fine affair. It is known that McHenry, of Washington's staff, was at the wedding, for verses he wrote on the occasion have been preserved. In them the bridegroom figures as "dear Ham," and in thus trimming the name to suit the metre the versifier made it a rather grotesque companion to the classic gods and nymphs he introduced. Hamilton's honeymoon was necessarily brief, and shortly thereafter he was again at work. His_ela]> orate memorandum upon the establishment of .a national bank, sent to Robert Morris, must have WITH A PATROON FAMILY 113 been grafted within a few months after his mar riage. Devotion to pubhc affairs was the ruling passion of his life, but for the rest of his life he now had a helpmate the stanchness of whose devotion could bear any test, even such as came from foUy and wickedness in HamUton himseH. Her nature is exactly characterized by Robert Louis Stevenson's lines: "Honor, anger, valor, fire; A love that life could never tire, Death quench or evil stir, The mighty Master Gave to her." CHAPTER IX A BREACH WITH WASHINGTON Shortly after his marriage Hamilton had a tiff with Washington that was really a smaU affair in itseff, but he made so much of it that nothing would satisfy him short of leaving Washington's staff. The fol lowing is his own account of it, in a letter of Febru ary 18, 1781, to General Schuyler: I am no longer a member of the General's family. This information will surprise you, and the manner of the change will surprise you more. Two days ago, the Gen eral and I passed each other on the stairs. He told me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him immediately. I went below and delivered to Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent to the commissary, con taining an order of a pressing and interesting nature. Returning to the General, I was stopped on the way by the Marquis de La Fayette, and we conversed together about a minute on a matter of business. He can testify how impatient I was to get back, and that I left him in a manner which, but for our intimacy, would have been more than abrupt. Instead of finding the General, as is usual, in his room, I met him at the head of the stairs, where, accosting me in an angry tone, "Colonel Hamil ton," said he, "you have kept me waiting at the head of 114 A BREACH WITH WASHINGTON 115 the stairs these ten minutes. I must tell you, sir, you treat me with disrespect." I replied, without petulancy, but with decision: "I am not conscious of it, sir; but since you have thought it necessary to tell me so, we part." "Very well, sir," said he, "if it be your choice," or something to this effect, and we separated. I sin cerely believe my absence, which gave so much umbrage, did not last two minutes. In less than an hour after, Tilghman came to me in the General's name, assuring me of his great confidence in my abilities, integrity, usefulness, etc., and of his desire, in a candid conversation, to heal a difference which could not have happened but in a moment of passion. I requested Mr. Tilghman to tell him — 1st. That I had taken my resolution in a manner not to be revoked. 2nd. That, as a conversation could serve no other purpose than to pro duce explanations, mutually disagreeable, though I cer tainly would not refuse an interview if he desired it, yet I would be happy if he would permit me to decline it. 3d. That, though determined to leave the family, the same principles which had kept me so long in it would continue to direct my conduct towards him when out of it. 4th. That, however, I did not wish to distress him, or the pub- He business, by quitting him before he could derive other assistance by the return of some of the gentlemen who were absent. 5th. And that, in the meantime, it de pended on him to let our behavior to each other be the same as if nothing had happened. He consented to de cline the conversation, and thanked me for my offer of continuing my aid in the manner I had mentioned. I have given you so particular a detail of our difference from the desire I have to justify myself in your opinion. Perhaps you may think I was precipitate in rejecting the overture made by the General to an accommodation. I 116 ALEXANDER HAMILTON assure you, my dear sir, it was not the effect of resent ment; it was the deliberate result of maxims I had long formed for the government of my own conduct. I always disliked the office of an aide-de-camp as having in it a kind of personal dependence. I refused to serve in this capacity with two major-generals at an early period of the war. Infected, however, with the enthu siasm of the times, an idea of the General's character which experience taught me to be unfounded, overcame my scruples, and induced me to accept his invitation to enter into his family. It was not long before I discovered he was neither remarkable for delicacy nor good temper, which revived my former aversion to the station in which I was acting, and it has been increasing ever since. It has been often with great difficulty that I have prevailed upon myself not to renounce it; but while, from motives of public utility, I was doing violence to my feelings, I was always determined, if there should ever happen a breach between us, never to consent to an accommoda tion. I was persuaded that when once that nice bar rier, which marked the boundaries of what we owed to each other, should be thrown down, it might be propped again, but could never be restored. I resolved, whenever it should happen, not to be in the wrong. I was convinced the concessions the General might make would be dictated by his interest, and that his self-love would never forgive me for what it would regard as a humiliation. I believe you know the place I held in the General's confidence and counsels, which will make it the more ex traordinary to you to learn that for three years past I have felt no friendship for him and have professed none. The truth is, our dispositions are the opposites of each other, and the pride of my temper would not suffer me A BREACH WITH WASHINGTON 117 to profess what I did not feel. Indeed, when advances of this kind have been made to me on his part, they were received in a manner that showed at least that I had no desire to court them, and that I desired to stand rather upon a footing of military confidence than of private at tachment. You are too good a judge of human nature not to be sensible how this conduct in me must have operated on a man to whom all the world is offering incense. With this key you will easily unlock the present mystery. At the end of the war I may say many things to you concerning which I shall impose upon myself till then an inviolable silence. The General is a very honest man. His competitors have slender abilities, and less integrity. His popularity has often been essential to the safety of America, and is still of great importance to it. These considerations have influenced my past conduct respecting him, and will in fluence my future. I think it is necessary he should be supported. His estimation in your mind, whatever may be its amount, I am persuaded has been formed on principles which a circumstance like this cannot materially affect; but if I thought it could diminish your friendship for him, I should almost forego the motives that urge me to justify myself to you. I wish what I have said to make no other impression than to satisfy you I have not been in the wrong. It is also said in confidence, as a public knowl edge of the breach would, in many ways, have an ill effect. It will probably be the policy of both sides to conceal it, and cover the separation with some plausible pretext. I am importuned by such of my friends as are privy to the affair, to listen to a reconcfliation; but my resolution is unalterable. 118 ALEXANDER HAMILTON AUowances for the pomposity and conceit of this letter should be made on account of the youth of the writer and the temper in which it was written. He had turned twenty-four only a little over a month before; he wrote whUe stiU under the excite ment of the breach, and whUe in a rage that was intensified by the formal restraints put upon it. And he was writing to a father-in-law of only a few months' standing, in whose eyes he naturaUy de sired to exhibit his behavior in a dignified aspect. On his own showing, Washington did everything possible to expiate an offense committed in a mo ment of irritation not unwarranted by the circum stances. A few words of explanation would have set the matter right at once. That HamUton was so deeply hurt shows that he had got into the state in which a shght wound festers. The disparaging remarks he made about Washington are such as are usuaUy consequent upon such a faffing out between intimates. Nothing is more common on the part of clever juniors than such an attitude toward elders with whose dignity they are too famihar to be im pressed by it, while they are stUl too inexperienced to appreciate it. HamUton was not mistaken in thinking that it would take strong argument to convince General Schuyler of the propriety of the step he had taken. HamUton's letter reached the general at night, and the next day he made a reply which is a model of A BREACH WITH WASHINGTON 119 kindness and tact. He began: "I confess the con tents surprised and afflicted me — not that I discover any impropriety in your conduct in the affair in question, for of that, I persuade myself, you are in capable; but it may be attended with consequences prejudicial to my country, which I love, which I affectionately love." The letter then goes on to appeal to Hamilton's patriotism not to abandon a post in which his ser vices were so important. After putting adroitly and forcibly the argument from this standpoint, he con cluded with this touching appeal to HamUton's good feehng: It is evident, my dear sir, that the General conceived himself the aggressor, and that he quickly repented of the insult. ... It faDs to the lot of few men to pass through life without one of those unguarded moments which wound the feelings of a friend. Let us then impute them to the frailties of human nature, and with Sterne's recording angel, drop a tear, and blot it out of the page of life. I do not mean to reprehend the maxims you have formed for your conduct. They are laudable, and though generally approved, yet times and circumstances sometimes render a deviation necessary and justifiable. This necessity now exists in the distresses of your country. Make the sacrifice. The greater it is, the more glorious to you. Your services are wanted. They are wanted in that particular station which you have already filled so beneficially to the pubHc, and with such extensive repu tation. 120 ALEXANDER HAMILTON If any argument or appeal would have moved HamUton, no more effective approach could have been made than that which Schuyler used. If there had been nothing more in the case than wounded pride, Schuyler's efforts would certainly have suc ceeded, but, as HamUton now felt assured that he could serve public interests more effectually in other ways, appeals to his patriotism only served to con firm his resolution. Lafayette, whose casual de tention of HamUton was the immediate cause of Washington's annoyance, also exerted himseH to effect a reconcihation, but he found, to his regret, "each disposed to beheve the other was not sorry for the separation." In resigning his position as aide-de-camp HamUton had no intention of leaving the army. "I cannot think of quitting the army during the war," he wrote to Schuyler. His first preference was for the artil lery, the branch of the army to which he had for merly belonged, but in returning to it he would have gone to the bottom of the list in his rank. As he believed that the war was drawing to a close, and a command in the infantry would leave him time for study during the winter, he decided in favor of an infantry position. By virtue of his staff posi tion he was entitled to a commission as Heutenant- colonel, dating from March 1, 1777, and this he now obtained, but it did not cany with it any regimental connection, and he made formal appHcation to Gen- A BREACH WITH WASHINGTON 121 eral Washington for an appointment. The general felt somewhat embarrassed by the apphcation, as he had had trouble from appointments of the kind desired by HamUton. In his reply, which bears the same date as Hamilton's appHcation, he referred to cases in which the giving of commands to outsiders had been deeply resented by the officers of the hne. "To add to the discontent of the officers of those lines, by the further appointment of an officer of your rank . . . would, I am certain, involve me in a difficulty of a very disagreeable and delicate na ture, and might, perhaps, lead to consequences more serious than it is easy to imagine." Washington undoubtedly felt keenly his inability to gratify Ham Uton, particularly in view of the recent breach in their relations. He concluded his letter with the remark: "My principal concern arises from an ap prehension that you wiU impute my refusal of your request to other motives than those I have expressed, but I beg you to be assured, I am only influenced by the reasons which I have mentioned." HamUton wrote again, urging that his case differed from the case of those appointments which had been resented as favors to outsiders, as he had entered the army in the line, held a regular commission, and had simply been detached for staff duty, so that he was now only seeking a restoration to his original sphere. In closing he declared: "I assure your Ex cellency, that I am too weU persuaded of your can- 122 ALEXANDER HAMILTON dor, to attribute your refusal to any other cause than an apprehension of inconveniences that may attend the appointment." Nothing came of HamUton's appHcation until July, when he again wrote to Washington, and with the letter returned his commission. Washington sent one of his aides, Colonel TUghman, to induce Hamilton to retain his commission, promising an appointment to active command at the first oppor tunity. Events soon assumed such shape that Ham ilton was able to obtain the mUitary employment he desired. When the campaign of 1781 opened, it had been Washington's intention to lay siege to the British position at New York, and miHtary arrange ments to that end went on until the middle of August. The British commander-in-chief, Sir Henry Clinton, planned a counter-stroke by way of the Chesapeake Bay, and Lord Cornwallis, who was then operating in Virginia, was instructed to estab lish a base either at Williamsburg or Yorktown, whence by water conveyance he could strike at Bal timore, or PhUadelphia, to destroy stores and re sources upon which Washington would be depend ing. The plan was not a bad one, provided control of the sea remained in British hands. On August 15 advices reached Washington that Count de Grasse, who commanded the French fleet in the West Indies, would sail for the Chesapeake, thus cutting Corn- wallis's communications and isolating his position. A BREACH WITH WASHINGTON 123 Washington promptly decided to take advantage of the opportunity thus presented, and he made ar rangements for transferring his army to Yorktown, and Hamilton was appointed to the command of a regiment of hght infantry which formed part of Lafayette's corps. HamUton's letters to his wife at this period are full of the great love that accompanies a high sense of honor. He wrote: A part of the army, my dear girl, is going to Virginia, and I must, of necessity, be separated at a much greater distance from my beloved wife. I cannot announce the fatal necessity, without feeling everything that a fond husband can feel. I am unhappy; I am unhappy beyond expression. I am unhappy, because I am to be so remote from you; because I am to hear from you less frequently than I am accustomed to do. I am miserable, because I know you wiU be so; I am wretched at the idea of flying so far from you, without a single hour's interview, to tell you all my pains and all my love. But I cannot ask permission to visit you. It might be thought im proper to leave my corps at such a time and upon such an occasion. I must go without seeing you — I must go without embracing you; alas ! I must go. HamUton's command embarked for Yorktown at Head of Elk on September 7. On the day before he wrote: I would give the world to be able to tell you all I feel and all I wish, but consult your own heart and you will 124 ALEXANDER HAMILTON know mine. What a world will soon be between us ! To support the idea, all my fortitude is insufficient. What must be the case with you, who have the most female of female hearts? I sink at the perspective of your distress and I look to heaven to be your guardian and supporter. Circumstances that have just come to my knowledge assure me that our operations will be expeditious, as well as our success certain. Early in November, as I prom ised you, we shall certainly meet. Cheer yourself with this idea, and with the assurance of never more being separated. Every day confirms me in the intention of renouncing public life and devoting myself wholly to you. Let others waste their time and their tranquillity in a vain pursuit of honor and glory; be it my object to be happy in a quiet retreat with my better angel. On October 16 he gave his wife this brief account of a gallant military exploit: Two nights ago, my Eliza, my duty and my honor obliged me to take a step in which your happiness was too much risked. I commanded an attack upon one of the enemy's redoubts; we carried it in an instant and with little loss. You will see the particulars in the Phila delphia papers. There will be, certainly, nothing more of this kind; all the rest will be by approach; and if there should be another occasion, it will not fall to my turn to execute it. HamUton thus briefly and modestly dismissed what was a brilliant mUitary exploit, the detaUs of which illustrate the sensitive quahty of his honor as weU as his dauntless courage. The position occu- A BREACH WITH WASHINGTON 125 pied by Cornwallis at Yorktown was most readily assaUable from the southwest against his left wing, to protect which fortifications had been thrown up, with redoubts at commanding points. The Ameri can siege was begun by establishing a parallel forti fication on which batteries were posted. With the French aid, the besiegers had a preponderance of guns and in a few days an advance upon the first line of the British fortifications was deemed practi cable. In making the arrangements for the assault Hamilton was passed over. Accounts of the affair differ, that given in J. C. Hamilton's biography of his father being to the effect that Washington gave the command to Colonel Barber from a supposed precedence due to his rank and service. General Henry Lee, in his Memoirs, states that Lafayette gave the command of the van to his own aide-de camp, lieutenant-Colonel Gimat. HamUton pro tested on the ground that the time fixed for the assault came within his tour of duty. Lafayette excused himseH on the ground that the arrange ments had been approved by Washington and were no longer open to change. Lee's account proceeds: Hamilton . . . left the marquis, announcing his deter mination to appeal to headquarters. This he accordingly did, in a spirited and manly letter. Washington, incapable of injustice, sent for the marquis, and inquiring into the fact, found that the tour of duty belonging to Hamilton had been given to Gimat. He instantly directed the mar- 126 ALEXANDER HAMILTON quis to reinstate Hamilton, who consequently was put at the head of the van. As Lee took part in the siege of Yorktown, and he expressly says that he obtained the particulars from Hamilton himseH, his account should be regarded as the authentic version of the affair. It was one of HamUton's characteristics all through hfe that his interest was in getting things done, not in celebrating the doing of them. He always looked forward. The only account HamUton himself left of the assault is his official report, which abounds with complimentary references to the behavior of officers and men, but does not mention his own be havior. The assault took place as soon as it had become dark on the evening of October 14, 1781. Lee says: "HamUton, with his own and Gimat 's corps of hght infantry, rushed forward with impet uosity. Pulling up the abatis and knocking down the palisades, he forced his way into the redoubt." In Leake's biography of General John Lamb, who was at the siege of Yorktown, this account is given: "La Fayette's forlorn hope was led by Colonel Ham Uton, and the redoubt was carried, with great gal lantry at the point of the bayonet. The pahsades and abatis were scaled, and Hamilton, placing one foot on the shoulder of a soldier who knelt for that purpose, sprang upon the parapet, and was the first man within the wall. The French attack was also A BREACH WITH WASHINGTON 127 successful, but the work was not so soon carried, and was attended with greater loss, owing to the troops being under a heavy fire, until the sappers opened a passage; a loss which ours avoided by the promptness of the escalade." This latter account of HamUton's leadership is the more probable one. It taffies with all the cir cumstances set forth in his official report. Hamil ton was in command, and the force was composed of his battalion, a battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel Gimat, a detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens, and a detachment of sappers and miners under Captain GiUeland. The approach was prob ably as stealthy as possible. The attack was made at night and Hamilton's report expressly states that the troops advanced "with unloaded arms." The British line on which HamUton moved was probably carried with a rush, and so smaU was his stature that he could hardly have reached the parapet with out a hft from a soldier. The rapidity of HamU ton's assault explains the shght loss sustained by his battalion. No one was kUled and only four of the soldiers were wounded. Gimat's battahon, which waited until the sappers breached the abatis, experienced severe loss. Gimat himself received a musket-baU in his foot and retired from the field. Two of his captains were wounded, a sergeant was kiUed and another sergeant wounded. Seven of his rank and file were kiUed and fifteen were wounded. 128 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Altogether, nine were killed and thirty-one were wounded on the American side; on the British side the kiUed and wounded did not exceed eight. The facts indicate that the British were rather taken by surprise and that the position was not tenaciously held. The truth was that the British were hope lessly entrapped and they knew it. Washington moved his batteries up to the captured hne and the British position then became untenable. On the 19th Cornwallis surrendered and the garrison marched out as prisoners of war. This event was practically the close of the Revolutionary War, so that Hamilton gained his laurels as a field com mander in what turned out to be the decisive action. In commenting upon it Washington wrote: "Few cases have exhibited greater proofs of intrepidity, coolness and firmness, than were shown on this occasion.". CHAPTER X THE START TOWARD NATIONAL UNION With the close of the Yorktown campaign HamUton felt free to go on with his plans for establishing him seH in civU hfe. He went to Albany, where his wife was staying in her father's home, and remained there until the birth of his first chUd, Philip, Janu ary 22, 1782. That event naturally sharpened HamUton's desire for a settled occupation in which he could provide for his famUy. Writing to his friend, Colonel Meade, of Washington's staff, the foUowing March, to congratulate him on the birth of a daughter, Hamilton remarked: "I can weU con ceive your happiness on that occasion, by that which I feel on a similar one. Indeed, the sensations of a tender father of the chUd of a beloved mother, can only be conceived by those who have experi enced them." Farther on he tells Meade: "You cannot imagine how entirely domestic I am growing. I lose aU taste for the pursuits of ambition. I sigh for nothing but the company of my wffe and my baby. The ties of duty alone, or imagined duty, keep me from renouncing public hfe altogether. It is, however, probable I may not any longer be en gaged in it." 129 130 ALEXANDER HAMILTON < This letter was written from PhUadelphia, whither HamUton had gone to arrange for preserving his military rank so long as the war might continue. General Washington was in PhUadelphia to consult with Congress, then sitting in that city. Hamilton's views were set forth in two letters to Washington, March 1, 1782, one of which was written with a view to having it shown to members of Congress so that they should understand his position exactly. In it he renounced "aU claim to the compensations at tached to my military station during the war or afterwards." But he also declared: "I am unwfll- ing to put it out of my power to renew my exertions in the common cause in the line in which I have hitherto acted." He therefore desired to retain his rank, saying, "I shall be at aU times ready to obey the call of the pubhc in any capacity, civU or mili tary (consistent with what I owe to myseH), in which there may be a prospect of my contributing to the final attainment of the object for which I embarked in the service." Returning to Albany, HamUton studied hard to fit himseH for legal practice. He rented a house and invited his coUege chum, Robert Troup, to hve with him. In less than five months he was ad mitted to the bar. That fact, standing alone, might as well imply lax requirement as unusual ability; but other circumstances leave no doubt of the sohd preparation he was able to make in so short a time. START TOWARD NATIONAL UNION 131 It should be considered that his mind had been ad dressed to law by aU his studies. His deficiency was in the technique of the profession, and in supplying that lack he availed himseH of a principle well known to every student, which is that no informa tion is so fuUy seized and so tightly held as that which is coUected and arranged for a special pur pose. With Troup at hand to answer his inquiries and direct his research, he composed a manual on the practice of law, which, Troup relates, "served as an instructive grammar to future students, and became the groundwork of subsequent enlarged practical treatises." J. C. HamUton, writing about seventy years later, remarked: "There are gentle men now Hving who copied this manual as then guide, one of which is in existence." It was an astonishing feat for him to perform at the age of twenty-five, whUe still a novice, but he was made quite capable of it by his extraordinary powers of mental appHcation and orderly analysisr" 'TlamUton'sTetters at this time declare strong in tention to keep out of poHtics and stick to the law. His most intimate friends were urgent in counseffing him to do that very thing, and cease neglecting his own interests to engage in pubhc service from which he could expect neither reward nor gratitude. Two of his former companions on Washington's staff, Harrison and Meade, left the army about this time, feeling that they had no right to be neglecting their 132 ALEXANDER HAMILTON own interests any longer, and they both pressed the same view upon Hamilton. In August, 1782^^ other army friend, Doctor McHenry, wrote: It appears to me, Hamilton, to be no longer necessary or a duty, for you and I to go on to sacrifice the small remnant of time that is left us. We have already immo lated largely on the altar of liberty. At present, our country neither wants our services in the field or the cabinet, so it is incumbent upon us to be useful in another line. . . . You have a wife and an increasing offspring to urge you forward. . . . In this letter, which was long, rambling, and gos sipy, McHenry gave this warning .anecdote: Hamilton, there are two lawyers in this town [Balti more], one of which has served the public in the General Assembly for three years with reputation, and to the neglect of his practice. The other has done nothing but attend to his profession, by which he has acquired a handsome competency. Now the people have taken it into their heads to displace the lawyer which has served them till he became poor, in order to put in his stead the lawyer who has served himself & become rich. . . . What is the moral of all this, my dear friend, but that it is high time for you and I to set about in good earnest, doing something for ourselves. Hamilton's answer to this has not been preserved, but he wrote to Lafayette, November 3, 1782: I have been employed for the last ten months in rock ing the cradle and studying the art of fleecing my neigh- START TOWARD NATIONAL UNION 133 bors. ... I am going to throw away a few months more in public life, and then retire a simple citizen and good paterfamilias. . . . You see the disposition I am in. You are condemned to run the race of ambition all your life. I am already tired of the career, and dare to leave it. There can be ho doubt that Hamilton was quite sincere in what he said. Affectation was not one of his faults. But in this letter, as in other revela tions of the state of his mind, distaste for the money- grubbing side of legal practice is manffested, and his interest in pubhc affairs was too strong to be stifled. Busy as he was in the summer of 1782, he could not forbear making his protest against an act that he regarded as barbarous, although in a way he seemed to be going against General Wash ington himseH. A loyalist had been kiUed by his guard whUe attempting to escape. In retaUation a band of loyalists hanged Captain Huddy, of the American army, captured by them in New Jersey. On his body was found the label: "Up goes Huddy for Philip White." Washington convened a councU of officers, who unanimously decided that either Iippincott, the captain of the loyalist band, should be executed as a murderer, or else an officer of equal rank among the British prisoners should suffer in his stead. Washington approved the decision, and wrote to Sir Henry Clinton, "to save the innocent, I demand the guUty." But Clinton refused to sur render Iippincott, and Washington gave orders that one of the British captains should be selected to 134 ALEXANDER HAMILTON suffer in his stead. The lot fell on Captain AsgUl, a youth of nineteen. HamUton wrote to General Knox: "As this ap pears to me clearly an ill-timed proceeding, and ff persisted in will be derogatory to the national char acter, I cannot forbear communicating to you my ideas upon the subject. A sacrifice of this sort is entirely repugnant to the genius of the age we hve in, and is without example in modern history, nor can it fail to be considered in Europe as wanton and unnecessary. ... So solemn and deliberate a sac rifice of the innocent for the guilty must be con demned on the present received notions of humanity, and encourage an opinion that we are in a certain degree in a state of barbarism." The letter argues the case at length, and makes the strong point that the British commander had taken steps to prevent any repetition of the Huddy affair, "and, therefore, the only justifying motive of retaliation, the pre venting of a repetition of cruelty, ceases." As to the point that General Washington could not now recede from the position he had taken, he declared: "Inconsistency in this case would be better than consistency. But pretexts may be found and wUl be readily admitted in favor of humanity." Washington, from his own feelings, was quite de sirous of finding a pretext, and he delayed proceed ings in that hope. He laid the matter before Con gress, on the ground that "it is a great national con- START TOWARD NATIONAL UNION , 135 cern, upon which an individual ought not to decide." But Congress took no action, refusing to move even after Washington had written to Duane, a member from New York, begging to be reheved from his "cruel situation." EventuaUy French influence in tervened, and Congress was very susceptible to that, since France was the source of its suppHes of real money. Lady AsgUl, the mother of the young offi cer, wrote such a moving letter that Louis XVI and his Queen took an active interest in the case, and their representations, communicated to Washington, were laid by him before Congress, with the result that a resolution was passed directing that Captain AsgUl be set at hberty. At the time Hamilton intervened in this affair he was a federal office-holder, as a temporary employ ment reluctantly accepted at a time when he was busy with his legal studies. Among the improve ments in administration he had recommended whUe stiU on Washington's staff was the appointment of a ' ' Continental Superintgident^ in ^each State to attend to federiTre^ations. In the autumn of 1781 Congress created the office, and on May 2, 1782J_Robert Morris appointed Hamilton to it for the State of New York, his compensation to be one- fourth of one per cent on his collections. As New York's quota for the year had been fixed at $373,598, a commission amounting to $934 was allowed, but the prospect of collections was such that the com- 136 ALEXANDER HAMILTON mission would scarcely exceed $500. Hamilton at first decHned the office, observing: "Time is so pre cious to me, that I could not put myseH in the way of interruptions unless for an object of consequence to the public or myself." Morris would not be refused. He said that the pay would be fixed by the quota irrespective of the collections, and whUe this "will not be equal to what your own abffities will gain in the profession of law," he particularly desired HamUton's acceptance. But Hamilton still had scruples. "As the matter now stands, there seems to be Httle for a Continental receiver to do." If he did no more than to receive money handed to him his official duty would be discharged. Said Hamilton: "There is only one way in which I can imagine a prospect qf being materiaUy useful; that is, in seconding your appHcation to the State. In popular assemblies much may sometimes be brought about by personal discussions, by entering into de- tafls and combating objections as they rise. If it should, at any time, be thought advisable by you to empower me to act in this capacity, I shall be happy to do everything that depends upon me to effectuate your views." This was just what Morris wanted, and on July 2 he wrote: "It gives me singular pleasure, to find that you yourseH have pointed out the principal objects of your appointment." He enlarged upon the point, urging Hamilton to address "all the abihties START TOWARD NATIONAL UNION 137 with which Heaven has blessed you to induce the legislature to take proper action." Hamilton re pHed that he would do what he could, but that little could be accomplished until there was a deep-change in the whole system- of government "To effect this, mountains of prejudice and particular interest are to be leveUed." The series of reports HamUton now transmitted to Morris give an instructive survey of the comph- cated defects of the situation. He gave an account- of the State's financial situation, pointing out how it hadHBeen^weakened by the~Ta5t" tha^^v^oulToT theTourteen counties were stiU in the hands of the enemy. Deprived of foreign trade, internal traffic waF^carried on upon the most disadvantageous terms. These untoward circumstances were aggra vated by mismanagement. He instanced what has always been the great bane of American legislation when he observed: "The inquiry constantly is what wUl please, not what wUl benefit the people. In such a government there can be nothing but temporary expenditure, fickleness and foUy." HamUton estimated that early in the war nearly one-haff the people sided with Great Britain, and probably a third stUl had their secret wishes on that side. "The remainder sigh for peace, murmur at taxes, clamor at their rulers, change one incapable man for another more incapable, and, I fear, if left to themselves, would, too many of them, be willing 138 ALEXANDER HAMILTON to purchase peace at any price." He did not regard this situation as peculiar to New York. "However disagreeable the reflection, I have too much reason to beheve that the true picture of other States would be, in proportion to their circumstances, equally unpromising. All my inquiries and aU that appears induce this opinion." No wonder HamUton indorsed this letter as "Pri vate"; it was not pubhshed in its entirety until 1885. It displays the actual conditions under which the movement for national union began. In his letter to Duane, September 3, 1780, HamUton had been the first to propose a constitutional convention. NowTiewas able to startthe movement. In carry ing out his plans he was greatly aided by the fact that General Schuyler was then a member of the State Senate. HamUton's first step was to address a letter to Governor Clinton, notifying him of his appointment, stating that it was "a part of his duty, to explain to the legislature from time to time, the views of the Superintendent of Finance, in pursu ance of the orders of Congress," and asking the honor of a conference with a committee of the two- houses. Clinton laid the matter before the legisla ture and conferences were held in which HamUton virtuaUy acted in the capacity of a chanceUor of the exchequer, explaining and recommending projects of taxation. y WhUe not able to secure the adoption of all his plans, he had considerable success, and inci- START TOWARD NATIONAL UNION 139 dentaUy he launched the project of a new constitu tion. Although that result was not to be attained for five years yet, the definite sequence of events begins at this time. On July 19, 1782, the Senate, on motion of Gen eral Schuyler, resolved itseH into a committee of the whole, "to take into consideration the state of the Union," and the Assembly at once foUowed suit. The next day an important set of resolutions was reported. They declared " that the situation of these States is in a pecuhar manner critical, and affords the strongest reason to apprehend, from a continu ance of the present constitution of the Continental government, a subdivision of the pubhc credit, and consequences highly dangerous to the safety and in dependence of these States." After a series of preambles dealing with particular features of the situation, there foUowed a resolution declaring that the desned ends can never be attained through the dehberations of the States individuaUy, "but that it is essential to the common welfare, that there should be as soon as possible a conference of the whole on this subject, and that it would be advisable for this purpose to propose to Congress to recommend, and to each State to adopt, the mea sure of assembling a generaL-CQJWgntioiL- of -the States, specially authorized to revise and amend the^Cenfederatioiy-reserving a, rightu.to.ihe- respec tive legislatures to ratify their determinations." 140 ALEXANDER HAMILTON The resolutions were passed by the Senate and were immediately sent to the Assembly, which con curred by unanimous vote on Sunday, July 21. The next day the governor was requested to trans mit a copy to Congress and to each of the States. These resolutions came from HamUton's pen. Writ ing to Morris on July 22, Hamilton remarked: "I think this a very eligible step, though I doubt of the concurrence of the other States; but I am cer tain without it, they wiU never be brought to co operate in any reasonable or effectual plan." Besides adopting HamUton's resolutions, which, however, appeared before it simply as a report from one of its own committees, the legislature on the next day elected him as a JState delegate— ta_ihe- Continental Congress, to succeed. General Schuyler, wbo withdrew in his favor. HamUton's indebted ness to Schuyler's influence shows plainly enough in these transactions. A letter to his intimate friend John Laurens, under date of August 15, shows that HamUton's election to Congress turned his thoughts strongly again to pubhc activities. After telling Laurens that peace negotiations were under way, he con tinued: Peace made, my dear friend, a new scene opens. The object then will be to make our independence a blessing. To do this we must secure our Union on solid foundations — a herculean task, — and to effect which, mountains of START TOWARD NATIONAL UNION 141 prejudice must be levelled. It requires all the virtue and all the abilities of the country. Quit your sword, my friend; put on the toga. Come to Congress. We know each other's sentiments; our views are the same. We have fought side by side to make America free; let us hand in hand struggle to make her happy. Laurens probably never received this letter, for, with the slow carriage of the mails at that time, it could hardly have reached him in his South Caro lina camp by August 27, on which day he was kiUed. He was Ul in bed when word came of the approach of a party of the enemy, and he arose at once to direct his troops. The affair turned out to be a mere skirmish, but in it Laurens was mortally wounded. Hamilton felt the loss deeply. Writing to Lafayette, he said: "You know how truly I loved him, and wiU judge how much I regret him." Writ ing to General Greene, he said: "The world will feel the loss of a man who has left few Hke him behind." It was, indeed, an abrupt ending of a career of bril liant promise. Born in the same year as Hamilton, John Laurens became one of Washington's aides at tKe~oulbreak of the Revolution. He performed a service of inestimable value as a comnnssioner . to France in 1781, when his pohshed manners and engagnig'pefsonality greatly f acffitated the arrange ments by which France contributed money and sup pHes for the Yorktown campaign. His death was regarded by Hamilton as a great loss to the move- 142 ALEXANDER HAMILTON ment for a national union, which soon began to take shape, and which was mainly carried on by the younger set among the American leaders, in which Laurens had been a distinguished figure. CHAPTER XI THE CRUMBLING OF THE CONFEDERATION When Hamilton entered Congress in November, 1782, the federal government was in the last stage of decrepitude. So long as its issues of paper money would circulate, Congress Hved high and spent pro fusely. The amount issued in 1775 was $6,000,000; in 1776, $19,000,000; in 1777, $13,000,000; in 1778, $63,000,000; in 1779, $140,000,000. Toward the end of 1779 Congress tried to support the credit of its emissions by an address pledging faithful redemp tion of them, declaring that "a bankrupt, faithless republic would be a novelty in the pohtical world, and appear among respectable nations Hke a com mon prostitute among chaste and respectable ma trons." The chque of lawyer-pohticians that then ran Congress could always produce fine language, but they could eat their words with equal profes sional facility. In Httle more than three months later they enacted a sweeping measure of repudia tion, by a comphcated scheme which accomphshed that result whUe avoiding the proper name for it. By the act of March 18, 1780, forty dollars in Con tinental currency were rated as equivalent to only one dollar in coin, in payments made by the States 143 144 ALEXANDER HAMILTON to the general government. Bills thus turned in were to be destroyed, but a new issue was author ized, to be redeemed in specie within six years, meanwhile bearing interest at five per cent. These bffis were to be issued by the States with the guar antee of the United States, and each State was to retain six-tenths of the issue signed by it, the remain der to be at the disposition of the United States, credited to the States respectively on their assessed quotas. The act provided that the States should estabhsh sinking-funds, and apparently all that legal ingenuity could do was done to make the people think the new bffis had real value, although the old had none. In effect, the scheme was a substitution of the credit of the States for the lost credit of the United States. -IhgJitates could levy taxes and hence had the means of meeting their obligations; the United States could not levy taxes and was dependent upon loans or upon assessments, to which the States could respond as they pleased. The act of 1780 was too dependent upon State co-operation to provide much revenue, and what bffis were issued under its pro visions soon began to sink in value. In the spring of 1781 State notes were officially rated as 3 to 1 in specie and Continental notes at 175 to 1. Conti nental notes were actually rated at 525 to 1 before they went out of circulation altogether. In May, 1781, men marched through the streets of PhUadel- CRUMBLING OF THE FEDERATION 145 phia with cockades in their hats made of twists of paper money, and a dog, led in the procession, was tarred and plastered over with paper money. The Yorktown campaign was made possible by the creation of the treasury department, managed by Robert Morris, and by the money and supplies which France then became wiffing to send. But Congress had been very reluctant to let go its own custody of the treasury and yielded only because there was no longer any way of getting money through its own devices. WhUe willing to let Mor ris borrow money wherever he could get it, the mem bers could not be depended on to support any scheme of taxation. He took office with the expec tation that the States would aUow Congress to levy five per cent upon imports. Virginia at once as sented, but later rescinded its action, and accord ing to a statement in one of Madison's letters this change of attitude was due to influence exerted by Arthur Lee, a member of Congress. Massachusetts and Rhode Island remonstrated against the impost. In general, the attitude of New EnglancLwasstrongly against any taxing authority other than that of each State in its own area. Samuel Adams was opposed to the very existence of a national treasury depart ment and made gloomy prognostications as to its effect on the liberties of the people. «f This, then, was the national situation when Ham ilton entered Congress: an empty treasury, no tax- 146 ALEXANDER HAMILTON ing power, no credit, no resources save those ob tained by borrowing or begging. Although the theory of the existing union was that the cost of the general government would be met by assessments upon the States, each State might judge for itseff of the fairness of its quota and act accordingly. The best record for 1782 was made by Rhode Island, which paid about one-fourth of its quota; Pennsyl vania came next, with over a fifth paid; next, Mas sachusetts, with about an eighth; then Virginia, about a tweffth, with the excuse of war ravages for delinquency; New York and Maryland, each about a twentieth; New Hampshire, about a one hundred and twenty-first part; North Carolina, Delaware, and Georgia nothing at aU. South Carolina was the only State credited with full payment of its quota, and that was because it was credited with suppHes to the troops serving there. Congressional financiering gave great opportunity to rogues. The Pennsylvania Packet of April 17, 1779, published a letter from a young lady stating that her trustee had taken advantage of the legal- tender acts to pay her the principal of her inheri tance in depreciated currency. Transactions of that character were going on aU the time. Merchants and farmers could protect themselves to some extent by refusing to make sales except for goods of real value. The troops were, however, helpless victims. A memorial of Virginia officers in November, 1781, CRUMBLING OF THE FEDERATION 147 stated that the depreciation of the currency in which they were paid was such that the actual value of what they received was then $33^ a month for a colonel, $1.66 for a captain, and 20 cents for a pri vate. In the same month Robert Morris wrote that the government was no longer able to buy anything with its paper money.1 Upon this scene of distress, confusion, and dis order, Hamilton entered alert, energetic, clear sighted, and resourceful. The correspondence of the pubhc men of the period shows that the general attitude of mind was that of grim endurance, in the hope that Great Britain would tire of the struggle, and then the different States might again manage their own affairs as before the war. The sorry plight of th^jjggeral government was therefore a matter of only temporary concern, and meanwhile it would not be a matter of vital importance, ff France should continue her aid. Early in his con gressional term HamUton wrote a long letter to the Vicomte de NoaiUes, who had returned to France, giving bim an account of the miHtary and political situation, in which he admitted that "the capital successes we have had, have served rather to in crease the hopes than the exertions of the particular States." Things were "in a mending way" through 1 The most complete account of the financial situation during the Confederation period is contained in W. G. Sumner's The Financier and the Finances of the American Revolution. 148 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Robert Morris's banking arrangements, "but upon the whole, however, if the war continues another year, it will be necessary that Congress should again recur to the generosity of France for pecuniary assistance." Hamilton sent a letter of like tenor, but more familiar in style, to Lafayette, who also was then back in France. Said HamUton: "These States are in no humor for continuing exertions; if the war lasts it must be carried on by external succors. I make no apology for the inertness of this country. I detest it, but since it exists I am sorry to see other resources diminish." This was an aUusion to the withdrawal of the French troops. While doing what he could to induce France to continue its aid, Hamilton was weU aware that this was asking that country to tax its people for the support of a country that was unwiUing to tax its own people for its own support. Morris was trying hard to carry the five per cent impost. It was his belief that its prospects hinged on the consent of Rhode Island, which in the days before raUroads occupied a position of peculiar advantage with respect to New England commerce. Under date of November 30, 1782, the Speaker of the Rhode Island Assembly wrote to Congress stating the rea sons of that State for refusing. They were to the effect that the impost scheme would allow Congress to introduce officers into the State, unknown to and CRUMBLING OF THE FEDERATION 149 unaccountable to the State, and would permit Con gress to coUect money from the commerce of the State, for the expenditure of which Congress would not be accountable to the State. The argument put Congress in the same position formerly assigned to the British Parhament, as a body making uncon stitutional pretensions. The answer of Congress to these objections was written by Hamilton. It pointed out that the posi tion taken by Rhode Island "would defeat all the provisions of the Confederation, all the purposes of the Union. The truth is that no Federal Constitu tion can exist without powers that, in their exercise, affect the internal pohce of the component mem bers." The reply went on to show how impossible it would be to obtain foreign loans unless Congress was in a position to offer security. "We must pledge an ascertained fund; simple and productive in its nature, general in its principle, and at the dis posal of a single wUl. There can be little confidence in a security under the constant revisal of thirteen different dehberations. It must, once for all, be defined and established on the faith of the States solemnly pledged to each other, and not revocable by any without a breach of the general compact." AU this is an assertion of national authority against a claim of State sovereignty. But Hamilton was not content with merely making the point. He proceeded to emphasize it. Rhode Island contended 150 ALEXANDER HAMILTON that it was necessary for each State to keep all col lection of revenue within its own borders in its own hands, to protect itself against the possibility of exorbitant demands by Congress. Hamilton made the square reply that this was a point on which the States "have no constitutional Hberty to judge. Such a refusal would be an exertion of power; not of right." He went on to show that the very idea of a general government imphed that the security of the pubhc was through representation in Congress, and not through the interposition of State authority. After this sharp assertion of principle, the document made an appeal to interest by pointing out the immediate benefits that would accrue from the measure. Although Hamilton was able to present a case that was logicaUy complete it was practicaUy defec tive, as he was keenly aware. Congress could say ought, but could not say must. It could exert influ ence, but it could not wield power; and, as Washing ton pithily observed, "influence is not government." What influence Congress had possessed had declined because of its record of waste, extravagance, and mismanagement; and, moreover, it was impaired by the fact that the members themselves were apt to regard Congress as a diplomatic assembly in which they looked after the particular interests of their own States, rather than as a national legislature. This tendency was prominently displayed by an in- CRUMBLING OF THE FEDERATION 151 cident in connection with the Rhode Island negotia tion. A Boston newspaper pubhshed a statement — promptly copied by Rhode Island papers — that there was no longer any need for an impost since a foreign loan had been arranged. This was true to the extent that a loan was being negotiated in Hol land, but it was quite untrue that it was enough to enable Congress to meet its engagements. It was rumored that a member of Congress was the source of this report and an investigation was voted, where upon David HoweU declared himself to be the author. He was a Princeton graduate, serving his first term in Congress, of which he was a member from 1782 to 1785. In 1790 he became professor of law in Brown University. When a man of his standing could pursue such a course, it shows how strong particularist tendencies were at that period. In fact, Hamilton's assertion of national ideals met with Httle genuine support in Congress. In debate, about this time, Hamilton observed that one reason why the government should have its own revenue coUected by its own agents was that "as the energy of the federal government was evidently short of the degree necessary for pervading and uniting the States, it was expedient to introduce the influence of officers deriving their emoluments from, and, con sequently, interested in supporting, the power' of Congress." Madison relates that the members "smUed at the disclosure." Madison's record is, 152 ALEXANDER HAMILTON then, evidence that, at a time when Congress was in clined to acquiesce in conditions of dependence_pn State _aid, Hamilton grasped the problem in its en tirety as being the creation of national authority, and he insisted upon honest statement of it. His reference to the mode of coUection was no slip of the tongue. A little later, February 12, 1783, he moved the foUowing, in which the marks of emphasis are his own: Resolved, That it is the opinion of Congress that com plete JUSTICE cannot be done to the creditors of the United States, nor the restoration of PUBLIC CREDIT be effected, nor the future exigencies of the war provided for, but by the establishment of permanent and adequate funds to operate generally throughout the United States, to be collected by Congress. John Rutledge, of South Carohna, with a view to softening the opposition, moved that the impost should be apphed only to the support of the army. Hamilton at once dissented. He "would never assent to such a partial administration of justice," and, moreover, "it was impolitic to divide the in terests of the civil and mUitary creditors, whose joint efforts in the states would be necessary to pre- vaU on them to adopt a general revenue." It plainly appears from this that HamUton had firmly grasped the principle that the true constitution of a country is the actual distribution of pohtical force, CRUMBLING OF THE FEDERATION 153 and to understand his statesmanship this should be kept in mind. Washington's attitude was of such central impor tance that his correspondence at this period reflects aU the pohtical currents of the times. The most impetuous was that issuing from the army, where the feeling was strong that unless they looked out for themselves the pohticians would bilk them. In communications received by Washington there was much in the way of deploring and trusting and hop ing, but nothing that exhibits plan or direction until HamUton entered, which was not until February 7, 1783. The rupture that had occurred when HamU ton resigned his military secretaryship had mean- whUe stopped their intimacy. But HamUton could not proceed with his plans without Washington's co-operation, and this he now endeavored to secure. "Flattering myself," he wrote, "that your knowl edge of me wiU induce you to receive the obseFva- tions I make as dictated by a regard to the pubhc good, I take the Hberty to suggest to you my ideas on some matters of dehcacy and importance." After this deferential approach, he made a plain state ment of the actual situation, showing that "there has scarcely been a period of the Revolution which caUed more for wisdom and decision in Congress. Unfortunately for us, we are a body not governed by reason or foresight but by circumstances." He pointed out that the attitude of the army was a 154 ALEXANDER HAMILTON prime factor in the situation. "The claims of the army, urged with moderation but with firmness, may operate on those weak minds which are influ enced by their apprehensions more than by their judgments. . . . But the difficulty wiU be to keep a complaining and mffering army within the bounds of "moderation." Hamilton then gave Washington some advice as to his own behavior. "It is of mo ment to the public tranquillity that your ExceUency should preserve the confidence of the army, without losing that of the people. This wiU enable you in case of extremity to guide the torrent, and to bring order, perhaps even good, out of confusion." He suggested that it would "be advisable not to dis countenance their endeavors to procure redress, but rather, by the intervention of confidential and pru dent persons, to take the direction of them." Wash ington's attention was then caUed to the fact that there was an idea in the army that he was not "espousing its interests with sufficient warmth." The phrase which HamUton emphasized is the point to which the letter is addressed. It was a tactful instruction to Washington from one much his junior. Washington was then but a fortnight short of fifty-one, and he was already world-famous; HamUton had just turned twenty-six, and he was barely startedlhTiis profession as a lawyer. Wash ington, than whom no man known to history had more magnanimity, not merely took Hamilton's CRUMBLING OF THE FEDERATION 155 suggestions in good part but at once entered into confidential relations. He laid aside the cautious reserve which characterizes his replies to all other correspondents, and opened his heart to HamUton about bis troubles. He remarked: "The predica ment, in which I stand as a citizen and as a soldier, is as critical and delicate as can weU be conceived." He declared that for several months his behavior had been in accord with the suggestions now made by Hamilton, and he had not much fear now that army sentiment would exceed "the bounds of reason and moderation." As a matter of fact, it required aU the influence that Washington could exert to prevent an outbreak, but enough money was scraped up by Morris to give the troops a payment omaccount, sufficient to induce them to accept the proposed furlough, as it was caUed, although it was reaUy a disbandment. Keep ing in close and frequent correspondence with Wash ington, HamUton took a leading part in aU these proceedings. He was chairman of the committee of three appointed by Congress to deal with the situation created by the mutiny of certain troops at PhUadelphia and at Lancaster, and he was prompt and vigorous in his measures. He wrote a Vindica tion of Congress, in which he pointed out that the system was more at fault than those who labored under it. "On the one hand they are blamed for not doing what they have no means of doing; on 156 ALEXANDER HAMILTON the other, their attempts are branded with the im putation of a spirit of encroachment and a lust. of -power." He urged that "in these circumstances, it is the duty of all those who have the welfare of the community at heart to unite their efforts to direct the attention of the people to the true- source jjLfche public disorders — the want of an efficient geneeal GOVERNMENT." This was Hamilton's main object during his con gressional career, but when it became manifest that nothing more could then be done in that direction his longing to be with his family became irrepressi ble. Under date of July 22, 1783, he wrote to his wife that he would soon start for home. I am strongly urged to stay a few days for the ratifica tion of the treaty; at all events, however, I will not be long absent. I give you joy of the happy conclusion of this important work in which your country has been engaged. Now in a very short time we shall be happily settled in New York. . . . Kiss my boy a thousand times. After he got back to Albany he gathered up some loose ends of his congressional work. In one of his letters to Washington, in the spring of 1783, Hamil ton had observed: It now only remains to make solid establishments within, to perpetuate our Union, to prevent our being a ball in the hands of European powers, bandied against each other at their pleasure; in fine, to make our indepen- CRUMBLING OF THE FEDERATION 157 dence truly a blessing. ... I will add that your excel lency's exertions are as essential to accomplish this end as they have been to establish independence. I will upon a future occasion open myself upon this subject. Writing from Albany, September 30, he recalled this promise, and went on to explain: At the time I was in hopes Congress might have been induced to take a decisive ground; to inform their con stituents of the imperfections of the present system, and of the impossibility of conducting the public affairs with honor to themselves and advantage to the community, with powers so disproportionate to their responsibility; and having done this, in a full and forcible manner, to adjourn the moment the definitive treaty was ratified. In retiring at the same juncture, I wished you, in a solemn manner, to declare to the people your intended retreat from pubhc concerns, your opinion of the present govern ment, and of the absolute necessity of a change. Before I left Congress I despaired of the first, and your circular letter to the States had anticipated the last. I trust it wiU not be without effect, though I am persuaded it would have had more, combined with what I have men tioned. At all events, without compliment, Sir, it will do you honor with the sensible and well-meaning; and ultimately, it is to be hoped, with the people at large, when the present epidemic frenzy has subsided. This letter makes an interesting disclosure of the reach of HamUton's pohtical strategy and also of its wariness. The resolutions he prepared for Con gress were found among his papers, indorsed, "In- 158 ALEXANDER HAMILTON tended to be submitted to Congress in seventeen hundred and eighty-three, but abandoned for want of support." The document is a complete analysis of the defects of government, digested under twelve heads, concluding with a caU for a constitutional. convention. But HamUton correctly judged that the time was not propitious for the national move ment, and that it would be necessary to delay mat ters until the teachings of experience had begun to produce effect. MeanwhUe he made a gallant fight against the spread of the "epidemic frenzy" in the politics of his own State. CHAPTER XII LAW PRACTICE It can scarcely be called to mind too frequently that whUe Hamilton was lavishly spending his powers for the pubhc good, he was a poor man with the bread- and-butter problem always before him. In May, 1783, he wrote to Governor Clinton that it would be veiy injurious to him to remain in Congress much longer, and that, "having no future views in pubhc life, I owe it to myseH without delay to enter upon the care of my private concerns in earnest." New York was evacuated by the British in No vember, 1783, and soon after HamUton settled there to practise his profession, opening his office at No. 58 WaU Street. Claims arising out of transactions during the war produced a great crop of cases. In those days there was no speciahzation and HamUton took both civfl and criminal cases, so that at one time he might be in the mayor's court and again in the highest court in the State. He was at one time counsel for the defendant in a rape case, and he also figured in assault and murder cases. The rapidity with which he gained distinction at the bar is attested by the fact that so early as 1784 he began to receive appHcations for admission of law students to his 159 160 ALEXANDER HAMILTON office. Such students paid a fee of $150, and were rated as clerks. HamUton's office books note in his own handwriting that one such fee was returned be cause the pupU "did not continue his clerkship." That of itseH did not require a refund, but Hamilton always displayed a generous consideration for peo ple's tircumstances. In 1796, when he was at the height of his professional renown, a client offered him $1,000 as a general retainer, without any case then pending. The letter bears HamUton's indorse ment, "Returned as being more than is proper." It appears from his office records that for many years his office fee was only £l 10s., and that was his usual charge for drawing a petition or giving legal advice in an ordinary case. He charged £5 a day for trying a case in court. It appears that he was not above taking a contingent fee, for the receipt of $100 is noted with the remark, "ff successful an additional hundred." Although he was associated in many cases with his friend, Robert Troup, Hamil ton took as his law partner Balthazar De Heart, a circumstance readily accounted for by the fact that De Heart appears to have been what is now known as a managing clerk. The arrangement reaUy meant that HamUton desired individual freedom of action as a lawyer. Among Hamilton's early cases is one that is de servedly famous, both from the massiveness and solidity of his argument in support of national LAW PRACTICE 161 authority, and also as displaying his dauntless cour age in confronting a furious popular opposition. By the treaty of peace with England it was pro vided that there should be no more confiscations or prosecutions on account of the side taken in the war, and that no person should thereby "suffer any future loss or damage, either in his person, Hberty, or property." Among the vindictive measures passed by the New York Whigs against the loyahsts was the act of March 17, 1783, providing that loy alists who had occupied Whig property by British authority, might be sued for trespass and held liable for arrears of rent. This was dead against the treaty stipulations and was known to be so when enacted. The effect of the treaty in restricting State action was pointed out by the American com missioners, in transmitting a copy from Paris, De cember 14, 1782, and they had distinctly asserted that in their opinion Congress was supreme in this matter. It feU to Hamilton to be the first to main tain this principle in practice and secure for it ju dicial sanction. Although the issue involved the whole question of national sovereignty, the particular case in which it was raised was as disadvantageous as could be for the purpose of securing a thoughtful and just deci sion — the plaintiff a widow, the defendant a firm of brewers who had carried on their business as British subjects. In 1778 they had rented a brewery and 162 ALEXANDER HAMILTON malt house on Maiden Lane, at a rent of £150 per annum, which they paid to a person designated by the British commander. They had to make con siderable outlay in fitting the property for use, and were stUl carrying on the business when in Novem ber, 1783, the city again passed under American control. They were quite ready to pay the rent to any person who could legaUy receipt for it, and at once complied with an order from the American commander to pay current dues to the son of Mrs. Ehzabeth Rutgers, the former owner, who had now returned to claim her property. But she wanted the back rent also, which they had aHeady paid elsewhere by British authority, and she entered suit under the trespass act. The issue, although deep, was narrow. It was simply whether a treaty obhgation contracted by federal authority could override the laws of the State of New York. The widow had State law and popular sentiment on her side. There were then no federal courts, and, indeed no federal government except the weak and ailing one carried on by the Continental Congress. The suit was brought before a local tribunal, the mayor's court. And yet such was the force of HamUton's reasoning that he con vinced the court and obtained a judgment in his favor. Such ability in a man of twenty-seven, who had been practising law less than two years, seems LAW PRACTICE 163 almost supernatural; and, indeed, it does not be come intelligible until the circumstances are atten tively considered. The only record that remains of HamUton's argu ment is the skeleton he used, covering nineteen pages of closely written foolscap. Notwithstanding its length, it contains merely bare notes of the points he intended to make, such as A. Introduction. Question concerns National faith — char acter^ — safety — Confederation. B. Serious because wrong judgment good cause of war. C. Present case somewhat new — law of reason Pub lic good — ubi lex tacet judex loquitur. D. Question embraces the whole law of nations. and so on through the letters of the alphabet until with T he finished his analysis. But all this was introductory. Then foUowed a series of proposi tions, such as Judges of each State must of necessity be judges of the United States. And the law of each State must adopt the laws of Congress. Though in relation to its own Citizens local laws might govern, yet in relation to foreigners those of United States must prevail. 164 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Under the subhead "Principles" he enters into an extended examination of the law of nations. An other section is devoted to "Rules of Construction of Statutes." Evidently he prepared his argument with the utmost thoroughness and care, so as to explore the whole field of law touched by the case. It now seems odd that the mayor's court should have been the forum for such an argument, but not so in those times. The mayor, recorder, sheriff, coroner, and town clerk were aU at that time ap pointed by the governor of the State. James Duane, who was appointed mayor, February 7, 1784, was a man of wealth and high social position. During the war he had had terms of service in the New York Provincial Congress, in the Continental Congress, and in the State Senate. Eventually, under Washington's administration, he became the first United States judge of the district of New York. The recorder, the chief judicial officer, was Richard Varick, who had been Washington's private secre tary during the latter part of the war. It therefore appears that the mayor's court was then so officered that any question of pubhc obhgation could count upon appreciative consideration. The case turned on the question whether or not the authority under which the defendants had acted could be pleaded against the claim. By the law of the State that plea was inadmissible. The real point which the court had to decide was whether the treaty over- LAW PRACTICE 165 ruled the State inhibition, and its judgment went straight to that point. The court declared: Our Union, as has been properly observed, is known, and legalized in our Constitution, and adopted as a fun damental law in the first act of our legislature. The fed eral compact hath vested Congress with full and exclusive powers to make peace and war. This treaty they have made and ratified, and rendered its obligation perpetual; and we are clearly of opinion, that no State in this union can alter or abridge, in a single point, the federal articles or the treaty. Such a decision at such a time was a brave act. Local sentiment was strongly in favor of proscribing aU who had been on the Tory side during the war. General Lamb and others who had been active "Sons of Liberty," the organization to which Ham Uton had attached himself whfle a college student, were now determined to push Whig triumph to the uttermost, despite the treaty. A mass meeting was held at which an address was adopted exhorting the people "to elect men who would spurn any proposi tion that had a tendency to curtail the privileges of the people, and who would protect them from judi cial tyranny." In fact, in the first election after the peace the party of vengeance swept the poUs. Gen eral Lamb and other active partisans were elected members of the Assembly, in which their influence was so supreme that resolutions were passed calling upon the Governor and Council "to appoint such 166 ALEXANDER HAMILTON persons as will govern themselves by the known law of the land." The Assembly by a vote of 32 to 9 passed a bill declaring a "certain description of per sons without the protection of the laws of this State"; and the Senate, without material amend ment, passed it by a vote of 10 to 6. A like wave of rancor swept other States. In Virginia the House of Delegates declared that any return of confiscated property was whoUy inadmissible, and that "laws made by any independent State of this Union" should not be "subject to the adjudication of any power or powers on earth. " In New Jersey meetings were held urging non-comphance with the treaty of peace. In Massachusetts a committee of the legis lature, of which Samuel Adams was chairman, re ported that no person who had borne arms against the United States, or lent money to the enemy to carry on the war, should ever be permitted to return to the State. A spirit of proscription, resembling in its mahgnity that which characterized a victorious faction in the civil wars of Greece and Rome, was abroad in America. HamUton's action in pleading treaty obligations in behaff of chents, against State law, might have secured some indulgence as a performance of pro fessional duty, although even then it was a hazard ous proceeding in the existing state of sentiment. Later on, after he had led the way, lawyers generaUy employed that argument, among them GUes of LAW PRACTICE 167 Virginia, who eventuaUy became Hamilton's most active congressional foe. But HamUton not only stemmed the tide at its flood, but he carried the issue from the court into the public forum. While the legislature was passing disfranchisement acts and prescribing test oaths, Hamilton wrote an ap peal "to the Considerate Citizens of New York, on the Pohtics of the Times, in Consequence of the Peace." This letter, signed "Phocion," is more im passioned in its style than was usual with him, and was done in a rush, for he concluded with an apol ogy for "the hasty and incorrect manner." The letter was a sharp rebuke to the violent counsels then prevailing, with some pointed advice that it was a mistake to think that spite and malevolence could now have their way without risk. " Suppose," he asked, " Great Britain should be induced to refuse a further comphance with the treaty, in consequence of a breach of it on our part; what situation should we be in ? Can we renew the war to compel a com phance ? We know and aU the world knows, it is out of our power." Nor could other powers be ex pected to come to America's aid as before. "They wiU not think themselves bound to undertake an unjust war, to regain to us rights which we have forfeited by a chUdish levity, and a wanton con tempt of public faith. We should then have sacri ficed important interests to the little, vindictive, selfish, mean passions of a few." 168 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Most of the leading men in the War of the Revo lution felt about the matter just as HamUton did, but he was the only man who dared to come out and say so. The peculiar heroism of his statesmanship is his utter fearlessness of unpopularity. Public men are apt to shrink from that, and face it only when brought to bay; but Hamilton seems never to have hesitated to brave it whenever a pohtical issue ap peared to him to involve the honor of his country. That is not a trait by which American pohticians get ahead, and it worked against HamUton's per sonal success in pubhc Hfe. His achievements were aU accomphshed by sheer force of inteUect; his career owed nothing to popular favor. Hamilton's letter attracted so much attention that the party of proscription felt that some justifica tion of their pohcy was desirable, and this was sup plied by Isaac Ledyard, a State pohtician of some prominence, writing over the signature of "Mentor." His letter adopted a judicial tone, and by applying rigorous strict-construction principles to the lan guage of the treaty, concluded that it was stUl within the power of the States to exclude such as would be undesirable citizens. HamUton's reply is a more sohd performance than his first letter. He made a detaUed analysis of the subject, and he entered into an inquiry into the nature of constitutional author ity and the true principles of government. In con clusion, he made a powerful appeal to patriotic feel- LAW PRACTICE 169 ing. "Those who are at present entrusted with power, in aU these infant repubhcs, hold the most sacred deposit that ever was confided to human hands. 'Tis with governments as with individuals; first impressions and early habits give a lasting bias to the temper and character. Our governments, hitherto, have no habits. How important to the happiness, not of America alone, but of mankind, that they should acquire good ones ! " He referred to the influence which America would exert upon the world as a repubhcan example. Would it be such as to show the efficacy of seH-government or its impracticabiHty ? If instead of exhibiting jus tice, moderation, Hberahty, the pubhc counsels are guided by passion and prejudice, then, with the greatest advantages for promoting it that ever a people had, we shaU have betrayed the cause of hberty. HamUton's letters were printed and circulated in other States and were republished in London. Be sides the reply of "Mentor," articles by "Gustavus," "Anti-Phocionite," and others appeared, but Ham Uton's superiority in any pamphlet war was so over whelming that there was some talk of forcing upon bim a succession of duels, until he was done for. The only existing authority for this statement is J. C. Hamilton's biography, which relates that Led yard heard of the plot and broke it up by his indig nant protest; furthermore, that Hamilton shook 170 ALEXANDER HAMILTON hands with Ledyard and thanked him for saving his life. Isaac Q. Leake's memoir of General John Lamb, a weU-documented work, questions the accu racy of the account so far as Ledyard is concerned, but gives precise detaUs of a chaUenge sent to Ham ilton by Colonel Eleazer Oswald, subsequently with drawn, as "the affair was adjusted honorably to both parties." It is at least clear that HamUton took serious risks in braving local sentiment as he did, but such considerations never daunted him at any time in any way. AU sorts of professional business now flowed to HamUton. In 1784 he organized the Bank of New York. From a letter of March 10, "to his brother-in- law, John Barker Church, it appears that Hamilton went into this enterprise to counteract a land-bank scheme which was being urged upon the legislature as "the true phUosopher's stone that was to turn aU their rocks and trees into gold." Alarmed by this project, New York merchants started a subscription for a money bank, and on their appHcation HamUton prepared its constitution and by-laws. This was but an item of his numerous professional activities. His gains by them did not duU his per ception of the fact that much of the legal practice of the times was due to bad government. He remarked to a correspondent that "legislative folly had afforded so plentiful a harvest that he had scarcely a moment to spare from the substantial business of reaping." LAW PRACTICE 171 There is plenty of evidence to show that HamUton had taken a leading rank at the New York bar, and aU he needed to do to make his fortune was to keep out of politics; but this he could not do. CHAPTER XIII THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT The four years that elapsed between the end of the war and the meeting of. the constitutional convention. qf_1787 was a period of increasing anarchy. The only organ of national authority was the Continental Congress, and that was profoundly distrusted. Whatever funds it could get hold of were disbursed through its own committees, which were not subject to much accountabUity. The payment of members was supposed to come from the States that sent them, and it varied from time to time and from place to place, according to the disposition of the State authorities and the personal popularity of a mem ber. The Massachusetts delegates were aUowed £10 a day and expenses. An account of Elbridge Gerry is on record which shows that from January 5, 1776, to July 5, 1780, he was aUowed for his time and expenses £40,502 6s. and 2d., which is at the rate of over $44,000 a year. On the face of it this is a larger sum than was charged by Washington for his expenses for eight years as commander-in-chief, but nominal amounts were so different from real values that exact comparison is impossible. The household of the president of the Continental 172 THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT 173 Congress was maintained by that body as a pubhc institution. No fixed aUowance was made, but Congress by resolution directed that " a convenient, furnished dweUing house be hired, and a table, car riage and servants provided at the pubhc expense." The committee on the treasury appointed a steward and supervised his accounts. The president was ex pected to keep open house. General Washington wrote that "the table was always crowded, and with mixed company, and the president considered in no better Hght than as a maitre d'hotel." The profusion which always surrounded Congress was one of the sources of army discontent. In 1780 Congress raised the pay of its principal clerks to $8,000 a year; of the auditor-general to $12,000; of the secretary of Congress to $14,000. AU these sums are subject to large discount, from the depreciation of the currency; but the army suffered in the same way, and meanwhUe could not get arrears of pay due them. In a letter to Hamilton, AprU 22, 1783, Washington said: "Let me assure you that it would not be more difficult to stUl the raging bffiows in a tempestuous gale, than to convince the officers of this army of the justice or pohcy of paying men in civU office full wages, when they cannot obtain a sixtieth part of their dues." The members of Congress voted as States and were alert to see that in the distribution of patron age each State got its share, which, of course, tended 174 ALEXANDER HAMILTON to multiply offices. Robert Morris introduced economies which incurred for him bitter enmities. Madison wrote to Jefferson, September 20, 1783: "The department of finance is an object of almost dafiy attack, and wiU be reduced to its crisis on the final resignation of Mr. Morris, which wiU take place in a few months." In November Morris wrote to Jay that the members of Congress, instead of sup porting him as they had promised to do, were trying to frustrate his plans so as to ruin him persctoaUy. Early in 1783 he offered hisresignation, but was per suaded to stay long enough to arrange a settlement with the army. Then he insisted on getting out and he retired on November 1, 1784. Congress then returned to its old methods and put the treasury in the hands of a board of three commissioners, one of them being Arthur Lee, who had been the tireless enemy of Morris's administration. The States were loath to impose taxes and coUect money for such an Hresponsible body as Congress, and were apt to turn sulky when lectured about their behavior. In March, 1783, General Greene wrote a letter to the South Carolina Legislature, urging that something should be done for the pubhc credit and for the support of the army. In this he did no more than he had often done during the war, with the approval of the legislature, but now it treated his action as an offense to its dignity, and resented it by repealing its former consent to the THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT 175 five-per-cent impost. The circular letter of June 8, 1783, which Washington addressed to the governors of all the States urging compliance with the demand of Congress for the power to levy taxes, wholly failed to move the States, and from a letter of Ran dolph to Madison it appears that there was a general murmur "against what is caUed the unsohcited ob trusion of his advice." In fact, distrust of the Continental Congress never could be overcome, although that body did what it could to remove opposition by promises of amend ment and by reducing its demands. In its efforts to conciliate the States, Congress agreed to become a migratory body. There was jealousy over the sectional advantage which it was held that Pennsyl vania derived from the meeting of Congress in PhU adelphia. In 1783, after Congress had left PhUa^ delphia for Princeton, there were numerous debates on the subject of a federal city, and it was resolved that there should be two national capitals, one on the Delaware and the other on the Potomac, to be used alternately by Congress; but until suitable buddings should be erected Congress should sit in Trenton and at Annapohs by turns. But nothing that Congress could do could persuade- the -States to provide Congress with sources of revenue under its own administration. AU that years of coaxing and pleading could effect was the cession of aU the western lands to the United States, which from the 176 ALEXANDER HAMILTON State point of view was a handsome provision of assets with which in time Congress should be able to meet its HabUities. MeanwhUe the national government was bank rupt and its prospects seemed hopeless. For a long time everything indicated that the Confederation would run the usual career of dissolution, such as had been followed by every Confederation known to history up to that time, and that was the general expectation among thoughtful observers. Those who labored to keep the States together sustained their hopes by the behef that the people would learn by experience the need of a general government, and meanwhUe they used every possible means to direct the course of events. Their efforts were powerfully aided by increasing evidence of the weakness and incompetence of State authority. Distrust of the Continental Congress was now associated with dis trust of the State legislatures, and the effect was to produce a desire for authority superior to both. Thoughts turning in that direction rested comforta bly upon the stanch figure of George Washington, in whose prudence and integrity there was universal confidence. Conditions did not become ripe for action until 1786, when, in addition to their other troubles, the States were in a snarl about commercial regulations. Such important waters as Long Island Sound, New York Bay, the Delaware, the Chesapeake, were not THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT 177 any of them under the jurisdiction of a single State, and regulations adopted by one State were affected by the action of neighboring States. The whole subject of interstate relations received a large addi tion of interest when schemes of internal navigation became a general topic of discussion. No subject was more popular, as it contained many elements appealing to the imagination — business opportunity, means of transportation, commercial expansion, de velopment of natural resources, the advance of America in wealth and population. Joel Barlow, the Connecticut poet, whose masterpiece, the Vision of Columbus, made its appearance in March, 1787, told in it how "Canals, long-winding, ope a watery flight, And distant streams and seas and lakes unite. From fair Albania, toward the setting sun, Back through the midland, lengthening channels run, Meet the fair lakes, their beauteous towns that lave, And Hudson join to broad Ohio's wave." This poetic vision was eventuaUy realized by the construction of the Erie Canal. A project of Hke character gave the nationaUy minded statesmen the leverage they needed to lift their scheme into the field of practical pohtics. In 1784, upon Washing ton's recommendation, Virginia became interested in plans for a waterway between the Chesapeake and the West. This matter gave added importance to 178 ALEXANDER HAMILTON pending commercial negotiations between Maryland and VHginia. Commissioners from both States were appointed to meet in Alexandria, in March, 1785. Washington invited them to Mount Vernon, and there they reached an agreement for joint action by the two States. The discussion which ensued brought out so clearly the need of general action that in January, 1786, the Virginia Legislature ap pointed commissioners "to meet such as might be appointed by the other States of the Union" to con sider the whole subject of commercial regulations. These commercial negotiations gave HamUton the handle for which he had been waiting. By 1785 the excesses of the dominant faction in New York had provoked such a strong reaction that in the elections that year many changes took place in the composi tion of the legislature. Of the nine members of the delegation from New York City, seven faUed of re election, among them Aaron Burr. The new mem bers included some of Hamilton's closest friends. One of them, Robert Troup, has related that "Ham Uton had no idea that the legislature could be pre- vaUed on to adopt the system as recommended by Congress, neither had he any partiahty for a com mercial convention, otherwise than as a stepping- stone to a general convention, to form a general con stitution. In pursuance of his plan, the late Mr. Duer, the late Colonel Malcolm, and myseH, were sent to the state legislature as part of the city dele- THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT 179 gation, and we were to make every possible effort to accomplish HamUton's objects." The mercantUe interests of New York were deeply aggrieved by the impotence of national authority. The expanding commerce of the nation was without any sort of pubhc guardianship. On May 19, 1785, the ship Empress, the first American vessel to visit China, returned to the port of New York, the event arousing great enthusiasm. But in that same year came doleful accounts of the way Algerine corsairs preyed upon American commerce, captufing^Vessels and enslaving the crews. MercantUe advocacy of some regular provision for the support of the national government became so urgent that the dominant faction was impressed with the need of conciliatory measures. Although the congressional scheme was rejected, there was great profession of willingness to aUow federal taxation under State control, and it was decided to make a favorable response to the Virginia caU for a commercial convention. As such a convention had no power to bind, and whatsoever recommendations it might make could have no legal effect save such as the State legislature might choose to aUow, the matter did not seem to be of sufficient importance to become a bone of contention, and hence HamUton's friends were able to have his name included in the list of delegates, six in number. The convention met in Annapolis, in September, 1786. Of the New York delegates only two at- 180 ALEXANDER HAMILTON tended, Hamilton and the attorney-general, Egbert Benson. Only five States were represented, and the affair looked like a failure, but it was known that in the case of some States absence did not imply want of sympathy with the announced purpose of the convention. Although the convention met in the Maryland capital, Maryland was not represented through fear that the effect might be to weaken the powers of Congress. South Carolina sent no dele gates, but she had already defined her position on the question by instructing her delegates in Congress to vote for the national regulation of commerce for fifteen years. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts appointed delegates but they did not attend. HamUton saw in the situation the means of impressing the public mind with the impossibility of a commercial settlement without a political set tlement. He framed an address, which was unani mously adopted by the convention, recommending the appointment of commissioners to a convention to meet in Philadelphia in May, 1787, "to take into consideration the situation of the United States, to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union, and to report such an act for that purpose to the United States in Congress assembled as, when agreed to by them and afterwards confirmed by the Legislature of every State, wiU effectually provide for the same." THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT 181 Of aU the various pleas that HamUton made for the meeting of a constitutional convention, the Annapohs address is vaguest in its terms. Accord ing to Madison, this was due to the insistence of Randolph, of Virginia, to whose advice HamUton deferred, since Virginia's active support of the move ment was aU-important. Otto, the French minis ter, in a dispatch to his government, gave an exact account of what was done. He remarked: "By pro posing a new organization of the general govern ment, aU minds would have been revolted; circum stances ruinous to the commerce of America have happUy arisen to furnish the reformers with a pre text for introducing innovations." On returning from Annapolis HamUton went energeticaUy to work to bring New York into Hne with the movement. On the face of it, the situation looked hopeless. Governor Clinton, a man of the Ulster breed, who possessed to the fuUest extent the inflexible character which goes with that breed, was opposed to anything that would abate State suprem acy, and he was now assured of that solid support to his position which is supphed by large vested in terests identified with it. The State had created a tariff system of its own: custom-houses had been established; coUectors, surveyors, gaugers, weighers, and tidewaiters had been appointed. Thus there was a phalanx of active pohticians committed by their class interest against any transfer of commer cial control to the Federal Government and, as usual 182 ALEXANDER HAMILTON when a class interest is imperiUed, they invoked the spirit of liberty with ardent zeal. An argument energetically pressed in the pamphlet controversies of the period was that repubhcanism had never flourished except in small states, and the creation of "a mighty Continental legislature" would be the doom of American liberty. A writer who signed himseH "Sydney" made rather a plausible argument from EngHsh history, to the effect that a despotic oligarchy would be erected if Congress were allowed to levy taxes through its own agents. HamUton threw himself into the fray, and in the election of 1786 he came forward personally as a candidate for the legislature. His ticket won at the polls in New York City through the warm sup port of the business community, but up-State senti ment was stUl strongly antifederal, and Governor Clinton was supported by a compact majority in both branches of the legislature. HamUton had but a small following on any test of party strength, but he was able to accomplish his main purpose, that of engaging the State in the national movement. He was able to do this by sheer dexterity of manage ment, in which he displayed that fine statesman ship which extracts success from untoward circum stances. To view the developments in their right relation it is important to bear in mind that Hamilton did not approve the scheme which Congress was urging. THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT 183 WhUe a member of Congress HamUton had opposed that scheme and voted against it, standing out in opposition to his own coUeagues from New York. In a letter to Governor Clinton at the time he jus tified his action on the ground that he could never consent to "attempts which must either faU in the execution or be productive of evil," and that he "would rather incur the negative inconveniences of delay than the positive mischiefs of injudicious ex pedients." This scheme was adopted by Congress, April 18, 1783, with the idea of wheedling the States into providing it with a definite source of revenue. By it the five-per-cent impost previously urged was abandoned, and instead of it there was proposed a schedule of specific duties on spirits, tea, coffee, sugar, and molasses, not to be continued longer than twenty-five years, the proceeds to be apphed to no other purpose than the discharge of the interest or principal of the debts contracted on the faith of the United States for supporting the war, the coUectors to be appointed by the States within which their duties were to be exercised, but "amenable to and removable by" Congress; and Congress was to ren der an annual account to the States of the proceeds of each of the specified articles. In Hamilton's judg ment this scheme feU immensely short of what the situation demanded, but it was the only national proposal then pending, and so he pressed it upon the attention of the legislature. It is, however, 184 ALEXANDER HAMILTON clear from what is now known of aU the circumstances that what this reaUy meant was simply a turn of the screw. In addition to handling an adverse State legisla ture, HamUton had also to handle an adverse Con gress. After leaving PhUadelphia in 1783 Congress had held a session at Princeton, one at Annapohs, and one at Trenton; but, tiring of a migratory Hfe, it settled down in New York City in 1785, and that continued to be the place of meeting until after the adoption of the new Constitution. In 1786 Congress issued a statement declaring that it could not recom mend any other scheme than the one proposed in 1783, and regretting that Maryland, Georgia, Rhode Island, and New York stiU refused to assent to a system "so long since and so repeatedly presented for their adoption." The attitude of New York was regarded by Congress as the decisive factor, and by sitting in New York City the members hoped to influence the action of the State legislature which also met there. In 1786 the legislature yielded suffi ciently to pass an act giving Congress the proceeds of the duties but reserving to the State "the sole power of levying and coUecting" them. This was a great disappointment to Congress, as meanwhUe other States had concurred and it now seemed that only New York stood in the way of the success of the plan. Congress therefore adopted resolutions declaring that the New York enactment was not a THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT 185 compHance with the plan proposed by Congress and urging Governor Clinton to reconvene the legislature to consider the subject again; but Clinton was im movable. When news came of the action of the Annapohs convention Congress was much disturbed by it, re garding it as stUl another hindrance to the adoption of the pending scheme. The caU for a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation was denounced as Ulegal, that being the proper function of Congress. This view was adopted by leading men in a number of States. There was no prospect of inducing Con gress to concur in the caU for the PhUadelphia con vention until the members were convinced that there was no hope that the New York Legislature could be persuaded to accept then financial scheme. The skffi with which HamUton managed the di verse elements of this comphcated situation so as to produce the result he desired finely displays his pohtical genius. The particulars deserve full con sideration, the more so since a confused account of what occurred has passed into history. WhUe other periods in his career were more brilliant, at no time was there such a rich and varied exhibition of his statesmanship as in this wonderful year of 1787. CHAPTER XIV THE WONDERFUL YEAR The session of 1787 of the New York Legislature lasted from January 12 to April 21. During most of this period Congress was in session almost along side. Members could therefore inform themselves directly of what was going on in State pohtics, and many of them were hsteners to HamUton's speeches. At that time colonial practice was stiU retained by the legislature. Its proceedings began with a speech from the governor to which an answer was voted by each house. This arrangement aUowed any ques tion to be made an issue forthwith ff such was the desire. HamUton was appointed a member of the com mittee to prepare the answer of the Assembly, and he reported a draft which simply declared that "the several important matters mentioned in your Excel lency's speech, and communicated in the papers that accompany it, shaU, in the course of the session, engage our serious attention." The Speaker, Rich ard Varick, moved an amendment expressing "ap probation of your ExceUency's conduct in not con vening the legislature at an earher period." This brought on an animated debate, in which feelings 186 THE WONDERFUL YEAR 187 excited by the struggle over the federal impost re ceived strong expression. Varick offered to with draw his motion, but objection was made. All this took place in committee of the whole, and it was finaUy decided that the committee should rise and report. During this stage of the controversy Ham Uton kept out of it, remarking that "he would reserve himseH on this subject until it came again before them, when he hoped to be enabled to offer such arguments as would strike with conviction the can did part of the House." The matter then went over untU January 19, when General Malcolm moved a further amendment noting the fact that the fed eral-revenue act, passed at the last session, had not been considered by Congress "as a compHance with their act of April, 1783," and declaring that "al though our inclination, as weU as the persuasion that it is the sentiment of our constituents, wiU dispose us on aU occasions to manifest the most respectful attention to the recommendations" of Congress, yet, in view of the expense and inconvenience which an extra session would have imposed, "we are of opinion that your ExceUency was justifiable in forbearing to convene the legislature until the time appointed by law." It would be a mistake to think that these amend ments were offered in a spirit of hostihty to HamU ton. Both Varick and Malcolm were members of the city delegation and were among Hamilton's per- 188 ALEXANDER HAMILTON sonal friends. Both were men of independent char acter and individual judgment, who formed and acted upon their own views. Varick had been General Schuyler's miHtary secretary early in the war, eventually becoming recording secretary to General Washington. He was Mayor Duane's judi cial coUeague in the city court, when that tribunal adopted HamUton's views of the supremacy of a national treaty over State law. In 1786 he was ap pointed with Samuel Jones to revise the State laws, which work has preserved his memory in the legal profession, whUe in general civic Hfe he is remem bered as a founder and president of the American Bible Society. Malcolm entered the war as colonel of a local regiment of infantry at the same time Hamilton entered as artillery captain. The rela tions of HamUton with both were so intimate that it is scarcely possible that he did not know just what they intended to do. Not until after Malcolm's amendment was offered did HamUton take part in the debate. He began by remarking: I have seen with regret the progress of this business, and it was my earnest wish to have avoided this present discussion. I saw with regret the first application of Congress to the governor, because it was easy to see that it involved a delicate dilemma: Either the governor, from consideration of inconvenience, might refuse to call the Assembly, which would derogate from the respect due to THE WONDERFUL YEAR 189' Congress; or he might call them, and by being brought together at an unreasonable period before the time -ap pointed by law for the purpose, they would meet with reluctance. . . . Hence it was that he had thought wise to omit any mention of the subject in the reply of the House to the governor's speech. "I thought," he said, "we might safely be sUent without any imphcation of censure on the governor. It was neither in my mind to condemn nor approve. I was only desirous of avoiding an interference in a constitutional ques tion, which belonged entirely to the province of the executive authority of the State, and about which I knew there would be a difference of opinion, even in this house. I submit it to the house, whether this was not a prudent course, and whether it is not to be lamented that the proposed amendment forces the discussion upon us. Constitutional questions are always dehcate; they should never be touched but from necessity." But since, in spite of his efforts, the matter had been brought forward and the House committed to an examination of the subject, it should be viewed in its full extent. He proceeded to depict in grave and impartial language the miseries of the situation and the impossibility of satisfactory action of any kind in such circumstances. On the pending ques tion he was, of course, defeated. Matters had gone so far that the CHnton men insisted upon distinct 190 ALEXANDER HAMILTON approbation of the governor's decision. Malcolm's amendment was voted down, although Varick voted for it. Malcolm in his turn voted for Varick's amendment, which was carried by a vote of 36 to 9. HamUton voted against both amendments, but he had made it clear that he did so in no spirit of antag onism, but for reasons which deeply impressed the House and influenced its subsequent action. Although the CHnton men carried their point, that made them the more desirous that their action should not be taken to mean that they acted in any spirit of opposition to the Continental Congress or to federal authority. As to that, they were entirely sincere. Popular history has not done justice to Governor CHnton's motives. On October 14, 1783, he wrote to Washington: "I am fully persuaded, unless the powers of the National Council are en larged, and that body better supported than it is at present, all their measures will discover such feeble ness and want of energy, as wiU stain us with dis grace, and expose us to the worst of evUs." If his subsequent behavior now seems to have been incon sistent with such professions, it never wore that appearance to him, for he steadily exerted his influ ence in favor of State support to the authority of the Confederation. He was not opposed to grant ing to Congress the sources of revenue it demanded. The point on which he insisted was that the agency should be wholly State agency; that a foreign set of THE WONDERFUL YEAR 191. tax-coUectors should not be intruded within the sphere of the State, to impair its jurisdiction within its own area and possibly to clash with its author ity. As he viewed the case, that was the very issue over which the War of Independence had been fought. If the States should now waive their inde pendence in favor of the Continental Congress, why should they not have done so in favor of the British Parhament, whose demands were, in fact, smaU in amount in comparison with those now being pressed ? Such views were very generaUy held among the elder statesmen, the men who had been leaders of Ameri can resistance at a time when Hamilton was a chUd. Clinton's attitude in New York was no other than that of Samuel Adams in Massachusetts and Patrick Henry in Virginia. On one point the CHnton men were entirely correct, namely, that grant of authority to the Fed eral Government to operate within the States by its own agents would be incompatible with State sov ereignty. HamUton admitted this with a frankness which the Congressional pohticians regarded as in judicious. Their line was to contend that the grant was so carefuUy limited that there could be no actual impairment of State sovereignty. The line of the Clinton men was to profess entire willingness to comply with the wishes of Congress, provided the sovereignty of the State was respected. It was, of course, known both to the members of Congress 192 ALEXANDER HAMILTON and to the Clinton men that HamUton had been opposed to the Congressional scheme, but that did not prejudice its chances now because the ground of his opposition was that it did not go far enough, and this would naturaUy suggest to the Clinton men the expediency of acceding to the Congressional demand and thus ending a troublesome agitation. But their leaders were too sincerely attached to the principle of State sovereignty to yield on that point. At the same time the Congressmen could not but feel that HamUton had made the strongest possible presenta tion of their case. The most cogent argument they could now offer was that if New York still insisted upon its modification of the Congressional scheme the concurrence of the other States would go for nothing, and the whole weary business of getting assent to the plan would have to begin over again. Hamilton pressed that consideration with great force. "The immediate consequences of accepting our grant," he told the Assembly, "would be a relin quishment of the grants of other States. They must take up the matter anew, and do the work over again to accommodate it to our standard. In order to anchor our State, would it have been wise to set twelve, or at least eleven, others afloat?" IncidentaUy he portrayed with great power the miserable situation into which the country was drifting. AU factions felt that anxiety, however obstinate their attachment to their particular prin- THE WONDERFUL YEAR 193 ciples. No attempt was made to reply to Hamil ton's argument, but acceptance of the Congressional plan of impost was defeated by a vote of 36 to 21. The decision was rendered in such sUence that among the New York Federalists it became a say ing that "the impost was strangled by a band of mutes." The sUence was a recognition of the ex treme seriousness of the situation, and that was just what Hamilton aimed to produce. The effect was to convince the members of Congress that every thing had been done that could be done to get New York to accept their plan, and they were now quite ready to favor the movement for a federal conven tion. At the same time the Clinton men were now keen to show that in doing what they had done they meant no disrespect to the Continental Congress, and were ready to make concessions so long as the principle of State sovereignty was not violated. HamUton promptly avaUed himseH of this favor- abfe situation, and now events moved rapidly. The impost was defeated on February 15. On the 17th HamUton offered a resolution instructing the New York delegates to move in Congress for its recom mendation to the States to send representatives to a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation. The resolution was promptly adopted by the Assem bly, but action was delayed in the Senate for one day, and concurrence was then barely obtained, there being a majority of just one vote. On the 194 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 21st the matter was taken up in Congress, and a resolution was adopted recommending the States to send delegates to the PhUadelphia convention, but whUe adopting the suggestions of the Annapohs address as to place and time the purpose was some what differently stated. According to the Annapo lis address, drafted by HamUton, the purpose was "to render the constitution of the Federal Govern ment adequate to the exigencies of the Union." Ac cording to the Congressional resolution, it was "for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation." On the 26th, on Hamilton's motion, the New York Assembly adopted a resolu tion for the appointment of five delegates to the PhUadelphia convention; but the Senate reduced the number to three, and in joint convention Yates, Hamilton, and Lansing were elected by baUot. Both from his personal eminence and from the fact that he was the mover of the resolution, Hamilton could not have been omitted from the Hst of dele gates, but care was taken to hobble him by giving him tayo rigid— State-sovereignty men as his col leagues. The arrangement was so disagreeable to HamUton that toward the end of the session he made an attempt to have two additional commis sioners chosen, so as to make the number five, as he had originally planned, but on that point he was defeated. Nevertheless, he had attained his main object, through his abffity to use as his instruments THE WONDERFUL YEAR 195 a hostile State legislature and a reluctant Congress. Up to that time the success of the movement for a convention had been very doubtful. The example and influence of Virginia had in a short time caused the appointment of delegates by five other States; but then the movement seemed to be exhausted. It was the adhesion of New York and the sanction of Congress that made the business go. All the remaining States now sent delegates, except Rhode Island; but that did not matter much, as its reputa tion was then such that it was nicknamed "Rogues' Island." In addition to his successful pilotage of the con vention movement, Hamilton accomphshed much important legislation during this memorable session. The proscriptive legislation he had assaUed in his Phocion letters was now wiped off the statute books. In urging the repeal of aU acts inconsistent with the treaty of peace, he reiterated his old contention that the judges were bound to apply the treaty, no mat ter what State law might direct. He said: "Their powers wiU be the same, whether this law was passed or not," but he held that "it would be impolitic to leave them to the dUemma, either of infringing the treaty to enforce the particular laws of the State, or to explain away the laws of the State to give effect to the treaty." This was strong doctrine to address to an assembly devoted to State sovereignty. And so also, in another important matter, he took 196 ALEXANDER HAMILTON a line so apt to irritate State pride that no pohtician would have ventured upon it who determined his principles by their popularity. Hamilton advocated recognition of the State of Vermont, although it had been formed in territory claimed by New York. The speech in which he presented his views is a fine exhibition of the breadth of Hamilton's statesman ship. The matter had been previously discussed in the spirit of a conveyancer, with reference to ancient grants and titles. Discarding such considerations, HamUton took up the fundamental objects of gov ernment, and from these he drew cogent reasons against any attempt to coerce the people of Ver mont. The entire frankness with which HamUton declared his principles, at any stage of the tide of popular sentiment, is very striking. Anything like dissimulation was foreign to his nature throughout his entire career up to its closing years, when there was a decline that wiU be noted in its place. AU his achievements were due to his intellectual power, without aid from any of the arts of cajolery. It has been remarked that Hamilton did not take as prominent a part in the. PhUadelphia convention as might have been expected, and it is certainly the case that he did not figure among its leaders, to the extent that might have been expected from his pre vious activity. In Jefferson's papers is preserved a record of some table-talk in which George Mason, a Virginia delegate, related that "Yates and Lansing THE WONDERFUL YEAR 197 never voted in a single instance with HamUton, who was so much mortified at it that he went home." The notion that Hamilton was snuffed out by Yates and Lansing shows that Mason did not understand the situation. Nothing could daunt HamUton, and he could not have been surprised or mortified that Yates and Lansing opposed him; that is just what they had been put there to do. It would be absurd to think that such a familiar situation had bereft Hamilton of the activity, shrewdness, dexterity, and practical power of which he had just before made such a signal display. The true explanation of HamUton's periods of ab sence from the convention is very simple — he had to make his hving. He was not situated like the plan tation statesmen, whose business affairs could be looked after by their overseers while they were away; his income depended upon his personal efforts. At the time the convention met he had three chU dren, the youngest just a year old; another chUd was born the foUowing spring. To provide for this growing family he had no resource save his profes sional practice. HamUton was always disposed to go to greater lengths of personal sacrifice in the pubhc service than his famUy and his friends ap proved; but the pubhc motive could not operate strongly in the case of the convention, for it soon appeared that where his efforts were most needed was in his own State and not in the convention. As 198 ALEXANDER HAMILTON soon as it became plain that the convention intended to discard the Articles of Confederation, Lansing and Yates withdrew. The differences which broke out in the convention related chiefly to the demands of the smaU States, which feared that in a national system the large States would override them unless they were aUowed special security. The adjustment of this matter was the main problem the convention had to solve, and in this New York had no interest apart from Virginia and Massachusetts, which in the convention, as in the Continental Congress, were in the habit of working together. The legend that has grown up, to the effect that radical differ ences existed as to principles, is a throw-back from a later period, when party divisions had taken place in the conduct of the government. In 1787 the model all had in mind was the EngHsh constitutional system. Nobody then thought that there was any important difference between Madison and HamUton in their political principles. They were then work ing in close accord. Hamilton felt at hberty to be occasional in his attendance, although he went as often as his professional engagements would aUow. He took part in organizing the convention, May 27, and remained until June 29. He appears to have been again in Philadelphia on July 13, and he took part in convention proceedings on August 13 and for some days later, leaving in time to reach New York on August 20. He reappeared in the conven- THE WONDERFUL YEAR 199 tion on September 6, and stayed on to the final ses sion, which took place on the 17th. MeanwhUe there was much in the New York sit uation to require his attention. Lansing and Yates withdrew from the convention on July 5, justifying their action in a letter to Governor CHnton, which was in effect a campaign document on the State- sovereignty side. On the 21st HamUton made a brief reply in a New York newspaper, in which he criticised Clinton's antagonism to the convention, writing on the assumption that Clinton had inspired the withdrawal of Lansing and Yates. HamUton was at once accused of having made a wanton attack upon the governor of the State. He made a sharp reply, asserting his right to unmask "the pernicious intrigue of a man high in office to preserve power and emolument to himseH, at the expense of the Union, the peace and the happiness of America." As for the grounds on which he criticised the gov ernor's course, he declared his readiness "to bring forward to pubhc view the sources of his informar tion, and the proofs of his charge," should the gov ernor deny having "made use of the expressions imputed to him." Clinton apparently took the position that it was beneath his dignity to notice this challenge. But an association of Federal Repubhcans was formed, with General John Lamb at its head, to defend the principle of State sovereignty. The opposition to 200 ALEXANDER HAMILTON the new Constitution was so weU prepared for action that on the very day, September 24, that a copy reached New York for pubhcation, a letter attacking the proposed system of government appeared in the New York Journal, the organ of the State adminis tration. It was signed "Cato," but it was well known that CHnton himseH was the author. In aUusion to this signature, HamUton repHed over the signature of "Caesar," by which he meant to suggest that sheer obstinacy of the Cato type played into the hands of demagogy of the Caesar type. The aUu sion was too far-fetched to be understanded of the people, and it exposed HamUton to rejoinders in which he was put on the defensive. HamUton had no turn for humor or satire. The few examples found in his writings are the only instances in which his pen suffered from awkwardness. His "Caesar" articles were a false move, of which his adversaries took prompt advantage. Clinton, as "Cato," con tinued to address the pubhc with effect, and his attacks on the new Constitution were strongly rein forced by a series of able articles by "Brutus," which signature was known to be that used by Robert Yates, judge of the State supreme court and one of the delegates who had withdrawn from the Philadelphia convention. At this time not only was HamUton getting rather the worst of it in the argument, but his pride was stung by some of the personal slurs put into cir- THE WONDERFUL YEAR 201 culation. He wrote to Washington that "among many contemptible artifices practiced by them they have had recourse to an insinuation that I palmed myseff upon you, and that you dismissed me from your famUy. This I confess hurts my feelings." This had reference to the way Hamilton had thrown up his position as Washington's miHtary secretary during the war, an affair in which he displayed boyish vanity and which now came back to plague him. Washington, with characteristic magnanim ity, at once wrote a letter declaring "that both charges are entirely unfounded." Before Washington's reply was received HamUton had regained his poise. A trait of character dis played throughout his whole career was that no shock of circumstances could stun his mirM or para lyze its activities. His spirits then rose, his mind was then clearest in its vision, and his powers at tained their greatest efficiency. He now took action which put his opponents on the defensive and kept them there. He stripped them of their title of Fed eral Repubhcan so completely that they themselves had to accept the name and place of Antifederalists to which he assigned them. This huge change was accomphshed by The Federalist, the first number of which appeared on October 27, in the Independent Journal, over the pen-name of "Publius." At one stroke HamUton lifted the controversy from the smoky atmosphere of passion into the clear Hght of 202 ALEXANDER HAMILTON reason. "It seems," he said, "to have been re served to the people of this country, by their con duct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to de pend for their pohtical constitutions on accident and force." He went on: "If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind." This was certainly putting the matter on a very high and broad plane, which he went on to survey with appropriate dignity of style. Upon these no ble premises he announced his intention, "in a se ries of papers, to discuss the foUowing interesting particulars": The utility of the UNION to your political prosperity — The insufficiency of the present Confederation to pre serve that Union — The necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one proposed, to the attain ment of this object — The conformity of the proposed Constitution to the true principles of republican govern ment — Its analogy to your own State constitution — and lastly, The additional security which its adoption will afford to the preservation of that species of government, to liberty, and to property. THE WONDERFUL YEAR 203 This large project, carried out in the midst of electioneering activities, in addition to engagements arising from law practice, was, in fact, more than ful filled by the actual performance. The task was completed in eighty-five letters appearing in the space of seven months. These casual essays, rap idly produced for immediate service, alone among all the voluminous writings of the period, have sur vived to become a pohtical classic. It is related by bis son that Hamilton wrote the memorable first number in the cabin of a sloop while returning to New York from Albany, where he had been attend ing to cases before the State supreme court. The labor of carrying on the series amidst his other en gagements was so burdensome that he asked help from his friends, and both Jay and Madison con tributed, but the great majority of the articles were by HamUton. Their power secured immediate at tention, and so great was the pubhc interest that even the New York Journal, the organ of the State administration, reprinted a number. The regular pubhcation was made alternately in the Independent Journal and in the Daily Advertiser, and portions were frequently copied by journals in other States. In New York City the Federalists swept aU before them, but elsewhere Clinton's control of the situa tion was unbroken. When the convention met in June, 1788, to pass upon the question of adoption, Governor CHnton was chosen to preside, and it was 204 ALEXANDER HAMILTON then computed that out of the fifty-seven delegates the FederaHsts could count assuredly upon only eleven. The debates lasted for three weeks, HamU ton taking an active and prominent part. His oppo nents found it easier to say that he was dishing up The Federalist again than to reply to his arguments. The Antifederalists were in an awkward situation. Their leaders could not hold that the existing system of general government was satisfactory, and yet there was no practical alternative to acceptance of the new Constitution. WhUe they delayed action by New York, enough States had ratified the Consti tution to put it into effect, and eventually they gave way. On July 26 ratification was carried by 30 yeas to 27 nays. Governor Clinton wrote to General Lamb that HamUton had threatened that in case of defeat the southern end of the State would adopt the Constitu tion as an independent State, leaving the interior counties without any outlet to the sea for their commerce. It is certain that in New York City support of the new Constitution was overwhelmingly strong. Three days before the final action of the convention a grand popular demonstration took place. The plans had been made and the arrange ments supervised by Major Pierre L'Enfant, a French engineer, who during the war had been an aide of Baron Steuben. A man of fine taste, an enduring memorial of which is the way in which he THE WONDERFUL YEAR 205 laid out the city of Washington, he arranged the Federalist procession with a splendor of effect that can never be surpassed, now that machinery has taken over so many of the old handicrafts. The blacksmiths began and completed an anchor on their stage during the march, under a banner inscribed: "Forge me strong, finish me neat, I soon shall moor a Federal fleet." The saU-makers, too, exercised their craft, with the motto: "Fit me well, and rig me neat, And join me to the Federal fleet." The stone-masons displayed a temple supported by thirteen pUlars, three of which were significantly shown as unfinished, and above them the motto: " The foundation is firm, the materials are good, Each pillar's cemented with patriots' blood." AU trades, degrees, professions, and interests were represented in the procession, but the chief feature was a fuU-rigged ship, the Hamilton, fuUy manned, armed, and equipped. CHAPTER XV A BREACH IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME The adoption pi the Constitution, by the requisite number of States barely insured a trial of the new scheme of government; whether it would make good was very doubtful. It satisfied nobody, and was accepted by its best friends simply on the principle that half a loaf is better than no bread. Its enemies were active and determined. Patrick Henry, of Virginia, expressed their general sentiment when he said that he would "seize the first moment for shaking off the yoke in a constitutional way." The original idea of the Antifederalist leaders had been to work through the Continental Congress. It was probably only in the way of precaution that Hamil ton again became a member of that body in Febru ary, 1788, but its proceedings turned out to be quite unimportant. In the autumn of 1788 a few mem bers attended; gradually they feU off and the Con gress finally came to an end without adjournment or any formal action. The method now adopted by the Antifederahsts was to agitate for the meeting of another convention to revise the work of the Philadelphia convention. Patrick Henry's influence carried a resolution to that 206 THE CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME 207 effect through the Virginia Assembly by a vote of more than two to one. In New York the opponents of the new Constitution revived the old association of "Federal RepubHcans" under the leadership of General John Lamb, and an address to the several States was issued in favor of electing delegates to another convention. Governor Clinton called a special session of the legislature, and in his message asserted that the Constitution had been ratified " on the express confidence, that the exercise of the dif ferent powers would be suspended until it should undergo a revision by a general convention of the States." No positive action was taken by the legis lature, but New York took no part in the Presi dential election, the appointment of electors being defeated by obstinate disagreement between the Senate and the Assembly. WhUe the opponents of the Constitution were planning to overthrow it, its adherents were dis turbed by reports that Washington was unwiffing to serve as President. Hamilton regarded this as a vital matter, and he entered into a correspondence with Washington, remarkable for its candor and urgency. Washington wrote: "It is my great and sole desire to Hve and die in peace and retirement on my own farm." HamUton's rejoinder was vn- tually that he had no right to give himseH that indulgence. "In a matter so essential to the well- being of society as the prosperity of a newly-insti- 208 ALEXANDER HAMILTON tuted government, a citizen of so much consequence as yourself to its success has no option but to lend his services if called for. Permit me to say, it would be inglorious, in such a situation, not to hazard the glory, however great, which he might have previously acquired." Hamilton went on to point out that Washington had committed himself by recommend ing the new Constitution for adoption, so he would not escape blame if it should turn out to be a faUure, which it would be without his aid. Washington took all this in good part, telling HamUton he was "par ticularly glad that you have dealt thus freely and like a friend." It was not in Washington's nature to refuse to do his duty, and HamUton applied just the kind of pressure to which he would yield, but he thought it hard that after eight years of campaign ing he should not be aUowed to retire. He was en tirely sincere in declaring: "If I should be prevaUed upon to accept it, the acceptance would be attended with more diffidence and reluctance than I ever ex perienced before in my life." HamUton would not allow him any loophole; his acceptance was indis pensable; circumstances left no option. "It is no comphment to say, that no other man can sufficiently unite the public opinion, or can give the requisite weight to the office, in the commencement of the government." The same logic by which Hamilton engaged Wash ington to public service also engaged himself should THE CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME 209 Washington summon him, which he did at the out set of his administration. WhUe_j)assing through PhUadelphiaL W^hnagton-saw JLoheEt Morris_and inquired whether he would be willing to resume charge of the Treasury Department. Morris de clined, but strongly recommended Hamilton, and soon after reaching New York Washington offered HamUton the post. In accepting it HamUton went against the advice of some of his best friends. Gou verneur Morris warned him against taking a position in which he would have to bear calumny and perse cution. "Of that," Hamilton repHed, "I am aware; but I am convinced it is the situation in which I can do most good." Robert Troup, who was Hamilton's closest friend at the New York bar, was asked by him to wind up his law business. "I remonstrated with him," wrote Troup, in a letter giving an ac count of the incident; "he admitted that his accep tance would be likely to injure his family, but said there was a strong impression on his mind that in the financial department he could essentially pro mote the weHare of the countiyTaSdlffislmjpfession," united with Washington's request, forbade his re fusal of the appointment." As it turned out, the AntifederaHsts were not strong enough to overthrow the Constitution, but they were able to give it a twist that defeated the main feature of the original design, which was to complete and establish the executive authority that 210 ALEXANDER HAMILTON had been aHeady introduced, and at the same time erect barriers against Congressional invasion of ex ecutive functions. The miserable results of admin istration of pubhc services by committees and boards appointed by the Continental Congress had forced the creation of executive departments, and it was the practice for the heads of those departments to go before the Congress with plans and recommenda tions, like a business manager appearing before a board of dnectors. In accepting the office of Secre tary of the Treasury, HamUton expected to have ^the same facilities ol access to Congress^ as Robert Morris had possessed. The act creating the Tfea=~ kuy Department was drawn on the same Hnes as phe resolution of February 7, 1781, creating the office of Superintendent of Finance, and like it gave (authority "to digest and report plans." An attack was made in Congress on this clause, which resulted in action excluding the Secretary of the Treasury from the floor and condemning him to work in the lobby. This alteration of the constitutional scheme has had and is having profound consequences. To it must be ascribed the singular degradation that has taken place in the position of the House of Repre sentatives, and, indeed, the whole constitutional scheme was turned awry by it, which fact must be aUowed for in reading The Federalist. It may seem that its estimates of relative power and importance in the various organs of authority are sadly out of THE CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME 211 true reckoning, but it should be considered that the procedure then in mind differed from that actually introduced. It is a remarkable fact that this change was due more to James Madison than any one else, and it was the first manifestation of a variance that soon developed into open hostihty. Up to that time HamUton and Madison had been working in friendly accord. Hamilton had no idea that there was any important difference in their views on public pohcy. He was dehghted when Madison was elected to the House, and counted upon his aid. In 1792 HamU ton wrote to a friend: When I accepted the office I now hold, it was under full persuasion, that from similarity of thinking, conspiring with personal good-will, I should have the firm support of Mr. Madison in the general course of my administration. Aware of the intrinsic difficulties of the situation, and of the powers of Mr. Madison, I do not believe I should have accepted under a different supposition. In the First Congress Madison occupied a position of singular influence. In addition to his high rank as a leader in the. movement for a new constitution he was regarded as the possessor of Washington's confidence and as an exponent of the pohcy of the Administration. At Washington's request Madison drafted for him his rephes to the addresses of the House and the Senate at the opening of the session. 212 ALEXANDER HAMILTON He took the leading part in carrying a series of amendments to the Constitution to remove some of the objections that had been urged against it. This action was very efficacious in allaying hostility to the new Constitution, and thereafter many who had been its opponents now aimed at getting con trol of the new government and shaping procedure under the Constitution. When opposition to the government formed on this new line, Madison him seH joined it. Hamilton was slow in recognizing this change of attitude, and he gave Madison his confidence while Madison was making plans for his defeat. The first evidence of Madison's opposition came during the struggle over the organization of the gov ernment, but even then, although perplexed by it, HamUton faUed to comprehend its significance. When the business of creating the executive depart ments was taken in hand, there was at the outset a sharp contention over the question whether the heads of departments should be removable by the President. On such issues the Antifederahsts as such had no distinct policy, but there was so much uneasiness, suspicion, and anxiety that it was easy to stir up opposition on any issue that might be raised. The situation was favorable to the activities of an experienced politician who was attached to the kind of government originally carried on by the Continental Congress, and who was bent upon rein- THE CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME 213 stating it, so far as possible, under the new Consti tution. Elbridge Gerry was a member of the Con tinental Congress from 1776 to 1785. As a delegate to the Philadelphia convention he had opposed the main features of the new Constitution, and he was among those who refused to sign the report recom mending it to the States for adoption. In the de bate on the removal power he introduced a style of argument that has flourished in Congress ever since — the use of slur and innuendo against people not present to defend themselves. He dwelt upon the possibility that the President might be influenced by other than pubhc motives if aUowed to remove from office in his own discretion. "Perhaps the officer is not good-natured enough; he makes a^., ungraceful bow, or does it left leg foremost; this is most unbe coming in a great officer at the President's levee. Now, because he is so unfortunate as not to be so good a dancer as he is a worthy officer, he must be removed." Madison met this onslaught by the sen sible argument that the President could not be held to responsibUity unless he could control his sub ordinates, and carried the house with him by a decisive majority. What Gerry was reaUy after was to obtain for Congress the same direct custody of pubhc funds that the Continental Congress had formerly pos sessed and had reluctantly surrendered when Robert Morris was made Superintendent of Finance. When 214 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Morris resigned in disgust in 1784, Congress put the treasury in the hands of jthree commissioners jps^ pointed and supervised by it. Gerry now labored^ hard to perpetuate this arrangement, arguing that td~aHow one man to hold an office of sucb~power Slight be too great a trial to any one's ffitegnly and would at least give continual reason to suspect misconduct, thus repelling popular confidence in the new government. On this issue Gerry met a crushing defeat, for it was notorious that the board system of treasury management had been accom panied by confusion, extravagance, and dishonesty. Gerry was overwhelmed by instances given by mem bers '^otn then personal knowledge. Wadsworth, of Connetl'^ut, described the disorder that existed in the records of the treasury board at that very time, making it impossible to check their accounts, and he declared that they had handled the finances in such a way as to double the national debt. When they were defeated in the attempt to per petuate the board system, it became the object of the Antifederalists to reduce the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury. Page, of Virginia, at tacked the authority to "digest and report plans" as an attempt to give the administration undue in fluence over the House. Page himseH was a new figure in the national field, although he had been active and prominent in his own State. The opponents of the new government at once feU THE CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME 215 in Hne with him, and did everything they could to excit^susj)icion_and^larm as to the purposes of the national leaders,. Gerry declared : "If the doctrine of having prime and great ministers of state was once weU estabhshed, he did not doubt but that we should soon see them distinguished by a green or red rib bon, or other insignia of court favor and patronage." The debate on the merits of the case went heav- Uy against the antis. It was pointed out that the true way to keep the secretary from exercising undue influence over the House was to confront him with his responsibffities in the presence of the House, exposed to its inquiry and to its criticism. Fisher Ames observed that merely to caU for in formation would not be advantageous to the House. "It wiU be no mark of inattention or neglect, if he take time to consider the questions you propound; but if you make it his duty to furnish you plans and he neglect to perform it, his conduct or capacity is virtuaUy impeached." Sedgwick, with prophetic vision, declared: "Make your officer responsible, and the presumption is that plans and information are properly digested; but if he can secrete him seH behind the curtain, he might create a noxious influence, and not be answerable for the information he gives." Argument of this tenor was carrying the House with it, and doubtless the clause would have been adopted in its original form, had not Madison altered 216 ALEXANDER HAMILTON the whole situation by favoring a compromise, to be effected by changing the word "report" into "prepare," so that the secretary should have author- ity to "digest and prepare plans" but should no longer have authority to report them to the House, as had been Robert Morris's practice. Madison did not say that there was anything wrong about that practice; he said he did not beheve that the danger apprehended by some reaUy existed, but he admitted that "there is a smaU possibility, though it is but smaU, that an officer may derive a weight from this circumstance, and have some degree of influence upon the dehberations of the legislature." The position which Madison then occupied made his advice decisive, and the change of phrase was agreed to without a division. In considering the nature of the influences which brought about this profound alteration of the con stitutional scheme, it should be noted that it was favored by a school of political thought according to which the principle of the separation of powers as laid down by Montesquieu in his Spirit of the Laws required not only that the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government should be sep arately constituted, but that furthermore they should be entirely disconnected. The only logical formulation of this doctrne in eighteenth-century constitution-making is contained in the French constitution of 1791, which makes it the exclusive THE CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME 217 function of the national legislative assembly "to propose and enact the laws; the King can only invite the legislative body to take the matter under consideration." Very different is the language of the American Constitution as to the functions of the President. "He shaU, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to then consideration such measures as he shaU judge necessaiy and expedi ent." This power of executive recommendation was that which had been developed under the Con federation by the creation of executive departments, which system the Constitution was expected by HamUton to confirm. One of the points made by the opponents of the new Constitution was that it violated the principles of constitutional government as stated by Montesquieu. LogicaUy, it is only fair to say that the point was weU taken. The truth is that the framers of the Constitution were not animated by doctrinaire notions of government but by the need of practical measures to arrest the drift to anarchy and to establish national authority. The model they had in mind was the English consti tution, and for theoretical exposition of it they looked to Blackstone's Commentaries and not to Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. Nor is there any evidence that doctrinaire opinion of the Montes quieu type formed any considerable element of Anti- federalist opinion. The force which that possessed 218 ALEXANDER HAMILTON was derived from the prejudices and interests of local politics. Its favorite citation from Montes quieu was his dictum that "it is natural to a repubhc to have only a smaU territory; otherwise it cannot long subsist." To this argument, which was urged by Clinton, HamUton made a strong reply in No. 9 of The Federalist, on "The Union as a Safeguard against Domestic Disturbances." It may be added that this particular doctrine of Montesquieu was strongly condemned by Jefferson in 1801, when he bluntly characterized it as "a falsehood." If Madison accepted Montesquieu's doctrine of the separation of the powers, his action in shutting out the Administration from direct access to Congress with legislative proposals was logical and consistent. But as a matter of fact he did not accept that doc trine. To refute it was one of the tasks he assumed in his contributions to The Federalist. In Nos. 47 and 48 he examined at length the constitutional significance to be properly aUowed to the doctrine of the separation of the powers. With a logical evasiveness rather characteristic of his mentality he did not attempt to state or analyze Montesquieu's own formulation of his doctrine, but, after mention ing that Montesquieu derived the doctrine from his study of the British constitution, he remarked then : "Let us recur to the source from which the maxim was drawn." He then proceeded to give an account of the British constitution, which is really Black- THE CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME 219 stone's and not Montesquieu's, and in that way figured out that the principle of separation "does not require that the legislative, executive, and ju diciary departments should be whoUy unconnected with each other." On the contrary, he argued that, "unless these departments be so far connected and blended as to give each a constitutional control over the others, the degree of separation which the maxim requires, as essential to a free government, can never in practice be duly maintained." Truer words were never written, as the whole course of American pohtics abundantly attests. Why, then, did Madison violate his own principles, to bring about an arrangement that in effect threw the new Congress back into the dirty ruts of the Continental Congress? This is a question that has bothered his biographers. GaiUard Hunt's masterly Life of James Madison candidly admits that " Madi son at this period of his career often found himseH in a position foreign to his former pohtical habits," and that his course was steered by calculations of expediency rather than by principle. The truth of the matter appears to be that Madison was more notable for keenness of inteffigence than strength of character. Fisher Ames, in his private corre spondence at this period, while speaking with great respect of Madison's abilities, noted that he was very timid on any point affecting Virginia politics, "whose murmurs, if louder than a whisper, make Mr. 220 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Madison's heart quake." HamUton had as great, and probably greater, antagonism to encounter in New York pohtics, but nothing could make his heart quake. His way of meeting opposition was to confront it and overthrow it by superior force of argument. Madison betook himseH to tactics and cajolery. Examination of his correspondence and of his course in Congress at this period leaves no doubt that his main consideration was to please the home districts. With this purpose in view, the question of the site of the national capital took the lead over everything else in Madison's mind. As a member of the Continental Congress he had tried hard to defeat the selection of New York as a meet ing-place, and as a member of the new Congress he was bent upon getting away from New York as soon as possible. His pohtics now pivoted upon that issue. Senator Maclay's diary notes that on the very day General St. Clair came out against the Potomac site Madison made a motion to reduce St. Clair's salary as governor of the Western Terri tory, although previously he had favored a larger amount. A man playing this sort of pohtics would be naturaUy unwilling to let so able and forceful a speaker as HamUton reach the floor of the House if he could prevent it. Probably he did not act in a spirit of hostility to Hamilton as a man or as an THE CONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME 221 officer, but to HamUton as a New York politician. He pointed out that the way was left open for the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before the House whenever it should see fit to caU him, and there are indications that HamUton beheved that considera tions of convenience would tend to maintain the practice that had been developed in the Confedera tion period with manifest benefit to the character of the government. His own sanguine temperament probably helped to mislead him in his estimate of the situation. At any rate he was so completely in the dark as to Madison's intentions that he assumed that the confidential intimacy that had continued throughout years of struggle for the new Constitution was stiU unbroken and that Madison stUl adhered to the principles he then professed. On the cardinal principle of HamUton^financial policy^ the assump- tioh by the national government of the debts con tracted by the States during the war,T3amUtonirad no doubt whatever of Madison's support, for as a member of the Continental Congress Madison had strongly advocated assumption and during the sit tings of the constitutional convention had again de clared himseH in favor of it. HamUton seems to have had no suspicion that the violent opposition to assumption that had developed in Virginia had swung Madison into line with it, and Madison seems to have been careful not to disclose his change of 222 ALEXANDER HAMILTON views. On October 12, 1789, HamUton wrote to Madison: I don't know how it was, but I took it for granted that you had left town earlier than I did; else I should have found an opportunity, after your adjournment, to con verse with you on the subjects committed to me by the House of Representatives. It is certainly important that a plan as complete and as unexceptionable as possible should be matured by the next meeting of Congress; and for this purpose it could not but be useful that there should be a comparison and concentration of ideas, of those whose duty leads them to a contemplation of the subject. As I lost the opportunity of a personal com munication, may I ask of your friendship, to put to paper and send me your thoughts on such objects as may have occurred to you, for an addition to our revenue, and also as to any modifications of the public debt, which could be made consistent with good faith — the interest of the public and of the creditors. Madison's reply to this has not been preserved. It must have been indefinite, for Hamilton seems stiU to have counted upon Madison's support; but when his plan was actuaUy presented to Congress, HamU ton was chagrined and mortified to find that Madi son was flatly opposed to every feature of it. CHAPTER XVI HAMILTON'S RECOMMENDATIONS DEFEATED Although HamUton took an active part in the arrangements for setting up the new government, he did not take office until near the close of the first session. In the creative enactments the Treasury Department came last, but Washington waited until the list was complete before making any of his cabinet appointments, and HamUton was the first to_ be , comm js^oned— September 2, 1789;" Then foUowed Henry Knox, as Secretary of War and of the Navy, September 12; Thomas Jefferson, Secre tary of State; and Edmund Randolph, Attorney- General, September 26. Jefferson, who was then in France, did not assume the duties of his office until March 21, 1790. Besides these cabinet officers there was a postmaster-general, but he was then considered a purely business functionary who was not consulted upon matters of general pohcy. The office was not raised to cabinet rank until 1829. Shortly after HamUton took office the House resolved that "an adequate provision for the sup port of the public credit" should be made, and the Secretary of the Treasury was directed "to prepare 223 224 ALEXANDER HAMILTON a plan for that purpose and to report the same to the House at its next meeting." The House soon after adjourned untU January, 1790. MeanwhUe HamUton was to organize his office, digest and for mulate his plans, aU of which he did with a thorough- ness'that made his arrangements sohd and durable. Doubtless his old commercial experience and his recent banking experience were now of great value to him. The confusion and disorder in which he found the Treasury Department were forthwith removed and a system of accounts was introduced that provided clearness and accuracy of statement. It soon had to undergo a hostUe and exacting scru tiny, but it passed unscathed through every test, and it has remained as the permanent basis of treasury methods. It may be doubted whether in aU the world's his tory any statesman save Alexander HamUton has had to cope with so great a task with such smaU resources as he could command when he framed his plans to lift the nation out of bankruptcy and es tablish the pubH&^crediL. Default in interest upon the foreign loans had gone on for years, and pubhc opinion — demorahzed by paper emissions and peri odical scaling of obhgations — had become indifferent to the situation. The domestic debt was enormous in amount and was so much beyond the value re ceived for it that the feeling was wide-spread that there was little equity in the claims of holders. In RECOMMENDATIONS DEFEATED 225 every State there was an alert opposition, strong both in the reputation of its leaders and in the vol ume of popular support, ready to jump upon any proposal running counter to the vulgar prejudices and distorted standards of the times. The member ship of Congress naturaUy tended to reflect the clash of opinion going on throughout the country, and the risks of this situation were aggravated by the pres ence and activity of experienced pohticians intent on forming and directing faction spirit for personal ends. , The man who had to face this situation had no estate to secure his independence, and he had a growing family to support. The circumstances of his career supphed his enemies with material in support of their habitual contention that he was a social interloper and a pohtical adventurer. In this respect, perhaps, he was not much worse off than Edmund Burke, in England, at the same period, but Burke could depend upon the stanch support of the rich and influential Rockingham Whig con nection, which the Schuyler influence in New York pohtics could but poorly replace, for at best it was only a provincial and not a national influence. It may be doubted whether HamUton had the unhesi- tatingsupport of the Administration of which he was a part, in the period during which his financial policy was developed. Washington's correspondence and his behavior indicate that at this time he was on terms of greater intimacy with Madison than with 226 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Hamilton. According to Jefferson, WashingtonjKas- originaUy more inclinecf to confide in him and in Madison than in Hamilton, and what evidence there Us rather supports this view. It is certainly the case that so late as_1793, long after Madison had become HamUton's open enemy, Washington proposed giv ing Madison the State Department on Jefferson's retirement but was told that he would not accept it. There are indications that the relations between Washington and HamUton were not then very cor dial. It was easy for a man of Washington's mag nanimity to overlook the youthful vanity and irri tability with which Hamilton had behaved to him in the past, but his knowledge of Hamilton's touchi ness doubtless affected Washington's relations with .him. Add to all these disabling circumstances the [fact that HamUton was not allowed to explain and defend his plans in the presence of the body that was to pass judgment upon them, and then could any statesman be worse situated for accom pHshing designs intended for nothing less than creating a nation? When Congress again met the first day was con sumed by the opening exercises. On the next day a letter from Hamilton was read in the House stat ing that he had prepared a plan in response to the resolution of the previous session and was ready to report the same to the House when they should be pleased to receive it. This announcement at once RECOMMENDATIONS DEFEATED 227 renewed the issue that had been fought over in the previous session. Gerry was on his feet at once with a motion that the report should be made in writing. This brought forth some earnest appeals that the Secretary be aUowed the means of making a full communication of his ideas. Boudinot, of New Jersey, "hoped that the Secretary of the Treasury might.be permitted to make his report in person, in order to answer such inquiries as the members might be disposed to make, for it was a justifiable surmise that gentlemen would not be able to com prehend so intricate a subject without oral Ulustra- tions." Benson, of New York, contended that since the resolution of Congress had directed the Secre tary to make a report, it was left to his discretion to "make it in the manner for which he is prepared." Gerry, who was as adroit as he was unscrupulous, turned this argument to the advantage of his side by arguing that the first step was to get from the Secretary the report caUed for by the resolution. That done, then it might be in order "to give him the right to lay before them his explanations, if he thinks explanations necessary." Acceptance of this view was f acilitated by a feehng in the House that it might be weU to have a detaUed written statement for studious examination. Hence Ames, of Massa chusetts, who had formerly strongly championed the personal appearance of the Secretary, now desned that the Secretary's communications be first put in 228 ALEXANDER HAMILTON writing, since "in this shape they would obtain a degree of permanency favorable to the responsibility of the officer, whUe, at the same time, they would be less Hable to be misunderstood." The result of the discussion was that the motion calling for a written report was adopted without a division; but the intimation that the Secretary might be al lowed a hearing later on was never acted upon. Having served its purpose it was dropped, and the Secretary was never accorded an opportunity to make explanations or reply to objections. It would seem that HamUton had originally pre pared for an oral address, in which case — as we know from his papers — it was his practice to make only a skeleton brief of the points of his argument. This brief he had now to expand into a written statement, and five days elapsed before it was laid before the House. The body of the report contains over 20,000 words of terse argument, and it was accompanied by schedules of greater total length. Doubtless the schedules were in readiness at the time HamUton made his offer of personal appearance. The short time he took to put his views in writing is one of the many instances of the extraordinary facffity with which he used his pen. This facffity was founded upon his habit of thorough analysis of his subject before attempting any presentation of his views. His power of mental concentration was so great as to make him for the time oblivious to his surround- RECOMMENDATIONS DEFEATED 229 ings. A letter from General Schuyler to his daugh ter, Mrs. Hamilton, gives an amusing instance of this, at the very time Hamilton was framing his financial plans. Writing in October, 1789, Schuyler tells how a gentleman was seen walking about, "apparently in deep contemplation, and his Hps moving as rapidly as if he was in conversation with some person," and how a shopkeeper who did not know who he was refused to change a bUl for him for fear of being involved in the affairs of a person who seemed to be not quite right mentaUy. "Pray, ask my HamUton," wrote Schuyler, "if he can't guess who the gentleman was." The incident related by Schuyler was exceptional. Hamilton's ordinary practice was to retire to his study, where he would be served with coffee, and then he would put his mind on his task with steady ap pHcation. When his opinion had been formed by deep study, expression of it then proceeded in a rapid and orderly manner. He wrote carefully, forming every letter distinctly, so that his manuscript is always easUy legible, and it is remarkably free from corrections. The clearness of his style came from the clearness of his thought, and not from any process of Hterary elaboration. So it was that his report of January 9, 1790, upon the pubhc credit, whose clearness, briffiancy, and power now strike with admiration every one who reads it, was proba bly written as rapidly as pen could move over paper. 230 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Broad as is the range of this report and lofty its aims, the pohcy it embodies is plain and simple — the exact and punctual fulfilment of obhgations. "States, like individuals, who observe their engage ments are respected and trusted; while the reverse is the fate of those who pursue an opposite conduct." Such a comphcated variety of mischiefs proceed from neglect of the maxims that uphold pubhc credit that "on their due observance at the present juncture, materiaUy depends . . . the individual and aggregate prosperity of the citizens of the United States; their rehef from the embarrassments they now experience; then character as a people; the cause of good government." With a high confidence that was triumphantly vindicated by the results of his measures, but which at the time there was httle in the actual situation to justify, HamUton declared: The most enlightened friends of good government are those whose expectations are the highest. To justify and preserve their confidence; to promote the increasing re spectability of the American name; to answer the calls of justice; to restore landed property to its due value; to furnish new resources, both to agriculture and commerce; to cement more closely the union of the States; to add to their security against foreign attack; to establish public order on the basis of an upright and liberal policy; — these are the great and invaluable ends to be secured by a proper and adequate provision, at the present period, for the support of public credit. RECOMMENDATIONS DEFEATED 231 Proceeding to detaUs of policy, he remarked that "the Secretary has too much deference for the opin ions of eveiy part of the community, not to have observed one, which has more than once made its appearance in the pubhc prints, and which is occa sionaUy to be met with in conversation. It involves this question: 'Whether a discrimination ought not to be made between original holders of public securities, and present possessors by purchase.'" He then put the case in favor of discrimination as strongly as possible. "In favor of this scheme, it is aUeged that it would be unreasonable to pay twenty shillings in the pound to one who had not given more for it than three or four. And it is added, that it would be hard to aggravate the misfortune of the first owner, who probably through necessity, parted with his property at so great a loss, by obliging him to contribute to the profit of the per son who had speculated on his distresses." The most rabid advocate of discrimination could not have stated his case with more vigor. HamU ton then stated his own position with equal positive- ness. "The Secretary, after the most mature re flection on the force of this argument, is induced to reject the doctrine it contains, as equaUy unjust and impohtic; as highly injurious, even to the original holders of pubhc securities; as ruinous to pubhc credit." He proceeded to show in detaU why this was so, supporting his reasoning with particular Ulus- 232 ALEXANDER HAMILTON trations. He urged that any attempt at discrimina tion would be replete with absurd as weU as inequi table consequences. "That the case of those who parted with their securities from necessity is a hard one, cannot be denied. But whatever complaint of injury, or claim of redress they may have, respects the Government solely. They have not only noth ing to object to the persons who reheved their neces sities, by giving them the current price of their prop erty, but they are even under an imphed condition to contribute to the reimbursement of those persons. They knew that by the terms of the contract with themselves, the pubhc were bound to pay those to whom they should convey their title the sums stip ulated to be paid to them; and that, as citizens of the United States, they were to bear their pro portion of the contribution for that purpose. This, by the act of assignment, they tacitly engaged to do; and, if they had an option, they could not, with integrity or good faith, refuse to do it, without the consent of those to whom they sold." He pointed out that the purchaser "ought to reap the benefit of his hazard — a hazard which was far from incon siderable, and which, perhaps, turned on Httle less than a revolution in government." And it was not necessarily the case that aU original holders sold through necessity. Some might have done so to raise money for profitable investment, and were better off than they would be if they had retained their RECOMMENDATIONS DEFEATED 233 securities for eventual redemption. How should these different classes be discriminated from each other ? Discrimination, once admitted, ' ' would oper ate a diminution of the value of stock in the hands of the first as weU as of every other holder," as without security of transfer no one could tell ex actly what there was to buy or sell, and this uncer tainty would be destructive of the avaUabihty of pubhc stocks for purposes of commercial accommo dation and currency supply. It is a marked instance of Hamilton's habit of getting down to fundamental principles in framing a case that he examined at length the equities of the situation before citingthe solemn pledgesjjf Congress to redeem the pubhc obligations at their face value without any attempt to discriminate between dif ferent classes of creditors. These pledges alone should have sufficed to settle the matter without further discussion, but it soon appeared that regard for pubhc faith was so weak in Congress that there was real need for the argument that it pays to be honest. Another matter to which HamUton gave detailed.. consideration was assumption by the nation of the debts contracted by the States during the war. Inasmuch as the debtsJ^.Men„contractecLfor-the commomrause of independence it properly foUowed that they should form a common charge upon the national resources, but so strong were particularist 234 ALEXANDER HAMILTON tendencies that this view was not readily accepted, and in this matter, too, Hamilton felt constrained to press considerations of particular advantage even from the narrow view of State interest. "If aU the public creditors," he observed, "receive their dues from one source, distributed with an equal hand, heir interest wUl be the same. And having the ame interests, they wiU unite in the support of be fiscal arrangements of the Government — as these, too, can be made with more convenience where there is no competition. These circum stances combined, wiU ensure to the revenue laws a more ready and satisfactory execution. If, on the contrary, there are distinct provisions, there wUl be distinct interests, drawing different ways. That union and concert of views among the creditors, which in every Government is of great importance to their security, and to that of public credit, wiU not only not exist, but will be likely to give place to mutual jealousy and opposition. And from this cause, the operation of the systems which may be adopted, both by the particular States and by the Union, with relation to their respective debts, wUl be in danger of being counteracted." Here we have, as it were in a nutsheU, an explana tion of the fact that the American Constitution actu- aUy marched, despite the fatal tendency of written constitutions to remain mere inert paper schemes. The actual constitution of a country is always the RECOMMENDATIONS DEFEATED 235 actual distribution of pohtical power. The American Constitution succeeded because HamUton's manage ment accomphshed such a distribution of power as to secure for the Union such a general attachment of interests as to counteract particularist tendencies. HamUton computed the amount of the foreign debt to be, principal and arrears, $11,710,378.62; the domestic debt, including that of the States, over $42,000,000— a total of over $54,000,000, with an annual interest charge of $4,587,445, apparently an intolerable burden for a thinly populated country exhausted by seven years of war. Nevertheless, HamUton refused to admit that "such a provision would exceed the abffities of the country," but he was "clearly of the opinion that to make it would require the extension of taxation to a degree and to objects which the true interest of the public creditors forbids." He therefore favored a composition, in which there should be strict adherence to the prin ciple "that no change in the rights of its creditors ought to be attempted without their voluntary consent; and that this consent ought to be voluntary in fact as weU as in name. . . . Every proposal of a change ought to be in the shape of an appeal to their reason and to their interest, not to then necessities." Heathen went into details of a funding loan, in which various^opfion^were~o^i3^^to.iHe creditors, including land grants in part payment and conversion in whole or in part into annuities, several 236 ALEXANDER HAMILTON kinds of which were offered. There was an intricacy in his plans which might not have been a hindrance to them could he have been present to reply to questions and explain detaUs, but which in the actual circumstances was a clog, and eventually the scheme had to be simplified to bring it within reach of Con gressional understanding. He submitted estimates how the various plans of composition would work out in practice, and he concluded that an annual revenue of $2,239,163.09 would enable the Govern ment to meet its interest obligations. To provide this amount, as weU as the sum necessary to defray the current expenses of the Government, he sub mitted in particular detail a scheme of taxation applying mainly to wines, distilled spirits, teas, and coffee. ' Although when now examined under the instruc tions of history, HamUton's plans make a deep im pression of grand statesmanship, many members of the Congress to which they were submitted regarded them as wUd and visionary. Senator Maclay, of Pennsylvania, in his private diary — whose pubhca tion in our own times casts many instructive side lights upon the situation with which Hamilton had to deal — characterized the whole scheme as "a monument of pohtical absurdity." In his opinion Hamilton had "a very boyish, giddy manner, and Scotch-Irish people could well call him a 'skite.'" Hamilton's supporters figure in the diary as his RECOMMENDATIONS DEFEATED 237 "gladiators" and as "a corrupt squadron." Jack son, of Georgia, regarded it as sufficient evidence of the folly of HamUton's proposals that to adopt them would create a funded debt, the inevitable effect of which would be national decay. He pointed to England as "a melancholy instance of the ruin at tending such engagements." If it were asked how otherwise the public indebtedness could be provided for, the answer was ready — by repudiation, in whole or in part. Livermore, of New Hampshire, admitted that the foreign debt should be acknowledged, but the domestic debt was not a fair obhgation, since it was "for depreciated paper, or services done at ex orbitant rates, or for goods and provisions supphed at more than then real worth, by those who received aU the benefits arising from our change of condi tion." Page, of Virginia, argued that "our citizens were deeply interested, and, I believe, if they were never to get a farthing for what is owing to them for their services, they would be weU paid; they have gained what they aimed at; they have secured their Hberties and their laws." When such argument was confronted with the solemn pledges of the Conti nental Congress that the obligations contracted would be discharged at their face value, it was ex plained by Livermore that this was merely for ef fect — that it was "done on a principle of pohcy, in order to prevent the rapid depreciation which was taking place," and that those who would now take 238 ALEXANDER HAMILTON advantage of the circumstance were not animated by a spirit of patriotism but were merely a set of speculators. Repudiation did not obtain support enough to make it reaUy formidable, and the only dangerous attempt to impair the obligation of contracts took the form of a movement in favor of discrimination. It received the powerful championship of Madison, who in his efforts to adjust his behavior to the pohtical situation in his State, appears now to have discarded the principles he used to profess. In a series of elaborate speeches he argued that present holders should be aUowed only the highest market price previously recorded, the residue to go to the original holders. He stuck to this in the face of statements of its impracticability which he made no attempt to refute. Boudinot, of New Jersey, pointed out that great quantities of certificates of indebted ness had been originally issued to government clerks who distributed them among those who furnished suppHes to the government, or who performed ser vices entitling them to pay. He mentioned that he himseH appeared on the record as original holder in cases wherein he had reaUy acted for his neigh bors, to reheve them of the trouble of personal ap pearance. Madison's proposal would therefore in vest him with a legal title to property which actuaUy belonged to others. Madison answered that "all RECOMMENDATIONS DEFEATED 239 that he wished was that the claims of the original holders, not less than those of the actual holders, should be fairly examined and justly decided," and there he rested, avoiding particulars. He was, however, somewhat embarrassed by a home thrust from Benson, of New York, who put the question whether if Madison had sold a certificate he would now claim part of the value he had transferred. "I ask," said Benson, "whether he would take ad vantage of the law against me." Madison would not give a direct answer, but said that everything would depend upon the cirumstances of any par ticular case, and that circumstances were conceiva ble in which the most tender conscience need not refrain from taking the benefit of what the Govern ment had determined. The debate on Madison's proposal of discrimina tion occupied eleven days, during which it steadUy lost ground, and when the issue came to a vote it was defeated in the House by the crushing vote of thirty-six to thirteen. The struggle now shifted to the assumption of State debts. The character of the debate shows how much the discussion suffered from the lack of the presence of the Secretary to state his case and define the issue. There is Httle evidence that the argument made in his report re ceived any real consideration. The debate dragged along, including much that was fictitious or irrel- 240 ALEXANDER HAMILTON evant, and it is plain that the usual point of view was merely that of local interest. Members would figure how much their States would have to pay as then share of the debt, and upon that con sideration alone would reach conclusions as to how the States individuaUy stood to win or lose by the transaction, as if they were so many different coun tries and not members of the same nation. Liver more, of New Hampshire, a State which had the luck to He outside the field of actual warfare, de clared: "I conceive that the debt of South Carolina, or Massachusetts, or an individual, has nothing to do with our dehberations. If they have involved themselves in debt, it is then misfortune, and they must extricate themselves as weU as they can." Stone, of Maryland, another State that lay outside the track of war, admonished the war-debt States that they should "nobly bear the burthens" of debts which had been contracted in miHtary efforts that were for the advantage of aU the States. Such selfish particularism received the strong champion ship of Madison, who had on this issue made a complete change of front in deference to the opposi tion to assumption which had been developed in VHginia, on the supposition that it meant a heavy biU for that large State to pay on account of other States. The combination against assumption was too strong for its advocates to overcome, and on RECOMMENDATIONS DEFEATED 241 April 12, 1790, the biU was defeated outright in the House, thirty-one to twenty-one. It was a deadly _blow_tQ_ HamUton's plans, as the assumption ofjthe State debts by the nation was an essential feature of his plans for establishing national union. CHAPTER XVII A FATEFUL BARGAIN The defeat of the Assumption-BULdicLnot discour- age Hamilton. It was only one more of the many rebuffs and disappointments he had met with in his years of effort to establish national authority. He had recently dealt with a more difficult situation in the New York Convention than that which now con fronted him in Congress, and he now energetically applied himseH to that situation, using pressure of interest to move those who could not be stirred by reason. His own Hterary remains furnish no details of his activity at this period, and such glimpses as one gets of it in the records are afforded mainly through notice of it taken by his opponents. It is plain that the leverage which HamUton now brought to bear was the intense interest felt in Con gress over the site of the national capital. With many members that appears to have been a con sideration above everything else in importance. It became the prominent topic in Madison's corre spondence as soon as the Constitution was adopted. Legislative bargaining about it started as soon as Congress met. On April 26, 1789, before Wash ington had been instaUed in office, Maclay noted a 242 A FATEFUL BARGAIN 243 meeting "to concert some measures for the removal of Congress." Thereafter notices of attempted bargains frequently appear in his diary, and after the defeat of the Assumption BUI there are refer ences to HamUton's participation. An entry of June 14, 1790, ascribes to Robert Morris the state ment that "HamUton said he wanted one vote in the Senate and five in the House of Representatives; that he was willing and would agree to place the permanent residence of Congress at Germantown or Falls of the Delaware [Trenton], if he (Morris) would procure him those votes." But the Pennsylvania delegation was hopelessly divided between the Dela ware and the Susquehanna claimants for the site, and HamUton had to seek elsewhere for the votes he needed. He eventuaUy effected the winning combination through support drawn from what at the start seemed the least promising quarter — the Virginia delegation — and, what seems stranger stUl, in view of then subsequent relations, he did this by the aid of Thomas Jefferson. WhUe the movement was going on that resulted in the meeting of the PhUadelphia convention Jef ferson was in France, where he was left in a pre carious situation by the bankruptcy of the Conti nental Congress. In these circumstances he formed such strong national principles that he argued that "when any one State in the American union re fuses obedience to the Confederation by which they 244 ALEXANDER HAMILTON have bound themselves, the rest have a natural right to compel them to obedience." * He went so far as to say: "There never wiU be money in the treasury till the Confederacy shows its teeth. The States must see the rod; perhaps it must be felt by some one of them." 2 When he took the post of Secretary of State under Washington he began his duties with high views of authority. Maclay describes a visit of Jefferson to the Senate chamber to advise a lump appropriation for the diplomatic service to be apportioned according to the discre tion of the President. From Jefferson's corre spondence at the time of the defeat of the Assump tion BUI, it appears that he feared that the effect would be disastrous. He wrote to James Monroe, June 20, 1790, that, unless the measures of the Ad ministration were adopted, "our credit wiU burst and vanish, and the States separate to take care everyone of itseff." The South Carolina delegation had given plain notice that that was what that State would have to do if the war debt it had con tracted was not assumed by the general government. Unless this were done aU the war-ravaged States would lose by staying in the Union, since that would withdraw from their control revenue resources which they would otherwise possess. Jefferson saw that, if States loadedjwHH-debt~hy the war were left in 1 Jefferson to De Meusnier, January 24, 1786. * Jefferson to Monroe, August 11, 1786. A FATEFUL BARGAIN 245 the lurch to save themselves as best they-eotdd, the Union_wquld promptly break up. HamUton availed himseH of these anxieties to make a bargain \ by which Jefferson was to get enough Southern votes to carry assumption in return for enough votes from HamUton's adherents to select the Potomac site for the national capital. Jefferson himseH may have proposed the deal. He certainly outlined its fea tures in his letter to Monroe and he personaUy at tended to the actual negotiation. The terms were settled at a dinner given by Jefferson to which he invited Madison and Hamilton. As a sop to the Pennsylvania delegation it was decided that the national capital should be removed to PhUadelphia for a stay of ten years, after which it should be on the eastern side of the Potomac River in a district ten mUes square to be selected by the President within certain bounds. In consideration of Hamil ton's support of this arrangement Jefferson and Madison agreed to facilitate the passage of the Assumption ^_BUL The~Vifginians~got" the "goodJT fiiit7~Eutthe bargain was loyaUy fulfiUed on both sides. The Residence Act was approved July 16, 1790; the funding and assumption measures, now combined in one bffi, became law on August 4. It was a narrower and rigider scheme than was first proposed by HamUton. The changes made did not improve the measure, but HamUton had to put up with them on the principle that half a loaf is better 246 ALEXANDER HAMILTON than no bread. Although a party to the bargain, Madison could not himseH reverse his attitude on the issue, and his vote was recorded agamst assump tion, but matters were arranged so that two Vn- ginia members from Potomac districts changed their votes, enough to carry assumption by thirty- two ayes to twenty-nine nays. The_cwnp^mise-4apon_the_AssumptioiL only ended a crisis which threatened to_ wreck na- tional authority at the outset, but it also produced a receptive disposition in Congress of which Hamil ton avaUed himseH for a series of great measures. On December 14, 1790, he offered his plan for es- tabhshing a national bank, submitted as a further compHance with the order of the House requiring him to report plans for restoring the public credit. Here again he had to combat prejudices, which he instanced and considered in detaU, such as that banks "serve to increase usury, tend to prevent other kinds of lending, furnish temptations to overtrading, afford aid to ignorant adventurers who disturb the natural and beneficial course of trade, give to bank rupt and fraudulent traders a fictitious credit which enables them to maintain false appearances and to extend their impositions, and that they have a tendency to banish gold and sUver from the coun try." AU these accusations are examined with a thoroughness that makes the report a masterly treatise upon the functions of banks. Such was the A FATEFUL BARGAIN 247 effect of the report that the biU incorporating the Bank of the United States had rather an easy pas sage through Congress. It originated in the Senate and was reported to the House from the committee of the whole, without amendment. But when the question was on the passage of the bill Madison opposed it on the ground that the Constitution did not expressly authorize Congress to grant charters, and that to assume such power by imphcation would "go to the subversion of every power whatever in the several States." Madison's argument had so Httle effect that the report preserved in the Annals of Congress notes that "the House discovering an impatience to have the main question put," the yeas and nays were then taken and Jhe jvote was thirty- nine to twenty in favor of the bUJL_ When^ffie^ctreacheTWashington for his approval both the Virginia members of the Cabinet — Ran dolph, the Attorney-General, and Jefferson, the Sec retary of State — took Madison's position that the Constitution did not warrant such an enactment. Washington seems to have been moved by this ad vice, for he requested Madison to prepare a veto message for him. But on February 16, while Madi son was at work upon it, Washington referred the case to HamUton with the request that he would consider the objections raised and give his opinion upon them. Madison handed in his draft of a veto message on the 21st. On the 23d HamUton submit- 248 ALEXANDER HAMILTON ted his famous "Opinion as to the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States," prepared in just one week. It is safe to say that there is no other instance in which a great monument of jurisprudence was so rapidly erected. In his letter of transmission HamUton remarked that the opinion had "occupied him the greatest part of last night." But the opin ion itseH bears no mark of haste. Terse in diction and concise in method, it is so complete in its analysis that it is over 11,000 words in length, sustained in power, and sohd in argument throughout. In it HamUton developed the doctrine of imphed powers, which was later adopted by the Supreme Court and is now generaUy admitted to be an essential incident of genuine authority. This doctrine was thus stated by HamUton, the itahcs being his own: Now it appears to the Secretary of the Treasury that this general principle is inherent in the very definition of government, and essential to every step of the progress to be made by that of the United States, namely: That every power vested in a government is in its nature sovereign, and includes, by force of the term, a right to employ all the means requisite and fairly applicable to the attainment of the ends of such power, and which are not precluded by restrictions and exceptions specified in the Constitu tion, or not immoral, or not contrary to the essential ends of political society. He proceeded to support this proposition by copi ous instances, largely of a practical nature, showing A FATEFUL BARGAIN 249 that without such a principle of conduct "the United States would furnish the singular spectacle of a political society without sovereignty, or of a people governed, without government." The cogency of Hamilton's argument was eventuaUy shown by the experience of his principal opponents — Jefferson and Madison — during their terms as President. Stress of practical necessity forced them to HamU ton's position after they had caused immense mis chief to their country as weU as great annoyance to themselves by their opposition to it. HamUton's argument was so convincingto Wash- ingtoh, after careful examination, that he rejected the advice of Randolph, Jefferson, and Madison, and signedjM-biH. The principles laid down by Hamilton thereafter guided Washington's admin istration. Although Washington was stUl pressed with strict-construction arguments he ceased to pay much attention to them. When Jefferson argued at a cabinet meeting that there was no constitutional authority for establishing a military academy, Wash ington cut short the discussion by saying that he would recommend such action to Congress and "let them decide for themselves whether the Constitu tion authorized it or not." On January 28, 1791, Hamilton sent to the House a report on the establishment of a minL. HeJbegan. with_a powerful statement-of- the. variety and -dis order of the existing circulating medium, a medley 250 ALEXANDER HAMILTON of foreign coins having no fixed and uniform stand ard of value. He observed: In order to a right judgment of what ought to be done, the following particulars require to be discussed: 1st. What ought to be the nature of the money unit of the United States ? 2d. What the proportion between gold and silver, if coins of both metals are to be established ? 3d. What the proportion and composition of alloy in each kind ? 4th. Whether the expense of coinage shall be defrayed by the Government, or out of the material itself? 5th. What shall be the number, denominations, sizes, and devices of the coins ? 6th. Whether foreign coins shall be permitted to be current or not; if the former, at what rate, and for what period. As might be expected from such an exhaustive classification, the report is a complete dissertation upon coinage problems. It is a striking example of HamUton's habit of going to the bottom of every subject before stating his conclusions, for he did not have any great innovation to recommend. His plan virtuaUy took the situation as he found it and made the best of it. The EngHsh pound, although stUl nominaUy the unit of account, had been prac- ticaUy superseded by the Spanish doUar, but coins of that denomination had no settled or standard value. Hamilton, took ^jthejargyailing, rating of the dollar as the actual money _unit, disregarding the A FATEFUL BARGAIN 251 old value of the doUar as fixed by Spanish law, with the express purpose of keeping unimpaned existing contracts based upon the current rating of the doUar. So likewise he retained both gold and. sUver as full legal tender ancTfixed a ratio corresponding to the commercial ratio. However, he remarked, with a prescience since abundantly attested by events: "As long as gold either from its intrinsic superiority as a metal, from its greater rarity, or from the prej udices of mankind, retains so considerable a pre eminence in value over sUver, as it has hitherto had, a natural consequence of this seems to be that its condition wiU be more stationary. The revolutions, therefore, which may take place in the comparative value of gold and sUver, wiU be changes in the state of the latter, rather than in that of the former." As regards the scale of value in the coinage, he recommended the decimal system, which in fact had been adopted by the Continental Congress on August 8, 1786, although it had not gone into effect. Jef ferson was strongly in favor of this system, which indeed met with quite general acceptance. As to devices upon the coins, HamUton contented himself with remarking that they "are far from being mat ters of indifference, as they may be made the ve hicles of useful impressions." He did not make any particular recommendations under this head in his report, but the bffi as passed by the Senate contained a provision that coins should bear a representation 252 ALEXANDER HAMILTON of the head of the President during whose adminis tration they were issued, and it is presumable that this was in accord with HamUton's idea. This pro vision was energeticaUy attacked in the House as a servUe imitation of the practice of monarchies. It was in vain pointed out that the House amendment striking out this instruction "left the matter entirely to the judgment of the artist, who may form such an emblem as suits his fancy." The amendment was carried by twenty-six yeas to twenty-two nays, Madison voting in the affirmative, and, although the Senate was disposed to insist upon the clause, it finally had to submit to the wiU of the House. The result is the queer, totemistic character of the de signs of American coinage. The heads of Presidents and other pubhc men now appear in profusion upon the note issues of the United States, but not according to any settled plan, and HamUton's sensible idea of making the devices "vehicles of useful impressions" has yet to be utilized. It cannot be doubted that devices corresponding to Presidential terms of office would be a valuable source of historical instruction, whereas the existing system is one of sheer caprice. On December 5, 1791, Hamilton sent to the House his famous report on manufactures, references to which have been continual in the tariff contro versies that form so great a part of the pohtical his- lory of the United States. It is generaUy claimed 1so be a vindication of the protective policy, and so A FATEFUL BARGAIN 253 it is, in consideration of the actual circumstances in which the United States was placed, but at the same time no stronger statement can be found of the argument in favor of free trade than that which the report presents at the outset. HamUton re marked that the opponents of protection might rea son as foUows: To endeavor, by the extraordinary patronage of gov ernment, to accelerate the growth of manufactures, is, in fact, to endeavor, by force and art, to transfer the natural current of industry from a more to a less beneficial chan nel. Whatever has such a tendency, must necessarily be unwise; indeed, it can hardly ever be wise in a govern ment to attempt to give a direction to the industry of its citizens. This, under the quicksighted guidance of pri vate interest, will, if left to itself, infallibly find its own way to the most profitable employment; and it is by such employment that the pubhc prosperity will be most effec tually promoted. To leave industry to itself, therefore, is in almost every case, the soundest as well as the simplest pohcy. ... If, contrary to the natural course of things, an unseasonable and premature spring can be given to certain fabrics, by heavy duties, prohibitions, bounties, or by other forced expedients, this will be to sacrifice the interests of the community to those of particular classes. Besides the misdirection of labor, a virtual monopoly will be given to the persons employed on such fabrics; and an enhancement of price, the inevitable consequence of every monopoly, must be defrayed at the expense of the other parts of the society. It is far preferable, that those per sons should be engaged in the cultivation of the earth, and that we should procure, in exchange for its produc- 254 ALEXANDER HAMILTON tions, the commodities with which foreigners are able to supply us in greater perfection, and upon better terms. HamUton expressed much sympathy with this opinion. He observed: "If the system of perfect liberty to industry and commerce were the prevaU- ing system of nations, the arguments which dissuade a country, in the predicament of the United States, from the zealous pursuit of manufactures, would doubtless have great force. It wiU not be affirmed that they might not be permitted, with few excep tions, to serve as a rule of national conduct. In such a state of things, each country would have the fuU benefit of its pecuhar advantages to compensate for its deficiencies or disadvantages. If one nation were in a condition to supply manufactured articles on better terms than another, that other might find an abundant indemnification in a superior capacity to furnish the produce of the soil. And a free ex change, mutuaUy beneficial, of the commodities which each was able to supply, on the best terms, might be carried on between them, supporting in fuU vigor the industry of each." But no such ideal situation existed. "The regu lations of several countries, with which we have the most extensive intercourse, throw serious obstruc tions in the way of the principal staples of the United States. . . . Remarks of this kind are not made in the spirit of complaint. It is for the nations whose A FATEFUL BARGAIN 255 regulations are aUuded to, to judge for themselves, whether by aiming at too much they do not lose more than they gain. It is for the United States to consider by what means they can render them selves least dependent on the combinations, right or wrong, of foreign pohcy. ... If Europe wiU not take from us the products of our soU, upon terms consistent with our interest, the natural remedy is to contract, as fast as possible, our wants of her." Having thus made clear the grounds of the na tional pohcy he recommended, he proceeded to dis cuss its economic basis. He first considered the sources of the wealth of nations, the effects of diver sification of industry, and the social consequences; next came a detaUed examination of the resources of the United States, and the particular means by which they might be developed. He urged: "Not only the wealth, but the independence and security of a country, appear to be ma,teriafly connected-with the^>rosperity of manufactures. Every nation, with a view toTHose great objects, ought to endeavor to possess within itseff aU the essentials of national supply. These comprise the means of subsistence, habitation, clothing, and defence. The possession of these is necessary to the perfection of the body politic; to the safety as weU as to the weffare of the society. The want of either is the want of an im portant organ of political life and motion; and in the various crises which await a state, it must severely 256 ALEXANDER HAMILTON feel the effects of any such deficiency." History has given impressive testimony to the justice of these observations. / The report, although extensive in its scope, has such conciseness and unity that it is impossible to offer any summary that can do it justice. In it HamUton's genius shines with a brilliancy that places it alongside the report on the pubhc credit in greatness of statesmanship. If it had appeared as a scholastic treatise instead of as a pubhc docu ment, it would figure as a classic of pohtical economy, produced at a time when that science was almost inchoate. Its foundations had indeed been securely laid by Adam Smith, the first edition of whose Wealth qf Nations appeared in 1776, but its influence was not manifested in English pohtics until 1792, when Pitt avowed his acceptance of its principles. HamUton appreciated the work from the first, and he is known to have written an extended commen tary upon it some time in 1783, during his first term as a member of the Continental Congress, but this is among the many HamUton papers that have been lost. In one place in the report on manu factures he quoted a passage from Adam Smith on the economic reactions of transportation facffities. But there is no resemblance between the two works in style and method. Hamilton moved on his own lines and his report is the product of his own thought. In some measure it might even be described as a A FATEFUL BARGAIN 257 rejoinder to Smith, the weight of whose argument, as is weU known, was in favor of free trade. This Hamilton doubtless had in mind when he observed: "Most general theories, however, admit of numerous exceptions, and there are few, if any, of the political kind, which do not blend a considerable portion of error with the truths they inculcate." Smith admit ted that particular considerations might traverse the general principles he advocated, as, for instance, after condemning the Navigation Aet as adverse to the national prosperity, he abruptly remarked: "As de fence, however, is of much more importance than opulence, the act of navigation is, perhaps, the wis est of aU the commercial regulations of England." This consideration which Smith dismisses with curt mention is drawn out at length with great power in HamUton's report, not merely as concerns naviga tion, but in respect of the whole subject of natiqnal pohcy. But at the same time it should be ob served that HamUton's dissent from the principles of free trade was not based upon rejection of them in the absffaciL His point- was" that the statesman has to deal with things as they are and not as they ought to be. His protective policy_is connected with particular needs and~circumstances, and_is hence no haa^and^fast rule, but is subject to modir. fication as needs and circumstances change. Although the policy recommended in this report has since become a perennial source of controversy 258 ALEXANDER HAMILTON in American politics, it did not excite active oppo sition when it was presented. Indeed, that pohcy had aHeady been adopted by Congress, although more as a result of casual drift than of dehberate purpose. Before Hamilton took office, a tariff act had been passed, with a preamble that included "the encouragement and_protection_jof manufac tures" in its statement of purpose. The enactment was prompted by the immediate need of revenue, but Madison, who had charge of the bill, admitted amendments of an avowedly protectionist character. The series of great state papers that have been described were all transmitted to the First Congress, with the exception of the report on manufactures, which was sent in at the opening of the first session of the Second Congress. The measures devised by HamUton_established-tIie_pubUc credit upon^such solid foundations that it was able to sustain shocks from incompetent management after his retirement that would otherwise have been fatal. There is no greater Ulustration of the proverb that repubhcs are always ungrateful than the return made to him for his splendid services. He was subjected to fero cious persecution, pursued with untiring mahgnity, and every art of calumny was employed to load his name with obloquy, with such success as still to give color to our pohtical hterature. He met every attack with dauntless courage and triumphant en ergy, and he left the public service not because he A FATEFUL BARGAIN 259 was overcome but because he was starved out. It is impossible to find in aU history any other statesman who accomplished so much with such smaU means, and who received so shght a reward for his labors. CHAPTER XVIII THE ANTI-HAMILTON CAMPAIGN Immediately after their defeat on the Bank Bill, Madison and Jefferson took steps to provide them selves with a newspaper organ. HamUton's con clusive opinion was transmitted, February 23, 1791. On the 28th Jefferson wrote to Philip Freneau offer ing him a clerkship in the State Department, with the asurance that "it requires no other qualification than a moderate knowledge of the French," and that "should anything better turn up" in the department that "might suit" Freneau, he "should be very happy to bestow it so weU." At that time Freneau was arranging to start a newspaper in New Jersey. Madison went to see him and induced bim to set up his newspaper hi PhUadelphia. Writing to Jef ferson, May 1, 1791, Madison said: "I have seen Freneau and given him a line to you. He sets out for PhUadelphia today or tomorrow." The re sult of the conferences which took place was that Freneau accepted the clerkship and made arrange ments by which his newspaper was established in Philadelphia in time for the next session of Congress. The first number of the National Gazette appeared on October 31, 1791. Attacks upon the Administra- 260 THE ANTI-HAMILTON CAMPAIGN 261 tion began in it December 8, 1791, and continued thereafter until October, 1793, when the pubhca tion was discontinued soon after Jefferson left the Cabinet. Madison was a contributor almost from the start, furnishing articles on such topics as " Con- sohdation," "Money," "Government," "Charters," "Parties," "British Government," etc. They were calm in tone and decorous in language, but were calculated to produce vague impressions that pubhc affairs were going wrong and that corrective action was desirable. In addition to retaining Freneau's services, it appears that efforts were also made to get the aid of Thomas Paine. Writing to Jefferson, July 13, 1791, Madison said : " I wish you success with aU my heart in your efforts for Paine. Besides the advantage to him which he deserves, an appointment for him, at this moment, would do good in various ways." About this time Paine produced his "Rights of Man," with the pubhcation of which Jefferson was connected in a way which he did not expect and which considerably embarrassed him. An edition of Paine's pamphlet appeared with a letter of approval from Jefferson, who wrote at once to Washington explain ing that it had been meant as a private letter — "to my great astonishment, however, the printer had prefixed my note to it, without having given me the most distant hint of it." Paine did not get an appointment, and the affair doubtless had much 262 ALEXANDER HAMILTON to do with the bitter attacks which he made later upon Washington. In making these arrangements Jefferson and Madison do not appear at the outset to have had any distinct plan of opposition to the Administra tion, but simply had in view the strengthening of their pohtical influence. The principal mark of their censure was not at first Hamilton, but was John Adams, the Vice-President, who had been publishing some newspaper articles which both Jefferson and Madison characterized as an attack upon republican principles. Adams figured promi nently, in their correspondence in the summer of 1791, as the propagator of pohtical heresies, but at this time there was no unfriendly mention of HamU ton. Both Jefferson and Madison seemed to be reluctant to make an issue of Hamilton's financial policy, for they had been a party to it through the aid they gave to the passage of assumption. TheH original expectation was that the storm it had raised would soon blow over. On July 31, 1790, Madison wrote to his father that, although he had voted against assumption, he had felt "that there was serious danger of a very unfavorable issue to the session from a contrary decision, and considered it as now incumbent on us all to make the best of what was done. The truth is that in a pecuniary light, the assumption is no longer of much conse quence to Virginia, the sum aUotted to her being THE ANTI-HAMILTON CAMPAIGN 263 about her proportion of the whole, rather exceed ing her present debt." Jefferson's correspondence shows positive favor to assumption. He wrote, June 27, 1790, that "a rejection of the measure . . . wiU be something very like a dissolution of the government." In a letter of July 4 he remarked: "The funding business being once out of the way, I hope nothing else may be able to caU up local principles." On July 25 he wrote that "the mea sure was so vehemently caUed for by the State credi tors in some parts of the Union that it seems to be one of those cases where some sacrifice of opinion is necessary for the sake of peace." On August 4 he wrote that the struggle over assumption "reaUy threatened, at one time, a separation of the legisla ture sine die," and he remarked: "It is not foreseen that anything so generative of dissension can arise again, and therefore the friends of the government hope that, this difficulty once surmounted in the States, everything wiU work weU." Writing on November 26, 1790, he remarked that assumption "is harped on by many to mask then disaffection to the government on other grounds," but the govern ment was "too weU nerved to be overawed by in dividual opposition." On December 29, 1790, he wrote a very friendly letter to HamUton, in which he expressed the hope that it would be "taken as an advance towards unreserved communications for re ciprocal benefit." 264 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Everything indicates that for upward of a year after the passage of assumption Madison regarded it with indulgence, while Jefferson took credit to himseH for having tided the government over a dangerous crisis. But the agitation did not sub side. In December, 1790, the Vnginia Legislature adopted fiery resolutions condemning both funding and assumption. These resolutions laid down the platform on which both Madison and Jefferson eventually took their stand. The financial pohcy of the government was censured as being an imita tion of British policy, and as a violation of the con stitutional principle "that every power not granted was retained by the States." The resolutions ap pealed to Congress " to revise and amend " th£_Eubli©- Credit Act, and "repeal, in particular, as much of it as relates to the assumption of the State debts." Jefferson was then loath to mount that platform, but as time went on he felt increasing anxiety about foreign policy, and he became ardently desnous of establishing a strong party interest on the side of the French revolutionary government. But it became manifest that among the means he could employ to push his party interest none was so avaUable as op position to the Funding and Assumption Act which had been passed through his own agency. Here was a pretty hobble; but Jefferson was able to twist out of it. He excused himself on the ground that he did not know what he was doing; that he "was most THE ANTI-HAMILTON CAMPAIGN 265 ignorantly and innocently made to hold the candle" to HamUton's game. The discredit to his intelli gence he relieved by saying that he had then only recently arrived in the country, "a stranger to the ground, a stranger to the actors on it." It is impossible to reconcUe this statement with the statements contained in Jefferson's own letters written at the time the deal on the Potomac site was pending; and furthermore, with Madison at his elbow, he could not have suffered from lack of information. It is equaUy impossible to recon cUe with contemporary evidence the account which Jefferson eventuaUy gave of the effect of the passage of the act. As soon as "the form in which the biU would finaUy pass" had been indicated, wrote Jef ferson, "the base scramble began. Couriers and relay horses by land, and swift saffing pUot boats by sea, were flying in aU directions. Active partners and agents were associated and employed in every State, town and country neighborhood, and this paper was bought up at five shUHngs and even as low as two shiUings in the pound, before the holder knew that Congress had aHeady provided for its redemp tion at par. Immense sums were thus filched from the poor and ignorant." Inasmuch as HamUton's proposals were com municated to Congress on January 14, 1790, and the Assumption BUI did not become law until August 4, nearly seven months intervened during which 266 ALEXANDER HAMILTON knowledge of the Government's intention could be diffused among the people. Moreover, there was nothing new about the proposals. They had been discussed in the Continental Congress, and as a member of that body Madison himself had argued in favor of assumption. The formidable opposition that developed in Congress certainly gave opportu nity to speculators by clouding the prospects of government paper, but purchasers had to take a risk, since the passage of the Pubhc Credit Act with the assumption feature was not assured until Jef ferson himseH put his shoulder to the wheel. Noth ing like the scene of concerted activity described by Jefferson, writing long after the event, can be found in contemporary documents. There are ref erences to speculative activity in Madison's corre spondence shortly after the enactment, but nothing to justify the picture which Jefferson drew after his change of front. The psychology of the situa tion is, however, readUy intelligible. It frequently happens that when, shifts of interest take place, stirring the feelings and energizing the wiU, the memory is impressed into the service of the new state of the mind and thus becomes capable of rear ranging past events in conformity with present views. Jefferson and his adherents now made use of every possible means to break HamUton's influence and discredit his management. Hamilton-was- at tacked in the press, harassed in Congress, and in- THE ANTI-HAMILTON CAMPAIGN 267 trigued against in the Cabinet. Jefferson himself has recorded how he labored with Washington to inspne distrust of Hamilton. An entry in The Anas notes that the writer told the President that "the department of the Treasury possessed already sucn~mffuence-as to swallow up~ the whole executive powers," and jthat the popular discontents had "only a single source," Hamilton's policy. HamUton hit back vigorously, and to this is due the clearest account that exists of the politics of the time. In a long letter, May 26, 1792, to Colonel Edward Carrington, of Vnginia, HamUton gave a detaUed account of the pohtical situation from the beginning. In it he showed that originally Madison and himseH had been in entire agreement on fund ing and assumption, and that he had been slow to beheve that Madison had both changed his views and become personaUy unfriendly. "It was not till the last session," wrote HamUton, "that I be came unequivocaUy convinced of the foUowing truth: that Mr. Madison, cooperating with Mr. Jefferson, is at the head of a faction decidedly hostUe to me and my administration; and actuated by views, in my judgment, subversive of the principles of good government and dangerous to the union, peace, and happiness of the country." HamUton's characteristic habit of getting to the bottom of every subject he discussed is strongly marked in this letter. He made no use of the easy 268 ALEXANDER HAMILTON retort that was open to him of showing that Jeffer son himseH was a participant in the measures now assaUed, but he traced the animosity of Jefferson and Madison to its source in then characters and cncumstances, and he gave this portrayal of the nature of their proceedings: It is possible, too, (for men easily heat their imagina tions when their passions are heated) that they have by degrees persuaded themselves of what they may have at first only sported to influence others, namely, that there is some dreadful combination against State government and republicanism; which, according to them, are con vertible terms. But there is so much absurdity in this supposition, that the admission of it tends to apologize for their hearts at the expense of their heads. Under the influence of all these circumstances the attachment to the government of the United States, originally weak in Mr. Jefferson's mind, has given way to something very like dislike in Mr. Madison's. ... In such a state of mind both these gentlemen are prepared to hazard a great deal to effect a change. Most of the important measures of every government are connected wIthTEKeItreasuiy~ To subvert the present head of it, they deem it expedient to risk rendering the government itself odious; perhaps foolishly thinking that they can easily recover the lost af fections and confidence of the people, and not appreciating, as they ought to do, the natural resistance to government, which in every community results from the human pas sions, the degree to which this has been strengthened by the organized rivality of State governments, and the in finite danger that the national government once rendered odious, will be kept so by these powerful and indefatigable THE ANTI-HAMILTON CAMPAIGN 269 enemies. They forget an old, but a very just though a coarse saying, that it is much easier to raise the devil than to lay him. This acute criticism is not only a fine piece of pohtical psychology, but it is also entitled to rank as pohtical prophecy. The CivU War was logically the outcome of principles originaUy advanced in the war against HamUton. The Carrington letter was undoubtedly meant to caU Jefferson and Madison to pubhc account in then own State for then behavior. It was written to be shown about and, according to the customs of the tunes, it was a more direct chaUenge to them than a newspaper article would have been. At that time, both in England and America, it was consid ered undignified to go into journalism in one's proper person; a pseudonym was the rule even when the actual authorship was generaUy known. But the Carrington letter bore HamUton's signature and it might readily have been the beginning of a direct controversy, but Jefferson and Madison were too cautious to be drawn. Jpfff rpnn mnptere^ 1T1 5 letterjo George Mason, of Virginia, arraigning the_ financial policy of the Governmentjis_aL scheme .of- corruption, having for its ultimate object "to pre pare the way for a changef rom the present republican form of government to that, of monarcby, of which the British constitution is to be the model." The letter was virtually an indictment of Hamilton's 270 ALEXANDER HAMILTON pohcy drawn out under twenty-one heads, and this particularity turned out to be an advantage to HamUton. What he most desired was that charges against him should be given some definite shape so that he could meet them, and this favor Jefferson's letter happened to supply. Mason gave Washing ton a copy and Washington transmitted the charges to HamUton with a request for his "ideas upon the discontents here enumerated." HamUton repHed seriatim, expressing himseH with marked warmth, as to which he remarked: "I have not fortitude enough always to bear with calmness calumnies which necessarily include me, as a principal agent in the measures censured, of the falsehood of which I have the most unqualified consciousness." The objections which HamUton had to meet as to the propriety of loans, funding operations, and bank ing facffities are now so obsolete that the main im pression left by examination of the documents is the absurdity of the elaborate case framed by Jefferson. It was a pointless argument to expatiate ' upon the burden laid upon the Government by the funding scheme unless some other way could be instanced for disposing of obhgations that the Government could not meet. Now there was an other way — that of simply ignoring them, and the only logical ground of complaint against HamUton was that he did not take that way, which was repu diation. But Jefferson did not venture to take that THE ANTI-HAMILTON CAMPAIGN 271 ground, so it was easy for Hamilton to brush away his cavils by pointing out that "The pubhc debt was produced by the late war. It is not the fault of the present government that it exists, unless it can be proved that pubhc morahty and pohcy do not require of a government an honest provision for its debts." Nevertheless there was a strong feeling, among men of aU parties, that HamUton might have avoided that issue and let the Revolutionary debt sink itseff through inattention to it, thus starting the new government without any burden of debt. Even in the Federalist ranks there was rather a grudge against Hamilton that he was so determined _ to rake up and pay off the old obhgations, -and this accounts for much of the detraction he had to en dure from some who figured as his affies. The only effect of the cabinet attacks, so far a HamUton was concerned, was to fortify his position in Washington's esteem; but Washington himself was so disturbed by the continual dissension that he wanted to retire from pubhc life. This did not at aU suit Jefferson's book. What his faction de- sffed was that Washington should stay on but should act in their interest. Although it is now known, since his private correspondence is acces sible, that Washington was strongly in favor of assumption, he judged it wise to practise strict ret icence as to his own views, as the original concep tion of the Presidential office was that it should be 272 ALEXANDER HAMILTON above and beyond party spirit, hke royalty. Eng Hsh political thought still colored men's thoughts, and the object of Jefferson's manoeuvres was what in England would have been caUed a change of ministry. What this practically meant in the American situation was that HamUton should be put out of office, whereupon, it was thought, Wash ington would naturaUy be guided by the advice of his Virginia associates — Jefferson, Madison, and Randolph. Washington went so far in his plans for retirement that he asked Madison to prepare a fare- weU message for his use; but the whole Virginia set now labored to induce him to consent to re-elec tion, and he reluctantly consented. The election over, the Jefferson cabal adopted new tactics. Instead of working chrectly upon Washington, they now planned to reach and move him through the action of Congress. In this scheme they were greatly aided by the conditions that had been established in Congress. Among the conse quences of the exclusion of the Administration from the floor of Congress is the loss by Congress of in- telhgent control of its own business. Had HamU ton had the opportunity of confronting his accusers the growth of such fable as now coUected about his plans and proceedings would have been impossible. Every one knows the difference between saying things to a man's face and behind his back. The latter is the Congressional method, and the only THE ANTI-HAMILTON CAMPAIGN 273 way in which matters can be brought to an issue is by the slow, cumbersome method of resolutions of inquiry and committees of investigation. Such means can be readUy employed for purposes of sheer partisan annoyance, and there are innumerable instances of this character in the history of Congress. The evU has been aggravated by patronage develop ments. The creation of committees furnishes plausi ble occasion for numerous clerkships and other sub ordinate offices to be distributed by Congressional favor. Activities of this order are now very marked as a pohtical campaign comes on, and they constitute one of the greatest abuses of American pohtics. This partisan machinery had its origin in the war on Hamilton. His enemies sought to break him by a series of CongfessionaT attacks, "coiicerted^n" se crecy with the advice and assistance of Jefferson and Madison. They obtained an aUy in Congress who possessed exceptional courage, energy, and address. WUham Branch GUes, of Virginia, was a lawyer who was as fearless as HamUton himseH in con fronting opposition. British debt cases had been a marked feature of his practice, in the teeth of Virginia law prohibiting actions of this class, but Giles took the position, first maintained by HamU ton, that the Peace Treaty oJLU83_PE£yaUed over any opposing State law, and he pressed his cases with energy and success on the basis of a national 274 ALEXANDER HAMILTON jurisdiction in conflict with the Virginia statutes. This course was not calculated to secure pohtical popularity, but he sheltered himseH by the plea of professional duty, and on other matters he culti vated popular support with such success that he got into the First Congress at a special election to fill a vacancy. When he took his seat the Assump tion BUI had been passed, but he followed Madison's lead in unsuccessful opposition to the Bank BUI. He was re-elected to the Second Congress and during its sessions displayed so much energy and audacity that Madison stepped aside to aUow him to lead in the war on Hamilton. After some preliminary skirmishing a grand attack was made on January 23, 1793, when GUes presented a series of resolu tions, in drafting which he had had the assistance of Jefferson and Madison. He supported them in an adroit speech in which he said that they had grown out of the embarrassments he had met with in try ing to comprehend the statements of the Secretary of the Treasury respecting foreign loans. He sub mitted calculations suggestive of discrepancies, which he admitted might be removed by explanations but which at least showed that the House needed more information than it had. The tact and moderation of this speech had such an effect that the resolutions were adopted without serious opposition, although, so far as Giles's claim of ignorance was well founded, it was an exposure THE ANTI-HAMILTON CAMPAIGN 275 of the defective procedure of the House. Could HamUton have come before the House he could at once have supphed afl the information it needed and aU the explanations it desired. As it was he had to meet a heavy demand upon the resources of his department. The resolutions caUed for particu lars of aU loans, names of aU persons to whom pay ments had been made, statements of semimonthly balances between the Treasury and the bank, and an account of the sinking-fund and of unexpended appropriations, from the beginning until the end of 1792. In effect, the resolutions required HamU ton to complete and state aU Treasury accounts, almost to date, and to give a transcript of aU the particulars. But the Treasury accounts were in such perfect order, and so great was HamUton's capacity for work, that the information caUed for was promptly transmitted, in reports dated Febru ary 4, 13, and 14. In completing the heavy task laid upon him by his enemies, HamUton observed that the resolutions "were not moved without a pretty copious display of the reasons on which they were founded," which "were of a nature to excite attention, to beget alarm, to inspire doubts." This remark was taken as ground for a charge that he was "guUty of an in decorum to this House, in undertaking to judge of its motives in calling for information." Nothing was found amiss in the accounts; on the contrary, 276 ALEXANDER HAMILTON examination showed exactness, clearness, and order throughout. But on February 28, 1793, GUes moved nine resolutions, charging HamUton with violation of law, neglect of duty, and transgression of the proper limits of his authority. The resolutions did not propose impeachment or, indeed, any action by Congress whatsoever, further than that "a copy of the foregoing resolutions should be transmitted to the President of the United States." The proceed ings virtuaUy amounted to a declaration of want of confidence, with the expectation that Washington would be thereby constrained to remove HamUton from office. HamUton felt keenly the disadvantage he was un der in not being aUowed to face his accusers on the floor of the House. Injthe circumstances the best he could do was tp_ supply his friends with material for use in the debate. A speech dehvered by Wfil- Ham Smith, of South Carolina, was in fact written by HamUton, and it bears the marks of his style. In it he exclaimed what injustice it was to "con demn a man unheard, nay, without his having even been furnished with the charges against him ! " The charges were intrinsicaUy so weak that they could not stand up under discussion. The imputa tions of wrong-doing rested upon mere cavUs. It could not even be aUeged that any pubhc interest had sustained actual harm. It became so manifest that the resolutions were founded on nothing more THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 279 The records made in The Anas show that Ham Uton did not err in his estimate of the extent of Jefferson's partiality to France. The enthusiasm he had contracted for the revolutionary movement whUe resident in France during its early stages, whUe it had a phUanthropic complexion, he carried with him into Washington's Cabinet and it colored his official behavior. He himseH noted, on Decem ber 27, 1792, that the duty of the United States to support France against England and Spain was the "doctrine which had been my polar star." Numer ous entries show that it was a satisfaction to Jeffer son to record the energy and persistence with which he took the French side in any discussion of the sub ject in the meetings of the Cabinet. Shortly after HamUton had beaten the Jefferson faction in Congress a crisis was brought on by the breaking out of war between France and England. An able and experienced diplomatist, Edmond Genet, was sent out to claim the United States as an aUy and to use her territory as a base of operations against England. Genet landed at Charleston, April 8, 1793, receiving an enthusiastic welcome, and he was so prompt and energetic that within five days he had opened a recruiting station at which American seamen were taken into the French ser vice; he had commissioned American vessels as French cruisers, and he had erected the office of the French consul into an admnalty court to deal with the prizes that were being brought in. 280 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Washington was at Mount Vernon when the news reached him. He at once caUed a meeting of the Cabinet and set out to PhUadelphia to attend it. He arrived there on April 17, and the next day he laid before the members of the Cabinet thirteen questions upon which he desired then advice. Jefferson noted that the questions were in Wash ington's own handwriting, "yet it was palpable from the style, their ingenious tissue and suite, that they were not the President's, that they were raised upon a prepared chain of argument, in short, that the language was HamUton's and the doubts his alone." In Jefferson's opinion they were designed to lead "to a declaration of the Executive that our treaty with France is void." Jefferson was right as to HamUton's authorship. At a time when Jefferson had no advice to give save that it would be well to consider whether Congress ought not to be summoned, Hamilton had ready for Washing ton's use a set of interrogatories which subjected the whole situation to exact analysis. The critical questions were these: Shall a proclamation issue for the purpose of pre venting interferences of the citizens of the United States in the war between France and Great Britain, &c. ? Shall it contain a declaration of neutrality or not? What shall it contain ? Are the United States obhged, by good faith, to con sider the treaties heretofore made with France as apply- THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 281 ing to the present situation of the parties? May they either renounce them, or hold them suspended till the government of France shall be established f The issues thus clearly stated involved some nice questions of international obhgation. There were two treaties between France and the United States, both concluded on the same day. One provided that the ships of war of each country should defend the vessels of the other country from aU attacks that might occur whUe they were in company. Each country had the right to use the ports of the other, either for regular ships of war or for privateers and their prizes, which were to be exempt from any ex amination or detention, "but they may hoist saU at any time and depart." All vessels of either country were entitled to refuge in the ports of the other, with entire freedom for repan and the pur chase of suppHes, but it was expressly provided that such hospitality should not be extended to vessels of an enemy of either country. The accom panying instrument, entitled a treaty of alliance, was a mutual guarantee of territory, "forever against aU other powers. ' ' These broad rights and privileges were supplemented in 1788 by a convention which provided for consular jurisdiction over cases involv ing treaty rights. Gen6t thus had large warrant for his activities, if the treaties were stiU binding. They had been made with the King of France, whose head had been shced off by the guillotine. The 282 ALEXANDER HAMILTON French revolutionary government held that his engagements feU with his head and that they were free to decide what treaties of the old monarchy should be retained and what rejected. It was their pohcy to retain the American treaties, and Genet was under instructions to use the United States not only as an ally against England but also as an instrument for restoring French colonial empire in America. To gain Canada, Louisiana, and the Floridas was among the objects of bis mission. He counted upon obtaining funds through coUection of the amount stUl due to France on the old loans to the United States. This remainder was then about $2,300,000, and now France made a demand for three million livres, — about $600,000, — promis ing that the entire amount would be laid out in the purchase of suppHes in the American market. On February 25, 1793, Jefferson noted that aU the members of the Cabinet were wUling to grant this demand except Hamilton, who stood out for keep ing to the stipulated terms, according to which only an instalment of $318,000 was then due. On the question of a proclamation Jefferson now argued that it would be equivalent to declaring that the United States would take no part in the war, and that the Executive had no right to take this position since it was the exclusive province of Con gress to declare war. Therefore Congress should be called to consider the question. Hamilton, who THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 283 held that it was both the right and the duty of the President to proclaim neutrality, was strongly op posed to summoning Congress. In a brief note of the cabinet meeting he remarked that "whether this advice proceeded from a secret wish to involve us in a war, or from a constitutional timidity, cer tain it is such a step would have been fatal to the peace and tranquillity of America." Hamilton pressed his views with such force that Jefferson agreed that if the term "neutrality" were not em ployed a proclamation might be issued enjoining American citizens from aU acts and proceedings in consistent with the duties of a friendly nation. It was then unanimously decided that Congress should not be convoked in advance of the regular session. The proclamation was drafted by Attorney-General Randolph, who showed it to Jefferson to assure him that "there was no such word as neutrality in it." Although Jefferson raised no objection to the word ing of the proclamation at the time, a few months later he referred to it in letters to friends as a piece of "pusillanimity," because it omitted any expression of the affection of America for France. By its terms the proclamation was simply an ad monition to American citizens to keep out of the war, with notice that they would be Hable to prose cution for acts of a nature to "violate the law of nations." It is manifest that the question whether or not the treaties with France were still in force was 284 ALEXANDER HAMILTON of great practical importance. If they were, they were part of the law of the land and American citi zens might claim immunity for acts done under cover of then provisions. HamUton held that the treaty obhgations should be suspended since a situa tion had arisen which made them inconsistent with a pohcy of neutrality. They contemplated only de fensive war; but France had taken the offensive, thereby relieving the United States of her reciprocal obhgations. Jefferson held that the treaty stipula tions were still operative, for, even if they apparently requned the United States to engage in the war, it did not follow that such would be the actual con sequence. The possibffity was "not certain enough to authorize us in sound morahty to declare, at this moment, the treaties null. " It is not at aU surprising that with this ambiguity in the position of the Gov ernment, there was difficulty in giving practical effect to the proclamation. When proceedings were taken against Gideon Henfield, an American citizen who had enlisted to serve on a French privateer, Genet came to his defense and obtained a jury verdict of acquittal, which was popularly regarded as a rebuke to the Administration and a victory for Genet. The whole country thrffied with enthusiasm in be- haff of France. According to Chief Justice MarshaU, "a great majority of the American people deemed it criminal to remain unconcerned spectators of a conflict between their ancient enemy and repubHcan THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 285 France. " Genet's journey from Charleston to Phila delphia assumed the character of a triumphal prog ress. As he approached the city a procession was formed to escort him to his lodgings. Among John Adams's reminiscences is an account of "the terror ism excited by Genet in 1793, when ten thousand people in the streets of PhUadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington out of his house, and effect a revolution in the government, or compel it to declare war in favor of the French Revolu tion and against England." Adams related that he judged it prudent to order a chest of arms from the war-office to be brought into his house to defend it from attack. This account, written many years after the event, is no doubt accurate in its description of the alarm which the situation caused to a timid man. Letters written by HamUton during aU this excitement show that he viewed it with cool intrepidity. In May, 1793, he wrote that the number of persons who went to meet Genet "would be stated high at a hundred," and he did not beheve that a tenth part of the city participated in the meetings and addresses of Genet's sympathizers. "A crowd wiU always draw a crowd, whatever be the purpose. Curiosity wiU supply the place of attachment to, or interest in, the object." Washington's own letters at this period show no trace of concern about his personal safety, but he smarted under the attacks on his motives. In Jef- 286 ALEXANDER HAMILTON ferson's Anas, under date of August 2, 1793, is an account of an explosion of rage over a print in which Washington was brought to the guiUotine for crimes against hberty. According to Jefferson, Washing ton swore that "by God he had rather be in his grave than in his present situation; that he had rather be on his farm than to be made emperor qf the world; and yet that they were charging him with wanting to be a king." At the cabinet meeting of April 19 there had been a sharp difference of opinion as to the way in which Gen6t should be received. Jefferson and Randolph were of opinion that the reception should be uncon ditional. HamUton, supported by Knox, proposed that this notice should be given to Genet: That the Government of the United States, uniformly entertaining cordial wishes for the happiness of the French nation, and disposed to maintain with it amicable com munication and intercourse, uninterrupted by political vicissitudes, does not hesitate to receive him in the char acter, which his credentials import; yet, considering the origin, course, and circumstances of the relations continued between the two countries and the existing position of the affairs of France, it is deemed advisable and proper on the part of the United States to reserve to future consider ation and discussion the question, whether the operation of the treaties, by which those relations were formed, ought not to be temporarily and provisionally suspended; and under this impression it is thought due to a spirit of candid and friendly procedure, to apprise him before hand of the intention to reserve that question, lest silence on the point should occasion misconstruction. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 287 The even division of the Cabinet, coupled with the fact that the matter belonged to Jefferson's department, caused Washington to refrain from making a decision, the practical effect being that Jefferson had his way. This left Genet in a position to claim aU the advantages conferred upon France by the treaties, and he took an attitude of indignant remonstrance at the duphcity of the American posi tion. Did not the United States have treaty en gagements with France ? By what authority, then, did the Administration interfere with him in the en joyment of his rights as the representative of France, and interfere with American citizens in their deal ings with him ? "As long as the States, assembled in Congress, shaU not have determined that this solemn engagement should not be performed, no one has the right to shackle our operations." Genet's argument turned against Jefferson the same points that Jefferson himself had been making in the cabinet meetings. Jefferson repHed that "without appealing to treaties, we are at peace with aU by the law of nature; — for by nature's law man is at peace with man." Genet insisted with entire logical propriety that if the treaties were in force he was entitled to act in accordance with them, and he managed to engage in the French service a consider able fleet of American vessels. On June 19 he was able to inform his government: "I am provisioning the West Indies, I excite the Canadians to break the British yoke, I arm the Kentukois, and prepare 288 ALEXANDER HAMILTON a naval expedition which wiU facUitate the descent on New Orleans." The last-mentioned enterprise is one which he had arranged with the famous frontier commander George Rogers Clark, who was ready to invade Louisiana if funds and suppHes were provided. Genet's intimacy with Jefferson was such that he talked to him about this enterprise. Jefferson complained that enticing officers and men from Kentucky to go against Spain "was reaUy putting a halter about then necks," but he did not think he had any right to interfere, and he noted that Genet "communicated these things to me, not as Secretary of State, but as Mr. Jefferson." Genet acted with such ability and energy that he might have used the United States as the Germans used Turkey, had not HamUton stood in the way. Genet's chief trouble for some time was only lack of funds, due to HamUton's steady refusal to anticipate the maturing of the French loan. Everything else seemed to be going in Genet's favor when on June 29, 1793, pubhcation began of a series of eight articles signed "Pacificus." Although rapidly pro duced, in the midst of alarms, they are.^so dignified in style, elevated in thought, acute in analysis, and cogent in reasoning that they have taken classic rank as a treatise upon international rights and duties. The effect upon aU people capable of serious thought was so marked that at Jefferson's instance and with his aid Madison attempted a THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 289 reply, but desisted after producing five articles over the signature "Helvidius," making the familiar points of strict-construction theorizing as to execu tive limitations, but faffing to reach the main point of what to do and how to do it. Neither Jefferson nor Madison was a match for HamUton in debate, and public opinion now began to turn against them. For this they now blamed Genet, who after all was only claiming treaty rights which Jefferson acknowl edged. By July 7 Jefferson was writing to Madi son that "Genet renders my position immensely difficult." But, as Genet was acting in the interests of his mission and not in Jefferson's interest, he con tinued to equip vessels in American ports to prey on British commerce. In his perplexity Jefferson, on July 12, actually wrote to Hammond, the British minister, requesting him not to aUow such vessels to depart. Hammond naturally expressed surprise that he should receive such an appHcation, since he had no control over then movements. Among the vessels mentioned in Jefferson's letter was The Little Sarah, a British merchantman, which had been brought into PhUadelphia as a French prize and was being refitted as a French privateer, its name changed to Le Petit Democrate. This, proceeding brought on a crisis. Steps were taken to detain the vessel by force, but Jefferson protested and undertook to arrange with Genet that the vessel should not saU until its legal status was decided. 290 ALEXANDER HAMILTON urging that the President would consult the justices of the Supreme Court, "whose knowledge of the sub ject would secure against errors dangerous to the peace of the United States, and then authority in sure the respect of aU parties." Washington, harassed and confused by the dis sensions in his Cabinet, had indeed decided to take this step. Hamilton was opposed to a proceeding which involved prejudgment on questions that might come before the court in due course of law, and which seemed to him to be an evasion of the proper responsibUity of the Executive, but he took part in preparing the case. Of the twenty-nine questions submitted to the Supreme Court, HamU ton framed twenty-one, Jefferson seven, and Wash ington himseH added one. The justices declined to answer. Jefferson then consulted Randolph whether they could not "prepare a bffi for Congress to appoint a board or some other body of advice for the Execu tive on such questions." But expedients for dodg ing executive responsibUity had by that time been exhausted. Le Petit Democrate had meanwhUe put to sea. Jefferson felt hurt and indignant over the way Genet had treated him. He now joined with the rest of the Cabinet in demanding that Genet should be recaUed, and his despatch setting forth the reasons is a dignified and powerful presentation of the case. But at this very time Genet was still strongly upheld by the Jeffersonian press. Freneau's THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 291 National Gazette maintained that, so far from over stepping his rights, Genet had reaUy acted "too tamely"; had indeed been "too accommodating for the peace of the United States." Hamilton now again appealed to public opinion in a series of articles over the signature "No Jacobin," in which Genet's behavior was reviewed. After five articles had appeared the series ended abruptly because HamUton was stricken by the yeUow fever which raged in PhUadelphia that summer. But the battle was now won. A reaction had set in for which Jefferson laid the blame on Genet's defiant bearing, "risking that disgust which I had so much wished should have been avoided." CHAPTER XX RETIREMENT FROM OFFICE In a letter of July 31, 1793, at a time when his troubles with Genet over Le Petit Democrate were at their height, Jefferson wrote to Washington announcing his desne to resign at the close of the next month. Jefferson noted that Washington tried to dissuade him, and in the course of their conversation said that " Colonel HamUton had three or four weeks ago written to him, informing him that private as weU as pubhc reasons had brought him to the determination to retire, and that he should do it towards the close of the next session. He said he had often before intimated dispositions to resign, but never as decisively before; that he [Washington] supposed he had fixed on the latter part of next ses sion to give an opportunity to Congress to examine into his conduct." It was a fact that HamUton had become anxious to retire from pubhc office; not that he flinched from its burdens and anxieties, but simply because he could not afford to stay. WhUe he was being as- saUed as the manager of vast profiteering operations in finance, the actual, pitiful fact was that his pay was only $3,500 a year, about a fourth of what he 292 RETIREMENT FROM OFFICE 293 might have been earning in his profession, mean whUe enjoying the respect of the community, whereas he was now a mark for calumny and slander. Al though more than any other man he was estabhsh- ing the new government on a solid and durable basis, he was accused of planning its overthrow and was the object of a vast concoction of fiction to that purport. Partisan spite goes to extreme lengths in American pohtics, but never has it been so wildly extravagant as in the case of Alexander Hamilton. The proverb that where there is so much smoke there must be some fire is often turned to account by American pohticians in lighting a smudge to darken the reputation of an opponent, and HamUton had to endure more of this sort of warfare than any other American statesman. So far as its immediate purpose was concerned — that of forcing him out of the Cabinet — it defeated its end by its own violence. He wanted to get out as soon as he decently could, but he did not intend to go until he had met and answered every charge that could be brought against him. If his enemies had desisted when the GUes charges in the Second Congress broke down, he would have resigned office soon thereafter. But when GUes tried to explain his defeat on the ground that the House had acted without due examination of the evidence, HamUton made up his mind that he would not aUow his enemies that excuse. When the Tlnrd Congress met, December 2, 294 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 1793, the Jeffersonians were strong enough to elect the Speaker. Undeterred by the fact that his pohti cal enemies were now in full control, Hamilton ad dressed a letter to the Speaker saying that it had been suggested that at the previous session there had not been time enough for a full inquny into his conduct. "Unwilling to leave the matter on such a footing, I have concluded to request the House of Representatives, as I now do, that a new inquiry may be, without delay, instituted in some mode, most effectual for an accurate and thorough investi gation; and I wUl add, that the more comprehensive it is, the more agreeable it wiU be to me." QUes promptly took up the chaUenge and moved the ap pointment of a committee to examine the condition of the Treasury Department in all its particulars. Pending action by the House, HamUton's ene mies got hold of a discharged clerk of the Treasury Department, with whose aid a new line of attack was opened. A memorial from Andrew G. Fraunces was laid before the House making charges to the effect that the payment of warrants had been de layed so that they could be bought up by speculators at a discount. HamUton's request for an investiga tion was aUowed to He on the table, while pubhcity was given to Fraunces's tale and arrangements were made for proceeding with it by a select committee. GUes was a member, a circumstance which turned out to be to HamUton's advantage, for, although RETIREMENT FROM OFFICE 295 GUes was a hard, bold, resolute fighter, he was an erect and manly foe. He did not stab in the dark and he did not use poisoned weapons. When he looked into Fraunces's character and into the testi mony that was offered he could not stomach either and he concurred in a report on Hamilton, finding that the evidence was "fully sufficient to justify his conduct; and that in the whole course of this transaction the Secretary and other officers of the Treasury have acted a meritorious part towards the pubhc." GUes still pressed his motion for further investi gation of the Treasury Department, but upon differ ent grounds from what he had urged before. Now he admitted that imputations upon the Secretary's integrity had been quite removed, and he held that "the primary object of the resolution is to ascertain the boundaries of discretion and authority between the Legislature and the Treasury Department." But by this time the House was sick of the whole business. The original purpose had been to force Hamilton out of office so as to leave Jefferson with an undisputed premiership in Washington's Cabinet, but Jefferson quit on December 31, 1793, while this matter was pending, and doubtless it was known that HamUton too was going. Doubtless it was also known that Washington was sorry that he had con sented to re-election and that he, too, would have been glad to resign ff he could. The attack upon 296 ALEXANDER HAMILTON HamUton had been a complete failure; everybody knew that. AU that remained of it was a proposal that the House should engage in vague schemes of departmental regulation which after all would not touch Hamilton but would descend upon his succes sor, who might even be one of then own set. The House became so reluctant to proceed with the busi ness that when it came up, February 24, 1794, Giles and Page were the only speakers and both dis claimed any intention of reflecting upon HamUton. The House rid itself of the matter by referring it to a committee. It was perfectly well understood that this was simply a decent burial; and that was the end. HamUton had once more defeated his enemies, and might now have marched out with aU the honors of the victor on a hard-fought field; but conditions of such perU to the Government had now been de veloped that he was unwiffing to leave until he had removed them. One of the counts of Jefferson's indictment of HamUton's pohcy was that the excise law was "of odious character . . . committing the authority of the Government in parts where resist ance is most probable and coercion least practicable." The parts thus referred to were the mountains of western Pennsylvania, where popular discontent promptly coalesced with the agitation carried on against Washington's neutrality policy. At a meet ing of delegates from the election districts of AUe- RETIREMENT FROM OFFICE 297 gheny County, held at Pittsburgh, resolutions were adopted attributing the course of the Government "to the pernicious influence of stockholders," and declaring "that we are almost ready to wish for a state of revolution and the guffiotine of France, for a short space, in order to inflict punishment on the miscreants that enervate and disgrace our Govern ment." In the summer of 1794 this state of mind had produced its natural consequence in open in surrection. Writing to Governor Lee, of Vnginia, Washington said that he considered "this insurrec tion as the first formidable fruit of the Democratic Societies." It was not in Hamilton's nature to retire from office in the presence of such a situation. Writing to Washington, May 27, 1794, he said: "I some time since communicated an intention to withdraw from the office I hold, towards the close of the present session. This I should now put in execution but for the events which have lately accumulated, of a nature to render the prospects of the continuance of our peace in a considerable degree precarious. I do not perceive that I could voluntarily quit my post at such a juncture consistently with considerations either of duty or character; and therefore I find myseff reluctantly obhged to defer the offer of my resignation." The letter went on to say that if Washington had meanwhUe made other arrangements he would be 298 ALEXANDER HAMILTON glad "to relinquish a situation opposed by the strongest personal and famUy relations, and in which even a momentary stay could only be pro duced by a sense of duty or reputation." But Washington was dehghted to have him stay on, and at once wrote: "I am pleased that you have determined to remain at your post until the clouds over our affans, which have come on so fast of late, shall be dispersed." Although what has passed into history as the Whiskey Insurrection had now assumed a character that would have naturaUy brought it under the War Department, Washington left the arrangements to Hamilton. The principle on which HamUton acted was that the force employed ought "to be an im posing one, such, if practicable, as wiU deter from opposition, save the effusion of the blood of the citizens, and serve the object to be accomplished." AU the members of the Cabinet concurred in Hamil ton's opinion except Attorney-General Randolph, who abounded in objection, protest, and warning. Hamilton's plans caUed for a force of 12,000 men, of whom 3,000 were to be cavalry. Some appear ance of timidity and inertia in Pennsylvania State authority was effectuaUy counteracted by measures which showed that the expedition would move even if Pennsylvania held back. The business was so shrewdly managed that without any direct pressure Pennsylvania feU obediently into line, and every- RETIREMENT FROM OFFICE 299 thing went off as HamUton had planned. The insurgents were so cowed by the determined action of the Government that they submitted without a struggle. Since it is in the nature of precaution that the more successful it is the less necessary it appears to have been, the completeness of HamUton's suc cess furnished his enemies with a new cry against him, and his costly miHtary expedition that had no fighting to do was held up to public ridicule. But the truth is that any faUure might have been fatal to the Government. Randolph was in a state of panic. Fauchet, the French minister, reported him as overcome with grief, declaring: "It is aU over; a civU war is about to ravage our unhappy countiy." He apphed to Fauchet for financial assistance; the fact was made pubHc through the capture of Fauchet's correspondence by the British and Randolph retired from the Cabinet under a cloud. Hamilton now felt free to press his own resigna tion, but not until any official desne to investigate his conduct had been fuUy satisfied. Under date of December 1, 1794, he wrote to the Speaker of the House that he had arranged with the President to resign his office on January 31, adding: "I make this communication in order that an opportunity may be given, previous to that event, to institute any further proceeding which may be contemplated, if 300 ALEXANDER HAMILTON any there be, in consequence of the inquiry during the last session into the state of this Department." No notice was taken of this communication and Hamilton took no further notice of the attitude of the House, which had certainly placed itseH in an undignified position by its faUure to take decisive action in one way or another on GUes's resolution. HamUton addressed to the Senate his final report on the pubhc credit. On January 16, 1795, he wrote that he had "prepared a plan, on the basis of actual revenues, for the further support of pubhc credit, which is ready for communication to the Senate." The body promptly caUed for it and it was trans mitted on January 20. It is a masterly examination of the whole field of national finance, presented with such clearness, order, dignity, and power that it ranks among the greatest of HamUton's state papers. In addition to preparing this long and comprehensive report, in the midst of his arrangements for de parture, he also made a much briefer report to the House of Representatives, making some valuable suggestions for the improvement of thergygnue. He finished lids on tfaff~ctay his resignation took effect, and by the time it reached the House he was no longer Secretary of the Treasury. He had laid down the officejn -whieh-hejhad estabhshed a new nation upon firm foundations. CHAPTER XXI PRIVATE DIRECTION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS In considering the later events of HamUton's career, it is apt to occur to one how much better it would have been for his reputation had he had nothing more to do with political management after quitting pubhc life. From now on one must observe a lowering of . his standard of behavior, a tolerance of methods and practices which once he would have scorned and which he admitted now, not through change of opinion as to then character, but through calcula tions of party advantage. But upon a broad view of the situation it is clear that it was practically im possible for him to disengage himseH from pohtics. He was still a young man — only thirty-eight when he resigned the Treasury portfolio. His advice was sought continuaUy, and situations developed that made irresistible appeals to his sense of pubhc duty. The blemish to his reputation is not in that his pubhc activity continued but in that he aUowed it to produce a system of private direction of pubhc affans incompatible with any sort of constitutional government. Occasion and opportunity for such tactics had been supplied by the behavior of Con gress in disconnecting itself from the Administration, 301 302 ALEXANDER HAMILTON thus insuring its own subjection to outside influence covertly exerted. The conditions thus created ex plain HamUton's behavior, but do not justify it. His proper function was to rectify conditions, not to yield to them; and in so doing the great states man declined into the intriguing pohtician, a char acter poorly suited to one of his frank disposition. To this part of his career, however, belongs as brilliant an achievement in pubhc service as any per formed by him. In June, 1795, the Jay treaty was ratified by the Senate with the exception of an article relating to trade with the West Indies, an omission to which the British Government in the end made no objection. The Senate had decided to keep the treaty a secret, but one of the members furnished a copy to the opposition press and at once furious de nunciation of it began. Up to this time Washington had acted in a routine way, contenting himseH with a reference of the matter to the Senate, but the con ditional ratification and the outburst of popular disapproval raised questions which perplexed him. He apphed to HamUton for his opinion, saying : " My wishes are to have the favorable and unfavorable side of each article stated and compared together; that I may see the bearing and tendency of them." HamUton's reply, written in New York, is dated only six days later than the date of Washington's letter written at PhUadelphia, so his analysis must have been the work of a few days, but nevertheless DIRECTION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS 303 it is an elaborate and comprehensive examination of a comphcated case. He condemned the article relating to West Indian trade and approved the action of the Senate in rejecting it, but on the whole his judgment was strongly in favor of accepting the treaty as thus modified. Washington was very grateful, and in returning his thanks said: "I am reaUy ashamed when I behold the trouble it has given you, to explore and explain so fuUy as you have done." At this time Jefferson was active in encouraging attacks upon the Administration. He held that the treaty was an "execrable thing," an "infamous act, which is reaUy nothing more than a treaty of alhance between England and the Anglo-men of this country against the Legislature and the people of the United States." Meetings were held aU over the coun try at which the most violent language was used. In PhUadelphia, on the 4th of July, there was a parade in which an effigy of John Jay, bearing in sulting inscriptions, was borne through the streets and then publicly binned. In New York a mob gathered in WaU Street to denounce the treaty. HamUton made an attempt to address them from the balcony of Federal HaU but was met by a shower of stones. "These are hard arguments to encounter," he remarked with a smUe as he retired. The mob marched to Bowling Green and burned a copy of the treaty in front of Jay's official residence 304 ALEXANDER HAMILTON as Governor of New York, an office to which he had been elected before the treaty was pubhshed. Many prominent citizens took part in these dem onstrations. Brockholst Livingston, Mrs. Jay's brother, acted as chairman of a committee which re ported twenty-eight resolutions of particular cen sure. As a matter of fact Jay had performed a difficult task with great tact and skUl. The Administration was in a poor position for obtaining any favor from the British Government, for under the impotent government of the Confederation the various States had contemptuously ignored the stipulations of the peace treaty in behaff of British creditors. WhUe Jay was secretary of foreign affans he had advised the Continental Congress that our treaty engage ments with Great Britain "have been constantly violated on our part by legislative acts, then and stUl existing and operating," and that the British Govern ment could not therefore be blamed for delaying the surrender of the western posts until the United States had shown themselves able and wiffing to fulfil their own obhgations under the treaty. Col lisions had begun on the western frontier and the two countries were plainly drifting into war, when Washington decided to send a special envoy to deal with aU the points at issue. Washington's original intention had been to send HamUton, but was warned that the Senate would not ratify the appointment, DIRECTION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS 305 and HamUton himseH proposed Jay as the fittest man for the task. Jay could have offered a plausible excuse for declining, as he was at that time chief justice of the Supreme Court, and he showed a fine patriotism in accepting. He remarked to friends that the cncumstances were such that no man could frame a treaty with Great Britain without making himseH odious to popular sentiment, and he accepted the mission under "a conviction that to refuse it would be to desert my duty for the sake of my ease, and domestic concerns and comforts." Of course, every treaty made by voluntary agreement must be arrived at on the principle of give and take, but popular sentiment hi the United States had not yet been educated up to appreciation of the fact that independence brought loss as weU as gain. The general feeling seems to have been that now that the war was over things would go on as before in matters of commerce and navigation; and there was great indignation that they should now be denied rights and opportunities they had enjoyed as British subjects. Their mood was strong for taking but not for giving, and, although Jay had reaUy been remarkably successful in making gains, these of course feU short of the pubhc desire, whUe the con cessions he had had to make were regarded as mon strous. Popular sentiment ran so strongly against the treaty that Washington was much perturbed, and 306 ALEXANDER HAMILTON in one of his letters to HamUton he spoke of the pleasure he had felt on reading a newspaper article in which one "CamiUus" announced his intention of discussing the treaty in a series of communications. "To judge of this work," wrote Washington, "from the first number I have seen, I augur weU of the performance and shall expect to see the subject han dled in a clear, distinct, and satisfactory manner." Washington's hope was abundantly fulfiUed, for "CamiUus" was none other than HamUton himseH. Once again he had come forward to face and subdue the passions of the hour by sheer inteUectual might. The CamiUus series began on July 22, 1795, and were continued well into the foUowing year, ending with the thirty-eighth number. They form a mas terly treatise upon the foreign relations of nations and the nature of international law, and in dignity of style, force of reasoning, and breadth of vision the successive numbers are worthy of ranking with The Federalist series. The power and abihty displayed had a marked effect in bearing down the opposition and effecting a conversion of opinion. It was in reference to this series that Jefferson declared that "HamUton was a Colossus to the Anti-Republican party," and he implored Madison to take the field against him. Madison prudently declined, but what controversial abihty Jefferson's followers could produce was massed against HamUton. He wisely refrained from any rejoinder in his CamiUus series, DIRECTION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS 307 which keeps to high ground throughout; but to deal with particular antagonists he carried on another series over the signature "PhUo-CamUlus," driving them one after another from the field. HamUton's course during the agitation over the Jay treaty is a marveUous exhibition of sustained inteUectual power, and it should not be forgotten that he who did this mighty work had to snatch the tune for it from his occupation as a lawyer, on which he was whoUy de pendent for the support of his famUy. Had it not been for his intervention, the House of Representa tives might have broken the treaty. As it was there was a violent struggle, during which Madison and GUes argued against the treaty, but in the end the House stood fifty-one to forty-eight in favor of giving effect to it. During the struggle Washington kept in close touch with HamUton, looking to him for help that was bounteously given. Not long after this matter had been concluded Washington again sought HamU ton's help on a matter he had much to heart — the composition of a dignified and appropriate address to announce his retirement to private life. This FareweU Address, to give it the name it has always since borne, was not addressed to Congress but to his countrymen, to let it be known that he refused to be a candidate for re-election. The address occupied much of Washington's attention during the summer of 1796. In 1792, when Washington 308 ALEXANDER HAMILTON thought of declining a second term, he got Madison to prepare an address making that announcement. This draft, with notes and suggestions, Washing ton now transmitted to HamUton. HamUton, how ever, prepared an entirely new address, the first draft of which was an abstract of points to be made, twenty-three in number. Later, after a conference with Jay in which the Madison draft and Washing ton's notes on it were considered, Hamilton prepared a paper of changes and corrections, in effect consti tuting an alternative draft. Washington, however, preferred Hamilton's original draft, and upon that, with Washington's notes, suggestions, and correc tions, the address was formed in the shape in which it was finally issued. Washington's own ideas con- troUed the substance; the literary form was sup plied by HamUton. In addition HamUton drafted an important part of Washington's address to Con gress at the opening of the session, December, 1796. But while HamUton was engaged in these high and noble activities he was also dipping into the mean puddles of journalism, not without an occasional splash from their mud. He began to write for the newspapers whUe a coUege boy and he kept on doing so the rest of his life. The many journals that ap peared from time to time in the Federalist party interest received help from his pen, and the volumes now required for his acknowledged writings would be much swollen had all his fugitive pieces been pre- DIRECTION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS 309 served. Wilham Cobbett, who wrote under the pseudonym of "Peter Porcupine," — a name which fitly characterizes his barbed style — was assisted by HamUton in establishing his Weekly Political Register — which appeared from 1794 to 1800, when, broken by Hbel suits, Cobbett quit the fray, returning to England to continue there his tempestuous career. In 1801 HamUton, in conjunction with several promi nent Federalists, established the New York Evening Post, one of the few journals of the period that be came a permanent institution. Hamilton's con nection with The Post was so close that aU its feuds were scored against him, and he was a frequent contributor. The editor was Wilham Coleman, a clever lawyer who for a short time was a partner of Aaron Burr. Coleman made no secret of the fact that the paper acted in HamUton's interest, but he once told a friend that HamUton never actually wrote a word for it, then adding, "Whenever any thing occurs on which I feel the need of information I state the matter to him, sometimes in a note; he appoints a time when I may see him, usuaUy a late hour of the evening. He always keeps himseH mi nutely informed on aU pohtical matters. As soon as I see him he begins in a deliberate manner to dictate and I note down in shorthand; when he stops, my article is completed." Hamilton's newspaper connections gave provoca tions that imparted special venom to the scurrilous 310 ALEXANDER HAMILTON attacks of which he was a perpetual target. He would never reply in his own person unless some charge was made against his personal integrity, on which he was as sensitive as a good woman is to her reputation for chastity. Then he would strike back at once and strike hard. In November, 1799, he had the foreman of a New York paper indicted for libel, and the defendant was fined $100 and sent to prison for four months. To HamUton's susceptibffity on this point is due a disclosure that has made a nasty stain upon his reputation. Charges of the same kind spattered many of the leading men of the times. Jefferson was among those who suffered from them, but he wisely forebore to reply. The cncumstances which involved HamUton in open scandal display the mean ness to which partisanship can stoop more than all other events in American pohtical history, dirty as is its record in matters of this sort. In 1792 two men, Clingman and Reynolds, were arrested for subornation of perjury in attempts to obtain money on a claim against the Government. Speaker Muhl- enburg, of the House of Representatives, interested himseH in Clingman's behalf and was told by him that Reynolds had a hold on HamUton. Muhlen- burg who was one of Jefferson's adherents, told Abraham Venable and James Monroe. The three conferred with Reynolds and his wife, and obtained some papers attributed to HamUton, which, insigmf- DIRECTION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS 311 icant in themselves, were exhibited as evidence corroborating a charge that HamUton had been con cerned with Reynolds in buying up old claims against the Government. The three then confronted HamU ton, who frankly avowed that he had had an in trigue with Mrs. Reynolds, and then showed con clusively that the charges they were investigating were whoUy the product of malicious fabrication. The inquirers professed to be entirely satisfied by the explanations made, and the matter was then dropped, but Monroe kept copies of aU the papers, with records of statements made by Clingman and Reynolds, which he turned over to one of his pohti cal intimates, who some years later gave a partisan journalist the use of them. The charges were made pubhc in 1797. Hamil ton at once caUed upon the investigators of 1792 to make a statement of then findings. Both Muhlenburg and Venable comphed, to Hamilton's satisfaction. Monroe quibbled and dodged, until HamUton denounced his conduct as malevolent and dishonorable, adding that if he resented the charac terization a chaUenge from him would be accepted; but Monroe refrained. Monroe seems to have be heved that he had HamUton in such a fix that he could not move further in the business, but it was not in him to know what such a man as HamUton would do. There was no shame, no disgrace, that he would not endure rather than rest under any 312 ALEXANDER HAMILTON charge against his integrity. So he came out with the whole wretched business, telling in complete detaU the story of his relations with Mrs. Reynolds. It was the old story — a woman who came with a sad tale to get a personal interview and who made use of the opportunity to get a new protector. Both she and her husband worked the affair for aU they could get out of it. HamUton told the whole story, appending aU letters, papers, and documents having any connection with it, fifty-two in number, the whole making a bulky pamphlet. In it HamUton quite justly observed that his desne to destroy this scandal completely led him to a more copious and particular examination of it than was reaUy neces sary, and every one must agree to his summing up of the case: The bare perusal of the letters from Reynolds and his wife is sufficient to convince my greatest enemy that there is nothing worse in the affair than an irregular and in delicate amour. For this, I bow to the just censure which it merits. I have paid pretty severely for the folly, and can never recollect it without disgust and self-con demnation. It might seem affectation to say more. The Reynolds pamphlet, whUe it wUl always pre clude in Hamilton's case the mythic veneration that has coUected about some pohticians of that period who were reaUy shabby feUows, did have the effect of stamping out for good and aU slander as to HamU ton's honesty. The manliness with which he had DIRECTION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS 313 faced every accusation affected even inveterate enemies. It was a significant mark of esteem when in April, 1798, the high-minded statesman, Governor Jay, asked HamUton's permission to appoint him United States Senator to fiU a vacancy that had occurred. HamUton repHed that his situation obhged him to decline the appointment, adding: "There may arrive a crisis when I may conceive myseff bound once more to sacrifice the interests of my famUy to pubhc caU. But I must defer the change as long as possible." The situation in which HamUton stood at that time forbade the acceptance of any post that would interfere with his legal practice. On returning to New York after leaving Washington's Cabinet, he took a smaU house at 56 Pine Street, later removing to 58 Partition Street (now Fulton Street), thence to Liberty Street, near Broadway, and thence to 26 Broadway, where he Hved until 1802. In 1798, in conjunction with his brother-in-law John B. Church, he leased a country house, near where some years later he acquired a tract of land and built a house, calling the place "The Grange," after the name of the ancestral home of the HamUtons in Scotland. It was then considered to be far out in the country. The house he buUt is stiU preserved, but it has been removed from its original site, which was what is now the corner of 142d Street and Tenth Avenue. His home plans were in mind 314 ALEXANDER HAMILTON when he refused Jay's offer. His law practice brought him about $12,000 a year, then reckoned a large income, and he could not afford the loss he would have sustained by attendance in Congress, then about to shift from Philadelphia to Wash ington. But, whUe the stress of these circumstances must be recognized, a situation resulted which had chre consequences. HamUton's irresistible vocation for statesmanship now operated under conditions that produced an extraordinary system of cabal and in trigue the collapse of which wrecked the FederaHst party. And yet it is scarcely possible to mention a particular in which HamUton himseH was in the wrong. Events moved with the inexorable sequence of a Greek tragedy, individuals seeming to be the mere counters of fate. It aU started from a false situation which was not of Hamilton's creation. Washington had virtually forced upon him the office of managing director of the Administration. All the members of the Cabinet, as it took shape in Washing ton's second term, looked to him for help and guid ance in every important emergency. During Wash ington's time the relation had the character of a frank and honorable intimacy. With the succession of John Adams it became covert and secretive, not by direct intention but by gradual acceptance of a false situation. CHAPTER XXII THE BREACH WITH ADAMS Adams and Hamilton felt mutual dislike, dating from the time when Adams was prominent among the lawyer pohticians who got control of the Con tinental Congress, and HamUton was active in ad vocating measures to repress Congressional jobbery and mismanagement. Adams was a vain, nascible, garrulous pedant, in whose nature there was a mixture of habitual effrontery with physical timidity rarely found except among lawyers. His defects of character were weU known to the FederaHst lead ers, who from the outset of his Administration re garded it as a party duty to humor and manage him for his own good. Wolcott, of Connecticut, wrote to his son, Hamilton's successor in the Treasury De partment, that Adams was "a man of great vanity, pretty capricious, of a very moderate share of pru dence, and of far less real abilities than he believes himseH to possess," so that "it wiU reqmre a great deal of address to render him the service which it wUl be essential for him to receive." Adams's dislike of HamUton derived additional bitterness from some features of the Presidential election of 1796. At that time the electors each 315 316 ALEXANDER HAMILTON voted for two candidates without designating who should be President and who Vice-President. Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, was associated with Adams on the FederaHst ticket, and HamUton recommended both to the sohd support of the Feder alist members of the electoral college. But HamU ton foresaw that Pinckney would receive Southern votes that would not go to Adams, and that if both were solidly supported in the North Pinckney would come out ahead and get the Presidency. The New York, New Jersey, and Delaware electors voted solidly as HamUton had recommended, but South Carolina voted for Jefferson and Pinckney, and moreover Pinckney received scattering votes else where in the South, which would have insured his election had he received the sohd support of the FederaHst electors in New England, but eighteen of them cut Pinckney to make sure that he should not slip in ahead of Adams, with the result of elect ing Jefferson as Vice-President. Adams received only three electoral votes more than Jefferson, and for the narrowness of this margin he blamed HamU ton, who was certainly in no way responsible for it, although he had anticipated the South Carolina straddle, and had made plans with a view to that occurrence. On the other hand, Adams felt so kindly toward Jefferson, his old Congressional chum, that expressions of satisfaction over Jefferson's elec tion instead of Pinckney's came from the Adams dr- THE BREACH WITH ADAMS 317 cle. Jefferson made friendly advances to Adams and wrote to Madison suggesting that "it would be worthy of consideration whether it would not be to the pubhc good to come to a good understanding with him as to his future elections." The Federalist leaders were dismayed on hearing that Adams was conferring with Jefferson as to the pohcy of the Ad ministration before he had had any conference with bis own Cabinet. What Adams had in mind was not a bad idea had it been at aU practicable. He thought a good im pression might be made by sending a mission to France of exceptional weight and dignity, and he wanted Jefferson to go as its head. Jefferson of course declined, but was suave and tactful in his refusal. Adams then proposed Madison, and Jef ferson undertook to see him about the matter; but soon reported that Madison too felt unable to ac cept the honor. Then at last Adams decided to confer with his Cabinet, whose members had mean whUe become alarmed at his behavior. Adams had taken over the Cabinet just as Washington had left it. AU its members were devoted to HamUton and were accustomed to seek his advice. They aU be gan writing to him, teUing him what was going on and asking his help in preparing measures, making Hamilton's office in New York a more important administrative centre than Adams's own office at the seat of government. 318 ALEXANDER HAMILTON There is no sign that HamUton used his influence to do any harm to Adams. In fact he cleared the way several times to Adams's advantage, although Adams did not know it. The attitude of the Cabinet was decidedly hostUe to Adams's pet scheme of a special mission to France. It was HamUton's ad vice that secured then approval of the project, and he also brought his friends in the Senate to its sup port. He prepared for Secretary Wolcott a scheme of taxation by which the revenue could be increased to provide for national defense, and he prepared for Secretary McHenry, of the War Department, a scheme of military and naval preparations which, though it was not adopted in its entirety, greatly augmented the resources of the Administration and was the most important factor in producing more re spectful treatment of American interests. Although he himself became a major-general in the army, HamUton's advice was strongly in favor of making the navy the principal arm of national power. The French Government had characterized the Jay treaty as a violation of American engagements with France and had retaliated by seizing American vessels, confiscating their cargoes, and imprisoning hundreds of American citizens. Adams's special mission was received with insult and accomphshed nothing, but when the httle American navy got busy results followed that were impressive. During the two years and a half in which hostilities con- THE BREACH WITH ADAMS 319 tinued eighty-five armed ves els were taken and only one American vessel was lost in action, and that one had been originaUy a captured French vessel. Most of the vessels taken were privateers, but there were two hard-fought actions in which heavUy armed French frigates were defeated. The value of the protection given to American commerce was demonstrated by the increase of exports from $57,- 000,000 in 1797 to $78,665,528 Hi 1799. Among the experiences of Adams's special mission was a notice that they should not receive a friendly reception unless they were prepared to give as a "douceur to the Dnectory," a sum of money amount ing to about $240,000. The story of this affair was told in the famous X Y Z dispatches, so known from the letters used in the papers laid before Con gress, in place of the actual names of Talleyrand's three agents in pressing the demand. A wave of indignation swept the country, and, although Jeffer son argued that the French Government ought not to be held responsible for "the turpitude of swin dlers," his party in Congress was soon reduced to a feeble and dispirited minority. Among the mea sures now taken was one authorizing the President to raise a military force of 10,000 men, the com mander of which should have the services of "a suitable number of major-generals." There was nothing to suggest that this puny measure could supply an explosive to blow up the Federalist party, 320 ALEXANDER HAMILTON but such was the effect, owing to Adams's peculi arities. He started with a characteristic bungle. With out any inquiry as to whether the appointment would be acceptable, he named Washington as the commander. When the news reached Hamilton he was much surprised, for he had supposed that every pubhc man knew that Washington would not endure unceremonious treatment. He wrote at once to Washington urging him to overlook the im propriety and give his consent. The only rational explanation of the tortuous course which Adams now pursued was that he meant to get the use of Wash ington's name whffe retaining for himseH actual con trol over the arrangements. His letters plied Wash ington with bland assurances and vague generalities. No one was less likely to be caught in that way than one of Washington's dehberate and methodical habits of action. He demanded exact stipulations as to his powers, including the right to appoint his major- generals. Adams avoided committing himself, but he instructed Secretary McHenry to obtain Wash ington's advice, and Washington then recommended as major-generals HamUton, C. C. Pinckney, and Knox, in that order of rank. Adams seemed to assent and the nominations were sent to the Senate in that order, but as soon as confirmation took place it then appeared that he was in the sulks. He left for his home at Quincy, Massachusetts, without THE BREACH WITH ADAMS 321 notice to his Cabinet, and when McHenry wrote to him about proceeding with the organization of the army he replied that he would act as soon as Knox's precedence was acknowledged, and that the New England States would not submit to the humiliation of having Knox's claim disregarded. From August 4 to October 13 wrangling over this matter went on. Adams wrote to Washington that he had signed the commissions on the same day, in the hope "that an amicable adjustment or ac quiescence might take place among the gentlemen themselves"; but, should this hope be disappointed "and controversies shaU arise, they wiU of course be submitted to you as commander-in-chief." Adams wrote to McHenry that "there has been too much intrigue hi this business, both for General Washington and for me"; that it might as well be understood that in any event he would have the last say, "and I shaU then determine it exactly as I should now, Knox, Pinckney, and HamUton." It was a painful feature of the dispute to HamUton that it put his interest in opposition to that of Kiiox, who whUe a member of Washington's Cabinet had always been Hamilton's firm adherent. Hamil ton wrote to Washington saying that Knox indeed had cause for complaint, since his rank in the old army had been so much higher than HamUton's own rank. To McHenry he wrote: "I am pained to occasion to him pain for I have truly a warm side 322 ALEXANDER HAMILTON for him, and a high value for his merits; but my judgment teUs me, and aU I consult confirm it, that I cannot reasonably postpone myseH in a case in which a preference so important to the pubhc in its present and future consequences has been given me." When news came that Knox would refuse an appointment that put him lowest in rank, Hamilton at once wrote to Washington, saying that he did not want to be the occasion of any embarrassment, and adding: "I shall cheerfully place myself in your disposal, and facffitate any arrangement you may think for the general good." But Washington, although he liked Knox per- sonaUy, was determined to have HamUton as his chief assistant, and with good reason. Knox was now a stout, rubicund veteran, fond of joUy company and good cheer, which he enjoyed in profusion on the country estate in Maine to which he had retired. The importance of having a good organizer in the principal post was enhanced by the fact that Sec retary McHenry, a physician by profession, had little knowledge of miHtary affairs. Washington himseH, when he made the appointment, charac terized it as "Hobson's choice." So Washington insisted on his right to use his own judgment, as he had distinctly stipulated from the first. For months the deadlock halted action. Adams was obstinate; Washington was immovable. The suspense finally became so intolerable that the THE BREACH WITH ADAMS 323 Cabinet acted without further consultation with the President about the matter. Secretary McHenry submitted to his coUeagues aU the correspondence in the case and asked their advice. They made a joint reply that "the Secretary of War ought to transmit the commissions, and inform the generals that in his opinion the rank is definitely settled ac cording to the original arrangement." This was done, but Knox declined an appointment ranking him below HamUton and Pinckney, although Hamil ton wrote to him in a futUe attempt to soothe his feelings. The letter is in every way creditable to Hamilton, both manly and tender, without any trace of insincerity or affectation. It was with entire truth he declared : "Be persuaded that the views of others, not my own, have given shape to what has taken place, and that there has been a serious struggle be tween my respect and attachment for you and the impression of duty." WhUe this wretched squabble was going on HamU ton was trying to repress the spnit of arrogance that now possessed the FederaHst members of Congress. They acted as if then heads had been turned by success, and they enacted some imprudent laws. The period of residence reqmred of an alien before he could be admitted to American citizenship was raised from five years to fourteen. The President was authorized to send out of the country "such aliens as he shaU judge dangerous to the peace and 324 ALEXANDER HAMILTON safety to the United States." The state of public opinion probably sanctioned these measures, but such was not the case with the famous sedition act, which made it a crime to write or publish "any false, scandalous, or malicious statements about the President or either House of Congress." As soon as Hamilton heard of the presentation of this measure he wrote a warning letter to Secretary Wolcott, say ing: "Let us not establish a tyranny. Energy is a very different thing from violence." Later on he wrote to Senator Sedgwick, disapproving of the act as passed, declaring "it seems to me deficient in precau tions against abuse and for the security of citizens." The result verified HamUton's prediction to Wolcott that "if we push things to an extreme, we shall then give to faction body and solidity." Just that thing happened. The ahen and sedition laws gave the Jeffersonian party an issue on which they recovered their lost ground. In communicating the X Y Z dispatches to Congress Adams declared: "I wiU never send an other Minister to France without assurance that he wiU be received, respected, and honored, as the rep resentative of a great, free, powerful, and inde pendent nation." But later on he changed his mind and, without consulting his Cabinet, he nomi nated a minister to France. This unexpected action stunned the Federahsts and dehghted the Jefferson- ians. "Had the foulest heart and the ablest head THE BREACH WITH ADAMS 325 in the world," wrote Senator Sedgwick to Hamilton, "been permitted to select the most embarrassing and ruinous measure, perhaps it would have been pre cisely the one which has been adopted." HamU ton's mediation now again made a smooth course for Adams. WhUe he thought Adams had taken an unwise step, he advised that "the measure must go into effect with the additional idea of a commission of three." The matter was settled in this way, much to Adams's gratification. By the tune the commission reached France, Bonaparte was in power. The envoys were decently received and were able to make an acceptable settlement of dif ferences between the two countries. As the Presidential election approached, efforts, in which Hamilton took part, were made to find a substitute for Adams as the party candidate, but they proved unavailing, as New England stUl clung to Adams, since to let him go meant the loss of the Presidency for that section. There was some talk of bringing out Washington again, but ff any hopes were reaUy entertained in that quarter they were destroyed by bis death on December 14, 1799. When word of these proceedings reached Adams the wrath that filled his bosom ever since he had been baffled in the matter of the army appointments now boUed over. He decided to rid himseH of men whom he characterized as "HamUton's spies." The first to be dismissed was McHenry, on May 5, 326 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 1800, after an interview in which— as reported by McHenry himseH — Adams accused him of Having "biassed General Washington to place Hamilton in his hst of major-generals before Knox." On May 12 Secretary Pickering of the State Department was dismissed. Secretary Wolcott of the Treasury Department stayed on until the end of the year, when he resigned of his own motion. In thus re constituting his Cabinet Adams was entirely within his rights. A President ought to have as his ad visers those who have his confidence and with whom he feels disposed to confer, and Adams would have acted wisely if he had selected friends of his own at the outset. But his taking such action in the midst of a Presidential campaign was not an exercise of good judgment but was an outbreak of his bad temper. He then went from bad to worse by raging against HamUton, and the style of his remarks may be imagined from the fact that years after, when he had had plenty of time to cool down, he referred to HamUton as the "bastard brat of a Scotch pedlar." Talk of this sort might have been ignored as a char acteristic specimen of Adams's behavior when in a rage, but he was foolish enough to attack HamUton's integrity and patriotism, and at no time would HamUton submit to that. When news came that Adams was now reiterating the old calumnies, HamUton wrote to Adams asking whether it was true that Adams had "asserted the existence of a THE BREACH WITH ADAMS 327 British faction" of which Hamilton himseH was said to be a member. Adams made no reply. HamUton waited for two months, and then wrote again, declaring "that by whomsoever a charge of the kind mentioned in my former letter, may, at any time, have been made or insinuated against me, it is a base, wicked, and cruel calumny; destitute even of a plausible pretext, to excuse the f oUy, or mask the depravity which must have dictated it." Even this sharp language did not move Adams to reply. He could be a backbiter, but when caUed to account he took refuge hi obstinate sUence. HamUton's natural indignation now led him to commit a great pohtical blunder. Since he had de cided to support Adams as his party candidate his personal grievance should have been subordinated to his sense of duty, but so great was his indignation that his feelings escaped control, and he wrote a scathing analysis of "The Pubhc Conduct and Char acter of John Adams," for distribution among a few leading Federalists. Although it advised sup port of Adams's candidacy, as the only feasible course in existing cffcumstances, it exhibited him as so unfit for the office that acceptance of him could be justified only as a choice among evils. Aaron Burr managed to get hold of a copy, and he made such use of portions that HamUton felt obHged to publish it in fuU. It was more damaging to HamU ton himseH than it was to Adams, for HamUton had 328 ALEXANDER HAMILTON more to lose in reputation. Even Robert Troup, Hamilton's friend from boyhood, wrote: "The in fluence of this letter upon HamUton's character is extremely unfortunate. An opinion has grown out of it, which at present obtains almost universally, that his character is radicaUy deficient in discre tion. Hence he is considered as an unfit head of the party." The letter did not reaUy affect the result, as all the electors chosen in the FederaHst interest voted for Adams, and a Jeffersonian ma jority in the electoral college had been assured by the State elections in Pennsylvania and New York before the letter appeared. The truth of the matter is that the result of the Presidential election was de cided by the way in which Aaron Burr had previ ously outgeneraUed and defeated HamUton in New York. CHAPTER XXIII THE DUEL WITH BURR Aaeon Burr's reputation has been so blackened, that it is hard to view the man as he reaUy was; but one may get a just exhibition of his character from Chesterfield's Letters, for Burr fully reahzed the ideal therein portrayed, both in its merit and in its defect. He had the poise, address, pohsh, courage, and fortitude of the type, together with its seH-centred nature and epicurean morahty, attained in his case by inteUectual emancipation from the tradition which he had inherited from an eminent Hne of Puritan ancestors. Only a year older than HamUton, Burr showed almost as brilliant capacity in his school-days, and in 1775, about the same time that HamUton joined the Continental Army in New York, he took part in Benedict Arnold's march on Quebec as a volunteer. In that unfortunate ex pedition Burr showed ability, courage, and resource fulness of the highest order. Returning to New York, he was for a time one of Washington's aides, but disliking the confinement he effected a transfer to General Putnam's command and was active in the battles about New York and the retreat through New Jersey. In 1777 he had risen to the rank of 329 330 ALEXANDER HAMILTON Heutenant-colonel, and was in actual command of a regiment detailed for scouting duty in New Jersey. It was whUe thus engaged that he first met Mrs. Prevost, the widow of a British officer, who eventu- aUy became his wife. The marriage, which took place hi 1782, is certainly evidence that Burr was capable of disinterested attachment, for she had neither wealth, position, nor beauty, and was about ten years his senior; but she had intelligence, re finement, and charming manners, and he appears to have been a devoted husband. The fact that his wife was an Enghsh woman was a circumstance used against Burr in the abominable party warfare of the times. Burr, who was smaU in stature Hke HamUton himseH, was so broken in health by rough Hving in the field that in 1779 he resigned his commission. He was weU estabhshed at the Albany bar at the time Hamilton was beginning his studies, but when the migration to New York took place, in 1783, HamUton stood with him in the first rank of lawyers. Burr was elected to the Assembly in 1784 on a ticket which included some of HamUton's friends. He was then generally classed with the violent Whigs, who favored a pohcy of proscription, but when Ham Uton began his brilliant and effective campaign against that pohcy, Burr did not join in the fray but dropped out of pohtics for the time. He was so quiescent in the struggle over the adoption of the THE DUEL WITH BURR 331 Constitution that he could be counted on neither side. HamUton subsequently characterized Burr's conduct in that emergency as "equivocal." In 1788 Burr aUowed his name to be put upon a legis lative ticket presented by the defeated Antifederal- ists, but he was not active in the canvass and he may have been actuated merely by a desne to serve friends who were striving to keep ahve then party with a view to the future. In 1789, by one of those twists which the factious character of New York pohtics could produce at any time on occasion, Burr figured with HamUton, Troup, and others of HamUton's friends on a committee selected to sup port the candidacy of Judge Yates for Governor. Burr's action was regarded to be a straightforward display of personal friendship. He was grateful to Yates for kind services when Burr was starting in the law, and he never faded to do what he could for Yates thereafter. HamUton's motive was, how ever, merely to use Yates's candidacy to spht the Antffederalist vote and thus defeat CHnton, but CHnton defeated the formidable combination by a narrow majority, obtained through the circum stance that his home county, Ulster, gave him an almost unanimous vote. CHnton, with a shrewd magnanimity which goes far to explain the popu larity which six times elected him Governor, selected Burr as his Attorney-General, the appointment tak ing effect in September, 1789. 332 ALEXANDER HAMILTON HamUton appears to have remained on good terms with Burr until 1791, when General Schuyler came up for re-election to the United States Senate. No candidate appeared in opposition to him, and his was the only name presented, but when the vote was taken there were more nays than ayes. So far as one can judge, in a case where there is nothing of record to go upon, the result was due to personal antipathies excited by Schuyler's vehement partisan ship. Somebody had to be chosen, and one of the Senators proposed Burr, the vote resulting twelve to four. When the news reached the House Burr was put in nomination there too, and he received a majority of five votes, thus winning the election. Although a letter of Schuyler's refers to Burr as "the principal in this business," the avaUable evi dence indicates that the unexpected result was a chance concentration of favor owing to Burr's high social and professional standing and to the fact that he was regarded as a moderate man in pohtics, stand ing apart from the regular factions. John Adams, in one of his famffiar letters, wrote: "I have never known the prejudice in favor of bffth, parentage, and descent more conspicuous than hi the case of Colonel Burr." In substituting Burr for Schuyler the mem bers of the legislature did not in the least feel that they were lowering the quality of State representa tion at the national capital. But the defeat of his father-in-law seems to have supplied HamUton with THE 'DUEL WITH BURR 333 a grudge against Burr that was pursued with the' constancy of a Scottish clan feud. Close examina tion of Hamilton's correspondence leaves no doubt that his feehng against Burr had in it personal en mity as weU as antagonism on pubhc grounds. He is severely critical of the behavior of Madison and Jefferson, but he preserves his dignity; when he speaks of Burr he falls into revUing. This spirit does not crop out Hi his correspondence until after Burr was preferred to Schuyler in the senatorial election. Then Burr is described as a thoroughly unprincipled character, "for or against nothing, but as it suits his interest or ambition"; and HamUton declared, "I feel it to be a rehgious duty to oppose his career." Hamilton constantly acted in this spnit toward Burr, and his behavior was such that, according to the manners of the times, he gave ample provocation for the duel in which their rivalry culminated. In deed, it may be said that for years before the fatal meeting they carried on a pohtical duel in which HamUton was at a disadvantage through the warmth of his feelings, whUe Burr acted with a cool calcula tion which gave him superior abihty as a tactician. At that time only freeholders with an estate of £100 above aU Hens had the franchise. In 1789, out of a population of 324,270 in the State, the poU was only 12,353. Hence New York pohtics were largely under the control of a few influential families. Any 334 ALEXANDER HAMILTON cHange, in the attitude of the Livingstons, the Schuylers, and the Clintons had pohtical conse quences.' Conditions were favorable for the crafty diplomacy in which Burr exceUed. Although the records are so meagre that positive statement is scarcely warranted, Burr does not ap pear to have pursued a factious course as a member of the United States Senate. No complaint against him on that score is made in Hamilton's correspon dence. Although generaUy classed as Antifederahst, Burr seems to have occupied rather an independent and detached position with respect to party pohtics, and he certainly obtained a reputation for calm ness and moderation that extended beyond aU party bounds. Early in 1792 there was a movement in the Federalist party in New York in favor of sphtting the Antifederahst vote by taking up Burr as a candidate against Clinton, but HamUton's influence was successfully exerted against the scheme. After the election, Clinton nominated Burr as judge of the Supreme Court of the State, but the office was declined. Such a succession of pubhc honors as had come to Burr, together with the ability and dignity with which he behaved, caused him to be nationaUy regarded as a rising man. In the Presidential elec tion of 1792 one of the South Carolina electors cast a vote for him in preference to John Adams as Vice- President, and in 1796 Burr received thirty electoral votes. THE DUEL WITH BURR 335 In later years, John Adams related that when Burr's term in the Senate expired he was loath to continue law practice and would have rejoiced in an army appointment. Adams proposed to Wash ington that Burr should be appointed brigadier- general in the army then being organized. Accord ing to Adams this arrangement was defeated through Hamilton's influence. If this be true, — and such evidence as is avaflable supports Adams's opinion, — Burr was not aUowed to escape from a position of professional and pohtical rivahy to HamUton in New York. If Hamilton supposed that he could crush Burr he made a sad miscalculation. For the moment Hamilton's power seemed to be secure. John Jay had been elected Governor in 1795 and he was re-elected in 1798 by what in those times was reckoned a large majority. Although Burr was elected to the Assembly from New York City in 1798, on coming up for re-election in 1799 he was heavUy defeated and as the Presidential election of 1800 came on the Federalist party was in power both in city and State. The prospects of the opposition were poor, when Burr took charge of the campaign, which he managed with consummate skUl. After much negotiation he made up a ticket headed by ex-Governor CHnton, with Brockholst Livingston as an associate, thus aUying two great family con nections. General Horatio Gates was brought out of his retirement to draw to the ticket feelings and 336 ALEXANDER HAMILTON sympathies inspned by the War of Independence. Every name on the ticket was picked with a view to personal influence, and Burr himseH shrewdly re frained from including his own name in the list of city candidates, although at the same election he figured as a candidate in Orange C.unty. So powerful was the combination which Burr's management effected that it swept everything be fore it in the election. HamUton's ticket was heavUy defeated, and so great was the shock that his char acter gave way under it. As soon as it became clear that a legislature had been elected that would choose Presidential electors favorable to Jefferson, he wrote to Governor Jay proposing that the outgoing legis lature should be convoked hi special session to pass a law requiring Presidential electors to be chosen in districts by popular vote. In this way the defeated Federahsts might stiU get some of the New York electoral votes, and HamUton urged that "in times Hke these hi which we live, it will not do to be over scrupulous." Jay filed the letter with the indorse ment, "Proposing a measure for party purposes which it would not become me to adopt." The loss of the New York electoral votes defeated Adams and yet did not elect Jefferson, by reason of the comphcations of the electoral system. The original draft of the Constitution provided that the President should be elected by Congress, which arrangement would have given the United States THE DUEL WITH BURR 337 a constitution much Hke the present constitution of Switzerland. But the smaU States feared that this would put the Presidency in the continual pos session of the large States, and to remove such ob jection the scheme of the electoral coUege was pro posed and accepted as a fair compromise. It was supposed that this would advantage the smaU States, because in each State the electors should vote for two persons, only one of whom could be a citizen of that State, thus insuring some dis tribution of the vote on general considerations. But the scheme never worked according to this theory, and its complications have always been trouble some and, indeed, perilous. It is plain that when the electoral coUeges began to vote solidly under a party mandate there would be a tie between the persons voted for. This is just what happened in the election of 1800. The electoral votes of the Jeffersonian Repubhcan party were all cast for Jefferson and Burr, so the election did not decide who should be President and who Vice-President. The Constitution provides that in case no one re ceives a majority in the electoral coUeges the House of Representatives shaU make the choice for Presi dent, each State delegation to cast one vote. A House of Representatives elected two years before, when popular sentiment was running in favor of the Federalists, now had the say as between Jeffer son and Burr. There was a strong movement among 338 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. the Federalists in favor of preferring Burr, and to counteract this HamUton wrote letters to his friends in Congress attacking Burr, whom he described as a man of daring, energy, inordinate ambition, with out probity, a voluptuary by system, sunk in debt, and yet indulging himseH hi habits of excessive ex pense, with great talents "for management and in trigue, but he had yet to give the first proofs that they are equal to the act of governing well." An unpleasant feature of these letters is then teUtale character. One finds no analysis of Burr's pubhc record such as HamUton made in writing against Jefferson and Madison; but instead one is told of Burr's profligate sentiments avowed in private talk, as, for instance, that he quoted with gusto Napo leon's saying that "great souls care Httle for smaU morals." To a large extent HamUton's judgment of Burr's character was verified by his subsequent career, but, at the time HamUton was denouncing Burr as a man without moral principle, Burr himseH was be having in a way that looked very like inflexible hon esty. Before the actual result of the voting by the electoral coUeges was known, Burr wrote to a friend in the House of Representatives that, if it should turn out to be a tie, "every man who knows me ought to know that I would utterly disclaim aU competition" with Jefferson for the Presidency. He added: "As to my friends, they would dishonor THE DUEL WITH BURR 339 my views and insult my feelings by a suspicion that I would submit to be instrumental in counteracting the wishes and expectations of the United States. And I now constitute you my proxy to declare these sentiments ff the occasion should requne." Language could not be more plain and straight forward than was used Hi this letter, and as it was made pubhc it clearly defined Burr's position as one of opposition to any attempt to defeat Jefferson. According to Hamilton, this position was a piece of deep finesse, based upon the expectation that rather than take Jefferson the House would accept Burr without any effort or commitment on his part. But how can this view be reconcUed with the existence of those great talents for intrigue which Hamilton ascribed to Burr? Examination of the evidence leaves scarcely a doubt that had Burr been willing to negotiate he could have been elected Presi dent. Hamilton's attacks seem to have been so ineffectual hi arresting the drift of party sentiment in Burr's favor that one may infer that HamUton's views of Burr's character were not accepted by men who also were in a position to form their views on personal knowledge. Hamilton refers to then favor as "a mad propensity," but the fact is significant that acute and weU-informed men should have had this propensity Hi spite of his strong censure. Sena tor Bayard, of Delaware, to whom HamUton wrote the most severe of his letters against Burr, repHed 340 ALEXANDER HAMILTON that "the means existed of electing Burr, but this requned his co-operation." This Burr steadfastly declined to give. HamUton himseH, hi giving an account of the situation to a New York friend, wrote: "I know as a fact that overtures have been made by leading individuals of the Federal party to Mr. Burr, who declines to give any assurances respecting his future intentions and conduct." Some such assurances were, however, given Hi behaH of Jeffer son, who was elected President through the action of some of the Federalist members in refraining from voting at aU. Before the deadlock was broken a Federalist member of the House, WUham Cooper, father of the famous novehst, wrote from Washing ton, "Had Burr done anything for himseH he would long ere this have been President." After it was aU over Senator Bayard wrote to HamUton that this result was not obtained until it had been " completely ascertained that Burr was resolved not to commit himseH." It does not seem possible to reconcUe Burr's be havior under such great temptation with HamU ton's characterization of him as a man whose "sole spring of action is an inordinate ambition," and who is "wicked enough to scruple nothing." That such opinions were not held by other FederaHst leaders is shown by the fact that respect for Burr remained strong among the Federalists despite HamUton's efforts. Three years later, when Burr THE DUEL WITH BURR 341 came out as an independent candidate for governor of New York, HamUton wrote: "It is a fact to be regretted, though anticipated, that the Federalists very extensively had embarked with zeal in the support of Mr. Burr." HamUton thought of bring ing out a Federalist candidate, but finding that im practicable, his influence was exerted in favor of the regular RepubHcan candidate and Burr was defeated. Although he must have been weU aware of HamU ton's activity against him at every turn, Burr seems to have avoided personal enmity and always bore himseH with his habitual dignity and composure. In one of his denunciatory letters HamUton re marked: "With Burr I have always been personally weU." Of course Burr would have caUed HamUton to account for the attacks upon his character had they been pubhcly made; but Burr made no move so long as they were confined to private correspon dence, although then tenor had become a matter of common fame and a spiteful newspaper put the query, "Is the Vice-President sunk so low as to sub mit to be insulted by General HamUton?" During the pohtical campaign a letter had been published in which Doctor Charles D. Cooper said that HamUton declared Burr to be a dangerous man, adding: "I could detaU to you a still more despicable opinion which General HamUton has expressed of Mr. Burr." Apparently Burr did not 342 ALEXANDER HAMILTON hear of this pubhcation at the time, but six weeks after the election he received notice of it. He sent a friend to HamUton with a copy of the pubhcation, together with a note in which Burr observed: "You must perceive, Sn, the necessity of a prompt and unqualified acknowledgment or denial of the use of any expressions which would warrant the assertions of Mr. Cooper." HamUton was taken by surprise, as he had not before heard of Cooper's letter. He asked time for consideration and did not reply until two days later. He was in a difficult position, as the letter did not reaUy misrepresent him. The gist of his long reply was that he could not consent "to be interrogated as to the justness of inferences which others might have drawn from what he had said of a pohtical opponent in the course of fifteen years competition," but he stood "ready to avow or disavow, promptly and exphcitly, any pre cise or definite opinion which I may be charged with having declared of any gentleman." Burr repHed that a dishonorable epithet had been apphed to him under the sanction of HamUton's name, and the sole question was whether HamUton had authorized this appHcation, either chrectly or by uttering expressions or opinions derogatory to his honor. HamUton repHed that he had "no other answer to give than that which has already been given." This closed the correspondence between the principals, and the affan now passed into the hands of their seconds, THE DUEL WITH BURR 343 who carried on further correspondence without modifying the attitude of the principals, and, accord ing to the manners of the times, the two men being what they were, a duel was the necessary conse quence. The correspondence closed on June 27, 1804, but time was aUowed for the principals to put then affairs in order before the duel. So it happened that Burr and HamUton met as courteous table- mates on the 4th of July at the annual banquet of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which both were members. It was noted that while Burr's habitual reserve was more intense than usual, Hamilton's characteristic animation rose to a pitch of gayety. He was urged to give the company the old baUadj "The Drum," which was one of his songs on occasions of merry-making. He seemed unusuaUy reluctant to comply, but finaUy yielded. He had a rich voice and he sang with impressive effect the verses which told how a recruiting sergeant knocked at the parson's door, and said: "We're going to war, and when we die We'll want a man of God near by, So bring your Bible and follow the drum." WhUe HamUton was singing Burr leaned upon the table looking up into his face until the song was done. One of HamUton's last acts was to prepare a 344 ALEXANDER HAMILTON statement as to his motives in meeting Burr. In it he admitted that his "animadversions on the pohtical principles, character, and views of Colonel Burr have been extremely severe," and that while he certainly had strong reasons for what he said, it is possible that in some particulars he may have been influenced by misconstruction or misinformation. He added: It is also my ardent wish that I may have been more mistaken than I think I have been; and that he, by his future conduct, may show himself worthy of all confidence and esteem and prove an ornament and a blessing to the country. As well, because it is possible that I may have injured Colonel Burr, however convinced myself that my opinions and declarations have been well founded, as from my general principles and temper in relation to simi lar affairs, I have resolved, if our interview is conducted in the usual manner, and it pleases God to give me the opportunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire, and I have thoughts even of reserving my second fire, and thus giving a double opportunity to Colonel Burr to pause and reflect. It is not, however, my intention to enter into any explanations on the ground. Apology from principle, I hope, rather than pride, is out of the ques tion. HamUton left two fareweU letters to his wife. One, written on July 4, ended with "Adieu, best of wives — best of women. Embrace aU my darling chUdren for me." In the night before the duel he bethought him of Mrs. Mitchell's kindness to him in bis youth, and he wrote again to commend her THE DUEL WITH BURR 345 to his wife's good offices. This letter closed with "Adieu, my darling, darling wife." The meeting took place at seven o'clock, Wednes day morning, July 11, at Weehawken, on the west bank of the Hudson, then a noted dueUing-ground. They fought at ten paces. Lots were drawn as to choice of position and as to giving the word, HamU ton's second winning in both cases. HamUton was shot in the right side; Burr was untouched. HamU ton died the next day at two o'clock in the afternoon, aged forty-seven years and six months. CHAPTER XXIV APPARENT FAILURE In 1797 Hamilton received from Scotland a famUy letter making inquiries expressive of the interest of the family home stock in his fame and achieve ments. In response he gave an account of his career, in which he said that he entered pubhc life because, having promoted the movement for a new Constitution, he conceived himself to be under an obhgation to lend his aid toward putting the ma chine in some regular motion, and hence he accepted Washington's offer to undertake the office of Secre tary of the Treasury. He continued: In that office I met with many intrinsic difficulties and many artificial ones, proceeding from passions, not very worthy, common to human nature, and which act with peculiar force in republics. The object, however, was effected of establishing public credit and introducing order in the finances. Public office in this country has few attractions. The pecuniary emolument is so inconsiderable as to amount to a sacrifice to any man who can employ his time with advantage in any liberal profession. The opportunity of doing good, from the jealousy of power and the spirit of faction, is too small in any station to warrant a long con tinuance of private sacrifices. 346 APPARENT FAILURE 347 This was a mood that became more confirmed in HamUton's mind as time went on, and on some oc casions swerved his conduct from the chivaHic ideals that ordinarily governed it. The strongest instance is that unworthy letter to Jay proposing a partisan trick to set aside election results. Another instance of low calculation was a letter to Senator Bayard, in 1802, in which HamUton proposed that an association should be formed to be denominated "The Christian Constitutional Society," its objects to be "the support of the Christian rehgion; the support of the Constitution of the United States." No man would have so thoroughly disdained such claptrap as Hamilton himseH when acting in his proper character, and it is noticeable that he made no attempt to push the precious scheme of making rehgion a pohtical stalking-horse. The notion was doubtless the outcome of a mood of discouragement such as occasionaUy afflicted him in the latter part of his career. It was in such a mood, during the same year, that he wrote to Gouverneur Morris: Mine is an odd destiny. Perhaps no man in the United States has sacrificed or done more for the present Constitution than myself, and contrary to all my antici pations of its fate, as you know from the very beginning, I am still laboring to prop the frail and worthless fabric. Yet I have the murmurs of its friends no less than the curses of its foes for my reward. What can I do better than withdraw from the scene? Every day proves to 348 ALEXANDER HAMILTON me more and more that this American world was not made for me. When HamUton reviewed his career, with calcula tion of results rather than in that spirit of chivalry whose heroic and generous action is disdainful of profit, there was much in it that looked Hke faUure. Against the remonstrances of his nearest friends he had given up his law practice, exposing his famUy to poverty, to lift the pubhc business out of bank ruptcy, and his own recompense had been calumny, persecution, and loss of fortune. His principal opponent in matters of administrative pohcy had shown such superior address in aU the arts of popu larity that he had reached the Presidency and was now victoriously sweeping away aU rivalry to his mastery over the succession to that office. The Government itself had been given a twist that had frustrated the constitutional design of dnect ad ministrative proposals, and had introduced a system of committee management which was in effect a return to the methods of the Continental Congress. "Committees are the ministers," wrote Fisher Ames to Hamilton in 1797, "and whUe the House indulges a jealousy of encroachment in its functions which are properly dehberative, it does not perceive that these are impaned and nullified by the monopoly as weU as the perversion of information by these committees." The vices which HamUton had noted in the old system — "tedious delays, continual nego- APPARENT FAILURE 349 tiation and intrigue, contemptible compromises of the pubhc good " — had reappeared in the new system, with increased virulence. With no regular means existing by which Congress should be confronted by responsibilities exactly defined and decisively sub mitted, the electorate had nothing to go upon save vague impressions as to the general disposition of candidates, and pretense and blandishment were more serviceable than integrity and abffity. Such conditions gave the utmost possible scope to the arts of cajolery that are the traditi nal bane of popular government, and in those arts HamUton was so un- skUful that as an electioneering tactician he was a sorry faUure. To this on his own account he was indifferent, as he was quite free from envy, but he regarded the situation as a defeat of the purpose of the movement to form a more perfect union. StUl he did not despan. In the same letter in which he acknowledged to Morris his acute disappointment, he added: "The time may ere long arrive when the minds of men wiU be prepared to recover the Consti tution, but the many cannot now be brought to make a stand for its preservation. We must wait a whUe." It is a satisfaction to note that when facing death his old chivalric spirit was in full possession of his soul. Among his papers was found a statement, undated, but manifestly of recent composition, in which he computed that he was actually worth 350 ALEXANDER HAMILTON about £10,000, and yet he feared that if anything should happen to force the sale of his property it might not even be sufficient to pay his debts. He gave particulars to show that the obhgations he had contracted had been warranted by his circumstances, but to protect friends who had from mere kindness indorsed his paper discounted at the banks, he had thought it justifiable to secure them hi preference to other creditors. WhUe this might save them from eventual loss it would not exempt them from present inconvenience. "As to this," he said, "I can only throw myseH upon then kindness and entreat the indulgence of the banks for them. Perhaps the request may be supposed entitled to some regard." In conclusion the statement makes this noble declaration: "In the event which would bring this paper to the pubhc eye, one thing at least would be put beyond doubt. This is that my pubhc labors have amounted to an absolute sacrifice of the inter ests of my family, and that in aU pecuniary concerns the dehcacy no less than the probity of conduct in pubhc stations has been such as to defy the shadow of a question." He went on to show that he had not enjoyed the ordinary advantages incident to miHtary services. Inasmuch as he was a member of Congress when the matter of the claims of army officers was up, he formally relinquished all his own claim in order that he might occupy a disinterested position in effecting a settlement. Nor did he ob- APPARENT FAILURE 351 tain from the State of New York the usual allowance of lands, although he had "better pretensions to the aUowance than others to whom it was actually made." The shock of Hamilton's death to his famUy was enhanced by the fact that it was added to other deep afflictions. Less than three years before, his oldest son, PhUip, who more than any of the other chUdren is said to have resembled HamUton in mental en dowment, was mortaUy wounded in a duel at the same place where HamUton himseH feU later. The oldest daughter, Angelica, a beautiful and ac complished gnl, suffered so great a shock from her brother's death that her mind was impaffed, and she was under her mother's assiduous care when the family was again stricken by the loss of its head, to gether with impending poverty. There were six other chUdren, ranging from eighteen years of age to five. Friends raised a fund to protect the estate, and General Schuyler gave his daughter such help as his heavUy burdened famUy situation permitted, but he too died a few months later. The widow had to dispose of the country home she and her husband had planned together, and she went to Hve in the city, where she had a hard struggle to keep the f amUy together and provide for the education of its younger members. Congress, acting with characteristic tar diness, passed a law in 1816 to give her the same commutation for back pay as had been allowed to 352 ALEXANDER HAMILTON other officers of HamUton's rank, and with accrued interest from 1783 the sum amounted to $10,609.64, affording great rehef to Mrs. HamUton in her necessities. For HamUton's expenses in equipping his company of artiUery in the Revolutionary War, no reimbursement was ever made. An object on which Mrs. HamUton's heart was set and which she never ceased to pursue during the rest of her long life was the vindication of her husband's reputation as a statesman; but hi this matter also she had to endure singular affliction, for whenever she made arrangements for a biogra phy something would happen to frustrate the plan. Her first choice was the Reverend John M. Mason, who had dehvered an impressive funeral oration be fore the Society of the Cincinnati. He coUected some materials for a biography and kept that pur pose in view for some years, but eventuaUy aban doned it. In 1819 Mrs. HamUton made some arrangements with a Mr. Hopkinson, — probably Joseph Hopkinson, of PhUadelphia, author of "HaU, Columbia," — but in some way the negotiation mis carried. In 1827 Timothy Pickering took the mat ter in hand, but had not gone further with it than to coUect some material when he died. In 1832 Mrs. HamUton wrote to a daughter: "I have my fears I shaU not obtain my object. Most of the contemporaries of your father have also passed away." Nevertheless she did not relax her efforts, APPARENT FAILURE 353 but kept writing to leading Federalists aU over the country to coUect aU the facts she could about her husband's pubhc services. Accounts of her old age describe her as a httle, bright-eyed woman, of erect figure and brisk ways, retaining in her conversation much of the ease and briffiancy of her youth. Fi nally, at her pressing request, her fourth son, John Church HamUton, accepted the task of preparing a biography. The two volumes of his Life of Alex ander Hamilton appeared from 1834 to 1840. He also arranged his father's papers, and in 1849 his coUection was purchased by Congress and was pubhshed under his editorial supervision. Thus Mrs. HamUton had the satisfaction of seeing an object of such dear interest accomphshed at last. She died in 1854, aged ninety-seven, her mind re maining perfectly clear until a few days before her death. John Church HamUton began his pious task with reluctance, due, as he said in the preface to his first volume, to "a deep conviction of my incapacity, the want of the necessary preparatory studies, and a distrust of the natural bias of my f eelings. ' ' The two volumes he produced during his mother's life time brought the story of his father's life down to the period of the constitutional convention. By that time his studies had so enlarged his knowledge of American history that he decided to shift from biography to history in carrying on his work. The 354 ALEXANDER HAMILTON result was his History of the Republic of the United States of America, as Traced in the Writings of Alex ander Hamilton and His Contemporaries, in seven massive volumes, pubhshed from 1857 to 1861. The work is written with dignity and ability, but its plan, taken in connection with the natural bias of feelings which, as he had anticipated, he was unable to escape, revived all the old controversies and detracted from the true greatness of HamUton's statesmanship by exhibiting it merely in its provin cial setting. It naturaUy engendered reply in the same spnit. The motive of RandaU's voluminous Life of Thomas Jefferson is pointedly indicated by the author's remark that Jefferson left no son to be so "deeply interested in his mere personal defense" as to be willing "to sweU pamphlets to books to roU back the tide of personal vituperation on his assaU- ants." An abiding fashion was set for treating the early history of the republic as a drama of creation in which HamUton and Jefferson figured as Ormuzd and Ahriman, but along with common agreement in this view went violent difference of opinion as to which was which. Among the unfortunate consequences of this standing controversy was that it diverted atten tion from the need of further research into the par ticulars of HamUton's life. The famUy coUection of matter with which John Church HamUton began his labors was large but not exhaustive, and he APPARENT FAILURE 355 does not appear to have added to it materially, editorship and interpretation of the great mass al ready in hand fuUy occupying his time. His publi cations supphed the material used by various bi ographers until Professor WUliam Graham Sumner's Alexander Hamilton appeared in 1890. In this he did not furnish any new data, but he gave a masterly portrayal of the features of American pubhc life in HamUton's time, thus supplying for the first time the proper background for a correct view of HamU ton's career. The obscurity which surrounded Ham Uton's birth and chUdhood was not cleared away until Mrs. Atherton made a minute investigation of the West Indian scene in coUecting material for her vivid and interesting historical novel The Conqueror, 1902. Nothing but a meagre and scrappy account of Hamilton's home life had appeared up to 1910, when a grandson, Allan McLane HamUton, pubHshed The Intimate Life qf Alexander Hamilton, a work whose completeness, sincerity, fairness, and grace make it an entirely worthy treatment of its theme. This work wisely avoided consideration of Hamil ton's pubhc career, and it was not untU Frederick Scott OHver's Alexander Hamilton appeared in 1916 that his achievements were disengaged from then provincial setting sufficiently to be estimated on a scale of world values. This splendid work marks the beginning of a new era in HamUton biography, in which the old controversies faU into the back- 356 ALEXANDER HAMILTON ground as among the local incidents of a career whose importance Hes in the universal value of the con structive principles he discerned, developed, and apphed. The old view, which insists on regarding HamUton simply as a protagonist in a struggle be tween broad and strict principles of constitutional construction, between national and State authority, is reaUy a piece of narrow, obtuse provincialism; and so too is the latest antithesis, produced by the revolutionary spnit of the present time, which re gards the struggle as essentiaUy one between capi talism and agrarianism. It is impossible to fit HamUton's career into such a framework, as wiU plainly appear when mythology is discarded and actual facts are considered. CHAPTER XXV REVISED ESTIMATES It is important to remember that HamUton was never in fuU accord with the party with which he acted, and throughout his career he experienced detraction from party associates, including some who were among his intimates. The matter does not become fuUy comprehensible until the elements of the constitutional movement are considered. The starting-point of aU fair judgment upon the situation after the Revolution is that attachment to Enghsh constitutional principles still continued to be the master influence over pohtical thought. When at the beginning of the struggle with Great Britain Jefferson wrote, "It is neither our wish nor our in terest to separate from her," he expressed a senti ment held by aU the leaders. Although the events of the war, and particularly the necessity of accept ing the condition on which alone the affiance of France could be obtained, forced the American leaders to abandon the distinction they had origi nally drawn between loyalty to the Crown and sub mission to taxes laid by the British Parliament, and induced them to issue the Declaration of Indepen dence, they stUl continued to beHeve that the EngHsh 357 358 ALEXANDER HAMILTON constitutional system was the best practical solu tion of the problem of combining liberty with order that had been reached in aU the long history of man kind. This belief presided over the constitutional movement. Jefferson held it as strongly as HamUton and avowed it just as distinctly. The adrriration for the EngHsh constitution expressed by HamUton does not account for the charge of monarchical sym pathies brought against him, for that was the com mon state of feeling. His fear lest the repubhcan experiment should faU was too generaUy held to supply matter for particular indictment. None such was ever filed against Benjamin Franklin, al though he repeatedly declared in the constitutional convention that "the government of these States may in future times end in monarchy." The truth of the matter is that the HamUton myth originated in divisions and cross-purposes among men who had a common regard for Enghsh constitutional prin ciples, but who differed somewhat as to the nature of those principles and also differed widely as to their appHcation under American conditions. The deepest cleavage was with respect to the posi tion of the States. Hamilton was in favor of giving the national Executive power to appoint the State Governors; Madison was in favor of giving the federal administration "a negative in aU cases what ever, on the legislative acts of the States, as the King of Great Britain heretofore had." Hamilton's plan REVISED ESTIMATES 359 would have put the States in about the same posi tion as the royal colonies had been; Madison's, in about the same position as the charter colonies. In both cases the subordination was to be complete, and in any event it was inevitable ff federal authority was to be securely established. Madison's plan has virtuaUy prevaUed, through extension of the au thority of the federal courts on lines laid down by Madison himseH in the legislation of the Fffst Con gress, Hi opposition to HamUton's views. Hamilton held Jihat the federal judiciary might be estabhshed by embracing the State courts in the system, under the supervision of the Supreme Court of the United States. That this plan was feasible is shown by the fact that it has been successfully introduced in some countries — notably in Switzerland. Madi son, however, insisted on a distinct system through out, his main argument being that in some of the States the courts "are so dependent on the State legislatures, that to make the federal laws depen dent on them would throw us back into aU the em barrassments which characterized our former situa tion." Had HamUton's plan been adopted the sub ordination of the States to federal authority could scarcely be greater than it is now, and means would have existed for a more harmonious, economical, prompt, and efficient system of administering justice than is possible with two separate systems. It seems to be now the general opinion that 360 ALEXANDER HAMILTON HamUton's plan of federal appointment of State Governors would have been fatal to State authority. An elaborate note in Senator Lodge's edition of Ham Uton's Writings says that "this arrangement would have crushed the States." It is impossible to arrive at any fixed conclusion in discussing what might have been, but it may at least be observed that the plan has had no such result in the constitutional system from which HamUton took the idea. The EngHsh plan of executive appointment of aU governors is stUl in operation, and EngHsh commonwealths in aU parts of the world do not appear to be inconve nienced thereby in then possession of seH-govern- ment. Much Hght wiU be cast upon this subject if one shaff seriously consider which in reahty pos sesses greater power of action — a Canadian prov ince or an American State? Another deep cleavage was over the extent to which the Government should be subjected to the control of public opinion. What in general the upper .classes in society were most intent upon was protec tion for then own interests, and they were bent upon securing this through assertion of constitu tional privUege and by limitation in grants of power. They wanted an executive strong enough to keep order, but not strong enough to interfere with then privUeges. In HamUton's opinion they were in clined to go to lengths that were neither wise nor just. So early as 1777, when the first constitution REVISED ESTIMATES 361 of the State of New York was framed, he had dif ferences with Gouverneur Morris on such matters, and when the Constitution of the United States was in the making such differences were renewed. Morris favored the accumulation of power in the custody of the Senate, which is a marked feature of the Constitution of the United States, and he ex pressed the hope that the Senate "wffi show us the might of aristocracy." Madison had virtuaUy the same thought, when he said that the Senate "wUl guard the minority who are placed above indigence against the agrarian attempts of the ever-increasing class who labor under the hardships of life, and se cretly strive for a more equal distribution of its blessings." HamUton did not dispute that there were advantages to be gained through the pohtical influence of wealth and social position, but he was not willing to give it supremacy. Madison's Journal notes that he expressed himseH "with great earnest ness and anxiety" to the effect that "the House of Representatives was on so narrow a scale, as to be reaUy dangerous, and to warrant a jealousy in the people, for then liberties." Hence he favored an executive strong enough to keep every class, high or low, rich or poor, subdued to justice, and a repre sentative assembly that would give the entire mass of the people an effective control over the Govern ment. In the constitutional scheme he drafted in 1787 members of the Senate and also Presidential 362 ALEXANDER HAMILTON electors were to be chosen by districts, apportioned in a ratio to the basis of representation in Congress, upon a suffrage limited by property qualifications such as were then general. But the number of senators should never be in larger ratio to the num ber of representatives than forty is to one hundred, and the representatives were to be elected "by the free male citizens and inhabitants of the several States comprehended in the Union, aU of whom, of the age of twenty-one and upwards, shaU be entitled to an equal vote." Perhaps none of HamUton's recommendations were so shocking to his associates as this one of manhood suffrage. Agreement was then almost universal that suffrage ought to be con fined to freeholders. James Madison's last political battle was fought over this issue, when in 1830, with the aid of James Monroe and others of the elder statesmen, he succeeded in retaining the freehold quahfication in the Vnginia constitution, thus ex cluding from the franchise about 80,000 white male citizens of his State. HamUton's proposal to give the President a ten ure of office during good behavior, with power to appoint State Governors, and with an unqualified negative upon legislation, should be viewed in con junction with the democratic control over the au thority of both President and Senate which he sought to provide in the House of Representatives. His scheme was really nothing more than a democratized REVISED ESTIMATES 363 version of the English constitution. If the provision of an unqualified negative over legislation looks autocratic, it should be considered that it cannot be so in reahty, in view of the presence and activity of a genuinely representative assembly. Actual ex perience with this very provision, which is stUl a traditional feature of the EngHsh constitution, al though now quite dormant, shows that it has no tendency toward absolutism in practice. Hamilton's advocacy of broad authority was based upon democratic principles. He told the New York Convention, in the course of his fight for the adoption of the Constitution: "There are two objects in forming systems of government — safety for the people, and energy in the administra tion. When these objects are united, the certain tendency of the system wiU be to the pubhc weHare. If the latter object be neglected, the people's security wUl be as certainly sacrificed as by disregarding the former." Hence he opposed BUls of Rights, on the ground that a good constitution is itseH "in every rational sense and to every useful purpose a BUI of Rights"; and, moreover, that "they would even be dangerous," through the handle they would give for arrogant interpretations. "After all," he told the New York Convention, "we must submit to this idea, that the true principle of a repubhc is that the people should choose whom they please to govern them. Representation is imperfect in proportion as 364 ALEXANDER HAMILTON the current of popular favor is checked." In fine, Hamilton held that since in every form of govern ment power must exist and be trusted somewhere, able to cope with every emergency of war or peace, and since the extent of emergency is incalculable, therefore, public authority is not reaUy susceptible of limitation. If limitation be imposed, the effect is not to stay the exertion of power under stress of pubhc necessity, but is rather to cause it to become capricious, violent, and irregular. The true con cern of a constitution is therefore not limitation of power, but is provision of means for defining respon sibUity. The constitutional ideal aimed at by Hamilton may be fairly described as plenary power in the administration, subject to direct and continuous ac countability to the people, maintained by a repre sentative assembly, broadly democratic in its char acter.1 This ideal, although it anticipates a situa tion which since his time has been apparently the goal of democratic progress, was intensely obnoxious to conservative sentiment when HamUton presented it. In that day a respectable repubhc was conceived of as being necessarUy antidemocratic in its struc ture. According to Madison the essential distinc tion between a democracy and a repubhc "lies hi the 1 Expressions of opinion to this purport are found in many places in Hamilton's writings. They appear with particular distinctness in Nos. 23, 31, and 84 of The Federalist, and in a brief but compre hensive form in a letter to Timothy Pickering, September 18, 1803. REVISED ESTIMATES 365 total exclusion of the people in then collective ca pacity from any share in the latter." HamUton's dissent from the ideas and principles of the con servative reaction which produced the Constitution, not only explains how it was that his associates re garded him as monarchical and antirepublican at heart, but also how it was that he played so unim portant a part in the convention itseH. The stream ran so strongly in favor of security to right and privi lege by partition of authority that it was impossible for him to stem it effectively. The Constitution was not what he desned, but he at once accepted it as "the best that the present views and cncum- stances of the country wiU permit," and he apphed aU his powers to the task of putting it in motion. These facts amply explain the misunderstandings which harassed HamUton in his own day and have been perpetuated even to our own times. If one's opinion be no longer taken from tradition but shaU be formed upon the evidence, much material will be found in support of the belief that HamUton was in advance of his times in comprehension of demo cratic principles of government and in knowledge of the proper appHcation of them. So much depends upon the point of view that estimates of the value of HamUton's ideas wUl probably keep changing with the times. It is noticeable that in England, where democratic progress has taken place on the lines which Hamilton anticipated, his statesmanship is 366 ALEXANDER HAMILTON rated higher than in the United States, in which there is stUl great rehance upon the partition of power, and upon impediments to action which Ham Uton condemned as constitutional fraUties apt to have fatal consequences. As to these matters his tory has yet to give complete instructions. A habit of thought which obscures the truth about them both is that which views HamUton and Jeffer son as the champions of opposing theories of govern ment. The only element of truth in this is that HamUton took the reahstic view of human nature, which holds that it cannot possess freedom save through moral discipline, whUe Jefferson inclined to the romantic view that humanity is naturaUy inclined to be good and kind if weU treated, and that the country is best governed that is governed the least. One of the few strokes of satire to be found in HamUton's writings is an aUusion to the "en thusiasts who expect to see the halcyon scenes of the poetic or fabulous age realized in America." Jefferson did not think a modest reahzation of hopes of this order impracticable ff the country should keep to plain, simple ways of Hving. In his Notes on Virginia, he said: "WhUe we have land to labor, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a workshop or twnling a distaff. . . . Let our work shops remain in Europe. It is better to carry pro visions and material to workmen there than to bring them to the provisions and materials, and with them REVISED ESTIMATES 367 then manners and principles. . . . The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body." He brought* up this point again when writ ing to Madison about the new Constitution. He said: "I think our governments wiU remain virtu ous for many centuries, as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this they wiU be as long as there shaU be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get pUed up upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, they wiU become corrupt as in Europe." It was certainly natural for one holding such ideas to view with alarm Hamilton's measures for developing banking, commercial, and manufacturing interests, but it is a mistake to regard Jefferson as either democratic in his principles or as antagonistic to authority in his practice. His notion of a proper Constitution was one "in which the powers of govern ment should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend then legal limits without being effectu- aUy checked and restrained by the others." WhUe the constitutional convention was at work he wrote to Madison suggesting that, to give stabffity to jurisprudence, "it would be weU to provide in our constitution that there shaU always be a twelve month between the engrossing of a biU and the passing of it." His views as to the relations of federal and State authority seem to have varied in 368 ALEXANDER HAMILTON correspondence with his party interest. Strict con sistency is rare among pohticians the world over. But HamUton was undoubtedly right when he wrote that Jefferson "was generaUy for a large construc tion of executive authority and not backward to act upon it in cases which coincided with his views."1 Under the Vnginia dynasty, which Jefferson founded, the Government was weakened through attempts to reduce it to rustic dimensions, but its federalist character was perpetuated. This was so notorious that Madison felt impeUed to excuse it on the ground that with Republicans in charge of affairs things might be aUowed that were justly regarded as danger ous whUe the Federalists were in power.2 On the whole, Jefferson's career was more a help than an obstruction to the success of HamUton's measures. It was Jefferson's timely aid that passed the Fund ing and Assumption BUI, and his success as a party leader was of immense value in reconciling popular sentiment to a constitutional system which the high flying Federahsts had been making odious, in spite of HamUton's warnings. It has often been remarked that HamUton's writ ings afford Httle evidence of esteem for Washington, and it must be aUowed that on HamUton's side the usual relation was one of formal respect rather than 1 Hamilton to James A. Bayard, January 16, 1801. * Madison to William Eustis, May 22, 1823. REVISED ESTIMATES 369 sincere affection. Something of this is accounted for by the fact that Washington was a much older man, and that his manners never encouraged faniffi- arity in any one, but in addition there is evidence of imperfect sympathies which long stood in the way of fuU understanding. There is much to sup port Jefferson's claim that originaUy Washington was more disposed to confide in him and in Madison than in Hamilton. The attitude of neutrahty which Washington thought prudent for him to maintain during the struggle over HamUton's financial mea sures would naturaUy strike HamUton as cold indif ference, and the frequency with which HamUton had to repel attacks upon him made privately to Washington must also have wounded him.1 In the course of the Treasury investigation it became a question whether certain arrangements made by Hamilton had been actuaUy authorized by Wash ington as HamUton had claimed. As to this Wash ington wrote such a non-committal letter that Hamilton sent a reply protesting with considerable warmth at the way he was being treated.2 But Washington was more and more drawn to HamUton through experience of his powers and then relations eventually became those of the most cordial and 1 See his letter to John Jay, December 18, 1792. 2 Hamilton to Washington, April 9, 1794, vol. Ill, p. 190, Lodge's edition of Hamilton's Writings. 370 ALEXANDER HAMILTON trustful intimacy. When HamUton resigned his office Washington's feelings broke through his ha bitual formality of phrase. He wrote to Hamil ton in terms of fervent affection and esteem, and HamUton's reply was equaUy cordial. Washington's regard for HamUton remained warm and active for the rest of his Hfe, and HamUton made proper re sponse, but one gets the notion that Washington was fonder of HamUton than HamUton was of him, which in view of aU that had happened is not sur prising. If one can escape the glamour that Hamilton's brilliancy is apt to produce and be able to view him simply as a brother man, it is not hard to see that his character was distinctly of what was once a weU- marked Scottish type. It was a type which, in its idealism, in its gaUantry, and in its seff-sufficiency, has been depicted by a great artist whose nativity gave him special insight of Scottish character. Ham Uton is an Alan Breck with a genius for statesman ship. Stevenson's hero in Kidnapped did not face tremendous odds with greater courage or Hi higher spnits than did Alexander HamUton in accompHsh ing his mission. And in both one notes the same traits: generosity, devotion, promptness, daring, pride, conceit, touchiness, pugnacity, shrewdness, acumen, and inexhaustible energy — a mingling of high and low such as may be found only in characters REVISED ESTIMATES 371 buUt on a grand scale, with the bold nregularity of a mountain range. His talents were great but not unequaUed. In phUosophy and eloquence he is so inferior to Burke that there is no basis for comparison; but in Burke's writings we have the polished result of skUful art istry, whUe Hamilton's writings were hastUy pro duced as mere incidents of his pohtical activity. In an age when heavUy structured style was in fashion, his pen was easy, rapid, and fluent, slipping at tunes into some neghgence of diction but always vivid and impressive. As he wrote only as current events prompted, it never occurred to him to put his ideas into systematic form, and his pohtical phUosophy comes out only in the way of side-lights upon concrete particulars. It is precisely this that gives The Federalist such permanent value as a pohtical treatise. The matters with which it deals are just such as always crop out in forming a system of government, and it abounds with maxims for practical guidance. HamUton's inferiority as an electioneering tac tician is easUy accounted for. The case exemplifies the Itahan proverb that the eagle is not good at catching flies. But nothing accounts for his genius for statesmanship. Its power is manifest; but its nature is inscrutable. There was nothing in his ante cedents, in his education, or in his experience to ex- 372 ALEXANDER HAMILTON plain the piercing vision into the springs of political action, the clear discernment of means for practical attainment of purpose, which he displayed from the first. Of pohtical ambition in a personal way he was singularly devoid, except in the miHtary Hne, his rank in which was matter for concern such as he never seems to have felt about purely civic honors. There is a singular concentration of purpose in his pubhc career, which is the secret of its vigor and con sistency. AU his thought and effort were addressed to the great question which he propounded in the first number of The Federalist: "Whether societies of men are reaUy capable or not of estabHshing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for then pohtical constitutions on accident and force." The answer is not yet quite clear, but it is quite clear that the greatest contribution to political method on the side of free agency is that which was made by Alex ander HamUton. Anticipating biological principles unknown to the age in which he Hved, he stated the law of pohtical development to be that "Every institution wiU grow and flourish in proportion [to the quantity and extent of the means concentred towards its formation and support." 1 That prin ciple guided his statesmanship and the result has demonstrated its efficacy beyond even his own large 1 The Federalist, No. XI. REVISED ESTIMATES 373 calculations. It stUl remains the only safe principle that pohtical theory has supplied to pohtical prac tice, and his success in discovering and applying it puts Alexander Hamilton among the greatest states men the world has produced. INDEX Adams, John, his slur on Hamilton's birth, 4; his panic, 70 ; antagonism to democracy, 84; charged with unrepublican principles, 262 ; suc ceeds to the Presidency, 314 et seq.; his character, 315; makes overtures to Jefferson, 316 et seq.; appoints Washington to command of army, 320; antagonizes Wash ington's selection of officers, 321; is overruled by his Cabinet, 323; sends another mission to France, 324 et seq. ; dismisses cabinet [offi cers, 324 et seq.; his rage against Hamilton, 326; is denounced by Hamilton, 327; loses the Presi dency, 32?TTus regard for Burr, 332, 335 Adams, Samuel, 145, 166, 191 Algerine corsairs, 179 Alien and Sedition Laws, 323 et seq. Allison, William, 80 Ames, Fisher, 215, 219, 227, 348 Andre, Major, 108 Antifederalists, plans of, 206; efforts to defeat the Constitution, 207; attitude of, in Congress, 212 Army, Continental, pay of, 147; grievances of, 154; disbandment of, 155 Arnold, Benedict, 70, 107 AsgiH, Captain, 134 el seq. Asia, British man-of-war, 40 et seq. Assumption Bill, 233 et seq., 239, 241, 245 Atherton, Mrs. Gertrude, 78, 355 Barbados, 18 Barlow, Joel, American poet, 177 Bayard, James A., of Delaware, 339, 347 Benson, Egbert, of New York, 178, 227, 239 Bible Society, American, 188 Bill of Bights, Hamilton's objection to, 363 Blackstone's Commentaries, 217 Bonaparte, Napoleon, 325 Boudinot, Elias, 20, 43, 227, 238 Brandywine, battle of, 58 Brown University, 151 Burgoyne, General, 61 Burke, Edmund, 96, 225 Burr, Aaron, Rev., 2 Burr, Aaron, guides Putnam's divi sion, 47; defeated in election of 1785, 178; outgenerals Hamilton in election of 1800, 328; his char acter, 329 ; his military career, 329 et seq. ; activity in New York poli tics, 331 ; elected to U. S. Senate, 332; antagonized by Hamilton, 334; his ability as a political tac tician, 335; preferred to Jefferson by Federalists, 338 et seq. ; refuses to negotiate for Presidency, 338 et seq. ; assailed by Hamilton, 338 ; kills Hamilton in duel, 342 et seq. Carrington, Edward, Col., 267, 269, 278 Chase, Samuel, of Maryland, de nounced by Hamilton, 75 Chastellux, Marquis de, 106 Christian Constitutional Society, 347 Church, Mrs. Angelica, 104 Church, John B„ 170, 313 Clinton, George, 74, 138, 159, 181, 182, 183, 185, 190, 199, 203, 204, 207, 218 Cobbett, WiUiam, 309 Coleman, WiUiam, 309 Commercial regulations, State diffi culties over, 176; interstate nego tiations on, 178; basis of caU for constitutional convention, 180 Congress, Continental, its incapac ity, 70 el seq. ; DuchS's opinion of, 72; Henry Laurens's account of, 72; its fondness for display, 73; Washington's opinion of, 73; its miUtary poUcy, 76 et seq. ; antag onizes Washington, 98; its finan ciering, 143 el seq.; proposes flve- per-cent impost, 145; pay of its 375 376 INDEX members, 172; its scale of expen diture, 173; appoints Treasury commissioners, 174; becomes a migratory body, 175; meets in New York City, 184; opposes the convention movement, 185; its change of attitude, 193; recom mends the States to send dele gates, 194; dies of inanition, 206; its creation of executive depart ments, 210; its Treasury manage ment, 214; adopts decimal sys tem, 251 Congress, U. S., debate on Hamil ton's proposals, 236 et seq. ; repu diation proposed but defeated, 237 et seq.; discrimination defeated, 239; Assumption BiU defeated, 241; interest of members in na tional-capital site, 242 ; threats of secession, 244; Funding and As sumption Bill enacted through bargains, 245; incorporates the Bank ofthe U. S., 247; establishes the mint, 251 et seq. ; enacts Tariff Bill with protectionist clauses, 258; committee methods of, 273; adopts resolutions of inquiry into Treasury management, 274; votes down attempted censure of Ham Uton, 277; resumes Treasury in vestigation, 294; drops the mat ter, 296 et seq. ; makes compensa tion for back pay due HamUton, 351. Continental money, depreciation of, 144 Conway, General, his sarcastic query, 98 Cooper, Charles D., Dr., 341 Cooper, Myles, Dr., president of King's CoUege, 21, 30, 34, 35 Cooper, William, 340 CornwaUis, Lord, 122, 125, 128 Cruger, Nicholas, employs HamU ton as clerk, 14 Custis, reminiscences of HamUton, 42, 43, 61 De Grasse, Count, 122 De Heart, Balthazar, Hamilton's law partner, 160 De Kalb, Baron, 68 Dickinson, John, 29 Drum, The, Hamilton's song, 343 Duane, James, 89, 135, 138, 164, 188 Duch@, Jacob, Eev., 68 Duer, WiUiam, 178 Electoral coUege, split votes in, 316; tie between Jefferson and Burr, 337 Empress, the, first American ship to visit China, 179 Fauchet, Joseph, 299 Fawcett, Rachel, maiden name of HamUton's mother, 5 ; married to J. M. Levine, 5; leaves her hus band, 6; united to James Hamil ton, 7; death of, 9 Federalist, The, 201, 210, 218, 364, 371, 372 FederaUst party, carries New York City, 203 ; its grand pageant, 204 et seq.; wrecked by dissensions, 314; arrogant poUcy in Congress, 323; defeated in election of 1800, 328. France, naval war with, 318 Franklin, Benjamin, 358 Fraunces, Andrew G., calumniates HamUton, 294 French Revolution, effects of, 278 et seq. ; popular sympathy with, 284 Freneau, Philip, 260, 290 Funding BiU. See Assumption Bill Gates, Horatio, General, 101, 106 Genet, Edmond, arrives in U. S., 279; his objects, 282; antago nizes the administration, 284; his popularity, 285; energetic measures of, 287; his intimacy with Jefferson, 288; is opposed by Hamilton, 288 ; ignores Jefferson's wishes, 289; is abandoned by Jef ferson, 290 ; defended by Freneau, 290 et seq.; defies the government in the case of Le Petit Democrale, 290 Gerry, Elbridge, 213, 227 GUes, W. B., of Virginia, elected to Congress, 165 ; his character, 273 ; incites Congressional investiga tion of Hamilton, 274; resolutions of censure moved by, 276; his resolutions defeated, 277; renews the attack, 293 el seq.; again de feated, 296; argues against Jay treaty, 307 GUleland, Captain, 127 Gimat, Lieut.-Col., 125 el seq. Goldsmith, OUver, on republics, 83 INDEX 377 Grainger, James, Dr., 3 Graydon, his .Memoirs, 66, 97 Greene, General, 43, 141, 174 Hamilton, Alexander, birth of, 2; technical Ulegitimacy of, 4-8; his correspondence with his father, 10; his education, 13; assisted by the Rev. Hugh Knox, 13; clerk in a general store, 14; his ambition, 14 ; his description of a hurricane, 16; sent to America, 16; attends Francis Barber's grammar school, 19; enters King's CoUege, 21; his studies, 22; supports the Ameri can cause by speech and pen, 24; his original principles, 26-28; pamphlets by, 29-32, 39; appeals to Jay to suppress rowdyism, 37 ; joins State militia, 40; organizes an artiUery company, 42; takes part in battle of Long Island, 44; first meeting with Washington, 47; takes part in battle of White Plains, 49; his rear-guard action near Xew Brunswick, 50; takes part in engagements at Trenton and Princeton, 51 ; becomes secre tary to Washington, 52 ; his letters to Rev. Hugh Knox, 52; personal appearance of, 56; leads scouting expedition, 58; warns Congress of approach of British, 59 ; his work as military secretary, 60; his mis sion to Gen. Gates, 61; acts as second to Laurens in duel with Lee, 62; assaUed by Tory press, 63; his account of army condi tions, 69; denounces a member of Congress, 74; drafts plans for army reorganization, 76; sends reports to New York Convention, 81; financial suggestions by, 84 et seq.; recommends election of Robert Morris, 86; drafts plan for national bank, 87; urges creation of executive departments, 89-92 ; proposes constitutional conven tion, 93-95; his table manners, 97; his idea of a wife, 99; meets Ehzabeth Schuyler, 100; his courtship, 103-111 ; his account of Arnold's treason, 108; his chival rous treatment of Major AndrS, 108; his marriage, 111; memo randum to Robert Morris on national bank, 112; resigns from Washington's staff, 114-117; seeks a regimental appoint ment, 121-123; his letters to his wife during Yorktown cam paign, 123-124; leads assault on British lines, 124-128; ad mitted to bar, 130; composes a manual on law practice, 131; his letters to Lafayette, 132, 141, 148; protests against condemnation of Capt. AsgUl, 133 ; appointed Con tinental Superintendent for New York, 135; his account of politi cal conditions there, 137; drafts national resolutions adopted by legislature, 139; his letters to John Laurens, 140 ; his activity in Continental Congress, 147-156; his letter to Vicomte de NoaiUes, 147 ; his letters to Washington on army grievances, 153; writes "Vindication of Congress," 155; advises Washington on national poUcy, 157; begins law practice, 159; his fees, 160; tries suit in volving treaty obligations, 161- 165; his "Phocian" letters, 167 et seq., 167; is chaUenged by Col. Oswald, 170; organizes Bank of New York, 170; attends Annap- oUs Convention, 179; drafts call for constitutional convention, 180; elected to New York Assembly, 182 ; secures State participation in constitutional convention, 181- 195; elected a delegate to the con vention, 194; obtains repeal of prescriptive legislation, 195; ad vocates recognition of Vermont, 196; his record in the constitu tional convention, 197 et seq.; his pamphlet war with Clinton, 200; appeals to Washington for aid, 201; begins The Federalist, 201 el seq. ; carries New York for the new Constitution, 204; urges Washington to accept the Presi dency, 207; accepts Treasury portfolio, 209; excluded from floor of Congress, 210; his expec tation of aid from Madison dis appointed, 211-222; his report on pubUc credit, 224 et seq.; his reiaJaanS-Jgith-WabhiugteB; 226, 368-370; his habits of work, 229; hfs "plahs obstructed by Congres sional opposition, 236 et seq.; his bargain with Jefferson, 245; his plans for national bank, 246; his 378 INDEX cabinet opinion developing the doctrine of implied powers, 248; proposes establishment of mint, 249 ; submits report on manufac tures, 252; his discussion of the issue of protection vs. free trade, 253 et seq.; success of his mea- sures, 258; his breach with Jef ferson and Madison, 267 et seq.; replies to charges transmitted by Washington, 270; assailed by Giles, 274; prompt response to resolutions of inquiry, 275 ; criti cises French attachments o£~3EefT~ ferson and Madison, 278; ad vises Washington on foreign policy, 280; his views on treaty obligations, 284; indifference to partisan clamor, 285; drafts notice to Gengt, 286; frus trates GenSt's plans, 288^ .writes the '^Pacifieus ' ' — series... _ 288 ; writes "No Jacobin" series, 291; is stricken with yeUow fever, 291; notifies Washington of his desire to resign, 292 ; challenges investi gation of his official conduct, 294 et seq.; suppresses the Whiskey In surrection, 298; again chaUenges investigation, 299; leaves the Cabinet, 300; gives an opinion- on . the Jay treaty, 302; encounters mob violence; 303; defends the treaty in the "CamiUus" articles, 306 ; drafts Washington's Fare- weU Address, 308 ; his journalistic activities, 309; his pamphlet on the Reynolds scandal, 311 ei seq.; refuses seat in U. S. Senate, 313; builds "The Grange," 313; be comes private adviser of Adarote'sr" Cabinet, 314 ei seq.; his support of Thomas Pinckney for Presi dent, 316; appointed major-gen eral by Washington, 320; encoun ters opposition of Adams, 321 et seq.; distressed by variance with Knox, 321; opposes the sedition law, 324; denounces Adams's conduct, 327 ; is outgeneralled by Burr in New York, 328; his early relations with Burr, 332; his ani mosity against Burr, 333; assaUs Burr's character, 338 et seq.; is caUed to account by Burr, 342; accepts Burr's chaUenge, 343 ; his account of his motives, 344; his farewell messages to his wife, 344; is fatally wounded, 345; his letter to a Scotch relative, 346; his moods of discouragement, 347 et seq.; apparent faUure of his ca reer, 348; his chivalric spirit, 349; his estate impoverished by his death, 350; afflictions of his fam ily, 351 ; tardy action by Congress on his claim for back pay, 351; biographies of, 352 et seq. ; ,es£i» mates of his character ancLachicve-- ments, "357-373 Miig democratic ideals, 361-364; his principles contrasted with those of Jeffer son, 366 et seq. ; his Uterary style, 371 ; his genius for statesmanship, 371 et seq. HamUton, Mrs. (see EUzabeth Schuyler), difficulties in which she was left, 351; her life-long efforts to vindicate Hamilton's reputa tion, 352; her death, 353 Hamilton, Allan McLane, 355 Hamilton, James, his ancestry, 6; unsuccessful in business, 8 et seq. ; correspondence with his son, 10 et seq. HamUton, John Church, 35, 47, 51, 125, 131, 169, 353, 354 Hamilton, Philip H., killed in duel, 351 Hammond, George, British minis ter, 289 Hancock, John, 59 Harrison, R. H., aide to Washing ton, 58, 131 "Hearts of Oak," militia company joined by Hamilton, 40 et seq. Henfield, Gideon, acquittal of, 284 Henry, Patrick, 191 Hopkinson, Joseph, 352 Howe, Gen., 44, 45, 48, 50 HoweU, David, 151 Huddy, Capt., 133 Hume, David, on government, 83 Hunt, Gaffiard, 219 Irving, Washington, 50 Jackson, James, of Georgia, 237 Jay, John, marries Miss Livingston, 20; member of Continental Con gress, 37; contributes to The Fed eralist, 203 ; negotiates treaty with England, 302; burned in effigy, 303; his patriotic self-sacriflce, 305; is consulted on Washington's Farewell Address, 308; offers U. S. INDEX 379 Senatorship to Hamilton, 313; elected governor, 325; declines party tactics proposed by Hamil ton, 336 Jay treaty, ratified by Senate, 302: analyzed by HamUton, 303: pop ular rage against, 303; sustained by House of Representatives, 307 ; resented by French Government, 318 Jefferson, Thomas, quotes story about Hamilton's convention rec ord, 196; is appointed Secretary of State, 223; his nationalist views, 243 et seq. ; deplores defeat of assumption, 244; arranges a bargain for its enactment, 245; holds creation of a national bank to be unconstitutional, 247 ; advo cates strict-construction princi ples, 249; advocates decimal sys tem, 251; secures a newspaper organ, 260; makes overtures to Thomas Paine, 261; makes friendly advances to Hamilton, 263; disturbed by State opposi tion to assumption, 264 ; -rec^ftls- nnrl tiiirm anniinfrt HamUtoiu. 265; abets attacks on HamUton, .266; trigs tqTairn Washington against Hamilton, 267 et seq. ; abets Con gressional war on Hamilton, 273 ; disappointment over result, 277; his attachment_to France, 279 et seq~; opposes-aieclaration of neu trality, 282^ favors unconditional reception of Genet, 286; induces Madison to reply to "Pacificus," 288; complains of Gen§t's_ beha vior, 289; joins in .demanding GengtVrecall..290; offers his res ignation, 292 ; leaves the Cabinet, 295; his opposition to the Excise Law, 296 ; abets opposition to the Jay treaty, 303 et seq.; ignores personal charges, 310; tied with Burr for Presidency, 337 et seq.; his admiration for the EngUsh constitution, 358; his ideals com pared with those of HamUton, 366 et seq.' Johnson, Samuel, Dr., 3 Jones, Samuel, 188 Judiciary, the, conflict between HamUton and Madison over, 359 King of France, 217 King's CoUege, 21, 24, 42 Knox, Henry, Gen., 134, 223, 286, 320, 321, 322 Knox, Hugh, Rev., 2, 13, 20, 27, 52, 64 Lafayette, Marquis de, 98, 123, 125 Lamb, John, Gen., 126, 165, 170, 199, 204, 207 Lansing, John, 194, 196, 197, 199 Laurens, Henry, 72 Laurens, John, 76, 99, 100, 109, 127, 141 Leake, Isaac Q., 170 Ledyard, Isaac, 168 Lee, Arthur, 145, 174 Lee, Charles, Gen., 61, 62 Lee, Henry, Gen., 125 Lee, WiU, Washington's body-ser vant, 60 LEnfant, Pierre, Major, 204 Livermore, Samuel, of New Hamp shire, 237, 240 Livingston, Robert, 80 Lodge, H. C, U. S. Senator, 360 Louis XVI of France, 135, 281 Luzerne, Chevalier de la, 69 Lytton, Peter, maternal uncle of HamUton, 9 Maclay, WiUiam, of Pennsylvania, 220, 236 McHenry, James, of Maryland, 112, 132, 321, 322, 323, 326 Madison, James, on proceedings of Continental Congress, 145; his note of Hamilton's speech, 151; as to the Annapohs convention, 181 ; assists HamUton in the Fed eralist series, 203; turns against Hamilton, 211 et seq.; his pohtical principles, 218 et seq.; opposes HamUton's plans, 222 et seq.; ad vocates discrimination among the pubhc creditors, 238 et seq.; op poses assumption, 240; joins in bargain for the Potomac site, 245 : opposes the Bank of the United States, 247 et seq. ; his attitude on coinage designs, 252 ; promotes en actment of tariff bUl with protec tionist features, 258 ; visits Philip Freneau, 260; desires Thomas Paine's aid, 261; disapproves clamor against assumption, 262; falls in Une with State sentiment, 264; his change of front, 266 el seq.; his character analyzed by HamUton, 268 et seq.; prepares 380 INDEX a fareweU address for Washing ton, 272, 308; abets Congres- ' sional attack on HamUton, 273 et seq.; writes "Helvidius" arti cles, 288 et seq.; declines to at tempt a reply to Hamilton's "CamiUus" articles, 306; de clines Adams's offer of French mis sion, 317; favors subordination of States, 359 et seq. ; his views as to functions of Senate, 361; op poses manhood suffrage, 362 ; dis tinguishes between a democracy and a repubhc, 364 Malcolm, Col., 178, 187 et seq. MarshaU, Chief Justice, 284 Mason, George, of Virginia, 196, 269 Mason, John M., Rev., 25, 352 Meade, Col., one of Washington's aides, j29 Mitchell, Mrs., an aunt of Hamil ton, 9, 11, 344 Monroe, James, 244, 245, 310, 311, 362 Montesquieu, 2l6 et seq. Morris, Gouverneur, 55, 80, 81, 347, 349, 361 Morris, Robert, delegate to Conti nental Congress, 84; becomes Superintendent of Finance, 86 ; his difficulties with Congress, 88; ap points Hamilton Continental Su perintendent in New York, 135 et seq.; finances the Yorktown campaign, 145; efforts to carry the impost, 148; raises money to pay the troops, 155; resigns, 174; refuses the Treasury portfolio, 209; his official procedure, 216; bargains for national-capital site, 243 Muhlenberg, Speaker, 310 et seq. National capital, Potomac site, 245 Nevis, Hamilton's birthplace, 1, 19 New England, Hamilton's regard for, 25 et seq. ; its sectional particu larism, 145 New York pohtics, famUy influence in, 333 Oliver, Frederick Scott, 355 Oswald, Eleazer, Col., challenges HamUton, 170 Otto, French charge d'affaires, 181 Page, John, of Virginia, 214, 237, 296 Paine, Thomas, 261 Pickering, Timothy, 56, 326, 352, 364 Pinckney, C. C, 320, 321, 323 Pinckney, Thomas, 316 Pitt, WiUiam, 256 President, functions of, 217 Princeton, battle of, 51 Princeton University, 151 RandaU, H. S., 354 Randolph, Edmund, 181, 223, 247, 272, 283, 286, 298, 299 Reed, Joseph, 73 Reynolds case, 310 et seq. Rivington, James, his press de stroyed, 36 Rutledge, John, 152 St. Clair, Arthur, Gen., 220 St. Kitts, Island of, 3, 19 Schuyler, Ehzabeth, meets Hamil ton, 100; courted by him, 103 et seq.; marries him. 111; her char acter, 113. See Mrs. Hamilton Schuyler, Philip, Gen., HamUton's father-in-law, 4; his famUy, 19; his career, 101 et seq. ; becomes in timate with HamUton, 103; his Albany mansion, 112; tries to dis suade Hamilton from resigning, 119; his activity in N. Y. Senate, 139; promotes HamUton's elec tion to Continental Congress, 140; his pohtical influence, 225; relates an anecdote of Hamilton, 229; defeated for re-election to U. S. Senate, 332; death of, 351 Seabury, Samuel, Rev. Dr., 30 Sedgwick, Theodore, of Mass., 215, 324 Shewkirk, Rev. Mr., his diary, 65 Smith, Adam, 256 Smith, WUUam, of S. C, 276 Society of the Cincinnati, 343, 352 Steuben, Baron, 204 Stirling, Lord, 43, 45 Stone, Wilham, of Maryland, 240 Sugar-cane, poem on, 3 SuUivan, John, Gen., 85 Sulhvan, WiUiam, reminiscences by, 55 Sumner, W. G., 88, 147, 355 Supreme Court of U. S., 248 Switzerland, 92, 359 TaUeyrand, 319 Tilghman, Tench, Col., 100, 122 Trenton, surprise of, 51 INDEX 381 Troup, Robert, classmate of Ham Uton, 24; his reminiscences, 26, 34, 40; captured by British, 45; aids Hamilton's legal studies, 131 ; his pohtical cooperation, 178; ad vises HamUton against taking office, 209; censures Hamilton's indiscretion, 32S ; supports Yates's candidacy, 331 Varick, Richard, 164, 186, 1S7 et seq. Venable, Abraham, 310 et seq. Wadsworth, commissary-general, 75 War of the Revolution, its conduct, 67 ; effects of Congressional inter ference, 77; the Yorktown cam paign, 122 et seq. Washington, George, his forces for defense of New York, 44; his re treat, 46; fights battle of Harlem Heights, 48; retreats into New Jersey, 50; attacks Hessians at Trenton, 51 ; his personal appear ance, 55; his difficulties over staff appointments, 57; scenes at his headquarters, 60; sends Hamilton on a mission to Gates, 61; de nounces General Lee, 61; his opinion of mUitia, 69; his reports to Congress on army conditions, 76; Congressional cabal against, 98; Mrs. Washington joins him at Morristown, 102 ; accidentally of fends Hamilton, 114; his embar rassments in the AsgUl case, 134 ; correspondence with Hamilton on army grievances, 153-155, 173, 176; his circular letter to State governors, 175 ; plans Chesapeake & Ohio canal, 177; invites State commissioners to Mt. Vernon, 178; Gov. Clinton's support of, 190; responds to Hamilton's ap peal, 201 ; reluctance to accepting Presidency, 207; makes cabinet appointments, 223; his depen dence on Madison, 225 et seq.; asks Madison to prepare veto of Bank Bill, 247; his scruples ro- moved by Hamilton's argument, 248 et seq. ; ignores Jefferson's ob jections to a military academy, 249; action on charges against Hamilton, 270; favors assump tion, 271; desires to retire from public life, 271 et seq.; requests cabinet opinions on French de mands, 280; resents attacks of Genet's sympathizers, 286; har assed by dissensions in his Cabi net, 290; applies to Supreme Court for advice, 290; break up of his Cabinet, 29?' opinion on the Whiskey Insurrection, 297; applies to HamUton on the Jay treaty, 302; asks HamU ton to prepare his FareweU Ad dress, 307; takes command of army at Adams's request, 320; controversy with Adams over army appointments, 320 et seq.; death of, 325 ; his esteem of Ham Uton, 368, 370 West Indies, relation to America, 1 ; style of hving in, 2; settlers in, 4; political conditions in, 16 et seq. Whigs, prescriptive pohcy of, 101 Whiskey Insurrection, 296 et seq. White, PhUip, 133 Wolcott, Oliver, of Connecticut, 315 Wolcott, Ohver, Secretary of Trea sury, 315, 324, 326 WoodhuU, Nathaniel, 38 X Y Z dispatches, 319, 324 Yates, Robert, 194, 196, 197, 199, 200, 331 YeUow fever, in PhUadelphia, 291