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diff --git a/old/13246-8.txt b/old/13246-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c81fc28 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13246-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19678 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Conqueror, by Gertrude Franklin Atherton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Conqueror + +Author: Gertrude Franklin Atherton + +Release Date: August 22, 2004 [EBook #13246] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONQUEROR *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + +THE CONQUEROR + +BEING THE TRUE AND ROMANTIC STORY OF + +ALEXANDER HAMILTON + +BY + +GERTRUDE FRANKLIN ATHERTON + + + "Je considère Napoleon, Fox, et Hamilton comme les trois plus + grands hommes de notre époque, et si je devais me prononcer entre + les trois, je donnerais sans hesiter la première place à Hamilton. + Il avait deviné l'Europe." + + TALLEYRAND, _Études sur la République_ + + +New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. + +1904 + +Set up, electrotyped, and published March, 1902. Reprinted May, July +twice, August, September, October, December, 1902; February, 1903; +February, 1904. + +Special edition June, 1904. + + +Norwood Press J.S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., +U.S.A. + + + + +TO THE DISTINGUISHED MEN WITHOUT WHOSE SUGGESTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT THIS +ATTEMPT TO RECREATE THE GREATEST OF OUR STATESMEN WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN +MADE + +THE RT. HON. JAMES BRYCE, M.P. + +DR. ALLAN McLANE HAMILTON + + + + +CONTENTS + + +NEVIS + +BOOK I RACHAEL LEVINE + +BOOK II ALEXANDER HAMILTON. HIS YOUTH IN THE WEST INDIES AND IN THE +COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA + +BOOK III THE LITTLE LION + +BOOK IV "ALEXANDER THE GREAT" + +BOOK V THE LAST BATTLE OF THE GIANTS AND THE END + + + + +EXPLANATION + + +It was my original intention to write a biography of Alexander Hamilton +in a more flexible manner than is customary with that method of +reintroducing the dead to the living, but without impinging upon the +territory of fiction. But after a visit to the British and Danish West +Indies in search of the truth regarding his birth and ancestry, and +after a wider acquaintance with the generally romantic character of his +life, to say nothing of the personality of this most endearing and +extraordinary of all our public men, the instinct of the novelist proved +too strong; I no sooner had pen in hand than I found myself working in +the familiar medium, although preserving the historical sequence. But, +after all, what is a character novel but a dramatized biography? We +strive to make our creations as real to the world as they are to us. +Why, then, not throw the graces of fiction over the sharp hard facts +that historians have laboriously gathered? At all events, this +infinitely various story of Hamilton appealed too strongly to my +imagination to be frowned aside, so here, for better or worse, is the +result. Nevertheless, and although the method may cause the book to read +like fiction, I am conscientious in asserting that almost every +important incident here related of his American career is founded on +documentary or published facts or upon family tradition; the few that +are not have their roots among the probabilities, and suggested +themselves. As for the West Indian part, although I was obliged to work +upon the bare skeleton I unearthed in the old Common Records and Church +Registers, still the fact remains that I did find the skeleton, which I +have emphasized as far as is artistically possible. No date is given nor +deed referred to that cannot be found by other visitors to the Islands. +Moreover, I made a careful study of these Islands as they were in the +time of Hamilton and his maternal ancestors, that I might be enabled to +exercise one of the leading principles of the novelist, which is to +create character not only out of certain well-known facts of heredity, +but out of understood conditions. In this case I had, in addition, an +extensive knowledge of Hamilton's character to work backward from, as +well as his estimate of the friends of his youth and of his mother. +Therefore I feel confident that I have held my romancing propensity well +within the horizon of the probabilities; at all events, I have depicted +nothing which in any way interferes with the veracity of history. +However, having unburdened my imagination, I shall, in the course of a +year or two, write the biography I first had in mind. No writer, indeed, +could assume a more delightful task than to chronicle, in any form, +Hamilton's stupendous services to this country and his infinite variety. + +G.F.A. + + + + +NEVIS + + +In the eighteenth century Nevis was known as The Mother of the English +Leeward Caribbees. A Captain-General ruled the group in the name of the +King, but if he died suddenly, his itinerant duties devolved upon the +Governor of Nevis until the crown heard of its loss and made choice of +another to fill that high and valued office. She had a Council and a +House of Assembly, modelled in miniature upon the Houses of Peers and +Commons; and was further distinguished as possessing the only court in +the English Antilles where pirates could be tried. The Council was made +up of ten members appointed by the Captain-General, but commanded by +"its own particular and private Governor." The freeholders of the Island +chose twenty-four of their number to represent them in the House of +Assembly; and the few chronicles of that day agree in asserting that +Nevis during her hundred proud years of supremacy was governed +brilliantly and well. But the careful administration of good laws +contributed in part only to the celebrity of an Island which to-day, +still British as she is, serves but as a pedestal for the greatest of +American statesmen. In these old days she was a queen as well as a +mother. Her planters were men of immense wealth and lived the life of +grandees. Their cane-fields covered the mountain on all its sides and +subsidiary peaks, rising to the very fringe of the cold forest on the +cone of a volcano long since extinct. The "Great Houses," built +invariably upon an eminence that commanded a view of the neighbouring +islands.--St. Christopher, Antigua, Montserrat,--were built of blocks +of stone so square and solid and with a masonry so perfect that one +views their ruins in amazement to-day. They withstood hurricanes, +earthquakes, floods, and tidal waves. They were impregnable fortresses +against rioting negroes and spasmodically aggressive Frenchmen. They +even survived the abolition of slavery, and the old gay life went on for +many years. English people, bored or in search of health, came for the +brilliant winter, delighted with the hospitality of the planters, and to +renew their vitality in the famous climate and sulphur baths, which, of +all her possessions, Time has spared to Nevis. And then, having +weathered all the ills to which even a West Indian Island can be +subject, she succumbed--to the price of sugar. Her great families +drifted away one by one. Her estates were given over to the agent for a +time, finally to the mongoose. The magnificent stone mansions, left +without even a caretaker, yielded helplessly to the diseases of age, and +the first hurricane entering unbarred windows carried their roofs to the +sea. In Charles Town, the capital since the submergence of James Town in +1680, are the remains of large town houses and fine old stone walls, +which one can hardly see from the roadstead, so thick are the royal +palms and the cocoanut trees among the ruins, wriggling their slender +bodies through every crevice and flaunting their glittering luxuriance +above every broken wall. + +But in the days when the maternal grandparents of Alexander Hamilton +looked down a trifle upon those who dwelt on other isles, Nevis recked +of future insignificance as little as a beauty dreams of age. In the +previous century England, after the mortification of the Royalists by +Cromwell, had sent to Nevis Hamiltons, Herberts, Russells, and many +another refugee from her historic houses. With what money they took +with them they founded the great estates of the eighteenth century, and +their sons sent their own children to Europe to become accomplished men +and women. Government House was a miniature court, as gay and splendid +as its offices were busy with the commerce of the world. The Governor +and his lady drove about the Island in a carriage of state, with +outriders and postilions in livery. When the Captain-General came he +outshone his proud second by the gorgeousness of his uniform only, and +both dignitaries were little more imposing than the planters themselves. +It is true that the men, despite their fine clothes and powdered +perukes, preferred a horse's back to the motion of a lumbering coach, +but during the winter season their wives and daughters, in the shining +stuffs, the pointed bodices, the elaborate head-dress of Europe, visited +Government House and their neighbours with all the formality of London +or Bath. After the first of March the planters wore white linen; the +turbaned black women were busy among the stones of the rivers with +voluminous wardrobes of cambric and lawn. + +Several estates belonged to certain offshoots of the ducal house of +Hamilton, and in the second decade of the eighteenth century Walter +Hamilton was Captain-General of the English Leeward Caribbees and +"Ordinary of the Same." After him came Archibald Hamilton, who was, +perhaps, of all the Hamiltons the most royal in his hospitality. +Moreover, he was a person of energy and ambition, for it is on record +that he paid a visit to Boston, fleeing from the great drought which +visited Nevis in 1737. Then there were William Leslie Hamilton, who +practised at the bar in London for several years, but returned to hold +official position on Nevis, and his brother Andrew, both sons of Dr. +William Hamilton, who spent the greater part of his life on St. +Christopher. There were also Hugh Hamilton, Charles, Gustavus, and +William Vaughn Hamilton, all planters, most of them Members of Council +or of the Assembly. + +And even in those remote and isolated days, Hamiltons and Washingtons +were associated. The most popular name in our annals appears frequently +in the Common Records of Nevis, and there is no doubt that when our +first President's American ancestor fled before Cromwell to Virginia, a +brother took ship for the English Caribbees. + +From a distance Nevis looks like a solitary peak in mid-ocean, her base +sweeping out on either side. But behind the great central cone--rising +three thousand two hundred feet--are five or six lesser peaks, between +which are dense tropical gorges and mountain streams. In the old days, +where the slopes were not vivid with the light green of the cane-field, +there were the cool and sombre groves of the cocoanut tree, mango, +orange, and guava. + +Even when Nevis is wholly visible there is always a white cloud above +her head. As night falls it becomes evident that this soft aggravation +of her beauty is but a night robe hung on high. It is at about seven in +the evening that she begins to draw down her garment of mist, but she is +long in perfecting that nocturnal toilette. Lonely and neglected, she +still is a beauty, exacting and fastidious. The cloud is tortured into +many shapes before it meets her taste. She snatches it off, redisposes +it, dons and takes it off again, wraps it about her with yet more +enchanting folds, until by nine o'clock it sweeps the sea; and Nevis, +the proudest island of the Caribbees, has secluded herself from those +cynical old neighbours who no longer bend the knee. + + + + +BOOK I + +RACHAEL LEVINE + + +I + +Nevis gave of her bounty to none more generously than to John and Mary +Fawcett. In 1685 the revocation of the Edict of Nantes had sent the +Huguenots swarming to America and the West Indies. Faucette was but a +boy when the Tropics gave him shelter, and learning was hard to get; +except in the matter of carving Caribs. But he acquired the science of +medicine somehow, and settled on Nevis, remodelled his name, and became +a British subject. Brilliant and able, he was not long accumulating a +fortune; there were swamps near Charles Town that bred fever, and the +planters lived as high and suffered as acutely as the English squires of +the same period. His wife brought him money, and in 1714 they received a +joint legacy from Captain Frank Keynall; whether a relative of hers or a +patient of his, the Records do not tell. + +Mary Fawcett was some twenty years younger than her husband, a +high-spirited creature, with much intelligence, and a will which in +later years John Fawcett found himself unable to control. But before +that period, when to the disparity in time were added the irritabilities +of age in the man and the imperiousness of maturity in the woman, they +were happy in their children, in their rising fortunes, and, for a +while, in one another. + +For twenty-eight years they lived the life of the Island. They built a +Great House on their estate at Gingerland, a slope of the Island which +faces Antigua, and they had their mansion in town for use when the +Captain-General was abiding on Nevis. While Mary Fawcett was bringing up +and marrying her children, managing the household affairs of a large +estate, and receiving and returning the visits of the other grandees of +the Island, to say nothing of playing her important part in all social +functions, life went well enough. Her children, far away from the swamps +of Charles Town, throve in the trade winds which temper the sun of Nevis +and make it an isle of delight. When they were not studying with their +governesses, there were groves and gorges to play in, ponies to ride, +and monkeys and land crabs to hunt. Later came the gay life of the +Capital, the routs at Government House, frequent even when the Chief was +elsewhere, the balls at neighbouring estates, the picnics in the cool +high forests, or where more tropical trees and tree ferns grew thick, +the constant meeting with distinguished strangers, and the visits to +other islands. + +The young Fawcetts married early. One went with her husband, Peter +Lytton, to the island of St. Croix. The Danish Government, upon +obtaining possession of this fertile island, in 1733, immediately issued +an invitation to the planters of the Leeward Caribbees to immigrate, +tempting many who were dissatisfied with the British Government or +wished for larger estates than they could acquire on their own populous +islands. Members of the Lytton, Mitchell, and Stevens families of St. +Christopher were among the first to respond to the liberal offer of the +Danish Government. The two sons of James Lytton, Peter and James, grew +up on St. Croix, Danish by law, British in habit and speech; and both +married women of Nevis. Peter was the first to wed, and his marriage to +young Mary Fawcett was the last to be celebrated in the Great House at +Gingerland. + +When Peter Lytton and his wife sailed away, as other sons and other +daughters had sailed before, to return to Nevis rarely,--for those were +the days of travel unveneered,--John and Mary Fawcett were left alone: +their youngest daughter, she who afterward became the wife of Thomas +Mitchell of St. Croix, was at school in England. + +By this time Dr. Fawcett had given up his practice and was living on his +income. He took great interest in his cane-fields and mills, and in the +culture of limes and pine-apples; but in spite of his outdoor life his +temper soured and he became irritable and exacting. Gout settled in him +as a permanent reminder of the high fortunes of his middle years, and +when the Gallic excitability of his temperament, aggravated by a +half-century of hot weather, was stung to fiercer expression by the +twinges of his disease, he was an abominable companion for a woman +twenty years closer to youth. + +In the solitudes of the large house Mary Fawcett found life unendurable. +Still handsome, naturally gay of temper, and a brilliant figure in +society, she frequently deserted her elderly husband for weeks at a +time. The day came when he peremptorily forbade her to leave the place +without him. For a time she submitted, for although a woman of uncommon +independence of spirit, it was not until 1740 that she broke free of +traditions and astonished the island of Nevis. She shut herself up with +her books and needlework, attended to her house and domestic negroes +with the precision of long habit, saw her friends when she could, and +endured the exactions of her husband with only an occasional but mighty +outburst. + +It was in these unhappy conditions that Rachael Fawcett was born. + + +II + +The last affliction the Fawcetts expected was another child. This little +girl came an unwelcome guest to a mother who hated the father, and to +Dr. Fawcett, not only because he had outgrown all liking for crying +babies, but because, as in his excited disturbance he admitted to his +wife, his fortune was reduced by speculations in London, and he had no +desire to turn to in his old age and support another child. Then Mary +Fawcett made up her definite mind: she announced her intention to leave +her husband while it was yet possible to save her property for herself +and the child to whom she soon became passionately attached. Dr. Fawcett +laughed and shut himself up in a wing where the sounds of baby distress +could not reach him; and it is doubtful if his glance ever lingered on +the lovely face of his youngest born. Thus came into the world under the +most painful conditions one of the unhappiest women that has lived. It +was her splendid destiny to become the mother of the greatest American +of his centuries, but this she died too soon to know, and she +accomplished her part with an immediate bitterness of lot which was +remorselessly ordained, no doubt, by the great Law of Compensation. + +There were no divorce laws on the Islands in the eighteenth century, not +even an act for separate maintenance; but Mary Fawcett was a woman of +resource. It took her four years to accomplish her purpose, but she got +rid of Dr. Fawcett by making him more than anxious to be rid of her. The +Captain-General, William Matthew, was her staunch friend and admirer, +and espoused her cause to the extent of issuing a writ of supplicavit +for a separate maintenance. Dr. Fawcett gradually yielded to pressure, +separated her property from his, that it might pass under her personal +and absolute control, and settled on her the sum of fifty-three pounds, +four shillings annually, as a full satisfaction for all her dower or +third part of his estate. + +Mistress Fawcett was no longer a woman of consequence, for even her +personal income was curtailed by the great drought of 1737, and Nevis, +complaisant to the gallantry of the age, was scandalized at the novelty +of a public separation. But she was free, and she was the woman to feel +that freedom to her finger tips; she could live a life with no will in +it but her own, and she could bring up her little girl in an atmosphere +of peace and affection. She moved to an estate she owned on St. +Christopher and never saw John Fawcett again. He died a few years later, +leaving his diminished property to his children. Rachael's share was the +house in Charles Town. + +The spot on which Rachael spent her childhood and brief youth was one of +the most picturesque on the mountain range of St. Christopher. Facing +the sea, the house stood on a lofty eminence, in the very shadow of +Mount Misery. Immediately behind the house were the high peaks of the +range, hardly less in pride than the cone of the great volcano. The +house was built on a ledge, but one could step from the terrace above +into an abrupt ravine, wrenched into its tortuous shape by earthquake +and flood, but dark for centuries with the immovable shades of a virgin +tropical forest. The Great House, with its spacious open galleries and +verandahs, was surrounded with stone terraces, overflowing with the +intense red and orange of the hybiscus and croton bush, the golden +browns and softer yellows of less ambitious plants, the sensuous tints +of the orchid, the high and glittering beauties of the palm and +cocoanut. The slopes to the coast were covered with cane-fields, their +bright young greens sharp against the dark blue of the sea. The ledge on +which the house was built terminated suddenly in front, but extended on +the left along a line of cliff above a chasm, until it sloped to the +road. On this flat eminence was an avenue of royal palms, which, with +the dense wood on the hill above it, was to mariners one of the most +familiar landmarks of the Island of "St. Kitts." From her verandah Mary +Fawcett could see, far down to the right, a large village of negro huts, +only the thatched African roofs visible among the long leaves of the +cocoanut palms with which the blacks invariably surround their +dwellings. Beyond was Brimstone Hill with its impregnable fortress. And +on the left, far out at sea, her purple heights and palm-fringed shores +deepening the exquisite blue of the Caribbean by day, a white ever +changing spirit in the twilight, and no more vestige of her under the +stars than had she sunk whence she came--Nevis. Mary Fawcett never set +foot on her again, but she learned to sit and study her with a whimsical +affection which was one of the few liberties she allowed her +imagination. But if the unhappiest years of her life had been spent +there, so had her fairest. She had loved her brilliant husband in her +youth, and all the social triumphs of a handsome and fortunate young +woman had been hers. In the deep calm which now intervened between the +two mental hurricanes of her life, she sometimes wondered if she had +exaggerated her past afflictions; and before she died she knew how +insignificant the tragedy of her own life had been. + +Although Rachael was born when her parents were past their prime, the +vitality that was in her was concentrated and strong. It was not enough +to give her a long life, but while it lasted she was a magnificent +creature, and the end was abrupt; there was no slow decay. During her +childhood she lived in the open air, for except in the cold nights of a +brief winter only the jalousies were closed; and on that high shelf even +the late summer and early autumn were not insufferable. Exhausted as the +trade winds become, they give what little strength is in them to the +heights of their favourite isles, and during the rest of the year they +are so constant, even when storms rage in the North Atlantic, that Nevis +and St. Christopher never feel the full force of the sun, and the winter +nights are cold. + +Rachael was four years old when her parents separated, and grew to +womanhood remembering nothing of her father and seeing little of her +kin, scattered far and wide. Her one unmarried sister, upon her return +from England, went almost immediately to visit Mrs. Lytton, and married +Thomas Mitchell, one of the wealthiest planters of St. Croix. Mary +Fawcett's children had not approved her course, for they remembered +their father as the most indulgent and charming of men, whose frequent +tempers were quickly forgotten; and year by year she became more wholly +devoted to the girl who clung to her with a passionate and uncritical +affection. + +Clever and accomplished herself, and quick with ambition for her best +beloved child, she employed the most cultivated tutors on the Island to +instruct her in English, Latin, and French. Before Rachael was ten years +old, Mistress Fawcett had the satisfaction to discover that the little +girl possessed a distinguished mind, and took to hard study, and to _les +graces_, as naturally as she rode a pony over the hills or shot the reef +in her boat. + +For several years the women of St. Christopher held aloof, but many of +the planters who had been guests at the Great House in Gingerland called +on Mistress Fawcett at once, and proffered advice and service. Of these +William Hamilton and Archibald Hamn became her staunch and intimate +friends. Mr. Hamn's estate adjoined hers, and his overlooker relieved +her of much care. Dr. James Hamilton, who had died in the year preceding +her formal separation, had been a close friend of her husband and +herself, and his brother hastened with assurance of his wish to serve +her. He was one of the eminent men of the Island, a planter and a member +of Council; also, a "doctor of physic." He carried Rachael safely +through her childhood complaints and the darkest of her days; and if his +was the hand which opened the gates between herself and history, who +shall say in the light of the glorified result that its master should +not sleep in peace? + +In time his wife called, and his children and stepchildren brought a new +experience into the life of Rachael. She had been permitted to gambol +occasionally with the "pic'nees" of her mother's maids, but since her +fourth year had not spoken to a white child until little Catherine +Hamilton came to visit her one morning and brought Christiana Huggins of +Nevis. Mistress Huggins had known Mary Fawcett too well to call with +Mistress Hamilton, but sent Christiana as a peace offering. Mary's first +disposition was to pack the child off while Mistress Hamilton was +offering her embarrassed explanations; but Rachael clung to her new +treasure with such shrieks of protest that her mother, disconcerted by +this vigour of opposition to her will, permitted the intruder to remain. + +The wives of other planters followed Mistress Hamilton, for in that soft +voluptuous climate, where the rush and fret of great cities are but a +witch's tale, disapproval dies early. They would have called long since +had they not been a trifle in awe of Nevis, more, perhaps, of Mistress +Fawcett's sharp tongue, then indolent. But when Mistress Hamilton +suddenly reminded them that they were Christians, and that Dr. Fawcett +was dead, they put on their London gowns, ordered out their coaches, and +called. Mary Fawcett received them with a courteous indifference. Her +resentment had died long since, and they seemed to her, with their +coaches and brocades and powdered locks, but the ghosts of the Nevis of +her youth. Her child, her estate, and her few tried friends absorbed +her. For the sake of her daughter's future, she ordered out her ancient +coach and made the round of the Island once a year. The ladies of St. +Kitts were as moderately punctilious. + +And so the life of Rachael Fawcett for sixteen years passed uneventfully +enough. Her spirits were often very high, for she inherited the Gallic +buoyancy of her father as well as the brilliant qualities of his mind. +In the serious depths of her nature were strong passions and a tendency +to melancholy, the result no doubt of the unhappy conditions of her +birth. But her mother managed so to occupy her eager ambitious mind with +hard study that the girl had little acquaintance with herself. Her +English studies were almost as varied as a boy's, and in addition to her +accomplishments in the ancient and modern languages, she painted, and +sang, played the harp and guitar. Mary Fawcett, for reasons of her own, +never let her forget that she was the most educated girl on the Islands. + +"I never was one to lie on a sofa all day and fan myself, while my +children sat on the floor with their blacks, and munched sugar-cane, or +bread and sling," she would remark superfluously. "All my daughters are +a credit to their husbands; but I mean that you shall be the most +brilliant woman in the Antilles." + +The immediate consequences of Rachael's superior education were two: her +girl friends ceased to interest her, and ambitions developed in her +strong imaginative brain. In those days women so rarely distinguished +themselves individually that it is doubtful if Rachael had ever heard of +the phenomenon, and the sum of her worldly aspirations was a wealthy and +intellectual husband who would take her to live and to shine at foreign +courts. Her nature was too sweet and her mind too serious for egoism or +the pettier vanities, but she hardly could help being conscious of the +energy of her brain; and if she had passed through childhood in +ignorance of her beauty, she barely had entered her teens when her happy +indifference was dispelled; for the young planters besieged her gates. + +Girls mature very early in the tropics, and at fourteen Rachael Fawcett +was the unresponsive toast from Basseterre to Sandy Point. Her height +was considerable, and she had the round supple figure of a girl who has +lived the out-door life in moderation; full of strength and grace, and +no exaggeration of muscle. She had a fine mane of reddish fair hair, a +pair of sparkling eager gray eyes which could go black with passion or +even excited interest, a long nose so sensitively cut that she could +express any mood she chose with her nostrils, which expanded quite +alarmingly when she flew into a temper, and a full well-cut mouth. Her +skin had the whiteness and transparency peculiar to the women of St. +Kitts and Nevis; her head and brow were nobly modelled, and the former +she carried high to the day of her death. It was set so far back on her +shoulders and on a line so straight that it would look haughty in her +coffin. What wonder that the young planters besieged her gates, that her +aspirations soared high, that Mary Fawcett dreamed of a great destiny +for this worshipped child of her old age? As for the young planters, +they never got beyond the gates, for a dragon stood there. Mistress +Fawcett had no mind to run the risk of early entanglements. When Rachael +was old enough she would be provided with a distinguished husband from +afar, selected by the experienced judgement of a woman of the world. + +But Mary Fawcett, still hot-headed and impulsive in her second +half-century, was more prone to err in crises than her daughter. In +spite of the deeper passions of her nature, Rachael, except when under +the lash of strong excitement, had a certain clearness of insight and +deliberation of judgement which her mother lacked to her last day. + + +III + +Rachael had just eaten the last of her sixteenth birthday sweets when, +at a ball at Government House, she met John Michael Levine. It was her +début; she was the fairest creature in the room, and, in the idiom of +Dr. Hamilton, the men besieged her as were she Brimstone Hill in +possession of the French. The Governor and the Captain General had +asked her to dance, and even the women smiled indulgently, disarmed by +so much innocent loveliness. + +Levine, albeit a Dane, and as colourless as most of his countrymen, was +her determined suitor before the night was half over. It may be that he +was merely dazzled by the regal position to which the young men had +elevated her, and that his cold blood quickened at the thought of +possessing what all men desired, but he was as immediate and persistent +in his suit as any excitable creole in the room. But Rachael gave him +scant attention that night. She may have been intellectual, but she was +also a girl, and it was her first ball. She was dazzled and happy, +delighted with her conquests, oblivious to the depths of her nature. + +The next day Levine, strong in the possession of a letter from Mr. Peter +Lytton,--for a fortnight forgotten,--presented himself at Mistress +Fawcett's door, and was admitted. The first call was brief and +perfunctory, but he came the next day and the next. Rachael, surprised, +but little interested, and longing for her next ball, strummed the harp +at her mother's command and received his compliments with indifference. +A week after his first call Mary Fawcett drove into town and spent an +hour with the Governor. He told her that Levine had brought him a +personal letter from the Governor of St. Croix, and that he was wealthy +and well born. He was also, in his Excellency's opinion, a distinguished +match even for the most beautiful and accomplished girl on the Island. +Peter Lytton had mentioned in his letter that Levine purposed buying an +estate on St. Croix and settling down to the life of a planter. On the +following day Levine told her that already he was half a West Indian, so +fascinated was he with the life and the climate, but that if she would +favour his suit he would take Rachael to Copenhagen as often as she +wished for the life of the world. + +Mary Fawcett made up her mind that he should marry Rachael, and it +seemed to her that no mother had ever come to a wiser decision. Her +health was failing, and it was her passionate wish not only to leave her +child encircled by the protection of a devoted husband, but to realize +the high ambitions she had cherished from the hour she foresaw that +Rachael was to be an exceptional woman. + +Levine had not seen Rachael on the morning when he asked for her hand, +and he called two days later to press his suit and receive his answer. +Mistress Fawcett told him that she had made up her own mind and would +perform that office for Rachael at once, but thought it best that he +should absent himself until the work was complete. Levine, promised an +answer on the morrow, took himself off, and Mary Fawcett sent for her +daughter. + +Rachael entered the library with a piece of needlework in her hand. Her +mind was not on her books these days, for she had gone to another ball; +but her hands had been too well brought up to idle, however her brain +might dream. Mary Fawcett by this time wore a large cap with a frill, +and her face, always determined and self-willed, was growing austere +with years and much pain: she suffered frightfully at times with +rheumatism, and her apprehension of the moment when it should attack her +heart reconciled her to the prospect of brief partings from her +daughter. Her eyes still burned with the fires of an indiminishable +courage however; she read the yellow pages of her many books as rapidly +as in her youth, and if there was a speck of dust on her mahogany +floors, polished with orange juice, she saw it. Her negroes adored her +but trembled when she raised her voice, and Rachael never had disobeyed +her. She expected some dissatisfaction, possibly a temper, but no +opposition. + +Rachael smiled confidently and sat down. She wore one of the thin white +linens, which, like the other women of the Islands, she put aside for +heavier stuffs on state occasions only, and her hair had tumbled from +its high comb and fallen upon her shoulders. Mary Fawcett sighed as she +looked at her. She was too young to marry, and had it not been for the +haunting terror of leaving her alone in the world, the Dane, well +circumstanced as he was, would have been repulsed with contumely. + +"Rachael," said her mother, gently, "put down your tapestry. I have +something to say to you, something of great import." + +Rachael dropped her work and met her mother's eyes. They were hard with +will and definite purpose. In an instant she divined what was coming, +and stood up. Her face could not turn any whiter, but her eyes were +black at once, and her nostrils spread. + +"It cannot be possible that you wish me to marry that man--Levine," she +stammered. "I do not know how I can think of such a thing--but I do--it +seems to me I see it in your eyes." + +"Yes," said her mother, with some uneasiness. "I do; and my reasons are +good--" + +"I won't listen to them!" shrieked Rachael. "I won't marry him! His +whiteness makes me sick! I know he is not a good man! I feel it! I never +could be happy with him! I never could love him!" + +Mary Fawcett looked at her aghast, and, for a moment, without answering; +she saw her own will asserting itself, heard it on those piercing notes, +and she knew that it sprang from stronger and more tragic foundations +than had ever existed in her own nature; but believing herself to be +right, she determined to prevail. + +"What do you know about men, my darling?" she said soothingly. "You have +been dreaming romantic dreams, and young Levine does not resemble the +hero. That is all. Women readjust themselves marvellously quick. When +you are married to him, and he is your tender and devoted husband, you +will forget your prince--who, no doubt, is dark and quite splendid. But +we never meet our princes, my dear, and romantic love is only one of the +things we live for--and for that we live but a little while. Levine is +all that I could wish for you. He is wealthy, aristocratic, and +chivalrously devoted." + +Her long speech had given her daughter time to cool, but Rachael +remained standing, and stared defiantly into the eyes which had relaxed +somewhat with anxious surprise. + +"I _feel_ that he is not a good man," she repeated sullenly, "and I hate +him. I should die if he touched me. I have not danced with him. His +hands are so white and soft, and his eyes never change, and his mouth +reminds me of a shark's." + +"Levine is a remarkably handsome man," exclaimed Mistress Fawcett, +indignantly. "You have trained your imagination to some purpose, it +seems. Forget your poets when he comes to-morrow, and look at him +impartially. And cannot he give you all that you so much desire, my +ambitious little daughter? Do you no longer want to go to Europe? to +court? to be _grande dame_ and converse with princes?" + +"Oh, yes," said Rachael. "I want that as much as ever; but I want to +love the man. I want to be happy." + +"Well, _do_ love him," exclaimed her mother with energy. "Your father +was twenty years older than myself, and a Frenchman, but I made up my +mind to love him, and I did--for a good many years." + +"You had to leave him in the end. Do you wish me to do the same?" + +"You will do nothing of the kind. There never was but one John Fawcett." + +"I don't love this Levine, and I never shall love him. I don't believe +at all that that kind of feeling can be created by the brain, that it +responds to nothing but the will. I shall not love that way. I may be +ignorant, but I know that." + +"You have read too much Shakespeare! Doubtless you imagine yourself one +of his heroines--Juliet? Rosalind?" + +"I have never imagined myself anybody but Rachael Fawcett. I _cannot_ +imagine myself Rachael Levine. But I know something of myself--I have +read and thought enough for that. I could love someone--but not this +bleached repulsive Dane. Why will you not let me wait? It is my right. +No, you need not curl your lip--I am _not_ a little girl. I may be +sixteen. I may be without experience in the world, but you have been +almost my only companion, and until just now I have talked with +middle-aged men only, and much with them. I had no real childhood. You +have educated my brain far beyond my years. To-day I feel twenty, and it +seems to me that I see far down into myself--much deeper than you do. I +tell you that if I marry this man, I shall be the most hopeless wretch +on earth." + +Mary Fawcett was puzzled and distressed, but she did not waver for a +moment. The cleverest of girls could not know what was best for herself, +and the mother who permitted her daughter to take her life into her own +hands was a poor creature indeed. + +"Listen, my dear child," she said tenderly, "you have always trusted in +me, believed me. I _know_ that this is a wise and promising marriage for +you. And--" she hesitated, but it was time to play her trump. "You know +that my health is not good, but you do not know how bad it is. Dr. +Hamilton says that the rheumatism may fly to my heart at any moment, and +I _must_ see you married--" + +She had ejaculated the last words; Rachael had shrieked, and flung +herself upon her, her excitement at this sudden and cruel revelation +bursting out in screams and sobs and a torrent of tears. Her mother had +seen her excited and in brief ungovernable tempers, but she never had +suspected that she was capable of such passion as this; and, much +disturbed, she led her off to bed, and sent for her advisers, Archibald +Hamn and Dr. Hamilton. + + +IV + +Mr. Hamn responded at once to the widow's call, his adjacence giving him +the advantage of Dr. Hamilton, of whom he was a trifle jealous. He was +an old bachelor and had proposed to Mistress Fawcett--a captivating +woman till her last hour--twice a year since her husband's death. But +matrimony had been a bitter medicine for Mary after her imagination had +ceased to sweeten it, and her invariable answer to her several suitors +was the disquieting assertion that if ever she was so rash as to take +another husband, she certainly should kill him. Archibald was not the +man to conquer her prejudices, although she loved the sterling in him +and attached him to her by every hook of friendship. He was a dark +nervous little man, spare as most West Indians, used a deal of snuff, +and had a habit of pushing back his wig with a jerking forearm when in +heated controversy with Dr. Hamilton, or expounding matrimony to the +widow. + +Dr. Hamilton, for whose arrival Mr. Hamn was kept waiting,--Mistress +Fawcett tarried until her daughter fell asleep,--was a large square man, +albeit lean, and only less nervous than the widow's suitor. His white +locks were worn in a queue, a few escaping to soften his big powerful +face. Both men wore white linen, but Dr. Hamilton was rarely seen +without his riding-boots, his advent, except in Mistress Fawcett's +house, heralded by the clanking of spurs. Mary would have none of his +spurs on her mahogany floors, and the doctor never yet had been able to +dodge the darkey who stood guard at her doorstep. + +The two men exchanged mild surmises as to the cause of the summons; but +as similar summons occurred when newly wedded blacks were pounding each +other's heads, provoked thereto by the galling chain of decency, or an +obeah doctor had tied a sinister warning to Mistress Fawcett's knocker, +neither of the gentlemen anticipated serious work. When Mary Fawcett +entered the long room, however, both forgot the dignity of their years +and position, and ran forward. + +Dr. Hamilton lifted her as if she had been a palm leaf, and laid her on +the sofa. He despatched Mr. Hamn for a glass of Spanish port, and +forbade her to speak until he gave permission. + +But Mary Fawcett made brief concessions to the weakness of the flesh. +She drank the wine, then sat up and told her story. + +"Oh, Mary," said Dr. Hamilton, sadly, "why do you ask our advice? Your +ear may listen, but never your mind. If it were a matter of business, we +might even be allowed to act for you; but in a domestic--" + +"What?" cried Mistress Fawcett; "have I not asked your advice a thousand +times about Rachael, and have I not always taken it?" + +"I recall many of the conversations, but I doubt if you could recall the +advice. However, if you want it this time, I will give it to you. Don't +force the girl to marry against her will--assuredly not if the man is +repulsive to her. For all your brains you are a baby about men and +women. Rachael knows more by instinct. She is an extraordinary girl, and +should be allowed time to make her own choice. If you are afraid of +death, leave her to me. I will legally adopt her now, if you choose--" + +"Yes, and should you die suddenly, your wife would think Rachael one too +many, what with your brood and the Edwardses to boot." Mistress Fawcett +was nettled by his jibe at the limit of her wisdom. "I shall leave her +with a husband. To that I have made up my mind. What have you to say, +Archibald?" + +This was an advantage which Mr. Hamn never failed to seize; he always +agreed with the widow; Dr. Hamilton never did. Moreover, he was +sincerely convinced that--save, perhaps, in matters of money--Mary +Fawcett could not err. + +"I like the appearance of this Dane," he said, reassuringly, "and his +little country has a valiant history. This young man is quite +prince-like in his bearing, and his extreme fairness is but one more +evidence of his high breeding--" + +"He looks like a shark's belly," interrupted Dr. Hamilton, "I don't +wonder he sickens Rachael. I have nothing against him but his +appearance, but if he came after Kitty I'd throw him out by the seat of +his breeches." + +"He never looked at Kitty, at Government House, nor at Mistress +Montgomerie's," cried Mary. "You are jealous, Will, because Rachael has +carried off the foreign prize." + +Dr. Hamilton laughed, then added seriously, "I am too fond of the girl +to forbear to give my advice. Let her choose her own husband. If you +dare to cut out her future, as if it were one of her new frocks, you +have more courage than I. She has more in her than twenty women. Let her +alone for the next five years, then she will have no one to answer to +but herself. Otherwise, my lady, you may find yourself holding your +breath in a hurricane track, with no refuge from the storm you've +whipped up but five feet underneath. If you won't give her to me, there +are her sisters. They are all wealthy--" + +"They are years older than Rachael and would not understand her at all." + +"I can't see why they should not understand her as well as a strange +man." + +"He will be her husband, madly in love with her." + +"Levine will never be madly in love with anybody. Besides, it would not +matter to Rachael if her sisters did not understand her; she has too +strong a brain not to be independent of the ordinary female nonsense; +moreover, she has a fine disposition and her own property. But if her +husband did not understand her,--in other words, if their tastes proved +as opposite as their temperaments,--it would make a vast deal of +difference. Sisters can be got rid of, but husbands--well, you know the +difficulties." + +"I will think over all you have said," replied Mary, with sudden +humility; she had great respect for the doctor. "But don't you say a +word to Rachael." + +"I'm far too much afraid of you for that. But I wish that Will were home +or Andrew old enough. I'd set one of them on to cut this Dane out. Well, +I must go; send for me whenever you are in need of advice," and with a +parting laugh he strode out of the house and roared to the darkey to +come and fasten his spurs. + +Archibald Hamn, who foresaw possibilities in the widow's loneliness, and +who judged men entirely by their manners, remained to assure Mistress +Fawcett of the wisdom of her choice, and to offer his services as +mediator. Mary laughed and sent him home. She wrote to Levine not to +call until she bade him, and for several days pondered deeply upon her +daughter's opposition and Dr. Hamilton's advice. The first result of +this perturbing distrust in her own wisdom was a violent attack of +rheumatism in the region of her heart; and while she believed herself to +be dying, she wrung from her distracted daughter a promise to marry +Levine. She recovered from the attack, but concluded that, the promise +being won, it would be folly to give it back. Moreover, the desire to +see her daughter married had been aggravated by her brush with death, +and after another interview with Levine, in which he promised all that +the fondest mother could demand, she opened her chests of fine linen. + +Rachael submitted. She dared not excite her mother. Her imagination, +always vivid though it was, refused to picture the end she dreaded; and +she never saw Levine alone. His descriptions of life in Copenhagen +interested her, and when her mother expatiated upon the glittering +destiny which awaited her, ambition and pride responded, although +precisely as they had done in her day dreams. She found herself +visioning Copenhagen, jewels, brocades, and courtiers; but she realized +only when she withdrew to St. Kitts, that Levine had not entered the +dream, even to pass and bend the knee. Often she laughed aloud in +merriment. As the wedding-day approached, she lost her breath more than +once, and her skin chilled. During the last few days before the ceremony +she understood for the first time that it was inevitable. But time--it +was now three months since the needlewomen were set at the +trousseau--and her unconscious acceptance of the horrid fact had trimmed +her spirit to philosophy, altered the habit of her mind. She saw her +mother radiant, received the personal congratulations of every family on +the Island. Her sisters came from St. Croix, and made much of the little +girl who was beginning life so brilliantly; beautiful silks and laces +had come from New York, and Levine had given her jewels, which she tried +on her maid every day because she thought the mustee's tawny skin +enhanced their lustre. She was but a child in spite of her intellect. +Her union with the Dane came to appear as one of the laws of life, and +she finished by accepting it as one accepted an earthquake or a +hurricane. Moreover, she was profoundly innocent. + + +V + +Mary Fawcett accompanied the Levines to Copenhagen, but returned to St. +Christopher by a ship which left Denmark a month later, being one of +those women who picture their terrestrial affairs in a state of +dissolution while deprived of their vigilance. She vowed that the North +had killed her rheumatism, and turned an absent ear to Rachael's appeal +to tarry until Levine was ready to return to St. Croix. She remained +long enough in Denmark, however, to see her daughter presented at court, +and installed with all the magnificence that an ambitious mother could +desire. There was not a misgiving in her mind, for Rachael, if somewhat +inanimate, could not be unhappy with an uxorious husband and the world +at her feet; and although for some time after her marriage she had +behaved like a naughty child caught in a trap, and been a sore trial to +her mother and Mr. Levine, since her arrival in Copenhagen she had +deported herself most becomingly and indulged in no more tantrums. +Levine had conducted himself admirably during his trying honeymoon. Upon +his arrival in Copenhagen he had littered his wife's boudoir with +valuable gifts, and exhibited the beauty he had won with a pride very +gratifying to his mother-in-law. In six months he was to sail for his +estates on St. Croix, and pay an immediate visit to St. Kitts, whence +Mistress Fawcett would return with her daughter for a sojourn of several +months. She returned to her silent home the envy of many Island mothers. + +Rachael wrote by every ship, and Mary Fawcett pondered over these +letters, at first with perplexity, finally with a deep uneasiness. Her +daughter described life in Denmark, the court and society, her new gowns +and jewels, her visits to country houses, the celebrities she met. But +her letters were literary and impersonal, nor was there in them a trace +of her old energy of mind and vivacity of spirit. She never mentioned +Levine's name, nor made an intimate allusion to herself. + +"Can she no longer love me?" thought Mary Fawcett at last and in terror; +"this child that I have loved more than the husband of my youth and all +the other children I have borne? It cannot be that she is unhappy. She +would tell me so in a wild outburst--indeed she would have run home to +me long since. Levine will never control her. Heaven knows what would +have happened if I had not gone on that wedding-journey. But she settled +down so sweetly, and I made sure she would have loved him by this. It is +the only thing to do if you have to live with one of the pests. Perhaps +that is it--she has given him all her love and has none left for me." +And at this she felt so lonely and bitter that she almost accepted +Archibald Hamn when he called an hour later. But in the excitement of +his risen hopes his wig fell on the floor, and she took offence at his +yellow and sparsely settled scalp. + +There were few gleams of humour left in life for Mary Fawcett. Rachael's +letters ceased abruptly. Her mother dared not sail for Denmark, lest she +pass the Levines on their way to St. Croix. She managed to exist through +two distracted months, then received a note from her daughter, Mrs. +Mitchell. + +"Rachael is Here," it ran, "but refuses to see Us. I do not know what to +think. I drove over as soon as I heard of Their arrival. Levine received +Me and was as Courteous and Polished as ever, but Rachael had a +_Headache_ and did not come out. Mary and I have been there Twice since, +and with the _same_ result. Levine assured us that he had begged her to +see her Sisters, but that She is in a very _low_ and _melancholy_ state, +owing doubtless to her Condition. He seemed much _concerned_, but More, +I could not help thinking, because he feared to lose an Heir than from +any _love_ for my little Sister. Peter and Mary agree with Me, that _You +had best come here_ if You can." + +Mary Fawcett, whatever her foibles, had never failed to spring upright +under the stiffest blows of her life. Ignoring her physical pains, which +had been aggravated by the mental terrors of the last two months, and +sternly commanding the agony in her heart to be silent, she despatched a +note at once to Dr. Hamilton,--Archibald Hamn was in Barbados,--asking +him to charter a schooner, if no ship were leaving that day for the +Danish Islands, and accompany her to St. Croix. He sent her word that +they could sail on the following morning if the wind were favourable, +and the black women packed her boxes and carried them on their heads to +Basseterre. + +That evening, as Mary Fawcett was slowly walking down the avenue, +leaning heavily on her cane, too wretched to rest or sleep, a ship +flying the German colours sailed past. She wondered if it had stopped at +St. Croix, then forgot it in the terrible speculations which her will +strove to hold apart from her nerves. + +Wearied in body, she returned to the house and sat by the window of her +room, striving to compose her mind for sleep. She was forcing herself to +jot down instructions for her housekeeper, whom she had taught to read, +when she heard a chaise and a pair of galloping horses enter the avenue. +A moment later, Dr. Hamilton's voice was roaring for a slave to come and +hold his horses. Then it lowered abruptly and did not cease. + +Mary Fawcett knew that Rachael had come to her, and without her husband. +For a moment she had a confused idea that the earth was rocking, and +congratulated herself that the house was too high for a tidal wave to +reach. Then Dr. Hamilton entered with Rachael in his arms and laid her +on the bed. He left at once, saying that he would return in the morning. +Mary Fawcett had not risen, and her chair faced the bed. Rachael lay +staring at her mother until Mary found her voice and begged her to +speak. She knew that her hunger must wait until she had stood at the bar +and received her sentence. + +Rachael told her mother the story of her married life from the day she +had been left alone with John Levine,--a story of unimaginable horrors. +Like many cold men to whom the pleasures of the world are, nevertheless, +easy, Levine was a voluptuary and cruel. Had his child been safely born, +there would have been no measure in his brutality. Rachael had watched +for her opportunity, and one night when he had been at a state function +in Christianstadt, too secure in her apparent apathy to lock her door, +she had bribed a servant to drive her to Frederikstadt, and boarded the +ship her maid had ascertained was about to leave. She knew that he would +not follow her, for there was one person on earth he feared, and that +was Mary Fawcett. He would not have returned to St. Croix, had his +investments been less heavy; but on his estates he was lord, and had no +mind that his mother-in-law should set foot on them while he had slaves +to hold his gates. + +Mary Fawcett listened to the horrid story, at first with a sort of +frantic wonder, for of the evil of life she had known nothing; then her +clear mind grasped it, her stoicism gave way, and she shrieked and raved +in such agony of soul that she had no fear of hell thereafter. Rachael +had to rise from the bed and minister to her, and the terrified blacks +ran screaming about the place, believing that their mistress had been +cursed. + +She grew calm in time, but her face was puckered like an old apple, and +her eyes had lost their brilliancy for ever. And it was days before she +realized that her limbs still ached. + +Rachael never opened her lips on the subject again. She went back to bed +and clung to her mother and Dr. Hamilton until her child was born. Then +for three months she recognized no one, and Dr. Hamilton, with all his +skill, did not venture to say whether or not her mind would live again. + +The child was a boy, and as blond as its father. Mary Fawcett stood its +presence in the house for a month, then packed it off to St. Croix. She +received a curt acknowledgment from Levine, and an intimation that she +had saved herself much trouble. As for Rachael, he would have her back +when he saw fit. She wrote an appeal to the Captain-General and he sent +her word that the Danes would never bombard Brimstone Hill, and there +was no other way by which Levine could get her daughter while one of her +friends ruled the Leeward Caribbees. + +Many thoughts flitted through the brain of Mary Fawcett during that long +vigil. Her mind for the first time dwelt with kindness, almost with +softness, on the memory of her husband. Beside this awful Dane his +shadow was god-like. He had been high-minded and a gentleman in his +worst tantrums, and there was no taint of viciousness in him. A doubt +grew in her brain, grew to such disquieting proportions that she +sometimes deserted Rachael abruptly and went out to fatigue herself in +the avenue. Had she done wrong to leave him alone in his old age, to +bear, undiverted, the burden of a disease whose torments she now could +fully appreciate, to die alone in that great house with only his slaves +to tend him? It had seemed to her when she left him that human nature +could stand no more, and that she was justified; but she was an old +woman now and knew that all things can be endured. When that picture of +his desolate last years and lonely death had remorselessly shaped itself +in her imagination, and she realized that it would hang there until her +hands were folded, she suffered one more hour of agony and abasement, +then caught at the stoicism of her nature, accepted her new dole, and +returned to her daughter. + + +VI + +Rachael's mind struggled past its eclipse, but her recovery was very +slow. Even after she recognized her mother and Dr. Hamilton, she sat for +months staring at Nevis, neither opening a book nor looking round upon +the life about her. But she was only eighteen, and her body grew strong +and vital again. Gradually it forced its energies into her brain, +released her spirit from its apathy, buried memory under the fresher +impressions of time. A year from the day of her return, if there were +deep and subtle changes in her face and carriage, which added ten years +to her appearance, she was more beautiful to experienced eyes than when +she had flowered for the humming-birds. She took up her studies where +she had dropped them, a little of her old buoyancy revived; and if her +girlishness was buried with ideals and ambitions, her intellect was +clear and strong and her character more finely balanced. She flew into +no more rages, boxed her attendants' ears at rarer intervals, and the +deliberation which had seemed an anomaly in her character before, became +a dominant trait, and rarely was conquered by impulse. When it worked +alone her mother laid down her weapons, edged as they still were, and +when impulse flew to its back, Mary Fawcett took refuge in oblivion. But +she made no complaint, for she and her daughter were more united than +when the young girl had seemed more fit to be her grandchild. + +The Governor of St. Christopher had written a letter to his friend, the +Governor of St. Croix, which had caused that estimable functionary to +forbid Levine the door of Government House. Levine could not endure +social ostracism. He left St. Croix immediately, and took his son Peter +with him. To this child Rachael never referred, and her mother doubted +if she remembered anything associated with its impending birth. Perhaps +she believed it dead. At all events, she made no sign. Except that she +was called Mistress Levine, there was nothing in her outer life to +remind her that for two years the markers in her favourite books had not +been shifted. She had studied music and painting with the best masters +in Copenhagen, and in the chests which were forwarded by her sisters +from St. Croix, there were many new books. She refused to return to +society, and filled her time without its aid; for not only did she have +the ample resources of her mind, her mother, the frequent companionship +of Dr. Hamilton and four or five other men of his age and attainments, +but she returned to the out-door life with enthusiasm. On her spirit was +an immovable shadow, in her mind an indelible stain, but she had strong +common sense and a still stronger will. An experience which would have +embittered a less complete nature, or sent a lighter woman to the +gallantries of society, gave new force and energy to her character, even +while saddening it. To the past she never willingly gave a thought; +neither was she for a moment unconscious of its ghost. + + +VII + +Two years passed. Rachael was twenty, a beautiful and stately creature, +more discussed and less seen than any woman on the islands of Nevis and +St. Christopher. Occasionally Christiana Huggins paid her a visit, or +Catherine Hamilton rode over for the day; but although Christiana at +least, loved her to the end, both were conscious of her superiority of +mind and experience, and the old intimacy was not resumed. + +Dr. Hamilton had used all his influence in the Council to promote a +special bill of divorce, for he wanted Rachael to be free to marry +again. He had no faith in the permanent resources of the intellect for a +young and seductive woman, and he understood Rachael very thoroughly. +The calm might be long, but unless Levine died or could be legally +disposed of, she would give the Islands a heavier shock than when the +innovation of Mary Fawcett had set them gabbling. Against the +conservatism of his colleagues, however, he could make no headway, and +both the Governor and Captain-General disapproved of a measure which +England had never sanctioned. + +But Dr. Hamilton and her mother were more disturbed at the failure of +the bill than Rachael. Time had lifted the shadow of her husband from +the race, but, never having loved, even a little, her imagination +modelled no pleasing features upon the ugly skull of matrimony. It is +true that she sometimes thought of herself as a singularly lonely being, +and allowed her mind to picture love and its companionships. As time +dimmed another picture she caught herself meditating upon woman's chief +inheritance, and moving among the shadows of the future toward that +larger and vitalizing part of herself which every woman fancies is on +earth in search of her. When she returned from these wanderings she +sternly reminded herself that her name was Levine, and that no woman +after such an escape had the right to expect more. She finally compelled +herself to admit that her avoidance of society was due to prudence as +well as to her stern devotion to intellect, then studied harder than +ever. + +But it is a poor fate that waits upon the gathering together of many +people. + + +VIII + +Rachael was riding home one afternoon from Basseterre, where she had +been purchasing summer lawns and cambrics. It was March, and the winter +sun had begun to use its summer fuel; but the trades blew softly, and +there was much shade on the road above the sea. There was one long +stretch, however, where not a tree grew, and Rachael drew rein for a +moment before leaving the avenue of tamarinds which had rustled above +her head for a mile or more. Although it was a hot scene that lay before +her, it was that which, when away from home, for some reason best known +to her memory, had always been first to rise. The wide pale-gray road +rose gradually for a long distance, dipped, and rose again. On either +side were cane-fields, their tender greens sharp against the deep hard +blue of the sea on the left, rising to cocoanut groves and the dark +heights of the mountains above the road. Far away, close to the sea, was +Brimstone Hill, that huge isolated rock so near in shape to the crater +of Mount Misery. Its fortifications showed their teeth against the faded +sky, and St. Christopher slept easily while tentative conquerors +approached, looked hard at this Gibraltar of the West Indies, and sailed +away. + +But there scarcely was a sail on the sea to-day. Its blue rose and fell, +in that vast unbroken harmony which quickens the West Indian at times +into an intolerable sense of his isolation. Rachael recalled how she had +stared at it in childish resentment, wondering if a mainland really lay +beyond, if Europe were a myth. She did not care if she never set foot on +a ship again, and her ambitions were in the grave with her desire for a +wealthy and intellectual husband. + +On the long road, rising gray and hot between the bright green +cane-fields, horsemen approached, and a number of slave women moved +slowly: women with erect rigid backs balancing large baskets or stacks +of cane on their heads, the body below the waist revolving with a +pivotal motion which suggests an anatomy peculiar to the tropics. They +had a dash of red about them somewhere, and their turbans were white. +Rachael's imagination never gave her St. Kitts without its slave women, +the "pic'nees" clinging to their hips as they bore their burdens on the +road or bent over the stones in the river. They belonged to its +landscape, with the palms and the cane-fields, the hot gray roads, and +the great jewel of the sea. + +Rachael left the avenue and rode onward. One of the horsemen took off +his Spanish sombrero and waved it. She recognized Dr. Hamilton and shook +her whip at him. He and his companion spurred their horses, and a moment +later Rachael and James Hamilton had met. + +"An unexpected pleasure for me, this sudden descent of my young +kinsman," said the doctor, "but a great one, for he brings me news of +all in Scotland, and he saw Will the day before he sailed." + +"It is too hot to stand here talking," said Rachael. "Come home with me +to a glass of Spanish port, and cake perhaps." + +The doctor was on his way to a consultation, but he ordered his relative +to go and pay his respects to Mistress Fawcett, and rode on whistling. +The two he had recklessly left to their own devices exchanged +platitudes, and covertly examined each other with quick admiration. + +There are dark Scots, and Hamilton was one of them. Although tall and +slight, he was knit with a close and peculiar elegance, which made him +look his best on a horse and in white linen. His face was burnt to the +hue of brick-dust by the first quick assault of the tropic sun, but it +was a thin face, well shaped, in spite of prominent cheek bones, and set +with the features of long breeding; and it was mobile, fiery, impetuous, +and very intelligent: ancestral coarseness had been polished fine long +since. + +They left the road and mounted toward the dark avenue of the Fawcett +estate, Rachael wondering if her mother would be irritated at the +informality of the stranger's first call; he should have arrived in +state with Dr. Hamilton at the hour of five. Perhaps it was to postpone +the moment of explanation that she permitted her horse to walk, even +after they had reached the level of the avenue, and finally to crop the +grass while she and Hamilton dismounted and sat down in a heavy grove of +tamarinds on the slope of the hill. + +"I'm just twenty-one and have my own way to make," he was telling her. +"There are three before me, so I couldn't afford the army, and as I've a +fancy for foreign lands, I've come out here to be a merchant. I have so +many kinsmen in this part of the world, and they've all succeeded so +well, I thought they'd be able to advise me how best to turn over the +few guineas I have. My cousin, the doctor, has taken me in hand, and if +I have any business capacity I shall soon find it out. But I ached for +the army, and failing that, I'd have liked being a scholar--as I know +you are, by your eyes." + +His Scotch accent was not unlike that of the West Indians, particularly +of the Barbadians; but his voice, although it retained the huskiness of +the wet North, had, somewhere in its depths, a peculiar metallic quality +which startled Rachael every time it rang out, and was the last of all +memories to linger, when memories were crumbling in a brain that could +stand no more. + +How it happened, Rachael spent the saner hours of the morrow attempting +to explain, but they sat under the tamarinds until the sun went down, +and Nevis began to robe for the night. Once they paused in their +desultory talk and listened to the lovely chorus of a West Indian +evening, that low incessant ringing of a million tiny bells. The bells +hung in the throats of nothing more picturesque than grasshoppers, +serpents, lizards, and frogs so small as to be almost invisible, but +they rang with a harmony that the inherited practice of centuries had +given them. And beyond was the monotonous accompaniment of the sea on +the rocks. Hamilton lived to be an old man, and he never left the West +Indies; but sometimes, at long and longer intervals, he found himself +listening to that Lilliputian orchestra, his attention attracted to it, +possibly, by a stranger; and then he remembered this night, and the +woman for whom he would have sacrificed earth and immortality had he +been lord of them. + +Heaven knows what they talked about. While it was light they stared out +at the blue sea or down on the rippling cane-fields, not daring to +exchange more than a casual and hasty glance. Both knew that they should +have separated the moment they met, but neither had the impulse nor the +intention to leave the shade of the wood; and when the brief twilight +fell and the moon rose, there still was Nevis, and after her the many +craft to divert their gaze. Hamilton was honourable and shy, and Rachael +was a woman of uncommon strength of character and had been brought up by +a woman of austere virtue. These causes held them apart for a time, but +one might as well have attempted to block two comets rushing at each +other in the same orbit. The magnetism of the Inevitable embraced them +and knit their inner selves together, even while they sat decorously +apart. Rachael had taken off her hat at once, and even after it grew +dark in their arbour, Hamilton fancied he could see the gleam of her +hair. Her eyes were startled and brilliant, and her nostrils quivered +uneasily, but she defined none of the sensations that possessed her but +the overwhelming recrudescence of her youth. It had seemed to her that +it flamed from its ashes before Dr. Hamilton finished his formal words +of introduction, and all its forgotten hopes and impulses, timidity and +vagueness, surged through her brain during those hours beside the +stranger, submerging the memory of Levine. Indeed, she felt even younger +than before maturity so suddenly had been thrust upon her; for in those +old days she had been almost as severely intellectual as yesterday, and +when she had dreamed of the future, it had been with the soberness of an +overtaxed brain. But to-day even the world seemed young again. She +fancied she could hear the unquiet pulses of the Island, so long grown +old, and Nevis had never looked so fair. She hardly was conscious of her +womanhood, only of that possessing sense of happiness in youth. As for +Hamilton, he had never felt otherwise than young, although he was a +college-bred man, something of a scholar, and he had seen more or less +of the world since his boyhood. But the intensity and ardour of his +nature had received no check, neither were they halfway on their +course; and he had never loved. It had seemed to him that the Island +opened and a witch came out, and in those confused hours he hardly knew +whether she were good or bad, his ideal woman or his ideal devil; but he +loved her. He was as pale as his sunburn would permit him to be, and his +hands were clasped tightly about his knees, when relief came in the +shape of Mary Fawcett. + +Her daughter's horse had gone home and taken the stranger with him, and +Mistress Fawcett, with quick suspicion, new as it was, started at once +down the avenue. Rachael heard the familiar tapping of her mother's +stick, hastily adjusted her hat, and managed to reach the road with +Hamilton before her mother turned its bend. + +Mary Fawcett understood and shivered with terror. She was far from being +her imperious self as her daughter presented the stranger and remarked +that he was a cousin of Dr. Hamilton, characteristically refraining from +apology or explanation. + +"Well," she said, "the doctor will doubtless bring you to call some day. +I will send your horse to you. Say good evening to the stranger, +Rachael, and come home." She was one of the most hospitable women in the +Caribbees, and this was the kinsman of her best friend, but she longed +for power to exile him out of St. Kitts that night. + +Hamilton lifted his hat, and Rachael followed her mother. She was cold +and frightened, and Levine's white malignant face circled about her. + +Her mother requested her support, and she almost carried the light +figure to the house. Mistress Fawcett sent a slave after Hamilton's +horse, then went to her room and wrote a note to Dr. Hamilton, asking +him to call on the following day and to come alone. The two women did +not meet again that night. + +But there is little privacy in the houses of St. Kitts and Nevis. Either +the upper part of almost every room is built of ornamental lattice-work, +or the walls are set with numerous jalousies, that can be closed when a +draught is undesirable but conduct the slightest sound. Rachael's room +adjoined her mother's. She knew that the older woman was as uneasily +awake as herself, though from vastly different manifestations of the +same cause. At four o'clock, when the guinea fowl were screeching like +demons, and had awakened the roosters and the dogs to swell the infernal +chorus of a West Indian morning, Rachael sat up in bed and laughed +noiselessly. + +"What a night!" she thought. "And for what? A man who companioned me for +four hours as no other man had ever done? and who made me feel as if the +world had turned to fire and light? It may have been but a mood of my +own, it is so long since I have talked with a man near to my own +age--and he is so near!--and yet so real a man.... No one could call him +handsome, for he looks like a flayed Carib, and I have met some of the +handsomest men in Europe and not given them a thought. Yet this man kept +me beside him for four hours, and has me awake a whole night because he +is not with me. Has the discipline of these last years, then, gone for +nothing? Am I but an excitable West Indian after all, and shall I have +corded hands before I am twenty-five? It was a mistake to shut myself +away from danger. Had I been constantly meeting the young men of the +Island and all strangers who have come here during the last two years, I +should not be wild for this one--even if he has something in him unlike +other men--and lie awake all night like the silly women who dream +everlastingly of the lover to come. I am a fool." + +She lit her candle and went into her mother's room. Mary Fawcett was +sitting up in bed, her white hair hanging out of her nightcap. It seemed +to her that the end of the world had come, and she cursed human nature +and the governors of the Island. + +"I know what has kept you awake," said Rachael, "but do not fear. It was +but a passing madness--God smite those guinea fowl! I have lived the +life of a nun, and it is an unnatural life for a young woman. Yesterday +I learned that I have not the temperament of the scholar, the +recluse--that is all. I should have guessed it sooner--then I should not +have been fascinated by this brilliant Scot. It was my mind that flew +eagerly to companionship--that was all. The hours were pleasant. I would +not regret them but for the deep uneasiness they have caused you. To-day +I shall enter the world again. There are many clever and accomplished +young men on St. Kitts. I will meet and talk to them all. We will +entertain them here. There is a ball at Government House to-night, +another at Mistress Irwin's on Wednesday week. I promise you that I will +be as gay and as universal as a girl in her first season, and this man +shall see no more of me than any other man." + +Her mother watched her keenly as she delivered her long tirade. Her face +was deeply flushed. The arm that held the candle was tense, and her hair +fell about her splendid form like a cloud of light. Had Hamilton seen +anything so fair in Europe? What part would he play in this scheme of +catholicity? + +"You will meet this man if you go abroad," she replied. "Better stay +here and forbid him the gates." + +"And think about him till I leap on my horse and ride to meet him? A +fevered imagination will make a god of a Tom Noddy. If I see him +daily--with others--he will seem as commonplace as all men." + +Mary Fawcett did not speak for some moments. Then she said: "Hark ye, +Rachael. I interfered once and brought such damnable misery upon you +that I dare not--almost--(she remembered her note to Dr. Hamilton) +interfere again. This time you shall use your own judgement, something +you have taught me to respect. Whatever the result, I will be to the end +what I always have been, the best friend you have. You are very strong. +You have had an awful experience, and it has made a woman of thirty of +you. You are no silly little fool, rushing blindly into the arms of the +first man whose eyes are black enough. You have been brought up to look +upon light women with horror. In your darkest days you never sought to +console yourself as weaker women do. Therefore, in spite of what I saw +in both your faces yesterday, I hope." + +"Yes--and give yourself no more uneasiness. Could _I_ look upon the +love of man with favour? Not unless I were to be born again, and my +memory as dead as my body." + +"If you love, you will be born again; and if this man overmasters your +imagination, your memory might quite as well be dead. One of the three +or four things in my life that I have to be thankful for is that I never +had to pass through that ordeal. You are far dearer to me than I ever +was to myself, and if you are called upon to go through that wretched +experience, whose consequences never finish, and I with so little time +left in which to stand by and protect you--" She changed abruptly. +"Promise me that you will do nothing unconsidered, that you will not +behave like the ordinary Francesca--for whom I have always had the most +unmitigated contempt. The hour. The man. The fall. The wail: 'The earth +rocked, the stars fell. I knew not what I did!' You have deliberation +and judgement. Use them now--and do not ramble alone in the gorge with +this handsome Scot--for he is a fine man; I would I could deny it. I +felt his charm, although he did not open his mouth." + +Rachael's eyes flashed. "Ah! did you?" she cried. "Well, but what of +that? Are not our creoles a handsome race, and have not all but a few +been educated in England? Yes, I will promise you--if you think all this +is serious enough to require a promise." + +"But you care so little for the world. You would be sacrificing so much +less than other women--nevertheless it would make you wretched and +humiliate just as much; do not forget that. I almost am tempted to wish +that you had a lighter nature--that you would flirt with love and brush +it away, while the world was merely amused at a suspected gallantry. But +_you_--you would love for a lifetime, and you would end by living with +him openly. There is no compromise in you." + +"Surely we have become more serious than an afternoon's talk with an +interesting stranger should warrant. I am full of a sudden longing for +the world, and who knows but I shall become so wedded to it that I would +yield it for no man? Besides, do I not live to make you happy, to +reward as best I can your unselfish devotion? If ever I could love any +man more than I love you, then that love would be overwhelming indeed. +But although I can imagine myself forgetting the world in such a love, I +cannot picture you on the sacrificial altar." + + +IX + +Rachael was asleep when Dr. Hamilton called. Mistress Fawcett received +him in the library, which was at the extreme end of the long house. He +laughed so heartily at her fears that he almost dispelled them. Whatever +he anticipated in Rachael's future, he had no mind to apprehend danger +in every man who interested her. + +"For God's sake, Mary," he exclaimed, "let the girl have a flirtation +without making a tragedy of it. She is quite right. The world is what +she wants. If ever there was a woman whom Nature did not intend for a +nun it is Rachael Levine. Let her carry out her plan, and in a week she +will be the belle of the Island, and my poor cousin will be consoling +himself with some indignant beauty only a shade less fair. I'll engage +to marry him off at once, if that will bring sleep to your pillow, but I +can't send him away as you propose. I am not King George, nor yet the +Captain-General. Nor have I any argument by which to persuade him to go. +I have given him too much encouragement to stay. I'll keep him away from +routs as long as I can--but remember that he is young, uncommonly +good-looking, and a stranger: the girls will not let me keep him in +hiding for long. Now let the girl alone. Let her think you've forgotten +my new kinsman and your fears. I don't know any way to manage women but +to let them manage themselves. Bob Edwards failed with Catherine. I have +succeeded. Take a leaf out of my book. Rachael is not going through life +without a stupendous love affair. She was marked out for it, specially +moulded and equipped by old Mother Nature. Resign yourself to it, and go +out and put up your hands against the next tidal wave if you want an +illustration of what interference with Rachael would amount to. I wish +Levine would die, or we could get a divorce law through on this Island. +But the entire Council falls on the table with horror every time I +suggest it. Don't worry till the time comes. I'll fill my house with all +the pretty girls on St. Kitts and Nevis, and marry this hero of romance +as soon as I can." + +Rachael went to the ball at Government House that night, glittering in a +gown of brocade she had worn at the court of Denmark: Levine had sent +her trunks to Peter Lytton's, but not her jewels. She was the most +splendid creature in the rooms, and there was no talk of anyone else. +But before the night was a third over she realized that the attention +she would receive during this her second dazzling descent upon society +would differ widely from her first. The young men bowed before her in +deep appreciation of her beauty, then passed on to the girls of that +light-hearted band to which she no longer belonged. She was a woman with +a tragic history and a living husband; she had a reputation for severe +intellectuality, and her eyes, the very carriage of her body, expressed +a stern aloofness from the small and common exteriorities of life. The +Governor, the members of Council, of the Assembly, of the bench and bar, +and the clergy, flocked about her, delighted at her return to the world, +but she was the belle of the matrons, and not a young man asked her to +dance. + +She shrugged her shoulders when she saw how it was to be. + +"Can they guess that I am younger than they are?" she thought. "And +would I have them? Would I share that secret with any in the world--but +one? Do I want to dance--to _dance_--Good God! And talk nonsense and the +gossip of the Island with these youths when I have naught to say but +that my soul has grown wings and that the cold lamp in my breast has +blown out, and lit again with the flame that keeps the world alive? Even +if I think it best never to see him again, he has given me that, and I +am young at last." + +When she returned home, as the guinea fowl were at their raucous matins, +she was able to tell her mother that the Scot had not attended the ball, +and Mary Fawcett knew that Dr. Hamilton had managed to detain him. + +But a fortnight later they met again at the house of Dr. George Irwin, +an intimate friend of the Hamiltons. + +The Irwin's house in Basseterre was on the north side of the Park, which +was surrounded by other fine dwellings and several public buildings. The +broad verandahs almost overhung the enclosure, with its great banyan +tree, the royal palms about the fountain, the close avenues, the flaming +hedges of croton and hybiscus, and the traveller's palm and tree ferns +brought from the mountains. When a ball was given at one of the houses +about this Park on a moonlight night, there was much scheming to avoid +the watchful eyes of lawful guardians. + +It was inevitable that Hamilton should attend this ball, for the Irwins +and his relatives were in and out of each other's houses all day and +half the night. By this time, however, he had met nearly every girl on +St. Kitts, and his cousin had ridden out that afternoon to assure +Mistress Fawcett that the danger weakened daily. + +But for an hour, he did not leave Rachael's side that night. The +beauties of St. Christopher--and they were many, with their +porcelain-like complexions and distinguished features--went through all +their graceful creole paces in vain. That he was recklessly in love with +Rachael Levine was manifest to all who chose to look, and as undaunted +by her intellect and history as any man of his cousin's mature coterie. +As for Rachael, although she distributed her favours impartially for a +while, her mobile face betrayed to Dr. Hamilton that mind and body were +steeped in that tremulous content which possesses a woman when close to +an undeclared lover in a public place; the man, and Life and her own +emotions unmortalized, the very future bounded by the gala walls, the +music, the lights, and the perfume of flowers. These walls were hung +with branches of orange trees loaded with fruit, and with ferns and +orchids brought fresh from the mountains. A band of blacks played on +their native instruments the fashionable dances of the day with a weird +and barbaric effect, and occasionally sang a wailing accompaniment in +voices of indescribable softness. There was light from fifty candles, +and the eternal breeze lifted and dispersed the heavy perfume of the +flowers. Hamilton had been in many ball-rooms, but never in one like +this. He abstained from the madeiras and ports which were passed about +at brief intervals by the swinging coloured women in their gay frocks +and white turbans; but he was intoxicated, nevertheless, and more than +once on the point of leaving the house. The unreality of it all held him +more than weakness, for in some things James Hamilton was strong enough. +The weakness in him was down at the roots of his character, and he was +neither a feathercock nor a flasher. He had no intention of making love +to Rachael until he saw his future more clearly than he did to-night. +During the fortnight that had passed since he met her, he had thought of +little else, and to-night he wanted nothing else, but impulsive and +passionate as he was, he came of a race of hard-headed Scots. He had no +mind for a love affair of tragic seriousness, even while his quickened +imagination pictured the end. + +He deliberately left her side after a time and joined a group of men who +were smoking in the court. After an hour of politics his brain had less +blood in it, and when he found himself standing beside Rachael on the +verandah he suggested that they follow other guests into the Park. He +gave Rachael his arm in the courtly fashion of the day, and they walked +about the open paths and talked of the negroes singing in the +cane-fields, and the squalid poverty of the North, as if their hearts +were as calm as they are to-day. People turned often to look at them, +commenting according to the mixing of their essences, but all concurring +in praise of so much beauty. Hamilton's sunburn had passed the acute +stage, leaving him merely brown, and his black silk small clothes and +lace ruffles, his white silk stockings and pumps, were vastly becoming. +His hair, lightly powdered, was tied with a white ribbon, but although +he carried himself proudly, there was no manifest in his bearing that +the vanities consumed much of his thought. He was gallanted like a young +blood of the period, and so were the young men of St. Kitts. Rachael +wore a heavy gold-coloured satin, baring the neck, and a stiff and +pointed stomacher, her hair held high with a diamond comb. Her fairness +was dazzling in the night-light, and it was such a light as Hamilton +never had seen before: for in the Tropics the moon is golden, and the +stars are crystal. The palm leaves, high on their slender shafts, +glittered like polished dark-green metal, and the downpour was so +dazzling that more than once the stranger shaded his eyes with his hand. +Had it not been for the soft babble of many voices, the silence would +have been intense, until the ear was tuned to the low tinkle of the +night bells, for the sea was calm. + +Once, as if in explanation for words unspoken, he commented nervously on +the sensation of unreality with which these tropic scenes inspired him, +and Rachael, who longed to withdraw her hand from his arm, told him of +an entertainment peculiar to the Islands, a torchlight hunt for +land-crabs, which once a year travel down from the mountains to the sea, +to bathe and shed their shells. Words hastened. Before she drew breath +she had arranged a hunt for the night of the 10th of April, and received +his promise to be one of her guests. They were not so happy as they had +been within doors, for the world seemed wider. But their inner selves +pressed so hard toward each other that finally they were driven to +certain egotisms as a relief. + +"I think little of the future," she said, after a direct question, "for +that means looking beyond my mother's death, and that is the one fact I +have not the courage to face. But of course I know that it holds nothing +for me. A ball occasionally, and the conversation of clever men who +admire me but care for some one else, books the rest of the week, and +life alone on a shelf of the mountain. The thought that I shall one day +be old does not console me as it may console men, for with women the +heart never grows old. The body withers, and the heart in its awful +eternal youth has the less to separate and protect it from the world +that has no use for it. Then the body dies and is put away, but the +heart is greedily consumed to feed the great pulses of the world that +lives faster every year. We give, and give, and give." + +"And are only happy in giving," said Hamilton, quickly. "But if men +preserve the balance of the world by taking all that women give them, at +least the best of us find our happiness in the gifts of one woman, and a +woman so besought dare not assert that her heart is empty. I +understand--and no one more clearly than I do to-night--that if she give +too much, she may curse her heart and look out bitterly upon the +manifold interests that could suppress it for weeks and months--if life +were full enough. Is yours? What would you sacrifice if you came to me?" + +He asked the question calmly, for there were people on every side of +them, but he asked it on an uncontrollable impulse, nevertheless; he had +vowed to himself that he would wait a month. + +His natural repose was greater than hers, for she had the excitable +nerves of the Tropics. He felt her arm quiver before she dropped her +hand from his arm. But she replied almost as calmly: "Nothing after my +mother's death. Absolutely nothing. When a woman suffers as I have done, +and her future is ruined in any case, the world counts for very little +with her, unless it always has counted for more than anything else. We +grow the more cynical and contemptuous as we witness the foolish +gallantries of women who have so much to lose. I am not hard. I am very +soft about many things, and since you came I am become the very tragedy +of youth; but I have no respect for the world as I have seen it. For +many people in the world I have a great deal, but not for the substance +out of which Society has built itself. One never loses one's real +friends, no matter what one does. Every circumstance of my life has +isolated me from this structure called society, forced me to make my own +laws. I may never be happy, because my capacity for happiness is too +great, but in my own case there is no alternative worth considering. +This is the substance of what I have thought since we met, but you are +not to speak to me of it again while my mother lives." + +"I do not promise you that--but this: that I will do much thinking +before I speak again." + + +X + +But although they parted with formal courtesy, it was several nights +before either slept. Rachael went home to her bed and lay down, because +she feared to agitate her mother, but her disposition was to go out and +walk the circuit of the Island, and she rose as soon as she dared, and +climbed to the highest crest behind the house. It was cold there, and +the wind was keen. She sat for hours and stared out at Nevis, who was +rolling up her mists, indifferent to the torment of mortals. + +During the past fortnight she had conceived a certain stern calm, partly +in self-defence, due in part to love for her mother. But since she had +left Hamilton, last night, there had been moments when she had felt +alone in the Universe with him, exalted to such heights of human passion +that she had imagined herself about to become the mother of a new race. +Her genius, which in a later day might have taken the form of mental +creation, concentrated in a supreme capacity for idealized human +passion, and its blind impulse was a reproduction of itself in another +being. + +Were she and Hamilton but the victims of a mighty ego roaming the +Universe in search of a medium for human expression? Were they but +helpless sacrifices, consummately equipped, that the result of their +union might be consummately great? Who shall affirm or deny? The very +commonplaces of life are components of its eternal mystery. We know +absolutely nothing. But we have these facts: that a century and a half +ago, on a tropical island, where, even to common beings, quick and +intense love must seem the most natural thing in the world, this man and +woman met; that the woman, herself born in unhappy conditions, but +beautiful, intellectual, with a character developed far beyond her years +and isolated home by the cruel sufferings of an early marriage, reared +by a woman whose independence and energy had triumphed over the narrow +laws of the Island of her birth, given her courage to snap her fingers +at society--we know that this woman, inevitably remarkable, met and +loved a stranger from the North, so generously endowed that he alone of +all the active and individual men who surrounded her won her heart; and +that the result of their union was one of the stupendous intellects of +the world's history. + +Did any great genius ever come into the world after commonplace +pre-natal conditions? Was a maker of history ever born amidst the +pleasant harmonies of a satisfied domesticity? Of a mother who was less +than remarkable, although she may have escaped being great? Did a woman +with no wildness in her blood ever inform a brain with electric fire? +The students of history know that while many mothers of great men have +been virtuous, none have been commonplace, and few have been happy. And +lest the moralists of my day and country be more prone to outraged +virtue, in reading this story, than were the easy-going folk who +surrounded it, let me hasten to remind them that it all happened close +upon a hundred and fifty years ago, and that the man and woman who gave +them the brain to which they owe the great structure that has made their +country phenomenal among nations, are dust on isles four hundred miles +apart. + +A century and a half ago women indulged in little introspective +analysis. They thought on broad lines, and honestly understood the +strength of their emotions. Moreover, although Mary Wollstonecraft was +unborn and "Émile" unwritten, Individualism was germinating; and what +soil so quickening as the Tropics? Nevertheless, to admit was not to lay +the question, and Rachael passed through many hours of torment before +hers was settled. She was not unhappy, for the intoxication lingered, +and behind the methodical ticking of her reason, stood, calmly awaiting +its time, that sense of the Inevitable which has saved so many brains +from madness. She slept little and rested less, but that sentinel in her +brain prevented the frantic hopelessness which would have possessed her +had she felt herself strong enough to command James Hamilton to leave +the Island. + +She met him several times before the night of her entertainment, and +there were moments when she was filled with terror, for he did not +whisper a reference to the conversation in the Park. Had he thought +better of it? Would he go? Would he conquer himself? Was it but a +passing madness? When these doubts tormented her she was driven to such +a state of jealous fury that she forgot every scruple, and longed only +for the bond which would bind him fast; then reminded herself that she +should be grateful, and endeavoured to be. But one day when he lifted +her to her horse, he kissed her wrist, and again the intoxication of +love went to her head, and this time it remained there. Once they met up +in the hills, where they had been asked with others to take a dish of +tea with Mistress Montgomerie. They sat alone for an hour on one of the +terraces above the house, laughing and chattering like children, then +rode down the hills through the cane-fields together. Again, they met in +the Park, and sat under the banyan tree, discussing the great books they +had read, all of Europe they knew. For a time neither cared to finish +that brief period of exquisite happiness and doubt, where imagination +rules, and the world is unreal and wholly sweet, and they its first to +love. + +The wrenching stage of doubt had passed for Hamilton, but he thought on +the future with profound disquiet. He would have the woman wholly or not +at all, after Mary Fawcett's death; he knew from Dr. Hamilton that it +would occur before the year was out. He had no taste for intrigue. He +wanted a home, and the woman he would have rejoiced to marry was the +woman he expected to love and live with for the rest of his life. Once +or twice the overwhelming sense of responsibility, the certainty of +children, whom he could not legalize, the possible ruin of his worldly +interests, as well as his deep and sincere love for the woman, drove him +almost to the bows of a homeward-bound vessel. But the sure knowledge +that he should return kept him doggedly on St. Christopher. He even had +ceased to explain his infatuation to himself by such excuse as was given +him by her beauty, her grace, her strong yet charming brain. He loved +her, and he would have her if the skies fell. + +It is doubtful if he understood the full force of the attraction between +them. The real energy and deliberation, the unswerving purpose in her +magnetized the weakness at the roots of his ardent, impulsive, but +unstable character. Moreover, in spite of the superlative passion which +he had aroused in her, she lacked the animal magnetism which was his in +abundance. Her oneness was a magnet for his gregariousness and +concentrated it upon herself. That positive quality in him overwhelmed +and intoxicated her; and in intellect he was far more brilliant and far +less profound than herself. His wit and mental nimbleness stung and +pricked the serene layers which she had carefully superimposed in her +own mind to such activities as mingled playfully with his lighter moods +or stimulated him in more intellectual hours. While the future was yet +unbroken and imagination remodelled the face of the world, there were +moments when both were exalted with a sense of completeness, and +terrified, when apart, with a hint of dissolution into unrelated +particles. + +When a man and woman arrive at that stage of reasoning and feeling, it +were idle for their chronicler to moralize; her part is but to tell the +story. + + +XI + +Mary Fawcett encouraged her daughter's social activity, and as +Hamilton's name entered the rapid accounts of revels and routs in the +most casual manner, she endeavoured to persuade herself that the madness +had passed with a languid afternoon. She was a woman of the world, but +the one experience that develops deepest insight had passed her by, and +there were shades and moods of the master passion over which her sharp +eyes roved without a shock. + +As she was too feeble to sit up after nine o'clock, she refused to open +her doors for the crab hunt, but gave Rachael the key of a little villa +on the crest of a peak behind the house, and told her to keep her +friends all night if she chose. + +This pavilion, designed for the hotter weeks of the hurricane season, +but seldom used by the Fawcetts, was a small stone building, with two +bedrooms and a living room, a swimming bath, and several huts for +servants. The outbuildings were dilapidated, but the house after an +airing and scrubbing was as fit for entertainment as any on St. Kitts. +The furniture in the Tropics is of cane, and there are no carpets or +hangings to invite destruction. Even the mattresses are often but +plaited thongs of leather, covered with strong linen, and stretched +until they are hard as wood. All Mary Fawcett's furniture was of +mahogany, the only wood impervious to the boring of the West Indian +worm. This tiny house on the mountain needed but a day's work to clean +it, and another to transform it into an arbour of the forest. The walls +of the rooms were covered with ferns, orchids, and croton leaves. Gold +and silver candelabra had been carried up from the house, and they would +hold half a hundred candles. + +All day the strong black women climbed the gorge and hill, their hips +swinging, baskets of wine, trays of delicate edibles, pyramids of linen, +balanced as lightly on their heads as were they no more in weight and +size than the turban beneath; their arms hanging, their soft voices +scolding the "pic'nees" who stumbled after them. + +Toward evening, Rachael and Kitty Hamilton walked down the mountain +together, and lingered in the heavy beauty of the gorge. The ferns grew +high above their heads, and palms of many shapes. The dark machineel +with its deadly fruit, the trailing vines on the tamarind trees, the +monkeys leaping, chattering with terror, through flaming hybiscus and +masses of orchid, the white volcanic rock, the long torn leaves of the +banana tree, the abrupt declines, crimson with wild strawberries, the +loud boom of the sunset gun from Brimstone Hill--Rachael never forgot a +detail of that last walk with her old friend. Hers was not the nature +for intimate friendships, but Catherine Hamilton had been one of her +first remembered playmates, her bridesmaid, and had hastened to +companion her when she emerged from the darkness of her married life. +But Catherine was an austere girl, of no great mental liveliness, and +the friendship, although sincere, was not rooted in the sympathies and +affections. She believed Rachael to be the most remarkable woman in the +world, and had never dared to contradict her, although she lowered her +fine head to no one else. But female virtue, as they expressed it in the +eighteenth century, stood higher in her estimation than all the gifts of +mind and soul which had been lavished upon Rachael Levine, and she was +the first to desert her when the final step was taken. But on this +evening there was no barrier, and she talked of her future with the man +she was to marry. She was happy and somewhat sentimental. Rachael sighed +and set her lips. All her girlhood friends were either married or about +to be--except Christiana, who had not a care in her little world. Why +were sorrow and disgrace for her alone? What have I done, she thought, +that I seem to be accursed? I have wronged no one, and I am more gifted +than any of these friends of mine. Not one of them has studied so +severely, and learned as much as I. Not one of them can command the +homage of such men as I. And yet I alone am singled out, first, for the +most hideous fate which can attack a woman, then to live apart from all +good men and women with a man I cannot marry, and who may break my +heart. I wish that I had not been born, and I would not be dead for all +the peace that is in the most silent depths of the Universe. + +At ten o'clock, that night, the hills were red with the torches of as +gay a company as ever had assembled on the Island. The Governor and Dr. +Hamilton were keen sportsmen, and nothing delighted them more than to +chase infuriated land-crabs down the side of a mountain. There were some +twenty men in the party, and most of them followed their distinguished +elders through brush and rocky passes. Occasionally, a sudden yell of +pain mingled with the shouts of mirth, for land-crabs have their methods +of revenge. The three or four girls whom Rachael had induced to attend +this masculine frolic, kept to the high refuge of the villa, attended by +cavaliers who dared not hint that maiden charms were less than +land-crabs. + +Hamilton and Rachael sat on the steps of the terrace, or paced up and +down, watching the scene. Just beyond their crest was the frowning mass +of Mount Misery. The crystal flood poured down from above, and the moon +was rising over the distant hills. The sea had the look of infinity. +There might be ships at anchor before Basseterre or Sandy Point, but the +shoulders of the mountain hid them; and below, the world looked as if +the passions of Hell had let loose--the torches flared and crackled, and +the trees took on hideous shapes. Once a battalion of the pale +venomous-looking crabs rattled across the terrace, and Rachael, who was +masculine in naught but her intellect, screamed and flung herself into +Hamilton's arms. A moment later she laughed, but their conversation +ceased then to be impersonal. It may be said here, that if Hamilton +failed in other walks of life, it was not from want of resolution where +women were concerned. And he was tired of philandering. + +The hunters returned, slaves carrying the slaughtered crabs in baskets. +There were many hands to shell the victims, and in less than half an +hour Mary Fawcett's cook sent in a huge and steaming dish. Then there +were mulled wines and port, cherry brandy and liqueurs to refresh the +weary, and sweets for the women. A livelier party never sat down to +table; and Hamilton, who was placed between two chattering girls, was a +man of the world, young as he was, and betrayed neither impatience nor +ennui. Rachael sat at the head of the table, between the Governor and +Dr. Hamilton. Her face, usually as white as porcelain, was pink in the +cheeks; her eyes sparkled, her nostrils fluttered with triumph. She +looked so exultant that more than one wondered if she were intoxicated +with her own beauty; but Dr. Hamilton understood, and his supper lost +its relish. Some time since he had concluded that where Mary Fawcett +failed he could not hope to succeed, but he had done his duty and +lectured his cousin. He understood human nature from its heights to its +dregs, however, and promised Hamilton his unaltered friendship, even +while in the flood of remonstrance. He was a philosopher, who invariably +held out his hand to the Inevitable, with a shrug of his shoulders, but +he loved Rachael, and wished that the ship that brought Levine to the +Islands had encountered a hurricane. + +The guests started for home at one o'clock, few taking the same path. +The tired slaves went down to their huts. Rachael remained on the +mountain, and Hamilton returned to her. + + +XII + +It was a month later that Rachael, returning after a long ride with +Hamilton, found her mother just descended from the family coach. + +"Is it possible that you have been to pay visits?" she asked, as she +hastened to support the feeble old woman up the steps. + +"No, I have been to Basseterre with Archibald Hamn." + +"Not to St. Peter's, I hope." + +"Oh, my dear, I do not feel in the mood to jest. I went to court to +secure the future of my three dear slaves, Rebecca, Flora, and Esther." + +Rachael placed her mother on one of the verandah chairs and dropped upon +another. + +"Why have you done that?" she asked faintly. "Surely--" + +"There are several things I fully realize, and one is that each attack +leaves me with less vitality to resist the next. These girls are the +daughters of my dear old Rebecca, who was as much to me as a black ever +can be to a white, and that is saying a good deal. I have just signed a +deed of trust before the Registrar--to Archibald. They are still mine +for the rest of my life, yours for your lifetime, or as long as you live +here; then they go to Archibald or his heirs. I want you to promise me +that they shall never go beyond this Island or Nevis." + +"I promise." Rachael had covered her face with her hand. + +"I believe you kept the last promise you made me. It is not in your +character to break your word, however you may see fit to take the law +into your own hands." + +"I kept it." + +"And you will live with him openly after my death. I have appreciated +your attempt to spare me." + +"Ah, you _do_ know me." + +"Some things may escape my tired old eyes, but I love you too well not +to have seen for a month past that you were as happy as a bride. I shall +say no more--save for a few moments with James Hamilton. I am old and +ill and helpless. You are young and indomitable. If I were as vigorous +and self-willed as when I left your father, I could not control you now. +I shall leave you independent. Will Hamilton, Archibald, and a few +others will stand by you; but alas! you will, in the course of nature, +outlive them all, and have no friend in the world but Hamilton--although +I shall write an appeal to your sisters to be sent to them after my +death. But oh, how I wish, how I wish, that you could marry this man." + +Mary Fawcett was attacked that night by the last harsh rigours of her +disease and all its complications. Until she died, a week later, +Rachael, except for the hour that Hamilton sat alone beside the bed of +the stricken woman, did not leave her mother. The immortal happiness of +the last month was forgotten. She was prostrate, literally on her knees +with grief and remorse, for she believed that her mother's discovery had +hastened the end. + +"No, it is not so," said Mary Fawcett, one day. "My time has come to +die. Will Hamilton will assure you of that, and I have watched the space +between myself and death diminish day by day, for six months past. I +have known that I should die before the year was out. It is true that I +die in sorrow and with a miserable sense of failure, for you have been +my best-beloved, my idol, and I leave you terribly placed in life and +with little hope of betterment. But for you I have no reproach. You have +given me love for love, and duty for duty. Life has treated you +brutally; what has come now was, I suppose, inevitable. Human nature +when it is strong enough is stronger than moral law. I grieve for you, +but I die without grievance against you. Remember that. And Hamilton? He +is honourable, and he loves you utterly--but is he strong? I wish I +knew. His emotions and his active brain give him so much apparent +force--but underneath? I wish I knew." + +Rachael was grateful for her mother's unselfish assurance, but she was +not to be consoled. The passions in her nature, released from other +thrall, manifested themselves in a grief so profound, and at times so +violent, that only her strong frame saved her from illness. For two +weeks after Mary Fawcett's death she refused to see James Hamilton; but +by that time he felt at liberty to assert his rights, and her finely +poised mind recovered its balance under his solace and argument. Her +life was his, and to punish him assuaged nothing of her sorrow. He had +decided, after consultation with his cousin, to take her to Nevis, not +only to seclude her from the scandalized society she knew best, but that +he might better divert her mind, in new scenes, from her heavy +affliction. Hamilton had already embarked in his business enterprise, +but he had bought and manned a sail-boat, which would carry him to and +from St. Kitts daily. In the dead calms of summer there was little +business doing. + +"I attempted no sophistry with my cousin," said Hamilton, "and for that +reason I think I have put the final corking-pin into our friendship. +Right or wrong we are going to live together for the rest of our lives, +because I will have no other woman, and you will have no other man; and +we will live together publicly, not only because neither of us has the +patience for scheming and deceit, but because passion is not our only +motive for union. There is gallantry on every side of us, and doubtless +we alone shall be made to suffer; for the world loves to be fooled, it +hates the crudeness of truth. But we have each other, and nothing else +matters." + +And to Rachael nothing else mattered, for her mother was dead, and she +loved Hamilton with an increasing passion that was long in culminating. + + +XIII + +They sailed over to Nevis, accompanied by a dozen slaves, and took +possession of Rachael's house in Main Street. It stood at the very end +of the town, beyond the point where the street ceased and the road round +the Island began. The high wall of the garden surrounded a grove of +palms and cocoanut trees. Only sojourners from England had occupied the +big comfortable house, and it was in good repair. + +When the acute stage of her grief had passed, it was idle for Rachael to +deny to Hamilton that she was happy. And at that time she had not a care +in the world, nor had he. Their combined incomes made them as careless +of money as any planter on the Island. Every ship from England brought +them books and music, and Hamilton was not only the impassioned lover +but the tenderest and most patient of husbands. Coaches dashed by and +the occupants cast up eyes and hands. The gay life of Nevis pulsed +unheeded about the high walls, whose gates were always locked. The +kinsman of the leading families of the Island and the most beautiful +daughter of old John and Mary Fawcett were a constant and agitating +theme, but two people lived their life of secluded and poignant +happiness, and took Nevis or St. Kitts into little account. + + + + +BOOK II + +ALEXANDER HAMILTON + +HIS YOUTH IN THE WEST INDIES AND IN THE COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA + + +I + +I should have been glad to find an old Almanac of Nevis which contained +a description of its 11th of January, 1757. But one January is much like +another in the Leeward Islands, and he who has been there can easily +imagine the day on which Alexander Hamilton was born. The sky was a +deeper blue than in summer, for the sun was resting after the terrific +labours of Autumn, and there was a prick in the trade winds which +stimulated the blood by day and chilled it a trifle at night. The slave +women moved more briskly, followed by a trotting brood of "pic'nees," +one or more clinging to their hips, all bewailing the rigours of winter. +Down in the river where they pounded the clothes on the stones, they +vowed they would carry the next linen to the sulphur springs, for the +very marrow in their bones was cold. In the Great Houses there were no +fires, but doors and windows were closed early and opened late, and +blankets were on every bed. The thermometer may have stood at 72°. + +Nevis herself was like a green jewel casket, after the autumn rains. +Oranges and sweet limes were yellow in her orchards, the long-leaved +banana trees were swelling with bunches of fruit, the guavas were ready +for cream and the boiling. The wine was in the cocoanut, the royal palms +had shed their faded summer leaves and glittered like burnished metal. +The gorgeous masses of the croton bush had drawn fresh colour from the +rain. In the woods and in the long avenues which wound up the mountain +to the Great House of every estate, the air was almost cold; but out +under the ten o'clock sun, even a West Indian could keep warm, and the +negroes sang as they reaped the cane. The sea near the shore was like +green sunlight, but some yards out it deepened into that intense hot +blue which is the final excess of West Indian colouring. The spray flew +high over the reef between Nevis and St. Kitts, glittering like the salt +ponds on the desolate end of the larger island, the roar of the breakers +audible in the room where the child who was to be called Alexander +Hamilton was born. + +Rachael rose to a ceaseless demand upon her attention for which she was +grateful during the long days of Hamilton's absence. Alexander turned +out to be the most restless and monarchical of youngsters and preferred +his mother to his black attendants. She ruled him with a firm hand, +however, for she had no mind to lessen her pleasure in him, and although +she could not keep him quiet, she prevented the blacks from spoiling +him. + +During the hurricane months Hamilton yielded to her nervous fears, as he +had done in the preceding year, and crossed to St. Kitts but seldom. As +a matter of fact, hurricanes of the first degree, are rare in the West +Indies, the average to each island being one in a century. But from the +25th of August, when all the Caribbean world prostrates itself in church +while prayers for deliverance from the awful visitation are read, to the +25th of October, when the grateful or the survivors join in +thanksgiving, every wind alarms the nervous, and every round woolly +cloud must contain the white squall. Rachael knew that Nevis boats had +turned over when minor squalls dashed down the Narrows between the +extreme points of the Islands, and that they were most to be dreaded in +the hurricane season. Hamilton's inclination was to spare in every +possible way the woman who had sacrificed so much for him, and he asked +little urging to idle his days in the cool library with his charming +wife and son. Therefore his business suffered, for his partners took +advantage of his negligence; and the decay of their fortunes began when +Rachael, despite the angry protests of Archibald Hamn, sold her property +on St. Kitts and gave Hamilton the money. He withdrew from the firm +which had treated him inconsiderately, and set up a business for +himself. For a few years he was hopeful, although more than once +obliged to borrow money from his wife. She gave freely, for she had been +brought up in the careless plenty of the Islands. Mary Fawcett, +admirable manager as she was, had been lavish with money, particularly +when her favourite child was in question; and Rachael's imagination had +never worked toward the fact that money could roll down hill and not +roll up again. She was long in discovering that the man she loved and +admired was a failure in the uninteresting world of business. He was a +brilliant and charming companion, read in the best literatures of the +world, a thoughtful and adoring husband. It availed Archibald Hamn +nothing to rage or Dr. Hamilton to remonstrate. Rachael gradually +learned that Hamilton was not as strong as herself, but the maternal +instinct, so fully aroused by her child, impelled her to fill out his +nature with hers, while denying nothing to the man who did all he could +to make her happy. + +In the third year Hamilton gave up his sail-boat, and had himself rowed +across the Narrows, where the overlooker of a salt estate he had bought +awaited him with a horse. Once he would have thought nothing of walking +the eight miles to Basseterre, but the Tropics, while they sharpen the +nerves, caress unceasingly the indolence of man. During the hurricane +season he crossed as often as he thought necessary, for with expert +oarsmen there was little danger, even from squalls, and the distance was +quickly covered. + +Gradually Rachael's position was accepted. Nothing could alter the fact +that she was the daughter of Dr. and Mary Fawcett, and Hamilton was of +the best blood in the Kingdom. She was spoken of generally as Mistress +Hamilton, and old friends of her parents began to greet her pleasantly +as she drove about the Island with her beautiful child. In time they +called, and from that it was but another step to invite, as a matter of +course, the young Hamiltons to their entertainments. After all, Rachael +was not the first woman in tropical Great Britain to love a man she +could not marry, and it was fatiguing to ask the everlasting question of +whether the honesty of a public irregular alliance were not +counterbalanced by its dangerous example. It was a day of loose morals, +the first fruit of the vast scientific movement of the century, whose +last was the French Revolution. Moreover, the James Hamiltons were +delightful people, and life on the Islands was a trifle monotonous at +times; they brought into Nevis society fresh and unusual personalities, +spiced with a salient variety. Hamilton might almost be said to have +been born an astute man of the world. He opened his doors with an +accomplished hospitality to the most intelligent and cultivated people +of the Island, ignoring those who based their social pretensions on rank +and wealth alone. In consequence he and his wife became the leaders of a +small and exclusive set, who appreciated their good fortune. Dr. +Hamilton and a few other Kittifonians were constant visitors in this +hospitable mansion. Christiana Huggins, who had taken a bold stand from +the first, carried her father there one day in triumph, and that austere +parent laid down his arms. All seemed well, and the crumbling of the +foundations made no sound. + +And Alexander? He was an excitable and ingenious imp, who saved himself +from many a spanking by his sparkling mind and entrancing sweetness of +temper. He might fly at his little slaves and beat them, and to his +white playmates he never yielded a point; but they loved him, for he was +generous and honest, and the happiest little mortal on the Island. He +could get into as towering a rage as old John Fawcett, but he was +immediately amenable to the tenderness of his parents. + +When he was four years old he was sent to a small school, which happened +to be kept by a Jewess. In spite of his precocity his parents had no +wish to force a mind which, although delightful to them in its saucy +quickness, aroused no ambitious hopes; they sent him to school merely +that there might be less opportunity to spoil him at home. His new +experience was of a brief duration. + +Hamilton on a Sunday was reading to Rachael in the library. Alexander +shoved a chair to the table and climbed with some difficulty, for he was +very small, to an elevated position among the last reviews of Europe. +He demanded the attention of his parents, and, clasping his hands behind +his back, began to recite rapidly in an unknown tongue. The day was very +hot, and he wore nothing but a white apron. His little pink feet were +bare on the mahogany, and his fair curls fell over a flushed and earnest +face, which at all times was too thin and alert to be angelic or +cherubic. Hamilton and Rachael, wondering whom he fancied himself +imitating, preserved for a moment a respectful silence, then, overcome +by his solemn countenance and the fluency of his outlandish utterance, +burst into one of those peals of sudden laughter which seem to strike +the most sensitive chord in young children. Alexander shrieked in wrath +and terror, and made as if to fling himself on his mother's bosom, then +planted his feet with an air of stubborn defiance, and went on with his +recital. Hamilton listened a moment longer, then left the house +abruptly. He returned in wrath. + +"That woman has taught him the Decalogue in Hebrew!" he exclaimed. "'Tis +a wonder his brains are not addled. He will sail boats in the +swimming-bath and make shell houses in the garden for the next three +years. We'll have no more of school." + + +II + +Alexander Hamilton had several escapes from imminent peril when he was a +boy, and the first occurred in the month of December, 1761. Hamilton had +gone to St. Croix on business, and Rachael and the child spent the +fortnight of his absence with Christiana Huggins. Rachael was accustomed +to Hamilton's absences, but Nevis was in a very unhealthy condition, +through lack of wind and rains during the preceding autumn. The sea had +looked like a metal floor for months, the Island was parched and dry, +the swamps on the lowlands were pestiferous. Many negroes had died in +Charles Town, and many more were ill. The obeah doctors, with their +absurd concoctions and practices, were openly defying the physicians of +repute, for the terrified blacks believed that the English had prayed +once too often that the hurricane should be stayed, and that he sulked +where none might feel his faintest breath. Therefore they cursed the +white doctor as futile, and flung his physic from the windows. + +Rachael was glad to escape to the heights with Alexander. There it was +almost as cool as it should be in December, and she could watch for her +husband's sloop. He had gone with the first light wind, and there was +enough to bring him home, although with heavy sail. She forgot the +muttering negroes and the sickness below. Her servants had been +instructed to nurse and nourish where assistance was needed, and up here +there was nothing to do but wander with her friend and child through the +gay beauty of the terraced garden, or climb the stone steps to the cold +quiet depths of the forest. + +At the end of a fortnight there was no sign of her husband's sloop, but +the wind was strengthening, and she decided to return home and make +ready for him. During the long drive she passed negroes in large +numbers, either walking toward Charles Town or standing in muttering +groups by the roadside. At one time the driveway was so thick with them +that her coach could not pass until the postilion laid about him with +his whip. + +"This is very odd," she said to her nurse. "I have never seen anything +like this before." + +"Me no t'ink he nothin'. All go tee tick--oh, dis pic'nee no keep till +one minit. Me no t'ink about he'n de road." + +She lifted the child between her face and her mistress's eyes, and +Rachael saw that her hand trembled. "Can the negroes be rising?" she +wondered; and for a moment she was faint with terror, and prayed for +Hamilton's return. + +But she was heroic by nature, and quickly recovered her poise. When she +arrived at home she sent the nurse to Charles Town on an errand, then +went directly to her bedroom, which was disconnected from the other +rooms, and called her three devoted maids, Rebecca, Flora, and Esther. +They came running at the sound of her voice, and she saw at once that +they were terrified and ready to cling to her garments. + +"What is the matter?" she demanded. "Tell me at once." + +"Me no know fo' sure," said Rebecca, "but me t'ink, t'ink, till me yell +in me tleep. Somethin' ter'ble go to happen. Me feel he in de air. All +de daddys, all de buddys, 'peak, 'peak, togedder all de time, an' look +so bad--an' de oby doctors put de curse ebberywheres. Me fine befo' de +gate dis mornin' one pudden', de mud an' oil an' horsehair, but me no +touch he. Me ask all de sissys me know, what comes, but he no 'peak. He +run out he tongue, and once he smack me ear. Oh, Mistress, take us back +to Sinkitts." + +"But do you _know_ nothing?" + +They shook their heads, but stared at her hopefully, for they believed +implicitly in her power to adjust all things. + +"And my other slaves? Do you think they are faithful to me?" + +"All in de town all de time. Me ask ebbery he tell me what comes, and he +say 'nothin,' but I no believe he." + +"And has the Governor taken no notice?" + +"De Gobbenor lord and all de noble Buckras go yis'day to Sinkitts. Take +de militia for one gran' parade in Bassetarr. Is de birfday to-morrow de +Gobbenor lord de Sinkitts. Up in de Great Houses no hear nothin', an' +all quiet on 'states till yes'day. Now comin' to town an' look so bad, +so bad!" + +"Very well, then, the Governor and the militia must come back. Rebecca, +you are the most sensible as well as the weakest in the arms. You will +stay here to-night, and you will not falter for a moment. As soon as it +is dark Flora and Esther will row me across the channel, and I will send +the Buckra's agent on a fast horse with a note to the Governor. If the +other house servants return, you will tell them that I am ill and that +Flora and Esther are nursing me. You will lock the gates, and open them +to no one unless your Buckra should return. Do you understand?" + +The slave rolled her eyes, but nodded. She might have defied the +Captain-General, but not one of the Fawcetts. + +There were two hours before dark. Rachael was conscious of every nerve +in her body, and paced up and down the long line of rooms which +terminated in the library, until Alexander's legs were worn out trotting +after her, and he fell asleep on the floor. Twice she went to the roof +to look for Hamilton's sloop, but saw not a sail on the sea; and the +streets of Charles Town were packed with negroes. England sent no +soldiers to protect her Islands, and every free male between boyhood and +old age was forced by law to join the militia. It was doubtful if there +were a dozen muscular white men on Nevis that night, for the birthday of +a Governor was a fête of hilarities. Unless the militia returned that +night, the blacks, if they really were plotting vengeance, and she knew +their superstitions, would have burned every house and cane-field before +morning. + +The brief twilight passed. The mist rolled down from the heights of +Nevis. Rachael, with Alexander in her arms, and followed by her maids, +stole along the shore through the thick cocoanut groves, meeting no one. +They were far from the town's centre, and all the blacks on the Island +seemed to be gathered there. The boat was beached, and it took the +combined efforts of the three women to launch it. When they pushed off, +the roar of the breakers and the heavy mist covered their flight. But +there was another danger, and the very physical strength of the slaves +departed before it. They had rowed their mistress about the roadstead +before St. Kitts a hundred times, but the close proximity of the reef so +terrified them that Rachael was obliged to take the oars; while Flora +caught Alexander in so convulsive an embrace that he awoke and protested +with all the vigour of his lungs. His mother's voice, to which he was +peculiarly susceptible, hushed him, and he held back his own, although +the gasping bosom on which he rested did not tend to soothe a nervous +child. But there were other ways of expressing outraged feelings, and he +kicked like a little steer. + +Rachael herself was not too sure of her knowledge of the dangerous +channel, although she had crossed it many times with Hamilton; and the +mist was floating across to St. Kitts. The hollow boom of the reef +seemed so close that she expected to hear teeth in the boat every +moment, and she knew that far and wide the narrows bristled. She +wondered if her hair were turning white, and her straining nerves +quivered for a moment with a feminine regret; for she knew the power of +her beauty over Hamilton. But her arms kept their strength. Life had +taught her to endure more than a half-hour of mortal anxiety. + +She reached the shore in safety, and Esther recovered her muscle and +agreed to run to the overlooker's house and send him, on his fleetest +horse, with her mistress's note to the Governor of Nevis. When the +others reached the house, a mile from the Narrows, the man had gone; and +Rachael could do no more. The overlookers wife mulled wine, and the +maids were soon asleep. Alexander refused to go to bed, and Rachael, who +was not in a disciplinary mood, led him out into the open to watch for +the boats of the Governor and his militia. There was no moon; they could +cross and land near Hamilton's house and overpower, without discharging +a gun, the negroes packed in Charles Town. If the Governor were prompt, +the blacks, even had they dispersed to fire the estates, would not have +time for havoc; and she knew the tendency of the negro to procrastinate. +They did not expect the Governor until late on the following day; they +could drink all night and light their torches at dawn when Nevis was +heavy in her last sleep. Nevertheless, Rachael watched the Island +anxiously. + +Fortunately, Alexander possessed an inquiring mind, and she was obliged +to answer so many questions that the strain was relieved. They walked +amidst a wild and dismal scene. The hills were sterile and black. The +salt ponds, sunken far below the level of the sea, from lack of rain, +glittered white, but they were set with aloes and manchineel, and there +were low and muddy flats to be avoided. It was a new aspect of nature to +the child who had lived his four years amid the gay luxuriance of tropic +verdure, and he was mightily interested. Nevertheless, it was a long +hour before the overlooker returned with word that the Governor was on +his way to Nevis with the militia of both Islands--for St. Kitts was +quiet, its negroes having taken the drouth philosophically--and that her +husband was with them. He had arrived at Basseterre as the boats were +leaving; as a member of the Governor's staff, he had no choice. He had +sent her word, however, not to return to Nevis that night; and Rachael +and Alexander went down to the extreme point of the Island and sat there +through a cold night of bitter anxiety. With the dawn Hamilton came for +them. + +The negroes, surprised and overwhelmed, had surrendered without +resistance, and before they had left the town. They confessed that their +intention had been to murder every white on the Island, seize the +ammunition which was stored on the estates, and fire upon the militia as +it passed, on the following day. The ringleaders and obeah doctors were +either publicly executed or punished with such cruelty that the other +malcontents were too cowed to plan another rebellion; and the abundant +rains of the following autumn restored their faith in the white man. + + +III + +When Alexander was five years old, James arrived, an object of much +interest to his elder brother, but a child of ordinary parts to most +beholders. He came during the last days of domestic tranquillity; for it +was but a few weeks later that Hamilton was obliged to announce to +Rachael that his fortunes, long tottering, had collapsed to their rotten +foundations. It was some time before she could accommodate her +understanding to the fact that there was nothing left, for even Levine +had not dared to lose his money, far less her own; and had she ever +given the subject of wealth a thought, she would have assumed that it +had roots in certain families which no adverse circumstance could +deplace. She had overheard high words between Archibald Hamn and her +husband in the library, but Hamilton's casual explanations had satisfied +her, and she had always disliked Archibald as a possible stepfather. Dr. +Hamilton had frequently looked grave after a conversation with his +kinsman, but Rachael was too unpractical to attribute his heavier moods +to anything but his advancing years. + +When Hamilton made her understand that they were penniless, and that his +only means of supporting her was to accept an offer from Peter Lytton to +take charge of a cattle estate on St. Croix, Rachael's controlling +sensation was dismay that this man whom she had idolized and idealized, +who was the forgiven cause of her remarkable son's illegitimacy, was a +failure in his competition with other men. Money would come somehow, it +always had; but Hamilton dethroned, shoved out of the ranks of planters +and merchants, reduced to the status of one of his own overlookers, +almost was a new and strange being, and she dared not bid forth her +hiding thoughts. + +Fortunately the details of moving made life impersonal and commonplace. +The three slaves whose future had been the last concern but one of Mary +Fawcett, were sent, wailing, to Archibald Hamn. Two of the others were +retained to wait upon the children, the rest sold with the old mahogany +furniture and the library. The Hamiltons set sail for St. Croix on a day +in late April. The sympathy of their friends had been expressed in more +than one offer of a lucrative position, but Hamilton was intensely +proud, and too mortified at his failure to remain obscure among a people +who had been delighted to accept his princely and exclusive hospitality. +On St. Croix he was almost unknown. + +They made the voyage in thirty-two hours, but as the slaves were ill, +after the invariable habit of their colour, Rachael had little respite +from her baby, or Hamilton from Alexander, whose restless legs and +enterprising mind kept him in constant motion; and the day began at five +o'clock. There was no opportunity for conversation, and Hamilton was +grateful to the miserable mustees. He had the tact to let his wife +readjust herself to her damaged idols without weak excuses and a +pleading which would have distressed her further, but he was glad to be +spared intimate conversation with her. + +As they sailed into the bright green waters before Frederikstadt, the +sun blazed down upon the white town on the white plain with a vicious +energy which Rachael had never seen on Nevis during the hottest and most +silent months of the year. She closed her eyes and longed for the cool +shallows of the harbour, and even Alexander ceased to watch the flying +fish dart like silver blades over the water, and was glad to be stowed +comfortably into one of the little deck-houses. As for the slaves, +weakened by illness, they wept and refused to gather themselves +together. + +But Rachael's soul, which had felt faint for many days, rose triumphant +in the face of this last affliction. Like all West Indians, she hated +extreme heat, and during those months on her own Islands when the trades +hibernated, rarely left the house. She remembered little of St. Croix. +Her imagination had disassociated itself from all connected with it, but +now it burst into hideous activity and pictured interminable years of +scorching heat and blinding glare. For a moment she descended to the +verge of hysteria, from which she struggled with so mighty an effort +that it vitalized her spirit for the ordeal of her new life; and when +Hamilton, cursing himself, came to assist her to land, she was able to +remark that she recalled the beauty of Christianstadt, and to +anathematize her sea-green maids. + +The trail of Spain is over all the islands, and on St. Croix has left +its picturesque mark in the heavy arcades which front the houses in the +towns. Behind these arcades one can pass from street to street with +brief egress into the awful downpour of the sun, and they give to both +towns an effect of architectural beauty. At that time palms and +cocoanuts grew in profusion along the streets of Frederikstadt and in +the gardens, tempering the glare of the sun on the coral. + +Peter Lytton's coach awaited the Hamiltons, and at six o'clock they +started for their new home. The long driveway across the Island was set +with royal palms, beyond which rolled vast fields of cane. St. Croix was +approaching the height of her prosperity, and almost every inch of her +fertile acres was under cultivation. They rolled up and over every hill, +the heavy stone houses, with their negro hamlets and mills, rising like +half-submerged islands, unless they crowned a height. The roads swarmed +with Africans, who bowed profoundly to the strangers in the fine coach, +grinning an amiable welcome. Surrounded by so generous a suggestion of +hospitality and plenty, with the sun low in the west, the spirits of the +travellers rose, and Rachael thought with more composure upon the +morrow's encounter with her elder sisters. She knew them very slightly, +their husbands less. When her connection with Hamilton began, +correspondence between them had ceased; but like others they had +accepted the relation, and for the last three years Hamilton had been a +welcome guest at their houses when business took him to St. Croix. Mrs. +Lytton had been the first to whom he had confided his impending failure, +and she, remembering her mother's last letter and profoundly pitying the +young sister who seemed marked for misfortune, had persuaded her husband +to offer Hamilton the management of his grazing estates on the eastern +end of the Island. She wrote to Rachael, assuring her of welcome, and +reminding her that her story was unknown on St. Croix, that she would be +accepted without question as Hamilton's wife and their sister. But +Rachael knew that the truth would come out as soon as they had attracted +the attention of their neighbours, and she had seen enough of the world +to be sure that what people tolerated in the wealthy they censured in +the unimportant. To depend upon her sisters' protection instead of her +own lifelong distinction, galled her proud spirit. For the first time +she understood how powerless Hamilton was to protect her. The glamour of +that first year when nothing mattered was gone for ever. She had two +children, one of them uncommon, and they were to encounter life without +name or property. True, Levine might die, or Hamilton make some +brilliant coup, but she felt little of the buoyancy of hope as they left +the cane-fields and drove among the dark hills to their new home. + +The house and outbuildings were on a high eminence, surrounded on three +sides by hills. Below was a lagoon, which was separated from the sea by +a deep interval of tidal mud set thick with mangroves. The outlet +through this swamp was so narrow that a shark which had found its way in +when young had grown too large to return whence he came, and was the +solitary and discontented inhabitant of the lagoon. The next morning +Rachael, rising early and walking on the terrace with Alexander, was +horrified to observe him warming his white belly in the sun. On three +sides of the lagoon was a thick grove of manchineels, hung with their +deadly apples; here and there a palm, which drooped as if in discord +with its neighbours. It was an uncheerful place for a woman with terror +and tumult in her soul, but the house was large and had been made +comfortable by her brother-in-laws' slaves. + +Mrs. Lytton and Mrs. Mitchell drove over for the eleven o'clock +breakfast. They were very kind, but they were many years older than the +youngest of their family, proudly conscious of their virtue, +uncomprehending of the emotions which had nearly wrenched Rachael's soul +from her body more than once. Moreover, Mrs. Mitchell was the physical +image of Mary Fawcett without the inheritance of so much as the old +lady's temper; and there were moments, as she sat chattering amiably +with Alexander, with whom she immediately fell in love, when Rachael +could have flown at and throttled her because she was not her mother. +Mrs. Lytton was delicate and nervous, but more reserved, and Rachael +liked her better. Nevertheless, she was heartily glad to be rid of both +of them, and reflected with satisfaction that she was to live on the +most isolated part of the Island. She had begged them to ask no one to +call, and for months she saw little of anybody except her family. + +Her household duties were many, and she was forced at once to alter her +lifelong relation to domestic economics. Hamilton's salary was six +hundred pieces of eight, and for a time the keeping of accounts and the +plans for daily disposal of the small income furnished almost the only +subjects of conversation between her husband and herself. His duties +kept him on horseback during all but the intolerable hours of the day, +and until their new life had become a commonplace they were fortunate +in seeing little of each other. + +Alexander long since had upset his father's purpose to defer the opening +of his mind until the age of seven. He had taught himself the rudiments +of education by such ceaseless questioning of both his parents that they +were glad to set him a daily task and keep him at it as long as +possible. In this new home he had few resources besides his little books +and his mother, who gave him all her leisure. There were no white +playmates, and he was not allowed to go near the lagoon, lest the shark +get him or he eat of forbidden fruit. Just after his sixth birthday, +however, several changes occurred in his life: Peter Lytton sent him a +pony, his father killed the shark and gave him a boat, and he made the +acquaintance of the Rev. Hugh Knox. + +This man, who was to play so important a part in the life of Alexander +Hamilton, was himself a personality. At this time but little over +thirty, he had, some years since, come to the West Indies with a +classical library and a determination to rescue the planters from that +hell which awaits those who drowse through life in a clime where it is +always summer when it is not simply and blazingly West Indian. He soon +threw the mantle of charity over the patient planters, and became the +boon companion of many; but he made converts and was mightily proud of +them. His was the zeal of the converted. When he arrived in the United +States, in 1753, young, fresh from college, enthusiastic, and handsome, +he found favour at once in the eyes of the Rev. Dr. Rogers of Middletown +on the Delaware, to whom he had brought a letter of introduction. +Through the influence of this eminent divine, he obtained a school and +many friends. The big witty Irishman was a welcome guest at the popular +tavern, and was not long establishing himself as the leader of its +hilarities. He was a peculiarly good mimic, and on Saturday nights his +boon companions fell into the habit of demanding his impersonation of +some character locally famous. One night he essayed a reproduction of +Dr. Rogers, then one of the most celebrated men of his cloth. Knox +rehearsed the sermon of the previous Sunday, not only with all the +divine's peculiarity of gesture and inflection, but almost word for +word; for his memory was remarkable. At the start his listeners +applauded violently, then subsided into the respectful silence they were +wont to accord Dr. Rogers; at the finish they stole out without a word. +As for Knox, he sat alone, overwhelmed with the powerful sermon he had +repeated, and by remorse for his own attempted levity. His emotional +Celtic nature was deeply impressed. A few days later he disappeared, and +was not heard of again until, some months after, Dr. Rogers learned that +he was the guest of the Rev. Aaron Burr at Newark, and studying for the +church. He was ordained in due course, converted his old companions, +then set sail for St. Croix. + +Hamilton met him at Peter Lytton's, talked with him the day through, and +carried him home to dinner. After that he became little less than an +inmate of the household; a room was furnished for him, and when he did +not occupy it, he rode over several times a week. His books littered +every table and shelf. + +Alexander was his idol, and he was the first to see that the boy was +something more than brilliant. Hamilton had accepted his son's +cleverness as a matter of course, and Rachael, having a keen contempt +for fatuous mothers, hardly had dared admit to herself that her son was +to other boys as a star to pebbles. When Knox, who had undertaken his +education at once, assured her that he must distinguish himself if he +lived, probably in letters, life felt almost fresh again, although she +regretted his handicap the more bitterly. As for Knox, his patience was +inexhaustible. Alexander would have everything resolved into its +elements, and was merciless in his demand for information, no matter +what the thermometer. He had no playmates until he was nine, and by that +time he had much else to sober him. Of the ordinary pleasures of +childhood he had scant knowledge. + +Rachael wondered at the invariable sunniness of his nature,--save when +he flew into a rage,--for under the buoyancy of her own had always been +a certain melancholy. Before his birth she had gone to the extremes of +happiness and grief, her normal relation to life almost forgotten. But +the sharpened nerves of the child manifested themselves in acute +sensibilities and an extraordinary precocity of intellect, never in +morbid or irritable moods. He was excitable, and had a high and +sometimes furious temper, but even his habit of study never extinguished +his gay and lively spirits. On the other hand, beneath the surface +sparkle of his mind was a British ruggedness and tenacity, and a +stubborn oneness of purpose, whatever might be the object, with which no +lighter mood interfered. All this Rachael lived long enough to discover +and find compensation in, and as she mastered the duties of her new life +she companioned the boy more and more. James was a good but +uninteresting baby, who made few demands upon her, and was satisfied +with his nurse. She never pretended to herself that she loved him as she +did Alexander, for aside from the personality of her first-born, he was +the symbol and manifest of her deepest living. + +Although Rachael was monotonously conscious of the iron that had impaled +her soul, she was not quite unhappy at this time, and she never ceased +to love Hamilton. Whatever his lacks and failures, nothing could destroy +his fascination as a man. His love for her, although tranquillized by +time, was still strong enough to keep alive his desire' to please her, +and he thought of her as his wife always. He felt the change in her, and +his soul rebelled bitterly at the destruction of his pedestal and halo, +and all that fiction had meant to both of them; but he respected her +reserve, and the subject never came up between them. He knew that she +never would love any one else, that she still loved him passionately, +despite the shattered ideal of him; and he consoled himself with the +reflection that even in giving him less than her entire store, she gave +him, merely by being herself, more than he had thought to find in any +woman. His courteous attentions to her had never relaxed, and in time +the old companionship was resumed; they read and discussed as in their +other home; but this their little circle was widened by two, Alexander +and Hugh Knox. The uninterrupted intimacy of their first years was not +to be resumed. + +They saw little of the society of St. Croix. In 1763 Christiana Huggins, +visiting the Peter Lyttons, married her host's brother, James, and +settled on the Island. She drove occasionally to the lonely estate in +the east, but she had a succession of children and little time for old +duties. Rachael exchanged calls at long intervals with her sisters and +their intimate friends, the Yards, Lillies, Crugers, Stevens, Langs, and +Goodchilds, but she had been too great a lady to strive now for social +position, practically dependent as she was on the charity of her +relatives. + + +IV + +In the third year of their life on St. Croix, Rachael discovered that +Peter Lytton was dissatisfied with Hamilton, and retained him to his own +detriment, out of sympathy for herself and her children. From that time +she had few tranquil moments. It was as if, like the timid in the +hurricane season, she sat constantly with ears strained for that first +loud roar in the east. She realized then that the sort of upheaval which +shatters one's economic life is but the precursor of other upheavals, +and she thought on the unknown future until her strong soul was faint +again. + +Hamilton was one of those men whose gifts are ruined by their impulses, +in whom the cultivation of sober judgement is interrupted by the +excesses of a too sanguine temperament. He was honourable, and always +willing to admit his mistakes, but years and repeated failure did little +toward balancing his faults and virtues. In time he wore out the +patience of even those who loved and admired him. His wife remained his +one loyal and unswerving friend, but her part in his life was near its +finish. The day came when Peter Lytton, exasperated once too often, +after an ill-considered sale of valuable stock, let fly his temper, and +further acceptance of his favour was out of the question. Hamilton, +after a scene with his wife, in which his agony and remorse quickened +all the finest passions in her own nature, sailed for the Island of St. +Vincent, in the hope of finding employment with one of his former +business connections. He had no choice but to leave his wife and +children dependent upon her relatives until he could send for them; and +a week later Rachael was forced to move to Peter Lytton's. + +Her brother-in-law's house was very large. She was given an upstairs +wing of it and treated with much consideration, but this final ignominy +broke her haughty spirit, and she lost interest in herself. She was +thankful that her children were not to grow up in want, that Alexander +was able to continue his studies with Hugh Knox. He was beyond her now +in everything but French, in which they read and talked together daily. +She also discussed constantly with him those heroes of history +distinguished not only for great achievements, but for sternest honour. +She dreamed of his future greatness, and sometimes of her part in it. +But her inner life was swathed like a mummy. + +To Alexander the change would have been welcome had he understood his +mother less. But the ordinary bright boy of nine is acute and observing, +and this boy of Rachael's, with his extraordinary intuitions, his +unboyish brain, his sympathetic and profound affection for his mother, +felt with her and criticised his father severely. To him failure was +incomprehensible, then, as later, for self-confidence and indomitability +were parts of his equipment; and that a man of his father's age and +experience, to say nothing of his education and intellect, should so +fail in the common relation of life, and break the heart and pride of +the uncommonest of women, filled him with a deep disappointment, which, +no doubt, was the first step toward the early loss of certain illusions. + +Otherwise his life was vastly improved. He soon became intimate with +boys of neighbouring estates, Edward and Thomas Stevens, and Benjamin +Yard, and for a time they all studied together under Hugh Knox. At first +there was discord, for Alexander would have led a host of cherubims or +had naught to do with them, and these boys were clever and spirited. +There were rights of word and fist in the lee of Mr. Lytton's barn, +where interference was unlikely; but the three succumbed speedily, not +alone to the powerful magnetism in little Hamilton's mind, and to his +active fists, but because he invariably excited passionate attachment, +unless he encountered jealous hate. When his popularity with these boys +was established they adored the very blaze of his temper, and when he +formed them into a soldier company and marched them up and down the palm +avenue for a morning at a time, they never murmured, although they were +like to die of the heat and unaccustomed exertion. Neddy Stevens, who +resembled him somewhat in face, was the closest of these boyhood +friends. + +Alexander was a great favourite with Mr. Lytton, who took him to ride +every morning; Mrs. Lytton preferred James, who was a comfortable child +to nurse; but Mrs. Mitchell was the declared slave of her lively nephew, +and sent her coach for him on Saturday mornings. As for Hugh Knox, he +never ceased to whittle at the boy's ambition and point it toward a +great place in modern letters. Had he been born with less sound sense +and a less watchful mother, it is appalling to think what a brat he +would have been; but as it was, the spoiling but fostered a +self-confidence which was half the battle in after years. + +Hamilton never returned. His letters to his wife spoke always of the +happiness of their final reunion, of belief in the future. His brothers +had sent him money, and he hoped they would help him to recover his +fortunes. But two years passed and he was still existing on a small +salary, his hopes and his impassioned tenderness were stereotyped. +Rachael's experience with Hamilton had developed her insight. She knew +that man requires woman to look after her own fuel. If she cannot, he +may carry through life the perfume of a sentiment, and a tender regret, +but it grows easy and more easy to live without her. It was a long while +before she forced her penetrating vision round to the certainty that she +never should see Hamilton again, and then she realized how strong hope +had been, that her interest in herself was not dead, that her love must +remain quick through interminable years of monotony and humiliation. For +a time she was so alive that she went close to killing herself, but she +fought it out as she had fought through other desperate crises, and +wrenched herself free of her youth, to live for the time when her son's +genius should lift him so high among the immortals that his birth would +matter as little as her own hours of agony. But the strength that +carried her triumphantly through that battle was fed by the last of her +vitality, and it was not long before she knew that she must die. + +Alexander knew it first. The change in his mother was so sudden, the +earthen hue of her white skin, the dimming of her splendid eyes, spoke +so unmistakably of some strange collapse of the vital forces, that it +seemed to the boy who worshipped her as if all the noises of the +Universe were shrieking his anguish. At the same time he fought for an +impassive exterior, then bolted from the house and rode across the +Island for a doctor. The man came, prescribed for a megrim, and +Alexander did not call him again; nor did he mention his mother's +condition to the rest of the family. She was in the habit of remaining +in her rooms for weeks at a time, and she had her own attendants. Mrs. +Lytton was an invalid, and Peter Lytton, while ready to give of his +bounty to his wife's sister, had too little in common with Rachael to +seek her companionship. Alexander felt the presence of death too surely +to hope, and was determined to have his mother to himself during the +time that remained. He confided in Hugh Knox, then barely left the +apartments. + +Just before her collapse Rachael was still a beautiful woman. She was +only thirty-two when she died. Her face, except when she forced her +brain to activity, was sad and worn, but the mobile beauty of the +features was unimpaired, and her eyes were luminous, even at their +darkest. Her head was always proudly erect, and nature had given her a +grace and a dash which survived broken fortunes and the death of her +coquetry. No doubt this is the impression of her which Alexander carried +through life, for those last two months passed to the sound of falling +ruins, on which he was too sensible to dwell when they had gone into the +control of his will. + +After she had admitted to Alexander that she understood her condition, +they seldom alluded to the subject, although their conversation was as +rarely impersonal. The house stood high, and Rachael's windows commanded +one of the most charming views on the Island. Below was the green +valley, with the turbaned women moving among the cane, then the long +white road with its splendid setting of royal palms, winding past a hill +with groves of palms, marble fountains and statues, terraces covered +with hibiscus and orchid, and another Great House on its summit. Far to +the right, through an opening in the hills, was a glimpse of the sea. + +Rachael lay on a couch in a little balcony during much of the soft +winter day, and talked to Alexander of her mother and her youth, finally +of his father, touching lightly on the almost forgotten episode with +Levine. All that she did not say his creative brain divined, and when +she told him what he had long suspected, that his mother's name was +unknown to the Hamiltons of Grange, he accepted the fact as but one more +obstacle to be overthrown in the battle with life which he had long +known he was to fight unaided. To criticise his mother never occurred to +him; her control of his heart and imagination was too absolute. His only +regret was that she could not live until he was able to justify her. The +audacity and boldness of his nature were stimulated by the prospect of +this sharp battle with the world's most cherished convention, and he was +fully aware of all that he owed to his mother. When he told her this she +said:-- + +"I regret nothing, even though it has brought me to this. In the first +place, it is not in me to do anything so futile. In the second place, I +have been permitted to live in every part of my nature, and how many +women can say that? In the third, you are in the world, and if I could +live I should see you the honoured of all men. I die with regret because +you need me for many years to come, and I have suffered so much that I +never could suffer again. Remember always that you are to be a great +man, not merely a successful one. Your mind and your will are capable of +all things. Never try for the second best, and that means to put your +immediate personal desire aside when it encounters one of the ideals of +your time. Unless you identify yourself with the great principles of the +world you will be a failure, because your mind is created in harmony +with them, and if you use it for smaller purposes it will fail as surely +as if it tried to lie or steal. Your passions are violent, and you have +a blackness of hate in you which will ruin you or others according to +the control you acquire over it; so be warned. But you never can fail +through any of the ordinary defects of character. You are too bold and +independent to lie, even if you had been born with any such disposition; +you are honourable and tactful, and there is as little doubt of your +fascination and your power over others. But remember--use all these +great forces when your ambition is hottest, then you can stumble upon no +second place. As for your heart, it will control your head sometimes, +but your insatiable brain will accomplish so much that it can afford to +lose occasionally; and the warmth of your nature will make you so many +friends, that I draw from it more strength to die than from all your +other gifts. Leave this Island as soon as you can. Ah, if I could give +you but a few thousands to force the first doors!" + +She died on the 25th of February, 1768. Her condition had been known for +some days, and her sisters had shed many tears, aghast and deeply +impressed at the tragic fate of this youngest, strangest, and most +gifted of their father's children. Unconsciously they had expected her +to do something extraordinary, and it was yet too soon to realize that +she had. His aunts had announced far and wide that Alexander was the +brightest boy on the Island, but that a nation lay folded in his saucy +audacious brain they hardly could be expected to know. + + +V + +The Great House of Peter Lytton was hung with white from top to bottom, +and every piece of furniture looked as if the cold wing of death had +touched it. A white satin gown, which had come from London for Rachael +six years before,--just too late, for she never went to a ball +again,--was taken from her mahogany press and wrapped about her wasted +body. Her magnificent hair was put out of sight in a cap of blond lace. + +The fashionable world of St. Croix, which had seen little of Rachael in +life, came to the ceremonious exit of her body. They sat along the four +sides of the large drawing-room, looking like a black dado against the +white walls, and the Rev. Cecil Wray Goodchild, the pastor of the larger +number of that sombre flock, sonorously read the prayers for the dead. +Hugh Knox felt that his was the right to perform that ceremony; but he +was a Presbyterian, and Peter Lytton was not one of his converts. He was +there, however, and so were several Danes, whose colourless faces and +heads completed the symbolization encircling the coffin. People of +Nevis, St. Christopher, and St. Croix were there, the sisters born of +the same mother, a kinsman of Hamilton's, himself named James Hamilton, +these bleached people of the North, whose faces, virtuous as they were, +would have seemed to the dead woman to shed the malignant aura of +Levine's,--and the boy for whom the sacrificial body had been laid on +the altar. He paid his debt in wretchedness then and there, and stood by +the black pall which covered his mother, feeling a hundred years older +than the brother who sat demurely on Mrs. Lytton's agitated lap. + +When Mr. Goodchild closed his book, the slave women entered with silver +pitchers containing mulled wines, porter mixed with sugar and spice, +madeira, and port wine. Heaped high on silver salvers were pastries and +"dyer bread," wrapped in white paper sealed with black wax. The guests +refreshed themselves deeply, then followed the coffin, which was borne +on the shoulders of the dead woman's brothers and their closest +friends, across the valley to the private burying-ground of the Lyttons. +Old James Lytton was placed beside her in the following year, and ten +years later a child of Christiana Huggins, the wife of his son. The cane +grows above their graves to-day. + + +VI + +Alexander went home with Mrs. Mitchell, and it was long before he +returned to Peter Lytton's. His favourite aunt was delighted to get him, +and her husband, for whom Alexander had no love, was shortly to sail on +one of his frequent voyages. + +Mrs. Mitchell had a winter home in Christianstadt, for she loved the gay +life of the little capital, and her large house, on the corner of King +and Strand streets, was opened almost as often as Government House. This +pile, with its imposing façade, represented to her the fulfilment of +worldly ambitions and splendour. There was nothing to compare with it on +Nevis or St. Kitts, nor yet on St. Thomas; and her imagination or memory +gave her nothing in Europe to rival it. When Government House was closed +she felt as if the world were eating bread and cheese. The Danes were +not only the easiest and most generous of rulers, but they entertained +with a royal contempt of pieces of eight, and their adopted children had +neither the excuse nor the desire to return to their native isles. + +Christianstadt, although rising straight from the harbour, has the +picturesque effect of a high mountain-village. As the road across the +Island finds its termination in King Street, the perceptible decline and +the surrounding hills, curving in a crescent to the unseen shore a mile +away, create the illusion. On the left the town straggles away in an +irregular quarter for the poor, set thick with groves of cocoanut and +palm. On the right, and parallel with the main road, is Company Street, +and above is the mountain studded with great white stone houses, +softened by the lofty roofs of the royal palm. All along King Street the +massive houses stand close together, each with its arcade and its +curious outside staircase of stone which leads to an upper balcony where +one may catch the breeze and watch the leisures of tropic life. Almost +every house has a court opening into a yard surrounded by the +overhanging balconies of three sides of the building; and here the +guinea fowl screech their matins, the roosters crow all night, there is +always a negro asleep under a cocoanut tree, and a flame of colour from +potted plants. + +Down by the sea is the red fort, built on a bluff, and commanding a +harbour beautiful to look upon, with its wooded island, its sharp high +points, its sombre swamps covered with lacing mangroves, but locked from +all the world but that which can come in sailing ships, by the coral +reef on which so many craft have gone to pieces. + +From Alexander's high window in Thomas Mitchell's house, he could see +the lively Park behind the Fort; the boats sail over from the blue peaks +of St. Thomas and St. John, the long white line of the sounding reef. +Above the walls of Government House was the high bold curve of the +mountain with its dazzling façades, its glitter of green. In the King +Street of that day gentlemen in knee breeches and lace shirts, their +hair in a powdered queue, were as familiar objects as turbaned blacks +and Danes in uniform. After riding over their plantations "to hear the +cane grow," they almost invariably brought up in town to talk over +prospects with the merchants, or to meet each other at some more jovial +resort. Sometimes they came clattering down the long road in a coach and +four, postilions shouting at the pic'nees in the road, swerving, and +halting so suddenly in some courtyard, that only a planter, accustomed +to this emotional method of travel, could keep his seat. Ordinarily he +preferred his horse, perhaps because it told no tales. + +Thomas Mitchell had made his large fortune in the traffic of slaves, and +was on terms of doubtful courtesy with Peter Lytton, who disapproved the +industry. Blacks were by no means his only source of revenue; he had +one of the two large general stores of the Island--the other was +Nicholas Cruger's--and plantations of cane, whose yield in sugar, +molasses, and rum never failed him. He was not a pleasing man in his +family, and did not extend the hospitality of its roof to Alexander with +a spontaneous warmth. His own children were married, and he did not look +back upon the era of mischievous boys with sufficient enthusiasm to +prompt him to adopt another. He yielded to his wife's voluble +supplications because domestic harmony was necessary to his content, and +Mistress Mitchell had her ways of upsetting it. Alexander was +immediately too busy with his studies to pay attention to the +indifferent grace with which Mr. Mitchell accepted his lot, and, +fortunately, this industrious merchant was much away from home. Hugh +Knox, as the surest means of diverting the boy from his grief, put him +at his books the day after he arrived in Christianstadt. His own house +was on Company Street, near the woods out of which the town seemed to +spring; and in his cool library he gathered his boys daily, and crammed +their brains with Latin and mathematics. The boys had met at Peter +Lytton's before, but Knox easily persuaded them to the new arrangement, +which was as grateful to him--he was newly married--as to Alexander. +When the lessons were over he gave his favourite pupil a book and an +easy-chair, or made experiments in chemistry with him until it was cool +enough to ride or row. In the evening Alexander had his difficult +lessons to prepare, and when he tumbled into bed at midnight he was too +healthy not to sleep soundly. He spent two days of every week with his +friend Ned Stevens, on a plantation where there were lively people and +many horses. Gradually the heaviness of his grief sank of its weight, +the buoyancy and vivacity of his mind were released, the eager sparkle +returned to his eyes. He did not cease to regret his mother, nor +passionately to worship her memory; but he was young, the future was an +unresting magnet to his ambitious mind, devoted friends did their +utmost, and his fine strong brain, eager for novelty and knowledge, +opened to new impressions, closed with inherent philosophy to what was +beyond recall. So passed Rachael Levine. + +A year later his second trial befell him. Ned Stevens, the adored, set +sail for New York to complete his education at King's College. Alexander +strained his eyes after the sails of the ship for an hour, then burst +unceremoniously into the presence of Hugh Knox. + +"Tell me quick," he exclaimed; "how can I make two thousand pieces of +eight? I must go to college. Why didn't my uncles send me with Neddy? He +had no wish to go. He swore all day yesterday at the prospect of six +years of hard work and no more excuses for laziness. I am wild to go. +Why could it not have been I?" + +"That's a curious way the world has, and you'll be too big a philosopher +in a few years to ask questions like that. If you want the truth, I've +wrangled with Peter Lytton,--it's no use appealing to Tom Mitchell,--but +he's a bit close, as you know, when it actually comes to putting his +hand in his pocket. He didn't send any of his own sons to New York or +England, and never could see why anyone else did. Schooling, of course, +and he always had a tutor and a governess out from England; but what the +devil does a planter want of a college education? I argued that I +couldn't for the life of me see the makings of a planter in you, but +that by fishing industriously among your intellects I'd found a certain +amount of respectable talent, and I thought it needed more training than +I could give it; that I was nearing the end of my rope, in fact. Then he +asked me what a little fellow like you would do with a college education +after you got it, for he couldn't stand the idea of you trying to earn +your living in a foreign city, where there was ice and snow on the +ground in winter; and when I suggested that you might stay on in the +college and teach, if you were afraid of being run over or frozen to +death in the street, he said there was no choice between a miserable +teacher's life and a planter's, and he'd leave you enough land to start +you in life. I cursed like a planter, and left the house. But he loves +you, and if you plead with him he might give way." + +"I'd do anything else under heaven that was reasonable to get to New +York but ask any man for money. Peter Lytton knows that I want learning +more than all the other boys on this island; and if I'm little, I've +broken in most of his colts and have never hesitated to fight. He finds +his pathos in his purse. Why can't I make two thousand pieces of eight?" + +"You'd be so long at it, poor child, that it would be too late to enter +college; for there's a long apprenticeship to serve before you get a +salary. But you must go. I've thought, thought about it, and I'll think +more." He almost wished he had not married; but as he had no other cause +to regret his venture, even his interest in young Hamilton did not urge +him to deprive his little family of the luxuries so necessary in the +West Indies. Economy on his salary would mean a small house instead of +large rooms where one could forget the heat; curtailment of the +voluminous linen wardrobes so soon demolished on the stones of the +river; surrender of coach and horses. He trusted to a moment of sudden +insight on the part of Peter Lytton, assisted by his own eloquent +argument; and his belief in Alexander's destiny never wavered. Once he +approached Mrs. Mitchell, for he knew she had money of her own; but, as +he had expected, she went into immediate hysterics at the suggestion to +part with her idol, and he hastily retreated. + +Alexander turned over every scheme of making money his fertile brain +conceived, and went so far as to ask his aunt to send him to New York, +where he could work in one of the West Indian houses, and attend college +by some special arrangement. He, too, retreated before Mrs. Mitchell's +agitation, but during the summer another cause drove him to work, and +without immediate reference to the wider education. + +Mr. Mitchell was laid up with the gout and spent the summer on his +plantation. His slaves fled at the sound of his voice, his wife wept +incessantly at this the heaviest of her life's trials, and it was not +long before Alexander was made to feel his dependence so keenly by the +irascible planter that he leaped on his horse one day and galloped five +miles under the hot sun to Lytton's Fancy. + +"I want to work," he announced, with his usual breathless impetuosity +when excited, bursting in upon Mr. Lytton, who was mopping his face +after his siesta. "Put me at anything. I don't care what, except in +Uncle Mitchell's store. I won't work for him." + +Mr. Lytton laughed with some satisfaction. "So you two have come to +loggerheads? Tom Mitchell, well, is insufferable. With gout in him he +must bristle with every damnable trait in the human category. Come back +and live with me," he added, in a sudden burst of sympathy, for the boy +looked hot and tired and dejected; and his diminutive size appealed +always to Peter Lytton, who was six feet two. "You're a fine little +chap, but I doubt you're strong enough for hard work, and you love your +books. Come here and read all day if you like. When you're grown I'll +make you manager of all my estates. Gad! I'd be glad of an honest one! +The last time I went to England, that devil, Tom Collins, drank every +bottle of my best port, smashed my furniture, broke the wind of every +horse I had, and kept open house for every scamp and loafer on the +Island, or that came to port. How old are you--twelve? I'll turn +everything over to you in three years. You've more sense now than any +boy I ever saw. Three years hence, if you continue to improve, you'll be +a man, and I'll be only too glad to put the whole thing in your hands." + +Alexander struggled with an impulse to ask his uncle to send him to +college, but not only did pride strike at the words, but he reflected +with some cynicism that the affection he inspired invariably expressed +itself in blatant selfishness, and that he might better appeal to the +enemies he had made to send him from the Island. He shook his head. + +"I'll remain idle no longer," he said. "I'm tired of eating bread that's +given me. I'd rather eat yours than his, but I've made up my mind to +work. What can you find for me now?" + +"You are too obstinate to argue with in August. Cruger wants a reliable +clerk. I heard him say so yesterday. He'll take you if I say the word, +and give you a little something in the way of salary." + +"I like Mr. Cruger," said Alexander, eagerly, "and so did my mother." + +"He's a kind chap, but he'll work you to death, for he's always in a +funk that Tom Mitchell'll get ahead of him. But you cannot do better. I +have no house in town, but you can ride the distance between here and +Christianstadt night and morning, if my estimable brother-in-law--whom +may the gout convince of his sins--is too much for you." + +But Alexander had no desire to return to the house where he had passed +those last terrible weeks with his mother, and Mrs. Mitchell begged him +on her knees to forgive the invalid, and sent him to the house in +Christianstadt, where he would be alone until December; by that time, +please God, Tom Mitchell would be on his way to Jamaica. But Alexander +had little further trouble with that personage. Mr. Mitchell had his +susceptibilities; he was charmed with a boy of twelve who was too proud +to accept the charity of wealthy relatives and determined to make his +living. Alexander entered Mr. Cruger's store in October. Mr. Mitchell +did not leave the Island again until the following spring, and moved to +town in November. He and Alexander discussed the prospects of rum, +molasses, and sugar, the price of mahogany, of oats, cheese, bread, and +flour, the various Island and American markets, until Mrs. Mitchell left +the table. Her husband proudly told his acquaintance that his nephew, +Alexander Hamilton, was destined to become the cleverest merchant in the +Caribbees. + + +VII + +But Alexander had small liking for his employment. He had as much +affinity with the sordid routine of a general store and counting-house +as Tom Mitchell had with the angels. But pride and ambition carried him +through most of the distasteful experiences of his life. He would come +short in nothing, and at that tender age, when his relatives were +prepared to forgive his failures with good-humoured tact, he was willing +to sacrifice even his books to clerical success. He soon discovered that +he had that order of mind which concentrates without effort upon what +ever demands its powers,--masters the detail of it with incredible +swiftness. At first he was a general clerk, and attended to the loading +and unloading of Mr. Cruger's sloops; after a time he was made +bookkeeper; it was not long before he was in charge of the +counting-house. He got back to his books in time--for business in the +Islands finishes at four o'clock--and when he had learned all the Latin, +Greek, Hebrew, and mathematics Hugh Knox could teach him, he spent his +leisure hours with Pope, Plutarch, Shakespeare, Milton, Plato, and the +few other English poets and works of Greek philosophers which Knox +possessed, as well as several abridged histories of England and Europe. +These interested him more than aught else, purely literary as his +proclivities were supposed to be, and he read and reread them, and +longed for some huge work in twenty volumes which should reveal Europe +to his searching vision. But this was when he was fourteen, and had +almost forgotten what the life of a mere boy was like. Shortly after he +entered Mr. Cruger's store he wrote his famous letter to young Stevens. +It will bear republication here, and its stilted tone, so different from +the concise simplicity of his business letters, was no doubt designed to +produce an effect on the mind of his more fortunate friend. He became a +master of style, and before he was twenty; but there is small indication +of the achievement in this letter, lovable as it is:-- + + + ST. CROIX, November 11, 1769. + + DEAR EDWARD, This serves to acknowledge the receipt of yours per + Capt. Lowndes, which was delivered me yesterday The truth of Capt. + Lightbowen and Lowndes' information is now verified by the presence + of your father and sister, for whose safe arrival I pray, and that + they may convey that satisfaction to your soul, that must naturally + flow from the sight of absent friends in health; and shall for news + this way, refer you to them. + + As to what you say, respecting your soon having the happiness of + seeing us all, I wish for an accomplishment of your hopes, provided + they are concomitant with your welfare, otherwise not; though doubt + whether I shall be present or not, for to confess my weakness, Ned, + my ambition is prevalent, so that I contemn the grovelling + condition of a clerk, or the like, to which my fortune condemns me, + and would willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt + my station. I am confident, Ned, that my youth excludes me from any + hopes of immediate preferment, 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 constant. I shall + conclude by saying I wish there was a war. + + I am, Dear Edward, Yours + + ALEX. HAMILTON. + + P.S. I this moment received yours by William Smith, and pleased to + see you give such close application to study. + +He hoped that in time Mr. Cruger would find it necessary to send him to +New York; but his employer found him too useful on St. Croix, and +recognized his abilities, not to the extent of advancing his +intellectual interests, but of taxing and developing his capacity for +business and its heavy responsibilities. In the following year he placed +him in temporary charge of his branch house, in Frederikstadt, and +Alexander never wished for war so desperately as when he stood under the +arcade on Bay Street and stared out at the shallow green roadstead and +the inimitable ocean beyond. Frederikstadt was a hamlet compared to +Christianstadt, and unredeemed--the arcades excepting--by any of the +capital's architectural or natural beauty. Alexander believed it to be +the hottest, dullest, and most depressing spot on either hemisphere. The +merchants and other residents were astonished that Nicolas Cruger should +send a lad of thirteen to represent him in matters which involved large +sums of money, but they recognized young Hamilton's ability even while +they stared with some rudeness at the small figure in white linen, and +the keen but very boyish face. When they passed him under the arcades, +and asked him what ship he expected to heave in sight, he was tempted to +say a man-of-war, but had no mind to reveal himself to the indifferent. +He read from sundown until midnight or later, by the light of two long +candles protected from draughts and insects by curving glass chimneys. +Mosquitoes tormented him and cockroaches as long as his hand ran over +the table; occasionally a land-crab rattled across the room, or a +centipede appeared on the open page. But he was accustomed to these +embellishments of tropic life, and although he anathematized them and +the heat, he went on with his studies. It was about this time that he +began to indulge in literary composition; and although less gifted boys +than Alexander Hamilton struggle through this phase of mental +development as their body runs the gamut of juvenile complaints, still +it may be that had not his enormous energies been demanded in their +entirety by a country in the terrible straits of rebirth, or had he +dwelt on earth twenty years longer, he would have realized the ambitions +of his mother and Hugh Knox, and become one of the greatest literary +forces the world has had. But although this exercise of his restless +faculties gave him pleasure, it was far from satisfying him, even then. +He wanted the knowledge that was locked up in vast libraries far beyond +that blinding stretch of sea, and he wanted action, and a sight of and a +part in the great world. Meanwhile, he read every book he could find on +the Island, made no mistakes in Mr. Cruger's counting-house, and stood +dreaming under the arcade for hours at a time, muttering his thoughts, +his mobile features expressing the ceaseless action of his brain. + +Sometime during the previous year Peter Levine had returned to St. Croix +for his health, and he remained with relatives for some time. He and +Alexander met occasionally and were friendly. As he was a decent little +chap our hero forgave him his paternity, although he never could quite +assimilate the fact that he was his mother's child. + +Alexander returned, after six months of Frederikstadt, to the East End +of the Island. A few months later, Mr. Cruger, whose health had failed, +went to New York for an extended sojourn, leaving the entire +responsibility of the business in young Hamilton's hands. Men of all +ages were forced to obey and be guided by a boy in the last weeks of his +fourteenth year, and there were many manifestations of jealous ill-will. +Some loved, others hated him, but few submitted gracefully to a +leadership which lowered their self-esteem. For the first time Alexander +learned that even a mercantile life can be interesting. He exercised all +the resources of his inborn tact with those who had loved and those who +did not hate him, and won them to a grateful acceptance of a mastership +which was far more considerate and sympathetic than anything they had +known. As for his enemies, he let them see the implacable quality of his +temper, mortified them by an incessant exposure of their failings, +struck aside their clumsy attempts to humiliate him with the keen blade +of a wit that sent them skulking. Finally they submitted, but they +cursed him, and willingly would have wrung his neck and flung him into +the bay. As for Hamilton, there was no compromise in him, even then, +where his enemies were concerned. He enjoyed their futile wrath, and +would not have lifted his finger to flash it into liking. + +Only once the tropical passions of his inheritance conquered his desire +to dominate through the forces of his will alone. One of the oldest +employees, a man named Cutter, had shown jealousy of young Hamilton from +the first, and a few days after Mr. Cruger's departure began to manifest +signs of open rebellion. He did his work ill, or not at all, absented +himself from the store for two days, and returned to his post without +excuse, squaring his shoulders about the place and sneering his contempt +of youthful cocks of the walk. Alexander struggled to maintain a +self-control which he felt to be strictly compatible with the dignity of +his position, although his gorge rose so high that it threatened to +choke him. The climax came when he gave Cutter a peremptory order, and +the man took out a cigar, lit it, and laughed in his face. For the next +few moments Alexander had a confused impression that he was in hell, +struggling his way through the roar and confusion of his nether +quarters. When he was himself again he was in the arms of his chief +assistant, and Mr. Cutter bled profusely on the floor. He was informed +later that he had "gone straight over the counter with a face like a +hurricane" and assaulted his refractory hireling with such incredible +rapidity of scientific fist that the man, who was twice his size, had +succumbed from astonishment and an almost supernatural terror. +Alexander, who was ashamed of himself, apologized at once, but gave the +man his choice of treating him with proper respect or leaving the store. +Cutter answered respectfully that he would remain; and he gave no +further trouble. + +"You'll get your head blown off one of these days," said Hugh Knox to +Alexander, on a Sunday, as they sat in the library over two long glasses +of "Miss Blyden," a fashionable drink made of sugar, rum, and the juice +of the prickly pear, which had been buried in the divine's garden for +the requisite number of months. "These Creoles are hot, even when +they're only Danes. It's not pleasant for those clerks, for it isn't as +if you had the look of the man you are. You look even younger than your +age, and for a man of thirty to say 'Yes, sir' to a brat like you chokes +him, and no wonder. I believe if there was a war this minute, you'd +rouse the Island and lead it to battle without a misgiving or an +apology. Well, don't let your triumphs lead to love of this business. I +happen to know that Cruger means to make a partner of you in a few +years, for he thinks the like of you never dropped into a merchant's +counting-house; but never forget that your exalted destiny is to be a +great man of letters, a historian, belike. You're taking to history, I +notice, and you're getting a fine vocabulary of your own." + +"I'd like to know what I'll write the history of if I'm to rot in this +God-forsaken place. Caribs? Puling rows between French and English? I'd +as well be up on Grange with my mother if it wasn't for you and your +books. I want the education of a collegian. I want to study and read +everything there is to be studied and read. I've made out a list of +books to send for, when I've money enough, as long as you are. It's +pinned on the wall of my room." + +"And I suppose you've never a qualm but that head of yours will hold it +all. You've a grand opinion of yourself, Alec." + +"That's a cutting thing for you to say to me, sir," cried Alexander, +springing to his feet. "I thought you loved me. If you think I'm a fool, +I'll not waste more of your time." + +"A West Indian temper beats the conceit out of the Irish. You'll control +yours when you're older, for there's nothing you won't do when you put +your mind to it, and you'll see the need for not making a fool of +yourself too often. But as for its present liking for exercise--it's a +long way the liveliest thing on St. Croix. However, you've forgiven me; +I know that by the twinkle in your eye, so I'll tell you that your brain +will hold all you care to put into it, and that you'll have made another +list as long as King Street before you're five years older. Meanwhile, +I've some books on theology and ethics you haven't had a dash at yet, +and you can't read my other old books too often. Each time you'll find +something new. Sitting up till midnight won't hurt you, but don't forget +to say your prayers." + +Knox, long since, had laid siege to Alexander's susceptible and ardent +mind with the lively batteries of his religious enthusiasms. His +favourite pupil was edifyingly regular in attendance at church, and said +his prayers with much fervour. The burden of his petitions was +deliverance from St. Croix. + +When this deliverance was effected by a thunderbolt from heaven, his +saving sense of humour and the agitated springs of his sympathy forbade +a purely personal application. But twenty years later he might have +reflected upon the opportune cause of his departure from St. Croix as +one of the ironies of the world's history; for an Island was devastated, +men were ruined, scores were killed, that one man might reach his proper +sphere of usefulness. + + +VIII + +Early in August, 1772, Mr. Cruger sent him on a business tour to several +of the neighbouring Islands, including the great _entrepôt_ of the West +Indies,--St. Thomas. Despite the season, the prospect of no wind for +days at a time, or winds in which no craft could live, Alexander +trembled with delight at the idea of visiting the bustling brilliant +versatile town of Charlotte Amalie, in whose harbour there were +sometimes one hundred and eighty ships, where one might meet in a day +men of every clime, and whose beauty was as famous as her wealth and +importance. How often Alexander had stared at the blue line of the hills +above her! Forty miles away, within the range of his vision, was a bit +of the great world, the very pivot of maritime trade, and one cause and +another had prevented him from so much as putting his foot on a sloop +whose sails were spread. + +As soon as the details of his tour were settled he rode out to the +plantations to take leave of his relatives. Mrs. Mitchell, who barred +the hurricane windows every time, the wind rose between July and +November, and sat with the barometer in her hand when the palms began to +bend, wept a torrent and implored him to abstain from the madness of +going to sea at that time of the year. Her distress was so acute and +real that Alexander, who loved her, forgot his exultation and would have +renounced the trip, had he not given his word to Mr. Cruger. + +"I'll be careful, and I'll ride out the day after I return," he said, +arranging his aunt on the sofa with her smelling-bottle, an office he +had performed many times. "You know the first wind of the hurricane is a +delight to the sailor, and we never shall be far from land. I'm in +command, and I'll promise you to make for shore at the first sign of +danger. Then I shall be as safe as here." + +His aunt sighed for fully a minute. "If I only could believe that you +would be careful about anything. But you are quite a big boy now, almost +sixteen, and ought to be old enough to take care of yourself." + +"If I could persuade you that I am not quite a failure at keeping the +breath in my body we both should be happier. However, I vow not to set +sail from any island if a hurricane is forming, and to make for port +every time the wind freshens." + +"Listen for that terrible roar in the southeast, and take my +barometer--Heaven knows what barometers are made for; there are not +three on the Island. I shall drive in to church every Sunday and besiege +Heaven with my supplications." + +"Well, spare me a breeze or I shall pray for a hurricane." + +He did not see Mrs. Lytton or James, but Mr. Lytton had scant +apprehension of hurricanes, and was only concerned lest his nephew roll +about in the trough of the sea under an August sun for weeks at a time. +"That's when a man doesn't repent of his sins; he knows there is nothing +worse to come," he said. "I'd rather have a hurricane," and Alexander +nodded. Mr. Lytton counted out a small bag of pieces of eight and told +the boy to buy his aunt a silk gown in Charlotte Amalie. "I've noticed +that if it's all one colour you're not so sure to have it accepted with +a sigh of resignation," he said. "But be careful of plaids and stripes." +And Alexander, with deeper misgivings than Mrs. Mitchell had inspired, +accepted the commission and rode away. + +He set sail on the following day, and made his tour of the lesser +islands under a fair breeze. Late in the month he entered the harbour of +St. Thomas, and was delighted to find at least fifty ships in port, +despite the season. It was an unusually busy year, and he had dared to +hope for crowded waters and streets; exquisite as Charlotte Amalie might +be to look upon, he wanted something more than a lovely casket. + +The town is set on three conical foot-hills, which bulge at equal +distances against an almost perpendicular mountain, the tip, it is said, +of a range whose foundations are four miles below. The three sections of +the town sweep from base to pointed apex with a symmetry so perfect, +their houses are so light and airy of architecture, so brilliant and +varied of colour, that they suggest having been called into being by the +stroke of a magician's wand to gratify the whim of an Eastern potentate. +Surely, they are a vast seraglio, a triple collection of pleasure houses +where captive maidens are content and nautch girls dance with feet like +larks. Business, commerce, one cannot associate with this enchanting +vista; nor cockroaches as long as one's foot, scorpions, tarantulas, and +rats. + +When Alexander was in the town he found that the houses were of stone, +and that one long street on the level connected the three divisions. +Flights of steps, hewn out of the solid rock of that black and barren +range, led to the little palaces that crowned the cones, and there were +palms, cocoanuts, and tamarind trees to soften the brilliancy of façade +and roof. Above the town was Blackbeard's Castle; and Bluebeard's so +high on the right that its guns could have levelled the city in an hour. +Although not a hundred years old, and built by the Danes, both these +frowning towers were museums of piratical tradition, and travellers +returned to Europe with imaginations expanded. + +The long street interested Alexander's practical mind more than legends +or architecture. Huge stone buildings--warehouses, stores, exchange- and +counting-houses--extended from the street to the edge of the water, +where ships were unloaded and loaded from doors at the rear. Men of +every nation and costume moved in that street; and for a day Mr. +Cruger's business was in abeyance, while the boy from the quiet Island +of St. Croix leaned against one of the heavy tamarind trees at the foot +of the first hill, and watched the restless crowd of Europeans, +Asiatics, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, North and South Americans. There were +as many national costumes as there were rival flags in the harbour. +There was the British admiral in his regimentals and powdered queue, the +Chinaman in his blouse and pigtail, the Frenchman with his earrings, +villanous Malays, solemn merchants from Boston, and negroes trundling +barrows of Spanish dollars. But it was the extraordinary assortment of +faces and the violent contrasts of temperament and character they +revealed which interested Alexander more than aught else. With all his +reading he had not imagined so great a variety of types; his mental +pictures had been the unconscious reflection of British, Danish, or +African. Beyond these he had come in contact with nothing more striking +than sailors from the neighbouring Islands, who had suggested little +besides the advisability of placing an extra guard over the money boxes +whilst they were in port. Most of these men who surged before him were +merchants of the first rank or the representatives of others as +important,--captains of large ships and their mates. The last sauntered +and cursed the heat, which was infernal; but the merchants moved rapidly +from one business house to another, or talked in groups, under the +tamarind trees, of the great interests which brought them to the Indies. +Upon the inherent characteristics which their faces expressed were +superimposed the different seals of those acquired,--shrewdness, +suspicion, a hawk-like alertness, the greed of acquisition. Alexander, +with something like terror of the future, reflected that there was not +one of these men he cared to know. He knew there were far greater cities +than the busy little _entrepôt_ of the West Indies, but he rightly +doubted if he ever should see again so cosmopolitan a mob, a more picked +assortment of representative types. Not one looked as if he remembered +his wife and children, his creed, or the art and letters of his land. +They were a sweating, cursing, voluble, intriguing, greedy lot, +picturesque to look upon, profitable to study, calculated to rouse in a +boy of intellectual passions a fury of final resentment against the +meannesses of commercial life. Alexander jerked his shoulders with +disgust and moved slowly down the street. After he had reflected that +great countries involved great ideas, and that there was no place for +either political or moral ideals in an isolated and purely commercial +town like little Charlotte Amalie, he recovered his poise, and lent +himself to his surroundings again with considerable philosophy. + +He had almost crossed the foot of the third hill when he turned +abruptly into a large store, unlike any he had seen. It was full of +women, splendid creatures, who were bargaining with merchants' clerks +for the bales of fine stuffs which had been opened for the display of +samples to the wholesale buyers from other Islands. These women +purchased the exiled stuffs to sell to the ladies of the capital, and +this was the only retail trade known to the St. Thomas of that day. +Alexander bethought himself of his uncle's commission, and precipitately +bought from the open bale nearest the door, then, from the next, a +present for Mrs. Mitchell. Mrs. Lytton, who was an invalid and +fifty-eight, received, a fortnight later, a dress pattern of +rose-coloured silk, and Mrs. Mitchell, who aspired to be a leader of +fashion, one of elderly brown. But Alexander was more interested in the +sellers than in the possible dissatisfaction of his aunts. The women of +his acquaintance were fair and fragile, and the Africans of St. Croix +were particularly hideous, being still of parent stock. But these +creatures were tawny and magnificent, with the most superb figures, the +most remarkable swing, that ever a man had looked upon; and glorious +eyes, sparkling with deviltry. On their heads the white linen was wound +to a high point and surmounted by an immense hat, caught up at one side +with a flower. They wore for clothing a double skirt of coloured linen, +and a white fichu, open in a point to the waist and leaving their +gold-coloured arms quite bare. They moved constantly, if only from one +foot to the other. Occasionally their eyes flashed sparks, and they flew +at each other's throats, screeching like guinea fowl, but in a moment +they were laughing good-naturedly again, and chattering in voices of a +remarkable soft sweetness. Several of them noticed Alexander, for his +beauty had grown with his years. His eyes were large and gray and dark, +like his mother's, but sparkled with ardour and merriment. His mouth was +chiselled from a delicate fulness to a curving line; firm even then, but +always humorous, except when some fresh experience with the ingenuous +self-interest of man deepened the humour to cynicism. The nose was long, +sharply cut, hard, strong in the nostrils, the head massive, the brow +full above the eyes, and the whole of a boyish and sunburned fairness. +He could fetch a smile that gave his face a sweet and dazzling beauty. +His figure was so supple and well knit, so proud in its bearing, that no +woman then or later ever found fault with its inconsiderable inches; and +his hands and feet were beautiful. His adoring aunt attended to his +wardrobe, and he wore to-day, as usual, white linen knee-breeches, black +silk stockings, a lawn shirt much beruffled with lace. His appearance +pleased these gorgeous birds of plumage, and one of them snatched him +suddenly from the floor and gave him a resounding smack. Alexander, much +embarrassed, but not wholly displeased, retreated hurriedly, and asked +an Englishman who they were and whence they came. + +"They are literally the pick of Martinique, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the +other Islands celebrated for beautiful women. Of course they've all got +a touch of the tar brush in them, but the French or the Spanish blood +makes them glorious for a few years, and during those few they come here +and make hay. Some come at certain seasons only, others perch here till +they change in a night from houri to hag. This daylight trade gives them +a _raison d'étre_, but wait till after dark. God! this is a hell hole; +but by moonlight or torchlight this street is one of the sights of the +earth. The magnificent beauty of the women, enhanced by silken stuffs of +every colour, the varied and often picturesque attire of the men, all +half mad with drink--well, if you want to sleep, you'd better get a room +high up." + +"Mine is up one hundred and seventeen steps. I am but afraid I may not +see all there is to see." + +But before the week was half out he had tired of St. Thomas by day and +by night. The picture was too one-sided, too heavily daubed with colour. +It made a palette of the imagination, sticky and crude. He began to +desire the green plantations of St. Croix, and more than ever he longed +for the snow-fields of the north. Two days of hard work concluded Mr. +Cruger's business, and on the thirtieth of the month he weighed anchor, +in company with many others, and set sail for St. Croix. He started +under a fair breeze, but a mile out the wind dropped, and he was until +midnight making the harbour of Christianstadt When they were utterly +becalmed the sun seemed to focus his hell upon the little sloop. It +rolled sickeningly in the oily wrinkled waters, and Alexander put his +Pope in his pocket. The sea had a curious swell, and he wondered if an +earthquake were imminent. The sea was not quite herself when her +foundations were preparing to shake. Earth-quakes had never concerned +him, but as the boat drifted past the reef into the harbour of +Christianstadt at midnight, he was assailed by a fit of terror so sudden +and unaccountable that he could recall but one sensation in his life +that approached it: shortly after he arrived on the Island he had stolen +down to the lagoon one night, fascinated by the creeping mist, the +scowling manchineels, the talk of its sinister inhabitant, and was +enjoying mightily his new feeling of creeping terror, when the silence +was broken by a heavy swish, and he saw the white belly of the shark not +three feet from him. He had scampered up the hill to his mother's skirts +as fast as his legs could carry him, nor visited the lagoon again until +the shark was mouldering on its bed. To-night a mist, almost +imperceptible except on the dark line of coast, changed the beauty of +the moonbeams to a livid light that gave the bay the horrid pallor of a +corpse. The masses of coral rock in the shallow waters looked leprous, +the surface was so glassy that it fell in splinters from the oars of the +boat that towed them to shore. There was not a sound from the reef, not +a sound from the land. The slender lacing mangroves in the swamp looked +like upright serpents, black and petrified, and the Fort on the high +bluff might have been a sarcophagus full of dead men but for the +challenge of the sentry. + +Alexander began to whistle, then climbed down into the boat and took an +oar. When he had his feet on land he walked up King Street more hastily +than was his habit in the month of August. But here, although the town +might have been a necropolis, so quiet was it, it had not put on a death +mask. There was no mist here; the beautiful coral houses gleamed under +the moonbeams as if turned to marble, and Alexander forgot the horror of +the waters and paused to note, as he had done many times before, the +curious Alpine contrast of these pure white masses against the green and +burnished arches of tropic trees. Then he passed through the +swimming-bath to his bed, and a half-hour later slept as soundly as if +the terrible forces of the Caribbean world were safe in leash. + + +IX + +When he awoke, at seven o'clock, he heard a dull low roar in the +southeast, which arrested his attention at once as a sound quite +dissimilar from the boom of the reef. As he crossed Strand Street to Mr. +Cruger's store, an hour later, he noticed that a strong wind blew from +the same direction and that the atmosphere was a sickly yellow. For a +moment, he thought of the hurricane which he had passed his life +expecting, but he had a head full of business and soon forgot both roar +and wind. He was immediately immersed in a long and precise statement of +his trip, writing from notes and memory, muttering to himself, utterly +oblivious to the opening of the windows or the salutations of the +clerks. Mr. Cruger arrived after the late breakfast. He looked worried, +but shook Alexander's hand heartily, and thanked heaven, with some +fervour, that he had returned the night before. They retired to the +private office on the court, and Mr. Cruger listened with interest to +young Hamilton's account of his trip, although it was evident that his +mind felt the strain of another matter. He said abruptly:-- + +"The barometer was down two-tenths when I visited the Fort at a quarter +to eleven. I'd give a good deal to know where it is now." + +Alexander remembered his aunt's barometer, which he had hung in his room +before sailing, and volunteered to go over and look at it. + +"Do," exclaimed Mr. Cruger; "and see if the wind's shifted." + +As Alexander crossed Strand Street to the side door of Mr. Mitchell's +house he encountered the strongest wind he had ever known, and black +clouds were racing back and forth as if lost and distracted. He returned +to tell Mr. Cruger that the barometer stood at 30.03. + +"And the wind hasn't shifted?" demanded Mr. Cruger. "That means we'll be +in the direct path of a hurricane before the day is half out, unless +things change for the better. If the barometer falls four-tenths"--he +spread out his hands expressively. "Of course we have many scares. +Unless we hear two double guns from the Fort, there will be no real +cause for alarm; but when you hear that, get on your horse as quick as +you can and ride to warn the planters. The Lyttons and Stevens and +Mitchells will do for you. I'll send out three of the other boys." + +They returned to accounts. Mr. Cruger expressed his gratification +repeatedly and forgot the storm, although the wind was roaring up King +Street and rattling the jalousies until flap after flap hung on a broken +hinge. Suddenly both sprang to their feet, books and notes tumbling to +the floor. Booming through the steady roar of the wind was the quick +thunder of cannon, four guns fired in rapid succession. + +As Alexander darted through the store, the clerks were tumbling over +each other to secure the hurricane windows; for until the last minute, +uneasy as they were, they had persuaded themselves that St. Croix was in +but for the lashing of a hurricane's tail, and had bet St. Kitts against +Monserrat as flattening in the path of the storm. The hurricane windows +were of solid wood, clamped with iron. It took four men to close them +against the wind. + +Alexander was almost flung across Strand Street. Shingles were flying, +the air was salt with spray skimmed by the wind from the surface of +waves which were leaping high above the Fort, rain was beginning to +fall. Mr. Mitchell's stables were in the rear of his house. Every negro +had fled to the cellar. Alexander unearthed four and ordered them to +close the hurricane windows. He had saddled many a horse, and he urged +his into Strand Street but a few moments later. Here he had to face the +wind until he could reach the corner and turn into King, and even the +horse staggered and gasped as if the breath had been driven out of him. +He reared back against the wall, and Alexander was obliged to dismount +and drag him up the street, panting for breath himself, although his +back was to the wind and he kept his head down. The din was terrific. +Cannon balls might have been rattling against the stones of every house, +and to this was added a roar from the reef as were all the sounds of the +Caribbean Sea gathered there. Alexander would have pulled his hat down +over his ears, for the noise was maddening, but it had flown over the +top of a house as he left the store. He was a quarter of an hour +covering the few yards which lay between the stable and the corner, and +when he reached the open funnel of King Street he was nearly swept off +his feet. Fortunately the horse loved him, and, terrified as it was, +permitted him to mount; and then it seemed to Alexander, as they flew up +King Street to the open country, that they were in a fork of the wind, +which tugged and twisted at his neck while it carried them on. He +flattened himself to the horse, but kept his eyes open and saw other +messengers, as dauntless as himself, tearing in various directions to +warn the planters, many of whom had grown callous to the cry of "Wolf." + +The horse fled along the magnificent avenue of royal palms which +connected the east and west ends of the Island. They were bending and +creaking horribly, the masses of foliage on the summits cowering away +from the storm, wrapping themselves about in a curiously pitiful manner; +the long blade-like leaves seemed striving each to protect the other. +Through the ever-increasing roar of the storm, above the creaking of the +trees, the pounding of the rain on the earth, and on the young cane, +Alexander heard a continuous piercing note, pitched upon one monotonous +key, like the rattle of a girl's castinets he had heard on St. Thomas. +His brain, indifferent now to the din, was as active as ever, and he +soon made out this particular noise to be the rattle of millions of +seeds in the dry pods of the "shaggy-shaggy," or "giant," a common +Island tree, which had not a leaf at this season, nothing but countless +pods as dry as parchment and filled with seeds as large as peas. Not for +a second did this castinet accompaniment to the stupendous bass of the +storm cease, and Alexander, whose imagination, like every other sense in +him, was quickening preternaturally, could fancy himself surrounded by +the orchestra of hell, the colossal instruments of the infernal regions +performed upon by infuriate Titans. He was not conscious of fear, +although he knew that his life was not worth a second's purchase, but he +felt a wild exhilaration, a magnificent sense of defiance of the most +powerful element that can be turned loose on this planet; his nostrils +quivered with delight; his soul at certain moments, when his practical +faculty was uncalled upon, felt as if high in the roaring space with the +Berserkers of the storm. + +Suddenly his horse, in spite of the wall of wind at his back, stood on +his hind legs, then swerved so fiercely that his rider was all but +unseated. A palm had literally leaped from the earth, sprawled across +the road not a foot in front of the horse. The terrified brute tore +across the cane-field, and Alexander made no attempt to stop him, for, +although the rain was now falling as if the sea had come in on the high +back of the wind, he believed himself to be on the Stevens plantation. +The negro village was not yet deserted, and he rode to the west side of +the mill and shouted his warning to the blacks crouching there. On every +estate was a great bell, hung in an open stone belfry, and never to be +rung except to give warning of riot, flood, fire, or hurricane. One of +the blacks obeyed Alexander's peremptory command to ring this bell, and, +as it was under the lee of the mill, reached it in a moment. As +Alexander urged his horse out into the storm again, he heard the rapid +agitated clang of the bell mingle discordantly with the bass of the wind +and the piercing rattle of the giant's castinets. He rode on through the +cane-field, although if the horse stumbled and injured itself, he would +have to lie on his face till the storm was over. But there was a greater +danger in the avenue; he was close enough to see and hear tree after +tree go down, or their necks wrenched and the great green heads rush +through the air with a roar of their own, their long glittering leaves +extended before them as if in supplication. + +The Lytton plantation was next on his way, and Alexander rode straight +for the house, as the mills and village lay far to the left. The +hurricane shutters on the sides encountering the storm were already +closed, and he rode round to the west, where he saw his uncle's anxious +face at a drawing-room window. Mr. Lytton flung himself across the sash +in an attempt to lift the boy from his horse into the room, and when +Alexander shouted that he was on his way to the Mitchell estate, +expostulated as well as he could without breaking his throat. He begged +him to rest half an hour at least, but when informed that the Fort for +the first time within the memory of man had fired its double warning, he +ran to fasten his hurricane windows more securely, and despatch a slave +to warn his blacks; their huts never would survive the direct attack of +a hurricane. He was horrified to think of his favourite exposed to a +fury, which, clever and intrepid as he was, he had small chance of +outwitting; but at least he had that one chance, and Mrs. Mitchell was +alone. + +Alexander passed through one other estate before he reached Mr. +Mitchell's, terrifying those he warned almost as much by his wild and +ragged appearance--his long hair drove straight before him, and his thin +shirt was in sodden ribbons--as by his news that a first-class hurricane +was upon them. At last he was in the cane-fields of his destination, and +the horse, as if in communication with that ardent brain so close to his +own, suddenly accelerated his already mercurial pace, until it seemed to +Alexander that he gathered up his legs and darted like an inflated +swallow straight through crashing avenues and flying huts to the stable +door. Fortunately this solid building opened to the west, and Alexander +was but a few moments stalling and feeding the animal who had saved two +necks by his clever feet that day. He was sorry so poorly to reward him +as to close and bar the door, but he feared that he might forget to +attend to it when the hurricane veered, and in all the fury of +approaching climax was pouring out of the west. + +The house was only an eighth of a mile away, but Alexander was half an +hour reaching it. He had to travel on his knees, sometimes on his +stomach, until he reached the western wall, keeping his arm pressed +close against his eyes; his sense of humour, not to be extinguished by a +hurricane, rebelling at the ignoble pass to which his pride had come. +When he reached the north wall he rose, thinking he could cling to the +projections, but he was still facing the storm; he flung himself +prostrate again to avoid being lifted off his feet and sailing with the +rubbish of Mr. Mitchell's plantation. As he reached the corner the wind +gave him a vicious flip, which landed him almost at the foot of the +steps, but he was comparatively safe, and he sat down to recover his +breath. He could afford a few moments' rest, for the heavy wooden +windows facing the east, north, and south, were closed. Here he was +sheltered in a way. The only two good words that can be said for a +hurricane are that it gives sufficient warning of its approach, and that +it blows from one point of the compass at a time. Alexander sat there +panting and watched the wild battle in mid-air of shingles, fences, +thatched roofs, and tree-tops; listened to the artillery of the storm, +which, with a stone building to break its steady roar, sounded as if a +hundred cannon were bombarding the walls and rattling here and there on +their carriages meanwhile; listened to crash after crash of tree and +wall, the terrified bowlings and bellowings of beasts, the shrieking and +grinding of trees, the piercing monotone of the dry seeds in their cases +of parchment, the groans and prayers of the negroes in the cellar behind +him. He turned his head and looked through the windows of the great +apartment, which, although above ground, was supposed to be safest in a +hurricane. All but the western blinds being closed, the cellar was +almost dark, but Alexander knew that it was packed: doubtless every +African on the estate was there; he could see, for some distance back, +row after row of rolling eyes and hanging tongues. Some knelt on the +shoulders of others to get the air. Alexander shuddered. The sight +reminded him of his uncle's slave-ships, where the blacks came, chained +together, standing in the hold, so closely packed that if one died he +could not fall, nor the others protect themselves from the poisons of a +corpse, which pressed hard against the living for twenty hours perhaps, +before it was unchained and flung to the sharks. Alexander went close to +one of the windows and shouted to them not to forget to secure the +western blinds when the lull came, then ran up the steps and vaulted +through an open window. It was a few minutes before he found his aunt, +and it must be recorded that on his way to the front of the house he +looked under two beds and into four wardrobes. He came upon her in the +drawing-room, valiantly struggling with a hurricane window. Her hair was +dishevelled, and her eyes bulged with horror, but even as Alexander came +to the rescue, she shoved the bar into place. Then she threw herself +into his arms and fainted. He had but time to fling water on her face, +when a loud rattle from another window sent him bounding to it, and for +ten minutes he struggled to fasten the blind soundly again, while it +seemed to him that a hundred malignant fingers were tugging at its edge. +He had no sooner secured it, than his aunt's voice at his ear begged him +to try every window on three sides of the house, and he went rapidly +from one to the other, finding most of them in need of attention--long +disuse had weakened both staples and hooks. His aunt trotted after him, +thumping every window, and reminding him that if one went, and the wind +burst in, the roof would be off and the torrents upon them before they +could reach the cellar. + +Fortunately for those who fought the storm, the temperature had fallen +with the barometer, and these two dared not relax their vigilance for a +moment. Every negro had deserted to the lower region. Alexander was +unable to change his wet clothes or to refresh himself with so much as a +banana, but there was not a second's time to think of hunger or +discomfort. More than once that sense of wild exultation in fighting a +mighty element possessed him. His own weak hands and a woman's weaker +against one of the Titanic hurricanes of the world's history, with a +prospect of winning the fight, was a sight to move comfortable gods to +paean or laughter, according to their spiritual development. + +But during much of that terrible day and night Alexander's brain was +obliged to work on device after device to strengthen those battered +boards which alone protected the house from destruction, its inmates, +perhaps, from death. A tamarind tree came down on a corner of the roof +with a crash; and when Mrs. Mitchell and Alexander reached the room, +which was in a wing, the rain was struggling past the heavy mass through +a hole in the roof. They closed up the room, as well as the jalousies of +the inner walls, but as they returned to the windows they heard the rain +fighting to pass the branches, and knew that if the wind snatched the +tree, the deluge would come in. + +Mrs. Mitchell neither fainted again nor exhibited other sign of fear. +While that hurricane lasted she was all Mary Fawcett; and Alexander, +meeting her eyes now and again, or catching sight of her as she darted +forward at the first rattle of a shutter, recalled his mother's many +anecdotes of his redoubtable grandmother, and wondered if that valiant +old soul had flown down the storm to the relief of the fortress. + +Toward evening that sudden lull came which means that at last the +besieged are in the very centre of the hurricane, and will have respite +while the monster is swinging his tail to the west. Alexander and Mrs. +Mitchell, after opening the windows on the east side of the house, and +securing those opening to the west, went to the pantry and made a +substantial meal without sitting or selecting. To his last day Alexander +could not remember what he ate that night, although he recalled the +candle in the long chimney, the constant craning of his aunt's head, the +incessant racing of the rats along the beams. He went to his room and +took a cold bath, which with the food and suspended excitement quite +refreshed him; put on dry clothes, nailed a board against the hole in +the roof, then sat down with Mrs. Mitchell in the western gallery to +await the hurricane's return. + +"We have three windows where we had one before," remarked Mrs. +Mitchell; "and the hinges of that door are rusty. God knows! If you had +not come, the roof would have gone long before this." + +"The silence is horrible," said Alexander. + +It was, indeed, earsplitting. Not a sound arose from that devastated +land. Birds and beasts must lie dead by the thousand; not a horseman +ventured abroad; not a whisper came from the cellar, where two hundred +Africans might be dead from fright or suffocation. Mrs. Mitchell had lit +the candles, and there was something sinister and ironical in the steady +flames. How long before they would leap and add the final horror to what +must be a night of horrors? It was impossible to work in the dark, but +every yellow point was a menace. + +They had not long to endure the silence. This time the hurricane sent no +criers before it. It burst out of the west with a fury so intensified +that Alexander wondered if one stone in Frederikstadt were left upon +another. It was evident that it had gathered its forces for a final +assault, and its crashing and roaring, as it tore across the unhappy +Island it had marked for destruction, was that of a gigantic wheel +whirling ten thousand cannon, exploding, and lashing each other in +mid-air. It seemed to Alexander that every ball they surely carried +rattled on the roof, and the heavy stone structure vibrated for the +first time. It was two hours before he and Mrs. Mitchell met again, for +they worked at opposite ends of the long gallery; but in the third both +rushed simultaneously to the door. It sprang back from its rusty +fastenings, and they were but in time to seize the bar which passed +through a staple in its middle, and pull it inward until it pressed hard +against the jamb on the right. There was no other way to secure it, and +for three hours Alexander and Mrs. Mitchell dragged at it alternately, +while the other attended to the windows. By this time Alexander had +ceased to wonder if he should see another morning, or much to care: the +storm was so magnificent in its almighty power, its lungs of iron +bellowed its purpose with such furious iteration, as if out of all +patience with the mortals who defied it, that Alexander was almost +inclined to apologize. More than once it took the house by the shoulders +and shook it, and then a yell would come from below, a simultaneous note +pitched in a key of common agony. Suddenly the house seemed to spring +from its foundations, then sink back as if to collapse. Alexander called +out that it had been uprooted and would go down the hill in another +moment, but Mrs. Mitchell, who was at the bar, muttered, "An earthquake. +I believe a hurricane shakes the very centre of the earth." + +They feared that the foundations of the house had been loosened, and +that the next blast would turn it over, but the house was one of the +strongest in the Caribbees, built to withstand the worst that Nature +could do, so long as man saw to its needs; and when the hurricane at +last revolved its artillery away into the east, carrying with it that +piercing rattle of the giant's castinets, which never for a moment had +ceased to perform its part, roof and walls were firm. Mrs. Mitchell and +Alexander sank where they had stood, and slept for twenty hours. + + +X + +Alexander rode back to Christianstadt two days later, and again and +again he drew a hard breath and closed his eyes. It was a sight to move +any man, and the susceptible and tender nature of young Hamilton bled +for the tragedy of St. Croix. There was not a landmark, not a +cane-field, to remind him that it was the beautiful Island on which he +had spent the most of his remembering years. Although all of the Great +Houses were standing, their mien and manner were so altered by the +disappearance of their trees and outbuildings, and by the surrounding +pulpy flats in place of the rippling acres of young cane, that they were +unrecognizable. Here and there were masses of débris, walls and thatched +roofs swept far from the village foundations; but as a rule there was +but a board here or a bunch of dried leaves there, a battered utensil or +a stool, to reward the wretched Africans who wandered about searching +for the few things they had possessed before the storm. They looked +hopeless and dull, as if their faculties had been stunned by the +prolonged incessant noise of the hurricane. + +Alexander was riding down what a week ago had been the most celebrated +avenue in the Antilles. Where there were trees at all, they were +headless, the long gray twisted trunks as repulsive as they had once +been beautiful The road was littered with many of the fallen; but others +were far away in what had been the cane-fields, serpents and lizards +sunning themselves on the dead roots. Even stone walls were down, and +under them, sometimes, were men. Mills were in ruins; for no one had +remained to keep bars in their staples. Tanks of last year's rum and +treacle had been flung through the walls, and their odours mingled with +the stench of decomposing men and cattle. The horrid rattle of the +land-crab was almost the only sound in that desolate land. "The Garden +of the Antilles" looked like a putrid swamp, and she had not a beauty on +her. + +Alexander turned at a cross-road into a path which led through the +Grange estate to the private burying-ground of the Lyttons. These few +moments taxed his courage more heavily than the ride with the hurricane +had done, and more than once he opened his clenched teeth and half +turned his horse's head. But he went on, and before long he had climbed +to the end of his journey. The west wall of the little cemetery had been +blown out, and the roof of old James Lytton's tomb lay with its débris. +A tree, which evidently had been torn from the earth and flung from a +distance, lay half in and half out of the enclosure. But his mother's +headstone, which stood against the north wall, was undisturbed, although +the mound above her was flat and sodden. The earth had been strong +enough to hold her. Alexander remembered its awful air of finality as it +opened to receive her, then closed over her. What he had feared was that +the burying-ground, which stood on the crest of a hill, would have been +uprooted and scattered over the cane-fields. + +He rode on to Christianstadt. There the evidences of the hurricane were +less appalling, for the houses, standing close together, had protected +each other, and only two were unroofed; but everywhere the trees looked +like twisted poles, the streets and gardens were full of rubbish, and +down by the bay the shore was strewn with the wreckage of ships; the +Park behind the Fort was thick with decaying fish, which the blacks were +but just now sweeping out to the water. + +After Alexander had ascertained that Mr. Mitchell's house was quite +unharmed, although a neighbour had lost half a roof and been deluged in +consequence, he walked out Company Street to see how it had fared with +Hugh Knox. That worthy gentleman was treating his battered nerves with +weak whiskey and water when he caught sight of Alexander through the +library window. He gave a shout that drew an exasperated groan through +the ceiling, flung open the door, and clasped his beloved pupil in his +arms. + +"I knew you were safe, because you are you, although I've been afraid to +ask if you were dead or alive. Cruger sent out three others to warn the +planters, and they've all been brought home, one dead, one maimed, one +with chills and fever and as mad as a March hare. Good God! what a +visitation! I'd rather have been on a moving bog in Ireland. You +wouldn't have ridden out in that hurricane if I'd got you, not if I'd +been forced to tie you up. Fancy your being here alive, and not even a +cold in your head! But you've a grand destiny to work out, and the +hurricane--which I believe was the Almighty in a temper--knew what it +was about. Now tell me your experience. I'm panting to tell you mine. +I've not had a soul to talk to since the hour it started. The Missis +behaved like a Trojan while it lasted, then went to bed, and hasn't +spoken to me since; and as for everyone else in Christianstadt--well, +they've retired to calm their nerves in the only way,--prayer first and +whiskey after." + +Alexander took possession of his own easy-chair and looked gratefully +around the room. The storm had not disturbed it, neither had a wench's +duster. Since his mother's death he had loved this room with a more +grateful affection than any mortal had inspired, well as he loved his +aunt, Hugh Knox, and Neddy. But the room did not talk, and the men who +had written the great books which made him indifferent to his island +prison for days and weeks at a time, were dead, and their selfishness +was buried with them. + +Meanwhile Knox, forgetting his desire to hear the experience of his +guest, was telling his own. It was sufficiently thrilling, but not to be +compared with that of the planter's; and when he had finished, Alexander +began with some pride to relate his impressions of the storm. He, too, +had not talked for three days; his heart felt warm again; and in the +familiar comfortable room, the terrible picture of the hurricane seemed +to spring sharp and vivid from his memory; he had recalled it confusedly +hitherto, and made no effort to live it again. Knox leaned forward +eagerly, dropping his pipe; Alexander talked rapidly and brilliantly, +finally springing to his feet, and concluding with an outburst so +eloquent that his audience cowered and covered his face with his hands. +For some moments Knox sat thinking, then he rose and pushed a small +table in front of Alexander, littering it with pencils and paper, in his +untidy fashion. + +"My boy," he said, "you're still hot with your own eloquence. Before you +cool off, I want you to write that down word for word as you told it to +me. If it twisted my very vitals, it will give a similar pleasure to +others. 'Twould be selfish to deny them. When it's done, I'll send it to +Tiebout. Now I'll leave you, and if my niggers are still too demoralized +to cook supper for you, I'll do it myself." + +Alexander, whose brain, in truth, felt on fire, for every nerve had +leapt to the recreating of that magnificent Force that had gathered an +island into the hollow of its hand, crushed, and cast it back to the +waters, dashed at the paper and wrote with even more splendour than he +had spoken. When he had finished, he was still so excited that he +rushed from the house and walked till the hideous sights and smells +drove him home. He was quivering with the ecstasy of birth, and longed +for another theme, and hours and days of hot creation. But he was to be +spared the curse of the "artistic temperament." + + +XI + +The description of the hurricane went to St. Christopher by sloop two +days later (there were no English papers on St. Croix), and was not +heard from for two weeks. Meanwhile Alexander forgot it, as writers have +a way of forgetting their infants of enthusiastic delivery. There was +much to do on St. Croix. The negroes were put at once to rebuilding and +repairing, and masters, as well as overlookers and agents, were behind +them from morning till night. Mr. Mitchell had not returned, and +Alexander was obliged to take charge of his estates. When he was not +galloping from village to village and mill to mill, driving the sullen +blacks before him, or routing them out of ruins and hollows, where they +huddled in a demoralized stupor, he was consoling his aunt for the +possible sacrifice of Mr. Mitchell to the storm. Alexander was quite +confident that the hurricane had spared Tom Mitchell, whomsoever else it +may have devoured, but his logic did not appeal to his aunt, who wept +whenever he was there to offer his arm and shoulder. At other times she +bustled about among her maids, who were sewing industriously for the +afflicted. + +Alexander was grateful for the heavy task Mr. Mitchell's absence +imposed, for there was no business doing in Christianstadt, and his +nerves were still vibrating to the storm he had fought and conquered. +His rigorous self-control was gone, his suppressed energies and +ambitions were quick and imperious, every vial of impatience and disgust +was uncorked. As he rode through the hot sunlight or moved among the +Africans, coaxing and commanding, getting more work out of them by his +gay bright manner than the overlookers could extract with their whips, +his brain was thumping with plans of delivery from a life which he +hated so blackly that he would wrench himself free of it before the year +was out if he had to ship as a common sailor for New York. It seemed to +him that the vacancies in his brain ached. His imagination was hot with +the future awaiting him beyond that cursed stretch of blinding water. +For the first time he fully realized his great abilities, knew that he +had in him the forces that make history. All the encouragement of his +mother and Hugh Knox, the admiration and confidence of such men as Mr. +Cruger, the spoiling of his relatives, and his easy conquest or equally +flattering antagonism of the youth of the Island, had fostered his +self-confidence without persuading him that he was necessarily a genius. +Strong as his youthful ambitions had been, burning as his desire for +more knowledge, much in his brain had been dormant, and a humorous +philosophy, added to the sanguineness of youth and a deep affection for +a few people, had enabled him to bear his lot with unbroken +cheerfulness. But the clashing forces of the Universe had roused the +sleeping giant in his brain and whirled his youth away. His only +formulated ambition was to learn first all that schools could teach him, +then lead great armies to battle. Until the day of his death his desire +for military excitement and glory never left him, and at this time it +was the destiny which heated his imagination. It seemed to him that the +roar and rattle of the hurricane, in whose lead he had managed to +maintain himself unharmed, were the loud prophecy of battle and +conquest. At the same time, he knew that other faculties and demands of +his brain must have their way, but he could only guess at their nature, +and statesmanship was the one achievement that did not occur to him; the +American colonies were his only hope, and there was no means by which he +could know their wrongs and needs. Such news came seldom to the West +Indies, and Knox retained little interest in the country where he had +sojourned so short a while. And at this time their struggle hardly would +have appealed to young Hamilton had he known of it. He was British by +instinct and association, and he had never received so much as a +scratch from the little-finger nail of the distant mother, whose long +arm was rigid above her American subjects. + +His deliverance was so quick and sudden that for a day or two he was +almost as dazed as the Africans after the hurricane. One day Hugh Knox +sent him out a copy of the St. Christopher newspaper which had published +his description of the storm. With some pride in his first-born, he read +it aloud to his aunt. Before he was halfway down the first column she +was on the sofa with her smelling-salts, vowing she was more terrified +than when she had expected to be killed every minute. When he had +finished she upbraided him for torturing people unnecessarily, but +remarked that he was even cleverer than she had thought him. The next +morning she asked him to read it again; then read it herself. On the +following day Hugh Knox rode out. + +Alexander was at one of the mills. Knox told Mrs. Mitchell that he had +sent a copy of the newspaper to the Governor of St. Croix, who had +called upon him an hour later and insisted upon knowing the name of the +writer. Knox not only had told him, but had expanded upon Alexander's +abilities and ambitions to such an extent that the Governor at that +moment was with Peter Lytton, endeavouring to persuade him to open his +purse-strings and send the boy to college. + +"He will not do all," added Knox, "and I rely upon you to do the rest. +Between you, Alexander can get, first the education he wants now more +than anything in life, then the chance to make a great reputation among +men. If you keep him here you're no better than criminals, and that's +all I have to say." + +Mrs. Mitchell shuddered. "Do you think he really wants to go?" she +asked. + +"Do I think he wants to go!" roared Hugh Knox. "Do I think--Good God! +why he's been mad to go for five years. He'd have thought of nothing +else if he hadn't a will like a bar of iron made for a hurricane door, +and he'd have grown morbid about it if he hadn't been blest with a +cheerful and a sanguine disposition. You adore him, and you couldn't +see that!" + +"He never said much about it," said Mrs. Mitchell, meekly; "but I think +I can see now that you are right. It will make me ill to part with him, +but he ought to go, and if Peter Lytton will pay half his expenses, I'll +pay the other half, and keep him in pocket coin besides. Of course Tom +won't give a penny, but I have something of my own, and he is welcome to +it. Do have everything arranged before my husband's return. He is alive +and well. I had a letter from him by the sloop that came from St. Kitts, +and he'll be here by the next or the one after." + +As soon as Knox had gone Mrs. Mitchell ordered her coach and drove to +Lytton's Fancy. Her love for Alexander had struggled quite out of its +fond selfishness, and she determined that go to New York he should and +by the next ship. She found her brother-in-law meditating upon the +arguments of the Governor, and had less difficulty in persuading him +than she had anticipated. + +"I'm sorry we haven't sent him before," he said finally. "For if two men +like Walsterstorff and Knox think so highly of him, and if he can write +like that,--it gave me the horrors,--he ought to have his chance, and +this place is too small for him. I'll help you to keep him at college +until he's got his education,--and it will take him less time than most +boys to get it,--and then he'll be able to take care of himself. If he +sails on Wednesday, there's no produce to send with him to sell; but +I've silver, and so have you, and he can take enough to keep him until +the Island is well again. We'll do the thing properly, and he shan't +worry for want of plenty." + +When Alexander came home that evening he was informed that the world had +turned round, and that he stood on its apex. + + +XII + +The night before he sailed he rode out to the Grange estate. The wall of +the cemetery had been repaired, James Lytton's slab was in its place, +the tree had been removed, and he had rebuilt the mound above his +mother as soon as the earth was firm again. There was no evidence of the +hurricane here. The moon was out, and in her mellow bath the Island had +the beauty of a desert. Alexander leaned his elbows on the wall and +stared down at his mother's grave. He knew that he never should see it +again. What he was about to do was for good and all. He would no more +waste months returning to this remote Island than he would turn back +from any of the goals of his future. And it mattered nothing to the dead +woman there. If she had an immortal part, it would follow him, and she +had suffered too much in life for her dust to resent neglect. But he +passionately wished that she were alive and that she were sailing with +him to his new world. He had ceased to repine her loss, much to miss +her, but his sentiment for her was still the strongest in his life, and +as a companion he had found no one to take her place. To-night he wanted +to talk to her. He was bursting with hope and anticipation and the +enthusiasm of the mere change, but he was close to melancholy. + +Suddenly he bent his head. From the earth arose the golden music of a +million tiny bells. They had hung rusty and warped since the hurricane, +but to-night they rang again, and as sweetly as on the night, seventeen +years ago, when their music filled the Universe, and two souls, whose +destiny it was to bring a greater into the world, were flooded with a +diviner music than that fairy melody. Alexander knew nothing of that +meeting of his parents, when they were but a few years older than he was +to-night, but the inherited echo of those hours when his own soul +awaited its sentence may have stirred in his brain, for he stood there +and dreamed of his mother and father as they had looked and thought when +they had met and loved; and this he had never done before. The tireless +little ringers filled his brain with their Lilliputian clamour, and his +imagination gave him his parents in the splendour of their young beauty +and passion. For the first time he forgave his father, and he had a deep +moment of insight: one of the mysteries of life was bare before him. He +was to have many of these cosmic moments, for although his practical +brain relied always on hard work, never on inspiration, his divining +faculty performed some marvellous feats, and saved him from much +plodding; but he never had a moment of insight which left a profounder +impression than this. He understood in a flash the weakness of the +world, and his own. At first he was appalled, then he pitied, then he +vibrated to the thrill of that exultation which had possessed his mother +the night on the mountain when she made up her mind to outstay her +guests. And then the future seemed to beckon more imperiously to the boy +for whose sake she had remained, the radiant image of his parents melted +in its crucible, and the world was flooded with a light which revealed +more than the smoke of battlefields and the laurels of fulfilled +ambition. + + +XIII + +On the following day, as Alexander stood on the wharf with his tearful +relatives and friends, Hugh Knox detached him from Mrs. Mitchell and led +him aside. + +"Alec," he said, "I've two pieces of parting advice for you, and I want +you to put them into the pocket of your memory that's easiest to find. +Get a tight rein on that temper of yours. It's improved in the last +year, but there's room yet. That's the first piece. This is the second: +keep your own counsel about the irregularity of your birth, unless +someone asks you point-blank who has the right; if anyone else does, +knock him down and tell him to go to hell with his impertinence. And +never let it hit your courage in the vitals for a moment. You are not +accountable; your mother was the finest woman I ever knew, and you've +got the best blood of Britain in your veins, and not a relative in the +world who's not of gentle blood. You're an aristocrat in body and brain, +and you'll not find a purer in the American colonies. The lack of a +priest at the right time can cause a good deal of suffering and trouble, +but it can't muddy a pure stream; and many a lawful marriage has done +that. So, mind you never bring your head down for a minute, nor +persuade yourself that anyone has a better right to keep it up. It would +be the death of you." + +Alexander nodded, but did not reply. He was feeling very low, now that +the hour for parting was come, for his affections were strong and +tender, and they were all rooted in the Island he hated. He understood, +however. + +He was six weeks reaching Boston, for even the wind seemed to have had +the life beaten out of it. He had a box of Knox's books, which he was to +return by the Captain; and although he had read them before, he read +them again, and wrote commentaries, and so kept his mind occupied for +the greater part of the voyage. But an active brain, inexperienced in +the world, and in no need of rest, is always bored at sea, and he grew +sick of the sight of that interminable blue waste; of which he had seen +too much all his life. When he had learned all there was to know about a +ship, and read all his books, he burned for change of any sort. The +change, when it came, was near to making an end of him: the ship caught +fire, and they were a day and a night conquering the flames and +preparing their philosophy to meet death; for the boats were +unseaworthy. Alexander had all the excitement he wanted, for he fought +the fire as hard as he had fought the hurricane, and he was delighted +when the Captain gave him permission to turn in. This was his third +touch-and-go with death. + +He arrived in Boston late in October, and took passage immediately for +New York. There had been no time to announce his coming, and he was +obliged to find his own way to the house of Hercules Mulligan, a member +of the West Indian firm, to whom Mr. Cruger had given him a warm letter +of introduction. Mr. Mulligan, a good-natured Irishman, received him +hospitably, and asked him to stop in his modest house until his plans +were made. Alexander accepted the invitation, then started out in search +of his friend, Ned Stevens, but paused frequently to observe the queer, +straggling, yet imposing little city, the red splendour of the autumn +foliage; above all, to enjoy the keen and frosty air. All his life he +had longed for cold weather. He had anticipated it daily during his +voyage, and, although he had never given way to the natural indolence of +the Tropics, he had always been conscious of a languor to fight. But the +moment the sharp air of the North had tingled his skin his very muscles +seemed to harden, his blood to quicken, and even his brain to become +more alert and eager. If he had been ambitious and studious in an +average temperature of eighty-five degrees, what would happen when the +thermometer dropped below zero? He smiled, but with much contentment. +The vaster the capacity for study, the better; as for his ambitions, +they could rest until he had finished his education. Now that his feet +were fairly planted on the wide highway of the future, his impatience +was taking its well-earned rest; he would allow no dreams to interfere +with the packing of his brain. + +It was late in the afternoon, and the fashionable world was promenading +on lower Broadway and on the Battery by the Fort. It was the first time +that Alexander had seen men in velvet coats, or women with hoopskirts +and hair built up a foot, and he thought the city, with its quaint Dutch +houses, its magnificent trees, and these brilliant northern birds, quite +like a picture book. They looked high-bred and intelligent, these +animated saunterers, and Alexander regarded the women with deep +inquisitiveness. Women had interested him little, with the exception of +his mother, who he took for granted _sui generis_. The sisters of his +friends were white delicate creatures, languid and somewhat affected; +and he had always felt older than either of his aunts. In consequence, +he had meditated little upon the sex to which poets had formed a habit +of writing sonnets, regarding them either as necessary appendages or +creatures for use. But these alert, dashing, often handsome women, +stirred him with a new gratitude to life. He longed for the day when he +should have time to know them, and pictured them gracing the solid +home-like houses on the Broadway, and in the fine grounds along the +river front, where he strayed alter a time, having mistaken the way to +King's College. He walked back through Wall Street, and his enthusiasm +was beginning to ebb, he was feeling the first pangs of a lonely +nostalgia, when he almost ran into Ned Stevens's arms. It was four years +since they had met. Stevens had grown a foot and Alexander a few inches, +but both were boyish in appearance still and recognized each other at +once. + +"When I can talk," exclaimed Stevens, "when I can get over my +amazement--I thought at first it was my double, come to tell me +something was wrong on the Island--I'll ask you to come to Fraunces' +Tavern and have a tankard of ale. It's healthier than swizzle." + +"That is an invitation, Neddy," cried Alexander, gaily. "Initiate me at +once. I've but a day or two to play in, but I must have you for +playfellow." + +They dined at Fraunces' Tavern and sat there till nearly morning. +Alexander had much to tell but more to hear, and before they parted at +Mr. Mulligan's door he knew all of the New World that young Stevens had +patiently accumulated in four years. It was a stirring story, that +account of the rising impatience of the British colonies, and Stevens +told it with animation and brevity. Alexander became so interested that +he forgot his personal mission, but he would not subscribe to his +friend's opinion that the Colonials were in the right. + +"Did I have the time, I should study the history of the colonies from +the day they built their first fort," he said. "Your story is +picturesque, but it does not convince me that they have all the right on +their side. England--" + +"England is a tyrannical old fool," young Stevens was beginning, +heatedly, when a man behind arose and clapped a hand over his mouth. + +"There are three British officers at the next table," he said. "We don't +want any more rows. One too many, and God knows what next." + +Stevens subsided, but Alexander's nostrils expanded. Even the mental +atmosphere of this brilliant North was full of electricity. + +The next day he presented to Dr. Rogers and Dr. Mason the letters which +Hugh Knox had given him. He interested them at once, and when he asked +their advice regarding the first step he should take toward entering +college, they recommended Francis Barber's Grammar School, at +Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Stevens had suggested the same institution, +and so did other acquaintances he made during his brief stay in the city +which was one day to be christened by angry politicians, +"Hamiltonopolis." Early in the following week he crossed to New Jersey +and rode through the forests to the village, with its quaint streets and +handsome houses, "the Burial Yard Lot," beside the main thoroughfare of +the proud little hamlet, and Mr. Barber's Grammar School at its upper +end. Hamilton was accepted immediately, but where to lodge was a +harassing question. The only rooms for hire were at the tavern, where +permanent lodgement would be intolerable. When he presented a letter to +Mr. Boudinot, which Mr. Cruger had given him, the problem was solved at +once. Mr. Boudinot, one of the men of his time, had a spacious and +elegant house, set amidst gardens, lawns, and forest trees; there were +many spare bedrooms, and he invited Hamilton to become a member of his +family. The invitation was given as a matter of course, and Hamilton +accepted it as frankly. All the pupils who were far from home visited in +the neighbourhood. Liberty Hall, on the Springfield turnpike, was +finishing when Hamilton arrived. When the family was installed and he +presented his letter to its owner, William Livingston, he received as +pressing an invitation as Mr. Boudinot's, and divided his time between +the two houses. + +Mr. Boudinot was a large man, with a long nose and a kindly eye, who was +deeply attached to his children. Susan was healthy, pretty, lively, and +an ardent young patriot. The baby died, and Hamilton, having offered to +sit up with the little body, entertained himself by writing an +appropriate poem, which was long treasured by Mr. Boudinot. + +At Liberty Hall life was even more interesting. William Livingston was +one of the ablest lawyers, most independent thinkers, and ardent +republicans of the unquiet times. Witty and fearless, he had for years +made a target of kingly rule; his acid cut deep, doing much to weaken +the wrong side and encourage the right. His wife was as uncompromising a +patriot as himself; his son, Brockholst, and his sprightly cultivated +daughters had grown up in an atmosphere of political discussion, and in +constant association with the best intellects of the day. Sarah, the +beauty, was engaged to John Jay, already a distinguished lawyer, +notoriously patriotic and high-minded. He was a handsome man, with his +dark hair brushed forward about his face, his nobility and classic +repose of feature. Mr. Livingston wore his hair in a waving mass, as +long as he had any. His nose was large and sharp, and he had a very +disapproving eye. He took an immediate liking to young Hamilton, +however, and his hospitality was frank and delightful. Brockholst and +Alexander liked and admired each other in those days, although they were +to become bitter enemies in the turbulent future. As for the lively bevy +of women, protesting against their exile from New York, but amusing +themselves, always, they adopted "the young West Indian." The +delicate-looking boy, with his handsome sparkling face, his charming +manners, and gay good humour captivated them at once; and he wrote to +Mrs. Mitchell that he was become shockingly spoiled. When Mr. Livingston +discovered that his brain and knowledge were extraordinary, he ceased at +once to treat him as a fascinating boy, and introduced him to the men +who were constantly entertained at his house: John Jay, James Duane, Dr. +Witherspoon, President of Princeton; and members of the Morris, +Schuyler, Ogden, Clinton, and Stockton families. The almost weekly +conversation of these men contributed to the rapid maturing of +Hamilton's mind. His recreation he found with the young women of the +family, and their conversation was not always political. Sarah +Livingston, beautiful, sweet, and clever, was pensively in love; but +Kitty and Susan were not, and they were handsome and dashing. They were +sufficiently older than Alexander to inspire him with the belief that he +was in love with each in turn; and if he was constant to either, it was +to Kitty, who was the first to reveal to him the fascination of her +sex. But they did not interrupt the course of his studies; and in the +dawn, when he repaired to the Burial Yard Lot to think out his difficult +task for the day, not a living face haunted the tombstones. + +And when winter came and he walked the vast black forests alone, the +snow crunching under his feet, the blood racing in his body, a gun on +his shoulder, lest he meet a panther, or skated till midnight under the +stars, a crystal moon illuminating the dark woods on the river's edge, +the frozen tide glittering the flattering homage of earth, he felt so +alive and happy, so tingling and young and primeval, that had his +fellow-inhabitants flown to the stars he would not have missed them. +Until that northern winter embraced and hardened him, quickening mind +and soul and body, crowding the future with realized dreams, he never +had dared to imagine that life could be so fair and beautiful a thing. + +On stormy winter nights, when he roasted chestnuts or popped corn in the +great fireplace of Liberty Hall, under the tuition of all the Livingston +girls, Sarah, Susan, Kitty, and Judith, he felt very sociable indeed; +and if his ears, sometimes, were soundly boxed, he looked so penitent +and meek that he was contritely rewarded with the kiss he had snatched. + +The girls regarded him as a cross between a sweet and charming boy to be +spoiled--one night, when he had a toothache, they all sat up with +him--and a phenomenon of nature of which they stood a trifle in awe. But +the last was when he was not present and they fell to discussing him. +And with them, as with all women, he wore, because to the gay vivacity +and polished manners of his Gallic inheritance he added the rugged +sincerity of the best of Britons; and in the silences of his heart he +was too sensible of the inferiority of the sex, out of which, first and +last, he derived so much pleasure, not to be tender and considerate of +it always. + +Before the year of 1773 was out Mr. Barber pronounced him ready for +college, and, his choice being Princeton, he presented himself to Dr. +Witherspoon and demanded a special course which would permit him to +finish several years sooner than if he graduated from class to class. He +knew his capacity for conquering mental tasks, and having his own way to +make in the world, had no mind to waste years and the substance of his +relatives at college. Dr. Witherspoon, who had long been deeply +interested in him, examined him privately and pronounced him equal to +the heavy burden he had imposed upon himself, but feared that the board +of trustees would not consent to so original a plan. They would not. +Hamilton, nothing daunted, applied to King's College, and found no +opposition there. He entered as a private student, attached to no +particular class, and with the aid of a tutor began his customary +annihilation of time. Besides entering upon a course of logic, ethics, +mathematics, history, chronology, rhetoric, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, all +the modern languages, and Belles Lettres, he found time to attend Dr. +Clossy's lectures on anatomy, with his friend Stevens, who was studying +medicine as a profession. + +King's was a fine building facing the North River and surrounded by +spacious grounds shaded by old sycamores and elms. There were many +secluded corners for thought and study. A more favourite resort of +Alexander's was Batteau Street, under whose great elms he formed the +habit of strolling and muttering his lessons, to the concern of the +passer-by. In his hours of leisure he rollicked with Stevens and his new +friends, Nicolas Fish and Robert Troup. The last, a strong and splendid +specimen of the young American collegian, had assumed at once the +relation of big brother to the small West Indian, but was not long +discovering that Hamilton could take care of himself; was flown at +indeed by two agile fists upon one occasion, when protectiveness, in +Alexander's measurement, rose to interference. But they formed a deep +and lifelong friendship, and Troup, who was clever and alert, without +brilliancy, soon learned to understand Hamilton, and was not long +recognizing potentialities of usefulness to the American cause in his +genius. + +It was Troup who took him for his first sail up the Hudson, and except +for the men who managed the boat, they went alone. Troup was a good +listener, and for a time Hamilton chattered gaily as the boat sped up +the river, jingling rhymes on the great palisades, which looked like the +walls of some Brobdingnagian fortress, and upon the gorgeous masses of +October colouring swarming over the perpendicular heights of Jersey and +the slopes and bluffs of New York. It was a morning, and a piece of +nature, to make the quicksilver in Hamilton race. The arch was blue, the +tide was bluer, the smell of salt was in the keen and frosty air. Two +boats with full white sails flew up the river. On either bank the +primeval forest had burst in a night into scarlet and gold, pale yellow +and crimson, bronze, pink, the flaming hues of the Tropics, and the +delicate tints of hot-house roses. Hamilton had never seen such a riot +of colour in the West Indies. They passed impenetrable thickets close to +the water's edge, ravines, cliffs, irregular terraces on the hillside, +gorges, solitary heights, all flaunting their charms like a vast booth +which has but a day in which to sell its wares. They sped past the +beautiful peninsula, then the lawns of Philipse Manor. Hamilton stepped +suddenly to the bow of the boat and stood silent for a long while. + +The stately but narrow end of the Hudson was behind; before him rolled a +wide and ever widening majestic flood, curving among its hills and +palisades, through the glory of its setting and the soft mists of +distance, until the far mountains it clove trembled like a mirage. The +eye of Hamilton's mind followed it farther and farther yet. It seemed to +him that it cut the world in two. The sea he had had with him always, +but it had been the great chasm between himself and life, and he had +often hated it. This mighty river, haughty and calm in spite of the +primeval savagery of its course, beat upon the gates of his soul, beat +them down, filled him with a sense of grandeur which made him tremble. +He had a vision of the vastness and magnificence of the New World, of +the great lonely mountains in the North, with their countless lakes +hidden in the immensity of a trackless forest, of other mountain ranges +equally wild and lonely, cutting the monotony of plains and prairies, +and valleys full of every delight. All that Hamilton had read or heard +of the immense area beyond or surrounding the few cities and hamlets of +the American colonies, flew to coherence, and he had a sudden +appreciation of the stupendousness of this new untravelled world, +understood that with its climate, fertility, and beauty, its large +nucleus of civilization, its destiny must be as great as Europe's, nor +much dissimilar, no matter what the variance of detail. The noblest +river in the world seemed to lift its voice like a prophet, and the time +came--after his visit to Boston--when Hamilton listened to it with a +thrill of impatient pride and white-hot patriotism. But to-day he felt +only the grandeur of life as he never had felt it before, felt his soul +merge into this mighty unborn soul of a nation sleeping in the infinity, +which the blue flood beneath him spoke of, almost imaged; with no +premonition that his was the destiny to quicken that soul to its birth. + + * * * * * + +While on the ship, Alexander had written to his father, asking for news +of him and telling of the change in his own fortunes. James Hamilton had +replied at once, gratefully, but with melancholy; by this time he knew +himself to be a failure, although he was now a planter in a small way. +Alexander's letter, full of the hope and indomitable spirit of youth, +interested as keenly as it saddened him. He recalled his own high +courage and expectant youth, and wondered if this boy had stronger +mettle than his own equipment. Then he remembered Rachael Levine and +hoped. He lived to see hope fulfilled beyond any achievement of his +imagination, although the correspondence, brisk for a time, gradually +subsided. From Hugh Knox and Mrs. Mitchell Alexander heard constantly, +and it is needless to state that his aunt kept him in linen which was +the envy of his friends. His beruffled shirts and lace stocks were +marvels, and if he was an exquisite in dress all his life, it certainly +was not due to after-thought. Meanwhile, he lodged with the family of +Hercules Mulligan, and wrote doggerel for their amusement in the +evening. Troup relates that Hamilton presented him with a manuscript of +fugitive poetry, written at this period. Mercifully, Troup lost it. +Hamilton has been peculiarly fortunate in this respect. He lies more +serenely in his grave than most great men. + +When he was not studying, or joking, or rhyming, during those two short +years of college life, he read: Cudworth's "Intellectual System," +Hobbes's "Dialogues," Bacon's "Essays," Plutarch's "Morals," Cicero's +"De Officiis," Montaigne's "Essays," Rousseau's "Émile," Demosthenes's +"Orations," Aristotle's "Politics," Ralt's "Dictionary of Trade," and +the "Lex Mercatoria." + +He accomplished his mental feats by the--to him--simple practice of +keeping one thing before his mind at a time, then relegating it +uncompromisingly to the background; where, however, it was safe in the +folds of his memory. What would have sprained most minds merely +stimulated his, and never affected his spirits nor his health, highly as +nature had strung his nerves. He was putting five years college work +into two, but the effect was an expansion and strengthening of the +forces in his brain; they never weakened for an instant. + + +XIV + +In the spring of 1774 Hamilton visited Boston during a short holiday. +His glimpse of this city had been so brief that it had impressed his +mind but as a thing of roofs and trees, a fantastic woodland +amphitheatre, in whose depths men of large and solemn mien added daily +to the sum of human discomfort. He returned to see the important city of +Boston, but with no overwhelming desire to come in closer contact with +its forbidding inhabitants. He quickly forgot the city in what those +stern sour men had to tell him. For to them he owed that revelation of +the tragic justice of the American cause which enabled him to begin with +the pen his part in the Revolution, forcing the crisis, taking rank as a +political philosopher when but a youth of seventeen; instead of bolting +from his books to the battlefield at the first welcome call to arms. Up +to this time he had adhered to his resolution to let nothing impede the +progress of his education, to live strictly in the hour until the time +came to leave the college for the world. Therefore, although he had +heard the question of Colonies versus Crown argued week after week at +Liberty Hall, and at the many New York houses where he dined of a Sunday +with his friends, Stevens, Troup, and Fish, he had persistently refused +to study the matter: there were older heads to settle it and there was +only one age for a man's education. Moreover, he had grown up with a +deep reverence for the British Constitution, and his strong aristocratic +prejudices inclined him to all the aloofness of the true conservative. +So while the patriots and royalists of King's were debating, ofttimes +concluding in sequestered nooks, Hamilton remained "The young West +Indian," an alien who cared for naught but book-learning, walking +abstractedly under the great green shade of Batteau Street while Liberty +Boys were shouting, and British soldiers swaggered with a sharp eye for +aggression. This period of philosophic repose in the midst of electric +fire darting from every point in turn and sometimes from all points at +once, endured from the October of his arrival to its decent burial in +Boston shortly after his seventeenth birthday. + +Boston was sober and depressed, stonily awaiting the vengeance of the +crown for her dramatic defiance in the matter of tea. Even in that +rumbling interval, Hamilton learned, the Committee of Correspondence, +which had directed the momentous act, had been unexcited and methodical, +restraining the Mohawks day after day, hoping until the last moment that +the Collector of Customs would clear the ships and send the tea whence +it came. Hamilton heard the wrongs of the colonies discussed without any +of the excitement or pyrotechnical brilliancy to which he had become +accustomed. New York was not only the hot-bed of Toryism, but even such +ardent Republicans as William Livingston, George Clinton, and John Jay +were aristocrats, holding themselves fastidiously aloof from the rank +and file that marched and yelled under the name of Sons of Liberty. To +Hamilton the conflict had been spectacular rather than real, until he +met and moved with these sombre, undemonstrative, superficially +unpleasing men of Boston; then, almost in a flash, he realized that the +colonies were struggling, not to be relieved of this tax or that, but +for a principle; realized that three millions of people, a respectable +majority honourable, industrious, and educated, were being treated like +incapables, apprehensive of violence if they dared to protest for their +rights under the British Constitution. Hamilton also learned that Boston +was the conspicuous head and centre of resistance to the crown, that she +had led the colonies in aggressiveness since the first Stamp Act of 1765 +had shocked them from passive subjects into dangerous critics. He had +letters which admitted him to clubs and homes, and he discussed but one +subject during his visit. There were no velvet coats and lace ruffles +here, except in the small group which formed the Governor's court. The +men wore dun-coloured garments, and the women were not much livelier. It +was, perhaps, as well that he did not see John Hancock, that ornamental +head-piece of patriotic New England, or the harmony of the impression +might have been disturbed; but, as it was, every time he saw these men +together, whether sitting undemonstratively in Faneuil Hall while one of +their number spoke, or in church, or in groups on Boston Common, it was +as if he saw men of iron, not of flesh and blood. Every word they +uttered seemed to have been weighed first, and it was impossible to +consider such men giving their time and thought, making ready to offer +up their lives, to any cause which should not merit the attention of all +men. Although Hamilton met many of them, they made no individual +impression on him; he saw them only as a mighty brain, capable of +solving a mighty question, and of a stern and bitter courage. + +He returned to New York filled with an intense indignation against the +country which he had believed too ancient and too firm in her highest +principles to make a colossal mistake, and a hot sympathy for the +colonists which was not long resolving itself into as burning a +patriotism as any in the land. It was not in him to do anything by +halves, it is doubtful if he ever realized the half-hearted tendency of +the greater part of mankind. He studied the question from the first +Stamp Act to the Tea Party. The day he was convinced, he ceased to be a +West Indian. The time was not yet come to draw the sword in behalf of +the country for which he conceived a romantic passion, which satisfied +other wants of his soul, but he began at once on a course of reading +which should be of use to her when she was free to avail herself of +patriotic thinkers. He also joined the debating club of the college. His +abrupt advent into this body, with his fiery eloquence and remarkable +logic, was electrical. In a day he became the leader of the patriot +students. There were many royalists in King's, and the president, Dr. +Myles Cooper, was a famous old Tory. He looked upon this influential +addition to the wrong side with deep disfavour, and when he discovered +that the most caustic writer of Holt's Whig newspaper, who had carved +him to the quick and broken his controversial lances again and again, +was none other than his youngest and most revolutionary pupil, his wrath +knew no bounds. + +With the news of the order to close the port of Boston, the wave of +indignation in the colonies rose so high that even the infatuated clergy +wriggled. Philadelphia went so far as to toll her muffled bells for a +day, and as for New York, then as now, the nerve-knot of the country, +she exploded. The Sons of Liberty, who had reorganized after the final +attempt of England to force tea on the colonies, paraded all day and +most of the night, but were, as yet, more orderly than the masses, who +stormed through the streets with lighted torches, shrieking and yelling +and burning the king and his ministers in effigy. + +The substantial citizens also felt that the time was come to prepare for +the climax toward which their fortunes were hastening. That spiteful +fist would be at their own skulls next, beyond a doubt. The result of a +long and hot debate in the Exchange between the Sons of Liberty and the +more conservative patriots was an agreement to call a Congress of the +Colonies. The contest over the election of delegates was so bitter, +however, the Committee of the Assembly, which was largely ministerial, +claiming the right to nomination, that it was determined to submit the +question to the people at large. + + +XV + +In the early morning Hamilton still sauntered beneath the college trees +or those of Batteau Street, pondering on his studies, and abstracting +himself from the resting city, but in the evenings and during half the +night he inhaled the hot breath of rebellion; and the flaring torches, +the set angry faces, the constant shouting, the frightened pallor of the +women at the windows of the great houses on the line of march, the +constant brawls with British soldiers, stormed the curb he had put on +his impatient spirit. He realized that the colonies were not yet +prepared to fight, and he had no thought of doing anything rash, but it +was his propensity to do a thing at once if it were to be done at all, +and this last indignity should result in something except talk. He was +present at the meeting in the Exchange and listened carefully to all +that was said, feeling that he could add to that whirlwind of ideas, but +forbearing on account of his youth. His mind, by now, was so mature that +he reminded himself, with some difficulty, that he was but seventeen. He +was as lively and as happy as ever, but that was temperamental and would +endure through all things; mentally he had no youth in him, had had +little since the day he began to ask questions. + +The meeting in the Fields--at which it was hoped to effect a choice of +delegates by the people at large--was called for the 6th of July, and a +great multitude assembled. Alexander McDougall, the first patriot to +have suffered imprisonment at the hands of the Tyrant, presided, and +celebrated speakers harangued. It was here that Hamilton's impatience +got rid of its curb. He heard much that was good, more that was bad, +little that was new; and he found the radicals illogical and the +conservatives timid. Nicolas Fish and Robert Troup pushed their way +through the crowd to where Hamilton stood, his uplifted face expressing +his thoughts so plainly to those who knew him that these friends +determined to force him to the platform. + +At first he protested; and in truth, the idea, shaping concretely, +filled his very legs with terror; but the young men's insistence, added +to his own surging ideas, conquered, and he found himself on the +platform facing a boundless expanse of three-cornered hats. Beneath were +the men who represented the flower as well as the weeds of the city, all +dominated by the master passion of the civilized world. There was little +shade in the Fields and the day was hot. It was a crowded, +uncomfortable, humid mass whose attention he was about to demand, and +their minds were already weary of many words, their calves of the +ruthless mosquito. They stared at Hamilton in amazement, for his slender +little figure and fair curling hair, tied loosely with a ribbon, made +him look a mere boy, while his proud high-bred face, the fine green +broadcloth of his fashionably cut garments, the delicate lawn of his +shirt and the profusion of lace with which it was trimmed, particularly +about his exquisite hands, gave him far more the appearance of a court +favourite than a champion of liberty. Some smiled, others grunted, but +all remained to listen, for the attempt was novel, and he was beautiful +to look upon. + +For a moment Hamilton felt as if the lower end of his heart had grown +wings, and he began falteringly and in an almost inaudible voice. Pride +hastened to his relief, however, and his daily debates in college had +given him assurance and address. He recovered his poise, and as ideas +swam from his brain on the tide of a natural eloquence, he forgot all +but the great principle which possessed him in common with that jam of +weary men, the determination to inspire them to renewed courage and +greater activity. He rehearsed their wrongs, emphasized their +inalienable rights under the British Constitution--from which the +ministerial party and a foolish sovereign had practically divorced them. +He insisted that the time had come in their history to revert to the +_natural_ rights of man--upon which all civil rights were founded--since +they were no longer permitted to lead the lives of self-respecting +citizens, pursuing the happiness which was the first instinct of the +human intelligence; they had been reduced almost to the level of their +own slaves, who soon would cease to respect them. + +He paused so abruptly that the crowd held its breath. Then his ringing +thrilling voice sounded the first note of the Revolution. "It is war!" +he cried. "It is war! It is the battlefield or slavery!" + +When the deep roar which greeted the startling words had subsided, he +spoke briefly of their immense natural advantages, in the event of war, +the inability of England to gain any permanent advantage, and finally of +the vast resources of the country, and its phenomenal future, when the +"waves of rebellion, sparkling with fire, had washed back to the shores +of England the wrecks of her power, her wealth, and her glory." + +His manner was as fiery and impetuous as his discourse was clear, +logical, and original. The great crowd was electrified. It was as if a +blade of lightning had shot down from the hot blue sky to illuminate the +doubting recesses of their understandings. They murmured repeatedly "It +is a collegian," "a collegian," and they thundered their applause when +he finished. + +Troup and Fish bore him off in triumph to Fraunces' Tavern, where +Stevens joined them immediately, hot, but exultant. + +"I've just passed our president, looking like an infuriated bumblebee," +he cried. "I know he heard your speech from some hidden point of +vantage. It was a great speech, Alec. What a pity Hugh Knox, Mr. Lytton, +and Benny Yard were not there to hear. I'll write them about it +to-night, for St. Croix ought to burn a bonfire for a week. It was a +hurricane with a brain in it that whirled you straight to these +shores--as opportune for this country as for your own ambitions, for, +unless I'm much mistaken, you're going to be a prime factor in getting +rid of these pestiferous redcoats--we've a private room, so I can talk +as I please. One tried to trip me up just now, thinking I was you." + +Fish leaned across the table and looked penetratingly at Hamilton, who +was flushed and nervous. The young New Yorker had a chubby face, almost +feminized by a soft parted fringe, but his features were strong, and his +eyes preternaturally serious. + +"You've committed yourself, Hamilton," he said. "That was no college +play. Whether you fight or not doesn't so much matter, but you must give +us your pen and your speech. I'm no idle purveyor of compliments, but +you are extraordinary, and there isn't a man living can do for the cause +with his pen what you can do. Write pamphlets, and they'll be published +without an hour's delay." + +"Ah, I see!" cried Hamilton, gaily. "I was a bit bewildered. You think +my new patriotism needs nursing. 'After all, he is a West Indian, born +British, brought up under Danish rule, which is like being coddled by +one's grandmother. He sympathizes with us, his mind is delighted with a +new subject for analysis and discourse, but patriotism--that is +impossible,' Is it not true?" + +"You have read my thought," said Fish, with some confusion. "And you +have a great deal to occupy your mind. I never have known anyone whose +brain worked at so many things at once. I am selfish enough to want you +to give a good bit of it to us." + +"I never was one to make fierce demonstrations," said Alexander; "but +fill up another bumper--the first has calmed my nerves, which were like +to jump through my skin--and stand up, and I'll drink you a pledge." + +The three other young men sprang to their feet, and stood with their +glasses raised, their eyes anxiously fixed on young Hamilton. They had +believed him to be preparing himself for a great career in letters, and +knowing his tenacity and astonishing powers of concentration, had +doubted the possibility of interesting him permanently in politics. They +all had brains and experience enough--it was a hot quick time--to +recognize his genius, and to conceive the inestimable benefit it could +confer upon the colonial cause. Moreover, they loved him and wanted to +see him famous as quickly as possible. + +"Stand up on the table," cried Troup. "It is where you belong; and +you're the biggest man in New York, to-day." As Hamilton, although +self-confident, was modest, Troup put down his bumper, seized the hero +in his big arms and swung him to the middle of the table. Then the +three, raising their glasses again, stood in a semi-circle. Hamilton +threw back his head and raised his own glass. His hand trembled, and his +lips moved for a moment without speaking, after his habit when excited. + +"The pledge! The pledge!" cried Fish. "We want it." + +"It is this," said Hamilton. "I pledge myself, body and soul and brain, +to the most sacred cause of the American colonies. I vow to it all my +best energies for the rest of my life. I swear to fight for it with my +sword; then when the enemy is driven out, and all the brain in the +country needed to reconstruct these tattered colonies and unify them +into one great state, or group of allied states, which shall take a +respectable place among nations, to give her all that I have learned, +all that my brain is capable of learning and conceiving. I believe that +I have certain abilities, and I solemnly swear to devote them wholly to +_my country_. And I further swear that never, not in a single instance, +will I permit my personal ambitions to conflict with what must be the +lifelong demands of this country." + +He spoke slowly and with great solemnity. The hands of the three young +men shook, as they gulped down a little of the wine. Hamilton rarely was +serious in manner; even when discussing literature, politics, or any of +the great questions before the world, his humour and wit were in +constant play, a natural gift permitting this while detracting nothing +from the weight of his opinions. But his words and his manner were so +solemn to-day that they impressed his hearers profoundly, and they all +had a vague presentiment of what the unborn Country would owe to that +pledge. + +"You'll keep that, Alexander," said Fish. "Perhaps it were better for +you had you not made it so strong. I burn with patriotism, but I'd not +have you sacrificed--" + +"I've made my vows," cried Hamilton, gaily, "and I'll not have you +mention the fact again that I'm not an American born. Here's not only to +liberty, but to a united people under the firmest national constitution +ever conceived by man." + +"Amen," said Troup, "but that's looking well ahead. Hard as it will be +to get England out, it will be harder still to make New York and New +England love each other; and when it comes to hitching Massachusetts and +Virginia about each other's necks, I vow my imagination won't budge." + +"It will come," said Hamilton, "because in no other way can they +continue to exist, much less become one of the nations of the earth. +This war is but an interlude, no matter how long it may take. Then will +come the true warfare of this country--the Great Battle of Ideas, and +our real history will begin while it is raging, while we are +experimenting; and there will be few greater chapters in any country. I +shall take part in that battle; how, it is too soon to know, except that +for union I shall never cease to strive until it is a fact. But it has +grown cooler. Let us ride up to the village of Harlem and have supper +under the trees." + + +XVI + +It was not long after this that he wrote the pamphlets in reply to the +tracts assailing the Congress and aimed particularly at setting the +farmers against the merchants. These tracts were by two of the ablest +men on the Tory side, and were clever, subtle, and insinuating. +Hamilton's pamphlets were entitled, "A Full Vindication of the Measures +of Congress from the Calumnies of Their Enemies," and "The Farmer +Refuted; or a More Comprehensive and Impartial View of the Disputes +between Great Britain and the Colonies, Intended as a Further +Vindication of the Congress." It is not possible to quote these +pamphlets, and they can be found in his "Works," but they were +remarkable not only for their unanswerable logic, their comprehensive +arraignment of Britain, their close discussion of the rights of the +colonists under the British Constitution, their philosophical definition +of "natural rights," and their reminder that war was inevitable, but for +their anticipation of the future resources of the country, particularly +in regard to cotton and manufactures, and for the prophecies regarding +the treatment of the colonies by Europe. The style was clear, concise, +and bold, and with a finish which alone would have suggested a pen +pointed by long use. + +These pamphlets, which created a profound sensation, were attributed to +William Livingston and John Jay, two of the ablest men on the patriot +side. That side was profoundly grateful, for they put heart into the +timid, decided the wavering, and left the Tory writers without a leg to +stand on. Nothing so brilliant had been contributed to the cause. + +It was not long before the public had the author's name. Troup had been +present at the writing of the pamphlets, and he called on Dr. Cooper, +one day, and announced the authorship with considerable gusto. + +"I'll not believe it," exclaimed the president, angrily; "Mr. Jay wrote +those pamphlets, and none other. A mere boy like that--it's absurd. Why +do you bring me such a story, sir? I don't like this Hamilton, he's too +forward and independent--but I have no desire to hear more ill of him." + +"He wrote them, sir. Mulligan, in whose house he lives, and I, can prove +it. He's the finest brain in this country, and I mean you shall know +it." + +He left Dr. Cooper foaming, and went to spread the news elsewhere. The +effect of his revelation was immediate distinction for Hamilton. He was +discussed everywhere as a prodigy of intellect; messages reached him +from every colony. "Sears," said Willets, one of the leaders of the +Liberty party, "was a warm man, but with little reflection; McDougall +was strong-minded; and Jay, appearing to fall in with the measures of +Sears, tempered and controlled them; but Hamilton, after these great +writings, became our oracle." + +Congress met in May, 1775, and word having come that Chatham's +conciliation bill had been rejected, and that Britain was about to send +an army to suppress the American rebellion, this body assumed sovereign +prerogatives. They began at once to organize an army; Washington was +elected Commander-in-chief, and they ordered that five thousand men be +raised to protect New York, as the point most exposed. The royal troops +were expelled, and the city placed in command of General Charles Lee, an +English soldier of fortune, who had fought in many lands and brought to +the raw army an experience which might have been of inestimable service, +had he been high-minded, or even well balanced. As it was, he very +nearly sacrificed the cause to his jealousy of Washington and to his +insane vanity. + +Hamilton, meanwhile, published his two pamphlets on the Quebec Bill, and +took part in a number of public debates. At one of these, as he rose to +speak, a stranger remarked, "What brings that lad here? The poor boy +will disgrace himself." But the merchants, who were present in force, +listened intently to all he had to say on the non-importation agreement, +and admitted the force of his arguments toward its removal, now that war +practically had been declared. One of the most interesting of the +phenomena in the career of Hamilton was the entire absence of struggle +for an early hearing. People recognized his genius the moment they came +in contact with it, and older men saw only the extraordinary and mature +brain, their judgement quite unaffected by the boyish face and figure. +Those who would not admit his great gifts were few, for except in the +instances where he incurred jealous hate, he won everybody he met by his +charming manner and an entire absence of conceit. He was conscious of +his powers, but took them as a matter of course, and thought only of +what he would do with them, having no leisure to dwell on their quality. +In consequence, he already had a large following of unhesitating +admirers, many of them men twice his age, and was accepted as the +leading political philosopher of the country. + +Dr. Cooper sent for him after his third pamphlet. He, too, was a patriot +in his way, and although he bristled whenever Hamilton's name was +mentioned, he had come in contact with too many minds not to recognize +ability of any sort; he knew that Hamilton would be invaluable to the +Royalist cause. + +"Ask your own price, sir," he said, after suggesting the higher service +to which he could devote his pen. "You will find us more liberal--" But +Hamilton had bolted. It is impossible to knock down one's venerable +president, and his temper was still an active member in the family of +his faculties. To the numerous other offers he received from the Tory +side he made no reply, beyond inserting an additional sting into his pen +when writing for Holt's _Journal_. In the press he was referred to, now, +as "The Vindicator of Congress," and it was generally conceded that he +had done more to hasten matters to a climax, by preparing and whetting +the public mind, than anyone else in America. + +There is no doubt that the swiftness and suddenness of Hamilton's +conversion, his abrupt descent from a background of study and alien +indifference, gave him a clearer and more comprehensive view of the +wrongs and needs of the colonists than they possessed themselves. They +had been muttering ever since the passage of the first stamp tax, +threatening, permitting themselves to be placated, hoping, despairing, +hoping again. Hamilton, from the first moment he grasped the subject, +saw that there was no hope in ministerial England, no hope in anything +but war. Moreover, his courage, naturally of the finest temper, and an +audacity which no one had ever discouraged, leapt out from that far +background of the West Indies into an arena where the natives moved in +an atmosphere whose damps of doubt and discouragement had corroded them +for years. Even among men whose courage and independence were of the +first quality, Hamilton's passionate energy, fearlessness of thought, +and audacity of expression, made him remarkable at once; and they drew +a long breath of relief when he uncompromisingly published what they had +long agreed upon over the dining-table, or built up the doctrine of +resistance with argument as powerful as it was new. + +But the time rapidly approached for deeds, and Hamilton had been +occupied in other ways than writing pamphlets. During the past six +months he had studied tactics and gunnery, and had joined a volunteer +corps in order to learn the practical details of military science. All +his friends belonged to this corps, which called itself "Hearts of Oak," +and looked very charming in green uniforms and leathern caps, inscribed +"Freedom or Death." They soon attracted the attention of General Greene, +a superior man and an accomplished officer. He took an especial fancy to +Hamilton, and great as was their disparity in years, they were close +friends until the General's death. It was Greene who first attracted +Washington's attention to the youngest of his captains, and Hamilton was +able to render the older man, whose services and talents have even yet +not been properly recognized by his country, exceptional service. The +company exercised in the churchyard of St. George's chapel, early in the +morning; for in spite of the swarms of recruits clad in every variety of +uniform, deserted houses, and daily flights of the timid into Jersey, +earthworks and fortifications, college went on as usual. + +It was not long before the "Hearts of Oak" had an opportunity to +distinguish themselves. The provincial committee ordered them to remove +the cannon stationed at the Battery. In the harbour was the British +war-ship, _Asia_, which immediately sent off a boat to enquire into this +proceeding. A large number of armed citizens had escorted the little +corps to the Battery, and several lost their heads and fired at the +boat. There was an immediate broadside from the _Asia_. Three of the +militia were wounded, and one fell dead by Hamilton's side. "It is +child's play to a hurricane," he thought. "I doubt if a man could have a +better training for the battlefield." They removed the guns. + +The result of this attack was another explosion of New York's nerves. +The Sons of Liberty made it unsafe for a Tory to venture abroad. They +marched through the streets shouting vengeance, burning in effigy, and +making alarming demonstrations before the handsome houses of certain +loyalists. Suddenly, about ten o'clock at night, they were animated by a +desire to offer up Dr. Cooper, and they cohered and swarmed down toward +King's. Hamilton and Troup happened to be walking in the grounds when +the sudden flare of torches and the approaching tide of sound, warned +them of the invasion. They ran like deer to head them off, but reached +the portico only a moment ahead of the mob, which knew that it must be +sudden and swift to be victorious. + +"I can talk faster than you," whispered Hamilton, "I'll harangue them, +and it won't take Dr. Cooper long to understand and flee through the +back door--and may the devil fly away with him." + +"A moment!" he cried, "I've something to say, and I may not have another +chance, war is so close upon us." + +"'Tis young Hamilton," cried someone in the crowd. "Well, make us a +speech; we're always glad to hear you, but we'll not go home without old +Cooper. Don't think it." + +Hamilton never remembered what nonsense he talked that night. +Fortunately words always came with a rush, and he could mix up politics, +wrongs, the clergy, and patriotism, in so picturesque a jumble that an +excited crowd would not miss his usual concise logic. "Do you suppose +he's gone?" he whispered, pausing to take breath. + +"Go on, go on," said Troup nervously, "I hear someone moving." + +"Ah-h-h!" + +There was a wild yell from the crowd, and a hoarse roar from above. +Hamilton and Troup looked up. Dr. Cooper's infuriated visage, surrounded +by a large frill, projected from his bedroom window. "Don't listen to +him," he shrieked, thrusting his finger at Hamilton. "He's crazy! He's +crazy!" + +"The old fool," fumed Troup, "he thinks you're taking your just revenge. +If I could get inside--" + +Dr. Cooper was jerked back by a friendly hand and the window slammed. +"Someone understands," whispered Troup, excitedly; "and they'll have him +out in two minutes. Go on, for heaven's sake." + +Hamilton, who had been tearful with laughter, began again:-- + +"I appeal to you, my friends, am I crazy?" Indignant shouts of "No! No!" +"Then let me, I pray, make a few remarks on the possibility of holding +New York against the advancing fleet, that you can testify to my sanity +to-morrow, and save me from whatever unhappy fate this irascible +gentleman has in store for me." + +"Go ahead! Go ahead!" cried someone in the mob. "We won't let him touch +you." + +And again Hamilton harangued them, until Troup slipped round to the rear +of the big building and returned with word that Dr. Cooper was safely +over the back fence and on his way to the _Asia_. When Hamilton +announced the flight, there was muttering, but more laughter, for the +mob was in a better humour than when it came. + +"Well, that silver tongue of yours did the old man a good turn to-night, +but you shan't make fools of us again." And a few days later, when +Alexander attempted to head off the same mob as it made for the press of +Rivington, the Tory printer, they would not listen to him. But the +effort raised him still higher in the estimation of the patriots, for +they saw that his love of law and order was as great as his passion for +war. + + +XVII + +In January the convention of New York gave orders that a company of +artillery be raised. Hamilton, through Colonel McDougall of the First +New York regiment, at once applied for the captaincy, underwent an +examination that convinced the Congress of his efficiency, and on the +14th of March was appointed Captain of the Provincial Company of +Artillery. McDougall had already applied for "coarse blue cloth," with +which to clothe in a semblance of uniform those who already had +enlisted, and Hamilton took even better care of them. On May 26th he +wrote a brief, pointed, and almost peremptory letter to the Congress, +representing the injustice of paying his men less than the wages +received by the Continental artillery, adding that there were many marks +of discontent in his ranks, and that in the circumstances it was +impossible for him to get any more recruits. "On this account I should +wish to be immediately authorized to offer the same pay to all who may +be inclined to recruit," he wrote. He then went on to demand ten +shillings a head for every man he should be able to enlist, and that +each man of his company be allowed a frock as a bounty. + +Congress passed a resolution as soon as the letter was read, granting +him all he asked for, but limiting his company to one hundred men. When +it was recruited to his satisfaction, it numbered ninety-one, exclusive +of himself and his four officers. Besides his Captain-Lieutenant, and +first, second, and third Lieutenants, he had three sergeants, three +corporals, six bombardiers, three gunners, two drummers, two fifers, a +barber, and seventy-one matrosses, or assistant gunners. + +He had his troubles, and Congress came to the rescue whenever it +received one of his singularly unboyish letters, expressed, moreover, +with little more diffidence than if he had been Commander-in-chief. But +he knew what he wanted, and he never transcended courtesy; he was +evidently a favourite with the Congress. On July 26th he wrote demanding +a third more rations for his men, and on the 31st a resolution was +passed which marked an end to the disposition to keep his little company +on a level with the militia rather than with the regular army. +Thereafter he had no further complaints to carry to headquarters; but he +was annoyed to discover that one of his officers was a hard drinker, and +that the Lieutenant Johnson who had recruited the larger number of his +men before he assumed command, had disobeyed orders and enlisted them +for a year instead of for the term of war. + +Meanwhile, although the very air quivered and every man went armed to +the teeth, if a war-ship fired a gun the streets were immediately filled +with white affrighted faces; and although redoubts were building day and +night, still Congress came out with no declaration, and the country +seemed all nerves and no muscle. The English fleet arrived and filled +the bay,--a beautiful but alarming sight. Washington came and made New +York his headquarters, called for more troops, and Brooklyn Heights were +fortified, lest the English land on Long Island and make an easy descent +on the city. + +It is doubtful if the Americans have ever appreciated all they owe to +Lord Howe. He sat out in the harbour day after day, while they completed +their preparations, practically waiting until they announced themselves +ready to fight. But no man ever went to the wars with less heart for his +work, and he put off the ugly business of mowing down a people he +admired, hoping from day to day for an inspired compromise. It was not +until after the Declaration of Independence by the Congress, the wild +enthusiasm it excited throughout the colonies, and the repeated +declination of Washington to confer with Howe as a private citizen, that +our Chief received word the British Commander was landing troops on Long +Island, near Gravesend. + +Several thousand troops were ordered across to reinforce the Brooklyn +regiments, and Hamilton's artillery was among them. He stood up in his +boat and stared eagerly at the distant ridge of hills, behind which some +twenty thousand British were lying on their arms with their usual easy +disregard of time, faint, perhaps, under the torrid sun of August. But +they were magnificently disciplined and officered, and nothing in +history had rivalled the rawness and stubborn ignorance of the American +troops. Hamilton had not then met Washington, but he knew from common +friends that the Chief was worried and disgusted by what he had seen +when inspecting the Brooklyn troops the day before. Greene, second only +to Washington in ability, who had been in charge of the Brooklyn +contingent, knowing every inch of the ground, was suddenly ill. Putnam +was in command, and the Chief was justified in his doubt of him, for +nothing in the mistakes of the Revolution exceeded his carelessness and +his errors of judgement during the battle of Long Island. + +There were still two days of chafing inactivity, except in the matter of +strengthening fortifications, then, beginning with dawn of the 28th, +Hamilton had his baptism of fire in one of the bloodiest battlefields of +the Revolution. + +The Americans were outgeneralled and outnumbered. Their attention was +distracted by land and water, while a British detachment, ten thousand +strong, crept over the ridge of hills by night, and through the Bedford +Pass, overpowering the guards before their approach was suspected. At +dawn they poured down upon the American troops, surprising them, not in +one direction, but in flank, in rear, and in front. The green woods +swarmed with redcoats, and the Hessians acted with a brutality +demoralizing to raw troops. Hamilton's little company behaved well, and +he was in the thick of the fight all day. The dead were in heaps, the +beautiful green slopes were red, there was not a hope of victory, but he +exulted that the colonies were fighting at last, and that he was acting; +he had grown very tired of talking. + +He was driven from his position finally, and lost his baggage and a +field-piece, but did not take refuge within the redoubts until +nightfall. There, in addition to fatigue, hunger, a bed on the wet +ground, and the atmosphere of hideous depression which pressed low upon +the new revolutionists, he learned that Troup had been taken prisoner. +Then he discovered the depths to which a mercurial nature could descend. +He had been fiercely alive all day; the roar of the battle, the plunging +horses, the quickening stench of the powder, that obsession by the devil +of battles which makes the tenderest kill hot and fast, all had made him +feel something more than himself, much as he had felt in the hurricane +when he had fancied himself on high among the Berserkers of the storm. +In his present collapse he felt as if he were in a hole underground. + +Washington arrived on the scene next morning, and for forty-eight hours +he barely left the saddle, encouraging the wretched men and exercising +an unceasing vigilance. For two long days they were inactive in the +rain. The Chief, having assured himself that the British aimed to obtain +command of the river, determined upon the retreat which ranks as one of +the greatest military achievements in history. On the night of the 29th, +under cover of a heavy fog, the feat of embarking nine thousand men, +with all the ammunition and field-pieces of the army, and ferrying them +across the East River with muffled oars, was accomplished within earshot +of the enemy. Washington rode from regiment to regiment, superintending +and encouraging, finally taking his stand at the head of the ferry +stairs. He stood there until the last man had embarked at four in the +morning. The last man was Hamilton. His was one of the regiments, and +the rear one, detailed to cover the retreat, to attract fire to itself +if necessary. His position was on the Heights, just outside the +intrenchments, at the point closest to the enemy. For nine hours he +hardly moved, his ear straining for the first indication that the +British heard the soft splashing of bare feet in the mud. The fog was so +thick that he could see nothing, not even the battalions of retreating +Americans; the forms of his own men were vague and gray of outline. He +never had fancied an isolation so complete, but his nerves stood the +strain; when they began to mutter he reminded himself of Mr. Cruger's +store and St. Croix. There was a false summons, and after turning his +back upon his post with a feeling of profound relief, he was obliged to +return and endure it for two hours longer. Did the fog lift he would +never see another. It was dawn when a messenger came with the news that +his turn positively had come, and he marched his men down the slope to +the ferry stairs. He passed close enough to Washington to see his +dejected, haggard face. + +On the 15th of the following month, after much correspondence with +Congress, discussion, and voting, it was determined to abandon New York +City, and intrench the army on the Heights of Harlem. Hamilton was +bitterly disappointed; he wanted to defend the city, and so had three +of the generals, but they were overruled, and the march began on a +blazing Sunday morning. It was not only the army that marched, but all +the inhabitants of the town who had not escaped to the Jersey shore. The +retreat was under the command of General Putnam, and guided through all +the intricacies of those thirteen winding miles by his aide-de-camp, +Aaron Burr. The last man in the procession was Alexander Hamilton. + +"So, you're covering again, Alexander," said Fish, as he passed him on +his way to his own regiment,--the New York, of which he was +brigade-major. "You can't complain that your adopted country doesn't +make use of you. By the way, Troup is in the Jersey prison-ship, safe +and sound." + +"Can't we exchange him?" asked Hamilton, eagerly, "Do you think General +Washington would listen to us?" + +"If we have a victory. I shouldn't care to approach him at present. God! +This is an awful beginning. The whole army is ready to dig its own +grave. The only person of the lot who has any heart in him to-day is +little Burr. He's like to burst with importance because he leads and we +follow. He's a brave little chap, but such a bantam one must laugh. +Well, I hate to leave you here, the very last man to be made a target +of. You won't be rash?" he added anxiously. + +"No, granny," said Hamilton, whose gaiety had revived as he heard of +Troup's safety. "And I'd not exchange my position for any." + +"Good-by." + +Handshakes in those days were solemn. Fish feared that he never should +see Hamilton again, and his fear was close to being realized. + +It was a long, hot, dusty, miserable march; some lay down by the wayside +and died. Hamilton had been bred in the heat of the Tropics, but he had +ridden always, and to-day he was obliged to trudge the thirteen miles on +foot. He had managed to procure horses for his guns and caissons, but +none for himself and his officers. + +It was on the Hoagland farm at the junction of the Kingsbridge and +Bloomingdale roads that a serious skirmish occurred, and Hamilton and +his men stood the brunt of it. The tired column was almost through the +pass, when a detachment of British light infantry suddenly appeared on +the right. Fortunately the cannon had not entered the pass, and were +ready for action. Hamilton opened fire at once. There was a sharp +engagement, but the British were finally driven off. Then the defenders +of the column made good their own retreat, for they knew that by now the +redcoats were swarming over the island. + +Toward night a cold wind and rain swept in from the ocean. When the +little army finally reached Harlem Heights they were obliged to sleep on +the wet ground without so much as a tent to cover them, then arise at +dawn and dig trenches. But by night they were men again, they had ceased +to be dogged machines: the battle of Harlem Heights had been fought and +won. The British had begun the battle in the wrong place and at the +wrong time, and all the natural advantages of that land of precipices, +forests, gorges, wooded hills, and many ravines, were with the +Americans. Again Hamilton worked in the thick of the fight during the +four hours it lasted, but like everybody else he went to sleep happy. + + +XVIII + +He rose at dawn the next morning, and rousing his men, set them at work +throwing up redoubts. He was standing some distance from them, watching +the sun rise over the great valley they had been forced to abandon, with +its woods and beautiful homes, now the quarters of British officers, +when every nerve in his body became intensely aware that some one was +standing behind him. He knew that it was a man of power before he +whirled round and saw Washington. + +"This is Captain Hamilton?" said the Chief, holding out his hand. +"General Greene spoke to me, weeks ago, about you, but I have been in no +mood until to-day for amenities. I know of your part in the retreat +from Long Island, and I noticed you as you passed me on the ferry +stairs. What a lad you are! I am very proud of you." + +"I had asked for no reward, sir," cried Hamilton, with a smile so +radiant that Washington's set face caught a momentary reflection from +it, and he moved a step nearer, "but I feel as if you had pinned an +order on my coat." + +"I have heard a great deal more about you," said Washington, "and I want +to know you. Will you come up and have breakfast with me?" + +"_Oh, yes, I will_," said Hamilton, with such seriousness that they both +laughed. Hamilton's personal pride was too great to permit him to feel +deeply flattered by the attentions of any one, but the halo about +Washington's head was already in process of formation; he stood aloft, +whether successful or defeated, a strong, lonely, splendid figure, and +he had fired Hamilton's imagination long since. At that time he was +ready to worship the great Chief with all a boy's high enthusiasm, and +although he came to know him too well to worship, he loved him, save at +intervals, always. As for Washington, he loved Hamilton then and there, +and it is doubtful if he ever loved any one else so well. When they were +alone he called him "my boy," an endearment he never gave another. + +On that September morning they breakfasted together, and talked for +hours, beginning a friendship which was to be of the deepest +consequences to the country they both were striving to deliver. + +During the following month Hamilton had much leisure, and he spent it in +the library of the Morris house, which its owner, a royalist, had +abandoned on the approach of the American troops, fleeing too hurriedly +to take his books. The house was now General Washington's headquarters, +and he invited Hamilton to make what use of the library he pleased. It +was a cool room, and he found there many of the books he had noted down +for future study. He also wrote out a synopsis of a political and +commercial history of Great Britain. As the proclivities and furnishing +of a mind like Hamilton's cannot fail to interest the students of +mankind, a digression may be pardoned in favour of this list of books +he made for future study, and of the notes scattered throughout his pay +book:-- + + Smith's History of New York; Leonidas; View of the Universe; + 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; History of France; Lassel's Voyage + through Italy; Robertson's Charles V; Present State of Europe; + Grecian History; Baretti's Travels; Bacon's Essays; Philosophical + Transactions; Entick's History of the Late War; European + Settlements in America; Winn's History of America. + + The Dutch in Greenland have from 150 to 200 sail and ten thousand + seamen.... It is ordered that in their public prayers they pray + that it should please God to bless the Government, the Lords, the + States, and their great and small fisheries. + + Hamburg and Germany have a balance against England--they furnish + her with large quantities of linen. + + Trade with France greatly against England.... The trade with + Flanders in favour of England.... A large balance in favour of + Norway and Denmark. + + Rates of Exchange with the several Nations in 52, viz.: To Venice, + Genoa, Leghorn, Amsterdam, Hamburgh. To Paris--Loss, Gain. + + Postlethwaite supposes the quantity of cash necessary to carry on + the circulation in a state one third of the rents to the land + proprietors, or one ninth of the whole product of the lands. See + the articles, Cash and Circulation. + + The par between land and labour is twice the quantity of land whose + product will maintain the labourer. In France one acre and a half + will maintain one. In England three, owing to the difference in the + manner of living. + + Aristotle's Politics, chap. 6, definition of money, &c. + + The proportion of gold and silver, as settled by Sir Isaac Newton's + proposition, was 1 to 14. It was generally through Europe 1 to 15. + In China I believe it is 1 to 10. + + It is estimated that the labour of twenty-five persons, on an + average, will maintain a hundred in all the necessaries of life. + + Postlethwaite, in his time, supposes six millions of people in + England. The ratio of increase has been found by a variety of + observations to be, that 100,000 people augment annually, one year + with another to--. Mr. Kerseboom, agreeing with Dr. Halley, makes + the number of people thirty-five times the number of births in a + year. + + Extracts from Demosthenes' Orations. + + Philippic. "As a general marches at the head of his troops, so + ought wise politicians, if I dare use the expression, to march at + the head of affairs; insomuch that they ought not to wait _the + event_, to know what measures to take; but the measures which they + have taken ought to produce the _event_." + + "Where attack him? it will be said. Ah, Athenians--war, war, itself + will discover to you his weak sides, if you will seek them." + + Sublimely simple. Vide Long. C. 16. + + Are the limits of the several states and the acts on which they are + founded ascertained, and are our ministers provided with them? What + intelligence has been given to Congress by our ministers of the + designs, strength by sea and land, actual interests and views of + the different powers in Europe? + + The government established (by Lycurgus) remained in vigour about + five hundred years, till a thirst of empire tempted the Spartans to + entertain foreign troops, and introduce Persian gold to maintain + them; then the institutions of Lycurgus fell at once, and avarice + and luxury succeeded. + + He (Numa) was a wise prince, and went a great way in civilizing the + Romans. The chief engine he employed for this purpose was religion, + which could alone have sufficient empire over the minds of a + barbarous and warlike people to engage them to cultivate the arts + of peace. + + Dr. Halley's Table of Observations exhibiting the probabilities of + life; containing an account of the whole number of people of + Breslau, capital of Silesia, and the number of those of every age, + from one to a hundred. (Here follows the table with comments by + A.H.) + + When the native money is worth more than the par in foreign, + exchange is high; when worth less, it is low. + + Portugal trade--Spanish trade--Artificers--Money--Exchange--Par of + exchange--Balance of + trade--Manufactures--Foundry--Coin--Gold--Silver--Naval + Power--Council of trade--Fishery. + + Money coined in England from the reign of Queen Elizabeth. + + Quere. Would it not be advisable to let all taxes, even those + imposed by the States, be collected by persons of Congressional + appointment; and would it not be advisable to pay the collectors so + much per cent. on the sums collected? + +Hamilton was nineteen at this time, and while there are many instances +of mental precocity in the history of mankind, it is doubtful if there +is a parallel case of so great a _range_ of intellectual curiosity, or +such versatility combined with pursuit of knowledge as distinct from +information. But the above notes are chiefly significant as showing that +long before he could have dreamed of directing the finances of the +United States, while he was wild with delight at the prospect of +military excitement and glory, a part of his mind was imperiously +attracted to the questions which were to become identified in American +history with his name. + +Washington often came in and sat for an hour with him; and although they +talked military science and future campaigns invariably,--for +Washington was a man of little reading and his thoughts moved in a +constant procession to one tune,--this was perhaps the happiest period +of their intercourse. The Chief demanded nothing, and his young friend +was free to give or not, as he chose. In that interval nothing gave +Hamilton such pleasure as to see Washington come into the cool library, +his face softening. + +"You have a streak of light in you that never goes out," said the man of +many burdens once. "When I catch a spark of it, I am cheered for the +rest of the day. When I am close to it for a time, I can feel the iron +lid on my spirits lifting as if it were on a bubbling pot. I believe you +are something more than human." + +During the first of these conversations Hamilton suggested the +advisability of keeping up the spirits of the raw troops by drawing the +enemy in separate detachments into constant skirmishes, a plan in which +the Americans were sure to have every advantage; and this policy was +pursued until Washington fell back into Westchester County. + +The American troops under Washington numbered about nineteen thousand +men, in one-third of whom the Chief felt something like confidence. Many +were grumbling at the prospect of a winter in the discomforts of camp +life; others were rejoicing that their time of service drew to a close; +all were raw. Nevertheless, he determined to give the British battle on +the shore of the Bronx River, where they were camped with the intention +of cutting him off from the rest of the country. + +Both armies were near White Plains on the morning of the 28th of +October. Most of the Americans were behind the breastworks they had +thrown up, and the British were upon the hills below, on the opposite +side of the Bronx. On the American side of the stream was an eminence +called Chatterton's Hill, and on the evening of the 27th Colonel Haslet +was stationed on this height, with sixteen hundred men, in order to +prevent the enfilading of the right wing of the army. Early the next +morning McDougall was ordered to reinforce Haslet with a small corps +and two pieces of artillery under Hamilton, and to assume general +command. + +At ten o'clock the British army began its march toward the village, but +before they reached it, Howe determined that Chatterton's Hill should be +the first point of attack, and four thousand troops under Leslie moved +off to dislodge the formidable looking force on the height. + +Hamilton placed his two guns in battery on a rocky ledge about halfway +down the hill, and bearing directly upon that part of the Bronx which +the British were approaching. He was screened from the enemy by a small +grove of trees. The Hessians, who were in the lead, refused to wade the +swollen stream, and the onslaught was checked that a bridge might +hastily be thrown together for their accommodation. Hamilton waited a +half-hour, then poured out his fire. The bridge was struck, the workmen +killed, the Hessians fell back in a panic. Leslie appealed to the +loyalty of the British, forded the river at another point, and rushed up +the hill with bayonets fixed, resolved to capture the guns. But the guns +flashed with extraordinary rapidity. Both the British and the watching +Americans were amazed. There were no tin canisters and grape-shot in the +American army, even the round shot were exhausted. Loading cannon with +musket balls was a slow process; but Hamilton was never without +resource. He stood the cannon on end, filled his three-cornered hat with +the balls, and loaded as rapidly as had he leaped a century. His guns +mowed down the British in such numbers that Leslie fell back, and +joining the Hessian grenadiers and infantry, who had now crossed the +stream, charged up the southwestern declivity of the hill and +endeavoured to turn McDougall's right flank. McDougall's advance opposed +them hotly, while slowly retreating toward the crown of the eminence. +The British cavalry attacked the American militia on the extreme right, +and the raw troops fled ignominiously. McDougall, with only six hundred +men and Hamilton's two guns, sustained an unequal conflict for an hour, +twice repulsing the British light infantry and cavalry. But the attack +on his flank compelled him to give way and retreat toward the +intrenchments. Under cover of a heavy rainstorm and of troops despatched +in haste, he retreated in good order with his wounded and artillery, +leaving the victors in possession of a few inconsiderable breastworks. + +Fort Washington was betrayed, and fell on the 16th of November. Then +began that miserable retreat of the American army through the Jerseys, +with the British sometimes in full pursuit, sometimes merely camping on +the trail of the hapless revolutionists. For Washington's force was now +reduced to thirty-five hundred, and they were ragged, half fed, and +wretched in mind and body. Many had no shoes, and in one regiment there +was not a pair of trousers. They left the moment their leave expired, +and recruits were drummed up with great difficulty. Washington was +obliged to write eight times to General Lee, who was at North Castle +with a considerable force, before he was able to hope for relief in that +quarter. + +Hamilton had a horse at times, at others not. But his vitality was proof +against even those endless days and nights of marching and +countermarching, through forests and swamps, in the worst of late autumn +and winter weather; and he kept up the spirits of his little regiment, +now reduced from bullets, exposure, and the expiration of service to +thirty men. Nevertheless, he held the British in check at the Raritan +River while the Americans destroyed the bridge, and when Washington, +after having crossed the Delaware, determined to recross it on Christmas +night and storm Trenton, he was one of the first to be chosen, with what +remained of his men and guns. + +As they crossed the Delaware that bitter night, the snow stinging and +blinding, the river choked with blocks of ice, Hamilton for the first +time thought on St. Croix with a pang of envy. But it was the night for +their purpose, and all the world knows the result. The victory was +followed on the 3d of January by the capture of Princeton; and here +Hamilton's active military career came to an end for the present. + + Well do I recollect the day [wrote a contemporary] when Hamilton's + company marched into Princeton. It was a model of discipline. At + their head was a boy, and I wondered at his youth; but what was my + surprise, when, struck with his slight figure, he was pointed out + to me as that Hamilton of whom we had heard so much. + + I noticed [a veteran officer said many years after] a youth, a mere + stripling, small, slender, almost delicate in frame, marching + beside a piece of artillery, with a cocked hat pulled down over his + eyes, apparently lost in thought; with his hand resting on a + cannon, and every now and again patting it as if it were a + favourite horse or a pet plaything. + + + + +BOOK III + +THE LITTLE LION + +I + +Hamilton's body succumbed to the climax of Trenton and Princeton upon +months of hardship and exposure, and he was in hospital for a week with +a rheumatic fever. But Troup, whose exchange had been effected, was with +him most of the time, and his convalescence was made agreeable by many +charming women. He was not the only brilliant young man in the army, for +Troup, Fish, Burr, Marshall, were within a few months or, at most, a +year or two of his age, and there were many others; men had matured +early in that hot period before the Revolution, when small boys talked +politics, and even the women thought of little else; but Hamilton, +through no fault of his, had inspired his friends with the belief that +he was something higher than human, and they never tired of sounding his +praises. Moreover, Washington had not hesitated to say what he thought +of him, and the mere fact that he had won the affection of that austere +Chieftain was enough to give him celebrity. At all events, he was a +dazzling figure, and pretty women soothed many a weary hour. As for +Troup, who was unpleasantly anatomical, he had a fresh story for every +day of the horrors of the prison cattle-ship _Mentor_, where half the +prisoners had died of filth, starvation, and fever, from putrid water +and brutal treatment. + +But never was there a more impatient invalid than Hamilton. He was +astonished and disgusted that his body should defy his mind, and at the +first moment possible he was up and about his duties with the army at +Morristown. Troup was ordered to join the army under Gates in the North. + +Morristown was a natural fortress, a large fertile valley, protected by +precipitous hills and forests, yet with defiles known to the Americans, +through which they could retreat if necessary. It was within striking +distance of New Brunswick and Amboy, in which towns Washington kept the +British cooped up for months, not permitting them to cut a stick of +forest wood without fighting for it. "Here was seen," to quote Hamilton, +"the spectacle of a powerful army straitened within narrow limits by the +phantom of a military force, and never permitted to transgress those +limits with impunity; in which skill supplied the place of means, and +disposition was the substitute for an army." + +Congress had invested Washington with such extraordinary powers after +the brilliant exploit at Trenton, that in Europe he was called "The +Dictator of America." Therein lay the sole cause of the ultimate victory +of the Revolutionists, and had the States been more generous, and less +jealous of delegating powers to Congress, he would have driven out the +British in short order. + +Mrs. Washington had joined her General--she kept an eye on him--at +Freeman's Tavern, which had been converted into comfortable +headquarters, and he was happy in his military family: Colonel Harrison, +indefatigable and fearless, affectionately known as "Old Secretary"; +Tench Tilghman of Maryland, young, accomplished, cheerful, devoted to +Washington and serving without pay, for his fortune was considerable; +Richard Kidder Meade, sprightly, enthusiastic, always willing to slave; +and John Fitzgerald,--all in an attitude of perpetual adoration. But he +lacked a secretary of the requisite ability, and as soon as he heard of +Hamilton's return to camp he sent for him. + +Hamilton was feeling almost well, and he walked rapidly across the +village green to headquarters, delighted at the prospect of seeing +Washington again. He had acquired a military air and walked more erectly +than ever, for he was somewhat sensitive of his juvenile appearance. He +found Washington in a front room on the second floor. The General wore +his usual blue and buff, and looked less harassed and worn than when he +had last seen him. He rose and shook hands warmly with Hamilton, who +thanked him again for the messages he had received while in hospital. + +"I would have had you brought here if there had been any place to make +you comfortable; and I am going to ask you to come and live with me +now--as my aide and secretary." + +Hamilton sprang to his feet impetuously. "Oh, sir!" he exclaimed, "I +don't want to leave the regular line of promotion! I don't want to leave +my men. I'm much attached to them. And I'll not deny my ambition, sir; I +want opportunities to distinguish myself. I've already refused two +generals. This war will last for years. There is no reason in the world +why I should not be a general in three." + +"No," said Washington, "there is none; there is every possibility of +your becoming one of the most brilliant figures on the revolutionary +battlefields. I admit that, and I understand your ambition. +Nevertheless, I think I can prove to you that there is another way in +which you can serve your country better. I know your uncompromising +sense of duty and your high patriotism, and I am sure you will accept my +invitation when I prove to you that while there are hundreds to fight +valorously, even brilliantly, there is scarcely a man I can get to write +my letters who can do more than punctuate properly or turn a sentence +neatly. You must know the inexpressible value of a brilliant +accomplished versatile secretary, with a brain capable of grasping every +question that arises--and you can imagine how many of that sort have +come my way. I have been driven nearly distracted, dictating, +explaining, revising--when I have so much else to think of. Besides the +constant correspondence with the Congress and the States, something else +is always turning up--to-day it is the exchange of prisoners, a most +important and delicate matter. Were you my secretary, you would also be +my brain: a word would be sufficient. I could trust you so implicitly +that if matters pressed I could confidently sign my name to whatever you +wrote without reading it over. There is no one else living of whom I can +say that. You are the most useful young man in America, and if you will +give your great brain to this country from this time on, she will be far +more grateful to you than if you merely continued to fight, splendidly +as you have done that. And _I_ need you--I have no words to tell you how +much." + +"Sir," said Hamilton, deeply touched, "no human being could withstand +such an appeal, and your words of praise are glory enough. I will come +as soon as you say, and do the best I can." + +"Come at once. The British persist in treating us as rebels. It is for +you, with your inspired pen, to force and coax them to regard us with +the respect an educated thinking people--not a horde of ignorant rebels, +as they imagine--deserve. If you do that, you will do a greater service +to your country than if you rose to be first in military rank. Here are +some notes. When you have finished, write to Congress and ask for the +rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; and move up here to-day, if possible. I +cannot tell you how happy I shall be to have you a member of my family." + +Washington had won his point. A shrewd judge of men, he had calculated +upon Hamilton succumbing to an appeal to his sense of patriotic +duty--the strongest passion in his passionate nature. Much as he loved +Hamilton, he had no hesitation in using him, and our petted young hero +was to learn what work meant for the first time in his life. He wrote +most of the day, often half the night; but although he chafed angrily at +the confinement, beat many a tattoo on the floor with his heels, and +went for a hard ride more than once that he might keep his temper, the +result was that mass of correspondence, signed "George Washington," +which raised the commander of the American forces so high in the +estimation of Europe, adding to his military renown the splendour of a +profound and luminous intellect. + +There was, also, some correspondence with the Congress regarding the +disposition of his artillery men. He insisted upon definite provision +for them, and they were permitted to enlist in the Continental Army. +They loved him, and the final parting on March 18th, with cannon as +well as men!--made him ill for half a day. + +Otherwise his life at Headquarters was very pleasant Tilghman and Meade +became two of the most congenial friends he ever made. The tavern was +comfortable, and he had a room to himself for a time. The dining room +reunions were agreeable in spite of their formality. Besides the amiable +military family, and the most motherly of women, who knit him stockings +and kept his wardrobe in order, there were frequent visitors. The +Livingston girls were spending the winter with their aunt, Lady +Sterling, and, with their beautiful cousin, the Lady Kitty Alexander, +often drove over to a five o'clock dinner or the more informal supper. +The Boudinots and Morgans, the generals in camp at Morristown and their +wives, and the more distinguished officers, were frequently dined at +Headquarters. Washington sat halfway in the table's length, with Mrs. +Washington opposite. Hamilton was placed at the head of the table on the +day of his arrival, a seat he retained while a member of the family. The +Chief encouraged him to talk, and it must be confessed that he talked +from the time he sat down till the meal finished. His ideas were always +on the rush, and talking was merely thinking aloud. As he expressed +himself with wit and elegance, and on subjects which interested them all +profoundly, illuminating everything he touched, old men and young would +lean forward and listen with respect to the wisdom of a young man who +was yet an infant in the eyes of the law. How he escaped being +insufferably spoiled can only be explained by the ceaseless activity of +his brain, and the fact that the essence of which prigs are made was not +in him. That he was utterly without commonplace conceit is indisputable, +for he was the idol of the family. Harrison christened him "The Little +Lion," a name his friends used for their aptest designation as long as +he lived, and assumed a paternal relation which finished only with the +older man's death. The Lady-in-chief made such a pet of him that he was +referred to in the irreverent Tory press as "Mrs. Washington's +Tom-cat." + +"Alexander," said Kitty Livingston to him, one day, "have a care. You +are too fortunate. The jealous gods will smite you." + +But Hamilton, thinking of those terrible months in the previous year, of +mental anxiety and physical hardship, when, in bitter weather, he had +often gone hungry and insufficiently clothed, and of his present arduous +duties, concluded there was a fine balance in his affairs which +doubtless would placate the gods. + + +II + +In May and July there were illustrious additions to Washington's +family,--John Laurens and Lafayette. Both became the intimate friends of +Hamilton, the former one of the few passionate attachments of his life. +Although Hamilton was by no means indifferent to the affection he +inspired in nine-tenths of the people he met, he did not himself love +easily. He was too analytical, he saw people too precisely as they were, +and his acquaintance with human nature had made him too cynical to +permit the flood gates of his affections to open except under uncommon +stress. He dreaded disappointment. For Troup, Fish, Stevens, Meade, and +Tilghman he had a deep affection and served their interests ardently; +for Washington a contradictory budget of emotions, which were sometimes +to be headed "respectful affection," at others "irritated resentment," +now and again a moment of adoration. While he could not pay sufficient +tribute to Washington's magnanimity and generosity, he had by now seen +him in too many tempers, had been ground too fine in his greedy machine, +to think on him always with unqualified enthusiasm. Lafayette, +brilliant, volatile, accomplished, bubbling with enthusiasm for the +cause of Liberty, and his own age within a few months, he liked +sincerely and always. There was no end to the favours he did him, and +Lafayette loved no one better in his long and various career. Women, +Hamilton fancied sharply and forgot quickly. + +But Laurens, the "young Bayard of the Revolution," fresh from the +colleges and courts of Europe, a man so handsome that, we are told, +people experienced a certain shock when he entered the room, courtly, +accomplished to the highest degree, of flawless character, with a mind +as noble and elevated as it was intellectual, and burning with the most +elevated patriotism,--he took Hamilton by storm, capturing judgement as +well as heart, and loving him as ardently in return. + +Like Hamilton, Laurens was of Huguenot descent; he was born in South +Carolina, of a distinguished family. Against the expressed wish of his +father he had returned to America, made his way to Headquarters and +offered his services to Washington, who immediately attached him to his +military household. The unhappiest of men, praying for death on every +battlefield, he lived long enough to distinguish himself by a bravery so +reckless, by such startling heroic feats, that he was, beyond all +question, the popular young hero of the Revolution. He worshipped +Washington as one might worship a demi-god, and risked his life for him +on two occasions. But Hamilton was the friend of his life; the bond +between them was romantic and chivalrous. Each burned to prove the +strength of his affection, to sacrifice himself for the other. Laurens +slaved at Washington's less important correspondence, and Hamilton's +turn came later. The age has passed for such friendships; but at that +time, when young men were nurtured on great ideas, when they were +sacrificing themselves in a sacred cause, and had seen next to nothing +of the frivolities of life, they were understandable enough. + +Hamilton was obliged to share his room with both the young men, and they +slept on three little cots in a small space. When the nights were +insufferably hot they would go out and lie on the grass and talk until +they were in a condition to sleep anywhere. Hamilton would forecast the +next movement of the enemy; Laurens and Lafayette would tell all they +knew about military science in Europe; and then they would discuss the +future of the liberated country and the great ideals which must govern +her. And when men can be idealistic while fighting the Jersey mosquito, +it must be admitted that they are of the stuff to serve their country +well. + +But all this delightful intercourse was interrupted in August. +Washington gave battle to the British at Brandywine, was defeated, and +in the following month surprised them at Germantown, and was defeated +again. Nevertheless, he had astonished the enemy with his strength and +courage so soon after a disastrous battle. To hold Philadelphia was +impossible, however, and the British established themselves in the +Capital of the colonies, making, as usual, no attempt to follow up their +victories. + +Washington went into temporary quarters near the village of Whitemarsh. +His own were in a baronial hall at the head of a beautiful valley. Old +trees shaded the house, and a spring of pure water bubbled in a fountain +before the door. The men were encamped on the hills at the north. + +There was a great hall through the centre of the mansion, and here +Washington held his audiences and councils of war. The house throughout +was of extreme elegance, and much to the taste of the younger members of +the family, particularly of Hamilton, who spent the greater part of his +leisure in the library. But his enjoyment of this uncommon luxury was +brief. + +Washington must have reinforcements or his next engagement might be his +last. There was but one source from which he could obtain a considerable +supply, and that was from the army of Gates in the North. But Gates was +swollen with the victory of Saratoga and the capture of Burgoyne, and +was suspected to be in the thick of an intrigue to dethrone Washington +and have himself proclaimed Commander-in-chief. At the moment he was the +idol of the army, and of the northern and eastern States, for his +victories were tangible and brilliant, while Washington's surer +processes were little appreciated. Therefore to get troops from him +would be little less difficult than to get them from Lord Howe, short of +a positive command, and this prerogative Washington did not think it +politic to use. He called a council of war, and when it was over he +went to his private office and sent for Alexander Hamilton. + +He looked haggard, as if from sleepless nights, and for a moment after +Hamilton entered the room, although he waved his hand at a chair, he +stared at him without speaking. Hamilton divined what was coming--he +attended all councils of war--and sat forward eagerly. The prospect of a +holiday from clerical work would alone have filled him with youth, and +he knew how great a service he might be able to render the cowering +Republic. + +"Hamilton," said Washington, finally, "you are as much in my secret +thoughts as I am myself. If I attempted to deceive you, you would divine +what I withheld. It is a relief to speak frankly to you, I dare not +demand these troops from Gates, because there is more than a possibility +he would defy me, and that the Congress and a large part of the army +would sustain him. He has given sufficient evidence of his temper in +sending me no official notice of the battle of Saratoga. But unless I am +to meet with overwhelming disaster here, I must have reinforcements. It +may be possible to extract these by diplomacy, and I have selected you +for the mission, because I feel sure that you will not forget the issues +at stake for a moment, because you never lose your head, and because you +will neither be overawed by Gates's immediate splendour, nor will you +have any young desire to assert the authority which I give you as a last +resort. There is another point: If you find that Gates purposes to +employ his troops on some expedition, by the prosecution of which the +common cause will be more benefited than by their being sent down to +reinforce this army, you must suspend your consideration for me. God +knows I am tender of my reputation, and I have no wish to be disgraced, +but we are or should be fighting for a common cause and principle, and +should have little thought of individual glory. However, I do not +believe in the disinterestedness of Gates, nor in his efficiency on a +large scale. But I leave everything in your hands." + +Hamilton stood up, his chest rising, and stared at his Chief. + +"Sir," he said, after a moment, "do you appreciate that you are placing +your good name and your future in my hands?" For a moment he realized +that he was not yet of age. + +"You are the only being to whom I can confide them, and who can save +this terrible situation." + +"And you have the magnanimity to say that if Gates has a chance of other +victories to let him go unhindered?" He had one of his moments of +adoration and self-abnegation for this man, whose particular virtues, so +little called upon in ordinary affairs, gave him so lonely a place among +men. + +Washington jerked his head. There was nothing more to say. Hamilton's +head dropped for a moment, as if he felt the weight of an iron helmet, +and his lips moved rapidly. + +"Are you saying your prayers when your lips work like that?" asked +Washington, crossly. + +Hamilton threw back his head with a gay laugh. His eyes were sparkling, +his nostrils dilating; his whole bearing was imperious and triumphant. +"Never mind that. I'll undertake this mission gladly, sir, and I think +I'll not fail. My old friend Troup is his aide. He will advise me of +many things. I'll bring you back those regiments, sir. One way or +another a thing can always be managed." + +The light in Hamilton's face was reflected on Washington's. "You are my +good genius," he said shortly. "Take care of yourself. You will have to +ride hard, for there is no time to lose, but be careful not to take +cold. I shall give you orders in writing. Come back as soon as you can. +I believe I am not lacking in courage, but I always have most when you +are close by." + +There is a print somewhere representing Hamilton setting forth on this +mission. He is mounted on a handsome white horse, and wears a long green +cloak, one end thrown over a shoulder. His three-cornered hat is pulled +low over his eyes. In the rear is an orderly. + +He started on the 30th of October, riding hard through the torn desolate +country, toward Newburg on the Hudson. He was three days making the +distance, although he snatched but a few hours' rest at night, and but +a few moments for each meal. From Newburg he crossed to Fishkill and, +acting on his general instructions, ordered Putnam to despatch southward +three brigades; and on his own account despatched seven hundred Jersey +militia on the same expedition. + +He then started hot and hard for Albany, a dangerous as well as +exhausting journey, for neither savage tribes nor redcoats could be far +in the distance. His mental anxiety by now wore as severely as the +physical strain. None knew better than he that his talents were not for +diplomacy. He was too impatient, too imperious, too direct for its +sinuous methods. On the other hand, he had a theory that a first-rate +mind could, for a given time, be bent in any direction the will +commanded, and he had acquired an admirable command of his temper. But +the responsibility was terrific, and he was half ill when he reached +Albany. He presented himself at General Gates's headquarters at once. + +Gates, like Lee, was a soldier of fortune; and low-born, vain, weak, and +insanely ambitious. He had been advised of Hamilton's coming, and had no +intention of giving Washington an opportunity to rival his own +achievements and reëstablish himself with the army and the Congress. He +received Hamilton surrounded by several of his military family; and for +the first time our fortunate hero encountered in high places active +enmity and dislike. He had incurred widespread jealousy on account of +his influence over Washington, and for the important part he was playing +in national affairs. To the enemies of the Commander-in-chief he +represented that exalted personage, and was particularly obnoxious. +Never was a youth in a more difficult position. + +"I cannot expose the finest arsenal in America," said Gates, pompously, +"to the possibility of destruction. Sir Henry Clinton may return at any +minute. Nor could I enterprise against Ticonderoga were my army +depleted. Nor can I leave the New England States open to the ravages and +the depredations of the enemy." + +These statements made no impression on Hamilton, and he argued +brilliantly and convincingly for his object, but Gates was inflexible. +He would send one brigade and no more. + +Hamilton retired, uneasy and dejected. Gates had an air of omnipotence, +and his officers had not concealed their scorn. He hesitated to use his +authority, for a bold defiance on the part of Gates might mean the +downfall of Washington, perhaps of the American cause. That Washington +was practically the American army, Hamilton firmly believed. If he fell, +it was more than likely that the whole tottering structure would +crumble. + +Another reason inclined him not to press Gates too far. He had been able +to order seventy-seven hundred troops from Fishkill, which was more than +Washington had expected, although by no means so many as he needed. He +therefore wrote to the Chief at length, sent for Troup, and threw +himself on the bed; he was well-nigh worn out. + +Troup was already in search of him, and met the messenger. Big and +bronzed, bursting with spirits, he seemed to electrify the very air of +the room he burst into without ceremony. Hamilton sat up and poured out +his troubles. + +"You have an affinity for posts of danger," said Troup. "I believe you +to be walking over a powder-mine here. I am not in their confidence, for +they know what I think of Washington, but I believe there is a cabal on +foot, and that Gates may be in open rebellion any minute. But he's a +coward and a bully. Treat him as such. Press your point and get your +troops. He is but the tool of a faction, and I doubt if they could make +him act when it came to the point. He wants to make another grand coup +before striking. Look well into what regiment he gives you. Which are +you to have?" + +"General Patterson's." + +"I thought as much. It is the weakest of the three now here, consists of +but about six hundred rank and file fit for duty. There are two hundred +militia with it, whose time of service is so near expiring that they +will have dissolved ere you reach Headquarters." + +Hamilton had sprung to his feet in a fury. He forgot his pains, and let +his temper fly with satisfaction in the exercise. "If that is the case," +he cried, when he had finished his anathema of Gates, "I'll have the +men;" and he dashed at his writing materials. But he threw his pen aside +in a moment. "I'll wait till to-morrow for this. I must be master of +myself. Tell me of Saratoga. You distinguished yourself mightily, and no +one was more glad than I." + +Troup talked while Hamilton rested. That evening he took him to call at +the Schuyler mansion, high on the hill. + +Philip Schuyler was the great feudal lord of the North. He had served +the colonial cause in many ways, and at the outbreak of the Revolution +had been one of its hopes and props. But brilliant as his exploits had +been, the intrigues of Gates, after the fall of Ticonderoga, had been +successful, and he was deprived of the army of the North before the +battle of Saratoga. The day of exoneration came, but at present he was +living quietly at home, without bitterness. A man of the most exalted +character, he drew added strength from adversity, to be placed at the +service of the country the moment it was demanded. Mrs. Schuyler, +herself a great-granddaughter of the first patroon, Killian Van +Rensselaer, was a woman of strong character, an embodied type of all the +virtues of the Dutch pioneer housewife. She had a lively and turbulent +family of daughters, however, and did not pretend to manage them. The +spirit of our age is feeble and bourgeois when compared with the +independence and romantic temper of the stormy days of this Republic's +birth. Liberty was in the air; there was no talk but of freedom and +execration of tyrants; young officers had the run of every house, and +Clarissa Harlowe was the model for romantic young "females." Angelica +Schuyler, shortly before the battle of Saratoga, had run off with John +Barker Church, a young Englishman of distinguished connections, at +present masquerading under the name of Carter; a presumably fatal duel +having driven him from England. Subsequently, both Peggy and Cornelia +Schuyler climbed out of windows and eloped in a chaise and four, +although there was not an obstacle worth mentioning to union with the +youths of their choice. It will shock many good mothers of the present +day to learn that all these marriages were not only happy, but set with +the brilliance of wealth and fashion. When Hamilton was introduced to +the famous white hall of the Schuyler mansion on the hill, Cornelia and +Peggy were still free in all but fancy; Elizabeth, by far the best +behaved, was the hope of Mrs. Schuyler's well-regulated soul and one of +the belles of the Revolution. Hamilton was enchanted with her, although +his mind was too weighted for love. Her spirits were as high as his own, +and they talked and laughed until midnight as gaily as were Gates's army +marching south. But Hamilton was a philosopher; nothing could be done +before the morrow; he might as well be happy and forget. He had met many +clever and accomplished American women by this, and Lady Kitty Alexander +and Kitty and Susan Livingston were brilliant. He had also met Angelica +Church, or Mrs. Carter, as she was called, one of the cleverest and most +high-spirited women of her time. It had crossed his mind that had she +been free, he might have made a bold dash for so fascinating a creature, +but it seemed to him to-night that on the whole he preferred her sister. +"Betsey" Schuyler had been given every advantage of education, +accomplishment, and constant intercourse with the best society in the +land. She had skill and tact in the management of guests, and without; +being by any means a woman of brilliant parts, understood the questions +of the day; her brain was informed with shrewd common sense. Hamilton +concluded that she was quite clever enough, and was delighted with her +beauty, her charm of manner, and style. Her little figure was graceful +and distinguished, her complexion the honey and claret that artists +extol, and she had a pair of big black eyes which were alternately +roguish, modest, tender, sympathetic; there were times when they were +very lively, and even suggested a temper. She was bright without +attempting to be witty, but that she was deeply appreciative of wit +Hamilton had soothing cause to know. And he had learned from the +admiring Troup that she was as intrepid as she was wholly and daintily +feminine. Altogether, Hamilton's fate was sealed when he bent over her +hand that night, although he was far from suspecting it, so heavily did +duty press the moment he was alone in his rooms. + +On the following morning he asked for an interview with General Schuyler +and several other military men whom he knew to be friendly to +Washington, and they confirmed the advice of Troup. In the afternoon he +wrote to Gates a letter that was peremptory, although dignified and +circumspect, demanding the addition of a superior brigade. He expressed +his indignation in no measured terms, and in more guarded phrases his +opinion of the flimsiness of the victorious General's arguments. Gates +sent the troops at once, and despatched a volume of explanation to +Washington. + +Hamilton set out immediately for New Windsor, Troup bearing him company +the greater part of the way, for he was feeling very ill. But he forgot +his ailments when he arrived. To his fury he discovered that not a +regiment had gone south. Two of the brigades, which had received no pay +for eight months, had mutinied, and he was obliged to ask Governor +Clinton to borrow $5000, with which to pay them off. He had the +satisfaction of despatching them, wrote a peremptory letter to Putnam, +who had other plans brewing, another to Gates, asking for further +reinforcements, then went to bed in Governor Clinton's house with fever +and rheumatism. But he wrote to Washington, apprising him of a scheme +among the officers of the northern department to recover the city of New +York, and denouncing Putnam in the most emphatic terms. Two days later +he recovered sufficiently to proceed to Fishkill, where he wrested +troops from Putnam, and ascertained that heavy British reinforcements +had gone from that neighbourhood to Howe. He wrote at once to +Washington, advising him of his peril, and endeavoured to push on; but +his delicate frame would stand no more, and on the 15th he went to bed +in Mr. Kennedy's house in Peekskill, with so violent an attack of +rheumatism that to his bitter disgust he was obliged to resign himself +to weeks of inactivity. But he had the satisfaction to receive a letter +from Washington approving all that he had done. And in truth he had +saved the situation, and Washington never forgot it. + + +III + +Hamilton rejoined the army at Valley Forge and soon recovered his health +and spirits. It was well that the spirits revived, for no one else +during that terrible winter could lay claim to any. The Headquarters +were in a small valley, shut in by high hills white with snow and black +with trees that looked like iron. The troops were starving and freezing +and dying a mile away, muttering and cursing, but believing in +Washington. On a hill beyond the pass Lafayette was comfortable in +quarters of his own, but bored and fearing the worst. Laurens chafed at +the inaction; he would have had a battle a day. As the winter wore on, +the family succumbed to the depressing influence of unrelieved monotony +and dread of the future, and only Hamilton knew to what depths of +anxiety Washington could descend. But despair had no part in Hamilton's +creed. He had perfect faith in the future, and announced it +persistently. He assumed the mission of keeping the family in good +cheer, and they gave him little time for his studies. As for Washington, +even when Hamilton was not at his desk, he made every excuse to demand +his presence in the private office; and Hamilton in his prayers +humorously thanked his Almighty for the gift of a cheerful disposition. +It may be imagined what a relief it was when he and Laurens, Meade, or +Tilghman raced each other up the icy gorge to Lafayette's, where they +were often jollier the night through than even a cheerful disposition +would warrant. Hamilton, although he had not much of a voice, learned +one camp-song, "The Drum," and this he sang with such rollicking abandon +that it fetched an explosive sigh of relief from the gloomiest breast. + +There were other duties from which Hamilton fled to the house on the +hill for solace. Valley Forge harboured a heterogeneous collection of +foreigners, whose enthusiasm had impelled them to offer swords and +influence to the American cause: Steuben, Du Portail, De Noailles, +Custine, Fleury, Du Plessis, the three brothers Armand, Ternant, +Pulaski, and Kosciusko. They had a thousand wants, a thousand +grievances, and as Washington would not be bothered by them, their daily +recourse was Hamilton, whom they adored. To him they could lament in +voluble French; he knew the exact consolation to administer to each, and +when it was advisable he laid their afflictions before Washington or the +Congress. They bored him not a little, but he sympathized with them in +their Cimmerian exile, and it was necessary to keep them in the country +for the sake of the moral effect. But he congratulated himself on his +capacity for work. + +"I used to wish that a hurricane would come and blow Cruger's store to +Hell," he said one day to Laurens, "but I cannot be sufficiently +thankful for that experience now. It made me as methodical as a machine, +gave my brain a system without which I never could cope with this mass +of work. I have this past week dried the tears of seven Frenchmen, +persuaded Steuben that he is not Europe, nor yet General Washington, and +without too much offending him, written a voluminous letter to Gates +calculated to make him feel what a contemptible and traitorous ass he +is, yet giving him no chance to run, blubbering, with it to the +Congress, and official letters _ad nauseum_. I wish to God I were out of +it all, and about to ride into battle at the head of a company of my +own." + +"And how many widows have you consoled?" asked Laurens. He was huddled +in his cot, trying to keep warm. + +"None," said Hamilton, with some gloom. "I haven't spoken to a woman for +three weeks." + +It was a standing joke at Headquarters that Washington always sent +Hamilton to console the widows. This he did with such sympathy and tact, +such address and energy, that his friends had occasionally been forced +to extricate him from complications. But it was an accomplishment in +which he excelled as long as he lived. + +"The Chief will never let you go," pursued Laurens. "And as there is no +one to take your place, you really should not wish it. Washington may be +the army, but you are Washington's brain, and of quite as much +importance. You should never forget--" + +"Come out and coast. That will warm your blood," interrupted Hamilton. +His own sense of duty was not to be surpassed, but he had rebellious +moods, when preaching suggested fisticuffs. + +Outside they met a messenger from Lafayette, begging them to repair to +his quarters at once. There they found him entertaining a party of +charming women from a neighbouring estate; and a half-hour later the +dignity and fashion of Washington's family might have been seen coasting +down a steep hill with three Philadelphian exiles, who were as +accomplished in many ways as they were satisfying to look upon. + +It was one of those days when a swift freeze has come with a rain-storm. +Hamilton had stood at the window of the office for an hour, early in the +day, biting the end of his quill, and watching the water change to ice +as it struck the naked trees, casing every branch until, when the sun +came out, the valley was surrounded by a diamond forest, the most +radiant and dazzling of winter sights. The sun was still out, its light +flashed back from a million facets, the ground was hard and white, the +keen cold air awoke the blood, and the three young men forgot their +grumblings, and blessed the sex which has alleviated man's burdens so +oft and well. + + +IV + +In June the military ardours of this distinguished young trio were +gratified to the point of temporary exhaustion. The British evacuated +Philadelphia on the 18th, and proceeded up the Delaware in New Jersey. +Captain Allan McLane had, as early as May 25th, reported to Washington +the enemy's intention to change their quarters for New York, and +Washington's desire was to crush them by a decisive blow. At a council +of war, however, it was decided merely to hang upon the skirts of the +retreating army and avoid an engagement. Lee was aggressive, almost +insulting, in counselling inaction, Washington, much embarrassed, but +hesitating to ignore the decisions of the council, followed the enemy by +a circuitous route, until he reached the neighbourhood of Princeton. The +British were in and about Allentown. Washington called another council +of war, and urged the propriety of forcing an engagement before the +enemy could reach the Heights of Monmouth. Again Lee overruled, being +sustained by the less competent generals, who were in the majority. As +soon as the council broke up, Hamilton sought out General Greene and led +him aside, Greene was white and dejected, but Hamilton's face was hot, +and his eyes were flashing. + +"I believe that Lee is in the pay of the British or the Conway Cabal," +he exclaimed. "I've always believed him ready at any minute to turn +traitor. It's a pity he wasn't left to rot in prison. Washington must +fight. His honour is at stake. If he lets the British walk off while we +sit and whistle, his influence with the army will be gone, Europe will +have no more of him, the Conway Cabal will have the excuse it's been +watching at keyholes for, and Gates will be Commander-in-chief +to-morrow. Will you come with me and persuade him to fight?" + +"Yes," said Greene. "And I believe he will. You are like a sudden cold +wind on an August day. Come on." + +They walked rapidly toward Washington's tent. He was sitting on his +camp-stool, but rose as they approached. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I anticipate the object of your visit. You wish +me to fight." + +"Yes!" exclaimed Hamilton. "As much as you wish it yourself. Why should +you regard the councils of the traitorous and the timorous, who, for +aught you know, may be in the pay of the Cabal? If the British retreat +unmolested, the American army is disgraced. If Congress undertake to +manage it, the whole cause will be lost, and the British will be +stronger far than when we took up arms--" + +"Enough," said Washington. "We fight" + +He ordered a detachment of one thousand men, under General Wayne, to +join the troops nearest the enemy. Lafayette was given the command of +all the advance troops--Lee sulkily retiring in his favour--which +amounted to about four thousand. Hamilton was ordered to accompany him +and reconnoitre, carry messages between the divisions, and keep +Washington informed of the movements of the enemy. There was but a +chance that he would be able to fight, but the part assigned to him was +not the least dangerous and important at Washington's disposal. The +Chief moved forward with the main body of the army to Cranbury. + +Clinton had no desire to fight, being encumbered with a train of +baggage-wagons and bathorses, which with his troops made a line on the +highroad twelve miles long. It being evident that the Americans intended +to give battle, he encamped in a strong position near Monmouth +Court-house, protected on nearly all sides by woods and marshes. His +line extended on the right about a mile and a half beyond the +Court-house, and on the left, along the road toward Allentown, for about +three miles. + +This disposition compelled Washington to increase the advance corps, and +he ordered Lee to join Lafayette with two brigades. As senior officer, +Lee assumed command of the whole division, under orders to make the +first attack. Both Lafayette and Hamilton were annoyed and apprehensive +at this arrangement. "Washington is the shrewdest of men in his +estimates until it is a matter of personal menace," said Hamilton, "and +then he is as trusting as a country wench with a plausible villain. I +thought we had delivered him from this scoundrel, and now he has +deliberately placed his fortunes in his hands again. Mark you, Lee will +serve us some trick before the battle is over." + +Hamilton had been galloping back and forth night and day between +Lafayette's division and Headquarters, wherever they happened to be, +and reconnoitring constantly. The weather was intensely hot, the soil so +sandy that his horse often floundered. He had not had a full night's +sleep since Washington announced his decision to give battle, and he +would have been worn out, had he not been too absorbed and anxious to +retain any consciousness of his body. Early on the morning of the 28th, +a forward movement being observed on the part of the enemy, Washington +immediately put the army in motion and sent word to Lee to press forward +and attack. + +Lee looked uglier and dirtier than usual, and the very seat of his +breeches scowled as he rode forward leisurely. In a few moments he +halted, word having been brought him that the main body of the British +was advancing. + +"If we could but court-martial him on the spot," groaned Lafayette, +whose delicate boyish face was crumpled with anxiety. + +"He meditates treason!" exclaimed Hamilton. "It is writ all over him." + +Having ascertained that the rumour was false, Lee consented to move on +again, and the division entered the forest, their advance covered from +the British on the plains beyond. For a time Lee manoeuvred so cleverly +that Hamilton and Lafayette permitted themselves to hope. Under cover of +the forest he formed a portion of his line for action, and with Wayne, +Hamilton, and others, rode forward to reconnoitre. Concluding that the +column of the British deploying on the right was only a covering party +of two thousand, he manoeuvred to cut them off from the main army. Wayne +was detached with seven hundred men to attack the covering party in the +rear. Lee, with a stronger force, was to gain its front by a road to the +left. Small detachments were concealed in the woods. At nine o'clock, +the Queen's dragoons being observed upon an eminence near the wood, Lee +ordered his light-horse to decoy them to the point where Wayne was +posted. The dragoons appeared to fall into the trap, but upon being +attacked from the wood, galloped off toward the main column. Wayne +started in pursuit; his artillery was raking them, and he had ordered a +charge at the point of the bayonet, when, to his amazement, he received +an order from Lee to make but a feint of attack and pursuit. He had no +choice but to obey, brilliant as might be the victory wrested from him. +Lee, meanwhile, dawdled about, although his troops were on one foot with +impatience. + +Suddenly Sir Henry Clinton, learning that the Americans were marching in +force on both his flanks, with the design of capturing his baggage, +changed the front of his army by facing about in order to attack Wayne +with such deadly fire that the enemy on his flanks would be obliged to +fly to the succour of that small detachment. Lafayette immediately saw +the opportunity for victory in the rear of the enemy, and rode up to Lee +asking permission to make the attempt. + +Lee swung his loose head about and scowled at the ardent young +Frenchman. "Sir," he replied witheringly, "you do not know British +soldiers. We cannot stand against them. We certainly shall be driven +back at first. We must be cautious." + +"It may be so, General," replied Lafayette, who would have given much to +see that head rolling on the sands; "but British soldiers have been +beaten, and they may be again. At any rate, I am disposed to make the +trial." + +Lee shrugged his shoulders, but as Lafayette sat immovable, his clear +hazel eyes interrogating and astonished, he reluctantly gave the Marquis +the order to wheel his column to the right and attack the enemy's left. +He simultaneously weakened Wayne's detachment and went off to +reconnoitre. He afterward claimed that he saw what looked to be the +approach of the entire army, and he ordered his right to fall back. The +brigades of Scott and Maxwell on the left were already moving forward +and approaching the right of the Royal forces, when they received an +order from Lee to reënter the wood. At the same time an order was sent +to Lafayette to fall back to the Court-house. With a face as flaming as +his unpowdered head, he obeyed. Upon reaching the Court-house he learned +that a general retreat had begun on the right, under the immediate +command of Lee. He had no choice but to follow. + +Hamilton, hardly crediting that his worst fears were realized in this +unwarranted retreat, galloped over to Lee and urged that possession be +taken of a neighbouring hill that commanded the plain on which the enemy +were advancing. But Lee protested violently that the Americans had not a +chance against that solid phalanx, and Hamilton, now convinced that he +meditated the disgrace of the American arms, galloped with all speed in +search of Washington. + +The retreat, by this, was a panic. The troops fled like an army of +terrified rabbits, with that reversion to the simplicity of their dumb +ancestors which induces the suspicion that all the manly virtues are +artificial. In times of panic man seems to exchange his soul for a tail. +These wretches trampled each other into the shifting sand, and crowded +many more into the morass. The heat was terrific. They ran with their +tongues hanging out, and many dropped dead. + +Washington heard of the retreat before Hamilton found him. He was +pushing on to Lee's relief when a country-man brought him word of the +disgraceful rout. Washington refused to credit the report and spurred +forward. Halfway between the meeting-house and the morass he met the +head of the first retreating column. He commanded it to halt at once, +before the panic be communicated to the main army; then made for Lee. +Lee saw him coming and braced himself for the shock. But it was a +greater man than Lee who could stand the shock of Washington's temper. +He was fearfully roused. The noble gravity of his face had disappeared. +It was convulsed with rage. + +"Sir," he thundered, "I desire to know what is the reason of this? +Whence arises this confusion and disorder?" + +"Sir--" stammered Lee, "sir--" He braced himself, and added impudently: +"I thought it best not to beard the enemy in such a situation. It was +contrary to my opinion--" + +"_Your_ opinion!" And then the Chief undammed a torrent of profanity +Washingtonian in its grandeur. + +He wheeled and galloped to the rallying of the troops. At this moment +Hamilton rode up. He had ridden through the engagement without a hat. It +seemed to him that he could hear the bubbling of his brain, that the +very air blazed, and that the end of all things had come. That day of +Monmouth ever remained in his memory as the most awful and hopeless of +his life. An ordinary defeat was nothing. But the American arms branded +with cowardice, Washington ignobly deposed, inefficient commanders +floundering for a few months before the Americans were become the +laughing-stock of Europe,--the whole vision was so hideous, and the day +so hopeless in the light of those cowardly hordes, that he galloped +through the rain of British bullets, praying for death; he had lost all +sense of separate existence from the shattered American cause. He did +not perceive that Washington had reached the column, and resolved to +make one more appeal to Lee, he rode up to that withered culprit and +exclaimed passionately:-- + +"I will stay with you, my dear General, and die with you! Let us all die +here, rather than retreat!" + +Lee made no reply. His brain felt as if a hot blast had swept it. + +"At least send a detachment to the succour of the artillery," said +Hamilton, with quick suspicion. And Lee ordered Colonel Livingston to +advance. + +At the same moment some one told Hamilton that Washington was in the +rear, rallying the troops. He spurred his horse and found that the +General had rallied the regiments of Ramsay and Stewart, after a rebuke +under which they still trembled, and was ordering Oswald to hasten his +cannon to the eminence which his aide had suggested to Lee. Hamilton +himself was in time to intercept two retreating brigades. He succeeded +in rallying them, formed them along a fence at hand, and ordered them to +charge at the point of the bayonet. He placed himself at their head, and +they made a brilliant dash upon the enemy. But his part was soon over. +His horse was shot under him, and as he struck the ground he was +overcome by the shock and the heat, and immediately carried from the +field. But the retreat was suspended, order restored, and although the +battle raged all day, the British gained no advantage. The troops were +so demoralized by the torrid heat that at sunset both Commanders were +obliged to cease hostilities; and Washington, who had been in the saddle +since daybreak, threw himself under a tree to sleep, confident of a +victory on the morrow. + +"I had a feeling as if my very soul were exploding," said Hamilton to +Laurens, as they bathed their heads in a stream in the woods, with the +bodies of dead and living huddled on every side of them. "I had a +hideous vision of Washington and the rest of us in a huge battle +picture, in which a redcoat stood on every squirming variety of +continental uniform, while a screeching eagle flew off with the +Declaration of Independence. But after all, there is something +magnificent in so absolutely identifying yourself with a cause that you +go down to its depths of agony and fly to its heights of exaltation. I +was mad to die when the day--and with it the whole Cause--seemed lost. +Patriotism surely is the master passion. Nothing else can annihilate the +ego." + +Laurens, who had performed prodigies of valour, sighed heavily. "I felt +as you did while the engagement lasted," he replied. "But I went into +the battle with exultation, for death this time seemed inevitable. And +the only result is a headache. What humiliation!" + +"You are morbid, my dear," said Hamilton, tenderly. "You cannot persuade +me that at the age of twenty-five naught remains but death--no matter +what mistakes one may have made. There is always the public career--for +which you are eminently fitted. I would begin life over again twenty +times if necessary." + +"Yes, because you happen to be a man of genius. I am merely a man of +parts. There are many such. Not only is my life ruined, but every day I +despair anew of ever attaining that high ideal of character I have set +for myself. I want nothing short of perfection," he said passionately. +"Could I attain that, I should be content to live, no matter how +wretched. But I fall daily. My passions control me, my hatreds, my +impulses of the moment. When a man's very soul aches for a purity which +it is in man to attain if he will, and when he is daily reminded that he +is but a whimperer at the feet of the statue, the world is no place for +him." + +"Laurens," said Hamilton, warmly, "you refine on the refinements of +sensibility. You have brooded until you no longer are normal and capable +of logic. Compare your life with that of most men, and hope. You are but +twenty-five, and you have won a deathless glory, by a valour and +brilliancy on these battlefields that no one else has approached. Your +brain and accomplishments are such that the country looks to you as one +of its future guides. Your character is that of a Bayard. It is your +passions alone, my dear, which save you from being a prig. Passion is +the furnace that makes greatness possible. If, when the mental energies +are resting, it darts out tongues of flame that strike in the wrong +place, I do not believe that the Almighty, who made us, counts them as +sins. They are natural outlets, and we should burst without them. If one +of those tongues of flame was the cause of your undoing, God knows you +have paid in kind. As a rule no one is the worse, while most are better. +A certain degree of perfection we can attain, but absolute +perfection--go into a wilderness like Mohammed and fast. There is no +other way, and even then you merely would have visions; you would not be +yourself." + +Laurens laughed. "It is not easy to be morbid when you are by. Acquit me +for the rest of the night. And it is time we slept. There will be hot +work to-morrow. How grandly the Chief rallied! There is a man!" + +"He was in a blazing temper," remarked Hamilton. "Lee and Ramsay and +Stewart were like to have died of fright. I wish to God he'd strung the +first to a gibbet!" + +They sought out Washington and lay down beside him. The American army +slept as though its soul had withdrawn to another realm where repose is +undisturbed. Not so the British army. Sir Henry Clinton did not share +Washington's serene confidence in the morrow. He withdrew his weary army +in the night, and was miles away when the dawn broke. + +Once Washington awoke, raised himself on his elbow, and listened +intently. But he could hear nothing but the deep breathing of his weary +army. The stars were brilliant. He glanced about his immediate vicinity +with a flicker of amusement and pleasure in his eyes. The young men of +his household were crowded close about him; he had nearly planted his +elbow on Hamilton's profile. Laurens, Tilghman, Meade, even Lafayette, +were there, and they barely had left him room to turn over. He knew that +these worshipping young enthusiasts were all ready and eager to die for +him, and that in spite of his rigid formality they were quite aware of +his weak spot, and did not hesitate to manifest their affection. For a +moment the loneliest man on earth felt as warmly companioned as if he +were raising a family of rollicking boys; then he gently lifted Hamilton +out of the way, and slept again. He was bitterly disappointed next +morning; but to pursue the enemy in that frightful heat, over a sandy +country without water, and with his men but half refreshed, was out of +the question. + +The rest of the year was uneventful, except for the court-martialling of +Lee and his duel with Laurens, who challenged him for his defamation of +Washington. Then came the eventful winter of 1779-80, when the army went +into quarters at Morristown, Washington and his military family taking +possession of a large house belonging to the Widow Ford. + + +V + +"Alexander!" cried a musical but imperious voice. + +Hamilton was walking in the depths of the wood, thinking out his +financial policy for the immediate relief of the country. He started and +faced about. Kitty Livingston sat on her horse, a charming picture in +the icy brilliance of the wood. He ran toward her, ripped off her +glove, kissed her hand, replaced the glove, then drew back and saluted. + +"You are a saucy boy," said Miss Livingston, "and I've a mind to box +your ears. I've brought you up very badly; but upon my word, if you were +a few years older, I believe I'd marry you and keep you in order, +something no other woman will ever be able to do. But I've a piece of +news for you--my dear little brother. Betsey Schuyler is here." + +Alexander, much to his annoyance, blushed vividly. "And how can you know +that I have ever even seen Miss Schuyler?" he asked, rather sulkily. + +"_She_ told me all about it, my dear. And I inferred from the young +lady's manner that she lived but to renew the experience. She is down at +Surgeon-General Cochraine's. Mrs. Cochraine is her aunt. Seriously, I +want you to be a good little beau, and keep her here as long as +possible. She is a great addition to our society; for she is not only +one of the belles of the country, accomplished and experienced, but she +has an amazing fine character, and I am anxious to know her better. You +are still too young to marry, _mon enfant_, but you are so precocious +and Miss Schuyler is so charming--if you will marry at your absurd age, +you could not do better; for you'll get fine parents as well as a wife, +and I've never known a youth more in need of an entire family." + +Hamilton laughed. "If I accumulate any more parents," he said, "I shall +share the fate of the cat. This morning Colonel Harrison--one of my +fathers--almost undressed me to see if my flannels were thick enough, +Mrs. Washington gave me a fearful scolding because I went out without a +muffler, and even the General is always darting edged glances at the +soles of my boots. Yesterday, Laurens, who is two-thirds English, tried +to force an umbrella into my hand, but at that I rebelled. If I marry, +it will be for the pleasure of taking care of someone else." + +He escorted Miss Livingston out to the highroad, and returned to +Headquarters, his imagination dancing. He had by no means forgotten Miss +Schuyler. That merry roguish high-bred face had shone above many dark +horizons, illuminated many bitter winter nights at Valley Forge. He was +excited at the prospect of seeing her again, and hastened to arrange a +dinner, to which she must be bidden. The young men did as they chose +about entertaining, sure of Washington's approval. + +"Ah, I know Miss Schuyler well," exclaimed Tilghman, when Hamilton +remarked that they should immediately show some attention to the +daughter of so illustrious a man as General Schuyler. "I've fetched and +carried for her--in fact I once had the honour to be despatched by her +mamma to buy her a pair of stays. I fell at her little feet immediately. +She has the most lively dark good-natured eyes I ever saw--Good God, +Hamilton, are you going to run me through?" + +Hamilton for the moment was so convulsed with jealous rage that his very +fingers curved, and he controlled them from his friend's throat with an +effort. Tilghman's words brought him to his senses, and he laughed +heartily. "I was as jealous as Othello, if you'll have the truth, and +just why, I vow I don't know, for I met this young lady only once, and +that a year ago. I was much attracted, but it's not possible I'm in love +with her." + +"It's love, my dear boy," said Tilghman, gravely. "Go and ask Steuben if +I am not right. Laurens and I will arrange the dinner. You attend to +your case immediately." + +Hamilton, much concerned, repaired to the house of Baron Steuben. This +old courtier and rake was physician in ordinary to all the young men in +their numerous cardiacal complications. Hamilton found him in his little +study, smoking a huge meerschaum. His weather-beaten face grinned with +delight at the appearance of his favourite, but he shook his head +solemnly at the revelation. + +"I fear this time you are shot, my dear little Hamilton," he said, with +much concern. "Have you told me all?" + +"All that I can think of." Hamilton was sitting forward on the edge of +the chair in considerable dejection. He had not expected this +intrication, had hoped the Baron would puff it away. + +"Has she a neat waist?" + +Hamilton admitted, with some surprise, that her waist was exceptional. + +"And her eyes?--I have heard of them--benevolent, yet sparkling;--and a +daughter of the Schuylers. Hamilton, believe me, there are worse things +than love." + +"But I have affairs of the utmost moment on hand at present. I'm +revolving a whole financial system, and the correspondence grows heavier +every day. I've no time for love." + +"My boy," said the former aide to the great Frederick, with emphasis, +"when you can work in the sun, why cling to the cold corner of a public +hearth? Your brain will spin the faster for the fire underneath. You +will write great words and be happy besides. Think of that. What a +combination! Mein Gott! You will be terribly in love, my son, but your +balance is so extraordinary that your brain will work on just the same. +Otherwise I would not dare give such counsel, for without you General +Washington would give up, and your poor old Steuben would not have money +for tobacco. Give me just one half-sovereign," he added coaxingly. + +Hamilton examined the big tobacco pouch and found it two-thirds full. +"Not a penny," he said gaily. "The day after to-morrow I will buy you +some myself, but I know where that last sovereign went to." + +Hamilton took care of the old spendthrift's money, and not only then but +as long as he lived. "The Secretary of the Treasury is my banker," said +Steuben, years after. "My Hamilton takes care of my money when he cannot +take care of his own." + +Hamilton retired in some perturbation, and the result of much thinking +was that he spent an unconscionable time over his toilet on the evening +of the dinner. In his nervousness he tore one of his lace ruffles. +Laurens attempted to mend it, and the rent waxed. Hamilton was forced to +knock at Mrs. Washington's door and ask her to repair the injury. She +was already dressed, in a black lutestring, her hair flat and natural. +She looked approvingly at Hamilton, who, not excepting Laurens, was +always the most faultlessly dressed member of the family. To-night he +wore dark green velvet, fitting closely and exquisitely cut, white silk +stockings, and a profusion of delicate lace. His hair was worn in a +queue and powdered. It was not till some years later that he conformed +to the prevailing fashion and wore a wig. + +Mrs. Washington mended the lace, retied the bow of his queue, kissed him +and told him to forget the cares of war and correspondence, and enjoy +himself. Hamilton retired, much comforted. + +It was an imposing family which, a half-hour later, awaited the guests +in the drawing-room. Washington was in black velvet and silk stockings, +his best white wig spreading in two symmetrical wings. It was a cold +grave figure always, and threw an air of solemnity over every scene it +loomed upon, which only Hamilton's lively wit could dispel. Laurens wore +plum-coloured velvet and much lace, a magnificent court costume. His own +figure was no less majestic than Washington's, but his brown eyes and +full mouth were almost invariably smiling, despite the canker. He wore a +very close wig. Tilghman was in blue, the other men in more sober dress. +Lafayette some time since had departed for France, Hamilton having +suggested that the introduction of a French military force of six or +seven thousand troops would have a powerful effect upon the American +army and people. + +Lady Sterling arrived with Lady Kitty--the bride of Colonel William Duer +since July--her undistinguished homeliness enhancing the smart +appearance of her daughter, who was one of the beauties of the time. +Lady Kitty had a long oval face, correct haughty little features, and a +general air of extreme high breeding. Her powdered hair was in a tower, +and she had the tiniest waist and stood upon the highest heels of all +the belles. She wore white satin over an immense hoop, a flounce of +Spanish lace and a rope of pearls. Kitty Livingston wore yellow which +outshone the light of the candles. Susan Boudinot and the other girls +were dressed more simply. Mr. Boudinot's eyes were as keen and as kind +as ever, his nose seemed longer, and the flesh was accumulating beneath +his chin. + +The Cochraines and Miss Elizabeth Schuyler were the last to arrive. The +northern belle's wardrobe had been an object of much concern to the +young ladies now cut off from New York shops, and lamenting the +demoralized condition of those in Philadelphia. In Albany all things +were still possible. Miss Schuyler wore a pink brocade of the richest +and most delicate quality, and a bertha of Brussels lace. The pointed +bodice and large paniers made her waist look almost as small as Kitty +Duer's, and her feet were the tiniest in the world. She turned them in +and walked with a slight shuffle. Hamilton had never seen a motion so +adorable. Her hair was rolled out from her face on both sides as well as +above, and so thickly powdered that her eyes looked as black as General +Washington's coat, while her cheeks and lips were like red wine on pale +amber. She blushed as Hamilton bowed before her and offered his arm, and +then she felt his heart thump. As for Hamilton, he gave himself up for +lost the moment she entered the room, and with the admission, his +feelings concentrated with their usual fiery impetuosity. As it was too +soon for an outlet, they rushed to his eyes and camped there, to Miss +Schuyler's combined discomfort and delight. + +For once Hamilton was content to listen, and Miss Schuyler was not loath +to entertain this handsome young aide, of whom all the world was +talking, and who had haunted her dreams for a year. She had read Milton, +Shenstone, and Dodsworth, "The Search after Happiness," by Hannah More, +the works of Madame de Genlis, the "Essay on Man," and Shakespeare's +lighter plays. Her learning was not oppressive, merely sufficient to +give distinction to her mind, and Hamilton was enchanted once more; but +he found her most interesting when relating personal anecdotes of +encounters with savage warriors in that dark northern land where she had +been born and bred, of hideous massacres of which her neighbours had +been the victims, of adventurous journeys she had taken with her father, +of painted chieftains they had been forced to entertain. She talked +with great spirit and no waste of words, and it was evident that she was +both sensible and heroic. Hamilton ate little and forgot that he was in +a company of twenty people. He was recalled by an abraded shin. + +He turned with a jump and encountered Meade's agonized face thrust +across Susan Livingston, who sat between them. + +"For God's sake, Hamilton, come forth and talk," said Meade, in a hoarse +whisper. "There hasn't been a word said above a mutter for +three-quarters of an hour. Tilghman gave out long ago. Unless you come +to the rescue we'll all be moaning in each other's arms in three +minutes." + +Hamilton glanced about the table. Washington, looking like himself on a +monument, was making not a pretence to entertain poor Lady Sterling, who +was almost sniffling. Lord Sterling, having gratified, an hour since, +Mrs. Washington's polite interest in his health, was stifling yawn after +yawn, and his chubby little visage was oblong and crimson. Tilghman, +looking guilty and uncomfortable,--it was his duty to relieve Hamilton +at the table,--was flirting with Miss Boudinot. Lady Kitty and Baron +Steuben always managed to entertain each other. Laurens and Kitty +Livingston were sitting back and staring at each other as they had +stared many times before. The others were gazing at their plates or at +Hamilton. It was, indeed, a Headquarters dinner at the worst. + +It has been remarked that Hamilton had a strong sense of duty. He felt +himself unable, even with the most charming girl on the continent beside +him, to resist the appeal of all those miserable eyes, and launched +forth at once upon the possibilities of Lafayette returning with an +army. Everybody responded, and he had many subjects of common interest +to discourse brilliantly upon until the long meal finished. Even +Washington gave him a grateful glance, and the others reattacked their +excellent food with a lost relish, now that the awful silence and sense +of personal failure were dispelled by their "bright particular star," as +the letters of the day from Morristown and the vicinity cleped our +hero. But with Miss Schuyler he had no further word that night, and he +retired with the conviction that there were times when there was no +satisfaction whatever in doing one's duty. + + +VI + +But a few nights later there was a subscription ball in the commissary +storehouse, and Hamilton danced with Miss Schuyler no less than ten +times, to the merciless amusement of the family. The ball, the first of +any size since the war began, was a fine affair, and had been organized +by Tilghman, Meade, and several of the Frenchmen; they were determined +upon one gay season, at least. The walls were covered with flags and +holly; the women wore their most gorgeous brocades; feathers and jewels +were on becoming white wigs or on the towers of powdered hair. All the +foreigners were in full regimentals, Steuben, in particular, being half +covered with gold lace and orders; the music and supper were admirable. +Even Washington looked less careworn than usual, and as he stood apart +with Lord Sterling, General Knox, and General Greene, he shed no +perceptible chill. Miss Schuyler wore white, with a twist of black +velvet in her powdered hair and another about her throat, and would have +been the belle of the party had Hamilton permitted other attentions. But +she gave him all the dances he demanded, and although her bright manner +did not lapse toward sentiment for a moment, he went home so elated that +he sat scribbling poetry until Laurens pelted him with pillows and +extinguished the candle. + +The next day there was a sleighing party to Lord Sterling's, and he +drove Miss Schuyler, her aunt, and the wife of General Knox through the +white and crystal and blue of a magnificent winter day. Mrs. Cochraine +made no secret of her pride in her niece's capture of Washington's +celebrated favourite, and assured him of a hearty welcome at her house +if he felt disposed to call. He promptly established the habit of +calling every evening. + +But although he was seriously and passionately in love, and quite sure +that Miss Schuyler loved him in return, he hesitated for the first time +in his life before precipitating a desired consummation. That he had no +money did not worry him in the least, for he knew himself capable of +earning any amount, and that the Republic, when free, would bristle with +opportunities for young men of parts. But he was in honour bound to tell +her of the irregularity of his birth. And in what manner would she +regard a possible husband with whose children she never could discuss +their father's parents? She was twenty-two, a small woman-of-the-world, +not a romantic young miss incapable of reason. And the Schuylers? The +proudest family in America! Would they take him on what he had made of +himself, on the promise of his future, or would their family pride prove +stronger than their common sense? He had moments of frantic doubt and +depression, but fortunately there was no time for protracted periods of +lover's misery. Washington demanded him constantly for consultation upon +the best possible method of putting animation into the Congress and +extracting money for the wretched troops. He frequently accompanied the +General, as at Valley Forge, in his visits to the encampment on the +mountain, where the emaciated tattered wretches were hutting with all +possible speed against the severity of another winter. The snow was +already on the ground, and every prospect of a repetition of the horrors +of Valley Forge. The mere sight of Washington put heart into them, and +Hamilton's lively sallies rarely failed to elicit a smile in return. + +It so happened that for a fortnight the correspondence with Congress, +the States, the Generals, and the British, in regard to the exchange of +prisoners, was so heavy, the consultations with Washington so frequent, +that Hamilton saw nothing of Miss Schuyler, and had little time for the +indulgence of pangs. When he emerged, however, his mind was the freer to +seek a solution of the problem which had tormented him, and he quickly +found it. He determined to write the truth to Miss Schuyler, and so save +the embarrassment he had dreaded for both. To think was to act. He +related the facts of his birth and of his ancestry in the briefest +possible manner, adding a description of his mother which would leave no +question of the place she held in his esteem. He then stated, with the +emphasis of which he was master, that he distractedly awaited his +dismissal, or Miss Schuyler's permission to declare what he had so +awkwardly concealed. + +He sent the letter by an orderly, and attacked his correspondence with a +desire to put gunpowder on his quill. But Miss Schuyler was a +tender-hearted creature and had no intention that he should suffer. She +scrawled him a hasty summons to come to her at once, and bade the +orderly ride as for his life. Hamilton, hearing a horse coming up the +turnpike at runaway pace, glanced out of the window to see what neck was +in danger, then flung his quill to the floor and bolted. He was out of +the house before the orderly had dismounted, and secured possession of +the note. When he had returned to his office, which was in a log +extension at the back of the building, he locked the door and read what +he could of Miss Schuyler's illegible chirography. That it was a command +to wait upon her at once he managed to decipher, but no more at the +moment; and feeling as if the heavens had opened, he despatched a hasty +note, telling her that he could not leave his work before night, when he +would hasten with the pent-up assurances of a love which had been his +torment and delight for many weeks. And then he answered a summons to +Washington's office, and discussed a letter to the Congress as if there +were no such person in the world as Elizabeth Schuyler, as indeed for +the hour there was not, nor for the rest of the afternoon. + +But at eight o'clock he presented himself at the Cochraine quarters, and +Miss Schuyler was alone in the drawing-room. It was some time before +they arrived at the question which had weighed so heavily on Hamilton's +mind. When, however, they came down to conversation, Miss Schuyler +remarked:-- + +"I am sure that it will make no difference with my dear father, who is +the most just and sensible of men. I had never thought of your parentage +at all. I should have said you had leapt down from the abode of the +gods, for you are much too remarkable to have been merely born. But if +he should object--why, we'll run away." + +Her eyes danced at the prospect, and Hamilton, who had vowed that +nothing should induce him to enter a family where he was not welcome, +was by now so hopelessly in love that he was ready to order the chaise +and four at once. He remained until Mrs. Cochraine sent him home, then +walked up the hill toward Headquarters, keeping to the road by instinct, +for he was deep in a reverie on the happiness of the past hours. His +dreams were cruelly shattered by the pressure of a bayonet against his +breast. + +"What?" he demanded. "Oh, the countersign." He racked his memory. It had +fled, terrified, from his brain under the rush of that evening's +emotions. + +"I can't remember it," he said haughtily; "but you know who I am. Let me +pass." The sentry stood like a fate. + +"This is ridiculous!" cried Hamilton, angrily, then the absurdity of the +situation overcame him, and he laughed. Once more he searched his brain +for the countersign, which he remembered having given to little Ford +just after dinner. Mrs. Ford and her son retained two rooms in the +house, and Hamilton frequently gave the youngster the word, that he +might play in the village after dark. Suddenly he saw him approaching. +He darted down the road, secured the password, and returned in triumph +to the sentry. + +"Sir," exclaimed the soldier, in dismay, "is this quite regular? Will +you give me your word, sir, that it is all right?" + +"I vow that no harm shall come to you," said Hamilton. "Shoulder your +musket." And there the incident ended, so far as the soldier was +concerned, but young Ford carried the story to Headquarters, and it was +long before Hamilton heard the last of it. + +There was no sleep in him that night. He went to his office and laboured +for hours over a verse which should adequately express the love +consuming him, and then he awoke Laurens and talked into that +sympathetic ear until it was time to break the ice and freshen himself +for work. + +His work that day was of a vastly different character from the +impassioned trifle of the night before. He obtained exemption from other +duty, and ordered luncheon and dinner brought to his office. One of the +most remarkable examples of Hamilton's mature genius at this age of +twenty-three is his long and elaborate letter to Robert Morris on the +financial condition of the country, written during the earliest period +of his love for Elizabeth Schuyler. As passionate and impatient as he +was tender, alive in every part of his nature to the joy of a real +affection and to the prospect of a lasting happiness, he yet was able +for twelve hours at a time to shut his impending bride in the remotest +cupboard of his mind, nor heed her sighs. But there was an older love +than Elizabeth Schuyler: a ragged poverty-stricken creature by this, +cowering before dangers within and without, raving mad at times, +imbecile at others, filling her shattered body with patent nostrums, yet +throughout her long course of futilities and absurdities making a +desperate attempt to shade the battered lamp of liberty from the fatal +draught. Her name was the United States of America, and never was there +a more satiric misnomer. If the States chose to obey the requisitions of +the Congress, they obeyed them; but as a rule they did not. There was no +power in the land to enforce obedience; and they hated each other. As +the Congress had demonstrated its inefficiency to the most inactive in +public affairs, the contempt of the States is hardly to be wondered at. +It is not too much to say that troops were recruited by Washington's +influence alone, and kept from mutiny by his immortal magnetism. The +finances of the Revolution were in such a desperate condition that Sir +Henry Clinton built his hopes of success--now he had discovered that no +victory gave him a permanent advantage--upon the dissolution of the +American army, possibly an internal war. With depreciated bills in +circulation amounting to one hundred and sixty millions of dollars, a +public debt of nearly forty millions in foreign and domestic loans, the +Congress had, in March, ordered a new emission of bills; the result had +been a season of crazy speculation and the expiring gasp of public +credit. In addition to an unpaid army, assurances had been given to the +French minister that not less than twenty-five thousand men should be +ready for the next campaign; and how to force the States to recruit +them, and how to pay them when in the field, was the present question +between Headquarters and Congress. + +From the time that Hamilton's mind had turned to finance, in his +nineteenth year, he had devoted the greater part of his leisure to the +study and thought of it. Books on the subject were few in those days; +the science of political economy was unborn, so far as Hamilton was +concerned, for Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations," published in 1776, had +not made its way to America. He assimilated all the data there was to be +found, then poured it into the crucible of his creative faculty, and +gradually evolved the great scheme of finance which is the locomotive of +the United States to-day. During many long winter evenings he had talked +his ideas over with Washington, and it was with the Chief's full +approval that he finally went to work on the letter embodying his scheme +for the immediate relief of the country. It was addressed to Robert +Morris, the Financier of the Revolution. + +The first part of the letter was an essay on inflated and depreciated +currency, applied personally, the argument based on the three following +points: There having been no money in the country, Congress had been +unable to avoid the issuance of paper money. The only way to obtain and +retire this immense amount of depreciated paper money was to obtain real +money. Real money could be obtained in one way only,--by a foreign loan. +He then elaborately disposed of the proposed insane methods of applying +this projected loan which were agitating the Congress. But he was an +architect and builder as well as an iconoclast, and having shown the +futility of every financial idea ever conceived by Congress, he +proceeded to the remedy. His scheme, then as ever, was a National Bank, +to be called The Bank of the United States; the capital to be a foreign +loan of two millions sterling. + +This letter, even in its details, in the knowledge of human nature it +betrays, and in its scheme to combine public and private capital that +the wealthy men of the country should, in their own interests, be +compelled to support the government, reads like an easy example in +arithmetic to-day; but a hundred and twenty years ago it was so bold and +advanced that Morris dared to adopt several of its suggestions in part +only, and founded the bank of Pennsylvania on the greater plan, by way +of experiment. No one but Hamilton could carry out his own theories. + +Hamilton, who often had odd little attacks of modesty, signed the +letter, James Montague; address, Morristown. He read it to Washington +before posting. + +The Chief, whose men were aching, sighed heavily. + +"They will pick a few crumbs out of it," he said. "But they will not +make a law of it in toto; the millennium is not yet come. But if it +gives them one idea we should be thankful, it being a long and weary +time since they have experienced that phenomenon. If it does not, I +doubt if these men fight another battle. I wonder if posterity will ever +realize the indifference of their three million ancestors to the war +which gave them their independence--if we accomplish that end. I ask for +soldiers and am treated much as if I had asked for my neighbour's wife. +I ask for money to keep them from starving and freezing and am made to +feel like an importunate beggar." + +"I had a letter from Hugh Knox not so long since," said Hamilton, in his +lightest tone; for Washington was on the verge of one of his attacks of +infuriated depression, which were picturesque but wearing. "He +undertakes to play the prophet, and he is an uncommon clever man, sir: +he says that you were created for the express purpose of delivering +America, to do it single-handed, if necessary, and that my proud destiny +is to be your biographer. The first I indorse, so does every thinking +man in the country. But for the second--alas! I am not equal to a post +of such exalted honour." + +Washington smiled. "No one knows better than your old Chief that your +destiny is no such ha'penny affair as that. But at least you wouldn't +make an ass of me. God knows what is in store for me at the hands of +scribblers." + +"You lend yourself fatally well to marble and stone, sir," said +Hamilton, mischievously. "I fear your biographers will conceive +themselves writing at the feet of a New World Sphinx, and that its +frozen granite loneliness will petrify their image of you." + +"I like the prospect! I am unhappily conscious of my power to chill an +assemblage, but the cold formality of my manner is a safeguard, as you +know. My nature is one of extremes; if I did not encase myself, I should +be ramming every man's absurd opinions down his throat, and letting my +cursed temper fly at each of the provocations which constantly beset me. +I have not the happy gift of compromise; but I am not unhuman, and I +like not the prospect of going down to posterity a wooden figurehead +upon some emblematic battle-ship. Perhaps, my boy, you, who best know +me, will be moved by charity to be my biographer, after all." + +"I'll make it the business of my old age, sir; I pledge you my word, and +no one loves you better nor can do you such justice as I. When my work +in the National Family is done, then shall I retire with my literary +love, an old and pleasant love; and what higher subject for my pen?" + +He spoke in a tone of badinage, for he was bent on screwing up +Washington's spirits, but he made his promise in good faith, +nevertheless, and Washington looked at him with deep affection. + +"My mind is certainly easier," he said, in a tone that was almost light. +"Go now and post your letter, and give your evening to Miss Schuyler. +Present my compliments to her." + +"I became engaged to her last night, sir." + +"Ah! had you forgotten to tell me?" + +"No, sir; I have but just remembered it." + +Washington laughed heartily. "Mind you never tell her that," he said. +"Women love the lie that saves their pride, but never an unflattering +truth. You have learned your lesson young,--to put a tempting face aside +when duty demands every faculty; it is a lesson which takes most men +longest to learn. I could tell you some amusing stories of rough and +tumbles in my mind between the divine image of the hour and some affair +of highest moment. But to a brain like yours all things are possible." + +He rose, and took Hamilton's hand and shook it warmly. + +"God bless you," he said. "Your future unrolls to my vision, brilliant +and happy. I deeply wish that it may be so." + + +VII + +The letter from General Schuyler, giving his consent to the engagement, +has not been preserved; but some time after he had occasion to write +Hamilton a business letter, in which the following passage occurs:-- + + You cannot, my dear sir, be more happy at the connexion you have + made with my family than I am. Until the child of a parent has made + a judicious choice, his heart is in continual anxiety; but this + anxiety was removed on the moment I discovered it was on you she + had placed her affections. I am pleased with every instance of + delicacy in those who are so dear to me; and I think I read your + soul on the occasion you mention. I shall therefore only entreat + you to consider me as one who wishes in every way to promote your + happiness. + +General Schuyler was ordered by Congress to Morristown to confer with +Washington. He took a house, sent for his family, and remained until +late in the summer. The closest friendship was formed between Schuyler +and Hamilton, which, with common political interests and deepening +sympathy, increased from year to year. The good fairies of Nevis who had +attended Hamilton's birth never did better for him than when they gave +him Elizabeth Schuyler for wife and Philip Schuyler for father and +friend. And they had blasted the very roots of the chief impediment to +success, for he triumphed steadily and without effort over what has +poisoned the lives of many men; and triumphed in spite of the fact that +the truth was vaguely known always, and kept in the quiver of his +enemies. + +As Hamilton was absent from Headquarters but seldom during General +Schuyler's sojourn, the lovers met almost every evening, and +occasionally Washington, who possessed certain sympathies based on long +experience, would give Hamilton a morning free, and suggest a ride +through the woods. Never were two people happier nor more inherently +suited. Hamilton's instinct had guided him safely past more brilliant +women to one who willingly would fold herself round his energetic +individuality of many parts, fitting into every division and crevice. +She was receptive, sympathetic, adaptive, with sufficient intelligence +to appreciate the superlative brain of the man whom she never ceased to +worship and to regard as a being of unmortal clay. A brilliant ambitious +wife in the same house with Hamilton might have written a picturesque +diary, but the domestic instrument would have twanged with discords. +Hamilton was unselfish, and could not do enough for those he loved; but +he was used to the first place, to the unquestioned yielding of it to +his young high-mightiness by his clever aspiring friends, by the army of +his common acquaintance, and in many ways by Washington himself. Had he +married Angelica Schuyler, that independent, high-spirited, lively, +adorable woman, probably they would have boxed each other's ears at the +end of a week. + +Hamilton made the dash on Staten Island with Lord Sterling, and in March +went with General St. Clair and Colonel Carrington to negotiate with the +British commissioners for the exchange of prisoners; before the battle +of Springfield he was sent out to reconnoitre. Otherwise his days were +taken up bombarding the Congress with letters representing the necessity +of drafting troops to meet the coming emergencies. + +He and Miss Betsey Schuyler had a very pretty plan, which was nothing +less than that they should go to Europe on their wedding tour, Congress +to find his presence necessary at the Court of France. The suggestion +originated with Laurens, who had been asked to go as secretary to +Franklin. He had no wish to go, and knowing Hamilton's ardent desire to +visit Europe and growing impatience with his work, had recommended his +name to the Congress. General Schuyler would have procured a leave of +absence for his impending son-in-law, and sent the young couple to +Europe with his blessing and a heavy wallet, but Hamilton would as soon +have forged a man's name as travelled at his expense. He hoped that the +Congress would send him. He was keenly alive to the value of studying +Europe at first hand before he was called upon to help in the modelling +of the new Republic, and the vision of wandering in historic lands with +his bride kept him awake at night. Moreover, he was desperately tired of +his life at Headquarters. When the expedition to Staten Island was in +question, he asked Washington, through Lafayette, to give him the +command of a battalion which happened to be without a field-officer. +Washington refused, partly from those motives of policy to which he ever +showed an almost niggling adherence, but more because he could not spare +his most useful aide. Hamilton, who was bursting for action of any sort, +retired to his detested little office in angry disappointment. But he +was a philosopher. He adjusted himself to the Inevitable, and dismissed +the matter from his mind, after registering a vow that he would take +advantage of the first excuse which might offer to resign his position. + +The Schuylers returned to Albany. The French fleet arrived, and hovered +well beyond the range of British guns, having no desire to risk an +engagement until reinforced. Its Admiral, Count Rochambeau, having a +grievance, Hamilton advised a personal conference. + +"We might suggest that he meet us halfway--say at Wethersfield, near +Hartford," he added. "That would save us something in travelling +expenses." + +Washington sighed heavily. "We are worse off than you think," he said. +"I might scrape together money enough for half the journey, but no more. +Lafayette and his aide must go with us--to say nothing of the escort. +Think of the innkeepers' bills, for ourselves and horses. What to do I +confess I do not know, for I should confer with this Frenchman at once." + +"Go we must, sir," said Hamilton, decidedly, "if we have to take up a +collection--why not? If an object cannot be accomplished one way, try +another." He stood up and emptied the contents of his pockets on the +table. "Only five hundred beggarly continentals," he said ruefully. +"However, who knows what treasures may line more careful pockets than +mine? I know they will come forth as spontaneously. Have I your +permission to try, sir?" + +Washington nodded, and Hamilton ran downstairs, pressed Meade into +service, and together they made the round of the officers' quarters. He +returned at the end of an hour and threw a huge bundle of paper on the +table. "Only eight thousand dollars, sir," he said. "It's the best that +any man could do. But I think it may carry us through." + +"It will have to," said Washington. "Remind me, my dear boy, if you see +me eating too much. I have such an appetite!" + +They set out on their journey a week later, having communicated with +Rochambeau, who agreed to meet them at Wethersfield. All went well, for +the wretched inns were not exorbitant, until they reached Hartford. They +arrived late in the afternoon, weary and ravenous. After a bath and a +glimpse of luxurious beds, they marched to the dining room and sat down +to a sumptuous repast, whose like had greeted neither nostril nor palate +for many a day. The wines were mellow, the tobacco green, the +conversation gay until midnight. Hamilton sang "The Drum," and many +another song rang among the rafters. Washington retired first, bidding +the youngsters enjoy themselves. The young men arose at their accustomed +hour next morning, with appetites renewed, but waited in vain for their +Chief. Hamilton finally knocked at his door. There was no response, and +a servant told him that the General had gone out nearly an hour before. +He went in search, bidding Lafayette and M'Henry remain behind. As he +had anticipated, he found Washington in a secluded nook, engaged in +prayer. He waited a few moments, then coughed respectfully. Washington +immediately rose, his harassed face showing little relief. + +"Is anything wrong, sir?" asked Hamilton, anxiously. + +"Alas!" said the General, "I wonder that you, too, are not driven to +prayer, to intercede for help in this distressing predicament. Think of +that extravagant repast we consumed last night. God help me, but I was +so famished I never gave a thought to consequences. Unquestionably, the +breakfast will be on a like scale. _And we have but eight thousand +dollars with which to pay the bill_!" + +"It is true! I never gave the matter a thought--I am cursedly +extravagant. And we must get home! I suppose we shall have to fast all +the way. Well, we've fasted before, and the memory of last night's +dinner may sustain us--" + +"But this man's bill! How are we to meet it?" + +"Shall I speak to him, sir? Tell him unreservedly our predicament--that +these wretched eight thousand dollars are all we have in the world? +Perhaps he is a good patriot, and will call the account square." + +"Do," said Washington, "and come here and tell me what he says. I am too +mortified to show my face. I shall not enter the house again." + +Hamilton walked slowly to the house, little caring for his errand. He +returned on a dead run. + +"We are saved, sir!" he cried, almost in Washington's arms. "Governor +Trumbull has sent word to all the hostelries that we are to be his +guests while we are in the state of Connecticut!" + +Washington said his prayers again, and ate two chickens for breakfast. + +On the return from this conference, when approaching the house of +General Benedict Arnold, opposite West Point, where they were invited +for breakfast, Washington suddenly decided to accompany Lafayette, who +wished to inspect some earthworks. + +"You need not come," he said to Hamilton and M'Henry. +"I know that you are both in love with Mrs. Arnold. Go on. We will join +you presently." + +The young men were greeted with effusion by the pretty hostess, with +absent reserve by her husband. Mrs. Arnold left the room to order that +the breakfast be delayed. While she was absent, a note was brought to +Arnold. He opened it, turned green, and rising hastily, announced that +his presence was demanded at West Point and left the room. The sound of +a smothered scream and fall came from above. A moment later the aides +heard the sound of galloping hoofs. + +Their suspicions aroused, they ran outside. A messenger, with a despatch +from Colonel Jameson, awaited Washington's arrival. Hamilton tore open +the paper. It contained the news that a British spy had been captured +within the lines. In an instant Hamilton and M'Henry were on their +horses and off in pursuit of the fugitive. That Arnold was a traitor and +had fled to the British war-ship, _Vulture_, hovering in Haverstraw Bay, +a slower wit than Hamilton's would have assumed. The terrified scoundrel +was too quick for them. He had ridden over a precipice to the shore +below, and under protection of a flag of truce was far down the river +when his pursuers sighted him. They returned with all speed. + +I shall not repeat the oft-told tale of André's capture, trial, and +death. Nowhere has it been so well told as by Hamilton himself, in a +letter to Laurens, printed at the time and universally read. It is only +necessary here to allude to his share in that unhappiest episode of the +war. When Washington reached the house his aide was engaged in consoling +Mrs. Arnold, who was shrieking and raving, weeping and fainting; +imposing on Hamilton a task varied and puzzling, even to one of his +schooling. But she was very young, very charming, and in a tragic +plight. Washington himself wiped away a tear, and for a moment forgot +the barely averted consequences of her husband's treason, while he +assisted Hamilton in assuaging a grief so bitter and so appealing. As +soon as was possible he sent her through the British lines. + +But Hamilton quickly forgot Mrs. Arnold in his sympathy and admiration +for the unfortunate André. He conceived a quick and poignant friendship +for the brilliant accomplished young Englishman, with the dreamy soft +face of a girl, and a mettle which had brought him to destruction. +Hamilton did all he could to save him, short of suggesting to André to +ask Sir Henry Clinton to offer Arnold in exchange. He enlisted the +sympathy of the officers at West Point in the prisoner's behalf, gave up +his leisure to diverting André's mind, and persuaded Washington to delay +the execution and send an indirect suggestion to Clinton to offer the +exchange himself. When all hope was over, he personally begged +Washington to heed André's request for a soldier's death, and not +condemn such a man to the gibbet. Washington gladly would have saved his +interesting prisoner's life, and felt deeply for him, but again those +motives of policy prevailed, and André was executed like a common +malefactor. + + +VIII + +Washington was in temporary quarters--a cramped and wretched tavern--at +Liberty Pole, New Jersey. The inaction being oppressive, Hamilton +concentrated his thoughts on the condition and needs of the country. + + I am sorry that the same spirit of indifference to public affairs + prevails, [he wrote to Sears]. It is necessary we should rouse and + begin to do our business in earnest, or we shall play a losing + game. We must have a government with more power. We must have a tax + in kind. We must have a foreign loan. We must have a bank on the + true principles of a bank. We must have an administration distinct + from Congress, and in the hands of single men under their orders. + We must, above all things, have an army for the war.... We are told + here there is to be a Congress of the neutral powers at the Hague + for meditating of peace. God send it may be true. We want it; but + if the idea goes abroad, ten to one if we do not fancy the thing + done, and fall into a profound sleep till the cannon of the enemy + waken us next campaign. This is our national character. + +Hamilton, the High Priest of Energy, had long since declared war against +the genius of the American people, who believed in God and the art of +leisure. Hamilton believed in God and a cabinet of zealous ministers. He +was already a thorn in the side of estimable but hesitant patriots, and +in times to come his unremitting and remorseless energy was to be a +subject of reproach by associates and enemies alike. Even Jefferson, +that idol of the present as of the past democracy, had timidly declared +against separation in 1774, while Hamilton, a boy of seventeen, had been +the first to suggest the resort to arms, and incessant in his endeavours +until the great result was accomplished. He had countless other schemes, +and he knew that eventually he would succeed in driving the American +people before the point of his quill. That his task would be long and +arduous did not daunt him for a moment. By this time he knew every want +of the country, and was determined upon the reorganization of the +government. The energy which is one of the distinguishing +characteristics of the American nation to-day was generated by Hamilton, +might, indeed, be said to be the persistence and diffusion of his ego. +For the matter of that, all that is greatest in this American evolution +of a century was typified in Hamilton. Not only his formidable energy, +but his unqualified honour and integrity, his unquenchable optimism, his +extraordinary nimbleness of mind and readiness of resource, his gay +good-nature, high spirits, and buoyancy, his light philosophy +effervescing above unsounded depths, his inability to see when he was +beaten, his remorseless industry, his hard common sense, combined with a +versatile cleverness which makes for shallowness in another race, his +careless generosity, his aptitude for detail and impatience of it, his +reckless bravery in war and intrepidity in peace, even his highly strung +nerves, excitability, and obliging readiness at all times for a fight, +raise him high above history as the genius of the American race. The +reverse side of the national character we owe to the greatest of his +rivals; as will be seen hereafter. + +During the sojourn at Liberty Pole, Washington and he sat through many +nights discussing the imperative need of the reorganization of the +government, and the best methods by which it could be accomplished. The +result was Hamilton's letter to James Duane, an important member of the +Congress. + +This letter, no doubt the most remarkable of its kind ever written, and +as interesting to-day as when Hamilton conceived it, is far too long to +be quoted. It began with an exhaustive analysis of the reasons for the +failure of Congress to cope with a situation which was becoming more +threatening every hour, and urged the example of the Grecian republics +and the Swiss cantons against the attempted confederation of the States +without a strong centralized government. Lacking a common tie of +sufficient strength, the States would inevitably drift toward +independent sovereignty, and they had given signal proof in the matter +of raising troops, contributing money, and in their everlasting disputes +about boundary lines, as to the absolute lack of any common public +spirit. His remedy, in brief, was a convention of the States for the +purpose of creating a Federal Constitution, the distributing of the +powers of government into separate departments, with Presidents of War, +Marine, and Trade, a secretary of Foreign Affairs, and a Financier, +defining their prerogatives; the States to have no privileges beyond an +internal police for the protection of the property and the rights of +individuals, and to raise money by internal taxes; the army to be +recruited on a permanent establishment. In addition, there was an +elaborate system of taxation, by which the country could be supported in +all its emergencies. His favourite plan of a National Bank was +elaborated in minute detail, the immediate necessity for a foreign loan +dwelt upon with sharp reproof, and examples given of the recruiting of +armies in European states. + +Out of a multitude of suggestions a few were adopted within a short +time, but the great central suggestion, the calling of a convention for +the purpose of creating a Federal Constitution, was to be hammered at +for many weary years before jealous States and unconfident patriots +could be persuaded to a measure so monarchical and so bold. But the +letter is on record, and nothing more logical, far-sighted, and +comprehensive ever was written. It contained the foundation-stones upon +which this government of the United States stands to-day. Congress put +on its spectacles and read it with many grunts, magnanimously expressing +admiration for a youth who had fearlessly grappled with questions which +addled older brains; but its audacious suggestions of a government +greater than Congress, and of a bank which would add to their troubles, +were not taken seriously for a moment. + +Hamilton also found time to write a good many love letters. Here is one +of them:-- + + I would not have you imagine, Miss, that I write you so often to + gratify your wishes or please your vanity; but merely to indulge + myself, and to comply with that restless propensity of my mind + which will not be happy unless I am doing something in which you + are concerned. This may seem a very idle disposition in a + philosopher and a soldier, but I can plead illustrious examples in + my justification. Achilles liked to have sacrificed Greece and his + glory to a female captive, and Anthony lost a world for a woman. I + am very sorry times are so changed as to oblige me to go to + antiquity for my apology, but I confess, to the disgrace of the + present time, that I have not been able to find as many who are as + far gone as myself in the laudable Zeal of the fair sex. I suspect, + however, if others knew the charm of my sweetheart as I do, I could + have a great number of competitors. I wish I could give you an idea + of her. You can have no conception of how sweet a girl she is. It + is only in my heart that her image is truly drawn. She has a lovely + form and still more lovely mind. She is all goodness, the gentlest, + the dearest, the tenderest of her sex. Ah, Betsey, how I love her! + +His reiterated demand for a foreign loan, and the sending of a special +envoy to obtain it, at last wrung a reluctant consent from Congress. +Lafayette was his politic suggestion, and Congress would have indorsed +it, but that adventurous young hero had not come to America to return +and beg money on his own doorstep. There was a prospect of fighting in +the immediate future, and he was determined to add to his renown. The +choice then lay between Hamilton and Laurens, who had received the +thanks of Congress for his distinguished services in the field, and +whose father had been a president of that body. Lafayette and all the +Frenchmen were anxious that the mission be given to Hamilton. The former +went to Philadelphia and talked to half the Congress. He offered +Hamilton private letters which would introduce him to the best society +of Europe; adding, "I intend giving you the _key_ of the cabinet, as +well as of the societies which influence them." + +Laurens, by this time, was eager to go. His father, who had started for +Holland as Minister Plenipotentiary, had been captured by the British +and confined in the Tower of London; the foreign mission would give him +an opportunity to attempt his liberation. Moreover, life was very dull +at present, and he knew himself to be possessed of diplomatic talents. +But he was also aware of Hamilton's ardent desire to visit Europe, all +that it would mean to that insatiate mind, his weariness of his present +position. Washington would give his consent to the temporary absence of +Hamilton, for the French money was the vital necessity of the Republic's +life, and he knew that his indomitable aide would not return without it +Therefore Laurens wrote to Hamilton, who was in Albany awaiting his +wedding-day, that he should resign in his favour, and congratulated him +on so brilliant and distinguished a honeymoon. + +The struggle in Hamilton's mind was brief. The prospect of sailing with +his bride on a long and delightful journey that could not fail to bring +him highest honour had made his blood dance. Moreover, in the previous +month Washington had again refused his request for an independent +command. It took him but a short time to relinquish this cherished dream +when he thought of the unhappy plight of Mr. Laurens, and remembered the +deep anxiety of the son, often expressed. He wrote to Laurens, +withdrawing in the most decisive terms. Laurens was not to be outdone. +He loved his father, but he loved Hamilton more. He pressed the +appointment upon his friend, protesting that the affairs of the elder +Laurens would be quite as safe in his hands. Hamilton prevailed, and +Congress, having waited amiably while the two martial youths had it out, +unanimously appointed Laurens. He could not sail until February, and as +soon as the matter was decided obtained leave of absence and repaired in +all haste to Albany, to be present at Hamilton's wedding. + + +IX + +The wedding of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler was the most +notable private event of the Revolution. The immense social and +political consequence of the Schuylers, and the romantic fame of the +young aide, of whom the greatest things possible were expected, brought +the aristocracy of New York and the Jersies to Albany despite the +inclement winter weather. The large house of the Schuylers gave a +prolonged hospitality to the women, and the men lodged in the +patriarchal little town. But although Hamilton was glad to see the +Livingstons, Sterlings, and Boudinots again, the greater number of the +guests interested him far less than a small group of weather-beaten +soldiers, of which this occasion was the happy cause of reunion. Troup +was there, full of youth and honours. He had received the thanks of +Congress for his services at Saratoga, and been appointed secretary of +the Board of War. Recently he had resigned from the army, and was +completing his law studies. Nicolas Fish came with Lafayette, whose +light artillery he commanded. He was known as a brave and gallant +soldier, and so excellent a disciplinarian that he had won the approval +and confidence of Washington. He still parted his little fringe in the +middle, and his face was as chubby as ever, his eyes as solemn. +Lafayette, who had brought a box full of clothes that had dazzled Paris, +embraced Hamilton with tears, but they were soon deep in conjectures of +the next campaign. Laurens, looking like a king in exile, wrung many +hearts. Hamilton's brother aides, unfortunately, were the more closely +bound by his absence, but they had despatched him with their blessing +and much chaffing. + +The hall of the Schuyler mansion was about twenty feet square and +panelled in white. It was decorated with holly, and for three nights +before the wedding illuminated by hundreds of wax candles, while the +young people danced till three in the morning. The Schuyler house, long +accustomed to entertaining, had never been gayer, and no one was more +content than the chatelaine. Although she had been reasonably sure of +Elizabeth, there was no telling at what moment the maiden might yield to +the romantic mania of the time, and climb out of her window at night +while Hamilton stood shivering below. Now all danger was past, and Mrs. +Schuyler moved, large, placid, and still handsome, among her guests, +beaming so affectionately whenever she met Mrs. Carter's flashing eyes +that Peggy and Cornelia renewed their vows to elope when the hour and +the men arrived. General Schuyler, once more on the crest of public +approval, was always grave and stern, but he, too, breathed satisfaction +and relief. He was a tall man of military appearance, powerful, +muscular, slender; but as his nose was large and fleshy, and he wore a +ragged-looking wig with wings like Washington's, he could not be called +handsome. It was a noble countenance, however, and his black eyes +flashed and pierced. + +As for Hamilton and Miss Schuyler, who had a trunk full of charming new +gowns, they were as happy as two children, and danced the night through. +They were married on the 20th, in the drawing-room, in front of the +splendid mantel, which the housewives had spent much time in admiring. +The bride wore the white which became her best, made with a long pointed +bodice and paniers, and lace that had been worn by the wife of the first +patroon. She had risen to the dignity of a wig, and her mass of black +hair was twisted mercilessly tight under the spreading white monstrosity +to which her veil was attached. Hamilton wore a black velvet coat, as +befitting his impending state. Its lining and the short trousers were of +white satin. His shapely legs were in white silk, his feet in pumps with +diamond buckles, the present of Lafayette. He, too, wore a wig,--a close +one, with a queue,--but he got rid of it immediately after the ceremony, +for it heated his head. + +Hamilton had then reached his full height, about five feet six. His +bride was perhaps three inches shorter. The world vowed that never had +there been so pretty a couple, nor one so well matched in every way. +Both were the perfection of make, and the one as fair and fresh as a +Scot, the other a golden gipsy, the one all fire and energy, the other +docile and tender, but with sufficient spirit and intelligence. It is +seldom that the world so generously gives its blessing, but it might +have withheld it, for all that Hamilton and his bride would have cared. + +Hamilton's honeymoon was brief. There was a mass of correspondence +awaiting him, and no place for a bride in the humble Dutch house at New +Windsor where Washington had gone into winter quarters. But the distance +was not great, and he could hope for flying leaves of absence. +Washington was not unsympathetic to lovers; he had been known to unbend +and advise his aides when complications threatened or a siege seemed +hopeless; and he had given Hamilton the longest leave possible. +Nevertheless, the bridegroom set forth, one harsh January morning, on +his long journey, over roads a foot deep in snow, and through solitary +winter forests, with any thing but an impassioned desire to see General +Washington again. Had he been returning to the command of a corps, with +a prospect of stirring events as soon as the snow melted, he would have +spurred his horse with high satisfaction, even though he left a bride +behind him; but to return to a drudgery which he hated the more for +having escaped it for three enchanted weeks, made his spirit turn its +back to the horse's head. He resolved anew to resign if an opportunity +offered. Four years of that particular sort of devotion to the patriot +cause were enough. He wished to demonstrate his patriotism in other +ways. He had accomplished the primary object for which Washington had +pressed him into service, and he believed that the war was nearing its +finish; there was nothing he could now do at Headquarters which the +other aides could not do as well, and he wanted military excitement and +renown while their possibilities existed. + + +X + +The first task awaiting him upon his arrival at Headquarters was to draw +up a letter of instruction for Laurens, a task which required minute +care; for on its suggestions, as much as on Laurens's brilliant talents, +depended the strength of a mission whose failure might mean that of the +American arms. Laurens had requested the letter, and told Hamilton that +he should be guided by it. He did not anticipate a royal condition of +mind which would prompt him practically to carry off the French +money-bags under the king's astonished nose, and he knew Hamilton's +command of every argument connected with the painful subject of +financial needs. Hamilton drew up a lucid and comprehensive letter, in +nine parts, which Laurens could study at his leisure on the frigate, +_Alliance_; then attacked his accumulated duties. They left him little +leisure to remember he was a bridegroom, although he occasionally +directed his gaze toward the North with some longing. His freedom +approached, however, and it was swift and unexpected. + +It came on the 16th of February. His office was in his bedroom. He had +just completed a letter containing instructions of an important nature +for the commissary, and started in search of Tilghman, whose duty it was +to see it safely delivered. On the stairs he passed Washington, whose +brow was heavy. The General, with that brevity which was an indication +of his passionate temper fighting against a self-control which he must +have knocked flat with great satisfaction at times, ejaculated that he +wished to speak with him at once. Hamilton replied that he would wait +upon him immediately, and hastened to Tilghman's office, wondering what +had occurred to stir the depths of his Chief. He was but a moment with +Tilghman, but on the stairs he met Lafayette, who was in search of him +upon a matter of business. It is possible that Hamilton should not have +permitted himself to be detained, but at all events he did, for perhaps +two minutes. Suddenly he became conscious that Washington was standing +at the head of the stairs, and wondering if he had awaited him there, he +abruptly broke off his conversation with Lafayette, and ran upward. +Washington looked as if about to thunder anathema upon the human race. +He had been annoyed since dawn, and his passions fairly flew at this +last indignity. + +"Colonel Hamilton!" he exclaimed. "You have kept me waiting at the head +of the stairs these ten minutes. I must tell you, sir, you treat me with +disrespect." + +Hamilton's eyes blazed and his head went back, but his quick brain leapt +to the long-desired opportunity. He replied as calmly as if his heart +were not thumping, "I am not conscious of it, sir, but since you have +thought it necessary to tell me so, we part." + +"Very well, sir!" replied Washington, "if it be your choice!" He turned +his back and strode to his office. + +Hamilton went to his room with a light heart, feeling as if the +pigeon-holes were marching out of his brain. The breach was +Washington's; he himself had answered with dignity, and could leave with +a clear conscience. He had not kept Washington waiting above four +minutes, and he did not feel that an apology was necessary. + +"Oh," he thought aloud, "I feel as if I had grown wings." He would +return to his bride for a few weeks, then apply once more for a command. + +There was a knock, and Tilghman entered. The young men looked at each +other in silence for a moment; Tilghman with an almost comical anxiety, +Hamilton with alert defiance. + +"Well?" demanded Hamilton. + +"I come from the Chief--ambassador extraordinary. Look out of the +window, or I shall not have courage to go on. He's put the devil to bed +and is monstrous sorry this misunderstanding has occurred--" + +"Misunderstanding?" snorted Hamilton. + +"You know my love of euphony, Hamilton. Pray let me finish. I'd rather +be Laurens on my way to beg. What is a king to a lion? But seriously, my +dear, the Chief is desperately sorry this has occurred. He has deputed +me to assure you of his great confidence in your abilities, integrity, +and usefulness, and of his desire, in a candid conversation, to heal a +difference which could not have happened but in a moment of passion. Do +go and see him at once, and then we shall all sleep in peace to-night." + +But Hamilton shook his head decidedly. "You know how tired I am of all +this," he said, "and that I can be as useful and far more agreeably +active in the field. If I consent to this interview, I am lost. I have +never doubted the Chief's affection for me, but he is also the most +astute of men, and knows my weakness. If, arguments having failed, he +puts his arm about my shoulders and says, 'My boy, _do_ not desert me,' +I shall melt, and vow that neither bride nor glory could beckon me from +him. So listen attentively, mon ami, and deliver my answer as follows: +1st. I have taken my resolve in a manner not to be revoked, 2d. As a +conversation could serve no other purpose than to produce explanations, +mutually disagreeable, though I certainly will not refuse an interview +if he desires it, yet I should be happy if he would permit me to decline +it. 3d. That, though determined to leave the family, the same principles +which have kept me so long in it will continue to direct my conduct +toward him when out of it. 4th. That I do not wish to distress him or +the public business by quitting him before he can derive other +assistance by the return of some of the gentlemen who are absent. 5th. +And that in the meantime it depends on him to let our behaviour to each +other be the same as if nothing had happened." + +Tilghman heaved a deep sigh. "Then you really mean to go?" he said. +"Heartless wretch! Have you no mercy on us? Headquarters will be a tomb, +with Washington reposing on top. Think of the long and solemn +breakfasts, the funereal dinners, the brief but awful suppers. +Washington will never open his mouth again, and I never had the courage +to speak first. If ever you deign to visit us, you will find that we +have lost the power of speech. I repeat that you have no heart in your +body." + +Hamilton laughed. "If you did not know that I love you, you would not +sit there and revile me. No family has ever been happier than ours. In +four years there has not been a quarrel until to-day. I can assure you +that my heart will ache when the time comes to leave you, but I really +had got to the end of my tether. I have long felt as if I could not go +on another day." + +"'Tis grinding, monotonous work," admitted Tilghman, "and we've all +wondered how you have stood it as long as this--every bit of you was +made for action. Well, I'll take your message to the Chief." + +Washington consented to waive the explanation and sent Hamilton another +message, thanking him for consenting to remain until Harrison and Meade +returned. + + +XI + +Little Mrs. Hamilton was delighted with the course affairs had taken, +and pleaded for resignation from the army. But to this Hamilton would +not hearken. Anxious as he was for the war to finish, that he might +begin upon the foundations of home and fortune, he had no intention of +deserting a cause to which he had pledged himself, and in which there +still was a chance for him to achieve distinction. So far, his ambitions +were wholly military. If the profound thought he had given to the +present and future needs of the Republic was not wholly impersonal; if +he took for granted that he had a part to play when the Revolution +finished, it was little more than a dream at present. His very +temperament was martial, the energy and impetuosity of his nature were +in their element on the battlefield, and he would rather have been a +great general than the elder Pitt. But although there is no reason to +doubt that he would have become a great general, had circumstance +favoured his pet ambition, yet Washington was a better judge of the +usefulness of his several abilities than he was himself. Not only had +that reader of men made up his mind that a brain like his favourite's +should not be wasted on the battlefield,--left there, perhaps, while +dolts escaped, for Hamilton had no appreciation of fear or danger,--but +he saw in him the future statesman, fertile, creative, executive, +commanding; and he could have no better training than at a desk in his +office. Phenomenally precocious, even mature, as Hamilton's brain had +been when they met that morning on the Heights of Harlem, these four +years had given it a structural growth which it would not have acquired +in camp life, and to which few men of forty were entitled. Of this fact +Hamilton was appreciative, and he was too philosophical to harbour +regrets; but that period was over now, and he wanted to fight. + +On April 27th he wrote to Washington, asking for employment during the +approaching campaign, suggesting the command of a light corps, and +modestly but decidedly stating his claims. + +Washington was greatly embarrassed. Every arbitrary appointment caused a +ferment in the army, where jealousies were hotter than martial ardours. +Washington was politic above all things, but to refuse Hamilton a +request after their quarrel and parting was the last thing he wished to +do. He felt that he had no choice, however, and wrote at once, +elaborating his reasons for refusal, ending as follows:-- + + My principal concern rises from an apprehension that you will + 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 I have mentioned. + +Hamilton knew him too well to misunderstand him, but he was deeply +disappointed. He retired into the library behind the drawing-room of the +Schuyler mansion, and wrote another and a more elaborate letter to +Robert Morris. He began with a reiteration of the impotence of Congress, +its loss of the confidence of this country and of Europe, the necessity +for an executive ministry, and stated that the time was past to indulge +in hopes of foreign aid. The States must depend upon themselves, and +their only hope lay in a National Bank. There had been some diffidence +in his previous letter. There was none in this, and he had a greater +mastery of the subject. In something like thirty pages of close writing, +he lays down every law, extensive and minute, for the building of a +National Bank, and not the most remarkable thing about this letter is +the psychological knowledge it betrays of the American people. Having +despatched it, he wrote again to Washington, demonstrating that his case +was dissimilar from those the Chief had quoted. He disposed of each case +in turn, and his presentation of his own claims was equally +unanswerable. Washington, who was too wise to enter into a controversy +with Hamilton's pen, did not reply to the letter, but made up his mind +to do what he could for him, although still determined there should be +no disaffection in the army of his making. + +Meanwhile Hamilton received letters from Lafayette, begging him to +hasten South and share his exile; from Washington, asking advice; and +from members of the family, reminding him of their affection and regret. +Tilghman's is characteristic:-- + +Headquarters, 27th April. + + MY DEAR HAMILTON: Between me and thee there is a gulf, or I should + not have been thus long without seeing you. My faith is strong, but + not strong enough to attempt walking on the waters. You must not + suppose from my dealing so much in Scripture phrase that I am + either drunk with religion or with wine, though had I been inclined + to the latter I might have found a jolly companion in my lord, who + came here yesterday. We have not a word of news.... I must go over + and see you soon, for I am not yet weaned from you, nor do I desire + to be. I will not present so cold words as compliments to Mrs. + Hamilton. She has an equal share of the best wishes of + + Your most affectionate + + TILGHMAN. + +The following was from Laurens:-- + + I am indebted to you, my dear Hamilton, for two letters: the first + from Albany, as masterly a piece of cynicism as ever was penned; + the other from Philadelphia, dated the second March; in both you + mention a design of retiring, which makes me extremely unhappy. I + would not wish to have you for a moment withdraw from the public + service; at the same time my friendship for you, and knowledge of + your value to the United States, makes me most ardently desire that + you should fill only the first offices of the Republic. I was + flattered with an account of your being elected a delegate from New + York, and am much mortified not to hear it confirmed by yourself. I + must confess to you that at the present stage of the war, I should + prefer your going into Congress, and from thence becoming a + minister plenipotentiary for peace, to your remaining in the army, + where the dull system of seniority, and the _tableau_, would + prevent you from having the important commands to which you are + entitled; but, at any rate, I will not have you renounce your rank + unless you entered the career above mentioned. Your private affairs + cannot require such immediate and close attention. You speak like a + _paterfamilias_ surrounded with a numerous progeny. + +On the 26th of May he had an appreciative letter from Robert Morris, +thanking him for his suggestions, and assuring him of their +acceptability. He promises a bank on Hamilton's plan, although with far +less capital; still it may afterward be increased to any extent. + +The northern land was full of amenities, the river gay with pleasure +barges. The French gardens about the Schuyler mansion were romantic for +saunterings with the loveliest of brides; the seats beneath the great +trees commanded the wild heights opposite. Forty of the finest horses in +the country were in General Schuyler's stables, and many carriages. +There was a constant stream of distinguished guests. But Hamilton, who +could dally pleasurably for a short time, had no real affinity for +anything but work. There being no immediate prospect of fighting, he +retired again to the library and began that series of papers called _The +Continentalist_, which were read as attentively as if peace had come. +They examined the defects of the existing league of states, their +jealousies, which operated against the formation of a Federal +government, then proceeded to enumerate the powers with which such a +government should be clothed. + +Hamilton did not wait with any particular grace, but even the desired +command came to him after a reasonable period of attempted patience. At +Washington's request he accompanied him to Newport to confer with +Rochambeau. Although the Chief did not allude to Hamilton's last letter, +their intercourse on this journey was as natural and intimate as ever; +and Washington did not conceal his pleasure in the society of this the +most captivating and endearing of his many young friends. After the +conference was over, Hamilton returned to Albany for a brief visit, then +determined to force Washington to show his hand. He joined the army at +Dobbs Ferry, and sent the Chief his commission. Tilghman returned with +it, express haste, and the assurance that the General would endeavour to +give him a command, nearly such as he could desire in the present +circumstance of the army, Hamilton had accomplished his object. He +retained his commission and quartered with General Lincoln. + +When Washington arrived at Dobbs Ferry and went into temporary quarters, +he gave a large dinner to the French officers, and invited Hamilton to +preside. + + His graceful manners and witty speeches provoked universal + admiration [runs the pen of a contemporary]. He was the youngest + and smallest man present. His hair was turned back from the + forehead, powdered, and queued at the back. His face was boyishly + fair, and lighted up with intelligence and genius. Washington, + grave, elegant and hospitable, sat at the side of the table, with + the accomplished Count de Rochambeau on his right. The Duke de + Luzerne occupied a seat opposite. General Knox was present, and so + was Baron Steuben. + +Shortly afterward, Hamilton attended a council of war, at Washington's +invitation. The squadron of De Grasse was approaching the coast of +Virginia. For the second time, Washington was obliged to give up his +cherished scheme of marching on New York, for it was now imperative to +meet Cornwallis in the South. The Chief completely hoodwinked Clinton as +to his immediate plans, Robert Morris raised the funds for moving the +army, and Hamilton obtained his command. To his high satisfaction, Fish +was one of his officers. Immediately before his departure for the South +he wrote to his wife. He had attained his desire, but he was too unhappy +to be playful. A portion of the letter is as follows:-- + + 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 will 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 + improper 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. + +The allied armies moved on the 22d of August and arrived within two +miles of the enemy's works at York Town, on the 28th of September. +Hamilton's light infantry was attached to the division of Lafayette, who +joined the main army with what was left of his own. Laurens was also in +command of a company of light infantry in the young French general's +division. He had acquitted himself brilliantly in France, returning, in +spite of all obstacles and the discouragement of Franklin, with two and +a half million livres in cash, part of a subsidy of six millions of +livres granted by the French king; but he felt that to be in the field +again with Washington, Hamilton, Lafayette, and Fish was higher fortune +than successful diplomacy. + +The allied army was twelve thousand strong; Cornwallis had about +seventy-eight hundred men. The British commander was intrenched in the +village of York Town, the main body of his troops encamped on the open +grounds in the rear. York Town is situated on a peninsula formed by the +rivers York and James, and into this narrow compass Cornwallis had been +driven by the masterly tactics of Lafayette. The arrival of De Grasse's +fleet cut off all hope of retreat by water. He made but a show of +opposition during the eight days employed by the Americans in bringing +up their ordnance and making other preparations. On the 9th the trenches +were completed, and the Americans began the bombardment of the town and +of the British frigates in the river. It continued for nearly +twenty-four hours, and so persistent and terrific was the cannonading, +that the British, being unfortunate in their embrasures, withdrew most +of their cannon and made infrequent reply. On the night of the 11th new +trenches were begun within two and three hundred yards of the British +works. While they were completing, the enemy opened new embrasures, from +which their fire was far more effective than at first. Two redoubts +flanked this second parallel and desperately annoyed the men in the +trenches. It was determined to carry them by assault, and the American +light infantry and De Viomenil's grenadiers and chasseurs were ordered +to hold themselves in readiness for the attack. Laurens, with eighty +men, was to turn the redoubt in order to intercept the retreat of the +garrison, but Hamilton, for the moment, saw his long-coveted +opportunity glide by him. Washington had determined to give it to our +hero's old Elizabethtown tutor, Colonel Barber, conceiving that the +light infantry which had made the Virginia campaign was entitled to +precedence. Hamilton was standing with Major Fish when the news of this +arrangement was brought to him. He reached the General's tent in three +bounds, and poured forth the most impetuous appeal he had ever permitted +himself to launch at Washington. But he was terribly in earnest, and the +prospect of losing this magnificent opportunity tore down the barriers +of his self-possession. "It is my right to attack, sir!" he concluded +passionately, "I am the officer on duty!" Washington had watched his +flushed nervous face and flashing eyes, which had far more command in +their glances than appeal, and he never made great mistakes: he knew +that if he refused this request, Hamilton never would forgive him. + +"Very well," he said. "Take it." + +Hamilton ran back to Fish, crying: "We have it. We have it;" and +immediately began to form his troops. The order was issued to advance in +two columns, and after dark the march began, Hamilton leading the +advance corps. The French were to attack the redoubt on the right. + +The signal was a shell from the American batteries, followed by one from +the French. The instant the French shell ascended, Hamilton gave the +order to advance at the point of the bayonet; then his impatience, too +long gnawing at its curb, dominated him, and he ran ahead of his men and +leaped to the abatis. For a half moment he stood alone on the parapet, +then Fish reached him, and together they encouraged the rest to come on. +Hamilton turned and sprang into the ditch, Fish following. The infantry +was close behind, and surmounting the abatis, ditch, and palisades, +leaped into the work. Hamilton had disappeared, and they feared he had +fallen, but he was investigating; he suddenly reappeared, and formed the +troops in the redoubt. It surrendered almost immediately. The attack +took but nine minutes, so irresistible was the impetuosity of the +onslaught. Hamilton gave orders at once to spare every man who had +ceased to fight. When Colonel Campbell advanced to surrender, one of the +American captains seized a bayonet and drew back to plunge it into the +Englishman's breast. Hamilton thrust it aside, and Campbell was made +prisoner by Laurens. Washington was delighted. "Few cases," he said, +"have exhibited greater proofs of intrepidity, coolness, and firmness +than were shown on this occasion." On the 17th, when Washington received +the proposition for surrender from Cornwallis, he sent for Hamilton and +asked his opinion of the terms. To Laurens was given the honour of +representing the American army at the conference before the surrender. +Tilghman rode, express haste, to Philadelphia with the first news of the +surrender of Cornwallis and his army. + +Hamilton's description of his part in the conquest that virtually put an +end to the war is characteristic. + + Two nights ago, my Eliza [he wrote], my duty and my honour 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 Philadelphia 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 would not fall to my turn to execute it. + +"It is to be hoped so," she said plaintively to her mother. "Else shall +I no longer need to wear a wig." + + +XII + +The next few years may be passed over quickly; they are not the most +interesting, though not the least happy of Hamilton's life. He returned +home on furlough after the battle of York Town and remained in his +father-in-law's hospitable home until the birth of his boy, on the 22d +of January. Then, having made up his mind that there was no further work +for him in the army, and that Britain was as tired of the war as the +States, he announced his intention to study for the bar. His friends +endeavoured to dissuade him from a career whose preparation was so long +and arduous, and reminded him of the public offices he could have for +the asking. But Hamilton was acquainted with his capacity for +annihilating work, and at this time he was not conscious of any +immediate ambition but of keeping his wife in a proper style and of +founding a fortune for the education of his children. His military +ambition had been so possessing that the sudden and brilliant finish at +York Town of his power to gratify it had dwarfed for a while any other +he may have cherished. + +He took a little house in the long street on the river front, and +invited Troup to live with him. They studied together. He had been the +gayest of companions, the most courted of favourites, since his return +from the wars. For four months even his wife and Troup had, save on +Sundays, few words with him on unlegal matters. His brain excluded every +memory, every interest. For the first time he omitted to write regularly +to Mrs. Mitchell, Hugh Knox, and Peter Lytton. All day and half the +night he walked up and down his library, or his father-in-law's, +reading, memorizing, muttering aloud. His friends vowed that he marched +the length and width of the Confederacy. He never gave a more striking +exhibition of his control over the powers of his intellect than this. +The result was that at the end of four months he obtained a license to +practise as an attorney, and published a "Manual on the Practice of +Law," which, Troup tells us, "served as an instructive grammar to future +students, and became the groundwork of subsequent enlarged practical +treatises." If it be protested that these feats were impossible, I can +only reply that they are historic facts. + +It was during these months of study that Aaron Burr came to Albany. + +This young man, also, was not unknown to fame; and the period of the +Revolution is the one on which Burr's biographers should dilate, for it +was the only one through which he passed in a manner entirely to his +credit. He was now in Albany, striving for admittance to the bar, but +handicapped by the fact that he had studied only two years, instead of +the full three demanded by law. + +While Burr did not belong to the aristocracy of the country, his family +not ranking by any means with the Schuylers, Van Rensselaers, +Livingstons, Jays, Morrises, Roosevelts, and others of that small and +haughty band, still he came of excellent and respectable stock. His +father had been the Rev. Aaron Burr, President of Princeton College, and +his mother the daughter of the famous Jonathan Edwards. He was +quick-witted and brilliant; and there is no adjective which qualifies +his ambition. He was a year older than Hamilton, about an inch taller, +and very dark. His features were well cut, his eyes black, glittering, +and cold; his bearing dignified but unimposing, for he bent his +shoulders and walked heavily. His face was not frank, even in youth, and +grew noticeably craftier. He and Hamilton were the greatest fops in +dress of their time; but while the elegance and beauty of attire sat +with a peculiar fitness on Hamilton, seeming but the natural +continuation of his high-bred face and easy erect and graceful bearing, +Burr always looked studiously well-dressed. In regard to their height, a +similar impression prevailed. One never forgot Burr's small stature, and +often commented upon it. Comment upon Hamilton's size was rare, his +proportions and motions were so harmonious; when he was on the platform, +that ruthless test of inches, he dominated and controlled every brain in +the audience, and his enemies vowed he was in league with the devil. + +Burr brought letters to General Schuyler, and was politely given the run +of the library. He and Hamilton had met casually in the army, but had +had no opportunity for acquaintance. At this time the law was a subject +of common interest, and they exchanged many opinions. There was no shock +of antagonism at first, and for that matter they asked each other to +dinner as long as Hamilton lived. But Hamilton estimated him justly at +once, although, as Burr was as yet unconscious of the depths of his own +worst qualities, the most astute reader of character hardly would +suspect them. But Hamilton read that he was artificial and +unscrupulous, and too selfish to serve the country in any of her coming +needs. Still, he was brilliant and fascinating, and Hamilton asked him +to his home. Burr, at first, was agreeably attracted to Hamilton, whose +radiant disposition warmed his colder nature; but when he was forced to +accept the astounding fact that Hamilton had prepared himself for the +bar in four months, digesting and remembering a mountain of knowledge +that cost other men the labour of years, and had prepared a Manual +besides, he experienced the first convulsion of that jealousy which was +to become his controlling passion in later years. Indeed, he established +the habit with that first prolonged paroxysm, and he asked himself +sullenly why a nameless stranger, from an unheard-of Island, should have +the unprecedented success which this youth had had. Social victory, +military glory, the preference of Washington, the respect and admiration +of the most eminent men in the country, a horde of friends who talked of +him as if he were a demi-god, an alliance by marriage with the greatest +family in America, a father-in-law to advance any man's ambitions, a +fascination which had kept the women talking until he married, and +finally a memory and a legal faculty which had so astounded the +bar--largely composed of exceptional men--that it could talk of nothing +else: it was enough for a lifetime, and the man was only twenty-five. +What in heaven's name was to be expected of him before he finished? The +more Burr brooded, the more enraged he became. He had been brought up to +think himself extraordinary, although his guardian had occasionally +birched him when his own confidence had disturbed the peace; he was +intensely proud of his military career, and aware of his fitness for the +bar. But in the blaze of Hamilton's genius he seemed to shrivel; and as +for having attempted to prepare himself for practice in four months, he +might as well have grafted wings to his back and expected them to grow. +It was some consolation to reflect that, as aide and confidential +secretary for four years to Washington, Hamilton had been a student of +the law of nations, and that thus his mind was peculiarly fitted to +grasp what confronts most men as a solid wall to be taken down stone by +stone; also that himself acknowledged no rival where the affections of +women were concerned. But while he lifted the drooping head of his +pride, and tied it firmly to a stake with many strong words, he chose to +regard Hamilton as a rival, and the idea grew until it possessed him. + +In July Robert Morris, after some correspondence, persuaded Hamilton to +accept the office of Continental Receiver for a short time. + + Your former situation in the army [he wrote], the present situation + of that very army, your connexions in the state, your perfect + knowledge of men and measures, and the abilities with which heaven + has blessed you, will give you a fine opportunity to forward the + public service. + +Hamilton, who had no desire to interrupt his studies, was placed in a +position which gave him no choice; his sense of public duty grew +steadily. + + For my part [he wrote to Morris], considering the late serious + misfortune to our ally, the spirit of reformation, of wisdom, and + of unanimity, which seems to have succeeded to that of blunder and + dissension in the British government, and the universal reluctance + of these states to do what is right, I cannot help viewing our + situation as critical, and I feel it the duty of every citizen to + exert his faculties to the utmost. + +But in spite of the onerous and disagreeable duties of his position, he +continued to pursue the course of study necessary for admission to the +bar as a counsellor. He also found time to write a letter to Meade. The +following extract will show that the severity of his great task was +over, and that he was once more alive to that domestic happiness to +which so large a part of his nature responded. + + You reproach me with not having said enough about our little + stranger. When I wrote last I was not sufficiently acquainted with + him to give you his character. I may now assure you that your + daughter, when she sees him, will not consult you about her choice, + or will only do it in respect to the rules of decorum. He is truly + a very fine young gentleman, the most agreeable in conversation and + manners of any I ever knew, nor less remarkable for his + intelligence and sweetness of temper. You are not to imagine by my + beginning with his mental qualifications that he is defective in + personal. It is agreed on all hands that he is handsome; his + features are good, his eye is not only sprightly and expressive, + but it is full of benignity. His attitude in sitting is, by + connoisseurs, esteemed graceful, and he has a method of waving his + hand that announces the future orator. He stands, however, rather + awkwardly, and as his legs have not all the delicate slimness of + his father's, it is feared he may never excel as much in dancing, + which is probably the only accomplishment in which he will not be a + model. If he has any fault in manners, he laughs too much. He has + now passed his seventh month. + +Happy by temperament, Hamilton was at this time happier in his +conditions--barring the Receivership--than any vague, wistful, crowded +dream had ever presaged. His wife was adorable and pretty, sprightly and +sympathetic, yet accomplished in every art of the Dutch housewife; and +although he was far too modest to boast, he was privately convinced that +his baby was the finest in the Confederacy. He had a charming little +home, and Troup, the genial, hearty, and solid, was a member of it. In +General and Mrs. Schuyler he had found genuine parents, who strove to +make him forget that he had ever been without a home. He had been forced +to refuse offers of assistance from his father-in-law again and again. +He would do nothing to violate his strong sense of personal +independence; he had half of the arrears of his pay, Troup his share of +the expenses of the little house. He knew that in a short time he should +be making an income. The cleverest of men, however, can be hoodwinked by +the subtle sex. The great Saratoga estate of the Schuylers furnished the +larder of the Hamiltons with many things which the young householder was +far too busy to compare with his slender purse. + +He heard constantly from his friends in the army, and finally was +persuaded to sit for a portrait, to be the common property of six or +eight of them. Money was desperately tight, they could not afford a copy +apiece, but each was to possess it for two months at a time so long as +he lived; he who survived the others to dispose of it as he chose. For +Hamilton to sit still and look in one direction for half an hour was +nothing short of misery, even with Betsey, Troup, and the Baby to amuse +him; and only the head, face, stock, and front of the coat were +finished. But the artist managed to do himself justice with the massive +spirited head, the deep-set mischievous eyes, whose lightnings never +were far from the surface; the humour in the remarkable curves of the +mouth, the determination and suppressed energy of the whole face. It was +a living portrayal, and Betsey parted from it with tears. When she saw +it again her eyes were dim with many tears. The last of its owners to +survive fell far into poverty, and sold it to one of her sons. It is +to-day as fresh, as alive with impatient youth and genius, as when +Hamilton estimated portrait painters thieves of time. + +Meanwhile a compliment was paid to him which upset his plans, and placed +him for a short time in the awkward position of hesitating between +private desires and public duty: he was elected by the New York +legislature, and almost unanimously, a delegate to Congress. Troup +brought him the news as he was walking on the broad street along the +river front, muttering his Blackstone, oblivious of his fellow-citizens. + +"Go to Congress!" he exclaimed. "Who goes to that ramshackle body that +is able to keep out of it? Could not they find someone else to send to +distinguish himself by failure? I've my living to make. If a man in +these days manages to support his wife and child, there is nothing else +he can do which so entitles him to the esteem of his fellow-citizens." + +"True," said Troup, soothingly; "there certainly is nothing in that body +of old women and lunatics, perpetually bickering with thirteen +sovereign, disobedient, and jealous States, to tempt the ambition of any +man; nor, ordinarily, to appeal to his sense of usefulness. But just at +present there are several questions before it with which it is thought +you can cope more successfully than any man living. So I think you ought +to go, and so does General Schuyler. I know all that you will sacrifice, +domestic as well as pecuniarily--but remember, you solemnly dedicated +yourself to the service of this country." + +"I'm not likely to forget it, and I am willing to sacrifice anything if +I am convinced of my usefulness in a given direction, but I see no +chance of accomplishing aught in Congress, of doing this country any +service until it is a nation, not a sack of scratching cats." + +Not only was great pressure brought to bear upon him, but he was not +long convincing himself that it was his duty to take his knowledge of +certain subjects vexing the Confederation, to the decrepit body which +was feebly striving to save the country from anarchy. He had given +little attention to the general affairs of the country during the past +six months, but an examination of them fired his zeal. He accepted the +appointment, and returned to his law books and his dispiriting struggle +with the taxes. + +In the autumn Hamilton received the second of those heavy blows by which +he was reminded that in spite of his magnetism for success he was to +suffer like other mortals. Laurens was dead--killed in a petty skirmish +which he was so loath to miss that he had bolted to it from a sick-bed. +Hamilton mourned him passionately, and never ceased to regret him. He +was mercurial only among his lighter feelings. The few people he really +loved were a part of his daily thoughts, and could set his heartstrings +vibrating at any moment. Betsey consoled, diverted, and bewitched him, +but there were times when he would have exchanged her for Laurens. The +perfect friendship of two men is the deepest and highest sentiment of +which the finite mind is capable; women miss the best in life. + +In October Hamilton resigned the Receivership, having brought an +honourable amount of order out of chaos and laid down the law for the +guidance of future officials. November came, and he set off for +Philadelphia philosophically, though by no means with a light heart. The +baby was too young to travel; he was obliged to send his little family +to General Schuyler's, with no hope of seeing them again for months, and +a receding prospect of offering them a home in New York. His +father-in-law, not unmindful that consolation was needed, drove him +two-thirds of the distance, thus saving him a long ride, or its +alternative, the heavy coach. In Philadelphia he found sufficient work +awaiting him to drive all personal matters out of his head. + +It was during this year of hard work and little result that he renewed +an acquaintance with James Madison, Jr., afterward fourth President of +the United States, and Gouverneur Morris, one of the most brilliant and +disinterested young men in the country, now associated with Robert +Morris in the Department of Finance. With the last the acquaintance +ripened into a lifelong and intimate friendship; with Madison the +friendship was equally ardent and intimate while it lasted. Madison had +the brain of a statesman, energy and persistence in crises, immense +industry, facility of speech, a broad contempt for the pretensions and +mean bickerings of the States, and a fairly national outlook. As +Hamilton would have said, he "thought continentally." But he lacked +individuality. He was too patriotic, too sincere to act against his +principles, but his principles could be changed by a more powerful and +magnetic brain than his own, and the inherent weakness in him demanded a +stronger nature to cling to. It happened that he and Hamilton, when they +met again in Congress, thought alike on many subjects, and they worked +together in harmony from the first; nevertheless, he was soon in the +position of a double to that towering and energetic personality, and +worshipped it. In their letters the two young men sign themselves, +"yours affectionately," "yours with deep attachment," which between +men--I suppose--means something. So noticeable was Madison's devotion to +the most distinguished young man of the day, and a few years later so +absorbed was he into the huge personality of his early friend's +bitterest enemy, that John Randolph once exclaimed in wrath, "Madison +always was some great man's mistress--first Hamilton's, then +Jefferson's:" a remark which was safe in the days of our ancestors, when +life was all work and no satiety. + +Gouverneur Morris had sacrificed home, inheritance, and ties in the +cause of the Revolution, most of his family remaining true to the crown. +His education was thorough, however, and subsequently he had nine years +of Europe, of which he left to posterity an entertaining record. Tall, +handsome, a wit, a beau, notable for energy in Congress, erratic, +caustic, cynical, but the warmest of friends, he was a pet of society, a +darling of women, and trusted by all men. He and Hamilton had much in +common, and to some degree he took Laurens's place; not entirely, for +Laurens's idealism gave him a pedestal in Hamilton's memory which no +other man but Washington ever approached; and Morris was brutal in his +cynicism, placing mankind but a degree higher than the beasts of the +forest. But heart and brain endeared him to Hamilton, and no man had a +loftier or more burning patriotism. As for himself, he loved and admired +Hamilton above all men. He was as strong in his nationalism, believing +Union under a powerful central government to be the only hope of the +States. Both he and Madison were leaders; but both, even then, were +willing to be led by Hamilton, who was several years their junior. + +The three young enthusiasts made a striking trio of contrasts as they +sat one evening over their port and walnuts in a private room of a +coffee-house, where they had met to discuss the problems convulsing the +unfortunate country. Madison had the look of a student, a taciturn +intellectual visage. He spoke slowly, weightily, and with great +precision. Morris had, even then, an expression of cynicism and contempt +on his handsome bold face, and he swore magnificently whenever his new +wooden leg interfered with his comfort or dignity. Hamilton, with his +fair mobile face, powerful, penetrating, delicate, illuminated by eyes +full of fire and vivacity, but owing its chief attraction to a mouth as +sweet as it was firm and humorous, made the other men look almost heavy. +Madison was carelessly attired, the other two with all the picturesque +elegance of their time. + +"A debt of $42,000,000," groaned Morris, "interest $2,400,000; Robert +Morris threatening to resign; delirious prospect of panic in +consequence; national spirit with which we began the war, a stinking +wick under the tin extinguisher of States' selfishness, stinginess, and +indifference--caused by the natural reversion of human nature to first +principles after the collapse of that enthusiasm which inflates mankind +into a bombastic pride of itself; Virginia pusillanimous, Rhode Island +an old beldam standing on the village pump and shrieking disapproval of +everything; Jay, Adams, and Franklin, after years of humiliating +mendicancy, their very hearts wrinkled in the service of the stupidest +country known to God or man, shoved by a Congress not fit to black their +boots under the thumb of the wiliest and most disingenuous diplomatist +in Europe--much France cares for our interests, provided we cut loose +from Britain; Newburg address and exciting prospect, in these monotonous +times, of civil war, while peace commission is sitting in London; just +demands of men who have fought, starving and naked, for a bare +subsistence after the army disbands, modest request for arrears of +pay,--on which to relieve the necessities of their families turned out +to grass for seven years,--pleasantly indorsed by the Congress, which +feels safe in indorsing anything, and rejected by the States, called +upon to foot the bill, as a painful instance of the greed and depravity +of human nature--there you are: no money, no credit, no government, no +friends,--for Europe is sick of us,--no patriotism; immediate prospects, +bankruptcy, civil war, thirteen separate meals for Europe. What do you +propose, Hamilton? I look to you as your Islanders flee to a stone house +in a hurricane. You are an alien, with no damned state roots to pull up, +your courage is unhuman, or un-American, and you are the one man of +genius in the country. Madison is heroic to a fault, a roaring +Berserker, but we must temper him, we must temper him; and meanwhile we +will both defer to the peculiar quality of your mettle." + +Madison, who had not a grain of humour, replied gravely, his rich +southern brogue seeming to roll his words down from a height: "I have a +modest hope in the address I prepared for the citizens of Rhode Island, +more in Hamilton's really magnificent letter to the Governor. Nothing +can be more forcible--nay, beguiling--than his argument in that letter +in favour of a general government independent of state machinery, and +his elaborate appeal to that irritating little commonwealth to consent +to the levying of the impost by Congress, necessary to the raising of +the moneys. I fear I am not a hero, for I confess I tremble. I fear the +worst. But at all events I am determined to place on record that I left +no stone unturned to save this miserable country." + +"You will go down to posterity as a great man, Madison, if you are never +given the chance to be one," replied the father of American humour and +coinage; "for it is not in words but in acts that we display the faith +that is not in us. Well, Hamilton?" + +"I must confess," said Hamilton, "that Congress appears to me, as a +newcomer, rooted contentedly to its chairs, and determined to do +nothing, happy in the belief that Providence has the matter in hand and +but bides the right moment to make the whole world over. But I see no +cause to despair, else I should not have come to waste my time. I fear +that Rhode Island is too fossilized to listen to us, but I shall urge +that we change the principle of the Confederation and vote to make the +States contribute to the general treasury in an equal proportion to +their means, by a system of general taxation imposed under continental +authority. If the poorer States, irrespective of land and numbers, could +be relieved, and the wealthier taxed specifically on land and houses, +the whole regulated by continental legislation, I think that even Rhode +Island might be placated. It may be that this is not agreeable to the +spirit of the times, but I shall make the attempt--" + +"Considering there is no spirit _in_ the times, we might as well expect +to inform its skull with genius by means of a lighted candle. You think +too well of human nature, my boy; expect nothing, that ye be not +disappointed, especially in the matter of revenue." + +"I have no exalted opinion of human nature, but if I did not think more +hopefully of it than you do, I should yield up that enthusiasm without +which I can accomplish nothing. You have every gift, but you will end as +a dilettante because your ideal is always in the mud; and it is only +now and again that you think it worth while to pick it up and give it a +bath." + +"Right, right," murmured Morris, good-naturedly. "Would that I had your +unquenchable belief in the worth while. Allied to your abilities it will +make the new world over and upset the wicked plans of the old. Analyst +and disbeliever in man's right to his exaggerated opinion of himself, +how do you keep enthusiasm abreast with knowledge of human kind? Tell +me, Hamilton, how do you do it?" + +"I fear 'tis the essence of which I am made. My energies will have +outlet or tear me to pieces. When there is work to do, my nostrils +quiver like a war-horse's at the first roar and smoke--" + +"Your modesty does you infinite honour; the truth is, you have the holy +fire of patriotism in an abnormal degree. I have it, but I still am +normal. I have made sacrifices and shall make more, but my ego curls its +lip. Yours never does. That is the difference between you and most of +us. Hundreds of us are doggedly determined to go through to the bitter +end, sacrifice money, youth and health; but you alone are happy. That is +why we love you and are glad to follow your lead. But, I repeat, how can +you labour with such undying enthusiasm for the good of human kind when +you know what they amount to?" + +"Some are worth working for, that is one point; I don't share your +opinion of general abasement, for the facts warrant no such opinion. And +the battle of ideas, the fight for certain stirring and race-making +principles,--that is the greatest game that mortals can play. And to +play it, we must have mortals for puppets. To create a new government, a +new race, to found what may become the greatest nation on the +earth,--what more stupendous destiny? Even if one were forgotten, it +would be worth doing, so tremendous would be the exercise of the +faculties, so colossal the difficulties. I would have a few men do it +all; I have no faith in the uneducated. The little brain, half opened by +a village schoolmaster, is pestilential; but in the few with sufficient +power over the many,--from whom will be evolved more and more to rank +with the first few,--in those I have faith, and am proud to work with +them." + +"Good. I'd not have a monarchy, but I'd have the next thing to it, with +a muzzle on the rabble. Perhaps I, too, have faith in a few,--in +yourself and George Washington; and in Madison, our own Gibraltar. But +the pig-headed, selfish, swinish--well, go on with your present plans. +'Tis to hear those we met to-night, not to analyze each other. Tell us +all, that we may not only hope, but work with you." + +"The army first. If retirement on half pay is impossible, then full pay +for, say six years,--and the arrears,--paid upon the disbanding of the +army. Washington, by the exercise of the greatest moral force, but one, +that has appeared in this world, has averted a civil war--I am persuaded +that horror is averted, and I assume that the country does not care +eternally to disgrace itself by letting its deliverers, who have +suffered all that an army can suffer, return to their ruined homes +without the few dollars necessary for another start in life. I have +resigned my claim to arrears of pay, that my argument may not be +weakened. Then a peace establishment. Fancy leaving our frontiers to the +mercy of state militia! I shall urge that the general government have +exclusive power over the sword, to establish certain corps of infantry, +artillery, cavalry, dragoons, and engineers, a general system of land +fortifications, establishment of arsenals and magazines, erection of +founderies and manufactories for arms, of ports and maritime +fortifications--with many details with which I will not bore you. I +shall urge the necessity of strengthening the Federal government through +the influence of officers deriving their appointment directly from +Congress--always, always, the necessity of strengthening the central +government, of centralizing power, and of putting the States where they +belong. It is federation or anarchy. Then--moderate funds permanently +pledged for the security of lenders. I have preached that since I have +dared to preach at all, and that is the only solution of our present +distress, for we'll never get another foreign loan--" + +"We've accepted your wisdom, but we can't apply it," interposed Morris. +"Our only hope lies in your national government--but go on." + +"A moment," said Madison. "This, in regard to the peace establishment: +Do we apply a war congress to a state of peace, I fear we shall too +clearly define its limits. The States may refuse obedience, and then the +poor invalided body will fall into greater disrepute than ever." + +"I have thought of that," replied Hamilton, "and if the worst comes to +the worst, I have a radical plan to propose,--that Congress publish +frankly its imperfections to the country--imperfections which make it +impossible to conduct the public affairs with honour to itself or +advantage to the United States; that it ask the States to appoint a +convention, with full powers to revise the Confederation, and to adopt +and propose all necessary alterations--all to be approved or rejected, +in the last instance, by the legislatures of the several States. That +would be the first step toward a national government. With that, all +things would be possible,--the payment of our foreign loan, of our army, +duties on foreign goods, which is a source of revenue to which they are +incredibly blind; the establishment of a firm government, under which +all will prosper that are willing to work, of a National Bank, of a +peace army--" + +"Of Utopia!" exclaimed Morris. "Hamilton, you are the least visionary +man in this country, but you are God knows how many years ahead of your +times. If we are ever on two legs again, you will put us there; but your +golden locks will thin in the process, and that rosy boyish face we love +will be lined with the seams of the true statesman. Only you could +contemplate imbuing these fossilized and commonplace intellects, +composing our Congress of the Confederation--mark the ring of it!--with +a belief in its own impotency and worthlessness. You are not mortal. I +always said it. When Duane gave me your letter to read, I remarked: 'He +withdrew to heaven, and wrote that letter on the knee of the Almighty; +never on earth could he have found the courage and the optimism.' No, +Hamilton, I would embrace you, did my wooden leg permit me to escape +your wrath, but I can give you no encouragement. You will fail +here--gloriously, but you will fail. Mark my words, the army will go +home cursing, and scratch the ground to feed its women. The States will +have no peace establishment to threaten their sovereign rights, we will +pay nobody, and become more and more poverty-stricken and contemptible +in our own eyes, and in the eyes of Europe; we will do nothing that is +wise and everything that is foolish--" + +"And then, when the country is sick unto death," interrupted Hamilton, +"it will awake to the wisdom of the drastic remedy and cohere into a +nation." + +"Query," said Madison, "would it not be patriotic to push things from +bad to worse as quickly as possible? It might be a case of justifiable +Jesuitism." + +"And it might lead to anarchy and the jaws of Europe," said Hamilton. +"It is never safe to go beyond a certain point in the management of +human affairs. What turn the passions of the people may take can never +be foretold, nor that element of the unknown, which is always under the +invisible cap and close on one's heels. God knows I have not much +patience in my nature, and I do not believe that most of my schemes are +so far in advance of even this country's development; but certain +lessons must be instilled by slow persistence. I have no faith in +rushing people at the point of the bayonet in times of peace." + +"I think you are right there," said Morris. "But mark my words, you'll +propagate ideas here, and the result in time will be the birth of a +nation--no doubt of that; but you must rest content to live on hope for +the present. I was a fettered limb in this body too long. I know its +inertia." + +He knew whereof he spoke. Hamilton won little but additional reputation, +much admiration, half resentful, and many enemies. The army went home +unpaid; the peace establishment consisted of eighty men; little or +nothing was done to relieve the national debt or to carry on the +business of government. Even his proposition to admit the public to the +galleries of Congress, in the hope of interesting it in governmental +affairs, only drew upon him the sneer that he could go out on the +balcony and make his speeches if he feared his eloquence was wasted. He +was accused of writing the Newburg address inciting the officers to +civil war, because it was particularly well written, and of hurrying +Congress to Trenton, when threatened by a mutinous regiment. But he +worked on undaunted, leaving his indelible mark; for he taught the +States that their future prosperity and happiness lay in giving up to +the Union some part of the imposts that might be levied on foreign +commodities, and incidentally the idea of a double government; he +proposed a definite system of funding the debts on continental +securities, which gradually rooted in the common sense of the American +people, and he inveighed with a bitter incisiveness, which was tempered +by neither humour nor gaiety, against the traitorous faction in the pay +of France. He dissuaded Robert Morris from resigning, and introduced a +resolution in eulogy of Washington's management of his officers in the +most critical hour of the Union's history. But his immediate +accomplishment was small and discouraging, although his foresight may +have anticipated what George Ticknor Curtis wrote many years later:-- + + The ideas of a statesman like Hamilton, earnestly bent on the + discovery and inculcation of truth, do not pass away. Wiser than + those by whom he was surrounded, with a deeper knowledge of the + science of government than most of them, and constantly enunciating + principles which extended far beyond the temporizing policy of the + hour, the smiles of his opponents only prove to posterity how far + he was in advance of them. + +The following extract from a letter of James M'Henry, Lafayette's former +aide, and a member of the Congress, is interesting as a commentary on +the difficulties of our hero's position while a member of that body. + + DEAR HAMILTON: The homilies you delivered in Congress are still + remembered with pleasure. The impressions they made are in favour + of your integrity; and no one but believes you a man of honour and + of republican principles. Were you ten years older and twenty + thousand pounds richer, there is no doubt but that you might obtain + the suffrages of Congress for the highest office in their gift. + You are supposed to possess various knowledge, useful, substantial, + and ornamental. Your very grave and your cautious, your men who + measure others by the standard of their own creeping politics, + think you sometimes intemperate, but seldom visionary: and that + were you to pursue your object with as much cold perseverance as + you do with ardour and argument, you would become irresistible. In + a word, if you could submit to spend a whole life in dissecting a + fly you would be, in their opinion, one of the greatest men in the + world. Bold designs; measures calculated for their rapid execution; + a wisdom that would convince from its own weight; a project that + would surprise the people into greater happiness, without giving + them an opportunity to view it and reject it, are not adapted to a + council composed of discordant elements, or a people who have + thirteen heads, each of which pay superstitious adorations to + inferior divinities. + + Adieu, my dear friend, and in the days of your happiness drop a + line to your + + M'HENRY. + +At the end of 1783 Hamilton was convinced that he was of no further +immediate use to the country, and refused a reelection to the Congress, +despite entreaty and expostulation, returning to the happiness of his +domestic life and to his neglected law-books. The British having +evacuated New York, he moved his family there and entered immediately +upon the practice of his profession. + + + + +BOOK IV + +"ALEXANDER THE GREAT" + +INCLUDING THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED +STATES + + +I + +It was the autumn of 1786. New York had risen from her charred and +battered ruins. There were cows on her meadows, a lake with wooded +shores as merely traditional, groves, gardens, orchards, fields, and +swamps; but her business houses and public buildings were ambitious once +more, her spires more lofty and enduring, her new dwelling-houses, +whether somewhat crowded in Wall Street and Broadway, or on the terraces +of less busy streets, or along the river fronts and facing a wild and +lovely prospect, were square, substantial, and usually very large. And +every street was an avenue of ancient trees. Mrs. John Jay, with her +experience of foreign courts, her great beauty, and the prestige of her +distinguished husband, was the leader of society, holding weekly +receptions, and the first to receive the many distinguished strangers. +Although society was not quite as gay as it became three years later, +under a more settled government and hopeful outlook, still there was +quiet entertaining by the Hamiltons, who lived at 58 Wall Street, the +Duers, Watts, Livingstons, Clintons, Duanes, Jays, Roosevelts, Van +Cortlandts, and other representatives of old New York families, now +returned to their own. Congress was come to New York and established in +the City Hall in Wall Street. It had given the final impetus to the +city, struggling under the burden of ruins and debt left by the British; +and society sauntered forth every afternoon in all the glory of velvet +and ruffles, three-cornered hats recklessly laced, brocades, hoopskirts, +and Rohan hats, to promenade past the building where the moribund body +was holding its last sessions. The drive was down the Broadway into the +shades of the Battery, with the magnificent prospect of bay and wooded +shores beyond. Politics, always epidemic among men and women alike, had +recently been animated by Hamilton's coup at Annapolis, and the prospect +of a general convention of the States to consider the reorganization of +a government which had reduced the Confederation to a condition +fearfully close to anarchy, the country to ruin, and brought upon the +thirteen sovereign independent impotent and warring States the contempt +of Europe and the threat of its greed. + +A group of men, standing on a corner of Wall Street and the Broadway, +were laughing heartily: a watch was dragging off to jail two citizens +who had fallen upon each other with the venom of political antithesis; +the one, a Nationalist, having called Heaven to witness that Hamilton +was a demi-god, begotten to save the wretched country, the other +vociferating that Hamilton was the devil who would trick the country +into a monarchy, create a vast standing army, which would proclaim him +king and stand upon the heads of a people that had fought and died for +freedom, while the tyrant exercised his abominable functions. + +The men in the group were Governor Clinton, Hamilton's bitterest +opponent, but sufficiently amused at the incident; William Livingston, +Governor of New Jersey, now with but a few hairs on the top of his head +and a few at the base, his nose more penetrating, his eye more +disapproving, than ever; James Duane, Mayor of New York; John Jay, the +most faultless character in the Confederation, honoured and unloved, his +cold eyes ever burning with an exalted fire; and John Marshall of +Virginia, munching an apple, his attire in shabby contrast to the +fashionable New Yorkers, the black mane on his splendid head unpowdered +and tossing in the ocean breeze. + +"I like your Hamilton," he announced, "and I've come to the conclusion +that I think with him on all matters. He's done more to educate the +people up to a rational form of government during the last seven years +than all the rest of us put together. He's shone upon them like a fixed +star. Other comets have come and gone, whirling them forward to +destruction, but they have always been forced to turn and look at him +again and again, and he has always shone in the same place." + +"Sir," exclaimed Clinton, who was flushed with rage, "are you aware that +I am present, and that I entirely disapprove of Mr. Hamilton's attempt +to reduce the States to a condition of ignominious subserviency to an +ambitious and tyrannical central power?" + +"I had heard of you, sir," replied Marshall, meekly, "and I am glad to +have the opportunity to ask you what _your_ remedy is for the existing +state of things? You will admit that there must be a remedy, and +quickly. If not a common government with a Constitution empowering it to +regulate trade, imposts, reduce the debt, enter into treaties with +foreign powers which will not be sneered at, administer upon a thousand +details which I will not enumerate, and raise the country from its +slough of contempt, then what? As the personage who has taken the most +decided stand against the enlightened and patriotic efforts of Mr. +Hamilton, I appeal to you for a counter suggestion as magnificent as +his. I am prepared, sir, to listen with all humility." + +Clinton, whose selfish fear of his own downfall with that of State +supremacy was so well known that a smile wrinkled across the polite +group of gentlemen surrounding him, deepened his colour to purple under +this assault, and stammered: "Sir, have I not myself proposed an +enlargement of the powers of Congress, in order to counteract the +damnable policy of Britain? Did not your Hamilton harangue that crowd I +sanctioned till he got nearly all he asked for?" + +"But he knew better than to ask for too much, in the conditions," +replied Marshall, suavely. "May I suggest that you have not answered my +humble and earnest questions?" + +"I answer no questions that I hold to be impertinent and unimportant!" +said Clinton, pompously, and with a dignified attempt to recover his +poise. He swept his hat from his head; the New Yorkers were as +punctilious; Marshall lifted his battered lid from the wild mass +beneath, and the popular Governor sauntered down the street, saluted +deferentially by Nationalists and followers alike. When he had occasion +to sweep his gorgeous hat to his knees, the ladies courtesied to the +ground, their draperies taking up the entire pavement, and His +Excellency was obliged to encounter the carriages in the street. + +"If Clinton were sure of figuring as powerfully in a national government +as he does in the state of New York, he would withdraw his opposition," +said Livingston, contemptuously. "He has been Governor for nine years. +New York is his throne. He is a king among the common people, who will +elect him indefinitely. Were it not for Hamilton, he would be New York, +and the awful possibilities lying hidden in the kernel of change haunt +his dreams at night. You embarrassed him in a manner that rejoiced my +heart, Mr. Marshall. I beg you will do me the honour to dine with me +to-night. I beg to assure you that your fame is as known to me as were I +a Virginian." + +"I'll accept the invitation with pleasure," replied Marshall, whose +manners were all that his attire was not. "I shall be glad to talk with +you on many subjects. To-morrow I shall pay my respects to Mr. Hamilton. +His has been a trying but not a thankless task. He has addressed himself +to the right class of men all over the country, winning them to his +sound and enlightened views, giving them courage, consolidating them +against the self-interested advocates of State sovereignty. That he has +so often neglected a legal practice which must bring him a large income, +as well as sufficient personal glory, out of a sincere pity for and +patriotic interest in this afflicted country, gives New York deep cause +for congratulation that she was in such close communication with that +Island of his youth. I wish that fate had steered him to Virginia." + +"Surely you have enough as it is," said Duane, laughing: "Washington, +yourself, Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Madison, Randolph. Spare us +Hamilton. We shall need him badly enough. The Clinton faction is very +strong. That the Hamilton embraces the best spirits of the community +means that it is in the minority, and needs the unremitting exercise of +his genius to counteract the disadvantage in numbers." + +"I think that what I admire most in Hamilton," remarked a newcomer, a +small dark man of vivid personality, "are his methods of manipulation. +He picks out his own men, Duer, Troup, Malcolm, has them sent to the +legislature, where they blindly and indefatigably obey his behest and +gain the consent of that body to the convention at Annapolis, then see +that he is elected as principal delegate. He goes to Annapolis +ostensibly to attend a commercial convention: while its insufficient +numbers are drowsing, he springs upon them an eloquent proposal for a +national convention for reforming the Union, and forces it through +before they know what they are about. Certainly Mr. Hamilton is a man of +genius." + +"Do I understand. Mr. Burr," said Jay, from his glacial height, "that +you are impugning the purity of Mr. Hamilton's motives?" + +"No, sir," replied Burr, whom an archangel could not have rebuked. "In +the present condition of things all methods are justifiable. Hamilton is +great but adaptable. I respect him for that quality above all others, +for he is quite the most imperious character in America, and his natural +instinct is to come out and say, 'You idiots, fall into line behind me +and stop twaddling. I will do your thinking; be kind enough not to delay +me further.' On the other hand, he is forced to be diplomatic, to +persuade where he would command, to move slowly instead of charging at +the point of the bayonet. So, although I have no sympathy with his +pronounced monarchical inclinations, I respect his acquired methods of +getting what he wants." + +"What do you mean by pronounced monarchical inclinations?" snorted +Governor Livingston, who could not endure Burr. + +Burr gave his peculiar sardonic laugh. "Will you deny it, sir?" + +"Deny it? I certainly am in Mr. Hamilton's confidence to no such extent, +and I challenge you to indicate one sentence in his published writings +which points to such a conclusion." + +"Ah, he is too clever for that; but his very walk, his whole personality +expresses it, to say nothing of the fact that he never thinks of denying +his admiration of the British Constitution. And did he not defend the +Tories after the evacuation, when no other lawyer would touch them? I +admired his courage, but it was sufficient evidence of the catholicity +of his sentiments." + +"Mr. Hamilton defended the abstract principle of right against wrong in +defending the wretched Tories against the persecutions of an +unmagnanimous public sentiment," said Jay, witheringly. "I should advise +you, young gentleman, to become a disciple of Mr. Hamilton. I can +recommend no course which would prove so beneficial." And he turned on +his heel. + +He had hit Burr. The jealousy born in Albany had thriven with much +sustenance since. Hamilton was by far the most prominent figure at the +New York bar, and was hastening to its leadership. Burr was conspicuous +for legal ability, but never would be first while Hamilton was in the +race. Moreover, although Hamilton had not then reached that dizzy height +from which a few years later he looked down upon a gaping world, he was +the leader of a growing and important party, intelligently followed and +worshipped by the most eminent men in the Confederation, many of them +old enough to be his father; and he was the theme of every drawing-room, +of every coffee-house group and conclave. His constant pamphlets on the +subject nearest to all men's hearts, his eloquent speeches on the same +theme upon every possible occasion, and the extraordinary brilliance of +his legal victories, gave people no time to think of other men. When he +entered a drawing-room general conversation ceased, and the company +revolved about him so long as he remained. When he spoke, all the world +went to hear. For an ambitious young man to be told to attach himself to +the train of this conquering hero was more than poor Burr could stand, +and he replied angrily:-- + +"I have the privilege of being true to my own convictions, I suppose. +They are not Mr. Hamilton's and never will be. I do not impugn the +purity of his motives, but I have no desire to see George Washington +king, nor Hamilton, neither. I wish you good day, sirs," and he strode +up Broadway to the Fields with dignity in every inch of him. + +"This constant talk of Hamilton's monarchical principles makes my gorge +rise," said Livingston. "Did he not fight as hard as he was permitted, +to drive monarchy out of the country? Was he not the first to sound the +call to arms?" + +"Hamilton's exact attitude on that question is not clearly understood," +replied Duane, soothingly, for the heat of Livingston's republicanism +had never abated. "I fancy it is something like this: So far no +constitution has worked so well as the British. Montesquieu knew whereof +he praised. The number of men in this country equal to the great problem +of self-government are in a pitiful minority. The anarchic conditions of +the States, the disgrace which they have brought upon us, their +inefficiency to cope with any problem, the contemptible depths of human +nature which they have revealed to the thinking members of the +community--all these causes inspire Hamilton, incomparably the greatest +brain in the country, with a dread of leaving any power whatever in +their hands. He believes firmly in the few of tried brain and +patriotism. I very much doubt if he has considered the subject of actual +monarchy for a moment, for he is no dreamer, and he knows that even his +followers have been Republicans too long. But that he will fight for the +strongest sort of national government, with the least possible power +vested in the States--oh, no doubt of that." + +"Our people are hopeless, I fear," said Livingston, with a sigh. "This +period of independency seems to have demoralized them when it should +have brought out their best elements. Well, Mr. Marshall, what say you? +You have been modestly silent, and we have been rudely voluble when so +distinguished a guest should have had all the floor." + +"I have been deeply entertained," replied Marshall, with a grin. "My +visit to New York is by no means wasted. I envy Mr. Hamilton; but let +him look out for Mr. Burr. There are just five feet seven inches of +jealous hate in that well-balanced exterior, and its methods would be +sinuous, I fancy, but no less deadly. But Hamilton has had many escapes. +What was that atrocious story I heard of a duelling cabal? When the +rolling stone of gossip reaches Virginia from New York, it has gathered +more moss than you would think." + +"It would be difficult to exaggerate that story," snorted Livingston." +Hamilton defended his course in regard to the Tories in two pamphlets, +signed 'Phocion.' They were answered by a Mr. Ledyard, who signed +himself 'Mentor,' and was a conspicuous advocate of the damnable spirit +of revenge possessing this country. It is a bold man indeed who enters +into a conflict of the pen with Hamilton, and 'Mentor' was left without +a leg to stand on. Forthwith, a club of Ledyard's friends and +sympathizers, enraged by defeat, and fearing the growing ascendency of +Hamilton over men's minds, deliberately agreed to challenge him in turn +until he was silenced forever. This atrocious project would undoubtedly +have been carried out, had not Ledyard himself repudiated it with +horror. Can you show me a greater instance of the depravity of human +nature, sir?" + +"We are in a ferment of bitter passions," said Marshall, sadly, "and I +fear they will be worse before they are better. I only hope that +Hamilton will not be swept into their current, for upon his keeping his +balance depends the future greatness of this country. I am at your +service, sir, for I will confess my two legs are tired." + + +II + +As the three men turned into Broadway they saluted a man who was +entering Wall Street. It was Hamilton, hastening home to his family +after the day's work. He had lost his boyish slenderness; his figure had +broadened and filled out sufficiently to add to his presence while +destroying nothing of its symmetry or agile grace, and it was dressed +with the same care. His face was as gay and animated as ever, responded +with the old mobility to every passing thought, but its lines and +contours showed the hard work and severe thought of the last four years. +When he was taking a brief holiday with his friends, or tumbling about +the floor with his little brood, he felt as much a boy as ever, but no +one appreciated more fully than he the terrible responsibility of his +position in the Confederation. His abilities, combined with his +patriotism, had forced him to the head of the Nationalist Party, for +whose existence he was in greatest measure responsible; and he hardly +dared to think of his personal ambitions, nor could he hesitate to +neglect his lucrative practice whenever the crying needs of the country +demanded it. He had also given much time to the creating and +organization of the Bank of New York. But Burr was not far wrong when he +accused him of impatience. His bearing was more imperious, his eye +flashed more intolerantly, than ever. To impute to him monarchical +ambitions was but the fling of a smarting jealousy, but it is quite true +that he felt he knew what was best for the country, and would have liked +to regulate its affairs without further hindrance. + +His house, beyond the dip of Wall Street and within sight of the bay, +was of red brick, and as unbeautiful architecturally as other New York +houses which had risen at random from the ruins. But within, it was very +charming. The long drawing-room was furnished with mahogany, and +rose-coloured brocade, with spindle-legged tables and many bibelots sent +by Angelica Church, now living in London. The library was filling with +valuable books, and the panelled whiteness of the dining room glittered +with silver and glass, which in quantity or value was not exceeded in +the home of any young couple in America; the world had outdone itself at +the most interesting wedding of the Revolution. Betsey's sitting room +was behind the drawing-room, and there Hamilton found her counting the +moments until his return. She had lost nothing of her slimness, and +except on dress occasions wore her mass of soft black hair twisted in a +loose knot and unpowdered. She looked younger and prettier than with +powder or wig, and Hamilton begged her to defy the fashion; but yielding +in all else, on this point she was inflexible. "I am wiser than you in +just a few things," she would say, playfully, for she firmly believed +him infallible; "my position would suffer, were I thought eccentric. You +cannot stand in rank without a uniform. I shall not yield to Sarah Jay +nor even Kitty Duer. I am a little Republican, sir, and know my rights. +And I know how to keep them." + +To-day, after her usual prolonged and unmitigated greeting, she +remarked: "Speaking of eccentric people, I met to-day, at Lady +Sterling's, that curious person, Mrs. Croix, or Miss Capet, as some will +call her. Her hair was built up quite a foot and unpowdered. On top of +it was an immense black hat with plumes, and her velvet gown was at +least three yards on the floor. She certainly is the handsomest creature +in town, but, considering all the gossip, I think it odd Lady Sterling +should take her up, and I believe that Kitty is quite annoyed. But Lady +Sterling is so good-natured, and I am told that Dr. Franklin went +personally and asked her to give this lady countenance. He calls her his +Fairy Queen, and to-day saluted her on the lips before all of us. Poor +dear Dr. Franklin is by now quite in the class with Caesar's wife, but +still I think his conduct rather remarkable." + +"Who is this woman?" asked Hamilton, indifferently. + +"Well!" exclaimed his wife, with a certain satisfaction, "you _are +busy_. She has been the talk of the town for quite three months, +although she never went _anywhere_ before to-day." + +"I hear all my gossip from you," said Hamilton, smiling from the hearth +rug, "and considering the labours of the past three months--but tell me +about her. I believe I love you best when gossiping. Your effort to be +caustic is the sweetest thing in the world." + +She threw a ball of wool at him, which he caught and pulled apart, then +showered on her head. It was yellow wool, and vastly becoming on her +black hair. "You must have a yellow hat at once, with plumes," he said, +"but go on." + +"You shall wind that this evening, sir. Well, she came here about three +months ago with Captain Croix of the British army, and rumour hath it +that he left a wife in England, and that this lady's right to the royal +name of Capet is still unchallenged. The story goes that she was born +about eighteen years ago, on a French frigate bound for the West Indies, +that her mother died, and that, there being no one else of that royal +name on board, the Captain adopted her; but that a baby and a ship being +more than he could manage, he presented the baby to a humble friend at +Newport, by the name of Thompson, who brought her up virtuously, but +without eradicating the spirit of the age, and one fine day she +disappeared with Colonel Croix, and after a honeymoon which may have +been spent in the neighbourhood of any church between here and Rhode +Island, or of none, they arrived in New York, and took the finest +lodgings in town. I suppose Dr. Franklin was a friend of her humble +guardian, he is so philanthropic, and that he is willing to take my +lady's word that all is well--and perhaps it is. I feel myself quite +vicious in repeating the vaguest sort of gossip--active, though. Who +knows, if she had worn a wig, or an inch of powder, and employed the +accepted architect for her tower, she would have passed without +question? Another pillar for my argument, sir." + +"As it is, you are even willing to believe that she is a daughter of the +house of France," said Hamilton, with a hearty laugh. "Would that the +world were as easily persuaded of what is good for it as of what tickles +its pettiness. Shall you ask this daughter of the Capets to the house?" + +"I have not made up my mind," said Mrs. Hamilton, demurely. + +The two older children, Philip and Angelica, came tumbling into the +room, and Hamilton romped with them for a half-hour, then flung them +upon their mother, and watched them from the hearth rug. Betsey was +lovely with her children, who were beautiful little creatures, and +Hamilton was always arranging them in groups. The boy and girl pulled +down her hair with the yellow wool, until all her diminutive figure and +all her face, but its roguish black eyes, were extinguished; and +Hamilton forgot the country. + +Elizabeth Schuyler was a cleverer woman than her meed of credit has led +the world to believe. She understood Hamilton very well even then, +although, as his faults but added to his fascination in the eyes of +those that loved him, the knowledge did not detract from her happiness. +In many ways she made herself necessary to him; at that time she even +kept his papers in order. He talked to her freely on every subject that +interested him, from human nature to finance, taxes, and the law, and +she never permitted a yawn to threaten. He read aloud to her every line +he wrote, and while she would not have presumed to suggest, her sympathy +was one of his imperative needs. When his erratic fancy flashed him into +seductive meshes, she pulled a string and back he came. Perhaps this is +the reason why no specific account of his numerous alleged amours have +come down to us. He is vaguely accused of being the Lothario of his +time, irresistible and indefatigable; but of all famous men whose names +are enlivened with anecdotes of gallantry in the vast bulk of the +world's unwritten history, he alone is the hero of much mysterious +affirmation but of no particular romance. The Reynolds affair is open +history and not a case in point. It is probable that, owing to inherent +fickleness and Betsey's gentle manipulation, his affairs rarely lasted +long enough to attract attention. It is one of the accidents of life +that the world barely knew of his acquaintance with Eliza Croix, she who +has come down to us as Madame Jumel; and such a thing could not happen +twice. But whether or not he possessed in all their perfection the +proclivities of so great and impetuous and passionate a genius, it is +certain that he loved his wife devotedly, and above all other women, so +long as his being held together. His home was always his Mecca, and he +left it only when public duty compelled his presence in exile. + + +III + +In February he went to the Assembly to fight Clinton's opposition to the +harassing need of conferring a permanent revenue upon Congress. He had +already written a memorial, distributed over the State, setting forth +the dangerous position of the country. But Clinton was lord of the +masses, and their representatives in the Legislature had been trained to +think as he thought. They honoured him because he had made New York the +greatest State in the Union, not yet realizing that he had brought her +into disrepute at home and abroad, and that his selfish policy was now +hastening her to her ruin. To increase the power of Congress was to +encourage the spirit of Nationalism, and that meant the sure decline of +the States and of himself. The fight was hot and bitter. Clinton won; +but the thinking men present took Hamilton's words home and pondered +upon them, and in time they bore fruit. + +After many delays the Convention was summoned to meet at Philadelphia on +the 14th of May. History calls it the Constitutional Convention, but its +promoters were careful to give the States-right people no such guide to +contravention. The violent oppositionists of all change slumbered +peacefully, while the representatives of the more enlightened were +appointed to the Convention under moderately worded and somewhat vague +resolutions; and some of them went as vaguely. Congress, after a +characteristic and selfish hesitation, and a thorough fright induced by +the Massachusetts rebellion, was finally persuaded to give her official +sanction to the proposed Convention. Hamilton secured his appointment as +a delegate,--after a hard fight to have New York represented at +all,--and found himself saddled with two Clintonians, Robert Yates and +John Lansing, Jr. But the first great step for which he had struggled, +since his Morristown letter to the Financier of the Revolution seven +years before, was assured at last. + +Shortly before the Convention opened, Gouverneur Morris and James +Madison, Jr. met by appointment at Hamilton's house to discuss the plan +of campaign and make sure of their leader's wishes. General Schuyler +and Robert Troup were also present. + +Morris was a delegate from Pennsylvania, but was about to return to New +York, having bought the family estate at Morrisania from his brother, +Staats Long Morris, and was involved in business enterprises which +resulted in a large fortune. He awaited the settlement of the country's +affairs before sailing for Europe in his private interests. Troup, now a +successful lawyer at the New York bar, was an able politician and +devoted to Hamilton's interests. Philip Schuyler was entirely in his +son-in-law's confidence, working for and with him always, occupying the +double position of adviser and follower. Madison, who had forced the +Convention at Annapolis, had had his breath taken away by Hamilton's +coup, but now was delighted that he had been the instrument which made +it possible. He had composed his somewhat halting mind to the +determination to concentrate his energies upon wringing from the +Convention a national scheme of government after Hamilton's model, +provided that model were not too extreme: he was no monarchist, and knew +the people very thoroughly. But he was deeply anxious to have Hamilton's +views and plans for his guidance, even if modification were necessary. +He knew Hamilton's complete mastery of the science of government, and +that his broad structure was bound to be right, no matter what its +frills. + +The company assembled in the library, whose open windows overhung a +garden full of lilacs, dogwood, and maples. There was a long table in +the room, about which the guests mechanically seated themselves, so +accustomed were they to the council table. Hamilton had greeted them in +the hall, and sent them on to the library, while he went to fetch some +papers his wife had promised to copy for him. + +"So this is the room in which the government of the United States is to +be born," said Troup, glancing about at the familiar books and at the +desk stuffed with papers. "I shall always smell lilacs in the new +Constitution." + +"If we get one," observed Morris. "'Conceive' would be a better word +than 'born,' Twelve states,--for my part I am glad the refusal of Rhode +Island to send delegates makes one less,--each wanting its own way, and +the North inevitably pitted against the South: I confess that +'still-born' strikes me as a better word than any." + +"We'll have a Constitution," said Madison, doggedly, "I've made up my +mind to that. There are a sufficient number of able and public-spirited +men on their way to Philadelphia to agree upon a wise scheme of +government and force it through--besides Hamilton and ourselves there +are Washington, Governor Randolph, William Livingston, Rufus King, Roger +Sherman, Dr. Franklin, James Wilson, George Wythe, the Pinckneys, Hugh +Williamson--to mention but a few." + +"They are not a bad lot," admitted Morris, "if they had all seen more of +the world and less of their native or adopted State--all this State +patriotism makes me sick. Half were not born in the State they +vociferate about, are not certain of ending their days in it, nor of +which their children may adopt as intemperately." + +"Travel is not the only cure for provincialism," said General Schuyler. +"Dr. Franklin, I happen to know, is bent upon a form of government +little firmer than the one now existing; and Hamilton, whose travels are +limited to campaigning in the different States, has a comprehensive +grasp of European political machinery, and the breadth of vision such +knowledge involves, which could gain nothing by personal contact." + +"Dr. Franklin was too long a mendicant at foreign courts not to be +besottedly in love with their antithesis, and Hamilton has a brain power +and an intellectual grasp which quite remove him from the odiums of +comparison," said Morris. "I think myself he is fortunate in never +having visited Europe, deeply as he may regret it; for with his faculty +of divination he goes straight for what is best only--or most essential. +Had he lived there, the details and disappointments might have blocked +his vision and upset the fine balance of his mind. There she is!" + +He was at the window as quickly as he could have flung a book to the +lilacs, despite his wooden leg; and he was followed by Troup and +General Schuyler, demanding "Who?" + +"Mrs. Croix--there. Did anything so lovely ever dawn upon a distracted +American's vision? 'Tis said she is an unregistered daughter of the +house of Capet, and I vow she looks every inch a princess. I stared at +her so long last night in Vauxhall that she was embarrassed; and I never +saw such poise, such royal command of homage. How has she developed it +at the age of eighteen? I half believe this tale of royal birth; +although there are those who assert that she is nothing less than the +daughter of our highest in honour." + +"'Tis said that she had an opportunity to acquire her aplomb in the +village of Rutland, Massachusetts, where for some years she enlivened +the exile and soothed the domestic yearnings of many British officers," +said Troup. "One told me that he would vow she was none other than the +famous vagrant 'Betsey.'" + +"But I am told that she comes of a respectable Rhode Island family named +Bowen," observed General Schuyler, who was not romantic. "That she was +wayward and ran off with Colonel Croix, of whose other wife there is no +proof, but that none of these fancy stories are true." + +"Then wherein lies her claim to the name of Capet?" demanded Morris. +"'Twould be nothing remarkable were she a daughter of Louis V., and I'm +told she signs her name Eliza Capet Croix." + +"I don't know," said Schuyler, meekly. "'Tis easy enough to assume a +name, if you have it not. I am told that Lady Sterling is assured of her +respectability. She certainly shines upon us like a star at this moment. +I did not know that women had such hair." + +"Is this what we came here to discuss?" asked a voice, dropped to the +register of profound contempt. They turned about with a laugh and faced +Madison's ascetic countenance, pale with disgust. "We have the most +important work to do for which men ever met together, and we stand at +the window and talk scandal about a silly woman and her hair." + +"You did not, my dear James," said Morris, lightly; "and thereby you +have missed the truly divine stimulus for the day's work. Don't you +realize, my friend, that no matter how hard a man may labour, some woman +is always in the background of his mind? She is the one reward of +virtue." + +"I know nothing of the sort," replied Madison, contemptuously. "I can +flatter myself that I at least am independent of what appears to men +like you to be the only motive for living." + +"Right, my boy, but great as you are, you don't know what you might have +been." + +The door opened, and Hamilton entered the room, his hands full of +papers, his face as gay and eager as if he were about to read to his +audience a poem or a lively tale. Perhaps one secret of his ascendency +over those who knew him best was that he never appeared to take himself +seriously, even when his whole being radiated power and imperious +determination. When he descended to the depths of seriousness and his +individuality was most overwhelming, his unsleeping sense of humour +saved him from a hint of the demagogue. + +"While my wife was finishing, I heard you gossiping from the window +above," he said, "but I had by far the best view. The lilac bushes--" + +"Do you know her?" asked Morris, eagerly. + +"Alas, I do not. It is incalculable months since I have had time to look +so long at a woman. What is the matter, Madison?" + +"I am nauseated. I had thought that _you_--" + +Here even General Schuyler laughed, and Hamilton hurriedly arranged his +papers. + +He sat down when he began to talk, but was quickly on his feet and +shaking his papers over the table. To him, also, the council table was +the most familiar article of furniture in his world, but he was usually +addressing those it stood for, and he was too ardent a speaker, even +when without the incentive of debate, to keep to his chair. + +"I know what you are wondering," he said. "No, it is not the British +Constitution. What I have done so distempered as to impress people with +the belief that I am blind to the spirit of this country, I am at a loss +to conjecture. The British Constitution is the best form which the world +has yet produced; in the words of Necker, it is the only government +'which unites public strength with individual security,' Nevertheless, +no one is more fully convinced than I that none but a republican +government can be attempted in this country, or would be adapted to our +situation. Therefore, I propose to look to the British Constitution for +nothing but those elements of stability and permanency which a +republican system requires, and which may be incorporated into it +without changing its characteristic principles. There never has been, +and there never will be, anything in my acts or principles inconsistent +with the spirit of republican liberty. Whatever my private +predilections, it would be impossible for me, understanding the people +of this country as I do, to fail to recognize the authority of that +people as the source of all political power. Therefore you will find +many departures from the British Constitution in the rough draft I am +about to read. I have neither the patience nor the temper to dogmatize +upon abstract theories of liberty, and our success will lie in adapting +to our particular needs such principles of government as have been tried +and not found wanting, our failure in visionary experiments. The best +and wisest effort we can make will be a sufficient experiment, for whose +result we must all tremble. + +"It is going to be difficult to persuade this Convention to unite upon +any constitution very much stronger than the one Dr. Franklin will +propose, or to accomplish its ratification afterward. Nevertheless, I +have prepared a draft of the strongest constitution short of monarchy +which it is possible to conceive, and which I shall propose to the +Convention for reasons I will explain after I have read it to you. Do +you care to listen?" + +"Hurry up!" exclaimed Morris. The audience leaned forward. Madison shook +his head all through the reading; Morris jerked his with emphatic +approval. + +The radical points in which Hamilton's constitution differed from that +under which we live, was in the demand for a President, to be elected by +property holders, and who should hold office during good behaviour; +senators possessing certain property qualifications and elected on the +same principle; and governors of States appointed and removable by the +President. Practically the author of the dual government, he believed +emphatically in subserving the lesser to the greater, although endowing +the States with sufficient power for self-protection. The Executive was +to be held personally responsible for official misconduct, both he and +the senators subject to impeachment and to removal from office. The +whole scheme was wrought out with the mathematical complexity and +precision characteristic of Hamilton's mind. + +"Would that it were possible," exclaimed Morris, when Hamilton had +finished. "But as well expect the Almighty to drive the quill. You will +weaken your influence, Hamilton, and to no effect." + +"Ah, but I have calculated upon two distinct points, and I believe I +shall achieve them. I have not the most distant hope that this paper +will be acceptable to five men in the Convention,--three, perhaps, would +round the number,--Washington, yourself, myself. Nevertheless, I shall +introduce it and speak in its favour with all the passion of which I am +master, for these reasons: I believe in it; its energy is bound to give +a tone that might be lacking otherwise; and--this is the principal +point--_there must be something to work back from_. If I alarm with the +mere chance of so perilous a menace to their democratic ideals, they +will go to work in earnest at _something_ in order to defeat me, and +they will not go back so far in the line of vigour as if I had suggested +a more moderate plan; for, mark my words, they would infallibly incline +to weaker measures than _any_ firm government which should first be +proposed. In the management of men one of the most important things to +bear in mind is their proneness to work forward from the weak, and +backward from the strong. On the quality of the strength depends its +magnetism over the weak. All reformers are ridiculed or outlawed, and +their measures are never wholly successful; but they awaken men's minds +to something of approximate worth, and to a desire for a divorce from +the old order of things. So, while I expect to be called a monarchist, I +hope to instil subtly the idea of the absolute necessity of a strong +government, and implant in their minds a distrust of one too weak." + +"Good," said Morris. "And it is always a delight to see your revelation +of yourself in a new light. I perceive that to your other +accomplishments you add the cunning of the fox." + +"You are right to call it an accomplishment," retorted Hamilton. "We +cannot go through life successfully with the bare gifts of the Almighty, +generous though He may have been. If I find that I have need of cunning, +or brutality,--than which nothing is farther from my nature,--or even +nagging, I do not hesitate to borrow and use them." + +"Let us call this sagacity," said Troup. "'Tis a prettier word. Or the +canniness of the Scot. But there is one thing I fear," he added +anxiously. "You may injure your chances of future preferment. Your +ambition will be thought too vaulting, particularly for so young a man, +and, besides, you may be thought a menace to the commonwealth." + +"That is a point to be considered, Hamilton," said General Schuyler. + +"I have an end to gain, sir, and I mean to gain it. Moreover, this is no +time to be considering private interests. If this be not the day for +patriotism to stifle every personal ambition, then there is little hope +for human nature. I believe the result of this paper will be a +constitution of respectable strength, and I shall use all the influence +I wield to make the people accept it. So, if you worry, consider if the +later effort will not outweigh the first." + +"Hamilton," said Madison, solemnly, "you are a greater man even than I +thought you. You have given me a most welcome hint, and I shall take +upon myself to engineer the recession from your constitution. I shall +study its effect with the closest attention and be guided accordingly, I +am heart and soul in this matter, and would give my life to it if +necessary. I never should have thought of anything so astute," he added, +with some envy, "but perhaps if I had, no one else would be so +peculiarly fitted as myself to work upon its manifold suggestions. I +hope I do not strike you as conceited," he said, looking around +anxiously, "but I _feel_ that it is in me to render efficient service in +the present crisis." + +Before Morris could launch his ready fling, Hamilton hastened to assure +Madison of his belief that no man living could render services so great. +He underrated neither Madison's great abilities nor the danger of +rankling arrows in that sensitive and not too courageous spirit. They +then discussed a general plan of campaign and the best methods of +managing certain members of the Convention. Morris was the first to +rise. + +"Adieu," he said. "I go to ruminate upon our Captain's diplomacy, and to +pursue the ankle of Mrs. Croix. Be sure that the one will not interfere +with the other, but will mutually stimulate." + +The other gentlemen adjourned to the dining room. + + +IV + +The story of the Convention has been told so often that only the merest +outline is necessary here; those who have not before this read at least +one of the numberless reports, would be the last to wish its +multigenerous details. To the students of history there is nothing new +to tell, as may be the case with less exploited incidents of Hamilton's +career. Someone has said that it was an assemblage of hostile camps, and +it certainly was the scene of intense and bitter struggles, of a +heterogeneous mass blindly striving to cohere, whilst a thousand +sectional interests tugged at the more familiar of the dual ideal; of +compromise after compromise; of a fear pervading at least one-half that +the liberties of republicanism were menaced by every energetic +suggestion; of the soundest judgement and patriotism compelled to +truckle to meaner sentiments lest they get nothing; of the picked men of +the Confederacy, honourable, loyal, able, and enlightened, animated in +the first and last instance by a pure and common desire for the highest +welfare of the country, driven to war upon one another by the strength +of their conflicting opinions; ending--among the thirty-nine out of the +sixty-one delegates who signed the Constitution--in a feeling as closely +resembling general satisfaction as individual disappointments would +permit. + +At first so turbulent were the conditions, that Franklin, who troubled +the Almighty but little himself, arose and suggested that the meetings +be opened with prayer. After this sarcasm, and the submission of his +mild compromise with the Confederation, he sat and watched the painted +sun behind Washington's chair, pensively wondering if the artist had +intended to convey the idea of a rise or a setting. Hamilton presented +his draft at the right moment, and the startled impression it made quite +satisfied him, particularly as his long speech to the Committee of the +Whole was received with the closest attention. Nothing could alter his +personal fascination, and even his bitterest enemies rarely left their +chairs while he spoke. The small figure, so full of dignity and +magnetizing power that it excluded every other object from their vision, +the massive head with a piercing force in every line of its features, +the dark eyes blazing and flashing with a fire that never had been seen +in the eyes of a mere mortal before, the graceful rapid gestures, and +the passionate eloquence which never in its most apparently abandoned +moments failed to be sincere and logical, made him for the hour the +glory of friend and enemy alike, although the reaction was +correspondingly bitter. Upon this occasion he spoke for six hours +without the interruption of a scraping heel; and what the Convention did +not know about the science of government before he finished with them, +they never would learn elsewhere. Although he made but this one speech, +he talked constantly to the groups surrounding him wherever he moved. To +his original scheme he had too much tact to make further allusion; but +his general opinions, ardently propounded, his emphatic reiteration of +the demoralized country's need for a national government, and of the +tyrannies inherent in unbridled democracies, wedged in many a chink. +Nevertheless, he was disgusted and disheartened when he left for New +York, at the end of May. The Convention was chaos, but he could +accomplish nothing more than what he hoped he might have done; the +matter was now best in the hands of Madison and Gouverneur Morris, and +his practice could no longer be neglected. + +But although he returned to a mass of work,--for he handled most of the +great cases of the time,--he managed to mingle daily with the crowd at +Fraunces' and the coffee-houses, in order to gauge the public sentiment +regarding the proposed change of government, and to see the leading men +constantly. On the whole, he wrote to Washington, he found that both in +the Jerseys and in New York there was "an astonishing revolution for the +better in the minds of the people." + +Washington replied from the depths of his disgust:-- + + ... In a word I almost despair of seeing a favourable issue to the + proceedings of the Convention, and do, therefore, repent having any + agency in the business. The men who oppose a strong and energetic + government are, in my opinion, narrow-minded politicians, or are + under the influence of local views. The apprehension expressed by + them that the _people_ will not accede to the form proposed, is the + _ostensible_, not the real cause of the opposition; but admitting + that _present_ sentiment is as they prognosticate, the question + ought nevertheless to be, is it, or is it not, the best form? If + the former, recommend it, and it will assuredly obtain, maugre + opposition. I am sorry you went away; I wish you were back. + +To Washington, who presided over that difficult assemblage with a +superhuman dignity, to Hamilton who breathed his strong soul into it, to +Madison who manipulated it, to Gouverneur Morris, whose sarcastic +eloquent tongue brought it to reason again and again, and whose +accomplished pen gave the Constitution its literary form, belong the +highest honours of the Convention; although the services rendered by +Roger Sherman, Rufus King, James Wilson, R.R. Livingston, and Charles +Cotesworth Pinckney entitle them to far more than polite mention. + +When Hamilton signed the Constitution, on the 17th of September, it was +by no means strong enough to suit him, but as it was incomparably better +than the Articles of Confederation, which had carried the country to the +edge of anarchy and ruin, and was regarded by a formidable number of +people and their leaders as so strong as to be a menace to the liberties +of the American citizen, he could with consistency and ardour exert +himself to secure its ratification. After all, it was built of his +stones, chipped and pared though they might be; had he not gone to the +Convention, the result might have been a constitution for which his pen +would have refused to plead. + +Manhattan Island, Kings and Westchester counties had long since accepted +his doctrines, and they stood behind him in unbroken ranks; but the +northern counties and cities of New York, including Albany, were still +under the autocratic sway of Clinton. Hamilton's colleagues, Yates and +Lansing, had resigned their seats in the Great Convention. Among the +signatures to the Constitution his name stood alone for New York, and +the fact was ominous of his lonely and precarious position. But +difficulties were ever his stimulant, and this was not the hour to find +him lacking in resource. + +"The Constitution terrifies by its length, complexity, frigidity, and +above all by its novelty," he said to Jay and Madison, who met by +appointment in his library. "Clinton, in this State, has persuaded his +followers that it is so many iron hoops, in which they would groan and +struggle for the rest of their lives. To defeat him and this pernicious +idea, we must discuss the Constitution publicly, in the most lucid and +entertaining manner possible, lay every fear, and so familiarize the +people with its merits, and with the inseparable relation of its +adoption to their personal interests, that by the time the elections for +the State Convention take place, they will be sufficiently educated to +give us the majority. And as there is so much doubt, even among members +of the Convention, as to the mode of enacting the Constitution, we must +solve that problem as quickly as possible. My purpose is to publish a +series of essays in the newspapers, signed, if you agree with me, +Publius, and reaching eighty or ninety in number, which shall expound +and popularize the Constitution of the United States; and if you will +give me your inestimable help, I am sure we shall accomplish our +purpose." + +"If you need my help, I will give it to you to the best of my ability, +sir," said Jay, "but I do not pretend to compete with your absolute +mastery of the complex science of government, and I fear that my weaker +pen may somewhat counteract the vigour of yours; but, I repeat, I will +do my best with the time at my disposal." + +Hamilton laughed, "You know how anxious I am to injure our chances of +success," he said. "I hope all things from your pen." + +Jay bowed formally, and Hamilton turned to Madison. "I know you must +feel that you have done your share for the present," he said, "and there +is hard work awaiting you in your State Convention, but the subject is +at your finger tips; it hardly can be too much trouble." + +"I am not very well," said Madison, peevishly, "but I realize the +necessity,--and that the papers should be read as extensively in +Virginia as here. I will write a few, and more if I can." + +But, as it came to pass, Madison wrote but fourteen separate papers of +the eighty-five, although he collaborated with Hamilton on three others, +and Jay wrote five only. The remaining sixty-three, therefore, of the +essays, collected during and after their publication under the title of +"The Federalist," which not only did so much to enlighten and educate +the public mind and weaken the influence of such men as Clinton, but +which still stand as the ablest exposition of the science of government, +and as the parent of American constitutional law, were the work of +Hamilton. + +"It is the fortunate situation of our country," said Hamilton, a few +months later, at Poughkeepsie, "that the minds of the people are +exceedingly enlightened and refined." Certainly these papers are a great +tribute to the general intelligence of the American race of a century +and more ago. Selfish, petty, and lacking in political knowledge they +may have been, but it is evident that their mental _tone_ was high, that +their minds had not been vulgarized by trash and sensationalism. +Hamilton's sole bait was a lucid and engaging style, which would not +puzzle the commonest intelligence, which he hoped might instruct without +weighing heavily on the capacity of his humbler readers. That he was +addressing the general voter, as well as the men of a higher grade as +yet unconvinced, there can be no doubt, for as New York State was still +seven-tenths Clintonian, conversion of a large portion of this scowling +element was essential to the ratification of the Constitution. And yet +he chose two men of austere and unimaginative style to collaborate with +him; while his own style for purity, distinction, and profundity +combined with simplicity, has never been excelled. + +Betsey was ailing, and her doors closed to society; the children romped +on the third floor or on the Battery. Hamilton wrote chiefly at night, +his practice occupying the best of the hours of day, but he was sensible +of the calm of his home and of its incentive to literary composition; it +never occurred to him to open his office in the evening. Betsey, the +while she knitted socks, listened patiently to her brilliant husband's +luminous discussions on the new Constitution--which she could have +recited backward--and his profound interpretation of its principles and +provisions. If she worried over these continuous labours she made no +sign, for Hamilton was racing Clinton, and there was not a moment to +lose. Clinton won in the first heat. After a desperate struggle in the +State Legislature the Hamiltonians succeeded in passing resolutions +ordering a State Convention to be elected for the purpose of considering +the Constitution; but the result in April proved the unabated power and +industry of Clinton,--the first, and not the meanest of New York's +political "bosses,"--for two-thirds of the men selected were his +followers. The Convention was called for the 17th of June and it was +rumoured that the Clintonians intended immediately to move an +adjournment until the following year. According to an act of Congress +the ratification of only nine States was necessary to the adoption of +the Constitution. The others could come into the Union later if they +chose, and there was a disposition in several States to watch the +experiment before committing themselves. Hamilton, who knew that such a +policy, if pursued by the more important States, would result in civil +war, was determined that New York should not behave in a manner which +would ruin her in the present and disgrace her in history, and wrote on +with increasing vigour, hoping to influence the minds of the +oppositionists elected to the Convention as well as the people at large. +Even he had never written anything which had attracted so wide admiring +and acrimonious attention. The papers were read in all the cities of the +Confederation, and in such hamlets as boasted a mail-bag. When they +reached England and France they were almost as keenly discussed. That +they steadily made converts, Hamilton had cause to know, for his +correspondence was overwhelming. Troup and General Schuyler attended to +the greater part of it; but only himself could answer the frequent +letters from leaders in the different states demanding advice. He +thought himself fortunate in segregating five hours of the twenty-four +for sleep. The excitement throughout the country was intense, and it is +safe to say that nowhere and for months did conversation wander from the +subject of politics and the new Constitution, for more than ten minutes +at a time. In New York Hamilton was the subject of constant and vicious +attack, the Clintonians sparing no effort to discredit him with the +masses. New York City was nicknamed Hamiltonopolis and jingled in +scurrilous rhymes. In the midst of it all were two diversions: the +fourth of his children, and a letter which he discovered before General +Schuyler or Troup had sorted his mail. As the entire Schuyler family +were now in his house, and his new son was piercingly discontented with +his lot, he took refuge in his chambers in Garden Street, until Betsey +was able to restore peace and happiness to his home. The postman had +orders to bring his mail-bag thither, and it was on the second morning +of his exile that the perfume of violets caused him to make a hasty +journey through the letters. + +He found the spring sweetness coincidentally with a large square, +flowingly superscribed. He glanced at the clock. His devoted assistants +would not arrive for half an hour. He broke the seal. It was signed +Eliza Capet Croix, and ran as follows:-- + + MY DEAR SIR: Do you care anything for the opinion of my humble sex, + I wonder? The humblest of your wondering admirers is driven beyond + the bounds of feminine modesty, sir, to tell you that what you do + not write she no longer cares to read. I was the first to detect--I + claim that honour--such letters by Publius as were not by your + hand, and while I would not disparage efforts so conscientious, + they seem to me like dawn to sunrise. Is this idle flattery? Ah, + sir! I too am greatly flattered. I do not want for admirers. Nor + can I hope to know--to know--so great and busy a man. But my + restless vanity, sir, compels me to force myself upon your notice. + I should die if I passed another day unknown to the man who gives + me the greatest pleasures of my life--I have every line you have + had printed that can be found, and half the booksellers in the + country searching for the lost copies of the _Continentalist_--I + should die, I say, if you were longer ignorant that I have the + intelligence, the ambition, and the erudition to admire you above + all men, living or dead. For that is my pride, sir. Perchance I was + born for politics; at all events you have made them my passion, and + I spend my days converting Clintonians to your cause. Do not scorn + my efforts. It is not every day that a woman turns a man's thoughts + from love to patriotism; I have heard that 'tis oftenest the other + way. But I take your time, and hasten to subscribe myself, my dear + sir, + + Your humble and obd't servant + + ELIZA CAPET CROIX. + +The absence of superfluous capitals and of underscoring in this letter, +alone would have arrested his attention, for even men of a less severe +education than himself were liberal in these resources, and women were +prodigal. The directness and precision were also remarkable, and he +recalled that she was but nineteen. The flattery touched him, no doubt, +for he was very human; and despite the brevity of his leisure, he read +the note twice, and devoted a moment to conjecture. + +"She is cleverer, even, than Lady Kitty, or Susan and Kitty Livingston, +by this," he mused. "She would be worth knowing, did a driven mortal but +have the time to idle in the wake of so much intelligence--and beauty. +Not to answer this were unpardonable--I cannot allow the lady to die." +He wrote her a brief note of graceful acknowledgement, which caused Mrs. +Croix to shed tears of exultation and vexation. He acknowledged her but +breathed no fervid desire for another letter. It is not to be expected +that maturest nineteen can realize that, although a busy man will find +time to see a woman if it be worth his while, the temptations to a +romantic correspondence are not overwhelming. + +Hamilton tore up the letter and threw it into the waste basket. Its +perfume, delicate but imperious, intruded upon his brief. He dived into +the basket as he heard Troup's familiar whistle, and thrust the pieces +into a breast pocket. In a moment he remembered that Betsey's head would +be pillowed upon that pocket at five in the afternoon, and he hastily +extracted the mutilated letter, and applied a match to it, consigning +women to perdition. Troup sniffed as he entered the room. + +"Violets and burnt paper," remarked he. "'Tis a combination I have +noticed before. I wonder will some astute perfumer ever seize the idea? +It would have its guilty appeal for our sex--perchance for t'other; +though I'm no cynic like you and Morris." + +"Shut up," said Hamilton, "and get to work if you love me, for I've no +time to write to St. Croix, much less waste five seconds on any woman." + +That afternoon he wasted half an hour in search of a bunch of redolent +violets to carry home to his wife. He pinned three on his coat. + + +V + +When the 17th of June approached, Hamilton, John Jay, Chancellor +Livingston, and James Duane, started on horse for Poughkeepsie, not +daring, with Clinton on the spot, and the menace of an immediate +adjournment, to trust to the winds of the Hudson. General Schuyler had +promised to leave even a day sooner from the North, and the majority of +Federal delegates had gone by packet-boat, or horse, in good season. + +The old post road between New York and Albany was, for the greater part +of the way, but a rough belt through a virgin forest. Occasionally a +farmer had cleared a few acres, the lawns of a manor house were open to +the sun, the road was varied by the majesty of Hudson and palisade for a +brief while, or by the precipitous walls of mountains, so thickly wooded +that even the wind barely fluttered their sombre depths. Man was a +moving arsenal in those long and lonely journeys, for the bear and the +panther were breeding undisturbed. But the month was hot, and those +forest depths were very cool; the scenery was often as magnificent as +primeval, and a generous hospitality at many a board dispelled, for an +interval, the political anxiety of Hamilton and his companions. + +Hamilton, despite a mind trained to the subordination of private +interests to public duty, knew that it was the crisis of his own destiny +toward which he was hastening. He had bound up his personal ambitions +with the principles of the Federalist party--so called since the +publication in book form of the Publius essays; for not only was he +largely responsible for those principles, but his mind was too well +regulated to consider the alternative of a compromise with a possibly +victorious party which he detested. Perhaps his ambition was too +vaulting to adapt itself to a restricted field when his imagination had +played for years with the big ninepins of history; at all events, it was +inseparably bound up with nationalism in the boldest sense achievable, +and with methods which days and nights of severe thought had convinced +him were for the greatest good of the American people. Union meant +Washington in the supreme command, himself with the reins of government +in both hands. The financial, the foreign, the domestic policy of a +harmonious federation were as familiar to his mind as they are to us +to-day. Only he could achieve them, and only New York could give him +those reins of power. + +It is true that he had but to move his furniture over to Philadelphia to +be welcomed to citizenship with acclamation by that ambitious town; but +not only was his pride bound up in the conquest of New York from +Clintonism to Federalism, but New York left out of the Union, dividing +as she did New England from the South and North, of the highest +commercial importance by virtue of her central position and her harbour, +meant civil war at no remote period, disunion, and the undoing of the +most careful and strenuous labours of the nation's statesmen. That New +York should be forced into the Union at once Hamilton was determined +upon, if he had to resort to a coup which might or might not meet with +the approval of the rest of the country. Nevertheless, he looked forward +to the next few weeks with the deepest anxiety. An accident, an illness, +and the cause was lost, for he made no mistake in estimating himself as +the sole force which could bear Clinton and his magnificent organization +to the ground. Hamilton was no party manipulator. He relied upon his +individual exertions, abetted by those of his lieutenants,--the most +high-minded and the ablest men in the country,--to force his ideas upon +the masses by their own momentum and weight. Indeed, so individual did +he make the management of the Federalist party, that years later, when +the "Republican" leaders determined upon its overthrow, they aimed all +their artillery at him alone: if he fell the party must collapse, on top +of him; did he retain the confidence of the people, he would magnetize +their obedience, no matter what rifts there might be in his ranks. + +He had established a horse-express between Virginia and Poughkeepsie, +and between New Hampshire and the little capital. Eight States having +ratified, the signature of New Hampshire, the next in order, would mean +union and a trial of the Constitution, a prospect which could not fail +to influence the thinking men of the anti-Federal party; but it was from +the ratification of Virginia that he hoped the greatest good. This State +occupied much the same position in the South that New York did in the +North, geographically, commercially, historically, and in the +importance of her public men. And she was as bitterly opposed to union, +to what a narrow provincialism held to be the humiliation of the States. +Patrick Henry, her most powerful and eloquent leader, not through the +selfish policy of a Clinton, but in the limitations of a too narrow +genius, was haranguing with all his recuperated might against the +sinister menace to the liberties of a people who had freed themselves of +one despotism so dearly; and even Randolph, with characteristic +hesitancy when approaching a point, was deficient in enthusiasm, +although he intimated that he should vote for the unconditional adoption +of the Constitution he had refused to sign. He and Marshall were +Madison's only assistants of importance against the formidable opponent +of union, and it was well understood among leaders that Jefferson, who +was then American minister in France, gave the Constitution but a +grudging and inconsistent approval, and would prefer that it failed, +were not amendments tacked on which practically would nullify its +energies. But although Hamilton had such lieutenants as John Jay, Philip +Schuyler, Duane, and Robert Livingston, Madison had the inestimable, +though silent, backing of Washington. The great Chief had, months since, +forcibly expressed his sentiments in a public letter; and that colossal +figure, the more potent that it was invisible and mute, guided as many +wills as Madison's strenuous exertions and unanswerable dispassionate +logic. + +But Washington, although sufficiently revered by New Yorkers, was not +their very own, as was he the Virginians'; was by no means so impinging +and insistent as his excellency, Governor Clinton, he whose powerful +will and personality, aided by an enterprise and wisdom that were not +always misguided, for eleven years had compelled their grateful +submission. It was difficult to convince New Yorkers that such a man was +wholly wrong in his patriotism, particularly when their own interests +seemed bound so firmly to his. It was this dominant, dauntless, +resourceful, political nabob that Hamilton knew he must conquer +single-handed, if he conquered him at all; for his lieutenants, able as +they were, could only second and abet him; they had none of his +fertility of resource. As he rode through the forest he rehearsed every +scheme of counterplay and every method that made for conquest which his +fertile brain had conceived. He would exercise every argument likely to +appeal to the decent instincts of those ambitious of ranking as +first-class citizens, as well as to the congenital selfishness of man, +which could illuminate the darker recesses of their Clintonized +understandings, and effect their legitimate conversion; then, if these +higher methods failed, coercion. + +"What imperious method are you devising, Hamilton?" asked Livingston. +"Your lips are set; your eyes are almost black. I've seen you like that +in court, but never in good company before. You look as if considering a +challenge to mortal combat." + +Hamilton's brow cleared, and he laughed with that mercurial lightness +which did more to preserve the balance of what otherwise would have been +an overweighted mind than any other quality it possessed. + +"Well, am I not to fight a duel?" he asked. "Would that I could call +Clinton out and settle the question as easily as that. I disapprove of +duelling, but so critical a moment as this would justify anything short +of trickery. We'll leave that to Clinton; but although there is no vast +difference between my political and my private conscience, there are +recourses which are as fair in political as in martial warfare, and I +should be found ingenuous and incapable did I fail to make use of them." + +"Well, you love a fight," said Jay, without experiencing the humour of +his remark. "I believe you would rather fight than sit down in good +company at any time, and you are notoriously convivial. But easy +conquest would demoralize you. If I do not mistake, you have the +greatest battle of your career, past or present, immediately ahead of +you--and it means so much to all of us--I fear--I fear--" + +"I will listen to no fears," cried Hamilton, who at all events had no +mind to be tormented by any but his own. "Are we not alive? Are we not +in health? Are not our intellectual powers at their ripest point of +development? Can Clinton, Melancthon Smith, Yates, Lansing, Jones, make +a better showing?" + +"We are nineteen against forty-six," said Jay, with conceivable gloom. + +"True. But there is no reason why we should not shortly be forty-six +against nineteen." + +"We certainly are Right against the most unstatesman-like Selfishness +the world has ever seen," observed Duane. + +"Would that experience justified us in thinking well enough of the human +race to gather courage from that fact," replied Hamilton. "It is to the +self-interest of the majority we shall have to appeal. Convince them +that there is neither career nor prosperity for them in an isolated +State, and we may drag them up to a height which is safer than their +mire, simply because it is better, or better because it is safer. This +is a time to practice patriotism, but not to waste time talking about +it." + +"Your remarks savour of cynicism," replied Jay, "but I fear there is +much truth in them. It is only in the millennium, I suppose, that we +shall have the unthinkable happiness of seeing on all sides of us an +absolute conformity to our ideals." + +In spite of the close, if somewhat formal, friendship between Jay and +Hamilton, the latter was often momentarily depressed by the resemblance +of this flawless character to, and its rigid contrasts from, his dead +friend Laurens. Jay was all that Laurens had passionately wished to be, +and apparently without effort; for nature had not balanced him with a +redeeming vice, consequently with no power to inspire hate or love. Had +he been a degree greater, a trifle more ambitious, or had circumstances +isolated him in politics, he would have been an even lonelier and +loftier figure than Washington, for our Chief had one or two redeeming +humanities; as it was, he stood to a few as a character so perfect that +they marvelled, while they deplored his lack of personal influence. But +his intellect is in the rank which stands just beneath that of the men +of genius revealed by history, and he hangs like a silver star of the +tropics upon the sometimes dubious fields of our ancestral heavens. +Nevertheless, he frequently inspired Hamilton with so poignant a longing +for Laurens that our impetuous hero was tempted to wish for an exchange +of fates. + +"In the millennium we will all tell the truth and hate each other," +answered Hamilton. "And we either shall all be fools, or those irritants +will be extinct; in any case we shall be happy, particularly if we have +someone to hate." + +"Ah, now you jest," said Duane, smiling. "For you are logical or +nothing. _You_ may be happy when on the warpath, but the rest of us are +not. And you are the last man to be happy in a millennium by yourself." + +They all laughed at this sally, for Hamilton was seldom silent. He +answered lightly:-- + +"Someone to fight. Someone to love. Three warm friends. Three hot +enemies. A sufficiency of delicate food and wine. A West Indian +swimming-bath. Someone to talk to. Someone to make love to. War. +Politics. Books. Song. Children. Woman. A religion. There you have the +essence of the millennium, embroider it as you may." + +"And scenery," added Jay, devoutly. + +The road for the last quarter of an hour had led up a steep hill, above +which other hills piled without an opening; and below lay the Hudson. As +they paused upon the bare cone of the elevation, the river looked like a +chain of Adirondack lakes, with dense and upright forests rising tier +beyond tier until lost in the blue haze of the Catskills. The mountains +looked as if they had pushed out from the mainland down to the water's +edge to cross and meet each other. So close were the opposite crags that +the travellers could see a deer leap through the brush, the red of his +coat flashing through the gloomy depths. Below sped two packet-boats in +a stiff breeze. + +"Friends or enemies?" queried Livingston. "I wish I were with them, for +I must confess the pleasures of horse travel for seventy-five miles must +be the climax of a daily habit to be fully appreciated. It is all very +well for Hamilton, who is on a horse twice every day; but as I am ten +years older and proportionately stiffer, I shall leave patriotism to the +rest of you for a day or two after our arrival." + +Hamilton did not answer. He had become conscious of the delicate yet +piercing scent of violets. Wild violets had no perfume, and it was long +past their season. He glanced eagerly around, but without realizing what +prompted a quick stirring of his pulses. There was but one tree on the +crag, and he stood against it. Almost mechanically his glance sought its +recesses, and his hand reached forward to something white. It was a +small handkerchief of cambric and lace. The other men were staring at +the scenery. He hastily glanced at the initials in the corner of the +scented trifle, and wondered that he should so easily decipher a tangled +E.C.C. But he marvelled, nevertheless, and thrust the handkerchief into +his pocket. + +They reached Poughkeepsie late in the afternoon. Main Street, which was +the interruption of the post road, and East Street, which terminated the +Dutchess turnpike, were gaily decorated with flags and greens, the +windows and pavements crowded with people whose faces reflected the +nervous excitement with which the whole country throbbed. The capital +for ten years, the original village had spread over the hills into a +rambling town of many avenues, straight and twisted, and there were +pretentious houses and a certain amount of business. Hamilton and his +party were stared at with deep curiosity, but not cheered, for the town +was almost wholly Clintonian. The Governor had his official residence on +the Dutchess turnpike, a short distance from town; and this was his +court. Nevertheless, it was proudly conscious of the dignity incumbent +upon it as the legislative centre of the State, and no matter what the +suspense or the issue, had no mind to make the violent demonstrations of +other towns. Nearly every town of the North, including Albany, had +burned Hamilton in effigy, albeit with battered noses, for he had his +followers everywhere; but here he was met with a refreshing coolness, +for which the others of his party, at least, were thankful. + +They went first to Van Kleek's tavern, on the Upper Landing Road, not +far from the Court-house, to secure the rooms they had engaged; but +finding an invitation awaiting them from Henry Livingston to make use of +his house during the Convention, repaired with unmixed satisfaction to +the large estate on the other side of the town. The host was absent, but +his cousin had been requested to do the honours to as many as he would +ask to share a peaceful retreat from the daily scene of strife. + +"And it has the advantage of an assured privacy," said Hamilton. "For +here we can hold conference nightly with no fear of eavesdropping. +Moreover, to get a bath at Van Kleek's is as easy as making love to +Clinton." + +General Schuyler joined them an hour later. He had been in town all day, +and had held several conferences with the depressed Federalists, who, +between a minority which made them almost ridiculous, and uncomfortable +lodgings, were deep in gloomy forebodings. As soon as they heard of +their Captain's arrival they swarmed down to the Livingston mansion. +Hamilton harangued them cheerfully in the drawing-room, drank with them, +in his host's excellent wine, to the success of their righteous cause; +and they retired, buoyant, confirmed in their almost idolatrous belief +in the man who was responsible for all the ideas they possessed. + + +VI + +Although Hamilton and Clinton had no liking for each other, they were +far from being the furious principals in one of those political hatreds +which the times were about to engender,--an intellectual cataclysm which +Hamilton was to experience in all its blackness, of which he was to be +the most conspicuous victim. He had by no means plumbed his depths as +yet. So far he had met with few disappointments, few stumbling blocks, +never a dead wall. Life had smiled upon him as if magnetized. At home he +found perfect peace, abroad augmenting ranks of followers, sufficient +work to use up his nervous energies, and the stimulant of enmity and +opposition that he loved. It was long since he had given way to rage, +although he flew into a temper occasionally. He told himself he was +become a philosopher, and was far from suspecting the terrible passions +which the future was to undam. His mother, with dying insight, had +divined the depth and fury of a nature which was all light on the +surface, and in its upper half a bewildering but harmonious +intermingling of strength, energy, tenderness, indomitability, +generosity, and intense emotionalism: a stratum so large and so +generously endowed that no one else, least of all himself, had suspected +that primeval inheritance which might blaze to ashes one of the most +nicely balanced judgements ever bestowed on a mortal, should his enemies +combine and beat his own great strength to the dust. + +But when Hamilton and Clinton approached the Court-house from opposite +directions, on the morning of the 17th, they did not cross the street to +avoid meeting, although they bowed with extreme formality and measured +each other with a keen and speculative regard. Clinton was now +forty-nine years old, his autocratic will, love of power, and knowledge +of men, in their contemptuous maturity. He was a large man, with the +military bearing of the born and finished martinet, a long hard nose, +and an irritated eye. The irritation kindled as it met Hamilton's, which +was sparkling with the eager determination of a youth which, although +desirable in itself, was become a presumption when pitted against those +eighteen additional distinguished years of the Governor of New York. +That there was a twinkle of amusement in the Federalist's eye was also +to his discredit. + +"The young fop," fumed Clinton, as he brushed a fleck of mud from his +own magnificent costume of black ducape, "he is the _enfant gâté_ of +politics, and I shall settle him here once for all. It will be a public +benefaction." + +The Court-house, which stood halfway up the hill, on the corner of Main +and East streets, and was surrounded by the shade of many maples, was a +two-story building of rough stones welded together by a ruder cement. +The roof sloped, and above was a belfry. The Convention was held in the +upper story, which was unbroken by partition; and with the windows open +upon what looked to be a virgin forest, so many were the ancient trees +remaining in the little town, the singing of birds, the shrilling of +crickets, the murmur of the leaves in an almost constant breeze, the old +Court-house of Poughkeepsie was by no means a disagreeable +gathering-place. Moreover, it was as picturesque within as it was +arcadian without; for the fine alert-looking men, with their powdered +hair in queues, their elaborately cut clothes of many colours, made for +the most part of the corded silk named ducape, their lawn and ruffles, +made up the details of a charming picture, which was far from appealing +to them, but which gives us a distinct pleasure in the retrospect. + +Governor Clinton was elected the President of the Convention. On the +right of the central table sat his forty-five henchmen, with Melancthon +Smith, one of the most astute and brilliant debaters of the time, well +to the front. Opposite sat Hamilton, surrounded by General Schuyler, +Jay, Duane, and Robert Livingston, the rest of his small following close +to the windows, but very alert, their gaze never ranging far from their +leader. Beyond the bar crowded the invited guests, many of them women in +all the finery of the time. + +If the anti-Federalists had entertained the idea of an immediate and +indefinite adjournment, they appear to have abandoned it without waste +of time; perhaps because long and tedious journeys in midsummer were not +to be played with; perhaps because they were sure of their strength; +possibly because Clinton was so strongly in favour of arranging +Hamilton's destinies once for all. + +Certainly at the outset the prospects of the Federalists were almost +ludicrous. The anti-Federalists were two-thirds against one-third, +fortified against argument, uncompromisingly opposed to union at the +expense of State sovereignty, clever and thinking men, most of them, +devoted to Clinton, and admirably led by an orator who acknowledged no +rival but Hamilton. The latter set his lips more than once, and his +heart sank, but only to leap a moment later with delight in the mere +test of strength. + +Clinton's first move was to attempt a vote at once upon the Constitution +as a whole, but he was beaten by Hamilton and many in his own ranks, who +were in favour of the fair play of free debate. The Governor was forced +to permit the Convention to go into a Committee of the Whole, which +would argue the Constitution section by section. Hamilton had gained a +great point, and he soon revealed the use he purposed to make of it. + +It is doubtful if his own followers had anticipated that he would speak +almost daily for three weeks, receiving and repelling the brunt of every +argument; and certainly Clinton had looked for no such feat. + +The contest opened on the Clintonian side, with the argument that an +amended Confederation was all that was necessary for the purposes of a +more general welfare. The plan advanced was that Congress should be +given the power to compel by force the payment of the requisitions which +the States so often ignored. Hamilton demolished this proposition with +one of his most scornful outbursts. + + Coerce the States! [he cried]. Never was a madder project devised! + Do you imagine that the result of the failure of one State to + comply would be confined to that State alone? Are you so willing to + hazard a civil war? Consider the refusal of Massachusetts, the + attempt at compulsion by Congress. What a series of pictures does + this conjure up? A powerful State procuring immediate assistance + from other States, particularly from some delinquent! A complying + State at war with a non-complying State! Congress marching the + troops of one State into the bosom of another! This State + collecting auxiliaries and forming perhaps a majority against its + Federal head! And can any reasonable man be well disposed toward a + government which makes war and carnage the only means of supporting + itself?--a government that can exist only by the sword? And what + sort of a State would it be which would suffer itself to be used as + the instrument of coercing another? ... A Federal standing army, + then, must enforce the requisitions or the Federal treasury will be + left without supplies, and the government without support.... There + is but one cure for such an evil--to enable the national laws to + operate on individuals like the laws of the States. To take the old + Confederation as the basis of a new system, and to trust the sword + and the purse to a single assembly organized upon principles so + defective, giving it the full powers of taxation and the national + forces, would result in what--Despotism! To avoid the very issue + which appears to be held in such abject terror, a totally different + government from anything into which the old Confederation can be + twisted, or fitted out with wings and gables, must be established + with proper powers and proper checks and balances. + +His words created a palpable uneasiness. The outburst was the more +effective for following and preceding close passionless and pointed +reasoning, a trenchant review of other republics ancient and modern, and +an elaborate argument in favour of the representation prescribed by the +new Constitution. + +Hamilton was not only the most brilliant, resourceful, and unanswerable +orator of his time, but he was gifted with an almost diabolical power +over the emotions of men, which he did not hesitate to use. At this +momentous assembly he kept them in exercise; when he chose, he made his +audience weep; and the Clintonians weakened daily. Had not many years of +trouble and anxiety made their emotions peculiarly susceptible, Hamilton +would have attempted their agitation more sparingly; and had he been +theatrical and rhetorical in his methods, he would have lost his control +of them long before the end of the session. But he rarely indulged in a +trope or a flight, never in bathos nor in bursts of ill-balanced appeal. +Nothing ever was drier than the subjects he elucidated day after day for +three weeks: for he took the Constitution to pieces bit by bit, and +compelled them to listen to an analysis which, if propounded by another, +would have bored them to distraction, vitally interested as they were. +But he not only so illuminated the cold pages of the Constitution that +while they listened they were willing to swear it was more beautiful +than the Bible, but the torrent of his eloquence, never confusing, so +sharp was every feature of the Constitution to his own mind, the magic +of his personality, and his intense humanity in treating the driest +sections of the document, so bewitched his audience that, even when he +talked for six hours without pausing on the subject of taxation, perhaps +the baldest topic which the human understanding is obliged to consider, +there was not a sign of impatience in the ranks of the enemy. + +He by no means harrowed them daily; he was far too astute for that. +There were days together when he merely charmed them, and they sat with +a warm unconscious smile while he demolished bit by bit one of +Melancthon Smith's clever arguments, in a manner so courteous that even +his victim could only shrug his shoulders, although he cursed him +roundly afterward. Then, when his audience least expected an assault, he +would treat them to a burst of scorn that made them hitch their chairs +and glance uneasily at each other, or to a picture of future misery +which reduced them to pulp. + +Clinton was infuriated. Even he often leaned forward, forgetting his own +selfish ambitions when Hamilton's thrilling voice poured forth a rapid +appeal to the passions of his hearers; but he quickly resumed the +perpendicular, and set his lips to imprison a scarlet comment. He saw +that his men were weakening, and as much to the luminous expounding of +the Constitution, to the logic of the orator, as to a truly satanic +eloquence and charm. He held long private sessions at his mansion on the +turnpike, where he was assisted by much material argument. But even +Melancthon Smith, who distinguished himself in almost daily debate, +acknowledged more than once that Hamilton had convinced him; and others +asserted, with depression, that their minds, which they had supposed to +be their own,--or Clinton's,--seemed to be in a process of remaking. + +After all, for the most part, they were sincere and earnest; and +although it is difficult for us of the present day to comprehend that +enlightened men ever could have been so mad as to believe that the +country would prosper without union, that a mere State should have been +thought to be of greater importance than a Nation, or that a democratic +constitution, which permits us to coddle anarchists in our midst, and +the lower orders to menace the liberties of the upper, was ever an +object of terror to men of bitter republican ideals, yet the historic +facts confront us, and we wonder, when reading the astonishing +arguments of that long and hard-fought contest, if Hamilton's +constitution, had it passed the Great Convention, would not have +ratified with a no more determined opposition. + +Melancthon Smith was one of the brightest and most conspicuous men of +his time, but his name is forgotten to-day. He was sincere; he was, in +his way, patriotic; he was a clever and eloquent orator. Moreover, he +was generous and manly enough to admit himself beaten, as the sequel +will show. To insure greatness, must the gift of long foreknowledge be +added to brilliant parts and an honest character? If this be the +essential, no wonder Melancthon Smith is forgotten. We have him +asserting that in a country where a portion of the people live more than +twelve hundred miles from the centre, one body cannot legislate for the +whole. He apprehends the abolition of the State constitutions by a +species of under-mining, predicts their immediate dwindling into +insignificance before the comprehensive and dangerous power vested in +Congress. He believes that all rich men are vicious and intemperate, and +sees nothing but despotism and disaster in the Federal Constitution. + +But, like most of the speakers of that day, he was trenchant and +unadorned, so that his speeches are as easy reading as they must have +been agreeable to hear. It is a curious fact that the best speakers of +to-day resemble our forefathers in this respect of trenchant simplicity. +Mediocrity for half a century has ranted on the stump, and given +foreigners a false impression of American oratory. Those who indulge in +what may be called the open-air metaphor, so intoxicating is our +climate, may find consolation in this flight of Mr. Gilbert Livingston, +who had not their excuse; for the Court-house of Poughkeepsie was hot +and crowded. He is declaiming against the senatorial aristocrats lurking +in the proposed Constitution. "What," he cries, "what will be their +situation in a Federal town? Hallowed ground! Nothing so unclean as +State laws to enter there, surrounded as they will be by an impenetrable +wall of adamant and gold, the wealth of the whole country flowing into +it!" "_What_? What WALL?" cried a Federal. "A wall of gold, of adamant, +which will flow in from all parts of the continent." The joyous roar of +our ancestors comes down to us. + +Hamilton's speech, in which he as effectually disposed of every argument +against the Senate as Roger Sherman had done in the Great Convention, is +too long to be quoted; but it is as well to give the precise words in +which he defines the vital difference between republics and democracies. + + It has been observed by an honourable gentleman [he said] that a + pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect + government. Experience has proved that no position in politics is + more false than this. The ancient democracies, in which the people + themselves deliberated, never possessed one feature of good + government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure + deformity. When they assembled, the field of debate presented an + ungovernable mob, not only incapable of deliberation, but prepared + for every enormity. In these assemblies the enemies of the people + brought forward their plans of ambition systematically. They were + opposed by their enemies of another party; and it became a matter + of contingency, whether the people subjected themselves to be led + blindly by one tyrant or another. + +Again he says, in reply to Melancthon Smith:-- + + It is a harsh doctrine that men grow wicked as they improve and + enlighten their minds. Experience has by no means justified us in + the supposition that there is more virtue in one class of men than + in another. Look through the rich and the poor of this community, + the learned and the ignorant--Where does virtue predominate? The + difference indeed consists not in the quantity, but kind of vices + which are incident to various classes; and here the advantage of + character belongs to the wealthy. Their vices are probably more + favourable to the prosperity of the State than those of the + indigent; and partake less of moral depravity. + +More than once Hamilton left his seat and went up to the belfry to +strain his eyes down the Albany post road or over the Dutchess turnpike, +and every afternoon he rode for miles to the east or the south, hoping +to meet an express messenger with a letter from Madison, or with the +good tidings that New Hampshire had ratified. Madison wrote every few +days, sometimes hopefully, sometimes in gloom, especially if he were not +feeling well. Each letter was from ten to twelve days old, and it seemed +to Hamilton sometimes that he should burst with impatience and anxiety. +On the 24th of June, as he was standing in the belfry while Chancellor +Livingston rained his sarcasms, he thought he saw an object moving +rapidly down the white ribbon which cut the forest from the East. In +five minutes he was on his horse and the Dutchess turnpike. The object +proved to be the messenger from Rufus King, and the letter which +Hamilton opened then and there contained the news of the adoption of the +Constitution by New Hampshire. + +There was now a Nation, and nine States would be governed by the new +laws, whether New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Rhode Island +sulked unprotected in the out-skirts, or gracefully entered the league +before dragged in or driven. It was a glittering and two-edged weapon +for Hamilton, and he flashed it in the faces of the anti-Federalists +until they were well-nigh blinded. Nevertheless, he did not for a moment +underrate Clinton's great strength, and he longed desperately for good +news from Virginia, believing that the entrance of that important State +into the Union would have more influence upon the opposition than all +the arts of which he was master. + + +VII + +And through it all Hamilton was sensible that someone was working for +him, and was not long attributing the influence to its proper source. +Mysterious hints were dropped of political reunions in a house on a +thickly wooded hill, a quarter of a mile behind the Governor's, the +fortunate guests to which enchanted abode being sworn to secrecy. That +it was the nightly resort of Clintonians was an open secret, but that +Federalism was being intelligently interpreted, albeit with deepest +subtlety, was guessed by few of the visitors themselves, and Hamilton +divined rather than heard it. If converts were not actually made, they +were at least undergoing a process of education which would make them +the more susceptible to Hamilton's final effort. Even before he caught a +glimpse of radiant hair among the maples, when riding one day along the +lane at the foot of the hill, he suspected that Mrs. Croix had preceded +the Convention with the deliberate intention of giving him the precious +assistance of a woman with a talent for politics and a genius for men. +He was touched, interested, intrigued, but he resisted the temptation to +precipitate himself into the eddies of her magnetism. Croix was in +England, but even before his departure, which among men was regarded as +final, she had achieved a reputation as a lady of erratic impulse and +imperious habit. That she was also the most brilliant and fascinating +woman in America, as well as the most beautiful, were facts as publicly +established. Hamilton had resisted the temptation to meet her, the +temptation receiving no help from indifference on the part of the lady; +he had answered more than one note of admirable deftness. But he had no +intention of being drawn into an intrigue which would be public gossip +in a day and ruin the happiness of his wife. To expect a man of +Hamilton's order of genius to keep faith with one woman for a lifetime +would be as reasonable as to look for such genius without the +transcendent passions which are its furnace; but he was far from being a +man who sought adventure. Under certain conditions his horizon abruptly +contracted, and life was dual and isolated; but when the opportunity had +passed he dismissed its memory with contrite philosophy, and was so +charming to Betsey that he persuaded himself, as her, that he wished +never to behold the face of another woman. Nor did he--overwhelming +temptation being absent: he was the most driven man in the United +States, with no time to run about after women, had such been his +proclivity; and his romantic temperament, having found high satisfaction +in his courtship and marriage with one of the most bewitching and +notable girls in America, was smothered under a mountain of work and +domestic bliss. So, although well aware that his will must perish at +times in the blaze of his passions, he was iron against the temptation +that held itself sufficiently aloof. To an extreme point he was master +of himself. He knew that it would be no whirlwind and forgetting with +this mysterious woman, who had set the town talking, and yet whose +social talents were so remarkable that she managed women as deftly as +she did men, and was a welcome guest in many of the most exclusive +houses in New York; the men were careful to do none of their gossiping +at home, and the women, although they criticised, and vowed themselves +scandalized, succumbed to her royal command of homage and her air of +proud invincibility. That she loved him, he had reason to know, and +although he regarded it as a young woman's romantic passion for a public +man focussing the attention of the country, and whom, from pressure of +affairs, it was almost impossible to meet, still the passion existed, +and, considering her beauty and talents, was too likely to communicate +itself to the object, were he rash enough to create the opportunity. +Hamilton's morals were the morals of his day,--a day when aristocrats +were libertines, receiving as little censure from society as from their +own consciences. His Scotch foundations had religious shoots in their +grassy crevices, but religion in a great mind like Hamilton's is an +emotional incident, one of several passions which act independently of +each other. He avoided temptation, not because he desired to shun a +torment of conscience or an accounting with his Almighty,--to Whom he +was devoted,--but because he was satisfied with the woman he had married +and would have sacrificed his ambitions rather than deliberately cause +her unhappiness. Had she been jealous and eloquent, it is more than +probable that his haughty intolerance of restraint would have driven him +to assert the pleasure of his will, but she was only amused at his +occasional divagations, and had no thought of looking for meanings which +might terrify her. He was quite conscious of his good fortune and too +well balanced to risk its loss. So Mrs. Croix might be driven to rest +her hopes on a trick of chance or a _coup de théâtre_. But she was a +very clever woman; and she was not unlike Hamilton in a quite phenomenal +precocity, and in the torrential nature of her passions. + +Having a considerable knowledge of women and some of Mrs. Croix, he +inferred that sooner or later she would cease to conceal the light of +her endeavour. Nevertheless, he was taken aback to receive one day a +parcel, which, in the seclusion of his room, he found to contain a +dainty scented handkerchief, the counterpart of the one hidden in the +tree by the post road. + +"Can she have put it there on purpose?" he thought. "Did she take for +granted that I would pause to admire the scenery, and that I would +recognize the perfume of her violets? Gad! she's deeper than I thought +if that be true. The wider the berth, the better!" + +He gave no sign, and, as he had expected, a note arrived in due course. +It ran:-- + + THE MAPLES, 8th July--4 in the morning. + + DEAR SIR: I fear I am a woman of little purpose, for I intended to + flit here like a swallow and as noiselessly flit again, + accomplishing a political trifle for you meanwhile, of which you + never should be the wiser. But alas! I am tormented by the idea + that you never _will_ know, that in this great crisis of your + career, you think me indifferent when I understand so well your + terrible anxieties, your need for stupendous exertion, and all that + this convention means to this great country and to yourself; and + heart and soul and brain, at the risk of my popularity,--that I + love, sir,--and of a social position grudgingly acquired me, but + which I demand by right of an inheritance of which the world knows + less than of my elevation by Colonel Croix,--at the risk of all, I + am here and working for you. Perhaps I love power. Perhaps this + country with its strange unimaginable future. Perhaps I merely love + politics, which you have glorified--perhaps--well, when we do meet, + sir, you will avoid me no longer. Do you find me lacking in pride? + Reflect how another woman would have pursued you with love-letters, + persecuted you. I have exercised a restraint that has left its + mark, not only out of pride for myself, but out of a deep + understanding of your multitude of anxieties and interests; nor + should I dare to think of you at all were I not so sure of my power + to help you--now and always. Think, sir, of what such a + partnership--of which the world should never be cognizant--would + mean. I purpose to have a _salon_, and it shall be largely composed + of your enemies. Not a secret but that shall yield to me, not a + conspiracy but that you shall be able to forestall in time. I + believe that I was born devoted to your interests. Heart and soul I + shall be devoted to them as long as I live, and whether I am + permitted to know you or not. I could ruin you if I chose. I feel + that I have the power within me even for that. But God forbid! I + should have gone mad first. But ask yourself, sir, if I could not + be of vital assistance to your career, did we work in common. And + ask yourself other things--and truthfully. E.C.C + + P.S. In a meeting held here last night the two generals poured + vials of their own molten iron into the veins of the rank and file, + belted them together in a solid bunch, vowed that you were a dealer + in the black arts and reducing them to knaves and fools. Their + words sank, no doubt of that. But I uprooted them, and blew them + away. For I professed to be seized with an uncontrollable fit of + laughter at the nonsense of forty-seven men--_the flower of the + State_--terrified of a bare third, and of a man but just in his + thirties. I rapidly recounted your failures in your first Congress, + dwelling on them, harping on them; and then I stood up like a + Chorus, and proclaimed the victories of C's career. C, who had + scowled when I went off into hysterics, almost knelt over my hand + at parting; and the rest departed secure in your fancied destiny, + their waxen brains ready for your clever fingers. At least you will + acknowledge the receipt of this, sir? Conceive my anxiety till I + know it has not fallen into the wrong hands! + +A messenger brought the note directly after breakfast, and Hamilton +hastily retreated with it to the privacy of his room. His horse awaited +him, but he read the epistle no less than four times. Once he moved +uneasily, and once he put his hand to his neck as if he felt a silken +halter. He smiled, but his face flushed deeply. Her bait, her veiled +threat, affected him little. But all that was unsaid pulled him like a +powerful magnet. He struggled for fully twenty minutes with the +temptation to ride to that paradise on the hill as fast as his horse +would carry him. But although he usually got into mischief when absent +from Betsey, contradictorily he was fonder of his wife when she was +remote; moreover, her helplessness appealed to him, and he rejected the +idea of deliberate disloyalty, even while his pulses hammered and the +spirit of romance within him moved turbulently in its long sleep. He +glanced out of the window. Beyond the tree-tops gleamed the river; above +were the hills, with their woods and grassy intervals. It was an +exquisite country, green and primeval; a moderate summer, the air warm +but electric. The nights were magnificent. Hamilton dreamed for a time, +then burned the letter in a fit of angry impatience. + +"I have nothing better to do!" he thought. "Good God!" + +An answer was imperative. He took a long ride first, however, then +scrawled a few hasty lines, as if he had found just a moment in which to +read her letter, but thanking her warmly for her interest and +information; ending with a somewhat conscience-stricken hope for the +instructive delight of her personal acquaintance when he should find the +leisure to be alive once more. So rested the matter for a time. + + +VIII + +That afternoon the very memory of Eliza Croix fled before a mounted +messenger, who came tearing into town with word of Virginia's +ratification, of the great excitement in the cities of Richmond, +Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York, the processions in honour of this +important conquest. There were tales also of fray and bloodshed, in +which the Federals had retained the field; but, on the whole, the +country seemed wild with delight. + +But although this news did not produce the visible effect upon the +opposition for which Hamilton had hoped, the anti-Federalist leaders +were as fearful of hurrying the matter to the final vote as the +Constitutionalists. Clinton stood like a rock, but he feared defections +at the last moment, was conscious that his dominance over the minds of +the men who had come to the Convention believing implicitly in his +doctrine that union was unnecessary, concurring in his abhorrence of the +new Constitution, was snapping daily, as Hamilton's arguments and acute +logic fermented in their clarifying brains. Many began to avoid their +chief. They talked in knots by themselves. They walked the forest roads +alone for hours, deep in thought. It was evident that Hamilton had +liberated their understandings from one autocrat, whether he had brought +them under his own despotic will or not. + +There was no speaking, and little or no business for several days. A few +more amendments would be suggested, then an adjournment. It was like the +lull of the hurricane, when nervous people sit in the very centre of the +storm, awaiting the terrors of its final assault. + +Hamilton had much leisure for several days, but he was too deeply +anxious to give more than a passing thought to Mrs. Croix, although he +was grateful for the help he knew she was rendering him. "If we were +Turks," he thought once, "she would be an invaluable member of a harem. +She never could fill my domestic needs, which are capacious; most +certainly I should never, at any time, have chosen her for the mother of +my children; but as an intellectual and political partner, as a +confidante and counsellor, she would appeal to me very keenly. I talk to +Betsey, dear child, because I must talk, because I have an egotistical +craving for response, but I must bore her very often, and I am not +conscious of ever having received a suggestion from her--however, God +knows I am grateful for her sympathy. As the children grow older I shall +have less and less of her; already I appreciate the difference. She will +always have the core of my soul and the fealty of my heart, but it is +rather a pity that man should be given so many sides with their +corresponding demands, if no one woman is to be found able to respond to +all. As for this remarkable creature, I could imagine myself in a state +of mad infatuation, and seeking her constantly for the delight of mental +companionship besides; but the highest and best, if I have them--oh, no! +Perhaps the Turks are wiser than we, after all, for their wives suffer +only from jealousy, while--most men being Turks on one plan or +another--the women of the more advanced races suffer from humiliation, +and are wounded in their deepest sentiments. All of which goes to prove, +that the longer I delay a meeting with this high-priestess the better." + +In a day or two he was hard at work again fighting the last desperate +battle. The oppositionists had brought forward a new form of conditional +ratification, with a bill of rights prefixed, and amendments subjoined. +This, it would seem, was their proudest achievement, and, in a long and +adroit speech, Melancthon Smith announced it as their final decision. +That was at midday. Hamilton rose at once, and in one of the most +brilliant and comprehensive speeches he had yet made, demonstrated the +absurdity of conditional ratification, or the power of Congress to +indorse it. It was a close, legal, and constitutional argument, and with +the retorts of the anti-Federalists occupied two days, during which +Hamilton stood most of the time, alert, resourceful, master of every +point of the vast subject, to which he gave an almost embarrassing +simplicity. On the third day occurred his first signal triumph and the +confounding of Clinton: Melancthon Smith stood up and admitted that +Hamilton had convinced him of the impossibility of conditional +ratification. Lansing immediately offered as a substitute for the motion +withdrawn, another, by which the State ratify but reserve to itself the +right to secede after a certain number of years, unless the amendments +proposed should previously be submitted to a general convention. + +Adjournment followed, and Hamilton and his leaders held a long +consultation at the Livingston mansion, as a result of which he wrote +that night to Madison, now in New York, asking his advice as to the sort +of ratification proposed by the enemy. It was a course he by no means +approved, but it seemed the less of two evils; for if, by hook or crook, +the Constitution could be forced through, the good government which +would ensue was bound to break up the party of the opposition. He had a +trump, but he hesitated to resort to a coercion so high-handed and +arbitrary. His supposed monarchical aspirations were hurled at him +daily, and he must proceed with the utmost caution, lest his future +usefulness be impaired at the outset. + +Madison replied at once that such a proposition could not be considered, +for only unconditional ratification was constitutional; but before his +letter arrived Hamilton and Smith had had another hot debate, at the end +of which the anti-Federalist leader declared himself wholly beaten, and +announced his intention to vote for the unconditional acceptance of the +Constitution. + +But although there was consternation in the ranks of the +anti-Federalists at this momentous defection, Clinton stood like an old +lion at bay, with his other leaders behind him, his wavering ranks still +coherent under his practised manipulation. For several days more the +battle raged, and on the night before what promised to be the day of the +final vote, Hamilton received a note from Mrs. Croix. + + July 24. + + DEAR SIR: The case is more desperate than you think. The weakening + caused by the defection of the great Lieutenant has been + counteracted in large measure by the General. His personal + influence is enormous, his future like yours is at stake; he is + desperate. It all rests with you. Make your great and final effort + to-morrow. It is a wonderful responsibility, sir--the whole future + of this country dependent upon what flows from your brain a few + hours hence, but as you have won other great victories by efforts + almost unprecedented, so you will win this. I am not so + presumptuous as to write this to inspire you, merely to assure you + of a gravity, which, after so long and energetic a contest, you + might be disposed to underrate. + +Hamilton was very grateful for this note, and answered it more warmly +than had been his habit. His friends were deep in gloomy +prognostications, for it was impossible to delay twenty-four hours +longer. He had made converts, but not enough to secure a majority; and +his followers did not conceive that even he could put forth an effort +more convincing or more splendid than many of his previous achievements. +In consequence, his susceptible nature had experienced a chill, for he +was Gallic enough to compass greater things under the stimulus of +encouragement and prospective success; but this unquestioning belief in +him by a woman for whose mind he was beginning to experience a profound +admiration, sent his quicksilver up to a point where he felt capable of +all things. She had scored one point for herself. He felt that it would +be unpardonable longer to accept such favours as she showered upon him +unsought, and make no acknowledgment beyond a civil note: he expressed +his desire to call upon her when they were both in New York once more. +"But not here in Arcadia!" he thought. "I'll call formally at her +lodgings and take Troup or Morris with me. Morris will doubtless abduct +her, and that will be the end of it." + + +IX + +On the following day every shop was closed in Poughkeepsie. The men, +even many of the women, stood for hours in the streets, talking little, +their eyes seldom wandering from the Court-house, many of them crowding +close to the walls, that they might catch a ringing phrase now and +again. By this time they all knew Hamilton's voice, and they confessed +to a preference for his lucid precision. In front of the Court-house, +under a tree, an express messenger sat beside his horse, saddled for a +wild dash to New York with the tidings. The excitement seemed the more +intense for the heat of the day, which half suppressed it, and all +longed for the snap of the tension. + +Within the upper room of the Court-house the very air vibrated. Clinton, +who always grunted at intervals, and blew his nose stentoriously when +fervescent, was unusually aggressive. Beyond the bar men and women +stood; there was no room for chairs, nor for half that desired +admittance. In the very front stood the only woman whose superb physique +carried her through that trying day without smelling-salts or a friendly +shoulder. She was a woman with the eyes of an angel, disdainful of men, +the mouth of insatiety, the hair and skin of a Lorelei, and a patrician +profile. Her figure was long, slender, and voluptuous. Every man within +the bar offered her his chair, but she refused to sit while other women +stood; and few were the regrets at the more ample display of her +loveliness. + +Hamilton and Lansing debated with a lively exchange of acrimonious wit. +Smith spoke in behalf of the Constitution. Then Hamilton rose for what +all felt was to be a grand final effort, and even his friends +experienced an almost intolerable excitement. On the other side men +trembled visibly with apprehension, not so much in fear of the result as +of the assault upon their nervous systems. They hardly could have felt +worse if on their way to execution, but not a man left his seat; the +fascination was too strong to induce even a desire to avoid it. + +Hamilton began dispassionately enough. He went over the whole +Constitution rapidly, yet in so emphatic a manner as to accomplish the +intelligent subservience of his audience. Then, with the unexaggerated +eloquence of which he was so consummate a master, he pictured the +beauty, the happiness, the wealth of the United States under the new +Constitution; of the peace and prosperity of half a million homes; of +the uninterrupted industry of her great cities, their ramifications to +countless hamlets; of the good-will and honour of Europe; of a vast +international trade; of a restored credit at home and abroad, which +should lift the heavy clouds from the future of every ambitious man in +the Republic; of a peace between the States which would tend to the +elevation of the American character, as the bitter, petty, warring, and +perpetual jealousies had incontestably lowered it; of, for the beginning +of their experiment, at least eight years of harmony under George +Washington. + +He spoke for two hours in the glowing terms of a prophecy and an +optimism so alluring, that load after load seemed to roll from the +burdened minds opposite, although Clinton snorted as if about to thrust +down his head and paw the earth. When Hamilton had made his hearers +thoroughly drunk with dreams of an ecstatic future, he advanced upon +them suddenly, and, without a word of warning transition, poured upon +them so terrible a picture of the consequences of their refusal to enter +the Union, that for the first few moments they were ready to leap upon +him and wrench him apart. The assault was terrific, and he plunged on +remorselessly. He sketched the miseries of the past eleven years, the +poverty, the dangers, the dishonour, and then by the most precise and +logical deduction presented a future which, by the commonest natural and +social laws, must, without the protection of a high and central power, +be the hideous finish. The twilight came; the evening breeze was +rustling through the trees and across the sultry room. As Hamilton had +calculated, the moment came when he had his grip on the very roots of +the enemy's nerves. Chests were rising, handkerchiefs appearing. Women +fainted. Clinton blew his nose with such terrific force that the +messenger below scrambled to his feet. Hamilton waited during a +breathless moment, then charged down upon them. + +"Now listen, gentlemen," he said. "No one so much as I wishes that this +Constitution be ratified to the honour of the State of New York; but +upon this I have determined: that the enlightened and patriotic minority +shall not suffer for the selfishness and obstinacy of the majority. I +therefore announce to you plainly, gentlemen, that if you do not ratify +this Constitution, with no further talk of impossible amendments and +conditions, that Manhattan Island, Westchester, and Kings counties shall +secede from the State of New York and form a State by themselves, +leaving the rest of your State without a seaport, too contemptible to +make treaties, with only a small and possibly rebellious militia to +protect her northern boundaries from the certain rapacity of Great +Britain, with the scorn and dislike of the Union, and with no hope of +assistance from the Federal Government, which is assured, remember, no +matter what her straits. That is all." + +It was enough. He had won the day. The Constitution was ratified without +further parley. + + +X + +Hamilton reëntered New York to the blaze of bonfires, the salute of +cannon, and the deafening shouts of a multitude that escorted him to his +doorway. Betsey was so proud of him she hardly could speak for a day, +and his library was flooded with letters of congratulation from all +parts of the Union. For several days he shut himself up with his family +and a few friends, for he needed the rest; and the relaxation was +paradisal. He played marbles and spun tops with his oldest boys, and +dressed and undressed Angelica's doll as often as his imperious daughter +commanded. Troup and Fish, now the dignified Adjutant-General of State, +with his bang grown long and his hair brushed back, spent hours with him +in the heavy shades of the garden, or tormenting a monkey on the other +side of the fence. Madison came at once to wrangle with him over the +temporary seat of government, and demanded the spare bedroom, protesting +he had too much to say to waste time travelling back and forth. He was a +welcome guest; and he, too, sat on the floor and dressed Angelica's +doll. + +The city was _en fête_, and little business was transacted except at the +public houses. Bands of citizens awoke Hamilton from his sleep, shouting +for "Alexander the Great." Anti-Federalists got so drunk that they +embraced the Federalists, and sang on Hamilton's doorstep. The hero +retreated to the back room on the top floor. The climax came on the 5th +of August, in the great procession, with which, after the fashion of +other triumphant cities, New York was to demonstrate in honour of the +victory of the Constitution. + +But, unlike its predecessors, this procession was as much in honour of +one man as of the triumph of a great principle. To have persuaded New +York, at that time, that Hamilton had not written the Constitution, and +secured its ratification in the eleven States of the Union by his +unaided efforts, would have been a dissipation of energy in August which +even Clinton would not have attempted. To them Hamilton was the +Constitution, Federalism, the genius of the new United States. And he +was their very own. "Virginia has her Madison," they reiterated, +"Massachusetts her Adamses--and may she keep them and be damned; other +States may think they have produced a giant, and those that do not can +fall back on Washington; but Hamilton is ours, we adore him, we are so +proud of him we are like to burst, and we can never express our +gratitude, try as we may; so we'll show him an honour that no other +State has thought of showing to any particular man." + +And of the sixth of New York's thirty thousand inhabitants that turned +out on that blazing August day and marched for hours, that all the +eager city might see, at least two-thirds bore a banner emblazoned with +Hamilton's portrait or name, held on high. The procession was +accompanied by a military escort; and every profession, every trade, was +represented. A large proportion of the men who marched were gentlemen. +Nicolas Fish was on the staff of the grand marshal, with six of his +friends. Robert Troup and two other prominent lawyers bore, on a +cushion, the new Constitution, magnificently engrossed. Nicolas Cruger, +Hamilton's old employer, again a resident of New York, led the farmers, +driving a plough drawn by three yoke of oxen. Baron Polnitz displayed +the wonders of the newly perfected threshing-machine. John Watts, a man +who had grown gray in the highest offices of New York, before and since +the Revolution, guided a harrow, drawn by horses and oxen. The +president, regents, professors, and students of Columbia College, all in +academic dress, were followed by the Chamber of Commerce and the members +of the bar. The many societies, led by the Cincinnati, followed, each +bearing an appropriate banner. + +And in the very centre of that pageant, gorgeous in colour and costume, +from the green of the foresters to the white of the florists, was the +great Federal ship, with HAMILTON, HAMILTON, HAMILTON, HAMILTON, +emblazoned on every side of it. In the memory of the youngest present +there was to be but one other procession in New York so imposing, and +that, too, was in honour of Hamilton. + +He stood on a balcony in the Broadway, with his family, Madison, Baron +Steuben, and the Schuylers, bowing constantly to the salutes and cheers. +Nicolas Cruger looked up and grinned. Fish winked decorously, and Troup +attempted a salaam, and nearly dropped the Constitution. But Hamilton's +mind served him a trick for a moment; the vivid procession, with his +face and name fluttering above five thousand heads, the compact mass of +spectators, proud and humble, that crowded the pavements and waved their +handkerchiefs toward him, the patriotically decorated windows filled +with eager, often beautiful, faces, disappeared, and he stood in front +of Cruger's store on Bay Street, with his hands in his linen pockets, +gazing out over a blinding glare of water, passionately wishing for the +war-ship which never came, to deliver him from his Island prison and +carry him to the gates of the real world beyond. He had been an +ambitious boy, but nothing in his imaginings had projected him to the +dizzy eminence on which he stood to-day. He was recalled by the salute +of the Federal ship's thirteen guns to the president of the Congress and +its members, who stood on the fort in the Battery. + +After all, perhaps it was the proudest and the happiest day of his +career, for the depths in his nature still slumbered, the triumph was +without alloy; and he knew that there were other heights to scale, and +that he should scale them. It was the magnificent and spontaneous +tribute of an intelligent people to an enlightened patriotism, to years +of severe and unselfish thought; and hardly an enemy grudged him his +deserts. The wild feeling of exultant triumph which surged behind his +smiling face receded before the rising swell of the profoundest +gratitude he had ever known. + +The day finished with a great banquet at Mr. Bayard's country-seat, near +Grand Street, where tables were spread for six thousand persons, in a +pavilion surmounted by an image of Fame, and decorated with the colours +of the nations that had formed treaties with the United States. Later, +there was a grand display of fireworks. + + +XI + +On the following day Hamilton went to Albany to march at the head of a +Federal procession with General Schuyler, then returned to +"Hamiltonopolis" and such legal work as he was permitted to accomplish; +for not only were leaders consulting him on every possible question from +the coming elections to the proper seat for the new government, and his +duties as a member of Congress pressing, but Edward Stevens, now +established as a doctor in Philadelphia, paid him a visit of a week, and +they talked the night through of St. Croix and old times. One of the +pleasantest results of these years of supremacy was the unqualified +delight of his Island friends. Hugh Knox was so proud of him, and of +himself and the debt which Hamilton acknowledged, that he wrote +explosive reams describing the breathless interest of St. Croix in his +career, and of the distinguished gatherings at the Governor's when he +arrived with one of their lost citizen's infrequent epistles. Mrs. +Mitchell, poor soul, wrote pathetically that she would no longer regret +his loss could she love him less. Hamilton wrote to her as often as he +could find the time, and Betsey selected a present for her several times +a year. Gratitude is the privilege of a great soul, and Hamilton had a +full measure of it. Even his father and brother wrote occasionally, +respectfully, if with no great warmth; and if their congratulations were +usually accompanied by the experimental sigh of poverty, Hamilton was +glad to respond, for at this period he was making a good deal of money. + +His promised bow to Mrs. Croix he deferred from day to day, pleading to +himself the pressure of work, which was submerging; but while he +reproached himself for ingratitude, he knew that he dreaded the meeting: +the old spirit of adventure within him, long quiescent, tapped +alluringly on the doors of his prudence. That she did not write again, +even to congratulate him as other friends had done, but added to his +discomfort, for he knew that her pride was now in arms, and that she +must be deeply wounded. He heard of her constantly, and at the +procession in his honour he had seen her, leaning on the arm of General +Knox, a dazzling, but angelic vision in blue and white, at which even +the bakers, wig-makers, foresters, tanners, and printers had turned to +stare. One of the latter had leaped down from the moving platform on +which he was printing a poem of occasion by William Duer, and begged her +on his knee to deign to receive a copy. She held weekly receptions, +which were attended by two-thirds of the leading men in town, and +Hamilton's intimate friends discoursed of her constantly. Croix was +supposed to have been seized with a passion for travelling in savage +jungles, and it was the general belief that his death would be +announced as soon as the lady should find it convenient to go into +mourning. It was plain to the charitable that he had left her with +plenty of money, for she dressed like the princess she looked, and her +entertainments lacked no material attraction. The gossip was more +furious than ever, but the most assiduous scandal-monger could connect +no one man with her name, nor trace her income to other than its reputed +source. More than once Hamilton had passed her coach, and she had bowed +gravely, with neither challenge nor reproach in her sweet haughty eyes. +After these quick passings Hamilton usually gave her a few moments of +intense thought. He marvelled at her curious intimate knowledge of him, +not only of the less known episodes of his career, but of more than one +of his mental processes. It is true, she might have led Troup or Fish +into gossip and analysis, but her sympathy counted heavily. She drew him +by many strings, and sometimes the response thrilled him unbearably. He +felt like a man who stood outside the gates of Paradise, bolting them +fast. Still, he could quite forget her in his work; and it is probable +that but for chance he never would have met her, that one of the +greatest disasters in history would have been averted. + +Betsey, who had not been well for some time, went to the northern +forests of her old home to strive for "spring" and colour. She took the +children with her, and Hamilton, who hated to live alone, filled his +deserted rooms with Troup, Fish, and Baron Steuben, whose claims he had +been pressing upon Congress for years, practically supporting him +meanwhile. The old soldier felt keenly the ingratitude of the country he +had served, but in time it made him ample compensation; meanwhile the +devotion of a few friends, and the lionizing of society, helped him to +bear his lot with considerable fortitude. He spent hours in the nursery +of the little Hamiltons, and was frequently seen in the Broadway with +one in his arms and the other three attached to his person. + +All the talk was of Washington and the first administration, Hamilton +having carried his point in Congress that New York should be the +temporary seat of government; there was jealousy and wrangling over +this, as over most other matters involving state pride, but Hamilton +believed that should the prize fall to Philadelphia, she would not +relinquish it as lightly as New York, which geographically was the more +unfit for a permanent gathering, and that the inconvenience to which +most of the members, in those days of difficult travel over a vast area, +would be subjected, would force them the sooner to agree upon a central +and commonly agreeable locality,--one, moreover, which would not meet +with the violent opposition of New York. Madison, who had been in favour +of Philadelphia, finally acknowledged Hamilton's sagacity and gave him +his influence and vote. + +That point settled, all eyes were turned to Mount Vernon. The masses +took for granted that Washington would respond to every call of duty the +public chose to make, and it was inconceivable that anyone else should +fill the first term of that great executive experiment. The universal +confidence in Washington and belief that he was to guide the +Constitution over the more critical of its shoals, had operated more +than any other factor in the ratification of that adventurous +instrument. It was a point upon which Hamilton had harped continually. +That a whole country should turn, as a matter of course, to a man whom +they revered for his virtues rather than for any brilliant parts he may +have effectually hidden within his cold and silent exterior, their +harmonious choice unbroken by an argument against the safety and dignity +of the country in the hands of such a man, certainly is a manifest of +the same elevation of tone that we infer from the great popularity of +the writings of Hamilton and the deference to such men as Jay and Philip +Schuyler. But although they had all the faults of human nature, our +forefathers, and were often selfish and jealous to a degree that +imperilled the country, at least they had the excuse, not only of being +mere mortals, but of living in an era of such changes, uncertainty, and +doubt, that public and private interests seemed hopelessly tangled. +They were not debased by political corruption until Jefferson took them +in hand, and sowed the bountiful crop which has fattened so vast and so +curious a variation upon the original American. + +The Federal leaders by no means shared the confidence of the people in +Washington's response to their call, and they were deeply uneasy. They +knew that he had been bombarded with letters for a year, urging upon him +the acceptance of the great office which would surely be offered him, +and that he had replied cautiously to each that he could not share their +opinion of his indispensability, that he had earned the repose he loved +after a lifetime spent in the service of his country, and had no desire +to return to public life. Hamilton, at least, knew the motive that lay +behind his evasion; without ambition, he was very jealous of his fame. +That fame now was not only one of the most resplendent in history, but +as unassailable as it was isolated. He feared the untried field in which +he might fail. + +One evening, late in September, as Hamilton and his temporary household +were entering the dining room, Gouverneur Morris drove down Wall Street +in his usual reckless fashion, scattering dogs and children, and pulling +his nervous sweating horses almost to their haunches, as he reached +Hamilton's door. As he entered the house, however, and received the +enthusiastic welcome to which he was accustomed, his bearing was as +unruffled as if he had walked down from Morrisania reading a breviary. + +"I grow desperately lonely and bored out on my ancestral domain, and +long for the glare and glitter, the intrigues and women, of Europe--our +educated ones are so virtuous, and the others write such shockingly +ungrammatical notes," he announced, as he took his seat at the board. +"Educated virtue is beneficial for the country, but we will all admit +that politics are our only excitement, and my blood dances when I think +of Europe. However, I did not come tearing through the woods on a hot +night to lament the virtue of the American woman. I've written to +Washington, and he won't listen to me. We all know how many others have +written, including Lafayette, I hear. And we all know what the +consequences will be if--say John or Sam Adams, Hancock, or Clinton +should be our first president. I long for Paris, but I cannot leave the +country while she is threatened with as grave a peril as any that has +beset her. Would that he had a grain of ambition--of anything that a +performer upon the various chords of human nature could impress. I +suppose if he were not so desperately perfect, we should not be in the +quandary we are, but he would be far easier to manage. As I awoke from +my siesta just two hours ago, my brain was illuminated by the idea that +one man alone could persuade him; and that was Alexander Hamilton. He +likes us, but he loves you. If he has a weak spot, it has yearned over +you since you were our infant prodigy in uniform, with your curls in +your eyes. You must take him in hand." + +"I have mentioned it to him, when writing of other things." + +"He is only too glad of the excuse to evade a mere mention. You must +write to him as peremptorily as only you dare to write to that majestic +presence. Don't mince it. Don't be too respectful--I was, because he is +the one being I am afraid of. So are all the others. Besides, you have +the most powerful and pointed pen in this country. We have spoiled you +until you are afraid of no one--if you ever were. And you know him as no +one else does; you will approach him from precisely the right sides. +Your duty is clear, and the danger is appalling. Besides, I want to go +to Europe. Promise me that you will write to-night." + +"Very well," said Hamilton, laughing. "I promise." And, in truth, his +mind had opened at once to the certainty that the time was come for him +to make the final effort to insure Washington's acceptance. He had felt, +during the last weeks, as if burrowing in the very heart of a mountain +of work; but his skin chilled as he contemplated the opening of the new +government without Washington in the presidential Chair. + +Two hours after dinner Morris escorted him to the library and shut him +in, then went, with his other friends, to Fraunces' tavern, and the +house was quiet. Hamilton's thoughts arranged themselves rapidly, and +before midnight he had finished his letter. Fortunately it has been +preserved, for it is of as vital an interest as anything he ever wrote, +not only because it was the determining factor in Washington's +acceptance of an office toward which he looked with reluctance and +dread, but because of its consummate sagacity and of its peremptory +tone, which no man but Hamilton would have dared to assume to +Washington. + +It ran:-- + + NEW YORK, September, 1788. + + ... I should be deeply pained, my dear sir, if your scruples in + regard to a certain station should be matured into a resolution to + decline it; though I am neither surprised at their existence, nor + can I but agree in opinion, that the caution you observe in + deferring an ultimate determination, is prudent. I have, however, + reflected maturely on the subject, and have come to a conclusion + (in which I feel no hesitation), that every public and personal + consideration will demand from you an acquiescence in what will + _certainly_ be the unanimous wish of your country. The absolute + retreat which you meditated at the close of the late war was + natural, and proper. Had the Government produced by the Revolution + gone on in a _tolerable_ train, it would have been most advisable + to have persisted in that retreat. But I am clearly of opinion that + the crisis which brought you again into public view, left you no + alternative but to comply; and I am equally clear in the opinion, + that you are by that act _pledged_ to take a part in the execution + of the Government. I am not less convinced, that the impression of + this necessity of your filling the station in question is so + universal, that you run no risk of any uncandid imputation by + submitting to it. But even if this were not the case, a regard to + your own reputation, as well as to the public good, calls upon you + in the strongest manner, to run that risk. + + It cannot be considered as a compliment to say, that on your + acceptance of the office of President, the success of the new + Government, in its commencement, may materially depend. Your agency + and influence will be not less important in preserving it from the + future attacks of its enemies, than they have been in recommending + it, in the first instance, to the adoption of the people. + Independent of all considerations drawn from this source, the point + of light in which you stand at home and abroad will make an + infinite difference in the respectability with which the Government + will begin its operations, in the alternative of your being or not + being at the head of it. I forbear to urge considerations which + might have a more personal application. What I have said will + suffice for the inferences I mean to draw. + + First. In a matter so essential to the well being of society, as + the prosperity of a newly instituted 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. + + Secondly. Your signature to the proposed system pledges your + judgement for its being such an one as, upon the whole, was worthy + of the public approbation. If it should miscarry (as men commonly + decide from success, or the want of it), the blame will, in all + probability, be laid on the system itself; and the framers of it + will have to encounter the disrepute of having brought about a + revolution in government, without substituting anything that was + worthy of the effort. They pulled down one Utopia, it will be said, + to build up another. This view of the subject, if I mistake not, my + dear sir, will suggest to your mind greater hazard to that fame, + which must be and ought to be dear to you, in refusing your future + aid to the system, than in affording it. I will only add, that in + my estimate of the matter, that aid is indispensable. + + I have taken the liberty to express these sentiments, and to lay + before you my view of the subject. I doubt not the considerations + mentioned have fully occurred to you, and I trust they will finally + produce in your mind the same result which exists in mine. I + flatter myself the frankness with which I have delivered myself + will not be displeasing to you. It has been prompted by motives + which you could not disapprove. I remain, my dear sir, + + With the sincerest respect and regard, + + Your obedient and humble servant, + + A. HAMILTON. + + +XII + +Hamilton folded and sealed the letter, then determined to take it to the +post-office himself. The night was hot and his head was throbbing: he +had worked, dined, wined, talked, and written, since eight in the +morning, with no interval for fresh air or exercise. He was not tired, +but very nervous, and after he had disposed of his letter, he set off +for a stroll along the river front, and walked for two miles up the +quiet road on the east side, listening to the lap of the water, and +pausing to watch the superb effect of the moonlight on the bright +ripples and on the wooded heights of Long Island. The little village of +Brooklyn twinkled here and there for a time, then lay like a sombre +shadow in the silences of her forest. As he returned, there was not a +light anywhere, except now and again at a masthead, for it was very +late. The clock in Trinity steeple struck one as he reëntered the town. +He moved through the narrow dark and crooked streets with a lagging +step, although he had walked briskly for the past hour. There seemed to +be no sleep in him, and the idea of his quiet room was an irritation. + +"That woman is on my nerves," he thought. "I've written a letter +to-night that may bridge this country over another crisis, and I should +be sleeping the sleep of the self-sufficient statesman, or at least +excogitating upon weighty matters; and for the last hour I've given no +thought to anything but an unknown woman, who has electrified my +imagination and my passions. Is there, perhaps, more safety in meeting +her and laying the ghost? Imagination plays us such damnable tricks. She +may have a raucous voice, or too sharp a wit; or she may love another by +this. I'll ask Nick to take me there to-morrow." + +The drawing-room windows of the dwellings were but a few feet above the +ground, and many of them abutted on the pavement. The narrow street was +almost dark, in spite of the moonlight, but Hamilton saw that some one +sat at a lower window but a few feet ahead of him. It was a woman, for +her arm hung over the sill There was nothing to arrest his attention in +the circumstance, beyond the vague beauty of the arm and hand, for on +these dog nights many sat at their windows until the chill of early +morning; but he suddenly remembered that he was in Pearl Street. For a +moment he meditated retreat; with no enthusiasm, however. He shrugged +his shoulders and walked on, but his breath was short. As he approached +he could see that she was watching him, although her face was almost +invisible. He paused beneath the window, half in defiance, his eyes +striving to pierce the heavy shade of the room. The hand closed abruptly +about the lower part of his face. It trembled, but there was as much +determination as warmth in the finger tips; and he seemed to have been +transported suddenly to a field of violets. + + +XIII + +"Nick," said Hamilton, a few evenings later as they were peeling +walnuts, "This is the night on which Mrs. Croix receives, is it not? Do +you attend? I will go with you. The lady has kindly been at pains to let +me know that I shall not be unwelcome." + +Troup pushed back his plate abruptly, and Baron Steuben burst into a +panegyric. Fish replied that he had not intended to go, but should +change his mind for the sake of the sensation he must create with such a +lion in tow. He left the table shortly after, to dress, followed by +Steuben, who announced his intention to make one of the party. The host +and Troup were left alone. + +"What is the matter?" asked Hamilton, smiling. "I see you disapprove of +something. Surely you have not lost your heart--" + +"Nonsense," exclaimed Troup, roughly, "but I have always hoped you would +never meet her." + +"_Have_ you?" + +"If you want to know the truth she has pumped me dry about you. She did +it so adroitly that it was some time before I discovered what she was up +to. At first I wondered if she were a spy, and I changed my first mind +to avoid her, determined to get to the bottom of her motives. I soon +made up my mind that she was in love with you, and then I began to +tremble, for she is not only a very witch of fascination, but she has +about forty times more power of loving, or whatever she chooses to call +it, than most women, and every mental attraction and fastidious +refinement, besides. There is not a good woman in the country that could +hold her own against her. I have no wish to slander her, and have never +discussed her before; but my instincts are strong enough to teach me +that a woman whose whole exterior being is a promise, will be driven by +the springs of that promise to redeem her pledges. And the talk of you +banishes all that regal calm from her face and lets the rest loose. I +suppose I am a fool to tell you this, but I've been haunted by the idea +from the first that if you know this woman, disaster will come of it. I +do not mean any old woman's presentiment, but from what I know of her +nature and yours. You do astonishingly few erratic things for a genius, +but in certain conditions you are unbridled, and my only hope has been +that the lightning in you would strike at random without doing much +harm--to you, at all events. But this volcano has a brain in it, and +great force of character. She will either consume you, ruining your +career, or if you attempt to leave her she will find some way to ruin +you still. God knows I'm no moralist, but I am jealous for your genius +and your future. This has been a long speech. I hope you'll forgive it." + +Hamilton had turned pale, and he hacked at the mahogany with the point +of his knife. He made no attempt to laugh off Troup's attack, Troup +watched him until he turned pale himself. "You have met her," he said +abruptly. + +Hamilton rose and pushed back his chair. "I promise you one thing," he +said: "that if I happen to lose my nethermost to Mrs. Croix, the world +shall never be the wiser. That I explicitly promise you. I dislike +extremely the position in which I put the lady by these words, but you +will admit that they mean nothing, that I am but striving to allay your +fears--which I know to be genuine. She will probably flout me. I shall +probably detest her conversation. But should the contrary happen, should +she be what you suspect, and should a part of my nature which has never +been completely accommodated, annihilate a resistance of many months, at +least you have my assurance that worse shall not happen." + +Troup groaned. "You have so many sides to satisfy! Would that you could +have your truly phenomenal versatility of mind with a sweet simplicity +of character. But we are not in the millennium. And as you have not the +customary failings of genius,--ingratitude, morbidity, a disposition to +prevaricate, a lack of common-sense, selfishness, and +irresponsibility,--it is easy for us to forgive you the one inevitable +weakness. Come to me if you get into trouble. She'd have no mercy at my +hands. I'd wring her neck." + +Many people were at their country-seats, but politics kept a number of +men in town, and for this political and wholly masculine _salon_ of Mrs. +Croix, Gouverneur Morris drove down from Morrisania, Robert Livingston +from Clermont; Governor Clinton had made it convenient to remain a day +longer in New York. Dr. Franklin had been a guest of my lady for the +past two days. They were all, with the exception of Clinton, in the +drawing-room, when Hamilton, Steuben and Fish arrived; and several of +the Crugers, Colonel Duer, General Knox, Mayor Duane, Melancthon Smith, +Mr. Watts, Yates, Lansing, and a half-dozen lesser lights. Mrs. Croix +sat in the middle of the room, and her chair being somewhat higher and +more elaborate than its companions, suggested a throne: Madame de Staël +set the fashion in many affectations which were not long travelling to +America. In the house, Mrs. Croix discarded the hoopskirt, and the +classic folds of her soft muslin gown revealed a figure as superb in +contour as it was majestic in carriage. Her glittering hair was in a +tower, and the long oval of her face gave to this monstrous head-dress +an air of proportion. Her brows and lashes were black, her eyes the +deepest violet that ever man had sung, childlike when widely opened, but +infinitely various with a drooping lash. The nose was small and +aquiline, fine and firm, the nostril thin and haughty. The curves of her +mouth included a short upper lip, a full under one, and a bend at the +corners. There was a deep cleft in the chin. Technically her hair was +auburn; when the sun flooded it her admirers vowed they counted twenty +shades of red, yellow, sorrel, russet, and gold. Even under the soft +rays of the candles it was crisp with light and colour. The dazzling +skin and soft contours hid a jaw that denoted both strength and +appetite, and her sweet gracious manner gave little indication of her +imperious will, independent mind, and arrogant intellect. She looked to +be twenty-eight, but was reputed to have been born in 1769. For women so +endowed years have little meaning. They are born with what millions of +their sex never acquire, a few with the aid of time and experience only. +Nature had fondly and diabolically equipped her to conquer the world, to +be one of its successes; and so she was to the last of her ninety-six +years. Her subsequent career was as brilliant in Europe as it had been, +and was to be again, in America. In Paris, Lafayette was her sponsor, +and she counted princes, cardinals, and nobles among her conquests, and +died in the abundance of wealth and honours. If her sins found her out, +they surprised her in secret only. To the world she gave no sign, and +carried an unbroken spirit and an unbowed head into a vault which looks +as if not even the trump of Judgement Day could force its marble doors +to open and its secrets to come forth. But those doors closed behind her +seventy-seven years later, when the greatest of her victims had been +dust half a century, and many others were long since forgotten. +To-night, in her glorious triumphant womanhood she had no thought of +vaults in the cold hillside of Trinity, and when Hamilton entered the +room, she rose and courtesied deeply. Then, as he bent over her hand: +"At last! Is it you?" she exclaimed softly. "Has this honour indeed come +to my house? I have waited a lifetime, sir, and I took pains to assure +you long since of a welcome." + +"Do not remind me of those wretched wasted months," replied Hamilton, +gallantly, and Dr. Franklin nodded with approval. "Be sure, madam, that +I shall risk no reproaches in the future." + +She passed him on in the fashion of royalty, and was equally gracious to +Steuben and Fish, although she did not courtesy. The company, which had +been scattered in groups, the deepest about the throne of the hostess, +immediately converged and made Hamilton their common centre. Would +Washington accept? Surely he must know. Would he choose to be addressed +as "His Serene Highness," "His High Mightiness," or merely as +"Excellency"? Would so haughty an aristocrat lend himself agreeably to +the common forms of Republicanism, even if he had refused a crown, and +had been the most jealous guardian of the liberties of the American +people? An aristocrat is an aristocrat, and doubtless he would observe +all the rigid formalities of court life. Most of those present heartily +hoped that he would. They, too, were jealous of their liberties, but had +no yearning toward a republican simplicity, which, to their minds, +savoured of plebianism. Socially they still were royalists, whatever +their politics, and many a coat of arms was yet in its frame. + +"Of course Washington will be our first President," replied Hamilton, +who was prepared to go to Mount Vernon, if necessary. "I have had no +communication from him on the subject, but he would obey the command of +public duty if he were on his death-bed. His reluctance is natural, for +his life has been a hard one in the field, and his tastes are those of a +country gentleman,--tastes which he has recently been permitted to +indulge to the full for the first time. Moreover, he is so modest that +it is difficult to make him understand that no other man is to be +thought of for these first difficult years. When he does, there is no +more question of his acceptance than there was of his assuming the +command of the army. As for titles they come about as a matter of +course, and it is quite positive that Washington, although a Republican, +will never become a Democrat. He is a grandee and will continue to live +like one, and the man who presumes to take a liberty with him is lost." + +Mrs. Croix, quite forgotten, leaned back in her chair, a smile +succeeding the puzzled annoyance of her eyes. In this house her words +were the jewels for which this courtly company scrambled, but Hamilton +had not been met abroad for weeks, and from him there was always +something to learn; whereas from even the most brilliant of women--she +shrugged her shoulders; and her eyes, as they dwelt on Hamilton, +gradually filled with an expression of idolatrous pride. The new delight +of self-effacement was one of the keenest she had known. + +The bombardment continued. The Vice-President? Whom should Hamilton +support? Adams? Hancock? Was it true that there was a schism in the +Federal party that might give the anti-Federalists, with Clinton at +their head, a chance for the Vice-Presidency at least? Who would be +Washington's advisers besides himself? Would the President have a +cabinet? Would Congress sanction it? Whom should he want as confreres, +and whom in the Senate to further his plans? Whom did he favour as +Senators and Representatives from New York? Could this rage for +amendments be stopped? What was to be the fate of the circular letter? +Was all danger of a new Constitutional Convention well over? What about +the future site of the Capital--would the North get it, or the South? + +All these, the raging questions of the day, it took Hamilton the greater +part of the evening to answer or parry, but he deftly altered his orbit +until he stood beside Mrs. Croix, the company before her shrine. He had +encountered her eyes, but although he knew the supreme surrender of +women in the first stages of passion, he also understood the vanities +and weaknesses of human nature too well not to apprehend a chill of the +affections under too prolonged a mortification. + +Clinton entered at midnight; and after almost bending his gouty knee to +the hostess, whom he had never seen in such softened yet dazzling +beauty, he measured Hamilton for a moment, then laughed and held out his +hand. + +"You are a wonderful fighter," he said, "and you beat me squarely. We'll +meet in open combat again and again, no doubt of it, and I hope we will, +for you rouse all my mettle; but I like you, sir, I like you. I can't +help it." + +Hamilton, at that time of his life the most placable of men, had shaken +his hand heartily. "And I so esteem and admire you, sir," he answered +warmly, "that I would I could convert you, for your doctrines are bound +to plunge this country into civil war sooner or later. The Constitution +has given the States just four times more power than is safe in their +hands; but if we could establish a tradition at this early stage of the +country's history that it was the duty of the States always to consider +the Union first and themselves as grateful assistants to a hard-working +and paternal central power, we might do much to counteract an evil +which, if coddled, is bound to result in a trial of strength." + +"That is the first time I ever heard you croak, except in a public +speech where you had a point to gain," said Livingston. "Do you mean +that?" + +"What of it?" asked Clinton. "Under Mr. Hamilton's constitution--for if +it be not quite so monarchical as the one he wanted, it has been saddled +upon the United States through his agency more than through any other +influence or group of influences--I say, that under Mr. Hamilton's +constitution all individualism is lost. We are to be but the component +parts of a great machine which will grind us as it lists. Had we +remained thirteen independent and sovereign States, with a tribunal for +what little common legislation might be necessary, then we might have +built up a great and a unique nation; but under what is little better +than an absolute monarchy all but a small group of men are bound to live +and die nonentities." + +"But think of the excited competition for a place in that group," said +Hamilton, laughing. The disappointed Governor's propositions were not +worthy of serious argument. + +"I do not think it is as bad as that, your Excellency," said Dr. +Franklin, mildly. "I should have favoured a somewhat loose +Confederation, as you know, but the changes and the development of this +country will be so great that there will be plenty of room for +individualism; indeed, it could not be suppressed. And after a careful +study of this instrument that you are to live under--my own time is so +short that my only rôle now is that of the prophet--I fail to see +anything of essential danger to the liberties of the American people. I +may say that the essays of "The Federalist" would have reassured me on +this point, had I still doubted. I read them again the other week. The +proof is there, I think, that the Constitution, if rigidly interpreted +and lived up to, must prove a beneficent if stern parent to those who +dwell under it." + +Clinton shrugged his shoulders. "I would I could share your optimism," +he said. "What a picture have we! The most venerable statesman in the +country finding some hope for individual liberty in this Constitution; +the youngest, an optimist by nature and habit, sanguine by youth and +temperament, trembling for the powers it may confer upon a people too +democratically inclined. This is true, sir--is it not?" + +"Yes," said Hamilton. "Democracy is a poison, just as Republicanism is +the ideal of all self-respecting men. I would do all I could to vitalize +the one and nullify the other. The spirit of democracy exists already, +no doubt of it. If we could suppress it in time, we should also suppress +the aspirations of encouraged plebianism,--a dangerous factor in any +republic. It means the mixing of ignoble blood with good, a gradual +lowering of ideals until a general level of sordidness, individualism in +its most selfish and self-seeking form, and political corruption, are +the inevitable results. You, your Excellency, are an autocrat. It is odd +that your principles should coincide so closely with the despotism of +democracy." + +"Oh, I can't argue with you!" exclaimed Clinton, impatiently. "No one +can. That is the reason you beat us when we clearly were in the right. +What says Madam? She is our oracle." "If she would but bring him under +her foot!" he said to Yates. "She is heart and soul with us. I augur +well that he is here at last." + +"It is long since our fairy queen has spoken," Franklin was saying; +gallant to all women, he was prostrate before this one. "Her genius +directs her to the most hidden kernels." + +"What do you wish?" she asked lightly. "A prophecy? I am no Cassandra. +Unlike Dr. Franklin, I am too selfish to care what may happen when I am +dead. At this date we are assured of two elements in government: +unselfish patriotism and common-sense. There never has been a nobler nor +a more keenly intelligent group of men in public life than General +Washington will be able to command as assistants in forming a +government. And should our Governor lead his own party to victory," she +added, turning to Clinton with so brilliant a smile that it dissipated a +gathering scowl, "it would be quite the same. The determined struggle +of the weaker party for the rights which only supremacy can insure them +is often misconstrued as selfishness; and power leads their higher +qualities as well as their caution and conservatism to victory. I am a +philosopher. I disapproved the Constitution, and loved the idea of +thirteen little sovereignties; but I bow to the Inevitable and am +prepared to love the Constitution. The country has too much to +accomplish, too much to recover from, to waste time arguing what might +have been; it is sure to settle down into as complacent a philosophy as +my own, and adjust itself to its new and roomy crinoline." + +"Crinoline is the word," growled Clinton, who accepted her choice of +words as a subtle thrust at Hamilton. "It is rigid. Wherever you move it +will move with you and bound your horizon." + +"Oh, well, you know," said Hamilton, who was tired of the conversation, +"like a crinoline it can always be broken." + + +XIV + +Washington was President of the United States. He had come over grandly +from the Jersey shore in a magnificent barge manned by twelve oarsmen in +white uniform, escorted by other barges but a shade less imposing. A +week later he had taken the oath of office on the new Broad Street +gallery of Federal Hall, amidst the breathless silence of thousands, +surrounded by the dignitaries of state and three personal friends, +Hamilton, Steuben, and Knox. The anti-Federalists were crushed, no +longer of dignity as a party, although with ample resources for +obstruction and annoyance. The country, after an interval of rejoicing, +had settled down to another period of hope and anxiety. + +And Hamilton had incurred the dislike of Adams and the hostility of the +Livingstons. He had thought it best to scatter the votes for the +Vice-President, lest there be the slightest risk of Washington's defeat; +and Adams who thought quite as much of himself as he did of George +Washington, and had expected to be elected with little less than +unanimity, instead of by a bare thirty-four votes, never forgave +Hamilton the humiliation. "I have seen the utmost delicacy used toward +others," he wrote to a friend, "but my feelings have never been +regarded." He knew that Hamilton believed him to have been in sympathy +with the Conway Cabal,--a suspicion of which he never cleared +himself,--and attributed to the Federal leader the motive of wishing to +belittle his political significance, lest he should endeavour to use his +power as President of the Senate to hamper and annoy the Administration. +Perhaps he was right. Far be it from anyone to attempt a journey through +the utmost recesses of Hamilton's mind. He was frank by nature and +habit, but he had resolved that the United States government should +succeed, and had no mind to put weapons into the hands of Washington's +rivals. He believed in Adams's general integrity, patriotism, and +federalism, however, and brought him to power in his own fashion. He +achieved his objects with little or no thought of personal consequences; +and although this has been characterized as one of the great political +mistakes of his career, it must be remembered that it was a time for +nervousness and exaggerated fears. Washington had enemies; no other man +was believed, by the men who did the thinking for the country, to be +able to hold the United States together until they were past their +shoals, and the method of election was precarious: each elector casting +two votes without specification, the higher office falling to the +candidate who received the larger number of votes. + +The Livingstons had desired a seat in the Senate of the new Congress for +one of their powerful family, and Hamilton had given the prize to Rufus +King. No gift could have been more justly bestowed; but the Livingstons +felt themselves flouted, their great services to the country unrewarded. +Their open hostility roused all the haughty arrogance of Hamilton's +nature, and he made no effort to placate them. When the great office of +Chief Justice of the United States was given to John Jay, instead of to +Robert Livingston, they attributed the discrimination to Hamilton's +influence over Washington; and the time came when this strong and +hostile faction lent themselves to the scheming of one of the subtlest +politicians that has ever lived. + +The contest for the prizes of the two Houses had been hot and bitter, +and Hamilton had never been more active. As a result, the Federalists +controlled the Senate, and they had elected four of the six +Representatives. Philip Schuyler had drawn the short term in the Senate, +and the antagonism of the Livingstons to Hamilton enabled Burr to +displace him two years later. The signal mistakes of Hamilton's +political career were in his party management. One of the greatest +leaders in history, cool and wise, and of a consummate judgement in all +matters of pure statesmanship, he was too hot-headed and impetuous, too +obstinate when his righting blood was up, for the skilful manipulation +of politics. But so long as the Federal party endured, no other leader +was contemplated: his integrity was spotless, his motives unquestioned, +his patriotism and stupendous abilities the glory of his party; by sheer +force of genius he carried everything before him, whether his methods +were approved by the more conservative Federalists or not. + +Madison, who mildly desired an office, possibly in the Cabinet, he +despatched South to get himself elected to Congress, for he must have +powerful friends in that body to support the great measures he had in +contemplation; and that not unambitious statesman, after a hot fight +with Patrick Henry, was obliged to content himself with a seat in the +House. Before he went to Virginia he and Hamilton had talked for long +and pleasant hours over the Federal leader's future schemes. In all +things he was in accord with his Captain, and had warmly promised his +support. + +It was some weeks before Hamilton had a private interview with +Washington, although he had dined at his house, entertained him, and +been present at several informal consultations on such minor questions +as the etiquette of the Administration. But delicacy held him from +embarrassing Washington in a familiar interview until he had been +invited formally to a position in the contemplated cabinet. He knew that +Washington wished him to be Secretary of the Treasury, but he also knew +that that most cautious and conscientious of men would not trust to his +own judgement in so grave a matter, nor take any step without weeks of +anxious thought. The more deeply were Washington's affections or desires +engaged, the more cautious would he be. He was not a man of genius, +therefore fell into none of the pitfalls of that terrible gift; he was +great by virtue of his superhuman moral strength--and it is safe to say +that in public life he never experienced a temptation--by a wisdom that +no mental heat ever unbalanced, by an unrivalled instinct for the best +and most useful in human beings, and by a public conscience to which he +would have unhesitatingly sacrificed himself and all he loved, were it a +question of the nation's good. But Hamilton knew whom he would consult, +and devoted himself to his legal work without a qualm for the future. As +he had anticipated, Washington wrote to Robert Morris for advice, and +the reply of that eminent financier, that "Hamilton was the one man in +the United States competent to cope with the extreme difficulties of +that office," pleasantly ended the indecision of the President, and he +communicated with Hamilton at once. + +Hamilton answered by letter, for Washington was wedded to the +formalities, but he followed it with a request for a private interview; +and after the lapse of eight years Washington and Hamilton met once more +for a purely personal colloquy. + +Washington was occupying temporarily the house of Walter Franklin, on +the corner of Cherry Street and Franklin Square, a country residence at +which society grumbled, for all the world lived between the present site +of the City Hall and Battery Park. Hamilton rode up on horseback, and +was shown into the library, which overlooked a pleasant garden. The +President, in the brown suit of home manufacture which he had worn at +the inauguration, as graceful and erect as ever, although with a more +elderly visage than in the days of war, entered immediately, closed the +door carefully, then took both Hamilton's hands in his enormous grasp. +The austere dignity of his face relaxed perceptibly. + +"Oh!" he said. "I am glad to see you!" + +"It is not a return to old times, alas!" said Hamilton, gaily; "for what +we all had to do then was a bagatelle to this, and you have made the +supreme sacrifice of your life." + +Washington seated himself in an arm-chair, motioning Hamilton to one +opposite. "I wrote Knox," he said, "that I felt as if setting out to my +own execution; and I swear to you, Hamilton, that if it had not been for +you I doubt if my courage would not have failed me at the last moment. I +had a moment of nervous dread this morning before I opened your letter, +but I believed that you would not fail me. It is a colossal enterprise +we are embarked upon, this constructing of a great nation for all time. +God knows I am not equal to it, and although I shall always reserve to +myself the final judgement, I expect a few of you to think for me--you, +in particular. Then with the Almighty's help we may succeed, but I can +assure you that it has cost me many wakeful nights--and cold sweats." + +He spoke with his usual slow impressiveness, but he smiled as he watched +Hamilton's flashing eyes and dilating nostrils. "You look but little +older," he added. "Not that you still look a stripling, controlling your +temper with both hands while I worked you half to death; but you have +the everlasting youth of genius, I suppose, and you look to me able to +cope with anything." + +Hamilton laughed. "I am far older in many things, sir. I fear I often +seemed ungrateful. I have blessed you many times, since, for the +discipline and the invaluable knowledge I gained in those years." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Washington. "Ah! I am very glad to hear you say that. It +is like your generosity, and I have had many anxious moments, wondering +if there might not still be a grudge. But not only were your peculiar +gifts indispensable to this country, but, I will confess, now that it is +over, I mortally dreaded that you would lose your life. You and Laurens +were the most reckless devils I ever saw in the field. Poor Laurens! I +felt a deep affection for him, and his death was one of the bitterest +blows of the war. If he were here now, and Lafayette, how many pleasant +hours I should look forward to; but I have you, and God knows I am +grateful. Lafayette, I am afraid, has undertaken too great a business +for his capacity, which is admirable; but he is not strong enough to be +a leader of men." + +"I wish he were here, and well out of it." + +"I have not sufficiently thanked you for the letter you wrote me last +September. It was what I had earnestly hoped for. My position was most +distressing. It was impossible for me not only to ask the advice of +anyone, but the temper of the public mind regarding myself. To assume +that I must be desired--but I need not explain to you, who know me +better than anybody living, the extreme delicacy of my position, and the +torments of my mind. Your letter explained everything, told me all I +wished to know, made my duty clear--painfully clear. You divined what I +needed and expressed yourself in your usual frank and manly way, without +the least hesitation or fear. I take this occasion to assure you again +of my deep appreciation." + +"Oh, sir," said Hamilton, who was always affected unbearably by +Washington's rare moments of deep feeling, "I was merely the selected +instrument to give you what you most needed at the moment; nothing more. +This was your destiny; you would be here in any case. It is my pride, my +reward of many years of thought and work, that I am able to be of +service to your administration, and conspicuous enough to permit you to +call me to your side. Be sure that all that I have or am is yours, and +that I shall never fail you." + +"If I did not believe that, I should indeed be deep in gloomy +forebodings. Jay will officiate as Secretary of State for the present; +Knox, as Secretary at War. I contemplate inviting Randolph to act as +Attorney-General, and Jefferson as permanent Secretary of State, if he +will accept; thus dividing the appointments between the North and the +South. What do you think of the wisdom of appointing Mr. Jefferson? He +is a man of great abilities, and his long residence abroad should make +him a valuable Secretary of State, his conspicuous services acceptable +to both sections of the country. It is the selection over which I have +hesitated longest, for it is a deep and subtle nature, a kind I have no +love of dealing with, but so far as I know it is not a devious one, and +his talents command my respect." + +"I am unable to advise you, sir, for he is not personally known to me," +said Hamilton, who was not long wishing that he had had a previous and +extensive knowledge of Thomas Jefferson. "Madison thinks well of him--is +a close personal friend. He has rendered great services to the State of +Virginia, his experience is wide, and he possesses a brilliant and +facile pen--I can think of no one better fitted for the position. His +record for personal bravery is not untarnished, but perhaps that will +insure peace in the Cabinet." + +Washington laughed. "Jefferson would slide under the table if you +assaulted him," he said. "It is you only that I fear, as it is you only +upon whom I thoroughly rely, and not for advice in your own department +alone, but in all. I think it would perhaps be better not to hold +collective meetings of the Cabinet, but to receive each of you alone. It +is as well the others do not know that your knowledge and judgement are +my chief reliance." + + +XV + +Hamilton, on his way home, stopped in at the chambers of Troup. + +"Bob," he said, "you are to wind up my law business. I am to be +Secretary of the Treasury." + +Troup half rose with an exclamation of impatience. "Good heavens!" he +exclaimed. "Have you not an introductory line in your nature? It has +been bad enough to have been anticipating this, without having it go +straight through one like a cannon-ball. Of course it is no use to +reason with you--I gave that up just after I had assumed that you were a +small boy whom it was the duty of a big collegian to protect, and you +nearly demolished my not too handsome visage with your astonishing +fists for contradicting you. But I am sorry. Remain at the bar and you +have an immediate prospect of wealth, not too many enemies, and the +highest honours. Five years from now, and you would lead not only the +bar of New York but of the whole country. Jay may be the first Chief +Justice, but you would be the second--." + +"Nothing would induce me to be Chief Justice. I should be bored to +death. Can you fancy me sitting eternally and solemnly in the middle of +a bench, listening to long-winded lawyers? While I live I shall have +action--." + +"Well, you will have action enough in this position; it will burn you +out twenty years before your time. And it will be the end of what peace +and happiness a born fighter could ever hope to possess; for you will +raise up enemies and critics on every side, you will be hounded, you +will be the victim of cabals, your good name will be assailed--." + +"Answer this: do you know of anyone who could fill this office as +advantageously to the country as I?" + +"No," said Troup, unwillingly. "I do not." + +Hamilton was standing by the table. He laid his hand on a volume of +Coke, expanding and contracting it slowly. It was perhaps the most +beautiful hand in America, and almost as famous as its owner. But as +Troup gazed at it he saw only its superhuman suggestion of strength. + +"The future of this country lies there," said Hamilton. "I know, and you +know, that my greatest gift is statesmanship; my widest, truest +knowledge is in the department of finance; moreover, that nothing has so +keen and enduring a fascination for me. I could no more refuse this +invitation of Washington's than I could clog the wheels of my mind to +inaction. It is like a magnet to steel. If I were sure of personal +consequences the most disastrous, I should accept, and without +hesitation. For what else was the peculiar quality of my brain given me? +To what other end have I studied this great question since I was a boy +of nineteen--wild as I was to fight and win the honours of the field? +Was ever a man's destiny clearer, or his duty?" + +"I have no more to say," said Troup, "but I regret it all the same. +Have you heard from Morris--Gouverneur?" + +"Oh, yes, I had a long screed, in almost your words, spiced with his own +particular impertinence. Will you wind up my law business?" + +"Oh, of course," said Troup. + +The new Congress, made up, though it was, of many of the ablest men in +the country, had inherited the dilatory methods of the old, and did not +pass an act establishing the Treasury Department until the 2d of +September. Hamilton's appointment to this most important portfolio at +the disposal of the President was looked upon as a matter of course. It +created little discussion, but so deep a feeling of security, that even +before the reading of his famous Report business had revived to some +extent. This Report upon the public credit was demanded of him at once, +but it was not until the recess of Congress that he could work +uninterruptedly upon it; for that body, floundering in its chaos of +inherited difficulties, turned to the new Secretary for advice on almost +every problem that beset it. I cannot do better here than to quote from +the monograph on Hamilton by Henry Cabot Lodge, who puts with admirable +succinctness a series of facts important to the knowledge of every +American:-- + + In the course of a year he was asked to report, and did report with + full details, upon the raising, management, and collection of the + revenue, including a scheme for revenue cutters; as to the + estimates of income and expenditure; as to the temporary regulation + of the chaotic currency; as to navigation laws, and the regulation + of the coasting trade, after a thorough consideration of a heap of + undigested statistics; as to the post-office, for which he drafted + a bill; as to the purchase of West Point; on the great question of + public lands and a uniform system of managing them; and upon all + claims against the government. Rapidly and effectively the + secretary dealt with all these matters, besides drawing up as a + voluntary suggestion a scheme for a judicial system. But in + addition to all this multiplicity of business there were other + matters like the temporary regulation of the currency, requiring + peremptory settlement. Money had to be found for the immediate and + pressing wants of the new government before any system had been or + could be adopted, and the only resources were the empty treasury + and broken credit of the old confederacy. By one ingenious + expedient or another, sometimes by pledging his own credit, + Hamilton got together what was absolutely needful, and without a + murmur conquered those petty troubles when he was elaborating and + devising a far-reaching policy. Then the whole financial machine of + the Treasury Department, and a system of accounting, demanded + instant attention. These intricate problems were solved at once, + the machine constructed, and the system of accounts devised and put + into operation; and so well were these difficult tasks performed + that they still subsist, developing and growing with the nation, + but at bottom the original arrangements of Hamilton. These + complicated questions, answered so rapidly and yet so accurately in + the first weeks of confusion incident to the establishment of a new + government, show a familiarity and preparation, as well as a + readiness of mind of a most unusual kind. Yet while Hamilton was + engaged in all this bewildering work, he was evolving the great + financial policy, at once broad, comprehensive, and minute, and + after the recess in January he laid his ground plan before Congress + in his first report on public credit; a state paper which marks an + era in American history, and by which the massive corner-stone, + from which the great structure of the Federal government has risen, + was securely laid. + +New York, meanwhile, had blossomed to her full. Houses had been +renovated, and with all the elegance to be commanded. Many had been let, +by the less ambitious, to the Members of Congress from other States, and +all were entertaining. General Schuyler occupied a house close to +Hamilton, and his daughters Cornelia and Peggy--Mrs. Stephen Van +Rensselaer--were lively members of society. The Vice-President had taken +the great house at Richmond Hill, and General Knox as imposing a mansion +as he could find. Washington, after a few months, moved to the McComb +house in lower Broadway, one of the largest in town, with a reception +room of superb proportions. Here Mrs. Washington, standing on a dais, +usually assisted by Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Hamilton, received, with the +rigid formality of foreign courts, all who dared to attend her levees. +She had discarded the simplicity of campaigning days, and attired +herself with a magnificence which was emulated by her "Court." It was +yet too soon to break from tradition, and the Washingtons conducted +themselves in accordance with their strong aristocratic proclivities. +Nor did it occur to anyone, even the most ardent Republican, that +dignity and splendour were inconsistent with a free and enlightened +Republic, until Jefferson began his steady and successful system of +plebeianizing the country. + +Washington's levees were frigid; but I have not observed any special +warmth at the White House upon public occasions in my own time. The +President, after the company had assembled, entered in full official +costume: black velvet and satin, diamond knee-buckles, his hair in a bag +and tied with ribbons. He carried a military hat under his arm, and wore +a dress sword in a green shagreen scabbard. He made a tour of the room, +addressing each guest in turn, all being ranged according to their rank. +At his wife's levees he attended as a private individual and mingled +more freely with the guests; but his presence always lowered every voice +in the room, and women trembled with anxiety lest he should not engage +them in conversation, while dreading that he might. The unparalleled +dignity, the icy reserve of his personality, had always affected the +temperature of the gatherings he honoured; but at this time, when to the +height of a colossal and unique reputation was added the first +incumbency of an office, bestowed by a unanimous sentiment, which was to +raise the United States to the plane of the great nations of Europe, he +was instinctively regarded as superhuman, rather as a human embodiment +of the Power beyond space. He was deeply sensitive to the depressing +effect he produced, and not a little bored by the open-mouthed curiosity +he excited. A youngster, having run after him for quite a block, one +day, panting from his exertions, Washington wheeled about suddenly, and +made a bow so profound and satirical that his pursuer fled with a yell +of terror. + +The President was very fond of the theatre, and invited a party once a +week to accompany him to John Street. He entertained at table +constantly, and dined out formally and intimately. Congress, he attended +in great state. He had brought to New York six white horses of the +finest Virginian breed, and a magnificent cream-coloured coach, +ornamented with cupids and festoons. For state occasions the horses were +covered over night with a white paste, and polished next morning until +they shone like silver. The hoofs were painted black. When Washington +drove through the city on his way to Congress, attended by postilions +and outriders, it is little wonder that he had a royal progress through +proud and satisfied throngs. + +The Adamses, who had counselled all the usages of foreign courts, but +had been outvoted by Hamilton and Jay, entertained but little less than +the President; and so did the Schuylers, Livingstons, Jays, and half the +town. The Hamiltons, of necessity, entertained far more simply; but +Betsey received every Wednesday evening, when her rooms were a crush of +fashion and politics, eager for a glimpse of Hamilton and to do court to +her popular self. They gave at least one dinner a week, but Betsey as a +rule went out with her parents, for her husband was too busy for +society. + +The world saw little of Hamilton at this time, and Betsey but little +more. He worked in his library or office for fourteen hours of the day, +while the country teemed with conjectures of his coming Report. A +disposition to speculate upon it was already manifest, and more than one +friend endeavoured to gain a hint of its contents. Not even Madison, to +whom he had talked more freely than to anyone, knew aught of the details +of that momentous Report, what recommendations he actually should make +to Congress; for none knew better than he that a hint derived from him +which should lead to profitable speculation would tarnish his good name +irretrievably. Careless in much else, on the subject of his private and +public integrity he was rigid; he would not have yielded a point to +retain the affection of the best and most valued of his friends. +Fastidious by nature on the question of his honour, he knew, also, that +other accusations, even when verified, mattered little in the long run; +a man's actual position in life and in history was determined by the +weight of his brain and the spotlessness of his public character. He +worked in secret, with no help from anyone; nor could blandishments +extract a hint of his purpose. Against the rock of his integrity passion +availed nothing. As for Betsey, between her growing children, the +delicacy which had followed the birth of her last child, and her heavy +social duties, she would have had little time to assist him had he +confided even in her. Moreover, to keep up a dignified position upon +$3500 a year cost her clever little Dutch head much anxious thought. It +is true that some money had been put aside from the income of her +husband's large practice, but he was the most careless and generous of +men, always refusing the fees of people poorer than himself, and with no +talent for personal, great as was his mastery of political, economy. If +General Schuyler often came to the rescue his son-in-law never knew it. +Hamilton had a vague idea that Betsey could manage somehow, and was far +too absorbed to give the matter a thought. Betsey, it would seem, had +her own little reputation, for it was about this time that M'Henry +finished a letter to Hamilton, as follows:-- + + Pray present me to Mrs. Hamilton. I have learned from a friend of + yours that she has, as far as the comparison will hold, as much + merit as your treasurer as you have as treasurer of the wealth of + the United States. + + +XVI + +Congress reassembled, and on the 2d of January Hamilton sent in his +Report on Public Credit. By this time excitement and anxiety, to say +nothing of cupidity, were risen to fever pitch. All realized that they +were well in the midst of a national crisis, for the country was +bankrupt, and her foreign and domestic debts footed up to quite eighty +millions of dollars--a stupendous sum in the infancy of a nation, when +there was little specie in the country, and an incalculable amount of +worthless paper, with long arrears of interest besides. If Hamilton +could cope with this great question, and if Congress, with its +determined anti-government party, would support him, the Union and its +long-suffering patriots would enter upon a season of prosperity and +happiness. If the one were inadequate to meet the situation, or the +other failed in its national duty, the consequences must be deeper +wretchedness and disaster than anything they yet had endured. The +confidence in Hamilton was very widespread, for not only were his great +abilities fully recognized, but his general opinions on the subject had +long been known, and approved by all but the politicians on the wrong +side. The confidence had been manifested in a manner little to his +liking: speculators had scoured the country, buying up government +securities at the rate of a few shillings on the pound, taking advantage +of needy holders, who dwelt, many of them, in districts too remote from +the centre of action to know what the Government was about. And even +before this "signal instance of moral turpitude," the fact that so many +old soldiers who had gone home with no other pay than government +securities, to be exchanged for specie at the pleasure of a government +which nobody had trusted, had sold out for a small sum, was one of the +agitating themes of the country; and opinion was divided upon the right +of the assignees to collect the full amount which the new government +might be prepared to pay, while the moral rights of the worthy and +original holder were ignored. It was understood, however, that Hamilton +had given no more searching thought to any subject than to this. + +The public was not admitted to the galleries of Congress in those days, +but a great crowd packed Wall and Broad streets while the Report was +reading and until some hint of its contents filtered through the guarded +doors. Hamilton himself was at home with his family, enjoying a day of +rest. It is one of the most curious incidents in his career, as well as +one of the highest tributes to his power over men, that Congress, after +mature deliberation, decided that it would be safer to receive his +Report in writing than in the form of a personal address from a man who +played so dangerously upon the nerve-board of the human nature. There +hardly could be any hidden witchery in a long paper dealing with so +unemotional a subject as finance; but no man could foresee what might be +the effect of the Secretary's voice and enthusiasm,--which was +perilously communicable,--his inevitable bursts of spontaneous +eloquence. But Hamilton had a pen which served him well, when he was +forced to substitute it for the charm of his personality. It was so +pointed, simple, and powerful, it classified with such clarity, it +expressed his convictions so unmistakably, and conveyed his subtle +appeals to human passions so obediently, that it rarely failed to +quiver like an arrow in the brain to which it was directed. And this +particular report was vitalized by the author's overwhelming sense of +the great crisis with which he was dealing. Reading it to-day, a hundred +and eleven years after it was written, and close to the top of a +twelve-story building, which is a symbol of the industry and progress +for which he more than any man who has ever dedicated his talents to the +United States is responsible, it is so fresh and convincing, so earnest, +so insistent, so courteously peremptory, that the great century which +lies between us and that empire-making paper lapses from the memory, and +one is in that anxious time, in the very study of the yet more anxious +statesman; who, on a tropical island that most of his countrymen never +will see, came into being with the seed of an unimagined nation in his +brain. + +To condense Hamilton is much like attempting to increase the density of +a stone, or to reduce the alphabet to a tabloid. I therefore shall make +no effort to add another failure to the several abstracts of this +Report. The heads of his propositions are sufficient. The Report is +accessible to all who find the subject interesting. The main points were +these: The exploding of the discrimination fallacy; the assumption of +the State debts by the Government; the funding of the entire amount of +the public debt, foreign, domestic, and State; three new loans, one to +the entire amount of the debt, another of $10,000,000, a third of +$12,000,000; the prompt payment of the arrears and current interest of +the foreign loan on the original terms of the contract; the segregating +of the post-office revenue, amounting to about a million dollars, for a +sinking fund, that the creation of a debt should always be accompanied +by the means of extinguishment; increased duties on foreign commodities, +that the government might be able to pay the interest on her new debts +and meet her current expenses; and more than one admonition for prompt +action, as the credit of the nation was reaching a lower level daily, +besides sinking more hopelessly into debt through arrears of interest. +The indebtedness he divided as follows: The foreign debt, $10,070,307, +with arrears of interest amounting to $1,640,071. The liquidated +domestic debt, $27,383,917, with arrears of interest amounting to +$13,030,168. The unliquidated part he estimated at $2,000,000, and the +aggregate debt of the State at $25,000,000; making a total of nearly +$80,000.000. + +He also hinted at his long-cherished scheme of a National Bank, and a +possible excise law, and gave considerable space to the miserable +condition of landed property and the methods by which it might be +restored to its due value. + + +XVII + +The talk in the drawing-room of Mrs. Croix that night was of little else +but the Secretary's Report. Mrs. Croix, so said gossip, had concluded +that this was the proper time for the demise of her recalcitrant +officer, and had retired to weeds and a semi-seclusion while Mrs. +Washington pondered upon the propriety of receiving her. Her court cared +little for the facts, and vowed that she never had looked so fair or so +proud; Hamilton, that she shone with the splendour of a crystal star on +the black velvet skies of the Tropics. She wore, this evening, a few +yards of black gauze which left bare a crescent of her shining neck and +the lower arms. Her bright hair was arranged in a mass of ringlets, +after a fashion obtaining in Europe, and surmounted by a small turban of +gauze fastened with a diamond sun. Many of the men who visited her +habitually called her Lady Betty, for she was one of those women who +invite a certain playful familiarity while repelling intimacy. Hamilton +called her, as the fancy moved him, Egeria, Boadicea, or Lady Godiva. + +Clinton came in fuming. "It is not possible," he cried, "that the +Congress can be so mad as to be hoodwinked by this deep political scheme +for concentrating the liberties of the United States under the executive +heel. 'To cement more closely the union of the States and to add to +their security against foreign attack!' Forsooth! This assumption plan +is nothing more nor less than another of his dastardly schemes to +squeeze out of the poor States what little liberty he left them under +the Constitution. He could not obtain at Philadelphia all he wished for, +but now that Washington has given him both reins, he laughs in our +faces. I regret that I ever offered him my hand." + +"Then our party in Congress will fight him on political grounds?" asked +Mrs. Croix. + +"You may put it that way if you choose. It certainly will not be blinded +by his speciousness and aid him in his subtle monarchism. 'Contribute in +an eminent degree to an orderly, stable, and satisfactory arrangement of +the Nation's finances!' 'Several reasons which render it probable that +the situation of the State creditors will be worse than that of the +creditors of the Union, if there be not a national assumption of the +State debts!' And then his plan of debit and credit, with 'little doubt +that balances would appear in favour of all the States against the +United States!' My blood has boiled since I read that paper. I have +feared apoplexy. He is clever, that West Indian,--do they grow many +such?--but he did not select a country composed entirely of fools to +machinate in." + +"My dearest Governor," whispered Mrs. Croix, "calm yourself, pray. Only +you can cope with Mr. Hamilton. You must be the colossal spirit without +the walls of Congress to whom all will look for guidance. If you become +ill, the cause is lost." + +Clinton composed himself promptly, and asked Elbridge Gerry, of +Massachusetts, which, section of the Report he expected to attack first. +There were no Federalists present. + +Gerry shrugged his shoulders and shot a narrow glance of contempt at the +Governor. "Give me time, your Excellency, pray. Mr. Hamilton's paper has +the thought of a decade in it. It merits at least a week of thought on +our part. I never could agree with him in all things, but in some I am +at one with him; and I acknowledge myself deeply in his debt, insomuch +as he has taught me, among thousands of others, to 'think +continentally,' I certainly agree with him that to pay to present +holders the full value of their certificates, without discrimination, is +a matter of constitutional law, a violation of which would be a menace +to the new government. I shall support him on that point at the risk of +being accused of speculation." + +Stone, of Maryland, was striding up and down, but a degree less agitated +than the Governor of New York. + +"The man is cleverer than all the rest of us put together!" he +exclaimed. "Let us not forget that for an instant. A greater thought +than this of assumption has never been devised by man. If it be carried +into execution,--which God forbid,--it will prove a wall of adamant to +the Federal government, impregnable to any attempt on its fabric or +operations." + +"Oh, is it so bad as that?" asked Gerry. "Every fort falls if the siege +be sufficiently prolonged. I apprehend no such disaster, and I confess I +see much promise in at least two of Mr. Hamilton's schemes. After all, +the redemption of the country is what we must look to first." + +"You are a trimmer. Cannot you see that if the whole revenue of the +States be taken into the power of Congress, it will prove a band to draw +us so close together as not to leave the smallest interstice for +separation?" + +"But do you meditate separation?" asked Mrs. Croix. "Surely that would +be as great a crime as Mr. Hamilton's monarchical manoeuvres--if it be +true he practises such." + +"He is bold enough about them," snorted Clinton. "I do the man justice +to recognize his insolent frankness." + +"Those I cannot say I have observed," said Gerry. "Nor do I think that +we meditate separation. We are struggling out of one pit. It would be +folly to dig a deeper. And Massachusetts has a great debt, with +decreasing revenue for interest and redemption. I am not sure that +assumption would not be to her advantage. She stood the brunt of the +war. It is but fair that she should have relief now, even at the expense +of other States whose debt is insignificant; and she is able to take +care of herself against the Federal government--" + +"The brunt of the war!" exclaimed the Attorney-General of the Cabinet, +who, with the Speaker of the House, had just entered, and who had +controlled himself with difficulty for several seconds. "I beg to assure +you, sir, that Virginia may claim that honour. Her glorious patriotism, +her contributions in men and money--they exceeded those of any State in +the Union, sir." + +Gerry laughed. "I have no means of comparison by which patriotism may be +measured, Mr. Randolph," he said. "But we can produce figures, if +necessary, to prove our title to supremacy in the other matters you +mention. As you have reduced your debt, however, by an almost total +repudiation of your paper money--" + +"How about Mr. Madison?" asked Mrs. Croix, hurriedly. "He is your +fellow-statesman, Mr. Randolph, but he is Mr. Hamilton's devoted friend +and follower. Virginia may be sadly divided." + +"My fears have decreased on that point," said Randolph, drily. "Mr. +Madison's loyalty toward his State increases daily." + +"So does his ambition," observed Muhlenberg. "If I am not mistaken, he +has begun to chafe at Hamilton's arrangement of his destinies--and a +nature like that is not without deep and sullen jealousies. To be a +leader of leaders requires a sleepless art; to lead the masses is play +by comparison. Hamilton is a magician, but he is arrogant and impatient. +With all his art and control of men's minds, he will lose a follower now +and again, and not the least important would be--will be--Madison." + +"Have you proof?" asked Clinton, eagerly. "He would be of incomparable +value in our ranks. By the way, Aaron Burr is working to the front. He +is a born politician, if I am not mistaken, and is in a rapid process of +education. I feel sure that I have attached him to our cause by +appointing him Attorney-General of the Staite. He should make an +invaluable party man." + +"He will be attached to no cause," said Gerry. "He is, as you say, a +politician. There is not a germ of the statesman in him; nor of the +honest man, either, unless I am deeply mistaken. He is the only man of +note in the country who has not one patriotic act to his credit. He +fought, but so did every adventurous youth in the country; and had there +been anything more to his interest to do at the time, the Revolution +could have taken care of itself. But during all our trying desperate +years since--did he go once to Congress? Did he interest himself in the +Constitution, either at Philadelphia or Poughkeepsie? What record did he +make in the State Legislature during his one term of infrequent +attendance? While other men, notably Hamilton, of whom he betrays an +absurd jealousy, have been neglecting their private interests in the +public cause, he has been distinguishing himself as a femalist, and +thinking of nothing else but making money at the bar. I admit his +brilliancy, his intrepidity, and the exquisite quality of his address, +but I don't believe that an honest man who comes into contact with him +instinctively trusts him." + +"Oh, let us not indulge in such bitter personalities," cried Mrs. Croix, +who took no interest at that time in the temporary husband of her old +age. "Surely this coming legislation should compel every faculty. What +of the other debts?--of funding? Or, if it is still too soon to talk of +these matters with equilibrium," she added hastily, as Clinton turned +purple again, "pray tell me that the great question of deciding upon a +site for the Capital is nearing a solution. It has been such a source of +bitter agitation. I wish it were settled." + +"The House may or may not pass this bill for ten years in Philadelphia, +and the banks of the Potomac thereafter," growled the Senator from North +Carolina. "The Federalists have the majority, and they are determined to +keep the seat of government in the North, as they are determined to have +their monarchical will in everything. Madison hopes for some fortuitous +coincidence, but I confess I hardly know what he means." + +Gerry laughed. "When Madison takes to verbiage," he said, "I should +resort to a plummet and line." + +"Sir!" cried Randolph, limping toward the door in angry haste. "Mr. +Madison is one of the loftiest statesmen in the country!" + +"Has been. Centrifugal forces are in motion." + +"How everybody in politics does hate everybody else!" said Mrs. Croix, +with a patient sigh. + + +XVIII + +The next morning Mrs. Croix sent a peremptory summons to Hamilton. +Although at work upon his "Additional Estimates," he responded at once. +The lady was combing her emotional mane in the sunshine before the +mirror of her boudoir when he arrived, and the maid had been dismissed. + +"Well, Egeria," he said, smiling down upon this dazzling vision, "what +is it? What warning of tremendous import have you to deliver, that you +rout a busy Secretary from his work at eleven in the morning? I dared +not loiter, lest your capricious majesty refuse me your door upon my +next evening of leisure--" + +"It is not I who am capricious!" cried Mrs. Croix. She pouted +charmingly. "Indeed, sir, I never am quite sure of you. You are all +ardour to-day, and indifference to-morrow. For work I am always put +aside, and against your family demands I do not exist." + +"My dear Boadicea," said Hamilton, drily, "I am a mere creature of +routine. I met you after my habits of work and domesticity were well +established. You are the fairest thing on earth, and there are times +when you consume it, but circumstances isolate you. Believe me, I am a +victim of those circumstances, not of caprice." + +"My dear Hamilton," replied Mrs. Croix, quite as drily, "you have all +the caprice of a woman combined with all the lordly superiority of the +male. I well know that although I bewitch you, I can do so at your +pleasure only. You are abominably your own master, both in your strength +and your weakness. But there is no one like you on earth, so I submit. +And I work and burrow for you, and you will not even accept my precious +offerings." + +"I will not have you playing the rôle of spy, if that is what you mean. +I do not like this idea of confessing my enemies when they think +themselves safe in your house, I prefer to fight in the open, and they +reveal themselves to me sooner or later. What should I think of myself +and you if I permitted you to act as a treacherous go-between." + +"You will not permit me to help you! And I could do much! I could tell +you so much now that would put you on your guard. I could help you +immeasurably. I could be your fate. But you care for nothing but my +beauty!" And she dropped dismally into her pocket-handkerchief. + +Hamilton was not one of those men who dread a woman's tears. He had +dried too many. His immediate and practical consolation but appeared to +deepen her grief, however, and he was obliged to resort to eloquence. + +"Where do I find such hours of mental companionship as here?" he +demanded. "I say nothing of art and literature; do I not discuss with +you the weightiest affairs of State--everything, in fact, upon which my +honour does not compel silence? Never have I thought of asking the +advice, the opinion, of a woman before. You are my Egeria, and I am +deeply grateful for you. If at times I remember nothing but your beauty, +would you have it otherwise? I flatter myself that you would not. Have +you really anything to reproach me for, because I will not hear of your +committing an act which I would not commit myself? I suppose it is +hopeless to talk of honour to the cleverest of women, but you must +accept this dictum whether you understand it or not: I will listen to +none of the confidences of your trusting anti-Federalists. Why cannot +you come out honestly and declare your true politics? You could do far +more good, and I leave you no excuse to perpetrate this lie." + +"I will not," sobbed his Egeria, obstinately. "I may be able to be of +service to you, even if you will not let me warn you of Madison's +treachery." + +She had scored her point, and Hamilton sprang to his feet, his face as +white as her petticoats. "Madison's treachery!" he exclaimed. "It is +true he comes near me but seldom this Congress. I had attributed his +coldness to temperament. Can it be? So many forces would operate. There +is much jealousy and ambition in him. He can never lead my party. Is he +capable of deserting that he might lead another? One expects that sort +of thing of a Burr; but Madison--I have thought him of an almost +dazzling whiteness at times--then I have had lightning glimpses of +meaner depths. He is easily influenced. Virginia opposes me so bitterly! +Will he dare to continue to defy her? Can he continue to rise if she +combines against him? Oh, God! If he only had more iron in his soul!" + +It was characteristic of him that he had forgotten his audience. He was +thinking aloud, his thought leaping from point to point as they sprang +into the brilliant atmosphere of his mind; or using its rapid divining +rod. He threw back his head. "I'll not believe it till I have proof!" he +exclaimed defiantly. "Why, I should feel as if one of the foundations of +the earth had given way. Madison--we have been like brothers. I have +confided deeply in him. There is little in that Report of yesterday that +I have not discussed with him a hundred times--nothing but the ways and +means, which I dared confide to no one. He has always been in favour of +assumption, of paying the whole debt. It is understood that he is to +support me in Congress. I'll hear no more. Dry your tears. You have +accomplished your object with a woman's wit. I believe you did but shed +those tears to enhance your loveliness, my Lady Godiva." + + +XIX + +The immediate consequences of Hamilton's Report were a rise of fifty per +cent in the securities of the bankrupt Confederation, and a bitter +warfare in Congress. All were agreed upon the propriety of paying the +foreign loan, but the battle raged about every other point in turn. One +of the legacies of the old Congress was the principle of repudiating +what it was not convenient to redeem, and the politicians of the country +had insensibly fallen into the habit of assuming that they should start +clear with the new government, and relegate the domestic debt to the +limbo which held so many other resources best forgotten. They were far +from admitting the full measure of their inheritance, however, and +opened the battle with a loud denouncement of the greedy speculator who +had defrauded the impoverished soldier, to whose needs they had been +indifferent hitherto. Most of this feeling concentrated in the +opposition, but many Federalists were so divided upon the question of +discrimination that for a time the other great questions contained in +the Report fell back. Feeling became so bitter that those who supported +the assignees were accused of speculation, and personalities were hot +and blistering. Many of the strongest men, however, ranged with +Hamilton, and were in sight of victory, when Madison, who had hoped to +see the question settle itself in favour of the original holders without +his open support, came out with a double bomb; the first symptom of his +opposition to the Federal party, and an unconstitutional proposition +that the holders by assignment should receive the highest market-price +yet reached by the certificates, by which they would reap no +inconsiderable profit, and that the balance of the sum due, possibly +more than one-half, should be distributed among the original holders. +For a time the reputation for statemanship which Madison had won was +clouded, for his admission of the claims of the assignees nullified any +argument he could advance in favour of the original holders. But he had +his limitations. There was nothing of the business man in his +composition. One of the most notable and useful attributes of Hamilton's +versatile brain was excluded from his, beyond its comprehension. His +proposition was rejected by thirty-six votes to thirteen. + +Then the hostile camps faced each other on the questions of the domestic +debt and assumption. In regard to the former, common decency finally +prevailed, but the other threatened to disrupt the Union, for the +Eastern States threw out more than one hint of secession did the measure +fail. Madison, without further subterfuge, came forth at the head of +his State as the leader of the anti-assumptionists. He offered no +explanation to his former chief and none was demanded. For a time +Hamilton was bitterly disgusted and wounded. He shrugged his shoulders, +finally, and accepted his new enemy with philosophy, though by no means +with amiability and forgiveness; but he had seen too much of the +selfishness and meanness of human nature to remain pained or astonished +at any defection. + +When June came, however, he was deeply uneasy. On March 29th the +resolutions providing for the foreign debt and for paying in full the +principal of the domestic debt to the present holders passed without a +division. So did the resolution in favour of paying the arrears of +interest in like manner with the principal of the domestic debt. But the +resolution in favour of assumption was recommitted. The next day the +friends of assumption had the other resolutions also recommitted, and +the furious battle raged again. Finally, on June 2d, a bill was passed +by the House, which left the question of assumption to be settled by a +future test of strength. + +The anti-assumptionists were triumphant, for they believed the idea +would gain in unpopularity. But they reckoned without Hamilton. + + +XX + +Jefferson had arrived on March 21st, and entered at once upon his duties +as Secretary of State. He disapproved of the assumption measure, but was +so absorbed in the perplexing details of his new office, in +correspondence, and in frequent conferences with the President on the +subject of foreign affairs, that he gave the matter little consecutive +thought. Moreover, he was dined every day for weeks, all the +distinguished New Yorkers, from Hamilton down, vying with each other in +attentions to a man whose state record was so enlightened, and whose +foreign so brilliant, despite one or two humiliating failures. He rented +a small cottage in Maiden Lane, and looked with deep disapproval upon +the aristocratic dissipations of New York, the frigid stateliness of +Washington's "Court." The French Revolution and the snub of the British +king had developed his natural democratism into a controlling passion, +and he would have preferred to find in even the large cities of the new +country the homely bourgeois life of his highest ideals. + +No one accused him of inconsistency in externals. With his shaggy sandy +hair, his great red face, covered with freckles, his long loose figure, +clad in red French breeches a size too small, a threadbare brown coat, +soiled linen and hose, and enormous hands and feet, he must have +astounded the courtly city of New York, and it is certain that he set +Washington's teeth on edge. It is no wonder that when this vision rises +upon the democratic horizon of to-day, he is hailed as a greater man +than Washington or Hamilton. + +Shortly after the final recommitment of the resolution in favour of +assumption, the Federalist leader met this engaging figure almost in +front of Washington's door, and a plan which had dawned in his mind a +day or two before matured on the instant. He had no dislike for +Jefferson at the time, and respected his intellect and diplomatic +talents, without reference to differences of opinion. Jefferson grinned +as Hamilton approached, and offered his great paw amiably. He did not +like his brother secretary's clothes, and his hitherto averted +understanding was gradually moving toward the displeasing fact that +Hamilton was the Administration; but he had had little time for +reflection, and he succumbed temporarily to a fascination which few +resisted. + +Hamilton approached him frankly. "Will you walk up and down with me a +few moments?" he asked. "I have intended to call upon you. You have +returned at a most opportune time. Do you realize, sir, that the whole +business of this nation is at a deadlock? There is nothing in this talk +of the North seceding, but so great is the apprehension that the +energies of the country are paralyzed, and no man thinks of anything but +the possible failure of the Government. I am convinced that assumption +is not only necessary to permanent union, to the solution of the +financial problem, but to the prosperity of the States themselves." He +then proceeded to convince Jefferson, who listened attentively, +wondering, with a sigh, how any man could pour out his thoughts so +rapidly and so well. "Will you turn this over in your mind, and let me +see you again in a day or two?" asked Hamilton, as he finished his +argument. "Let me reiterate that there is no time to lose. The +Government is at a standstill in all matters concerning the +establishment of the country on a sound financial basis, until this +subordinate matter is settled." + +"You alarm and deeply interest me," said Jefferson. "I certainly will +give the matter my attention. Will you dine with me to-morrow? We can +then discuss this matter at leisure. I will ask one or two others." + +The next day, at Mr. Jefferson's epicureous board, Hamilton played his +trump. Having again wrought havoc with his host's imagination, but by no +means trusting to the permanence of any emotion, he proposed a bargain: +if Jefferson would use his influence with the Virginians and other +Southern anti-assumptionists in Congress, he and Robert Morris would +engage to persuade obstinate Northerners to concede the Capital city to +the South. Hamilton made no sacrifice of conviction in offering this +proposition. There was no reason why the Government should not sit as +conveniently on the banks of the Potomac as elsewhere, and if he did not +carry the Union through this new crisis, no one else would. All his +great schemes depended upon his bringing the hostile States to reason, +and with his usual high-handed impatience he carried his object in his +own way. + +Jefferson saw much virtue in this arrangement. The plan was an almost +immediate success. White and Lee of Virginia were induced to change +their votes, and assumption with some modifications passed into a law. +The Government, after a ten years' sojourn in Philadelphia, would abide +permanently upon the Potomac. + + +XXI + +Mrs. Hamilton, albeit she had not a care in the world, sighed heavily. +She was standing before her mirror, arrayed in a triumph of art recently +selected by Mrs. Church, in London. On her head was an immense puff of +yellow gauze, whose satin foundation had a double wing in large plaits. +The dress was of yellow satin, flowing over a white satin petticoat, and +embellished about the neck with a large Italian gauze handkerchief, +striped with white. Her hair was in ringlets and unpowdered. She was a +very plate of fashion, but her brow was puckered. + +"What is it?" asked her husband, entering from his room. "You are a +vision of loveliness, my dear Eliza. Is there a rose too few, or a hoop +awry?" + +"No, sir, I am well enough pleased with myself. I am worrying lest +General Washington ask me to dance. It will be bad enough to go out with +Mr. Adams, who snaps at me every time I venture a remark, but he at +least is not a giant, and I do not feel like a dwarf. When the President +leads me out--that is to say, when he did lead me out at the +Inauguration ball, I was like to expire of mortification. I felt like a +little polar cub trotting out to sea with a monster iceberg. And he +never opened his lips to distract my mind, just solemnly marched me up +and down, as if I had done something naughty and were being exhibited. I +saw Kitty Livingston giggle behind her fan, and Kitty Duer drew herself +up to her full height, which is quite five feet six, and looked down +upon me with a cruel amusement. Women are so nasty to each other. Thank +heaven I have a new gown for to-night--anyhow!" + +Hamilton laughed heartily; she always amused him, she was half his wife, +half the oldest of his children. "And you are fresher far than any of +them; let that console you," he said, arranging her necklace. "I am sure +both the President and the Vice-President will take you out; they hardly +would have the bad taste not to. And you look very sweet, hanging on to +Washington's hand. Don't imagine for a moment that you look ridiculous. +Fancy, if you had to walk through life with either of them." + +Betsey shuddered and smoothed her brow. "It _would_ be a walk with the +dear General," she said. "I dare not dwell upon what it would be with +Mr. Adams--or anyone else! You are amazing smart, yourself, to-night." + +"This new costume depressed me for a moment, for it is very like one +Laurens used to wear upon state occasions, but I had not the courage to +wear the light blue with the large gilt buttons, and the pudding cravat +Morris inconsiderately sent me; not with Jefferson's agonized eye to +encounter. The poor man suffers cruelly at our extravagance and +elegance." + +"He is an old fright," quoth Betsey, "and I'd not dance with him, not if +he went on his knees." + +She looked her husband over with great pride. He wore a coat of +plum-coloured velvet, a double-breasted Marseilles vest, white satin +breeches, white silk stockings, and pumps. There were full ruffles of +lace on his breast and wrists. A man of to-day has to be singularly +gifted by nature to shine triumphant above his ugly and uniform garb, +whereas many a woman wins a reputation for beauty by a combination of +taste with the infinite range modern fashion accords her. In the days of +which we write, a man hardly could help looking his best, and while far +more decorative than his descendant, was equally useful. And as all +dressed in varying degrees of the same fashion, none seemed effeminate. +As for Hamilton, his head never looked more massive, his glance more +commanding, than when he was in full regalia; nor he more ready for a +fight. All women know the psychological effect of being superlatively +well dressed. In the days of our male ancestors' external vanities it is +quite possible that they, too, felt unconquerable when panoplied in +their best. + +The ball that night was at Richmond Hill, the beautiful home of the +Vice-President and his wife, Abigail Adams, one of the wisest, wittiest, +and most agreeable women of her time. This historic mansion, afterward +the home of Aaron Burr during his successful years, was a country +estate where Varick Street now crosses Charlton in the heart of the +city. It stood on an eminence overlooking the Hudson, surrounded by a +park and commanding a view of the wild Jersey shore opposite. The +Adamses were ambitious people and entertained constantly, with little +less formality than the President. The early hours of their receptions, +indeed, were chilling, and many went late, after dancing was, begun or +the company had scattered to the card-tables. The Vice-President and his +wife stood at the head of the long drawing-room and said good evening, +and no more, as the women courtesied to the ground, or the men bowed as +deeply as their varying years would permit. The guests then stood about +for quite an hour and talked in undertones; later, perhaps, the host and +hostess mingled with them and conversed. But although Mrs. Adams was +vastly popular, her distinguished husband was less so; he was not always +to be counted upon in the matter of temper. This grim old Puritan, of an +integrity which makes him one of the giants of our early history, +despite the last hours of his administration when he was beating about +in the vortex of his passions, and always honest in his convictions, +right or wrong, had not been gifted by nature with a pleasing address, +although he could attach people to him when he chose. He was irascible +and violent, the victim of a passionate jealous nature, without the +saving graces of humour and liveliness of temperament. But his sturdy +upright figure was very imposing; his brow, which appeared to end with +the tip of his nose, so bold was the curve, would have been benevolent +but for the youthful snapping eyes. His indomitability and his capacity +for hatred were expressed in the curves of his mouth. He was always well +dressed, for although a farmer by birth, he was as pronounced an +aristocrat in his tastes as Washington or Hamilton. At this time, +although he liked neither of them, he was the staunch supporter of the +Government. He believed in Federalism and the Constitution, +insignificant as he found his rewards under both, and he was an ally of +inestimable value. + +When the Hamiltons entered his drawing-room to-night they found many +people of note already there, although the minuet had not begun. The +President, his graceful six feet in all the magnificence of black velvet +and white satin, his queue in a black silk bag, stood beside his lady, +who was as brave as himself in a gown of violet brocade over an immense +hoop. Poor dame, she would far rather have been at Mount Vernon in +homespun, for all this pomp and circumstance bored and isolated her. She +hedged herself about with the etiquette which her exalted position +demanded, and froze the social aspirant of insufficient pretensions, but +her traditions and her propensities were ever at war; she was a woman +above all things, and an extremely simple one. + +John Jay, now Chief Justice of the United States, was there, as ever the +most simply attired personage in the Union. His beautiful wife, however, +beaming and gracious, but no less rigid than "Lady Washington," in her +social statutes, looked like a bird of paradise beside a graven image, +so gorgeous was her raiment. Baron Steuben was in the regalia of war and +a breastplate of orders. Kitty Livingston, now Mrs. Matthew Ridley, had +also received a fine new gown of Mrs. Church's selection, for the two +women still were friends, despite the rupture of their families. Lady +Kitty Duer, so soon to know poverty and humiliation, was in a gown of +celestial blue over a white satin petticoat, her lofty head surmounted +by an immense gauze turban. General and Mrs. Knox, fat, amiable, and +always popular, although sadly inflated by their new social importance, +were mountains of finery. Mrs. Ralph Izard, Mrs. Jay's rival in beauty, +and Mrs. Adams's in wit, painted by Gainsborough and Copley, wore a +white gown of enviable simplicity, and a string of large pearls in her +hair, another about her graceful throat. Mrs. Schuyler, stout and +careworn, from the trials of excitable and eloping daughters, clung to +the kind arm of her austere and silent husband. Fisher Ames, with his +narrow consumptive figure and his flashing ardent eyes, his eloquent +tongue chilled by this funereal assemblage, had retreated to an alcove +with Rufus King, where they whispered politics. Burr, the target of many +fine eyes, was always loyal to his wife in public; she was a charming +and highly respected woman, ten years his senior. Burr fascinated women, +and adorned his belt with their scalps; but had it not been for this +vanity, which led him to scatter hints of infinite devilment and +conquest, it is not likely that he would have been branded, in that era +of gallantry, a devirginator and a rake. All that history is concerned +with is his utter lack of patriotism and honesty, and the unscrupulous +selfishness, from which, after all, he suffered more than any man. His +dishonesties and his treasonable attempts were failures, but he left a +bitter legacy in his mastery of the arts of political corruption, and in +a glittering personality which, with his misfortunes, has begodded him +with the shallow and ignorant, who know the traditions of history and +none of its facts. He was a poor creature, with all his gifts, for his +life was a failure, his old age one of the loneliest and bitterest in +history; and from no cause that facts or tradition give us but the blind +selfishness which blunted a good understanding to stupidity. Selfishness +in public life is a crime against one's highest ambitions. + +Mrs. Hamilton kept a firm hold on her husband's arm, and her glance shot +apprehensively from Washington to the Vice-President. The latter could +not dance at present; the former looked as if petrified, rooted in the +floor. Betsey had a clever little head, and she devised a scheme at +once. She was the third lady in the land, and although many years +younger than Mrs. Adams, had entertained from her cradle. No one else +immediately following the entrance of her husband and herself, she did +not move on after her courtesy, but drew Mrs. Adams into conversation, +and the good lady by this time was glad of a friendly word. + +"You will be detained here for an hour yet," said Betsey, sweetly. "Can +I help you? Shall I start the minuet? Dear Mr. Adams will be too tired +to dance to-night. Shall I choose a partner and begin?" + +"For the love of heaven, do," whispered Mrs. Adams. "Take out Colonel +Burr. He matches you in height, and dances like a courtier." + +Other people entered at the moment, and Betsey whispered hurriedly to +Hamilton: "Go--quickly--and fetch Colonel Burr. I breathe freely for the +first time since the clock struck six, but who knows what may happen?" + +Hamilton obediently started in quest of Burr. But alas, Ames and King +darted at him from their hiding-place behind a curtain, and he +disappeared from his wife's despairing vision. Ten minutes later he +became aware of the familiar strains of the minuet, and guiltily glanced +forth. Betsey, her face composed to stony resignation lest she disgrace +herself with tears, was solemnly treading the measure with the solemnest +man on earth, clutching at his hand, which was on a level with her +turban. A turn of her head and she encountered her husband's contrite +eye. Before hers he retreated to the alcove, nor did he show himself in +the ball-room again until it was time to take his wife to their coach. + +He escaped from the room by a window, and after half the evening in the +library with a group of anxious Federalists,--for it was but a night or +two after his dinner with Jefferson,--he retired to a small room at the +right of the main hall for a short conference with the Chief Justice. He +was alone after a few moments, and was standing before the half-drawn +tapestry, watching the guests promenading in the hall, when Kitty +Livingston passed on the arm of Burr. Their eyes met, and she cut him. +His spirits dropped at once, and he was indulging in reminiscences +tinged with melancholy, for he had loved her as one of the faithful +chums of his youth, niching her with Troup, Fish, and other enthusiastic +friends of that time, when to his surprise she entered abruptly, and +drew the tapestry behind her. + +"You wicked varlet!" she exclaimed. "What did you sow all this +dissension for, and deprive me of my best friends?" Then she kissed him +impulsively. "I shall always love you, though. You were the dearest +little chap that ever was--and that is why I am going to tell you +something to-night, although I may never speak to you again, Aaron Burr +is burrowing between my family and the Clinton faction. He hopes to make +a strong combination, defeat General Schuyler at the next election, and +have himself elected senator in his place. Why, why did you alienate us? +We are nine in public life--did you forget that?--and what was Rufus +King to you or to the country compared with our combined strength? Why +should John be preferred to Robert? You are as high-handed and arrogant +as Lucifer himself; and generally you win, but not always. Burr has seen +his first chance for political preferment, and seized it with a cunning +which I almost admire. He has persuaded both the Livingstons and the +Clintons that here is their chance to pull you down, and he is only too +willing to be the instrument--the wretched little mole! I shall hate +myself to-morrow for telling you this, for God knows I am loyal to my +people, but I have watched you go up--up--up. I should feel like your +mother would if I saw you in the dust. I am afraid it is too late to do +anything now. These two hostile parties will not let slip this chance. +But get Burr under your foot when you can, and keep him there. He is +morbid with jealousy and will live to pull you down." + +"My dear girl," exclaimed Hamilton, who was holding her hand between +both his own, "do not let your imagination run away with you. I am very +well with Burr, and he is jealous by fits and starts only. Why in the +name of heaven should he be jealous? He has never given a thought to the +welfare of the country, and I have devoted myself to the subject since +boyhood. If I reap the reward--and God knows the future is precarious +enough--why should he grudge me a power for which he has never striven? +I know him to be ambitious, and I believe him to be unscrupulous, and +for that reason I have been glad that he has hitherto kept out of +politics; for he would be of no service to the country, would not +hesitate to sacrifice it to his own ends--unless I am a poor student of +character. But as to personal enmity against me, or jealousy because I +occupy a position he has never sought,--and he is a year older than I, +remember,--I find that hard to believe, as well as this other; he is not +powerful enough to unite two such factions." + +"He has a tongue as persuasive from its cunning as yours is in its +impetuosity, and he has convinced greater men than himself of his +usefulness. Believe me, Alexander, I speak of what I know, not of what I +suspect. Accept the fact, if you will not be warned. You always +underrate your enemies. Your confidence in your own genius--a confidence +which so much has occurred to warrant--blinds you to the power of +others. Remember the old adage: Pride goeth before a fall--although I +despise the humble myself; the world owes nothing to them. But I have +often trembled for the time when your high-handed methods and your scorn +of inferior beings would knock the very foundations from under your +feet. Now, I will say no more, and we part for ever. Perhaps if you had +not worn that colour to-night, I should not have betrayed my +family--heaven knows! We women are compounded of so many contradictory +motives. Thank your heaven that you men are not half so complex." + +"My dear friend," said Hamilton, drily, "you women are not half so +complex as men. You may lay claim to a fair share because your +intelligence is above the average, but that is the point--complexity is +a matter of intelligence, and as men are, as a rule, far more +intelligent than women, with far more densely furnished brains--" + +But here she boxed his ears and left the room. She returned in a moment. +"You have not thanked me!" she exclaimed. "I deserve to be thanked." + +Hamilton put his arm about her and kissed her affectionately. + +"From the bottom of my heart," he said. "I deeply appreciate the +impulse--and the sacrifice." + +"But you won't heed," she said, with a sigh. "Good-by, Alexander! I +think Betsey is looking for you." + + +XXII + +Hamilton for many months was far too busy with the reports he sent to +Congress in rapid succession, above all with the one concerning the +establishment of a National Bank, to be presented at the opening of the +next Session, and with the routine of business connected with his +department, to interfere in politics. He warned General Schuyler, +however, and hoped that the scandal connected with the State lands, in +which Burr was deeply implicated, would argue for the statesman in his +contest with a mere politician. But Burr, in common with the other +commissioners, was acquitted, although no satisfactory explanation of +their astounding transactions was given, and General Schuyler lost the +election as much through personal unpopularity as through the industry +of Burr and the determined efforts of the Livingstons. Schuyler, the +tenderest of men in his friendships, was as austere in his public manner +as in his virtues, and inflexible in demanding the respect due to his +rank and position. Of a broad intelligence, and a statesman of +respectable stature, he knew little of the business of politics and +cared less. He took his defeat with philosophy, regretting it more for +the animosity toward his son-in-law it betokened than because it removed +him temporarily from public life, and returned with his family to +Albany, Hamilton was annoyed and disgusted, and resolved to keep his eye +on Burr in the future. While he himself was in power the United States +should have no set-backs that he could prevent, and if Burr realized his +reading of his character he should manage to balk his ambitions if they +threatened the progress of the country. Kitty Livingston he did not see +again for many months, for her father died on July 25th. Hamilton heard +of William Livingston's death with deep regret, for Liberty Hall was +among the brightest of his memories; but events and emotions were +crowding in his life as they never had crowded before, and he had little +time for reminiscence. + +Congress adjourned on the 12th of August to meet in Philadelphia in +December. New York followed Washington to the ferry stairs upon the day +of his departure, weeping not only for that great man's loss, but for +the glory that went with him. "That vile Philadelphia," as Angelica +Church, in a letter to Betsey of consolatory lament, characterized the +city where Independence was born, was to be the capital of the Nation +once more, New York to console herself with her commerce and the +superior cleanliness of her streets. Those who could, followed the +"Court," and those who could not, travelled the weary distance over the +corduroy roads through the forests, and over swamps and rivers, as often +as circumstances would permit. Of the former was Mrs. Croix, whose +particular court protested it must have the solace of her presence in a +city to which few went willingly. Clinton heaped her with reproaches, +but she argued sweetly that he was outvoted, and that she should ever go +where duty called. "She felt politics to be her mission," and in truth +she enjoyed its intrigues, the double game she played, with all her +feminine soul. Hamilton would not help himself in her valuable +storehouse, but it pleased her to know that she held dangerous secrets +in her hands, could confound many an unwary politician. And she had her +methods, as we have seen, of springing upon Hamilton many a useful bit +of knowledge, and of assisting him in ways unsuspected of any. She +established herself in lodgings in Chestnut Street, not unlike those in +which she had spent so many happy hours for two years past, inasmuch as +they were situated on the first floor and communicated with a little +garden. Her removal was looked upon as quite natural, and so admirably +did she deport herself that even Mrs. Washington received her in time. + +Philadelphia was a larger city than New York, with wide ill-kept +streets, good pavements, and many fine houses and public buildings. +Chestnut Street was the great thoroughfare, shopping district, and +promenade. It was a city renowned for social activity and "crucifying +expenses." Naturally its press was as jubilant over the revival of its +ancient splendour as that of disappointed New York was scurrilous and +vindictive. When the latter was not caricaturing Robert Morris, +staggering off with the Administration on its back, or "Miss Assumption +and her bastard brats," its anti-Federal part was abusing Hamilton as +the arch-fiend who had sold the country, and applying to him every +adjective of vituperation that fury and coarseness could suggest. There +were poems, taunts, jibes, and squibs, printed as rapidly as the press +and ingenuity could turn them out. If our ancestors were capable of +appreciating the literary excellence of their pamphleteers, as many of +those who have replaced them to-day could not, it must be admitted that +we do not rage and hate so violently. The most hysteric effusions of our +yellow press, or the caustic utterances of our reputable newspapers, are +tame indeed before the daily cyclones of a time when everybody who did +not love his political neighbor hated him with a deadly virulence of +which we know little to-day. We may be improved, merely commercialized, +or more diffuse in our interests. In those days every man was a +politician first and himself after. + +The violence of party feeling engendered once more by the debates over +Hamilton's Report spread over the country like a prairie fire, and raged +until, in the North at least, it was met by the back fire of increasing +prosperity. As the summer waned farmers and merchants beheld the prices +of public securities going up, heard that in Holland the foreign loan +had gone above par, and that two hundred and seventy-eight thousand +dollars of the domestic debt had been purchased and cancelled at a cost +of one hundred and fifty thousand, saw trade reviving, felt their own +burdens lighten with the banishment of the State debt. To sing the +praises of the Assumption Bill was but a natural sequence, and from +thence to a constant panegyric of Hamilton. The anti-Federalist press +was drowned in the North by the jubilance of the Federal and its +increasing recruits, but in the South everything connected with the +Government in general and Hamilton in particular was unholy, and the +language in which the sentiment was expressed was unholier. + +Meanwhile, Hamilton was established in a little house in Philadelphia, +at work upon his second Report on the Public Credit, and elaborating his +argument in favour of a National Bank. Betsey had been more fortunate +than many in getting her house in order within a reasonable time, for +others were camping in two rooms while the carpenters hammered over the +rest of the neglected mansions. Washington arrived in November and took +possession of the stately home of Robert Morris, although he grumbled +that the stables would hold but twelve horses. It was a splendid +mansion, however, and filled not only with the fine collections of the +rich merchant, but with many beautiful works of art that the President +brought from Mount Vernon. Congress opened on the 6th of December. + +If Hamilton had given only an occasional half-amused, half-irritated +attention to the journalistic and pamphlet warfare in which he had been +the target, he now found a domestic engagement confronting him which +commanded his attentions and roused all the fighting Scotch blood in his +composition. Jefferson had done much and distressful thinking during the +summer recess. In the leisure of his extensive, not to say magnificent, +Virginia estates, and while entertaining the neighbouring aristocracy, +he had moved slowly to the conclusion that he approved of nothing in the +Administration, and that Hamilton was a danger to the Nation and a +colossus in his path. Assumption he held to be a measure of the very +devil, and fumed whenever he reflected upon his part in its +accomplishment. "I was made to hold a candle!" he would explain +apologetically. "He hoodwinked me, made a fool of me." + +For a statesman of forty-seven, and one of the most distinguished and +successful men in the country, the literary author of The Declaration of +Independence, the father of many beneficent and popular laws in his own +State, a minister to foreign courts and one of the deepest and subtlest +students of human nature of his century, to find himself fooled and +played with by a young man of thirty-three, relegated by him to a second +place in the Cabinet and country, means--meant in those days, at +least--hate of the most remorseless quality. Jefferson was like a +volcano with bowels of fire and a crater which spilled over in the +night. He smouldered and rumbled, a natural timidity preventing the +splendour of fireworks. But he was deadly. + +He and Madison met often during these holidays, and an object of their +growing confidence was James Monroe, the new Senator from Virginia. +Monroe was a fighter, and hatred of Hamilton was his religion. Moreover, +he disapproved with violence of every measure of the new government, and +everybody connected with it, from Washington down, Jefferson excepted; +Randolph he held to be a trimmer, and overlooked the fact that although +he himself had opposed the Constitution with all his words, he was one +of the first to take office under it. Jefferson needed but this younger +man's incentive to disapprove more profoundly not only assumption, but +Hamilton's design to establish a National Bank. That was the most +criminal evidence of an ultimate dash for a throne which the Secretary +of the Treasury, whose place in the Cabinet should have been second to +his own, but who was the very head and front of the Administration, had +yet betrayed. And as for the triumphal progress of Washington through +the States in the previous autumn, and again before leaving for Mount +Vernon upon the close of the last Congress, a king could have done no +more. The new Republic was tottering on its rotten foundations, and +Jefferson and his able lieutenants vowed themselves to the rescue. +Madison was the anti-government leader in the House, Monroe would abet +him in the Senate, and Jefferson would undertake the fight in the +Cabinet. It cannot be said that he liked the prospect, for he read his +fellow-beings too well to mistake the mettle of Hamilton. He was a +peaceable soul, except when in his study with pen in hand, but stem this +monarchical tide he would, and bury Hamilton under the dam. + +"We are three to one," he said reassuringly to his coadjutors. "He is +brilliant. I do not deny it. But against a triple power--" + +"He is worth any three men I ever knew," said Madison, drearily. "We +shall have to work harder than he will." + +Jefferson lifted his pen, and squinted thoughtfully at its point. +Monroe, who was the youngest of the trio, laughed aloud. + +And these were the forces of which Hamilton felt the shock shortly after +the convening of Congress. + + +XXIII + +On the 13th of December Hamilton sent to the House of Representatives +his second Report on Public Credit--no longer a nomen of bitter +sarcasm--and the Report in favour of a National Bank. Congress was once +more on edge. Since his first Great Report, it had considered and +wrangled over his successive Reports on State Debits and Credits, West +Point, Public Lands, Estimates, and Renewal of Certificates; and it had +lived through the hot summer on the prospect of the excitement which the +bold and creative Secretary would surely provide. Even his enemies loved +Hamilton in their way, for life was torpid when he rested on his +labours. + +The anti-Federalists, had they needed an additional incentive for the +coming battle, a condition to rouse all their strength and mettle, found +it in the rapidly increasing prosperity of the country, which had raised +Hamilton to a height of popularity from which it would be an historic +triumph to drag him down. He was, indeed, almost at the zenith of a +reputation which few men have achieved. From end to end of the Union his +name was on every lip, sometimes coupled with a hiss, but oftener with +every expression of honour and admiration that the language could +furnish. Even in the South he had his followers, and in the North and +East it was hardly worth a man's nose to abuse him. He was a magician, +who could make the fortunes of any man quick enough to seize his +opportunities, and the saviour of the national honour and fortunes. His +fame obscured that of Washington, and abroad he was by far the most +interesting and significant figure in the young country. No wonder the +anti-Federalists trembled for the future, and with all the vigour of +hardened muscles fought his scheme for allying the moneyed classes with +the Government. + +Hamilton made no secret of his design so closely to attach the wealthy +men of the country to the central Government that they must stand or +fall with it, coming to its rescue in every crisis; and time has +vindicated his far-sighted policy. But when the National Bank was in the +preliminary stages of its journey, certain of its hosts in Congress saw +but another horrid menace to the liberties of the people, another step +toward the final establishment of a monarchy after the British pattern. +The old arguments of subservience to British institutions in the matter +of funding, and other successful pets of the Secretary, were dragged +forth and wrangled over, in connection with this new and doubly +pernicious measure of a National Bank. + +Hamilton recommended that a number of subscribers should be incorporated +into a bank, to be known as the Bank of the United States; the capital +to be ten million dollars; the number of shares twenty-five thousand; +the par value of each share four hundred dollars; the Government to +become a subscriber to the amount of two millions, and to require in +return a loan of an equal sum, payable in ten yearly instalments of two +hundred thousand dollars each. The rest of the capital stock would be +open to the public, to be paid for, one-quarter in gold and silver, and +three-quarters in the six or three per cent certificates of the national +debt. The life of the bank was to end in 1811. As an inducement for +prompt subscriptions a pledge would be given that for twenty years to +come Congress would incorporate no other. + +It is odd reading for us, with a bank in every street, not only those +old diatribes in Congress against banks of all sorts, but Hamilton's +elaborate arguments in favour of banks in general, the benefits and +conveniences they confer upon individuals as well as nations. But in +those days there were but three banks in the Union, and each had been +established against violent opposition, Hamilton, in particular, having +carried the Bank of New York through by unremitting personal effort. The +average man preferred his stocking. Representatives from backwoods +districts were used to such circulating mediums as military warrants, +guard certificates, horses, cattle, cow-bells, land, and whiskey. They +looked askance at a bank as a sort of whirlpool into which wealth would +disappear, and bolt out at the bottom into the pockets of a few +individuals who understood what was beyond the average intellect. But by +far the most disquieting objection brought forward against this plan of +the Secretary's was its alleged unconstitutionality. + +Monroe, although a new man, and speaking seldom, exerted a systematic +opposition in the Senate, and Madison, in the House, argued, with +lucidity and persistence, that the Constitution had no power to grant a +charter to any such institution as the Secretary proposed. Others argued +that the success of this new scheme would infringe upon the rights of +the States, and still others thundered the everlasting accusations of +monarchical design. Nevertheless, the bill for granting the required +charter passed both Houses by a handsome majority. The able Federalists +had contemptuously dissected the arguments against it with greater skill +than even Madison could command; and confidence in Hamilton, by this +time, practically was a religion. The bill was sent to Washington to +sign or veto, and the anti-Federalists, disconcerted and alarmed by +their signal defeat in Congress, rested their final hope on Jefferson. + +The President, according to law, had but ten days in which to sign or +veto a bill: if he hesitated but a moment beyond the constitutional +limit, the bill became a law without his signature. It may safely be +said that these ten days were the most miserable of Washington's life so +far, although they were but the forerunner of many to come. + +By this time the Cabinet had acquired the habit of assembling for +conference about a council table in the President's house. Washington +sat at the head of the table, with Hamilton on his left, and Jefferson +on his right. Knox, who would have frowned upon the Almighty had he +contradicted Hamilton, sat beside his Captain. Randolph sat opposite, +his principles with Jefferson, but his intellect so given to +hair-splitting, that in critical moments this passion to weigh every +side of a proposition in turn frequently resulted in the wrench of a +concession by Hamilton, while Jefferson fumed. As time went on, +Washington fell into the habit of extending his long arms upon the table +in front of him, and clasping his imposing hands in the manner of a +rampart. + +Jefferson began a tentative showing of his colours while the bill was +fighting its stormy way through Congress, and Hamilton was a brief while +perceiving his drift and appreciating his implacable enmity. The first +time that Jefferson encountered the lightning in Hamilton's eye, the +quivering of his nostril, as he half rose from his chair under the +sudden recognition of what he was to expect, his legs slid forward +limply, and he turned his head toward the door. Washington suppressed a +smile, but it was long before he smiled again, Hamilton would have no +hints and innuendoes; he forced his enemy to show his hand. But although +he wrung from Jefferson his opposition to the Bank and to every scheme +the Secretary of the Treasury had proposed, he could not drag him into +the open. Jefferson was deprecating, politely determined to serve the +country in his own way, lost in admiration of this opponent's intellect, +but forced to admit his mistakes--the mistakes of a too ardent mind. The +more bitter and caustic the sarcasms that leaped from Hamilton's tongue, +the more suave he grew, for placidity was his only weapon of +self-preservation; a war of words with Hamilton, and he would be made +ridiculous in the presence of his colleagues and Washington. +Occasionally the volcano flared through his pale eyes, and betrayed such +hate and resentment that Washington elevated his hands an inch. The +President sat like a stoic, with a tornado on one side of him and a +growling Vesuvius on the other, and exhibited an impartiality, in spite +of the fact that Jefferson daily betrayed his hostility to the +Administration, which revealed but another of his superhuman attributes. +But there is a psychological manifestation of mental bias, no matter +what the control, and some men are sensitive enough to feel it. +Jefferson was quite aware that Washington loved Hamilton and believed in +him thoroughly, and he felt the concealed desire to side openly with the +Secretary to whom, practically, had been given the reins of government. +Washington, rather than show open favouritism, even to Hamilton, to whom +he felt the profoundest gratitude, would have resigned his high office; +but the desire was in his head, and Jefferson felt it. The campaign +open, he kept up a nagging siege upon Washington's convictions in favour +of his aggressive Secretary's measures, finding constant excuses to be +alone with the President. Hamilton, on the other hand, dismissed the +subject when left alone with Washington, unless responding to a demand. +He frequently remained to the midday meal with the family, and was as +gay and lively as if Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were in the limbo to +which he gladly would have consigned them. His nature was mercurial in +one, at least, of its essences, and a sudden let-down, followed by +congenial company, restored his equilibrium at once. But Washington +watched the development of the blackness and violence of his deeper +passions with uneasiness and regret, finally with alarm. + +Hamilton, in truth, was roused to his dregs. The sneaking retreat of +Madison from his standard and affections, the rancorous enmity of +Monroe, with whom he had fought side by side and been well with whenever +they had been thrown together in the bitter winters of inaction; the +slow, cool, determined, deadly opposition of Jefferson, whom he +recognized as a giant in intellect and despised as a man with that hot +contempt for the foe who will not strip and fight in the open, which +whips a passionate nature to the point of fury, had converted Hamilton +into a colossus of hate which, as Madison had intimated, far surpassed +the best endeavours of the powerful trio. He hated harder, for he had +more to hate with,--stronger and deeper passions, ampler resources in +his intellect, and an energy of temperament which Jefferson and Madison, +recruited by Monroe, could not outweigh. He saw that he was in for the +battle of his life, and that its finish might be deferred for years; +for he made no such mistake as to underrate the strength and resources +of this triple enemy; he knew that it would last until one or the other +were worn out. Hamilton had no thought of defeat; he never contemplated +it for a moment; his faith in himself and in the wisdom of his measures +was absolute; what he looked forward to with the deepest irritation was +the persistent opposition, the clogging of his wheels of progress, the +constant personal attacks which might weaken him with the country before +his multitudinous objects should be accomplished. He suggested resource +after resource to his faithful and brilliant disciples in Congress, and +he determined to force Jefferson to leave the Cabinet. + +"If he only would take himself out of that room with a defiant admission +that he intended to head the opposite party and fight me to the death!" +he exclaimed to Mrs. Croix, one day. "What right has he to sit there at +Washington's hand, a member of his Cabinet, ostensibly in its first +place, and at war with every measure of the Administration? He cannot +oppose me without involving the President, under whom he holds office, +and if he had a grain of decent feeling he would resign rather than +occupy such an anomalous position." + +"He intends to force you to resign." + +"You don't mean to say that he is coming here?" asked Hamilton, in +disgust. "Who next?" + +"Mr. Jefferson succumbed quite three weeks ago," said Mrs. Croix, gaily. +"He amuses me, and I am instilling the conviction that no human being +can force you to do anything you don't want to do, and that the sooner +he retreats gracefully the better." + +Hamilton shrugged his shoulders and made no answer. He had ceased +remonstrance long since. If it pleased her to think she was fighting the +battles he was forced to fight with undiminished vigour himself, he +should be the last to interfere with her amusement. She was a born +intrigante, and would have been miserable freckling her complexion in +the open sunlight. He was too grateful to her at this time to risk a +quarrel, or to condemn her for any of her violations of masculine +standards. It was to her he poured out his wrath, after an encounter +with Jefferson which had roused him too viciously for reaction at +Washington's board or at his own. His wife he spared in every way. Not +only was her delicate health taxed to the utmost with social duties +which could not be avoided, the management of her household affairs, and +an absorbing and frequently ailing family, but he would have controlled +himself had he burst, before he would have terrified her with a glimpse +of passions of whose existence she had not a suspicion. To her and his +family he was ever the most amiable and indulgent of men, giving them +every spare moment he could command, and as delighted as a schoolboy +with a holiday, when he could spend an hour in the nursery, an evening +with his wife, or take a ramble through the woods with his boys. He took +a deep pride in his son Philip, directed his studies and habits, and was +as pleased with every evidence of his progress as had he seen Madison +riding a rail in a coat of tar and feathers. He coddled and petted the +entire family, particularly his little daughter Angelica, and they +adored him, and knew naught of his depths. + +But Mrs. Croix knew them. In her management of Hamilton she made few +mistakes, passionately as she loved him. It was in her secluded presence +he stormed himself cool, was indignantly sympathized with first, then +advised, then soothed. He was made to understand that the more he +revealed the black and implacable deeps of his nature, the more was he +worshipped, the more keen the response from other and not dissimilar +deeps. His wife was necessary to him in many ways, his Egeria in many +more. Although he would have sacrificed the last to the first, had it +come to an issue, he would have felt as if one-half of him had been +cruelly divorced. Few women understand this dual nature in men, and few +are the men who do not. It has been known to exist in those who make no +pretensions to genius, and in Hamilton was as natural as the versatility +of his intellect. When with one he locked the other in the recesses of +his mind as successfully as when at college he had accomplished +herculean feats of mental accumulation by keeping but one thing before +his thought at a time. What he wanted he would have, so long as his +family were in no way affected; and had it not been for Mrs. Croix at +this time, it might have been worse for Betsey. She cooled his fevers; +her counsel was always sound. And her rooms and herself were beautiful. +She had her way of banishing the world by drawing her soft blue curtains +and lighting her many candles. Had she been a fool, Hamilton would have +tired of her in a month; as it was, he often thought of her as the most +confidential and dispensing of his friends, and no more. + +During the preceding two years of their acquaintance there had been many +quarrels, caused by furious bursts of temper on the part of the lady, +when Hamilton forgot her for a month or more. There were times when she +was the solitary woman of Earth, and others when she might have reigned +on Mars. He was very busy, and he had countless interests to absorb time +and thought. He never pretended to more than a romantic passion for her, +and deep as was her own infatuation, it was sometimes close to hate; for +she was a woman whose vanity was as strong as her passions. At this +time, however, he felt a frequent need of her, and she made the most of +the opportunity. + + +XXIV + +Meanwhile, Washington, deeply disturbed by the arguments in the press +and Congress against the constitutionality of the National Bank, had +privately asked for the written opinions of Jefferson and Randolph, and +for a form of veto from Madison. They were so promptly forthcoming that +they might have been biding demand. Washington read them carefully, +then, too worried and impatient for formalities, carried them himself to +Hamilton's house. + +"For God's sake read them at once and tell me what they amount to," he +said, throwing the bundle of papers on the table. "Of course you must +prepare me an answer in writing, but I want your opinion at once. I will +wait." + +Long years after, when Betsey was an old woman, someone asked her if she +remembered any incidents in connection with the establishment of the +great Bank. She replied, "Yes, I remember it all distinctly. One day +General Washington called at the house, looking terribly worried. He +shut himself up in the study with my husband for hours, and they talked +nearly all the time. When he went away he looked much more cheerful. +That night my husband did not go to bed at all, but sat up writing; and +the next day we had a Bank." + +Hamilton's answer, both verbally and in a more elaborate form, was so +able and sound a refutation of every point advanced by the enemy that +Washington hesitated no longer and signed the bill during the last +moments remaining to him. Years later, when the same question was raised +again, Chief Justice Marshall, the most brilliant ornament, by common +consent, the Supreme Court of the United States has had, admitted that +he could add nothing to Hamilton's argument. It must, also, have +convinced Madison; for while President of the United States, and his +opportunity for displaying the consistencies of his intellect, +unrivalled, he signed the charter of the Second National Bank. Monroe, +whose party was in power, and able to defeat any obnoxious measure of +the Federalists, advocated; the second Bank as heartily as he had cursed +the first. His defence of his conduct was a mixture of insolent +frankness and verbiage. He said: "As to the constitutional objection, it +formed no serious obstacle. In voting against the Bank in the first +instance, I was governed essentially by policy. The construction I gave +to the Constitution I considered a strict one. In the latter instance it +was more liberal but, according to my judgement, justified by its +powers." If anyone can tell what he meant, doubtless his own shade would +be grateful. + +Hamilton's second Report on the Public Credit had beer buffeted about +quite as mercilessly as the Report in favour of a bank. The customs +officers had, during the past year collected $1,900,000, which sufficed +to pay two-thirds of the annual expenses of the Government. There was +still a deficit of $826,000, and to meet future contingencies of a +similar nature, the Secretary of the Treasury urged the passage of an +Excise Bill. + +Even his enemies admired his courage, for no measure could be more +unpopular, raise more widespread wrath. It was regarded as a deliberate +attempt to deprive man of his most cherished vice; and every argument +was brought forth in opposition, from the historic relation of whiskey +to health and happiness, to the menace of adopting another British +measure. The bill passed; but it was a different matter to enforce it, +as many an excise officer reflected, uncheerfully, whilst riding a rail. +On the 28th of January Hamilton sent in his Report in favour of the +establishment of a mint, with details so minute that he left the framers +of the necessary bill little excuse for delay; but it had the same +adventurous and agitated experience of its predecessors, and only limped +through, in an amended form, after the wildest outburst of democratic +fanaticism which any of the measures of Hamilton had induced. The +proposition to stamp the coins with the head of the President was +conclusive of an immediate design to place a crown upon the head of +Washington. Doubtless the leaders of the Federal party, under the able +tuition of their despot, had their titles ready, their mine laid. +Jefferson, in the Cabinet, protested with such solemn persistence +against so dangerous a precedent, and Hamilton perforated him with such +arrows of ridicule, that Washington exploded with wrath, and demanded to +know if neither never intended to yield a point to the other. + +During this session of Congress, Hamilton also sent in Reports on Trade +with India and China, and on the Dutch Loan. He was fortunate in being +able to forget his enemies for days and even weeks at a time, when his +existence was so purely impersonal that every capacity of his mind, save +the working, slept soundly. By now, he had his department in perfect +running order; and his successors have accepted his legacy, with its +infinitude of detail, its unvarying practicality, with gratitude and +trifling alterations. When Jefferson disposed himself in the Chair of +State, in 1801, he appointed Albert Gallatin--the ablest financier, +after Hamilton, the country has produced--Secretary of the Treasury, and +begged him to sweep the department clean of the corruption amidst which +Hamilton had sat and spun his devilish schemes. Gallatin, after a +thorough and conscientious search for political microbes, informed his +Chief that in no respect could the department be improved, that there +was not a trace of crime, past or present. Jefferson was disconcerted; +but, as a matter of fact, his administrations were passed complacently +amidst Hamilton legacies and institutions. Jefferson's hour had come. He +could undo all that he had denounced in his rival as monarchical, +aristocratical, pernicious to the life of Democracy. But the +administrations of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, ran from first to +last on those Federal wheels which are still in use, protected within +and without by Federal institutions. But their architect was sent to his +grave soon after the rise of his arch-enemy to power, was beyond +humiliation or party triumph; it would be folly to war with a spirit, +and greater not to let well enough alone. But that is a far cry. +Meanwhile the Bank was being rushed through, and its establishment was +anticipated with the keenest interest, and followed by a season of crazy +speculation, dissatisfaction, and vituperation. But this Hamilton had +expected, and he used his pen constantly to point out the criminal folly +and inevitable consequences of speculation. + + +XXV + +Congress adjourned while the excitement was at its height. Washington +went to Mount Vernon, the Cabinet scattered, and there was an interval +of peace. Philadelphia in summer was always unhealthy, and liable to an +outbreak of fever at any moment. Hamilton sent his family to the +Schuyler estate at Saratoga. Mrs. Croix had gone as early as May to the +New England coast; for even her magnificent constitution had felt the +strain of that exciting session, and Philadelphia was not too +invigorating in winter. Hamilton remained alone in his home, glad of the +abundant leisure which the empty city afforded to catch up with the +arrears of his work, to design methods for financial relief against the +time to apply them, and to prepare his Report on Manufactures, a paper +destined to become as celebrated and almost as widespread in its +influence as the great Report on Public Credit. It required days and +nights of thinking, research, correspondence, comparison, and writing; +and how in the midst of all this mass of business, this keen anxiety +regarding the whirlwind of speculation--which was involving some of the +leading men in the country, and threatening the young Government with a +new disaster; how, while sitting up half the night with his finger on +the public pulse, waiting for the right moment to apply his remedies, he +managed to entangle himself in a personal difficulty, would be an +inscrutable mystery, were any man but Alexander Hamilton in question. + +I shall not enter into the details of the Reynolds affair. No intrigue +was ever less interesting. Nor should I make even a passing allusion to +it, were it not for its political ultimates. A couple of blackmailers +laid a trap for the Secretary of the Treasury, and he walked into it, as +the wisest of men have done before and since, when the woman has been +sufficiently attractive at the right moment. This woman was common and +sordid, but she was young and handsome, and her affectation of violent +attachment, if ungrammatical, was plausible enough to convince any man +accustomed to easy conquest; and the most astute of men, provided his +passions be strong enough, can be fooled by any woman at once designing +and seductive. Ardent susceptibility was in the very essence of +Hamilton, with Scotland and France in his blood, the West Indies the +mould of his youthful being, and the stormy inheritance of his parents. + +But although Hamilton might succumb to a woman of Mrs. Reynold's type, +she could not hold him. After liberally relieving the alleged pecuniary +distress of this charmer, and weary of her society, he did his best to +get rid of her. She protested. So did he. It was then that he was made +aware of the plot The woman's husband appeared, and announced that only +a thousand dollars would heal his wounded honour, and that if it were +not immediately forthcoming, he would write to Mrs. Hamilton. + +Hamilton was furious. His first impulse was to tell the man to do his +worst, for anything in the nature of coercion stripped him for the fray +at once. But an hour of reflection cooled his blood. No one was to blame +but himself. If he had permitted himself to be made a fool of, it was +but just that he should take the consequences, and not cruelly wound the +woman he loved the better for his vagaries. Moreover, such a scandal +would seriously affect the high office he filled, might indeed force him +to resignation; not only thwarting his great ambitions, but depriving +the country of services which no other man had the ability or the will +to render. And a few moments forecast of the triumph of his enemies, not +only over himself but possibly over his party, in case of his downfall, +was sufficient in itself to force him to terms. Few are the momentous +occasions in which men are governed by a single motive. Hamilton's +ambitions were welded into the future happiness and glory of the country +he had so ardently adopted. And if love of power was his ruling passion, +it certainly was directed to the loftiest of ends. To desire to create a +nation out of the resources of a vast understanding, controlled by +wisdom and honour, is an ambition which should be dignified with a +higher name. Small and purely personal ambitions were unknown to +Hamilton, his gifts were given him for the elevation of the human race; +but he would rather have reigned in hell than have sunk to +insignificance on earth. As he remarked once to Kitty Livingston, the +complexity of man so far exceeds that of the average woman, complexity +being purely a matter of brain and having no roots whatever in sex, that +it were a waste of valuable time to analyze its ramifications, and the +crossings and entanglements of its threads. Hamilton paid the money, +yielded further to the extent of several hundred dollars, then the +people disappeared, and he hoped that he had heard the last of them. +Fortunately his habits were methodical, the result of his mercantile +training on St. Croix, and he preserved the correspondence. + + +XXVI + +Hamilton looked forward to the next Congressional term with no +delusions. He polished his armour until it was fit to blind his +adversaries, tested the temper of every weapon, sharpened every blade, +arranged them for immediate availment. In spite of the absorbing and +disconcerting interests of the summer, he had followed in thought the +mental processes of his enemies, kept a sharp eye out for their new +methods of aggression. Themselves had had no more intimate knowledge of +their astonishment, humiliation, and impotent fury at the successive +victories of the invulnerable Secretary of the Treasury, than had +Hamilton himself. He knew that they had confidently hoped to beat him by +their combined strength and unremitting industry, and by the growing +power of their party, before the finish of the preceding term. The +Federalists no longer had their former majority in Congress upon all +questions, for many of the men who, under that title, had been devoted +adherents of the Constitution, were become alarmed at the constant talk +of the monarchical tendencies of the Government, of the centralizing +aristocratic measures of the Secretary of the Treasury, at the +"unrepublican" formalities and elegance of Washington's "Court," at his +triumphal progresses through the country, and at the enormous one-man +power as exhibited in the person of Hamilton. Upon these minds +Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe had worked with unremitting subtlety. It +was not so much that the early Federalists wished to see Hamilton +dragged from his lofty position, for they admired him, and were willing +to acknowledge his services to the country; but that the idea grew +within them that he must be properly checked, lest they suddenly find +themselves subjects again. They realized that they had been running to +him for advice upon every matter, great and insignificant, since the new +Congress began its sittings, and that they had adopted the greater part +of his counsels without question; they believed that Hamilton was +becoming the Congress as he already was the Administration; and +overlooked the fact that legislative authority as against executive had +no such powerful supporter as the Secretary of the Treasury. But it was +not an era when men reasoned as exhaustively as they might have done. +They were terrified by bogies, and the blood rarely was out of their +heads. "Monarchism must be checked," and Hamilton for some months past +had watched the rapid welding of the old anti-Federalists and the timid +Federalists into what was shortly to be known, for a time, as the +Republican party. That Jefferson had been at work all summer, as during +the previous term, with his subtle, insinuating, and convincing pen, he +well knew, and for what the examples of such men as Jefferson and +Madison counted--taking their stand on the high ground of stemming the +menace to personal liberties. The Republican party was to be stronger +far than the old anti-Federal, for it was to be a direct and constant +appeal to the controlling passion of man, vanity; and Hamilton believed +that did it obtain the reins of power too early in the history of the +Nation, confusion, if not anarchy, would result: not only was it too +soon to try new experiments, diametrically opposed to those now in +operation, but, under the tutelage of Jefferson, the party was in favour +of vesting more power in the masses. Hamilton had no belief in +entrusting power to any man or body of men that had not brains, +education, and a developed reasoning capacity. He was a Republican but +not a Democrat. He recognized, long before the rival party saw their +mistake in nomenclature, that this Jefferson school marked the +degeneracy of republicanism into democracy. Knowing how absurd and +unfounded was all the hysterical talk about monarchism, and that time +would vindicate the first Administration and its party as Republican in +its very essence, he watched with deep, and often with impersonal, +uneasiness the growth of a party which would denationalize the +government, scatter its forces, and interpret the Constitution in a +fashion not intended by the most protesting of its framers. Hamilton had +in an extraordinary degree the faculty which Spencer calls +representativeness; but there were some things he could not foresee, and +one was that when the Republicans insinuated themselves to power they +would rest on their laurels, let play the inherent conservatism of man, +and gladly accept the goods the Federal party had provided them. The +three men who wrote and harangued and intrigued against Hamilton for +years, were to govern as had they been the humblest of Hamiltonians. But +this their great antagonist was in unblest ignorance of, for he, too, +reasoned in the heat and height and thick of the fray; and he made +himself ready to dispute every inch of the ground, checkmate every move, +force Jefferson into retirement, and invigorate and encourage his own +ranks. The majority in both Houses was still Federal, if diminished, and +he determined that it should remain so. + +As early as October his watching eye caught the first flash in the +sunlight of a new blade in the enemies' armoury. One Freneau had come to +town. He had some reputation as a writer of squibs and verses, and +Hamilton knew him to be a political hireling utterly without principle. +When, therefore, he heard incidentally that this man had lately been in +correspondence and conference with the Virginian junta, and particularly +that he had been "persuaded by his old friend Madison to settle in +Philadelphia," had received an appointment as translating clerk in the +Department of State, and purposed to start a newspaper called the +_National Gazette_ in opposition to Fenno's Administration organ, _The +United States Gazette_, he knew what he was to expect. Fenno's paper was +devoted to the Administration, and to the Secretary of the Treasury in +particular; it was the medium through which Hamilton addressed most of +his messages to the people. Naturally it was of little use to his +enemies; and that Jefferson and his aides had realized the value of an +organ of attack, he divined very quickly. He stated his suspicions to +Washington immediately upon the President's arrival, and warned him to +expect personal assault and abuse. + +"There is now every evidence of a strong and admirably organized cabal," +he added. "And to pull us down they will not stop at abuse of even you, +if failure haunts them. I shall get the most of it, perhaps all. I hope +so, for I am used to it." + +He laughed, and quite as light-heartedly as ever; but Washington looked +at him with uneasiness. + +"You are a terrible fighter, Hamilton," he said. "I have never seen or +dreamed of your equal. Why not merely oppose to them a massive +resistance? Why be continually on the warpath? They give you a tentative +scratch, and you reply with a blow under the jaw, from which they rise +with a sullener determination to ruin you, than ever. When you are alone +with your pen and the needs of the country, you might have the wisdom of +a thousand years in your brain, and I doubt if at such times you +remember your name; you are one of the greatest, wisest, coolest +statesmen of any age; but the moment you come forth to the open, you are +not so much a political leader as a warlike Scot at the head of his +clan, and readier by far to make a dash into the neighbouring fastness +than to wait for an attack. Are you and Jefferson going to fight +straight through this session?--for if you are, I shall no longer yearn +so much for the repose of Mount Vernon as for the silences of the tomb." + +Washington spoke lightly, as he often did when they were alone, and he +had returned from Virginia refreshed; but Hamilton answered +contritely:-- + +"We both behaved abominably last year, and it was shocking that you +should bear the brunt of it. I'll do my best to control myself in the +Cabinet--although that man rouses all the devil in me; but not to fight +at the head of my party. Oh! Can the leopard change his spots? I fear I +shall die with my back against the wall, sir, and my boots on." "I +haven't the slightest doubt of it. But be careful of giving too free and +constant a play to your passions and your capacity for rancour, or your +character will deteriorate. Tell me," he added abruptly, narrowing his +eyes and fixing Hamilton with a prolonged scrutiny, "do you not feel its +effects already?" + +By this time the early, half-unwilling, half-magnetized affection which +the boy in Hamilton had yielded to his Chief had given place to a +consistent admiration for the exalted character, the wisdom, justice, +and self-control of the President of the United States, and to a devoted +attachment. The bond between the two men grew closer every day, and only +the end of all things severed it. Hamilton, therefore, replied as +frankly as if Washington had asked his opinion on the temper of the +country, instead of probing the sacred recesses of his spirit:-- + +"There have been times when I have sat down and stared into myself with +horror; when I have felt as if sitting in the ruins of my nature. I have +caught myself up again and again, realizing where I was drifting. I have +let a fiend loose within me, and I have turned upon it at times with a +disgust so bitter and a terror so over-mastering that the mildness which +has resulted has made me feel indifferent and even amiable to mine +enemies. Whether this intimate knowledge of myself will save me, God +knows; but when some maddening provocation comes, after reaction has run +its course, I rage more hotly than ever, and only a sense of personal +dignity keeps me from using my fists. I am two-thirds passion, and I am +afraid that in the end it will consume me. I live so intensely, in my +best and my worst! I would give all I possess for your moderation and +balance." + +"No, you would not," said Washington. "War is the breath of your +nostrils, and peace would kill you. Not that the poise I have acquired +brings me much peace in these days." + +Hamilton, who had spoken dejectedly, but with the deep relief which +every mortal feels in a moment of open and safe confession, sprang to +his feet, and stood on the hearth rug, his eyes sparkling with humour. +"Confess, sir," he cried gaily. "You do not like Jefferson any better +than I do. Fancy him opposite to you day after day, stinging you with +honeyed shafts and opposing you with obstacle after obstacle, while +leering with hypocrisy. Put yourself in my place for an instant, and +blame me if you can." + +"Oh," said Washington, with a deep growl of disgust, "o-h-h!" But he +would not discuss his Secretary of State, even with Hamilton. + + +XXVII + +The bombardment from Freneau's _Gazette_ opened at once. It began with a +general assault upon the Administration, denouncing every prominent +member in turn as a monarchist or an aristocrat, and every measure as +subversive of the liberties of the country. Vice-President Adams +received a heavy broadside, his "Discourses on Davila," with their +animadversions upon the French Revolution in particular and Democracy in +general, being regarded as a heinous offence against the spirit of his +country, and detrimental to the political morals of the American youth. +But although the _Gazette_ kept up its pretence of being an +anti-Administration organ, publishing in the interests of a deluded +people, it soon settled down to abuse of Hamilton. + +That a large number of the articles were from Jefferson's damning pen +few of the Republican leader's friends denied with any warmth, and the +natural deductions of history would have settled the question, had not +Freneau himself confessed the truth in his old age. What Jefferson did +not write, he or Madison inspired, and Freneau had a lively pen of his +own. They had promising material in General St. Clair's recent and +disastrous defeat by the Indians, which, by a triumph of literary +ingenuity, was ascribed to the ease and abundance with which the +Secretary of the Treasury had caused money to circulate. But a far +stronger weapon for their malignant use was the ruinous speculation +which had maddened the country since the opening of the Bank of the +United States. It was not enough that the Bank was a monarchical +institution, a machine for the corruption of the Government, a club of +grasping and moneyed aristocrats, but it had been purposely designed for +the benefit of the few--the "corrupt squadron," namely, the Secretary +and his friends--at the expense of the many. The subsequent failure for +$3,000,000 of one of these friends, William Duer, gave them no pause, +for his ruin precipitated a panic, and but added distinction to his +patron's villany. + +For a time Hamilton held his peace. He had enough to do, steering the +financial bark through the agitated waters of speculation, without +wasting time on personal recrimination. Even when, before the failure, +he was accused of being in secret partnership with Duer, he did not +pause for vindication, but exerted himself to alleviate the general +distress. He initiated the practice, followed by Secretaries of the +Treasury at the present moment, of buying Government loan certificates +in different financial centres throughout the country, thus easing the +money market, raising the price of the certificates, and strengthening +the public credit. He used the sinking-fund for this purpose. + +There was comparative peace in the Cabinet, an armed truce being, +perhaps, a more accurate description of an uneasy psychological +condition. Hamilton had made up his mind not only to spare Washington +further annoyance, if possible, but to maintain a dignity which he was +keenly conscious of having relinquished in the past. The two antagonists +greeted each other politely when they met for the first time in the +Council Chamber, although they had crossed the street several times +previously to avoid meeting; and if Jefferson discoursed unctiously and +at length, whenever the opportunity offered, upon the lamentable +consequences of a lamentable measure, and indulged in melancholy +prognostications of a general ruin, in which the Government would +disappear and be forgotten, Hamilton replied for a time with but an +occasional sarcasm, and a change of subject. One day, however, a +long-desired opportunity presented itself, and he did not neglect it. He +was well aware that Jefferson had complained to Virginia that he had +been made to hold a candle to the wily Secretary of the Treasury in the +matter of assumption, in other words, that his guileless understanding, +absorbed in matters of State, had been duped into a bargain of which +Virginia did not approve, despite the concession to the Potomac. + +About two months after Congress opened, Washington, as his Cabinet +seated itself, was detained in his room with a slight indisposition, but +sent word that he would appear presently. For a time, Randolph and Knox +talked feverishly about the Indian troubles, while Hamilton looked over +some notes, and Jefferson watched his antagonist covertly, as if +anticipating a sudden spring across the table. Hamilton was not in a +good humour. He was accustomed to abuse in Congress, and that it was +again in full tide concerned him little, for he was sure of ultimate +victories in both Houses; and words which were powerless to result in a +defeat for himself, or his party, he treated with the scorn which +impotence deserved. But it was another matter to have his private +character assailed day after day in the press, to watch a subtle pen +insinuate into the public mind that a woman imperilled her reputation in +receiving him, and that he was speculating in secret with the reckless +friend whom he had warned over and over, and begged to desist. Freneau +sent him three copies of the _Gazette_ daily, lest he miss something, +and he had that morning left Betsey in tears. Fenno was fighting the +Secretary's battles valiantly; but there was only one pen in America +which could cope with Jefferson's, and that was Hamilton's own. But +aside from his accumulating cares, it was a strife to which he did not +care to descend. To-day, however, he needed but a match, and Jefferson, +who experienced a fearful fascination in provoking him, applied it. + +"I hear that Duer is on the verge of failure," he remarked sadly. + +"Yes," said Hamilton; "he is." + +"I hold it to be a great misfortune that he has been connected with the +Administration in any way." + +"His connection was quite distinct from your department. I alone was +responsible for his appointment as my assistant. There is no necessity +for you to shed any hypocritical tears." + +"What concerns the honour of the Administration naturally concerns the +Secretary of State." + +"There is no question of honour. If Duer fails, he will fail honourably, +and the Administration, with which he is no longer connected, will in no +way be involved." + +"Of those facts of course I am sure, but I fear the reflections in the +press." + +"Keep your own pen worthily employed, and the Administration will take +care of itself." + +"I do not understand you, sir," said Jefferson, with great dignity. + +"I am quite ready to be explicit. Keep your pen out of Freneau's +blackguard sheet, while you are sitting at Washington's right hand, at +all events--" + +Jefferson had elevated both hands. "I call Heaven to witness," he cried, +"this black aspersion upon my character is, has been, entirely a +production of the imagination of my enemies. I have never written nor +inspired a line in Mr. Freneau's paper." + +Hamilton laughed and returned to his notes. + +"You do not believe me, sir?" demanded Jefferson, the blood boiling +slowly to his large face. + +"No," said Hamilton; "I do not." + +Jefferson brought his mighty fist down upon the table with a bang." +Sir!" he exclaimed, his husky voice unpleasantly strained, "I have stood +enough from you. Are you aware that you have called me a liar, sir? I +have suffered at your hands since the day I set foot in this country. I +left the peace and retirement that I love, to come forth in response to +a demand upon my duty, a demand I have ever heeded, and what has been my +reward? The very first act I was tricked into committing was a crime +against my country--" + +"Were you in your dotage, sir?" thundered Hamilton, springing to his +feet, and bringing his own hand down with such violence that the lead in +his cuff dented his wrist. "Was your understanding enfeebled with age, +that you could not comprehend the exhaustive explanation I made of the +crisis in this country's affairs? Did I not give you twenty-four hours +in which to think it over? What were you doing--muddling your brains +with French wines?--that you could not reason clearly when relieved of +my baleful fascination? Were you not protected on the following day by +two men, who were more your friends than mine? I proposed a +straightforward bargain, which you understood as well then as you do +now. You realized to the full what the interests of the country +demanded, and in a rare moment of disinterested patriotism you agreed to +a compromise in which you saw no detriment to yourself. What you did not +anticipate was the irritation of your particular State, and the +annoyance to your vanity of permitting a younger man to have his way. +Now let me hear no more of this holding a candle, and the tricking of an +open mind by a wily one, unless you are willing to acknowledge that your +brain was too weak to grasp a simple proposition; in which case you had +better resign from public office." + +"I know that is what you are trying to force me to do," gasped +Jefferson, almost speechless between rage and physical fear; for +Hamilton's eyes were flashing, his body curved as if he meditated +immediate personal violence. "But I'll not do it, sir, any more than I +or anyone else will be deluded by the speciousness of your language. You +are an upstart. You have no State affinities, you despise them for a +very good reason--you come from God knows where--I do not even know the +name of the place. You are playing a game. You care nothing for the +country you were not born in. Unless you can be king, you would treat it +as your toy." + +"For your absurd personalities I care nothing," said Hamilton, reseating +himself. "They are but the ebullitions of an impotence that would ruin +and cannot. But take heed what you write, for in injuring the Secretary +of the Treasury you injure the prosperity of the country; and if you +push me too far, I'll expose you and make you infamous. Here comes the +President. For God's sake bottle your spite for the present." + +The two men did not exchange a remark during the rest of the sitting, +but Jefferson boiled slowly and steadily; Hamilton's words had raised +welts under which he would writhe for some time to come. When the +Cabinet adjourned he remained, and followed Washington into the library, +under cover of a chat about seeds and bulbs, a topic of absorbing +interest to both. When their legs were extended before the fire, +Jefferson said, as abruptly as if the idea had but just presented +itself:-- + +"Mr. President, we are both Virginians, and had cut our wisdom +teeth--not that for a moment I class myself with you, sir--while young +Hamilton was still in diapers." + +"Children do not wear diapers in the West Indies," interrupted +Washington, in his gravest accents. "I spent some months on the Island +of Barbadoes, in the year seventeen hundred and fifty-one." + +"Was he born In the West Indies? I had never heard. But, if I may +continue, I have therefore summoned up my courage to speak to you on a +subject close to my heart--for no subject can be so close as the welfare +of a country to which we have devoted our lives." + +He paused a moment, prepared with an answer, did the President haughtily +warn him not to transgress the bounds of etiquette; but Washington was +staring at the fire, apparently recalling the scenery of the Tropics. + +Jefferson continued: "In the length and breadth of this Union there is +not a man, not even the most ardent Republican, who has not implicit +faith in the flawless quality of your patriotism and in your personal +wisdom; but, and possibly unknown to you, sir, the extreme and +high-handed measures, coupled with the haughty personal arrogance, of +our Secretary of the Treasury have inspired a widespread belief, which +is permeating even his personal friends, that he entertains subtle and +insidious monarchical designs, is plotting to convert our little +Republic into a kingdom. Personally, I do not believe this--" + +"I should hope not. You have always seemed to me to be a man of +singular wisdom and good sense. Therefore I feel sure that you are as +heartily sick of all this absurd talk about monarchism as I am. There is +not a word of truth in Mr. Hamilton's 'monarchical designs'; it is +impossible that you should not know this as well as I do. You must also +be as well aware that he has rendered services to this country which +will be felt as long as it remains united. It is doubtful if anyone else +could have rendered these same services, for, to my knowledge at least, +we have no man in the country who combines financial genius with an +unexampled boldness and audacity. He has emphatically been the man for +the hour, abruptly transferred from his remote birthplace, it has seemed +to me, by a special intervention of Providence; free of all local +prejudices, which have been, and will continue to be, the curse of this +country, and with a mettle unacted upon by years of doubt and +hesitation. I do no other man in public life an injustice in my warm +admiration of Mr. Hamilton's genius and absolute disinterestedness. Each +has his place, and is doing his part bravely and according to his +lights, many of them rendering historic services which Mr. Hamilton's +will not overshadow. His are equally indisputable. This unfortunate +result of establishing a National Bank was doubtless inevitable, and +will quickly disappear. That the Bank is a monarchical device, you, of +all men, are too wise to believe for a moment. Leave that for such +sensational scoundrels as the editors of this new _Gazette_ and of other +papers. I regret that there is a personal antipathy between you and Mr. +Hamilton, but I have not the least doubt that you believe in his +integrity as firmly as I do." + +Jefferson was scowling heavily. "I am not so sure that I do, sir," he +said; inconsistent often in his calmest tempers, passion dissipated his +power of consecutive thought. "When Mr. Hamilton and I were on friendly +terms--before he took to annoying me with a daily exhibition of personal +rancour, from which I have been entirely free--he has often at my own +table avowed his admiration of the British Constitution, deprecated the +weakness of our own admirable instrument, tacitly admitted his regret +that we are a republic and not a kingdom. I have his very words in my +diary. He is committed out of his own mouth. I not only believe but know +him to be a lover of absolute monarchy, and that he has no faith that +this country can continue to exist in its present shape. It is for that +reason I hold him to be a traitor to the country with which he is merely +amusing himself." + +"Sir," said Washington, turning to Jefferson an immobile face, in which +the eyes were beginning to glitter, "is a man to be judged by his +private fancies or by his public acts? I know nothing of Mr. Hamilton's +secret desires. Neither, I fancy, do you. We do know that he has +resigned a brilliant and profitable practice at the bar to guide this +unfortunate country out of bankruptcy and dishonour into prosperity and +every promise of a great and honourable future. Pray let the matter rest +there for the present. If Mr. Hamilton be really a liar and a charlatan, +rest assured he will betray himself before any great harm is done. Every +man is his own worst enemy. I was deeply interested in what you were +saying when we entered this room. Where did you say you purchased those +lily bulbs? My garden is sadly behind yours, I fear. I certainly shall +enter upon an amiable rivalry with you next summer." + +And Jefferson knew better than to persist. + + +XXVIII + +On January 28th Hamilton sent to Congress his Report on Manufactures, +and how anybody survived the fray which ensued can only be explained by +the cast-iron muscles forged in the ancestral arena. Hamilton had no +abstract or personal theories regarding tariff, and would have been the +first to denounce the criminal selfishness which distinguishes +Protection to-day. The situation was peculiar, and required the +application of strictly business methods to a threatening and immediate +emergency. Great Britain was oppressing the country commercially by +every method her council could devise. Defensive legislation was +imperative. Moreover, if the country was to compete with the nations of +the world and grow in independent wealth, particularly if it would +provide internal resources against another war, it must manufacture +extensively, and its manufactures must be protected. Such, in brief, was +the argument of one of the ablest State papers in any country, for whose +exhaustive details, the result of two years of study and comparison, of +research into the commercial conditions of every State in Europe, there +is no space here. The battle was purely political, for the measure was +popular with the country from the first. It was opposed by the planters, +with Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe in the lead. They argued that the +measure would burden the people at large; that the country was too +remunerative not to be able to take care of itself; that progress should +be natural and not artificial; that the measure was unconstitutional; +above all, as the reader need hardly be told, that no proposition had +yet been advanced by the monarchical Secretary of the Treasury so +"paternal," so conclusive of his ultimate designs. "To let the thirteen +States, bound together in a great indissoluble union, concur in erecting +one great system, superior to the control of transatlantic force and +influence, and able to dictate the connection between the old and the +new world," was but another subtle device to consolidate the States for +sudden and utter subversion when Hamilton had screwed the last point +into his crown. That in the Twentieth Century the United States would be +an object of uneasiness daily approaching to terror in the eyes of Great +Britain and Europe, as a result of this Report, even Hamilton himself +did not foresee, much less the planters; nor that it would carry through +the War of 1812 without financial distress. Above all, did no one +anticipate that the three Virginians, in their successive incumbencies +of the Executive Chair, would pursue the policy of protection in +unhesitating obedience to the voice of the people. The first result of +this Report was the great manufacturing interests of Paterson, New +Jersey, which celebrated their centennial a few years ago. Paterson was +Hamilton's personal selection, and it still throbs with something of his +own energy. + +Meanwhile he was being elected an honorary member of colleges and +societies of arts and letters, and persecuted by portrait painters and +sculptors. Every honour, public and private, was thrust upon him, and +each new victory was attended by a public banquet and a burst of popular +applause. He was apparently invulnerable, confounding his opponents and +enemies without effort. Never had there been such a conquering hero; +even the Virginian trio began to wonder uneasily if he were but mortal, +if he were not under some mighty and invisible protection. As for the +Federalists, they waxed in enthusiasm and devotion. His career was at +its zenith. No man in the United States was--nor has been since--so +loved and so hated, both in public and in private life. Even +Washington's career had not been more triumphant, and hardly so +remarkable; for he was an American born, had always had a larger measure +of popular approval, and never had discovered the faculty of raising +such bitter and powerful enemies. Nor had he won an extraordinary +reputation until he was long past Hamilton's present age. Certainly he +had never exhibited such unhuman precocity. + +But although Hamilton had, by this time, extancy to suffice any man, and +was hunted to his very lair by society, he had no thought of resting on +his labours. He by no means regarded himself as a demi-god, nor the +country as able to take care of itself. He prepared, and sent to +Congress in rapid succession, his Reports on Estimates for Receipts and +Expenditures for 1791-92, on Loans, on Duties, on Spirits, on Additional +Supplies for 1792, on Remission of Duties, and on the Public Debt. + +Nor did his labours for the year confine itself to reports. On August +4th, his patience with the scurrilities of Freneau's _Gazette_ came to +an end, and he published in Fenno's journal the first of a series of +papers that Jefferson, in the hush of Monticello, read with the +sensations of those forefathers who sat on a pan of live coals for the +amusement of Indian warriors. Hamilton was thorough or nothing. He had +held himself in as long as could be expected of any mortal less +perfected in his self-government than George Washington: but when, +finally, he was not only stung to fury by the constant and systematic +calumnies of Jefferson's slanting art, but fearful for the permanence of +his measures, in the gradual unsettling of the public mind, he took off +his coat; and Jefferson knew that the first engagement of the final +battle had begun in earnest, that the finish would be the retirement of +one or other from the Cabinet. + +Hamilton began by mathematically demonstrating that Freneau was the tool +of Jefferson, imported and suborned for the purpose of depressing the +national authority, and exposed the absurdity of the denials of both. +When he had finished dealing with this proposition, its day for being a +subject of animated debate was over. He then laid before the public +certain facts in the career of Jefferson with which they were +unacquainted: that he had first discountenanced the adoption of the +Constitution, and then advised the ratification of nine of the States +and the refusal of four until amendments were secured,--a proceeding +which infallibly would have led to civil war; that he had advocated the +transfer of the debt due to France to a company of Hollanders in these +words: "If there is a _danger_ of the public debt _not being punctual_, +I submit whether it may not be better, that _the discontents which would +then arise_ should be _transferred_ from a _court_ of whose _good-will +we have so much need_ to the _breasts_ of a _private company_"--an +obviously dishonourable suggestion, particularly as the company in view +was a set of speculators. It was natural enough, however, in a man whose +kink for repudiation in general led him to promulgate the theory that +one generation cannot bind another for the payment of a debt. Hamilton, +having disposed of Jefferson's attempts, under the signature of +Aristides, to wriggle out of both these accusations, discoursed upon the +disloyal fact that the Secretary of State was the declared opponent of +every important measure which had been devised by the Government, and +proceeded to lash him for his hypocrisy in sitting daily at the right +hand of the President while privately slandering him; of exercising all +the arts of an intriguing mind, ripened by a long course of European +diplomacy, to undermine an Administration whose solidity was the only +guaranty for the continued prosperity and honour of the country. +Hamilton reminded the people, with a pen too pointed to fail of +conviction, of the increase of wealth and happiness which had ensued +every measure opposed by the Secretary of State, and drew a warning +picture of what must result were these measures reversed by a party +without any convictions beyond the determination to compass the downfall +of the party in power. He bade them choose, and passed on to a +refutation of the several accusations hurled at the Administration, and +at himself in particular. + +He wrote sometimes with temperance and self-restraint, at others with +stinging contempt and scorn. Jefferson replied with elaborate denials, +solemn protests of disinterested virtue, and counter accusations. +Hamilton was back at him before the print was dry, and the battle raged +with such unseemly violence, that Washington wrote an indignant letter +to each, demanding that they put aside their personal rancours and act +together for the common good of the country. The replies of the two men +were characteristic. Hamilton wrote a frank and manly letter, barely +alluding to Jefferson, and asserting that honour and policy exacted his +charges and refutations. He would make no promise to discontinue his +papers, for he had no intention of laying down his pen until Jefferson +was routed from the controversial field, and the public satisfied of the +truth. Jefferson's letter was pious and sad. It breathed a fervent +disinterestedness, and provided as many poisoned arrows for his rival as +its ample space permitted. It was a guinea beaten out into an acre of +gold leaf and steeped in corrosive sublimate. + +But during that summer of 1792 Hamilton had little time for personal +explosions except in brief. The Presidential elections approached, and +the greater part of his time was given to party management and counsel. +Washington's renomination and election were assured. The only obstacle +encountered had been Washington himself, but his yearning for peace had +again retired before duty. The parties were arrayed in a desperate +struggle for the Vice-Presidency, the issue to determine the +vindication or the condemnation of the measures of Hamilton. Adams +himself was unpopular in the anti-Federalist ranks, on account of his +aristocratic tastes and his opposition to the French Revolution; but the +time was propitious for a tremendous trial of strength with the +omnipotent Secretary of the Treasury, and any candidate of his would +have been opposed as bitterly. + +Jefferson and Burr were each suggested for the office, but Hamilton +brought down his heavy hand on both of them promptly, and the fight +settled into a bitter struggle between Adams and Clinton. The latter's +strength in the State of New York was still very great, and he was as +hardy a fighter as ever. But his political past was studded with +vulnerable points, and the Federalists spared him not. + +It is impossible, whatever one's predilections, not to admire Clinton +for his superb fighting qualities. He was indomitable, and in ability +and resourcefulness second only to Hamilton himself, in party management +far superior; for he had greater patience, a tenderer and more intimate +concern for his meaner followers, and less trust in his own unaided +efforts and the right of his cause. Hamilton by no means was blind to +the pettier side of human nature, but he despised it; instead of +truckling and manipulating, he would scatter it before him or grind it +to pulp. There is no possible doubt that if Hamilton had happened into a +country at war with itself, but with strong monarchical proclivities, he +would have seized the crown and made one of the wisest and kindest of +autocrats. His lines cast in a land alight from end to end with +republican fires, he accepted the situation with his inherent +philosophy, burned with a patriotism as steady as Washington's own, but +ruled it in his own way, forced upon it measures in whose wisdom he +implicitly believed, and which, in every instance, time has vindicated. +But his instinct was that of the amiable despot, and he had no +conciliation in him. + +His opponents saw only the despot, for time had not given them range of +vision. Therefore, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Clinton, and his other +formidable enemies have a large measure of excuse for their conduct, +especially as they were seldom unstung by mortifying defeat. It is +doubtful if the first three, at least, ever admitted to themselves or +each other that they hated Hamilton, and were determined for purely +personal reasons to pull him down. Every man knows how easy it is to +persuade himself that he is entirely in the right, his opponent, or even +he who differs from him, entirely in the wrong. The Virginian trio had +by this, at all events, talked themselves into the belief that Hamilton +was a menace to the permanence of the Union, and that it was their pious +duty to relegate him to the shades of private life. That in public life +he would infallibly interfere with their contemplated twenty-four years +Chair Trust may have been by the way. They were all men with a +consciousness of public benefits to their credit, and some disinterested +patriotism. If their ignoble side is constantly in evidence in their +dealings with Hamilton, it by no means follows that two, at least, of +our most distinguished Presidents--Monroe was a mere imitationist--had +no other. Had that been the case, they would have failed as miserably as +Burr, despite their talents, for the public is not a fool. But that +their faults were ignoble, rather than passionate, their biographers +have never pretended to deny. In many instances no apology is attempted. +On the other hand, the most exhaustive research among the records of +friends and enemies has failed to bring to light any evidence of mean +and contemptible traits in Hamilton. No one will deny his faults, his +mistakes; but they were the mistakes and faults of passion in every +instance; of a great nature, capable of the extremest violence, of the +deadliest hate and maddest blows, but fighting always in the open; in +great crises unhesitatingly sacrificing his personal desires or hatreds +to the public good. Even his detractors--those who count in +letters--have admitted that his nature and his methods were too +high-handed for grovelling and deceit, that the mettle of his courage +was unsurpassed. Jefferson and Madison had the spirit of the mongrel in +comparison; Monroe was a fighter, but cowardly and spiteful. In point of +mettle alone, Adams and Clinton were Hamilton's most worthy opponents. + +Burr had not shown his hand as yet. He was at war with Clinton himself, +and an active and coruscating member of the Senate. But Hamilton, by +this, knew him thoroughly. He read his lack of Public spirit in every +successive act of his life, recognized an ambition which would not +hesitate to sacrifice his best friend and the country he was using, and +a subtlety and cunning which would, with his lack of principle and +property, make him the most dangerous man in America should he contrive +to grasp the reins of power. Therefore he checkmated his every move, +careless of whether he made another powerful enemy or not. + +Hamilton attempted no delusions with himself. He knew that he hated +Jefferson with a violence which threatened at times to submerge all the +good in him, horrified him when he sat down and looked into himself. On +the other hand, he knew himself to be justified in thwarting and +humiliating him, for the present policy of the country must be preserved +at any cost. But he was too clear and practised an analyst to fail to +separate his public from his personal rancour. He would drive Jefferson +from public office for the public good, but he would experience the +keenest personal pleasure in so doing. Such was Hamilton. Could a genius +like his be allied in one ego with a character like Washington's, we +should have a being for which the world has never dared to hope in its +most Biblical moments. But genius must ever be imperfect. Life is not +long enough nor slow enough for both brain and character to grow side by +side to superhuman proportions. + + +XXIX + +The following political year was a lively one for Hamilton, perhaps the +liveliest of his career. As it approached, those interested in public +affairs had many subjects for constant and excited discussion: the +possible Vice-President, whose election was to determine the future +status of the Secretary of State, and cement or weaken the centralized +powers of the Administration; the battle in the two _Gazettes_, with +the laurels to Hamilton, beyond all controversy, and humiliation for +Jefferson and Madison; the growing strength of the "Republican" party +under Madison's open and Jefferson's literary leadership; the probable +policy of the Administration toward the French Revolution, with +Jefferson hot with rank Democracy, and Hamilton hotter with contempt for +the ferocity of the Revolutionists; the next move of the Virginians did +Hamilton win the Vice-Presidency for the Administration party; and the +various policies of the Secretary of the Treasury and their results. At +coffee-houses, at public and private receptions, and in Mrs. Croix's +drawing-room, hardly another subject was broached. + +"A fool could understand politics in these days," said Betsey, one +evening in December, with a sigh. "Not a word does one hear of clothes, +gossip, husbands, or babies. Mrs. Washington told me the day after she +returned that she had deliberately thought of nothing but butter and +patchwork during the entire recess, that her poor brain might be able to +stand the strain of the winter. Shall you have to work harder than +ever?" + +"I do not know," replied Hamilton, and at that moment he did not. He was +correcting a French exercise of his son's, and feeling domestic and +happy. Jefferson and he had made no pretence at formal amiability this +season; they did not speak at all, but communicated on paper when the +business of their respective departments required an interchange of +opinion. He had vanquished his enemy in print, made him ridiculous in +the eyes of all who read the _Gazettes_. Moreover, Washington, disturbed +during the summer by the constant nagging of Jefferson and his agents, +respecting the "monarchical schemes" and "corrupt practices" of the +Secretary of the Treasury, had formulated the accusations and sent them +to Hamilton for refutation. The vindication, written without passion, as +cold, clear, consistent, and logical, as if dealing with an abstract +proposition, had convinced, and finally, all to whom it was shown; with +the exception of Jefferson, who had no intention of being convinced. +Hamilton was conscious that there was no vulnerable point in his public +armour. Of his private he was not so sure; Reynolds was in jail, for +attempting, in company with one Clingman, to suborn a witness to commit +perjury, and had appealed to him for aid. He had ignored him, determined +to submit to no further blackmail, be the consequences what they might. +But he was the last man to anticipate trouble, and on the whole he was +in the best of humours as the Christmas holidays approached, with his +boys home from their school on Staten Island, his little girl growing +lovelier and more accomplished, and his wife always charming and pretty; +in their rare hours of uninterrupted companionship, piquant and +diverting. He had gone out with her constantly since Congress assembled, +and had enjoyed the recreations of society after his summer of hard work +and angry passions. Everywhere he had a triumphal progress; men and +women jostled each other about him, eager for a word, a smile, making +him talk at length, whether he would or not. The confidence in him was +stronger than ever, but his enemies were the most powerful, collectively +and individually, that had ever arrayed against a public man: Jefferson, +Madison, and Monroe, with the South behind them; the Livingstons and the +Clinton faction in New York; Burr, with his smiling subterranean +industry; the growing menace of the Republican party. Pamphlets were +circulating in the States warning voters against all who supported the +Secretary of the Treasury. It was one man against odds of appalling +strength and resource; for by common consent both of friends and enemies +Hamilton was the Federal party. Did he fall, it must go; all blows were +aimed at him alone. Could any one man stand for ever an impregnable +fortress before such a battery? Many vowed that he would, for "he was +more than human," but others, as firm in their admiration, shrugged +their shoulders. The enemy were infuriated at the loss of the +Vice-Presidency, for again Hamilton had been vindicated and Adams +reflected. What would be their next move? + +Betsey knew that her husband had enemies, but the fact gave her little +concern; she believed Hamilton to be a match for the allied forces of +darkness. She noticed when his hair was unpowdered that it was turning +gray and had quite lost its boyish brightness; here and there work and +care had drawn a line. But he was handsomer, if anything, and of the +scars on his spirit she knew nothing. In the peace and pleasant +distractions of his home his mercurial spirits leaped high above his +anxieties and enmities, and he was as gay and happy, as interested in +the manifold small interests of his family, as were he a private man of +fortune, without an ambition, an enemy, or a care. When most absorbed or +irritated he never victimized his household by moods or tempers, not +only because they were at his mercy, but because his nature +spontaneously gave as it received; his friends had his best always, his +enemies the very worst of which his intense passionate nature was +capable. Naturally his family adored him and studied his happiness. + +Betsey continued her somewhat rambling remarks, "The only variety is the +French Revolution." + +"By the way, Washington has had a distressing letter from Madame +Lafayette. She begs him to receive her boy--George Washington--and keep +him until the trouble is over. The Chief fears that in the present +temper of the public his reception of Lafayette's son would be given an +embarrassing significance, and yet it is impossible to refuse such a +request,--with Lafayette in an Austrian dungeon, his wife in daily +danger of prison or guillotine, and this boy, his only son, with no one +but a tutor to protect him. I offered at once to receive the child into +my family--subject, of course, to your approval. Should you object? It +would add to your cares--" + +"I have no cares, sir. I shall be delighted; and he can talk French with +the children." + +"I shall send him to Staten Island with Philip and Alex. Washington will +make him a liberal allowance for school and clothing. I confess I am +anxious to receive him, more than anxious to show that my old friendship +is undiminished. I fear to open every packet from Europe, lest I hear of +Lafayette's death. Fortunately, Morris was able to render some +assistance to Madame Lafayette. Morris is a source of sufficient worry +himself, for he is much too independent and bold for a foreign envoy in +the thick of mob rule, mad with blood." + +"I hate to think of old friends in trouble," said Betsey, removing a +tear. "Poor Kitty Duer! I had another letter from her to-day. It is +pitiful to think of her and the poor little children, with nothing but +what Lady Sterling, who has so little, and Lady Mary can give them. Is +there no way of getting Colonel Duer out of Debtor's prison?" + +"I've moved heaven and earth, but certain of his creditors are +inexorable. Still, I hope to have him out and on his feet before long. +You are not to worry about other people this evening, for I am +particularly happy. Philip is really remarkable, and I believe that +Angelica is going to turn out a musical genius. What a delight it is to +have one person in the world to whom one can brag about one's offspring +without apology." + +"Why, of course they are the most remarkable children in the world--all +five of them," said Betsey, placidly. + +Edward Stevens came in and threw himself on the sofa. "What a relief to +come into this scene of domestic tranquillity, after the row outside!" +he exclaimed. "All the world is in the streets; that is to say, all the +daft American world that sympathizes with that bloody horror in France. +The news that the allied armies have been beaten and the Duke of +Brunswick was in full retreat when the packets sailed, has apparently +driven them frantic with joy. They are yelling 'Ça ira,' bonfires are +flaring everywhere, and bells ringing. All of the men are drunk, and +some of the women. And yet the statesman who must grapple with this +portentous problem is gossiping with his wife, and looking as if he had +not a care in the world. Thank Heaven!" + +"I can do nothing to-night," said Hamilton, smiling. "I have had too +much experience as a practical philosopher not to be happy while I can." + +"You have the gift of eternal youth. What shall you do in this French +matter, Alexander the Great? All the world is waiting to know. I should +worry about you if I had time in this reeking town, where it is a wonder +any man has health in him. Oh, for the cane-fields of St. Croix! But +tell me, what is the policy to be--strict neutrality? Of course the +President will agree with you; but fancy Jefferson, on his other side, +burning with approval for the very excesses of the Revolution, since +they typify democracy exultant. And of course he is burrowing in the +dark to increase his Republican party and inspire it with his fanatical +enthusiasm for those inhuman wretches in France. I believe he would +plunge us into a war to-morrow." + +"No, he is an unwarlike creature. He would like to trim, keep this +country from being actually bespattered with blood, but coax the +Administration to give the Revolutionists money and moral support. He +will do nothing of the sort, however. The policy of this remote country +is absolute, uncompromising, neutrality. Let Europe keep her hands off +this continent, and we will let her have her own way across the water. +The United States is the nucleus of a great nation that will spread +indefinitely, and any further Europeanizing of our continent would be a +menace which we can best avoid by observing from the beginning a +strictly defensive policy. To weaken it by an aggressive inroad into +European politics would be the folly of schoolboys not fit to conduct a +nation. We must have the Floridas and Louisiana as soon as possible. I +have been urging the matter upon Washington's attention for three years. +Spain is a constant source of annoyance, and the sooner we get her off +the continent the better--and before Great Britain sends her. We need +the Mississippi for navigation and must possess the territories that are +the key to it. How idiotic, therefore, to antagonize any old-world +power!" + +"You _are_ long-headed!" exclaimed Stevens. "Good heavens! Listen to +that! The very lungs of Philadelphia are bellowing. Our people must be +mad to see in this hideous French Revolution any resemblance to their +own dignified and orderly struggle for freedom." + +"It is so easy to drive men mad," said Hamilton, contemptuously. +"Particularly when they are in constant and bitter opposition to the +party in power, and possess a leader as subtle and venomous as Thomas +Jefferson--'Thomas,' as he signed a letter to Washington the other day. +You may imagine the disgust of the Chief." + +"Not another word of politics this night!" exclaimed Mrs. Hamilton. "I +have not uttered a word for just twenty-five minutes. Alexander, go and +brew a beaker of negus." + + +XXX + +The next morning Hamilton was sitting in his office when the cards of +James Monroe, F.A. Muhlenberg, and A. Venable were brought in. + +"What on earth can they want?" he thought. "Monroe? We have not bowed +for a year. Two days ago he turned into a muddy lane and splashed +himself to his waist, that he might avoid meeting me." + +His first impulse was to excuse himself, on the plea of the pressing +nature of his work; but curiosity triumphed, and he told his page to +admit the men. + +Muhlenberg was again Speaker of the House; Venable was a Representative +from Virginia. Hamilton was not friendly with either, but nodded when +they passed him. He greeted them amiably as they entered to-day, and +exchanged a frigid bow with Monroe. The Senator from Virginia took a +chair in the rear of the others, stretched his long legs in front of +him, and folded his arms defiantly. He looked not unlike a greyhound, +his preference for drab clothing enhancing the general effect of a +pointed and narrow leanness. + +There was a moment of extreme awkwardness. Muhlenberg and Venable +hitched their chairs about. Monroe grinned spasmodically, and rubbed his +nose with his upper lip. + +"Well, gentlemen," said Hamilton, rapping his fingers on the table. +"What can I do for you?" He scented gun-powder at once. + +"I am to be the spokesman in this delicate matter, I believe," said +Muhlenberg, who looked red and miserable, "and I will, with your +permission, proceed to my unpleasant task with as little delay as +possible." + +"Pray do," replied Hamilton. "The daily assaults of my enemies for +several years have endowed me with a fortitude which doubtless will +carry me through this interview in a creditable manner." + +"I assure you, sir, that I do not come as an enemy, but as a friend. It +is owing to my appeal that the matter was not laid directly before the +President." + +"The President?" Hamilton half rose, then seated himself again. His eyes +were glittering dangerously. Muhlenberg blundered on, his own gaze +roving. The Federal term of endearment for Hamilton, "The Little Lion," +clanged suddenly in his mind, a warning bell. + +"I regret to say that we have discovered an improper connection between +yourself and one Reynolds." He produced a bundle of letters and handed +them to Hamilton. "These are not in your handwriting, sir, but I am +informed that you wrote them." + +Hamilton glanced at them hastily, and the angry blood raced through his +arteries. + +"These letters were written by me," he said. "I disguised my handwriting +for purposes of my own. What is the meaning of this unwarrantable +intrusion into a man's private affairs? Explain yourself at once." + +"That is what we have come for, sir. Unfortunately we cannot regard it +as a private affair, but one which concerns the whole nation." + +"The whole nation!" thundered Hamilton. "What has the nation to do with +an affair of this sort? Why cannot you tell the truth and say that you +gloat in having discovered this wretched affair,--a common enough +episode in the lives of all of you,--in having another tid-bit for +Freneau? Why did you not take it to him at once? What do you mean by +coming here personally to take me to task?" + +"I think there is some misapprehension, sir," said Muhlenberg. "It +would be quite impossible for any one present to have misconducted +himself in the manner in which the holder of those letters, Mr. +Reynolds, accuses you of having done. And surely the whole country is +intimately concerned in the honesty--or the dishonesty--of the Secretary +of the Treasury." + +The words were out, and Muhlenberg sat with his mouth open for a moment, +as if to reinhale the air which was escaping too quickly for calm +speech. Then he set his shoulders and braced himself to meet the +Secretary's eyes. Hamilton was staring at him, with no trace of passion +in his face. His eyes looked like steel; his whole face had hardened +into a mask. He had realized in a flash that he was in the meshes of a +plot, and forced the heat from his brain. "Explain," he said. "I am +listening." + +"As you are aware, sir, this James Clingman, who has been arrested with +Reynolds, was a clerk in my employ. You will also recall that when he +applied to me to get him out, I, in company with Colonel Burr, waited on +you and asked your assistance. You said that you would do all that was +consistent, but we did not hear from you further. Clingman refunded the +money, or certificates, which they had improperly obtained from the +Treasury, the action was withdrawn, and he was discharged to-day. While +the matter was pending I had several conversations with Clingman, and he +frequently dropped hints to the effect that Reynolds had it in his power +materially to injure the Secretary of the Treasury, as he knew of +several very improper transactions of his. At first I paid no attention +to these hints, but when he went so far as to assert that Reynolds had +it in his power to hang the Secretary of the Treasury, that the latter +was deeply concerned in speculation with Duer, and had frequently +advanced him--Reynolds, I mean--money with which to speculate, then I +conceived it my duty to take some sort of action, and yesterday +communicated with Mr. Monroe and Mr. Venable. They went at once to call +on Reynolds--whom I privately believe to be a rascal, sir--and he +asserted that he was kept in prison by your connivance, as you feared +him; and promised to put us in possession of the entire facts this +morning. When we returned at the hour appointed, he had absconded, +having received his discharge. We then went to his house and saw his +wife, who asserted, after some circumlocution, that you had been +concerned in speculations with her husband, that at your request she had +burnt most of the letters you had written to herself and her husband, +and that all were in a disguised hand--like these few which she had +preserved. You will admit that it is a very serious charge, sir, and +that we should have been justified in going directly to the President. +But we thought that in case there might be an explanation--" + +"Oh, there is an explanation," said Hamilton, with a sneer. "You shall +have it at my pleasure. I see that these notes implicate me to the +extent of eleven hundred dollars. Strange, that a rapacious Secretary of +the Treasury, handling millions, and speculating wildly with a friend of +large resources, should have descended to such small play as this. More +especially strange that he should have deliberately placed himself in +the power of such a rascal as this Reynolds--who seems to impress every +one he meets with his blackguardism--and communicated with him freely on +paper; you will have observed that I acknowledged these notes without +hesitation. What a clumsy knave you must think me. I resent the +imputation. Perhaps you have noticed that in one of these notes I state +that on my honour I cannot accommodate him with the three hundred +dollars he demands, because it is quite out of my power to furnish it. +Odd, that a thieving Secretary, engaged in riotous speculation, could +not lay his hand on three hundred dollars, especially if it were +necessary to close this rascal's mouth. I doubt, gentlemen, if you will +be able to convince the country that I am a fool. Nevertheless, I +recognize that this accusation must be met by controverting proof; and +if you will do me the honour to call at my house to-night at nine +o'clock, I shall, in the presence of the Comptroller of the Treasury, +furnish these proofs." + +He rose, and the others pushed back their chairs and departed hastily. +Muhlenberg's red face wore a look of relief, but Monroe scowled. Neither +had failed to be impressed by the Secretary's manner, and the Speaker of +the House, ashamed of his part in the business, would gladly have +listened to an immediate vindication. + +Hamilton sat motionless for some moments, the blood returning to his +face, for he was seething with fury and disgust. + +"The hounds!" he said aloud, then again and again. He was alone, and he +never had conquered his youthful habit of muttering to himself. "I can +see Monroe leaping, not walking, to the jail, the moment he learned of a +chance to incriminate me. The heels at the end of those long legs must +have beaten the powder from his queue. And this is what a man is to +expect so long as he remains in public life--if he succeeds. He resigns +a large income, reduces his family almost to poverty, works himself half +to death, rescues the country from contempt, launches it upon the sea of +prosperity; and his public rewards are more than counterbalanced by the +persecutions of his enemies. I have been on the defensive from the +moment I entered public life. Scarcely a week but I have been obliged to +parry some poisoned arrow or pluck it out and cauterize. The dreams of +my youth! They never soared so high as my present attainment, but +neither did they include this constant struggle with the vilest +manifestations of which the human nature is capable." He brought his +fist down on the table. "I am a match for all of them," he exclaimed. +"But their arrows rankle, for I am human. They have poisoned every hour +of victory." + +He caught up his hat and went out into the air. The solace of Mrs. Croix +in his blacker moods occurred to him; and he walked down Chestnut Street +as rapidly as he could, in the crowd, lifting his hat now and again to +cool his head in the frosty air. It was a brilliant winter's day; drifts +of snow hid the dead animals and the garbage in the streets; and all the +world was out for Christmas shopping. As it was one of the seasons for +display, everybody was in his best. The women wore bright-coloured +taffetas or velvets, over hoops flattened before and behind, muskmelon +bonnets or towering hats. They whisked their gowns about, that their +satin petticoats be not overlooked. The men wore the cocked hat, heavily +laced, and a long coat, usually of light-coloured cloth, with a +diminutive cape, the silver buttons engraved with initials or crest. +Their small clothes were very short, but heavy striped stockings +protected their legs; on their feet were pointed shoes, with immense +silver buckles. Hamilton was dressed with his usual exquisite care, his +cuffs carefully leaded. But his appearance interested him little to-day. +For the moment, however, he forgot his private annoyance in the portent +on every side of him. Few of the seekers after gifts had entered the +shops. They blocked the pavements, even the street, talking excitedly of +the news of the day before. Fully half the throng sported the +tri-coloured cockade, the air hissed with "Citizen," "Citess," or rang +with a volley of "Ça ira! Ça ira!" + +Hamilton set his teeth. "It _is_ the next nightmare," he thought. "The +Cabinet is quiet at present--Jefferson, mortified and beaten, is coaxing +back his courage for a final spring. When the time comes to determine +our attitude there will be Hell, nothing less." But his nostrils +quivered. He might rebel at poisoned arrows, but he revelled in the +fight that involved the triumph of a policy. + +His mind was abstracted, the blood was still in his brain as he entered +Mrs. Croix's drawing-room. For a moment he had a confused idea that he +had blundered into a shop. The chairs, the sofas, the floor, were +covered with garments and stuffs of every hue. Hats and bonnets were +perched on every point. Never had he seen so much gorgeous raiment in +one space before. There were brocades, taffetas, satins, lutestrings, +laces, feathers, fans, underwear like mist. While he was staring about +him in bewilderment, Mrs. Croix came running in from her bedroom. Her +hair was down and tangled, her dressing sacque half off, her face +flushed, her eyes sparkling. She looked half wanton, half like a giddy +girl darting about among her first trunks. + +"Hamilton!" she cried. "Hamilton!" She flew at him much as his children +did when excited. "Look! Look! Look! Is this not magnificent? This is +the happiest day of my life!" + +"Indeed? Are you about to set up a shop?" + +"A shop? I am about to deck myself once more in the raiment that I love. +Have I not drooped in weeds long enough, sir? I am going to be beautiful +again! I am going to wear all those lovely things--all! all! And I am +going to Lady Washington's to-morrow night. Mrs. Knox will take me. But +I vow I do not care half so much for that as for my beautiful things. +They arrived by the London packet yesterday, but have only now been +delivered. I ordered them long since, and hardly could control my +impatience till they came. I am so happy! I feel like a bird that has +been plucked for years." + +Hamilton looked at her in amazement, and despair. More than once he had +caught a glimpse of the frivolous side of her nature, but that it could +spread and control her he never had imagined. Her intelligence, her +passions, her inherited and accumulated wisdom, were crowded into some +submerged cell. There was nothing in her at the present moment for him, +and he turned on his heel without a word and left the house. She rapped +sharply on the window as he passed, but he did not look up. He was +filled with that unreasoning anger peculiar to man when woman for once +has failed to respond. He consigned her and her clothes to the devil, +and looked at his watch. It was ten minutes to one. His dinner hour was +two o'clock. He would go home to his wife, where he should have gone in +the first place. She never had failed him, or if she had he could not +recall the occasion. Her little dark face rose before him, innocent and +adorable. He could not tell her of the cause of his annoyance,--it +suddenly occurred to him that the less of that matter confided to Mrs. +Croix the better,--but then he never worried her with his troubles. He +would merely go and bask in her presence for an hour, confess to a +headache, and receive her sweet ministrations. + +As he entered his own house, and, relieved of his coat and hat by the +waiting black, ran up the stair, he thought he heard a soft babble of +voices. Knowing that his wife would, if he desired it, dismiss at once +any company she might have, he knocked confidently at her door and +entered. For a moment he felt inclined to rub his eyes, and wondered if +he were the victim of delirium. The bed was covered with bandboxes, the +sofa with new frocks. Betsey was sitting before the mirror, trying on a +cap, and her sisters, Peggy and Cornelia, were clapping their hands. +Angelica was perched on the back of a chair, her eyes twice their +natural size, Hamilton attempted instant retreat, but Betsey saw his +reflection in the mirror. + +"You?" she cried. "What a surprise and pleasure. Come here, sir, at +once." + +Meanwhile his two sisters-in-law, whose expected visit he had quite +forgotten, ran forward and kissed him effusively. With the desire in his +heart to rend the Universe in twain he went forward and smiled down into +his wife's eager face. + +"Angelica has sent me so many things!" she exclaimed. Her face was +flushed, her eyes sparkling. She looked sixteen. "And this cap is the +most bewitching of all. You came just at the right moment; it is quite +singular. Read--". + +She thrust a letter from Mrs. Church into his hand, and he read where +his wife pointed. "Someone who loves you will tell you if it is becoming +or not." And on the following page. "Kiss my saucy Brother for me. I +call him my Brother with an air of pride. And tell him, _Il est l'homme +le plus aimable du monde_." + +"It is charming," said Hamilton, pinching his wife's chin. "It is like a +frame. You never looked half so sweet." + +Betsey cooed with delight. Hamilton, having done his duty, was about to +retire in good order, when he met his little daughter's eyes. They had +dismissed the wonderful cap and were fixed on him with an expression +that gave him a sudden thrill. It was not the first time he had seen in +Angelica so strong a resemblance to his mother that he half believed +some fragment of Rachael Levine had come back to him. Her eyes were +dark, but she had a mane of reddish fair hair, and a skin as white as +porcelain, a long sensitive nose, and a full mobile mouth. She had none +of his mother's vitality and dash, however. She was delicate and rather +shrinking, and he knew that Rachael at her age must have been a marvel +of mental and physical energy. It was only occasionally, when he turned +suddenly and caught Angelica staring at him, that he experienced the odd +sensation of meeting his mother's eyes, informed, moreover, with an +expression of penetrating comprehension--an expression he recalled +without effort. The child idolized him. She sat outside his study while +he wrote, crawling in between the legs of anyone who opened the door? to +sit at his feet; or, if he dismissed her, in another part of the room +until he left it. She watched for his daily returns, and usually greeted +him from the banister post. Amiable, intelligent, pretty, affectionate, +and already putting forth the tender leaves of a great gift, her father +thought her quite perfect, and they had long conversations whenever he +was at leisure in his home. She demanded a great deal of petting, and he +was always ready to humour her, the more as she was the only girl, and +the one quiet member of his little family--although she had been known +to use her fists upon occasion. Her prettiness and intelligence +delighted him, her affection was one of the deepest pleasures of his +life, and he was thankful for the return to him of his mother's +beautiful and singular features. To-day the resemblance was so striking +that he contracted his eyelids. Angelica straightened herself, gave a +spring, and alighted on his chest. + +"Take me downstairs and talk to me," she commanded. "'Tis nearly an hour +to dinner." + +Hamilton swung her to his shoulder, and went downstairs. On the way he +laughed out loud. The past half-hour tossed itself into the foreground +of his mind, clad in the skirts of high comedy. Tragedy fled. The +burden in his breast went with it. Far be it from him to cherish a +grudge against the sex that so often reduced the trials of public life +to insignificance. Women were delicious irresponsible beings; man was an +ingrate to take their shortcomings seriously. + +"Why do you laugh?" asked his daughter, whose arm nearly strangled him. +"You were very angry when you came into mamma's room." + +"Indeed?" said Hamilton, nettled. "Was I not smiling?" + +"Yes, sir; but you often smile when you would like to run the +carving-knife into somebody." + +They had reached the library. Hamilton sat the child on the edge of his +table and took a chair closely facing her. "What do you mean, you little +witch?" he demanded. "I am always happy when I am at home." + +"Almost always. Sometimes you are very angry, and sometimes you are sad. +Why do you pretend? Why don't you tell us?" + +"Well," said Hamilton, with some confusion. "I love you all very much, +you see, and you do make me happy--why should I worry you?" + +"I should feel better if you told me--right out. It gives me a pain +here." + +She laid her hand to her head, and Hamilton stared at her in deepening +perplexity. Another child--anything feminine, at least--would have +indicated her heart as the citadel of sorrow. "Why there?" he asked. "Do +you mean a pain?" + +"Yes, a pain, but not so bad as when I am in Albany or Saratoga and you +are here. Then I worry all the time." + +"Do you mean that you are ever unhappy?" + +"I am unhappy whenever you are, or I am afraid that you are. I know that +you are very big and the cleverest man in the world, and that I am too +little to do you any good, and I don't know why I worry when I am away." +"But, my dear child, what in Heaven's name do you mean? Have you ever +spoken to your mother of this?" + +Angelica shook her head. Her eyes grew larger and wiser. "No; I should +only worry Betsey, and she is always happy. She is not clever like you +and me." + +Hamilton rose abruptly and walked to the window. When he had composed +his features he returned. "You must not criticise your mother in that +way, my dear. She is a very clever little woman, indeed." + +Angelica nodded. "If she were clever, you would not say 'little.' Nobody +says that you are a very clever little man. When I'm big, I'll not be +called little, either. I love our dear Queen Bess, but I'm _all yours_. +Why were you so angry to-day?" + +"I couldn't possibly tell you," replied her father, turning cold. "You +must not ask too many questions; but I am very grateful for your +sympathy. You are my dear little girl, and you make me love you more and +more, daily." + +"And will you tell me whenever you are not feeling like what you are +making the rest believe?" + +"If it will make you any happier, I will whisper it into your pink +little ear. But I think I should be a very bad father to make you +unhappy." + +"I told you, sir, that I am more unhappy when I imagine things. It is +just like a knife," and again she pointed to her head. + +Hamilton turned pale. "You are too young to have headaches," he said. +"Perhaps you have been studying too hard. I am so ambitious for my +children; but the boys have taken to books as they have to kites and +fisticuffs. I should have remembered that girls--" His memory gave up +the stories of his mother's precocity. But this child, who was so +startlingly like the dead woman, was far less fitted to carry such +burdens. So sensitive an intelligence in so frail a body might suddenly +flame too high and fall to ashes. He resolved to place her in classes of +other little girls at once, and to keep her in the fields as much as +possible. None knew better than he how close the highly strung +unresting brain could press to madness. He had acquired a superhuman +control over his. If this girl's brain had come out of his own, it must +be closely watched. She had not inherited his high light spirits, but +the melancholy which had lain at the foundations of his mother's nature; +she would require the most persistent guarding. He took her face between +his hands and kissed it many times. + +"Very well," he said, "we will have our little secrets. I will tell you +when I am disturbed, and you will sit close beside me with your doll +until I feel better. But remember, I expect as much confidence in +return. You will never have a care nor a terror nor an annoyance that +you will not confide it to me directly." + +She nodded. "I'm always telling you things to myself. And I won't cry +any more in the night, when I think you have felt badly and could not +tell anyone. It will all go away if you talk to me about it," she added +confidently. + +Hamilton swung her to his shoulder again and started for the dining +room. + +"The child is uncanny," he thought. "Can there be anything in that old +theory that tormented and erring souls come back to make their last +expiation in children? That means early death!" He dismissed the thought +promptly. + + +XXXI + +After dinner he called on Oliver Wolcott, the Comptroller, one of his +closest friends, and related the scene of the morning, adding the +explanation. Wolcott was a Puritan, and did not approve of the marital +digressions of his friends. But in this case the offence was so much +less than the accusation that he listened with frequent ejaculations of +content. He agreed at once to call at Hamilton's house at eight o'clock, +look over the papers, and read them aloud when the trio arrived. + +"And may the devil damn them," he added. "It will be one of the keenest +pleasures of my life to confound them. The unpatriotic villains! They +know that in disgracing you they would discredit the United States, and +in their hearts they know that your measures are the only wheels for +this country to run on; but to their party spite they would sacrifice +everything. I'll be there." + +And when the men called that night at nine o'clock, he read them the +correspondence from beginning to end--Reynold's letters, and those of +the woman. More than once Muhlenberg begged him to desist, but he was +merciless. When he had finished, Hamilton explained that he had +disguised his handwriting lest the man forge or make other use of it. + +The three rose as soon as the ordeal was over. "It is no use for me to +attempt to express my regret or my humiliation," said Muhlenberg, "I +shall be ashamed of this as long as I live." + +"I feel like an ass and a spy," exclaimed Venable. "I heartily beg your +pardon, sir." + +"Your mistake was justifiable. Are you satisfied?" + +"More than satisfied." + +Hamilton turned to Monroe. + +"I made a mistake," said the Senator from Virginia. "I beg your pardon." + +"And I shall hear no more of this?" + +He received the solemn promise of each, then let them go. But he locked +the letters carefully in their drawer again. + +"Are you going to keep those things?" asked Wolcott. "It must have made +you sick to listen to them." + +"It did. Perhaps I shall keep them for penance, perhaps because I do not +trust Monroe." + + +XXXII + +Hamilton was not long kept in ignorance of the next tactics of his +enemies. They made their deadliest assault soon after Christmas. +Immediately upon the assembling of Congress it was suggested that the +Secretary of the Treasury be asked to furnish a plan for reducing the +public debt. Madison arose and fired the first gun. What Congress +wanted was not a plan, but a statement of the national finances. The +Federalists replied that the information would come in due course, and +that the House was in duty bound to ask the Secretary to furnish a +scheme. The Republicans, led by Madison, protested that already too much +power had been invested in the Secretary of the Treasury, that it had +exceeded constitutional limits. Moreover, he overwhelmed them with +volumes, deliberately calculated to confuse their understandings. One +Giles, who did the dirty work of the party, announced that the Secretary +was not fit to make plans, and added the numerous and familiar +denunciations. But the Republicans were outvoted, and the suggestions +were called for. Hamilton furnished them immediately. His plan to reduce +the debt was met by so strenuous an opposition from the Republicans that +it was defeated, and by the party which had been most persistent in +their detestation of the obnoxious burden. Rather than add to the +laurels of Hamilton, they would shoulder it with equanimity. But this +defeat was but an incident. The Secretary of the Treasury, as the result +of a series of resolutions, was bidden to lay before Congress an account +of the moneys borrowed at Antwerp and Amsterdam; the President to +furnish a statement of the loans made by his authority, their terms, +what use had been made of them, how large was the balance; the chiefs of +departments to make a return of the persons employed and their salaries. +Hamilton, by this time, was fully alive to the fact that he was about to +be subjected to fresh persecution, and the agility of his enemies could +not keep pace with his. He furnished the House with an itemized +list--which it took the Committee days to plod through--of his +bookkeepers, clerks, porters, and charwomen, and the varying emoluments +they had received since the Department was organized, three years and a +half before. He further informed them that the net yield of the foreign +loan was eighteen millions six hundred and seventy-eight thousand +florins, that the loans were six in number, that three bore five per +cent interest, two four and a half, and one four per cent The enemy was +disconcerted but not discouraged. Five fresh resolutions were moved +almost immediately. Impartial historians have agreed that Jefferson +suggested these shameful resolutions, and that Madison drew them up. +Giles brought them forward. In a vociferous speech he asserted that no +man could understand the Secretary's report, that his methods and +processes were clothed in a suspicious obscurity. It was his painful +duty to move the adoption of the following resolutions: That copies of +the papers authorizing the foreign loans should be made; that the names +of the persons to whom and by whom the French debt had been paid be sent +to Congress; that a statement of the balances between the United States +and the Bank be made; that an account of the sinking-fund be rendered, +how much money had come into it and where from, how much had been used +for the purchase of the debt and where the rest was deposited. The fifth +demanded an account of the unexpended revenue at the close of the +preceding year. Giles charged that a serious discrepancy existed between +the report of the Secretary and the books of the Bank--not less than a +million and a half. It had been the purpose of Jefferson and Madison to +bring forward the resolutions with an air of comparative innocence. But +the vanity of Giles carried him away, and his speech informed Congress, +and very shortly the country, that the honesty of the Secretary of the +Treasury had been impeached, and that he was called upon to vindicate +himself. + +In crises Hamilton never lost his temper. The greater the provocation, +as the greater the danger, the colder and more impersonal he became. Nor +was it in his direct impatient nature to seek to delay an evil moment +any more than it was to protect himself behind what the American of +to-day calls "bluff." In this, the severest trial of his public career, +he did not hesitate a moment for irritation or protest. He called upon +his Department to assist him, and with them he worked day and night, +gathering, arranging, elaborating all the information demanded by +Congress. When he was not directing his subordinates, he was shut up in +his library preparing his statements and replies. His meals were taken +to him; his family did not see him for weeks, except as he passed them +on his way to or from the front door. He sent in report after report to +Congress with a celerity that shattered his health, but kept his enemies +on the jump, and worked them half to death. The mass of manuscript he +sent would have furnished a modest bookstore, and the subjects and +accounts with which he was so familiar drove Madison and others, too +opposed to finance to master the maze of it, close upon the borders of +frenzy. It had been their uncommunicated policy to carry the matter over +to the next session, but Hamilton was determined to have done with them +by adjournment. + +And in the midst of this tremendous pressure arrived George Washington +Lafayette. + +It was on the first Saturday of his retirement into the deep obscurity +of his library, with orders that no one knock under penalty of driving +him from the house, that Hamilton, opening the door suddenly with intent +to make a dash for his office, nearly fell over Angelica. She was +standing just in front of the door, and her face was haggard. + +"How long have you been here?" demanded her father. + +"Three hours, sir." + +"Three! Have you stood all that time?" + +Angelica nodded. She was determined not to cry, but she was wise enough +not to tax the muscles of her throat. + +Hamilton hesitated. If the child fidgeted, she would distract his +attention, great as were his powers of concentration; but another +searching of her eyes decided him. + +"Very well," he said. "Go in, but mind you imagine that you are a mouse, +or you will have to leave." + +When he returned, she was sitting in a low chair by his desk, almost +rigid. She had neither doll nor book. "This will never do," he thought. +"What on earth shall I do with the child?" His eye fell upon the chaos +of his manuscript. He gathered it up and threw it on the sofa. "There," +he said, "arrange that according to the numbers, and come here every +five minutes for more." + +And Angelica spent two hours of every day in the library, useful and +happy. + +One day Hamilton was obliged to attend a Cabinet meeting, and to spend +several hours at his office just after. Returning home in the early +winter dusk, he saw two small white faces pressed against the hall +window. One of them was Angelica's, the other he had never seen. As he +entered, his daughter fell upon him. + +"This is George Washington Lafayette," she announced breathlessly. "He +came to-day, and he doesn't speak any English, and he won't go near +Betsey or anyone but me, and he won't eat, and I know he's miserable and +wretched, only he won't cry. His tutor's ill at the Inn." + +The little Frenchman had retired to the drawing-room. Angelica darted +after him and dragged him forward into the light. He was small for his +age, but his features had the bold curious outline of his father's. He +carried himself with dignity, but it was plain that he was terrified and +unhappy. Hamilton gave him a warm embrace, and asked him several +questions in French. The boy brightened at once, answered rapidly and +intelligently, and took firm possession of his new friend's hand. + +"I am more happy now," he announced. "I don't like the other people +here, except this little girl, because they do not speak French, but you +are a Frenchman, and I shall love you, as my father said I should--long +ago! I will stay with you day and night." + +"Oh, you will?" exclaimed Hamilton. "I am going to send you to school +with my boys." + +"Oh, not yet, sir! not yet!" cried the boy, shrilly. "I have seen so +many strangers on that dreadful ship, and in France--we hid here, +there--moving all the time. I wish to live with you and be your little +boy." + +"And so you shall, but I am uncommonly busy." + +"He is a very quiet little boy," interposed Angelica, who was three +years his junior. "He would not move if he sat in your room, and I will +take him for a walk every day. He will die if he has to sit in a room by +himself all day." + +"I shall sleep with you, sir, I hope?" asked young Lafayette, eagerly. +"I have thought all day of the dark of to-night. I have seen such +terrible things, sir!" + +"Good Heaven!" thought Hamilton, "is it not enough to be dry nurse to a +nation?" But he could not refuse, and during the few hours he snatched +for sleep he was half strangled. By day the boy sat quietly in a corner +of the library, and studied the text-books his guardian bought him. +Betsey did all she could to win him, but he had no faith in people who +could not speak his language. Angelica, like all of Hamilton's children, +knew something of French, and he liked her and accepted her motherly +attentions; but Hamilton he adored. The moment his absorbed friend made +for the front door he was after him, and Hamilton let him run at his +heels, lest he get neither air nor exercise. He had no time at present +to take him to call on his august godfather, and, in truth, he dreaded +the prospect. Washington knew nothing of children, and his diminutive +namesake would probably be terrified into spasms. + + +XXXIII + +The three long and exhaustive reports, accounting honourably for every +penny entrusted to the Secretary of the Treasury, and justifying every +payment, measure, and investment, had gone to the Congress. Nine days +later Giles brought forward nine resolutions of censure against the +Secretary of the Treasury. But by this time Congress had made up its +mind, and many of the Republicans were disgusted and humiliated. The +Federalists were triumphant, and amused themselves with Giles, drawing +him on, to confound him with ridicule and proof of the absurdity of his +charges. Madison, desperate, lost his head and the respect of many of +his colleagues, by asserting hysterically that the House was impotent to +change the truth of the accusations, and that in the tribunal of public +opinion the Secretary would be condemned. But Hamilton was triumphantly +vindicated by Congress and the Nation at large. His house was in a state +of siege for weeks from people of all parts of the country, come to +congratulate him; his desk obliterated by letters he had no time to +read. The Federals were jubilant. Their pride in Hamilton was so great +that a proclamation from above would not have disturbed their faith, and +they were merciless to the discomfited enemy. In truth, the Virginian +trio and their close adherents were mortified and confounded. In their +hearts they had not believed Hamilton guilty of dishonesty, but they had +been confident that his affairs were in chaos, that large sums must have +escaped, not conceiving that any mortal could at the same time create +gigantic schemes, and be as methodical as a department clerk in every +detail of his great office. + +Although Hamilton had commanded his brain to dwell exclusively upon the +vindication and its means, the deeps below were bitter and hot. When the +work was over, and exhausted in body and mind he went about his duties +mechanically, or attempted to find distraction in his family, he felt as +if the abundant humanity in him were curdled; and he longed for a war, +that he might go out and kill somebody. It was small compensation that +the Virginian ring were grinding their teeth, and shivering under daily +shafts of humiliation and ridicule. So terrible was the position in +which they had placed him, so immeasurably had they added to the sum of +his contempt for human kind, that individually they occupied, for a +time, but a corner of his thought. + +His only solace during this trial had been Washington; he had been too +busy and too frozen for Mrs. Croix. But that closest of his friends, +although forced by his high office to a position of stern neutrality, +did all he could in private to convince Hamilton of his unaltered +affection and regard. As soon as the vindication was complete he fell +into the habit of finishing his daily walk with an hour in Hamilton's +library. But if his visits were a pleasure to his Secretary, they were +wretchedness unleavened for two other members of the family. The +President never failed to ask for Angelica and George Washington +Lafayette; and upon their prompt but unwilling advent he would solemnly +place one on either knee, where they remained for perhaps half an hour +in awe-stricken misery. They had orders to show no distress, and they +behaved admirably; but although young Lafayette was rapidly learning +English, the fact did not lessen his fear of this enormous man, who +spoke so kindly, and looked as if he could have silenced the Terror with +the awful majesty of his presence. Angelica, being an independent little +American, was less overwhelmed, but she was often on the verge of +hysterics. It was the short session of Congress, and in March, George, +with scalding but dignified tears, accompanied his godfather to Mount +Vernon, whence he wrote Hamilton a daily letter of lament, until habit +tempered his awe; from that point he passed with Gallic bounds into an +ardent affection for the great man, who, if of an unearthly dignity, was +always kind, and, when relieved of the cares of State, uniformly genial. + +The respite in Philadelphia was brief. In April came the first news of +the beheading of the French king; and the same tardy packets brought +word that France was at war with England and Spain. Hamilton sent the +news, express haste, to Washington, and dismissed every consideration +from his brain but the terrible crisis forced upon the United States, +and the proper measures to save her from shipwreck. In the early stages +of the French Revolution he had predicted the developments with such +accuracy to Henry Walter Livingston that the new Secretary of Legation, +upon his arrival in Paris, told Gouverneur Morris--United States +minister since 1792--that to his astonishment he found nothing to +surprise him. Therefore the prophet had long been determined upon the +policy the United States should pursue when this crisis shot out of the +eastern horizon; he had now but to formulate it in such a manner that +every point could be grasped at once by the Cabinet, and acted upon. +When Washington arrived in Philadelphia and summoned his advisers, +Hamilton presented twelve questions for discussion, the most pressing of +which were: Shall a proclamation issue for the purpose of preventing +interferences of the citizens of the United States in the war between +France and Great Britain, etc.? Shall it contain a declaration of +neutrality? Shall a minister from this Republic of France be received? +Jefferson was in a far less enviable position than Hamilton. He neither +wished for war, nor dared he machinate for it; but with all his +democratic soul he loved the cause which was convulsing the world from +its ferocious centre in France. Had Jefferson come of stout yeoman +stock, like John Adams, or of a long line of patrician ancestors, like +Hamilton, and, to a lesser degree, like Washington, he might, judging +from certain of his tastes, and his love of power, have become, or been, +as aristocratic in habit and spirit as were most men of his wealth, +position, and importance in the young country. But the two extremes met +in his blood. The plebeianism of his father showed itself in the +ungainly shell, in the indifference to personal cleanliness, and in the +mongrel spirit which drove him to acts of physical cowardice for which +his apologists blush. But his mother had belonged to the aristocracy of +Virginia, and this knowledge induced a sullen resentment that he should +be so unlike her kind, so different in appearance from the courtly men +of his State. Little was wanting to accelerate his natural desire to +level his country to a plane upon which with his gifts he easily could +loom as a being of superior mould; but when a British sovereign publicly +turned his back upon him, and the English court, delighted with its cue, +treated him with an unbearable insolence, nothing more was needed to +start the torrent of his hate against all who stood for aristocracy. +Democracy rampant on all sides of him, during his sojourn in France, +found in him not only an ardent sympathizer, but a passionate advocate. +He quite overlooked the fact that he failed to persuade the country of +his enthusiasm to accord the United States fair commercial treatment: it +embodied and demonstrated his ideal of liberty, equality, fraternity, +and he was its most devoted friend, unresting until he had insinuated +his own admiration into the minds of his followers in America, and made +Jacobinism a party issue. + +To turn his back upon France, therefore, to help her neither in money +nor moral support, was a policy he had no intention to pursue, could he +avoid it; but knowing his weakness in the Cabinet, he suggested an extra +session of Congress. It would then be an easy matter to throw the +responsibility upon his followers in both Houses, while he stood to the +country as working consistently and harmoniously in his great office. + +But Hamilton, who understood him thoroughly, would listen to no +proposition which would involve weeks of delay, inflame further the +public mind, and give Jefferson an opportunity to make political +capital. Moreover, he would have no such confession of weakness go out +from the Administration. He prevailed, and in that first meeting +Jefferson was forced to consent also to the immediate issue of a +proclamation to the people. He argued with such fervour, however, +against the use of the word "neutrality," declaring that the Executive +had no constitutional authority so far to commit the people, that +Washington, to humour him, omitted the word, while declaring +authoritatively for the substance. It was also agreed that Genet, the +new Minister from France, sent by the Revolutionists to succeed M. +Ternant, should be received. The first meeting closed tranquilly, for +both Hamilton and Jefferson had tacitly admitted that it was no time for +personal recrimination. + +But the Cabinet met daily, and other subjects, notably Hamilton's +contention that their treaties made with a proper French government no +longer existed, came up for elaborate discussion; Hamilton had an +exhaustive report prepared on each of them. The two Secretaries, who +hated each other as two men hardly have hated before or since, and who +realized that they had met for their final engagement in official life, +soon dismissed any pretence at concord, and wrangled habitually--with +cutting sarcasm or crushing force on Hamilton's part, with mild but +deadly venom on Jefferson's; until he too was maddened by a jagged dart +which momentarily routed his tender regard for his person. Jefferson +wrenched one victory from the Cabinet despite Hamilton's determined +opposition: Genet's reception should be absolute. But on all other +important points the Secretary of the Treasury scored, and stone by +stone built up the great policy of neutrality which prevailed until the +year 1898; impressed into the Government the "Doctrine"--he had +formulated it in "The Federalist"--which was to immortalize the name of +a man who created nothing. Hamilton, with all the energy and obstinacy +of his nature, was resolved that the United States should not have so +much as a set-back for the sake of a country whose excesses filled him +with horror, much less run the risk of being sucked into the whirlpool +of Europe; and he watched every move Jefferson made, lest his secret +sympathies commit the country. When, after a triumphal procession +through miles of thoughtless enthusiasts, who remembered only the +services of France, forgot that their friends had been confined entirely +to the royalty and aristocracy that the mob was murdering, and were +intoxicated by the extreme democracy of the famous Secretary of State, +Genet arrived in Philadelphia, inflated and bumptious, his brain half +crazed by the nervous excitement of the past two years, and was received +with frigid politeness by Washington, Hamilton was not long discovering +that Jefferson was in secret sympathy and intercourse with this +dangerous fire-brand. The news had preceded and followed the new +minister that he had been distributing blank commissions to all who +would fit out privateers to prey upon British commerce, opening +headquarters for the enlistment of American sailors into the French +service, and constituting French consuls courts of admiralty for the +trial and condemnation of prizes brought in by French privateers. + +As soon as he arrived in Philadelphia he demanded of Hamilton the +arrears of the French debt, which the Secretary had refused to pay until +there was a stable government in France to receive it. Hamilton laughed, +locked the doors of the Treasury, and put the key in his pocket. To +Genet's excited volubility and pertinacity he paid as little attention +as to Jefferson's arguments. Moreover, he reversed all Citizen Genet's +performances in the South; and in course of time, even the captured +British ships, to the wrath and disgust of Jefferson, were returned to +their owners. + +Freneau's _Gazette_ supported the Secretary of State with the +desperation of an expiring cause; in this great final battle, were +Jefferson driven from the Cabinet, his faithful organ must scurry to the +limbo of its kind. It assailed the Administration for ingratitude and +meanness, then turned its attention almost exclusively to the Secretary +of the Treasury. It accused him of abstracting the moneys due to France, +of plundering the industrious farmer with the Excise Law, destroying the +morals of the people by Custom House duties; resurrected the old +discrimination cry and asserted vehemently that he, and he alone, had +robbed the poor soldiers. It raked every accusation, past and present, +from its pigeon holes. Jefferson, on the other hand, was held up as a +model of the disinterested statesman, combining virtues before which +those falsely attributed to Washington paled and expired; and as the +only man fit to fill the Executive Chair. Genet accepted all this as +gospel, fortunately, perhaps, for the country; for his own excesses and +impudence, his final threat to appeal from the President to the people, +ruined him with the cooling heads of the Republican party, and finally +lost him even the support of Jefferson. + +Meanwhile, after stormy meetings of the Cabinet, Hamilton, in the peace +of his library, with Angelica sorting his pages,--until she went to the +North,--had written a series of papers defending the proclamation. They +were so able and convincing, so demonstrable of the treasonable efforts +of the enemy to undermine the influence of the Administration, so cool +and so brilliant an exposition of the rights and powers of the +Executive, that on July 7th Jefferson wrote to Madison: "For God's sake, +my dear sir, take up your pen. Select the most striking heresies, and +cut him to pieces in the face of the public." + +Madison hastened to obey his chief in a series of papers which tickled +the literary nerve, but failed to convince. That the laurels were to +Hamilton was another bitter pill which Jefferson was forced to swallow. +Nevertheless, Hamilton, despite his victories, felt anything but +amiable. He was so exhausted that he was on the verge of a collapse, and +triumphs were drab under the daily harassment of Jefferson, Genet, and +Freneau. Matters came to a climax one day in August, shortly before the +outbreak of yellow fever. + + +XXXIV + +Hamilton laid down a copy of Freneau's _Gazette_, whose editorial +columns were devoted, as usual, to persuading the people of the United +States that they were miserable, and that they owed their misery to the +Secretary of the Treasury. It also contained a shameful assault upon the +President. As he lifted another paper from the pile on his library +table, his eyes fell on the following address to himself:-- + + O votary of despotism! O abettor of Carthaginian faith! Blush! Can + you for a moment suppose that the hearts of the yeomanry of America + are becoming chilled and insensible to the feelings of insulted + humanity like your own? Can you think that gratitude, the most + endearing disposition of the human heart, is to be argued away by + your dry sophistry? Do you suppose the people of the United States + prudently thumb over Vattel and Pufendorf to ascertain the sum and + substance of their obligations to their generous brethren, the + French? No! no! Each individual will lay his hand on his heart and + find the amount there. He will find that manly glow, both of + gratitude and love, which animated his breast when assisted by this + generous people in establishing his own liberty and shaking off the + yoke of British despotism! + +In the _Aurora_ he was denounced as the foe of France and the friend of +Great Britain and Spain, the high priest of tyranny, the bitterest enemy +of the immortal French trio, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité; the subtle +and Machiavellian adviser of Washington, who, relieved of this +pernicious influence, would acknowledge the debts of gratitude and +follow the will of the American people. + +"Are they mad?" he thought, flinging the entire pile into the +waste-basket. "Or are they merely so eager for power and our ruin that +they are indifferent to the fact that the Administration, and the +foundations upon which it stands, never has needed the support of the +people more than now? Can only the party in power afford to be +patriotic? What a spectacle is this, that I, an alien born, am wearing +out my life and sacrificing my character, to save from themselves a +people who pant for my ruin! Has the game been worth the candle? Debt, +my family crowded into a house not half large enough to hold them, my +health almost gone, my reputation, in spite of repeated vindications, +undermined by daily assault--for the fools of the world believe what +they are told, and I cannot compromise my dignity by replying to such +attacks as these; above all, a sickening and constant disgust for life +and human nature! _Is_ the game worth the candle? Had I remained at the +bar, I should have given my family abundance by now; with only the kind +and quantity of enemies that stimulate. It is only politics that rouse +the hellish depths in the human heart. It is true that I have saved the +country, made it prosperous, happy, and honoured. But what guaranty have +I that this state will last beyond the administration of Washington? +With the Republicans in power the whole edifice may be swept away, the +country in a worse plight than before, and the author of its brief +prosperity forgotten with his works. I shall have lived in vain, and +leave my sons to be educated, my family to be supported, by my +father-in-law." + +He was in no mood to see the reverse side of the picture; and indeed his +cares were so many and overwhelming at this time that it is little +wonder he believed he had lost for ever the gay buoyancy of his spirits. +In addition to the predominating trials, financial matters were +demanding all the leisure he should have given to rest, heavy failures +in England having seriously affected the money concerns of the United +States; and the rebellions in the West against the Excise Law were +sounding a new alarm. Moreover, his constant efforts to obtain Duer's +release were unavailing; he could get no word of Lafayette; and the last +packet had brought a rumour of the murder of Gouverneur Morris by the +mob. Altogether, he may be excused for forgetting that he was still the +most dazzling figure in America, in the full tide of actual success, and +an object of terrified hatred to a powerful ring who could reach their +zenith over his political corpse, and by no other means whatever. + +He picked up his hat, and went forth reluctantly to a Cabinet meeting. +It was early, and he saw Washington for a few moments alone in the +library. The President was in a no more cheerful or amiable frame of +mind than himself. His responsibilities in this terrible crisis wore on +his spirits and temper; and the daily fear that his Secretaries would +come to blows,--for Jefferson was in the worst humour of the +quintette,--to say nothing of the assaults of the press, made him openly +regret the hour he was persuaded into the Executive Chair. But his +entire absence of party spirit, despite his secret sympathy with every +measure of Hamilton's, his attitude of stern neutrality, never emerged +more triumphantly from any trial of his public career; nor did he ever +exhibit the magnanimity of his character more strikingly than in his +undisturbed affection for Hamilton, while daily twitted with being the +tool of his "scheming and ambitious Secretary." + +Hamilton saw a copy of Freneau's _Gazette_ in the waste-basket, but by +common consent they ignored the subjects which would be unavoidable in a +few moments, and spoke of the stifling heat, of the unhealthy state of +Philadelphia, the menace of the San Domingo refugees pouring into the +city, of the piles of putrid coffee and hides on the wharves at the foot +of Mulberry Street, and of the carcasses of rotting hogs and horses +which lay everywhere. + +"Thank Heaven, we can get our women and children out of it," said the +President. "And unless we can finish this business in another week, I +shall take the Government to the country. I suppose we are entitled to +escape with our lives, if they leave us nothing else." + +They entered the Council Chamber and found the others in their +accustomed seats. Jefferson's brow was corrugated, his weak and mincing +mouth pressed out of shape. He had just finished reading the last of +Hamilton's "No Jacobin" papers, published that morning, in which Genet's +abominable breaches of decorum, violation of treaties, and deliberate +insults to the Executive--and through him to the American people--had +been set forth in so clear pointed and dispassionate a manner, that no +thinking Republican who read could fail to be convinced of the +falseness of his position in supporting this impudent and ridiculous +Frenchman. Furthermore, the Secretary of State had been forced, through +the exigencies of his position, to sign despatch after despatch, letter +after letter, in violation of his private sympathies. He was feeling not +only as angry as a cornered bull, but extremely virtuous. He hated what +he firmly believed to be the cold and selfish policy of the +Administration, as he hated every other policy it had executed; and the +knowledge that he had sacrificed his personal feelings to save his +country from discord, made him feel a far better man than the Secretary +of the Treasury, who had a diabolical talent for getting his own way. He +had some reason to be pleased with his conduct, and with his share in +contributing to a series of measures which later on won for the Cabinet +at that crucial period the encomiums of history; and when time had +abated the fevers, Hamilton would have been the first to acknowledge +that Jefferson not only was the brake which the Administration needed at +that time, but that, owing to his popularity with the French and the +masses of the United States, he reduced the danger of a popular +uprising. + +As Hamilton took his seat this morning, however, the blood was in his +head, and he and Jefferson exchanged a glance of sullen hate which made +Washington extend his long arms at once. All went well until the +President, with a premonitory sigh, introduced the dynamic name, Genet. +Hamilton forgot his debility, and was all mind, alert and energetic. +Jefferson, who had come to hate Genet as an intolerable nuisance, would +have been the first at another moment to counsel the demand for recall +which he knew was now inevitable, but he was in too bad a humour to-day +to concur in any measure agreeable to Hamilton. + +The latter had replied promptly to Washington's remark that the time had +come to take definite action with regard to the light-headed Frenchman, +who continued to fit out and despatch privateers, and was convulsing the +country generally. + +"Pray send him home, bag and baggage, sir. He is not entitled to the +dignity or consideration of the usual formalities. Moreover, he is the +trigger of the United States so long as he remains at liberty in it. I +estimate that there is a new Jacobin club formed daily. At any moment he +may do something which will drive these fools, under their red caps and +cockades, mad with admiration." + +Jefferson brought his brows down to the root of his nose. "'Fools' is +not the word for an honest enthusiasm for liberty, sir. I regret the +present excitement--its manifestations at this moment--as much as +anyone--" + +"Indeed? I am amazed. Who, then, is responsible for them?" + +"Not I, sir." + +"Oh, let us have no more hypocrisy, at all events," said Hamilton, +contemptuously. He had his wrath under control, but he suddenly +determined to force the climax. "If you had employed your secret pen to +better purpose, or not employed it at all, there would not be a Jacobin +club in the country; this ridiculous Frenchman, unencouraged by your +private sympathy, by your assurances of my inability to withhold the +residue of the debt, would have calmed down long since. I accuse you +here, deliberately and publicly, instead of writing private letters to +the public, both because I have not your commanding talent for patient +and devious ways, and because I wish you to declare, unequivocally, +whether or not you purpose to continue this policy of obstruction. Time +presses. We must act at once with regard to this Frenchman. Reserve +subterfuge for some more opportune time, and let us know what you intend +to do." + +Jefferson looked with appeal at Washington, who usually interposed when +his Secretaries arrived at personalities. But Washington, although his +face was as immobile as stone, was so sick with anger and disgust over +the whole situation, at what appeared to be the loss of the popular +faith in himself, and the ridicule and abuse which had filled the +columns of Freneau's paper that morning, that it was a relief to him to +hear Hamilton explode. + +"I repudiate every word you have said, sir," growled Jefferson. "More I +will not say. As to Citizen Genet, with whom I have never had a word of +private intercourse--" Here, even Washington lifted his head, and +Hamilton laughed outright. Jefferson continued, determined upon +martyrdom rather than rouse the terrible passions opposite: "As to +Citizen Genet, if the Cabinet agree that it is best he leave this +country. I shall demand that his recall be requested in the regular +manner, in accordance with every principle of international courtesy. He +may be imprudent, intoxicated with the glorious wine of liberty, but he +is a Frenchman, a distinguished citizen of the great country that came +so nobly to our rescue, and I protest against the base ingratitude which +would fling insults in the teeth of an unfortunate people." + +Hamilton threw back his head impatiently, and drummed with his fingers +on the table. "The primary motive of France for the assistance she gave +us was, obviously, to enfeeble a hated and powerful rival. A second +motive was to extend her relations of commerce in the new world, and to +acquire additional security for her possessions there, by forming a +connection with this country when detached from Great Britain. To +ascribe to her any other motives, to suppose that she was actuated by +friendship toward us, is to be ignorant of the springs of action which +invariably regulate the cabinets of princes. A despotic court aid a +popular revolution through sympathy with its principles! For the matter +of that, if you insist upon American statesmen being sentimental fools, +the class that assisted us has been murdered by the rabble, which I +refuse to recognize as France. And if it be your object to reduce this +country to a similar position that you may climb over maddened brains to +power--" + +"Hear!" roared Jefferson, justly indignant. "I? Never a man loved peace +as I do. My life has been hell since you have forced me into daily +conflict, when, God knows, I perish with desire for the peace of my +homely life in Virginia. Power! I scorn it, sir. I leave that to +restless upstarts like yourself--" + +He stopped, choking. Hamilton laughed contemptuously. "You are at work +with your pen day and night, strengthening your misnamed party, and +preparing the way by which you can lift yourself to a position where you +can undo all that the party you hate, because it is composed of +gentlemen, has accomplished for the honour and prosperity of your +country. You are perfectly well aware that Genet was sent here to stir +up a civil war, and embroil us with Europe at the same time, and you +have secretly sympathized with and encouraged him. I cannot make up my +mind whether you are a villain, or merely the victim of a sublimated and +paradoxical imagination. But in either case, I wish to be placed on +record as asserting that you are the worst enemy the United States is +cursed with to-day." + +This was too much for Jefferson, who had convinced himself that he was a +high-minded and self-sacrificing statesman, stooping to devious ways for +the common good. He forgot his physical fear, and shouted, pounding the +table with his fist:-- + +"How dare you, sir? How dare you? It is you who are ruining, corrupting, +and dishonouring this unhappy country, with your Banks, your devilish +methods to cement the aristocracy, your abominable Excise Law--" + +"Oh, but you have counteracted that so effectively! I was coming to that +point. I conceived a measure by which to meet an imperative financial +demand, and you, by your agents, by your secret machinations, have been +the author of insurrection after insurrection, of the most flagrant +breaches of the laws of your country. You have cost innumerable men, +engaged in the pursuit of plain duty, their self-respect, and in several +cases their lives. Another hideous problem is approaching--one, I am +persuaded, that can be solved by arms and bloodshed alone; and to your +pen, to your deliberate unsettling of men's minds, to the hatred you +have inspired for the lawful government of this country, to you, and to +you alone--" + +"It's a lie! a lie!" shouted Jefferson. "You are speaking to an +honourable man, sir! one who occupies a position in this country both by +birth and breeding that you would give your soul--you adventurer!--to +possess. Go back to your Islands! You have no place here among men of +honourable birth. It's monstrous that this country should be ruled by a +foreign bastard--!" + +For a moment, every one present had a confused idea that a tornado was +in the room. Then two doors were wrenched open, Jefferson fled down the +street, with Randolph, bearing his hat, in pursuit; Knox was holding +Hamilton firmly in his arms; and Washington, who had risen some moments +since, and stood staring in grim disgust, awaiting the end, was divided +between a desire to laugh, and to give way to a burst of fury himself. + +Hamilton had made no attempt to struggle when Knox caught him, but he +now withdrew from the relaxing arms, and the Secretary of War left the +room hastily. Hamilton, to Washington's astonishment, flung himself into +a chair, and dropped his head on his arms. In a moment, he began to sob +convulsively. A malignant fever was breeding in his depressed system; +the blood still surged in his head. He had a despairing sense that his +character was in ruins; he was humiliated to his depths; he despised +himself so bitterly that he forgot the existence of Jefferson. + +The humour and anger died out of Washington. He went forward hastily and +locked the door. Then he stooped over Hamilton, and pressed him closely +in his arms. + +"My dear boy!" he said huskily. "My dear boy!" + + +XXXV + +That was the last of Hamilton's battles in the Cabinet. Jefferson +resigned; although, in order that the Administration might, until the +crisis was past, preserve an unbroken front to the country, he +reluctantly consented to withhold his resignation until the assembling +of Congress. He retired to Monticello, however; and apologized to the +Secretary of the Treasury. + +Hamilton, almost immediately, was taken down with yellow fever, which +broke out suddenly and raged with a fearful violence. To the ordinary +odours of carcasses and garbage, were added those of vinegar, tar, +nitre, garlic, and gunpowder. Every disinfectant America had ever heard +of was given a trial, and every man who possessed a shot-gun fired it +all day and all night. The bells tolled incessantly. The din and the +smells were hideous, the death carts rattled from dawn till dawn; many +were left unburied in their houses for a week; hundreds died daily; and +the city confessed itself helpless, although it cleaned the streets. +Hamilton had a very light attack, but Dr. Stevens dropped in frequently +to see him; he privately thought him of more importance than all +Philadelphia. + +Lying there and thinking of many things, too grateful for the rest to +chafe at the imprisonment, and striving for peace with himself, Hamilton +one day conceived the idea of immersing yellow-fever patients in +ice-water. Microbes were undiscovered, but Hamilton, perhaps with a +flashing glimpse of the truth, reasoned that if cold weather invariably +routed the disease, a freezing of the infected blood should produce the +same result. He succeeded in convincing Stevens, with the issue that +when the scourge was over, the young West Indian doctor had so many +cures to his credit, where all other physicians had failed, that the +City Council presented him with a silver tankard, gratefully inscribed, +and filled with golden coins. Hamilton's fecund brain, scattering its +creations, made more than one reputation. + +Meanwhile, he awoke one day to find Mrs. Croix sitting beside his bed. +She had left town in June, and usually did not return until late in +September. She wore a white frock and a blue sash, and looked like an +angel about to do penance. + +"I have come back to take care of the sick, including yourself," she +announced, "I was born to be a nurse, and I felt that my place was here. +I have come to see you first, and I shall call daily, but otherwise I am +in Dr. Stevens's hands." + +Hamilton stared at her. He was not surprised, for she was kind hearted +in her erratic imperious fashion, and much beloved by the poor; nor was +she afraid of anything under heaven. But she was the last person he had +wished to see; she was for his triumphant hours, or his furious, not for +helpless invalidism. He had longed consistently for his wife, and +written to her by every packet-boat, lest she suspect his illness and +return to the plague-stricken city. He was filled with a sudden +resentment that any other woman should presume to fill her chair. To +forget her under overwhelming provocation he had reconciled to his +conscience with little difficulty, for his extenuations were many, and +puritanism had not yet invaded the national character; but to permit +another woman to ministrate to him when ill, he felt to be an +unpardonable breach of his Eliza's rights, and his loyalty rebelled. So, +although he treated Mrs. Croix with politeness while she remained, he +gave orders to Dr. Stevens to keep her away upon any pretext he chose. +"I am too nervous to be bothered with women," he added; and Stevens +obeyed without comment. + +Hamilton's convalescence was cheered by two facts: the revival of his +spirits and equilibrium, and frequent assurances from his wife that for +the first time in five years she was entirely well. She wrote that she +had regained all her old colour, "spring," vivacity, and plumpness, and +felt quite ten years younger. Hamilton was delighted; for her courage +had so far exceeded her strength that he had often feared a collapse. +Although she detested the sight of a pen, she was so elated with her +recovered health that she wrote to him weekly. Suddenly, and without +explanation, the letters stopped. Still, he was quite unprepared for +what was to follow, and on the first of October, his health improved by +a short sojourn in the country, he went to the wharf to meet the +packet-boat which invariably brought his family; his pockets full of +sweets, and not a misgiving in his mind. + +As he stood on the wharf, watching the boat towed slowly to dock, his +four oldest children suddenly appeared, waving their hats and shouting +like young Indians. James, who was as broad as he was long, and was +wedged firmly between Angelica and Philip lest he turn over, swelled a +chorus which excited much amusement among by-standers. To Hamilton's +surprise his wife did not occupy her usual place behind that +enthusiastic group, but as the boat touched the pier, and all four +precipitated themselves upon him at once,--the three oldest about his +neck, and James upon his pockets,--he forgot her for the moment in the +delight of seeing and embracing his children after three months of +separation. He emerged from that wild greeting, dishevelled and +breathless, only to disappear once more within six long arms and a +circle of sunburned faces. Hamilton received from his children an almost +frantic affection; indeed, few people merely liked him; it was either +hate or a love which far transcended the bounds of such affection as the +average mortal commands. The passion he inspired in his children cost +one his life, another her reason, and left its indelible mark on a +third; but for what they gave, they received an overflowing measure in +return; no man was ever more passionately attached to his brood, nor +took a greater delight in its society. + +Suddenly, through the web of Angelica's flying locks, he saw that his +wife had appeared on deck and was about to land. He disentangled himself +hastily and went forward to greet her. In a flash he noted that she was +prettier than ever, and that she was affected by something far more +extraordinary than an increase of health. She threw back her head, and +her black eyes flashed with anger as he approached with the assurance of +thirteen years of connubial ownership; but she greeted him politely and +took his arm. No explanation was possible there; and he escorted her and +the children to the coach as quickly as possible. Philip, Angelica, and +Alexander were sensible at once of the chasm yawning between the seats; +they redoubled their attentions to their father, and regarded their +mother with reproving and defiant eyes. Poor Betsey, conscious that she +was entirely in the right, felt bitter and humiliated, and sought to +find comfort in the indifference of James, who was engaged with a +cornucopia and blind to the infelicity of his parents. + +When they reached the house, Hamilton dismissed the children and opened +the door of his library. + +"Will you come in?" he said peremptorily. + +Mrs. Hamilton entered, and sat down on a high-backed chair. She was very +small, her little pigeon toes were several inches above the floor; but +no judge on his bench ever looked so stern and so inexorable. + +"Now," said Hamilton, who was cold from head to foot, for he had an +awful misgiving, "let us have an explanation at once. This is our first +serious misunderstanding, and you well know that I shall be in misery +until it is over--" + +"I have not the least intention of keeping you in suspense," interrupted +Betsey, sarcastically. "I am too thankful that you did not happen to +come to Saratoga when _I_ was prostrated with misery. I have gone +through everything,--every stage of wretchedness that the human heart is +capable of,--but now, thank Heaven, I am filled with only a just +indignation. Read that!" + +She produced a letter from her reticule and flipped it at him. Even +before he opened it he recognized the familiar handwriting, the profuse +capitals, of Mrs. Reynolds. Fortunately, he made no comment, for the +contents were utterly different from his quick anticipation. It +contained a minute and circumstantial account of his visits during the +past year to Mrs. Croix, with many other details, which, by spying and +bribing, no doubt, she had managed to gather. Failing one revenge, the +woman had resorted to another, and fearing that it might be lost among +the abundant and surfeiting lies of the public press, she had aimed at +what he held most dear. The letter was so minute and circumstantial that +it would have convinced almost any woman. + +There was but one thing for Hamilton to do, and he lied with his +unsurpassable eloquence. When he paused tentatively, his wife +remarked:-- + +"Alexander, you are a very great man, but you are a wretchedly poor +liar. As Mr. Washington would say, your sincerity is one of the most +valuable of your gifts, and without it you could not convince a child. +As if this were not enough, only yesterday, on the boat, I overheard two +of your intimate friends discussing this intrigue as a matter of course. +There was not a word of censure or criticism; they were merely wondering +when you would add to your enemies; for as this woman was desperately in +love with you, she was bound to hate you as violently when you tired of +her. I think men are horrors!" she burst out passionately. "When, unable +to bear this terrible affliction any longer, and unwilling to worry my +poor mother, I took that letter and my grief to my father--what do you +suppose he said? After he had tried to convince me that the story was a +base fabrication, and that an anonymous communication should be +destroyed unread--as if any woman living would not read an anonymous +letter!--he said, crossly, that women did not understand men and never +made allowances for them; and he went on to make as many excuses for you +as if he were defending himself; and then wound up by saying that he did +not believe a word of it, and that the letter was written by someone you +had flouted. But it seemed to me in those awful days that I was awake +for the first time, that for the first time I understood you--and your +horrid sex, in general--I do! I do!" + +She looked so adorable with her flashing eyes, the hot colour in her +cheek, and the new personality she exhibited, that Hamilton would have +foregone a triumph over his enemies to kiss her. But he dared not make a +false move, and he was terribly perplexed. + +"I can only reiterate," he said, "that this letter is a lie from +beginning to end. It is written by a woman, who, with her husband, has +blackmailed me and jeopardized my reputation. I treated them as they +deserved, and this is their next move. As for Mrs. Croix, I repeat, she +is a most estimable person, whose brilliant wit and talent for politics +draw all public men about her. There is hardly one among them who might +not be victimized by a similar attack. I doubt if I have called half as +often as many others. As for the friends whom you heard discussing my +visits--you know the love of the human mind for scandal. Please be +reasonable. You have made me the most wretched man on earth, I shall be +unfit for public duty or anything else if you continue to treat me in +this brutal manner. I hardly know you. No woman was ever more loved by +her husband or received more devotion." + +Betsey almost relented, he looked so miserable. But she replied firmly: +"There is one condition I have a right to make. If you agree to it, I +will consider if I can bring myself to believe your denial and your +protestations. It is that you never enter Mrs. Croix's house again, nor +see her willingly." + +Hamilton knew what the promise would mean, but his mind worked with the +rapidity of lightning in great crises, and never erred. He replied +promptly: + +"I will see her once, and once only--to give her a decent reason for not +calling again--that I understand I am compromising her good name, or +something of the sort. I have accepted too much hospitality at her hands +to drop her brusquely, without a word of explanation." + +"You can write her a letter. You can merely send polite excuses when she +invites you. You are very busy. You have every excuse. Gradually, she +will think no more about you--if it be true that she is nothing to you. +You have your choice, sir! Either your promise, or I return by the next +packet to Albany." + +But Hamilton, always considerate of women, and despising the weakness +and brutality which permits a man to slink out of an amour, would not +retreat, and Betsey finally settled herself in her chair, and said, with +unmistakable determination:-- + +"Very well, go now. I shall not move from this room--this chair--until +you return." + +Hamilton caught his hat and left the house. Although he was possessed by +the one absorbing desire to win back his wife, who had never been so +dear as to-day, when for the first time she had placed him at arm's +length and given him a thorough fright, still his brain, accustomed to +see all sides of every question at once, and far into the future, spoke +plainly of the hour when he would regret the loss of Mrs. Croix. He +might forget her for weeks at a time, but he always reawakened to a +sense of her being with a glowing impression that the world was more +alive and fair. The secret romance had been very dear and pleasant. The +end was come, however, and he was eager to pass it. + +His eye was attracted to a chemist's window, and entering the shop +hastily, he purchased a bottle of smelling salts. The act reminded him +of Mrs. Mitchell, and that he had not heard from her for several months. +He resolved to write that night, and permitted his mind to wander to the +green Island which was almost lost among his memories. The respite was +brief, however. + +To his relief he found Mrs. Croix in her intellectual habit. The lady, +who was reading in the door of her boudoir above the garden steps, +exclaimed, without formal greeting:-- + +"I am transported, sir. Such descriptions never were written before. +Listen!" + +Hamilton, who hated descriptions of scenery at any time, and was in his +most direct and imperative temper, stood the infliction but a moment, +then asked her attention. She closed the book over her finger and smiled +charmingly. + +"Forgive me for boring you," she said graciously. "But you know my +passion for letters; and if truth must be told, I am a little piqued. I +have not laid eyes on you for a fortnight. Not but that I am used to +your lapses of memory by this time," she added, with a sigh. + +Hamilton went straight to the point. He told her the exact reason for +the necessary breach, omitting nothing but the episode of Mrs. Reynolds; +one cause of reproach was as much as a man could be expected to furnish +an angry woman. + +For Mrs. Croix was very angry. At first she had pressed her hand against +her heart as if about to faint, and Hamilton had hastily extracted the +salts; but the next moment she was on her feet, towering and expanding +like an avenging queen about to order in her slaves with scimitars and +chargers. + +"Do you mean," she cried, "that I am flouted, flung aside like an old +cravat? I? With half the men in America in love with me? Good God, sir! +I have known from the beginning that you would tire, but I thought to be +on the watch and save my pride. How dare you come like this? Why could +you not give me warning? It is an outrage. I would rather you had killed +me." + +"I am sorry I have blundered," said Hamilton, humbly. "But how in +Heaven's name can a man know how a woman will take anything? I had such +respect for your great intelligence that I thought it due you to treat +you as I would a man--" + +"A man?" exclaimed Mrs. Croix. "Treat me like a man! Of all the +supremely silly things I ever heard one of your sex say, that is the +silliest. I am not a man, and you know it." + +Hamilton hastened to assure her that she was deliberately averting her +intelligence from his true meaning. "You have never doubted my sincerity +for a moment," he added. "You surely know what it will cost me never to +see you again. There is but one cause under heaven that could have +brought me to you with this decision. You may believe in my regret--to +use a plain word--when you reflect upon all that you have been to me." + +He was desperately afraid that her anger would dissolve in tears, and he +be placed in a position from which he was not sure of emerging with a +clear conscience,--and he dared take home nothing less. But Mrs. Croix, +however she might feel on the morrow, was too outraged in her pride and +vanity to be susceptible either to grief or the passion of love. She +stormed up and down the room in increasing fury, her eyes flashing blue +lightning, her strong hands smashing whatever costly offering they +encountered. "Wives! Wives! Wives!" she screamed. "The little fools! +What are wives for but to keep house and bring up babies? They are a +class apart. I have suffered enough from their impertinent interference. +Am I not a woman apart? Will you assert that there is a 'wife' in +America who can hold her own with me for a moment in anything? Was I not +created to reveal to men--and only the ablest, for I waste no time on +fools--the very sublimation of my sex--a companionship they will find +in no silly little fool, stupid with domesticity? Am I to submit, then, +to be baulked by a sex I despise--and in the greatest passion that ever +possessed a woman?" She stopped and laughed, bringing her lashes +together and moving forward her beautiful lips. "What a fool I am!" she +said. "You will come back when the humour seizes you. I had forgot that +your family returned to-day. You are in your most domestic mood--and I +have been inflicted with that before. But there will come an hour when +neither your wife nor any other mortal power will keep you away from me. +Is it not true?" + +Hamilton had turned pale; his ready imagination had responded with a +presentiment of many desperate struggles. He rose, and took her hand +forcibly. + +"No," he said. "I shall not return. Believe me, that is the hardest +sentence I have ever pronounced upon myself. And forgive me if I have +been rude and inconsiderate. It was the result of the desire to have the +agony over as quickly as possible. I should have found the anticipation +unbearable, and I do not believe it would have been more soothing to +you. There is no reason why your pride should be wounded, for this is +not the result of satiety on my part, but of an imperative necessity. +Shake hands with me." + +She wrenched her hand free and, seizing a vase, flung it into a mirror. +Hamilton retreated. + + +XXXVI + +He had been gone just thirty-five minutes, Betsey received him with +stern approval and announced that she had implicit faith in his promise +to avoid Mrs. Croix in the future. But it was quite evident that his +punishment was unfinished, and with due humility and some humour he +bided her pleasure. Between the two women he had a lively month. Mrs. +Croix wrote him a letter a day. At first it was evident that she had +taken herself in hand, that her pen was guided by her marvellous +intelligence. She apologized charmingly for her exhibition of temper, +and for any reflection she might have made upon the most estimable of +women, who (with a sigh) had the happiness to be the wife of Alexander +Hamilton. She ignored his ultimatum and asked him to come at once, and +talk the matter over calmly. Hamilton replied with the graceful +playfulness of which he was master, but left no doubt of his continuity +of purpose. After the interchange of several letters of this complexion, +in which Mrs. Croix was quite conscious of revealing the ample resources +of her wit, spirit, and tact, she broke down and went through every +circumstance of a despairing woman fighting to recover the supreme +happiness of her life. At times she was humble, she prostrated herself +at his feet. Again she raved with all the violence of her nature. Her +pride, and it was very great, was submerged under the terrible agony of +her heart. Even passion was forgotten, and she was sincere for the +moment when she vowed that she had no wish beyond his mere presence. + +Hamilton was horribly distressed. He would rather she had turned upon +him at once with all her tigerish capacity for hate. But he had given +his word to his wife, and that was the end of it. He answered every +letter, but his gallantry and kindness were pitch and oil, and it was +with profound relief that he watched the gradual stiffening of her +pride, the dull resentment, even although he knew it meant that an +enemy, subtle, resourceful, and venomous, was in the process of making. +In her final letter she gave him warning--and a last opportunity. But of +this he took no notice. + +Meanwhile, Betsey had led him a dance. Naturally bright, but heretofore +too sheltered and happy, too undisturbed in her trust, she had done +little thinking, little analysis, felt nothing but amusement for the +half-comprehended vagaries of men. But jealousy and suffering give a +woman, in a week, a fill of knowledge and cunning that will serve her a +lifetime. Betsey developed both coquetry and subtlety. She knew that if +she obtained command of the situation now, she should hold it to the +end, and she was determined that this crisis should result in a close +and permanent union. If she finally believed his denial, she was much +too shrewd to give him the satisfaction of regaining his former mastery +of her mind; but she ceased to speak of it. Meanwhile, he was devoting +his energies to winning her again, and he had never found life so +interesting. She radiated a new bewitchment, and he had always thought +her the most adorable woman on the planet. He divined a good many of her +mental processes; but if he was a trifle amused, he was deeply +respectful. She was sufficiently uncertain in this new character to +torment him unbearably, and when she occasionally betrayed that she was +interested and fascinated, he was transported. When she finally +succumbed, he was more in love than he had ever been in his life. + + +XXXVII + +The next seven years of Hamilton's life must be reviewed very rapidly. +Interesting as they might be made, space diminishes, and after all they +were but the precursor of the last great battle of the giants. + +In the spring of 1794 the Virginian ring rallied for their final assault +in Congress. Their spokesman this time was a worthless man, named +Fraunces, and he brought forth a charge against the Secretary of the +Treasury of unfaithfulness in office. Hamilton promptly demanded another +investigation. The result may be found in the following letters from +eminent Federals in Virginia. The first is from Colonel Carrington, +dated Richmond, July 9th. + + I do not write this letter as congratulatory upon the final issue + of the Inquiry into the Treasury Department, as I never conceived + you exposed to receive injury therefrom. I write to express my most + sincere wishes that you will not suffer the illiberality with which + you have been treated to deprive the public of your services, at + least until the storm which hangs over us, and is to be dreaded, + not less from our own follies and vices than the malignance and + intrigues of foreigners, blows over. It is true you have been + abused, but it has been and still is, the fate of him who was + supposed out of the reach of all slander. It is indeed the lot, in + some degree, of every man amongst us who has the sense or fortitude + to speak and act rationally, and such men must continue so to speak + and act if we are saved from anarchy. + +On July 20th, Thomas Corbin wrote to Hamilton deploring the political +conditions in Virginia created by Thomas Jefferson, in which these +significant passages occur:-- + + + Calumny and misrepresentation are the only weapons made use of by + the faction of Virginia. By a dexterous management of these they + have brought into popular disrepute, and even into popular odium, + some of the wisest and best characters in the United States. + + War is waged by this faction against every candidate who possesses + the union of requisites. Independent fortune, independent + principles, talents, and integrity are denounced as badges of + aristocracy; but if you add to these good manners and a decent + appearance, his political death is decreed without the benefit of a + hearing. In short, with a few exceptions everything that appertains + to the character of a gentleman is ostracized. That yourself and + Mr. Jay should be no favorites in Virginia, is not to be wondered + at. But all those whose good opinion is worth your acceptance + entertain for you both the same veneration and esteem, and hear the + aspersions of your enemies with the same indignation that I do; + who, after the closest examination, and the purest conviction can + conscientiously subscribe myself etc. + +In the autumn the whiskey disturbances in western Pennsylvania assumed +such serious proportions that Hamilton insisted upon recourse to arms. +With his usual precision he had calculated the numbers of the +insurgents, and the amount of troops necessary to overwhelm them. +Washington issued requisitions for fifteen thousand men, and set out +with the troops, his first intention being to command in person. +Hamilton accompanied him, and upon the President's return to +Philadelphia, assumed the general superintendence of the army, whose +commander, Henry Lee, was one of his devoted adherents. Many motives +have been ascribed to Hamilton for this exceptional proceeding, and +Washington was bitterly assailed for "not being able to move without his +favourite Secretary at his elbow," and for giving additional +conspicuousness to a man whose power already was a "menace to Republican +liberties." Randolph, then the nominal Secretary of State, but quite +aware that while Hamilton remained in the Cabinet he was but a +figurehead, was so wroth, that later, in his futile "Vindication," +following what practically was his expulsion from the Cabinet, he +animadverted bitterly upon a favour which no one but Hamilton would +have presumed to ask. Fauchet, the successor of Genet, in the +intercepted letter to his government, which brought about the fall of +Randolph, convicting him of corruption and treachery, has this to say:-- + + The army marched; the President made known that he was going to + command it; Hamilton, as I have understood, requested to follow + him; the President dared not refuse him. It does not require much, + penetration to divine the object of this journey. In the President + it was wise, it might also be his duty. But in Mr. Hamilton it was + a consequence of the profound policy which directs all his steps; a + measure dictated by a perfect knowledge of the human heart. Was it + not interesting for him, for his party, tottering under the weight + of events without and accusations within, to proclaim an intimacy + more perfect than ever with the President, whose very name is a + sufficient shield against the most formidable attacks? Now, what + more evident mark could the President give of his intimacy than by + suffering Mr. Hamilton, whose name, even, is understood in the west + as that of a public enemy, to go and place himself at the head of + the army which went, if I may use the expression, to cause his + system to triumph against the opposition of the people? The + presence of Mr. Hamilton with the army must attach it more than + ever to his party. + +There were depths in Hamilton's mind which no wise mortal will ever +attempt to plumb. It is safe to say he did nothing without one eye on a +far-reaching policy; and aside from the pleasure of being in the saddle +once more, riding over the wild Alleghanies in keen October weather, +after four years of the stenches and climatic miseries of Philadelphia, +aside from his fear of Governor Miffin's treachery, and his lack of +implicit confidence in Lee's judgement, it is quite likely that he had +some underlying motive relative to the advantage of his party, which had +been weakened by the incessant assaults upon himself. By going with the +army he not only demonstrated the perfect confidence reposed in him by +Washington, and his determination that his laws should be enforced, but +he gave emphasis to his belief that the resistance to the Excise Law had +been deliberately instigated by the Republicans under the leadership of +his avowed enemies. In this connection the following extract from +Fauchet's letter is highly interesting, intimate as he was with the +Republican leaders. + + Such therefore were the parts of the public grievance, upon which + the western people most insisted. Now, these complaints were + systematizing by the conversations of influential men, who retired + into those wild countries, and who from principle, or from a series + of particular heart-burnings, animated discontents already too near + to effervescence. At last the local explosion is effected. The + western people calculated on being supported by some distinguished + characters in the east, and even imagined they had in the bosom of + the government some abettors, who might share in their grievance or + their principle. + +The rioters, sobered by the organized force and its formidable numbers, +surrendered without bloodshed. + +In January of the following year Hamilton resigned from the Cabinet. The +pressing need of his services was over, and he had many reasons for +retiring from office: his health was seriously impaired, he had a +growing family of boys to educate; he expected his father by every ship +from the Windward Islands, to spend his last years in the home to which +his son had so often invited him; Mrs. Mitchell was now a widow and +almost penniless; and his disgust of office was so uncompromising that +no consideration short of an imperative public duty would have induced +him to continue. But his principal reason, as he wrote to Mrs. Church, +was that he wished to indulge his domestic happiness more freely. +Washington let him go with the less reluctance because he promised +immediate response to any demand the President might make upon him. He +went with his wife, Angelica, and the younger children to Albany and the +Saratoga estate, where he remained until the first of June, endeavouring +to regain his health in the forest and on the river. Young Lafayette +lived with him until his return to France, in 1798. + +Upon Hamilton's return to New York he immediately engaged in practice, +which he supplemented by coaching students; but he continued to be +Washington's chief adviser, and the correspondence was continuous upon +every problem which confronted the harassed President. Indeed, when one +reads its bulk, one wonders if the Cabinet did anything but execute +Hamilton's suggestions. Randolph kicked his heels in impotent wrath, and +his successor's correspondence with Hamilton was almost as voluminous +as Washington's. So was Wolcott's, who hardly cancelled a bond without +his former chief's advice; William Smith, the auditor-general, was +scarcely less insistent for orders. Hamilton wrote at length to all of +them, as well as to the numerous members of Congress who wanted advice, +or an interpretation of some Constitutional provision hitherto on the +shelf. What time he had for his practice and students would remain a +mystery, were it not for the manifest price he paid in the vigours of +all but will and brain. + +During the summer of 1794 Talleyrand visited the United States. He +brought a package from Mrs. Church to Mrs. Hamilton, and a cordial +letter from the same important source to the statesman whom he ranked +higher than any man of his time. "He improves upon acquaintance," wrote +Mrs. Church to her sister; "I regret that you do not speak French." But +her sister's husband spoke French better than any man in America, and +after the resignation from the Cabinet, Talleyrand spent most of his +time in the little red brick house at 26 Broadway, where Hamilton was +working to recover his lost position at the bar. "I have seen the eighth +wonder of the world," wrote the Frenchman, one morning, after a ramble +in the small hours, which had taken him past the light in Hamilton's +study, "I have seen the man who has made the fortune of a nation, +toiling all night to supply his family with bread." The men found great +delight in each other's society. Hamilton was the most accomplished and +versatile man in America, the most brilliant of conversationists, the +most genial of companions, and hospitable of hosts. Talleyrand +epitomized Europe to him; and the French statesman had met no one in his +crowded life who knew it better. If he gave to Hamilton the concentrated +essence of all that ardent brain had read and dreamed of, of all that +fate had decreed he never should see in the mass, Talleyrand placed on +record his tribute to Hamilton's unmortal powers of divination, and +loved and regretted him to the close of his life. + +Different as the men were in character, they had two points in +common,--a passionate patriotism, and the memory of high ideals. Public +life had disposed of Talleyrand's ideals, and Hamilton, after an +education in the weakness and wickedness of human nature which left +nothing to be desired, would have been equally destitute, had it not +been for his temperamental gaiety and buoyant philosophy. There were +times when these deserted him, and he brooded in rayless depths, but his +Celtic inheritance and the vastness of his intellect saved him from +despair until the end. Talleyrand was by no means an uncheerful soul; +but his genius, remarkable as it was, flowed between narrower lines, and +was unwatered by that humanity which was Hamilton's in such volume. Both +men had that faculty of seeing things exactly as they are, which the +shallow call cynicism; and those lost conversations appeal to the +imagination of the searcher after truth. + +Jay's treaty was the most formidable question with which Hamilton was +called upon to deal before the retirement of Washington to private life, +and it gave him little less trouble than if he had remained in the +Cabinet. + +It had been his idea to send a special envoy to England to remonstrate +with the British Government for her abominable oppressions and +accumulating outrages, decide if possible upon a treaty with her which +would soothe the excitement in the United States,--as wild in the spring +of 1794 as the Jacobin fever,--and avert war. It was the desire of +Washington and the eminent Federalists that this mission be undertaken +by Hamilton, for he had an especial faculty for getting what he wanted: +however obstinate he might be, his diplomacy was of the first order when +he chose to use it. But he believed that, having suggested the mission, +he could not with propriety accept it, and that his services could be +given more effectively in the Cabinet. Moreover, the violent opposition +which the proposal immediately raised among the Republicans, notably +Randolph and Monroe,--the latter so far transcending etiquette as to +write to Washington, denouncing his Secretary of the Treasury,--made it +probable that his enemies would defeat his confirmation in the Senate. +He suggested the name of Chief Justice Jay; and after the usual bitter +preliminaries, that exalted but not very forcible personage sailed for +England in the latter part of April, 1794. Negotiations were very slow, +for Britain still felt for us a deep and sullen resentment, nourished by +our Jacobin enthusiasms. In January, however, news came that the treaty +was concluded; and Hamilton, supposing that the matter was settled, +resigned from the Cabinet. It has been asserted that when he read this +famous instrument, he characterized it as "an old woman's treaty," and +it is very probable that he did. Nevertheless, when, after a stormy +passage through the Senate, it was launched upon the country, and, +systematically manipulated by the practised arts of Jacobinism, carried +the United States almost to the verge of civil war, Hamilton accepted +the treaty as the best obtainable, and infinitely preferable to further +troubles. He took up his pen, having previously been stoned while +attempting to speak in its defence, and in a series of papers signed +"Catullus," wrote as even he had not done since the days of "The +Federalist." Their effect was felt at once; and as they continued to +issue, and Hamilton's sway over the public mind, his genius for moulding +opinion, became with each more manifest, Jefferson, terrified and +furious, wrote to Madison:-- + + Hamilton is really a Colossus to the anti-Republican party. Without + numbers he is a host in himself. They have got themselves into a + defile where they might be finished; but too much security on the + Republican part will give time to his talents and indefatigableness + to extricate them. We have had only middling performances to oppose + him. In truth when he comes forward there is no one but yourself + can meet him.... For God's sake take up your pen and give a + fundamental reply to "Curtius" and "Camillus." + +But Madison had had enough of pen encounter with Hamilton. "He who puts +himself on paper with Hamilton is lost," Burr had said; and Madison +agreed with him, and entered the lists no more. The excitement gradually +subsided. It left ugly scars behind it, but once more Hamilton had saved +his party, and perhaps the Union. In connection with the much disputed +authorship of the Farewell Address I will merely quote a statement, +heretofore unpublished, made by Mrs. Hamilton, in the year 1840. + + Desiring that my children shall be fully acquainted with the + services rendered by their father to our country, and the + assistance rendered by him to General Washington during his + administrations, for the one great object, the independence and + stability of the government of the United States, there is one + thing in addition to the numerous proofs which I leave them, and + which I feel myself in duty bound to state: which is that a short + time previous to General Washington's retiring from the Presidency, + in the year 1796, General Hamilton suggested to him the idea of + delivering a farewell address to the people on his withdrawal from + public life, with which idea General Washington was well pleased, + and in his answer to General Hamilton's suggestion, gave him the + heads of the subject on which he would wish to remark, with a + request that Mr. Hamilton would prepare a draft for him. Mr. + Hamilton did so, and the address was written principally at such + times as his office was seldom frequented by his clients and + visitors, and during the absence of his students to avoid + interruption; at which times he was in the habit of calling me to + sit with him, that he might read to me as he wrote, in order, as he + said, to discover how it sounded upon the ear, and making the + remark, "My dear Eliza, you must be to me what old Molière's nurse + was to him." + + The whole or nearly all the "address" was read to me by him, as he + wrote it, and the greater part if not all was written in my + presence. The original was forwarded to General Washington, who + approved of it with the exception of one paragraph; of, I think, + from four to five lines, which, if I mistake not, was on the + subject of the public schools; which was stricken out. It was + afterward returned to Mr. Hamilton who made the desired alteration, + and was afterward delivered to General Washington, and published in + that form, and has since been known as "General Washington's + Farewell Address." Shortly after the publication of the address, my + husband and myself were walking in Broadway when an old soldier + accosted him with the request of him to purchase General + Washington's farewell address, which he did, and turning to me + said, "That man does not know he has asked me to purchase my own + work." + + The whole circumstances are at this moment so perfectly in my mind + that I can call to mind his bringing General Washington's letter to + me, who returned the address, and remarked on the only alteration + which he (General Washington) had requested to be made. + + New York, Aug. 7th, 1840. + + ELIZABETH HAMILTON. JAMES A. WASHINGTON. JA.R. MACDONALD. + +In 1797 Hamilton was forced by treachery and the malignancy of +Jacobinism into the most painful and mortifying act of his public +career. He had been hailed by certain enthusiastic Federalists as the +legitimate successor of Washington. It was a noble ambition, and there +is no doubt that Hamilton would have cherished it, had he been less of a +philosopher, less in the habit of regarding a desire for the impossible +as a waste of time. Not only were older men in the direct line of +promotion, but he knew that as the author of the Excise Law he was hated +by one section of the Commonwealth, and that as the parent of the +manufacturing interest, to say nothing of the Assumption measure, he had +incurred the antagonism of the entire South. Lest these causes for +disqualification be obscured by the brilliancy of his reputation, +Jefferson's unresting and ramifying art had indelibly impressed the +public mind with the monarchical-aristocratical tendencies and designs +of the former Secretary of the Treasury, and of his hatred for a beloved +cause overseas. Hamilton had given an absolute negative to every +suggestion to use his name; but one at least had found its way into +print, and so terrified the enemy that they determined upon one more +powerful blow at his good name. Monroe had a fresh cause for hatred in +his humiliating recall from France, which he ascribed to the influence +of Hamilton. No doubt the trio were well satisfied for a time with their +carefully considered scheme. The pamphlet published in 1797, called "The +History of the United States for 1796," and edited by a disreputable man +named Callender, was the concentrated essence of Jacobinical fury and +vindictiveness against Alexander Hamilton. It surpassed any attack yet +made on him, while cleverly pretending to be an arraignment of the +entire Federalist party; shrieking so loudly at times against +Washington, Adams, and Jay, that the casual reader would overlook the +sole purport of the pamphlet. "It is ungenerous to triumph over the +ruins of declining fame," magnanimously finished its attack upon +Washington. "Upon this account not a word more shall be said!" + +It omitted a recital of the two Congressional attacks upon Hamilton's +financial integrity, as to refrain from all mention of the vindications +would have been impossible; but it raked up everything else for which +it had space, sought to prove him a liar by his defence of the Jay +treaty in the Camillus papers, and made him insult Washington in +language so un-Hamiltonian that to-day it excites pity for the +desperation of the Virginians. When it finally arrived at the pith and +marrow of the assault, however, it was with quite an innocent air. This +was a carefully concocted version of the Reynolds affair. Callender had +obtained possession of the papers which Monroe, Muhlenberg, and Venable +had prepared to submit to the President, before hearing Hamilton's +explanation. He asserted that this explanation was a lie, and that the +Secretary of the Treasury had not only speculated with the public funds, +but that he had made thirty thousand pounds by the purchase of army +certificates. It was also alleged that Hamilton ordered his name +withdrawn as a Presidential candidate, in consequence of a threat that +otherwise these same papers would be published. + +It is a curious instance of the fatuity of contemporaries, that +Hamilton's enemies reckoned upon a sullen silence, in the face of +damning assault, from the greatest fighter of his time. Indubitably, +they argued that he would think it best to pass the matter over; no man +could be expected to give to the public the full explanation. But they +reckoned with an insufficient knowledge of this host, as they had done +many a time before. Hamilton had no desire to hold office again, but he +was still the great leader of a great party, as determined as ever that +at no cost should there be a stain on his public honour. He consulted +with his closest friends, among them his wife. As the sin was now five +years old--and the woman a derelict--Mrs. Hamilton found it easier to +forgive than an unconfessed liaison with the most remarkable woman of +her time. Although she anticipated the mortification of the exposure +quite as keenly as her husband, she cherished his good name no less +tenderly, and without hesitation counselled him to give the facts to the +public. This he did in a pamphlet which expounded the workings of the +"Jacobin Scandal Club," told the unpleasant story without reserve, and +went relentlessly into the details of the part played in it by Monroe, +Muhlenberg, and Venable. He forced affidavits from those bewildered +gentlemen, the entire correspondence was published, and the pamphlet +itself was a masterpiece of biting sarcasm and convincing statement. It +made a tremendous sensation, but even his enemies admired his courage. +The question of his financial probity was settled for all time, although +the missile, failing in one direction, quivered in the horrified brains +of many puritanical voters. Mrs. Reynolds, now living with Clingman, +made no denial, and it is doubtful if even she would have echoed the one +animadversion of the discomfited enemy,--that Hamilton had given the +name of a mistress to the public. It is a weak and dangerous +sentimentalism which would protect a woman of commerce against the good +name of any man. The financial settlement makes her a party in a +contract, nothing more, and acquits the payer of all further +responsibility. She has no good name to protect; she has asked for +nothing but money; she is a public character, whom to shield would be a +thankless task. When this Reynolds woman added the abomination of +blackmail to her trade, and further attempted the ruin of the man who +had shown her nothing but generosity and consideration, it need hardly +be added that Hamilton would have been a sentimental fool to have +hesitated on any ground but detestation of a public scandal. + +He never traced the betrayal of a secret which all concerned had +promised to keep inviolate, but he had his suspicions. Mrs. Croix, now +living in a large house on the Bowling Green, was the animated and +resourceful centre of Jacobinism. She wore a red cap to the theatre and +a tri-coloured cockade on the street. Her _salon_ was the headquarters +of the Republican leaders, and many a plot was hatched in her inspiring +presence. The Virginian Junta were far too clever to put themselves in +the power of a drunkard like Callender, but they were constantly in +collusion with Mrs. Croix. They knew that she feared nothing under +heaven, and that she had devoted herself to Hamilton's ruin. Callender +drew upon her for virus whenever his own supply ran down, and would +have hailed the Reynolds concoction, even had it gone to him naked and +begging. Hamilton saw the shadow of a fair hand throughout the entire +pamphlet, and, indeed, could have traced many an envenomed shaft, since +1793, to a source which once had threatened to cloy him with its +sweetness. + +Meanwhile John Adams had been elected President of the United States, +and Thomas Jefferson, Vice-President. Hamilton had made no secret of the +fact that he should prefer to see Thomas Pinckney succeed Washington, +for he contemplated the possibility of Adams in the Executive Chair, +with distrust and uneasiness. In spite of that eminent statesman's +intrepidity, integrity, and loyal Federalism, he was, in Hamilton's +opinion, too suspicious, jealous of influence, and hot headed, to be a +safe leader in approaching storms. With Pinckney as a brilliant and +popular figurehead, Hamilton well knew that his own hand would remain on +the helm. With the irascible old gentleman from Massachusetts in the +Chair, his continued predominance was by no means certain. Washington +once said of Hamilton that he undoubtedly was ambitious, but that his +ambition was of that laudable kind which prompts a man to excel in +whatever he takes in hand; adding that his judgement was intuitively +great. The truth was that Hamilton regarded the United States as his +child. He had made her wealthy and respected, he foresaw a future +importance for her equal to that of any state in Europe. "I anticipate," +he wrote to Rufus King, "that this country will, ere long, assume an +attitude correspondent with its great destinies--majestic, efficient, +and operative of great things. A noble career lies before it." The first +of the "Imperialists," he had striven for years to awaken the Government +to the importance of obtaining possession of Louisiana and the Floridas, +and he also had his eye on South America. Naturally, he wanted no +interruption; the moment the security of the country was threatened, he +was as alert and anxious as if his nursery were menaced with an Indian +invasion. Without conceit or vanity no man ever was more conscious of +his great powers; moreover, no American had made such sacrifices as he. +Washington and almost all the leading men possessed independent +fortunes. Hamilton had manifested his ability from the first to equal +the income of the wealthiest, did he give his unbroken services to the +pursuit of his profession. But he had lived for years upon a pittance, +frequently driven to borrow small sums from his friends, that he might +devote his energies entirely to his country. And no man ever gave more +generously or with less thought of reward; although he would have been +the last to deny his enjoyment of power. For a born leader of men to +care little whether he had a few trusted friends or an army at his back, +would merely indicate a weak spot in his brain. + +It was quite natural, therefore, that he thought upon John Adams's +idiosyncrasies with considerable disquiet. Nevertheless, with the high +priest of Jacobinism in the field, his first object was to secure the +office for the Federalist party. The race was too close for serious +consideration of any other ultimate. He counselled every Federalist to +cast his vote for Adams and Pinckney; better a tie, with the victory to +Adams, than Thomas Jefferson at the head of the Nation. Of course there +was a hope that Pinckney might carry the South. But the Adams +enthusiasts dreaded this very issue, and threw away their votes for the +Vice-Presidency. Pinckney's followers in the South pursued the same +policy. The consequence was that Adams won by three votes only. Again +his pride was bruised, and again he attributed his mortification to +Hamilton. If he had disliked him before, his dislike in a constant state +of irritation through the ascendency and fame of the younger man, he +hated him now with a bitterness which formed a dangerous link between +himself and the Republican leaders. The time came when he was ready to +humiliate his country and ruin his own chance of reelection, to dethrone +his rival from another proud eminence and check his upward course. +Another source of bitterness was Hamilton's continued leadership of the +Federalist party, when himself, as President, was entitled to that +distinction. But that party was Hamilton's; he had created, developed +it, been its Captain through all its triumphant course. Even had he +been content to resign his commission,--which he did not contemplate for +a moment,--the great majority of the Federalists would have forced it +into his hand again. Adams declared war. Hamilton, always ready for a +fight, when no immediate act of statesmanship was involved, took up the +gauntlet. Adams might resist his influence, but the Cabinet was his, and +so were some of the most influential members of Congress, including +Theodore Sedgwick of Massachusetts, the president pro tem. of the +Senate. It was some time before Adams realized the full extent of this +influence; but when he did discover that his Secretary of State, Timothy +Pickering, his Secretary of the Treasury, Oliver Wolcott, and his +Secretary of War, James M'Henry, were in the habit of consulting +Hamilton upon every possible question before giving the President their +valuable opinions, and that upon one occasion, at least, a letter of +Hamilton's had been incorporated by the Secretary of War into a +Presidential Message, he was like to die of apoplexy. He wrote, in his +wrath:-- + + Hamilton is commander-in-chief of the Senate, of the House of + Representatives, of the heads of departments, of General + Washington, and last, and least, if you will, of the President of + the United States! + +But the President's advisers were free to seek advice without the +Cabinet if they chose, and Washington had encouraged them to go to +Hamilton. Hamilton was at liberty to give it, and Adams could find no +evidence that he had counselled rebellion against himself; nor that he +had used his great influence for any purpose but the honour of the +country. + +And never had the country needed his services more. When Adams, grim and +obstinate, stepped forward as head of the Nation, he found himself +confronted with the menace of France. In retaliation for Genet's +disgrace, the Revolutionists had demanded the recall of Gouverneur +Morris, whose barely disguised contempt, and protection of more than one +royalist, had brought him perilously near to the guillotine. Burr had +desired the vacant mission, and his pretensions were urged by Monroe and +Madison. Washington recognized this as a device of the Opposition to +embarrass him, and he had the lowest opinion of Burr's rectitude and +integrity. Pressure and wrath produced no effect, but he offered to +appoint Monroe. It might be wise to send a Jacobin, and the President +hoped that ambition would preserve this one from compromising the +country. He made the mistake of not weighing Monroe's mental capacity +more studiously. The least said of the wild gallop into diplomacy of our +fifth President the better. He was recalled, and Charles Cotesworth +Pinckney sent in his place. The French, who had found Monroe entirely to +their taste, refused to receive the distinguished lawyer and soldier. To +escape indignity he was forced to retire to Holland. The new Republic +violated her treaties with increasing insolence, and Bonaparte was +thundering on his triumphant course. France was mocking the world, and +in no humour to listen to the indignant protests of a young and distant +nation. To dismember her by fanning the spirit of Jacobinism, and, at +the ripe moment,--when internal warfare had sufficiently weakened +her,--reduce her to a French colony, was a plot of which Hamilton, Rufus +King, then minister to England, and other astute statesmen more than +suspected her. But although Hamilton abhorred France and was outraged at +her attitude, the spirit of moderation which had regulated all his acts +in public life suffered no fluctuation, and he immediately counselled +the sending of a commission to make a final attempt before recourse to +arms. War, if inevitable, but peace with honour if possible; it was not +fair to disturb the prosperity of the young country except as a last +resort. For once he and Adams were agreed. Hamilton suggested Jefferson +or Madison as a sop to the Revolutionists, with two Federalists to keep +him in order. But the President would have his own commissioners or +none. He despatched Marshall and Gerry and ordered C.C. Pinckney to join +them. Talleyrand refused them official reception, and sent to them, in +secret, nameless minions--known officially, later on, as X.Y.Z.--who +made shameful proposals, largely consisting of inordinate demand for +tribute. Marshall and Pinckney threw up the commission in disgust. The +Opposition in Congress demanded the correspondence; and Adams, with his +grimmest smile, sent it to the Senate. It was a terrible blow to the +Jacobins, not only the manner in which France had prejudiced her +interests in this country; some of the disclosures were extremely +painful to ponder upon. "Perhaps," one of the backstairs ambassadors had +remarked, "you believe that, in returning and exposing to your +countrymen the unreasonableness of the demands of this Government, you +will unite them in resistance to those demands. You are mistaken. You +ought to know that the diplomatic skill of France, and the means she +possesses in your country, are sufficient to enable her, with _the +French party in America_, to throw the blame, which will attend the +rupture, on the Federalists, as you term yourselves, but the British +party, as France terms you; and you may assure yourselves this will be +done." Jefferson retired to weep alone. Several of the faction resigned +from Congress. Hamilton published his pamphlets, "The Stand," "France," +and "The Answer," and the whole country burst into a roar of vengeance, +echoing Pinckney's parting shot: "Millions for defence, not a cent for +tribute!" "Hail Columbia" was composed, and inflamed the popular +excitement. Federalist clubs paraded, wearing a black cockade, and one +street riot followed another. Brockholst Livingston had his nose pulled, +and killed his man. With the exception of the extreme Jacobins, who +never swerved from their devotion to France and the principles she had +promulgated with the guillotine, the country was for war to a man, and +the President inundated with letters and memorials of encouragement. The +immediate result was the augmentation of the Federalist party, and the +decline of Jacobinism. + +For a long while past, Hamilton had been urging naval and military +preparations. A bold front, he thought, would be more effective than +diplomacy; and the sequel proved his wisdom. When the crisis came a bill +for a Provisional Army was passed at once, another for the increase of +the Navy, and liberal appropriations were made. The proposed alliance +with Great Britain, Hamilton effectually opposed, for he was almost as +exasperated with England as with France; in her fear that the French +party in the United States would triumph and declare war upon her, she +had renewed her depredations upon our commerce. + +Few believed that Washington would serve again, and the Nation turned +naturally to Hamilton as its General-in-chief. He had manifestly been +born to extricate them from difficulties. Even the Presidential faction +put their pride in their pockets, and agreed that he was the one man in +the country of matchless resource and military genius; they passed over +the veterans of the war without controversy. But there was one man who +never put his pride in his pocket, and that was John Adams. Rather than +present to Alexander Hamilton another opportunity for distinction and +power, he would himself cull fresh laurels for George Washington; the +supply of his old rival was now so abundant that new ones would add +nothing. Hamilton already had written to Washington as peremptorily as +only he dared, urging that he must come forth once more and without +hesitation. Washington replied that he would as cheerfully go to the +tombs of his ancestors, but admitted the obligation, and asked Hamilton +would he serve with him? Hamilton answered that he would on condition +that he be second in command to himself; he would make no further +sacrifice for an inconsiderable reward. When Washington, therefore, +received Adams's invitation, he made his acceptance conditional upon +being given the power to appoint his generals next in rank. Adams, +meanwhile, without waiting for his answer, had sent his name to the +Senate, and it had been confirmed as a matter of course. Washington was +irritated, but persisted in his condition, and sent in the names of +Alexander Hamilton for Inspector-General, with the rank of +Major-General, C.C. Pinckney and Knox for Major-Generals, and a list of +Brigadiers and Adjutant-Generals. Adams, fuming, sent the names to the +Senate, and they were confirmed in the order in which Washington had +written them; but when they came back, jealousy and temper mastered him, +and he committed the intemperate act which tolled the death-knell of the +Federalist party: he ordered the commissions made out with Hamilton's +name third on the list. Knox and Pinckney, he declared, were entitled to +precedence; and so the order should stand or not at all. He had not +anticipated an outcry, and when it arose, angry and determined, he was +startled but unshaken. The leading men in Congress waited upon him; he +received a new deluge of letters, and the most pointed of them was from +John Jay. Hamilton alone held his peace. He saw the terrible mistake +Adams had made, and dreaded the result. He wrote to Washington that he +should be governed entirely by his wishes, that he should not embarrass +him in any manner, and that it never should be said of himself that his +ambition or interest had stood in the way of the public welfare. But +when Adams stood with his head down, like an angry bull, and it was +plain to be seen that his astonishing attitude was prompted by personal +hatred alone, when the Cabinet and all the eminent men in the Nation, +with the exception of the Republican leaders, faced him with an equally +determined front, there was nothing for Hamilton to do but to stand his +ground; and he stood it. Washington put an end to the unfortunate +controversy. He gave Adams his choice between submission or the +selection of another General-in-chief. Adams submitted, but Hamilton had +in him an enemy no less malignant than Thomas Jefferson himself. Adams +had roused the deep implacability of Hamilton's nature. All hope of even +an armed truce for party advantage between the two great Federalists was +over. Hamilton had one cause for resentment which alone would have made +him ardently desire retaliation: General Knox, who had loved him +devotedly for twenty years, was bitterly alienated, and the breach was +never healed. + +Hamilton made his headquarters in New York, where he could, after a +fashion, attend to his law practice,--he was now the leading counsel at +the bar,--but he entered upon his new duties with all his old spirit and +passionate energy. Although France might be discomfited by the readiness +and resource of the United States, the imposing front erected by a +universal indignation, there were reasons which made the reverse +possible; and Hamilton thrilled with all the military ardours of his +youth at the prospect of realizing those half-forgotten ambitions. He +had, in those days, sacrificed his burning desire for action and glory +to a sense of duty which had ruled him through life like a tyrannical +deity. Was he to reap the reward at this late hour? finish his life, +perhaps, as he had planned to begin it? Once more he felt a boundless +gratitude for the best friend a mortal ever made. Washington passed +Hamilton over the heads of those superior in military rank, because he +knew that he alone was equal to the great task for which himself was too +old and infirm; but Hamilton never doubted that he did it with a deep +sense of satisfied justice and of gratitude. + +Never had Hamilton's conspicuous talent for detail, unlimited capacity +for work, genius for creating something out of nothing, marshalled for +more active service than now. He withheld his personal supervision from +nothing; planning forts, preparing codes of tactics, organizing a +commissariat department, drafting bills for Congress, advising M'Henry +upon every point which puzzled that unfinished statesman, were but a few +of the exercises demanded of the organizer of an army from raw material. +The legislation upon one of his bills finally matured a pet project of +many years, the Military Academy at West Point. Philip Church, the +oldest son of Angelica Schuyler, was his aide; John Church, after a +brilliant career as a member of Parliament, having returned to American +citizenship, his wife to as powerful a position as she had held in +London. + +It is hardly necessary to inform any one who has followed the fortunes +of Hamilton as far as this that he purposed to command an army of +aggression as well as defence. A war with France unrolled infinite +possibilities. Louisiana and the Floridas should be seized as soon as +war was declared, and he lent a kindly ear to Miranda, who was for +overthrowing the inhuman rule of Spain in South America. "To arrest the +progress of the revolutionary doctrines France was then propagating in +those regions, and to unite the American hemisphere in one great +society of common interests and common principles against the +corruption, the vices, the new theories of Europe," was an alluring +prospect to a man who had given the broadest possible interpretation to +the Constitution, and whose every conception had borne the stamp of an +imperialistic boldness and amplitude. + +But these last of his dreams ended in national humiliation. This time he +had sacrificed his private interests, his vital forces, for worse than +nothing. One enemy worked his own ruin, and Louisiana was to add to the +laurels of Jefferson. + +Talleyrand, astonished and irritated by these warlike preparations and +the enthusiasm of the infant country, wisely determined to withdraw with +grace while there was yet time. He sent a circuitous hint to President +Adams that an envoy from the United States would be received with proper +respect. For months Adams had been tormented with the vision of Hamilton +borne on the shoulders of a triumphant army straight to the Presidential +chair. His Cabinet were bitterly and uncompromisingly for war; Hamilton +had with difficulty restrained them in the past. Adams, without giving +them an inkling of his intention, sent to the Senate the name of William +Vans Murray, minister resident at The Hague, to confirm as envoy +extraordinary to France. + +For a moment the country was stupefied, so firm and uncompromising had +been the President's attitude hitherto. Then it arose in wrath, and his +popularity was gone for ever. As for the Federalist party, it divided +into two hostile factions, and neither had ever faced the Republicans +more bitterly. A third of the party supported the President; the rest +were for defeating him in the Senate, and humiliating him in every +possible way, as he had humiliated the country by kissing the +contemptuous hand of France the moment it was half extended. + +Hamilton was furious. He had been in mighty tempers in his life, but +this undignified and mortifying act of the President strained his +statesmanship to the utmost. It stood the strain, however; he warned +the Federalist leaders that the step taken was beyond recall and known +to all the world. There was nothing to do but to support the President. +He still had an opportunity for revenge while openly protecting the +honour of the Nation. Did Murray, a man of insufficient calibre and +prestige, go alone, he must fail; Adams would be disgraced; war +inevitable, with glory, and greater glory, for himself. But when +circumstances commanded his statesmanship, he ceased to be an +individual; personal resentments slumbered. He insisted that Murray be +but one of a commission, and Adams, now cooled and as disquieted as that +indomitable spirit could be, saw the wisdom of the advice; Oliver +Ellsworth and General Davie, conspicuous and influential men, were +despatched. Once more Hamilton had saved his party from immediate wreck; +but the strength which it had gathered during the war fever was +dissipated by the hostile camps into which it was divided, and by the +matchless opportunity which, in its brief period of numerical strength, +it had given to Thomas Jefferson. + +The Federalist party had ruled the country by virtue of the +preponderance of intellect and educated talents in its ranks, and the +masterly leadership of Alexander Hamilton. The Republican party numbered +few men of first-rate talents, but the upper grade of the Federalist was +set thick with distinguished patriots, all of them leaders, but all +deferring without question to the genius of their Captain. For years the +harmonious workings of their system, allied to the aggregate ability of +their personnel, and the watchful eye and resourceful mind of Hamilton, +the silent but sympathetic figure of Washington in the background, had +enabled them to win every hard-fought battle in spite of the often +superior numbers of the Opposition. That Jefferson was able in the face +of this victorious and discouraging army to form a great party out of +the rag-tag and bobtail element, animating his policy of +decentralization into a virile and indelible Americanism, proved him to +be a man of genius. History shows us few men so contemptible in +character, so low in tone; and no man has given his biographers so +difficult a task. But those who despise him most who oppose the most +determined front to the ultimates of his work, must acknowledge that +formational quality in his often dubious intellect which ranks him a man +of genius. + +His party was threatened with disorganization when the shameful conduct +of the France he adored united the country in a demand for vengeance, +and in admiration for the uncompromising attitude of the Government. Not +until the Federalists, carried away by the rapid recruiting to their +ranks, passed the Alien and Sedition laws, did Jefferson find ammunition +for his next campaign. As one reads those Resolutions to-day, one +wonders at the indiscretion of men who had kept the blood out of their +heads during so many precarious years. Three-quarters of a century later +the Chinese Exclusion Act became a law with insignificant protest; the +mistake of the Federalists lay in ignoring the fears and raging +jealousies of their time. If Hamilton realized at once that Jefferson +would be quick to seize upon their apparent unconstitutionality and +convert it into political capital, he seems to have stood alone, +although his protests resulted in the modification of both bills. + + Let us not establish a tyranny! [he wrote to Wolcott]. Energy is a + very different thing from violence. If we make no false step we + shall be essentially united; but if we push things to an extreme, + we shall then give to faction body and solidity. + +In their modified form they were sufficiently menacing to democratic +ideals, and Jefferson could have asked for nothing better. He +immediately drafted his famous Kentucky Resolutions, and the obedient +Madison did a like service for Virginia. The Resolutions of Madison, +although containing all the seeds of nullification and secession, are +tame indeed compared with the performance of a man who, enveloped in the +friendly mists of anonymity, was as aggressive and valiant as Hamilton +on the warpath. These Resolutions protested against the +unconstitutionality of the Federal Government in exiling foreigners, and +curbing the liberty of the press, in arrogating to itself the rights of +the States, and assuming the prerogatives of an absolute monarchy. If +Jefferson did not advise nullification, he informed the States of their +inalienable rights, and counselled them to resist the centralizing +tendency of the Federal Government before it was too late. Even in the +somewhat modified form in which these Resolutions passed the Kentucky +legislature, and although rejected by the States to which they were +despatched, they created a sensation and accomplished their primary +object. The war excitement had threatened to shove the Alien and +Sedition laws beyond the range of the public observation. The Kentucky +and Virginia Resolutions roused the country, and sent the Republicans +scampering back to their watchful shepherd. It is one of the +master-strokes of political history, and Jefferson culled the fruits and +suffered none of the odium. That these historic Resolutions contained +the fecundating germs of the Civil War, is by the way. + +Such was the situation on the eve of 1800, the eve of a Presidential +election, and of the death struggle of the two great parties. + +It was in December of this year of 1799 that Hamilton bent under the +most crushing blow that life had dealt him. He was standing on the +street talking to Sedgwick, when a mounted courier dashed by, crying +that Washington was dead. The street was crowded, but Hamilton broke +down and wept bitterly. "America has lost her saviour," he said; "I, a +father." + + + +BOOK V + +THE LAST BATTLE OF THE GIANTS AND THE END + + +I + +The sunlight moved along the table and danced on Hamilton's papers, +flecking them and slanting into his eyes. He went to the window to draw +the shade, and stood laughing, forgetting the grave anxieties which +animated his pen this morning. In the garden without, his son Alexander +and young Philip Schuyler, his wife's orphan nephew, who lived with him, +were pounding each other vigorously, while Philip, Angelica, Theodosia +Burr, and Gouverneur Morris sat on the fence and applauded. + +"What a blessed provision for letting off steam," he thought, with some +envy. "I would I had Burr in front of my fists this moment. I suppose he +is nothing but the dupe of Jefferson, but he is a terrible menace, all +the same." + +The girls saw him, and leaping from the fence ran to the house, followed +more leisurely by Morris. + +"You are loitering," exclaimed Angelica, triumphantly, as she entered +the room without ceremony, followed by Theodosia. "And when you loiter +you belong to me." + +She had grown tall, and was extremely thin and nervous, moving +incessantly. But her face, whether stormy, dreamy, or animated with the +pleasure of the moment, was very beautiful. Theodosia Burr was a +handsome intellectual girl, with a massive repose; and the two were much +in harmony. + +"If I snatch a moment to breathe," Hamilton was beginning, when he +suddenly caught two right hands and spread them open. + +"What on earth does this mean?" he demanded. The little paws of the two +most fastidious girls he knew were dyed with ink. Both blushed vividly, +but Angelica flung back her head with her father's own action. + +"We are writing a novel," she said. + +"You are doing what?" gasped Hamilton. + +"Yes, sir. All the girls in New York are. Why shouldn't we? I guess we +inherit brains enough." + +"All the girls in New York are writing novels!" exclaimed Hamilton. "Is +this the next result of Jacobinism and unbridled liberty, the next +development of the new Americanism as expounded by Thomas Jefferson? +Good God! What next?" + +"You have the prophetic eye," said Morris, who was seated on the edge of +the table, grinning sardonically. (He was bald now, and looked more +wicked than ever.) "What of woman in the future?" + +"She has given me sufficient occupation in the present," replied +Hamilton, drily. "Heaven preserve me from the terrors of anticipation." +"Well, finish your novel. If you confine your pens to those subjects of +which you know nothing, you will enjoy yourselves; and happiness should +be sought in all legitimate channels. But as a favour to me, keep your +hands clean." + +The girls retired with some hauteur, and Morris said impatiently:-- + +"I thought I had left that sort of thing behind me in France, where +Madame de Staël drove me mad. I return to find all the prettiest women +running to lectures on subjects which they never can understand, and +scarifying the men's nerves with pedantic allusions. I always believed +that our women were the brightest on the planet, but that they should +ever have the bad taste to become intellectual--well, I have known but +one woman who could do it successfully, and that is Mrs. Croix. What has +she to do with this sudden activity of Burr's? Is he handling French +money?" + +"Are you convinced that she is a French spy?" + +"I believe it so firmly that her sudden departure would reconcile me to +the Alien law. Where has Burr found the money for this campaign? He is +bankrupt; he hasn't a friend among the leaders; I don't believe the +Manhattan Bank, for all that he is the father of it, will let him +handle a cent, and Jefferson distrusts and despises him. Still, it is +just possible that Jefferson is using him, knowing that the result of +the Presidential election will turn on New York, and that after himself +Burr is the best politician in the country. I doubt if he would trust +him with a cent of his own money, but he may have an understanding with +the Aspasia of Bowling Green. Certainly she must have the full +confidence of France by this time, and she is the cleverest Jacobin in +the country." + +"I wish that dark system could be extirpated, root and branch," said +Hamilton. "I have been too occupied these past two years to watch her, +or Burr either, for that matter. Organizing an army, and working for +your bread in spare moments, gives your enemies a clear field for +operations. I have had enough to do, watching Adams. Burr has stolen a +march that certainly does credit to his cunning. That is the most +marvellous faculty I know. He is barely on speaking terms with a +leader--Jefferson, Clinton, the Livingstons, all turned their backs upon +him long since, as a man neither to be trusted nor used. The fraud by +which he obtained the charter of the Manhattan Bank has alienated so +many of his followers that his entire ticket was beaten at the last +elections. Now he will have himself returned for the Assembly from +Orange, he is manipulating the lower orders of New York as if they were +so much wax, using their secrets, wiping the babies' noses, and hanging +upon the words of every carpenter who wants to talk: and has actually +got Clinton--who has treated him like a dog for years--to let him use +his name as a possible candidate for the Legislature. Doubtless he may +thank Mrs. Croix for that conquest. But his whole work is marvellous, +and I suppose it would be well if we had a man on our side who would +stoop to the same dirty work. I should as soon invite a strumpet to my +house. But I am fearful for the result. With this Legislature we should +be safe. But Burr has converted hundreds, if not thousands, to a party +for which he cares as much as he does for the Federal. If he succeeds, +and the next Legislature is Republican, Jefferson will be the third +President of the Unites States, and then, God knows what. Not immediate +disunion, possibly, for Jefferson is cunning enough to mislead France +for his own purposes; nor can he fail to see that Jacobinism is on the +wane--but a vast harvest of democracy, of disintegration, and +denationalization, which will work the same disaster in the end. If Burr +could be taught that he is being made a tool of, he might desist, for he +would work for no party without hope of reward. He may ruin us and gain +nothing." + +"It is a great pity we have not a few less statesmen in our party and a +few more politicians. When we began life, only great services were +needed; and the Opposition, being engaged in the same battle of ideas, +fought us with a merely inferior variety of our own weapons. But the +greatest of our work is over, and the day of the politician has dawned. +Unfortunately, the party of this damned lag-bellied Virginian has the +monopoly. Burr is the natural result and the proudest sample of the +French Revolution and its spawn. But your personal influence is +tremendous. Who can say how many infuscated minds you will illumine when +it comes to speech-making. Don't set your brow in gloom." + +"I have not the slightest intention of despairing. The deep and never +ceasing methods of the Jacobin Scandal Club have weakened my influence +with the masses, however; no doubt of that. Its policy is to iterate and +reiterate, pay no attention to denials, but drop the same poison daily +until denial is forgotten and men's minds are so accustomed to the +detraction, belittling, or accusation, that they accept it as they +accept the facts of existence. Jefferson has pursued this policy with my +reputation for ten years. During the last eight he has been ably abetted +by Mrs. Croix, his other personal agents, and those of France. Now they +have enlisted Burr, and there is no better man for their work in the +country." + +"They know that if you go, the party follows. That is their policy, and +may they spend the long evening of time in Hell. But I believe you will +be more than a match for them yet; although this is by far the most +serious move the enemy has made." "I wish to Heaven I had persisted in +the Great Convention until I carried my point in regard to having the +electors chosen by the people in districts. Then I should snap my +fingers at Burr in this campaign, for he is an indifferent speaker, and +political manipulation would count for very little. With C.C. Pinckney +in the chair for eight years, I should feel that the country was planted +on reasonably sure foundations. It must be Adams and Pinckney, of +course, but with proper harmony Pinckney will carry the day. Rather +Jefferson in the chair than Adams--an open army that we can fight with a +united front, than a Federal dividing the ranks, and forcing us to +uphold him for the honour of the party--to say nothing of being +responsible for him." + +"Jefferson is the less of several evils--Burr, for instance." + +"Oh, Burr!" exclaimed Hamilton. "I should be in my dotage if Burr became +President of the United States. Personally, I have nothing against him, +and he is one of the most agreeable and accomplished of men. Theodosia +half lives here. Perhaps no man ever hated another as I hate Jefferson, +nor had such cause. He has embittered my life and ruined my health; he +has made me feel like a lost soul more than once. But better Jefferson a +thousand times than Burr. God knows I hate democracy and fear it, but +Jefferson is timid and cautious, and has some principles and patriotism; +moreover, a desire for fame. Burr has neither patriotism nor a +principle, nor the least regard for his good name. He is bankrupt, +profligate--he has been living in the greatest extravagance at Richmond +Hill, and his makings at the bar, although large, are far exceeded by +his expenses; there is always a story afloat about some dark transaction +of his, and never disproved: he challenged Church for talking openly +about the story that the Holland Land Company had, for legislative +services rendered, cancelled a bond against him for twenty thousand +dollars; but the world doubts Burr's bluster as it doubts his word. At +present he is in a desperate way because Alexander Baring, in behalf of +a friend, I.I. Augustine, is pressing for payment on a bond given to +secure the price of land bought by Burr and Greenleaf, and he has been +offering worthless land claims in settlement, and resorting to every +artifice to avert a crisis. Baring wanted me to take the case, but of +course I wouldn't touch it. I sent him to Rinnan. The man is literally +at the end of his tether. It is a coup or extinction--failure means +flight or debtor's prison. Furthermore, he is a conspirator by nature, +and there is no man in the country with such extravagant tastes, who is +so unscrupulous as to the means of gratifying them. He is half mad for +power and wealth. The reins of state in his hands, and he would stop at +nothing which might give him control of the United States Treasury. To +be President of the United States would mean nothing to him except as a +highway to empire, to unlimited power and plunder. We have been +threatened with many disasters since we began our career, but with no +such menace as Burr. But unless I die between now and eighteen hundred +and one, Burr will lose the great game, although he may give victory to +the Republican party." + +"I am not surprised at your estimate and revelations," said Morris, "for +I have heard much the same from others since my return. It was this +certainty that he is bankrupt that led me to believe he was handling +French money in this election--and he is flinging it right and left in a +manner that must gratify his aspiring soul. Considering his lack of +fortune and family influence, he has done wonders in the way of +elevating himself. This makes it the more remarkable that with his great +cleverness he should not have done better--" + +"He is not clever; that is the point. He is cunning. His is wholly the +brain of the conspirator. Were he clever, he would, like Thomas +Jefferson, fool himself and the world into the belief that he is honest. +Intellect and statesmanship he holds in contempt. He would elevate +himself by the Catiline system, by the simple method of proclaiming +himself emperor, and appropriating the moneybags of the country. There +is not one act of statesmanship to his credit. To him alone, of all +prominent Americans, the country is indebted for nothing. The other +night at a dinner, by the way, he toasted first the French Revolution, +then Bonaparte. It is more than possible that you are right, for France, +whether Directory or Consulate, is not likely to change her policy +regarding this country. Nothing would please either Talleyrand or +Bonaparte better than to inflame us into a civil war, then swoop down +upon us, under the pretence of coming to the rescue. Burr would be just +the man to play into their hands, although with no such intention. +Jefferson is quite clever enough to foil them, if he found that more to +his interest. Well, neither is elected yet. Let us hope for the best. Go +and ask Angelica to play for you. I have letters to write to leaders all +over the State." + + +II + +Burr was the author of municipal corruption in New York, the noble +grandsire of Tammany Hall. While Hamilton was too absorbed to watch him, +he had divided New York, now a city of sixty thousand inhabitants, into +districts and sections. Under his systematic management the name of +every resident was enrolled, and his politics ascertained. Then Burr and +his committees or sub-committees laid siege to the individual. +Insignificant men were given place, and young fire-eaters, furious with +Adams, were swept in. Hundreds of doubtful men were dined and wined at +Richmond Hill, flattered, fascinated, conquered. Burr knew the private +history, the income, of every man he purposed to convert, and made +dexterous use of his information. He terrified some with his knowledge, +fawned upon others, exempted the stingy from contributions provided he +would work, and the lazy from work provided he would pay. It is even +asserted that he blackmailed the women who had trusted him on paper, and +forced them to wring votes from their men. He drafted a catalogue of +names for the electoral Legislature, calculated to impose the hesitant, +who were not permitted to observe that he smarted and snarled under many +a kick. Strong names were essential if the Republicans were to wrest +New York from the Federals after twelve years of unbroken rule, but +strong men had long since ceased to have aught to do with Burr; although +Jefferson, as Hamilton suspected, had recently extended his politic paw. +But in spite of snubs, curt dismissals, and reiterated intimations that +his exertions were wasting, Burr did at last, by dint of flattery, +working upon the weak points of the men he thoroughly understood, +convincing them that victory lay in his hands and no other,--some of +them that he was working in harmony with Jefferson,--induce Clinton, +Brockholst Livingston, General Gates,--each representing a different +faction,--and nine other men of little less importance, to compose the +city ticket. All manner of Republicans were pleased, and many +discontented Federalists. Burr, knowing that his own election in New +York was hopeless, was a candidate for the Assembly in the obscure +county of Orange; and the Legislature which would elect the next +President was threatened with a Republican majority, which alarmed the +Federalist party from one end of the Union to the other. + +Hamilton had never been more alert. The moment he was awake to the +danger his mind closed to every other demand upon it, and he flung +himself into the thick of the fight. He would have none of Burr's +methods, but he spoke daily, upon every least occasion, and was ready to +consult at all hours with the distracted leaders of his party. Morris, +Troup, Fish, and other Federalists, accustomed to handling the masses, +also spoke repeatedly. But Adams had given the party a terrible blow, +scattering many of its voters far and wide. They felt that the country +had been humiliated, that it was unsafe in the hands of a man who was +too obstinate to be advised, and too jealous to control his personal +hatreds for the good of the Union; the portent of tyranny in the Alien +and Sedition laws had terrified many, and the promises of the +Republicans were very alluring. The prospect of a greater equality, of a +universal plebeianism, turned the heads of the shopkeepers, mechanics, +and labouring men, who had voted hitherto with the Federalist party +through admiration of its leaders and their great achievements. In vain +Hamilton reminded them of all they owed to the Federalists: the +Constitution, the prosperity, the _peace_. He was in the ironical +position of defending John Adams. They had made up their minds before +they went to hear him speak, and they went because to hear him was a +pleasure they never missed. Upon one occasion a man rushed from the +room, crying, "Let me out! Let me out! That man will make me believe +anything." Frequently Hamilton and Burr spoke on the same platform, and +they were so polite to each other that the audience opened their mouths +and wondered at the curious ways of the aristocracy. It was a period of +great excitement. Men knocked each other down daily, noses were +pulled,--a favourite insult of our ancestors,--and more than one duel +was fought in the woods of Weehawken. + +The elections began early on the 29th of April and finished at sunset on +May 2d. Hamilton and Burr constantly addressed large assemblages. On the +first day Hamilton rode up to the poll in his district to vote, and was +immediately surrounded by a vociferating crowd. Scurrilous handbills +were thrust in his face, and his terrified horse reared before a hundred +threatening fists. A big carter forced his way to its side and begged +Hamilton to leave, assuring him there was danger of personal violence, +and that the men were particularly incensed at his aristocratic manner +of approaching the polls. + +"Thank you," said Hamilton, "but I have as good a right to vote as any +man, and I shall do it in the mode most agreeable to myself." + +"Very well, General," said the carter. "I differ with you in politics, +but I'll stick by you as long as there is a drop of blood in my body." + +Hamilton turned to him with that illumination of feature which was not +the least of his gifts, then to the mob with the same smile, and lifted +his hat above a profound bow. "I never turned my back upon my enemy," he +said, "I certainly shall not flee from those who have always been my +friends." + +The crowd burst into an electrified roar. "Three cheers for General +Hamilton!" cried the carter, promptly, and they responded as one man. +Then they lifted him from his horse and bore him on their shoulders to +the poll. He deposited his ballot, and after addressing them to the +sound of incessant cheering, was permitted to ride away. The incident +both amused and disgusted him, but he needed no further illustrations of +the instability of the common mind. + +The Republicans won. On the night of the 2d it was known that the +Federalists had lost the city by a Republican majority of four hundred +and ninety votes. + +A few weeks before, when uncertainties were thickest, Hamilton had +written to William Smith, who was departing for Constantinople: "... You +see I am in a humour to laugh. What can we do better in _this best of +all possible worlds?_ Should you ever be shut up in the seven towers, or +get the plague, if you are a true philosopher you will consider this +only as a laughing matter." + +He laughed--though not with the gaiety of his youth--as he walked home +to-night through the drunken yelling crowds of William Street, more than +one fist thrust in his face. His son Philip was with him, and his +cousin, Robert Hamilton of Grange, who had come over two years before to +enlist under the command of the American relative of whom his family +were vastly proud. A berth had been found for him in the navy, as better +suited to his talents, and he spent his leisure at 26 Broadway. Both the +younger men looked crestfallen and anxious. Philip, who resembled his +father so closely that Morris called him "his heir indubitate," looked, +at the moment, the older of the two. Ill health had routed the robust +appearance of Hamilton's early maturity, and his slender form, which had +lost none of its activity or command, his thin face, mobile, piercing, +fiery, as ever, made him appear many years younger than his age. + +"Why do you laugh, sir?" asked Philip, as they turned into Wall Street, +"I feel as if the end of the world had come." + +"That is the time to laugh, my dear boy. When you see the world you have +educated scampering off through space, the retreat led by the greatest +rascal in the country, your humour, if you have any, is bound to +respond. Moreover, there is always something humorous in one's downfall, +and a certain relief. The worst is over." + +"But, Cousin Alexander," said Robert Hamilton, "surely this is not +ultimate defeat for you? You will not give up the fight after the first +engagement--you!" + +"Oh, no! not I!" cried Hamilton. "I shall fight on until I have made +Thomas Jefferson President of the United States. Should I not laugh? Was +any man ever in so ironical a situation before? I shall move heaven and +America to put Pinckney in the chair, and I shall fail; and to save the +United States from Burr I shall turn over the country I have made to my +bitterest enemy." + +"That would not be my way of doing, sir," said Robert. "I'd fight the +rival chieftain to his death. Perhaps this Burr is not so real a +Catiline as you think him. Nobody has a good word for him, but I mean he +may not have the courage for so dangerous an act as usurpation." + +"Courage is just the one estimable if misdirected quality possessed by +Burr, and, whetted by his desperate plight, no length would daunt him. A +year or two ago he hinted to me that I had thrown away my opportunities. +Pressed, he admitted that I was a fool not to have changed the +government when I could. When I reminded him that I could only have done +such a thing by turning traitor, he replied, 'Les grands âmes se +soucient peu des petits moraux.' It was not worth while to reason with a +man who had neither little morals nor great ones, so I merely replied +that from the genius and situation of the country the thing was +impracticable; and he answered, 'That depends on the estimate we form of +the human passions, and of the means of influencing them.' Burr would +neither regard a scheme of usurpation as visionary,--he is sanguine and +visionary to a degree that will be his ruin,--nor be restrained by any +reluctance to occupy an infamous place in history." + +They had reached his doorstep in the Broadway. The house was lighted. +Through the open windows of the drawing-room poured a musical torrent. +Angelica, although but sixteen, shook life and soul from the cold keys +of the piano, and was already ambitious to win fame as a composer. +To-night she was playing extemporaneously, and Hamilton caught his +breath. In the music was the thunder of the hurricane he so often had +described to his children, the piercing rattle of the giant castinets +[sic], the roar and crash of artillery, the screaming of the trees, the +furious rush of the rain. Robert Hamilton thought it was a battlepiece, +but involuntarily he lifted his hat. As the wonderful music finished +with the distant roar of the storm's last revolutions, Hamilton turned +to his cousin with the cynicism gone from his face and his eyes +sparkling with pride and happiness. + +"What do I care for Burr?" he exclaimed. "Or for Jefferson? Has any man +ever had a home, a family, like mine? Let them do their worst. Beyond +that door they cannot go." + +"Burr can put a bullet into you, sir," said Robert Hamilton, soberly. +"And he is just the man to do it. Jefferson is too great a coward. For +God's sake be warned in time." + +Hamilton laughed and ran up the stoop. His wife was in the drawing-room +with Angelica, who was white and excited after the fever of composition. +Mrs. Hamilton, too, was pale, for she had heard the news. But mettle had +been bred in her, and her spirits never dropped before public +misfortune. She had altered little in the last seven years. In spite of +her seven children her figure was as slim as in her girlhood, her hair +was as black, her skin retained its old union of amber and claret. The +lingering girlishness in her face had departed after a memorable +occasion, but her prettiness had gained in intellect and character; +piquant and roguish, at times, as it still was. It was seven years since +she had applied her clever brain to politics and public affairs +generally--finance excepting--and with such unwearied persistence that +Hamilton had never had another excuse to seek companionship elsewhere. +Moreover, she had returned to her former care of his papers, she +encouraged him to read to her whatever he wrote, and was necessary to +him in all ways. She loved him to the point of idolatry, but she kept +her eye on him, nevertheless, and he wandered no more. When he could not +accompany her to Saratoga in summer, she sent the children with one of +her sisters, and remained with him, no matter what the temperature, or +the age of a baby. But she made herself so charming that if he suspected +the surveillance he was indifferent, and grateful for her companionship +and the intelligent quality of her sympathy. Elizabeth Hamilton never +was a brilliant woman, but she became a remarkably strong-minded and +sensible one. Femininely she was always adorable. Although relieved of +the heavier social duties since the resignation from the Cabinet, +Hamilton's fame and the popularity of both forced them into a prominent +position in New York society. They entertained constantly at dinner, and +during the past seven years many distinguished men besides Talleyrand +had sat at their hospitable board: Louis Philippe d'Orleans,--supported +for several years by Gouverneur Morris,--the Duc de Montpensier, the +Duke of Kent, John Singleton Copley, subsequently, so eminent as jurist +and statesman, Kosciusko, Count Niemcewicz, the novelist, poet, +dramatist, and historian, were but a few. All travellers of distinction +brought letters to Hamilton, for, not excepting Washington, he was to +Europeans the most prosilient of Americans. If there had been little +decrease of hard work during these years, there had been social and +domestic pleasures, and Hamilton could live in the one or the other with +equal thoroughness. He was very proud of his wife's youthful appearance, +and to-night he reproached her for losing so many hours of rest. + +"Could anyone sleep in this racket?" she demanded, lightly. "You must be +worn out. Come into the dining room and have supper." + +And they all enjoyed their excellent meal of hot oysters, and dismissed +politics until the morrow. + + +III + +But if Hamilton consigned politics to oblivion at midnight and slept for +the few hours demanded by outraged nature, he plunged from the crystal +of his bath into their reeking blackness early in the morning. He had +laughed the night before, but he was in the worst of tempers as he shut +his study door behind him. For the first time in his life he was on a +battle-ground with no sensation of joy in the coming fight. The business +was too ugly and the prospect was almost certain defeat. Were the first +battle lost, he knew that a sharper engagement would immediately +succeed: his political foresight anticipated the tie, and he alone had a +consummate knowledge of the character of Burr. That the Republicans +would offer Burr the office of Vice-President was as positive as that +Jefferson would be their first and unanimous choice. Clinton and +Chancellor Livingston might be more distinguished men than the little +politician, but the first was in open opposition to Jefferson, and the +second was deaf. Burr's conquest of New York entitled him to reward, and +he would accept it and intrigue with every resource of his cunning and +address for the larger number of votes, regardless of the will of the +people. If the result were a tie, the Federals would incline to anybody +rather than Jefferson, and Hamilton would be obliged to throw into the +scale his great influence as leader of his party for the benefit of the +man he would gladly have attached to a fork and set to toast above the +coals of Hell. He had no score to settle with Burr, but to permit him to +become President of the United States would be a crime for which the +leader of the Federalist party would be held responsible. When the +inevitable moment came he should hand over the structure he had created +to the man who had desired to rend it from gable to foundation; both +because it was the will of the people and because Jefferson was the +safer man of the two. + +So far his statesmanship triumphed, as it had done in every crisis which +he had been called upon to manipulate, and as it would in many more. +But for once, and as regarded the first battle, it failed him, and he +made no attempt to invoke it. This was the blackest period of his inner +life, and there were times when he never expected to emerge from its +depths. The threatened loss of the magnificent power he had wielded, the +hatreds that possessed and overwhelmed him, the seeming futility of +almost a lifetime of labour, sacrifices without end and prodigal +dispensing of great gifts, the constant insults of his enemies, and the +public ingratitude, had saturated his spirit with a raging bitterness +and roused the deadliest passions of his nature. The marah he had passed +through while a member of the Cabinet was shallow compared to the depths +in which he almost strangled to-day. Not only was this the final +accumulation, but the inspiring and sustaining affection, the +circumscribing bulwark, of Washington was gone from him. "He was an +Aegis very essential to me," he had said sadly, and he felt his loss +more every day that he lived. + +He knew there was just one chance to save the Presidency to the +Federalist party. Did he employ the magic of his pen to recreate the +popularity of John Adams, it was more than possible that thousands would +gladly permit the leader they had followed for years to persuade them +they had judged too hastily the man of whom they had expected too much. +But by this time there was one man Hamilton hated more implacably than +Jefferson, and that was John Adams. Besides the thorough disapproval of +the Administration of Adams, which, as a statesman, he shared with all +the eminent Federals in the country, his personal counts with this enemy +piled to heaven. Adams had severed the party he had created, endeavoured +to humiliate him before the country, refused, after Washington's death, +to elevate him to his rightful position as General-in-chief of the army +he had organized, alienated from him one of the best of his friends, and +primarily was answerable for the crushing defeat of yesterday. With one +of the Pinckneys at the helm, Hamilton could have defied Jefferson and +kept the Democrats out of power; but the man next in eminence to himself +in his own party had given his supremacy its death-blow, and it is +little wonder if his depths resembled boiling pitch, if the heights of +his character had disappeared from his vision. He was, above all things, +intensely human, with all good and all evil in him; and although he +conquered himself at no very remote period, he felt, at the present +moment, like Lucifer whirling through space. + +Troup, now a retired judge of the U.S. District Court of New York, and a +man of some fortune, ready as of old to be Hamilton's faithful +lieutenant, entered and looked with sympathy and more apprehension at +his Chief. + +"I've not come to bemoan this bad business," he said, sitting down at a +desk and taking up his pen. "What next? It looks hopeless, but of course +you'll no more cease from effort than one of your Scotch ancestors would +have laid down his arms if a rival chieftain had appeared on the warpath +with the world at his back. Is it Adams and C.C.P. to the death?" + +"It is Pinckney; Adams only in so far as he is useful. He still has his +following in the New England States. The leaders in those States, first +and second, must be persuaded to work unanimously for Adams and +Pinckney, with the distinct understanding that in other States votes for +Adams will be thrown away. This, after I have persuaded them of Adams's +absolute unfitness for office. If we carry and it comes to a tie, there +is no doubt to whom the House will give the election." + +Troup whistled. "This is politics!" he said. "I never believed you'd go +down to your neck. I wish you'd throw the whole thing over, and retire +to private life." + +"I shall retire soon enough," said Hamilton, grimly. "But Adams will go +first." + +Troup knew that it was useless to remonstrate further. He had followed +this Captain to the bitter end too often. Underneath the immense sanity +of Hamilton's mind was a curious warp of obstinacy, born of +implacability and developed far beyond the normal bounds of +determination. When this almost perverted faculty was in possession of +the brain, Hamilton would pursue his object, did every guardian in his +genius, from foresight to acuteness, rise in warning. His present +policy if a failure might be the death of the Federalist party, but the +flashing presentiment of that historic disaster did not deter him for a +moment. + +"It is the time for politics," Hamilton continued. "Statesmanship goes +begging. I shall be entirely frank about it, for that matter. There will +be no underhand scheming, Adams is welcome to know every step I take. +The correspondence must begin at once. I'll make out a list for you. I +shall begin with Wolcott." + + +IV + +When the tidings of the New York election reached Philadelphia, the +Federals of the House met in alarmed and hurried conference. In their +desperation they agreed to ask Hamilton to appeal to the Governor of New +York, John Jay, to reconvene the existing legislature that it might +enact a law authorizing in that State the choice of Presidential +electors in districts. Why they did not send a memorial to Jay +themselves, instead of placing Hamilton in a position to incur the full +odium of such a suggestion, can only be explained by the facts that +during the entire span of the party's existence, their leader had +cheerfully assumed the responsibility in every emergency or crisis, and +that if the distinguished formalist in the Executive Mansion of New York +had a weak spot in him, it was for Hamilton. + +When Hamilton read this portentous letter, he flushed deeply and then +turned white. The expedient had not occurred to him, but it was too near +of kin to his disapproval of a provision which had delivered the State +into the hands of an industrious rascal, not to strike an immediate +response; especially in his present frame of mind. He was alone with his +wife at the moment, and he handed her the letter. She read it twice, +then laid it on the table. "It savours very much of fraud, to me," she +said. "Why do politics so often go to the head?" + +"Sometimes one sort rises as an antidote to another. There comes a time +in human affairs when one is forced into a position of choosing between +two evils; a time when the scruples of delicacy and propriety, as +relative to a common course of things, ought to yield to the +extraordinary nature of the crisis." + +"Right is right, and wrong is wrong," said Betsey, with her Dutch +sturdiness. "This measure--were it adopted by Mr. Jay--would merely mean +that the party in power was taking an unconstitutional advantage of its +situation to nullify the victories gained by the other." + +"The victories you speak of were won by fraud and every unworthy device. +I am not arguing that, such being the case, we are justified in turning +their weapons upon them, but that for the good of the country the enemy +should be suppressed before they are able to accomplish its +demoralization, if not its ruin. The triumph of Jefferson and +Jacobinism, the flourishing of Democracy upon the ruins of Federalism, +too long a taste of power by the States rights fanatics, means, with the +weak spots in our Constitution, civil war. Burr has sowed the seeds of +municipal corruption, which, if the sower be rewarded by the second +office in the gift of the people, will spread all over the Union. That +many in the ranks of Democracy are in the pay of France, and design the +overthrow of the Government, there is not a shadow of doubt. If +Jefferson should die in office, or a tie, in spite of all I could do, +should give the Presidency to Burr, there is nothing that man's +desperate temper would not drive him to accomplish during the time +remaining to him--for he will never be the first choice of the +Democrats. Therefore, I shall propose this measure to Jay in the course +of the next two or three days, unless upon mature deliberation I alter +my present opinion that the grave crisis in national affairs justifies +it, or I conceive something better." + +"You will violate your higher principles," said his wife, who had +matured in a previous era. "And it will be a terrible weapon for your +enemies." + +"I have now reached that happy point where I am entirely indifferent to +the broadsides of my enemies; and I believe that if I conclude to take +this step, my conscience--and history--will justify me." "If you +succeed," said Betsey, shrewdly. "But Mr. Jay is very rigid, and he +lacks your imagination, your terrible gift of seeing the future in a +flash." + +"It is quite true that I have little hope of persuading Jay; as little +as I have of endowing him with the gift of foresight. But, if I think +best, I shall make the attempt, and whatever the consequences, I shall +not regret it." + +Betsey said no more. She knew the exact amount of remonstrance Hamilton +would stand, and she never exceeded it. When his fighting armour was on, +no human being could influence him beyond a certain point, and she was +too wise to risk her happiness. Although he was too careful of her to +let her suspect the hideous conflicts which raged in his soul, she was +fully aware of his bitter obstinacy, and that he was the best hater in +the country. She had many gloomy forebodings, for she anticipated the +terrible strain on what was left of his constitution. + +There was one person who, through her inherited intuitions, understood +Hamilton, and that was Angelica. He had kept her at arm's length, great +as the temptation to have a sympathetic confidant had been, particularly +after he had withdrawn from the intimate companionship of Washington; +she was so highly wrought and sensitive, so prone to hysteria, that he +had never yielded for a moment, even when she turned her head slowly +toward him and stared at him with eyes that read his very soul. On the +evening after the elections he had played and sung with her for an hour, +then talked for another with Philip, who was the most promising student +of Columbia College, a youth of fine endowments and elevated character. +He was the pride and delight of Hamilton, who could throttle both +apprehensions and demons while discussing his son's future, and +listening to his college trials and triumphs. Upon this particular +evening Angelica had suddenly burst into tears and left the room. The +next morning Hamilton sent her to Saratoga; and, much as he loved her, +it was with profound relief that he arranged her comfortably on the deck +of the packet-boat. + +On the 7th he wrote to the Governor; but, as he had feared, Jay would +take no such audacious leap out of his straight and narrow way. The +letter was published in the _Aurora_ before it reached Albany, and +Hamilton had reason to believe that Burr had a spy in the post-office. + +Hamilton executed the orders for disbanding the army, then made a tour +of several of the New England States, holding conferences and speaking +continually. He found the first-class leaders at one with him as to the +danger of entrusting the Executive office to Adams a second time, and +favourably inclined to Pinckney. But the second-rate men of influence +were still enthusiastic for the President, and extolling him for saving +the country from war. Hamilton listened to them with no attempt to +conceal his impatience. He pointed out that if Talleyrand had made up +his mind that it was best to avoid a war, he would have made a second +and regular overture, which could have been accepted without humiliation +to the country, and the severance of the Federalist party. + +As if Adams had not done enough to rouse the deadly wrath of Hamilton, +he announced right and left that the Federalist defeat in New York had +been planned by his arch enemy, with the sole purpose of driving himself +from office; that there was a British faction in the country and that +Hamilton was its chief. He drove Pickering and M'Henry from his Cabinet +with contumely, as the only immediate retaliation he could think of, and +Wolcott would have followed, had there been anyone to take his place. +Franklin once said of Adams that he was always honest, sometimes great, +and often mad. Probably so large an amount of truth has never again been +condensed into an epigram. If Adams had not become inflamed with the +ambition that has ruined the lives and characters of so many Americans, +he would have come down to posterity as a great man, with a record of +services to his country which would have scattered his few mistakes into +the unswept corners of oblivion. But autocratic, irritable, and jealous, +all the infirmities of his temper as brittle with years as the +blood-vessels of his brain, the most exacting office in the civilized +world taxed him too heavily. It is interesting to speculate upon what +he might have been in this final trial of his public career, had +Hamilton died as he took the helm of State. If Hamilton's enemies very +nearly ruined his own character, there is no denying that he exerted an +almost malign influence upon them. To those he loved or who appealed to +the highest in him he gave not only strength, but an abundance of +sweetness and light, illuminating mind and spirit, and inspiring an +affection that was both unselfish and uplifting. But his enemies hated +him so frantically that their characters measurably deteriorated; to +ruin or even disconcert him they stooped and intrigued and lied; they +were betrayed into public acts which lowered them in their own eyes and +in those of all students of history. Other hatreds were healthy and +stimulating by comparison; but there is no doubt that Adams, Jefferson, +and Madison fell far lower than they would have done had Hamilton never +shot into the American heavens, holding their fields at his pleasure, +and paling the fires of large and ambitious stars. + +The political excitement in the country by this time surpassed every +previous convulsion to such an extent that no man prominent in the +contest could appear on the street without insult. Although he never +knew it, Hamilton, every time he left the house, was shadowed by his son +Philip, Robert Hamilton, Troup, John Church, or Philip Church. For the +Democratic ammunition and public fury alike were centred on Hamilton. +Adams came in for his share, but the Democrats regarded his doom as +sealed, and Hamilton, as ever, the Colossus to be destroyed. The windows +of the bookshops were filled with pamphlets, lampoons, and cartoons. The +changes were rung on the aristocratical temper and the monarchical +designs of the leader of the Federalists, until Hamilton was sick of the +sight of himself with his nose in the air and a crown on his head, his +train borne by Jay, Cabot, Sedgwick, and Bayard. The people were warned +in every issue of the _Aurora, Chronicle_, and other industrious sheets, +that Hamilton was intriguing to drive the Democratic States to +secession, that he might annihilate them at once with his army and his +navy. The Reynolds affair was retold once a week, with degrading +variations, and there was no doubt that spies were nosing the ground in +every direction to obtain evidence of another scandal to vary the +monotony. Mrs. Croix, being Queen of the Jacobins, was safe, so press +and pamphlet indulged in wild generalities of debauchery and rapine. It +must be confessed that Jefferson fared no better in the Federalist +sheets. He was a huge and hideous spider, spinning in a web full of +seduced citizens; he meditated a resort to arms, did he lose the +election. As to his private vices, they saddled him with an entire +harem, and a black one at that. + +When Hamilton heard that Adams had asserted that he was the chief of a +British faction, he wrote to the President, demanding an explanation; +and his note had that brief and frigid courtesy which indicated that he +was in his most dangerous temper. Adams ignored it. Hamilton waited a +reasonable time, then wrote again; but Adams was now too infuriated to +care whether or not he committed the unpardonable error of insulting the +most distinguished man in the country. He was in a humour to insult the +shade of Washington, and he delighted in every opportunity to wreak +vengeance on Hamilton, and would have died by his hand rather than +placate him. + +Then Hamilton took the step he had meditated for some time past, one +which had received the cordial sanction of Wolcott, and the uneasy and +grudging acquiescence of Cabot, Ames, Carroll of Carrollton, Bayard, and +a few other devoted but conservative supporters. He wrote, for the +benefit of the second-class leaders, who must be persuaded to cast their +votes for Pinckney, to vindicate Pickering and M'Henry, and--it would be +foolish to ignore it--to gratify his deep personal hatred, the pamphlet +called "The Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq., President +of the United States." His temper did not flash in it for a second. It +was written in his most concise and pointed, his most lucid and classic, +manner; and nothing so damning ever flowed from mortal brain. He set +forth all Adams's virtues and services with judicial impartiality. +There they were for all to read. Let no man forget them. Then he +counterbalanced and overbalanced them by the weaknesses, jealousies, and +other temperamental defects which had arisen in evidence with the +beginnings of the President's public career. He drilled holes in poor +Adams's intellect which proved its unsoundness and its unfitness for +public duty, and he lashed him without mercy for his public mistakes and +for his treatment of his Secretaries and himself. It was a life history +on ivory, and a masterpiece; and there is no friend of Hamilton's who +would not sacrifice the memory of one of his greatest victories for the +privilege of unwriting it. + +This was one of his creations that he did not read to his wife, but +Troup was permitted a glance at the manuscript. He dropped it to the +floor, and his face turned white. "Do you intend to publish this thing?" +he demanded. "And with your name signed in full?" + +"I intend to print it. I had every intention of scattering it broadcast, +but I have yielded to the dissuasions of men whose opinions I am bound +to respect, and it will go only to them and to the second-class leaders +as yet unconvinced. To their entreaties that I would not sign my name I +have not listened, because such a work, if anonymous, would be both +cowardly and futile. The point is to let those for whom it is intended +know that a person in authority is talking; and anonymous performances +are legitimate only when published and unmistakable, when given in that +form as a concession to the fashion of the age." + +Troup groaned. "And if it falls into the enemy's hands?" + +"In that case, what a hideous opportunity it would enclose, were it +unsigned." + +"Oh, sign it!" said Troup, wildly. He set his heel on the manuscript, +and looked tentatively at Hamilton. He knew the meaning of the +expression he encountered, and removed his heel. It was months since he +had seen the gay sparkle in Hamilton's eyes, humour and sweetness +curving his mouth. When Hamilton's mouth was not as hard as iron, it +relaxed to cynicism or contempt. He was so thin that the prominence of +the long line from ear to chin and of the high hard nose, with its +almost rigid nostrils, would have made him look more old Roman coin than +man, had it not been for eyes like molten steel. "Politics and +ambition!" thought Troup. "What might not the world be without them?" + +"Let us change the subject," he said. "I hear that Mrs. Croix makes a +convert an hour from Federalism to Democracy. That is the estimate. And +a small and select band know that she does it in the hope of hastening +your ruin. I must say, Hamilton, that as far as women are concerned, you +are punished far beyond your deserts. There is hardly a man in public +life who has not done as much, or worse, but the world is remarkably +uninterested, and the press finds any other news more thrilling. The +Reynolds woman is probably responsible for many remorseful twinges in +the breasts of eminent patriots, but your name alone is given to the +public. As for Mrs. Croix, I don't suppose that any mere mortal has ever +resisted her, but if any other man has regretted it, history is silent. +What do you suppose is the reason?" + +Hamilton would not discuss Mrs. Croix, but he had long since ceased to +waste breath in denial. He made no reply. + +"Do you know my theory?" said Troup, turning upon him suddenly. "It is +this. You are so greatly endowed that more is expected of you than of +other men. You were fashioned to make history; to give birth, not for +your own personal good, but for the highest good of a nation, to the +greatest achievement of which the human mind is capable. Therefore, when +you trip and stumble like any fool among us, when you act like a mere +mortal with no gigantic will and intellect to lift him to the heights +and keep him there, some power in the unseen universe is infuriated, and +you pay the price with compound interest. It will be the same with that +thing on the floor. If you could be sure that it would never fall into +the hands of a Jacobin, even then it would be a mistake to print it, for +it is mainly prompted by hatred, and as such is unworthy of you. But if +it finds its way to the public, your punishment will be even in excess +of your fault. For God's sake think it over." + +Hamilton made no reply, and in a moment Troup rose. "Very well," he +said, "have your own way and be happy. I'll stand by you if the citadel +falls." + +Hamilton's eyes softened, and he shook Troup's hands heartily. But as +soon as he was alone, he sent the manuscript to the printer. + + +V + +M.L. Davis, the authentic biographer of Burr, tells this interesting +anecdote concerning the Adams pamphlet:--' + + Colonel Burr ascertained the contents of this pamphlet, and that it + was in the press. The immediate publication, he knew, must distract + the Federal party, and thus promote the Republican cause in those + States where the elections had not taken place. Arrangements were + accordingly made for a copy as soon as the printing of it was + completed; and when obtained, John Swartwout, Robert Swartwout, and + Matthew L. Davis, by appointment met Colonel Burr at his house. The + pamphlet was read, and extracts made for the press. They were + immediately published. + +When Hamilton read the voluminous extracts in the marked copies of the +Democratic papers which he found on the table in his chambers in Garden +Street, his first sensation was relief; subterranean methods were little +to his liking. He was deeply uneasy, however, when he reflected upon the +inevitable consequences to his party, and wondered that his imagination +for once had failed him. Everyone who has written with sufficient power +to incite antagonism, knows the apprehensive effect of extracts lifted +maliciously from a carefully wrought whole. Hamilton felt like a +criminal until he plunged into the day's work, when he had no time for +an accounting with his conscience. He was in court all day, and after +the five o'clock dinner at home, returned to his office and worked on an +important brief until eight. Then he paid a short call on a client, and +was returning home through Pearl Street, when he saw Troup bearing down +upon him. This old comrade's face was haggard and set, and his eyes were +almost wild. Hamilton smiled grimly. That expression had stamped the +Federal visage since morning. + +Troup reached Hamilton in three strides, and seizing him by the arm, +pointed to the upper story of Fraunces' Tavern. "Alec," he said +hoarsely, "do you remember the vow you made in that room twenty-five +years ago? You have kept it until to-day. There is not an instance in +your previous career where you have sacrificed the country to yourself. +No man in history ever made greater sacrifices, and no man has had a +greater reward in the love and loyalty of the best men in a nation. And +now, to gratify the worst of your passions, you have betrayed your +country into the hands of the basest politicians in it. Moreover, all +your enemies could not drag you down, and no man in history has ever +been assailed by greater phalanxes than you have been. It took +you--yourself--to work your own ruin, to pull your party down on top of +you, and send the country we have all worked so hard for to the devil. I +love you better than anyone on earth, and I'll stick to you till the +bitter end, but I'd have this say if you never spoke to me again." + +Hamilton dropped his eyes from the light in the familiar room of +Fraunces' Tavern, but the abyss he seemed to see at his feet was not the +one yawning before his friend's excited imagination. He did not answer +for a moment, and then he almost took away what was left of Troup's +breath. + +"You are quite right," he said. "And what I have most to be thankful for +in life, is that I have never attracted that refuse of mankind who fawn +and flatter; or have dismissed them in short order," he added, with his +usual regard for facts. "Come and breakfast with me to-morrow. Good +night." + +He walked home quickly, told the servant at the door that he was not to +be disturbed, and locked himself in his study. He lit one candle, then +threw himself into his revolving chair, and thought until the lines in +his face deepened to the bone, and only his eyes looked alive. He wasted +no further regrets on the political consequences of his act. What was +done, was done. Nor did he anticipate any such wholesale disaster as had +distracted the Federalists since the morning issues. He knew the force +of habit and the tenacity of men's minds. His followers would be aghast, +harshly critical for a day, then make every excuse that ingenuity could +suggest, unite in his defence, and follow his lead with redoubled +loyality. His foresight had long since leaped to the end of this +conflict, for the Democratic hordes had been augmenting for years; his +own party was hopelessly divided and undermined by systematic slander. +To fight was second nature, no matter how hopeless the battle; but in +those moments of almost terrifying prescience so common to him, he +realized the inevitableness of the end, as history does to-day. His only +chance had been to placate Adams and recreate his enemy's popularity. + +The day never came when he was able to say that he might have done this +at the only time when such action would have counted. He had been +inexorable until the pamphlet was flung to the public; and then, +although he was hardly conscious of it at the moment, he was immediately +dispossessed of the intensity of his bitterness toward Adams. The +revenge had been so terrible, so abrupt, that his hatred seemed +disseminating in the stolen leaves fluttering through the city. +Therefore his mind was free for the appalling thought which took +possession of it as Troup poured out his diatribe; and this thought was, +that he was no longer conscious of any greatness in him. Through all the +conflicts, trials, and formidable obstacles of previous years he had +been sustained by his consciousness of superlative gifts combined with +loftiness of purpose. Had not his greatness been dinned into his ears, +he would have been as familiar with it. But he seemed to himself to have +shrivelled, his very soul might have been in ashes--incremated in the +flames of his passions. He had triumphed over every one of his enemies +in turn. Historically he was justified, and had he accomplished the same +end impersonally, they would have been the only sufferers, and in the +just degree. But he had boiled them in the vitriol of his nature; he +had scarred them and warped them and destroyed their self-respect. Had +these raging passions been fed with other vitalities? Had they ravaged +his soul to nourish his demons? Was that his punishment,--an instance of +the inexorable law of give and take? + +He recalled the white heat of patriotism with which he had written the +revolutionary papers of his boyhood, the numberless pamphlets which had +finally roused the States to meet in convention and give the wretched +country a Constitutional Government, "_The Federalist_"; which had +spurred him to the great creative acts that must immortalize him in +history. He contrasted that patriotic fire with the spirit in which he +had written the Adams pamphlet. The fire had gone out, and the +precipitation was gall and worm-wood. Even the spirit in which he had +first attacked Jefferson in print was righteous indignation by +comparison. + +Had he hated his soul to cinders? Had the bitterness and the +implacability he had encouraged for so many years bitten their acids +through and through the lofty ideals which once had been the larger part +of himself? Had the angel in him fallen to the bottom of the pit in that +frightful nethermost region of his, for his cynical brain to mock, until +that, too, was in its grave? He thought of the high degree of +self-government, almost the perfection, that Washington had +attained,--one of the most passionate men that had ever lived. Did that +great Chieftain stand alone in the history of souls? He thought of +Laurens, with his early despair that self-conquest seemed impossible. +Would he have conquered, had he lived? What would he or Washington +think, were they present to-night? Would they hate him, or would their +love be proof against even this abasement? He passionately wished they +were there, whether they came to revile or console. Isolated and +terror-stricken, he felt as if thrust for ever from the world of living +men. + +His mind had been turned in, every faculty bent introspectively, but for +some moments past his consciousness had vibrated mechanically to an +external influence. It flew open suddenly, as he realized that someone +was watching him, and he wheeled his chair opposite the dusk in the +lower end of the room. For a moment it, seemed to him that every +function in him ceased and was enveloped in ice. A face rested lightly +on the farther end of the long table, the fair hair floating on either +side of it, the eyes fixed upon him with an expression that flashed him +back to St. Croix and the last weeks of his mother's life. He fancied in +that moment that he could even discern the earthen hue of the skin. When +he realized that it was Angelica, he was hardly less startled, but he +found his voice. + +"When did you return?" he asked, in as calm a tone as he could command. +"And why did you hide in here?" + +"I came down with Grandpa, who made up his mind in a minute. And I came +in here to be sure to have a little talk with you alone. I was going to +surprise you as soon as you lit the candle, and then your face +frightened me. It is worse now." + +Her voice was hardly audible, and she did not move. Hamilton went down +and lifted her to her feet, then supported her to a chair opposite his +own. He made no search for an excuse, for he would not have dared to +offer it to this girl, whose spiritual recesses he suddenly determined +to probe. Between her and the dead woman there was a similarity that was +something more than superficially atavistic. His practical brain refused +to speculate even upon the doctrine of metempsychosis. He was like his +mother in many ways. That unique and powerful personality had stamped +his brain cells when he was wholly hers. He recalled that his own soul +had echoed faintly with memories in his youth. What wonder that he had +given this inheritance to the most sensitively constituted of his +children, whose musical genius, the least sane of all gifts, put her in +touch with the greater mysteries of the Universe? That nebulous memories +moved like ghosts in her soul he did not doubt, nor that at such moments +she was tormented with vague maternal pangs. He conquered his first +impulse to confess himself to her; doubtless she needed more help than +he. She was staring at him in mingled terror and agony. + +"Why do you suffer so when I suffer?" he asked gently; then bluntly, "do +you yearn over me as if I were your child, and in peril?" + +"Yes," she answered, without betraying any surprise; "that is it. I have +a terrible feeling of responsibility and helplessness, of understanding +and knowing nothing. I feel sometimes as if I had done you a great +wrong, for which I suffer when you are in trouble, and I am no more use +to you than John or little Eliza. If you would tell me. If you would let +me share it with you. You remember I begged as a child. You have made +believe to tell me secrets many times, but you have told me nothing. My +imagination has nearly shattered me." + +"Do you wish to know?" he asked. "Are you strong enough to see me as I +see myself to-night? I warn you it will be a glimpse into Hell." + +"I don't care what it is," she answered, "so long as it is the reality, +and you let me know you as I do underneath my blindness and ignorance." + +Then he told her. He talked to her as he would have talked to the dead +had she risen, although without losing his sense of her identity for a +moment, or the consciousness of the danger of the experiment. He showed +her what few mortals have seen, a naked soul with its scars, its stains, +and its ravages from flame and convulsion. He need not have apprehended +a disastrous result. She was compounded of his essences, and her age was +that indeterminate mixture of everlasting youth and anticipated wisdom +which is the glory and the curse of genius. She listened intently, the +expression of torment displaced by normal if profound sympathy. He had +begun with the passions inspired by Jefferson; he finished with the +climax of deterioration in the revenge he had taken on Adams, and the +abyss of despair into which it had plunged him. He drew a long breath of +relief, and regarded his little judge with some defiance. She nodded. + +"I feel old and wise," she said, "and at the same time much younger, +because I no longer shrink from a load on my mind I cannot understand. +And you--it has all gone." She darted at the candle and held it to his +face. "You look twenty years younger than when you sat there and +thought. I believed you were dying of old age." + +"I feel better," he admitted, "But nothing can obliterate the scars. And +although I shall always be young at intervals, remember that I have +crowded three lifetimes into one, and that I must pay the penalty +spiritually and physically, although mentally I believe I shall hold my +own until the end." He leaned forward on a sudden impulse and took both +her hands. "I make you a vow," he said, "and I have never broken even a +promise--or only one," he added, remembering Troup's accusation. "I will +drive the bitterness out of myself and I will hate no more. My public +acts shall be unaccompanied by personal bitterness henceforth. Not a +vengeance that I have accomplished has been worth the hideous experience +of to-night, and so long as I live I shall have no cause to repeat it." + +"If you ever broke that vow," said Angelica, "I should either die or go +crazy, for you would sink and never rise again." + + +VI + +As Hamilton had anticipated, the Jacobin press shouted and laughed +itself hoarse, vowed that it never could have concocted so effective a +bit of campaign literature, and that the ursine roars of Adams could be +heard from Dan to Beersheba. Burr, as yet undetected, almost danced as +he walked. The windows were filled with parodies of the pamphlet, +entitled, "The Last Speech and Dying Words of Alexander Hamilton," +"Hamilton's Last Letter and His Amorous Vindication," "A Free +Examination of the Morals, Political and Literary Characters of John +Adams and Alexander Hamilton." One cartoon displayed the sinking ship +_Administration_, with the Federal rats scuttling out of her, and +Hamilton standing alone on the deck; another, "The Little Lion" +sitting, dejected and forlorn, outside the barred gates of +"Hamiltonopolis." The deep, silent laughter of Jefferson shook the +continent. + +The Federalist leaders were furious and aghast. But they recovered, and +when the time came, every Federalist delegate to the Electoral College, +with one exception, voted precisely as Hamilton had counselled. South +Carolina deserted Pinckney because he would not desert Adams, but she +would have pursued that policy had the pamphlet never been written; and +whether it affected the defeat of the Federalists in Pennsylvania and +other States is doubtful. The publication in August of Adams's letter to +Tench Coxe, written in 1792, when he was bitterly disappointed at +Washington's refusal to send him as minister to England, and asserting +that the appointment of Pinckney was due to British influence, thus +casting opprobrium upon the integrity of Washington, had done as much as +Hamilton's pamphlet, if not more, to damn him finally with the +Federalists. Hamilton's chief punishment for his thunderbolt was in his +conscience, and his leadership of his party was not questioned for a +moment. He expected a paternal rebuke from General Schuyler, but that +old warrior, severe always with the delinquencies of his own children, +had found few faults in his favourite son-in-law; and he took a greater +pride in his career than he had taken in his own. Now that gout and +failing sight had forced him from public life, he found his chief +enjoyment in Hamilton's society. General Schuyler survived the death of +several of his children and of his wife, but Hamilton's death killed +him. Assuredly, life dealt generously with our hero in the matter of +fathers, despite or because of an early oversight. James Hamilton had +never made the long and dangerous journey to the North, and he had died +on St. Vincent, in 1799, but what filial regret his son might have +dutifully experienced was swept away on the current of the overwhelming +grief for Washington. And as for mothers, charming elder sisters, and +big brothers, eager to fight his battles, no man was ever so blest. In +December Hamilton received the following letter from William Vans +Murray:-- + + Paris, Oct. 9th, 1800. + + Dear Sir: I was extremely flattered by the confidence which your + letter by Mr. Colbert proved you have in my disposition to follow + your wishes. A letter from you is no affair of ceremony. It is an + obligation on any man who flatters himself with the hope of your + personal esteem. Mr. Colbert gave it to me yesterday. I + immediately, in particular, addressed a letter to Bonaparte, and + made use of your name, which I was sure would be pleasing to him. + To-day I dined with him. The Secretary of State assured me that he + received it kindly, and I can hope something good from him. If any + come it will be your work. I never before spoke or wrote to + Bonaparte on any affair other than public business. It will be very + pleasing to you if we succeed, that your silent agency works good + to the unhappy and meritorious at such a distance. I know nothing + better belonging to reputation. + +Poor Adams! + +General Davie arrived by the next ship, bringing with him a convention +concluded with France on the 30th of October. He also brought a letter +to Hamilton from one of the commission, with a copy of the document and +a journal of the proceedings of the negotiators. The writer was Oliver +Ellsworth, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Adams might +occupy the chair of State, but to the Federals Hamilton was President in +all but name. + +Sedgwick and Gouverneur Morris, now a member of the Senate, not knowing +of the communication, wrote immediately to Hamilton, acquainting him +with the contents of the treaty. + + It contains no stipulation for satisfaction of the injuries we have + received [Sedgwick wrote in wrath]. It makes the treaty of '78 a + subject for future negotiation. It engages that we shall return, in + the condition they now are, all our captures. It makes neutral + bottoms a protection to their cargoes, and it contains a + stipulation directly in violation of the 25th article of our treaty + with Great Britain. Such are the blessed effects of our mission! + These are the ripened fruits of this independent Administration! + Our friends in the Senate are not enough recovered from their + astonishment to begin to reflect on the course they shall pursue. + +This treaty was a far more deadly weapon in Hamilton's hands than the +entire arsenal he had manipulated in his pamphlet, for campaign +literature is often pickled and retired with the salt of its readers. +But did this mission fail, did Adams lose his only chance of +justification for sending the commission at all, did the Senate refuse +to ratify, and war break out, or honourable terms of peace be left to +the next President, then Adams's Administration must be stamped in +history as a failure, and he himself retire from office covered with +ignominy. But had Hamilton not recovered his balance and trimmed to +their old steady duty the wicks of those lamps whose brilliance had +dimmed in a stormy hour, his statesmanship would have controlled him in +such a crisis as this. He knew that the rejection of the treaty would +shatter the Federal party and cause national schisms and discords; that, +if left over to a Jacobin administration, the result would be still +worse for the United States. It was a poor thing, but no doubt the best +that could have been extracted from triumphant France; nor was it as bad +in some respects as the irritated Senate would have it. Such as it was, +it must be ratified, peace placed to the credit of the Federalists, and +the act of the man they had made President justified. Hamilton was +obliged to write a great many letters on the subject, for the +Federalists found it a bitter pill to swallow; but he prevailed and they +swallowed it. + +Meanwhile, the Electoral College had met. Adams had received sixty-five +votes, Pinckney sixty-four, Jefferson and Burr seventy-three each. That +threw the decision upon the House of Representatives, for Burr refused +to recognize the will of the people, and withdraw in favour of the man +whom the Democratic hemisphere of American politics had unanimously +elected. Burr had already lost caste with the party by his attempts to +secure more votes than the leaders were willing to give him, and had +alarmed Jefferson into strenuous and diplomatic effort, the while he +piously folded his visible hands or discoursed upon the bones of the +mammoth. When Burr, therefore, permitted the election to go to the +House, he was flung out of the Democratic party neck and crop, and +Jefferson treated him like a dog until he killed Hamilton, when he gave +a banquet in his honour. Burr's only chance for election lay with the +Federalists, who would rather have seen horns and a tail in the +Executive Chair than Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton had anticipated their +hesitation and disposition to bargain with Burr, and he bombarded them +with letters from the moment the Electoral College announced the result, +until the House decided the question on the 17th of February. He +analyzed Burr for the benefit of the anxious members until the dark and +poisonous little man must have haunted their dreams at night. Whether +they approached Burr or not will never be known; but they were finally +convinced that to bargain with a man as unfigurable as water would be +throwing away time which had far better be employed in extracting +pledges from Jefferson. + +One of Hamilton's letters to Gouverneur Morris, who wielded much +influence in the House, is typical of many. + + ... Another subject. _Jefferson or Burr_? The former beyond a + doubt. The latter in my judgement has no principle, public or + private; could be bound by no agreement; will listen to no monitor + but his ambition; and for this purpose will use the worst portion + of the community as a ladder to climb to permanent power, and an + instrument to crush the better part. He is bankrupt beyond + redemption, except by the resources that grow out of war and + disorder; or by a sale to a foreign power, or by great peculation. + War with Great Britain would be the immediate instrument. He is + sanguine enough to hope everything, daring enough to attempt + everything, wicked enough to scruple nothing. From the elevation of + such a man may heaven preserve the country. + + Let our situation be improved to obtain from Jefferson assurances + on certain points: the maintenance of the present system, + especially on the cardinal articles of public credit--a navy, + neutrality. Make any discreet use you may think fit of this letter. + +He was deeply alarmed at the tendency of the excited House, which sat in +continuous session from the 11th to the 17th, members sleeping on the +floor and sick men brought thither on cots, one with his wife in +attendance. The South was threatening civil war, and Burr's subsequent +career justified his alarm and his warnings; but in spite of his great +influence he won his case with his followers by a very small margin. +They were under no delusions regarding the character of Burr, their +letters to Hamilton abound in strictures almost as severe as his own, +but their argument was that he was the less of two evils, that every +move he made could be sharply watched. It is quite true that he would +have had Federalists and Democrats in both Houses to frustrate him; but +it does not seem to have occurred to the former that impeachment would +have been inevitable, and Jefferson President but a year or two later +than the will of the people decreed. But it was a time of terrible +excitement, and for the matter of that their brains must have been a +trifle clouded by the unvarying excitement of their lives. Bayard of +Delaware, with whom Hamilton had fought over point by point, winning one +or more with each letter, changed his vote on the last ballot from Burr +to a blank. Hamilton's friends knew that Burr would kill him sooner or +later, for the ambitious man had lost his one chance of the great +office; but Hamilton chose to see only the humour of the present he had +made Thomas Jefferson. That sensible politician had tacitly agreed to +the terms suggested by the Federalists, when they debated the +possibility of accepting him, and Hamilton knew that he was far too +clever to break his word at once. What Hamilton hoped for was what came +to pass: Jefferson found the machinery of his new possession more to his +taste than he could have imagined while sitting out in the cold, and he +let it alone. + + +VII + +Hamilton was now free to devote himself to the practice of law, with but +an occasional interruption. It hardly need be stated that he kept a +sharp eye on Jefferson, but for the sake of the country he supported him +when he could do so consistently with his principles. More than once the +President found in him an invaluable ally; and as often, perhaps, he +writhed as on a hot gridiron. Hamilton came forth in the pamphlet upon +extreme occasions only, but he was still the first political philosopher +and writer of his time, and the Federalists would have demanded his pen +upon these occasions had he been disposed to retire it. Although out of +the active field of politics, he kept the best of the demoralized +Federalists together, warning them constantly that the day might come +when they would be called upon to reorganize a disintegrated union, and +responding to the demands of his followers in Congress for advice. In +local politics he continued to make himself felt in spite of the +fattening ranks of Democracy. His most powerful instrument was the _New +York Evening Post_, which he founded for the purpose of keeping the +Federalist cause alive, and holding the enemy in check. He selected an +able man as editor, William Coleman of Massachusetts, but he directed +the policy of the paper, dictating many of the editorials in the late +hours of night. This journal took its position at once as the most +respectable and brilliant in the country. + +He also founded the Society for the Manumission of Slaves, securing as +honorary member the name of Lafayette--now a nobleman at large once +more. But all these duties weighed lightly. For the first time in his +life he felt himself at liberty to devote himself almost wholly to his +practice, and it was not long before he was making fifteen thousand +dollars a year. It was an immense income to make in that time, and he +could have doubled it had he been less erratic in the matter of fees. +Upon one occasion he was sent eight thousand dollars for winning a suit, +and returned seven. He invariably placed his own valuation upon a case, +and frequently refused large fees that would have been paid with +gratitude. If a case interested him and the man who asked his services +were poorer than himself, he would accept nothing. If he were convinced +that a man was in the wrong, he would not take his case at any price. He +was delighted to be able to shower benefits upon his little family, and +he would have ceased to be Alexander Hamilton had he been content to +occupy a second place at the bar, or in any other pursuit which engaged +his faculties; but for money itself, he had only contempt. Perhaps that +is the reason why he is so out of tune with the present day, and unknown +to the average American. + +Washington, after the retirement of John Jay, had offered Hamilton the +office of Chief Justice of the United States; but Hamilton felt that +the bar was more suited to his activities than the bench, and declined +the gift. His legal career was as brilliant and successful as his +political, but although none is more familiar to ambitious lawyers, and +his position as the highest authority on constitutional law has never +been rivalled, his achievements of greater value to the Nation have +reduced it in history to the position of an incident. There is little +space left, and somewhat of his personal life still to tell, but no +story of Hamilton would be complete without at least a glimpse of this +particular shuttle in the tireless loom of his brain. Such glimpses have +by no one been so sharply given as by his great contemporary, Chancellor +Kent. + + He never made any argument in court [Kent relates] without + displaying his habits of thinking, resorting at once to some + well-founded principle of law, and drawing his deductions logically + from his premises. Law was always treated by him as a science, + founded on established principles.... He rose at once to the + loftiest heights of professional eminence, by his profound + penetration, his power of analysis, the comprehensive grasp and + strength of his understanding, and the firmness, frankness and + integrity of his character.... His manners were affable, gentle and + kind; and he appeared to be frank, liberal and courteous in all his + professional intercourse. [Referring to a particular case the + Chancellor continues.] Hamilton by means of his fine melodious + voice, and dignified deportment, his reasoning powers and + persuasive address, soared far above all competition. His + preeminence was at once and universally conceded.... Hamilton + returned to private life and to the practice of the law in '95. He + was cordially welcomed and cheered on his return, by his fellow + citizens. Between this year and 1798, he took his station as the + leading counsel at the bar. He was employed in every important and + every commercial case. He was a very great favourite with the + merchants of New York and he most justly deserved to be, for he had + shown himself to be one of the most enlightened, intrepid and + persevering friends to the commercial prosperity of this country. + Insurance questions, both upon the law and fact, constituted a + large portion of the litigated business in the courts, and much of + the intense study and discussion at the bar. Hamilton had an + overwhelming share of this business.... His mighty mind would at + times bear down all opposition by its comprehensive grasp and the + strength of his reasoning powers. He taught us all how to probe + deeply into the hidden recesses of the science, and to follow up + principles to their far distant sources. He ransacked cases and + precedents to their very foundations; and we learned from him to + carry our inquiries into the commercial codes of the nations of the + European continent; and in a special manner to illustrate the law + of Insurance by the secure judgement of Emerigon and the luminous + commentaries of Valin.... My judicial station in 1798 brought + Hamilton before me in a new relation.... I was called to listen + with lively interest and high admiration to the rapid exercise of + his reasoning powers, the intensity and sagacity with which he + pursued his investigations, his piercing criticisms, his masterly + analysis, and the energy and fervour of his appeals to the + judgement and conscience of the tribunal which he addressed. [In + regard to the celebrated case of Croswell vs. the People, in the + course of which Hamilton reversed the law of libel, declaring the + British interpretation to be inconsistent with the genius of the + American people, Kent remarks.] I have always considered General + Hamilton's argument in this cause as the greatest forensic effort + he ever made. He had come prepared to discuss the points of law + with a perfect mastery of the subject. He believed that the rights + and liberties of the people were essentially concerned.... There + was an unusual solemnity and earnestness on his part in this + discussion. He was at times highly impassioned and pathetic. His + whole soul was enlisted in the cause, and in contending for the + rights of the Jury and a free Press, he considered that he was + establishing the surest refuge against oppression.... He never + before in my hearing made any effort in which he commanded higher + reverence for his principles, nor equal admiration of the power and + pathos of his eloquence.... I have very little doubt that if + General Hamilton had lived twenty years longer, he would have + rivalled Socrates or Bacon, or any other of the sages of ancient or + modern times, in researches after truth and in benevolence to + mankind. The active and profound statesman, the learned and + eloquent lawyer, would probably have disappeared in a great degree + before the character of the sage and philosopher, instructing + mankind by his wisdom, and elevating the country by his example. + + [Ambrose Spencer, Attorney General of the State,--afterward Chief + Justice,--who did not love him, having received the benefit of + Hamilton's scathing sarcasm more than once, has this to say.] + Alexander Hamilton was the greatest man this country ever produced. + I knew him well. I was in situations to observe and study him. He + argued cases before me while I sat as judge on the bench. Webster + has done the same. In power of reasoning, Hamilton was the equal of + Webster; and more than this can be said of no man. In creative + power, Hamilton was infinitely Webster's superior, and in this + respect he was endowed as God endows the most gifted of our race. + If we call Shakspeare a genius or creator, because he evoked plays + and character from the great chaos of thought, Hamilton merits the + same appellation; for it was he, more than any other man, who + thought out the Constitution of the United States and the details + of the Government of the Union; and out of the chaos that existed + after the Revolution, raised a fabric, every part of which is + instinct with his thought. I can truly say that hundreds of + politicians and statesmen of the day get both the web and woof of + their thoughts from Hamilton's brains. He, more than any man, did + the thinking of the time. + +His fooling was as inimitable as his use of passion and logic, and on +one occasion he treated Gouverneur Morris, who was his opposing counsel, +to such a prolonged attack of raillery that his momentary rival sat with +the perspiration pouring from his brow, and was acid for some time +after. During his earlier years of practice, while listening to +Chancellor Livingston summing up a case in which eloquence was made to +disguise the poverty of the cause, Hamilton scribbled on the margin of +his brief: "Recipe for obtaining good title for ejectment: two or three +void patents, several _ex parte_ surveys, one or two acts of usurpation +acquiesced in for the time but afterwards proved such. Mix well with +half a dozen scriptural allusions, some ghosts, fairies, elves, +hobgoblins, and a _quantum suff_. of eloquence." Hamilton also +originated the practice of preparing "Points," now in general use. + + +VIII + +Hamilton, after the conclusion of the great libel case in the spring of +1804, returned from Albany to New York to receive honours almost as +great, if less vociferous, than those which had hailed him after the +momentous Convention of 1788. Banquets were given in his honour, the bar +extolled him, and the large body of his personal friends were triumphant +at this new proof of his fecundity and his power over the minds of men. +They were deeply disturbed on another point, however, and several days +after his arrival, Troup rode out to The Grange, Hamilton's +country-seat, to remonstrate. + +Hamilton, several years since, had bought a large tract of wooded land +on Harlem Heights and built him a house on the ridge. It commanded a +view of the city, the Hudson, and the Sound. The house was spacious and +strong, built to withstand the winds of the Atlantic, and to shelter +commodiously not only his family, but his many guests. The garden and +the woods were the one hobby of his life, and with his own hands he had +planted thirteen gum trees to commemorate the thirteen original States +of the Union. Fortunately his deepest sorrow was not associated with +this estate; Philip had fallen before the house was finished. This +brilliant youth, who had left Columbia with flying honours, had brooded +over the constant attacks upon his father,--still the Colossus in the +path of the Democrats, to be destroyed before they could feel secure in +their new possessions,--until he had deliberately insulted the most +recent offender, received his challenge, and been shot to death close to +the spot where Hamilton was to fall a few years later. That was in the +autumn of 1801. Hamilton's strong brain and buoyant temperament had +delivered him from the intolerable suffering of that heaviest of his +afflictions, and the severe and unremitting work of his life gave him +little time to brood. If he rarely lost consciousness of his +bereavement, the sharpness passed, and he was even grateful at times +that his son, whose gifts would have urged him into public life, was +spared the crucifying rewards of patriotism. + +As Troup rode up the avenue and glanced from right to left into the +heavy shades of the forest, with its boulders and ravines, its streams +and mosses and ferns, then to the brilliant mass of colour at the end of +the avenue, out of which rose the stately house, he sighed heavily. + +"May the devil get the lot of them!" he said. + +It was Saturday, and he found Hamilton on his back under a tree, the +last number of the _Moniteur_ close to his hand, his wife and Angelica +looking down upon him from a rustic seat. Both the women were in +mourning, and Betsey's piquant charming face was aging; her sister Peggy +and her mother had followed her son. + +Hamilton had never recovered his health, and he paid for the prolonged +strains upon his delicate system with a languor to which at times he was +forced to yield. To-day, although he greeted the welcome visitor gaily, +he did not rise, and Troup sat down on the ground with his back to the +tree. As he looked very solemn, Mrs. Hamilton and Angelica inferred they +were not wanted, and retired. + +"Well?" said Hamilton, laughing. "What is it? What have I done now?" + +"Put another nail into your coffin, we are all afraid. The story of the +paper you read before the Federalist Conference in Albany is common +talk; and if Burr is defeated, it will be owing to your influence, +whether you hold yourself aloof from this election or not. Why do you +jeopardize your life? I'd rather give him his plum and choke him with +it--" + +"What?" cried Hamilton, erect and alert. "Permit Burr to become Governor +of New York? Do you realize that the New England States are talking of +secession, that even the Democrats of the North are disgusted and +alarmed at the influence and arrogance of Virginia? Burr has a certain +prestige in New England on account of his father and Jonathan Edwards, +and his agents have been promoting discussion of this ancestry for some +time past. Do the Federalists of New York endorse him, this prestige +will have received its fine finish; and New Englanders have winked his +vices out of sight because Jefferson's treatment of him makes him almost +virtuous in their eyes. The moment he is Governor he will foment the +unrest of New England until it secedes, and then, being the first +officer of the leading State of the North, he will claim a higher office +that will end in sovereignty. He fancies himself another Bonaparte, he +who is utterly devoid of even that desire for fame, and that +magnificence, which would make the Corsican a great man without his +genius. That he is in communication with his idol, I happen to know, for +he has been seen in secret conversation with fresh Jacobin spies. Now is +the time to crush Burr once for all. Jefferson has intrigued the +Livingstons and Clinton away from him again; the party he patched +together out of hating factions is in a state of incohesion. If the +Federals--" + +"That is just it," interrupted Troup; "the man is desperate. So are his +followers, his 'little band.' They were sick and gasping after Burr's +failure to receive one vote in the Republican caucus for even the +Vice-Presidency, and they know that the Louisiana Purchase has made +Jefferson invincible with the Democrats--or the Republicans, as +Jefferson still persists in calling them. They know that Burr's chance +for the Presidency has gone for ever. So New York is their only hope. +Secession and empire or not, their hope, like his, is in the spoils of +office; they are lean and desperate. If you balk them--" + +"What a spectacle is this!" cried Hamilton, gaily. He threw himself back +on the grass, and clasped his hands behind his head. "Troup, of all men, +reproaching me for keeping a vow he once was ready to annihilate me for +having broken. That offence was insignificant to the crime of supinely +permitting our Catiline to accomplish his designs." + +"If I could agree with you, I should be the last to counsel +indifference; no, not if your life were the forfeit. But I never +believed in Burr's talent for conspiracy. He is too sanguine and +visionary. He desires power, office, and emolument--rewards for his +henchmen before they desert him; but I believe he'd go--or get--no +farther, and the country is strong enough to stand a quack or two; +while, if we lose you--" + +"You will live to see every prophecy I have made in regard to Burr +fulfilled. I will not, because so long as I am alive he shall not even +attempt to split the Union, to whose accomplishment and maintenance I +pledged every faculty and my last vital spark. Sanguine and visionary he +may be, but he is also cunning and quick, and there is a condition ready +to his hand at the present moment. Jefferson is bad enough, Heaven +knows. He has retained our machinery, but I sometimes fancy I can hear +the crumbling of the foundations; the demoralizing and the +disintegrating process began even sooner than I expected. He is +appealing to the meanest passion of mankind, vanity; and the United +States, which we tried to make the ideal Republic, is galloping toward +the most mischievous of all establishments, Democracy. Every cowherd +hopes to be President. What is the meaning of civilization, pray, if the +educated, enlightened, broad-minded, are not to rule? Is man permitted +to advance, progress, embellish his understanding, for his own selfish +benefit, or for the benefit of mankind? And how can his superiority +avail his fellows unless he be permitted to occupy the high offices of +responsibility? God knows, he is not happy in his power; he is, indeed, +a sacrifice to the mass. But so it was intended. He is the only +sufferer, and mankind is happier." + +"Jefferson and Burr both have a consummate knowledge of the limited +understanding; they know how to tickle it with painted straws and bait +it with lies. Bonaparte is not a greater autocrat than Jefferson, but +our tyrant fools the world with his dirty old clothes and his +familiarities. But I am not to be diverted. I want to keep you for my +old age. I believe that you have done your part. It has been a +magnificent part; there is no greater in history. Your friends are +satisfied. So should you be. I want you to give up politics before it is +too late. I fear more than one evil, and it has kept me awake many +nights. Burr is not the only one who wishes you under ground. His +'little band' is composed of men who are worse than himself without one +of his talents. Any one of them is capable of stabbing you in the dark. +The Virginia Junta know that the Federalist party will exist as long as +you do, and that some external menace might cohere and augment it again +under your leadership. At every Federalist banquet last Fourth you were +toasted as the greatest man in America; and I know this undiminished +enthusiasm--as well as the influence of the _Evening Post_--alarms them +deeply. They are neither great enough nor bad enough to murder you, nor +even to employ someone to do it; but more than one needy rascal knows +that he has only to call you out and kill you according to the code, to +be rewarded with an office as soon as decency permits. There is another +menace. I suppose you have heard that Mrs. Croix married a Frenchman +named Stephen Jumel while you were in Albany?" + +"Yes!" exclaimed Hamilton, with interest; "who is he?" + +"A Parisian diamond merchant and banker, a personal friend of Bonaparte. +The belief is that he came over here as a special emissary of the +Consulate. Of course he brought a letter to that other illustrious +agent, and to the amazement of everybody he married her. They must +handle thousands of French money between them. France would be +something more than glad to hear of your elimination from this +complicated American problem; particularly, if you demonstrate your +power by crushing this last hope of Burr's. I doubt if Burr would call +you out with no stronger motive than a desire for personal revenge. He +is no fool, and he knows that if he kills you, he had better put a +bullet through his own brain at once. He is a sanguine man, but not so +sanguine as not to know that if he compassed your death, he would be +hounded into exile. But he is in a more desperate way financially than +ever. He can borrow no more, and his debtors are clamouring. If he is +defeated in this election, and the Jumels are sharp enough to take +advantage of his fury and despair,--I think she has been watching her +chance for years; and the talk is, she is anxious, for her own reasons, +to get rid of Burr, besides,--I believe that a large enough sum would +tempt Burr to call you out--" + +"He certainly is hard up," interrupted Hamilton, "for he rang my front +door bell at five o'clock this morning, and when I let him in he went on +like a madman and begged me to let him have several thousands, or +Richmond Hill would be sold over his head." + +"And you gave them to him, I suppose? How much have you lent him +altogether? I know from Washington Morton that Burr borrowed six hundred +dollars of you through him." + +"I lent him the six hundred, partly because his desperate plight appeals +to me--I believe him to be the unhappiest wretch in America--and more +because I don't want Europe laughing at the spectacle of a +Vice-President of the United States in Debtor's prison. Of course I +can't lend him this last sum myself, but I have promised to raise it for +him." + +"Well, I argue with you no more about throwing away money. Did you +listen to what I said about Madame Jumel?" + +"With the deepest interest. It was most ingenious, and does honour to +your imagination." Troup, with an angry exclamation, sprang to his +feet. Hamilton deftly caught him by the ankle and his great form +sprawled on the grass. He arose in wrath. + +"You are no older than one of your own young ones!" he began; then +recovered, and resumed his seat. "This is the latest story I have heard +of you," he continued: "Some man from New England came here recently +with a letter to you. When he returned to his rural home he was asked if +he had seen the great man. 'I don't know about the _great_' he replied; +'but he was as playful as a kitten.'" + +Hamilton laughed heartily. "Well, let me frolic while I may," he said. +"I shall die by Burr's hand, no doubt of that. Whether he kills me for +revenge or money, that is my destiny, and I have known it for years. And +it does not matter in the least, my dear Bob. I have not three years of +life left in me." + + +IX + +Burr was defeated by a majority of seven thousand votes; and New +England, which had hoped, with the help of a man who was at war with all +the powerful families of New York,--Schuylers, Livingstons, and Clintons +at the head of them,--to break down the oligarchy of which it had been +jealous for nearly a century, deserted the politician promptly. +Incidentally, Hamilton had quenched its best hope of secession, for the +elected Governor of New York, Judge Lewis, was a member of the +Livingston family. Burr was in a desperate plight. Debtor's prison and +disgrace yawned before him; his only followers left were a handful of +disappointed politicians, and these deserted him daily. But although his +hatred of Hamilton, by now, was a foaming beast within him, he was wary +and coolheaded, and history knows no better than he did that if he +killed the man who was still the most brilliant figure in America, as +well as the idol of the best men in it, cunning, and skill, and mastery +of every political art would avail him nothing in the future; every +avenue but that frequented by the avowed adventurer would be closed to +him. Moreover, he must have known that Hamilton's life was almost over, +that in a very few years he could intrigue undisturbed. Nor could he +have felt a keen interest in presenting to Jefferson so welcome a gift +as his own political corpse. But desperate for money, crushed to the +earth, his hatred for Hamilton cursing and raging afresh, the only +conspicuous enemy who might be bought with gold of the man who was still +a bristling rampart in the path of successful Jacobinism, he was in a +situation to fall an easy victim to greater plotters than himself. His +act, did he challenge Hamilton, would be ascribed to revenge, and the +towering figures in the background of the tragedy would pass unnoticed +by the horrified spectators in front. + +On June 18th William Van Ness, Burr's intimate friend, waited upon +Hamilton with a studiously impertinent note, demanding an acknowledgment +or denial of the essence of certain newspaper paragraphs, which stated +that the leader of the Federalists had, upon various occasions, +expressed his low opinion of the New York politician, and in no measured +terms. Hamilton replied, pointing out the impossibility of either +acknowledging or denying an accusation so vague, and analyzed at length +the weakness of Burr's position in endeavouring to pick a quarrel out of +such raw material. He said, in conclusion:-- + + I stand ready to avow or disavow promptly and explicitly any + precise or definite opinion which I may be charged with having + declared of any gentleman. More than this cannot fitly be expected + from me; and especially, it cannot reasonably be expected that I + shall enter into an explanation upon a basis so vague as that which + you have adopted. I trust on more reflection you will see the + matter in the same light with me. If not I can only regret the + circumstance and must abide the consequences. + +Hamilton foresaw the inevitable end, and commenced putting his affairs +in order at once; but, for both personal and abstract reasons, holding +the practice of duelling in abhorrence, he was determined to give Burr +any chance to retreat, consistent with his own self-respect. Burr +replied in a manner both venomous and insulting, and Hamilton called +upon Colonel Pendleton, General Greene's aide during the Revolution, and +asked him to act as his second. On the 23d he received a note from Van +Ness, inquiring when and where it would be most convenient for him to +receive a communication, and the correspondence thereafter was conducted +by the seconds. + +It was Sunday, and Hamilton was at The Grange, when the note from Van +Ness arrived. He was swinging in a hammock, and he put the missive in +his pocket, shrugged his shoulders, and lifted himself on his elbow. His +entire family, with the exception of his wife and Angelica, were +shouting in the woods. The baby, a sturdy youngster of two, named for +the brother who had died shortly before his birth, emerged in a state of +fury. He had eighty-two years of vitality in him, and he roared like a +young bull. Hamilton's children inherited the tough fibre and the +longevity of the Schuylers. Of the seven who survived him all lived to +old age, and several were close to being centenarians. + +Angelica was busy in her aviary, close by. She was now twenty, and one +of the most beautiful girls in the country, but successive deaths had +kept her in seclusion; and the world in which her parents were such +familiar figures was to remember nothing of her but her tragedy. Betsey, +still as slim as her daughter, ran from the house at the familiar roar, +and Gouverneur Morris came dashing through the woods with a half-dozen +guests, self-invited for dinner. It was an animated day, and Hamilton +was the life of the company. He had no time for thought until night. His +wife retired early, with a headache; the boys had subsided even earlier. +At ten o'clock Angelica went to the piano, and Hamilton threw himself +into a long chair on the terrace and clasped his hands behind his head. + +"So," he thought, "the end has come. My work is over, I suppose. +Personally, I am of no account. All I would have demanded, by way of +reward for services faithfully executed, was the health to make a decent +living and ten or fifteen years of peaceful and uninterrupted intimacy +with my family. For fame, or public honours, or brilliant successes of +any sort, I have ceased to care. Nothing would tempt me to touch the +reins of public life again unless in the event of a revolution. I +believe I have crushed that possibility with this election; otherwise, I +doubt if my knell would have sounded. On the bare possibility that such +is not the case, and that my usefulness may not be neutralized by public +doubt of my courage, I must accept this challenge, whether or not I have +sufficient moral courage to refuse it. I believe I have; but that is +neither here nor there, and I shall fall. Should I survive, the sole +reason would be danger ahead. For the last two years I have felt myself +moving steadily deathward. By this abrupt exit I but anticipate the +inevitable a year or two, and doubtless it seems to the destiny that +controls my affairs as the swiftest way to dispose of Burr, and awaken +the country to the other dangers that menace it. To the last I am but a +tool. No man was ever so little his own master, so thrust upon a planet +for the accomplishment of public and impersonal ends alone. I have been +permitted a certain amount of domestic felicity as my strength was best +conserved thereby, my mind free to concentrate upon public duties. I was +endowed with the gift of fascination, that men should follow me without +question, and this country be served with immediate effectiveness, I +have received deep and profound satisfaction from both these +concessions, but it would not matter in the least if I had not. They +were inevitable with the equipment for the part I had to play. I have +had an astonishing and conquering career against the mightiest +obstacles, and I may as a further concession, be permitted an enduring +place in history; but that, also, is by the way. I conquered, not to +gratify my love of power and to win immortal fame, but that I might +accomplish the part for which I was whirled here from an almost +inaccessible island fifteen hundred miles away--to play my part in the +creation of this American empire. It has been a great part, creatively +the greatest part. The proof that no native-born American could have +played it lies in the fact that he did not. The greatest of her men have +abetted me; not one has sought to push me aside and do my work. My only +enemies have been those who would pull my structure down; the most +ambitious and individual men in the Union, of the higher sort, are my +willing followers. To win them I never plotted, nor did I ever seek to +dazzle and blind them. Part of my equipment was the power to convince +them without effort of my superior usefulness; there was no time to +lose. I am nothing but a genius, encased in such human form as would +best serve its purpose; an atom of the vast creative Being beyond the +Universe, loaned for an infinitesimal part of time to the excrescence +calling itself The United States of North America, on the dot called +Earth. Now the part is played, and I am to be withdrawn. That my human +heart is torn with insupportable anguish, matters not at all. I leave +that behind." + +Hamilton had been bred in the orthodox religion of his time, and its +picturesqueness, including its ultimates of heaven and hell, had taken +firm hold of his ardent imagination. But in his cosmic moments the +formulations of this planet played no part. + +"I have not even a mother-country," he thought. "I am a parent, not a +child. My patriotism has been that of a tigress for her young, not of a +man for his fatherland. God knows I am willing, and always have been, to +die for this country, which is so much my own, but why--why--need I have +been made so human? Could I not have understood men as well? Could I not +have performed my various part without loving my wife and children, my +friends, with the deepest tenderness and passion of which the human +heart is capable? Then I would go without a pang, for I am tired, and +death would be a relief. But, since all humanity was forced into me, why +should not I, now that I have faithfully done my part, be permitted a +few years of happiness by my hearthstone?" + +He raised his hands as if to shut out the cold high stars. He had had +few bitter moments since the night, four years before, when he had +deliberately exorcised bitterness and hate; and that mellowness had come +to him which came to his great rivals in their old age. But to-night he +let the deeps rise. He ached with human wants, and he was bidden to +work out his last act of service to the country for whose sole use he +had been sent to Earth. + +He dropped his hands and stared at the worlds above. "Must I go on?" he +thought. "Is that it? Does other work await me elsewhere? Has the +Almighty detached from himself a few creative egos, who go from world to +world and do their part; removed the day their usefulness is over, that +they shall not dissipate their energy, nor live until men regard with +slighting wonder the work of the useless old creature in their midst, +withdraw from it their first reverence? I go in the fulness of my +maturity and the high tide of respect and affection; I go in the +dramatic manner of my advent, and my work will be a sacred thing;--even +my enemies will not dare to pull it down until such time as they are +calm enough to see it as it is; and then the desire will have passed. +Doubtless all things are best and right.... Maturity? I feel as old as +time and as young as laughter." + +He sat up suddenly and bent his head. Millions of tiny bells were +ringing through the forest. So low, so golden, so remote they sounded, +that they might have hung in the stars above or in the deeps of the +earth. He listened so intently for a moment that life seemed suspended, +and he saw neither the cool dark forest nor the silver ripple of the +Hudson, but a torn and desolate land, and a gravestone at his feet. Then +he passed his hand over his forehead with a long breath, and went softly +into the drawing-room. + +Angelica sat at the piano, with her head thrown back, her long fair hair +hanging to the floor. Her dark eyes were blank, but her fingers shook +from the keys the music of a Tropic night. It was a music that Hamilton +had not sent a thought after since the day he landed in America, +thirty-one years ago. It had come to her, with other memories, by direct +inheritance. + +He went to the dining room hastily and poured out a glass of wine. When +he returned, Angelica, as he expected, was half lying in a chair, white +and limp. + +"Drink this," he said, in the bright peremptory manner to which his +children were accustomed. "I think you are not strong enough yet to +indulge in composition. You have grown too fast, and creation needs a +great deal of physical vigour. Now run to bed, and forget that you can +play a note." + +Angelica sipped the wine obediently, and bade him good night. As she +toiled up the stairs she prayed for the physical strength that would +permit her to become the great musician of her ambitious dreams. Her +prayer was answered; the great strength came to her, and her music was +the wonder of those who listened; but they were very few. + +Hamilton went into his library, prepared to write until morning. +Bitterness and cosmic curiosity had vanished; he was the practical man, +with a mass of affairs to arrange during the few days that were left to +him. But he did no work that night. The door-knocker pounded loudly. The +servants had gone to bed. He took a lamp, and unchained and unlocked the +front door, wondering what the summons meant, for visitors in that +lonely spot were rare after nightfall. A woman stood in the heavy shade +of the porch, and behind her was a carriage. She wore a long thin +pelisse; and the hood was drawn over her face. Nevertheless, she +hesitated but a moment. She lifted her head with a motion of haughty +defiance that Hamilton well remembered, and stepped forward. + +"It is I, Hamilton," she said. "I have come to have a few words with you +alone, and I shall not leave until--" + +"Come in, by all means," said Hamilton, politely. "You were imprudent to +choose such a dark night, for the roads are dangerous. When you return I +will send a servant ahead of you with a lantern." + +He led the way to the library and closed the door behind them. Madame +Jumel threw off her cloak, and stood before him in the magnificence of +cloth of gold and many diamonds. Her neck blazed, and the glittering +tower of her hair was a jewel garden. She was one of the women for whom +splendour of attire was conceived, and had always looked her best when +in full regalia. To-night she was the most superb creature that man had +ever seen or dreamed of. Even her great eyes looked like jewels, deep +and burning as that blue jewel of the West Indies, the Caribbean Sea; +but her lips and cheeks were like soft pink roses. Hamilton had seen her +many times since the day of parting, for she went constantly to the +theatre, and had been invited to the larger receptions until her +reckless Jacobinism had put the final touch to the disapproval of +Federal dames; but he had never seen her in such beauty as she was +to-night. Eleven years had perfected this beauty, taken from it nothing. +He sighed, and the past rose for a moment; but it seemed a century +behind him. + +"Will you not sit down?" he asked. "Can I fetch you a glass of wine? I +remember you never liked it, but perhaps, after so long a drive--" + +"I do not wish any wine," said Madame Jumel, shortly. She was nonplussed +by this matter-of-fact acceptance of a situation which she had intended +should be intensely dramatic. She was not yet gone, however. + +"No one ever could get the best of you, Hamilton," she exclaimed. "I +have come here to-night--how terribly delicate you look," she faltered, +with a sudden pallor. "I have not seen you for so long--" + +"My health does not give me the least concern," said Hamilton, +hurriedly, wondering if he could lay his hand on a bottle of +smelling-salts without awaking his wife. "Pray go on. To what am I +indebted for the honour of this visit?" + +Madame Jumel rose and swept up and down the long room twice. "Can there +be anything in that tale of royal blood?" thought Hamilton. "Or in that +other tale of equally distinguished parentage?" + +She had paused with her back to him, facing one of the bookcases. + +"Classics, classics, classics!" she exclaimed, in a voice which grew +steadier as she proceeded. "That was the only taste we did not share. +Don Quixote in Spanish, Dante and Alfieri in Italian; and all the German +brutes. Ah! Voltaire! Rousseau! What superb editions! No one can bind +but the French. And the dear old _Moniteur_--all bound for posterity, +which will never look at it." + +She returned and stood before him, and she was quite composed. + +"I came to tell you," she said, "that when you die, it will be by the +hand of my deputy. I tell you because I am determined that your last +earthly thought shall be of me." + +"_Cherchez la femme--toujours!_ Why are you doing this?" he asked +curiously. "You no longer love me, and your hate should have worn out +long since." + +"Neither my hate nor my love has ceased for a second. I married Jumel +for these jewels, for the courts of Europe, for a position in this +country which the mighty Schuylers cannot take from me again. But I +would fly with you to-morrow, and live with you in a hole under ground. +I came to make no such proposal, however; I know that you would +sacrifice even your family to your honour, and everything else in life +to them. For years I waited, hoping that you would suddenly come back to +me, hating you and injuring you in every way my Jacobinism could devise, +but ready to wipe your shoes with my hair the moment you appeared. Now +the hard work of your life is over. You look forward to years of +happiness with your family on this beautiful estate, while I am married +to a silly old Frenchman--who, however, has brought me my final means of +revenge. I know you well. You would rather be alive now than at any time +of your life. Well, you shall go. And I would pray, if that were my +habit, that into these last days you may condense all the agonies of +parting from those you love that I have ached and raged through in these +eleven long years." + +"God knows I have bitterly regretted that you should suffer for my +passions. And, if it is any satisfaction to you, I go unwillingly, and +the parting will be very bitter." + +She drew a sharp breath, and flung her head about. "One cannot triumph +over you!" she cried. "Why was I such a fool as to come here to-night? +My imagination would have served me better." + +"Is it French money?" asked Hamilton. + +"Yes, but I alone am responsible. We handle immense sums, and its +disposal is left to our discretion. This will be distasteful neither to +France nor Virginia,--I suppose I may have Louisiana, if I want it!--but +I am no man's agent in this matter." + +"You are magnificent! It is quite like you to disdain to share your +terrible responsibility. I can lighten it a little. I shall not shoot +Burr." + +"I should rather you did. Still, it does not matter. He will be disposed +of, and I shall lead the hue and cry." + +"You are young to be so brutal. Will your conscience never torment you?" + +"I have too much brain to submit to conscience, and you know it. I shall +suffer the torments of the damned, but not from conscience. But I would +rather suffer with you out of the world than in it. I have stood that as +long as a mere mortal can stand anything. Revenge is not my only motive. +Either you or I must go, and as I have now found the means of boundless +distraction, I live. I have been on the point of killing myself and you +more than once. But my power to injure you gave me an exquisite +satisfaction; and then, I always hoped. Now the time for the _period_ +has come." Her chin sank to her neck, and she stared at him until her +eyes filled. "Do you love them so much more than you ever loved me?" she +asked wistfully. + +Hamilton turned away his head. "Yes," he said. + +She drew a long shivering breath. "Ah!" she said. "You are a frail +shadow of yourself. You have no passion in you. And yet, even as you +are, I would fling these jewels into the river, and live with you until +you died in my arms. You may think me a monster, if you like, but you +shall die knowing that your wife does not love you as I do." + +Hamilton leaned forward and dried her tears. "Say that you forgive me," +she said; for audacity was ever a part of genius. + +"Yes," he said grimly, "I forgive you. You and Bonaparte are the two +magnificent products of the French Revolution. I am sorry you are not +more of a philosopher, but, so far as I alone am concerned, I regret +nothing." + +"Oh, men!" she exclaimed, with scorn. "They are always philosophers when +they are no longer in love with a woman. But you will give me your last +conscious moment?" + +"No," he said deliberately, "I shall not." + +She sprang to her feet. "You will! Thank you for saying that, though! I +was about to grovel at your feet. Take me to my coach! What a fool I was +to come here!" She seized her pelisse, and wound it about her as she ran +down the hall. Hamilton followed, insisting that she give him time to +awaken a servant. But she would not heed. She flung herself into her +coach, and called to the driver to gallop his horses, unless he wished +to lose his place on the morrow. Hamilton stood on the porch, listening +to the wild flight down the rough hill through the forest But it was +unbroken, so long as he could hear anything, and he laughed suddenly and +entered the house. + +"The high farce of tragedy," he thought. "Probably a mosquito will +settle on Burr's nose as he fires, and my life be spared." + + +X + +The challenge was delivered on Wednesday. Hamilton refused to withdraw +his services from his clients in the midst of the Circuit Court, and +July 11th, a fortnight later, was appointed for the meeting. When +Hamilton was not busy with the important interests confided to him by +his clients, he arranged his own affairs, and drew up a document for +publication, in the event of his death, in which he stated that he had +criticised Burr freely for years, but added that he bore him no +ill-will, that his opposition had been for public reasons only, that his +impressions of Burr were entertained with sincerity, and had been +uttered with motives and for purposes which appeared to himself +commendable. He announced his intention to throw away his fire, and +gave this reason for yielding to a custom which he had held in avowed +abhorrence: "The ability to be in future useful, whether in resisting +mischief or effecting good, in those crises of our public affairs which +seem likely to happen, would probably be inseparable from a conformity +with public prejudice in this particular." + +Burr spent several hours of each day in pistol practice, using the +cherry trees of Richmond Hill as targets. Thurlow Weed, in his +"Autobiography," has told of Burr's testament, written on the night +before the duel. Having neither money nor lands, but an infinitude of +debts, to bequeath his daughter, he left her a bundle of compromising +letters from women. The writers moved in circles where virtue was held +in esteem, and several were of the world of fashion. They had, with the +instinct of self-defence, which animates women even in that stage where +they idealize the man, omitted to sign their names. Burr supplied the +omission in every case and added the present address. That Hamilton +would throw away his fire was a possibility remote from the best effort +of Burr's imagination, and although he knew that no one could fire more +quickly than himself, he was not the man to go to the ground unprepared +for emergencies: if his daughter, now Mrs. Alston, would obey his hint +and blackmail, she might realize a pretty fortune. That Theodosia Burr, +even with the incentive of poverty, would have sunk to such ignominy, no +one who knows the open history of her short life will believe; but the +father, whose idol she was, insulted her and stained her memory, too +depraved and warped to understand nobility in anyone, least of all in +one of his own blood. In the study of lost souls Burr has appealed to +many analysts, and by no one has been made so attractive as by Harriet +Beecher Stowe; who, knowing naught by experience of men of the world, +either idealized them as interesting villains or transformed them into +beasts. In Burr she saw the fallen angel, and bedewed him with many +Christian tears. But I doubt if Burr, the inner and real Burr, had far +to fall. His visible divergence from first conditions was as striking +as, no doubt, it was natural. As the grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the +son of the Reverend Aaron Burr, and reared by relatives of that same +morbid, hideous, unhuman school of early New England theology, it only +needed a wayward nature in addition to brain and spirit to send him +flying on his own tangent as soon as he was old enough to think. After +that his congenital selfishness did the rest. For a time he climbed the +hill of prizes very steadily, taking, once in a way, a flight, swift as +an arrow: in addition to great ability at the bar, and a cunning which +rose to the dignity of a talent, he was handsome, magnetic, well-bred, +and polished, studied women with the precision of a vivisectionist, +assumed emotions and impulses he could not feel with such dexterity that +even men yielded to his fascination until they plumbed him; had in fact +many of the fleeting kindly instincts to which every mortal is subject +who is made of flesh and blood, or comes of a stock that has been bred +to certain ideals. Every wretch has a modicum of good in him, and in +spite of the preponderance of evil in Burr, had he been born under +kindly Southern skies with a gold spoon in his mouth, if, when ambitions +developed, he had had but to stretch out his hand to pluck the prizes of +life, instead of exercising the basest talents of his brain to overreach +more fortunate men, why it is possible that his nature might not have +hardened into a glacier: its visible third dazzling and symmetrical, its +deadly bulk skulking below the surface of the waters which divided the +two parts of him from his victims; might have died in the chaste +reclusion of an ancestral four-poster, beneficiaries at his side. But +that immalleable mind lacked the strong fibre of logic and +foresight--which is all that moral force amounts to--that lifts a man +triumphant above his worst temptations; and he paid the bitter and +hideous penalty in a poverty, loneliness, and living death that would +have moved the theologians of his blood to the uneasy suspicion that +punishment is of this earth, a logical sequence of foolish and +short-sighted acts. Both men and women are allowed a great latitude in +this world; they have little to complain of. It is only when the brain +fails in its part, or the character is gradually undermined by lying +and dishonour, that the inevitable sequence is some act which arouses +the indignation of society or jerks down the iron fist of the law. When +Burr took to the slope he slid with few haltings. In his long life of +plottings and failures, from his sympathy with the Conway Cabal to his +desperate old age, there were no depths of blackguardism that he did not +touch. Whether Madame Jumel spoke the truth or not to Hamilton on that +night of their last interview, it was entirely in keeping with his life +and character that he should kill for hire. + +On the Fourth of July, the Society of the Cincinnati gave its annual +dinner. This society, then the most distinguished in the Union, and +membered by men who had fought in the War of Independence, had, upon the +death of Washington, their first President, elected Hamilton to the +vacant office. He presided at this banquet, and never had appeared nor +felt happier. Not only did that peculiar exaltation which precedes +certain death possess him, as it possesses all men of mettle and brain +in a like condition, but the philosophy which had been born in him and +ruled his imagination through life had shrugged its shoulders and +accepted the inevitable. Hamilton knew that his death warrant had been +signed above, and he no longer experienced a regret, although he had +often felt depressed and martyred when obliged to go to the courts of +Albany and leave his family behind him. He had lost interest in his +body; his spirit, ever, by far, the strongest and the dominant part of +him, seemed already struggling for its freedom, arrogant and blithe as +it approached its final triumph. There is nothing in all life so selfish +as death; and the colossal ego which genius breeds or is bred out of, +isolated Hamilton even more completely than imminent death isolates most +men. The while he gave every moment he could spare to planning the +future comfort and welfare of his family, he felt as if he had already +bade them farewell, and wondered when and how he should meet them +again. + +At this gathering he was so gay and sportive that he infected the great +company, and it was the most hilarious banquet in the society's history. +The old warriors sighed, and wondered at his eternal youth. When he +sprang upon the table and sang his old camp-song, "The Drum," he looked +the boy they remembered at Valley Forge and Morristown. There was only +one member of the company who was unelectrified by the gay abandon of +the evening, and his sombre appearance was so marked in contrast that it +was widely commented on afterward. Burr frequently leaned forward and +stared at Hamilton in amazement. As the hilarity waxed, his taciturnity +deepened, and he finally withdrew. + +The secret was well kept. Few knew of the projected meeting, and none +suspected it, although Burr's pistol practice aroused some curiosity. He +had been a principal in a number of duels, and killed no one. But he was +known to have more than one bitter score to pay, for this last campaign +had exceeded every other in heat and fury. So many duels had studded it, +and so many more impended, that the thinking men of the community were +roused to a deep disapproval of the custom. The excitement and horror +over the sacrifice of Hamilton, full-blew this sentiment. + +On Saturday, Hamilton gave a dinner at the Grange, and a guest was one +of Washington's first aides, Colonel Trumbull. As he was leaving, +Hamilton took him aside and said, with an emphasis which impressed +Trumbull even at the moment: "You are going to Boston. You will see the +principal men there. Tell them from me, as my request, for God's sake to +cease these conversations and threatings about a separation of the +Union. It must hang together as long as it can be made to. If this Union +were to be broken, it would break my heart." + +The following day preceded the duel. Hamilton attended an entertainment +given by Oliver Wolcott, whose fortunes he had made, raising the capital +of a business that could be presided over by no one so well as a former +Secretary of the Treasury. It was a large reception, and he met many of +his old friends. Lady Kitty Duer, widowed, but pleasantly +circumstanced, was there, and Kitty Livingston, once more bearing her +old name in a second marriage. Bitter as the feeling between her house +and Hamilton still was, she had declared long since that she would not +cut him again; and although they never met in private, they often +retired to a secluded corner at gatherings and talked for an hour. His +first reason for attending this reception was to shake her hand as they +parted. Madame Jumel was there, paling the loveliness of even the young +daughters of Mrs. Jay and Lady Kitty Duer. Those who did not mob about +Hamilton surrounded her, and although her cheek was without colour, she +looked serene and scornful. + +After the reception Hamilton spent an hour with Troup. This oldest of +his friends, and Angelica, were the only people whose suspicion he +feared. Troup was quite capable of wringing Burr's neck, and his +daughter of taking some other desperate measure. But it was long now +since he had given Angelica reason for anxiety, and she had ceased to +watch him; and to-day, Troup, whom he had avoided hitherto, was treated +to such a flow of spirits that he not only suspected nothing, but +allowed himself to hope that Hamilton's health was mending. Hamilton +dared not even hold his hand longer than usual at parting, although he +longed to embrace him. + +That night, in the late seclusion of his library, Hamilton wrote two +letters to his wife, in one of which he recommended Mrs. Mitchell to her +care; then the following to Sedgwick, still a close friend, and probably +the most influential man in New England:-- + + NEW YORK, July 10th, 1804. + + MY DEAR SIR: I have received two letters from you since we last saw + each other--that of the latest date being the twenty-fourth of May. + I have had on hand for some time a long letter to you, explaining + my view of the course and tendency of our politics, and my + intentions as to my own future conduct. But my plan embraced so + large a range, that, owing to much avocation, some indifferent + health, and a growing distaste for politics, the letter is still + considerably short of being finished. I write this now to satisfy + you that want of regard for you has not been the cause of my + silence. + + I will here express but one sentiment, which is, that DISMEMBERMENT + of our EMPIRE will be a clear sacrifice of great positive + advantages, without any counterbalancing good; administering no + relief to our real disease, which is DEMOCRACY; the poison of + which, by a subdivision, will only be the more concentrated in each + part, and consequently the more virulent. King is on his way to + Boston where you may chance to see him and hear from himself his + sentiments. God bless you. + + A.H. + +As he folded and sealed the letter he suddenly realized that the act was +the final touch to the order of his earthly affairs, and he lifted his +hand as though to see if it were still alive. "To-morrow night!" he +thought. "Well, now that the hour has come, I go willingly enough. I +have been permitted to live my life; why should I murmur? There has been +sufficient crowded into my forty-seven years to cover a century. I have +been permitted to play a great part in history, to patch together a +nation out of broken limbs and inform it with a brain. It is right that +I should regard myself in this final hour as a statesman and nothing +more, and that I should go without protest, now that I have no more to +do. I can only be deeply and profoundly thankful that out of three +millions of Americans I was selected, that I have conquered in spite of +all obstacles, and remained until I have nothing more to give. It is +entirely right and fitting that I should die as I have lived, in the +service of this country. Only a sacrifice can bring these distracted +States to reason and eliminate the man most dangerous to their peace. If +I have been chosen for this great part, I should be unworthy indeed if I +rebelled." + + +XI + +Hamilton crossed the river to Weehawken at seven the next morning. He +was accompanied by Pendleton, and his surgeon, Dr. Hosack. It was +already very hot. The river and the woods of the Jersey palisades were +dim under a sultry blue haze. There was a swell on the river, and +Pendleton was very sick. Hamilton held his head with some humour, then +pointed out the great beauty of the Hudson and its high rugged banks, +to distract the unhappy second's mind. + +"The majesty of this river," he said, "its suggestion of a vast wild +country almost unknown to the older civilizations, and yet peopled with +the unembodied spirits of a new and mighty race, quicked my unborn +patriotism, unconsciously nourished it until its delivery in Boston." + +"It would have curdled mine," said Pendleton. "Who knows--if you had +been of a bilious temperament, the face of our history might wear a pug +nose and a weak chin." + +Hamilton laughed. "It never could have done that while Washington's +profile was stamped on the popular fancy. But lesser causes than +seasickness have determined a man's career. Perhaps to my immunity I owe +the fact that I am not a book-worm on St. Croix. If I had even once felt +as you did just now, my dear Pendleton, I should never have set sail for +America." + +"Thank God!" said Pendleton. They were beaching. A moment later he and +Hamilton had climbed to the ledge where Burr and Van Ness awaited them. +It was the core of a thick grove, secluded from the opposite shore and +from the high summit of the great palisade. + +Hamilton and Burr nodded pleasantly. The men were dressed in the silken +finery of their time, and looked like a pleasuring quartette in that +green and lovely spot. Through leafy windows they saw the blue Hudson, +the spires and manor-houses, the young city, on the Island. The image of +Philip rose to Hamilton, but he commanded it aside. + +Pendleton had the choice of position and was to give the word. He had +brought with him John Church's pistols, now in their fourth duel. Their +first adventure caused the flight of Church to America. Since then, they +had been used in his duel with Burr and by Philip Hamilton. + +He handed one of the pistols to Hamilton, and asked him if he should set +the hair-spring. + +"No, not this time," said Hamilton. + +Pendleton gave the word. Burr raised his arm, deliberately took aim, +and fired, Hamilton lifted himself mechanically to the tips of his feet, +turned sideways, and fell on his face. His pistol went off, and +Pendleton's eye involuntarily followed the direction of the ball, which +severed a leaf in its flight. Often afterward he spoke of the impression +the cloven leaf made on him, a second of distraction at which he caught +eagerly before he bent over Hamilton. Hosack scrambled up the bank, and +Burr, covered with an umbrella by Van Ness, hastily withdrew. + +Hamilton was half sitting, encircled by Pendleton's arm, when the +surgeon reached the spot. His face was gray. He muttered, "This is a +mortal wound," then lost consciousness. Hosack ascertained, after a +slight examination, that the ball was in a vital part, and for a few +moments he thought that Hamilton was dead; he did not breathe, nor was +any motion of heart or pulse perceptible. With Pendleton's assistance, +Hosack carried him down the bank and placed him in the barge. William +Bayard had offered his house in case of disaster, and the boat was +propelled over to the foot of Grand Street as rapidly as possible. +Before reaching the shore the surgeon succeeded in reviving Hamilton, +who suddenly opened his eyes. + +"My vision is indistinct," he said. In a moment it grew stronger, and +his eye fell on the case of pistols. His own was lying on the top. "Take +care of that pistol," he said. "It is undischarged and still cocked. +Pendleton knows that I did not intend to fire at him." He closed his +eyes, and said nothing further except to enquire the state of his pulse, +and to remark that his lower extremities had lost all feeling. As the +boat reached the pier, he directed that his wife and children be sent +for at once, and that hope be given them. Bayard was standing on the +shore in a state of violent agitation. It was in these pleasant grounds +of his that the great banquet had been given to Hamilton after the +Federalists had celebrated their leader's victory at Poughkeepsie, and +he had been his friend and supporter during the sixteen years that had +followed. + +Hamilton was placed in bed on the lower floor of Bayard's house; and, in +spite of the laudanum that was liberally administered, his sufferings +were almost intolerable. His children were not admitted to the room for +some time, but his wife could not be kept from him. She knew nothing of +the duel, but she saw that he was dying; and the suddenness and horror, +the end of her earthly happiness, drove her frantic. She shrieked and +raved until Hamilton was obliged to rouse himself and attempt to calm +her. The children were huddled in the next room, and when the pain +subsided for a time, they were brought in. Hamilton's eyes were closed. +When he was told that his children were beside his bed, he did not open +them at once. In those moments he forgot everything but the agony of +parting. Finally, he lifted his heavy eyelids. The children stood there, +the younger clinging to the older, shivering and staring in terror. +Hamilton gave them one look, then closed his eyes and did not open them +again for several moments. As the children were led from the room, one +of the boys fainted. + +Through Hamilton's heavy brain an idea forced itself, and finally took +possession. Angelica had not stood in that little group. He opened his +eyes, half expecting that which he saw--Angelica leaning over the +foot-board, her face gray and shrunken, her eyes full of astonishment +and horror. + +"Are you going to die--to die?" she asked him. + +"Yes," said Hamilton. He was too exhausted to console or counsel +submission. + +"To die!" she repeated. "To die!" She reiterated the words until her +voice died away in a mumble. Hamilton was insensible for the moment to +the physical torments which were sending out their criers again, and +watched her changed face with an apprehension, which, mercifully, his +mind was too confused by pain and laudanum to formulate. Angelica +suddenly gripped the foot-board with such force that the bed shook; her +eyes expanded with horror only, and she cowered as if a whip cracked +above her neck. Then she straightened herself, laughed aloud, and ran +out of the room. Hamilton, at the moment, was in the throes of an +excruciating spasm, and was spared this final agony in his harsh and +untimely death. Angelica was hurried from the house to a private asylum. +She lived to be seventy-eight, but she never recovered her reason. + +Meanwhile, the grounds without were crowded with the friends of the +dying man,--many of them old soldiers,--who stood through the night +awaiting the end. Business in New York was entirely suspended. The +populace had arisen in fury at the first announcement on the bulletin +boards, and Burr was in hiding lest he be torn to pieces. + +Hamilton slept little, and talked to his wife whenever he succeeded in +calming her. Her mental sufferings nearly deprived her of health and +reason; but she lived a half a century longer, attaining the great age +of ninety-seven. It was a sheltered and placid old age, warm with much +devotion; her mind remained firm until the end. Did the time come when +she thought of Hamilton as one of the buried children of her youth? + +Troup, Fish, Wolcott, Gouverneur Morris, Rufus King, Bayard, Matthew +Clarkson, some twenty of Hamilton's old friends, were admitted to the +death room for a moment. He could not speak, but he smiled faintly. Then +his eyes wandered to the space behind them. He fancied he saw the +shadowy forms of the many friends who had preceded him: Laurens, +Tilghman, Harrison, Greene, André, Sterling, Duane, Duer, +Steuben,--Washington. They looked at him as affectionately as the +living, but without tears or the rigid features of extremest grief. It +is a terrible expression to see on the faces of men long intimate with +life, and Hamilton closed his eyes, withdrawing his last glance from +Morris and Troup. + +Of whom did Hamilton think in those final moments? Not of Eliza Croix, +we may be sure. Her hold had been too superficial. Perhaps not even of +Elizabeth Schuyler, although he had loved her long and deeply. What more +probable than that his last hour was filled with a profound +consciousness of the isolation in which his soul had passed its mortal +tarrying? Surrounded, worshipped, counting more intimate friends +sincerely loved than any man of his time, gay, convivial, too active for +many hours of introspection, no mortal could ever have stood more +utterly alone than Hamilton. Whether or not the soul is given a sentient +immortality we have no means of discovering, but the most commonplace +being is aware of that ego which has its separate existence in his +brain, and is like to no other ego on earth; and those who think realize +its inability to mingle with another. Hamilton, with his unmortal gifts, +his unsounded depths, must have felt this isolation in all its tragic +completeness. There may have been moments when the soul of Washington or +Laurens brushed his own. Assuredly no woman companioned it for a +fraction of a second. Whatever his last thoughts, no man has met his end +with more composure. + +He died at two o'clock in the afternoon. + + +XII + +The humour and vivacity which had seldom been absent from Hamilton's +face in life withdrew its very impress with his spirit. His features had +something more than the noble repose, the baffling peace, of death; they +looked as if they had been cast long ago with the heads of the Caesars. +Gouverneur Morris, staring at him through blistered eyeballs as he lay +in his coffin, recalled the history of the House of Hamilton, of its +direct and unbroken descent--through the fortunate, and famed, and +crowned of the centuries--from the Great Constantine, from "The +Macedonian," founder of a dynasty of Roman Emperors, and from the first +of the Russian monarchs. Throughout that history great spirits had +appeared from time to time, hewed the foundations of an epoch, and +disappeared. What long-withdrawn creators had met in this exceptionally +begotten brain? Did those great makers of empire, whose very granite +tombs were dust, return to earth when their immortal energies were +invoked to create a soul for a nation in embryo? Morris reviewed the +dead man's almost unhuman gift for inspiring confidence, exerted from +the moment he first showed his boyish face to the multitude; for +triumphing to his many goals as if jagged ramparts had been grass under +his feet. He had been the brain of the American army in his boyhood; he +had conceived an empire in his young twenties; he had poured his genius +into a sickly infant, and set it, a young giant, on its legs, when he +was long under twoscore. Almost all things had come to him by intuition, +for he had lived in advance of much knowledge. + +He communicated these thoughts to Troup, who left the room with him, his +head bent, his arms hanging listlessly. "He might have come in some less +human form," added Morris, bitterly. "This is the worst time of _my_ +life. I am not ashamed to say I've cried my eyes out." + +"I have cried my heart out," said Troup. + +The funeral took place from the house of John Church, in Robinson +Street, near the upper Park. Express messengers had dashed out from New +York the moment Hamilton breathed his last, and every city tolled its +bells as it received the news. People flocked into the streets, weeping +and indignant to the point of fury. Washington's death had been followed +by sadness and grief, but was unaccompanied by anger, and a loud desire +for vengeance. Moreover, Hamilton was still a young man. Few knew of his +feeble health; and that dauntless resourceful figure dwelt in the high +light of the public imagination, ever ready to deliver the young country +in its many times of peril. His death was lamented as a national +calamity. + +On the day of the funeral, New York was black. Every place of business +was closed. The world was in the windows, on the housetops, on the +pavements of the streets through which the cortège was to pass: +Robinson, Beekman, Peal, and Broadway to Trinity Church. Those who were +to walk in the funeral procession waited, the Sixth Regiment, with the +colours and music of the several corps, paraded, in Robinson Street, +until the standard of the Cincinnati, shrouded in crêpe, was waved +before the open door of Mr. Church's house. The regiment immediately +halted and rested on its reversed arms, until the bier had been carried +from the house to the centre of the street, when the procession +immediately formed. This was the order of it:-- + + The Military Corps + The Society of the Cincinnati + Clergy of all Denominations + The Body of Hamilton + The General's Horse + The Family + Physicians + The Judges of the Supreme Court (in deep mourning) + Mr. Gouverneur Morris in his carriage + Gentlemen of the Bar and students at law (in deep mourning) + Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of the State + Mayor and Corporation of the City + Members of Congress and Civil Officers of the United States + The Minister, Consuls, and Residents of Foreign Powers + The Officers of the Army and Navy of the United States + Military and Naval Officers of the Foreign Powers + Militia Officers of States + Presidents, Directors, and Officers of the respective Banks + Chamber of Commerce and Merchants + Marine Society, Wardens of the Port, and Masters and Officers + of the Harbour + The President, Professors, and students of Columbia College + The different Societies + The Citizens in general, including the partisans of Burr + +On the coffin were Hamilton's hat and sword. His boots and spurs were +reversed across his horse. The fine gray charger, caparisoned in +mourning, was led by two black servants, dressed in white, their turbans +trimmed with black. + +The military escorted him in single file, with trailing arms, the band +playing "The Dead March in Saul," minute guns from the Artillery in the +Park answered by the British and French warships in the harbour. But for +the solemn music, its still more solemn accompaniment, the tolling of +muffled bells, and the heavy tramp of many feet, there was no sound; +even women of an hysterical habit either controlled themselves or were +too impressed to give way to superficial emotion. When the procession +after its long march reached Trinity Church the military formed in two +columns, extending from the gate to the corners of Wall Street, and the +bier was deposited before the entrance. Morris, surrounded by Hamilton's +boys, stood over it, and delivered the most impassioned address which +had ever leapt from that brilliant but erratic mind. It was brief, both +because he hardly was able to control himself, and because he feared to +incite the people to violence, but it was profoundly moving. "He never +lost sight of your interests!" he reiterated; "I declare to you before +that God in whose presence we are now so especially assembled, that in +his most private and confidential conversations, his sole subject of +discussion was your freedom and happiness. Although he was compelled to +abandon public life, never for a moment did he abandon the public +service. He never lost sight of your interests. For himself he feared +nothing; but he feared that bad men might, by false professions, acquire +your confidence and abuse it to your ruin. He was ambitious only of +glory, but he was deeply solicitous for you." + +The troops formed an extensive hollow square in the churchyard, and +terminated the solemnities with three volleys over the coffin in its +grave. The immense throng, white, still aghast, and unreconciled, +dispersed. The bells tolled until sundown. The city and the people wore +mourning for a month, the bar for six weeks. In due time the leading men +of the parish decided upon the monument which should mark to future +generations the cold and narrow home of him who had been so warm in +life, loving as few men had loved, exulted in the wide greatness of the +empire he had created. + +It bears this inscription: + +TO THE MEMORY OF + +ALEXANDER HAMILTON + +THE CORPORATION OF TRINITY HAVE ERECTED THIS MONUMENT IN TESTIMONY OF +THEIR RESPECT FOR THE PATRIOT OF INCORRUPTIBLE INTEGRITY THE SOLDIER OF +APPROVED VALOUR THE STATESMAN OF CONSUMMATE WISDOM + +WHOSE TALENTS AND VIRTUES WILL BE ADMIRED BY GRATEFUL POSTERITY LONG +AFTER THIS MARBLE SHALL HAVE MOULDERED TO DUST + +HE DIED JULY 12TH 1804, AGED 47 + + + + +NOTES + + +PAGE XI. "Nevis" is pronounced Neevis. + +PAGE 3. Of the Gingerland estate nothing remains to-day but a negro +hamlet named Fawcett. Its inhabitants are, beyond a doubt, the +descendants of slaves belonging to Hamilton's grandparents, for there is +no trace of any other family named Fawcett in the Common Records of +Nevis. + +PAGE 6. This deed of separation is entered in the Common Records of +Nevis, 1725-1746, page 429, and is dated the fifth day of February, +1740. + +PAGE 11. I have hesitated over the spelling of the name Levine. John +Church Hamilton, in his life of Hamilton, spells it Lavine, and in one +of Hamilton's letters, page 7, Vol. 11, of this same Life, it is spelt +in the same manner. But four times in the Records of St. Croix it is +spelt Levine. The half-brother to whom Hamilton refers in his letter had +himself baptized in Christianstadt in the year 1769, and the entry +reads: Peter, son of John Michael and Rachael Levine. In the interment +entry of Rachael Levine it is spelt in this fashion, and in the +government records of Levine's business transactions. It seems to me +probable that in copying Hamilton's letter the name was misspelled, and +although he no doubt mentioned the name freely to his family, it is +possible that he did not write it upon any other occasion. I have, +therefore, used the method for which there is a considerable authority. + +PAGE 29. James Hamilton was the fourth son of Alexander Hamilton, Laird +of Grange, and his wife, Elizabeth (eldest daughter of Sir Robert +Pollock), who were married about 1730. The Hamiltons of Grange belonged +to the Cambuskeith branch of the great house of Hamilton, and the +founder of this branch, in the fourteenth century, was Walter de +Hamilton, a son of Sir Gilbert de Hamilton, who was the common ancestor +of the Dukes of Hamilton, the Dukes of Abercorn, Earls of Haddington, +Viscounts Boyne, Barons Belhaven, several extinct peerages, and of all +the Scotch and Irish Hamilton families. He was fifth in descent from +Robert, Earl of Mellent, created by Henry I, Earl of Leicester, who +married a granddaughter of King Henry I of France and his Queen, who was +a daughter of Jeroslaus, Czar of Russia. See "The Lineage of Alexander +Hamilton," in the _New York Genealogical and Biographical Review_, for +April, 1889, or "The Historical and Genealogical Memoirs of the House of +Hamilton, with Genealogical Memoirs of Several Branches of the Family," +by John Anderson, Edinburgh, 1825, a copy of which is to be found in the +British Museum. In the latter work, against the name of James Hamilton, +is the following statement: A proprietor in the West Indies, and father +of Alexander Hamilton, the celebrated statesman and patriot in the +United States of America, who fell, greatly regretted, in a duel with a +Mr. Burr. + +PAGE 35. There is still so widespread misconception of the term +"creole," that it is necessary, even at this late date, to reiterate +that it was not invented as a euphemism for coloured blood. In the +United States creoles are Southerners of French or Spanish extraction; +in the West Indies any person born on one of the islands is a creole, +even if he be an undiluted Dane. + +PAGE 49. This deed of trust was entered in Vol. X, No. 1, page 180, of +the Common Records of St. Christopher, on the fifth day of May, 1756, +eight months before the birth of Alexander Hamilton. + +PAGE 60. This dialect, or rather this curious mispronunciation of words, +and inability to make use of certain letters and more than one or two +personal pronouns, is gathered from old books on the islands, for the +coloured people of the present generation in the Caribbees, even those +of the lower class, now speak, save for their singsong inflection, much +like any one else. But in those days there was no education for the +blacks, and they spoke the barbarous lingo I have transcribed without +embellishment. + +PAGE 65. Dr. Hamilton died in June, 1764. + +PAGE 68. A piece of eight, then the principal coin in the Danish West +Indies, was worth sixty-four cents. + +PAGE 69. Hugh Knox married and left two children, Ann Knox, who married +James Towers, and John Knox, who, I think, became a clergyman on St. +Thomas. + +PAGE 79. The lower story of this fine building, built by Mr. Mitchell, +is in a state of entire preservation, and is now one of the largest +stores in Christiansted. + +PAGE 87. The private burying-ground of the Lyttons was on the Grange +estate, owned, at the time of Rachael's death, by Chamberlain Robert +Tuite. + +PAGE 88. Two candlesticks of this fashion have been preserved in +Frederiksted, and are said to have been used by Hamilton while there. + +PAGE 91. I am convinced that Hugh Knox baptized Hamilton, and have had +the old records of St. Croix, deposited in the archives of Copenhagen, +thoroughly searched. But they are in so dilapidated a condition that one +might as profitably appeal to the recording angel. In 1782 the French +destroyed the church registers of Nevis, but it is hardly likely that +Rachael Levine had Hamilton baptized. The islanders were indifferent to +baptism under the most amiable conditions, usually waiting until it was +reasonable to suppose that their brood was complete, when they took it +to the font _en bloc_. But Hugh Knox would have attached great +importance to this ceremony. + +PAGE 120. There is no doubt in my mind that Hamilton and young Stevens +were either first or second cousins, and that the resemblance between +them which subsequently, in the United States, gave rise to the gossip +that they were brothers, was due to this fact. I was not able to +discover that Mrs. Stevens was a daughter of John and Mary Fawcett, but +she or her husband might well have been closely related to Hamilton's +grandparents, for the few prominent families of Nevis and St. +Christopher intermarried again and again. The Fawcetts were married at +least twenty-two years before Rachael was born, and doubtless had one of +the large families of that time. + +PAGE 131. "The Fields" was the old name for the City Hall Park. + +PAGE 133. I have inferred that the speech Hamilton made on this occasion +was a spontaneous outburst of the same thought which he elaborated a few +weeks later in his history-making pamphlets. Wherever it has been +possible, I have used his own words, for he must have talked much as he +wrote. + +PAGE 136. "Indeed he was the first to perceive and develop the idea of a +real union of the people of the United States"--"History of the +Constitution of the United States" by George Ticknor Curtis, who also +comments at length upon his having been the chief force in bringing the +discontent of the colonists to a head and precipitating the Revolution. + +PAGE 145. There is space only for Hamilton's share in these battles. I +am obliged to assume that the reader knows his Revolutionary history. + +PAGE 165. Nothing can be told here of Laurens's private history beyond +the statements that his too sensitive mind held him responsible for the +accidental death of a younger brother, and that he had married a woman +in England, whom he had left at the altar, to join, with all possible +haste, the fighting forces in America, and whom he never saw again. If +this meets the eye of his family and they care to trust me with the +necessary papers, I shall be glad to write a life of Laurens. + +PAGE 196. This verse was found in a little bag on Mrs. Hamilton's neck +when she died at the age of ninety-seven. + +PAGE 208. "At the age of three and twenty he had already formed +well-defined, profound, and comprehensive views on the situation and +wants of these states. He had clearly discerned the practicability of +forming a confederated government and adapting it to their peculiar +condition, resources, and exigencies. He had wrought out for himself a +political system, far in advance of the conceptions of his +contemporaries, and one which in the case of those who most opposed him +in life, became, when he was laid in a premature grave, the basis on +which this government was consolidated; on which to the present day it +has been administered; and on which, alone, it can safely rest in that +future which seems to stretch out its unending glories before +us."--GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS. + +PAGE 209. This letter from Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, from which +this extract is taken, was first published in Martha Lamb's "History of +New York," A.S. Barnes & Co., New York. + +PAGE 226. Burr was aide-de-camp to Washington for six weeks, beginning +the last week in May, 1776. He hated the work and left abruptly, +incurring Washington's contempt and dislike. The charge of his friends +that Hamilton poisoned the Chief's mind against him is wholly unfounded. +Washington made up his own mind about men, and there is no evidence that +the two young men met except in the most casual manner before this +spring of 1782. Of course it is possible that a diligent reading of +obscure correspondence might bring to light an earlier acquaintance, but +the matter is not worth the waste of time. Matthew Davis, the only +responsible biographer of Burr, gives two years as the time consumed by +Burr for his legal studies. Parton was wholly indifferent to facts and +has no serious position as a biographer; but possessing a picturesque +and entertaining style, he has been widely read, and his estimate of +Burr accepted by the ignorant. + +PAGE 233. Madison was born in 1751, Morris in 1752. + +PAGE 257. "A long chapter might be written about Hamilton's other +labours in the State legislature;... he laboured hard to prevent +legislation in contravention of the treaty of peace; he corrected gross +theoretical blunders in a proposed system of regulating elections, and +strove hard though not altogether successfully to eliminate religious +restrictions; he succeeded in preventing the disfranchisement of a great +number of persons for having been interested, often unwillingly, in +privateering ventures; he stayed some absurd laws proposed concerning +the proposed qualifications of candidates for office; in the matter of +taxation he substituted for the old method of an arbitrary official +assessment, with all its gross risks of error and partiality, the +principle of allowing the individual to return under oath his taxable +property; he laboured hard to promote public education by statutory +regulations; his 'first great object was to place a book in the hand of +every American child,' and he evolved a system which served as the model +of that promulgated in France by the imperial decree of 1808; he had +much to do with the legislation concerning the relations of debtor and +creditor, then threatening to dissever the whole frame of society; he +was obliged to give no little attention to the department of criminal +law; finally he had to play a chief part in settling the long and +perilous struggle concerning the 'New Hampshire Grants,' the region now +constituting the State of Vermont: his efforts in this matter chiefly +averted war and brought the first new state into the Union."--MORSE'S +"Life of Hamilton," Vol. I. + +PAGE 265. The classic narrative of the Constitutional Convention is by +George Ticknor Curtis, and there have been few more fascinating +chronicles of any subject. Of the condensed narratives the most coherent +and vivid is in Roosevelt's "Life of Gouverneur Morris." + +PAGE 268. Hamilton also invited Gouverneur Morris to collaborate, but +that erratic gentleman was otherwise engaged. + +PAGE 269. I take this apportionment from a copy of "The Federalist" +presented by Hamilton to his nephew Philip Church, and kindly lent to me +by Mr. Richard Church. In this copy one of Hamilton's sons, at his +father's dictation, wrote the initial of the writer or writers after +each essay. To Jay are allotted Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 54. To Madison, 10, 14, +37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48. To Hamilton and Madison +jointly: 13, 19, 20. The rest to Hamilton. + +PAGE 271. "'The Federalist,' written principally by Hamilton, exhibits +an extent and precision of information, a profundity of research, and an +accurateness of understanding, which would have done honour to the most +illustrious statesmen of ancient or modern times."--_Edinburgh Review_, +No. 24. + +"It is a work altogether, which, for comprehensiveness of design, +strength, clearness, and simplicity, has no parallel. We do not even +except or overlook Montesquieu and Aristotle among the writings of +men."--_Blackwood's Magazine_, January, 1825. + +"In the application of elementary principles of government to practical +administration 'The Federalist' is the greatest work known to +me."--_Guizot_. + +PAGE 300. This coup of Hamilton's was evidently not placed on +record,--for manifest reasons,--for it is not to be found in Elliot's +"Debates," and we should have lost it but for a letter from Clinton to +John Lamb. See Foster, "On the Constitution," page 4, Vol. I. + +PAGE 304. On page 842, "History of the Republic," by J.C. Hamilton, is +the only letter from Hamilton to his brother James which has been +preserved. It is well known in the family, however, that he corresponded +with both his father and brother after his arrival in America. A letter +from his father promising to come to the United States as soon as +practicable will be found on page 567, Vol. V, Hamilton's Works (J.C. +Hamilton edition). + +PAGE 304. I am at a loss to understand upon what authority certain of +Hamilton's biographers base their assertion that, shortly after his +arrival in this country, he cut his West Indian relatives, ignored their +many claims upon his affection and gratitude, and deliberately excluded +them from his memory. There is no such assertion in his son's biography, +and the lives of Hamilton that have followed have been little more than +a condensation of that voluminous work. This uncharitable +assumption--which must precede such a statement--cannot be the result of +an exhaustive reading of his correspondence, for there they would find +letters from Hugh Knox and Governor Walsterstorff and Edward Stevens, +extending over a period of many years; and reproaches in none of them. +Nor can it be the result of investigation among his descendants, for it +is well known in the Hamilton family, that he not only corresponded +regularly with his relatives, including his father, for a long while, +but that he supported Mrs. Mitchell after her husband's failure and +death. And even if this indisputable information were not accessible, it +is incredible to me that any one capable of understanding Hamilton even +a little should believe that so contemptible a quality as ingratitude +had any place in his nature. The most impetuous, generous, honest, and +tender of men, he was the last person to turn his back upon those who +had befriended and supported him in his precarious youth. Had he been +capable of such meanness, he would not have died lamented by the best +men in the country, many of whom had loved him devotedly for a quarter +of a century. Nor was there any motive for such a performance. One is +not at all surprised to find that Mrs. Mitchell was among the last of +his earthly thoughts; but were there not ample proof of the falsity of +these careless assertions, then indeed would Hamilton be an enigma. + +PAGE 339. Burr was married to Madame Jumel for a short time when they +were both old enough to know better. She very quickly sent him about his +business and resumed the name of her second husband. Burr had +appropriated sixteen thousand dollars with which she had entrusted him, +and, as she told people still living, his charming manners were entirely +superficial, he was cross and exacting at home. Nevertheless she did not +hesitate to make use of him upon occasion. During the bread riots in +Italy her carriage was hemmed in one day and her richly attired self +threatened by the furious populace. When it became evident that her +terrified coachman could make no headway she arose to her majestic +height, and, sweeping out one hand with her haughtiest gesture, said in +a loud and commanding tone, "Make way! make way! for the widow of the +Vice-President of the United States." The crowd fell back properly awed. +Madame Jumel claimed to have the famous diamond necklace, but for the +truth of this claim I cannot vouch. She certainly had many personal +relics of Napoleon, confided to the care of Jumel, when the fallen +Emperor meditated flight on his faithful banker's frigate. + +PAGE 387. It is impossible that Hamilton could have sat for all the +alleged portraits of himself, scattered over the United States, or he +would have had no time to do any work. Moreover, few realize his +personality or the contemporaneous description of him. That in the +Boston Museum of Fine Arts is the best. That in the City Hall, New York, +is one of the best, and the copy of it in the Treasury Department, +Washington, is better. Several others are charming, notably, the one at +Morristown Headquarters, New Jersey, and the one painted for his army +friends, now in the possession of Mr. Philip Schuyler. The one in the +Chamber of Commerce is a Trumbull, but looks like a fat boy with thin +legs. It is to be hoped there will be no further photographing of that +libel. Had Hamilton looked like it he would have accomplished nothing. + +PAGE 413. As the visit of little Lafayette to the United States was of +no historical moment I have taken the liberty of bringing him over at my +own pleasure. Otherwise I should have been obliged merely to mention his +advent in the course of the rapid seven years' summary which comes +later. + +PAGE 430. That Hamilton conceived the ice-water cure for yellow fever is +well known to doctors. + +PAGE 435. Mr. Richard Church kindly brought me an old bundle of letters +from Mrs. Church to Mrs. Hamilton. Except for the faded ink they might +been written yesterday, so lively, natural, and _modern_ were they. It +was impossible to realize that the writer was dust long since. Indeed, +in all the matter, published and unpublished, that I have read for this +book, I find no excuse for the inverted absurdities and stilted forms +with which it is thought necessary to create a hundred-year-old +atmosphere. + +PAGE 441. This letter of Thomas Corbin disposes of the asseverations of +Jefferson's biographers that the leader of the Democrats dressed himself +like a gentleman until he became President. His untidiness was probably +congenital to begin with, and in any case would have been a policy from +the first, of that deep and subtle mind. + +PAGE 448. A clause had been inserted in Article II of the Constitution +which would permit Hamilton, although an alien born, to be a President +of the United States. + +PAGE 451. It was Mr. James Q. Howard in a letter to the New York _Sun_, +May, 1901, who called attention to the fact that Hamilton was the first +of the "Imperialists," or "Expansionists." + +PAGE 458. I wrote to Colonel Mills, Commander of West Point, to ask him +if any of Hamilton's codes were still in use. The librarian of the post, +Dr. Edward S. Holden, replied, among other things, as follows: "... As +circumstances have changed, the details of his codes have changed, and +the principles which guided him have been readapted to new conditions as +they have arisen. The best praise that can be given him is, then, that +he thoroughly understood the basic principles underlying military +affairs, and that with superb genius he applied them to the exigencies +of his time with that philosophical and at the same time practical +talent which was his special endowment." + +PAGE 469. I made a copy from the original of a letter from Alexander +Baring (afterward Lord Ashburton) to his counsel, D.J. Rinnan, +containing full details of this transaction. One of the significant +points about the contemptuous opinions of Burr's dishonesty which one +comes upon constantly in the correspondence of this period, is that no +one claims to have made its discovery, or to think comment worth while. +It evidently became established at an early date. But brilliancy and +dexterity saved him at the bar, and he won many a case for those who +despised him most. + +PAGE 471. Tammany Hall was highly respectable in the beginning of its +career. I have here used the term in the figurative sense; it is in +truth an epigram into which all political abomination is concentrated. + +PAGE 474. For correspondence of Hamilton with his Scotch relatives, and +with Secretary of the Navy regarding Robert Hamilton, see Vol. VI, +Hamilton's Works. + +PAGE 496. + +Burials in 1799, Con. June 3d. James Hamilton--Father of General +Hamilton in America killed by Col. Baird. + +NOTE: The Rev. I. Guilding was the Rector of the Parish at this time, +and the entry was made by him in the above form. + +E.A. TURPIN. + +I certify that the above entry is a true and correct copy from the +Register of Burials in the Cathedral Church of St. George, in the town +of Kingston, in the island of St. Vincent, West Indies, by me, + +E.A. TURPIN, Rector of St. George and St. Andrew, and Archdeacon of St. +Vincent, this 13th day of May, 1901. + +PAGE 501. Hamilton never would own a slave. + +PAGE 509. The story of Burr's awakening Hamilton in the early morning to +borrow of him, is related in "The History of the Republic." Mrs. +Hamilton herself is the authority for the other loan. The story was told +her by Washington Morton, her brother-in-law, who arranged it, Burr, for +once, being ashamed to go openly to Hamilton. He repaid this sum after +Hamilton's death. + +PAGE 516. The oft-told tale of Hamilton and Burr meeting at the house of +Madame Jumel on the night before the challenge, I have, after careful +investigation, utterly repudiated. In the first place, the lady had been +married but two months, and to a Frenchman at that. He was a rich man +and had undoubtedly married her for love, moreover was devoted to her as +long as he lived. It is not at all likely that he was permitting +Hamilton to call one night and Burr the next--so the story runs. In the +second place, Hamilton, whatever may have been his adventures in the +past, was in no condition for gallivanting at this period, as I think I +have demonstrated. Dr. Hosack, in the paper he prepared for the _Post_ +on the day following Hamilton's death, asserted that owing to the +patient's feeble condition he had been unable to give the usual +medicines. At the same time Hamilton had been working from fourteen to +fifteen hours a day. The conclusions are obvious. Moreover, General +Hamilton, now eighty-seven, and in perfect possession of all his +faculties, has told me that he frequently accompanied his grandmother, +Hamilton's widow, to call on Madame Jumel. In the small town of New York +no such sensational meeting could have been kept a secret for long. +Madame Jumel lived in the city at the time, by the way, her husband not +buying the house on the Heights until 1815. + +But that she was at the bottom of the matter I should not have had the +slightest doubt, even were it not an accepted fact by both Hamilton's +present family and hers, and I arrived at my conclusions, as the story +of all concerned, and of the history of the times, developed. + +PAGE 522. Burr kept these letters until he died, at the age of 80, and +left them to Matthew Davis, who destroyed those whose writers were dead, +and returned the others to certain ancient and highly respected dames. + +PAGE 527. These pistols are now in the possession of Mr. Richard Church. + +PAGE 531. Hamilton's strong likeness to the Caesars is best seen in the +marbles of him, notably the one executed by Ceracchi. The painted +likenesses of him either do not resemble him at all or are so full of +his vivacity, mischievous humour, and indomitable youth that they are +wholly himself. + +From "Statistical Account of Scotland," Vol. V, page 450, Edinburgh: +"The most remarkable person connected with the parish (Stevenston in +Ayrshire) was the late General Alexander Hamilton of the family of +Grange, though America was the field in which he distinguished himself. +He was excelled by none as a general, orator, financier, lawyer. In the +words of one who knew him, he was 'the mentor of Washington, the framer +of the present constitution of America, a man of strict honour and +integrity; equally esteemed in public and in private life.'" + +The above came to my hand after the book went to press, and I publish it +to emphasize the fact that the Scotch Hamiltons eagerly claimed the +kinship of Hamilton, quite indifferent to the irregularity of his birth. + +Hamilton's children were born and named as follows: Philip, January 22, +1782; Angelica, September 25, 1784; Alexander, May 16, 1786; James +Alexander, April 14, 1788; John Church, August 22, 1792; William +Stephen, August 4, 1797; Eliza, November 20, 1799; Philip, June 7, +1802. + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENTS + + +It is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to the following people +who have helped me with family papers, books and political pamphlets +long out of print, their knowledge of the unwritten history of the +United States, unpublished anecdotes of Hamilton, and general +suggestions: Mr. James Q. Howard of the Library of Congress; Dr. Allan +McLane Hamilton; General A. Hamilton; Colonel J.C.L. Hamilton; Mr. +Richard Church; Mr. Roger Foster; Mr. H.W. Parker of the Mechanics' +Institute Free Library of New York; Dr. Richard B. Coutant, and Mr. +Philip Schuyler; and to the following residents of the British and +Danish West Indies: + +_On St. Christopher_ + +Mrs. Spencer Wigley +Dr. Joseph Haven, U.S. Consul +The Rev. William Evered +The Rev. George Yoe +Mr. E.P. Latouche, Registrar and Provost Marshal + + +_On Nevis_ + +The Hon. C.C. Greaves +The Rev. W. Cowley +The Rev. Mr. Shephard +Mr. G.V. Mercier + + +_On St. Croix_ + +The Rev. W.C. Watson + +Also--The West Indian works of Dr. Taylor, and Lightbourne's Annuals. + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Conqueror, by Gertrude Franklin Atherton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONQUEROR *** + +***** This file should be named 13246-8.txt or 13246-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/2/4/13246/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/13246-8.zip b/old/13246-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0462adc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13246-8.zip diff --git a/old/13246.txt b/old/13246.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3147ba0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13246.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19678 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Conqueror, by Gertrude Franklin Atherton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Conqueror + +Author: Gertrude Franklin Atherton + +Release Date: August 22, 2004 [EBook #13246] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONQUEROR *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + +THE CONQUEROR + +BEING THE TRUE AND ROMANTIC STORY OF + +ALEXANDER HAMILTON + +BY + +GERTRUDE FRANKLIN ATHERTON + + + "Je considere Napoleon, Fox, et Hamilton comme les trois plus + grands hommes de notre epoque, et si je devais me prononcer entre + les trois, je donnerais sans hesiter la premiere place a Hamilton. + Il avait devine l'Europe." + + TALLEYRAND, _Etudes sur la Republique_ + + +New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. + +1904 + +Set up, electrotyped, and published March, 1902. Reprinted May, July +twice, August, September, October, December, 1902; February, 1903; +February, 1904. + +Special edition June, 1904. + + +Norwood Press J.S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., +U.S.A. + + + + +TO THE DISTINGUISHED MEN WITHOUT WHOSE SUGGESTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT THIS +ATTEMPT TO RECREATE THE GREATEST OF OUR STATESMEN WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN +MADE + +THE RT. HON. JAMES BRYCE, M.P. + +DR. ALLAN McLANE HAMILTON + + + + +CONTENTS + + +NEVIS + +BOOK I RACHAEL LEVINE + +BOOK II ALEXANDER HAMILTON. HIS YOUTH IN THE WEST INDIES AND IN THE +COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA + +BOOK III THE LITTLE LION + +BOOK IV "ALEXANDER THE GREAT" + +BOOK V THE LAST BATTLE OF THE GIANTS AND THE END + + + + +EXPLANATION + + +It was my original intention to write a biography of Alexander Hamilton +in a more flexible manner than is customary with that method of +reintroducing the dead to the living, but without impinging upon the +territory of fiction. But after a visit to the British and Danish West +Indies in search of the truth regarding his birth and ancestry, and +after a wider acquaintance with the generally romantic character of his +life, to say nothing of the personality of this most endearing and +extraordinary of all our public men, the instinct of the novelist proved +too strong; I no sooner had pen in hand than I found myself working in +the familiar medium, although preserving the historical sequence. But, +after all, what is a character novel but a dramatized biography? We +strive to make our creations as real to the world as they are to us. +Why, then, not throw the graces of fiction over the sharp hard facts +that historians have laboriously gathered? At all events, this +infinitely various story of Hamilton appealed too strongly to my +imagination to be frowned aside, so here, for better or worse, is the +result. Nevertheless, and although the method may cause the book to read +like fiction, I am conscientious in asserting that almost every +important incident here related of his American career is founded on +documentary or published facts or upon family tradition; the few that +are not have their roots among the probabilities, and suggested +themselves. As for the West Indian part, although I was obliged to work +upon the bare skeleton I unearthed in the old Common Records and Church +Registers, still the fact remains that I did find the skeleton, which I +have emphasized as far as is artistically possible. No date is given nor +deed referred to that cannot be found by other visitors to the Islands. +Moreover, I made a careful study of these Islands as they were in the +time of Hamilton and his maternal ancestors, that I might be enabled to +exercise one of the leading principles of the novelist, which is to +create character not only out of certain well-known facts of heredity, +but out of understood conditions. In this case I had, in addition, an +extensive knowledge of Hamilton's character to work backward from, as +well as his estimate of the friends of his youth and of his mother. +Therefore I feel confident that I have held my romancing propensity well +within the horizon of the probabilities; at all events, I have depicted +nothing which in any way interferes with the veracity of history. +However, having unburdened my imagination, I shall, in the course of a +year or two, write the biography I first had in mind. No writer, indeed, +could assume a more delightful task than to chronicle, in any form, +Hamilton's stupendous services to this country and his infinite variety. + +G.F.A. + + + + +NEVIS + + +In the eighteenth century Nevis was known as The Mother of the English +Leeward Caribbees. A Captain-General ruled the group in the name of the +King, but if he died suddenly, his itinerant duties devolved upon the +Governor of Nevis until the crown heard of its loss and made choice of +another to fill that high and valued office. She had a Council and a +House of Assembly, modelled in miniature upon the Houses of Peers and +Commons; and was further distinguished as possessing the only court in +the English Antilles where pirates could be tried. The Council was made +up of ten members appointed by the Captain-General, but commanded by +"its own particular and private Governor." The freeholders of the Island +chose twenty-four of their number to represent them in the House of +Assembly; and the few chronicles of that day agree in asserting that +Nevis during her hundred proud years of supremacy was governed +brilliantly and well. But the careful administration of good laws +contributed in part only to the celebrity of an Island which to-day, +still British as she is, serves but as a pedestal for the greatest of +American statesmen. In these old days she was a queen as well as a +mother. Her planters were men of immense wealth and lived the life of +grandees. Their cane-fields covered the mountain on all its sides and +subsidiary peaks, rising to the very fringe of the cold forest on the +cone of a volcano long since extinct. The "Great Houses," built +invariably upon an eminence that commanded a view of the neighbouring +islands.--St. Christopher, Antigua, Montserrat,--were built of blocks +of stone so square and solid and with a masonry so perfect that one +views their ruins in amazement to-day. They withstood hurricanes, +earthquakes, floods, and tidal waves. They were impregnable fortresses +against rioting negroes and spasmodically aggressive Frenchmen. They +even survived the abolition of slavery, and the old gay life went on for +many years. English people, bored or in search of health, came for the +brilliant winter, delighted with the hospitality of the planters, and to +renew their vitality in the famous climate and sulphur baths, which, of +all her possessions, Time has spared to Nevis. And then, having +weathered all the ills to which even a West Indian Island can be +subject, she succumbed--to the price of sugar. Her great families +drifted away one by one. Her estates were given over to the agent for a +time, finally to the mongoose. The magnificent stone mansions, left +without even a caretaker, yielded helplessly to the diseases of age, and +the first hurricane entering unbarred windows carried their roofs to the +sea. In Charles Town, the capital since the submergence of James Town in +1680, are the remains of large town houses and fine old stone walls, +which one can hardly see from the roadstead, so thick are the royal +palms and the cocoanut trees among the ruins, wriggling their slender +bodies through every crevice and flaunting their glittering luxuriance +above every broken wall. + +But in the days when the maternal grandparents of Alexander Hamilton +looked down a trifle upon those who dwelt on other isles, Nevis recked +of future insignificance as little as a beauty dreams of age. In the +previous century England, after the mortification of the Royalists by +Cromwell, had sent to Nevis Hamiltons, Herberts, Russells, and many +another refugee from her historic houses. With what money they took +with them they founded the great estates of the eighteenth century, and +their sons sent their own children to Europe to become accomplished men +and women. Government House was a miniature court, as gay and splendid +as its offices were busy with the commerce of the world. The Governor +and his lady drove about the Island in a carriage of state, with +outriders and postilions in livery. When the Captain-General came he +outshone his proud second by the gorgeousness of his uniform only, and +both dignitaries were little more imposing than the planters themselves. +It is true that the men, despite their fine clothes and powdered +perukes, preferred a horse's back to the motion of a lumbering coach, +but during the winter season their wives and daughters, in the shining +stuffs, the pointed bodices, the elaborate head-dress of Europe, visited +Government House and their neighbours with all the formality of London +or Bath. After the first of March the planters wore white linen; the +turbaned black women were busy among the stones of the rivers with +voluminous wardrobes of cambric and lawn. + +Several estates belonged to certain offshoots of the ducal house of +Hamilton, and in the second decade of the eighteenth century Walter +Hamilton was Captain-General of the English Leeward Caribbees and +"Ordinary of the Same." After him came Archibald Hamilton, who was, +perhaps, of all the Hamiltons the most royal in his hospitality. +Moreover, he was a person of energy and ambition, for it is on record +that he paid a visit to Boston, fleeing from the great drought which +visited Nevis in 1737. Then there were William Leslie Hamilton, who +practised at the bar in London for several years, but returned to hold +official position on Nevis, and his brother Andrew, both sons of Dr. +William Hamilton, who spent the greater part of his life on St. +Christopher. There were also Hugh Hamilton, Charles, Gustavus, and +William Vaughn Hamilton, all planters, most of them Members of Council +or of the Assembly. + +And even in those remote and isolated days, Hamiltons and Washingtons +were associated. The most popular name in our annals appears frequently +in the Common Records of Nevis, and there is no doubt that when our +first President's American ancestor fled before Cromwell to Virginia, a +brother took ship for the English Caribbees. + +From a distance Nevis looks like a solitary peak in mid-ocean, her base +sweeping out on either side. But behind the great central cone--rising +three thousand two hundred feet--are five or six lesser peaks, between +which are dense tropical gorges and mountain streams. In the old days, +where the slopes were not vivid with the light green of the cane-field, +there were the cool and sombre groves of the cocoanut tree, mango, +orange, and guava. + +Even when Nevis is wholly visible there is always a white cloud above +her head. As night falls it becomes evident that this soft aggravation +of her beauty is but a night robe hung on high. It is at about seven in +the evening that she begins to draw down her garment of mist, but she is +long in perfecting that nocturnal toilette. Lonely and neglected, she +still is a beauty, exacting and fastidious. The cloud is tortured into +many shapes before it meets her taste. She snatches it off, redisposes +it, dons and takes it off again, wraps it about her with yet more +enchanting folds, until by nine o'clock it sweeps the sea; and Nevis, +the proudest island of the Caribbees, has secluded herself from those +cynical old neighbours who no longer bend the knee. + + + + +BOOK I + +RACHAEL LEVINE + + +I + +Nevis gave of her bounty to none more generously than to John and Mary +Fawcett. In 1685 the revocation of the Edict of Nantes had sent the +Huguenots swarming to America and the West Indies. Faucette was but a +boy when the Tropics gave him shelter, and learning was hard to get; +except in the matter of carving Caribs. But he acquired the science of +medicine somehow, and settled on Nevis, remodelled his name, and became +a British subject. Brilliant and able, he was not long accumulating a +fortune; there were swamps near Charles Town that bred fever, and the +planters lived as high and suffered as acutely as the English squires of +the same period. His wife brought him money, and in 1714 they received a +joint legacy from Captain Frank Keynall; whether a relative of hers or a +patient of his, the Records do not tell. + +Mary Fawcett was some twenty years younger than her husband, a +high-spirited creature, with much intelligence, and a will which in +later years John Fawcett found himself unable to control. But before +that period, when to the disparity in time were added the irritabilities +of age in the man and the imperiousness of maturity in the woman, they +were happy in their children, in their rising fortunes, and, for a +while, in one another. + +For twenty-eight years they lived the life of the Island. They built a +Great House on their estate at Gingerland, a slope of the Island which +faces Antigua, and they had their mansion in town for use when the +Captain-General was abiding on Nevis. While Mary Fawcett was bringing up +and marrying her children, managing the household affairs of a large +estate, and receiving and returning the visits of the other grandees of +the Island, to say nothing of playing her important part in all social +functions, life went well enough. Her children, far away from the swamps +of Charles Town, throve in the trade winds which temper the sun of Nevis +and make it an isle of delight. When they were not studying with their +governesses, there were groves and gorges to play in, ponies to ride, +and monkeys and land crabs to hunt. Later came the gay life of the +Capital, the routs at Government House, frequent even when the Chief was +elsewhere, the balls at neighbouring estates, the picnics in the cool +high forests, or where more tropical trees and tree ferns grew thick, +the constant meeting with distinguished strangers, and the visits to +other islands. + +The young Fawcetts married early. One went with her husband, Peter +Lytton, to the island of St. Croix. The Danish Government, upon +obtaining possession of this fertile island, in 1733, immediately issued +an invitation to the planters of the Leeward Caribbees to immigrate, +tempting many who were dissatisfied with the British Government or +wished for larger estates than they could acquire on their own populous +islands. Members of the Lytton, Mitchell, and Stevens families of St. +Christopher were among the first to respond to the liberal offer of the +Danish Government. The two sons of James Lytton, Peter and James, grew +up on St. Croix, Danish by law, British in habit and speech; and both +married women of Nevis. Peter was the first to wed, and his marriage to +young Mary Fawcett was the last to be celebrated in the Great House at +Gingerland. + +When Peter Lytton and his wife sailed away, as other sons and other +daughters had sailed before, to return to Nevis rarely,--for those were +the days of travel unveneered,--John and Mary Fawcett were left alone: +their youngest daughter, she who afterward became the wife of Thomas +Mitchell of St. Croix, was at school in England. + +By this time Dr. Fawcett had given up his practice and was living on his +income. He took great interest in his cane-fields and mills, and in the +culture of limes and pine-apples; but in spite of his outdoor life his +temper soured and he became irritable and exacting. Gout settled in him +as a permanent reminder of the high fortunes of his middle years, and +when the Gallic excitability of his temperament, aggravated by a +half-century of hot weather, was stung to fiercer expression by the +twinges of his disease, he was an abominable companion for a woman +twenty years closer to youth. + +In the solitudes of the large house Mary Fawcett found life unendurable. +Still handsome, naturally gay of temper, and a brilliant figure in +society, she frequently deserted her elderly husband for weeks at a +time. The day came when he peremptorily forbade her to leave the place +without him. For a time she submitted, for although a woman of uncommon +independence of spirit, it was not until 1740 that she broke free of +traditions and astonished the island of Nevis. She shut herself up with +her books and needlework, attended to her house and domestic negroes +with the precision of long habit, saw her friends when she could, and +endured the exactions of her husband with only an occasional but mighty +outburst. + +It was in these unhappy conditions that Rachael Fawcett was born. + + +II + +The last affliction the Fawcetts expected was another child. This little +girl came an unwelcome guest to a mother who hated the father, and to +Dr. Fawcett, not only because he had outgrown all liking for crying +babies, but because, as in his excited disturbance he admitted to his +wife, his fortune was reduced by speculations in London, and he had no +desire to turn to in his old age and support another child. Then Mary +Fawcett made up her definite mind: she announced her intention to leave +her husband while it was yet possible to save her property for herself +and the child to whom she soon became passionately attached. Dr. Fawcett +laughed and shut himself up in a wing where the sounds of baby distress +could not reach him; and it is doubtful if his glance ever lingered on +the lovely face of his youngest born. Thus came into the world under the +most painful conditions one of the unhappiest women that has lived. It +was her splendid destiny to become the mother of the greatest American +of his centuries, but this she died too soon to know, and she +accomplished her part with an immediate bitterness of lot which was +remorselessly ordained, no doubt, by the great Law of Compensation. + +There were no divorce laws on the Islands in the eighteenth century, not +even an act for separate maintenance; but Mary Fawcett was a woman of +resource. It took her four years to accomplish her purpose, but she got +rid of Dr. Fawcett by making him more than anxious to be rid of her. The +Captain-General, William Matthew, was her staunch friend and admirer, +and espoused her cause to the extent of issuing a writ of supplicavit +for a separate maintenance. Dr. Fawcett gradually yielded to pressure, +separated her property from his, that it might pass under her personal +and absolute control, and settled on her the sum of fifty-three pounds, +four shillings annually, as a full satisfaction for all her dower or +third part of his estate. + +Mistress Fawcett was no longer a woman of consequence, for even her +personal income was curtailed by the great drought of 1737, and Nevis, +complaisant to the gallantry of the age, was scandalized at the novelty +of a public separation. But she was free, and she was the woman to feel +that freedom to her finger tips; she could live a life with no will in +it but her own, and she could bring up her little girl in an atmosphere +of peace and affection. She moved to an estate she owned on St. +Christopher and never saw John Fawcett again. He died a few years later, +leaving his diminished property to his children. Rachael's share was the +house in Charles Town. + +The spot on which Rachael spent her childhood and brief youth was one of +the most picturesque on the mountain range of St. Christopher. Facing +the sea, the house stood on a lofty eminence, in the very shadow of +Mount Misery. Immediately behind the house were the high peaks of the +range, hardly less in pride than the cone of the great volcano. The +house was built on a ledge, but one could step from the terrace above +into an abrupt ravine, wrenched into its tortuous shape by earthquake +and flood, but dark for centuries with the immovable shades of a virgin +tropical forest. The Great House, with its spacious open galleries and +verandahs, was surrounded with stone terraces, overflowing with the +intense red and orange of the hybiscus and croton bush, the golden +browns and softer yellows of less ambitious plants, the sensuous tints +of the orchid, the high and glittering beauties of the palm and +cocoanut. The slopes to the coast were covered with cane-fields, their +bright young greens sharp against the dark blue of the sea. The ledge on +which the house was built terminated suddenly in front, but extended on +the left along a line of cliff above a chasm, until it sloped to the +road. On this flat eminence was an avenue of royal palms, which, with +the dense wood on the hill above it, was to mariners one of the most +familiar landmarks of the Island of "St. Kitts." From her verandah Mary +Fawcett could see, far down to the right, a large village of negro huts, +only the thatched African roofs visible among the long leaves of the +cocoanut palms with which the blacks invariably surround their +dwellings. Beyond was Brimstone Hill with its impregnable fortress. And +on the left, far out at sea, her purple heights and palm-fringed shores +deepening the exquisite blue of the Caribbean by day, a white ever +changing spirit in the twilight, and no more vestige of her under the +stars than had she sunk whence she came--Nevis. Mary Fawcett never set +foot on her again, but she learned to sit and study her with a whimsical +affection which was one of the few liberties she allowed her +imagination. But if the unhappiest years of her life had been spent +there, so had her fairest. She had loved her brilliant husband in her +youth, and all the social triumphs of a handsome and fortunate young +woman had been hers. In the deep calm which now intervened between the +two mental hurricanes of her life, she sometimes wondered if she had +exaggerated her past afflictions; and before she died she knew how +insignificant the tragedy of her own life had been. + +Although Rachael was born when her parents were past their prime, the +vitality that was in her was concentrated and strong. It was not enough +to give her a long life, but while it lasted she was a magnificent +creature, and the end was abrupt; there was no slow decay. During her +childhood she lived in the open air, for except in the cold nights of a +brief winter only the jalousies were closed; and on that high shelf even +the late summer and early autumn were not insufferable. Exhausted as the +trade winds become, they give what little strength is in them to the +heights of their favourite isles, and during the rest of the year they +are so constant, even when storms rage in the North Atlantic, that Nevis +and St. Christopher never feel the full force of the sun, and the winter +nights are cold. + +Rachael was four years old when her parents separated, and grew to +womanhood remembering nothing of her father and seeing little of her +kin, scattered far and wide. Her one unmarried sister, upon her return +from England, went almost immediately to visit Mrs. Lytton, and married +Thomas Mitchell, one of the wealthiest planters of St. Croix. Mary +Fawcett's children had not approved her course, for they remembered +their father as the most indulgent and charming of men, whose frequent +tempers were quickly forgotten; and year by year she became more wholly +devoted to the girl who clung to her with a passionate and uncritical +affection. + +Clever and accomplished herself, and quick with ambition for her best +beloved child, she employed the most cultivated tutors on the Island to +instruct her in English, Latin, and French. Before Rachael was ten years +old, Mistress Fawcett had the satisfaction to discover that the little +girl possessed a distinguished mind, and took to hard study, and to _les +graces_, as naturally as she rode a pony over the hills or shot the reef +in her boat. + +For several years the women of St. Christopher held aloof, but many of +the planters who had been guests at the Great House in Gingerland called +on Mistress Fawcett at once, and proffered advice and service. Of these +William Hamilton and Archibald Hamn became her staunch and intimate +friends. Mr. Hamn's estate adjoined hers, and his overlooker relieved +her of much care. Dr. James Hamilton, who had died in the year preceding +her formal separation, had been a close friend of her husband and +herself, and his brother hastened with assurance of his wish to serve +her. He was one of the eminent men of the Island, a planter and a member +of Council; also, a "doctor of physic." He carried Rachael safely +through her childhood complaints and the darkest of her days; and if his +was the hand which opened the gates between herself and history, who +shall say in the light of the glorified result that its master should +not sleep in peace? + +In time his wife called, and his children and stepchildren brought a new +experience into the life of Rachael. She had been permitted to gambol +occasionally with the "pic'nees" of her mother's maids, but since her +fourth year had not spoken to a white child until little Catherine +Hamilton came to visit her one morning and brought Christiana Huggins of +Nevis. Mistress Huggins had known Mary Fawcett too well to call with +Mistress Hamilton, but sent Christiana as a peace offering. Mary's first +disposition was to pack the child off while Mistress Hamilton was +offering her embarrassed explanations; but Rachael clung to her new +treasure with such shrieks of protest that her mother, disconcerted by +this vigour of opposition to her will, permitted the intruder to remain. + +The wives of other planters followed Mistress Hamilton, for in that soft +voluptuous climate, where the rush and fret of great cities are but a +witch's tale, disapproval dies early. They would have called long since +had they not been a trifle in awe of Nevis, more, perhaps, of Mistress +Fawcett's sharp tongue, then indolent. But when Mistress Hamilton +suddenly reminded them that they were Christians, and that Dr. Fawcett +was dead, they put on their London gowns, ordered out their coaches, and +called. Mary Fawcett received them with a courteous indifference. Her +resentment had died long since, and they seemed to her, with their +coaches and brocades and powdered locks, but the ghosts of the Nevis of +her youth. Her child, her estate, and her few tried friends absorbed +her. For the sake of her daughter's future, she ordered out her ancient +coach and made the round of the Island once a year. The ladies of St. +Kitts were as moderately punctilious. + +And so the life of Rachael Fawcett for sixteen years passed uneventfully +enough. Her spirits were often very high, for she inherited the Gallic +buoyancy of her father as well as the brilliant qualities of his mind. +In the serious depths of her nature were strong passions and a tendency +to melancholy, the result no doubt of the unhappy conditions of her +birth. But her mother managed so to occupy her eager ambitious mind with +hard study that the girl had little acquaintance with herself. Her +English studies were almost as varied as a boy's, and in addition to her +accomplishments in the ancient and modern languages, she painted, and +sang, played the harp and guitar. Mary Fawcett, for reasons of her own, +never let her forget that she was the most educated girl on the Islands. + +"I never was one to lie on a sofa all day and fan myself, while my +children sat on the floor with their blacks, and munched sugar-cane, or +bread and sling," she would remark superfluously. "All my daughters are +a credit to their husbands; but I mean that you shall be the most +brilliant woman in the Antilles." + +The immediate consequences of Rachael's superior education were two: her +girl friends ceased to interest her, and ambitions developed in her +strong imaginative brain. In those days women so rarely distinguished +themselves individually that it is doubtful if Rachael had ever heard of +the phenomenon, and the sum of her worldly aspirations was a wealthy and +intellectual husband who would take her to live and to shine at foreign +courts. Her nature was too sweet and her mind too serious for egoism or +the pettier vanities, but she hardly could help being conscious of the +energy of her brain; and if she had passed through childhood in +ignorance of her beauty, she barely had entered her teens when her happy +indifference was dispelled; for the young planters besieged her gates. + +Girls mature very early in the tropics, and at fourteen Rachael Fawcett +was the unresponsive toast from Basseterre to Sandy Point. Her height +was considerable, and she had the round supple figure of a girl who has +lived the out-door life in moderation; full of strength and grace, and +no exaggeration of muscle. She had a fine mane of reddish fair hair, a +pair of sparkling eager gray eyes which could go black with passion or +even excited interest, a long nose so sensitively cut that she could +express any mood she chose with her nostrils, which expanded quite +alarmingly when she flew into a temper, and a full well-cut mouth. Her +skin had the whiteness and transparency peculiar to the women of St. +Kitts and Nevis; her head and brow were nobly modelled, and the former +she carried high to the day of her death. It was set so far back on her +shoulders and on a line so straight that it would look haughty in her +coffin. What wonder that the young planters besieged her gates, that her +aspirations soared high, that Mary Fawcett dreamed of a great destiny +for this worshipped child of her old age? As for the young planters, +they never got beyond the gates, for a dragon stood there. Mistress +Fawcett had no mind to run the risk of early entanglements. When Rachael +was old enough she would be provided with a distinguished husband from +afar, selected by the experienced judgement of a woman of the world. + +But Mary Fawcett, still hot-headed and impulsive in her second +half-century, was more prone to err in crises than her daughter. In +spite of the deeper passions of her nature, Rachael, except when under +the lash of strong excitement, had a certain clearness of insight and +deliberation of judgement which her mother lacked to her last day. + + +III + +Rachael had just eaten the last of her sixteenth birthday sweets when, +at a ball at Government House, she met John Michael Levine. It was her +debut; she was the fairest creature in the room, and, in the idiom of +Dr. Hamilton, the men besieged her as were she Brimstone Hill in +possession of the French. The Governor and the Captain General had +asked her to dance, and even the women smiled indulgently, disarmed by +so much innocent loveliness. + +Levine, albeit a Dane, and as colourless as most of his countrymen, was +her determined suitor before the night was half over. It may be that he +was merely dazzled by the regal position to which the young men had +elevated her, and that his cold blood quickened at the thought of +possessing what all men desired, but he was as immediate and persistent +in his suit as any excitable creole in the room. But Rachael gave him +scant attention that night. She may have been intellectual, but she was +also a girl, and it was her first ball. She was dazzled and happy, +delighted with her conquests, oblivious to the depths of her nature. + +The next day Levine, strong in the possession of a letter from Mr. Peter +Lytton,--for a fortnight forgotten,--presented himself at Mistress +Fawcett's door, and was admitted. The first call was brief and +perfunctory, but he came the next day and the next. Rachael, surprised, +but little interested, and longing for her next ball, strummed the harp +at her mother's command and received his compliments with indifference. +A week after his first call Mary Fawcett drove into town and spent an +hour with the Governor. He told her that Levine had brought him a +personal letter from the Governor of St. Croix, and that he was wealthy +and well born. He was also, in his Excellency's opinion, a distinguished +match even for the most beautiful and accomplished girl on the Island. +Peter Lytton had mentioned in his letter that Levine purposed buying an +estate on St. Croix and settling down to the life of a planter. On the +following day Levine told her that already he was half a West Indian, so +fascinated was he with the life and the climate, but that if she would +favour his suit he would take Rachael to Copenhagen as often as she +wished for the life of the world. + +Mary Fawcett made up her mind that he should marry Rachael, and it +seemed to her that no mother had ever come to a wiser decision. Her +health was failing, and it was her passionate wish not only to leave her +child encircled by the protection of a devoted husband, but to realize +the high ambitions she had cherished from the hour she foresaw that +Rachael was to be an exceptional woman. + +Levine had not seen Rachael on the morning when he asked for her hand, +and he called two days later to press his suit and receive his answer. +Mistress Fawcett told him that she had made up her own mind and would +perform that office for Rachael at once, but thought it best that he +should absent himself until the work was complete. Levine, promised an +answer on the morrow, took himself off, and Mary Fawcett sent for her +daughter. + +Rachael entered the library with a piece of needlework in her hand. Her +mind was not on her books these days, for she had gone to another ball; +but her hands had been too well brought up to idle, however her brain +might dream. Mary Fawcett by this time wore a large cap with a frill, +and her face, always determined and self-willed, was growing austere +with years and much pain: she suffered frightfully at times with +rheumatism, and her apprehension of the moment when it should attack her +heart reconciled her to the prospect of brief partings from her +daughter. Her eyes still burned with the fires of an indiminishable +courage however; she read the yellow pages of her many books as rapidly +as in her youth, and if there was a speck of dust on her mahogany +floors, polished with orange juice, she saw it. Her negroes adored her +but trembled when she raised her voice, and Rachael never had disobeyed +her. She expected some dissatisfaction, possibly a temper, but no +opposition. + +Rachael smiled confidently and sat down. She wore one of the thin white +linens, which, like the other women of the Islands, she put aside for +heavier stuffs on state occasions only, and her hair had tumbled from +its high comb and fallen upon her shoulders. Mary Fawcett sighed as she +looked at her. She was too young to marry, and had it not been for the +haunting terror of leaving her alone in the world, the Dane, well +circumstanced as he was, would have been repulsed with contumely. + +"Rachael," said her mother, gently, "put down your tapestry. I have +something to say to you, something of great import." + +Rachael dropped her work and met her mother's eyes. They were hard with +will and definite purpose. In an instant she divined what was coming, +and stood up. Her face could not turn any whiter, but her eyes were +black at once, and her nostrils spread. + +"It cannot be possible that you wish me to marry that man--Levine," she +stammered. "I do not know how I can think of such a thing--but I do--it +seems to me I see it in your eyes." + +"Yes," said her mother, with some uneasiness. "I do; and my reasons are +good--" + +"I won't listen to them!" shrieked Rachael. "I won't marry him! His +whiteness makes me sick! I know he is not a good man! I feel it! I never +could be happy with him! I never could love him!" + +Mary Fawcett looked at her aghast, and, for a moment, without answering; +she saw her own will asserting itself, heard it on those piercing notes, +and she knew that it sprang from stronger and more tragic foundations +than had ever existed in her own nature; but believing herself to be +right, she determined to prevail. + +"What do you know about men, my darling?" she said soothingly. "You have +been dreaming romantic dreams, and young Levine does not resemble the +hero. That is all. Women readjust themselves marvellously quick. When +you are married to him, and he is your tender and devoted husband, you +will forget your prince--who, no doubt, is dark and quite splendid. But +we never meet our princes, my dear, and romantic love is only one of the +things we live for--and for that we live but a little while. Levine is +all that I could wish for you. He is wealthy, aristocratic, and +chivalrously devoted." + +Her long speech had given her daughter time to cool, but Rachael +remained standing, and stared defiantly into the eyes which had relaxed +somewhat with anxious surprise. + +"I _feel_ that he is not a good man," she repeated sullenly, "and I hate +him. I should die if he touched me. I have not danced with him. His +hands are so white and soft, and his eyes never change, and his mouth +reminds me of a shark's." + +"Levine is a remarkably handsome man," exclaimed Mistress Fawcett, +indignantly. "You have trained your imagination to some purpose, it +seems. Forget your poets when he comes to-morrow, and look at him +impartially. And cannot he give you all that you so much desire, my +ambitious little daughter? Do you no longer want to go to Europe? to +court? to be _grande dame_ and converse with princes?" + +"Oh, yes," said Rachael. "I want that as much as ever; but I want to +love the man. I want to be happy." + +"Well, _do_ love him," exclaimed her mother with energy. "Your father +was twenty years older than myself, and a Frenchman, but I made up my +mind to love him, and I did--for a good many years." + +"You had to leave him in the end. Do you wish me to do the same?" + +"You will do nothing of the kind. There never was but one John Fawcett." + +"I don't love this Levine, and I never shall love him. I don't believe +at all that that kind of feeling can be created by the brain, that it +responds to nothing but the will. I shall not love that way. I may be +ignorant, but I know that." + +"You have read too much Shakespeare! Doubtless you imagine yourself one +of his heroines--Juliet? Rosalind?" + +"I have never imagined myself anybody but Rachael Fawcett. I _cannot_ +imagine myself Rachael Levine. But I know something of myself--I have +read and thought enough for that. I could love someone--but not this +bleached repulsive Dane. Why will you not let me wait? It is my right. +No, you need not curl your lip--I am _not_ a little girl. I may be +sixteen. I may be without experience in the world, but you have been +almost my only companion, and until just now I have talked with +middle-aged men only, and much with them. I had no real childhood. You +have educated my brain far beyond my years. To-day I feel twenty, and it +seems to me that I see far down into myself--much deeper than you do. I +tell you that if I marry this man, I shall be the most hopeless wretch +on earth." + +Mary Fawcett was puzzled and distressed, but she did not waver for a +moment. The cleverest of girls could not know what was best for herself, +and the mother who permitted her daughter to take her life into her own +hands was a poor creature indeed. + +"Listen, my dear child," she said tenderly, "you have always trusted in +me, believed me. I _know_ that this is a wise and promising marriage for +you. And--" she hesitated, but it was time to play her trump. "You know +that my health is not good, but you do not know how bad it is. Dr. +Hamilton says that the rheumatism may fly to my heart at any moment, and +I _must_ see you married--" + +She had ejaculated the last words; Rachael had shrieked, and flung +herself upon her, her excitement at this sudden and cruel revelation +bursting out in screams and sobs and a torrent of tears. Her mother had +seen her excited and in brief ungovernable tempers, but she never had +suspected that she was capable of such passion as this; and, much +disturbed, she led her off to bed, and sent for her advisers, Archibald +Hamn and Dr. Hamilton. + + +IV + +Mr. Hamn responded at once to the widow's call, his adjacence giving him +the advantage of Dr. Hamilton, of whom he was a trifle jealous. He was +an old bachelor and had proposed to Mistress Fawcett--a captivating +woman till her last hour--twice a year since her husband's death. But +matrimony had been a bitter medicine for Mary after her imagination had +ceased to sweeten it, and her invariable answer to her several suitors +was the disquieting assertion that if ever she was so rash as to take +another husband, she certainly should kill him. Archibald was not the +man to conquer her prejudices, although she loved the sterling in him +and attached him to her by every hook of friendship. He was a dark +nervous little man, spare as most West Indians, used a deal of snuff, +and had a habit of pushing back his wig with a jerking forearm when in +heated controversy with Dr. Hamilton, or expounding matrimony to the +widow. + +Dr. Hamilton, for whose arrival Mr. Hamn was kept waiting,--Mistress +Fawcett tarried until her daughter fell asleep,--was a large square man, +albeit lean, and only less nervous than the widow's suitor. His white +locks were worn in a queue, a few escaping to soften his big powerful +face. Both men wore white linen, but Dr. Hamilton was rarely seen +without his riding-boots, his advent, except in Mistress Fawcett's +house, heralded by the clanking of spurs. Mary would have none of his +spurs on her mahogany floors, and the doctor never yet had been able to +dodge the darkey who stood guard at her doorstep. + +The two men exchanged mild surmises as to the cause of the summons; but +as similar summons occurred when newly wedded blacks were pounding each +other's heads, provoked thereto by the galling chain of decency, or an +obeah doctor had tied a sinister warning to Mistress Fawcett's knocker, +neither of the gentlemen anticipated serious work. When Mary Fawcett +entered the long room, however, both forgot the dignity of their years +and position, and ran forward. + +Dr. Hamilton lifted her as if she had been a palm leaf, and laid her on +the sofa. He despatched Mr. Hamn for a glass of Spanish port, and +forbade her to speak until he gave permission. + +But Mary Fawcett made brief concessions to the weakness of the flesh. +She drank the wine, then sat up and told her story. + +"Oh, Mary," said Dr. Hamilton, sadly, "why do you ask our advice? Your +ear may listen, but never your mind. If it were a matter of business, we +might even be allowed to act for you; but in a domestic--" + +"What?" cried Mistress Fawcett; "have I not asked your advice a thousand +times about Rachael, and have I not always taken it?" + +"I recall many of the conversations, but I doubt if you could recall the +advice. However, if you want it this time, I will give it to you. Don't +force the girl to marry against her will--assuredly not if the man is +repulsive to her. For all your brains you are a baby about men and +women. Rachael knows more by instinct. She is an extraordinary girl, and +should be allowed time to make her own choice. If you are afraid of +death, leave her to me. I will legally adopt her now, if you choose--" + +"Yes, and should you die suddenly, your wife would think Rachael one too +many, what with your brood and the Edwardses to boot." Mistress Fawcett +was nettled by his jibe at the limit of her wisdom. "I shall leave her +with a husband. To that I have made up my mind. What have you to say, +Archibald?" + +This was an advantage which Mr. Hamn never failed to seize; he always +agreed with the widow; Dr. Hamilton never did. Moreover, he was +sincerely convinced that--save, perhaps, in matters of money--Mary +Fawcett could not err. + +"I like the appearance of this Dane," he said, reassuringly, "and his +little country has a valiant history. This young man is quite +prince-like in his bearing, and his extreme fairness is but one more +evidence of his high breeding--" + +"He looks like a shark's belly," interrupted Dr. Hamilton, "I don't +wonder he sickens Rachael. I have nothing against him but his +appearance, but if he came after Kitty I'd throw him out by the seat of +his breeches." + +"He never looked at Kitty, at Government House, nor at Mistress +Montgomerie's," cried Mary. "You are jealous, Will, because Rachael has +carried off the foreign prize." + +Dr. Hamilton laughed, then added seriously, "I am too fond of the girl +to forbear to give my advice. Let her choose her own husband. If you +dare to cut out her future, as if it were one of her new frocks, you +have more courage than I. She has more in her than twenty women. Let her +alone for the next five years, then she will have no one to answer to +but herself. Otherwise, my lady, you may find yourself holding your +breath in a hurricane track, with no refuge from the storm you've +whipped up but five feet underneath. If you won't give her to me, there +are her sisters. They are all wealthy--" + +"They are years older than Rachael and would not understand her at all." + +"I can't see why they should not understand her as well as a strange +man." + +"He will be her husband, madly in love with her." + +"Levine will never be madly in love with anybody. Besides, it would not +matter to Rachael if her sisters did not understand her; she has too +strong a brain not to be independent of the ordinary female nonsense; +moreover, she has a fine disposition and her own property. But if her +husband did not understand her,--in other words, if their tastes proved +as opposite as their temperaments,--it would make a vast deal of +difference. Sisters can be got rid of, but husbands--well, you know the +difficulties." + +"I will think over all you have said," replied Mary, with sudden +humility; she had great respect for the doctor. "But don't you say a +word to Rachael." + +"I'm far too much afraid of you for that. But I wish that Will were home +or Andrew old enough. I'd set one of them on to cut this Dane out. Well, +I must go; send for me whenever you are in need of advice," and with a +parting laugh he strode out of the house and roared to the darkey to +come and fasten his spurs. + +Archibald Hamn, who foresaw possibilities in the widow's loneliness, and +who judged men entirely by their manners, remained to assure Mistress +Fawcett of the wisdom of her choice, and to offer his services as +mediator. Mary laughed and sent him home. She wrote to Levine not to +call until she bade him, and for several days pondered deeply upon her +daughter's opposition and Dr. Hamilton's advice. The first result of +this perturbing distrust in her own wisdom was a violent attack of +rheumatism in the region of her heart; and while she believed herself to +be dying, she wrung from her distracted daughter a promise to marry +Levine. She recovered from the attack, but concluded that, the promise +being won, it would be folly to give it back. Moreover, the desire to +see her daughter married had been aggravated by her brush with death, +and after another interview with Levine, in which he promised all that +the fondest mother could demand, she opened her chests of fine linen. + +Rachael submitted. She dared not excite her mother. Her imagination, +always vivid though it was, refused to picture the end she dreaded; and +she never saw Levine alone. His descriptions of life in Copenhagen +interested her, and when her mother expatiated upon the glittering +destiny which awaited her, ambition and pride responded, although +precisely as they had done in her day dreams. She found herself +visioning Copenhagen, jewels, brocades, and courtiers; but she realized +only when she withdrew to St. Kitts, that Levine had not entered the +dream, even to pass and bend the knee. Often she laughed aloud in +merriment. As the wedding-day approached, she lost her breath more than +once, and her skin chilled. During the last few days before the ceremony +she understood for the first time that it was inevitable. But time--it +was now three months since the needlewomen were set at the +trousseau--and her unconscious acceptance of the horrid fact had trimmed +her spirit to philosophy, altered the habit of her mind. She saw her +mother radiant, received the personal congratulations of every family on +the Island. Her sisters came from St. Croix, and made much of the little +girl who was beginning life so brilliantly; beautiful silks and laces +had come from New York, and Levine had given her jewels, which she tried +on her maid every day because she thought the mustee's tawny skin +enhanced their lustre. She was but a child in spite of her intellect. +Her union with the Dane came to appear as one of the laws of life, and +she finished by accepting it as one accepted an earthquake or a +hurricane. Moreover, she was profoundly innocent. + + +V + +Mary Fawcett accompanied the Levines to Copenhagen, but returned to St. +Christopher by a ship which left Denmark a month later, being one of +those women who picture their terrestrial affairs in a state of +dissolution while deprived of their vigilance. She vowed that the North +had killed her rheumatism, and turned an absent ear to Rachael's appeal +to tarry until Levine was ready to return to St. Croix. She remained +long enough in Denmark, however, to see her daughter presented at court, +and installed with all the magnificence that an ambitious mother could +desire. There was not a misgiving in her mind, for Rachael, if somewhat +inanimate, could not be unhappy with an uxorious husband and the world +at her feet; and although for some time after her marriage she had +behaved like a naughty child caught in a trap, and been a sore trial to +her mother and Mr. Levine, since her arrival in Copenhagen she had +deported herself most becomingly and indulged in no more tantrums. +Levine had conducted himself admirably during his trying honeymoon. Upon +his arrival in Copenhagen he had littered his wife's boudoir with +valuable gifts, and exhibited the beauty he had won with a pride very +gratifying to his mother-in-law. In six months he was to sail for his +estates on St. Croix, and pay an immediate visit to St. Kitts, whence +Mistress Fawcett would return with her daughter for a sojourn of several +months. She returned to her silent home the envy of many Island mothers. + +Rachael wrote by every ship, and Mary Fawcett pondered over these +letters, at first with perplexity, finally with a deep uneasiness. Her +daughter described life in Denmark, the court and society, her new gowns +and jewels, her visits to country houses, the celebrities she met. But +her letters were literary and impersonal, nor was there in them a trace +of her old energy of mind and vivacity of spirit. She never mentioned +Levine's name, nor made an intimate allusion to herself. + +"Can she no longer love me?" thought Mary Fawcett at last and in terror; +"this child that I have loved more than the husband of my youth and all +the other children I have borne? It cannot be that she is unhappy. She +would tell me so in a wild outburst--indeed she would have run home to +me long since. Levine will never control her. Heaven knows what would +have happened if I had not gone on that wedding-journey. But she settled +down so sweetly, and I made sure she would have loved him by this. It is +the only thing to do if you have to live with one of the pests. Perhaps +that is it--she has given him all her love and has none left for me." +And at this she felt so lonely and bitter that she almost accepted +Archibald Hamn when he called an hour later. But in the excitement of +his risen hopes his wig fell on the floor, and she took offence at his +yellow and sparsely settled scalp. + +There were few gleams of humour left in life for Mary Fawcett. Rachael's +letters ceased abruptly. Her mother dared not sail for Denmark, lest she +pass the Levines on their way to St. Croix. She managed to exist through +two distracted months, then received a note from her daughter, Mrs. +Mitchell. + +"Rachael is Here," it ran, "but refuses to see Us. I do not know what to +think. I drove over as soon as I heard of Their arrival. Levine received +Me and was as Courteous and Polished as ever, but Rachael had a +_Headache_ and did not come out. Mary and I have been there Twice since, +and with the _same_ result. Levine assured us that he had begged her to +see her Sisters, but that She is in a very _low_ and _melancholy_ state, +owing doubtless to her Condition. He seemed much _concerned_, but More, +I could not help thinking, because he feared to lose an Heir than from +any _love_ for my little Sister. Peter and Mary agree with Me, that _You +had best come here_ if You can." + +Mary Fawcett, whatever her foibles, had never failed to spring upright +under the stiffest blows of her life. Ignoring her physical pains, which +had been aggravated by the mental terrors of the last two months, and +sternly commanding the agony in her heart to be silent, she despatched a +note at once to Dr. Hamilton,--Archibald Hamn was in Barbados,--asking +him to charter a schooner, if no ship were leaving that day for the +Danish Islands, and accompany her to St. Croix. He sent her word that +they could sail on the following morning if the wind were favourable, +and the black women packed her boxes and carried them on their heads to +Basseterre. + +That evening, as Mary Fawcett was slowly walking down the avenue, +leaning heavily on her cane, too wretched to rest or sleep, a ship +flying the German colours sailed past. She wondered if it had stopped at +St. Croix, then forgot it in the terrible speculations which her will +strove to hold apart from her nerves. + +Wearied in body, she returned to the house and sat by the window of her +room, striving to compose her mind for sleep. She was forcing herself to +jot down instructions for her housekeeper, whom she had taught to read, +when she heard a chaise and a pair of galloping horses enter the avenue. +A moment later, Dr. Hamilton's voice was roaring for a slave to come and +hold his horses. Then it lowered abruptly and did not cease. + +Mary Fawcett knew that Rachael had come to her, and without her husband. +For a moment she had a confused idea that the earth was rocking, and +congratulated herself that the house was too high for a tidal wave to +reach. Then Dr. Hamilton entered with Rachael in his arms and laid her +on the bed. He left at once, saying that he would return in the morning. +Mary Fawcett had not risen, and her chair faced the bed. Rachael lay +staring at her mother until Mary found her voice and begged her to +speak. She knew that her hunger must wait until she had stood at the bar +and received her sentence. + +Rachael told her mother the story of her married life from the day she +had been left alone with John Levine,--a story of unimaginable horrors. +Like many cold men to whom the pleasures of the world are, nevertheless, +easy, Levine was a voluptuary and cruel. Had his child been safely born, +there would have been no measure in his brutality. Rachael had watched +for her opportunity, and one night when he had been at a state function +in Christianstadt, too secure in her apparent apathy to lock her door, +she had bribed a servant to drive her to Frederikstadt, and boarded the +ship her maid had ascertained was about to leave. She knew that he would +not follow her, for there was one person on earth he feared, and that +was Mary Fawcett. He would not have returned to St. Croix, had his +investments been less heavy; but on his estates he was lord, and had no +mind that his mother-in-law should set foot on them while he had slaves +to hold his gates. + +Mary Fawcett listened to the horrid story, at first with a sort of +frantic wonder, for of the evil of life she had known nothing; then her +clear mind grasped it, her stoicism gave way, and she shrieked and raved +in such agony of soul that she had no fear of hell thereafter. Rachael +had to rise from the bed and minister to her, and the terrified blacks +ran screaming about the place, believing that their mistress had been +cursed. + +She grew calm in time, but her face was puckered like an old apple, and +her eyes had lost their brilliancy for ever. And it was days before she +realized that her limbs still ached. + +Rachael never opened her lips on the subject again. She went back to bed +and clung to her mother and Dr. Hamilton until her child was born. Then +for three months she recognized no one, and Dr. Hamilton, with all his +skill, did not venture to say whether or not her mind would live again. + +The child was a boy, and as blond as its father. Mary Fawcett stood its +presence in the house for a month, then packed it off to St. Croix. She +received a curt acknowledgment from Levine, and an intimation that she +had saved herself much trouble. As for Rachael, he would have her back +when he saw fit. She wrote an appeal to the Captain-General and he sent +her word that the Danes would never bombard Brimstone Hill, and there +was no other way by which Levine could get her daughter while one of her +friends ruled the Leeward Caribbees. + +Many thoughts flitted through the brain of Mary Fawcett during that long +vigil. Her mind for the first time dwelt with kindness, almost with +softness, on the memory of her husband. Beside this awful Dane his +shadow was god-like. He had been high-minded and a gentleman in his +worst tantrums, and there was no taint of viciousness in him. A doubt +grew in her brain, grew to such disquieting proportions that she +sometimes deserted Rachael abruptly and went out to fatigue herself in +the avenue. Had she done wrong to leave him alone in his old age, to +bear, undiverted, the burden of a disease whose torments she now could +fully appreciate, to die alone in that great house with only his slaves +to tend him? It had seemed to her when she left him that human nature +could stand no more, and that she was justified; but she was an old +woman now and knew that all things can be endured. When that picture of +his desolate last years and lonely death had remorselessly shaped itself +in her imagination, and she realized that it would hang there until her +hands were folded, she suffered one more hour of agony and abasement, +then caught at the stoicism of her nature, accepted her new dole, and +returned to her daughter. + + +VI + +Rachael's mind struggled past its eclipse, but her recovery was very +slow. Even after she recognized her mother and Dr. Hamilton, she sat for +months staring at Nevis, neither opening a book nor looking round upon +the life about her. But she was only eighteen, and her body grew strong +and vital again. Gradually it forced its energies into her brain, +released her spirit from its apathy, buried memory under the fresher +impressions of time. A year from the day of her return, if there were +deep and subtle changes in her face and carriage, which added ten years +to her appearance, she was more beautiful to experienced eyes than when +she had flowered for the humming-birds. She took up her studies where +she had dropped them, a little of her old buoyancy revived; and if her +girlishness was buried with ideals and ambitions, her intellect was +clear and strong and her character more finely balanced. She flew into +no more rages, boxed her attendants' ears at rarer intervals, and the +deliberation which had seemed an anomaly in her character before, became +a dominant trait, and rarely was conquered by impulse. When it worked +alone her mother laid down her weapons, edged as they still were, and +when impulse flew to its back, Mary Fawcett took refuge in oblivion. But +she made no complaint, for she and her daughter were more united than +when the young girl had seemed more fit to be her grandchild. + +The Governor of St. Christopher had written a letter to his friend, the +Governor of St. Croix, which had caused that estimable functionary to +forbid Levine the door of Government House. Levine could not endure +social ostracism. He left St. Croix immediately, and took his son Peter +with him. To this child Rachael never referred, and her mother doubted +if she remembered anything associated with its impending birth. Perhaps +she believed it dead. At all events, she made no sign. Except that she +was called Mistress Levine, there was nothing in her outer life to +remind her that for two years the markers in her favourite books had not +been shifted. She had studied music and painting with the best masters +in Copenhagen, and in the chests which were forwarded by her sisters +from St. Croix, there were many new books. She refused to return to +society, and filled her time without its aid; for not only did she have +the ample resources of her mind, her mother, the frequent companionship +of Dr. Hamilton and four or five other men of his age and attainments, +but she returned to the out-door life with enthusiasm. On her spirit was +an immovable shadow, in her mind an indelible stain, but she had strong +common sense and a still stronger will. An experience which would have +embittered a less complete nature, or sent a lighter woman to the +gallantries of society, gave new force and energy to her character, even +while saddening it. To the past she never willingly gave a thought; +neither was she for a moment unconscious of its ghost. + + +VII + +Two years passed. Rachael was twenty, a beautiful and stately creature, +more discussed and less seen than any woman on the islands of Nevis and +St. Christopher. Occasionally Christiana Huggins paid her a visit, or +Catherine Hamilton rode over for the day; but although Christiana at +least, loved her to the end, both were conscious of her superiority of +mind and experience, and the old intimacy was not resumed. + +Dr. Hamilton had used all his influence in the Council to promote a +special bill of divorce, for he wanted Rachael to be free to marry +again. He had no faith in the permanent resources of the intellect for a +young and seductive woman, and he understood Rachael very thoroughly. +The calm might be long, but unless Levine died or could be legally +disposed of, she would give the Islands a heavier shock than when the +innovation of Mary Fawcett had set them gabbling. Against the +conservatism of his colleagues, however, he could make no headway, and +both the Governor and Captain-General disapproved of a measure which +England had never sanctioned. + +But Dr. Hamilton and her mother were more disturbed at the failure of +the bill than Rachael. Time had lifted the shadow of her husband from +the race, but, never having loved, even a little, her imagination +modelled no pleasing features upon the ugly skull of matrimony. It is +true that she sometimes thought of herself as a singularly lonely being, +and allowed her mind to picture love and its companionships. As time +dimmed another picture she caught herself meditating upon woman's chief +inheritance, and moving among the shadows of the future toward that +larger and vitalizing part of herself which every woman fancies is on +earth in search of her. When she returned from these wanderings she +sternly reminded herself that her name was Levine, and that no woman +after such an escape had the right to expect more. She finally compelled +herself to admit that her avoidance of society was due to prudence as +well as to her stern devotion to intellect, then studied harder than +ever. + +But it is a poor fate that waits upon the gathering together of many +people. + + +VIII + +Rachael was riding home one afternoon from Basseterre, where she had +been purchasing summer lawns and cambrics. It was March, and the winter +sun had begun to use its summer fuel; but the trades blew softly, and +there was much shade on the road above the sea. There was one long +stretch, however, where not a tree grew, and Rachael drew rein for a +moment before leaving the avenue of tamarinds which had rustled above +her head for a mile or more. Although it was a hot scene that lay before +her, it was that which, when away from home, for some reason best known +to her memory, had always been first to rise. The wide pale-gray road +rose gradually for a long distance, dipped, and rose again. On either +side were cane-fields, their tender greens sharp against the deep hard +blue of the sea on the left, rising to cocoanut groves and the dark +heights of the mountains above the road. Far away, close to the sea, was +Brimstone Hill, that huge isolated rock so near in shape to the crater +of Mount Misery. Its fortifications showed their teeth against the faded +sky, and St. Christopher slept easily while tentative conquerors +approached, looked hard at this Gibraltar of the West Indies, and sailed +away. + +But there scarcely was a sail on the sea to-day. Its blue rose and fell, +in that vast unbroken harmony which quickens the West Indian at times +into an intolerable sense of his isolation. Rachael recalled how she had +stared at it in childish resentment, wondering if a mainland really lay +beyond, if Europe were a myth. She did not care if she never set foot on +a ship again, and her ambitions were in the grave with her desire for a +wealthy and intellectual husband. + +On the long road, rising gray and hot between the bright green +cane-fields, horsemen approached, and a number of slave women moved +slowly: women with erect rigid backs balancing large baskets or stacks +of cane on their heads, the body below the waist revolving with a +pivotal motion which suggests an anatomy peculiar to the tropics. They +had a dash of red about them somewhere, and their turbans were white. +Rachael's imagination never gave her St. Kitts without its slave women, +the "pic'nees" clinging to their hips as they bore their burdens on the +road or bent over the stones in the river. They belonged to its +landscape, with the palms and the cane-fields, the hot gray roads, and +the great jewel of the sea. + +Rachael left the avenue and rode onward. One of the horsemen took off +his Spanish sombrero and waved it. She recognized Dr. Hamilton and shook +her whip at him. He and his companion spurred their horses, and a moment +later Rachael and James Hamilton had met. + +"An unexpected pleasure for me, this sudden descent of my young +kinsman," said the doctor, "but a great one, for he brings me news of +all in Scotland, and he saw Will the day before he sailed." + +"It is too hot to stand here talking," said Rachael. "Come home with me +to a glass of Spanish port, and cake perhaps." + +The doctor was on his way to a consultation, but he ordered his relative +to go and pay his respects to Mistress Fawcett, and rode on whistling. +The two he had recklessly left to their own devices exchanged +platitudes, and covertly examined each other with quick admiration. + +There are dark Scots, and Hamilton was one of them. Although tall and +slight, he was knit with a close and peculiar elegance, which made him +look his best on a horse and in white linen. His face was burnt to the +hue of brick-dust by the first quick assault of the tropic sun, but it +was a thin face, well shaped, in spite of prominent cheek bones, and set +with the features of long breeding; and it was mobile, fiery, impetuous, +and very intelligent: ancestral coarseness had been polished fine long +since. + +They left the road and mounted toward the dark avenue of the Fawcett +estate, Rachael wondering if her mother would be irritated at the +informality of the stranger's first call; he should have arrived in +state with Dr. Hamilton at the hour of five. Perhaps it was to postpone +the moment of explanation that she permitted her horse to walk, even +after they had reached the level of the avenue, and finally to crop the +grass while she and Hamilton dismounted and sat down in a heavy grove of +tamarinds on the slope of the hill. + +"I'm just twenty-one and have my own way to make," he was telling her. +"There are three before me, so I couldn't afford the army, and as I've a +fancy for foreign lands, I've come out here to be a merchant. I have so +many kinsmen in this part of the world, and they've all succeeded so +well, I thought they'd be able to advise me how best to turn over the +few guineas I have. My cousin, the doctor, has taken me in hand, and if +I have any business capacity I shall soon find it out. But I ached for +the army, and failing that, I'd have liked being a scholar--as I know +you are, by your eyes." + +His Scotch accent was not unlike that of the West Indians, particularly +of the Barbadians; but his voice, although it retained the huskiness of +the wet North, had, somewhere in its depths, a peculiar metallic quality +which startled Rachael every time it rang out, and was the last of all +memories to linger, when memories were crumbling in a brain that could +stand no more. + +How it happened, Rachael spent the saner hours of the morrow attempting +to explain, but they sat under the tamarinds until the sun went down, +and Nevis began to robe for the night. Once they paused in their +desultory talk and listened to the lovely chorus of a West Indian +evening, that low incessant ringing of a million tiny bells. The bells +hung in the throats of nothing more picturesque than grasshoppers, +serpents, lizards, and frogs so small as to be almost invisible, but +they rang with a harmony that the inherited practice of centuries had +given them. And beyond was the monotonous accompaniment of the sea on +the rocks. Hamilton lived to be an old man, and he never left the West +Indies; but sometimes, at long and longer intervals, he found himself +listening to that Lilliputian orchestra, his attention attracted to it, +possibly, by a stranger; and then he remembered this night, and the +woman for whom he would have sacrificed earth and immortality had he +been lord of them. + +Heaven knows what they talked about. While it was light they stared out +at the blue sea or down on the rippling cane-fields, not daring to +exchange more than a casual and hasty glance. Both knew that they should +have separated the moment they met, but neither had the impulse nor the +intention to leave the shade of the wood; and when the brief twilight +fell and the moon rose, there still was Nevis, and after her the many +craft to divert their gaze. Hamilton was honourable and shy, and Rachael +was a woman of uncommon strength of character and had been brought up by +a woman of austere virtue. These causes held them apart for a time, but +one might as well have attempted to block two comets rushing at each +other in the same orbit. The magnetism of the Inevitable embraced them +and knit their inner selves together, even while they sat decorously +apart. Rachael had taken off her hat at once, and even after it grew +dark in their arbour, Hamilton fancied he could see the gleam of her +hair. Her eyes were startled and brilliant, and her nostrils quivered +uneasily, but she defined none of the sensations that possessed her but +the overwhelming recrudescence of her youth. It had seemed to her that +it flamed from its ashes before Dr. Hamilton finished his formal words +of introduction, and all its forgotten hopes and impulses, timidity and +vagueness, surged through her brain during those hours beside the +stranger, submerging the memory of Levine. Indeed, she felt even younger +than before maturity so suddenly had been thrust upon her; for in those +old days she had been almost as severely intellectual as yesterday, and +when she had dreamed of the future, it had been with the soberness of an +overtaxed brain. But to-day even the world seemed young again. She +fancied she could hear the unquiet pulses of the Island, so long grown +old, and Nevis had never looked so fair. She hardly was conscious of her +womanhood, only of that possessing sense of happiness in youth. As for +Hamilton, he had never felt otherwise than young, although he was a +college-bred man, something of a scholar, and he had seen more or less +of the world since his boyhood. But the intensity and ardour of his +nature had received no check, neither were they halfway on their +course; and he had never loved. It had seemed to him that the Island +opened and a witch came out, and in those confused hours he hardly knew +whether she were good or bad, his ideal woman or his ideal devil; but he +loved her. He was as pale as his sunburn would permit him to be, and his +hands were clasped tightly about his knees, when relief came in the +shape of Mary Fawcett. + +Her daughter's horse had gone home and taken the stranger with him, and +Mistress Fawcett, with quick suspicion, new as it was, started at once +down the avenue. Rachael heard the familiar tapping of her mother's +stick, hastily adjusted her hat, and managed to reach the road with +Hamilton before her mother turned its bend. + +Mary Fawcett understood and shivered with terror. She was far from being +her imperious self as her daughter presented the stranger and remarked +that he was a cousin of Dr. Hamilton, characteristically refraining from +apology or explanation. + +"Well," she said, "the doctor will doubtless bring you to call some day. +I will send your horse to you. Say good evening to the stranger, +Rachael, and come home." She was one of the most hospitable women in the +Caribbees, and this was the kinsman of her best friend, but she longed +for power to exile him out of St. Kitts that night. + +Hamilton lifted his hat, and Rachael followed her mother. She was cold +and frightened, and Levine's white malignant face circled about her. + +Her mother requested her support, and she almost carried the light +figure to the house. Mistress Fawcett sent a slave after Hamilton's +horse, then went to her room and wrote a note to Dr. Hamilton, asking +him to call on the following day and to come alone. The two women did +not meet again that night. + +But there is little privacy in the houses of St. Kitts and Nevis. Either +the upper part of almost every room is built of ornamental lattice-work, +or the walls are set with numerous jalousies, that can be closed when a +draught is undesirable but conduct the slightest sound. Rachael's room +adjoined her mother's. She knew that the older woman was as uneasily +awake as herself, though from vastly different manifestations of the +same cause. At four o'clock, when the guinea fowl were screeching like +demons, and had awakened the roosters and the dogs to swell the infernal +chorus of a West Indian morning, Rachael sat up in bed and laughed +noiselessly. + +"What a night!" she thought. "And for what? A man who companioned me for +four hours as no other man had ever done? and who made me feel as if the +world had turned to fire and light? It may have been but a mood of my +own, it is so long since I have talked with a man near to my own +age--and he is so near!--and yet so real a man.... No one could call him +handsome, for he looks like a flayed Carib, and I have met some of the +handsomest men in Europe and not given them a thought. Yet this man kept +me beside him for four hours, and has me awake a whole night because he +is not with me. Has the discipline of these last years, then, gone for +nothing? Am I but an excitable West Indian after all, and shall I have +corded hands before I am twenty-five? It was a mistake to shut myself +away from danger. Had I been constantly meeting the young men of the +Island and all strangers who have come here during the last two years, I +should not be wild for this one--even if he has something in him unlike +other men--and lie awake all night like the silly women who dream +everlastingly of the lover to come. I am a fool." + +She lit her candle and went into her mother's room. Mary Fawcett was +sitting up in bed, her white hair hanging out of her nightcap. It seemed +to her that the end of the world had come, and she cursed human nature +and the governors of the Island. + +"I know what has kept you awake," said Rachael, "but do not fear. It was +but a passing madness--God smite those guinea fowl! I have lived the +life of a nun, and it is an unnatural life for a young woman. Yesterday +I learned that I have not the temperament of the scholar, the +recluse--that is all. I should have guessed it sooner--then I should not +have been fascinated by this brilliant Scot. It was my mind that flew +eagerly to companionship--that was all. The hours were pleasant. I would +not regret them but for the deep uneasiness they have caused you. To-day +I shall enter the world again. There are many clever and accomplished +young men on St. Kitts. I will meet and talk to them all. We will +entertain them here. There is a ball at Government House to-night, +another at Mistress Irwin's on Wednesday week. I promise you that I will +be as gay and as universal as a girl in her first season, and this man +shall see no more of me than any other man." + +Her mother watched her keenly as she delivered her long tirade. Her face +was deeply flushed. The arm that held the candle was tense, and her hair +fell about her splendid form like a cloud of light. Had Hamilton seen +anything so fair in Europe? What part would he play in this scheme of +catholicity? + +"You will meet this man if you go abroad," she replied. "Better stay +here and forbid him the gates." + +"And think about him till I leap on my horse and ride to meet him? A +fevered imagination will make a god of a Tom Noddy. If I see him +daily--with others--he will seem as commonplace as all men." + +Mary Fawcett did not speak for some moments. Then she said: "Hark ye, +Rachael. I interfered once and brought such damnable misery upon you +that I dare not--almost--(she remembered her note to Dr. Hamilton) +interfere again. This time you shall use your own judgement, something +you have taught me to respect. Whatever the result, I will be to the end +what I always have been, the best friend you have. You are very strong. +You have had an awful experience, and it has made a woman of thirty of +you. You are no silly little fool, rushing blindly into the arms of the +first man whose eyes are black enough. You have been brought up to look +upon light women with horror. In your darkest days you never sought to +console yourself as weaker women do. Therefore, in spite of what I saw +in both your faces yesterday, I hope." + +"Yes--and give yourself no more uneasiness. Could _I_ look upon the +love of man with favour? Not unless I were to be born again, and my +memory as dead as my body." + +"If you love, you will be born again; and if this man overmasters your +imagination, your memory might quite as well be dead. One of the three +or four things in my life that I have to be thankful for is that I never +had to pass through that ordeal. You are far dearer to me than I ever +was to myself, and if you are called upon to go through that wretched +experience, whose consequences never finish, and I with so little time +left in which to stand by and protect you--" She changed abruptly. +"Promise me that you will do nothing unconsidered, that you will not +behave like the ordinary Francesca--for whom I have always had the most +unmitigated contempt. The hour. The man. The fall. The wail: 'The earth +rocked, the stars fell. I knew not what I did!' You have deliberation +and judgement. Use them now--and do not ramble alone in the gorge with +this handsome Scot--for he is a fine man; I would I could deny it. I +felt his charm, although he did not open his mouth." + +Rachael's eyes flashed. "Ah! did you?" she cried. "Well, but what of +that? Are not our creoles a handsome race, and have not all but a few +been educated in England? Yes, I will promise you--if you think all this +is serious enough to require a promise." + +"But you care so little for the world. You would be sacrificing so much +less than other women--nevertheless it would make you wretched and +humiliate just as much; do not forget that. I almost am tempted to wish +that you had a lighter nature--that you would flirt with love and brush +it away, while the world was merely amused at a suspected gallantry. But +_you_--you would love for a lifetime, and you would end by living with +him openly. There is no compromise in you." + +"Surely we have become more serious than an afternoon's talk with an +interesting stranger should warrant. I am full of a sudden longing for +the world, and who knows but I shall become so wedded to it that I would +yield it for no man? Besides, do I not live to make you happy, to +reward as best I can your unselfish devotion? If ever I could love any +man more than I love you, then that love would be overwhelming indeed. +But although I can imagine myself forgetting the world in such a love, I +cannot picture you on the sacrificial altar." + + +IX + +Rachael was asleep when Dr. Hamilton called. Mistress Fawcett received +him in the library, which was at the extreme end of the long house. He +laughed so heartily at her fears that he almost dispelled them. Whatever +he anticipated in Rachael's future, he had no mind to apprehend danger +in every man who interested her. + +"For God's sake, Mary," he exclaimed, "let the girl have a flirtation +without making a tragedy of it. She is quite right. The world is what +she wants. If ever there was a woman whom Nature did not intend for a +nun it is Rachael Levine. Let her carry out her plan, and in a week she +will be the belle of the Island, and my poor cousin will be consoling +himself with some indignant beauty only a shade less fair. I'll engage +to marry him off at once, if that will bring sleep to your pillow, but I +can't send him away as you propose. I am not King George, nor yet the +Captain-General. Nor have I any argument by which to persuade him to go. +I have given him too much encouragement to stay. I'll keep him away from +routs as long as I can--but remember that he is young, uncommonly +good-looking, and a stranger: the girls will not let me keep him in +hiding for long. Now let the girl alone. Let her think you've forgotten +my new kinsman and your fears. I don't know any way to manage women but +to let them manage themselves. Bob Edwards failed with Catherine. I have +succeeded. Take a leaf out of my book. Rachael is not going through life +without a stupendous love affair. She was marked out for it, specially +moulded and equipped by old Mother Nature. Resign yourself to it, and go +out and put up your hands against the next tidal wave if you want an +illustration of what interference with Rachael would amount to. I wish +Levine would die, or we could get a divorce law through on this Island. +But the entire Council falls on the table with horror every time I +suggest it. Don't worry till the time comes. I'll fill my house with all +the pretty girls on St. Kitts and Nevis, and marry this hero of romance +as soon as I can." + +Rachael went to the ball at Government House that night, glittering in a +gown of brocade she had worn at the court of Denmark: Levine had sent +her trunks to Peter Lytton's, but not her jewels. She was the most +splendid creature in the rooms, and there was no talk of anyone else. +But before the night was a third over she realized that the attention +she would receive during this her second dazzling descent upon society +would differ widely from her first. The young men bowed before her in +deep appreciation of her beauty, then passed on to the girls of that +light-hearted band to which she no longer belonged. She was a woman with +a tragic history and a living husband; she had a reputation for severe +intellectuality, and her eyes, the very carriage of her body, expressed +a stern aloofness from the small and common exteriorities of life. The +Governor, the members of Council, of the Assembly, of the bench and bar, +and the clergy, flocked about her, delighted at her return to the world, +but she was the belle of the matrons, and not a young man asked her to +dance. + +She shrugged her shoulders when she saw how it was to be. + +"Can they guess that I am younger than they are?" she thought. "And +would I have them? Would I share that secret with any in the world--but +one? Do I want to dance--to _dance_--Good God! And talk nonsense and the +gossip of the Island with these youths when I have naught to say but +that my soul has grown wings and that the cold lamp in my breast has +blown out, and lit again with the flame that keeps the world alive? Even +if I think it best never to see him again, he has given me that, and I +am young at last." + +When she returned home, as the guinea fowl were at their raucous matins, +she was able to tell her mother that the Scot had not attended the ball, +and Mary Fawcett knew that Dr. Hamilton had managed to detain him. + +But a fortnight later they met again at the house of Dr. George Irwin, +an intimate friend of the Hamiltons. + +The Irwin's house in Basseterre was on the north side of the Park, which +was surrounded by other fine dwellings and several public buildings. The +broad verandahs almost overhung the enclosure, with its great banyan +tree, the royal palms about the fountain, the close avenues, the flaming +hedges of croton and hybiscus, and the traveller's palm and tree ferns +brought from the mountains. When a ball was given at one of the houses +about this Park on a moonlight night, there was much scheming to avoid +the watchful eyes of lawful guardians. + +It was inevitable that Hamilton should attend this ball, for the Irwins +and his relatives were in and out of each other's houses all day and +half the night. By this time, however, he had met nearly every girl on +St. Kitts, and his cousin had ridden out that afternoon to assure +Mistress Fawcett that the danger weakened daily. + +But for an hour, he did not leave Rachael's side that night. The +beauties of St. Christopher--and they were many, with their +porcelain-like complexions and distinguished features--went through all +their graceful creole paces in vain. That he was recklessly in love with +Rachael Levine was manifest to all who chose to look, and as undaunted +by her intellect and history as any man of his cousin's mature coterie. +As for Rachael, although she distributed her favours impartially for a +while, her mobile face betrayed to Dr. Hamilton that mind and body were +steeped in that tremulous content which possesses a woman when close to +an undeclared lover in a public place; the man, and Life and her own +emotions unmortalized, the very future bounded by the gala walls, the +music, the lights, and the perfume of flowers. These walls were hung +with branches of orange trees loaded with fruit, and with ferns and +orchids brought fresh from the mountains. A band of blacks played on +their native instruments the fashionable dances of the day with a weird +and barbaric effect, and occasionally sang a wailing accompaniment in +voices of indescribable softness. There was light from fifty candles, +and the eternal breeze lifted and dispersed the heavy perfume of the +flowers. Hamilton had been in many ball-rooms, but never in one like +this. He abstained from the madeiras and ports which were passed about +at brief intervals by the swinging coloured women in their gay frocks +and white turbans; but he was intoxicated, nevertheless, and more than +once on the point of leaving the house. The unreality of it all held him +more than weakness, for in some things James Hamilton was strong enough. +The weakness in him was down at the roots of his character, and he was +neither a feathercock nor a flasher. He had no intention of making love +to Rachael until he saw his future more clearly than he did to-night. +During the fortnight that had passed since he met her, he had thought of +little else, and to-night he wanted nothing else, but impulsive and +passionate as he was, he came of a race of hard-headed Scots. He had no +mind for a love affair of tragic seriousness, even while his quickened +imagination pictured the end. + +He deliberately left her side after a time and joined a group of men who +were smoking in the court. After an hour of politics his brain had less +blood in it, and when he found himself standing beside Rachael on the +verandah he suggested that they follow other guests into the Park. He +gave Rachael his arm in the courtly fashion of the day, and they walked +about the open paths and talked of the negroes singing in the +cane-fields, and the squalid poverty of the North, as if their hearts +were as calm as they are to-day. People turned often to look at them, +commenting according to the mixing of their essences, but all concurring +in praise of so much beauty. Hamilton's sunburn had passed the acute +stage, leaving him merely brown, and his black silk small clothes and +lace ruffles, his white silk stockings and pumps, were vastly becoming. +His hair, lightly powdered, was tied with a white ribbon, but although +he carried himself proudly, there was no manifest in his bearing that +the vanities consumed much of his thought. He was gallanted like a young +blood of the period, and so were the young men of St. Kitts. Rachael +wore a heavy gold-coloured satin, baring the neck, and a stiff and +pointed stomacher, her hair held high with a diamond comb. Her fairness +was dazzling in the night-light, and it was such a light as Hamilton +never had seen before: for in the Tropics the moon is golden, and the +stars are crystal. The palm leaves, high on their slender shafts, +glittered like polished dark-green metal, and the downpour was so +dazzling that more than once the stranger shaded his eyes with his hand. +Had it not been for the soft babble of many voices, the silence would +have been intense, until the ear was tuned to the low tinkle of the +night bells, for the sea was calm. + +Once, as if in explanation for words unspoken, he commented nervously on +the sensation of unreality with which these tropic scenes inspired him, +and Rachael, who longed to withdraw her hand from his arm, told him of +an entertainment peculiar to the Islands, a torchlight hunt for +land-crabs, which once a year travel down from the mountains to the sea, +to bathe and shed their shells. Words hastened. Before she drew breath +she had arranged a hunt for the night of the 10th of April, and received +his promise to be one of her guests. They were not so happy as they had +been within doors, for the world seemed wider. But their inner selves +pressed so hard toward each other that finally they were driven to +certain egotisms as a relief. + +"I think little of the future," she said, after a direct question, "for +that means looking beyond my mother's death, and that is the one fact I +have not the courage to face. But of course I know that it holds nothing +for me. A ball occasionally, and the conversation of clever men who +admire me but care for some one else, books the rest of the week, and +life alone on a shelf of the mountain. The thought that I shall one day +be old does not console me as it may console men, for with women the +heart never grows old. The body withers, and the heart in its awful +eternal youth has the less to separate and protect it from the world +that has no use for it. Then the body dies and is put away, but the +heart is greedily consumed to feed the great pulses of the world that +lives faster every year. We give, and give, and give." + +"And are only happy in giving," said Hamilton, quickly. "But if men +preserve the balance of the world by taking all that women give them, at +least the best of us find our happiness in the gifts of one woman, and a +woman so besought dare not assert that her heart is empty. I +understand--and no one more clearly than I do to-night--that if she give +too much, she may curse her heart and look out bitterly upon the +manifold interests that could suppress it for weeks and months--if life +were full enough. Is yours? What would you sacrifice if you came to me?" + +He asked the question calmly, for there were people on every side of +them, but he asked it on an uncontrollable impulse, nevertheless; he had +vowed to himself that he would wait a month. + +His natural repose was greater than hers, for she had the excitable +nerves of the Tropics. He felt her arm quiver before she dropped her +hand from his arm. But she replied almost as calmly: "Nothing after my +mother's death. Absolutely nothing. When a woman suffers as I have done, +and her future is ruined in any case, the world counts for very little +with her, unless it always has counted for more than anything else. We +grow the more cynical and contemptuous as we witness the foolish +gallantries of women who have so much to lose. I am not hard. I am very +soft about many things, and since you came I am become the very tragedy +of youth; but I have no respect for the world as I have seen it. For +many people in the world I have a great deal, but not for the substance +out of which Society has built itself. One never loses one's real +friends, no matter what one does. Every circumstance of my life has +isolated me from this structure called society, forced me to make my own +laws. I may never be happy, because my capacity for happiness is too +great, but in my own case there is no alternative worth considering. +This is the substance of what I have thought since we met, but you are +not to speak to me of it again while my mother lives." + +"I do not promise you that--but this: that I will do much thinking +before I speak again." + + +X + +But although they parted with formal courtesy, it was several nights +before either slept. Rachael went home to her bed and lay down, because +she feared to agitate her mother, but her disposition was to go out and +walk the circuit of the Island, and she rose as soon as she dared, and +climbed to the highest crest behind the house. It was cold there, and +the wind was keen. She sat for hours and stared out at Nevis, who was +rolling up her mists, indifferent to the torment of mortals. + +During the past fortnight she had conceived a certain stern calm, partly +in self-defence, due in part to love for her mother. But since she had +left Hamilton, last night, there had been moments when she had felt +alone in the Universe with him, exalted to such heights of human passion +that she had imagined herself about to become the mother of a new race. +Her genius, which in a later day might have taken the form of mental +creation, concentrated in a supreme capacity for idealized human +passion, and its blind impulse was a reproduction of itself in another +being. + +Were she and Hamilton but the victims of a mighty ego roaming the +Universe in search of a medium for human expression? Were they but +helpless sacrifices, consummately equipped, that the result of their +union might be consummately great? Who shall affirm or deny? The very +commonplaces of life are components of its eternal mystery. We know +absolutely nothing. But we have these facts: that a century and a half +ago, on a tropical island, where, even to common beings, quick and +intense love must seem the most natural thing in the world, this man and +woman met; that the woman, herself born in unhappy conditions, but +beautiful, intellectual, with a character developed far beyond her years +and isolated home by the cruel sufferings of an early marriage, reared +by a woman whose independence and energy had triumphed over the narrow +laws of the Island of her birth, given her courage to snap her fingers +at society--we know that this woman, inevitably remarkable, met and +loved a stranger from the North, so generously endowed that he alone of +all the active and individual men who surrounded her won her heart; and +that the result of their union was one of the stupendous intellects of +the world's history. + +Did any great genius ever come into the world after commonplace +pre-natal conditions? Was a maker of history ever born amidst the +pleasant harmonies of a satisfied domesticity? Of a mother who was less +than remarkable, although she may have escaped being great? Did a woman +with no wildness in her blood ever inform a brain with electric fire? +The students of history know that while many mothers of great men have +been virtuous, none have been commonplace, and few have been happy. And +lest the moralists of my day and country be more prone to outraged +virtue, in reading this story, than were the easy-going folk who +surrounded it, let me hasten to remind them that it all happened close +upon a hundred and fifty years ago, and that the man and woman who gave +them the brain to which they owe the great structure that has made their +country phenomenal among nations, are dust on isles four hundred miles +apart. + +A century and a half ago women indulged in little introspective +analysis. They thought on broad lines, and honestly understood the +strength of their emotions. Moreover, although Mary Wollstonecraft was +unborn and "Emile" unwritten, Individualism was germinating; and what +soil so quickening as the Tropics? Nevertheless, to admit was not to lay +the question, and Rachael passed through many hours of torment before +hers was settled. She was not unhappy, for the intoxication lingered, +and behind the methodical ticking of her reason, stood, calmly awaiting +its time, that sense of the Inevitable which has saved so many brains +from madness. She slept little and rested less, but that sentinel in her +brain prevented the frantic hopelessness which would have possessed her +had she felt herself strong enough to command James Hamilton to leave +the Island. + +She met him several times before the night of her entertainment, and +there were moments when she was filled with terror, for he did not +whisper a reference to the conversation in the Park. Had he thought +better of it? Would he go? Would he conquer himself? Was it but a +passing madness? When these doubts tormented her she was driven to such +a state of jealous fury that she forgot every scruple, and longed only +for the bond which would bind him fast; then reminded herself that she +should be grateful, and endeavoured to be. But one day when he lifted +her to her horse, he kissed her wrist, and again the intoxication of +love went to her head, and this time it remained there. Once they met up +in the hills, where they had been asked with others to take a dish of +tea with Mistress Montgomerie. They sat alone for an hour on one of the +terraces above the house, laughing and chattering like children, then +rode down the hills through the cane-fields together. Again, they met in +the Park, and sat under the banyan tree, discussing the great books they +had read, all of Europe they knew. For a time neither cared to finish +that brief period of exquisite happiness and doubt, where imagination +rules, and the world is unreal and wholly sweet, and they its first to +love. + +The wrenching stage of doubt had passed for Hamilton, but he thought on +the future with profound disquiet. He would have the woman wholly or not +at all, after Mary Fawcett's death; he knew from Dr. Hamilton that it +would occur before the year was out. He had no taste for intrigue. He +wanted a home, and the woman he would have rejoiced to marry was the +woman he expected to love and live with for the rest of his life. Once +or twice the overwhelming sense of responsibility, the certainty of +children, whom he could not legalize, the possible ruin of his worldly +interests, as well as his deep and sincere love for the woman, drove him +almost to the bows of a homeward-bound vessel. But the sure knowledge +that he should return kept him doggedly on St. Christopher. He even had +ceased to explain his infatuation to himself by such excuse as was given +him by her beauty, her grace, her strong yet charming brain. He loved +her, and he would have her if the skies fell. + +It is doubtful if he understood the full force of the attraction between +them. The real energy and deliberation, the unswerving purpose in her +magnetized the weakness at the roots of his ardent, impulsive, but +unstable character. Moreover, in spite of the superlative passion which +he had aroused in her, she lacked the animal magnetism which was his in +abundance. Her oneness was a magnet for his gregariousness and +concentrated it upon herself. That positive quality in him overwhelmed +and intoxicated her; and in intellect he was far more brilliant and far +less profound than herself. His wit and mental nimbleness stung and +pricked the serene layers which she had carefully superimposed in her +own mind to such activities as mingled playfully with his lighter moods +or stimulated him in more intellectual hours. While the future was yet +unbroken and imagination remodelled the face of the world, there were +moments when both were exalted with a sense of completeness, and +terrified, when apart, with a hint of dissolution into unrelated +particles. + +When a man and woman arrive at that stage of reasoning and feeling, it +were idle for their chronicler to moralize; her part is but to tell the +story. + + +XI + +Mary Fawcett encouraged her daughter's social activity, and as +Hamilton's name entered the rapid accounts of revels and routs in the +most casual manner, she endeavoured to persuade herself that the madness +had passed with a languid afternoon. She was a woman of the world, but +the one experience that develops deepest insight had passed her by, and +there were shades and moods of the master passion over which her sharp +eyes roved without a shock. + +As she was too feeble to sit up after nine o'clock, she refused to open +her doors for the crab hunt, but gave Rachael the key of a little villa +on the crest of a peak behind the house, and told her to keep her +friends all night if she chose. + +This pavilion, designed for the hotter weeks of the hurricane season, +but seldom used by the Fawcetts, was a small stone building, with two +bedrooms and a living room, a swimming bath, and several huts for +servants. The outbuildings were dilapidated, but the house after an +airing and scrubbing was as fit for entertainment as any on St. Kitts. +The furniture in the Tropics is of cane, and there are no carpets or +hangings to invite destruction. Even the mattresses are often but +plaited thongs of leather, covered with strong linen, and stretched +until they are hard as wood. All Mary Fawcett's furniture was of +mahogany, the only wood impervious to the boring of the West Indian +worm. This tiny house on the mountain needed but a day's work to clean +it, and another to transform it into an arbour of the forest. The walls +of the rooms were covered with ferns, orchids, and croton leaves. Gold +and silver candelabra had been carried up from the house, and they would +hold half a hundred candles. + +All day the strong black women climbed the gorge and hill, their hips +swinging, baskets of wine, trays of delicate edibles, pyramids of linen, +balanced as lightly on their heads as were they no more in weight and +size than the turban beneath; their arms hanging, their soft voices +scolding the "pic'nees" who stumbled after them. + +Toward evening, Rachael and Kitty Hamilton walked down the mountain +together, and lingered in the heavy beauty of the gorge. The ferns grew +high above their heads, and palms of many shapes. The dark machineel +with its deadly fruit, the trailing vines on the tamarind trees, the +monkeys leaping, chattering with terror, through flaming hybiscus and +masses of orchid, the white volcanic rock, the long torn leaves of the +banana tree, the abrupt declines, crimson with wild strawberries, the +loud boom of the sunset gun from Brimstone Hill--Rachael never forgot a +detail of that last walk with her old friend. Hers was not the nature +for intimate friendships, but Catherine Hamilton had been one of her +first remembered playmates, her bridesmaid, and had hastened to +companion her when she emerged from the darkness of her married life. +But Catherine was an austere girl, of no great mental liveliness, and +the friendship, although sincere, was not rooted in the sympathies and +affections. She believed Rachael to be the most remarkable woman in the +world, and had never dared to contradict her, although she lowered her +fine head to no one else. But female virtue, as they expressed it in the +eighteenth century, stood higher in her estimation than all the gifts of +mind and soul which had been lavished upon Rachael Levine, and she was +the first to desert her when the final step was taken. But on this +evening there was no barrier, and she talked of her future with the man +she was to marry. She was happy and somewhat sentimental. Rachael sighed +and set her lips. All her girlhood friends were either married or about +to be--except Christiana, who had not a care in her little world. Why +were sorrow and disgrace for her alone? What have I done, she thought, +that I seem to be accursed? I have wronged no one, and I am more gifted +than any of these friends of mine. Not one of them has studied so +severely, and learned as much as I. Not one of them can command the +homage of such men as I. And yet I alone am singled out, first, for the +most hideous fate which can attack a woman, then to live apart from all +good men and women with a man I cannot marry, and who may break my +heart. I wish that I had not been born, and I would not be dead for all +the peace that is in the most silent depths of the Universe. + +At ten o'clock, that night, the hills were red with the torches of as +gay a company as ever had assembled on the Island. The Governor and Dr. +Hamilton were keen sportsmen, and nothing delighted them more than to +chase infuriated land-crabs down the side of a mountain. There were some +twenty men in the party, and most of them followed their distinguished +elders through brush and rocky passes. Occasionally, a sudden yell of +pain mingled with the shouts of mirth, for land-crabs have their methods +of revenge. The three or four girls whom Rachael had induced to attend +this masculine frolic, kept to the high refuge of the villa, attended by +cavaliers who dared not hint that maiden charms were less than +land-crabs. + +Hamilton and Rachael sat on the steps of the terrace, or paced up and +down, watching the scene. Just beyond their crest was the frowning mass +of Mount Misery. The crystal flood poured down from above, and the moon +was rising over the distant hills. The sea had the look of infinity. +There might be ships at anchor before Basseterre or Sandy Point, but the +shoulders of the mountain hid them; and below, the world looked as if +the passions of Hell had let loose--the torches flared and crackled, and +the trees took on hideous shapes. Once a battalion of the pale +venomous-looking crabs rattled across the terrace, and Rachael, who was +masculine in naught but her intellect, screamed and flung herself into +Hamilton's arms. A moment later she laughed, but their conversation +ceased then to be impersonal. It may be said here, that if Hamilton +failed in other walks of life, it was not from want of resolution where +women were concerned. And he was tired of philandering. + +The hunters returned, slaves carrying the slaughtered crabs in baskets. +There were many hands to shell the victims, and in less than half an +hour Mary Fawcett's cook sent in a huge and steaming dish. Then there +were mulled wines and port, cherry brandy and liqueurs to refresh the +weary, and sweets for the women. A livelier party never sat down to +table; and Hamilton, who was placed between two chattering girls, was a +man of the world, young as he was, and betrayed neither impatience nor +ennui. Rachael sat at the head of the table, between the Governor and +Dr. Hamilton. Her face, usually as white as porcelain, was pink in the +cheeks; her eyes sparkled, her nostrils fluttered with triumph. She +looked so exultant that more than one wondered if she were intoxicated +with her own beauty; but Dr. Hamilton understood, and his supper lost +its relish. Some time since he had concluded that where Mary Fawcett +failed he could not hope to succeed, but he had done his duty and +lectured his cousin. He understood human nature from its heights to its +dregs, however, and promised Hamilton his unaltered friendship, even +while in the flood of remonstrance. He was a philosopher, who invariably +held out his hand to the Inevitable, with a shrug of his shoulders, but +he loved Rachael, and wished that the ship that brought Levine to the +Islands had encountered a hurricane. + +The guests started for home at one o'clock, few taking the same path. +The tired slaves went down to their huts. Rachael remained on the +mountain, and Hamilton returned to her. + + +XII + +It was a month later that Rachael, returning after a long ride with +Hamilton, found her mother just descended from the family coach. + +"Is it possible that you have been to pay visits?" she asked, as she +hastened to support the feeble old woman up the steps. + +"No, I have been to Basseterre with Archibald Hamn." + +"Not to St. Peter's, I hope." + +"Oh, my dear, I do not feel in the mood to jest. I went to court to +secure the future of my three dear slaves, Rebecca, Flora, and Esther." + +Rachael placed her mother on one of the verandah chairs and dropped upon +another. + +"Why have you done that?" she asked faintly. "Surely--" + +"There are several things I fully realize, and one is that each attack +leaves me with less vitality to resist the next. These girls are the +daughters of my dear old Rebecca, who was as much to me as a black ever +can be to a white, and that is saying a good deal. I have just signed a +deed of trust before the Registrar--to Archibald. They are still mine +for the rest of my life, yours for your lifetime, or as long as you live +here; then they go to Archibald or his heirs. I want you to promise me +that they shall never go beyond this Island or Nevis." + +"I promise." Rachael had covered her face with her hand. + +"I believe you kept the last promise you made me. It is not in your +character to break your word, however you may see fit to take the law +into your own hands." + +"I kept it." + +"And you will live with him openly after my death. I have appreciated +your attempt to spare me." + +"Ah, you _do_ know me." + +"Some things may escape my tired old eyes, but I love you too well not +to have seen for a month past that you were as happy as a bride. I shall +say no more--save for a few moments with James Hamilton. I am old and +ill and helpless. You are young and indomitable. If I were as vigorous +and self-willed as when I left your father, I could not control you now. +I shall leave you independent. Will Hamilton, Archibald, and a few +others will stand by you; but alas! you will, in the course of nature, +outlive them all, and have no friend in the world but Hamilton--although +I shall write an appeal to your sisters to be sent to them after my +death. But oh, how I wish, how I wish, that you could marry this man." + +Mary Fawcett was attacked that night by the last harsh rigours of her +disease and all its complications. Until she died, a week later, +Rachael, except for the hour that Hamilton sat alone beside the bed of +the stricken woman, did not leave her mother. The immortal happiness of +the last month was forgotten. She was prostrate, literally on her knees +with grief and remorse, for she believed that her mother's discovery had +hastened the end. + +"No, it is not so," said Mary Fawcett, one day. "My time has come to +die. Will Hamilton will assure you of that, and I have watched the space +between myself and death diminish day by day, for six months past. I +have known that I should die before the year was out. It is true that I +die in sorrow and with a miserable sense of failure, for you have been +my best-beloved, my idol, and I leave you terribly placed in life and +with little hope of betterment. But for you I have no reproach. You have +given me love for love, and duty for duty. Life has treated you +brutally; what has come now was, I suppose, inevitable. Human nature +when it is strong enough is stronger than moral law. I grieve for you, +but I die without grievance against you. Remember that. And Hamilton? He +is honourable, and he loves you utterly--but is he strong? I wish I +knew. His emotions and his active brain give him so much apparent +force--but underneath? I wish I knew." + +Rachael was grateful for her mother's unselfish assurance, but she was +not to be consoled. The passions in her nature, released from other +thrall, manifested themselves in a grief so profound, and at times so +violent, that only her strong frame saved her from illness. For two +weeks after Mary Fawcett's death she refused to see James Hamilton; but +by that time he felt at liberty to assert his rights, and her finely +poised mind recovered its balance under his solace and argument. Her +life was his, and to punish him assuaged nothing of her sorrow. He had +decided, after consultation with his cousin, to take her to Nevis, not +only to seclude her from the scandalized society she knew best, but that +he might better divert her mind, in new scenes, from her heavy +affliction. Hamilton had already embarked in his business enterprise, +but he had bought and manned a sail-boat, which would carry him to and +from St. Kitts daily. In the dead calms of summer there was little +business doing. + +"I attempted no sophistry with my cousin," said Hamilton, "and for that +reason I think I have put the final corking-pin into our friendship. +Right or wrong we are going to live together for the rest of our lives, +because I will have no other woman, and you will have no other man; and +we will live together publicly, not only because neither of us has the +patience for scheming and deceit, but because passion is not our only +motive for union. There is gallantry on every side of us, and doubtless +we alone shall be made to suffer; for the world loves to be fooled, it +hates the crudeness of truth. But we have each other, and nothing else +matters." + +And to Rachael nothing else mattered, for her mother was dead, and she +loved Hamilton with an increasing passion that was long in culminating. + + +XIII + +They sailed over to Nevis, accompanied by a dozen slaves, and took +possession of Rachael's house in Main Street. It stood at the very end +of the town, beyond the point where the street ceased and the road round +the Island began. The high wall of the garden surrounded a grove of +palms and cocoanut trees. Only sojourners from England had occupied the +big comfortable house, and it was in good repair. + +When the acute stage of her grief had passed, it was idle for Rachael to +deny to Hamilton that she was happy. And at that time she had not a care +in the world, nor had he. Their combined incomes made them as careless +of money as any planter on the Island. Every ship from England brought +them books and music, and Hamilton was not only the impassioned lover +but the tenderest and most patient of husbands. Coaches dashed by and +the occupants cast up eyes and hands. The gay life of Nevis pulsed +unheeded about the high walls, whose gates were always locked. The +kinsman of the leading families of the Island and the most beautiful +daughter of old John and Mary Fawcett were a constant and agitating +theme, but two people lived their life of secluded and poignant +happiness, and took Nevis or St. Kitts into little account. + + + + +BOOK II + +ALEXANDER HAMILTON + +HIS YOUTH IN THE WEST INDIES AND IN THE COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA + + +I + +I should have been glad to find an old Almanac of Nevis which contained +a description of its 11th of January, 1757. But one January is much like +another in the Leeward Islands, and he who has been there can easily +imagine the day on which Alexander Hamilton was born. The sky was a +deeper blue than in summer, for the sun was resting after the terrific +labours of Autumn, and there was a prick in the trade winds which +stimulated the blood by day and chilled it a trifle at night. The slave +women moved more briskly, followed by a trotting brood of "pic'nees," +one or more clinging to their hips, all bewailing the rigours of winter. +Down in the river where they pounded the clothes on the stones, they +vowed they would carry the next linen to the sulphur springs, for the +very marrow in their bones was cold. In the Great Houses there were no +fires, but doors and windows were closed early and opened late, and +blankets were on every bed. The thermometer may have stood at 72 deg.. + +Nevis herself was like a green jewel casket, after the autumn rains. +Oranges and sweet limes were yellow in her orchards, the long-leaved +banana trees were swelling with bunches of fruit, the guavas were ready +for cream and the boiling. The wine was in the cocoanut, the royal palms +had shed their faded summer leaves and glittered like burnished metal. +The gorgeous masses of the croton bush had drawn fresh colour from the +rain. In the woods and in the long avenues which wound up the mountain +to the Great House of every estate, the air was almost cold; but out +under the ten o'clock sun, even a West Indian could keep warm, and the +negroes sang as they reaped the cane. The sea near the shore was like +green sunlight, but some yards out it deepened into that intense hot +blue which is the final excess of West Indian colouring. The spray flew +high over the reef between Nevis and St. Kitts, glittering like the salt +ponds on the desolate end of the larger island, the roar of the breakers +audible in the room where the child who was to be called Alexander +Hamilton was born. + +Rachael rose to a ceaseless demand upon her attention for which she was +grateful during the long days of Hamilton's absence. Alexander turned +out to be the most restless and monarchical of youngsters and preferred +his mother to his black attendants. She ruled him with a firm hand, +however, for she had no mind to lessen her pleasure in him, and although +she could not keep him quiet, she prevented the blacks from spoiling +him. + +During the hurricane months Hamilton yielded to her nervous fears, as he +had done in the preceding year, and crossed to St. Kitts but seldom. As +a matter of fact, hurricanes of the first degree, are rare in the West +Indies, the average to each island being one in a century. But from the +25th of August, when all the Caribbean world prostrates itself in church +while prayers for deliverance from the awful visitation are read, to the +25th of October, when the grateful or the survivors join in +thanksgiving, every wind alarms the nervous, and every round woolly +cloud must contain the white squall. Rachael knew that Nevis boats had +turned over when minor squalls dashed down the Narrows between the +extreme points of the Islands, and that they were most to be dreaded in +the hurricane season. Hamilton's inclination was to spare in every +possible way the woman who had sacrificed so much for him, and he asked +little urging to idle his days in the cool library with his charming +wife and son. Therefore his business suffered, for his partners took +advantage of his negligence; and the decay of their fortunes began when +Rachael, despite the angry protests of Archibald Hamn, sold her property +on St. Kitts and gave Hamilton the money. He withdrew from the firm +which had treated him inconsiderately, and set up a business for +himself. For a few years he was hopeful, although more than once +obliged to borrow money from his wife. She gave freely, for she had been +brought up in the careless plenty of the Islands. Mary Fawcett, +admirable manager as she was, had been lavish with money, particularly +when her favourite child was in question; and Rachael's imagination had +never worked toward the fact that money could roll down hill and not +roll up again. She was long in discovering that the man she loved and +admired was a failure in the uninteresting world of business. He was a +brilliant and charming companion, read in the best literatures of the +world, a thoughtful and adoring husband. It availed Archibald Hamn +nothing to rage or Dr. Hamilton to remonstrate. Rachael gradually +learned that Hamilton was not as strong as herself, but the maternal +instinct, so fully aroused by her child, impelled her to fill out his +nature with hers, while denying nothing to the man who did all he could +to make her happy. + +In the third year Hamilton gave up his sail-boat, and had himself rowed +across the Narrows, where the overlooker of a salt estate he had bought +awaited him with a horse. Once he would have thought nothing of walking +the eight miles to Basseterre, but the Tropics, while they sharpen the +nerves, caress unceasingly the indolence of man. During the hurricane +season he crossed as often as he thought necessary, for with expert +oarsmen there was little danger, even from squalls, and the distance was +quickly covered. + +Gradually Rachael's position was accepted. Nothing could alter the fact +that she was the daughter of Dr. and Mary Fawcett, and Hamilton was of +the best blood in the Kingdom. She was spoken of generally as Mistress +Hamilton, and old friends of her parents began to greet her pleasantly +as she drove about the Island with her beautiful child. In time they +called, and from that it was but another step to invite, as a matter of +course, the young Hamiltons to their entertainments. After all, Rachael +was not the first woman in tropical Great Britain to love a man she +could not marry, and it was fatiguing to ask the everlasting question of +whether the honesty of a public irregular alliance were not +counterbalanced by its dangerous example. It was a day of loose morals, +the first fruit of the vast scientific movement of the century, whose +last was the French Revolution. Moreover, the James Hamiltons were +delightful people, and life on the Islands was a trifle monotonous at +times; they brought into Nevis society fresh and unusual personalities, +spiced with a salient variety. Hamilton might almost be said to have +been born an astute man of the world. He opened his doors with an +accomplished hospitality to the most intelligent and cultivated people +of the Island, ignoring those who based their social pretensions on rank +and wealth alone. In consequence he and his wife became the leaders of a +small and exclusive set, who appreciated their good fortune. Dr. +Hamilton and a few other Kittifonians were constant visitors in this +hospitable mansion. Christiana Huggins, who had taken a bold stand from +the first, carried her father there one day in triumph, and that austere +parent laid down his arms. All seemed well, and the crumbling of the +foundations made no sound. + +And Alexander? He was an excitable and ingenious imp, who saved himself +from many a spanking by his sparkling mind and entrancing sweetness of +temper. He might fly at his little slaves and beat them, and to his +white playmates he never yielded a point; but they loved him, for he was +generous and honest, and the happiest little mortal on the Island. He +could get into as towering a rage as old John Fawcett, but he was +immediately amenable to the tenderness of his parents. + +When he was four years old he was sent to a small school, which happened +to be kept by a Jewess. In spite of his precocity his parents had no +wish to force a mind which, although delightful to them in its saucy +quickness, aroused no ambitious hopes; they sent him to school merely +that there might be less opportunity to spoil him at home. His new +experience was of a brief duration. + +Hamilton on a Sunday was reading to Rachael in the library. Alexander +shoved a chair to the table and climbed with some difficulty, for he was +very small, to an elevated position among the last reviews of Europe. +He demanded the attention of his parents, and, clasping his hands behind +his back, began to recite rapidly in an unknown tongue. The day was very +hot, and he wore nothing but a white apron. His little pink feet were +bare on the mahogany, and his fair curls fell over a flushed and earnest +face, which at all times was too thin and alert to be angelic or +cherubic. Hamilton and Rachael, wondering whom he fancied himself +imitating, preserved for a moment a respectful silence, then, overcome +by his solemn countenance and the fluency of his outlandish utterance, +burst into one of those peals of sudden laughter which seem to strike +the most sensitive chord in young children. Alexander shrieked in wrath +and terror, and made as if to fling himself on his mother's bosom, then +planted his feet with an air of stubborn defiance, and went on with his +recital. Hamilton listened a moment longer, then left the house +abruptly. He returned in wrath. + +"That woman has taught him the Decalogue in Hebrew!" he exclaimed. "'Tis +a wonder his brains are not addled. He will sail boats in the +swimming-bath and make shell houses in the garden for the next three +years. We'll have no more of school." + + +II + +Alexander Hamilton had several escapes from imminent peril when he was a +boy, and the first occurred in the month of December, 1761. Hamilton had +gone to St. Croix on business, and Rachael and the child spent the +fortnight of his absence with Christiana Huggins. Rachael was accustomed +to Hamilton's absences, but Nevis was in a very unhealthy condition, +through lack of wind and rains during the preceding autumn. The sea had +looked like a metal floor for months, the Island was parched and dry, +the swamps on the lowlands were pestiferous. Many negroes had died in +Charles Town, and many more were ill. The obeah doctors, with their +absurd concoctions and practices, were openly defying the physicians of +repute, for the terrified blacks believed that the English had prayed +once too often that the hurricane should be stayed, and that he sulked +where none might feel his faintest breath. Therefore they cursed the +white doctor as futile, and flung his physic from the windows. + +Rachael was glad to escape to the heights with Alexander. There it was +almost as cool as it should be in December, and she could watch for her +husband's sloop. He had gone with the first light wind, and there was +enough to bring him home, although with heavy sail. She forgot the +muttering negroes and the sickness below. Her servants had been +instructed to nurse and nourish where assistance was needed, and up here +there was nothing to do but wander with her friend and child through the +gay beauty of the terraced garden, or climb the stone steps to the cold +quiet depths of the forest. + +At the end of a fortnight there was no sign of her husband's sloop, but +the wind was strengthening, and she decided to return home and make +ready for him. During the long drive she passed negroes in large +numbers, either walking toward Charles Town or standing in muttering +groups by the roadside. At one time the driveway was so thick with them +that her coach could not pass until the postilion laid about him with +his whip. + +"This is very odd," she said to her nurse. "I have never seen anything +like this before." + +"Me no t'ink he nothin'. All go tee tick--oh, dis pic'nee no keep till +one minit. Me no t'ink about he'n de road." + +She lifted the child between her face and her mistress's eyes, and +Rachael saw that her hand trembled. "Can the negroes be rising?" she +wondered; and for a moment she was faint with terror, and prayed for +Hamilton's return. + +But she was heroic by nature, and quickly recovered her poise. When she +arrived at home she sent the nurse to Charles Town on an errand, then +went directly to her bedroom, which was disconnected from the other +rooms, and called her three devoted maids, Rebecca, Flora, and Esther. +They came running at the sound of her voice, and she saw at once that +they were terrified and ready to cling to her garments. + +"What is the matter?" she demanded. "Tell me at once." + +"Me no know fo' sure," said Rebecca, "but me t'ink, t'ink, till me yell +in me tleep. Somethin' ter'ble go to happen. Me feel he in de air. All +de daddys, all de buddys, 'peak, 'peak, togedder all de time, an' look +so bad--an' de oby doctors put de curse ebberywheres. Me fine befo' de +gate dis mornin' one pudden', de mud an' oil an' horsehair, but me no +touch he. Me ask all de sissys me know, what comes, but he no 'peak. He +run out he tongue, and once he smack me ear. Oh, Mistress, take us back +to Sinkitts." + +"But do you _know_ nothing?" + +They shook their heads, but stared at her hopefully, for they believed +implicitly in her power to adjust all things. + +"And my other slaves? Do you think they are faithful to me?" + +"All in de town all de time. Me ask ebbery he tell me what comes, and he +say 'nothin,' but I no believe he." + +"And has the Governor taken no notice?" + +"De Gobbenor lord and all de noble Buckras go yis'day to Sinkitts. Take +de militia for one gran' parade in Bassetarr. Is de birfday to-morrow de +Gobbenor lord de Sinkitts. Up in de Great Houses no hear nothin', an' +all quiet on 'states till yes'day. Now comin' to town an' look so bad, +so bad!" + +"Very well, then, the Governor and the militia must come back. Rebecca, +you are the most sensible as well as the weakest in the arms. You will +stay here to-night, and you will not falter for a moment. As soon as it +is dark Flora and Esther will row me across the channel, and I will send +the Buckra's agent on a fast horse with a note to the Governor. If the +other house servants return, you will tell them that I am ill and that +Flora and Esther are nursing me. You will lock the gates, and open them +to no one unless your Buckra should return. Do you understand?" + +The slave rolled her eyes, but nodded. She might have defied the +Captain-General, but not one of the Fawcetts. + +There were two hours before dark. Rachael was conscious of every nerve +in her body, and paced up and down the long line of rooms which +terminated in the library, until Alexander's legs were worn out trotting +after her, and he fell asleep on the floor. Twice she went to the roof +to look for Hamilton's sloop, but saw not a sail on the sea; and the +streets of Charles Town were packed with negroes. England sent no +soldiers to protect her Islands, and every free male between boyhood and +old age was forced by law to join the militia. It was doubtful if there +were a dozen muscular white men on Nevis that night, for the birthday of +a Governor was a fete of hilarities. Unless the militia returned that +night, the blacks, if they really were plotting vengeance, and she knew +their superstitions, would have burned every house and cane-field before +morning. + +The brief twilight passed. The mist rolled down from the heights of +Nevis. Rachael, with Alexander in her arms, and followed by her maids, +stole along the shore through the thick cocoanut groves, meeting no one. +They were far from the town's centre, and all the blacks on the Island +seemed to be gathered there. The boat was beached, and it took the +combined efforts of the three women to launch it. When they pushed off, +the roar of the breakers and the heavy mist covered their flight. But +there was another danger, and the very physical strength of the slaves +departed before it. They had rowed their mistress about the roadstead +before St. Kitts a hundred times, but the close proximity of the reef so +terrified them that Rachael was obliged to take the oars; while Flora +caught Alexander in so convulsive an embrace that he awoke and protested +with all the vigour of his lungs. His mother's voice, to which he was +peculiarly susceptible, hushed him, and he held back his own, although +the gasping bosom on which he rested did not tend to soothe a nervous +child. But there were other ways of expressing outraged feelings, and he +kicked like a little steer. + +Rachael herself was not too sure of her knowledge of the dangerous +channel, although she had crossed it many times with Hamilton; and the +mist was floating across to St. Kitts. The hollow boom of the reef +seemed so close that she expected to hear teeth in the boat every +moment, and she knew that far and wide the narrows bristled. She +wondered if her hair were turning white, and her straining nerves +quivered for a moment with a feminine regret; for she knew the power of +her beauty over Hamilton. But her arms kept their strength. Life had +taught her to endure more than a half-hour of mortal anxiety. + +She reached the shore in safety, and Esther recovered her muscle and +agreed to run to the overlooker's house and send him, on his fleetest +horse, with her mistress's note to the Governor of Nevis. When the +others reached the house, a mile from the Narrows, the man had gone; and +Rachael could do no more. The overlookers wife mulled wine, and the +maids were soon asleep. Alexander refused to go to bed, and Rachael, who +was not in a disciplinary mood, led him out into the open to watch for +the boats of the Governor and his militia. There was no moon; they could +cross and land near Hamilton's house and overpower, without discharging +a gun, the negroes packed in Charles Town. If the Governor were prompt, +the blacks, even had they dispersed to fire the estates, would not have +time for havoc; and she knew the tendency of the negro to procrastinate. +They did not expect the Governor until late on the following day; they +could drink all night and light their torches at dawn when Nevis was +heavy in her last sleep. Nevertheless, Rachael watched the Island +anxiously. + +Fortunately, Alexander possessed an inquiring mind, and she was obliged +to answer so many questions that the strain was relieved. They walked +amidst a wild and dismal scene. The hills were sterile and black. The +salt ponds, sunken far below the level of the sea, from lack of rain, +glittered white, but they were set with aloes and manchineel, and there +were low and muddy flats to be avoided. It was a new aspect of nature to +the child who had lived his four years amid the gay luxuriance of tropic +verdure, and he was mightily interested. Nevertheless, it was a long +hour before the overlooker returned with word that the Governor was on +his way to Nevis with the militia of both Islands--for St. Kitts was +quiet, its negroes having taken the drouth philosophically--and that her +husband was with them. He had arrived at Basseterre as the boats were +leaving; as a member of the Governor's staff, he had no choice. He had +sent her word, however, not to return to Nevis that night; and Rachael +and Alexander went down to the extreme point of the Island and sat there +through a cold night of bitter anxiety. With the dawn Hamilton came for +them. + +The negroes, surprised and overwhelmed, had surrendered without +resistance, and before they had left the town. They confessed that their +intention had been to murder every white on the Island, seize the +ammunition which was stored on the estates, and fire upon the militia as +it passed, on the following day. The ringleaders and obeah doctors were +either publicly executed or punished with such cruelty that the other +malcontents were too cowed to plan another rebellion; and the abundant +rains of the following autumn restored their faith in the white man. + + +III + +When Alexander was five years old, James arrived, an object of much +interest to his elder brother, but a child of ordinary parts to most +beholders. He came during the last days of domestic tranquillity; for it +was but a few weeks later that Hamilton was obliged to announce to +Rachael that his fortunes, long tottering, had collapsed to their rotten +foundations. It was some time before she could accommodate her +understanding to the fact that there was nothing left, for even Levine +had not dared to lose his money, far less her own; and had she ever +given the subject of wealth a thought, she would have assumed that it +had roots in certain families which no adverse circumstance could +deplace. She had overheard high words between Archibald Hamn and her +husband in the library, but Hamilton's casual explanations had satisfied +her, and she had always disliked Archibald as a possible stepfather. Dr. +Hamilton had frequently looked grave after a conversation with his +kinsman, but Rachael was too unpractical to attribute his heavier moods +to anything but his advancing years. + +When Hamilton made her understand that they were penniless, and that his +only means of supporting her was to accept an offer from Peter Lytton to +take charge of a cattle estate on St. Croix, Rachael's controlling +sensation was dismay that this man whom she had idolized and idealized, +who was the forgiven cause of her remarkable son's illegitimacy, was a +failure in his competition with other men. Money would come somehow, it +always had; but Hamilton dethroned, shoved out of the ranks of planters +and merchants, reduced to the status of one of his own overlookers, +almost was a new and strange being, and she dared not bid forth her +hiding thoughts. + +Fortunately the details of moving made life impersonal and commonplace. +The three slaves whose future had been the last concern but one of Mary +Fawcett, were sent, wailing, to Archibald Hamn. Two of the others were +retained to wait upon the children, the rest sold with the old mahogany +furniture and the library. The Hamiltons set sail for St. Croix on a day +in late April. The sympathy of their friends had been expressed in more +than one offer of a lucrative position, but Hamilton was intensely +proud, and too mortified at his failure to remain obscure among a people +who had been delighted to accept his princely and exclusive hospitality. +On St. Croix he was almost unknown. + +They made the voyage in thirty-two hours, but as the slaves were ill, +after the invariable habit of their colour, Rachael had little respite +from her baby, or Hamilton from Alexander, whose restless legs and +enterprising mind kept him in constant motion; and the day began at five +o'clock. There was no opportunity for conversation, and Hamilton was +grateful to the miserable mustees. He had the tact to let his wife +readjust herself to her damaged idols without weak excuses and a +pleading which would have distressed her further, but he was glad to be +spared intimate conversation with her. + +As they sailed into the bright green waters before Frederikstadt, the +sun blazed down upon the white town on the white plain with a vicious +energy which Rachael had never seen on Nevis during the hottest and most +silent months of the year. She closed her eyes and longed for the cool +shallows of the harbour, and even Alexander ceased to watch the flying +fish dart like silver blades over the water, and was glad to be stowed +comfortably into one of the little deck-houses. As for the slaves, +weakened by illness, they wept and refused to gather themselves +together. + +But Rachael's soul, which had felt faint for many days, rose triumphant +in the face of this last affliction. Like all West Indians, she hated +extreme heat, and during those months on her own Islands when the trades +hibernated, rarely left the house. She remembered little of St. Croix. +Her imagination had disassociated itself from all connected with it, but +now it burst into hideous activity and pictured interminable years of +scorching heat and blinding glare. For a moment she descended to the +verge of hysteria, from which she struggled with so mighty an effort +that it vitalized her spirit for the ordeal of her new life; and when +Hamilton, cursing himself, came to assist her to land, she was able to +remark that she recalled the beauty of Christianstadt, and to +anathematize her sea-green maids. + +The trail of Spain is over all the islands, and on St. Croix has left +its picturesque mark in the heavy arcades which front the houses in the +towns. Behind these arcades one can pass from street to street with +brief egress into the awful downpour of the sun, and they give to both +towns an effect of architectural beauty. At that time palms and +cocoanuts grew in profusion along the streets of Frederikstadt and in +the gardens, tempering the glare of the sun on the coral. + +Peter Lytton's coach awaited the Hamiltons, and at six o'clock they +started for their new home. The long driveway across the Island was set +with royal palms, beyond which rolled vast fields of cane. St. Croix was +approaching the height of her prosperity, and almost every inch of her +fertile acres was under cultivation. They rolled up and over every hill, +the heavy stone houses, with their negro hamlets and mills, rising like +half-submerged islands, unless they crowned a height. The roads swarmed +with Africans, who bowed profoundly to the strangers in the fine coach, +grinning an amiable welcome. Surrounded by so generous a suggestion of +hospitality and plenty, with the sun low in the west, the spirits of the +travellers rose, and Rachael thought with more composure upon the +morrow's encounter with her elder sisters. She knew them very slightly, +their husbands less. When her connection with Hamilton began, +correspondence between them had ceased; but like others they had +accepted the relation, and for the last three years Hamilton had been a +welcome guest at their houses when business took him to St. Croix. Mrs. +Lytton had been the first to whom he had confided his impending failure, +and she, remembering her mother's last letter and profoundly pitying the +young sister who seemed marked for misfortune, had persuaded her husband +to offer Hamilton the management of his grazing estates on the eastern +end of the Island. She wrote to Rachael, assuring her of welcome, and +reminding her that her story was unknown on St. Croix, that she would be +accepted without question as Hamilton's wife and their sister. But +Rachael knew that the truth would come out as soon as they had attracted +the attention of their neighbours, and she had seen enough of the world +to be sure that what people tolerated in the wealthy they censured in +the unimportant. To depend upon her sisters' protection instead of her +own lifelong distinction, galled her proud spirit. For the first time +she understood how powerless Hamilton was to protect her. The glamour of +that first year when nothing mattered was gone for ever. She had two +children, one of them uncommon, and they were to encounter life without +name or property. True, Levine might die, or Hamilton make some +brilliant coup, but she felt little of the buoyancy of hope as they left +the cane-fields and drove among the dark hills to their new home. + +The house and outbuildings were on a high eminence, surrounded on three +sides by hills. Below was a lagoon, which was separated from the sea by +a deep interval of tidal mud set thick with mangroves. The outlet +through this swamp was so narrow that a shark which had found its way in +when young had grown too large to return whence he came, and was the +solitary and discontented inhabitant of the lagoon. The next morning +Rachael, rising early and walking on the terrace with Alexander, was +horrified to observe him warming his white belly in the sun. On three +sides of the lagoon was a thick grove of manchineels, hung with their +deadly apples; here and there a palm, which drooped as if in discord +with its neighbours. It was an uncheerful place for a woman with terror +and tumult in her soul, but the house was large and had been made +comfortable by her brother-in-laws' slaves. + +Mrs. Lytton and Mrs. Mitchell drove over for the eleven o'clock +breakfast. They were very kind, but they were many years older than the +youngest of their family, proudly conscious of their virtue, +uncomprehending of the emotions which had nearly wrenched Rachael's soul +from her body more than once. Moreover, Mrs. Mitchell was the physical +image of Mary Fawcett without the inheritance of so much as the old +lady's temper; and there were moments, as she sat chattering amiably +with Alexander, with whom she immediately fell in love, when Rachael +could have flown at and throttled her because she was not her mother. +Mrs. Lytton was delicate and nervous, but more reserved, and Rachael +liked her better. Nevertheless, she was heartily glad to be rid of both +of them, and reflected with satisfaction that she was to live on the +most isolated part of the Island. She had begged them to ask no one to +call, and for months she saw little of anybody except her family. + +Her household duties were many, and she was forced at once to alter her +lifelong relation to domestic economics. Hamilton's salary was six +hundred pieces of eight, and for a time the keeping of accounts and the +plans for daily disposal of the small income furnished almost the only +subjects of conversation between her husband and herself. His duties +kept him on horseback during all but the intolerable hours of the day, +and until their new life had become a commonplace they were fortunate +in seeing little of each other. + +Alexander long since had upset his father's purpose to defer the opening +of his mind until the age of seven. He had taught himself the rudiments +of education by such ceaseless questioning of both his parents that they +were glad to set him a daily task and keep him at it as long as +possible. In this new home he had few resources besides his little books +and his mother, who gave him all her leisure. There were no white +playmates, and he was not allowed to go near the lagoon, lest the shark +get him or he eat of forbidden fruit. Just after his sixth birthday, +however, several changes occurred in his life: Peter Lytton sent him a +pony, his father killed the shark and gave him a boat, and he made the +acquaintance of the Rev. Hugh Knox. + +This man, who was to play so important a part in the life of Alexander +Hamilton, was himself a personality. At this time but little over +thirty, he had, some years since, come to the West Indies with a +classical library and a determination to rescue the planters from that +hell which awaits those who drowse through life in a clime where it is +always summer when it is not simply and blazingly West Indian. He soon +threw the mantle of charity over the patient planters, and became the +boon companion of many; but he made converts and was mightily proud of +them. His was the zeal of the converted. When he arrived in the United +States, in 1753, young, fresh from college, enthusiastic, and handsome, +he found favour at once in the eyes of the Rev. Dr. Rogers of Middletown +on the Delaware, to whom he had brought a letter of introduction. +Through the influence of this eminent divine, he obtained a school and +many friends. The big witty Irishman was a welcome guest at the popular +tavern, and was not long establishing himself as the leader of its +hilarities. He was a peculiarly good mimic, and on Saturday nights his +boon companions fell into the habit of demanding his impersonation of +some character locally famous. One night he essayed a reproduction of +Dr. Rogers, then one of the most celebrated men of his cloth. Knox +rehearsed the sermon of the previous Sunday, not only with all the +divine's peculiarity of gesture and inflection, but almost word for +word; for his memory was remarkable. At the start his listeners +applauded violently, then subsided into the respectful silence they were +wont to accord Dr. Rogers; at the finish they stole out without a word. +As for Knox, he sat alone, overwhelmed with the powerful sermon he had +repeated, and by remorse for his own attempted levity. His emotional +Celtic nature was deeply impressed. A few days later he disappeared, and +was not heard of again until, some months after, Dr. Rogers learned that +he was the guest of the Rev. Aaron Burr at Newark, and studying for the +church. He was ordained in due course, converted his old companions, +then set sail for St. Croix. + +Hamilton met him at Peter Lytton's, talked with him the day through, and +carried him home to dinner. After that he became little less than an +inmate of the household; a room was furnished for him, and when he did +not occupy it, he rode over several times a week. His books littered +every table and shelf. + +Alexander was his idol, and he was the first to see that the boy was +something more than brilliant. Hamilton had accepted his son's +cleverness as a matter of course, and Rachael, having a keen contempt +for fatuous mothers, hardly had dared admit to herself that her son was +to other boys as a star to pebbles. When Knox, who had undertaken his +education at once, assured her that he must distinguish himself if he +lived, probably in letters, life felt almost fresh again, although she +regretted his handicap the more bitterly. As for Knox, his patience was +inexhaustible. Alexander would have everything resolved into its +elements, and was merciless in his demand for information, no matter +what the thermometer. He had no playmates until he was nine, and by that +time he had much else to sober him. Of the ordinary pleasures of +childhood he had scant knowledge. + +Rachael wondered at the invariable sunniness of his nature,--save when +he flew into a rage,--for under the buoyancy of her own had always been +a certain melancholy. Before his birth she had gone to the extremes of +happiness and grief, her normal relation to life almost forgotten. But +the sharpened nerves of the child manifested themselves in acute +sensibilities and an extraordinary precocity of intellect, never in +morbid or irritable moods. He was excitable, and had a high and +sometimes furious temper, but even his habit of study never extinguished +his gay and lively spirits. On the other hand, beneath the surface +sparkle of his mind was a British ruggedness and tenacity, and a +stubborn oneness of purpose, whatever might be the object, with which no +lighter mood interfered. All this Rachael lived long enough to discover +and find compensation in, and as she mastered the duties of her new life +she companioned the boy more and more. James was a good but +uninteresting baby, who made few demands upon her, and was satisfied +with his nurse. She never pretended to herself that she loved him as she +did Alexander, for aside from the personality of her first-born, he was +the symbol and manifest of her deepest living. + +Although Rachael was monotonously conscious of the iron that had impaled +her soul, she was not quite unhappy at this time, and she never ceased +to love Hamilton. Whatever his lacks and failures, nothing could destroy +his fascination as a man. His love for her, although tranquillized by +time, was still strong enough to keep alive his desire' to please her, +and he thought of her as his wife always. He felt the change in her, and +his soul rebelled bitterly at the destruction of his pedestal and halo, +and all that fiction had meant to both of them; but he respected her +reserve, and the subject never came up between them. He knew that she +never would love any one else, that she still loved him passionately, +despite the shattered ideal of him; and he consoled himself with the +reflection that even in giving him less than her entire store, she gave +him, merely by being herself, more than he had thought to find in any +woman. His courteous attentions to her had never relaxed, and in time +the old companionship was resumed; they read and discussed as in their +other home; but this their little circle was widened by two, Alexander +and Hugh Knox. The uninterrupted intimacy of their first years was not +to be resumed. + +They saw little of the society of St. Croix. In 1763 Christiana Huggins, +visiting the Peter Lyttons, married her host's brother, James, and +settled on the Island. She drove occasionally to the lonely estate in +the east, but she had a succession of children and little time for old +duties. Rachael exchanged calls at long intervals with her sisters and +their intimate friends, the Yards, Lillies, Crugers, Stevens, Langs, and +Goodchilds, but she had been too great a lady to strive now for social +position, practically dependent as she was on the charity of her +relatives. + + +IV + +In the third year of their life on St. Croix, Rachael discovered that +Peter Lytton was dissatisfied with Hamilton, and retained him to his own +detriment, out of sympathy for herself and her children. From that time +she had few tranquil moments. It was as if, like the timid in the +hurricane season, she sat constantly with ears strained for that first +loud roar in the east. She realized then that the sort of upheaval which +shatters one's economic life is but the precursor of other upheavals, +and she thought on the unknown future until her strong soul was faint +again. + +Hamilton was one of those men whose gifts are ruined by their impulses, +in whom the cultivation of sober judgement is interrupted by the +excesses of a too sanguine temperament. He was honourable, and always +willing to admit his mistakes, but years and repeated failure did little +toward balancing his faults and virtues. In time he wore out the +patience of even those who loved and admired him. His wife remained his +one loyal and unswerving friend, but her part in his life was near its +finish. The day came when Peter Lytton, exasperated once too often, +after an ill-considered sale of valuable stock, let fly his temper, and +further acceptance of his favour was out of the question. Hamilton, +after a scene with his wife, in which his agony and remorse quickened +all the finest passions in her own nature, sailed for the Island of St. +Vincent, in the hope of finding employment with one of his former +business connections. He had no choice but to leave his wife and +children dependent upon her relatives until he could send for them; and +a week later Rachael was forced to move to Peter Lytton's. + +Her brother-in-law's house was very large. She was given an upstairs +wing of it and treated with much consideration, but this final ignominy +broke her haughty spirit, and she lost interest in herself. She was +thankful that her children were not to grow up in want, that Alexander +was able to continue his studies with Hugh Knox. He was beyond her now +in everything but French, in which they read and talked together daily. +She also discussed constantly with him those heroes of history +distinguished not only for great achievements, but for sternest honour. +She dreamed of his future greatness, and sometimes of her part in it. +But her inner life was swathed like a mummy. + +To Alexander the change would have been welcome had he understood his +mother less. But the ordinary bright boy of nine is acute and observing, +and this boy of Rachael's, with his extraordinary intuitions, his +unboyish brain, his sympathetic and profound affection for his mother, +felt with her and criticised his father severely. To him failure was +incomprehensible, then, as later, for self-confidence and indomitability +were parts of his equipment; and that a man of his father's age and +experience, to say nothing of his education and intellect, should so +fail in the common relation of life, and break the heart and pride of +the uncommonest of women, filled him with a deep disappointment, which, +no doubt, was the first step toward the early loss of certain illusions. + +Otherwise his life was vastly improved. He soon became intimate with +boys of neighbouring estates, Edward and Thomas Stevens, and Benjamin +Yard, and for a time they all studied together under Hugh Knox. At first +there was discord, for Alexander would have led a host of cherubims or +had naught to do with them, and these boys were clever and spirited. +There were rights of word and fist in the lee of Mr. Lytton's barn, +where interference was unlikely; but the three succumbed speedily, not +alone to the powerful magnetism in little Hamilton's mind, and to his +active fists, but because he invariably excited passionate attachment, +unless he encountered jealous hate. When his popularity with these boys +was established they adored the very blaze of his temper, and when he +formed them into a soldier company and marched them up and down the palm +avenue for a morning at a time, they never murmured, although they were +like to die of the heat and unaccustomed exertion. Neddy Stevens, who +resembled him somewhat in face, was the closest of these boyhood +friends. + +Alexander was a great favourite with Mr. Lytton, who took him to ride +every morning; Mrs. Lytton preferred James, who was a comfortable child +to nurse; but Mrs. Mitchell was the declared slave of her lively nephew, +and sent her coach for him on Saturday mornings. As for Hugh Knox, he +never ceased to whittle at the boy's ambition and point it toward a +great place in modern letters. Had he been born with less sound sense +and a less watchful mother, it is appalling to think what a brat he +would have been; but as it was, the spoiling but fostered a +self-confidence which was half the battle in after years. + +Hamilton never returned. His letters to his wife spoke always of the +happiness of their final reunion, of belief in the future. His brothers +had sent him money, and he hoped they would help him to recover his +fortunes. But two years passed and he was still existing on a small +salary, his hopes and his impassioned tenderness were stereotyped. +Rachael's experience with Hamilton had developed her insight. She knew +that man requires woman to look after her own fuel. If she cannot, he +may carry through life the perfume of a sentiment, and a tender regret, +but it grows easy and more easy to live without her. It was a long while +before she forced her penetrating vision round to the certainty that she +never should see Hamilton again, and then she realized how strong hope +had been, that her interest in herself was not dead, that her love must +remain quick through interminable years of monotony and humiliation. For +a time she was so alive that she went close to killing herself, but she +fought it out as she had fought through other desperate crises, and +wrenched herself free of her youth, to live for the time when her son's +genius should lift him so high among the immortals that his birth would +matter as little as her own hours of agony. But the strength that +carried her triumphantly through that battle was fed by the last of her +vitality, and it was not long before she knew that she must die. + +Alexander knew it first. The change in his mother was so sudden, the +earthen hue of her white skin, the dimming of her splendid eyes, spoke +so unmistakably of some strange collapse of the vital forces, that it +seemed to the boy who worshipped her as if all the noises of the +Universe were shrieking his anguish. At the same time he fought for an +impassive exterior, then bolted from the house and rode across the +Island for a doctor. The man came, prescribed for a megrim, and +Alexander did not call him again; nor did he mention his mother's +condition to the rest of the family. She was in the habit of remaining +in her rooms for weeks at a time, and she had her own attendants. Mrs. +Lytton was an invalid, and Peter Lytton, while ready to give of his +bounty to his wife's sister, had too little in common with Rachael to +seek her companionship. Alexander felt the presence of death too surely +to hope, and was determined to have his mother to himself during the +time that remained. He confided in Hugh Knox, then barely left the +apartments. + +Just before her collapse Rachael was still a beautiful woman. She was +only thirty-two when she died. Her face, except when she forced her +brain to activity, was sad and worn, but the mobile beauty of the +features was unimpaired, and her eyes were luminous, even at their +darkest. Her head was always proudly erect, and nature had given her a +grace and a dash which survived broken fortunes and the death of her +coquetry. No doubt this is the impression of her which Alexander carried +through life, for those last two months passed to the sound of falling +ruins, on which he was too sensible to dwell when they had gone into the +control of his will. + +After she had admitted to Alexander that she understood her condition, +they seldom alluded to the subject, although their conversation was as +rarely impersonal. The house stood high, and Rachael's windows commanded +one of the most charming views on the Island. Below was the green +valley, with the turbaned women moving among the cane, then the long +white road with its splendid setting of royal palms, winding past a hill +with groves of palms, marble fountains and statues, terraces covered +with hibiscus and orchid, and another Great House on its summit. Far to +the right, through an opening in the hills, was a glimpse of the sea. + +Rachael lay on a couch in a little balcony during much of the soft +winter day, and talked to Alexander of her mother and her youth, finally +of his father, touching lightly on the almost forgotten episode with +Levine. All that she did not say his creative brain divined, and when +she told him what he had long suspected, that his mother's name was +unknown to the Hamiltons of Grange, he accepted the fact as but one more +obstacle to be overthrown in the battle with life which he had long +known he was to fight unaided. To criticise his mother never occurred to +him; her control of his heart and imagination was too absolute. His only +regret was that she could not live until he was able to justify her. The +audacity and boldness of his nature were stimulated by the prospect of +this sharp battle with the world's most cherished convention, and he was +fully aware of all that he owed to his mother. When he told her this she +said:-- + +"I regret nothing, even though it has brought me to this. In the first +place, it is not in me to do anything so futile. In the second place, I +have been permitted to live in every part of my nature, and how many +women can say that? In the third, you are in the world, and if I could +live I should see you the honoured of all men. I die with regret because +you need me for many years to come, and I have suffered so much that I +never could suffer again. Remember always that you are to be a great +man, not merely a successful one. Your mind and your will are capable of +all things. Never try for the second best, and that means to put your +immediate personal desire aside when it encounters one of the ideals of +your time. Unless you identify yourself with the great principles of the +world you will be a failure, because your mind is created in harmony +with them, and if you use it for smaller purposes it will fail as surely +as if it tried to lie or steal. Your passions are violent, and you have +a blackness of hate in you which will ruin you or others according to +the control you acquire over it; so be warned. But you never can fail +through any of the ordinary defects of character. You are too bold and +independent to lie, even if you had been born with any such disposition; +you are honourable and tactful, and there is as little doubt of your +fascination and your power over others. But remember--use all these +great forces when your ambition is hottest, then you can stumble upon no +second place. As for your heart, it will control your head sometimes, +but your insatiable brain will accomplish so much that it can afford to +lose occasionally; and the warmth of your nature will make you so many +friends, that I draw from it more strength to die than from all your +other gifts. Leave this Island as soon as you can. Ah, if I could give +you but a few thousands to force the first doors!" + +She died on the 25th of February, 1768. Her condition had been known for +some days, and her sisters had shed many tears, aghast and deeply +impressed at the tragic fate of this youngest, strangest, and most +gifted of their father's children. Unconsciously they had expected her +to do something extraordinary, and it was yet too soon to realize that +she had. His aunts had announced far and wide that Alexander was the +brightest boy on the Island, but that a nation lay folded in his saucy +audacious brain they hardly could be expected to know. + + +V + +The Great House of Peter Lytton was hung with white from top to bottom, +and every piece of furniture looked as if the cold wing of death had +touched it. A white satin gown, which had come from London for Rachael +six years before,--just too late, for she never went to a ball +again,--was taken from her mahogany press and wrapped about her wasted +body. Her magnificent hair was put out of sight in a cap of blond lace. + +The fashionable world of St. Croix, which had seen little of Rachael in +life, came to the ceremonious exit of her body. They sat along the four +sides of the large drawing-room, looking like a black dado against the +white walls, and the Rev. Cecil Wray Goodchild, the pastor of the larger +number of that sombre flock, sonorously read the prayers for the dead. +Hugh Knox felt that his was the right to perform that ceremony; but he +was a Presbyterian, and Peter Lytton was not one of his converts. He was +there, however, and so were several Danes, whose colourless faces and +heads completed the symbolization encircling the coffin. People of +Nevis, St. Christopher, and St. Croix were there, the sisters born of +the same mother, a kinsman of Hamilton's, himself named James Hamilton, +these bleached people of the North, whose faces, virtuous as they were, +would have seemed to the dead woman to shed the malignant aura of +Levine's,--and the boy for whom the sacrificial body had been laid on +the altar. He paid his debt in wretchedness then and there, and stood by +the black pall which covered his mother, feeling a hundred years older +than the brother who sat demurely on Mrs. Lytton's agitated lap. + +When Mr. Goodchild closed his book, the slave women entered with silver +pitchers containing mulled wines, porter mixed with sugar and spice, +madeira, and port wine. Heaped high on silver salvers were pastries and +"dyer bread," wrapped in white paper sealed with black wax. The guests +refreshed themselves deeply, then followed the coffin, which was borne +on the shoulders of the dead woman's brothers and their closest +friends, across the valley to the private burying-ground of the Lyttons. +Old James Lytton was placed beside her in the following year, and ten +years later a child of Christiana Huggins, the wife of his son. The cane +grows above their graves to-day. + + +VI + +Alexander went home with Mrs. Mitchell, and it was long before he +returned to Peter Lytton's. His favourite aunt was delighted to get him, +and her husband, for whom Alexander had no love, was shortly to sail on +one of his frequent voyages. + +Mrs. Mitchell had a winter home in Christianstadt, for she loved the gay +life of the little capital, and her large house, on the corner of King +and Strand streets, was opened almost as often as Government House. This +pile, with its imposing facade, represented to her the fulfilment of +worldly ambitions and splendour. There was nothing to compare with it on +Nevis or St. Kitts, nor yet on St. Thomas; and her imagination or memory +gave her nothing in Europe to rival it. When Government House was closed +she felt as if the world were eating bread and cheese. The Danes were +not only the easiest and most generous of rulers, but they entertained +with a royal contempt of pieces of eight, and their adopted children had +neither the excuse nor the desire to return to their native isles. + +Christianstadt, although rising straight from the harbour, has the +picturesque effect of a high mountain-village. As the road across the +Island finds its termination in King Street, the perceptible decline and +the surrounding hills, curving in a crescent to the unseen shore a mile +away, create the illusion. On the left the town straggles away in an +irregular quarter for the poor, set thick with groves of cocoanut and +palm. On the right, and parallel with the main road, is Company Street, +and above is the mountain studded with great white stone houses, +softened by the lofty roofs of the royal palm. All along King Street the +massive houses stand close together, each with its arcade and its +curious outside staircase of stone which leads to an upper balcony where +one may catch the breeze and watch the leisures of tropic life. Almost +every house has a court opening into a yard surrounded by the +overhanging balconies of three sides of the building; and here the +guinea fowl screech their matins, the roosters crow all night, there is +always a negro asleep under a cocoanut tree, and a flame of colour from +potted plants. + +Down by the sea is the red fort, built on a bluff, and commanding a +harbour beautiful to look upon, with its wooded island, its sharp high +points, its sombre swamps covered with lacing mangroves, but locked from +all the world but that which can come in sailing ships, by the coral +reef on which so many craft have gone to pieces. + +From Alexander's high window in Thomas Mitchell's house, he could see +the lively Park behind the Fort; the boats sail over from the blue peaks +of St. Thomas and St. John, the long white line of the sounding reef. +Above the walls of Government House was the high bold curve of the +mountain with its dazzling facades, its glitter of green. In the King +Street of that day gentlemen in knee breeches and lace shirts, their +hair in a powdered queue, were as familiar objects as turbaned blacks +and Danes in uniform. After riding over their plantations "to hear the +cane grow," they almost invariably brought up in town to talk over +prospects with the merchants, or to meet each other at some more jovial +resort. Sometimes they came clattering down the long road in a coach and +four, postilions shouting at the pic'nees in the road, swerving, and +halting so suddenly in some courtyard, that only a planter, accustomed +to this emotional method of travel, could keep his seat. Ordinarily he +preferred his horse, perhaps because it told no tales. + +Thomas Mitchell had made his large fortune in the traffic of slaves, and +was on terms of doubtful courtesy with Peter Lytton, who disapproved the +industry. Blacks were by no means his only source of revenue; he had +one of the two large general stores of the Island--the other was +Nicholas Cruger's--and plantations of cane, whose yield in sugar, +molasses, and rum never failed him. He was not a pleasing man in his +family, and did not extend the hospitality of its roof to Alexander with +a spontaneous warmth. His own children were married, and he did not look +back upon the era of mischievous boys with sufficient enthusiasm to +prompt him to adopt another. He yielded to his wife's voluble +supplications because domestic harmony was necessary to his content, and +Mistress Mitchell had her ways of upsetting it. Alexander was +immediately too busy with his studies to pay attention to the +indifferent grace with which Mr. Mitchell accepted his lot, and, +fortunately, this industrious merchant was much away from home. Hugh +Knox, as the surest means of diverting the boy from his grief, put him +at his books the day after he arrived in Christianstadt. His own house +was on Company Street, near the woods out of which the town seemed to +spring; and in his cool library he gathered his boys daily, and crammed +their brains with Latin and mathematics. The boys had met at Peter +Lytton's before, but Knox easily persuaded them to the new arrangement, +which was as grateful to him--he was newly married--as to Alexander. +When the lessons were over he gave his favourite pupil a book and an +easy-chair, or made experiments in chemistry with him until it was cool +enough to ride or row. In the evening Alexander had his difficult +lessons to prepare, and when he tumbled into bed at midnight he was too +healthy not to sleep soundly. He spent two days of every week with his +friend Ned Stevens, on a plantation where there were lively people and +many horses. Gradually the heaviness of his grief sank of its weight, +the buoyancy and vivacity of his mind were released, the eager sparkle +returned to his eyes. He did not cease to regret his mother, nor +passionately to worship her memory; but he was young, the future was an +unresting magnet to his ambitious mind, devoted friends did their +utmost, and his fine strong brain, eager for novelty and knowledge, +opened to new impressions, closed with inherent philosophy to what was +beyond recall. So passed Rachael Levine. + +A year later his second trial befell him. Ned Stevens, the adored, set +sail for New York to complete his education at King's College. Alexander +strained his eyes after the sails of the ship for an hour, then burst +unceremoniously into the presence of Hugh Knox. + +"Tell me quick," he exclaimed; "how can I make two thousand pieces of +eight? I must go to college. Why didn't my uncles send me with Neddy? He +had no wish to go. He swore all day yesterday at the prospect of six +years of hard work and no more excuses for laziness. I am wild to go. +Why could it not have been I?" + +"That's a curious way the world has, and you'll be too big a philosopher +in a few years to ask questions like that. If you want the truth, I've +wrangled with Peter Lytton,--it's no use appealing to Tom Mitchell,--but +he's a bit close, as you know, when it actually comes to putting his +hand in his pocket. He didn't send any of his own sons to New York or +England, and never could see why anyone else did. Schooling, of course, +and he always had a tutor and a governess out from England; but what the +devil does a planter want of a college education? I argued that I +couldn't for the life of me see the makings of a planter in you, but +that by fishing industriously among your intellects I'd found a certain +amount of respectable talent, and I thought it needed more training than +I could give it; that I was nearing the end of my rope, in fact. Then he +asked me what a little fellow like you would do with a college education +after you got it, for he couldn't stand the idea of you trying to earn +your living in a foreign city, where there was ice and snow on the +ground in winter; and when I suggested that you might stay on in the +college and teach, if you were afraid of being run over or frozen to +death in the street, he said there was no choice between a miserable +teacher's life and a planter's, and he'd leave you enough land to start +you in life. I cursed like a planter, and left the house. But he loves +you, and if you plead with him he might give way." + +"I'd do anything else under heaven that was reasonable to get to New +York but ask any man for money. Peter Lytton knows that I want learning +more than all the other boys on this island; and if I'm little, I've +broken in most of his colts and have never hesitated to fight. He finds +his pathos in his purse. Why can't I make two thousand pieces of eight?" + +"You'd be so long at it, poor child, that it would be too late to enter +college; for there's a long apprenticeship to serve before you get a +salary. But you must go. I've thought, thought about it, and I'll think +more." He almost wished he had not married; but as he had no other cause +to regret his venture, even his interest in young Hamilton did not urge +him to deprive his little family of the luxuries so necessary in the +West Indies. Economy on his salary would mean a small house instead of +large rooms where one could forget the heat; curtailment of the +voluminous linen wardrobes so soon demolished on the stones of the +river; surrender of coach and horses. He trusted to a moment of sudden +insight on the part of Peter Lytton, assisted by his own eloquent +argument; and his belief in Alexander's destiny never wavered. Once he +approached Mrs. Mitchell, for he knew she had money of her own; but, as +he had expected, she went into immediate hysterics at the suggestion to +part with her idol, and he hastily retreated. + +Alexander turned over every scheme of making money his fertile brain +conceived, and went so far as to ask his aunt to send him to New York, +where he could work in one of the West Indian houses, and attend college +by some special arrangement. He, too, retreated before Mrs. Mitchell's +agitation, but during the summer another cause drove him to work, and +without immediate reference to the wider education. + +Mr. Mitchell was laid up with the gout and spent the summer on his +plantation. His slaves fled at the sound of his voice, his wife wept +incessantly at this the heaviest of her life's trials, and it was not +long before Alexander was made to feel his dependence so keenly by the +irascible planter that he leaped on his horse one day and galloped five +miles under the hot sun to Lytton's Fancy. + +"I want to work," he announced, with his usual breathless impetuosity +when excited, bursting in upon Mr. Lytton, who was mopping his face +after his siesta. "Put me at anything. I don't care what, except in +Uncle Mitchell's store. I won't work for him." + +Mr. Lytton laughed with some satisfaction. "So you two have come to +loggerheads? Tom Mitchell, well, is insufferable. With gout in him he +must bristle with every damnable trait in the human category. Come back +and live with me," he added, in a sudden burst of sympathy, for the boy +looked hot and tired and dejected; and his diminutive size appealed +always to Peter Lytton, who was six feet two. "You're a fine little +chap, but I doubt you're strong enough for hard work, and you love your +books. Come here and read all day if you like. When you're grown I'll +make you manager of all my estates. Gad! I'd be glad of an honest one! +The last time I went to England, that devil, Tom Collins, drank every +bottle of my best port, smashed my furniture, broke the wind of every +horse I had, and kept open house for every scamp and loafer on the +Island, or that came to port. How old are you--twelve? I'll turn +everything over to you in three years. You've more sense now than any +boy I ever saw. Three years hence, if you continue to improve, you'll be +a man, and I'll be only too glad to put the whole thing in your hands." + +Alexander struggled with an impulse to ask his uncle to send him to +college, but not only did pride strike at the words, but he reflected +with some cynicism that the affection he inspired invariably expressed +itself in blatant selfishness, and that he might better appeal to the +enemies he had made to send him from the Island. He shook his head. + +"I'll remain idle no longer," he said. "I'm tired of eating bread that's +given me. I'd rather eat yours than his, but I've made up my mind to +work. What can you find for me now?" + +"You are too obstinate to argue with in August. Cruger wants a reliable +clerk. I heard him say so yesterday. He'll take you if I say the word, +and give you a little something in the way of salary." + +"I like Mr. Cruger," said Alexander, eagerly, "and so did my mother." + +"He's a kind chap, but he'll work you to death, for he's always in a +funk that Tom Mitchell'll get ahead of him. But you cannot do better. I +have no house in town, but you can ride the distance between here and +Christianstadt night and morning, if my estimable brother-in-law--whom +may the gout convince of his sins--is too much for you." + +But Alexander had no desire to return to the house where he had passed +those last terrible weeks with his mother, and Mrs. Mitchell begged him +on her knees to forgive the invalid, and sent him to the house in +Christianstadt, where he would be alone until December; by that time, +please God, Tom Mitchell would be on his way to Jamaica. But Alexander +had little further trouble with that personage. Mr. Mitchell had his +susceptibilities; he was charmed with a boy of twelve who was too proud +to accept the charity of wealthy relatives and determined to make his +living. Alexander entered Mr. Cruger's store in October. Mr. Mitchell +did not leave the Island again until the following spring, and moved to +town in November. He and Alexander discussed the prospects of rum, +molasses, and sugar, the price of mahogany, of oats, cheese, bread, and +flour, the various Island and American markets, until Mrs. Mitchell left +the table. Her husband proudly told his acquaintance that his nephew, +Alexander Hamilton, was destined to become the cleverest merchant in the +Caribbees. + + +VII + +But Alexander had small liking for his employment. He had as much +affinity with the sordid routine of a general store and counting-house +as Tom Mitchell had with the angels. But pride and ambition carried him +through most of the distasteful experiences of his life. He would come +short in nothing, and at that tender age, when his relatives were +prepared to forgive his failures with good-humoured tact, he was willing +to sacrifice even his books to clerical success. He soon discovered that +he had that order of mind which concentrates without effort upon what +ever demands its powers,--masters the detail of it with incredible +swiftness. At first he was a general clerk, and attended to the loading +and unloading of Mr. Cruger's sloops; after a time he was made +bookkeeper; it was not long before he was in charge of the +counting-house. He got back to his books in time--for business in the +Islands finishes at four o'clock--and when he had learned all the Latin, +Greek, Hebrew, and mathematics Hugh Knox could teach him, he spent his +leisure hours with Pope, Plutarch, Shakespeare, Milton, Plato, and the +few other English poets and works of Greek philosophers which Knox +possessed, as well as several abridged histories of England and Europe. +These interested him more than aught else, purely literary as his +proclivities were supposed to be, and he read and reread them, and +longed for some huge work in twenty volumes which should reveal Europe +to his searching vision. But this was when he was fourteen, and had +almost forgotten what the life of a mere boy was like. Shortly after he +entered Mr. Cruger's store he wrote his famous letter to young Stevens. +It will bear republication here, and its stilted tone, so different from +the concise simplicity of his business letters, was no doubt designed to +produce an effect on the mind of his more fortunate friend. He became a +master of style, and before he was twenty; but there is small indication +of the achievement in this letter, lovable as it is:-- + + + ST. CROIX, November 11, 1769. + + DEAR EDWARD, This serves to acknowledge the receipt of yours per + Capt. Lowndes, which was delivered me yesterday The truth of Capt. + Lightbowen and Lowndes' information is now verified by the presence + of your father and sister, for whose safe arrival I pray, and that + they may convey that satisfaction to your soul, that must naturally + flow from the sight of absent friends in health; and shall for news + this way, refer you to them. + + As to what you say, respecting your soon having the happiness of + seeing us all, I wish for an accomplishment of your hopes, provided + they are concomitant with your welfare, otherwise not; though doubt + whether I shall be present or not, for to confess my weakness, Ned, + my ambition is prevalent, so that I contemn the grovelling + condition of a clerk, or the like, to which my fortune condemns me, + and would willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt + my station. I am confident, Ned, that my youth excludes me from any + hopes of immediate preferment, 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 constant. I shall + conclude by saying I wish there was a war. + + I am, Dear Edward, Yours + + ALEX. HAMILTON. + + P.S. I this moment received yours by William Smith, and pleased to + see you give such close application to study. + +He hoped that in time Mr. Cruger would find it necessary to send him to +New York; but his employer found him too useful on St. Croix, and +recognized his abilities, not to the extent of advancing his +intellectual interests, but of taxing and developing his capacity for +business and its heavy responsibilities. In the following year he placed +him in temporary charge of his branch house, in Frederikstadt, and +Alexander never wished for war so desperately as when he stood under the +arcade on Bay Street and stared out at the shallow green roadstead and +the inimitable ocean beyond. Frederikstadt was a hamlet compared to +Christianstadt, and unredeemed--the arcades excepting--by any of the +capital's architectural or natural beauty. Alexander believed it to be +the hottest, dullest, and most depressing spot on either hemisphere. The +merchants and other residents were astonished that Nicolas Cruger should +send a lad of thirteen to represent him in matters which involved large +sums of money, but they recognized young Hamilton's ability even while +they stared with some rudeness at the small figure in white linen, and +the keen but very boyish face. When they passed him under the arcades, +and asked him what ship he expected to heave in sight, he was tempted to +say a man-of-war, but had no mind to reveal himself to the indifferent. +He read from sundown until midnight or later, by the light of two long +candles protected from draughts and insects by curving glass chimneys. +Mosquitoes tormented him and cockroaches as long as his hand ran over +the table; occasionally a land-crab rattled across the room, or a +centipede appeared on the open page. But he was accustomed to these +embellishments of tropic life, and although he anathematized them and +the heat, he went on with his studies. It was about this time that he +began to indulge in literary composition; and although less gifted boys +than Alexander Hamilton struggle through this phase of mental +development as their body runs the gamut of juvenile complaints, still +it may be that had not his enormous energies been demanded in their +entirety by a country in the terrible straits of rebirth, or had he +dwelt on earth twenty years longer, he would have realized the ambitions +of his mother and Hugh Knox, and become one of the greatest literary +forces the world has had. But although this exercise of his restless +faculties gave him pleasure, it was far from satisfying him, even then. +He wanted the knowledge that was locked up in vast libraries far beyond +that blinding stretch of sea, and he wanted action, and a sight of and a +part in the great world. Meanwhile, he read every book he could find on +the Island, made no mistakes in Mr. Cruger's counting-house, and stood +dreaming under the arcade for hours at a time, muttering his thoughts, +his mobile features expressing the ceaseless action of his brain. + +Sometime during the previous year Peter Levine had returned to St. Croix +for his health, and he remained with relatives for some time. He and +Alexander met occasionally and were friendly. As he was a decent little +chap our hero forgave him his paternity, although he never could quite +assimilate the fact that he was his mother's child. + +Alexander returned, after six months of Frederikstadt, to the East End +of the Island. A few months later, Mr. Cruger, whose health had failed, +went to New York for an extended sojourn, leaving the entire +responsibility of the business in young Hamilton's hands. Men of all +ages were forced to obey and be guided by a boy in the last weeks of his +fourteenth year, and there were many manifestations of jealous ill-will. +Some loved, others hated him, but few submitted gracefully to a +leadership which lowered their self-esteem. For the first time Alexander +learned that even a mercantile life can be interesting. He exercised all +the resources of his inborn tact with those who had loved and those who +did not hate him, and won them to a grateful acceptance of a mastership +which was far more considerate and sympathetic than anything they had +known. As for his enemies, he let them see the implacable quality of his +temper, mortified them by an incessant exposure of their failings, +struck aside their clumsy attempts to humiliate him with the keen blade +of a wit that sent them skulking. Finally they submitted, but they +cursed him, and willingly would have wrung his neck and flung him into +the bay. As for Hamilton, there was no compromise in him, even then, +where his enemies were concerned. He enjoyed their futile wrath, and +would not have lifted his finger to flash it into liking. + +Only once the tropical passions of his inheritance conquered his desire +to dominate through the forces of his will alone. One of the oldest +employees, a man named Cutter, had shown jealousy of young Hamilton from +the first, and a few days after Mr. Cruger's departure began to manifest +signs of open rebellion. He did his work ill, or not at all, absented +himself from the store for two days, and returned to his post without +excuse, squaring his shoulders about the place and sneering his contempt +of youthful cocks of the walk. Alexander struggled to maintain a +self-control which he felt to be strictly compatible with the dignity of +his position, although his gorge rose so high that it threatened to +choke him. The climax came when he gave Cutter a peremptory order, and +the man took out a cigar, lit it, and laughed in his face. For the next +few moments Alexander had a confused impression that he was in hell, +struggling his way through the roar and confusion of his nether +quarters. When he was himself again he was in the arms of his chief +assistant, and Mr. Cutter bled profusely on the floor. He was informed +later that he had "gone straight over the counter with a face like a +hurricane" and assaulted his refractory hireling with such incredible +rapidity of scientific fist that the man, who was twice his size, had +succumbed from astonishment and an almost supernatural terror. +Alexander, who was ashamed of himself, apologized at once, but gave the +man his choice of treating him with proper respect or leaving the store. +Cutter answered respectfully that he would remain; and he gave no +further trouble. + +"You'll get your head blown off one of these days," said Hugh Knox to +Alexander, on a Sunday, as they sat in the library over two long glasses +of "Miss Blyden," a fashionable drink made of sugar, rum, and the juice +of the prickly pear, which had been buried in the divine's garden for +the requisite number of months. "These Creoles are hot, even when +they're only Danes. It's not pleasant for those clerks, for it isn't as +if you had the look of the man you are. You look even younger than your +age, and for a man of thirty to say 'Yes, sir' to a brat like you chokes +him, and no wonder. I believe if there was a war this minute, you'd +rouse the Island and lead it to battle without a misgiving or an +apology. Well, don't let your triumphs lead to love of this business. I +happen to know that Cruger means to make a partner of you in a few +years, for he thinks the like of you never dropped into a merchant's +counting-house; but never forget that your exalted destiny is to be a +great man of letters, a historian, belike. You're taking to history, I +notice, and you're getting a fine vocabulary of your own." + +"I'd like to know what I'll write the history of if I'm to rot in this +God-forsaken place. Caribs? Puling rows between French and English? I'd +as well be up on Grange with my mother if it wasn't for you and your +books. I want the education of a collegian. I want to study and read +everything there is to be studied and read. I've made out a list of +books to send for, when I've money enough, as long as you are. It's +pinned on the wall of my room." + +"And I suppose you've never a qualm but that head of yours will hold it +all. You've a grand opinion of yourself, Alec." + +"That's a cutting thing for you to say to me, sir," cried Alexander, +springing to his feet. "I thought you loved me. If you think I'm a fool, +I'll not waste more of your time." + +"A West Indian temper beats the conceit out of the Irish. You'll control +yours when you're older, for there's nothing you won't do when you put +your mind to it, and you'll see the need for not making a fool of +yourself too often. But as for its present liking for exercise--it's a +long way the liveliest thing on St. Croix. However, you've forgiven me; +I know that by the twinkle in your eye, so I'll tell you that your brain +will hold all you care to put into it, and that you'll have made another +list as long as King Street before you're five years older. Meanwhile, +I've some books on theology and ethics you haven't had a dash at yet, +and you can't read my other old books too often. Each time you'll find +something new. Sitting up till midnight won't hurt you, but don't forget +to say your prayers." + +Knox, long since, had laid siege to Alexander's susceptible and ardent +mind with the lively batteries of his religious enthusiasms. His +favourite pupil was edifyingly regular in attendance at church, and said +his prayers with much fervour. The burden of his petitions was +deliverance from St. Croix. + +When this deliverance was effected by a thunderbolt from heaven, his +saving sense of humour and the agitated springs of his sympathy forbade +a purely personal application. But twenty years later he might have +reflected upon the opportune cause of his departure from St. Croix as +one of the ironies of the world's history; for an Island was devastated, +men were ruined, scores were killed, that one man might reach his proper +sphere of usefulness. + + +VIII + +Early in August, 1772, Mr. Cruger sent him on a business tour to several +of the neighbouring Islands, including the great _entrepot_ of the West +Indies,--St. Thomas. Despite the season, the prospect of no wind for +days at a time, or winds in which no craft could live, Alexander +trembled with delight at the idea of visiting the bustling brilliant +versatile town of Charlotte Amalie, in whose harbour there were +sometimes one hundred and eighty ships, where one might meet in a day +men of every clime, and whose beauty was as famous as her wealth and +importance. How often Alexander had stared at the blue line of the hills +above her! Forty miles away, within the range of his vision, was a bit +of the great world, the very pivot of maritime trade, and one cause and +another had prevented him from so much as putting his foot on a sloop +whose sails were spread. + +As soon as the details of his tour were settled he rode out to the +plantations to take leave of his relatives. Mrs. Mitchell, who barred +the hurricane windows every time, the wind rose between July and +November, and sat with the barometer in her hand when the palms began to +bend, wept a torrent and implored him to abstain from the madness of +going to sea at that time of the year. Her distress was so acute and +real that Alexander, who loved her, forgot his exultation and would have +renounced the trip, had he not given his word to Mr. Cruger. + +"I'll be careful, and I'll ride out the day after I return," he said, +arranging his aunt on the sofa with her smelling-bottle, an office he +had performed many times. "You know the first wind of the hurricane is a +delight to the sailor, and we never shall be far from land. I'm in +command, and I'll promise you to make for shore at the first sign of +danger. Then I shall be as safe as here." + +His aunt sighed for fully a minute. "If I only could believe that you +would be careful about anything. But you are quite a big boy now, almost +sixteen, and ought to be old enough to take care of yourself." + +"If I could persuade you that I am not quite a failure at keeping the +breath in my body we both should be happier. However, I vow not to set +sail from any island if a hurricane is forming, and to make for port +every time the wind freshens." + +"Listen for that terrible roar in the southeast, and take my +barometer--Heaven knows what barometers are made for; there are not +three on the Island. I shall drive in to church every Sunday and besiege +Heaven with my supplications." + +"Well, spare me a breeze or I shall pray for a hurricane." + +He did not see Mrs. Lytton or James, but Mr. Lytton had scant +apprehension of hurricanes, and was only concerned lest his nephew roll +about in the trough of the sea under an August sun for weeks at a time. +"That's when a man doesn't repent of his sins; he knows there is nothing +worse to come," he said. "I'd rather have a hurricane," and Alexander +nodded. Mr. Lytton counted out a small bag of pieces of eight and told +the boy to buy his aunt a silk gown in Charlotte Amalie. "I've noticed +that if it's all one colour you're not so sure to have it accepted with +a sigh of resignation," he said. "But be careful of plaids and stripes." +And Alexander, with deeper misgivings than Mrs. Mitchell had inspired, +accepted the commission and rode away. + +He set sail on the following day, and made his tour of the lesser +islands under a fair breeze. Late in the month he entered the harbour of +St. Thomas, and was delighted to find at least fifty ships in port, +despite the season. It was an unusually busy year, and he had dared to +hope for crowded waters and streets; exquisite as Charlotte Amalie might +be to look upon, he wanted something more than a lovely casket. + +The town is set on three conical foot-hills, which bulge at equal +distances against an almost perpendicular mountain, the tip, it is said, +of a range whose foundations are four miles below. The three sections of +the town sweep from base to pointed apex with a symmetry so perfect, +their houses are so light and airy of architecture, so brilliant and +varied of colour, that they suggest having been called into being by the +stroke of a magician's wand to gratify the whim of an Eastern potentate. +Surely, they are a vast seraglio, a triple collection of pleasure houses +where captive maidens are content and nautch girls dance with feet like +larks. Business, commerce, one cannot associate with this enchanting +vista; nor cockroaches as long as one's foot, scorpions, tarantulas, and +rats. + +When Alexander was in the town he found that the houses were of stone, +and that one long street on the level connected the three divisions. +Flights of steps, hewn out of the solid rock of that black and barren +range, led to the little palaces that crowned the cones, and there were +palms, cocoanuts, and tamarind trees to soften the brilliancy of facade +and roof. Above the town was Blackbeard's Castle; and Bluebeard's so +high on the right that its guns could have levelled the city in an hour. +Although not a hundred years old, and built by the Danes, both these +frowning towers were museums of piratical tradition, and travellers +returned to Europe with imaginations expanded. + +The long street interested Alexander's practical mind more than legends +or architecture. Huge stone buildings--warehouses, stores, exchange- and +counting-houses--extended from the street to the edge of the water, +where ships were unloaded and loaded from doors at the rear. Men of +every nation and costume moved in that street; and for a day Mr. +Cruger's business was in abeyance, while the boy from the quiet Island +of St. Croix leaned against one of the heavy tamarind trees at the foot +of the first hill, and watched the restless crowd of Europeans, +Asiatics, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, North and South Americans. There were +as many national costumes as there were rival flags in the harbour. +There was the British admiral in his regimentals and powdered queue, the +Chinaman in his blouse and pigtail, the Frenchman with his earrings, +villanous Malays, solemn merchants from Boston, and negroes trundling +barrows of Spanish dollars. But it was the extraordinary assortment of +faces and the violent contrasts of temperament and character they +revealed which interested Alexander more than aught else. With all his +reading he had not imagined so great a variety of types; his mental +pictures had been the unconscious reflection of British, Danish, or +African. Beyond these he had come in contact with nothing more striking +than sailors from the neighbouring Islands, who had suggested little +besides the advisability of placing an extra guard over the money boxes +whilst they were in port. Most of these men who surged before him were +merchants of the first rank or the representatives of others as +important,--captains of large ships and their mates. The last sauntered +and cursed the heat, which was infernal; but the merchants moved rapidly +from one business house to another, or talked in groups, under the +tamarind trees, of the great interests which brought them to the Indies. +Upon the inherent characteristics which their faces expressed were +superimposed the different seals of those acquired,--shrewdness, +suspicion, a hawk-like alertness, the greed of acquisition. Alexander, +with something like terror of the future, reflected that there was not +one of these men he cared to know. He knew there were far greater cities +than the busy little _entrepot_ of the West Indies, but he rightly +doubted if he ever should see again so cosmopolitan a mob, a more picked +assortment of representative types. Not one looked as if he remembered +his wife and children, his creed, or the art and letters of his land. +They were a sweating, cursing, voluble, intriguing, greedy lot, +picturesque to look upon, profitable to study, calculated to rouse in a +boy of intellectual passions a fury of final resentment against the +meannesses of commercial life. Alexander jerked his shoulders with +disgust and moved slowly down the street. After he had reflected that +great countries involved great ideas, and that there was no place for +either political or moral ideals in an isolated and purely commercial +town like little Charlotte Amalie, he recovered his poise, and lent +himself to his surroundings again with considerable philosophy. + +He had almost crossed the foot of the third hill when he turned +abruptly into a large store, unlike any he had seen. It was full of +women, splendid creatures, who were bargaining with merchants' clerks +for the bales of fine stuffs which had been opened for the display of +samples to the wholesale buyers from other Islands. These women +purchased the exiled stuffs to sell to the ladies of the capital, and +this was the only retail trade known to the St. Thomas of that day. +Alexander bethought himself of his uncle's commission, and precipitately +bought from the open bale nearest the door, then, from the next, a +present for Mrs. Mitchell. Mrs. Lytton, who was an invalid and +fifty-eight, received, a fortnight later, a dress pattern of +rose-coloured silk, and Mrs. Mitchell, who aspired to be a leader of +fashion, one of elderly brown. But Alexander was more interested in the +sellers than in the possible dissatisfaction of his aunts. The women of +his acquaintance were fair and fragile, and the Africans of St. Croix +were particularly hideous, being still of parent stock. But these +creatures were tawny and magnificent, with the most superb figures, the +most remarkable swing, that ever a man had looked upon; and glorious +eyes, sparkling with deviltry. On their heads the white linen was wound +to a high point and surmounted by an immense hat, caught up at one side +with a flower. They wore for clothing a double skirt of coloured linen, +and a white fichu, open in a point to the waist and leaving their +gold-coloured arms quite bare. They moved constantly, if only from one +foot to the other. Occasionally their eyes flashed sparks, and they flew +at each other's throats, screeching like guinea fowl, but in a moment +they were laughing good-naturedly again, and chattering in voices of a +remarkable soft sweetness. Several of them noticed Alexander, for his +beauty had grown with his years. His eyes were large and gray and dark, +like his mother's, but sparkled with ardour and merriment. His mouth was +chiselled from a delicate fulness to a curving line; firm even then, but +always humorous, except when some fresh experience with the ingenuous +self-interest of man deepened the humour to cynicism. The nose was long, +sharply cut, hard, strong in the nostrils, the head massive, the brow +full above the eyes, and the whole of a boyish and sunburned fairness. +He could fetch a smile that gave his face a sweet and dazzling beauty. +His figure was so supple and well knit, so proud in its bearing, that no +woman then or later ever found fault with its inconsiderable inches; and +his hands and feet were beautiful. His adoring aunt attended to his +wardrobe, and he wore to-day, as usual, white linen knee-breeches, black +silk stockings, a lawn shirt much beruffled with lace. His appearance +pleased these gorgeous birds of plumage, and one of them snatched him +suddenly from the floor and gave him a resounding smack. Alexander, much +embarrassed, but not wholly displeased, retreated hurriedly, and asked +an Englishman who they were and whence they came. + +"They are literally the pick of Martinique, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the +other Islands celebrated for beautiful women. Of course they've all got +a touch of the tar brush in them, but the French or the Spanish blood +makes them glorious for a few years, and during those few they come here +and make hay. Some come at certain seasons only, others perch here till +they change in a night from houri to hag. This daylight trade gives them +a _raison d'etre_, but wait till after dark. God! this is a hell hole; +but by moonlight or torchlight this street is one of the sights of the +earth. The magnificent beauty of the women, enhanced by silken stuffs of +every colour, the varied and often picturesque attire of the men, all +half mad with drink--well, if you want to sleep, you'd better get a room +high up." + +"Mine is up one hundred and seventeen steps. I am but afraid I may not +see all there is to see." + +But before the week was half out he had tired of St. Thomas by day and +by night. The picture was too one-sided, too heavily daubed with colour. +It made a palette of the imagination, sticky and crude. He began to +desire the green plantations of St. Croix, and more than ever he longed +for the snow-fields of the north. Two days of hard work concluded Mr. +Cruger's business, and on the thirtieth of the month he weighed anchor, +in company with many others, and set sail for St. Croix. He started +under a fair breeze, but a mile out the wind dropped, and he was until +midnight making the harbour of Christianstadt When they were utterly +becalmed the sun seemed to focus his hell upon the little sloop. It +rolled sickeningly in the oily wrinkled waters, and Alexander put his +Pope in his pocket. The sea had a curious swell, and he wondered if an +earthquake were imminent. The sea was not quite herself when her +foundations were preparing to shake. Earth-quakes had never concerned +him, but as the boat drifted past the reef into the harbour of +Christianstadt at midnight, he was assailed by a fit of terror so sudden +and unaccountable that he could recall but one sensation in his life +that approached it: shortly after he arrived on the Island he had stolen +down to the lagoon one night, fascinated by the creeping mist, the +scowling manchineels, the talk of its sinister inhabitant, and was +enjoying mightily his new feeling of creeping terror, when the silence +was broken by a heavy swish, and he saw the white belly of the shark not +three feet from him. He had scampered up the hill to his mother's skirts +as fast as his legs could carry him, nor visited the lagoon again until +the shark was mouldering on its bed. To-night a mist, almost +imperceptible except on the dark line of coast, changed the beauty of +the moonbeams to a livid light that gave the bay the horrid pallor of a +corpse. The masses of coral rock in the shallow waters looked leprous, +the surface was so glassy that it fell in splinters from the oars of the +boat that towed them to shore. There was not a sound from the reef, not +a sound from the land. The slender lacing mangroves in the swamp looked +like upright serpents, black and petrified, and the Fort on the high +bluff might have been a sarcophagus full of dead men but for the +challenge of the sentry. + +Alexander began to whistle, then climbed down into the boat and took an +oar. When he had his feet on land he walked up King Street more hastily +than was his habit in the month of August. But here, although the town +might have been a necropolis, so quiet was it, it had not put on a death +mask. There was no mist here; the beautiful coral houses gleamed under +the moonbeams as if turned to marble, and Alexander forgot the horror of +the waters and paused to note, as he had done many times before, the +curious Alpine contrast of these pure white masses against the green and +burnished arches of tropic trees. Then he passed through the +swimming-bath to his bed, and a half-hour later slept as soundly as if +the terrible forces of the Caribbean world were safe in leash. + + +IX + +When he awoke, at seven o'clock, he heard a dull low roar in the +southeast, which arrested his attention at once as a sound quite +dissimilar from the boom of the reef. As he crossed Strand Street to Mr. +Cruger's store, an hour later, he noticed that a strong wind blew from +the same direction and that the atmosphere was a sickly yellow. For a +moment, he thought of the hurricane which he had passed his life +expecting, but he had a head full of business and soon forgot both roar +and wind. He was immediately immersed in a long and precise statement of +his trip, writing from notes and memory, muttering to himself, utterly +oblivious to the opening of the windows or the salutations of the +clerks. Mr. Cruger arrived after the late breakfast. He looked worried, +but shook Alexander's hand heartily, and thanked heaven, with some +fervour, that he had returned the night before. They retired to the +private office on the court, and Mr. Cruger listened with interest to +young Hamilton's account of his trip, although it was evident that his +mind felt the strain of another matter. He said abruptly:-- + +"The barometer was down two-tenths when I visited the Fort at a quarter +to eleven. I'd give a good deal to know where it is now." + +Alexander remembered his aunt's barometer, which he had hung in his room +before sailing, and volunteered to go over and look at it. + +"Do," exclaimed Mr. Cruger; "and see if the wind's shifted." + +As Alexander crossed Strand Street to the side door of Mr. Mitchell's +house he encountered the strongest wind he had ever known, and black +clouds were racing back and forth as if lost and distracted. He returned +to tell Mr. Cruger that the barometer stood at 30.03. + +"And the wind hasn't shifted?" demanded Mr. Cruger. "That means we'll be +in the direct path of a hurricane before the day is half out, unless +things change for the better. If the barometer falls four-tenths"--he +spread out his hands expressively. "Of course we have many scares. +Unless we hear two double guns from the Fort, there will be no real +cause for alarm; but when you hear that, get on your horse as quick as +you can and ride to warn the planters. The Lyttons and Stevens and +Mitchells will do for you. I'll send out three of the other boys." + +They returned to accounts. Mr. Cruger expressed his gratification +repeatedly and forgot the storm, although the wind was roaring up King +Street and rattling the jalousies until flap after flap hung on a broken +hinge. Suddenly both sprang to their feet, books and notes tumbling to +the floor. Booming through the steady roar of the wind was the quick +thunder of cannon, four guns fired in rapid succession. + +As Alexander darted through the store, the clerks were tumbling over +each other to secure the hurricane windows; for until the last minute, +uneasy as they were, they had persuaded themselves that St. Croix was in +but for the lashing of a hurricane's tail, and had bet St. Kitts against +Monserrat as flattening in the path of the storm. The hurricane windows +were of solid wood, clamped with iron. It took four men to close them +against the wind. + +Alexander was almost flung across Strand Street. Shingles were flying, +the air was salt with spray skimmed by the wind from the surface of +waves which were leaping high above the Fort, rain was beginning to +fall. Mr. Mitchell's stables were in the rear of his house. Every negro +had fled to the cellar. Alexander unearthed four and ordered them to +close the hurricane windows. He had saddled many a horse, and he urged +his into Strand Street but a few moments later. Here he had to face the +wind until he could reach the corner and turn into King, and even the +horse staggered and gasped as if the breath had been driven out of him. +He reared back against the wall, and Alexander was obliged to dismount +and drag him up the street, panting for breath himself, although his +back was to the wind and he kept his head down. The din was terrific. +Cannon balls might have been rattling against the stones of every house, +and to this was added a roar from the reef as were all the sounds of the +Caribbean Sea gathered there. Alexander would have pulled his hat down +over his ears, for the noise was maddening, but it had flown over the +top of a house as he left the store. He was a quarter of an hour +covering the few yards which lay between the stable and the corner, and +when he reached the open funnel of King Street he was nearly swept off +his feet. Fortunately the horse loved him, and, terrified as it was, +permitted him to mount; and then it seemed to Alexander, as they flew up +King Street to the open country, that they were in a fork of the wind, +which tugged and twisted at his neck while it carried them on. He +flattened himself to the horse, but kept his eyes open and saw other +messengers, as dauntless as himself, tearing in various directions to +warn the planters, many of whom had grown callous to the cry of "Wolf." + +The horse fled along the magnificent avenue of royal palms which +connected the east and west ends of the Island. They were bending and +creaking horribly, the masses of foliage on the summits cowering away +from the storm, wrapping themselves about in a curiously pitiful manner; +the long blade-like leaves seemed striving each to protect the other. +Through the ever-increasing roar of the storm, above the creaking of the +trees, the pounding of the rain on the earth, and on the young cane, +Alexander heard a continuous piercing note, pitched upon one monotonous +key, like the rattle of a girl's castinets he had heard on St. Thomas. +His brain, indifferent now to the din, was as active as ever, and he +soon made out this particular noise to be the rattle of millions of +seeds in the dry pods of the "shaggy-shaggy," or "giant," a common +Island tree, which had not a leaf at this season, nothing but countless +pods as dry as parchment and filled with seeds as large as peas. Not for +a second did this castinet accompaniment to the stupendous bass of the +storm cease, and Alexander, whose imagination, like every other sense in +him, was quickening preternaturally, could fancy himself surrounded by +the orchestra of hell, the colossal instruments of the infernal regions +performed upon by infuriate Titans. He was not conscious of fear, +although he knew that his life was not worth a second's purchase, but he +felt a wild exhilaration, a magnificent sense of defiance of the most +powerful element that can be turned loose on this planet; his nostrils +quivered with delight; his soul at certain moments, when his practical +faculty was uncalled upon, felt as if high in the roaring space with the +Berserkers of the storm. + +Suddenly his horse, in spite of the wall of wind at his back, stood on +his hind legs, then swerved so fiercely that his rider was all but +unseated. A palm had literally leaped from the earth, sprawled across +the road not a foot in front of the horse. The terrified brute tore +across the cane-field, and Alexander made no attempt to stop him, for, +although the rain was now falling as if the sea had come in on the high +back of the wind, he believed himself to be on the Stevens plantation. +The negro village was not yet deserted, and he rode to the west side of +the mill and shouted his warning to the blacks crouching there. On every +estate was a great bell, hung in an open stone belfry, and never to be +rung except to give warning of riot, flood, fire, or hurricane. One of +the blacks obeyed Alexander's peremptory command to ring this bell, and, +as it was under the lee of the mill, reached it in a moment. As +Alexander urged his horse out into the storm again, he heard the rapid +agitated clang of the bell mingle discordantly with the bass of the wind +and the piercing rattle of the giant's castinets. He rode on through the +cane-field, although if the horse stumbled and injured itself, he would +have to lie on his face till the storm was over. But there was a greater +danger in the avenue; he was close enough to see and hear tree after +tree go down, or their necks wrenched and the great green heads rush +through the air with a roar of their own, their long glittering leaves +extended before them as if in supplication. + +The Lytton plantation was next on his way, and Alexander rode straight +for the house, as the mills and village lay far to the left. The +hurricane shutters on the sides encountering the storm were already +closed, and he rode round to the west, where he saw his uncle's anxious +face at a drawing-room window. Mr. Lytton flung himself across the sash +in an attempt to lift the boy from his horse into the room, and when +Alexander shouted that he was on his way to the Mitchell estate, +expostulated as well as he could without breaking his throat. He begged +him to rest half an hour at least, but when informed that the Fort for +the first time within the memory of man had fired its double warning, he +ran to fasten his hurricane windows more securely, and despatch a slave +to warn his blacks; their huts never would survive the direct attack of +a hurricane. He was horrified to think of his favourite exposed to a +fury, which, clever and intrepid as he was, he had small chance of +outwitting; but at least he had that one chance, and Mrs. Mitchell was +alone. + +Alexander passed through one other estate before he reached Mr. +Mitchell's, terrifying those he warned almost as much by his wild and +ragged appearance--his long hair drove straight before him, and his thin +shirt was in sodden ribbons--as by his news that a first-class hurricane +was upon them. At last he was in the cane-fields of his destination, and +the horse, as if in communication with that ardent brain so close to his +own, suddenly accelerated his already mercurial pace, until it seemed to +Alexander that he gathered up his legs and darted like an inflated +swallow straight through crashing avenues and flying huts to the stable +door. Fortunately this solid building opened to the west, and Alexander +was but a few moments stalling and feeding the animal who had saved two +necks by his clever feet that day. He was sorry so poorly to reward him +as to close and bar the door, but he feared that he might forget to +attend to it when the hurricane veered, and in all the fury of +approaching climax was pouring out of the west. + +The house was only an eighth of a mile away, but Alexander was half an +hour reaching it. He had to travel on his knees, sometimes on his +stomach, until he reached the western wall, keeping his arm pressed +close against his eyes; his sense of humour, not to be extinguished by a +hurricane, rebelling at the ignoble pass to which his pride had come. +When he reached the north wall he rose, thinking he could cling to the +projections, but he was still facing the storm; he flung himself +prostrate again to avoid being lifted off his feet and sailing with the +rubbish of Mr. Mitchell's plantation. As he reached the corner the wind +gave him a vicious flip, which landed him almost at the foot of the +steps, but he was comparatively safe, and he sat down to recover his +breath. He could afford a few moments' rest, for the heavy wooden +windows facing the east, north, and south, were closed. Here he was +sheltered in a way. The only two good words that can be said for a +hurricane are that it gives sufficient warning of its approach, and that +it blows from one point of the compass at a time. Alexander sat there +panting and watched the wild battle in mid-air of shingles, fences, +thatched roofs, and tree-tops; listened to the artillery of the storm, +which, with a stone building to break its steady roar, sounded as if a +hundred cannon were bombarding the walls and rattling here and there on +their carriages meanwhile; listened to crash after crash of tree and +wall, the terrified bowlings and bellowings of beasts, the shrieking and +grinding of trees, the piercing monotone of the dry seeds in their cases +of parchment, the groans and prayers of the negroes in the cellar behind +him. He turned his head and looked through the windows of the great +apartment, which, although above ground, was supposed to be safest in a +hurricane. All but the western blinds being closed, the cellar was +almost dark, but Alexander knew that it was packed: doubtless every +African on the estate was there; he could see, for some distance back, +row after row of rolling eyes and hanging tongues. Some knelt on the +shoulders of others to get the air. Alexander shuddered. The sight +reminded him of his uncle's slave-ships, where the blacks came, chained +together, standing in the hold, so closely packed that if one died he +could not fall, nor the others protect themselves from the poisons of a +corpse, which pressed hard against the living for twenty hours perhaps, +before it was unchained and flung to the sharks. Alexander went close to +one of the windows and shouted to them not to forget to secure the +western blinds when the lull came, then ran up the steps and vaulted +through an open window. It was a few minutes before he found his aunt, +and it must be recorded that on his way to the front of the house he +looked under two beds and into four wardrobes. He came upon her in the +drawing-room, valiantly struggling with a hurricane window. Her hair was +dishevelled, and her eyes bulged with horror, but even as Alexander came +to the rescue, she shoved the bar into place. Then she threw herself +into his arms and fainted. He had but time to fling water on her face, +when a loud rattle from another window sent him bounding to it, and for +ten minutes he struggled to fasten the blind soundly again, while it +seemed to him that a hundred malignant fingers were tugging at its edge. +He had no sooner secured it, than his aunt's voice at his ear begged him +to try every window on three sides of the house, and he went rapidly +from one to the other, finding most of them in need of attention--long +disuse had weakened both staples and hooks. His aunt trotted after him, +thumping every window, and reminding him that if one went, and the wind +burst in, the roof would be off and the torrents upon them before they +could reach the cellar. + +Fortunately for those who fought the storm, the temperature had fallen +with the barometer, and these two dared not relax their vigilance for a +moment. Every negro had deserted to the lower region. Alexander was +unable to change his wet clothes or to refresh himself with so much as a +banana, but there was not a second's time to think of hunger or +discomfort. More than once that sense of wild exultation in fighting a +mighty element possessed him. His own weak hands and a woman's weaker +against one of the Titanic hurricanes of the world's history, with a +prospect of winning the fight, was a sight to move comfortable gods to +paean or laughter, according to their spiritual development. + +But during much of that terrible day and night Alexander's brain was +obliged to work on device after device to strengthen those battered +boards which alone protected the house from destruction, its inmates, +perhaps, from death. A tamarind tree came down on a corner of the roof +with a crash; and when Mrs. Mitchell and Alexander reached the room, +which was in a wing, the rain was struggling past the heavy mass through +a hole in the roof. They closed up the room, as well as the jalousies of +the inner walls, but as they returned to the windows they heard the rain +fighting to pass the branches, and knew that if the wind snatched the +tree, the deluge would come in. + +Mrs. Mitchell neither fainted again nor exhibited other sign of fear. +While that hurricane lasted she was all Mary Fawcett; and Alexander, +meeting her eyes now and again, or catching sight of her as she darted +forward at the first rattle of a shutter, recalled his mother's many +anecdotes of his redoubtable grandmother, and wondered if that valiant +old soul had flown down the storm to the relief of the fortress. + +Toward evening that sudden lull came which means that at last the +besieged are in the very centre of the hurricane, and will have respite +while the monster is swinging his tail to the west. Alexander and Mrs. +Mitchell, after opening the windows on the east side of the house, and +securing those opening to the west, went to the pantry and made a +substantial meal without sitting or selecting. To his last day Alexander +could not remember what he ate that night, although he recalled the +candle in the long chimney, the constant craning of his aunt's head, the +incessant racing of the rats along the beams. He went to his room and +took a cold bath, which with the food and suspended excitement quite +refreshed him; put on dry clothes, nailed a board against the hole in +the roof, then sat down with Mrs. Mitchell in the western gallery to +await the hurricane's return. + +"We have three windows where we had one before," remarked Mrs. +Mitchell; "and the hinges of that door are rusty. God knows! If you had +not come, the roof would have gone long before this." + +"The silence is horrible," said Alexander. + +It was, indeed, earsplitting. Not a sound arose from that devastated +land. Birds and beasts must lie dead by the thousand; not a horseman +ventured abroad; not a whisper came from the cellar, where two hundred +Africans might be dead from fright or suffocation. Mrs. Mitchell had lit +the candles, and there was something sinister and ironical in the steady +flames. How long before they would leap and add the final horror to what +must be a night of horrors? It was impossible to work in the dark, but +every yellow point was a menace. + +They had not long to endure the silence. This time the hurricane sent no +criers before it. It burst out of the west with a fury so intensified +that Alexander wondered if one stone in Frederikstadt were left upon +another. It was evident that it had gathered its forces for a final +assault, and its crashing and roaring, as it tore across the unhappy +Island it had marked for destruction, was that of a gigantic wheel +whirling ten thousand cannon, exploding, and lashing each other in +mid-air. It seemed to Alexander that every ball they surely carried +rattled on the roof, and the heavy stone structure vibrated for the +first time. It was two hours before he and Mrs. Mitchell met again, for +they worked at opposite ends of the long gallery; but in the third both +rushed simultaneously to the door. It sprang back from its rusty +fastenings, and they were but in time to seize the bar which passed +through a staple in its middle, and pull it inward until it pressed hard +against the jamb on the right. There was no other way to secure it, and +for three hours Alexander and Mrs. Mitchell dragged at it alternately, +while the other attended to the windows. By this time Alexander had +ceased to wonder if he should see another morning, or much to care: the +storm was so magnificent in its almighty power, its lungs of iron +bellowed its purpose with such furious iteration, as if out of all +patience with the mortals who defied it, that Alexander was almost +inclined to apologize. More than once it took the house by the shoulders +and shook it, and then a yell would come from below, a simultaneous note +pitched in a key of common agony. Suddenly the house seemed to spring +from its foundations, then sink back as if to collapse. Alexander called +out that it had been uprooted and would go down the hill in another +moment, but Mrs. Mitchell, who was at the bar, muttered, "An earthquake. +I believe a hurricane shakes the very centre of the earth." + +They feared that the foundations of the house had been loosened, and +that the next blast would turn it over, but the house was one of the +strongest in the Caribbees, built to withstand the worst that Nature +could do, so long as man saw to its needs; and when the hurricane at +last revolved its artillery away into the east, carrying with it that +piercing rattle of the giant's castinets, which never for a moment had +ceased to perform its part, roof and walls were firm. Mrs. Mitchell and +Alexander sank where they had stood, and slept for twenty hours. + + +X + +Alexander rode back to Christianstadt two days later, and again and +again he drew a hard breath and closed his eyes. It was a sight to move +any man, and the susceptible and tender nature of young Hamilton bled +for the tragedy of St. Croix. There was not a landmark, not a +cane-field, to remind him that it was the beautiful Island on which he +had spent the most of his remembering years. Although all of the Great +Houses were standing, their mien and manner were so altered by the +disappearance of their trees and outbuildings, and by the surrounding +pulpy flats in place of the rippling acres of young cane, that they were +unrecognizable. Here and there were masses of debris, walls and thatched +roofs swept far from the village foundations; but as a rule there was +but a board here or a bunch of dried leaves there, a battered utensil or +a stool, to reward the wretched Africans who wandered about searching +for the few things they had possessed before the storm. They looked +hopeless and dull, as if their faculties had been stunned by the +prolonged incessant noise of the hurricane. + +Alexander was riding down what a week ago had been the most celebrated +avenue in the Antilles. Where there were trees at all, they were +headless, the long gray twisted trunks as repulsive as they had once +been beautiful The road was littered with many of the fallen; but others +were far away in what had been the cane-fields, serpents and lizards +sunning themselves on the dead roots. Even stone walls were down, and +under them, sometimes, were men. Mills were in ruins; for no one had +remained to keep bars in their staples. Tanks of last year's rum and +treacle had been flung through the walls, and their odours mingled with +the stench of decomposing men and cattle. The horrid rattle of the +land-crab was almost the only sound in that desolate land. "The Garden +of the Antilles" looked like a putrid swamp, and she had not a beauty on +her. + +Alexander turned at a cross-road into a path which led through the +Grange estate to the private burying-ground of the Lyttons. These few +moments taxed his courage more heavily than the ride with the hurricane +had done, and more than once he opened his clenched teeth and half +turned his horse's head. But he went on, and before long he had climbed +to the end of his journey. The west wall of the little cemetery had been +blown out, and the roof of old James Lytton's tomb lay with its debris. +A tree, which evidently had been torn from the earth and flung from a +distance, lay half in and half out of the enclosure. But his mother's +headstone, which stood against the north wall, was undisturbed, although +the mound above her was flat and sodden. The earth had been strong +enough to hold her. Alexander remembered its awful air of finality as it +opened to receive her, then closed over her. What he had feared was that +the burying-ground, which stood on the crest of a hill, would have been +uprooted and scattered over the cane-fields. + +He rode on to Christianstadt. There the evidences of the hurricane were +less appalling, for the houses, standing close together, had protected +each other, and only two were unroofed; but everywhere the trees looked +like twisted poles, the streets and gardens were full of rubbish, and +down by the bay the shore was strewn with the wreckage of ships; the +Park behind the Fort was thick with decaying fish, which the blacks were +but just now sweeping out to the water. + +After Alexander had ascertained that Mr. Mitchell's house was quite +unharmed, although a neighbour had lost half a roof and been deluged in +consequence, he walked out Company Street to see how it had fared with +Hugh Knox. That worthy gentleman was treating his battered nerves with +weak whiskey and water when he caught sight of Alexander through the +library window. He gave a shout that drew an exasperated groan through +the ceiling, flung open the door, and clasped his beloved pupil in his +arms. + +"I knew you were safe, because you are you, although I've been afraid to +ask if you were dead or alive. Cruger sent out three others to warn the +planters, and they've all been brought home, one dead, one maimed, one +with chills and fever and as mad as a March hare. Good God! what a +visitation! I'd rather have been on a moving bog in Ireland. You +wouldn't have ridden out in that hurricane if I'd got you, not if I'd +been forced to tie you up. Fancy your being here alive, and not even a +cold in your head! But you've a grand destiny to work out, and the +hurricane--which I believe was the Almighty in a temper--knew what it +was about. Now tell me your experience. I'm panting to tell you mine. +I've not had a soul to talk to since the hour it started. The Missis +behaved like a Trojan while it lasted, then went to bed, and hasn't +spoken to me since; and as for everyone else in Christianstadt--well, +they've retired to calm their nerves in the only way,--prayer first and +whiskey after." + +Alexander took possession of his own easy-chair and looked gratefully +around the room. The storm had not disturbed it, neither had a wench's +duster. Since his mother's death he had loved this room with a more +grateful affection than any mortal had inspired, well as he loved his +aunt, Hugh Knox, and Neddy. But the room did not talk, and the men who +had written the great books which made him indifferent to his island +prison for days and weeks at a time, were dead, and their selfishness +was buried with them. + +Meanwhile Knox, forgetting his desire to hear the experience of his +guest, was telling his own. It was sufficiently thrilling, but not to be +compared with that of the planter's; and when he had finished, Alexander +began with some pride to relate his impressions of the storm. He, too, +had not talked for three days; his heart felt warm again; and in the +familiar comfortable room, the terrible picture of the hurricane seemed +to spring sharp and vivid from his memory; he had recalled it confusedly +hitherto, and made no effort to live it again. Knox leaned forward +eagerly, dropping his pipe; Alexander talked rapidly and brilliantly, +finally springing to his feet, and concluding with an outburst so +eloquent that his audience cowered and covered his face with his hands. +For some moments Knox sat thinking, then he rose and pushed a small +table in front of Alexander, littering it with pencils and paper, in his +untidy fashion. + +"My boy," he said, "you're still hot with your own eloquence. Before you +cool off, I want you to write that down word for word as you told it to +me. If it twisted my very vitals, it will give a similar pleasure to +others. 'Twould be selfish to deny them. When it's done, I'll send it to +Tiebout. Now I'll leave you, and if my niggers are still too demoralized +to cook supper for you, I'll do it myself." + +Alexander, whose brain, in truth, felt on fire, for every nerve had +leapt to the recreating of that magnificent Force that had gathered an +island into the hollow of its hand, crushed, and cast it back to the +waters, dashed at the paper and wrote with even more splendour than he +had spoken. When he had finished, he was still so excited that he +rushed from the house and walked till the hideous sights and smells +drove him home. He was quivering with the ecstasy of birth, and longed +for another theme, and hours and days of hot creation. But he was to be +spared the curse of the "artistic temperament." + + +XI + +The description of the hurricane went to St. Christopher by sloop two +days later (there were no English papers on St. Croix), and was not +heard from for two weeks. Meanwhile Alexander forgot it, as writers have +a way of forgetting their infants of enthusiastic delivery. There was +much to do on St. Croix. The negroes were put at once to rebuilding and +repairing, and masters, as well as overlookers and agents, were behind +them from morning till night. Mr. Mitchell had not returned, and +Alexander was obliged to take charge of his estates. When he was not +galloping from village to village and mill to mill, driving the sullen +blacks before him, or routing them out of ruins and hollows, where they +huddled in a demoralized stupor, he was consoling his aunt for the +possible sacrifice of Mr. Mitchell to the storm. Alexander was quite +confident that the hurricane had spared Tom Mitchell, whomsoever else it +may have devoured, but his logic did not appeal to his aunt, who wept +whenever he was there to offer his arm and shoulder. At other times she +bustled about among her maids, who were sewing industriously for the +afflicted. + +Alexander was grateful for the heavy task Mr. Mitchell's absence +imposed, for there was no business doing in Christianstadt, and his +nerves were still vibrating to the storm he had fought and conquered. +His rigorous self-control was gone, his suppressed energies and +ambitions were quick and imperious, every vial of impatience and disgust +was uncorked. As he rode through the hot sunlight or moved among the +Africans, coaxing and commanding, getting more work out of them by his +gay bright manner than the overlookers could extract with their whips, +his brain was thumping with plans of delivery from a life which he +hated so blackly that he would wrench himself free of it before the year +was out if he had to ship as a common sailor for New York. It seemed to +him that the vacancies in his brain ached. His imagination was hot with +the future awaiting him beyond that cursed stretch of blinding water. +For the first time he fully realized his great abilities, knew that he +had in him the forces that make history. All the encouragement of his +mother and Hugh Knox, the admiration and confidence of such men as Mr. +Cruger, the spoiling of his relatives, and his easy conquest or equally +flattering antagonism of the youth of the Island, had fostered his +self-confidence without persuading him that he was necessarily a genius. +Strong as his youthful ambitions had been, burning as his desire for +more knowledge, much in his brain had been dormant, and a humorous +philosophy, added to the sanguineness of youth and a deep affection for +a few people, had enabled him to bear his lot with unbroken +cheerfulness. But the clashing forces of the Universe had roused the +sleeping giant in his brain and whirled his youth away. His only +formulated ambition was to learn first all that schools could teach him, +then lead great armies to battle. Until the day of his death his desire +for military excitement and glory never left him, and at this time it +was the destiny which heated his imagination. It seemed to him that the +roar and rattle of the hurricane, in whose lead he had managed to +maintain himself unharmed, were the loud prophecy of battle and +conquest. At the same time, he knew that other faculties and demands of +his brain must have their way, but he could only guess at their nature, +and statesmanship was the one achievement that did not occur to him; the +American colonies were his only hope, and there was no means by which he +could know their wrongs and needs. Such news came seldom to the West +Indies, and Knox retained little interest in the country where he had +sojourned so short a while. And at this time their struggle hardly would +have appealed to young Hamilton had he known of it. He was British by +instinct and association, and he had never received so much as a +scratch from the little-finger nail of the distant mother, whose long +arm was rigid above her American subjects. + +His deliverance was so quick and sudden that for a day or two he was +almost as dazed as the Africans after the hurricane. One day Hugh Knox +sent him out a copy of the St. Christopher newspaper which had published +his description of the storm. With some pride in his first-born, he read +it aloud to his aunt. Before he was halfway down the first column she +was on the sofa with her smelling-salts, vowing she was more terrified +than when she had expected to be killed every minute. When he had +finished she upbraided him for torturing people unnecessarily, but +remarked that he was even cleverer than she had thought him. The next +morning she asked him to read it again; then read it herself. On the +following day Hugh Knox rode out. + +Alexander was at one of the mills. Knox told Mrs. Mitchell that he had +sent a copy of the newspaper to the Governor of St. Croix, who had +called upon him an hour later and insisted upon knowing the name of the +writer. Knox not only had told him, but had expanded upon Alexander's +abilities and ambitions to such an extent that the Governor at that +moment was with Peter Lytton, endeavouring to persuade him to open his +purse-strings and send the boy to college. + +"He will not do all," added Knox, "and I rely upon you to do the rest. +Between you, Alexander can get, first the education he wants now more +than anything in life, then the chance to make a great reputation among +men. If you keep him here you're no better than criminals, and that's +all I have to say." + +Mrs. Mitchell shuddered. "Do you think he really wants to go?" she +asked. + +"Do I think he wants to go!" roared Hugh Knox. "Do I think--Good God! +why he's been mad to go for five years. He'd have thought of nothing +else if he hadn't a will like a bar of iron made for a hurricane door, +and he'd have grown morbid about it if he hadn't been blest with a +cheerful and a sanguine disposition. You adore him, and you couldn't +see that!" + +"He never said much about it," said Mrs. Mitchell, meekly; "but I think +I can see now that you are right. It will make me ill to part with him, +but he ought to go, and if Peter Lytton will pay half his expenses, I'll +pay the other half, and keep him in pocket coin besides. Of course Tom +won't give a penny, but I have something of my own, and he is welcome to +it. Do have everything arranged before my husband's return. He is alive +and well. I had a letter from him by the sloop that came from St. Kitts, +and he'll be here by the next or the one after." + +As soon as Knox had gone Mrs. Mitchell ordered her coach and drove to +Lytton's Fancy. Her love for Alexander had struggled quite out of its +fond selfishness, and she determined that go to New York he should and +by the next ship. She found her brother-in-law meditating upon the +arguments of the Governor, and had less difficulty in persuading him +than she had anticipated. + +"I'm sorry we haven't sent him before," he said finally. "For if two men +like Walsterstorff and Knox think so highly of him, and if he can write +like that,--it gave me the horrors,--he ought to have his chance, and +this place is too small for him. I'll help you to keep him at college +until he's got his education,--and it will take him less time than most +boys to get it,--and then he'll be able to take care of himself. If he +sails on Wednesday, there's no produce to send with him to sell; but +I've silver, and so have you, and he can take enough to keep him until +the Island is well again. We'll do the thing properly, and he shan't +worry for want of plenty." + +When Alexander came home that evening he was informed that the world had +turned round, and that he stood on its apex. + + +XII + +The night before he sailed he rode out to the Grange estate. The wall of +the cemetery had been repaired, James Lytton's slab was in its place, +the tree had been removed, and he had rebuilt the mound above his +mother as soon as the earth was firm again. There was no evidence of the +hurricane here. The moon was out, and in her mellow bath the Island had +the beauty of a desert. Alexander leaned his elbows on the wall and +stared down at his mother's grave. He knew that he never should see it +again. What he was about to do was for good and all. He would no more +waste months returning to this remote Island than he would turn back +from any of the goals of his future. And it mattered nothing to the dead +woman there. If she had an immortal part, it would follow him, and she +had suffered too much in life for her dust to resent neglect. But he +passionately wished that she were alive and that she were sailing with +him to his new world. He had ceased to repine her loss, much to miss +her, but his sentiment for her was still the strongest in his life, and +as a companion he had found no one to take her place. To-night he wanted +to talk to her. He was bursting with hope and anticipation and the +enthusiasm of the mere change, but he was close to melancholy. + +Suddenly he bent his head. From the earth arose the golden music of a +million tiny bells. They had hung rusty and warped since the hurricane, +but to-night they rang again, and as sweetly as on the night, seventeen +years ago, when their music filled the Universe, and two souls, whose +destiny it was to bring a greater into the world, were flooded with a +diviner music than that fairy melody. Alexander knew nothing of that +meeting of his parents, when they were but a few years older than he was +to-night, but the inherited echo of those hours when his own soul +awaited its sentence may have stirred in his brain, for he stood there +and dreamed of his mother and father as they had looked and thought when +they had met and loved; and this he had never done before. The tireless +little ringers filled his brain with their Lilliputian clamour, and his +imagination gave him his parents in the splendour of their young beauty +and passion. For the first time he forgave his father, and he had a deep +moment of insight: one of the mysteries of life was bare before him. He +was to have many of these cosmic moments, for although his practical +brain relied always on hard work, never on inspiration, his divining +faculty performed some marvellous feats, and saved him from much +plodding; but he never had a moment of insight which left a profounder +impression than this. He understood in a flash the weakness of the +world, and his own. At first he was appalled, then he pitied, then he +vibrated to the thrill of that exultation which had possessed his mother +the night on the mountain when she made up her mind to outstay her +guests. And then the future seemed to beckon more imperiously to the boy +for whose sake she had remained, the radiant image of his parents melted +in its crucible, and the world was flooded with a light which revealed +more than the smoke of battlefields and the laurels of fulfilled +ambition. + + +XIII + +On the following day, as Alexander stood on the wharf with his tearful +relatives and friends, Hugh Knox detached him from Mrs. Mitchell and led +him aside. + +"Alec," he said, "I've two pieces of parting advice for you, and I want +you to put them into the pocket of your memory that's easiest to find. +Get a tight rein on that temper of yours. It's improved in the last +year, but there's room yet. That's the first piece. This is the second: +keep your own counsel about the irregularity of your birth, unless +someone asks you point-blank who has the right; if anyone else does, +knock him down and tell him to go to hell with his impertinence. And +never let it hit your courage in the vitals for a moment. You are not +accountable; your mother was the finest woman I ever knew, and you've +got the best blood of Britain in your veins, and not a relative in the +world who's not of gentle blood. You're an aristocrat in body and brain, +and you'll not find a purer in the American colonies. The lack of a +priest at the right time can cause a good deal of suffering and trouble, +but it can't muddy a pure stream; and many a lawful marriage has done +that. So, mind you never bring your head down for a minute, nor +persuade yourself that anyone has a better right to keep it up. It would +be the death of you." + +Alexander nodded, but did not reply. He was feeling very low, now that +the hour for parting was come, for his affections were strong and +tender, and they were all rooted in the Island he hated. He understood, +however. + +He was six weeks reaching Boston, for even the wind seemed to have had +the life beaten out of it. He had a box of Knox's books, which he was to +return by the Captain; and although he had read them before, he read +them again, and wrote commentaries, and so kept his mind occupied for +the greater part of the voyage. But an active brain, inexperienced in +the world, and in no need of rest, is always bored at sea, and he grew +sick of the sight of that interminable blue waste; of which he had seen +too much all his life. When he had learned all there was to know about a +ship, and read all his books, he burned for change of any sort. The +change, when it came, was near to making an end of him: the ship caught +fire, and they were a day and a night conquering the flames and +preparing their philosophy to meet death; for the boats were +unseaworthy. Alexander had all the excitement he wanted, for he fought +the fire as hard as he had fought the hurricane, and he was delighted +when the Captain gave him permission to turn in. This was his third +touch-and-go with death. + +He arrived in Boston late in October, and took passage immediately for +New York. There had been no time to announce his coming, and he was +obliged to find his own way to the house of Hercules Mulligan, a member +of the West Indian firm, to whom Mr. Cruger had given him a warm letter +of introduction. Mr. Mulligan, a good-natured Irishman, received him +hospitably, and asked him to stop in his modest house until his plans +were made. Alexander accepted the invitation, then started out in search +of his friend, Ned Stevens, but paused frequently to observe the queer, +straggling, yet imposing little city, the red splendour of the autumn +foliage; above all, to enjoy the keen and frosty air. All his life he +had longed for cold weather. He had anticipated it daily during his +voyage, and, although he had never given way to the natural indolence of +the Tropics, he had always been conscious of a languor to fight. But the +moment the sharp air of the North had tingled his skin his very muscles +seemed to harden, his blood to quicken, and even his brain to become +more alert and eager. If he had been ambitious and studious in an +average temperature of eighty-five degrees, what would happen when the +thermometer dropped below zero? He smiled, but with much contentment. +The vaster the capacity for study, the better; as for his ambitions, +they could rest until he had finished his education. Now that his feet +were fairly planted on the wide highway of the future, his impatience +was taking its well-earned rest; he would allow no dreams to interfere +with the packing of his brain. + +It was late in the afternoon, and the fashionable world was promenading +on lower Broadway and on the Battery by the Fort. It was the first time +that Alexander had seen men in velvet coats, or women with hoopskirts +and hair built up a foot, and he thought the city, with its quaint Dutch +houses, its magnificent trees, and these brilliant northern birds, quite +like a picture book. They looked high-bred and intelligent, these +animated saunterers, and Alexander regarded the women with deep +inquisitiveness. Women had interested him little, with the exception of +his mother, who he took for granted _sui generis_. The sisters of his +friends were white delicate creatures, languid and somewhat affected; +and he had always felt older than either of his aunts. In consequence, +he had meditated little upon the sex to which poets had formed a habit +of writing sonnets, regarding them either as necessary appendages or +creatures for use. But these alert, dashing, often handsome women, +stirred him with a new gratitude to life. He longed for the day when he +should have time to know them, and pictured them gracing the solid +home-like houses on the Broadway, and in the fine grounds along the +river front, where he strayed alter a time, having mistaken the way to +King's College. He walked back through Wall Street, and his enthusiasm +was beginning to ebb, he was feeling the first pangs of a lonely +nostalgia, when he almost ran into Ned Stevens's arms. It was four years +since they had met. Stevens had grown a foot and Alexander a few inches, +but both were boyish in appearance still and recognized each other at +once. + +"When I can talk," exclaimed Stevens, "when I can get over my +amazement--I thought at first it was my double, come to tell me +something was wrong on the Island--I'll ask you to come to Fraunces' +Tavern and have a tankard of ale. It's healthier than swizzle." + +"That is an invitation, Neddy," cried Alexander, gaily. "Initiate me at +once. I've but a day or two to play in, but I must have you for +playfellow." + +They dined at Fraunces' Tavern and sat there till nearly morning. +Alexander had much to tell but more to hear, and before they parted at +Mr. Mulligan's door he knew all of the New World that young Stevens had +patiently accumulated in four years. It was a stirring story, that +account of the rising impatience of the British colonies, and Stevens +told it with animation and brevity. Alexander became so interested that +he forgot his personal mission, but he would not subscribe to his +friend's opinion that the Colonials were in the right. + +"Did I have the time, I should study the history of the colonies from +the day they built their first fort," he said. "Your story is +picturesque, but it does not convince me that they have all the right on +their side. England--" + +"England is a tyrannical old fool," young Stevens was beginning, +heatedly, when a man behind arose and clapped a hand over his mouth. + +"There are three British officers at the next table," he said. "We don't +want any more rows. One too many, and God knows what next." + +Stevens subsided, but Alexander's nostrils expanded. Even the mental +atmosphere of this brilliant North was full of electricity. + +The next day he presented to Dr. Rogers and Dr. Mason the letters which +Hugh Knox had given him. He interested them at once, and when he asked +their advice regarding the first step he should take toward entering +college, they recommended Francis Barber's Grammar School, at +Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Stevens had suggested the same institution, +and so did other acquaintances he made during his brief stay in the city +which was one day to be christened by angry politicians, +"Hamiltonopolis." Early in the following week he crossed to New Jersey +and rode through the forests to the village, with its quaint streets and +handsome houses, "the Burial Yard Lot," beside the main thoroughfare of +the proud little hamlet, and Mr. Barber's Grammar School at its upper +end. Hamilton was accepted immediately, but where to lodge was a +harassing question. The only rooms for hire were at the tavern, where +permanent lodgement would be intolerable. When he presented a letter to +Mr. Boudinot, which Mr. Cruger had given him, the problem was solved at +once. Mr. Boudinot, one of the men of his time, had a spacious and +elegant house, set amidst gardens, lawns, and forest trees; there were +many spare bedrooms, and he invited Hamilton to become a member of his +family. The invitation was given as a matter of course, and Hamilton +accepted it as frankly. All the pupils who were far from home visited in +the neighbourhood. Liberty Hall, on the Springfield turnpike, was +finishing when Hamilton arrived. When the family was installed and he +presented his letter to its owner, William Livingston, he received as +pressing an invitation as Mr. Boudinot's, and divided his time between +the two houses. + +Mr. Boudinot was a large man, with a long nose and a kindly eye, who was +deeply attached to his children. Susan was healthy, pretty, lively, and +an ardent young patriot. The baby died, and Hamilton, having offered to +sit up with the little body, entertained himself by writing an +appropriate poem, which was long treasured by Mr. Boudinot. + +At Liberty Hall life was even more interesting. William Livingston was +one of the ablest lawyers, most independent thinkers, and ardent +republicans of the unquiet times. Witty and fearless, he had for years +made a target of kingly rule; his acid cut deep, doing much to weaken +the wrong side and encourage the right. His wife was as uncompromising a +patriot as himself; his son, Brockholst, and his sprightly cultivated +daughters had grown up in an atmosphere of political discussion, and in +constant association with the best intellects of the day. Sarah, the +beauty, was engaged to John Jay, already a distinguished lawyer, +notoriously patriotic and high-minded. He was a handsome man, with his +dark hair brushed forward about his face, his nobility and classic +repose of feature. Mr. Livingston wore his hair in a waving mass, as +long as he had any. His nose was large and sharp, and he had a very +disapproving eye. He took an immediate liking to young Hamilton, +however, and his hospitality was frank and delightful. Brockholst and +Alexander liked and admired each other in those days, although they were +to become bitter enemies in the turbulent future. As for the lively bevy +of women, protesting against their exile from New York, but amusing +themselves, always, they adopted "the young West Indian." The +delicate-looking boy, with his handsome sparkling face, his charming +manners, and gay good humour captivated them at once; and he wrote to +Mrs. Mitchell that he was become shockingly spoiled. When Mr. Livingston +discovered that his brain and knowledge were extraordinary, he ceased at +once to treat him as a fascinating boy, and introduced him to the men +who were constantly entertained at his house: John Jay, James Duane, Dr. +Witherspoon, President of Princeton; and members of the Morris, +Schuyler, Ogden, Clinton, and Stockton families. The almost weekly +conversation of these men contributed to the rapid maturing of +Hamilton's mind. His recreation he found with the young women of the +family, and their conversation was not always political. Sarah +Livingston, beautiful, sweet, and clever, was pensively in love; but +Kitty and Susan were not, and they were handsome and dashing. They were +sufficiently older than Alexander to inspire him with the belief that he +was in love with each in turn; and if he was constant to either, it was +to Kitty, who was the first to reveal to him the fascination of her +sex. But they did not interrupt the course of his studies; and in the +dawn, when he repaired to the Burial Yard Lot to think out his difficult +task for the day, not a living face haunted the tombstones. + +And when winter came and he walked the vast black forests alone, the +snow crunching under his feet, the blood racing in his body, a gun on +his shoulder, lest he meet a panther, or skated till midnight under the +stars, a crystal moon illuminating the dark woods on the river's edge, +the frozen tide glittering the flattering homage of earth, he felt so +alive and happy, so tingling and young and primeval, that had his +fellow-inhabitants flown to the stars he would not have missed them. +Until that northern winter embraced and hardened him, quickening mind +and soul and body, crowding the future with realized dreams, he never +had dared to imagine that life could be so fair and beautiful a thing. + +On stormy winter nights, when he roasted chestnuts or popped corn in the +great fireplace of Liberty Hall, under the tuition of all the Livingston +girls, Sarah, Susan, Kitty, and Judith, he felt very sociable indeed; +and if his ears, sometimes, were soundly boxed, he looked so penitent +and meek that he was contritely rewarded with the kiss he had snatched. + +The girls regarded him as a cross between a sweet and charming boy to be +spoiled--one night, when he had a toothache, they all sat up with +him--and a phenomenon of nature of which they stood a trifle in awe. But +the last was when he was not present and they fell to discussing him. +And with them, as with all women, he wore, because to the gay vivacity +and polished manners of his Gallic inheritance he added the rugged +sincerity of the best of Britons; and in the silences of his heart he +was too sensible of the inferiority of the sex, out of which, first and +last, he derived so much pleasure, not to be tender and considerate of +it always. + +Before the year of 1773 was out Mr. Barber pronounced him ready for +college, and, his choice being Princeton, he presented himself to Dr. +Witherspoon and demanded a special course which would permit him to +finish several years sooner than if he graduated from class to class. He +knew his capacity for conquering mental tasks, and having his own way to +make in the world, had no mind to waste years and the substance of his +relatives at college. Dr. Witherspoon, who had long been deeply +interested in him, examined him privately and pronounced him equal to +the heavy burden he had imposed upon himself, but feared that the board +of trustees would not consent to so original a plan. They would not. +Hamilton, nothing daunted, applied to King's College, and found no +opposition there. He entered as a private student, attached to no +particular class, and with the aid of a tutor began his customary +annihilation of time. Besides entering upon a course of logic, ethics, +mathematics, history, chronology, rhetoric, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, all +the modern languages, and Belles Lettres, he found time to attend Dr. +Clossy's lectures on anatomy, with his friend Stevens, who was studying +medicine as a profession. + +King's was a fine building facing the North River and surrounded by +spacious grounds shaded by old sycamores and elms. There were many +secluded corners for thought and study. A more favourite resort of +Alexander's was Batteau Street, under whose great elms he formed the +habit of strolling and muttering his lessons, to the concern of the +passer-by. In his hours of leisure he rollicked with Stevens and his new +friends, Nicolas Fish and Robert Troup. The last, a strong and splendid +specimen of the young American collegian, had assumed at once the +relation of big brother to the small West Indian, but was not long +discovering that Hamilton could take care of himself; was flown at +indeed by two agile fists upon one occasion, when protectiveness, in +Alexander's measurement, rose to interference. But they formed a deep +and lifelong friendship, and Troup, who was clever and alert, without +brilliancy, soon learned to understand Hamilton, and was not long +recognizing potentialities of usefulness to the American cause in his +genius. + +It was Troup who took him for his first sail up the Hudson, and except +for the men who managed the boat, they went alone. Troup was a good +listener, and for a time Hamilton chattered gaily as the boat sped up +the river, jingling rhymes on the great palisades, which looked like the +walls of some Brobdingnagian fortress, and upon the gorgeous masses of +October colouring swarming over the perpendicular heights of Jersey and +the slopes and bluffs of New York. It was a morning, and a piece of +nature, to make the quicksilver in Hamilton race. The arch was blue, the +tide was bluer, the smell of salt was in the keen and frosty air. Two +boats with full white sails flew up the river. On either bank the +primeval forest had burst in a night into scarlet and gold, pale yellow +and crimson, bronze, pink, the flaming hues of the Tropics, and the +delicate tints of hot-house roses. Hamilton had never seen such a riot +of colour in the West Indies. They passed impenetrable thickets close to +the water's edge, ravines, cliffs, irregular terraces on the hillside, +gorges, solitary heights, all flaunting their charms like a vast booth +which has but a day in which to sell its wares. They sped past the +beautiful peninsula, then the lawns of Philipse Manor. Hamilton stepped +suddenly to the bow of the boat and stood silent for a long while. + +The stately but narrow end of the Hudson was behind; before him rolled a +wide and ever widening majestic flood, curving among its hills and +palisades, through the glory of its setting and the soft mists of +distance, until the far mountains it clove trembled like a mirage. The +eye of Hamilton's mind followed it farther and farther yet. It seemed to +him that it cut the world in two. The sea he had had with him always, +but it had been the great chasm between himself and life, and he had +often hated it. This mighty river, haughty and calm in spite of the +primeval savagery of its course, beat upon the gates of his soul, beat +them down, filled him with a sense of grandeur which made him tremble. +He had a vision of the vastness and magnificence of the New World, of +the great lonely mountains in the North, with their countless lakes +hidden in the immensity of a trackless forest, of other mountain ranges +equally wild and lonely, cutting the monotony of plains and prairies, +and valleys full of every delight. All that Hamilton had read or heard +of the immense area beyond or surrounding the few cities and hamlets of +the American colonies, flew to coherence, and he had a sudden +appreciation of the stupendousness of this new untravelled world, +understood that with its climate, fertility, and beauty, its large +nucleus of civilization, its destiny must be as great as Europe's, nor +much dissimilar, no matter what the variance of detail. The noblest +river in the world seemed to lift its voice like a prophet, and the time +came--after his visit to Boston--when Hamilton listened to it with a +thrill of impatient pride and white-hot patriotism. But to-day he felt +only the grandeur of life as he never had felt it before, felt his soul +merge into this mighty unborn soul of a nation sleeping in the infinity, +which the blue flood beneath him spoke of, almost imaged; with no +premonition that his was the destiny to quicken that soul to its birth. + + * * * * * + +While on the ship, Alexander had written to his father, asking for news +of him and telling of the change in his own fortunes. James Hamilton had +replied at once, gratefully, but with melancholy; by this time he knew +himself to be a failure, although he was now a planter in a small way. +Alexander's letter, full of the hope and indomitable spirit of youth, +interested as keenly as it saddened him. He recalled his own high +courage and expectant youth, and wondered if this boy had stronger +mettle than his own equipment. Then he remembered Rachael Levine and +hoped. He lived to see hope fulfilled beyond any achievement of his +imagination, although the correspondence, brisk for a time, gradually +subsided. From Hugh Knox and Mrs. Mitchell Alexander heard constantly, +and it is needless to state that his aunt kept him in linen which was +the envy of his friends. His beruffled shirts and lace stocks were +marvels, and if he was an exquisite in dress all his life, it certainly +was not due to after-thought. Meanwhile, he lodged with the family of +Hercules Mulligan, and wrote doggerel for their amusement in the +evening. Troup relates that Hamilton presented him with a manuscript of +fugitive poetry, written at this period. Mercifully, Troup lost it. +Hamilton has been peculiarly fortunate in this respect. He lies more +serenely in his grave than most great men. + +When he was not studying, or joking, or rhyming, during those two short +years of college life, he read: Cudworth's "Intellectual System," +Hobbes's "Dialogues," Bacon's "Essays," Plutarch's "Morals," Cicero's +"De Officiis," Montaigne's "Essays," Rousseau's "Emile," Demosthenes's +"Orations," Aristotle's "Politics," Ralt's "Dictionary of Trade," and +the "Lex Mercatoria." + +He accomplished his mental feats by the--to him--simple practice of +keeping one thing before his mind at a time, then relegating it +uncompromisingly to the background; where, however, it was safe in the +folds of his memory. What would have sprained most minds merely +stimulated his, and never affected his spirits nor his health, highly as +nature had strung his nerves. He was putting five years college work +into two, but the effect was an expansion and strengthening of the +forces in his brain; they never weakened for an instant. + + +XIV + +In the spring of 1774 Hamilton visited Boston during a short holiday. +His glimpse of this city had been so brief that it had impressed his +mind but as a thing of roofs and trees, a fantastic woodland +amphitheatre, in whose depths men of large and solemn mien added daily +to the sum of human discomfort. He returned to see the important city of +Boston, but with no overwhelming desire to come in closer contact with +its forbidding inhabitants. He quickly forgot the city in what those +stern sour men had to tell him. For to them he owed that revelation of +the tragic justice of the American cause which enabled him to begin with +the pen his part in the Revolution, forcing the crisis, taking rank as a +political philosopher when but a youth of seventeen; instead of bolting +from his books to the battlefield at the first welcome call to arms. Up +to this time he had adhered to his resolution to let nothing impede the +progress of his education, to live strictly in the hour until the time +came to leave the college for the world. Therefore, although he had +heard the question of Colonies versus Crown argued week after week at +Liberty Hall, and at the many New York houses where he dined of a Sunday +with his friends, Stevens, Troup, and Fish, he had persistently refused +to study the matter: there were older heads to settle it and there was +only one age for a man's education. Moreover, he had grown up with a +deep reverence for the British Constitution, and his strong aristocratic +prejudices inclined him to all the aloofness of the true conservative. +So while the patriots and royalists of King's were debating, ofttimes +concluding in sequestered nooks, Hamilton remained "The young West +Indian," an alien who cared for naught but book-learning, walking +abstractedly under the great green shade of Batteau Street while Liberty +Boys were shouting, and British soldiers swaggered with a sharp eye for +aggression. This period of philosophic repose in the midst of electric +fire darting from every point in turn and sometimes from all points at +once, endured from the October of his arrival to its decent burial in +Boston shortly after his seventeenth birthday. + +Boston was sober and depressed, stonily awaiting the vengeance of the +crown for her dramatic defiance in the matter of tea. Even in that +rumbling interval, Hamilton learned, the Committee of Correspondence, +which had directed the momentous act, had been unexcited and methodical, +restraining the Mohawks day after day, hoping until the last moment that +the Collector of Customs would clear the ships and send the tea whence +it came. Hamilton heard the wrongs of the colonies discussed without any +of the excitement or pyrotechnical brilliancy to which he had become +accustomed. New York was not only the hot-bed of Toryism, but even such +ardent Republicans as William Livingston, George Clinton, and John Jay +were aristocrats, holding themselves fastidiously aloof from the rank +and file that marched and yelled under the name of Sons of Liberty. To +Hamilton the conflict had been spectacular rather than real, until he +met and moved with these sombre, undemonstrative, superficially +unpleasing men of Boston; then, almost in a flash, he realized that the +colonies were struggling, not to be relieved of this tax or that, but +for a principle; realized that three millions of people, a respectable +majority honourable, industrious, and educated, were being treated like +incapables, apprehensive of violence if they dared to protest for their +rights under the British Constitution. Hamilton also learned that Boston +was the conspicuous head and centre of resistance to the crown, that she +had led the colonies in aggressiveness since the first Stamp Act of 1765 +had shocked them from passive subjects into dangerous critics. He had +letters which admitted him to clubs and homes, and he discussed but one +subject during his visit. There were no velvet coats and lace ruffles +here, except in the small group which formed the Governor's court. The +men wore dun-coloured garments, and the women were not much livelier. It +was, perhaps, as well that he did not see John Hancock, that ornamental +head-piece of patriotic New England, or the harmony of the impression +might have been disturbed; but, as it was, every time he saw these men +together, whether sitting undemonstratively in Faneuil Hall while one of +their number spoke, or in church, or in groups on Boston Common, it was +as if he saw men of iron, not of flesh and blood. Every word they +uttered seemed to have been weighed first, and it was impossible to +consider such men giving their time and thought, making ready to offer +up their lives, to any cause which should not merit the attention of all +men. Although Hamilton met many of them, they made no individual +impression on him; he saw them only as a mighty brain, capable of +solving a mighty question, and of a stern and bitter courage. + +He returned to New York filled with an intense indignation against the +country which he had believed too ancient and too firm in her highest +principles to make a colossal mistake, and a hot sympathy for the +colonists which was not long resolving itself into as burning a +patriotism as any in the land. It was not in him to do anything by +halves, it is doubtful if he ever realized the half-hearted tendency of +the greater part of mankind. He studied the question from the first +Stamp Act to the Tea Party. The day he was convinced, he ceased to be a +West Indian. The time was not yet come to draw the sword in behalf of +the country for which he conceived a romantic passion, which satisfied +other wants of his soul, but he began at once on a course of reading +which should be of use to her when she was free to avail herself of +patriotic thinkers. He also joined the debating club of the college. His +abrupt advent into this body, with his fiery eloquence and remarkable +logic, was electrical. In a day he became the leader of the patriot +students. There were many royalists in King's, and the president, Dr. +Myles Cooper, was a famous old Tory. He looked upon this influential +addition to the wrong side with deep disfavour, and when he discovered +that the most caustic writer of Holt's Whig newspaper, who had carved +him to the quick and broken his controversial lances again and again, +was none other than his youngest and most revolutionary pupil, his wrath +knew no bounds. + +With the news of the order to close the port of Boston, the wave of +indignation in the colonies rose so high that even the infatuated clergy +wriggled. Philadelphia went so far as to toll her muffled bells for a +day, and as for New York, then as now, the nerve-knot of the country, +she exploded. The Sons of Liberty, who had reorganized after the final +attempt of England to force tea on the colonies, paraded all day and +most of the night, but were, as yet, more orderly than the masses, who +stormed through the streets with lighted torches, shrieking and yelling +and burning the king and his ministers in effigy. + +The substantial citizens also felt that the time was come to prepare for +the climax toward which their fortunes were hastening. That spiteful +fist would be at their own skulls next, beyond a doubt. The result of a +long and hot debate in the Exchange between the Sons of Liberty and the +more conservative patriots was an agreement to call a Congress of the +Colonies. The contest over the election of delegates was so bitter, +however, the Committee of the Assembly, which was largely ministerial, +claiming the right to nomination, that it was determined to submit the +question to the people at large. + + +XV + +In the early morning Hamilton still sauntered beneath the college trees +or those of Batteau Street, pondering on his studies, and abstracting +himself from the resting city, but in the evenings and during half the +night he inhaled the hot breath of rebellion; and the flaring torches, +the set angry faces, the constant shouting, the frightened pallor of the +women at the windows of the great houses on the line of march, the +constant brawls with British soldiers, stormed the curb he had put on +his impatient spirit. He realized that the colonies were not yet +prepared to fight, and he had no thought of doing anything rash, but it +was his propensity to do a thing at once if it were to be done at all, +and this last indignity should result in something except talk. He was +present at the meeting in the Exchange and listened carefully to all +that was said, feeling that he could add to that whirlwind of ideas, but +forbearing on account of his youth. His mind, by now, was so mature that +he reminded himself, with some difficulty, that he was but seventeen. He +was as lively and as happy as ever, but that was temperamental and would +endure through all things; mentally he had no youth in him, had had +little since the day he began to ask questions. + +The meeting in the Fields--at which it was hoped to effect a choice of +delegates by the people at large--was called for the 6th of July, and a +great multitude assembled. Alexander McDougall, the first patriot to +have suffered imprisonment at the hands of the Tyrant, presided, and +celebrated speakers harangued. It was here that Hamilton's impatience +got rid of its curb. He heard much that was good, more that was bad, +little that was new; and he found the radicals illogical and the +conservatives timid. Nicolas Fish and Robert Troup pushed their way +through the crowd to where Hamilton stood, his uplifted face expressing +his thoughts so plainly to those who knew him that these friends +determined to force him to the platform. + +At first he protested; and in truth, the idea, shaping concretely, +filled his very legs with terror; but the young men's insistence, added +to his own surging ideas, conquered, and he found himself on the +platform facing a boundless expanse of three-cornered hats. Beneath were +the men who represented the flower as well as the weeds of the city, all +dominated by the master passion of the civilized world. There was little +shade in the Fields and the day was hot. It was a crowded, +uncomfortable, humid mass whose attention he was about to demand, and +their minds were already weary of many words, their calves of the +ruthless mosquito. They stared at Hamilton in amazement, for his slender +little figure and fair curling hair, tied loosely with a ribbon, made +him look a mere boy, while his proud high-bred face, the fine green +broadcloth of his fashionably cut garments, the delicate lawn of his +shirt and the profusion of lace with which it was trimmed, particularly +about his exquisite hands, gave him far more the appearance of a court +favourite than a champion of liberty. Some smiled, others grunted, but +all remained to listen, for the attempt was novel, and he was beautiful +to look upon. + +For a moment Hamilton felt as if the lower end of his heart had grown +wings, and he began falteringly and in an almost inaudible voice. Pride +hastened to his relief, however, and his daily debates in college had +given him assurance and address. He recovered his poise, and as ideas +swam from his brain on the tide of a natural eloquence, he forgot all +but the great principle which possessed him in common with that jam of +weary men, the determination to inspire them to renewed courage and +greater activity. He rehearsed their wrongs, emphasized their +inalienable rights under the British Constitution--from which the +ministerial party and a foolish sovereign had practically divorced them. +He insisted that the time had come in their history to revert to the +_natural_ rights of man--upon which all civil rights were founded--since +they were no longer permitted to lead the lives of self-respecting +citizens, pursuing the happiness which was the first instinct of the +human intelligence; they had been reduced almost to the level of their +own slaves, who soon would cease to respect them. + +He paused so abruptly that the crowd held its breath. Then his ringing +thrilling voice sounded the first note of the Revolution. "It is war!" +he cried. "It is war! It is the battlefield or slavery!" + +When the deep roar which greeted the startling words had subsided, he +spoke briefly of their immense natural advantages, in the event of war, +the inability of England to gain any permanent advantage, and finally of +the vast resources of the country, and its phenomenal future, when the +"waves of rebellion, sparkling with fire, had washed back to the shores +of England the wrecks of her power, her wealth, and her glory." + +His manner was as fiery and impetuous as his discourse was clear, +logical, and original. The great crowd was electrified. It was as if a +blade of lightning had shot down from the hot blue sky to illuminate the +doubting recesses of their understandings. They murmured repeatedly "It +is a collegian," "a collegian," and they thundered their applause when +he finished. + +Troup and Fish bore him off in triumph to Fraunces' Tavern, where +Stevens joined them immediately, hot, but exultant. + +"I've just passed our president, looking like an infuriated bumblebee," +he cried. "I know he heard your speech from some hidden point of +vantage. It was a great speech, Alec. What a pity Hugh Knox, Mr. Lytton, +and Benny Yard were not there to hear. I'll write them about it +to-night, for St. Croix ought to burn a bonfire for a week. It was a +hurricane with a brain in it that whirled you straight to these +shores--as opportune for this country as for your own ambitions, for, +unless I'm much mistaken, you're going to be a prime factor in getting +rid of these pestiferous redcoats--we've a private room, so I can talk +as I please. One tried to trip me up just now, thinking I was you." + +Fish leaned across the table and looked penetratingly at Hamilton, who +was flushed and nervous. The young New Yorker had a chubby face, almost +feminized by a soft parted fringe, but his features were strong, and his +eyes preternaturally serious. + +"You've committed yourself, Hamilton," he said. "That was no college +play. Whether you fight or not doesn't so much matter, but you must give +us your pen and your speech. I'm no idle purveyor of compliments, but +you are extraordinary, and there isn't a man living can do for the cause +with his pen what you can do. Write pamphlets, and they'll be published +without an hour's delay." + +"Ah, I see!" cried Hamilton, gaily. "I was a bit bewildered. You think +my new patriotism needs nursing. 'After all, he is a West Indian, born +British, brought up under Danish rule, which is like being coddled by +one's grandmother. He sympathizes with us, his mind is delighted with a +new subject for analysis and discourse, but patriotism--that is +impossible,' Is it not true?" + +"You have read my thought," said Fish, with some confusion. "And you +have a great deal to occupy your mind. I never have known anyone whose +brain worked at so many things at once. I am selfish enough to want you +to give a good bit of it to us." + +"I never was one to make fierce demonstrations," said Alexander; "but +fill up another bumper--the first has calmed my nerves, which were like +to jump through my skin--and stand up, and I'll drink you a pledge." + +The three other young men sprang to their feet, and stood with their +glasses raised, their eyes anxiously fixed on young Hamilton. They had +believed him to be preparing himself for a great career in letters, and +knowing his tenacity and astonishing powers of concentration, had +doubted the possibility of interesting him permanently in politics. They +all had brains and experience enough--it was a hot quick time--to +recognize his genius, and to conceive the inestimable benefit it could +confer upon the colonial cause. Moreover, they loved him and wanted to +see him famous as quickly as possible. + +"Stand up on the table," cried Troup. "It is where you belong; and +you're the biggest man in New York, to-day." As Hamilton, although +self-confident, was modest, Troup put down his bumper, seized the hero +in his big arms and swung him to the middle of the table. Then the +three, raising their glasses again, stood in a semi-circle. Hamilton +threw back his head and raised his own glass. His hand trembled, and his +lips moved for a moment without speaking, after his habit when excited. + +"The pledge! The pledge!" cried Fish. "We want it." + +"It is this," said Hamilton. "I pledge myself, body and soul and brain, +to the most sacred cause of the American colonies. I vow to it all my +best energies for the rest of my life. I swear to fight for it with my +sword; then when the enemy is driven out, and all the brain in the +country needed to reconstruct these tattered colonies and unify them +into one great state, or group of allied states, which shall take a +respectable place among nations, to give her all that I have learned, +all that my brain is capable of learning and conceiving. I believe that +I have certain abilities, and I solemnly swear to devote them wholly to +_my country_. And I further swear that never, not in a single instance, +will I permit my personal ambitions to conflict with what must be the +lifelong demands of this country." + +He spoke slowly and with great solemnity. The hands of the three young +men shook, as they gulped down a little of the wine. Hamilton rarely was +serious in manner; even when discussing literature, politics, or any of +the great questions before the world, his humour and wit were in +constant play, a natural gift permitting this while detracting nothing +from the weight of his opinions. But his words and his manner were so +solemn to-day that they impressed his hearers profoundly, and they all +had a vague presentiment of what the unborn Country would owe to that +pledge. + +"You'll keep that, Alexander," said Fish. "Perhaps it were better for +you had you not made it so strong. I burn with patriotism, but I'd not +have you sacrificed--" + +"I've made my vows," cried Hamilton, gaily, "and I'll not have you +mention the fact again that I'm not an American born. Here's not only to +liberty, but to a united people under the firmest national constitution +ever conceived by man." + +"Amen," said Troup, "but that's looking well ahead. Hard as it will be +to get England out, it will be harder still to make New York and New +England love each other; and when it comes to hitching Massachusetts and +Virginia about each other's necks, I vow my imagination won't budge." + +"It will come," said Hamilton, "because in no other way can they +continue to exist, much less become one of the nations of the earth. +This war is but an interlude, no matter how long it may take. Then will +come the true warfare of this country--the Great Battle of Ideas, and +our real history will begin while it is raging, while we are +experimenting; and there will be few greater chapters in any country. I +shall take part in that battle; how, it is too soon to know, except that +for union I shall never cease to strive until it is a fact. But it has +grown cooler. Let us ride up to the village of Harlem and have supper +under the trees." + + +XVI + +It was not long after this that he wrote the pamphlets in reply to the +tracts assailing the Congress and aimed particularly at setting the +farmers against the merchants. These tracts were by two of the ablest +men on the Tory side, and were clever, subtle, and insinuating. +Hamilton's pamphlets were entitled, "A Full Vindication of the Measures +of Congress from the Calumnies of Their Enemies," and "The Farmer +Refuted; or a More Comprehensive and Impartial View of the Disputes +between Great Britain and the Colonies, Intended as a Further +Vindication of the Congress." It is not possible to quote these +pamphlets, and they can be found in his "Works," but they were +remarkable not only for their unanswerable logic, their comprehensive +arraignment of Britain, their close discussion of the rights of the +colonists under the British Constitution, their philosophical definition +of "natural rights," and their reminder that war was inevitable, but for +their anticipation of the future resources of the country, particularly +in regard to cotton and manufactures, and for the prophecies regarding +the treatment of the colonies by Europe. The style was clear, concise, +and bold, and with a finish which alone would have suggested a pen +pointed by long use. + +These pamphlets, which created a profound sensation, were attributed to +William Livingston and John Jay, two of the ablest men on the patriot +side. That side was profoundly grateful, for they put heart into the +timid, decided the wavering, and left the Tory writers without a leg to +stand on. Nothing so brilliant had been contributed to the cause. + +It was not long before the public had the author's name. Troup had been +present at the writing of the pamphlets, and he called on Dr. Cooper, +one day, and announced the authorship with considerable gusto. + +"I'll not believe it," exclaimed the president, angrily; "Mr. Jay wrote +those pamphlets, and none other. A mere boy like that--it's absurd. Why +do you bring me such a story, sir? I don't like this Hamilton, he's too +forward and independent--but I have no desire to hear more ill of him." + +"He wrote them, sir. Mulligan, in whose house he lives, and I, can prove +it. He's the finest brain in this country, and I mean you shall know +it." + +He left Dr. Cooper foaming, and went to spread the news elsewhere. The +effect of his revelation was immediate distinction for Hamilton. He was +discussed everywhere as a prodigy of intellect; messages reached him +from every colony. "Sears," said Willets, one of the leaders of the +Liberty party, "was a warm man, but with little reflection; McDougall +was strong-minded; and Jay, appearing to fall in with the measures of +Sears, tempered and controlled them; but Hamilton, after these great +writings, became our oracle." + +Congress met in May, 1775, and word having come that Chatham's +conciliation bill had been rejected, and that Britain was about to send +an army to suppress the American rebellion, this body assumed sovereign +prerogatives. They began at once to organize an army; Washington was +elected Commander-in-chief, and they ordered that five thousand men be +raised to protect New York, as the point most exposed. The royal troops +were expelled, and the city placed in command of General Charles Lee, an +English soldier of fortune, who had fought in many lands and brought to +the raw army an experience which might have been of inestimable service, +had he been high-minded, or even well balanced. As it was, he very +nearly sacrificed the cause to his jealousy of Washington and to his +insane vanity. + +Hamilton, meanwhile, published his two pamphlets on the Quebec Bill, and +took part in a number of public debates. At one of these, as he rose to +speak, a stranger remarked, "What brings that lad here? The poor boy +will disgrace himself." But the merchants, who were present in force, +listened intently to all he had to say on the non-importation agreement, +and admitted the force of his arguments toward its removal, now that war +practically had been declared. One of the most interesting of the +phenomena in the career of Hamilton was the entire absence of struggle +for an early hearing. People recognized his genius the moment they came +in contact with it, and older men saw only the extraordinary and mature +brain, their judgement quite unaffected by the boyish face and figure. +Those who would not admit his great gifts were few, for except in the +instances where he incurred jealous hate, he won everybody he met by his +charming manner and an entire absence of conceit. He was conscious of +his powers, but took them as a matter of course, and thought only of +what he would do with them, having no leisure to dwell on their quality. +In consequence, he already had a large following of unhesitating +admirers, many of them men twice his age, and was accepted as the +leading political philosopher of the country. + +Dr. Cooper sent for him after his third pamphlet. He, too, was a patriot +in his way, and although he bristled whenever Hamilton's name was +mentioned, he had come in contact with too many minds not to recognize +ability of any sort; he knew that Hamilton would be invaluable to the +Royalist cause. + +"Ask your own price, sir," he said, after suggesting the higher service +to which he could devote his pen. "You will find us more liberal--" But +Hamilton had bolted. It is impossible to knock down one's venerable +president, and his temper was still an active member in the family of +his faculties. To the numerous other offers he received from the Tory +side he made no reply, beyond inserting an additional sting into his pen +when writing for Holt's _Journal_. In the press he was referred to, now, +as "The Vindicator of Congress," and it was generally conceded that he +had done more to hasten matters to a climax, by preparing and whetting +the public mind, than anyone else in America. + +There is no doubt that the swiftness and suddenness of Hamilton's +conversion, his abrupt descent from a background of study and alien +indifference, gave him a clearer and more comprehensive view of the +wrongs and needs of the colonists than they possessed themselves. They +had been muttering ever since the passage of the first stamp tax, +threatening, permitting themselves to be placated, hoping, despairing, +hoping again. Hamilton, from the first moment he grasped the subject, +saw that there was no hope in ministerial England, no hope in anything +but war. Moreover, his courage, naturally of the finest temper, and an +audacity which no one had ever discouraged, leapt out from that far +background of the West Indies into an arena where the natives moved in +an atmosphere whose damps of doubt and discouragement had corroded them +for years. Even among men whose courage and independence were of the +first quality, Hamilton's passionate energy, fearlessness of thought, +and audacity of expression, made him remarkable at once; and they drew +a long breath of relief when he uncompromisingly published what they had +long agreed upon over the dining-table, or built up the doctrine of +resistance with argument as powerful as it was new. + +But the time rapidly approached for deeds, and Hamilton had been +occupied in other ways than writing pamphlets. During the past six +months he had studied tactics and gunnery, and had joined a volunteer +corps in order to learn the practical details of military science. All +his friends belonged to this corps, which called itself "Hearts of Oak," +and looked very charming in green uniforms and leathern caps, inscribed +"Freedom or Death." They soon attracted the attention of General Greene, +a superior man and an accomplished officer. He took an especial fancy to +Hamilton, and great as was their disparity in years, they were close +friends until the General's death. It was Greene who first attracted +Washington's attention to the youngest of his captains, and Hamilton was +able to render the older man, whose services and talents have even yet +not been properly recognized by his country, exceptional service. The +company exercised in the churchyard of St. George's chapel, early in the +morning; for in spite of the swarms of recruits clad in every variety of +uniform, deserted houses, and daily flights of the timid into Jersey, +earthworks and fortifications, college went on as usual. + +It was not long before the "Hearts of Oak" had an opportunity to +distinguish themselves. The provincial committee ordered them to remove +the cannon stationed at the Battery. In the harbour was the British +war-ship, _Asia_, which immediately sent off a boat to enquire into this +proceeding. A large number of armed citizens had escorted the little +corps to the Battery, and several lost their heads and fired at the +boat. There was an immediate broadside from the _Asia_. Three of the +militia were wounded, and one fell dead by Hamilton's side. "It is +child's play to a hurricane," he thought. "I doubt if a man could have a +better training for the battlefield." They removed the guns. + +The result of this attack was another explosion of New York's nerves. +The Sons of Liberty made it unsafe for a Tory to venture abroad. They +marched through the streets shouting vengeance, burning in effigy, and +making alarming demonstrations before the handsome houses of certain +loyalists. Suddenly, about ten o'clock at night, they were animated by a +desire to offer up Dr. Cooper, and they cohered and swarmed down toward +King's. Hamilton and Troup happened to be walking in the grounds when +the sudden flare of torches and the approaching tide of sound, warned +them of the invasion. They ran like deer to head them off, but reached +the portico only a moment ahead of the mob, which knew that it must be +sudden and swift to be victorious. + +"I can talk faster than you," whispered Hamilton, "I'll harangue them, +and it won't take Dr. Cooper long to understand and flee through the +back door--and may the devil fly away with him." + +"A moment!" he cried, "I've something to say, and I may not have another +chance, war is so close upon us." + +"'Tis young Hamilton," cried someone in the crowd. "Well, make us a +speech; we're always glad to hear you, but we'll not go home without old +Cooper. Don't think it." + +Hamilton never remembered what nonsense he talked that night. +Fortunately words always came with a rush, and he could mix up politics, +wrongs, the clergy, and patriotism, in so picturesque a jumble that an +excited crowd would not miss his usual concise logic. "Do you suppose +he's gone?" he whispered, pausing to take breath. + +"Go on, go on," said Troup nervously, "I hear someone moving." + +"Ah-h-h!" + +There was a wild yell from the crowd, and a hoarse roar from above. +Hamilton and Troup looked up. Dr. Cooper's infuriated visage, surrounded +by a large frill, projected from his bedroom window. "Don't listen to +him," he shrieked, thrusting his finger at Hamilton. "He's crazy! He's +crazy!" + +"The old fool," fumed Troup, "he thinks you're taking your just revenge. +If I could get inside--" + +Dr. Cooper was jerked back by a friendly hand and the window slammed. +"Someone understands," whispered Troup, excitedly; "and they'll have him +out in two minutes. Go on, for heaven's sake." + +Hamilton, who had been tearful with laughter, began again:-- + +"I appeal to you, my friends, am I crazy?" Indignant shouts of "No! No!" +"Then let me, I pray, make a few remarks on the possibility of holding +New York against the advancing fleet, that you can testify to my sanity +to-morrow, and save me from whatever unhappy fate this irascible +gentleman has in store for me." + +"Go ahead! Go ahead!" cried someone in the mob. "We won't let him touch +you." + +And again Hamilton harangued them, until Troup slipped round to the rear +of the big building and returned with word that Dr. Cooper was safely +over the back fence and on his way to the _Asia_. When Hamilton +announced the flight, there was muttering, but more laughter, for the +mob was in a better humour than when it came. + +"Well, that silver tongue of yours did the old man a good turn to-night, +but you shan't make fools of us again." And a few days later, when +Alexander attempted to head off the same mob as it made for the press of +Rivington, the Tory printer, they would not listen to him. But the +effort raised him still higher in the estimation of the patriots, for +they saw that his love of law and order was as great as his passion for +war. + + +XVII + +In January the convention of New York gave orders that a company of +artillery be raised. Hamilton, through Colonel McDougall of the First +New York regiment, at once applied for the captaincy, underwent an +examination that convinced the Congress of his efficiency, and on the +14th of March was appointed Captain of the Provincial Company of +Artillery. McDougall had already applied for "coarse blue cloth," with +which to clothe in a semblance of uniform those who already had +enlisted, and Hamilton took even better care of them. On May 26th he +wrote a brief, pointed, and almost peremptory letter to the Congress, +representing the injustice of paying his men less than the wages +received by the Continental artillery, adding that there were many marks +of discontent in his ranks, and that in the circumstances it was +impossible for him to get any more recruits. "On this account I should +wish to be immediately authorized to offer the same pay to all who may +be inclined to recruit," he wrote. He then went on to demand ten +shillings a head for every man he should be able to enlist, and that +each man of his company be allowed a frock as a bounty. + +Congress passed a resolution as soon as the letter was read, granting +him all he asked for, but limiting his company to one hundred men. When +it was recruited to his satisfaction, it numbered ninety-one, exclusive +of himself and his four officers. Besides his Captain-Lieutenant, and +first, second, and third Lieutenants, he had three sergeants, three +corporals, six bombardiers, three gunners, two drummers, two fifers, a +barber, and seventy-one matrosses, or assistant gunners. + +He had his troubles, and Congress came to the rescue whenever it +received one of his singularly unboyish letters, expressed, moreover, +with little more diffidence than if he had been Commander-in-chief. But +he knew what he wanted, and he never transcended courtesy; he was +evidently a favourite with the Congress. On July 26th he wrote demanding +a third more rations for his men, and on the 31st a resolution was +passed which marked an end to the disposition to keep his little company +on a level with the militia rather than with the regular army. +Thereafter he had no further complaints to carry to headquarters; but he +was annoyed to discover that one of his officers was a hard drinker, and +that the Lieutenant Johnson who had recruited the larger number of his +men before he assumed command, had disobeyed orders and enlisted them +for a year instead of for the term of war. + +Meanwhile, although the very air quivered and every man went armed to +the teeth, if a war-ship fired a gun the streets were immediately filled +with white affrighted faces; and although redoubts were building day and +night, still Congress came out with no declaration, and the country +seemed all nerves and no muscle. The English fleet arrived and filled +the bay,--a beautiful but alarming sight. Washington came and made New +York his headquarters, called for more troops, and Brooklyn Heights were +fortified, lest the English land on Long Island and make an easy descent +on the city. + +It is doubtful if the Americans have ever appreciated all they owe to +Lord Howe. He sat out in the harbour day after day, while they completed +their preparations, practically waiting until they announced themselves +ready to fight. But no man ever went to the wars with less heart for his +work, and he put off the ugly business of mowing down a people he +admired, hoping from day to day for an inspired compromise. It was not +until after the Declaration of Independence by the Congress, the wild +enthusiasm it excited throughout the colonies, and the repeated +declination of Washington to confer with Howe as a private citizen, that +our Chief received word the British Commander was landing troops on Long +Island, near Gravesend. + +Several thousand troops were ordered across to reinforce the Brooklyn +regiments, and Hamilton's artillery was among them. He stood up in his +boat and stared eagerly at the distant ridge of hills, behind which some +twenty thousand British were lying on their arms with their usual easy +disregard of time, faint, perhaps, under the torrid sun of August. But +they were magnificently disciplined and officered, and nothing in +history had rivalled the rawness and stubborn ignorance of the American +troops. Hamilton had not then met Washington, but he knew from common +friends that the Chief was worried and disgusted by what he had seen +when inspecting the Brooklyn troops the day before. Greene, second only +to Washington in ability, who had been in charge of the Brooklyn +contingent, knowing every inch of the ground, was suddenly ill. Putnam +was in command, and the Chief was justified in his doubt of him, for +nothing in the mistakes of the Revolution exceeded his carelessness and +his errors of judgement during the battle of Long Island. + +There were still two days of chafing inactivity, except in the matter of +strengthening fortifications, then, beginning with dawn of the 28th, +Hamilton had his baptism of fire in one of the bloodiest battlefields of +the Revolution. + +The Americans were outgeneralled and outnumbered. Their attention was +distracted by land and water, while a British detachment, ten thousand +strong, crept over the ridge of hills by night, and through the Bedford +Pass, overpowering the guards before their approach was suspected. At +dawn they poured down upon the American troops, surprising them, not in +one direction, but in flank, in rear, and in front. The green woods +swarmed with redcoats, and the Hessians acted with a brutality +demoralizing to raw troops. Hamilton's little company behaved well, and +he was in the thick of the fight all day. The dead were in heaps, the +beautiful green slopes were red, there was not a hope of victory, but he +exulted that the colonies were fighting at last, and that he was acting; +he had grown very tired of talking. + +He was driven from his position finally, and lost his baggage and a +field-piece, but did not take refuge within the redoubts until +nightfall. There, in addition to fatigue, hunger, a bed on the wet +ground, and the atmosphere of hideous depression which pressed low upon +the new revolutionists, he learned that Troup had been taken prisoner. +Then he discovered the depths to which a mercurial nature could descend. +He had been fiercely alive all day; the roar of the battle, the plunging +horses, the quickening stench of the powder, that obsession by the devil +of battles which makes the tenderest kill hot and fast, all had made him +feel something more than himself, much as he had felt in the hurricane +when he had fancied himself on high among the Berserkers of the storm. +In his present collapse he felt as if he were in a hole underground. + +Washington arrived on the scene next morning, and for forty-eight hours +he barely left the saddle, encouraging the wretched men and exercising +an unceasing vigilance. For two long days they were inactive in the +rain. The Chief, having assured himself that the British aimed to obtain +command of the river, determined upon the retreat which ranks as one of +the greatest military achievements in history. On the night of the 29th, +under cover of a heavy fog, the feat of embarking nine thousand men, +with all the ammunition and field-pieces of the army, and ferrying them +across the East River with muffled oars, was accomplished within earshot +of the enemy. Washington rode from regiment to regiment, superintending +and encouraging, finally taking his stand at the head of the ferry +stairs. He stood there until the last man had embarked at four in the +morning. The last man was Hamilton. His was one of the regiments, and +the rear one, detailed to cover the retreat, to attract fire to itself +if necessary. His position was on the Heights, just outside the +intrenchments, at the point closest to the enemy. For nine hours he +hardly moved, his ear straining for the first indication that the +British heard the soft splashing of bare feet in the mud. The fog was so +thick that he could see nothing, not even the battalions of retreating +Americans; the forms of his own men were vague and gray of outline. He +never had fancied an isolation so complete, but his nerves stood the +strain; when they began to mutter he reminded himself of Mr. Cruger's +store and St. Croix. There was a false summons, and after turning his +back upon his post with a feeling of profound relief, he was obliged to +return and endure it for two hours longer. Did the fog lift he would +never see another. It was dawn when a messenger came with the news that +his turn positively had come, and he marched his men down the slope to +the ferry stairs. He passed close enough to Washington to see his +dejected, haggard face. + +On the 15th of the following month, after much correspondence with +Congress, discussion, and voting, it was determined to abandon New York +City, and intrench the army on the Heights of Harlem. Hamilton was +bitterly disappointed; he wanted to defend the city, and so had three +of the generals, but they were overruled, and the march began on a +blazing Sunday morning. It was not only the army that marched, but all +the inhabitants of the town who had not escaped to the Jersey shore. The +retreat was under the command of General Putnam, and guided through all +the intricacies of those thirteen winding miles by his aide-de-camp, +Aaron Burr. The last man in the procession was Alexander Hamilton. + +"So, you're covering again, Alexander," said Fish, as he passed him on +his way to his own regiment,--the New York, of which he was +brigade-major. "You can't complain that your adopted country doesn't +make use of you. By the way, Troup is in the Jersey prison-ship, safe +and sound." + +"Can't we exchange him?" asked Hamilton, eagerly, "Do you think General +Washington would listen to us?" + +"If we have a victory. I shouldn't care to approach him at present. God! +This is an awful beginning. The whole army is ready to dig its own +grave. The only person of the lot who has any heart in him to-day is +little Burr. He's like to burst with importance because he leads and we +follow. He's a brave little chap, but such a bantam one must laugh. +Well, I hate to leave you here, the very last man to be made a target +of. You won't be rash?" he added anxiously. + +"No, granny," said Hamilton, whose gaiety had revived as he heard of +Troup's safety. "And I'd not exchange my position for any." + +"Good-by." + +Handshakes in those days were solemn. Fish feared that he never should +see Hamilton again, and his fear was close to being realized. + +It was a long, hot, dusty, miserable march; some lay down by the wayside +and died. Hamilton had been bred in the heat of the Tropics, but he had +ridden always, and to-day he was obliged to trudge the thirteen miles on +foot. He had managed to procure horses for his guns and caissons, but +none for himself and his officers. + +It was on the Hoagland farm at the junction of the Kingsbridge and +Bloomingdale roads that a serious skirmish occurred, and Hamilton and +his men stood the brunt of it. The tired column was almost through the +pass, when a detachment of British light infantry suddenly appeared on +the right. Fortunately the cannon had not entered the pass, and were +ready for action. Hamilton opened fire at once. There was a sharp +engagement, but the British were finally driven off. Then the defenders +of the column made good their own retreat, for they knew that by now the +redcoats were swarming over the island. + +Toward night a cold wind and rain swept in from the ocean. When the +little army finally reached Harlem Heights they were obliged to sleep on +the wet ground without so much as a tent to cover them, then arise at +dawn and dig trenches. But by night they were men again, they had ceased +to be dogged machines: the battle of Harlem Heights had been fought and +won. The British had begun the battle in the wrong place and at the +wrong time, and all the natural advantages of that land of precipices, +forests, gorges, wooded hills, and many ravines, were with the +Americans. Again Hamilton worked in the thick of the fight during the +four hours it lasted, but like everybody else he went to sleep happy. + + +XVIII + +He rose at dawn the next morning, and rousing his men, set them at work +throwing up redoubts. He was standing some distance from them, watching +the sun rise over the great valley they had been forced to abandon, with +its woods and beautiful homes, now the quarters of British officers, +when every nerve in his body became intensely aware that some one was +standing behind him. He knew that it was a man of power before he +whirled round and saw Washington. + +"This is Captain Hamilton?" said the Chief, holding out his hand. +"General Greene spoke to me, weeks ago, about you, but I have been in no +mood until to-day for amenities. I know of your part in the retreat +from Long Island, and I noticed you as you passed me on the ferry +stairs. What a lad you are! I am very proud of you." + +"I had asked for no reward, sir," cried Hamilton, with a smile so +radiant that Washington's set face caught a momentary reflection from +it, and he moved a step nearer, "but I feel as if you had pinned an +order on my coat." + +"I have heard a great deal more about you," said Washington, "and I want +to know you. Will you come up and have breakfast with me?" + +"_Oh, yes, I will_," said Hamilton, with such seriousness that they both +laughed. Hamilton's personal pride was too great to permit him to feel +deeply flattered by the attentions of any one, but the halo about +Washington's head was already in process of formation; he stood aloft, +whether successful or defeated, a strong, lonely, splendid figure, and +he had fired Hamilton's imagination long since. At that time he was +ready to worship the great Chief with all a boy's high enthusiasm, and +although he came to know him too well to worship, he loved him, save at +intervals, always. As for Washington, he loved Hamilton then and there, +and it is doubtful if he ever loved any one else so well. When they were +alone he called him "my boy," an endearment he never gave another. + +On that September morning they breakfasted together, and talked for +hours, beginning a friendship which was to be of the deepest +consequences to the country they both were striving to deliver. + +During the following month Hamilton had much leisure, and he spent it in +the library of the Morris house, which its owner, a royalist, had +abandoned on the approach of the American troops, fleeing too hurriedly +to take his books. The house was now General Washington's headquarters, +and he invited Hamilton to make what use of the library he pleased. It +was a cool room, and he found there many of the books he had noted down +for future study. He also wrote out a synopsis of a political and +commercial history of Great Britain. As the proclivities and furnishing +of a mind like Hamilton's cannot fail to interest the students of +mankind, a digression may be pardoned in favour of this list of books +he made for future study, and of the notes scattered throughout his pay +book:-- + + Smith's History of New York; Leonidas; View of the Universe; + 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; History of France; Lassel's Voyage + through Italy; Robertson's Charles V; Present State of Europe; + Grecian History; Baretti's Travels; Bacon's Essays; Philosophical + Transactions; Entick's History of the Late War; European + Settlements in America; Winn's History of America. + + The Dutch in Greenland have from 150 to 200 sail and ten thousand + seamen.... It is ordered that in their public prayers they pray + that it should please God to bless the Government, the Lords, the + States, and their great and small fisheries. + + Hamburg and Germany have a balance against England--they furnish + her with large quantities of linen. + + Trade with France greatly against England.... The trade with + Flanders in favour of England.... A large balance in favour of + Norway and Denmark. + + Rates of Exchange with the several Nations in 52, viz.: To Venice, + Genoa, Leghorn, Amsterdam, Hamburgh. To Paris--Loss, Gain. + + Postlethwaite supposes the quantity of cash necessary to carry on + the circulation in a state one third of the rents to the land + proprietors, or one ninth of the whole product of the lands. See + the articles, Cash and Circulation. + + The par between land and labour is twice the quantity of land whose + product will maintain the labourer. In France one acre and a half + will maintain one. In England three, owing to the difference in the + manner of living. + + Aristotle's Politics, chap. 6, definition of money, &c. + + The proportion of gold and silver, as settled by Sir Isaac Newton's + proposition, was 1 to 14. It was generally through Europe 1 to 15. + In China I believe it is 1 to 10. + + It is estimated that the labour of twenty-five persons, on an + average, will maintain a hundred in all the necessaries of life. + + Postlethwaite, in his time, supposes six millions of people in + England. The ratio of increase has been found by a variety of + observations to be, that 100,000 people augment annually, one year + with another to--. Mr. Kerseboom, agreeing with Dr. Halley, makes + the number of people thirty-five times the number of births in a + year. + + Extracts from Demosthenes' Orations. + + Philippic. "As a general marches at the head of his troops, so + ought wise politicians, if I dare use the expression, to march at + the head of affairs; insomuch that they ought not to wait _the + event_, to know what measures to take; but the measures which they + have taken ought to produce the _event_." + + "Where attack him? it will be said. Ah, Athenians--war, war, itself + will discover to you his weak sides, if you will seek them." + + Sublimely simple. Vide Long. C. 16. + + Are the limits of the several states and the acts on which they are + founded ascertained, and are our ministers provided with them? What + intelligence has been given to Congress by our ministers of the + designs, strength by sea and land, actual interests and views of + the different powers in Europe? + + The government established (by Lycurgus) remained in vigour about + five hundred years, till a thirst of empire tempted the Spartans to + entertain foreign troops, and introduce Persian gold to maintain + them; then the institutions of Lycurgus fell at once, and avarice + and luxury succeeded. + + He (Numa) was a wise prince, and went a great way in civilizing the + Romans. The chief engine he employed for this purpose was religion, + which could alone have sufficient empire over the minds of a + barbarous and warlike people to engage them to cultivate the arts + of peace. + + Dr. Halley's Table of Observations exhibiting the probabilities of + life; containing an account of the whole number of people of + Breslau, capital of Silesia, and the number of those of every age, + from one to a hundred. (Here follows the table with comments by + A.H.) + + When the native money is worth more than the par in foreign, + exchange is high; when worth less, it is low. + + Portugal trade--Spanish trade--Artificers--Money--Exchange--Par of + exchange--Balance of + trade--Manufactures--Foundry--Coin--Gold--Silver--Naval + Power--Council of trade--Fishery. + + Money coined in England from the reign of Queen Elizabeth. + + Quere. Would it not be advisable to let all taxes, even those + imposed by the States, be collected by persons of Congressional + appointment; and would it not be advisable to pay the collectors so + much per cent. on the sums collected? + +Hamilton was nineteen at this time, and while there are many instances +of mental precocity in the history of mankind, it is doubtful if there +is a parallel case of so great a _range_ of intellectual curiosity, or +such versatility combined with pursuit of knowledge as distinct from +information. But the above notes are chiefly significant as showing that +long before he could have dreamed of directing the finances of the +United States, while he was wild with delight at the prospect of +military excitement and glory, a part of his mind was imperiously +attracted to the questions which were to become identified in American +history with his name. + +Washington often came in and sat for an hour with him; and although they +talked military science and future campaigns invariably,--for +Washington was a man of little reading and his thoughts moved in a +constant procession to one tune,--this was perhaps the happiest period +of their intercourse. The Chief demanded nothing, and his young friend +was free to give or not, as he chose. In that interval nothing gave +Hamilton such pleasure as to see Washington come into the cool library, +his face softening. + +"You have a streak of light in you that never goes out," said the man of +many burdens once. "When I catch a spark of it, I am cheered for the +rest of the day. When I am close to it for a time, I can feel the iron +lid on my spirits lifting as if it were on a bubbling pot. I believe you +are something more than human." + +During the first of these conversations Hamilton suggested the +advisability of keeping up the spirits of the raw troops by drawing the +enemy in separate detachments into constant skirmishes, a plan in which +the Americans were sure to have every advantage; and this policy was +pursued until Washington fell back into Westchester County. + +The American troops under Washington numbered about nineteen thousand +men, in one-third of whom the Chief felt something like confidence. Many +were grumbling at the prospect of a winter in the discomforts of camp +life; others were rejoicing that their time of service drew to a close; +all were raw. Nevertheless, he determined to give the British battle on +the shore of the Bronx River, where they were camped with the intention +of cutting him off from the rest of the country. + +Both armies were near White Plains on the morning of the 28th of +October. Most of the Americans were behind the breastworks they had +thrown up, and the British were upon the hills below, on the opposite +side of the Bronx. On the American side of the stream was an eminence +called Chatterton's Hill, and on the evening of the 27th Colonel Haslet +was stationed on this height, with sixteen hundred men, in order to +prevent the enfilading of the right wing of the army. Early the next +morning McDougall was ordered to reinforce Haslet with a small corps +and two pieces of artillery under Hamilton, and to assume general +command. + +At ten o'clock the British army began its march toward the village, but +before they reached it, Howe determined that Chatterton's Hill should be +the first point of attack, and four thousand troops under Leslie moved +off to dislodge the formidable looking force on the height. + +Hamilton placed his two guns in battery on a rocky ledge about halfway +down the hill, and bearing directly upon that part of the Bronx which +the British were approaching. He was screened from the enemy by a small +grove of trees. The Hessians, who were in the lead, refused to wade the +swollen stream, and the onslaught was checked that a bridge might +hastily be thrown together for their accommodation. Hamilton waited a +half-hour, then poured out his fire. The bridge was struck, the workmen +killed, the Hessians fell back in a panic. Leslie appealed to the +loyalty of the British, forded the river at another point, and rushed up +the hill with bayonets fixed, resolved to capture the guns. But the guns +flashed with extraordinary rapidity. Both the British and the watching +Americans were amazed. There were no tin canisters and grape-shot in the +American army, even the round shot were exhausted. Loading cannon with +musket balls was a slow process; but Hamilton was never without +resource. He stood the cannon on end, filled his three-cornered hat with +the balls, and loaded as rapidly as had he leaped a century. His guns +mowed down the British in such numbers that Leslie fell back, and +joining the Hessian grenadiers and infantry, who had now crossed the +stream, charged up the southwestern declivity of the hill and +endeavoured to turn McDougall's right flank. McDougall's advance opposed +them hotly, while slowly retreating toward the crown of the eminence. +The British cavalry attacked the American militia on the extreme right, +and the raw troops fled ignominiously. McDougall, with only six hundred +men and Hamilton's two guns, sustained an unequal conflict for an hour, +twice repulsing the British light infantry and cavalry. But the attack +on his flank compelled him to give way and retreat toward the +intrenchments. Under cover of a heavy rainstorm and of troops despatched +in haste, he retreated in good order with his wounded and artillery, +leaving the victors in possession of a few inconsiderable breastworks. + +Fort Washington was betrayed, and fell on the 16th of November. Then +began that miserable retreat of the American army through the Jerseys, +with the British sometimes in full pursuit, sometimes merely camping on +the trail of the hapless revolutionists. For Washington's force was now +reduced to thirty-five hundred, and they were ragged, half fed, and +wretched in mind and body. Many had no shoes, and in one regiment there +was not a pair of trousers. They left the moment their leave expired, +and recruits were drummed up with great difficulty. Washington was +obliged to write eight times to General Lee, who was at North Castle +with a considerable force, before he was able to hope for relief in that +quarter. + +Hamilton had a horse at times, at others not. But his vitality was proof +against even those endless days and nights of marching and +countermarching, through forests and swamps, in the worst of late autumn +and winter weather; and he kept up the spirits of his little regiment, +now reduced from bullets, exposure, and the expiration of service to +thirty men. Nevertheless, he held the British in check at the Raritan +River while the Americans destroyed the bridge, and when Washington, +after having crossed the Delaware, determined to recross it on Christmas +night and storm Trenton, he was one of the first to be chosen, with what +remained of his men and guns. + +As they crossed the Delaware that bitter night, the snow stinging and +blinding, the river choked with blocks of ice, Hamilton for the first +time thought on St. Croix with a pang of envy. But it was the night for +their purpose, and all the world knows the result. The victory was +followed on the 3d of January by the capture of Princeton; and here +Hamilton's active military career came to an end for the present. + + Well do I recollect the day [wrote a contemporary] when Hamilton's + company marched into Princeton. It was a model of discipline. At + their head was a boy, and I wondered at his youth; but what was my + surprise, when, struck with his slight figure, he was pointed out + to me as that Hamilton of whom we had heard so much. + + I noticed [a veteran officer said many years after] a youth, a mere + stripling, small, slender, almost delicate in frame, marching + beside a piece of artillery, with a cocked hat pulled down over his + eyes, apparently lost in thought; with his hand resting on a + cannon, and every now and again patting it as if it were a + favourite horse or a pet plaything. + + + + +BOOK III + +THE LITTLE LION + +I + +Hamilton's body succumbed to the climax of Trenton and Princeton upon +months of hardship and exposure, and he was in hospital for a week with +a rheumatic fever. But Troup, whose exchange had been effected, was with +him most of the time, and his convalescence was made agreeable by many +charming women. He was not the only brilliant young man in the army, for +Troup, Fish, Burr, Marshall, were within a few months or, at most, a +year or two of his age, and there were many others; men had matured +early in that hot period before the Revolution, when small boys talked +politics, and even the women thought of little else; but Hamilton, +through no fault of his, had inspired his friends with the belief that +he was something higher than human, and they never tired of sounding his +praises. Moreover, Washington had not hesitated to say what he thought +of him, and the mere fact that he had won the affection of that austere +Chieftain was enough to give him celebrity. At all events, he was a +dazzling figure, and pretty women soothed many a weary hour. As for +Troup, who was unpleasantly anatomical, he had a fresh story for every +day of the horrors of the prison cattle-ship _Mentor_, where half the +prisoners had died of filth, starvation, and fever, from putrid water +and brutal treatment. + +But never was there a more impatient invalid than Hamilton. He was +astonished and disgusted that his body should defy his mind, and at the +first moment possible he was up and about his duties with the army at +Morristown. Troup was ordered to join the army under Gates in the North. + +Morristown was a natural fortress, a large fertile valley, protected by +precipitous hills and forests, yet with defiles known to the Americans, +through which they could retreat if necessary. It was within striking +distance of New Brunswick and Amboy, in which towns Washington kept the +British cooped up for months, not permitting them to cut a stick of +forest wood without fighting for it. "Here was seen," to quote Hamilton, +"the spectacle of a powerful army straitened within narrow limits by the +phantom of a military force, and never permitted to transgress those +limits with impunity; in which skill supplied the place of means, and +disposition was the substitute for an army." + +Congress had invested Washington with such extraordinary powers after +the brilliant exploit at Trenton, that in Europe he was called "The +Dictator of America." Therein lay the sole cause of the ultimate victory +of the Revolutionists, and had the States been more generous, and less +jealous of delegating powers to Congress, he would have driven out the +British in short order. + +Mrs. Washington had joined her General--she kept an eye on him--at +Freeman's Tavern, which had been converted into comfortable +headquarters, and he was happy in his military family: Colonel Harrison, +indefatigable and fearless, affectionately known as "Old Secretary"; +Tench Tilghman of Maryland, young, accomplished, cheerful, devoted to +Washington and serving without pay, for his fortune was considerable; +Richard Kidder Meade, sprightly, enthusiastic, always willing to slave; +and John Fitzgerald,--all in an attitude of perpetual adoration. But he +lacked a secretary of the requisite ability, and as soon as he heard of +Hamilton's return to camp he sent for him. + +Hamilton was feeling almost well, and he walked rapidly across the +village green to headquarters, delighted at the prospect of seeing +Washington again. He had acquired a military air and walked more erectly +than ever, for he was somewhat sensitive of his juvenile appearance. He +found Washington in a front room on the second floor. The General wore +his usual blue and buff, and looked less harassed and worn than when he +had last seen him. He rose and shook hands warmly with Hamilton, who +thanked him again for the messages he had received while in hospital. + +"I would have had you brought here if there had been any place to make +you comfortable; and I am going to ask you to come and live with me +now--as my aide and secretary." + +Hamilton sprang to his feet impetuously. "Oh, sir!" he exclaimed, "I +don't want to leave the regular line of promotion! I don't want to leave +my men. I'm much attached to them. And I'll not deny my ambition, sir; I +want opportunities to distinguish myself. I've already refused two +generals. This war will last for years. There is no reason in the world +why I should not be a general in three." + +"No," said Washington, "there is none; there is every possibility of +your becoming one of the most brilliant figures on the revolutionary +battlefields. I admit that, and I understand your ambition. +Nevertheless, I think I can prove to you that there is another way in +which you can serve your country better. I know your uncompromising +sense of duty and your high patriotism, and I am sure you will accept my +invitation when I prove to you that while there are hundreds to fight +valorously, even brilliantly, there is scarcely a man I can get to write +my letters who can do more than punctuate properly or turn a sentence +neatly. You must know the inexpressible value of a brilliant +accomplished versatile secretary, with a brain capable of grasping every +question that arises--and you can imagine how many of that sort have +come my way. I have been driven nearly distracted, dictating, +explaining, revising--when I have so much else to think of. Besides the +constant correspondence with the Congress and the States, something else +is always turning up--to-day it is the exchange of prisoners, a most +important and delicate matter. Were you my secretary, you would also be +my brain: a word would be sufficient. I could trust you so implicitly +that if matters pressed I could confidently sign my name to whatever you +wrote without reading it over. There is no one else living of whom I can +say that. You are the most useful young man in America, and if you will +give your great brain to this country from this time on, she will be far +more grateful to you than if you merely continued to fight, splendidly +as you have done that. And _I_ need you--I have no words to tell you how +much." + +"Sir," said Hamilton, deeply touched, "no human being could withstand +such an appeal, and your words of praise are glory enough. I will come +as soon as you say, and do the best I can." + +"Come at once. The British persist in treating us as rebels. It is for +you, with your inspired pen, to force and coax them to regard us with +the respect an educated thinking people--not a horde of ignorant rebels, +as they imagine--deserve. If you do that, you will do a greater service +to your country than if you rose to be first in military rank. Here are +some notes. When you have finished, write to Congress and ask for the +rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; and move up here to-day, if possible. I +cannot tell you how happy I shall be to have you a member of my family." + +Washington had won his point. A shrewd judge of men, he had calculated +upon Hamilton succumbing to an appeal to his sense of patriotic +duty--the strongest passion in his passionate nature. Much as he loved +Hamilton, he had no hesitation in using him, and our petted young hero +was to learn what work meant for the first time in his life. He wrote +most of the day, often half the night; but although he chafed angrily at +the confinement, beat many a tattoo on the floor with his heels, and +went for a hard ride more than once that he might keep his temper, the +result was that mass of correspondence, signed "George Washington," +which raised the commander of the American forces so high in the +estimation of Europe, adding to his military renown the splendour of a +profound and luminous intellect. + +There was, also, some correspondence with the Congress regarding the +disposition of his artillery men. He insisted upon definite provision +for them, and they were permitted to enlist in the Continental Army. +They loved him, and the final parting on March 18th, with cannon as +well as men!--made him ill for half a day. + +Otherwise his life at Headquarters was very pleasant Tilghman and Meade +became two of the most congenial friends he ever made. The tavern was +comfortable, and he had a room to himself for a time. The dining room +reunions were agreeable in spite of their formality. Besides the amiable +military family, and the most motherly of women, who knit him stockings +and kept his wardrobe in order, there were frequent visitors. The +Livingston girls were spending the winter with their aunt, Lady +Sterling, and, with their beautiful cousin, the Lady Kitty Alexander, +often drove over to a five o'clock dinner or the more informal supper. +The Boudinots and Morgans, the generals in camp at Morristown and their +wives, and the more distinguished officers, were frequently dined at +Headquarters. Washington sat halfway in the table's length, with Mrs. +Washington opposite. Hamilton was placed at the head of the table on the +day of his arrival, a seat he retained while a member of the family. The +Chief encouraged him to talk, and it must be confessed that he talked +from the time he sat down till the meal finished. His ideas were always +on the rush, and talking was merely thinking aloud. As he expressed +himself with wit and elegance, and on subjects which interested them all +profoundly, illuminating everything he touched, old men and young would +lean forward and listen with respect to the wisdom of a young man who +was yet an infant in the eyes of the law. How he escaped being +insufferably spoiled can only be explained by the ceaseless activity of +his brain, and the fact that the essence of which prigs are made was not +in him. That he was utterly without commonplace conceit is indisputable, +for he was the idol of the family. Harrison christened him "The Little +Lion," a name his friends used for their aptest designation as long as +he lived, and assumed a paternal relation which finished only with the +older man's death. The Lady-in-chief made such a pet of him that he was +referred to in the irreverent Tory press as "Mrs. Washington's +Tom-cat." + +"Alexander," said Kitty Livingston to him, one day, "have a care. You +are too fortunate. The jealous gods will smite you." + +But Hamilton, thinking of those terrible months in the previous year, of +mental anxiety and physical hardship, when, in bitter weather, he had +often gone hungry and insufficiently clothed, and of his present arduous +duties, concluded there was a fine balance in his affairs which +doubtless would placate the gods. + + +II + +In May and July there were illustrious additions to Washington's +family,--John Laurens and Lafayette. Both became the intimate friends of +Hamilton, the former one of the few passionate attachments of his life. +Although Hamilton was by no means indifferent to the affection he +inspired in nine-tenths of the people he met, he did not himself love +easily. He was too analytical, he saw people too precisely as they were, +and his acquaintance with human nature had made him too cynical to +permit the flood gates of his affections to open except under uncommon +stress. He dreaded disappointment. For Troup, Fish, Stevens, Meade, and +Tilghman he had a deep affection and served their interests ardently; +for Washington a contradictory budget of emotions, which were sometimes +to be headed "respectful affection," at others "irritated resentment," +now and again a moment of adoration. While he could not pay sufficient +tribute to Washington's magnanimity and generosity, he had by now seen +him in too many tempers, had been ground too fine in his greedy machine, +to think on him always with unqualified enthusiasm. Lafayette, +brilliant, volatile, accomplished, bubbling with enthusiasm for the +cause of Liberty, and his own age within a few months, he liked +sincerely and always. There was no end to the favours he did him, and +Lafayette loved no one better in his long and various career. Women, +Hamilton fancied sharply and forgot quickly. + +But Laurens, the "young Bayard of the Revolution," fresh from the +colleges and courts of Europe, a man so handsome that, we are told, +people experienced a certain shock when he entered the room, courtly, +accomplished to the highest degree, of flawless character, with a mind +as noble and elevated as it was intellectual, and burning with the most +elevated patriotism,--he took Hamilton by storm, capturing judgement as +well as heart, and loving him as ardently in return. + +Like Hamilton, Laurens was of Huguenot descent; he was born in South +Carolina, of a distinguished family. Against the expressed wish of his +father he had returned to America, made his way to Headquarters and +offered his services to Washington, who immediately attached him to his +military household. The unhappiest of men, praying for death on every +battlefield, he lived long enough to distinguish himself by a bravery so +reckless, by such startling heroic feats, that he was, beyond all +question, the popular young hero of the Revolution. He worshipped +Washington as one might worship a demi-god, and risked his life for him +on two occasions. But Hamilton was the friend of his life; the bond +between them was romantic and chivalrous. Each burned to prove the +strength of his affection, to sacrifice himself for the other. Laurens +slaved at Washington's less important correspondence, and Hamilton's +turn came later. The age has passed for such friendships; but at that +time, when young men were nurtured on great ideas, when they were +sacrificing themselves in a sacred cause, and had seen next to nothing +of the frivolities of life, they were understandable enough. + +Hamilton was obliged to share his room with both the young men, and they +slept on three little cots in a small space. When the nights were +insufferably hot they would go out and lie on the grass and talk until +they were in a condition to sleep anywhere. Hamilton would forecast the +next movement of the enemy; Laurens and Lafayette would tell all they +knew about military science in Europe; and then they would discuss the +future of the liberated country and the great ideals which must govern +her. And when men can be idealistic while fighting the Jersey mosquito, +it must be admitted that they are of the stuff to serve their country +well. + +But all this delightful intercourse was interrupted in August. +Washington gave battle to the British at Brandywine, was defeated, and +in the following month surprised them at Germantown, and was defeated +again. Nevertheless, he had astonished the enemy with his strength and +courage so soon after a disastrous battle. To hold Philadelphia was +impossible, however, and the British established themselves in the +Capital of the colonies, making, as usual, no attempt to follow up their +victories. + +Washington went into temporary quarters near the village of Whitemarsh. +His own were in a baronial hall at the head of a beautiful valley. Old +trees shaded the house, and a spring of pure water bubbled in a fountain +before the door. The men were encamped on the hills at the north. + +There was a great hall through the centre of the mansion, and here +Washington held his audiences and councils of war. The house throughout +was of extreme elegance, and much to the taste of the younger members of +the family, particularly of Hamilton, who spent the greater part of his +leisure in the library. But his enjoyment of this uncommon luxury was +brief. + +Washington must have reinforcements or his next engagement might be his +last. There was but one source from which he could obtain a considerable +supply, and that was from the army of Gates in the North. But Gates was +swollen with the victory of Saratoga and the capture of Burgoyne, and +was suspected to be in the thick of an intrigue to dethrone Washington +and have himself proclaimed Commander-in-chief. At the moment he was the +idol of the army, and of the northern and eastern States, for his +victories were tangible and brilliant, while Washington's surer +processes were little appreciated. Therefore to get troops from him +would be little less difficult than to get them from Lord Howe, short of +a positive command, and this prerogative Washington did not think it +politic to use. He called a council of war, and when it was over he +went to his private office and sent for Alexander Hamilton. + +He looked haggard, as if from sleepless nights, and for a moment after +Hamilton entered the room, although he waved his hand at a chair, he +stared at him without speaking. Hamilton divined what was coming--he +attended all councils of war--and sat forward eagerly. The prospect of a +holiday from clerical work would alone have filled him with youth, and +he knew how great a service he might be able to render the cowering +Republic. + +"Hamilton," said Washington, finally, "you are as much in my secret +thoughts as I am myself. If I attempted to deceive you, you would divine +what I withheld. It is a relief to speak frankly to you, I dare not +demand these troops from Gates, because there is more than a possibility +he would defy me, and that the Congress and a large part of the army +would sustain him. He has given sufficient evidence of his temper in +sending me no official notice of the battle of Saratoga. But unless I am +to meet with overwhelming disaster here, I must have reinforcements. It +may be possible to extract these by diplomacy, and I have selected you +for the mission, because I feel sure that you will not forget the issues +at stake for a moment, because you never lose your head, and because you +will neither be overawed by Gates's immediate splendour, nor will you +have any young desire to assert the authority which I give you as a last +resort. There is another point: If you find that Gates purposes to +employ his troops on some expedition, by the prosecution of which the +common cause will be more benefited than by their being sent down to +reinforce this army, you must suspend your consideration for me. God +knows I am tender of my reputation, and I have no wish to be disgraced, +but we are or should be fighting for a common cause and principle, and +should have little thought of individual glory. However, I do not +believe in the disinterestedness of Gates, nor in his efficiency on a +large scale. But I leave everything in your hands." + +Hamilton stood up, his chest rising, and stared at his Chief. + +"Sir," he said, after a moment, "do you appreciate that you are placing +your good name and your future in my hands?" For a moment he realized +that he was not yet of age. + +"You are the only being to whom I can confide them, and who can save +this terrible situation." + +"And you have the magnanimity to say that if Gates has a chance of other +victories to let him go unhindered?" He had one of his moments of +adoration and self-abnegation for this man, whose particular virtues, so +little called upon in ordinary affairs, gave him so lonely a place among +men. + +Washington jerked his head. There was nothing more to say. Hamilton's +head dropped for a moment, as if he felt the weight of an iron helmet, +and his lips moved rapidly. + +"Are you saying your prayers when your lips work like that?" asked +Washington, crossly. + +Hamilton threw back his head with a gay laugh. His eyes were sparkling, +his nostrils dilating; his whole bearing was imperious and triumphant. +"Never mind that. I'll undertake this mission gladly, sir, and I think +I'll not fail. My old friend Troup is his aide. He will advise me of +many things. I'll bring you back those regiments, sir. One way or +another a thing can always be managed." + +The light in Hamilton's face was reflected on Washington's. "You are my +good genius," he said shortly. "Take care of yourself. You will have to +ride hard, for there is no time to lose, but be careful not to take +cold. I shall give you orders in writing. Come back as soon as you can. +I believe I am not lacking in courage, but I always have most when you +are close by." + +There is a print somewhere representing Hamilton setting forth on this +mission. He is mounted on a handsome white horse, and wears a long green +cloak, one end thrown over a shoulder. His three-cornered hat is pulled +low over his eyes. In the rear is an orderly. + +He started on the 30th of October, riding hard through the torn desolate +country, toward Newburg on the Hudson. He was three days making the +distance, although he snatched but a few hours' rest at night, and but +a few moments for each meal. From Newburg he crossed to Fishkill and, +acting on his general instructions, ordered Putnam to despatch southward +three brigades; and on his own account despatched seven hundred Jersey +militia on the same expedition. + +He then started hot and hard for Albany, a dangerous as well as +exhausting journey, for neither savage tribes nor redcoats could be far +in the distance. His mental anxiety by now wore as severely as the +physical strain. None knew better than he that his talents were not for +diplomacy. He was too impatient, too imperious, too direct for its +sinuous methods. On the other hand, he had a theory that a first-rate +mind could, for a given time, be bent in any direction the will +commanded, and he had acquired an admirable command of his temper. But +the responsibility was terrific, and he was half ill when he reached +Albany. He presented himself at General Gates's headquarters at once. + +Gates, like Lee, was a soldier of fortune; and low-born, vain, weak, and +insanely ambitious. He had been advised of Hamilton's coming, and had no +intention of giving Washington an opportunity to rival his own +achievements and reestablish himself with the army and the Congress. He +received Hamilton surrounded by several of his military family; and for +the first time our fortunate hero encountered in high places active +enmity and dislike. He had incurred widespread jealousy on account of +his influence over Washington, and for the important part he was playing +in national affairs. To the enemies of the Commander-in-chief he +represented that exalted personage, and was particularly obnoxious. +Never was a youth in a more difficult position. + +"I cannot expose the finest arsenal in America," said Gates, pompously, +"to the possibility of destruction. Sir Henry Clinton may return at any +minute. Nor could I enterprise against Ticonderoga were my army +depleted. Nor can I leave the New England States open to the ravages and +the depredations of the enemy." + +These statements made no impression on Hamilton, and he argued +brilliantly and convincingly for his object, but Gates was inflexible. +He would send one brigade and no more. + +Hamilton retired, uneasy and dejected. Gates had an air of omnipotence, +and his officers had not concealed their scorn. He hesitated to use his +authority, for a bold defiance on the part of Gates might mean the +downfall of Washington, perhaps of the American cause. That Washington +was practically the American army, Hamilton firmly believed. If he fell, +it was more than likely that the whole tottering structure would +crumble. + +Another reason inclined him not to press Gates too far. He had been able +to order seventy-seven hundred troops from Fishkill, which was more than +Washington had expected, although by no means so many as he needed. He +therefore wrote to the Chief at length, sent for Troup, and threw +himself on the bed; he was well-nigh worn out. + +Troup was already in search of him, and met the messenger. Big and +bronzed, bursting with spirits, he seemed to electrify the very air of +the room he burst into without ceremony. Hamilton sat up and poured out +his troubles. + +"You have an affinity for posts of danger," said Troup. "I believe you +to be walking over a powder-mine here. I am not in their confidence, for +they know what I think of Washington, but I believe there is a cabal on +foot, and that Gates may be in open rebellion any minute. But he's a +coward and a bully. Treat him as such. Press your point and get your +troops. He is but the tool of a faction, and I doubt if they could make +him act when it came to the point. He wants to make another grand coup +before striking. Look well into what regiment he gives you. Which are +you to have?" + +"General Patterson's." + +"I thought as much. It is the weakest of the three now here, consists of +but about six hundred rank and file fit for duty. There are two hundred +militia with it, whose time of service is so near expiring that they +will have dissolved ere you reach Headquarters." + +Hamilton had sprung to his feet in a fury. He forgot his pains, and let +his temper fly with satisfaction in the exercise. "If that is the case," +he cried, when he had finished his anathema of Gates, "I'll have the +men;" and he dashed at his writing materials. But he threw his pen aside +in a moment. "I'll wait till to-morrow for this. I must be master of +myself. Tell me of Saratoga. You distinguished yourself mightily, and no +one was more glad than I." + +Troup talked while Hamilton rested. That evening he took him to call at +the Schuyler mansion, high on the hill. + +Philip Schuyler was the great feudal lord of the North. He had served +the colonial cause in many ways, and at the outbreak of the Revolution +had been one of its hopes and props. But brilliant as his exploits had +been, the intrigues of Gates, after the fall of Ticonderoga, had been +successful, and he was deprived of the army of the North before the +battle of Saratoga. The day of exoneration came, but at present he was +living quietly at home, without bitterness. A man of the most exalted +character, he drew added strength from adversity, to be placed at the +service of the country the moment it was demanded. Mrs. Schuyler, +herself a great-granddaughter of the first patroon, Killian Van +Rensselaer, was a woman of strong character, an embodied type of all the +virtues of the Dutch pioneer housewife. She had a lively and turbulent +family of daughters, however, and did not pretend to manage them. The +spirit of our age is feeble and bourgeois when compared with the +independence and romantic temper of the stormy days of this Republic's +birth. Liberty was in the air; there was no talk but of freedom and +execration of tyrants; young officers had the run of every house, and +Clarissa Harlowe was the model for romantic young "females." Angelica +Schuyler, shortly before the battle of Saratoga, had run off with John +Barker Church, a young Englishman of distinguished connections, at +present masquerading under the name of Carter; a presumably fatal duel +having driven him from England. Subsequently, both Peggy and Cornelia +Schuyler climbed out of windows and eloped in a chaise and four, +although there was not an obstacle worth mentioning to union with the +youths of their choice. It will shock many good mothers of the present +day to learn that all these marriages were not only happy, but set with +the brilliance of wealth and fashion. When Hamilton was introduced to +the famous white hall of the Schuyler mansion on the hill, Cornelia and +Peggy were still free in all but fancy; Elizabeth, by far the best +behaved, was the hope of Mrs. Schuyler's well-regulated soul and one of +the belles of the Revolution. Hamilton was enchanted with her, although +his mind was too weighted for love. Her spirits were as high as his own, +and they talked and laughed until midnight as gaily as were Gates's army +marching south. But Hamilton was a philosopher; nothing could be done +before the morrow; he might as well be happy and forget. He had met many +clever and accomplished American women by this, and Lady Kitty Alexander +and Kitty and Susan Livingston were brilliant. He had also met Angelica +Church, or Mrs. Carter, as she was called, one of the cleverest and most +high-spirited women of her time. It had crossed his mind that had she +been free, he might have made a bold dash for so fascinating a creature, +but it seemed to him to-night that on the whole he preferred her sister. +"Betsey" Schuyler had been given every advantage of education, +accomplishment, and constant intercourse with the best society in the +land. She had skill and tact in the management of guests, and without; +being by any means a woman of brilliant parts, understood the questions +of the day; her brain was informed with shrewd common sense. Hamilton +concluded that she was quite clever enough, and was delighted with her +beauty, her charm of manner, and style. Her little figure was graceful +and distinguished, her complexion the honey and claret that artists +extol, and she had a pair of big black eyes which were alternately +roguish, modest, tender, sympathetic; there were times when they were +very lively, and even suggested a temper. She was bright without +attempting to be witty, but that she was deeply appreciative of wit +Hamilton had soothing cause to know. And he had learned from the +admiring Troup that she was as intrepid as she was wholly and daintily +feminine. Altogether, Hamilton's fate was sealed when he bent over her +hand that night, although he was far from suspecting it, so heavily did +duty press the moment he was alone in his rooms. + +On the following morning he asked for an interview with General Schuyler +and several other military men whom he knew to be friendly to +Washington, and they confirmed the advice of Troup. In the afternoon he +wrote to Gates a letter that was peremptory, although dignified and +circumspect, demanding the addition of a superior brigade. He expressed +his indignation in no measured terms, and in more guarded phrases his +opinion of the flimsiness of the victorious General's arguments. Gates +sent the troops at once, and despatched a volume of explanation to +Washington. + +Hamilton set out immediately for New Windsor, Troup bearing him company +the greater part of the way, for he was feeling very ill. But he forgot +his ailments when he arrived. To his fury he discovered that not a +regiment had gone south. Two of the brigades, which had received no pay +for eight months, had mutinied, and he was obliged to ask Governor +Clinton to borrow $5000, with which to pay them off. He had the +satisfaction of despatching them, wrote a peremptory letter to Putnam, +who had other plans brewing, another to Gates, asking for further +reinforcements, then went to bed in Governor Clinton's house with fever +and rheumatism. But he wrote to Washington, apprising him of a scheme +among the officers of the northern department to recover the city of New +York, and denouncing Putnam in the most emphatic terms. Two days later +he recovered sufficiently to proceed to Fishkill, where he wrested +troops from Putnam, and ascertained that heavy British reinforcements +had gone from that neighbourhood to Howe. He wrote at once to +Washington, advising him of his peril, and endeavoured to push on; but +his delicate frame would stand no more, and on the 15th he went to bed +in Mr. Kennedy's house in Peekskill, with so violent an attack of +rheumatism that to his bitter disgust he was obliged to resign himself +to weeks of inactivity. But he had the satisfaction to receive a letter +from Washington approving all that he had done. And in truth he had +saved the situation, and Washington never forgot it. + + +III + +Hamilton rejoined the army at Valley Forge and soon recovered his health +and spirits. It was well that the spirits revived, for no one else +during that terrible winter could lay claim to any. The Headquarters +were in a small valley, shut in by high hills white with snow and black +with trees that looked like iron. The troops were starving and freezing +and dying a mile away, muttering and cursing, but believing in +Washington. On a hill beyond the pass Lafayette was comfortable in +quarters of his own, but bored and fearing the worst. Laurens chafed at +the inaction; he would have had a battle a day. As the winter wore on, +the family succumbed to the depressing influence of unrelieved monotony +and dread of the future, and only Hamilton knew to what depths of +anxiety Washington could descend. But despair had no part in Hamilton's +creed. He had perfect faith in the future, and announced it +persistently. He assumed the mission of keeping the family in good +cheer, and they gave him little time for his studies. As for Washington, +even when Hamilton was not at his desk, he made every excuse to demand +his presence in the private office; and Hamilton in his prayers +humorously thanked his Almighty for the gift of a cheerful disposition. +It may be imagined what a relief it was when he and Laurens, Meade, or +Tilghman raced each other up the icy gorge to Lafayette's, where they +were often jollier the night through than even a cheerful disposition +would warrant. Hamilton, although he had not much of a voice, learned +one camp-song, "The Drum," and this he sang with such rollicking abandon +that it fetched an explosive sigh of relief from the gloomiest breast. + +There were other duties from which Hamilton fled to the house on the +hill for solace. Valley Forge harboured a heterogeneous collection of +foreigners, whose enthusiasm had impelled them to offer swords and +influence to the American cause: Steuben, Du Portail, De Noailles, +Custine, Fleury, Du Plessis, the three brothers Armand, Ternant, +Pulaski, and Kosciusko. They had a thousand wants, a thousand +grievances, and as Washington would not be bothered by them, their daily +recourse was Hamilton, whom they adored. To him they could lament in +voluble French; he knew the exact consolation to administer to each, and +when it was advisable he laid their afflictions before Washington or the +Congress. They bored him not a little, but he sympathized with them in +their Cimmerian exile, and it was necessary to keep them in the country +for the sake of the moral effect. But he congratulated himself on his +capacity for work. + +"I used to wish that a hurricane would come and blow Cruger's store to +Hell," he said one day to Laurens, "but I cannot be sufficiently +thankful for that experience now. It made me as methodical as a machine, +gave my brain a system without which I never could cope with this mass +of work. I have this past week dried the tears of seven Frenchmen, +persuaded Steuben that he is not Europe, nor yet General Washington, and +without too much offending him, written a voluminous letter to Gates +calculated to make him feel what a contemptible and traitorous ass he +is, yet giving him no chance to run, blubbering, with it to the +Congress, and official letters _ad nauseum_. I wish to God I were out of +it all, and about to ride into battle at the head of a company of my +own." + +"And how many widows have you consoled?" asked Laurens. He was huddled +in his cot, trying to keep warm. + +"None," said Hamilton, with some gloom. "I haven't spoken to a woman for +three weeks." + +It was a standing joke at Headquarters that Washington always sent +Hamilton to console the widows. This he did with such sympathy and tact, +such address and energy, that his friends had occasionally been forced +to extricate him from complications. But it was an accomplishment in +which he excelled as long as he lived. + +"The Chief will never let you go," pursued Laurens. "And as there is no +one to take your place, you really should not wish it. Washington may be +the army, but you are Washington's brain, and of quite as much +importance. You should never forget--" + +"Come out and coast. That will warm your blood," interrupted Hamilton. +His own sense of duty was not to be surpassed, but he had rebellious +moods, when preaching suggested fisticuffs. + +Outside they met a messenger from Lafayette, begging them to repair to +his quarters at once. There they found him entertaining a party of +charming women from a neighbouring estate; and a half-hour later the +dignity and fashion of Washington's family might have been seen coasting +down a steep hill with three Philadelphian exiles, who were as +accomplished in many ways as they were satisfying to look upon. + +It was one of those days when a swift freeze has come with a rain-storm. +Hamilton had stood at the window of the office for an hour, early in the +day, biting the end of his quill, and watching the water change to ice +as it struck the naked trees, casing every branch until, when the sun +came out, the valley was surrounded by a diamond forest, the most +radiant and dazzling of winter sights. The sun was still out, its light +flashed back from a million facets, the ground was hard and white, the +keen cold air awoke the blood, and the three young men forgot their +grumblings, and blessed the sex which has alleviated man's burdens so +oft and well. + + +IV + +In June the military ardours of this distinguished young trio were +gratified to the point of temporary exhaustion. The British evacuated +Philadelphia on the 18th, and proceeded up the Delaware in New Jersey. +Captain Allan McLane had, as early as May 25th, reported to Washington +the enemy's intention to change their quarters for New York, and +Washington's desire was to crush them by a decisive blow. At a council +of war, however, it was decided merely to hang upon the skirts of the +retreating army and avoid an engagement. Lee was aggressive, almost +insulting, in counselling inaction, Washington, much embarrassed, but +hesitating to ignore the decisions of the council, followed the enemy by +a circuitous route, until he reached the neighbourhood of Princeton. The +British were in and about Allentown. Washington called another council +of war, and urged the propriety of forcing an engagement before the +enemy could reach the Heights of Monmouth. Again Lee overruled, being +sustained by the less competent generals, who were in the majority. As +soon as the council broke up, Hamilton sought out General Greene and led +him aside, Greene was white and dejected, but Hamilton's face was hot, +and his eyes were flashing. + +"I believe that Lee is in the pay of the British or the Conway Cabal," +he exclaimed. "I've always believed him ready at any minute to turn +traitor. It's a pity he wasn't left to rot in prison. Washington must +fight. His honour is at stake. If he lets the British walk off while we +sit and whistle, his influence with the army will be gone, Europe will +have no more of him, the Conway Cabal will have the excuse it's been +watching at keyholes for, and Gates will be Commander-in-chief +to-morrow. Will you come with me and persuade him to fight?" + +"Yes," said Greene. "And I believe he will. You are like a sudden cold +wind on an August day. Come on." + +They walked rapidly toward Washington's tent. He was sitting on his +camp-stool, but rose as they approached. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I anticipate the object of your visit. You wish +me to fight." + +"Yes!" exclaimed Hamilton. "As much as you wish it yourself. Why should +you regard the councils of the traitorous and the timorous, who, for +aught you know, may be in the pay of the Cabal? If the British retreat +unmolested, the American army is disgraced. If Congress undertake to +manage it, the whole cause will be lost, and the British will be +stronger far than when we took up arms--" + +"Enough," said Washington. "We fight" + +He ordered a detachment of one thousand men, under General Wayne, to +join the troops nearest the enemy. Lafayette was given the command of +all the advance troops--Lee sulkily retiring in his favour--which +amounted to about four thousand. Hamilton was ordered to accompany him +and reconnoitre, carry messages between the divisions, and keep +Washington informed of the movements of the enemy. There was but a +chance that he would be able to fight, but the part assigned to him was +not the least dangerous and important at Washington's disposal. The +Chief moved forward with the main body of the army to Cranbury. + +Clinton had no desire to fight, being encumbered with a train of +baggage-wagons and bathorses, which with his troops made a line on the +highroad twelve miles long. It being evident that the Americans intended +to give battle, he encamped in a strong position near Monmouth +Court-house, protected on nearly all sides by woods and marshes. His +line extended on the right about a mile and a half beyond the +Court-house, and on the left, along the road toward Allentown, for about +three miles. + +This disposition compelled Washington to increase the advance corps, and +he ordered Lee to join Lafayette with two brigades. As senior officer, +Lee assumed command of the whole division, under orders to make the +first attack. Both Lafayette and Hamilton were annoyed and apprehensive +at this arrangement. "Washington is the shrewdest of men in his +estimates until it is a matter of personal menace," said Hamilton, "and +then he is as trusting as a country wench with a plausible villain. I +thought we had delivered him from this scoundrel, and now he has +deliberately placed his fortunes in his hands again. Mark you, Lee will +serve us some trick before the battle is over." + +Hamilton had been galloping back and forth night and day between +Lafayette's division and Headquarters, wherever they happened to be, +and reconnoitring constantly. The weather was intensely hot, the soil so +sandy that his horse often floundered. He had not had a full night's +sleep since Washington announced his decision to give battle, and he +would have been worn out, had he not been too absorbed and anxious to +retain any consciousness of his body. Early on the morning of the 28th, +a forward movement being observed on the part of the enemy, Washington +immediately put the army in motion and sent word to Lee to press forward +and attack. + +Lee looked uglier and dirtier than usual, and the very seat of his +breeches scowled as he rode forward leisurely. In a few moments he +halted, word having been brought him that the main body of the British +was advancing. + +"If we could but court-martial him on the spot," groaned Lafayette, +whose delicate boyish face was crumpled with anxiety. + +"He meditates treason!" exclaimed Hamilton. "It is writ all over him." + +Having ascertained that the rumour was false, Lee consented to move on +again, and the division entered the forest, their advance covered from +the British on the plains beyond. For a time Lee manoeuvred so cleverly +that Hamilton and Lafayette permitted themselves to hope. Under cover of +the forest he formed a portion of his line for action, and with Wayne, +Hamilton, and others, rode forward to reconnoitre. Concluding that the +column of the British deploying on the right was only a covering party +of two thousand, he manoeuvred to cut them off from the main army. Wayne +was detached with seven hundred men to attack the covering party in the +rear. Lee, with a stronger force, was to gain its front by a road to the +left. Small detachments were concealed in the woods. At nine o'clock, +the Queen's dragoons being observed upon an eminence near the wood, Lee +ordered his light-horse to decoy them to the point where Wayne was +posted. The dragoons appeared to fall into the trap, but upon being +attacked from the wood, galloped off toward the main column. Wayne +started in pursuit; his artillery was raking them, and he had ordered a +charge at the point of the bayonet, when, to his amazement, he received +an order from Lee to make but a feint of attack and pursuit. He had no +choice but to obey, brilliant as might be the victory wrested from him. +Lee, meanwhile, dawdled about, although his troops were on one foot with +impatience. + +Suddenly Sir Henry Clinton, learning that the Americans were marching in +force on both his flanks, with the design of capturing his baggage, +changed the front of his army by facing about in order to attack Wayne +with such deadly fire that the enemy on his flanks would be obliged to +fly to the succour of that small detachment. Lafayette immediately saw +the opportunity for victory in the rear of the enemy, and rode up to Lee +asking permission to make the attempt. + +Lee swung his loose head about and scowled at the ardent young +Frenchman. "Sir," he replied witheringly, "you do not know British +soldiers. We cannot stand against them. We certainly shall be driven +back at first. We must be cautious." + +"It may be so, General," replied Lafayette, who would have given much to +see that head rolling on the sands; "but British soldiers have been +beaten, and they may be again. At any rate, I am disposed to make the +trial." + +Lee shrugged his shoulders, but as Lafayette sat immovable, his clear +hazel eyes interrogating and astonished, he reluctantly gave the Marquis +the order to wheel his column to the right and attack the enemy's left. +He simultaneously weakened Wayne's detachment and went off to +reconnoitre. He afterward claimed that he saw what looked to be the +approach of the entire army, and he ordered his right to fall back. The +brigades of Scott and Maxwell on the left were already moving forward +and approaching the right of the Royal forces, when they received an +order from Lee to reenter the wood. At the same time an order was sent +to Lafayette to fall back to the Court-house. With a face as flaming as +his unpowdered head, he obeyed. Upon reaching the Court-house he learned +that a general retreat had begun on the right, under the immediate +command of Lee. He had no choice but to follow. + +Hamilton, hardly crediting that his worst fears were realized in this +unwarranted retreat, galloped over to Lee and urged that possession be +taken of a neighbouring hill that commanded the plain on which the enemy +were advancing. But Lee protested violently that the Americans had not a +chance against that solid phalanx, and Hamilton, now convinced that he +meditated the disgrace of the American arms, galloped with all speed in +search of Washington. + +The retreat, by this, was a panic. The troops fled like an army of +terrified rabbits, with that reversion to the simplicity of their dumb +ancestors which induces the suspicion that all the manly virtues are +artificial. In times of panic man seems to exchange his soul for a tail. +These wretches trampled each other into the shifting sand, and crowded +many more into the morass. The heat was terrific. They ran with their +tongues hanging out, and many dropped dead. + +Washington heard of the retreat before Hamilton found him. He was +pushing on to Lee's relief when a country-man brought him word of the +disgraceful rout. Washington refused to credit the report and spurred +forward. Halfway between the meeting-house and the morass he met the +head of the first retreating column. He commanded it to halt at once, +before the panic be communicated to the main army; then made for Lee. +Lee saw him coming and braced himself for the shock. But it was a +greater man than Lee who could stand the shock of Washington's temper. +He was fearfully roused. The noble gravity of his face had disappeared. +It was convulsed with rage. + +"Sir," he thundered, "I desire to know what is the reason of this? +Whence arises this confusion and disorder?" + +"Sir--" stammered Lee, "sir--" He braced himself, and added impudently: +"I thought it best not to beard the enemy in such a situation. It was +contrary to my opinion--" + +"_Your_ opinion!" And then the Chief undammed a torrent of profanity +Washingtonian in its grandeur. + +He wheeled and galloped to the rallying of the troops. At this moment +Hamilton rode up. He had ridden through the engagement without a hat. It +seemed to him that he could hear the bubbling of his brain, that the +very air blazed, and that the end of all things had come. That day of +Monmouth ever remained in his memory as the most awful and hopeless of +his life. An ordinary defeat was nothing. But the American arms branded +with cowardice, Washington ignobly deposed, inefficient commanders +floundering for a few months before the Americans were become the +laughing-stock of Europe,--the whole vision was so hideous, and the day +so hopeless in the light of those cowardly hordes, that he galloped +through the rain of British bullets, praying for death; he had lost all +sense of separate existence from the shattered American cause. He did +not perceive that Washington had reached the column, and resolved to +make one more appeal to Lee, he rode up to that withered culprit and +exclaimed passionately:-- + +"I will stay with you, my dear General, and die with you! Let us all die +here, rather than retreat!" + +Lee made no reply. His brain felt as if a hot blast had swept it. + +"At least send a detachment to the succour of the artillery," said +Hamilton, with quick suspicion. And Lee ordered Colonel Livingston to +advance. + +At the same moment some one told Hamilton that Washington was in the +rear, rallying the troops. He spurred his horse and found that the +General had rallied the regiments of Ramsay and Stewart, after a rebuke +under which they still trembled, and was ordering Oswald to hasten his +cannon to the eminence which his aide had suggested to Lee. Hamilton +himself was in time to intercept two retreating brigades. He succeeded +in rallying them, formed them along a fence at hand, and ordered them to +charge at the point of the bayonet. He placed himself at their head, and +they made a brilliant dash upon the enemy. But his part was soon over. +His horse was shot under him, and as he struck the ground he was +overcome by the shock and the heat, and immediately carried from the +field. But the retreat was suspended, order restored, and although the +battle raged all day, the British gained no advantage. The troops were +so demoralized by the torrid heat that at sunset both Commanders were +obliged to cease hostilities; and Washington, who had been in the saddle +since daybreak, threw himself under a tree to sleep, confident of a +victory on the morrow. + +"I had a feeling as if my very soul were exploding," said Hamilton to +Laurens, as they bathed their heads in a stream in the woods, with the +bodies of dead and living huddled on every side of them. "I had a +hideous vision of Washington and the rest of us in a huge battle +picture, in which a redcoat stood on every squirming variety of +continental uniform, while a screeching eagle flew off with the +Declaration of Independence. But after all, there is something +magnificent in so absolutely identifying yourself with a cause that you +go down to its depths of agony and fly to its heights of exaltation. I +was mad to die when the day--and with it the whole Cause--seemed lost. +Patriotism surely is the master passion. Nothing else can annihilate the +ego." + +Laurens, who had performed prodigies of valour, sighed heavily. "I felt +as you did while the engagement lasted," he replied. "But I went into +the battle with exultation, for death this time seemed inevitable. And +the only result is a headache. What humiliation!" + +"You are morbid, my dear," said Hamilton, tenderly. "You cannot persuade +me that at the age of twenty-five naught remains but death--no matter +what mistakes one may have made. There is always the public career--for +which you are eminently fitted. I would begin life over again twenty +times if necessary." + +"Yes, because you happen to be a man of genius. I am merely a man of +parts. There are many such. Not only is my life ruined, but every day I +despair anew of ever attaining that high ideal of character I have set +for myself. I want nothing short of perfection," he said passionately. +"Could I attain that, I should be content to live, no matter how +wretched. But I fall daily. My passions control me, my hatreds, my +impulses of the moment. When a man's very soul aches for a purity which +it is in man to attain if he will, and when he is daily reminded that he +is but a whimperer at the feet of the statue, the world is no place for +him." + +"Laurens," said Hamilton, warmly, "you refine on the refinements of +sensibility. You have brooded until you no longer are normal and capable +of logic. Compare your life with that of most men, and hope. You are but +twenty-five, and you have won a deathless glory, by a valour and +brilliancy on these battlefields that no one else has approached. Your +brain and accomplishments are such that the country looks to you as one +of its future guides. Your character is that of a Bayard. It is your +passions alone, my dear, which save you from being a prig. Passion is +the furnace that makes greatness possible. If, when the mental energies +are resting, it darts out tongues of flame that strike in the wrong +place, I do not believe that the Almighty, who made us, counts them as +sins. They are natural outlets, and we should burst without them. If one +of those tongues of flame was the cause of your undoing, God knows you +have paid in kind. As a rule no one is the worse, while most are better. +A certain degree of perfection we can attain, but absolute +perfection--go into a wilderness like Mohammed and fast. There is no +other way, and even then you merely would have visions; you would not be +yourself." + +Laurens laughed. "It is not easy to be morbid when you are by. Acquit me +for the rest of the night. And it is time we slept. There will be hot +work to-morrow. How grandly the Chief rallied! There is a man!" + +"He was in a blazing temper," remarked Hamilton. "Lee and Ramsay and +Stewart were like to have died of fright. I wish to God he'd strung the +first to a gibbet!" + +They sought out Washington and lay down beside him. The American army +slept as though its soul had withdrawn to another realm where repose is +undisturbed. Not so the British army. Sir Henry Clinton did not share +Washington's serene confidence in the morrow. He withdrew his weary army +in the night, and was miles away when the dawn broke. + +Once Washington awoke, raised himself on his elbow, and listened +intently. But he could hear nothing but the deep breathing of his weary +army. The stars were brilliant. He glanced about his immediate vicinity +with a flicker of amusement and pleasure in his eyes. The young men of +his household were crowded close about him; he had nearly planted his +elbow on Hamilton's profile. Laurens, Tilghman, Meade, even Lafayette, +were there, and they barely had left him room to turn over. He knew that +these worshipping young enthusiasts were all ready and eager to die for +him, and that in spite of his rigid formality they were quite aware of +his weak spot, and did not hesitate to manifest their affection. For a +moment the loneliest man on earth felt as warmly companioned as if he +were raising a family of rollicking boys; then he gently lifted Hamilton +out of the way, and slept again. He was bitterly disappointed next +morning; but to pursue the enemy in that frightful heat, over a sandy +country without water, and with his men but half refreshed, was out of +the question. + +The rest of the year was uneventful, except for the court-martialling of +Lee and his duel with Laurens, who challenged him for his defamation of +Washington. Then came the eventful winter of 1779-80, when the army went +into quarters at Morristown, Washington and his military family taking +possession of a large house belonging to the Widow Ford. + + +V + +"Alexander!" cried a musical but imperious voice. + +Hamilton was walking in the depths of the wood, thinking out his +financial policy for the immediate relief of the country. He started and +faced about. Kitty Livingston sat on her horse, a charming picture in +the icy brilliance of the wood. He ran toward her, ripped off her +glove, kissed her hand, replaced the glove, then drew back and saluted. + +"You are a saucy boy," said Miss Livingston, "and I've a mind to box +your ears. I've brought you up very badly; but upon my word, if you were +a few years older, I believe I'd marry you and keep you in order, +something no other woman will ever be able to do. But I've a piece of +news for you--my dear little brother. Betsey Schuyler is here." + +Alexander, much to his annoyance, blushed vividly. "And how can you know +that I have ever even seen Miss Schuyler?" he asked, rather sulkily. + +"_She_ told me all about it, my dear. And I inferred from the young +lady's manner that she lived but to renew the experience. She is down at +Surgeon-General Cochraine's. Mrs. Cochraine is her aunt. Seriously, I +want you to be a good little beau, and keep her here as long as +possible. She is a great addition to our society; for she is not only +one of the belles of the country, accomplished and experienced, but she +has an amazing fine character, and I am anxious to know her better. You +are still too young to marry, _mon enfant_, but you are so precocious +and Miss Schuyler is so charming--if you will marry at your absurd age, +you could not do better; for you'll get fine parents as well as a wife, +and I've never known a youth more in need of an entire family." + +Hamilton laughed. "If I accumulate any more parents," he said, "I shall +share the fate of the cat. This morning Colonel Harrison--one of my +fathers--almost undressed me to see if my flannels were thick enough, +Mrs. Washington gave me a fearful scolding because I went out without a +muffler, and even the General is always darting edged glances at the +soles of my boots. Yesterday, Laurens, who is two-thirds English, tried +to force an umbrella into my hand, but at that I rebelled. If I marry, +it will be for the pleasure of taking care of someone else." + +He escorted Miss Livingston out to the highroad, and returned to +Headquarters, his imagination dancing. He had by no means forgotten Miss +Schuyler. That merry roguish high-bred face had shone above many dark +horizons, illuminated many bitter winter nights at Valley Forge. He was +excited at the prospect of seeing her again, and hastened to arrange a +dinner, to which she must be bidden. The young men did as they chose +about entertaining, sure of Washington's approval. + +"Ah, I know Miss Schuyler well," exclaimed Tilghman, when Hamilton +remarked that they should immediately show some attention to the +daughter of so illustrious a man as General Schuyler. "I've fetched and +carried for her--in fact I once had the honour to be despatched by her +mamma to buy her a pair of stays. I fell at her little feet immediately. +She has the most lively dark good-natured eyes I ever saw--Good God, +Hamilton, are you going to run me through?" + +Hamilton for the moment was so convulsed with jealous rage that his very +fingers curved, and he controlled them from his friend's throat with an +effort. Tilghman's words brought him to his senses, and he laughed +heartily. "I was as jealous as Othello, if you'll have the truth, and +just why, I vow I don't know, for I met this young lady only once, and +that a year ago. I was much attracted, but it's not possible I'm in love +with her." + +"It's love, my dear boy," said Tilghman, gravely. "Go and ask Steuben if +I am not right. Laurens and I will arrange the dinner. You attend to +your case immediately." + +Hamilton, much concerned, repaired to the house of Baron Steuben. This +old courtier and rake was physician in ordinary to all the young men in +their numerous cardiacal complications. Hamilton found him in his little +study, smoking a huge meerschaum. His weather-beaten face grinned with +delight at the appearance of his favourite, but he shook his head +solemnly at the revelation. + +"I fear this time you are shot, my dear little Hamilton," he said, with +much concern. "Have you told me all?" + +"All that I can think of." Hamilton was sitting forward on the edge of +the chair in considerable dejection. He had not expected this +intrication, had hoped the Baron would puff it away. + +"Has she a neat waist?" + +Hamilton admitted, with some surprise, that her waist was exceptional. + +"And her eyes?--I have heard of them--benevolent, yet sparkling;--and a +daughter of the Schuylers. Hamilton, believe me, there are worse things +than love." + +"But I have affairs of the utmost moment on hand at present. I'm +revolving a whole financial system, and the correspondence grows heavier +every day. I've no time for love." + +"My boy," said the former aide to the great Frederick, with emphasis, +"when you can work in the sun, why cling to the cold corner of a public +hearth? Your brain will spin the faster for the fire underneath. You +will write great words and be happy besides. Think of that. What a +combination! Mein Gott! You will be terribly in love, my son, but your +balance is so extraordinary that your brain will work on just the same. +Otherwise I would not dare give such counsel, for without you General +Washington would give up, and your poor old Steuben would not have money +for tobacco. Give me just one half-sovereign," he added coaxingly. + +Hamilton examined the big tobacco pouch and found it two-thirds full. +"Not a penny," he said gaily. "The day after to-morrow I will buy you +some myself, but I know where that last sovereign went to." + +Hamilton took care of the old spendthrift's money, and not only then but +as long as he lived. "The Secretary of the Treasury is my banker," said +Steuben, years after. "My Hamilton takes care of my money when he cannot +take care of his own." + +Hamilton retired in some perturbation, and the result of much thinking +was that he spent an unconscionable time over his toilet on the evening +of the dinner. In his nervousness he tore one of his lace ruffles. +Laurens attempted to mend it, and the rent waxed. Hamilton was forced to +knock at Mrs. Washington's door and ask her to repair the injury. She +was already dressed, in a black lutestring, her hair flat and natural. +She looked approvingly at Hamilton, who, not excepting Laurens, was +always the most faultlessly dressed member of the family. To-night he +wore dark green velvet, fitting closely and exquisitely cut, white silk +stockings, and a profusion of delicate lace. His hair was worn in a +queue and powdered. It was not till some years later that he conformed +to the prevailing fashion and wore a wig. + +Mrs. Washington mended the lace, retied the bow of his queue, kissed him +and told him to forget the cares of war and correspondence, and enjoy +himself. Hamilton retired, much comforted. + +It was an imposing family which, a half-hour later, awaited the guests +in the drawing-room. Washington was in black velvet and silk stockings, +his best white wig spreading in two symmetrical wings. It was a cold +grave figure always, and threw an air of solemnity over every scene it +loomed upon, which only Hamilton's lively wit could dispel. Laurens wore +plum-coloured velvet and much lace, a magnificent court costume. His own +figure was no less majestic than Washington's, but his brown eyes and +full mouth were almost invariably smiling, despite the canker. He wore a +very close wig. Tilghman was in blue, the other men in more sober dress. +Lafayette some time since had departed for France, Hamilton having +suggested that the introduction of a French military force of six or +seven thousand troops would have a powerful effect upon the American +army and people. + +Lady Sterling arrived with Lady Kitty--the bride of Colonel William Duer +since July--her undistinguished homeliness enhancing the smart +appearance of her daughter, who was one of the beauties of the time. +Lady Kitty had a long oval face, correct haughty little features, and a +general air of extreme high breeding. Her powdered hair was in a tower, +and she had the tiniest waist and stood upon the highest heels of all +the belles. She wore white satin over an immense hoop, a flounce of +Spanish lace and a rope of pearls. Kitty Livingston wore yellow which +outshone the light of the candles. Susan Boudinot and the other girls +were dressed more simply. Mr. Boudinot's eyes were as keen and as kind +as ever, his nose seemed longer, and the flesh was accumulating beneath +his chin. + +The Cochraines and Miss Elizabeth Schuyler were the last to arrive. The +northern belle's wardrobe had been an object of much concern to the +young ladies now cut off from New York shops, and lamenting the +demoralized condition of those in Philadelphia. In Albany all things +were still possible. Miss Schuyler wore a pink brocade of the richest +and most delicate quality, and a bertha of Brussels lace. The pointed +bodice and large paniers made her waist look almost as small as Kitty +Duer's, and her feet were the tiniest in the world. She turned them in +and walked with a slight shuffle. Hamilton had never seen a motion so +adorable. Her hair was rolled out from her face on both sides as well as +above, and so thickly powdered that her eyes looked as black as General +Washington's coat, while her cheeks and lips were like red wine on pale +amber. She blushed as Hamilton bowed before her and offered his arm, and +then she felt his heart thump. As for Hamilton, he gave himself up for +lost the moment she entered the room, and with the admission, his +feelings concentrated with their usual fiery impetuosity. As it was too +soon for an outlet, they rushed to his eyes and camped there, to Miss +Schuyler's combined discomfort and delight. + +For once Hamilton was content to listen, and Miss Schuyler was not loath +to entertain this handsome young aide, of whom all the world was +talking, and who had haunted her dreams for a year. She had read Milton, +Shenstone, and Dodsworth, "The Search after Happiness," by Hannah More, +the works of Madame de Genlis, the "Essay on Man," and Shakespeare's +lighter plays. Her learning was not oppressive, merely sufficient to +give distinction to her mind, and Hamilton was enchanted once more; but +he found her most interesting when relating personal anecdotes of +encounters with savage warriors in that dark northern land where she had +been born and bred, of hideous massacres of which her neighbours had +been the victims, of adventurous journeys she had taken with her father, +of painted chieftains they had been forced to entertain. She talked +with great spirit and no waste of words, and it was evident that she was +both sensible and heroic. Hamilton ate little and forgot that he was in +a company of twenty people. He was recalled by an abraded shin. + +He turned with a jump and encountered Meade's agonized face thrust +across Susan Livingston, who sat between them. + +"For God's sake, Hamilton, come forth and talk," said Meade, in a hoarse +whisper. "There hasn't been a word said above a mutter for +three-quarters of an hour. Tilghman gave out long ago. Unless you come +to the rescue we'll all be moaning in each other's arms in three +minutes." + +Hamilton glanced about the table. Washington, looking like himself on a +monument, was making not a pretence to entertain poor Lady Sterling, who +was almost sniffling. Lord Sterling, having gratified, an hour since, +Mrs. Washington's polite interest in his health, was stifling yawn after +yawn, and his chubby little visage was oblong and crimson. Tilghman, +looking guilty and uncomfortable,--it was his duty to relieve Hamilton +at the table,--was flirting with Miss Boudinot. Lady Kitty and Baron +Steuben always managed to entertain each other. Laurens and Kitty +Livingston were sitting back and staring at each other as they had +stared many times before. The others were gazing at their plates or at +Hamilton. It was, indeed, a Headquarters dinner at the worst. + +It has been remarked that Hamilton had a strong sense of duty. He felt +himself unable, even with the most charming girl on the continent beside +him, to resist the appeal of all those miserable eyes, and launched +forth at once upon the possibilities of Lafayette returning with an +army. Everybody responded, and he had many subjects of common interest +to discourse brilliantly upon until the long meal finished. Even +Washington gave him a grateful glance, and the others reattacked their +excellent food with a lost relish, now that the awful silence and sense +of personal failure were dispelled by their "bright particular star," as +the letters of the day from Morristown and the vicinity cleped our +hero. But with Miss Schuyler he had no further word that night, and he +retired with the conviction that there were times when there was no +satisfaction whatever in doing one's duty. + + +VI + +But a few nights later there was a subscription ball in the commissary +storehouse, and Hamilton danced with Miss Schuyler no less than ten +times, to the merciless amusement of the family. The ball, the first of +any size since the war began, was a fine affair, and had been organized +by Tilghman, Meade, and several of the Frenchmen; they were determined +upon one gay season, at least. The walls were covered with flags and +holly; the women wore their most gorgeous brocades; feathers and jewels +were on becoming white wigs or on the towers of powdered hair. All the +foreigners were in full regimentals, Steuben, in particular, being half +covered with gold lace and orders; the music and supper were admirable. +Even Washington looked less careworn than usual, and as he stood apart +with Lord Sterling, General Knox, and General Greene, he shed no +perceptible chill. Miss Schuyler wore white, with a twist of black +velvet in her powdered hair and another about her throat, and would have +been the belle of the party had Hamilton permitted other attentions. But +she gave him all the dances he demanded, and although her bright manner +did not lapse toward sentiment for a moment, he went home so elated that +he sat scribbling poetry until Laurens pelted him with pillows and +extinguished the candle. + +The next day there was a sleighing party to Lord Sterling's, and he +drove Miss Schuyler, her aunt, and the wife of General Knox through the +white and crystal and blue of a magnificent winter day. Mrs. Cochraine +made no secret of her pride in her niece's capture of Washington's +celebrated favourite, and assured him of a hearty welcome at her house +if he felt disposed to call. He promptly established the habit of +calling every evening. + +But although he was seriously and passionately in love, and quite sure +that Miss Schuyler loved him in return, he hesitated for the first time +in his life before precipitating a desired consummation. That he had no +money did not worry him in the least, for he knew himself capable of +earning any amount, and that the Republic, when free, would bristle with +opportunities for young men of parts. But he was in honour bound to tell +her of the irregularity of his birth. And in what manner would she +regard a possible husband with whose children she never could discuss +their father's parents? She was twenty-two, a small woman-of-the-world, +not a romantic young miss incapable of reason. And the Schuylers? The +proudest family in America! Would they take him on what he had made of +himself, on the promise of his future, or would their family pride prove +stronger than their common sense? He had moments of frantic doubt and +depression, but fortunately there was no time for protracted periods of +lover's misery. Washington demanded him constantly for consultation upon +the best possible method of putting animation into the Congress and +extracting money for the wretched troops. He frequently accompanied the +General, as at Valley Forge, in his visits to the encampment on the +mountain, where the emaciated tattered wretches were hutting with all +possible speed against the severity of another winter. The snow was +already on the ground, and every prospect of a repetition of the horrors +of Valley Forge. The mere sight of Washington put heart into them, and +Hamilton's lively sallies rarely failed to elicit a smile in return. + +It so happened that for a fortnight the correspondence with Congress, +the States, the Generals, and the British, in regard to the exchange of +prisoners, was so heavy, the consultations with Washington so frequent, +that Hamilton saw nothing of Miss Schuyler, and had little time for the +indulgence of pangs. When he emerged, however, his mind was the freer to +seek a solution of the problem which had tormented him, and he quickly +found it. He determined to write the truth to Miss Schuyler, and so save +the embarrassment he had dreaded for both. To think was to act. He +related the facts of his birth and of his ancestry in the briefest +possible manner, adding a description of his mother which would leave no +question of the place she held in his esteem. He then stated, with the +emphasis of which he was master, that he distractedly awaited his +dismissal, or Miss Schuyler's permission to declare what he had so +awkwardly concealed. + +He sent the letter by an orderly, and attacked his correspondence with a +desire to put gunpowder on his quill. But Miss Schuyler was a +tender-hearted creature and had no intention that he should suffer. She +scrawled him a hasty summons to come to her at once, and bade the +orderly ride as for his life. Hamilton, hearing a horse coming up the +turnpike at runaway pace, glanced out of the window to see what neck was +in danger, then flung his quill to the floor and bolted. He was out of +the house before the orderly had dismounted, and secured possession of +the note. When he had returned to his office, which was in a log +extension at the back of the building, he locked the door and read what +he could of Miss Schuyler's illegible chirography. That it was a command +to wait upon her at once he managed to decipher, but no more at the +moment; and feeling as if the heavens had opened, he despatched a hasty +note, telling her that he could not leave his work before night, when he +would hasten with the pent-up assurances of a love which had been his +torment and delight for many weeks. And then he answered a summons to +Washington's office, and discussed a letter to the Congress as if there +were no such person in the world as Elizabeth Schuyler, as indeed for +the hour there was not, nor for the rest of the afternoon. + +But at eight o'clock he presented himself at the Cochraine quarters, and +Miss Schuyler was alone in the drawing-room. It was some time before +they arrived at the question which had weighed so heavily on Hamilton's +mind. When, however, they came down to conversation, Miss Schuyler +remarked:-- + +"I am sure that it will make no difference with my dear father, who is +the most just and sensible of men. I had never thought of your parentage +at all. I should have said you had leapt down from the abode of the +gods, for you are much too remarkable to have been merely born. But if +he should object--why, we'll run away." + +Her eyes danced at the prospect, and Hamilton, who had vowed that +nothing should induce him to enter a family where he was not welcome, +was by now so hopelessly in love that he was ready to order the chaise +and four at once. He remained until Mrs. Cochraine sent him home, then +walked up the hill toward Headquarters, keeping to the road by instinct, +for he was deep in a reverie on the happiness of the past hours. His +dreams were cruelly shattered by the pressure of a bayonet against his +breast. + +"What?" he demanded. "Oh, the countersign." He racked his memory. It had +fled, terrified, from his brain under the rush of that evening's +emotions. + +"I can't remember it," he said haughtily; "but you know who I am. Let me +pass." The sentry stood like a fate. + +"This is ridiculous!" cried Hamilton, angrily, then the absurdity of the +situation overcame him, and he laughed. Once more he searched his brain +for the countersign, which he remembered having given to little Ford +just after dinner. Mrs. Ford and her son retained two rooms in the +house, and Hamilton frequently gave the youngster the word, that he +might play in the village after dark. Suddenly he saw him approaching. +He darted down the road, secured the password, and returned in triumph +to the sentry. + +"Sir," exclaimed the soldier, in dismay, "is this quite regular? Will +you give me your word, sir, that it is all right?" + +"I vow that no harm shall come to you," said Hamilton. "Shoulder your +musket." And there the incident ended, so far as the soldier was +concerned, but young Ford carried the story to Headquarters, and it was +long before Hamilton heard the last of it. + +There was no sleep in him that night. He went to his office and laboured +for hours over a verse which should adequately express the love +consuming him, and then he awoke Laurens and talked into that +sympathetic ear until it was time to break the ice and freshen himself +for work. + +His work that day was of a vastly different character from the +impassioned trifle of the night before. He obtained exemption from other +duty, and ordered luncheon and dinner brought to his office. One of the +most remarkable examples of Hamilton's mature genius at this age of +twenty-three is his long and elaborate letter to Robert Morris on the +financial condition of the country, written during the earliest period +of his love for Elizabeth Schuyler. As passionate and impatient as he +was tender, alive in every part of his nature to the joy of a real +affection and to the prospect of a lasting happiness, he yet was able +for twelve hours at a time to shut his impending bride in the remotest +cupboard of his mind, nor heed her sighs. But there was an older love +than Elizabeth Schuyler: a ragged poverty-stricken creature by this, +cowering before dangers within and without, raving mad at times, +imbecile at others, filling her shattered body with patent nostrums, yet +throughout her long course of futilities and absurdities making a +desperate attempt to shade the battered lamp of liberty from the fatal +draught. Her name was the United States of America, and never was there +a more satiric misnomer. If the States chose to obey the requisitions of +the Congress, they obeyed them; but as a rule they did not. There was no +power in the land to enforce obedience; and they hated each other. As +the Congress had demonstrated its inefficiency to the most inactive in +public affairs, the contempt of the States is hardly to be wondered at. +It is not too much to say that troops were recruited by Washington's +influence alone, and kept from mutiny by his immortal magnetism. The +finances of the Revolution were in such a desperate condition that Sir +Henry Clinton built his hopes of success--now he had discovered that no +victory gave him a permanent advantage--upon the dissolution of the +American army, possibly an internal war. With depreciated bills in +circulation amounting to one hundred and sixty millions of dollars, a +public debt of nearly forty millions in foreign and domestic loans, the +Congress had, in March, ordered a new emission of bills; the result had +been a season of crazy speculation and the expiring gasp of public +credit. In addition to an unpaid army, assurances had been given to the +French minister that not less than twenty-five thousand men should be +ready for the next campaign; and how to force the States to recruit +them, and how to pay them when in the field, was the present question +between Headquarters and Congress. + +From the time that Hamilton's mind had turned to finance, in his +nineteenth year, he had devoted the greater part of his leisure to the +study and thought of it. Books on the subject were few in those days; +the science of political economy was unborn, so far as Hamilton was +concerned, for Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations," published in 1776, had +not made its way to America. He assimilated all the data there was to be +found, then poured it into the crucible of his creative faculty, and +gradually evolved the great scheme of finance which is the locomotive of +the United States to-day. During many long winter evenings he had talked +his ideas over with Washington, and it was with the Chief's full +approval that he finally went to work on the letter embodying his scheme +for the immediate relief of the country. It was addressed to Robert +Morris, the Financier of the Revolution. + +The first part of the letter was an essay on inflated and depreciated +currency, applied personally, the argument based on the three following +points: There having been no money in the country, Congress had been +unable to avoid the issuance of paper money. The only way to obtain and +retire this immense amount of depreciated paper money was to obtain real +money. Real money could be obtained in one way only,--by a foreign loan. +He then elaborately disposed of the proposed insane methods of applying +this projected loan which were agitating the Congress. But he was an +architect and builder as well as an iconoclast, and having shown the +futility of every financial idea ever conceived by Congress, he +proceeded to the remedy. His scheme, then as ever, was a National Bank, +to be called The Bank of the United States; the capital to be a foreign +loan of two millions sterling. + +This letter, even in its details, in the knowledge of human nature it +betrays, and in its scheme to combine public and private capital that +the wealthy men of the country should, in their own interests, be +compelled to support the government, reads like an easy example in +arithmetic to-day; but a hundred and twenty years ago it was so bold and +advanced that Morris dared to adopt several of its suggestions in part +only, and founded the bank of Pennsylvania on the greater plan, by way +of experiment. No one but Hamilton could carry out his own theories. + +Hamilton, who often had odd little attacks of modesty, signed the +letter, James Montague; address, Morristown. He read it to Washington +before posting. + +The Chief, whose men were aching, sighed heavily. + +"They will pick a few crumbs out of it," he said. "But they will not +make a law of it in toto; the millennium is not yet come. But if it +gives them one idea we should be thankful, it being a long and weary +time since they have experienced that phenomenon. If it does not, I +doubt if these men fight another battle. I wonder if posterity will ever +realize the indifference of their three million ancestors to the war +which gave them their independence--if we accomplish that end. I ask for +soldiers and am treated much as if I had asked for my neighbour's wife. +I ask for money to keep them from starving and freezing and am made to +feel like an importunate beggar." + +"I had a letter from Hugh Knox not so long since," said Hamilton, in his +lightest tone; for Washington was on the verge of one of his attacks of +infuriated depression, which were picturesque but wearing. "He +undertakes to play the prophet, and he is an uncommon clever man, sir: +he says that you were created for the express purpose of delivering +America, to do it single-handed, if necessary, and that my proud destiny +is to be your biographer. The first I indorse, so does every thinking +man in the country. But for the second--alas! I am not equal to a post +of such exalted honour." + +Washington smiled. "No one knows better than your old Chief that your +destiny is no such ha'penny affair as that. But at least you wouldn't +make an ass of me. God knows what is in store for me at the hands of +scribblers." + +"You lend yourself fatally well to marble and stone, sir," said +Hamilton, mischievously. "I fear your biographers will conceive +themselves writing at the feet of a New World Sphinx, and that its +frozen granite loneliness will petrify their image of you." + +"I like the prospect! I am unhappily conscious of my power to chill an +assemblage, but the cold formality of my manner is a safeguard, as you +know. My nature is one of extremes; if I did not encase myself, I should +be ramming every man's absurd opinions down his throat, and letting my +cursed temper fly at each of the provocations which constantly beset me. +I have not the happy gift of compromise; but I am not unhuman, and I +like not the prospect of going down to posterity a wooden figurehead +upon some emblematic battle-ship. Perhaps, my boy, you, who best know +me, will be moved by charity to be my biographer, after all." + +"I'll make it the business of my old age, sir; I pledge you my word, and +no one loves you better nor can do you such justice as I. When my work +in the National Family is done, then shall I retire with my literary +love, an old and pleasant love; and what higher subject for my pen?" + +He spoke in a tone of badinage, for he was bent on screwing up +Washington's spirits, but he made his promise in good faith, +nevertheless, and Washington looked at him with deep affection. + +"My mind is certainly easier," he said, in a tone that was almost light. +"Go now and post your letter, and give your evening to Miss Schuyler. +Present my compliments to her." + +"I became engaged to her last night, sir." + +"Ah! had you forgotten to tell me?" + +"No, sir; I have but just remembered it." + +Washington laughed heartily. "Mind you never tell her that," he said. +"Women love the lie that saves their pride, but never an unflattering +truth. You have learned your lesson young,--to put a tempting face aside +when duty demands every faculty; it is a lesson which takes most men +longest to learn. I could tell you some amusing stories of rough and +tumbles in my mind between the divine image of the hour and some affair +of highest moment. But to a brain like yours all things are possible." + +He rose, and took Hamilton's hand and shook it warmly. + +"God bless you," he said. "Your future unrolls to my vision, brilliant +and happy. I deeply wish that it may be so." + + +VII + +The letter from General Schuyler, giving his consent to the engagement, +has not been preserved; but some time after he had occasion to write +Hamilton a business letter, in which the following passage occurs:-- + + You cannot, my dear sir, be more happy at the connexion you have + made with my family than I am. Until the child of a parent has made + a judicious choice, his heart is in continual anxiety; but this + anxiety was removed on the moment I discovered it was on you she + had placed her affections. I am pleased with every instance of + delicacy in those who are so dear to me; and I think I read your + soul on the occasion you mention. I shall therefore only entreat + you to consider me as one who wishes in every way to promote your + happiness. + +General Schuyler was ordered by Congress to Morristown to confer with +Washington. He took a house, sent for his family, and remained until +late in the summer. The closest friendship was formed between Schuyler +and Hamilton, which, with common political interests and deepening +sympathy, increased from year to year. The good fairies of Nevis who had +attended Hamilton's birth never did better for him than when they gave +him Elizabeth Schuyler for wife and Philip Schuyler for father and +friend. And they had blasted the very roots of the chief impediment to +success, for he triumphed steadily and without effort over what has +poisoned the lives of many men; and triumphed in spite of the fact that +the truth was vaguely known always, and kept in the quiver of his +enemies. + +As Hamilton was absent from Headquarters but seldom during General +Schuyler's sojourn, the lovers met almost every evening, and +occasionally Washington, who possessed certain sympathies based on long +experience, would give Hamilton a morning free, and suggest a ride +through the woods. Never were two people happier nor more inherently +suited. Hamilton's instinct had guided him safely past more brilliant +women to one who willingly would fold herself round his energetic +individuality of many parts, fitting into every division and crevice. +She was receptive, sympathetic, adaptive, with sufficient intelligence +to appreciate the superlative brain of the man whom she never ceased to +worship and to regard as a being of unmortal clay. A brilliant ambitious +wife in the same house with Hamilton might have written a picturesque +diary, but the domestic instrument would have twanged with discords. +Hamilton was unselfish, and could not do enough for those he loved; but +he was used to the first place, to the unquestioned yielding of it to +his young high-mightiness by his clever aspiring friends, by the army of +his common acquaintance, and in many ways by Washington himself. Had he +married Angelica Schuyler, that independent, high-spirited, lively, +adorable woman, probably they would have boxed each other's ears at the +end of a week. + +Hamilton made the dash on Staten Island with Lord Sterling, and in March +went with General St. Clair and Colonel Carrington to negotiate with the +British commissioners for the exchange of prisoners; before the battle +of Springfield he was sent out to reconnoitre. Otherwise his days were +taken up bombarding the Congress with letters representing the necessity +of drafting troops to meet the coming emergencies. + +He and Miss Betsey Schuyler had a very pretty plan, which was nothing +less than that they should go to Europe on their wedding tour, Congress +to find his presence necessary at the Court of France. The suggestion +originated with Laurens, who had been asked to go as secretary to +Franklin. He had no wish to go, and knowing Hamilton's ardent desire to +visit Europe and growing impatience with his work, had recommended his +name to the Congress. General Schuyler would have procured a leave of +absence for his impending son-in-law, and sent the young couple to +Europe with his blessing and a heavy wallet, but Hamilton would as soon +have forged a man's name as travelled at his expense. He hoped that the +Congress would send him. He was keenly alive to the value of studying +Europe at first hand before he was called upon to help in the modelling +of the new Republic, and the vision of wandering in historic lands with +his bride kept him awake at night. Moreover, he was desperately tired of +his life at Headquarters. When the expedition to Staten Island was in +question, he asked Washington, through Lafayette, to give him the +command of a battalion which happened to be without a field-officer. +Washington refused, partly from those motives of policy to which he ever +showed an almost niggling adherence, but more because he could not spare +his most useful aide. Hamilton, who was bursting for action of any sort, +retired to his detested little office in angry disappointment. But he +was a philosopher. He adjusted himself to the Inevitable, and dismissed +the matter from his mind, after registering a vow that he would take +advantage of the first excuse which might offer to resign his position. + +The Schuylers returned to Albany. The French fleet arrived, and hovered +well beyond the range of British guns, having no desire to risk an +engagement until reinforced. Its Admiral, Count Rochambeau, having a +grievance, Hamilton advised a personal conference. + +"We might suggest that he meet us halfway--say at Wethersfield, near +Hartford," he added. "That would save us something in travelling +expenses." + +Washington sighed heavily. "We are worse off than you think," he said. +"I might scrape together money enough for half the journey, but no more. +Lafayette and his aide must go with us--to say nothing of the escort. +Think of the innkeepers' bills, for ourselves and horses. What to do I +confess I do not know, for I should confer with this Frenchman at once." + +"Go we must, sir," said Hamilton, decidedly, "if we have to take up a +collection--why not? If an object cannot be accomplished one way, try +another." He stood up and emptied the contents of his pockets on the +table. "Only five hundred beggarly continentals," he said ruefully. +"However, who knows what treasures may line more careful pockets than +mine? I know they will come forth as spontaneously. Have I your +permission to try, sir?" + +Washington nodded, and Hamilton ran downstairs, pressed Meade into +service, and together they made the round of the officers' quarters. He +returned at the end of an hour and threw a huge bundle of paper on the +table. "Only eight thousand dollars, sir," he said. "It's the best that +any man could do. But I think it may carry us through." + +"It will have to," said Washington. "Remind me, my dear boy, if you see +me eating too much. I have such an appetite!" + +They set out on their journey a week later, having communicated with +Rochambeau, who agreed to meet them at Wethersfield. All went well, for +the wretched inns were not exorbitant, until they reached Hartford. They +arrived late in the afternoon, weary and ravenous. After a bath and a +glimpse of luxurious beds, they marched to the dining room and sat down +to a sumptuous repast, whose like had greeted neither nostril nor palate +for many a day. The wines were mellow, the tobacco green, the +conversation gay until midnight. Hamilton sang "The Drum," and many +another song rang among the rafters. Washington retired first, bidding +the youngsters enjoy themselves. The young men arose at their accustomed +hour next morning, with appetites renewed, but waited in vain for their +Chief. Hamilton finally knocked at his door. There was no response, and +a servant told him that the General had gone out nearly an hour before. +He went in search, bidding Lafayette and M'Henry remain behind. As he +had anticipated, he found Washington in a secluded nook, engaged in +prayer. He waited a few moments, then coughed respectfully. Washington +immediately rose, his harassed face showing little relief. + +"Is anything wrong, sir?" asked Hamilton, anxiously. + +"Alas!" said the General, "I wonder that you, too, are not driven to +prayer, to intercede for help in this distressing predicament. Think of +that extravagant repast we consumed last night. God help me, but I was +so famished I never gave a thought to consequences. Unquestionably, the +breakfast will be on a like scale. _And we have but eight thousand +dollars with which to pay the bill_!" + +"It is true! I never gave the matter a thought--I am cursedly +extravagant. And we must get home! I suppose we shall have to fast all +the way. Well, we've fasted before, and the memory of last night's +dinner may sustain us--" + +"But this man's bill! How are we to meet it?" + +"Shall I speak to him, sir? Tell him unreservedly our predicament--that +these wretched eight thousand dollars are all we have in the world? +Perhaps he is a good patriot, and will call the account square." + +"Do," said Washington, "and come here and tell me what he says. I am too +mortified to show my face. I shall not enter the house again." + +Hamilton walked slowly to the house, little caring for his errand. He +returned on a dead run. + +"We are saved, sir!" he cried, almost in Washington's arms. "Governor +Trumbull has sent word to all the hostelries that we are to be his +guests while we are in the state of Connecticut!" + +Washington said his prayers again, and ate two chickens for breakfast. + +On the return from this conference, when approaching the house of +General Benedict Arnold, opposite West Point, where they were invited +for breakfast, Washington suddenly decided to accompany Lafayette, who +wished to inspect some earthworks. + +"You need not come," he said to Hamilton and M'Henry. +"I know that you are both in love with Mrs. Arnold. Go on. We will join +you presently." + +The young men were greeted with effusion by the pretty hostess, with +absent reserve by her husband. Mrs. Arnold left the room to order that +the breakfast be delayed. While she was absent, a note was brought to +Arnold. He opened it, turned green, and rising hastily, announced that +his presence was demanded at West Point and left the room. The sound of +a smothered scream and fall came from above. A moment later the aides +heard the sound of galloping hoofs. + +Their suspicions aroused, they ran outside. A messenger, with a despatch +from Colonel Jameson, awaited Washington's arrival. Hamilton tore open +the paper. It contained the news that a British spy had been captured +within the lines. In an instant Hamilton and M'Henry were on their +horses and off in pursuit of the fugitive. That Arnold was a traitor and +had fled to the British war-ship, _Vulture_, hovering in Haverstraw Bay, +a slower wit than Hamilton's would have assumed. The terrified scoundrel +was too quick for them. He had ridden over a precipice to the shore +below, and under protection of a flag of truce was far down the river +when his pursuers sighted him. They returned with all speed. + +I shall not repeat the oft-told tale of Andre's capture, trial, and +death. Nowhere has it been so well told as by Hamilton himself, in a +letter to Laurens, printed at the time and universally read. It is only +necessary here to allude to his share in that unhappiest episode of the +war. When Washington reached the house his aide was engaged in consoling +Mrs. Arnold, who was shrieking and raving, weeping and fainting; +imposing on Hamilton a task varied and puzzling, even to one of his +schooling. But she was very young, very charming, and in a tragic +plight. Washington himself wiped away a tear, and for a moment forgot +the barely averted consequences of her husband's treason, while he +assisted Hamilton in assuaging a grief so bitter and so appealing. As +soon as was possible he sent her through the British lines. + +But Hamilton quickly forgot Mrs. Arnold in his sympathy and admiration +for the unfortunate Andre. He conceived a quick and poignant friendship +for the brilliant accomplished young Englishman, with the dreamy soft +face of a girl, and a mettle which had brought him to destruction. +Hamilton did all he could to save him, short of suggesting to Andre to +ask Sir Henry Clinton to offer Arnold in exchange. He enlisted the +sympathy of the officers at West Point in the prisoner's behalf, gave up +his leisure to diverting Andre's mind, and persuaded Washington to delay +the execution and send an indirect suggestion to Clinton to offer the +exchange himself. When all hope was over, he personally begged +Washington to heed Andre's request for a soldier's death, and not +condemn such a man to the gibbet. Washington gladly would have saved his +interesting prisoner's life, and felt deeply for him, but again those +motives of policy prevailed, and Andre was executed like a common +malefactor. + + +VIII + +Washington was in temporary quarters--a cramped and wretched tavern--at +Liberty Pole, New Jersey. The inaction being oppressive, Hamilton +concentrated his thoughts on the condition and needs of the country. + + I am sorry that the same spirit of indifference to public affairs + prevails, [he wrote to Sears]. It is necessary we should rouse and + begin to do our business in earnest, or we shall play a losing + game. We must have a government with more power. We must have a tax + in kind. We must have a foreign loan. We must have a bank on the + true principles of a bank. We must have an administration distinct + from Congress, and in the hands of single men under their orders. + We must, above all things, have an army for the war.... We are told + here there is to be a Congress of the neutral powers at the Hague + for meditating of peace. God send it may be true. We want it; but + if the idea goes abroad, ten to one if we do not fancy the thing + done, and fall into a profound sleep till the cannon of the enemy + waken us next campaign. This is our national character. + +Hamilton, the High Priest of Energy, had long since declared war against +the genius of the American people, who believed in God and the art of +leisure. Hamilton believed in God and a cabinet of zealous ministers. He +was already a thorn in the side of estimable but hesitant patriots, and +in times to come his unremitting and remorseless energy was to be a +subject of reproach by associates and enemies alike. Even Jefferson, +that idol of the present as of the past democracy, had timidly declared +against separation in 1774, while Hamilton, a boy of seventeen, had been +the first to suggest the resort to arms, and incessant in his endeavours +until the great result was accomplished. He had countless other schemes, +and he knew that eventually he would succeed in driving the American +people before the point of his quill. That his task would be long and +arduous did not daunt him for a moment. By this time he knew every want +of the country, and was determined upon the reorganization of the +government. The energy which is one of the distinguishing +characteristics of the American nation to-day was generated by Hamilton, +might, indeed, be said to be the persistence and diffusion of his ego. +For the matter of that, all that is greatest in this American evolution +of a century was typified in Hamilton. Not only his formidable energy, +but his unqualified honour and integrity, his unquenchable optimism, his +extraordinary nimbleness of mind and readiness of resource, his gay +good-nature, high spirits, and buoyancy, his light philosophy +effervescing above unsounded depths, his inability to see when he was +beaten, his remorseless industry, his hard common sense, combined with a +versatile cleverness which makes for shallowness in another race, his +careless generosity, his aptitude for detail and impatience of it, his +reckless bravery in war and intrepidity in peace, even his highly strung +nerves, excitability, and obliging readiness at all times for a fight, +raise him high above history as the genius of the American race. The +reverse side of the national character we owe to the greatest of his +rivals; as will be seen hereafter. + +During the sojourn at Liberty Pole, Washington and he sat through many +nights discussing the imperative need of the reorganization of the +government, and the best methods by which it could be accomplished. The +result was Hamilton's letter to James Duane, an important member of the +Congress. + +This letter, no doubt the most remarkable of its kind ever written, and +as interesting to-day as when Hamilton conceived it, is far too long to +be quoted. It began with an exhaustive analysis of the reasons for the +failure of Congress to cope with a situation which was becoming more +threatening every hour, and urged the example of the Grecian republics +and the Swiss cantons against the attempted confederation of the States +without a strong centralized government. Lacking a common tie of +sufficient strength, the States would inevitably drift toward +independent sovereignty, and they had given signal proof in the matter +of raising troops, contributing money, and in their everlasting disputes +about boundary lines, as to the absolute lack of any common public +spirit. His remedy, in brief, was a convention of the States for the +purpose of creating a Federal Constitution, the distributing of the +powers of government into separate departments, with Presidents of War, +Marine, and Trade, a secretary of Foreign Affairs, and a Financier, +defining their prerogatives; the States to have no privileges beyond an +internal police for the protection of the property and the rights of +individuals, and to raise money by internal taxes; the army to be +recruited on a permanent establishment. In addition, there was an +elaborate system of taxation, by which the country could be supported in +all its emergencies. His favourite plan of a National Bank was +elaborated in minute detail, the immediate necessity for a foreign loan +dwelt upon with sharp reproof, and examples given of the recruiting of +armies in European states. + +Out of a multitude of suggestions a few were adopted within a short +time, but the great central suggestion, the calling of a convention for +the purpose of creating a Federal Constitution, was to be hammered at +for many weary years before jealous States and unconfident patriots +could be persuaded to a measure so monarchical and so bold. But the +letter is on record, and nothing more logical, far-sighted, and +comprehensive ever was written. It contained the foundation-stones upon +which this government of the United States stands to-day. Congress put +on its spectacles and read it with many grunts, magnanimously expressing +admiration for a youth who had fearlessly grappled with questions which +addled older brains; but its audacious suggestions of a government +greater than Congress, and of a bank which would add to their troubles, +were not taken seriously for a moment. + +Hamilton also found time to write a good many love letters. Here is one +of them:-- + + I would not have you imagine, Miss, that I write you so often to + gratify your wishes or please your vanity; but merely to indulge + myself, and to comply with that restless propensity of my mind + which will not be happy unless I am doing something in which you + are concerned. This may seem a very idle disposition in a + philosopher and a soldier, but I can plead illustrious examples in + my justification. Achilles liked to have sacrificed Greece and his + glory to a female captive, and Anthony lost a world for a woman. I + am very sorry times are so changed as to oblige me to go to + antiquity for my apology, but I confess, to the disgrace of the + present time, that I have not been able to find as many who are as + far gone as myself in the laudable Zeal of the fair sex. I suspect, + however, if others knew the charm of my sweetheart as I do, I could + have a great number of competitors. I wish I could give you an idea + of her. You can have no conception of how sweet a girl she is. It + is only in my heart that her image is truly drawn. She has a lovely + form and still more lovely mind. She is all goodness, the gentlest, + the dearest, the tenderest of her sex. Ah, Betsey, how I love her! + +His reiterated demand for a foreign loan, and the sending of a special +envoy to obtain it, at last wrung a reluctant consent from Congress. +Lafayette was his politic suggestion, and Congress would have indorsed +it, but that adventurous young hero had not come to America to return +and beg money on his own doorstep. There was a prospect of fighting in +the immediate future, and he was determined to add to his renown. The +choice then lay between Hamilton and Laurens, who had received the +thanks of Congress for his distinguished services in the field, and +whose father had been a president of that body. Lafayette and all the +Frenchmen were anxious that the mission be given to Hamilton. The former +went to Philadelphia and talked to half the Congress. He offered +Hamilton private letters which would introduce him to the best society +of Europe; adding, "I intend giving you the _key_ of the cabinet, as +well as of the societies which influence them." + +Laurens, by this time, was eager to go. His father, who had started for +Holland as Minister Plenipotentiary, had been captured by the British +and confined in the Tower of London; the foreign mission would give him +an opportunity to attempt his liberation. Moreover, life was very dull +at present, and he knew himself to be possessed of diplomatic talents. +But he was also aware of Hamilton's ardent desire to visit Europe, all +that it would mean to that insatiate mind, his weariness of his present +position. Washington would give his consent to the temporary absence of +Hamilton, for the French money was the vital necessity of the Republic's +life, and he knew that his indomitable aide would not return without it +Therefore Laurens wrote to Hamilton, who was in Albany awaiting his +wedding-day, that he should resign in his favour, and congratulated him +on so brilliant and distinguished a honeymoon. + +The struggle in Hamilton's mind was brief. The prospect of sailing with +his bride on a long and delightful journey that could not fail to bring +him highest honour had made his blood dance. Moreover, in the previous +month Washington had again refused his request for an independent +command. It took him but a short time to relinquish this cherished dream +when he thought of the unhappy plight of Mr. Laurens, and remembered the +deep anxiety of the son, often expressed. He wrote to Laurens, +withdrawing in the most decisive terms. Laurens was not to be outdone. +He loved his father, but he loved Hamilton more. He pressed the +appointment upon his friend, protesting that the affairs of the elder +Laurens would be quite as safe in his hands. Hamilton prevailed, and +Congress, having waited amiably while the two martial youths had it out, +unanimously appointed Laurens. He could not sail until February, and as +soon as the matter was decided obtained leave of absence and repaired in +all haste to Albany, to be present at Hamilton's wedding. + + +IX + +The wedding of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler was the most +notable private event of the Revolution. The immense social and +political consequence of the Schuylers, and the romantic fame of the +young aide, of whom the greatest things possible were expected, brought +the aristocracy of New York and the Jersies to Albany despite the +inclement winter weather. The large house of the Schuylers gave a +prolonged hospitality to the women, and the men lodged in the +patriarchal little town. But although Hamilton was glad to see the +Livingstons, Sterlings, and Boudinots again, the greater number of the +guests interested him far less than a small group of weather-beaten +soldiers, of which this occasion was the happy cause of reunion. Troup +was there, full of youth and honours. He had received the thanks of +Congress for his services at Saratoga, and been appointed secretary of +the Board of War. Recently he had resigned from the army, and was +completing his law studies. Nicolas Fish came with Lafayette, whose +light artillery he commanded. He was known as a brave and gallant +soldier, and so excellent a disciplinarian that he had won the approval +and confidence of Washington. He still parted his little fringe in the +middle, and his face was as chubby as ever, his eyes as solemn. +Lafayette, who had brought a box full of clothes that had dazzled Paris, +embraced Hamilton with tears, but they were soon deep in conjectures of +the next campaign. Laurens, looking like a king in exile, wrung many +hearts. Hamilton's brother aides, unfortunately, were the more closely +bound by his absence, but they had despatched him with their blessing +and much chaffing. + +The hall of the Schuyler mansion was about twenty feet square and +panelled in white. It was decorated with holly, and for three nights +before the wedding illuminated by hundreds of wax candles, while the +young people danced till three in the morning. The Schuyler house, long +accustomed to entertaining, had never been gayer, and no one was more +content than the chatelaine. Although she had been reasonably sure of +Elizabeth, there was no telling at what moment the maiden might yield to +the romantic mania of the time, and climb out of her window at night +while Hamilton stood shivering below. Now all danger was past, and Mrs. +Schuyler moved, large, placid, and still handsome, among her guests, +beaming so affectionately whenever she met Mrs. Carter's flashing eyes +that Peggy and Cornelia renewed their vows to elope when the hour and +the men arrived. General Schuyler, once more on the crest of public +approval, was always grave and stern, but he, too, breathed satisfaction +and relief. He was a tall man of military appearance, powerful, +muscular, slender; but as his nose was large and fleshy, and he wore a +ragged-looking wig with wings like Washington's, he could not be called +handsome. It was a noble countenance, however, and his black eyes +flashed and pierced. + +As for Hamilton and Miss Schuyler, who had a trunk full of charming new +gowns, they were as happy as two children, and danced the night through. +They were married on the 20th, in the drawing-room, in front of the +splendid mantel, which the housewives had spent much time in admiring. +The bride wore the white which became her best, made with a long pointed +bodice and paniers, and lace that had been worn by the wife of the first +patroon. She had risen to the dignity of a wig, and her mass of black +hair was twisted mercilessly tight under the spreading white monstrosity +to which her veil was attached. Hamilton wore a black velvet coat, as +befitting his impending state. Its lining and the short trousers were of +white satin. His shapely legs were in white silk, his feet in pumps with +diamond buckles, the present of Lafayette. He, too, wore a wig,--a close +one, with a queue,--but he got rid of it immediately after the ceremony, +for it heated his head. + +Hamilton had then reached his full height, about five feet six. His +bride was perhaps three inches shorter. The world vowed that never had +there been so pretty a couple, nor one so well matched in every way. +Both were the perfection of make, and the one as fair and fresh as a +Scot, the other a golden gipsy, the one all fire and energy, the other +docile and tender, but with sufficient spirit and intelligence. It is +seldom that the world so generously gives its blessing, but it might +have withheld it, for all that Hamilton and his bride would have cared. + +Hamilton's honeymoon was brief. There was a mass of correspondence +awaiting him, and no place for a bride in the humble Dutch house at New +Windsor where Washington had gone into winter quarters. But the distance +was not great, and he could hope for flying leaves of absence. +Washington was not unsympathetic to lovers; he had been known to unbend +and advise his aides when complications threatened or a siege seemed +hopeless; and he had given Hamilton the longest leave possible. +Nevertheless, the bridegroom set forth, one harsh January morning, on +his long journey, over roads a foot deep in snow, and through solitary +winter forests, with any thing but an impassioned desire to see General +Washington again. Had he been returning to the command of a corps, with +a prospect of stirring events as soon as the snow melted, he would have +spurred his horse with high satisfaction, even though he left a bride +behind him; but to return to a drudgery which he hated the more for +having escaped it for three enchanted weeks, made his spirit turn its +back to the horse's head. He resolved anew to resign if an opportunity +offered. Four years of that particular sort of devotion to the patriot +cause were enough. He wished to demonstrate his patriotism in other +ways. He had accomplished the primary object for which Washington had +pressed him into service, and he believed that the war was nearing its +finish; there was nothing he could now do at Headquarters which the +other aides could not do as well, and he wanted military excitement and +renown while their possibilities existed. + + +X + +The first task awaiting him upon his arrival at Headquarters was to draw +up a letter of instruction for Laurens, a task which required minute +care; for on its suggestions, as much as on Laurens's brilliant talents, +depended the strength of a mission whose failure might mean that of the +American arms. Laurens had requested the letter, and told Hamilton that +he should be guided by it. He did not anticipate a royal condition of +mind which would prompt him practically to carry off the French +money-bags under the king's astonished nose, and he knew Hamilton's +command of every argument connected with the painful subject of +financial needs. Hamilton drew up a lucid and comprehensive letter, in +nine parts, which Laurens could study at his leisure on the frigate, +_Alliance_; then attacked his accumulated duties. They left him little +leisure to remember he was a bridegroom, although he occasionally +directed his gaze toward the North with some longing. His freedom +approached, however, and it was swift and unexpected. + +It came on the 16th of February. His office was in his bedroom. He had +just completed a letter containing instructions of an important nature +for the commissary, and started in search of Tilghman, whose duty it was +to see it safely delivered. On the stairs he passed Washington, whose +brow was heavy. The General, with that brevity which was an indication +of his passionate temper fighting against a self-control which he must +have knocked flat with great satisfaction at times, ejaculated that he +wished to speak with him at once. Hamilton replied that he would wait +upon him immediately, and hastened to Tilghman's office, wondering what +had occurred to stir the depths of his Chief. He was but a moment with +Tilghman, but on the stairs he met Lafayette, who was in search of him +upon a matter of business. It is possible that Hamilton should not have +permitted himself to be detained, but at all events he did, for perhaps +two minutes. Suddenly he became conscious that Washington was standing +at the head of the stairs, and wondering if he had awaited him there, he +abruptly broke off his conversation with Lafayette, and ran upward. +Washington looked as if about to thunder anathema upon the human race. +He had been annoyed since dawn, and his passions fairly flew at this +last indignity. + +"Colonel Hamilton!" he exclaimed. "You have kept me waiting at the head +of the stairs these ten minutes. I must tell you, sir, you treat me with +disrespect." + +Hamilton's eyes blazed and his head went back, but his quick brain leapt +to the long-desired opportunity. He replied as calmly as if his heart +were not thumping, "I am not conscious of it, sir, but since you have +thought it necessary to tell me so, we part." + +"Very well, sir!" replied Washington, "if it be your choice!" He turned +his back and strode to his office. + +Hamilton went to his room with a light heart, feeling as if the +pigeon-holes were marching out of his brain. The breach was +Washington's; he himself had answered with dignity, and could leave with +a clear conscience. He had not kept Washington waiting above four +minutes, and he did not feel that an apology was necessary. + +"Oh," he thought aloud, "I feel as if I had grown wings." He would +return to his bride for a few weeks, then apply once more for a command. + +There was a knock, and Tilghman entered. The young men looked at each +other in silence for a moment; Tilghman with an almost comical anxiety, +Hamilton with alert defiance. + +"Well?" demanded Hamilton. + +"I come from the Chief--ambassador extraordinary. Look out of the +window, or I shall not have courage to go on. He's put the devil to bed +and is monstrous sorry this misunderstanding has occurred--" + +"Misunderstanding?" snorted Hamilton. + +"You know my love of euphony, Hamilton. Pray let me finish. I'd rather +be Laurens on my way to beg. What is a king to a lion? But seriously, my +dear, the Chief is desperately sorry this has occurred. He has deputed +me to assure you of his great confidence in your abilities, integrity, +and usefulness, and of his desire, in a candid conversation, to heal a +difference which could not have happened but in a moment of passion. Do +go and see him at once, and then we shall all sleep in peace to-night." + +But Hamilton shook his head decidedly. "You know how tired I am of all +this," he said, "and that I can be as useful and far more agreeably +active in the field. If I consent to this interview, I am lost. I have +never doubted the Chief's affection for me, but he is also the most +astute of men, and knows my weakness. If, arguments having failed, he +puts his arm about my shoulders and says, 'My boy, _do_ not desert me,' +I shall melt, and vow that neither bride nor glory could beckon me from +him. So listen attentively, mon ami, and deliver my answer as follows: +1st. I have taken my resolve in a manner not to be revoked, 2d. As a +conversation could serve no other purpose than to produce explanations, +mutually disagreeable, though I certainly will not refuse an interview +if he desires it, yet I should be happy if he would permit me to decline +it. 3d. That, though determined to leave the family, the same principles +which have kept me so long in it will continue to direct my conduct +toward him when out of it. 4th. That I do not wish to distress him or +the public business by quitting him before he can derive other +assistance by the return of some of the gentlemen who are absent. 5th. +And that in the meantime it depends on him to let our behaviour to each +other be the same as if nothing had happened." + +Tilghman heaved a deep sigh. "Then you really mean to go?" he said. +"Heartless wretch! Have you no mercy on us? Headquarters will be a tomb, +with Washington reposing on top. Think of the long and solemn +breakfasts, the funereal dinners, the brief but awful suppers. +Washington will never open his mouth again, and I never had the courage +to speak first. If ever you deign to visit us, you will find that we +have lost the power of speech. I repeat that you have no heart in your +body." + +Hamilton laughed. "If you did not know that I love you, you would not +sit there and revile me. No family has ever been happier than ours. In +four years there has not been a quarrel until to-day. I can assure you +that my heart will ache when the time comes to leave you, but I really +had got to the end of my tether. I have long felt as if I could not go +on another day." + +"'Tis grinding, monotonous work," admitted Tilghman, "and we've all +wondered how you have stood it as long as this--every bit of you was +made for action. Well, I'll take your message to the Chief." + +Washington consented to waive the explanation and sent Hamilton another +message, thanking him for consenting to remain until Harrison and Meade +returned. + + +XI + +Little Mrs. Hamilton was delighted with the course affairs had taken, +and pleaded for resignation from the army. But to this Hamilton would +not hearken. Anxious as he was for the war to finish, that he might +begin upon the foundations of home and fortune, he had no intention of +deserting a cause to which he had pledged himself, and in which there +still was a chance for him to achieve distinction. So far, his ambitions +were wholly military. If the profound thought he had given to the +present and future needs of the Republic was not wholly impersonal; if +he took for granted that he had a part to play when the Revolution +finished, it was little more than a dream at present. His very +temperament was martial, the energy and impetuosity of his nature were +in their element on the battlefield, and he would rather have been a +great general than the elder Pitt. But although there is no reason to +doubt that he would have become a great general, had circumstance +favoured his pet ambition, yet Washington was a better judge of the +usefulness of his several abilities than he was himself. Not only had +that reader of men made up his mind that a brain like his favourite's +should not be wasted on the battlefield,--left there, perhaps, while +dolts escaped, for Hamilton had no appreciation of fear or danger,--but +he saw in him the future statesman, fertile, creative, executive, +commanding; and he could have no better training than at a desk in his +office. Phenomenally precocious, even mature, as Hamilton's brain had +been when they met that morning on the Heights of Harlem, these four +years had given it a structural growth which it would not have acquired +in camp life, and to which few men of forty were entitled. Of this fact +Hamilton was appreciative, and he was too philosophical to harbour +regrets; but that period was over now, and he wanted to fight. + +On April 27th he wrote to Washington, asking for employment during the +approaching campaign, suggesting the command of a light corps, and +modestly but decidedly stating his claims. + +Washington was greatly embarrassed. Every arbitrary appointment caused a +ferment in the army, where jealousies were hotter than martial ardours. +Washington was politic above all things, but to refuse Hamilton a +request after their quarrel and parting was the last thing he wished to +do. He felt that he had no choice, however, and wrote at once, +elaborating his reasons for refusal, ending as follows:-- + + My principal concern rises from an apprehension that you will + 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 I have mentioned. + +Hamilton knew him too well to misunderstand him, but he was deeply +disappointed. He retired into the library behind the drawing-room of the +Schuyler mansion, and wrote another and a more elaborate letter to +Robert Morris. He began with a reiteration of the impotence of Congress, +its loss of the confidence of this country and of Europe, the necessity +for an executive ministry, and stated that the time was past to indulge +in hopes of foreign aid. The States must depend upon themselves, and +their only hope lay in a National Bank. There had been some diffidence +in his previous letter. There was none in this, and he had a greater +mastery of the subject. In something like thirty pages of close writing, +he lays down every law, extensive and minute, for the building of a +National Bank, and not the most remarkable thing about this letter is +the psychological knowledge it betrays of the American people. Having +despatched it, he wrote again to Washington, demonstrating that his case +was dissimilar from those the Chief had quoted. He disposed of each case +in turn, and his presentation of his own claims was equally +unanswerable. Washington, who was too wise to enter into a controversy +with Hamilton's pen, did not reply to the letter, but made up his mind +to do what he could for him, although still determined there should be +no disaffection in the army of his making. + +Meanwhile Hamilton received letters from Lafayette, begging him to +hasten South and share his exile; from Washington, asking advice; and +from members of the family, reminding him of their affection and regret. +Tilghman's is characteristic:-- + +Headquarters, 27th April. + + MY DEAR HAMILTON: Between me and thee there is a gulf, or I should + not have been thus long without seeing you. My faith is strong, but + not strong enough to attempt walking on the waters. You must not + suppose from my dealing so much in Scripture phrase that I am + either drunk with religion or with wine, though had I been inclined + to the latter I might have found a jolly companion in my lord, who + came here yesterday. We have not a word of news.... I must go over + and see you soon, for I am not yet weaned from you, nor do I desire + to be. I will not present so cold words as compliments to Mrs. + Hamilton. She has an equal share of the best wishes of + + Your most affectionate + + TILGHMAN. + +The following was from Laurens:-- + + I am indebted to you, my dear Hamilton, for two letters: the first + from Albany, as masterly a piece of cynicism as ever was penned; + the other from Philadelphia, dated the second March; in both you + mention a design of retiring, which makes me extremely unhappy. I + would not wish to have you for a moment withdraw from the public + service; at the same time my friendship for you, and knowledge of + your value to the United States, makes me most ardently desire that + you should fill only the first offices of the Republic. I was + flattered with an account of your being elected a delegate from New + York, and am much mortified not to hear it confirmed by yourself. I + must confess to you that at the present stage of the war, I should + prefer your going into Congress, and from thence becoming a + minister plenipotentiary for peace, to your remaining in the army, + where the dull system of seniority, and the _tableau_, would + prevent you from having the important commands to which you are + entitled; but, at any rate, I will not have you renounce your rank + unless you entered the career above mentioned. Your private affairs + cannot require such immediate and close attention. You speak like a + _paterfamilias_ surrounded with a numerous progeny. + +On the 26th of May he had an appreciative letter from Robert Morris, +thanking him for his suggestions, and assuring him of their +acceptability. He promises a bank on Hamilton's plan, although with far +less capital; still it may afterward be increased to any extent. + +The northern land was full of amenities, the river gay with pleasure +barges. The French gardens about the Schuyler mansion were romantic for +saunterings with the loveliest of brides; the seats beneath the great +trees commanded the wild heights opposite. Forty of the finest horses in +the country were in General Schuyler's stables, and many carriages. +There was a constant stream of distinguished guests. But Hamilton, who +could dally pleasurably for a short time, had no real affinity for +anything but work. There being no immediate prospect of fighting, he +retired again to the library and began that series of papers called _The +Continentalist_, which were read as attentively as if peace had come. +They examined the defects of the existing league of states, their +jealousies, which operated against the formation of a Federal +government, then proceeded to enumerate the powers with which such a +government should be clothed. + +Hamilton did not wait with any particular grace, but even the desired +command came to him after a reasonable period of attempted patience. At +Washington's request he accompanied him to Newport to confer with +Rochambeau. Although the Chief did not allude to Hamilton's last letter, +their intercourse on this journey was as natural and intimate as ever; +and Washington did not conceal his pleasure in the society of this the +most captivating and endearing of his many young friends. After the +conference was over, Hamilton returned to Albany for a brief visit, then +determined to force Washington to show his hand. He joined the army at +Dobbs Ferry, and sent the Chief his commission. Tilghman returned with +it, express haste, and the assurance that the General would endeavour to +give him a command, nearly such as he could desire in the present +circumstance of the army, Hamilton had accomplished his object. He +retained his commission and quartered with General Lincoln. + +When Washington arrived at Dobbs Ferry and went into temporary quarters, +he gave a large dinner to the French officers, and invited Hamilton to +preside. + + His graceful manners and witty speeches provoked universal + admiration [runs the pen of a contemporary]. He was the youngest + and smallest man present. His hair was turned back from the + forehead, powdered, and queued at the back. His face was boyishly + fair, and lighted up with intelligence and genius. Washington, + grave, elegant and hospitable, sat at the side of the table, with + the accomplished Count de Rochambeau on his right. The Duke de + Luzerne occupied a seat opposite. General Knox was present, and so + was Baron Steuben. + +Shortly afterward, Hamilton attended a council of war, at Washington's +invitation. The squadron of De Grasse was approaching the coast of +Virginia. For the second time, Washington was obliged to give up his +cherished scheme of marching on New York, for it was now imperative to +meet Cornwallis in the South. The Chief completely hoodwinked Clinton as +to his immediate plans, Robert Morris raised the funds for moving the +army, and Hamilton obtained his command. To his high satisfaction, Fish +was one of his officers. Immediately before his departure for the South +he wrote to his wife. He had attained his desire, but he was too unhappy +to be playful. A portion of the letter is as follows:-- + + 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 will 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 + improper 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. + +The allied armies moved on the 22d of August and arrived within two +miles of the enemy's works at York Town, on the 28th of September. +Hamilton's light infantry was attached to the division of Lafayette, who +joined the main army with what was left of his own. Laurens was also in +command of a company of light infantry in the young French general's +division. He had acquitted himself brilliantly in France, returning, in +spite of all obstacles and the discouragement of Franklin, with two and +a half million livres in cash, part of a subsidy of six millions of +livres granted by the French king; but he felt that to be in the field +again with Washington, Hamilton, Lafayette, and Fish was higher fortune +than successful diplomacy. + +The allied army was twelve thousand strong; Cornwallis had about +seventy-eight hundred men. The British commander was intrenched in the +village of York Town, the main body of his troops encamped on the open +grounds in the rear. York Town is situated on a peninsula formed by the +rivers York and James, and into this narrow compass Cornwallis had been +driven by the masterly tactics of Lafayette. The arrival of De Grasse's +fleet cut off all hope of retreat by water. He made but a show of +opposition during the eight days employed by the Americans in bringing +up their ordnance and making other preparations. On the 9th the trenches +were completed, and the Americans began the bombardment of the town and +of the British frigates in the river. It continued for nearly +twenty-four hours, and so persistent and terrific was the cannonading, +that the British, being unfortunate in their embrasures, withdrew most +of their cannon and made infrequent reply. On the night of the 11th new +trenches were begun within two and three hundred yards of the British +works. While they were completing, the enemy opened new embrasures, from +which their fire was far more effective than at first. Two redoubts +flanked this second parallel and desperately annoyed the men in the +trenches. It was determined to carry them by assault, and the American +light infantry and De Viomenil's grenadiers and chasseurs were ordered +to hold themselves in readiness for the attack. Laurens, with eighty +men, was to turn the redoubt in order to intercept the retreat of the +garrison, but Hamilton, for the moment, saw his long-coveted +opportunity glide by him. Washington had determined to give it to our +hero's old Elizabethtown tutor, Colonel Barber, conceiving that the +light infantry which had made the Virginia campaign was entitled to +precedence. Hamilton was standing with Major Fish when the news of this +arrangement was brought to him. He reached the General's tent in three +bounds, and poured forth the most impetuous appeal he had ever permitted +himself to launch at Washington. But he was terribly in earnest, and the +prospect of losing this magnificent opportunity tore down the barriers +of his self-possession. "It is my right to attack, sir!" he concluded +passionately, "I am the officer on duty!" Washington had watched his +flushed nervous face and flashing eyes, which had far more command in +their glances than appeal, and he never made great mistakes: he knew +that if he refused this request, Hamilton never would forgive him. + +"Very well," he said. "Take it." + +Hamilton ran back to Fish, crying: "We have it. We have it;" and +immediately began to form his troops. The order was issued to advance in +two columns, and after dark the march began, Hamilton leading the +advance corps. The French were to attack the redoubt on the right. + +The signal was a shell from the American batteries, followed by one from +the French. The instant the French shell ascended, Hamilton gave the +order to advance at the point of the bayonet; then his impatience, too +long gnawing at its curb, dominated him, and he ran ahead of his men and +leaped to the abatis. For a half moment he stood alone on the parapet, +then Fish reached him, and together they encouraged the rest to come on. +Hamilton turned and sprang into the ditch, Fish following. The infantry +was close behind, and surmounting the abatis, ditch, and palisades, +leaped into the work. Hamilton had disappeared, and they feared he had +fallen, but he was investigating; he suddenly reappeared, and formed the +troops in the redoubt. It surrendered almost immediately. The attack +took but nine minutes, so irresistible was the impetuosity of the +onslaught. Hamilton gave orders at once to spare every man who had +ceased to fight. When Colonel Campbell advanced to surrender, one of the +American captains seized a bayonet and drew back to plunge it into the +Englishman's breast. Hamilton thrust it aside, and Campbell was made +prisoner by Laurens. Washington was delighted. "Few cases," he said, +"have exhibited greater proofs of intrepidity, coolness, and firmness +than were shown on this occasion." On the 17th, when Washington received +the proposition for surrender from Cornwallis, he sent for Hamilton and +asked his opinion of the terms. To Laurens was given the honour of +representing the American army at the conference before the surrender. +Tilghman rode, express haste, to Philadelphia with the first news of the +surrender of Cornwallis and his army. + +Hamilton's description of his part in the conquest that virtually put an +end to the war is characteristic. + + Two nights ago, my Eliza [he wrote], my duty and my honour 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 Philadelphia 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 would not fall to my turn to execute it. + +"It is to be hoped so," she said plaintively to her mother. "Else shall +I no longer need to wear a wig." + + +XII + +The next few years may be passed over quickly; they are not the most +interesting, though not the least happy of Hamilton's life. He returned +home on furlough after the battle of York Town and remained in his +father-in-law's hospitable home until the birth of his boy, on the 22d +of January. Then, having made up his mind that there was no further work +for him in the army, and that Britain was as tired of the war as the +States, he announced his intention to study for the bar. His friends +endeavoured to dissuade him from a career whose preparation was so long +and arduous, and reminded him of the public offices he could have for +the asking. But Hamilton was acquainted with his capacity for +annihilating work, and at this time he was not conscious of any +immediate ambition but of keeping his wife in a proper style and of +founding a fortune for the education of his children. His military +ambition had been so possessing that the sudden and brilliant finish at +York Town of his power to gratify it had dwarfed for a while any other +he may have cherished. + +He took a little house in the long street on the river front, and +invited Troup to live with him. They studied together. He had been the +gayest of companions, the most courted of favourites, since his return +from the wars. For four months even his wife and Troup had, save on +Sundays, few words with him on unlegal matters. His brain excluded every +memory, every interest. For the first time he omitted to write regularly +to Mrs. Mitchell, Hugh Knox, and Peter Lytton. All day and half the +night he walked up and down his library, or his father-in-law's, +reading, memorizing, muttering aloud. His friends vowed that he marched +the length and width of the Confederacy. He never gave a more striking +exhibition of his control over the powers of his intellect than this. +The result was that at the end of four months he obtained a license to +practise as an attorney, and published a "Manual on the Practice of +Law," which, Troup tells us, "served as an instructive grammar to future +students, and became the groundwork of subsequent enlarged practical +treatises." If it be protested that these feats were impossible, I can +only reply that they are historic facts. + +It was during these months of study that Aaron Burr came to Albany. + +This young man, also, was not unknown to fame; and the period of the +Revolution is the one on which Burr's biographers should dilate, for it +was the only one through which he passed in a manner entirely to his +credit. He was now in Albany, striving for admittance to the bar, but +handicapped by the fact that he had studied only two years, instead of +the full three demanded by law. + +While Burr did not belong to the aristocracy of the country, his family +not ranking by any means with the Schuylers, Van Rensselaers, +Livingstons, Jays, Morrises, Roosevelts, and others of that small and +haughty band, still he came of excellent and respectable stock. His +father had been the Rev. Aaron Burr, President of Princeton College, and +his mother the daughter of the famous Jonathan Edwards. He was +quick-witted and brilliant; and there is no adjective which qualifies +his ambition. He was a year older than Hamilton, about an inch taller, +and very dark. His features were well cut, his eyes black, glittering, +and cold; his bearing dignified but unimposing, for he bent his +shoulders and walked heavily. His face was not frank, even in youth, and +grew noticeably craftier. He and Hamilton were the greatest fops in +dress of their time; but while the elegance and beauty of attire sat +with a peculiar fitness on Hamilton, seeming but the natural +continuation of his high-bred face and easy erect and graceful bearing, +Burr always looked studiously well-dressed. In regard to their height, a +similar impression prevailed. One never forgot Burr's small stature, and +often commented upon it. Comment upon Hamilton's size was rare, his +proportions and motions were so harmonious; when he was on the platform, +that ruthless test of inches, he dominated and controlled every brain in +the audience, and his enemies vowed he was in league with the devil. + +Burr brought letters to General Schuyler, and was politely given the run +of the library. He and Hamilton had met casually in the army, but had +had no opportunity for acquaintance. At this time the law was a subject +of common interest, and they exchanged many opinions. There was no shock +of antagonism at first, and for that matter they asked each other to +dinner as long as Hamilton lived. But Hamilton estimated him justly at +once, although, as Burr was as yet unconscious of the depths of his own +worst qualities, the most astute reader of character hardly would +suspect them. But Hamilton read that he was artificial and +unscrupulous, and too selfish to serve the country in any of her coming +needs. Still, he was brilliant and fascinating, and Hamilton asked him +to his home. Burr, at first, was agreeably attracted to Hamilton, whose +radiant disposition warmed his colder nature; but when he was forced to +accept the astounding fact that Hamilton had prepared himself for the +bar in four months, digesting and remembering a mountain of knowledge +that cost other men the labour of years, and had prepared a Manual +besides, he experienced the first convulsion of that jealousy which was +to become his controlling passion in later years. Indeed, he established +the habit with that first prolonged paroxysm, and he asked himself +sullenly why a nameless stranger, from an unheard-of Island, should have +the unprecedented success which this youth had had. Social victory, +military glory, the preference of Washington, the respect and admiration +of the most eminent men in the country, a horde of friends who talked of +him as if he were a demi-god, an alliance by marriage with the greatest +family in America, a father-in-law to advance any man's ambitions, a +fascination which had kept the women talking until he married, and +finally a memory and a legal faculty which had so astounded the +bar--largely composed of exceptional men--that it could talk of nothing +else: it was enough for a lifetime, and the man was only twenty-five. +What in heaven's name was to be expected of him before he finished? The +more Burr brooded, the more enraged he became. He had been brought up to +think himself extraordinary, although his guardian had occasionally +birched him when his own confidence had disturbed the peace; he was +intensely proud of his military career, and aware of his fitness for the +bar. But in the blaze of Hamilton's genius he seemed to shrivel; and as +for having attempted to prepare himself for practice in four months, he +might as well have grafted wings to his back and expected them to grow. +It was some consolation to reflect that, as aide and confidential +secretary for four years to Washington, Hamilton had been a student of +the law of nations, and that thus his mind was peculiarly fitted to +grasp what confronts most men as a solid wall to be taken down stone by +stone; also that himself acknowledged no rival where the affections of +women were concerned. But while he lifted the drooping head of his +pride, and tied it firmly to a stake with many strong words, he chose to +regard Hamilton as a rival, and the idea grew until it possessed him. + +In July Robert Morris, after some correspondence, persuaded Hamilton to +accept the office of Continental Receiver for a short time. + + Your former situation in the army [he wrote], the present situation + of that very army, your connexions in the state, your perfect + knowledge of men and measures, and the abilities with which heaven + has blessed you, will give you a fine opportunity to forward the + public service. + +Hamilton, who had no desire to interrupt his studies, was placed in a +position which gave him no choice; his sense of public duty grew +steadily. + + For my part [he wrote to Morris], considering the late serious + misfortune to our ally, the spirit of reformation, of wisdom, and + of unanimity, which seems to have succeeded to that of blunder and + dissension in the British government, and the universal reluctance + of these states to do what is right, I cannot help viewing our + situation as critical, and I feel it the duty of every citizen to + exert his faculties to the utmost. + +But in spite of the onerous and disagreeable duties of his position, he +continued to pursue the course of study necessary for admission to the +bar as a counsellor. He also found time to write a letter to Meade. The +following extract will show that the severity of his great task was +over, and that he was once more alive to that domestic happiness to +which so large a part of his nature responded. + + You reproach me with not having said enough about our little + stranger. When I wrote last I was not sufficiently acquainted with + him to give you his character. I may now assure you that your + daughter, when she sees him, will not consult you about her choice, + or will only do it in respect to the rules of decorum. He is truly + a very fine young gentleman, the most agreeable in conversation and + manners of any I ever knew, nor less remarkable for his + intelligence and sweetness of temper. You are not to imagine by my + beginning with his mental qualifications that he is defective in + personal. It is agreed on all hands that he is handsome; his + features are good, his eye is not only sprightly and expressive, + but it is full of benignity. His attitude in sitting is, by + connoisseurs, esteemed graceful, and he has a method of waving his + hand that announces the future orator. He stands, however, rather + awkwardly, and as his legs have not all the delicate slimness of + his father's, it is feared he may never excel as much in dancing, + which is probably the only accomplishment in which he will not be a + model. If he has any fault in manners, he laughs too much. He has + now passed his seventh month. + +Happy by temperament, Hamilton was at this time happier in his +conditions--barring the Receivership--than any vague, wistful, crowded +dream had ever presaged. His wife was adorable and pretty, sprightly and +sympathetic, yet accomplished in every art of the Dutch housewife; and +although he was far too modest to boast, he was privately convinced that +his baby was the finest in the Confederacy. He had a charming little +home, and Troup, the genial, hearty, and solid, was a member of it. In +General and Mrs. Schuyler he had found genuine parents, who strove to +make him forget that he had ever been without a home. He had been forced +to refuse offers of assistance from his father-in-law again and again. +He would do nothing to violate his strong sense of personal +independence; he had half of the arrears of his pay, Troup his share of +the expenses of the little house. He knew that in a short time he should +be making an income. The cleverest of men, however, can be hoodwinked by +the subtle sex. The great Saratoga estate of the Schuylers furnished the +larder of the Hamiltons with many things which the young householder was +far too busy to compare with his slender purse. + +He heard constantly from his friends in the army, and finally was +persuaded to sit for a portrait, to be the common property of six or +eight of them. Money was desperately tight, they could not afford a copy +apiece, but each was to possess it for two months at a time so long as +he lived; he who survived the others to dispose of it as he chose. For +Hamilton to sit still and look in one direction for half an hour was +nothing short of misery, even with Betsey, Troup, and the Baby to amuse +him; and only the head, face, stock, and front of the coat were +finished. But the artist managed to do himself justice with the massive +spirited head, the deep-set mischievous eyes, whose lightnings never +were far from the surface; the humour in the remarkable curves of the +mouth, the determination and suppressed energy of the whole face. It was +a living portrayal, and Betsey parted from it with tears. When she saw +it again her eyes were dim with many tears. The last of its owners to +survive fell far into poverty, and sold it to one of her sons. It is +to-day as fresh, as alive with impatient youth and genius, as when +Hamilton estimated portrait painters thieves of time. + +Meanwhile a compliment was paid to him which upset his plans, and placed +him for a short time in the awkward position of hesitating between +private desires and public duty: he was elected by the New York +legislature, and almost unanimously, a delegate to Congress. Troup +brought him the news as he was walking on the broad street along the +river front, muttering his Blackstone, oblivious of his fellow-citizens. + +"Go to Congress!" he exclaimed. "Who goes to that ramshackle body that +is able to keep out of it? Could not they find someone else to send to +distinguish himself by failure? I've my living to make. If a man in +these days manages to support his wife and child, there is nothing else +he can do which so entitles him to the esteem of his fellow-citizens." + +"True," said Troup, soothingly; "there certainly is nothing in that body +of old women and lunatics, perpetually bickering with thirteen +sovereign, disobedient, and jealous States, to tempt the ambition of any +man; nor, ordinarily, to appeal to his sense of usefulness. But just at +present there are several questions before it with which it is thought +you can cope more successfully than any man living. So I think you ought +to go, and so does General Schuyler. I know all that you will sacrifice, +domestic as well as pecuniarily--but remember, you solemnly dedicated +yourself to the service of this country." + +"I'm not likely to forget it, and I am willing to sacrifice anything if +I am convinced of my usefulness in a given direction, but I see no +chance of accomplishing aught in Congress, of doing this country any +service until it is a nation, not a sack of scratching cats." + +Not only was great pressure brought to bear upon him, but he was not +long convincing himself that it was his duty to take his knowledge of +certain subjects vexing the Confederation, to the decrepit body which +was feebly striving to save the country from anarchy. He had given +little attention to the general affairs of the country during the past +six months, but an examination of them fired his zeal. He accepted the +appointment, and returned to his law books and his dispiriting struggle +with the taxes. + +In the autumn Hamilton received the second of those heavy blows by which +he was reminded that in spite of his magnetism for success he was to +suffer like other mortals. Laurens was dead--killed in a petty skirmish +which he was so loath to miss that he had bolted to it from a sick-bed. +Hamilton mourned him passionately, and never ceased to regret him. He +was mercurial only among his lighter feelings. The few people he really +loved were a part of his daily thoughts, and could set his heartstrings +vibrating at any moment. Betsey consoled, diverted, and bewitched him, +but there were times when he would have exchanged her for Laurens. The +perfect friendship of two men is the deepest and highest sentiment of +which the finite mind is capable; women miss the best in life. + +In October Hamilton resigned the Receivership, having brought an +honourable amount of order out of chaos and laid down the law for the +guidance of future officials. November came, and he set off for +Philadelphia philosophically, though by no means with a light heart. The +baby was too young to travel; he was obliged to send his little family +to General Schuyler's, with no hope of seeing them again for months, and +a receding prospect of offering them a home in New York. His +father-in-law, not unmindful that consolation was needed, drove him +two-thirds of the distance, thus saving him a long ride, or its +alternative, the heavy coach. In Philadelphia he found sufficient work +awaiting him to drive all personal matters out of his head. + +It was during this year of hard work and little result that he renewed +an acquaintance with James Madison, Jr., afterward fourth President of +the United States, and Gouverneur Morris, one of the most brilliant and +disinterested young men in the country, now associated with Robert +Morris in the Department of Finance. With the last the acquaintance +ripened into a lifelong and intimate friendship; with Madison the +friendship was equally ardent and intimate while it lasted. Madison had +the brain of a statesman, energy and persistence in crises, immense +industry, facility of speech, a broad contempt for the pretensions and +mean bickerings of the States, and a fairly national outlook. As +Hamilton would have said, he "thought continentally." But he lacked +individuality. He was too patriotic, too sincere to act against his +principles, but his principles could be changed by a more powerful and +magnetic brain than his own, and the inherent weakness in him demanded a +stronger nature to cling to. It happened that he and Hamilton, when they +met again in Congress, thought alike on many subjects, and they worked +together in harmony from the first; nevertheless, he was soon in the +position of a double to that towering and energetic personality, and +worshipped it. In their letters the two young men sign themselves, +"yours affectionately," "yours with deep attachment," which between +men--I suppose--means something. So noticeable was Madison's devotion to +the most distinguished young man of the day, and a few years later so +absorbed was he into the huge personality of his early friend's +bitterest enemy, that John Randolph once exclaimed in wrath, "Madison +always was some great man's mistress--first Hamilton's, then +Jefferson's:" a remark which was safe in the days of our ancestors, when +life was all work and no satiety. + +Gouverneur Morris had sacrificed home, inheritance, and ties in the +cause of the Revolution, most of his family remaining true to the crown. +His education was thorough, however, and subsequently he had nine years +of Europe, of which he left to posterity an entertaining record. Tall, +handsome, a wit, a beau, notable for energy in Congress, erratic, +caustic, cynical, but the warmest of friends, he was a pet of society, a +darling of women, and trusted by all men. He and Hamilton had much in +common, and to some degree he took Laurens's place; not entirely, for +Laurens's idealism gave him a pedestal in Hamilton's memory which no +other man but Washington ever approached; and Morris was brutal in his +cynicism, placing mankind but a degree higher than the beasts of the +forest. But heart and brain endeared him to Hamilton, and no man had a +loftier or more burning patriotism. As for himself, he loved and admired +Hamilton above all men. He was as strong in his nationalism, believing +Union under a powerful central government to be the only hope of the +States. Both he and Madison were leaders; but both, even then, were +willing to be led by Hamilton, who was several years their junior. + +The three young enthusiasts made a striking trio of contrasts as they +sat one evening over their port and walnuts in a private room of a +coffee-house, where they had met to discuss the problems convulsing the +unfortunate country. Madison had the look of a student, a taciturn +intellectual visage. He spoke slowly, weightily, and with great +precision. Morris had, even then, an expression of cynicism and contempt +on his handsome bold face, and he swore magnificently whenever his new +wooden leg interfered with his comfort or dignity. Hamilton, with his +fair mobile face, powerful, penetrating, delicate, illuminated by eyes +full of fire and vivacity, but owing its chief attraction to a mouth as +sweet as it was firm and humorous, made the other men look almost heavy. +Madison was carelessly attired, the other two with all the picturesque +elegance of their time. + +"A debt of $42,000,000," groaned Morris, "interest $2,400,000; Robert +Morris threatening to resign; delirious prospect of panic in +consequence; national spirit with which we began the war, a stinking +wick under the tin extinguisher of States' selfishness, stinginess, and +indifference--caused by the natural reversion of human nature to first +principles after the collapse of that enthusiasm which inflates mankind +into a bombastic pride of itself; Virginia pusillanimous, Rhode Island +an old beldam standing on the village pump and shrieking disapproval of +everything; Jay, Adams, and Franklin, after years of humiliating +mendicancy, their very hearts wrinkled in the service of the stupidest +country known to God or man, shoved by a Congress not fit to black their +boots under the thumb of the wiliest and most disingenuous diplomatist +in Europe--much France cares for our interests, provided we cut loose +from Britain; Newburg address and exciting prospect, in these monotonous +times, of civil war, while peace commission is sitting in London; just +demands of men who have fought, starving and naked, for a bare +subsistence after the army disbands, modest request for arrears of +pay,--on which to relieve the necessities of their families turned out +to grass for seven years,--pleasantly indorsed by the Congress, which +feels safe in indorsing anything, and rejected by the States, called +upon to foot the bill, as a painful instance of the greed and depravity +of human nature--there you are: no money, no credit, no government, no +friends,--for Europe is sick of us,--no patriotism; immediate prospects, +bankruptcy, civil war, thirteen separate meals for Europe. What do you +propose, Hamilton? I look to you as your Islanders flee to a stone house +in a hurricane. You are an alien, with no damned state roots to pull up, +your courage is unhuman, or un-American, and you are the one man of +genius in the country. Madison is heroic to a fault, a roaring +Berserker, but we must temper him, we must temper him; and meanwhile we +will both defer to the peculiar quality of your mettle." + +Madison, who had not a grain of humour, replied gravely, his rich +southern brogue seeming to roll his words down from a height: "I have a +modest hope in the address I prepared for the citizens of Rhode Island, +more in Hamilton's really magnificent letter to the Governor. Nothing +can be more forcible--nay, beguiling--than his argument in that letter +in favour of a general government independent of state machinery, and +his elaborate appeal to that irritating little commonwealth to consent +to the levying of the impost by Congress, necessary to the raising of +the moneys. I fear I am not a hero, for I confess I tremble. I fear the +worst. But at all events I am determined to place on record that I left +no stone unturned to save this miserable country." + +"You will go down to posterity as a great man, Madison, if you are never +given the chance to be one," replied the father of American humour and +coinage; "for it is not in words but in acts that we display the faith +that is not in us. Well, Hamilton?" + +"I must confess," said Hamilton, "that Congress appears to me, as a +newcomer, rooted contentedly to its chairs, and determined to do +nothing, happy in the belief that Providence has the matter in hand and +but bides the right moment to make the whole world over. But I see no +cause to despair, else I should not have come to waste my time. I fear +that Rhode Island is too fossilized to listen to us, but I shall urge +that we change the principle of the Confederation and vote to make the +States contribute to the general treasury in an equal proportion to +their means, by a system of general taxation imposed under continental +authority. If the poorer States, irrespective of land and numbers, could +be relieved, and the wealthier taxed specifically on land and houses, +the whole regulated by continental legislation, I think that even Rhode +Island might be placated. It may be that this is not agreeable to the +spirit of the times, but I shall make the attempt--" + +"Considering there is no spirit _in_ the times, we might as well expect +to inform its skull with genius by means of a lighted candle. You think +too well of human nature, my boy; expect nothing, that ye be not +disappointed, especially in the matter of revenue." + +"I have no exalted opinion of human nature, but if I did not think more +hopefully of it than you do, I should yield up that enthusiasm without +which I can accomplish nothing. You have every gift, but you will end as +a dilettante because your ideal is always in the mud; and it is only +now and again that you think it worth while to pick it up and give it a +bath." + +"Right, right," murmured Morris, good-naturedly. "Would that I had your +unquenchable belief in the worth while. Allied to your abilities it will +make the new world over and upset the wicked plans of the old. Analyst +and disbeliever in man's right to his exaggerated opinion of himself, +how do you keep enthusiasm abreast with knowledge of human kind? Tell +me, Hamilton, how do you do it?" + +"I fear 'tis the essence of which I am made. My energies will have +outlet or tear me to pieces. When there is work to do, my nostrils +quiver like a war-horse's at the first roar and smoke--" + +"Your modesty does you infinite honour; the truth is, you have the holy +fire of patriotism in an abnormal degree. I have it, but I still am +normal. I have made sacrifices and shall make more, but my ego curls its +lip. Yours never does. That is the difference between you and most of +us. Hundreds of us are doggedly determined to go through to the bitter +end, sacrifice money, youth and health; but you alone are happy. That is +why we love you and are glad to follow your lead. But, I repeat, how can +you labour with such undying enthusiasm for the good of human kind when +you know what they amount to?" + +"Some are worth working for, that is one point; I don't share your +opinion of general abasement, for the facts warrant no such opinion. And +the battle of ideas, the fight for certain stirring and race-making +principles,--that is the greatest game that mortals can play. And to +play it, we must have mortals for puppets. To create a new government, a +new race, to found what may become the greatest nation on the +earth,--what more stupendous destiny? Even if one were forgotten, it +would be worth doing, so tremendous would be the exercise of the +faculties, so colossal the difficulties. I would have a few men do it +all; I have no faith in the uneducated. The little brain, half opened by +a village schoolmaster, is pestilential; but in the few with sufficient +power over the many,--from whom will be evolved more and more to rank +with the first few,--in those I have faith, and am proud to work with +them." + +"Good. I'd not have a monarchy, but I'd have the next thing to it, with +a muzzle on the rabble. Perhaps I, too, have faith in a few,--in +yourself and George Washington; and in Madison, our own Gibraltar. But +the pig-headed, selfish, swinish--well, go on with your present plans. +'Tis to hear those we met to-night, not to analyze each other. Tell us +all, that we may not only hope, but work with you." + +"The army first. If retirement on half pay is impossible, then full pay +for, say six years,--and the arrears,--paid upon the disbanding of the +army. Washington, by the exercise of the greatest moral force, but one, +that has appeared in this world, has averted a civil war--I am persuaded +that horror is averted, and I assume that the country does not care +eternally to disgrace itself by letting its deliverers, who have +suffered all that an army can suffer, return to their ruined homes +without the few dollars necessary for another start in life. I have +resigned my claim to arrears of pay, that my argument may not be +weakened. Then a peace establishment. Fancy leaving our frontiers to the +mercy of state militia! I shall urge that the general government have +exclusive power over the sword, to establish certain corps of infantry, +artillery, cavalry, dragoons, and engineers, a general system of land +fortifications, establishment of arsenals and magazines, erection of +founderies and manufactories for arms, of ports and maritime +fortifications--with many details with which I will not bore you. I +shall urge the necessity of strengthening the Federal government through +the influence of officers deriving their appointment directly from +Congress--always, always, the necessity of strengthening the central +government, of centralizing power, and of putting the States where they +belong. It is federation or anarchy. Then--moderate funds permanently +pledged for the security of lenders. I have preached that since I have +dared to preach at all, and that is the only solution of our present +distress, for we'll never get another foreign loan--" + +"We've accepted your wisdom, but we can't apply it," interposed Morris. +"Our only hope lies in your national government--but go on." + +"A moment," said Madison. "This, in regard to the peace establishment: +Do we apply a war congress to a state of peace, I fear we shall too +clearly define its limits. The States may refuse obedience, and then the +poor invalided body will fall into greater disrepute than ever." + +"I have thought of that," replied Hamilton, "and if the worst comes to +the worst, I have a radical plan to propose,--that Congress publish +frankly its imperfections to the country--imperfections which make it +impossible to conduct the public affairs with honour to itself or +advantage to the United States; that it ask the States to appoint a +convention, with full powers to revise the Confederation, and to adopt +and propose all necessary alterations--all to be approved or rejected, +in the last instance, by the legislatures of the several States. That +would be the first step toward a national government. With that, all +things would be possible,--the payment of our foreign loan, of our army, +duties on foreign goods, which is a source of revenue to which they are +incredibly blind; the establishment of a firm government, under which +all will prosper that are willing to work, of a National Bank, of a +peace army--" + +"Of Utopia!" exclaimed Morris. "Hamilton, you are the least visionary +man in this country, but you are God knows how many years ahead of your +times. If we are ever on two legs again, you will put us there; but your +golden locks will thin in the process, and that rosy boyish face we love +will be lined with the seams of the true statesman. Only you could +contemplate imbuing these fossilized and commonplace intellects, +composing our Congress of the Confederation--mark the ring of it!--with +a belief in its own impotency and worthlessness. You are not mortal. I +always said it. When Duane gave me your letter to read, I remarked: 'He +withdrew to heaven, and wrote that letter on the knee of the Almighty; +never on earth could he have found the courage and the optimism.' No, +Hamilton, I would embrace you, did my wooden leg permit me to escape +your wrath, but I can give you no encouragement. You will fail +here--gloriously, but you will fail. Mark my words, the army will go +home cursing, and scratch the ground to feed its women. The States will +have no peace establishment to threaten their sovereign rights, we will +pay nobody, and become more and more poverty-stricken and contemptible +in our own eyes, and in the eyes of Europe; we will do nothing that is +wise and everything that is foolish--" + +"And then, when the country is sick unto death," interrupted Hamilton, +"it will awake to the wisdom of the drastic remedy and cohere into a +nation." + +"Query," said Madison, "would it not be patriotic to push things from +bad to worse as quickly as possible? It might be a case of justifiable +Jesuitism." + +"And it might lead to anarchy and the jaws of Europe," said Hamilton. +"It is never safe to go beyond a certain point in the management of +human affairs. What turn the passions of the people may take can never +be foretold, nor that element of the unknown, which is always under the +invisible cap and close on one's heels. God knows I have not much +patience in my nature, and I do not believe that most of my schemes are +so far in advance of even this country's development; but certain +lessons must be instilled by slow persistence. I have no faith in +rushing people at the point of the bayonet in times of peace." + +"I think you are right there," said Morris. "But mark my words, you'll +propagate ideas here, and the result in time will be the birth of a +nation--no doubt of that; but you must rest content to live on hope for +the present. I was a fettered limb in this body too long. I know its +inertia." + +He knew whereof he spoke. Hamilton won little but additional reputation, +much admiration, half resentful, and many enemies. The army went home +unpaid; the peace establishment consisted of eighty men; little or +nothing was done to relieve the national debt or to carry on the +business of government. Even his proposition to admit the public to the +galleries of Congress, in the hope of interesting it in governmental +affairs, only drew upon him the sneer that he could go out on the +balcony and make his speeches if he feared his eloquence was wasted. He +was accused of writing the Newburg address inciting the officers to +civil war, because it was particularly well written, and of hurrying +Congress to Trenton, when threatened by a mutinous regiment. But he +worked on undaunted, leaving his indelible mark; for he taught the +States that their future prosperity and happiness lay in giving up to +the Union some part of the imposts that might be levied on foreign +commodities, and incidentally the idea of a double government; he +proposed a definite system of funding the debts on continental +securities, which gradually rooted in the common sense of the American +people, and he inveighed with a bitter incisiveness, which was tempered +by neither humour nor gaiety, against the traitorous faction in the pay +of France. He dissuaded Robert Morris from resigning, and introduced a +resolution in eulogy of Washington's management of his officers in the +most critical hour of the Union's history. But his immediate +accomplishment was small and discouraging, although his foresight may +have anticipated what George Ticknor Curtis wrote many years later:-- + + The ideas of a statesman like Hamilton, earnestly bent on the + discovery and inculcation of truth, do not pass away. Wiser than + those by whom he was surrounded, with a deeper knowledge of the + science of government than most of them, and constantly enunciating + principles which extended far beyond the temporizing policy of the + hour, the smiles of his opponents only prove to posterity how far + he was in advance of them. + +The following extract from a letter of James M'Henry, Lafayette's former +aide, and a member of the Congress, is interesting as a commentary on +the difficulties of our hero's position while a member of that body. + + DEAR HAMILTON: The homilies you delivered in Congress are still + remembered with pleasure. The impressions they made are in favour + of your integrity; and no one but believes you a man of honour and + of republican principles. Were you ten years older and twenty + thousand pounds richer, there is no doubt but that you might obtain + the suffrages of Congress for the highest office in their gift. + You are supposed to possess various knowledge, useful, substantial, + and ornamental. Your very grave and your cautious, your men who + measure others by the standard of their own creeping politics, + think you sometimes intemperate, but seldom visionary: and that + were you to pursue your object with as much cold perseverance as + you do with ardour and argument, you would become irresistible. In + a word, if you could submit to spend a whole life in dissecting a + fly you would be, in their opinion, one of the greatest men in the + world. Bold designs; measures calculated for their rapid execution; + a wisdom that would convince from its own weight; a project that + would surprise the people into greater happiness, without giving + them an opportunity to view it and reject it, are not adapted to a + council composed of discordant elements, or a people who have + thirteen heads, each of which pay superstitious adorations to + inferior divinities. + + Adieu, my dear friend, and in the days of your happiness drop a + line to your + + M'HENRY. + +At the end of 1783 Hamilton was convinced that he was of no further +immediate use to the country, and refused a reelection to the Congress, +despite entreaty and expostulation, returning to the happiness of his +domestic life and to his neglected law-books. The British having +evacuated New York, he moved his family there and entered immediately +upon the practice of his profession. + + + + +BOOK IV + +"ALEXANDER THE GREAT" + +INCLUDING THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED +STATES + + +I + +It was the autumn of 1786. New York had risen from her charred and +battered ruins. There were cows on her meadows, a lake with wooded +shores as merely traditional, groves, gardens, orchards, fields, and +swamps; but her business houses and public buildings were ambitious once +more, her spires more lofty and enduring, her new dwelling-houses, +whether somewhat crowded in Wall Street and Broadway, or on the terraces +of less busy streets, or along the river fronts and facing a wild and +lovely prospect, were square, substantial, and usually very large. And +every street was an avenue of ancient trees. Mrs. John Jay, with her +experience of foreign courts, her great beauty, and the prestige of her +distinguished husband, was the leader of society, holding weekly +receptions, and the first to receive the many distinguished strangers. +Although society was not quite as gay as it became three years later, +under a more settled government and hopeful outlook, still there was +quiet entertaining by the Hamiltons, who lived at 58 Wall Street, the +Duers, Watts, Livingstons, Clintons, Duanes, Jays, Roosevelts, Van +Cortlandts, and other representatives of old New York families, now +returned to their own. Congress was come to New York and established in +the City Hall in Wall Street. It had given the final impetus to the +city, struggling under the burden of ruins and debt left by the British; +and society sauntered forth every afternoon in all the glory of velvet +and ruffles, three-cornered hats recklessly laced, brocades, hoopskirts, +and Rohan hats, to promenade past the building where the moribund body +was holding its last sessions. The drive was down the Broadway into the +shades of the Battery, with the magnificent prospect of bay and wooded +shores beyond. Politics, always epidemic among men and women alike, had +recently been animated by Hamilton's coup at Annapolis, and the prospect +of a general convention of the States to consider the reorganization of +a government which had reduced the Confederation to a condition +fearfully close to anarchy, the country to ruin, and brought upon the +thirteen sovereign independent impotent and warring States the contempt +of Europe and the threat of its greed. + +A group of men, standing on a corner of Wall Street and the Broadway, +were laughing heartily: a watch was dragging off to jail two citizens +who had fallen upon each other with the venom of political antithesis; +the one, a Nationalist, having called Heaven to witness that Hamilton +was a demi-god, begotten to save the wretched country, the other +vociferating that Hamilton was the devil who would trick the country +into a monarchy, create a vast standing army, which would proclaim him +king and stand upon the heads of a people that had fought and died for +freedom, while the tyrant exercised his abominable functions. + +The men in the group were Governor Clinton, Hamilton's bitterest +opponent, but sufficiently amused at the incident; William Livingston, +Governor of New Jersey, now with but a few hairs on the top of his head +and a few at the base, his nose more penetrating, his eye more +disapproving, than ever; James Duane, Mayor of New York; John Jay, the +most faultless character in the Confederation, honoured and unloved, his +cold eyes ever burning with an exalted fire; and John Marshall of +Virginia, munching an apple, his attire in shabby contrast to the +fashionable New Yorkers, the black mane on his splendid head unpowdered +and tossing in the ocean breeze. + +"I like your Hamilton," he announced, "and I've come to the conclusion +that I think with him on all matters. He's done more to educate the +people up to a rational form of government during the last seven years +than all the rest of us put together. He's shone upon them like a fixed +star. Other comets have come and gone, whirling them forward to +destruction, but they have always been forced to turn and look at him +again and again, and he has always shone in the same place." + +"Sir," exclaimed Clinton, who was flushed with rage, "are you aware that +I am present, and that I entirely disapprove of Mr. Hamilton's attempt +to reduce the States to a condition of ignominious subserviency to an +ambitious and tyrannical central power?" + +"I had heard of you, sir," replied Marshall, meekly, "and I am glad to +have the opportunity to ask you what _your_ remedy is for the existing +state of things? You will admit that there must be a remedy, and +quickly. If not a common government with a Constitution empowering it to +regulate trade, imposts, reduce the debt, enter into treaties with +foreign powers which will not be sneered at, administer upon a thousand +details which I will not enumerate, and raise the country from its +slough of contempt, then what? As the personage who has taken the most +decided stand against the enlightened and patriotic efforts of Mr. +Hamilton, I appeal to you for a counter suggestion as magnificent as +his. I am prepared, sir, to listen with all humility." + +Clinton, whose selfish fear of his own downfall with that of State +supremacy was so well known that a smile wrinkled across the polite +group of gentlemen surrounding him, deepened his colour to purple under +this assault, and stammered: "Sir, have I not myself proposed an +enlargement of the powers of Congress, in order to counteract the +damnable policy of Britain? Did not your Hamilton harangue that crowd I +sanctioned till he got nearly all he asked for?" + +"But he knew better than to ask for too much, in the conditions," +replied Marshall, suavely. "May I suggest that you have not answered my +humble and earnest questions?" + +"I answer no questions that I hold to be impertinent and unimportant!" +said Clinton, pompously, and with a dignified attempt to recover his +poise. He swept his hat from his head; the New Yorkers were as +punctilious; Marshall lifted his battered lid from the wild mass +beneath, and the popular Governor sauntered down the street, saluted +deferentially by Nationalists and followers alike. When he had occasion +to sweep his gorgeous hat to his knees, the ladies courtesied to the +ground, their draperies taking up the entire pavement, and His +Excellency was obliged to encounter the carriages in the street. + +"If Clinton were sure of figuring as powerfully in a national government +as he does in the state of New York, he would withdraw his opposition," +said Livingston, contemptuously. "He has been Governor for nine years. +New York is his throne. He is a king among the common people, who will +elect him indefinitely. Were it not for Hamilton, he would be New York, +and the awful possibilities lying hidden in the kernel of change haunt +his dreams at night. You embarrassed him in a manner that rejoiced my +heart, Mr. Marshall. I beg you will do me the honour to dine with me +to-night. I beg to assure you that your fame is as known to me as were I +a Virginian." + +"I'll accept the invitation with pleasure," replied Marshall, whose +manners were all that his attire was not. "I shall be glad to talk with +you on many subjects. To-morrow I shall pay my respects to Mr. Hamilton. +His has been a trying but not a thankless task. He has addressed himself +to the right class of men all over the country, winning them to his +sound and enlightened views, giving them courage, consolidating them +against the self-interested advocates of State sovereignty. That he has +so often neglected a legal practice which must bring him a large income, +as well as sufficient personal glory, out of a sincere pity for and +patriotic interest in this afflicted country, gives New York deep cause +for congratulation that she was in such close communication with that +Island of his youth. I wish that fate had steered him to Virginia." + +"Surely you have enough as it is," said Duane, laughing: "Washington, +yourself, Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Madison, Randolph. Spare us +Hamilton. We shall need him badly enough. The Clinton faction is very +strong. That the Hamilton embraces the best spirits of the community +means that it is in the minority, and needs the unremitting exercise of +his genius to counteract the disadvantage in numbers." + +"I think that what I admire most in Hamilton," remarked a newcomer, a +small dark man of vivid personality, "are his methods of manipulation. +He picks out his own men, Duer, Troup, Malcolm, has them sent to the +legislature, where they blindly and indefatigably obey his behest and +gain the consent of that body to the convention at Annapolis, then see +that he is elected as principal delegate. He goes to Annapolis +ostensibly to attend a commercial convention: while its insufficient +numbers are drowsing, he springs upon them an eloquent proposal for a +national convention for reforming the Union, and forces it through +before they know what they are about. Certainly Mr. Hamilton is a man of +genius." + +"Do I understand. Mr. Burr," said Jay, from his glacial height, "that +you are impugning the purity of Mr. Hamilton's motives?" + +"No, sir," replied Burr, whom an archangel could not have rebuked. "In +the present condition of things all methods are justifiable. Hamilton is +great but adaptable. I respect him for that quality above all others, +for he is quite the most imperious character in America, and his natural +instinct is to come out and say, 'You idiots, fall into line behind me +and stop twaddling. I will do your thinking; be kind enough not to delay +me further.' On the other hand, he is forced to be diplomatic, to +persuade where he would command, to move slowly instead of charging at +the point of the bayonet. So, although I have no sympathy with his +pronounced monarchical inclinations, I respect his acquired methods of +getting what he wants." + +"What do you mean by pronounced monarchical inclinations?" snorted +Governor Livingston, who could not endure Burr. + +Burr gave his peculiar sardonic laugh. "Will you deny it, sir?" + +"Deny it? I certainly am in Mr. Hamilton's confidence to no such extent, +and I challenge you to indicate one sentence in his published writings +which points to such a conclusion." + +"Ah, he is too clever for that; but his very walk, his whole personality +expresses it, to say nothing of the fact that he never thinks of denying +his admiration of the British Constitution. And did he not defend the +Tories after the evacuation, when no other lawyer would touch them? I +admired his courage, but it was sufficient evidence of the catholicity +of his sentiments." + +"Mr. Hamilton defended the abstract principle of right against wrong in +defending the wretched Tories against the persecutions of an +unmagnanimous public sentiment," said Jay, witheringly. "I should advise +you, young gentleman, to become a disciple of Mr. Hamilton. I can +recommend no course which would prove so beneficial." And he turned on +his heel. + +He had hit Burr. The jealousy born in Albany had thriven with much +sustenance since. Hamilton was by far the most prominent figure at the +New York bar, and was hastening to its leadership. Burr was conspicuous +for legal ability, but never would be first while Hamilton was in the +race. Moreover, although Hamilton had not then reached that dizzy height +from which a few years later he looked down upon a gaping world, he was +the leader of a growing and important party, intelligently followed and +worshipped by the most eminent men in the Confederation, many of them +old enough to be his father; and he was the theme of every drawing-room, +of every coffee-house group and conclave. His constant pamphlets on the +subject nearest to all men's hearts, his eloquent speeches on the same +theme upon every possible occasion, and the extraordinary brilliance of +his legal victories, gave people no time to think of other men. When he +entered a drawing-room general conversation ceased, and the company +revolved about him so long as he remained. When he spoke, all the world +went to hear. For an ambitious young man to be told to attach himself to +the train of this conquering hero was more than poor Burr could stand, +and he replied angrily:-- + +"I have the privilege of being true to my own convictions, I suppose. +They are not Mr. Hamilton's and never will be. I do not impugn the +purity of his motives, but I have no desire to see George Washington +king, nor Hamilton, neither. I wish you good day, sirs," and he strode +up Broadway to the Fields with dignity in every inch of him. + +"This constant talk of Hamilton's monarchical principles makes my gorge +rise," said Livingston. "Did he not fight as hard as he was permitted, +to drive monarchy out of the country? Was he not the first to sound the +call to arms?" + +"Hamilton's exact attitude on that question is not clearly understood," +replied Duane, soothingly, for the heat of Livingston's republicanism +had never abated. "I fancy it is something like this: So far no +constitution has worked so well as the British. Montesquieu knew whereof +he praised. The number of men in this country equal to the great problem +of self-government are in a pitiful minority. The anarchic conditions of +the States, the disgrace which they have brought upon us, their +inefficiency to cope with any problem, the contemptible depths of human +nature which they have revealed to the thinking members of the +community--all these causes inspire Hamilton, incomparably the greatest +brain in the country, with a dread of leaving any power whatever in +their hands. He believes firmly in the few of tried brain and +patriotism. I very much doubt if he has considered the subject of actual +monarchy for a moment, for he is no dreamer, and he knows that even his +followers have been Republicans too long. But that he will fight for the +strongest sort of national government, with the least possible power +vested in the States--oh, no doubt of that." + +"Our people are hopeless, I fear," said Livingston, with a sigh. "This +period of independency seems to have demoralized them when it should +have brought out their best elements. Well, Mr. Marshall, what say you? +You have been modestly silent, and we have been rudely voluble when so +distinguished a guest should have had all the floor." + +"I have been deeply entertained," replied Marshall, with a grin. "My +visit to New York is by no means wasted. I envy Mr. Hamilton; but let +him look out for Mr. Burr. There are just five feet seven inches of +jealous hate in that well-balanced exterior, and its methods would be +sinuous, I fancy, but no less deadly. But Hamilton has had many escapes. +What was that atrocious story I heard of a duelling cabal? When the +rolling stone of gossip reaches Virginia from New York, it has gathered +more moss than you would think." + +"It would be difficult to exaggerate that story," snorted Livingston." +Hamilton defended his course in regard to the Tories in two pamphlets, +signed 'Phocion.' They were answered by a Mr. Ledyard, who signed +himself 'Mentor,' and was a conspicuous advocate of the damnable spirit +of revenge possessing this country. It is a bold man indeed who enters +into a conflict of the pen with Hamilton, and 'Mentor' was left without +a leg to stand on. Forthwith, a club of Ledyard's friends and +sympathizers, enraged by defeat, and fearing the growing ascendency of +Hamilton over men's minds, deliberately agreed to challenge him in turn +until he was silenced forever. This atrocious project would undoubtedly +have been carried out, had not Ledyard himself repudiated it with +horror. Can you show me a greater instance of the depravity of human +nature, sir?" + +"We are in a ferment of bitter passions," said Marshall, sadly, "and I +fear they will be worse before they are better. I only hope that +Hamilton will not be swept into their current, for upon his keeping his +balance depends the future greatness of this country. I am at your +service, sir, for I will confess my two legs are tired." + + +II + +As the three men turned into Broadway they saluted a man who was +entering Wall Street. It was Hamilton, hastening home to his family +after the day's work. He had lost his boyish slenderness; his figure had +broadened and filled out sufficiently to add to his presence while +destroying nothing of its symmetry or agile grace, and it was dressed +with the same care. His face was as gay and animated as ever, responded +with the old mobility to every passing thought, but its lines and +contours showed the hard work and severe thought of the last four years. +When he was taking a brief holiday with his friends, or tumbling about +the floor with his little brood, he felt as much a boy as ever, but no +one appreciated more fully than he the terrible responsibility of his +position in the Confederation. His abilities, combined with his +patriotism, had forced him to the head of the Nationalist Party, for +whose existence he was in greatest measure responsible; and he hardly +dared to think of his personal ambitions, nor could he hesitate to +neglect his lucrative practice whenever the crying needs of the country +demanded it. He had also given much time to the creating and +organization of the Bank of New York. But Burr was not far wrong when he +accused him of impatience. His bearing was more imperious, his eye +flashed more intolerantly, than ever. To impute to him monarchical +ambitions was but the fling of a smarting jealousy, but it is quite true +that he felt he knew what was best for the country, and would have liked +to regulate its affairs without further hindrance. + +His house, beyond the dip of Wall Street and within sight of the bay, +was of red brick, and as unbeautiful architecturally as other New York +houses which had risen at random from the ruins. But within, it was very +charming. The long drawing-room was furnished with mahogany, and +rose-coloured brocade, with spindle-legged tables and many bibelots sent +by Angelica Church, now living in London. The library was filling with +valuable books, and the panelled whiteness of the dining room glittered +with silver and glass, which in quantity or value was not exceeded in +the home of any young couple in America; the world had outdone itself at +the most interesting wedding of the Revolution. Betsey's sitting room +was behind the drawing-room, and there Hamilton found her counting the +moments until his return. She had lost nothing of her slimness, and +except on dress occasions wore her mass of soft black hair twisted in a +loose knot and unpowdered. She looked younger and prettier than with +powder or wig, and Hamilton begged her to defy the fashion; but yielding +in all else, on this point she was inflexible. "I am wiser than you in +just a few things," she would say, playfully, for she firmly believed +him infallible; "my position would suffer, were I thought eccentric. You +cannot stand in rank without a uniform. I shall not yield to Sarah Jay +nor even Kitty Duer. I am a little Republican, sir, and know my rights. +And I know how to keep them." + +To-day, after her usual prolonged and unmitigated greeting, she +remarked: "Speaking of eccentric people, I met to-day, at Lady +Sterling's, that curious person, Mrs. Croix, or Miss Capet, as some will +call her. Her hair was built up quite a foot and unpowdered. On top of +it was an immense black hat with plumes, and her velvet gown was at +least three yards on the floor. She certainly is the handsomest creature +in town, but, considering all the gossip, I think it odd Lady Sterling +should take her up, and I believe that Kitty is quite annoyed. But Lady +Sterling is so good-natured, and I am told that Dr. Franklin went +personally and asked her to give this lady countenance. He calls her his +Fairy Queen, and to-day saluted her on the lips before all of us. Poor +dear Dr. Franklin is by now quite in the class with Caesar's wife, but +still I think his conduct rather remarkable." + +"Who is this woman?" asked Hamilton, indifferently. + +"Well!" exclaimed his wife, with a certain satisfaction, "you _are +busy_. She has been the talk of the town for quite three months, +although she never went _anywhere_ before to-day." + +"I hear all my gossip from you," said Hamilton, smiling from the hearth +rug, "and considering the labours of the past three months--but tell me +about her. I believe I love you best when gossiping. Your effort to be +caustic is the sweetest thing in the world." + +She threw a ball of wool at him, which he caught and pulled apart, then +showered on her head. It was yellow wool, and vastly becoming on her +black hair. "You must have a yellow hat at once, with plumes," he said, +"but go on." + +"You shall wind that this evening, sir. Well, she came here about three +months ago with Captain Croix of the British army, and rumour hath it +that he left a wife in England, and that this lady's right to the royal +name of Capet is still unchallenged. The story goes that she was born +about eighteen years ago, on a French frigate bound for the West Indies, +that her mother died, and that, there being no one else of that royal +name on board, the Captain adopted her; but that a baby and a ship being +more than he could manage, he presented the baby to a humble friend at +Newport, by the name of Thompson, who brought her up virtuously, but +without eradicating the spirit of the age, and one fine day she +disappeared with Colonel Croix, and after a honeymoon which may have +been spent in the neighbourhood of any church between here and Rhode +Island, or of none, they arrived in New York, and took the finest +lodgings in town. I suppose Dr. Franklin was a friend of her humble +guardian, he is so philanthropic, and that he is willing to take my +lady's word that all is well--and perhaps it is. I feel myself quite +vicious in repeating the vaguest sort of gossip--active, though. Who +knows, if she had worn a wig, or an inch of powder, and employed the +accepted architect for her tower, she would have passed without +question? Another pillar for my argument, sir." + +"As it is, you are even willing to believe that she is a daughter of the +house of France," said Hamilton, with a hearty laugh. "Would that the +world were as easily persuaded of what is good for it as of what tickles +its pettiness. Shall you ask this daughter of the Capets to the house?" + +"I have not made up my mind," said Mrs. Hamilton, demurely. + +The two older children, Philip and Angelica, came tumbling into the +room, and Hamilton romped with them for a half-hour, then flung them +upon their mother, and watched them from the hearth rug. Betsey was +lovely with her children, who were beautiful little creatures, and +Hamilton was always arranging them in groups. The boy and girl pulled +down her hair with the yellow wool, until all her diminutive figure and +all her face, but its roguish black eyes, were extinguished; and +Hamilton forgot the country. + +Elizabeth Schuyler was a cleverer woman than her meed of credit has led +the world to believe. She understood Hamilton very well even then, +although, as his faults but added to his fascination in the eyes of +those that loved him, the knowledge did not detract from her happiness. +In many ways she made herself necessary to him; at that time she even +kept his papers in order. He talked to her freely on every subject that +interested him, from human nature to finance, taxes, and the law, and +she never permitted a yawn to threaten. He read aloud to her every line +he wrote, and while she would not have presumed to suggest, her sympathy +was one of his imperative needs. When his erratic fancy flashed him into +seductive meshes, she pulled a string and back he came. Perhaps this is +the reason why no specific account of his numerous alleged amours have +come down to us. He is vaguely accused of being the Lothario of his +time, irresistible and indefatigable; but of all famous men whose names +are enlivened with anecdotes of gallantry in the vast bulk of the +world's unwritten history, he alone is the hero of much mysterious +affirmation but of no particular romance. The Reynolds affair is open +history and not a case in point. It is probable that, owing to inherent +fickleness and Betsey's gentle manipulation, his affairs rarely lasted +long enough to attract attention. It is one of the accidents of life +that the world barely knew of his acquaintance with Eliza Croix, she who +has come down to us as Madame Jumel; and such a thing could not happen +twice. But whether or not he possessed in all their perfection the +proclivities of so great and impetuous and passionate a genius, it is +certain that he loved his wife devotedly, and above all other women, so +long as his being held together. His home was always his Mecca, and he +left it only when public duty compelled his presence in exile. + + +III + +In February he went to the Assembly to fight Clinton's opposition to the +harassing need of conferring a permanent revenue upon Congress. He had +already written a memorial, distributed over the State, setting forth +the dangerous position of the country. But Clinton was lord of the +masses, and their representatives in the Legislature had been trained to +think as he thought. They honoured him because he had made New York the +greatest State in the Union, not yet realizing that he had brought her +into disrepute at home and abroad, and that his selfish policy was now +hastening her to her ruin. To increase the power of Congress was to +encourage the spirit of Nationalism, and that meant the sure decline of +the States and of himself. The fight was hot and bitter. Clinton won; +but the thinking men present took Hamilton's words home and pondered +upon them, and in time they bore fruit. + +After many delays the Convention was summoned to meet at Philadelphia on +the 14th of May. History calls it the Constitutional Convention, but its +promoters were careful to give the States-right people no such guide to +contravention. The violent oppositionists of all change slumbered +peacefully, while the representatives of the more enlightened were +appointed to the Convention under moderately worded and somewhat vague +resolutions; and some of them went as vaguely. Congress, after a +characteristic and selfish hesitation, and a thorough fright induced by +the Massachusetts rebellion, was finally persuaded to give her official +sanction to the proposed Convention. Hamilton secured his appointment as +a delegate,--after a hard fight to have New York represented at +all,--and found himself saddled with two Clintonians, Robert Yates and +John Lansing, Jr. But the first great step for which he had struggled, +since his Morristown letter to the Financier of the Revolution seven +years before, was assured at last. + +Shortly before the Convention opened, Gouverneur Morris and James +Madison, Jr. met by appointment at Hamilton's house to discuss the plan +of campaign and make sure of their leader's wishes. General Schuyler +and Robert Troup were also present. + +Morris was a delegate from Pennsylvania, but was about to return to New +York, having bought the family estate at Morrisania from his brother, +Staats Long Morris, and was involved in business enterprises which +resulted in a large fortune. He awaited the settlement of the country's +affairs before sailing for Europe in his private interests. Troup, now a +successful lawyer at the New York bar, was an able politician and +devoted to Hamilton's interests. Philip Schuyler was entirely in his +son-in-law's confidence, working for and with him always, occupying the +double position of adviser and follower. Madison, who had forced the +Convention at Annapolis, had had his breath taken away by Hamilton's +coup, but now was delighted that he had been the instrument which made +it possible. He had composed his somewhat halting mind to the +determination to concentrate his energies upon wringing from the +Convention a national scheme of government after Hamilton's model, +provided that model were not too extreme: he was no monarchist, and knew +the people very thoroughly. But he was deeply anxious to have Hamilton's +views and plans for his guidance, even if modification were necessary. +He knew Hamilton's complete mastery of the science of government, and +that his broad structure was bound to be right, no matter what its +frills. + +The company assembled in the library, whose open windows overhung a +garden full of lilacs, dogwood, and maples. There was a long table in +the room, about which the guests mechanically seated themselves, so +accustomed were they to the council table. Hamilton had greeted them in +the hall, and sent them on to the library, while he went to fetch some +papers his wife had promised to copy for him. + +"So this is the room in which the government of the United States is to +be born," said Troup, glancing about at the familiar books and at the +desk stuffed with papers. "I shall always smell lilacs in the new +Constitution." + +"If we get one," observed Morris. "'Conceive' would be a better word +than 'born,' Twelve states,--for my part I am glad the refusal of Rhode +Island to send delegates makes one less,--each wanting its own way, and +the North inevitably pitted against the South: I confess that +'still-born' strikes me as a better word than any." + +"We'll have a Constitution," said Madison, doggedly, "I've made up my +mind to that. There are a sufficient number of able and public-spirited +men on their way to Philadelphia to agree upon a wise scheme of +government and force it through--besides Hamilton and ourselves there +are Washington, Governor Randolph, William Livingston, Rufus King, Roger +Sherman, Dr. Franklin, James Wilson, George Wythe, the Pinckneys, Hugh +Williamson--to mention but a few." + +"They are not a bad lot," admitted Morris, "if they had all seen more of +the world and less of their native or adopted State--all this State +patriotism makes me sick. Half were not born in the State they +vociferate about, are not certain of ending their days in it, nor of +which their children may adopt as intemperately." + +"Travel is not the only cure for provincialism," said General Schuyler. +"Dr. Franklin, I happen to know, is bent upon a form of government +little firmer than the one now existing; and Hamilton, whose travels are +limited to campaigning in the different States, has a comprehensive +grasp of European political machinery, and the breadth of vision such +knowledge involves, which could gain nothing by personal contact." + +"Dr. Franklin was too long a mendicant at foreign courts not to be +besottedly in love with their antithesis, and Hamilton has a brain power +and an intellectual grasp which quite remove him from the odiums of +comparison," said Morris. "I think myself he is fortunate in never +having visited Europe, deeply as he may regret it; for with his faculty +of divination he goes straight for what is best only--or most essential. +Had he lived there, the details and disappointments might have blocked +his vision and upset the fine balance of his mind. There she is!" + +He was at the window as quickly as he could have flung a book to the +lilacs, despite his wooden leg; and he was followed by Troup and +General Schuyler, demanding "Who?" + +"Mrs. Croix--there. Did anything so lovely ever dawn upon a distracted +American's vision? 'Tis said she is an unregistered daughter of the +house of Capet, and I vow she looks every inch a princess. I stared at +her so long last night in Vauxhall that she was embarrassed; and I never +saw such poise, such royal command of homage. How has she developed it +at the age of eighteen? I half believe this tale of royal birth; +although there are those who assert that she is nothing less than the +daughter of our highest in honour." + +"'Tis said that she had an opportunity to acquire her aplomb in the +village of Rutland, Massachusetts, where for some years she enlivened +the exile and soothed the domestic yearnings of many British officers," +said Troup. "One told me that he would vow she was none other than the +famous vagrant 'Betsey.'" + +"But I am told that she comes of a respectable Rhode Island family named +Bowen," observed General Schuyler, who was not romantic. "That she was +wayward and ran off with Colonel Croix, of whose other wife there is no +proof, but that none of these fancy stories are true." + +"Then wherein lies her claim to the name of Capet?" demanded Morris. +"'Twould be nothing remarkable were she a daughter of Louis V., and I'm +told she signs her name Eliza Capet Croix." + +"I don't know," said Schuyler, meekly. "'Tis easy enough to assume a +name, if you have it not. I am told that Lady Sterling is assured of her +respectability. She certainly shines upon us like a star at this moment. +I did not know that women had such hair." + +"Is this what we came here to discuss?" asked a voice, dropped to the +register of profound contempt. They turned about with a laugh and faced +Madison's ascetic countenance, pale with disgust. "We have the most +important work to do for which men ever met together, and we stand at +the window and talk scandal about a silly woman and her hair." + +"You did not, my dear James," said Morris, lightly; "and thereby you +have missed the truly divine stimulus for the day's work. Don't you +realize, my friend, that no matter how hard a man may labour, some woman +is always in the background of his mind? She is the one reward of +virtue." + +"I know nothing of the sort," replied Madison, contemptuously. "I can +flatter myself that I at least am independent of what appears to men +like you to be the only motive for living." + +"Right, my boy, but great as you are, you don't know what you might have +been." + +The door opened, and Hamilton entered the room, his hands full of +papers, his face as gay and eager as if he were about to read to his +audience a poem or a lively tale. Perhaps one secret of his ascendency +over those who knew him best was that he never appeared to take himself +seriously, even when his whole being radiated power and imperious +determination. When he descended to the depths of seriousness and his +individuality was most overwhelming, his unsleeping sense of humour +saved him from a hint of the demagogue. + +"While my wife was finishing, I heard you gossiping from the window +above," he said, "but I had by far the best view. The lilac bushes--" + +"Do you know her?" asked Morris, eagerly. + +"Alas, I do not. It is incalculable months since I have had time to look +so long at a woman. What is the matter, Madison?" + +"I am nauseated. I had thought that _you_--" + +Here even General Schuyler laughed, and Hamilton hurriedly arranged his +papers. + +He sat down when he began to talk, but was quickly on his feet and +shaking his papers over the table. To him, also, the council table was +the most familiar article of furniture in his world, but he was usually +addressing those it stood for, and he was too ardent a speaker, even +when without the incentive of debate, to keep to his chair. + +"I know what you are wondering," he said. "No, it is not the British +Constitution. What I have done so distempered as to impress people with +the belief that I am blind to the spirit of this country, I am at a loss +to conjecture. The British Constitution is the best form which the world +has yet produced; in the words of Necker, it is the only government +'which unites public strength with individual security,' Nevertheless, +no one is more fully convinced than I that none but a republican +government can be attempted in this country, or would be adapted to our +situation. Therefore, I propose to look to the British Constitution for +nothing but those elements of stability and permanency which a +republican system requires, and which may be incorporated into it +without changing its characteristic principles. There never has been, +and there never will be, anything in my acts or principles inconsistent +with the spirit of republican liberty. Whatever my private +predilections, it would be impossible for me, understanding the people +of this country as I do, to fail to recognize the authority of that +people as the source of all political power. Therefore you will find +many departures from the British Constitution in the rough draft I am +about to read. I have neither the patience nor the temper to dogmatize +upon abstract theories of liberty, and our success will lie in adapting +to our particular needs such principles of government as have been tried +and not found wanting, our failure in visionary experiments. The best +and wisest effort we can make will be a sufficient experiment, for whose +result we must all tremble. + +"It is going to be difficult to persuade this Convention to unite upon +any constitution very much stronger than the one Dr. Franklin will +propose, or to accomplish its ratification afterward. Nevertheless, I +have prepared a draft of the strongest constitution short of monarchy +which it is possible to conceive, and which I shall propose to the +Convention for reasons I will explain after I have read it to you. Do +you care to listen?" + +"Hurry up!" exclaimed Morris. The audience leaned forward. Madison shook +his head all through the reading; Morris jerked his with emphatic +approval. + +The radical points in which Hamilton's constitution differed from that +under which we live, was in the demand for a President, to be elected by +property holders, and who should hold office during good behaviour; +senators possessing certain property qualifications and elected on the +same principle; and governors of States appointed and removable by the +President. Practically the author of the dual government, he believed +emphatically in subserving the lesser to the greater, although endowing +the States with sufficient power for self-protection. The Executive was +to be held personally responsible for official misconduct, both he and +the senators subject to impeachment and to removal from office. The +whole scheme was wrought out with the mathematical complexity and +precision characteristic of Hamilton's mind. + +"Would that it were possible," exclaimed Morris, when Hamilton had +finished. "But as well expect the Almighty to drive the quill. You will +weaken your influence, Hamilton, and to no effect." + +"Ah, but I have calculated upon two distinct points, and I believe I +shall achieve them. I have not the most distant hope that this paper +will be acceptable to five men in the Convention,--three, perhaps, would +round the number,--Washington, yourself, myself. Nevertheless, I shall +introduce it and speak in its favour with all the passion of which I am +master, for these reasons: I believe in it; its energy is bound to give +a tone that might be lacking otherwise; and--this is the principal +point--_there must be something to work back from_. If I alarm with the +mere chance of so perilous a menace to their democratic ideals, they +will go to work in earnest at _something_ in order to defeat me, and +they will not go back so far in the line of vigour as if I had suggested +a more moderate plan; for, mark my words, they would infallibly incline +to weaker measures than _any_ firm government which should first be +proposed. In the management of men one of the most important things to +bear in mind is their proneness to work forward from the weak, and +backward from the strong. On the quality of the strength depends its +magnetism over the weak. All reformers are ridiculed or outlawed, and +their measures are never wholly successful; but they awaken men's minds +to something of approximate worth, and to a desire for a divorce from +the old order of things. So, while I expect to be called a monarchist, I +hope to instil subtly the idea of the absolute necessity of a strong +government, and implant in their minds a distrust of one too weak." + +"Good," said Morris. "And it is always a delight to see your revelation +of yourself in a new light. I perceive that to your other +accomplishments you add the cunning of the fox." + +"You are right to call it an accomplishment," retorted Hamilton. "We +cannot go through life successfully with the bare gifts of the Almighty, +generous though He may have been. If I find that I have need of cunning, +or brutality,--than which nothing is farther from my nature,--or even +nagging, I do not hesitate to borrow and use them." + +"Let us call this sagacity," said Troup. "'Tis a prettier word. Or the +canniness of the Scot. But there is one thing I fear," he added +anxiously. "You may injure your chances of future preferment. Your +ambition will be thought too vaulting, particularly for so young a man, +and, besides, you may be thought a menace to the commonwealth." + +"That is a point to be considered, Hamilton," said General Schuyler. + +"I have an end to gain, sir, and I mean to gain it. Moreover, this is no +time to be considering private interests. If this be not the day for +patriotism to stifle every personal ambition, then there is little hope +for human nature. I believe the result of this paper will be a +constitution of respectable strength, and I shall use all the influence +I wield to make the people accept it. So, if you worry, consider if the +later effort will not outweigh the first." + +"Hamilton," said Madison, solemnly, "you are a greater man even than I +thought you. You have given me a most welcome hint, and I shall take +upon myself to engineer the recession from your constitution. I shall +study its effect with the closest attention and be guided accordingly, I +am heart and soul in this matter, and would give my life to it if +necessary. I never should have thought of anything so astute," he added, +with some envy, "but perhaps if I had, no one else would be so +peculiarly fitted as myself to work upon its manifold suggestions. I +hope I do not strike you as conceited," he said, looking around +anxiously, "but I _feel_ that it is in me to render efficient service in +the present crisis." + +Before Morris could launch his ready fling, Hamilton hastened to assure +Madison of his belief that no man living could render services so great. +He underrated neither Madison's great abilities nor the danger of +rankling arrows in that sensitive and not too courageous spirit. They +then discussed a general plan of campaign and the best methods of +managing certain members of the Convention. Morris was the first to +rise. + +"Adieu," he said. "I go to ruminate upon our Captain's diplomacy, and to +pursue the ankle of Mrs. Croix. Be sure that the one will not interfere +with the other, but will mutually stimulate." + +The other gentlemen adjourned to the dining room. + + +IV + +The story of the Convention has been told so often that only the merest +outline is necessary here; those who have not before this read at least +one of the numberless reports, would be the last to wish its +multigenerous details. To the students of history there is nothing new +to tell, as may be the case with less exploited incidents of Hamilton's +career. Someone has said that it was an assemblage of hostile camps, and +it certainly was the scene of intense and bitter struggles, of a +heterogeneous mass blindly striving to cohere, whilst a thousand +sectional interests tugged at the more familiar of the dual ideal; of +compromise after compromise; of a fear pervading at least one-half that +the liberties of republicanism were menaced by every energetic +suggestion; of the soundest judgement and patriotism compelled to +truckle to meaner sentiments lest they get nothing; of the picked men of +the Confederacy, honourable, loyal, able, and enlightened, animated in +the first and last instance by a pure and common desire for the highest +welfare of the country, driven to war upon one another by the strength +of their conflicting opinions; ending--among the thirty-nine out of the +sixty-one delegates who signed the Constitution--in a feeling as closely +resembling general satisfaction as individual disappointments would +permit. + +At first so turbulent were the conditions, that Franklin, who troubled +the Almighty but little himself, arose and suggested that the meetings +be opened with prayer. After this sarcasm, and the submission of his +mild compromise with the Confederation, he sat and watched the painted +sun behind Washington's chair, pensively wondering if the artist had +intended to convey the idea of a rise or a setting. Hamilton presented +his draft at the right moment, and the startled impression it made quite +satisfied him, particularly as his long speech to the Committee of the +Whole was received with the closest attention. Nothing could alter his +personal fascination, and even his bitterest enemies rarely left their +chairs while he spoke. The small figure, so full of dignity and +magnetizing power that it excluded every other object from their vision, +the massive head with a piercing force in every line of its features, +the dark eyes blazing and flashing with a fire that never had been seen +in the eyes of a mere mortal before, the graceful rapid gestures, and +the passionate eloquence which never in its most apparently abandoned +moments failed to be sincere and logical, made him for the hour the +glory of friend and enemy alike, although the reaction was +correspondingly bitter. Upon this occasion he spoke for six hours +without the interruption of a scraping heel; and what the Convention did +not know about the science of government before he finished with them, +they never would learn elsewhere. Although he made but this one speech, +he talked constantly to the groups surrounding him wherever he moved. To +his original scheme he had too much tact to make further allusion; but +his general opinions, ardently propounded, his emphatic reiteration of +the demoralized country's need for a national government, and of the +tyrannies inherent in unbridled democracies, wedged in many a chink. +Nevertheless, he was disgusted and disheartened when he left for New +York, at the end of May. The Convention was chaos, but he could +accomplish nothing more than what he hoped he might have done; the +matter was now best in the hands of Madison and Gouverneur Morris, and +his practice could no longer be neglected. + +But although he returned to a mass of work,--for he handled most of the +great cases of the time,--he managed to mingle daily with the crowd at +Fraunces' and the coffee-houses, in order to gauge the public sentiment +regarding the proposed change of government, and to see the leading men +constantly. On the whole, he wrote to Washington, he found that both in +the Jerseys and in New York there was "an astonishing revolution for the +better in the minds of the people." + +Washington replied from the depths of his disgust:-- + + ... In a word I almost despair of seeing a favourable issue to the + proceedings of the Convention, and do, therefore, repent having any + agency in the business. The men who oppose a strong and energetic + government are, in my opinion, narrow-minded politicians, or are + under the influence of local views. The apprehension expressed by + them that the _people_ will not accede to the form proposed, is the + _ostensible_, not the real cause of the opposition; but admitting + that _present_ sentiment is as they prognosticate, the question + ought nevertheless to be, is it, or is it not, the best form? If + the former, recommend it, and it will assuredly obtain, maugre + opposition. I am sorry you went away; I wish you were back. + +To Washington, who presided over that difficult assemblage with a +superhuman dignity, to Hamilton who breathed his strong soul into it, to +Madison who manipulated it, to Gouverneur Morris, whose sarcastic +eloquent tongue brought it to reason again and again, and whose +accomplished pen gave the Constitution its literary form, belong the +highest honours of the Convention; although the services rendered by +Roger Sherman, Rufus King, James Wilson, R.R. Livingston, and Charles +Cotesworth Pinckney entitle them to far more than polite mention. + +When Hamilton signed the Constitution, on the 17th of September, it was +by no means strong enough to suit him, but as it was incomparably better +than the Articles of Confederation, which had carried the country to the +edge of anarchy and ruin, and was regarded by a formidable number of +people and their leaders as so strong as to be a menace to the liberties +of the American citizen, he could with consistency and ardour exert +himself to secure its ratification. After all, it was built of his +stones, chipped and pared though they might be; had he not gone to the +Convention, the result might have been a constitution for which his pen +would have refused to plead. + +Manhattan Island, Kings and Westchester counties had long since accepted +his doctrines, and they stood behind him in unbroken ranks; but the +northern counties and cities of New York, including Albany, were still +under the autocratic sway of Clinton. Hamilton's colleagues, Yates and +Lansing, had resigned their seats in the Great Convention. Among the +signatures to the Constitution his name stood alone for New York, and +the fact was ominous of his lonely and precarious position. But +difficulties were ever his stimulant, and this was not the hour to find +him lacking in resource. + +"The Constitution terrifies by its length, complexity, frigidity, and +above all by its novelty," he said to Jay and Madison, who met by +appointment in his library. "Clinton, in this State, has persuaded his +followers that it is so many iron hoops, in which they would groan and +struggle for the rest of their lives. To defeat him and this pernicious +idea, we must discuss the Constitution publicly, in the most lucid and +entertaining manner possible, lay every fear, and so familiarize the +people with its merits, and with the inseparable relation of its +adoption to their personal interests, that by the time the elections for +the State Convention take place, they will be sufficiently educated to +give us the majority. And as there is so much doubt, even among members +of the Convention, as to the mode of enacting the Constitution, we must +solve that problem as quickly as possible. My purpose is to publish a +series of essays in the newspapers, signed, if you agree with me, +Publius, and reaching eighty or ninety in number, which shall expound +and popularize the Constitution of the United States; and if you will +give me your inestimable help, I am sure we shall accomplish our +purpose." + +"If you need my help, I will give it to you to the best of my ability, +sir," said Jay, "but I do not pretend to compete with your absolute +mastery of the complex science of government, and I fear that my weaker +pen may somewhat counteract the vigour of yours; but, I repeat, I will +do my best with the time at my disposal." + +Hamilton laughed, "You know how anxious I am to injure our chances of +success," he said. "I hope all things from your pen." + +Jay bowed formally, and Hamilton turned to Madison. "I know you must +feel that you have done your share for the present," he said, "and there +is hard work awaiting you in your State Convention, but the subject is +at your finger tips; it hardly can be too much trouble." + +"I am not very well," said Madison, peevishly, "but I realize the +necessity,--and that the papers should be read as extensively in +Virginia as here. I will write a few, and more if I can." + +But, as it came to pass, Madison wrote but fourteen separate papers of +the eighty-five, although he collaborated with Hamilton on three others, +and Jay wrote five only. The remaining sixty-three, therefore, of the +essays, collected during and after their publication under the title of +"The Federalist," which not only did so much to enlighten and educate +the public mind and weaken the influence of such men as Clinton, but +which still stand as the ablest exposition of the science of government, +and as the parent of American constitutional law, were the work of +Hamilton. + +"It is the fortunate situation of our country," said Hamilton, a few +months later, at Poughkeepsie, "that the minds of the people are +exceedingly enlightened and refined." Certainly these papers are a great +tribute to the general intelligence of the American race of a century +and more ago. Selfish, petty, and lacking in political knowledge they +may have been, but it is evident that their mental _tone_ was high, that +their minds had not been vulgarized by trash and sensationalism. +Hamilton's sole bait was a lucid and engaging style, which would not +puzzle the commonest intelligence, which he hoped might instruct without +weighing heavily on the capacity of his humbler readers. That he was +addressing the general voter, as well as the men of a higher grade as +yet unconvinced, there can be no doubt, for as New York State was still +seven-tenths Clintonian, conversion of a large portion of this scowling +element was essential to the ratification of the Constitution. And yet +he chose two men of austere and unimaginative style to collaborate with +him; while his own style for purity, distinction, and profundity +combined with simplicity, has never been excelled. + +Betsey was ailing, and her doors closed to society; the children romped +on the third floor or on the Battery. Hamilton wrote chiefly at night, +his practice occupying the best of the hours of day, but he was sensible +of the calm of his home and of its incentive to literary composition; it +never occurred to him to open his office in the evening. Betsey, the +while she knitted socks, listened patiently to her brilliant husband's +luminous discussions on the new Constitution--which she could have +recited backward--and his profound interpretation of its principles and +provisions. If she worried over these continuous labours she made no +sign, for Hamilton was racing Clinton, and there was not a moment to +lose. Clinton won in the first heat. After a desperate struggle in the +State Legislature the Hamiltonians succeeded in passing resolutions +ordering a State Convention to be elected for the purpose of considering +the Constitution; but the result in April proved the unabated power and +industry of Clinton,--the first, and not the meanest of New York's +political "bosses,"--for two-thirds of the men selected were his +followers. The Convention was called for the 17th of June and it was +rumoured that the Clintonians intended immediately to move an +adjournment until the following year. According to an act of Congress +the ratification of only nine States was necessary to the adoption of +the Constitution. The others could come into the Union later if they +chose, and there was a disposition in several States to watch the +experiment before committing themselves. Hamilton, who knew that such a +policy, if pursued by the more important States, would result in civil +war, was determined that New York should not behave in a manner which +would ruin her in the present and disgrace her in history, and wrote on +with increasing vigour, hoping to influence the minds of the +oppositionists elected to the Convention as well as the people at large. +Even he had never written anything which had attracted so wide admiring +and acrimonious attention. The papers were read in all the cities of the +Confederation, and in such hamlets as boasted a mail-bag. When they +reached England and France they were almost as keenly discussed. That +they steadily made converts, Hamilton had cause to know, for his +correspondence was overwhelming. Troup and General Schuyler attended to +the greater part of it; but only himself could answer the frequent +letters from leaders in the different states demanding advice. He +thought himself fortunate in segregating five hours of the twenty-four +for sleep. The excitement throughout the country was intense, and it is +safe to say that nowhere and for months did conversation wander from the +subject of politics and the new Constitution, for more than ten minutes +at a time. In New York Hamilton was the subject of constant and vicious +attack, the Clintonians sparing no effort to discredit him with the +masses. New York City was nicknamed Hamiltonopolis and jingled in +scurrilous rhymes. In the midst of it all were two diversions: the +fourth of his children, and a letter which he discovered before General +Schuyler or Troup had sorted his mail. As the entire Schuyler family +were now in his house, and his new son was piercingly discontented with +his lot, he took refuge in his chambers in Garden Street, until Betsey +was able to restore peace and happiness to his home. The postman had +orders to bring his mail-bag thither, and it was on the second morning +of his exile that the perfume of violets caused him to make a hasty +journey through the letters. + +He found the spring sweetness coincidentally with a large square, +flowingly superscribed. He glanced at the clock. His devoted assistants +would not arrive for half an hour. He broke the seal. It was signed +Eliza Capet Croix, and ran as follows:-- + + MY DEAR SIR: Do you care anything for the opinion of my humble sex, + I wonder? The humblest of your wondering admirers is driven beyond + the bounds of feminine modesty, sir, to tell you that what you do + not write she no longer cares to read. I was the first to detect--I + claim that honour--such letters by Publius as were not by your + hand, and while I would not disparage efforts so conscientious, + they seem to me like dawn to sunrise. Is this idle flattery? Ah, + sir! I too am greatly flattered. I do not want for admirers. Nor + can I hope to know--to know--so great and busy a man. But my + restless vanity, sir, compels me to force myself upon your notice. + I should die if I passed another day unknown to the man who gives + me the greatest pleasures of my life--I have every line you have + had printed that can be found, and half the booksellers in the + country searching for the lost copies of the _Continentalist_--I + should die, I say, if you were longer ignorant that I have the + intelligence, the ambition, and the erudition to admire you above + all men, living or dead. For that is my pride, sir. Perchance I was + born for politics; at all events you have made them my passion, and + I spend my days converting Clintonians to your cause. Do not scorn + my efforts. It is not every day that a woman turns a man's thoughts + from love to patriotism; I have heard that 'tis oftenest the other + way. But I take your time, and hasten to subscribe myself, my dear + sir, + + Your humble and obd't servant + + ELIZA CAPET CROIX. + +The absence of superfluous capitals and of underscoring in this letter, +alone would have arrested his attention, for even men of a less severe +education than himself were liberal in these resources, and women were +prodigal. The directness and precision were also remarkable, and he +recalled that she was but nineteen. The flattery touched him, no doubt, +for he was very human; and despite the brevity of his leisure, he read +the note twice, and devoted a moment to conjecture. + +"She is cleverer, even, than Lady Kitty, or Susan and Kitty Livingston, +by this," he mused. "She would be worth knowing, did a driven mortal but +have the time to idle in the wake of so much intelligence--and beauty. +Not to answer this were unpardonable--I cannot allow the lady to die." +He wrote her a brief note of graceful acknowledgement, which caused Mrs. +Croix to shed tears of exultation and vexation. He acknowledged her but +breathed no fervid desire for another letter. It is not to be expected +that maturest nineteen can realize that, although a busy man will find +time to see a woman if it be worth his while, the temptations to a +romantic correspondence are not overwhelming. + +Hamilton tore up the letter and threw it into the waste basket. Its +perfume, delicate but imperious, intruded upon his brief. He dived into +the basket as he heard Troup's familiar whistle, and thrust the pieces +into a breast pocket. In a moment he remembered that Betsey's head would +be pillowed upon that pocket at five in the afternoon, and he hastily +extracted the mutilated letter, and applied a match to it, consigning +women to perdition. Troup sniffed as he entered the room. + +"Violets and burnt paper," remarked he. "'Tis a combination I have +noticed before. I wonder will some astute perfumer ever seize the idea? +It would have its guilty appeal for our sex--perchance for t'other; +though I'm no cynic like you and Morris." + +"Shut up," said Hamilton, "and get to work if you love me, for I've no +time to write to St. Croix, much less waste five seconds on any woman." + +That afternoon he wasted half an hour in search of a bunch of redolent +violets to carry home to his wife. He pinned three on his coat. + + +V + +When the 17th of June approached, Hamilton, John Jay, Chancellor +Livingston, and James Duane, started on horse for Poughkeepsie, not +daring, with Clinton on the spot, and the menace of an immediate +adjournment, to trust to the winds of the Hudson. General Schuyler had +promised to leave even a day sooner from the North, and the majority of +Federal delegates had gone by packet-boat, or horse, in good season. + +The old post road between New York and Albany was, for the greater part +of the way, but a rough belt through a virgin forest. Occasionally a +farmer had cleared a few acres, the lawns of a manor house were open to +the sun, the road was varied by the majesty of Hudson and palisade for a +brief while, or by the precipitous walls of mountains, so thickly wooded +that even the wind barely fluttered their sombre depths. Man was a +moving arsenal in those long and lonely journeys, for the bear and the +panther were breeding undisturbed. But the month was hot, and those +forest depths were very cool; the scenery was often as magnificent as +primeval, and a generous hospitality at many a board dispelled, for an +interval, the political anxiety of Hamilton and his companions. + +Hamilton, despite a mind trained to the subordination of private +interests to public duty, knew that it was the crisis of his own destiny +toward which he was hastening. He had bound up his personal ambitions +with the principles of the Federalist party--so called since the +publication in book form of the Publius essays; for not only was he +largely responsible for those principles, but his mind was too well +regulated to consider the alternative of a compromise with a possibly +victorious party which he detested. Perhaps his ambition was too +vaulting to adapt itself to a restricted field when his imagination had +played for years with the big ninepins of history; at all events, it was +inseparably bound up with nationalism in the boldest sense achievable, +and with methods which days and nights of severe thought had convinced +him were for the greatest good of the American people. Union meant +Washington in the supreme command, himself with the reins of government +in both hands. The financial, the foreign, the domestic policy of a +harmonious federation were as familiar to his mind as they are to us +to-day. Only he could achieve them, and only New York could give him +those reins of power. + +It is true that he had but to move his furniture over to Philadelphia to +be welcomed to citizenship with acclamation by that ambitious town; but +not only was his pride bound up in the conquest of New York from +Clintonism to Federalism, but New York left out of the Union, dividing +as she did New England from the South and North, of the highest +commercial importance by virtue of her central position and her harbour, +meant civil war at no remote period, disunion, and the undoing of the +most careful and strenuous labours of the nation's statesmen. That New +York should be forced into the Union at once Hamilton was determined +upon, if he had to resort to a coup which might or might not meet with +the approval of the rest of the country. Nevertheless, he looked forward +to the next few weeks with the deepest anxiety. An accident, an illness, +and the cause was lost, for he made no mistake in estimating himself as +the sole force which could bear Clinton and his magnificent organization +to the ground. Hamilton was no party manipulator. He relied upon his +individual exertions, abetted by those of his lieutenants,--the most +high-minded and the ablest men in the country,--to force his ideas upon +the masses by their own momentum and weight. Indeed, so individual did +he make the management of the Federalist party, that years later, when +the "Republican" leaders determined upon its overthrow, they aimed all +their artillery at him alone: if he fell the party must collapse, on top +of him; did he retain the confidence of the people, he would magnetize +their obedience, no matter what rifts there might be in his ranks. + +He had established a horse-express between Virginia and Poughkeepsie, +and between New Hampshire and the little capital. Eight States having +ratified, the signature of New Hampshire, the next in order, would mean +union and a trial of the Constitution, a prospect which could not fail +to influence the thinking men of the anti-Federal party; but it was from +the ratification of Virginia that he hoped the greatest good. This State +occupied much the same position in the South that New York did in the +North, geographically, commercially, historically, and in the +importance of her public men. And she was as bitterly opposed to union, +to what a narrow provincialism held to be the humiliation of the States. +Patrick Henry, her most powerful and eloquent leader, not through the +selfish policy of a Clinton, but in the limitations of a too narrow +genius, was haranguing with all his recuperated might against the +sinister menace to the liberties of a people who had freed themselves of +one despotism so dearly; and even Randolph, with characteristic +hesitancy when approaching a point, was deficient in enthusiasm, +although he intimated that he should vote for the unconditional adoption +of the Constitution he had refused to sign. He and Marshall were +Madison's only assistants of importance against the formidable opponent +of union, and it was well understood among leaders that Jefferson, who +was then American minister in France, gave the Constitution but a +grudging and inconsistent approval, and would prefer that it failed, +were not amendments tacked on which practically would nullify its +energies. But although Hamilton had such lieutenants as John Jay, Philip +Schuyler, Duane, and Robert Livingston, Madison had the inestimable, +though silent, backing of Washington. The great Chief had, months since, +forcibly expressed his sentiments in a public letter; and that colossal +figure, the more potent that it was invisible and mute, guided as many +wills as Madison's strenuous exertions and unanswerable dispassionate +logic. + +But Washington, although sufficiently revered by New Yorkers, was not +their very own, as was he the Virginians'; was by no means so impinging +and insistent as his excellency, Governor Clinton, he whose powerful +will and personality, aided by an enterprise and wisdom that were not +always misguided, for eleven years had compelled their grateful +submission. It was difficult to convince New Yorkers that such a man was +wholly wrong in his patriotism, particularly when their own interests +seemed bound so firmly to his. It was this dominant, dauntless, +resourceful, political nabob that Hamilton knew he must conquer +single-handed, if he conquered him at all; for his lieutenants, able as +they were, could only second and abet him; they had none of his +fertility of resource. As he rode through the forest he rehearsed every +scheme of counterplay and every method that made for conquest which his +fertile brain had conceived. He would exercise every argument likely to +appeal to the decent instincts of those ambitious of ranking as +first-class citizens, as well as to the congenital selfishness of man, +which could illuminate the darker recesses of their Clintonized +understandings, and effect their legitimate conversion; then, if these +higher methods failed, coercion. + +"What imperious method are you devising, Hamilton?" asked Livingston. +"Your lips are set; your eyes are almost black. I've seen you like that +in court, but never in good company before. You look as if considering a +challenge to mortal combat." + +Hamilton's brow cleared, and he laughed with that mercurial lightness +which did more to preserve the balance of what otherwise would have been +an overweighted mind than any other quality it possessed. + +"Well, am I not to fight a duel?" he asked. "Would that I could call +Clinton out and settle the question as easily as that. I disapprove of +duelling, but so critical a moment as this would justify anything short +of trickery. We'll leave that to Clinton; but although there is no vast +difference between my political and my private conscience, there are +recourses which are as fair in political as in martial warfare, and I +should be found ingenuous and incapable did I fail to make use of them." + +"Well, you love a fight," said Jay, without experiencing the humour of +his remark. "I believe you would rather fight than sit down in good +company at any time, and you are notoriously convivial. But easy +conquest would demoralize you. If I do not mistake, you have the +greatest battle of your career, past or present, immediately ahead of +you--and it means so much to all of us--I fear--I fear--" + +"I will listen to no fears," cried Hamilton, who at all events had no +mind to be tormented by any but his own. "Are we not alive? Are we not +in health? Are not our intellectual powers at their ripest point of +development? Can Clinton, Melancthon Smith, Yates, Lansing, Jones, make +a better showing?" + +"We are nineteen against forty-six," said Jay, with conceivable gloom. + +"True. But there is no reason why we should not shortly be forty-six +against nineteen." + +"We certainly are Right against the most unstatesman-like Selfishness +the world has ever seen," observed Duane. + +"Would that experience justified us in thinking well enough of the human +race to gather courage from that fact," replied Hamilton. "It is to the +self-interest of the majority we shall have to appeal. Convince them +that there is neither career nor prosperity for them in an isolated +State, and we may drag them up to a height which is safer than their +mire, simply because it is better, or better because it is safer. This +is a time to practice patriotism, but not to waste time talking about +it." + +"Your remarks savour of cynicism," replied Jay, "but I fear there is +much truth in them. It is only in the millennium, I suppose, that we +shall have the unthinkable happiness of seeing on all sides of us an +absolute conformity to our ideals." + +In spite of the close, if somewhat formal, friendship between Jay and +Hamilton, the latter was often momentarily depressed by the resemblance +of this flawless character to, and its rigid contrasts from, his dead +friend Laurens. Jay was all that Laurens had passionately wished to be, +and apparently without effort; for nature had not balanced him with a +redeeming vice, consequently with no power to inspire hate or love. Had +he been a degree greater, a trifle more ambitious, or had circumstances +isolated him in politics, he would have been an even lonelier and +loftier figure than Washington, for our Chief had one or two redeeming +humanities; as it was, he stood to a few as a character so perfect that +they marvelled, while they deplored his lack of personal influence. But +his intellect is in the rank which stands just beneath that of the men +of genius revealed by history, and he hangs like a silver star of the +tropics upon the sometimes dubious fields of our ancestral heavens. +Nevertheless, he frequently inspired Hamilton with so poignant a longing +for Laurens that our impetuous hero was tempted to wish for an exchange +of fates. + +"In the millennium we will all tell the truth and hate each other," +answered Hamilton. "And we either shall all be fools, or those irritants +will be extinct; in any case we shall be happy, particularly if we have +someone to hate." + +"Ah, now you jest," said Duane, smiling. "For you are logical or +nothing. _You_ may be happy when on the warpath, but the rest of us are +not. And you are the last man to be happy in a millennium by yourself." + +They all laughed at this sally, for Hamilton was seldom silent. He +answered lightly:-- + +"Someone to fight. Someone to love. Three warm friends. Three hot +enemies. A sufficiency of delicate food and wine. A West Indian +swimming-bath. Someone to talk to. Someone to make love to. War. +Politics. Books. Song. Children. Woman. A religion. There you have the +essence of the millennium, embroider it as you may." + +"And scenery," added Jay, devoutly. + +The road for the last quarter of an hour had led up a steep hill, above +which other hills piled without an opening; and below lay the Hudson. As +they paused upon the bare cone of the elevation, the river looked like a +chain of Adirondack lakes, with dense and upright forests rising tier +beyond tier until lost in the blue haze of the Catskills. The mountains +looked as if they had pushed out from the mainland down to the water's +edge to cross and meet each other. So close were the opposite crags that +the travellers could see a deer leap through the brush, the red of his +coat flashing through the gloomy depths. Below sped two packet-boats in +a stiff breeze. + +"Friends or enemies?" queried Livingston. "I wish I were with them, for +I must confess the pleasures of horse travel for seventy-five miles must +be the climax of a daily habit to be fully appreciated. It is all very +well for Hamilton, who is on a horse twice every day; but as I am ten +years older and proportionately stiffer, I shall leave patriotism to the +rest of you for a day or two after our arrival." + +Hamilton did not answer. He had become conscious of the delicate yet +piercing scent of violets. Wild violets had no perfume, and it was long +past their season. He glanced eagerly around, but without realizing what +prompted a quick stirring of his pulses. There was but one tree on the +crag, and he stood against it. Almost mechanically his glance sought its +recesses, and his hand reached forward to something white. It was a +small handkerchief of cambric and lace. The other men were staring at +the scenery. He hastily glanced at the initials in the corner of the +scented trifle, and wondered that he should so easily decipher a tangled +E.C.C. But he marvelled, nevertheless, and thrust the handkerchief into +his pocket. + +They reached Poughkeepsie late in the afternoon. Main Street, which was +the interruption of the post road, and East Street, which terminated the +Dutchess turnpike, were gaily decorated with flags and greens, the +windows and pavements crowded with people whose faces reflected the +nervous excitement with which the whole country throbbed. The capital +for ten years, the original village had spread over the hills into a +rambling town of many avenues, straight and twisted, and there were +pretentious houses and a certain amount of business. Hamilton and his +party were stared at with deep curiosity, but not cheered, for the town +was almost wholly Clintonian. The Governor had his official residence on +the Dutchess turnpike, a short distance from town; and this was his +court. Nevertheless, it was proudly conscious of the dignity incumbent +upon it as the legislative centre of the State, and no matter what the +suspense or the issue, had no mind to make the violent demonstrations of +other towns. Nearly every town of the North, including Albany, had +burned Hamilton in effigy, albeit with battered noses, for he had his +followers everywhere; but here he was met with a refreshing coolness, +for which the others of his party, at least, were thankful. + +They went first to Van Kleek's tavern, on the Upper Landing Road, not +far from the Court-house, to secure the rooms they had engaged; but +finding an invitation awaiting them from Henry Livingston to make use of +his house during the Convention, repaired with unmixed satisfaction to +the large estate on the other side of the town. The host was absent, but +his cousin had been requested to do the honours to as many as he would +ask to share a peaceful retreat from the daily scene of strife. + +"And it has the advantage of an assured privacy," said Hamilton. "For +here we can hold conference nightly with no fear of eavesdropping. +Moreover, to get a bath at Van Kleek's is as easy as making love to +Clinton." + +General Schuyler joined them an hour later. He had been in town all day, +and had held several conferences with the depressed Federalists, who, +between a minority which made them almost ridiculous, and uncomfortable +lodgings, were deep in gloomy forebodings. As soon as they heard of +their Captain's arrival they swarmed down to the Livingston mansion. +Hamilton harangued them cheerfully in the drawing-room, drank with them, +in his host's excellent wine, to the success of their righteous cause; +and they retired, buoyant, confirmed in their almost idolatrous belief +in the man who was responsible for all the ideas they possessed. + + +VI + +Although Hamilton and Clinton had no liking for each other, they were +far from being the furious principals in one of those political hatreds +which the times were about to engender,--an intellectual cataclysm which +Hamilton was to experience in all its blackness, of which he was to be +the most conspicuous victim. He had by no means plumbed his depths as +yet. So far he had met with few disappointments, few stumbling blocks, +never a dead wall. Life had smiled upon him as if magnetized. At home he +found perfect peace, abroad augmenting ranks of followers, sufficient +work to use up his nervous energies, and the stimulant of enmity and +opposition that he loved. It was long since he had given way to rage, +although he flew into a temper occasionally. He told himself he was +become a philosopher, and was far from suspecting the terrible passions +which the future was to undam. His mother, with dying insight, had +divined the depth and fury of a nature which was all light on the +surface, and in its upper half a bewildering but harmonious +intermingling of strength, energy, tenderness, indomitability, +generosity, and intense emotionalism: a stratum so large and so +generously endowed that no one else, least of all himself, had suspected +that primeval inheritance which might blaze to ashes one of the most +nicely balanced judgements ever bestowed on a mortal, should his enemies +combine and beat his own great strength to the dust. + +But when Hamilton and Clinton approached the Court-house from opposite +directions, on the morning of the 17th, they did not cross the street to +avoid meeting, although they bowed with extreme formality and measured +each other with a keen and speculative regard. Clinton was now +forty-nine years old, his autocratic will, love of power, and knowledge +of men, in their contemptuous maturity. He was a large man, with the +military bearing of the born and finished martinet, a long hard nose, +and an irritated eye. The irritation kindled as it met Hamilton's, which +was sparkling with the eager determination of a youth which, although +desirable in itself, was become a presumption when pitted against those +eighteen additional distinguished years of the Governor of New York. +That there was a twinkle of amusement in the Federalist's eye was also +to his discredit. + +"The young fop," fumed Clinton, as he brushed a fleck of mud from his +own magnificent costume of black ducape, "he is the _enfant gate_ of +politics, and I shall settle him here once for all. It will be a public +benefaction." + +The Court-house, which stood halfway up the hill, on the corner of Main +and East streets, and was surrounded by the shade of many maples, was a +two-story building of rough stones welded together by a ruder cement. +The roof sloped, and above was a belfry. The Convention was held in the +upper story, which was unbroken by partition; and with the windows open +upon what looked to be a virgin forest, so many were the ancient trees +remaining in the little town, the singing of birds, the shrilling of +crickets, the murmur of the leaves in an almost constant breeze, the old +Court-house of Poughkeepsie was by no means a disagreeable +gathering-place. Moreover, it was as picturesque within as it was +arcadian without; for the fine alert-looking men, with their powdered +hair in queues, their elaborately cut clothes of many colours, made for +the most part of the corded silk named ducape, their lawn and ruffles, +made up the details of a charming picture, which was far from appealing +to them, but which gives us a distinct pleasure in the retrospect. + +Governor Clinton was elected the President of the Convention. On the +right of the central table sat his forty-five henchmen, with Melancthon +Smith, one of the most astute and brilliant debaters of the time, well +to the front. Opposite sat Hamilton, surrounded by General Schuyler, +Jay, Duane, and Robert Livingston, the rest of his small following close +to the windows, but very alert, their gaze never ranging far from their +leader. Beyond the bar crowded the invited guests, many of them women in +all the finery of the time. + +If the anti-Federalists had entertained the idea of an immediate and +indefinite adjournment, they appear to have abandoned it without waste +of time; perhaps because long and tedious journeys in midsummer were not +to be played with; perhaps because they were sure of their strength; +possibly because Clinton was so strongly in favour of arranging +Hamilton's destinies once for all. + +Certainly at the outset the prospects of the Federalists were almost +ludicrous. The anti-Federalists were two-thirds against one-third, +fortified against argument, uncompromisingly opposed to union at the +expense of State sovereignty, clever and thinking men, most of them, +devoted to Clinton, and admirably led by an orator who acknowledged no +rival but Hamilton. The latter set his lips more than once, and his +heart sank, but only to leap a moment later with delight in the mere +test of strength. + +Clinton's first move was to attempt a vote at once upon the Constitution +as a whole, but he was beaten by Hamilton and many in his own ranks, who +were in favour of the fair play of free debate. The Governor was forced +to permit the Convention to go into a Committee of the Whole, which +would argue the Constitution section by section. Hamilton had gained a +great point, and he soon revealed the use he purposed to make of it. + +It is doubtful if his own followers had anticipated that he would speak +almost daily for three weeks, receiving and repelling the brunt of every +argument; and certainly Clinton had looked for no such feat. + +The contest opened on the Clintonian side, with the argument that an +amended Confederation was all that was necessary for the purposes of a +more general welfare. The plan advanced was that Congress should be +given the power to compel by force the payment of the requisitions which +the States so often ignored. Hamilton demolished this proposition with +one of his most scornful outbursts. + + Coerce the States! [he cried]. Never was a madder project devised! + Do you imagine that the result of the failure of one State to + comply would be confined to that State alone? Are you so willing to + hazard a civil war? Consider the refusal of Massachusetts, the + attempt at compulsion by Congress. What a series of pictures does + this conjure up? A powerful State procuring immediate assistance + from other States, particularly from some delinquent! A complying + State at war with a non-complying State! Congress marching the + troops of one State into the bosom of another! This State + collecting auxiliaries and forming perhaps a majority against its + Federal head! And can any reasonable man be well disposed toward a + government which makes war and carnage the only means of supporting + itself?--a government that can exist only by the sword? And what + sort of a State would it be which would suffer itself to be used as + the instrument of coercing another? ... A Federal standing army, + then, must enforce the requisitions or the Federal treasury will be + left without supplies, and the government without support.... There + is but one cure for such an evil--to enable the national laws to + operate on individuals like the laws of the States. To take the old + Confederation as the basis of a new system, and to trust the sword + and the purse to a single assembly organized upon principles so + defective, giving it the full powers of taxation and the national + forces, would result in what--Despotism! To avoid the very issue + which appears to be held in such abject terror, a totally different + government from anything into which the old Confederation can be + twisted, or fitted out with wings and gables, must be established + with proper powers and proper checks and balances. + +His words created a palpable uneasiness. The outburst was the more +effective for following and preceding close passionless and pointed +reasoning, a trenchant review of other republics ancient and modern, and +an elaborate argument in favour of the representation prescribed by the +new Constitution. + +Hamilton was not only the most brilliant, resourceful, and unanswerable +orator of his time, but he was gifted with an almost diabolical power +over the emotions of men, which he did not hesitate to use. At this +momentous assembly he kept them in exercise; when he chose, he made his +audience weep; and the Clintonians weakened daily. Had not many years of +trouble and anxiety made their emotions peculiarly susceptible, Hamilton +would have attempted their agitation more sparingly; and had he been +theatrical and rhetorical in his methods, he would have lost his control +of them long before the end of the session. But he rarely indulged in a +trope or a flight, never in bathos nor in bursts of ill-balanced appeal. +Nothing ever was drier than the subjects he elucidated day after day for +three weeks: for he took the Constitution to pieces bit by bit, and +compelled them to listen to an analysis which, if propounded by another, +would have bored them to distraction, vitally interested as they were. +But he not only so illuminated the cold pages of the Constitution that +while they listened they were willing to swear it was more beautiful +than the Bible, but the torrent of his eloquence, never confusing, so +sharp was every feature of the Constitution to his own mind, the magic +of his personality, and his intense humanity in treating the driest +sections of the document, so bewitched his audience that, even when he +talked for six hours without pausing on the subject of taxation, perhaps +the baldest topic which the human understanding is obliged to consider, +there was not a sign of impatience in the ranks of the enemy. + +He by no means harrowed them daily; he was far too astute for that. +There were days together when he merely charmed them, and they sat with +a warm unconscious smile while he demolished bit by bit one of +Melancthon Smith's clever arguments, in a manner so courteous that even +his victim could only shrug his shoulders, although he cursed him +roundly afterward. Then, when his audience least expected an assault, he +would treat them to a burst of scorn that made them hitch their chairs +and glance uneasily at each other, or to a picture of future misery +which reduced them to pulp. + +Clinton was infuriated. Even he often leaned forward, forgetting his own +selfish ambitions when Hamilton's thrilling voice poured forth a rapid +appeal to the passions of his hearers; but he quickly resumed the +perpendicular, and set his lips to imprison a scarlet comment. He saw +that his men were weakening, and as much to the luminous expounding of +the Constitution, to the logic of the orator, as to a truly satanic +eloquence and charm. He held long private sessions at his mansion on the +turnpike, where he was assisted by much material argument. But even +Melancthon Smith, who distinguished himself in almost daily debate, +acknowledged more than once that Hamilton had convinced him; and others +asserted, with depression, that their minds, which they had supposed to +be their own,--or Clinton's,--seemed to be in a process of remaking. + +After all, for the most part, they were sincere and earnest; and +although it is difficult for us of the present day to comprehend that +enlightened men ever could have been so mad as to believe that the +country would prosper without union, that a mere State should have been +thought to be of greater importance than a Nation, or that a democratic +constitution, which permits us to coddle anarchists in our midst, and +the lower orders to menace the liberties of the upper, was ever an +object of terror to men of bitter republican ideals, yet the historic +facts confront us, and we wonder, when reading the astonishing +arguments of that long and hard-fought contest, if Hamilton's +constitution, had it passed the Great Convention, would not have +ratified with a no more determined opposition. + +Melancthon Smith was one of the brightest and most conspicuous men of +his time, but his name is forgotten to-day. He was sincere; he was, in +his way, patriotic; he was a clever and eloquent orator. Moreover, he +was generous and manly enough to admit himself beaten, as the sequel +will show. To insure greatness, must the gift of long foreknowledge be +added to brilliant parts and an honest character? If this be the +essential, no wonder Melancthon Smith is forgotten. We have him +asserting that in a country where a portion of the people live more than +twelve hundred miles from the centre, one body cannot legislate for the +whole. He apprehends the abolition of the State constitutions by a +species of under-mining, predicts their immediate dwindling into +insignificance before the comprehensive and dangerous power vested in +Congress. He believes that all rich men are vicious and intemperate, and +sees nothing but despotism and disaster in the Federal Constitution. + +But, like most of the speakers of that day, he was trenchant and +unadorned, so that his speeches are as easy reading as they must have +been agreeable to hear. It is a curious fact that the best speakers of +to-day resemble our forefathers in this respect of trenchant simplicity. +Mediocrity for half a century has ranted on the stump, and given +foreigners a false impression of American oratory. Those who indulge in +what may be called the open-air metaphor, so intoxicating is our +climate, may find consolation in this flight of Mr. Gilbert Livingston, +who had not their excuse; for the Court-house of Poughkeepsie was hot +and crowded. He is declaiming against the senatorial aristocrats lurking +in the proposed Constitution. "What," he cries, "what will be their +situation in a Federal town? Hallowed ground! Nothing so unclean as +State laws to enter there, surrounded as they will be by an impenetrable +wall of adamant and gold, the wealth of the whole country flowing into +it!" "_What_? What WALL?" cried a Federal. "A wall of gold, of adamant, +which will flow in from all parts of the continent." The joyous roar of +our ancestors comes down to us. + +Hamilton's speech, in which he as effectually disposed of every argument +against the Senate as Roger Sherman had done in the Great Convention, is +too long to be quoted; but it is as well to give the precise words in +which he defines the vital difference between republics and democracies. + + It has been observed by an honourable gentleman [he said] that a + pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect + government. Experience has proved that no position in politics is + more false than this. The ancient democracies, in which the people + themselves deliberated, never possessed one feature of good + government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure + deformity. When they assembled, the field of debate presented an + ungovernable mob, not only incapable of deliberation, but prepared + for every enormity. In these assemblies the enemies of the people + brought forward their plans of ambition systematically. They were + opposed by their enemies of another party; and it became a matter + of contingency, whether the people subjected themselves to be led + blindly by one tyrant or another. + +Again he says, in reply to Melancthon Smith:-- + + It is a harsh doctrine that men grow wicked as they improve and + enlighten their minds. Experience has by no means justified us in + the supposition that there is more virtue in one class of men than + in another. Look through the rich and the poor of this community, + the learned and the ignorant--Where does virtue predominate? The + difference indeed consists not in the quantity, but kind of vices + which are incident to various classes; and here the advantage of + character belongs to the wealthy. Their vices are probably more + favourable to the prosperity of the State than those of the + indigent; and partake less of moral depravity. + +More than once Hamilton left his seat and went up to the belfry to +strain his eyes down the Albany post road or over the Dutchess turnpike, +and every afternoon he rode for miles to the east or the south, hoping +to meet an express messenger with a letter from Madison, or with the +good tidings that New Hampshire had ratified. Madison wrote every few +days, sometimes hopefully, sometimes in gloom, especially if he were not +feeling well. Each letter was from ten to twelve days old, and it seemed +to Hamilton sometimes that he should burst with impatience and anxiety. +On the 24th of June, as he was standing in the belfry while Chancellor +Livingston rained his sarcasms, he thought he saw an object moving +rapidly down the white ribbon which cut the forest from the East. In +five minutes he was on his horse and the Dutchess turnpike. The object +proved to be the messenger from Rufus King, and the letter which +Hamilton opened then and there contained the news of the adoption of the +Constitution by New Hampshire. + +There was now a Nation, and nine States would be governed by the new +laws, whether New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Rhode Island +sulked unprotected in the out-skirts, or gracefully entered the league +before dragged in or driven. It was a glittering and two-edged weapon +for Hamilton, and he flashed it in the faces of the anti-Federalists +until they were well-nigh blinded. Nevertheless, he did not for a moment +underrate Clinton's great strength, and he longed desperately for good +news from Virginia, believing that the entrance of that important State +into the Union would have more influence upon the opposition than all +the arts of which he was master. + + +VII + +And through it all Hamilton was sensible that someone was working for +him, and was not long attributing the influence to its proper source. +Mysterious hints were dropped of political reunions in a house on a +thickly wooded hill, a quarter of a mile behind the Governor's, the +fortunate guests to which enchanted abode being sworn to secrecy. That +it was the nightly resort of Clintonians was an open secret, but that +Federalism was being intelligently interpreted, albeit with deepest +subtlety, was guessed by few of the visitors themselves, and Hamilton +divined rather than heard it. If converts were not actually made, they +were at least undergoing a process of education which would make them +the more susceptible to Hamilton's final effort. Even before he caught a +glimpse of radiant hair among the maples, when riding one day along the +lane at the foot of the hill, he suspected that Mrs. Croix had preceded +the Convention with the deliberate intention of giving him the precious +assistance of a woman with a talent for politics and a genius for men. +He was touched, interested, intrigued, but he resisted the temptation to +precipitate himself into the eddies of her magnetism. Croix was in +England, but even before his departure, which among men was regarded as +final, she had achieved a reputation as a lady of erratic impulse and +imperious habit. That she was also the most brilliant and fascinating +woman in America, as well as the most beautiful, were facts as publicly +established. Hamilton had resisted the temptation to meet her, the +temptation receiving no help from indifference on the part of the lady; +he had answered more than one note of admirable deftness. But he had no +intention of being drawn into an intrigue which would be public gossip +in a day and ruin the happiness of his wife. To expect a man of +Hamilton's order of genius to keep faith with one woman for a lifetime +would be as reasonable as to look for such genius without the +transcendent passions which are its furnace; but he was far from being a +man who sought adventure. Under certain conditions his horizon abruptly +contracted, and life was dual and isolated; but when the opportunity had +passed he dismissed its memory with contrite philosophy, and was so +charming to Betsey that he persuaded himself, as her, that he wished +never to behold the face of another woman. Nor did he--overwhelming +temptation being absent: he was the most driven man in the United +States, with no time to run about after women, had such been his +proclivity; and his romantic temperament, having found high satisfaction +in his courtship and marriage with one of the most bewitching and +notable girls in America, was smothered under a mountain of work and +domestic bliss. So, although well aware that his will must perish at +times in the blaze of his passions, he was iron against the temptation +that held itself sufficiently aloof. To an extreme point he was master +of himself. He knew that it would be no whirlwind and forgetting with +this mysterious woman, who had set the town talking, and yet whose +social talents were so remarkable that she managed women as deftly as +she did men, and was a welcome guest in many of the most exclusive +houses in New York; the men were careful to do none of their gossiping +at home, and the women, although they criticised, and vowed themselves +scandalized, succumbed to her royal command of homage and her air of +proud invincibility. That she loved him, he had reason to know, and +although he regarded it as a young woman's romantic passion for a public +man focussing the attention of the country, and whom, from pressure of +affairs, it was almost impossible to meet, still the passion existed, +and, considering her beauty and talents, was too likely to communicate +itself to the object, were he rash enough to create the opportunity. +Hamilton's morals were the morals of his day,--a day when aristocrats +were libertines, receiving as little censure from society as from their +own consciences. His Scotch foundations had religious shoots in their +grassy crevices, but religion in a great mind like Hamilton's is an +emotional incident, one of several passions which act independently of +each other. He avoided temptation, not because he desired to shun a +torment of conscience or an accounting with his Almighty,--to Whom he +was devoted,--but because he was satisfied with the woman he had married +and would have sacrificed his ambitions rather than deliberately cause +her unhappiness. Had she been jealous and eloquent, it is more than +probable that his haughty intolerance of restraint would have driven him +to assert the pleasure of his will, but she was only amused at his +occasional divagations, and had no thought of looking for meanings which +might terrify her. He was quite conscious of his good fortune and too +well balanced to risk its loss. So Mrs. Croix might be driven to rest +her hopes on a trick of chance or a _coup de theatre_. But she was a +very clever woman; and she was not unlike Hamilton in a quite phenomenal +precocity, and in the torrential nature of her passions. + +Having a considerable knowledge of women and some of Mrs. Croix, he +inferred that sooner or later she would cease to conceal the light of +her endeavour. Nevertheless, he was taken aback to receive one day a +parcel, which, in the seclusion of his room, he found to contain a +dainty scented handkerchief, the counterpart of the one hidden in the +tree by the post road. + +"Can she have put it there on purpose?" he thought. "Did she take for +granted that I would pause to admire the scenery, and that I would +recognize the perfume of her violets? Gad! she's deeper than I thought +if that be true. The wider the berth, the better!" + +He gave no sign, and, as he had expected, a note arrived in due course. +It ran:-- + + THE MAPLES, 8th July--4 in the morning. + + DEAR SIR: I fear I am a woman of little purpose, for I intended to + flit here like a swallow and as noiselessly flit again, + accomplishing a political trifle for you meanwhile, of which you + never should be the wiser. But alas! I am tormented by the idea + that you never _will_ know, that in this great crisis of your + career, you think me indifferent when I understand so well your + terrible anxieties, your need for stupendous exertion, and all that + this convention means to this great country and to yourself; and + heart and soul and brain, at the risk of my popularity,--that I + love, sir,--and of a social position grudgingly acquired me, but + which I demand by right of an inheritance of which the world knows + less than of my elevation by Colonel Croix,--at the risk of all, I + am here and working for you. Perhaps I love power. Perhaps this + country with its strange unimaginable future. Perhaps I merely love + politics, which you have glorified--perhaps--well, when we do meet, + sir, you will avoid me no longer. Do you find me lacking in pride? + Reflect how another woman would have pursued you with love-letters, + persecuted you. I have exercised a restraint that has left its + mark, not only out of pride for myself, but out of a deep + understanding of your multitude of anxieties and interests; nor + should I dare to think of you at all were I not so sure of my power + to help you--now and always. Think, sir, of what such a + partnership--of which the world should never be cognizant--would + mean. I purpose to have a _salon_, and it shall be largely composed + of your enemies. Not a secret but that shall yield to me, not a + conspiracy but that you shall be able to forestall in time. I + believe that I was born devoted to your interests. Heart and soul I + shall be devoted to them as long as I live, and whether I am + permitted to know you or not. I could ruin you if I chose. I feel + that I have the power within me even for that. But God forbid! I + should have gone mad first. But ask yourself, sir, if I could not + be of vital assistance to your career, did we work in common. And + ask yourself other things--and truthfully. E.C.C + + P.S. In a meeting held here last night the two generals poured + vials of their own molten iron into the veins of the rank and file, + belted them together in a solid bunch, vowed that you were a dealer + in the black arts and reducing them to knaves and fools. Their + words sank, no doubt of that. But I uprooted them, and blew them + away. For I professed to be seized with an uncontrollable fit of + laughter at the nonsense of forty-seven men--_the flower of the + State_--terrified of a bare third, and of a man but just in his + thirties. I rapidly recounted your failures in your first Congress, + dwelling on them, harping on them; and then I stood up like a + Chorus, and proclaimed the victories of C's career. C, who had + scowled when I went off into hysterics, almost knelt over my hand + at parting; and the rest departed secure in your fancied destiny, + their waxen brains ready for your clever fingers. At least you will + acknowledge the receipt of this, sir? Conceive my anxiety till I + know it has not fallen into the wrong hands! + +A messenger brought the note directly after breakfast, and Hamilton +hastily retreated with it to the privacy of his room. His horse awaited +him, but he read the epistle no less than four times. Once he moved +uneasily, and once he put his hand to his neck as if he felt a silken +halter. He smiled, but his face flushed deeply. Her bait, her veiled +threat, affected him little. But all that was unsaid pulled him like a +powerful magnet. He struggled for fully twenty minutes with the +temptation to ride to that paradise on the hill as fast as his horse +would carry him. But although he usually got into mischief when absent +from Betsey, contradictorily he was fonder of his wife when she was +remote; moreover, her helplessness appealed to him, and he rejected the +idea of deliberate disloyalty, even while his pulses hammered and the +spirit of romance within him moved turbulently in its long sleep. He +glanced out of the window. Beyond the tree-tops gleamed the river; above +were the hills, with their woods and grassy intervals. It was an +exquisite country, green and primeval; a moderate summer, the air warm +but electric. The nights were magnificent. Hamilton dreamed for a time, +then burned the letter in a fit of angry impatience. + +"I have nothing better to do!" he thought. "Good God!" + +An answer was imperative. He took a long ride first, however, then +scrawled a few hasty lines, as if he had found just a moment in which to +read her letter, but thanking her warmly for her interest and +information; ending with a somewhat conscience-stricken hope for the +instructive delight of her personal acquaintance when he should find the +leisure to be alive once more. So rested the matter for a time. + + +VIII + +That afternoon the very memory of Eliza Croix fled before a mounted +messenger, who came tearing into town with word of Virginia's +ratification, of the great excitement in the cities of Richmond, +Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York, the processions in honour of this +important conquest. There were tales also of fray and bloodshed, in +which the Federals had retained the field; but, on the whole, the +country seemed wild with delight. + +But although this news did not produce the visible effect upon the +opposition for which Hamilton had hoped, the anti-Federalist leaders +were as fearful of hurrying the matter to the final vote as the +Constitutionalists. Clinton stood like a rock, but he feared defections +at the last moment, was conscious that his dominance over the minds of +the men who had come to the Convention believing implicitly in his +doctrine that union was unnecessary, concurring in his abhorrence of the +new Constitution, was snapping daily, as Hamilton's arguments and acute +logic fermented in their clarifying brains. Many began to avoid their +chief. They talked in knots by themselves. They walked the forest roads +alone for hours, deep in thought. It was evident that Hamilton had +liberated their understandings from one autocrat, whether he had brought +them under his own despotic will or not. + +There was no speaking, and little or no business for several days. A few +more amendments would be suggested, then an adjournment. It was like the +lull of the hurricane, when nervous people sit in the very centre of the +storm, awaiting the terrors of its final assault. + +Hamilton had much leisure for several days, but he was too deeply +anxious to give more than a passing thought to Mrs. Croix, although he +was grateful for the help he knew she was rendering him. "If we were +Turks," he thought once, "she would be an invaluable member of a harem. +She never could fill my domestic needs, which are capacious; most +certainly I should never, at any time, have chosen her for the mother of +my children; but as an intellectual and political partner, as a +confidante and counsellor, she would appeal to me very keenly. I talk to +Betsey, dear child, because I must talk, because I have an egotistical +craving for response, but I must bore her very often, and I am not +conscious of ever having received a suggestion from her--however, God +knows I am grateful for her sympathy. As the children grow older I shall +have less and less of her; already I appreciate the difference. She will +always have the core of my soul and the fealty of my heart, but it is +rather a pity that man should be given so many sides with their +corresponding demands, if no one woman is to be found able to respond to +all. As for this remarkable creature, I could imagine myself in a state +of mad infatuation, and seeking her constantly for the delight of mental +companionship besides; but the highest and best, if I have them--oh, no! +Perhaps the Turks are wiser than we, after all, for their wives suffer +only from jealousy, while--most men being Turks on one plan or +another--the women of the more advanced races suffer from humiliation, +and are wounded in their deepest sentiments. All of which goes to prove, +that the longer I delay a meeting with this high-priestess the better." + +In a day or two he was hard at work again fighting the last desperate +battle. The oppositionists had brought forward a new form of conditional +ratification, with a bill of rights prefixed, and amendments subjoined. +This, it would seem, was their proudest achievement, and, in a long and +adroit speech, Melancthon Smith announced it as their final decision. +That was at midday. Hamilton rose at once, and in one of the most +brilliant and comprehensive speeches he had yet made, demonstrated the +absurdity of conditional ratification, or the power of Congress to +indorse it. It was a close, legal, and constitutional argument, and with +the retorts of the anti-Federalists occupied two days, during which +Hamilton stood most of the time, alert, resourceful, master of every +point of the vast subject, to which he gave an almost embarrassing +simplicity. On the third day occurred his first signal triumph and the +confounding of Clinton: Melancthon Smith stood up and admitted that +Hamilton had convinced him of the impossibility of conditional +ratification. Lansing immediately offered as a substitute for the motion +withdrawn, another, by which the State ratify but reserve to itself the +right to secede after a certain number of years, unless the amendments +proposed should previously be submitted to a general convention. + +Adjournment followed, and Hamilton and his leaders held a long +consultation at the Livingston mansion, as a result of which he wrote +that night to Madison, now in New York, asking his advice as to the sort +of ratification proposed by the enemy. It was a course he by no means +approved, but it seemed the less of two evils; for if, by hook or crook, +the Constitution could be forced through, the good government which +would ensue was bound to break up the party of the opposition. He had a +trump, but he hesitated to resort to a coercion so high-handed and +arbitrary. His supposed monarchical aspirations were hurled at him +daily, and he must proceed with the utmost caution, lest his future +usefulness be impaired at the outset. + +Madison replied at once that such a proposition could not be considered, +for only unconditional ratification was constitutional; but before his +letter arrived Hamilton and Smith had had another hot debate, at the end +of which the anti-Federalist leader declared himself wholly beaten, and +announced his intention to vote for the unconditional acceptance of the +Constitution. + +But although there was consternation in the ranks of the +anti-Federalists at this momentous defection, Clinton stood like an old +lion at bay, with his other leaders behind him, his wavering ranks still +coherent under his practised manipulation. For several days more the +battle raged, and on the night before what promised to be the day of the +final vote, Hamilton received a note from Mrs. Croix. + + July 24. + + DEAR SIR: The case is more desperate than you think. The weakening + caused by the defection of the great Lieutenant has been + counteracted in large measure by the General. His personal + influence is enormous, his future like yours is at stake; he is + desperate. It all rests with you. Make your great and final effort + to-morrow. It is a wonderful responsibility, sir--the whole future + of this country dependent upon what flows from your brain a few + hours hence, but as you have won other great victories by efforts + almost unprecedented, so you will win this. I am not so + presumptuous as to write this to inspire you, merely to assure you + of a gravity, which, after so long and energetic a contest, you + might be disposed to underrate. + +Hamilton was very grateful for this note, and answered it more warmly +than had been his habit. His friends were deep in gloomy +prognostications, for it was impossible to delay twenty-four hours +longer. He had made converts, but not enough to secure a majority; and +his followers did not conceive that even he could put forth an effort +more convincing or more splendid than many of his previous achievements. +In consequence, his susceptible nature had experienced a chill, for he +was Gallic enough to compass greater things under the stimulus of +encouragement and prospective success; but this unquestioning belief in +him by a woman for whose mind he was beginning to experience a profound +admiration, sent his quicksilver up to a point where he felt capable of +all things. She had scored one point for herself. He felt that it would +be unpardonable longer to accept such favours as she showered upon him +unsought, and make no acknowledgment beyond a civil note: he expressed +his desire to call upon her when they were both in New York once more. +"But not here in Arcadia!" he thought. "I'll call formally at her +lodgings and take Troup or Morris with me. Morris will doubtless abduct +her, and that will be the end of it." + + +IX + +On the following day every shop was closed in Poughkeepsie. The men, +even many of the women, stood for hours in the streets, talking little, +their eyes seldom wandering from the Court-house, many of them crowding +close to the walls, that they might catch a ringing phrase now and +again. By this time they all knew Hamilton's voice, and they confessed +to a preference for his lucid precision. In front of the Court-house, +under a tree, an express messenger sat beside his horse, saddled for a +wild dash to New York with the tidings. The excitement seemed the more +intense for the heat of the day, which half suppressed it, and all +longed for the snap of the tension. + +Within the upper room of the Court-house the very air vibrated. Clinton, +who always grunted at intervals, and blew his nose stentoriously when +fervescent, was unusually aggressive. Beyond the bar men and women +stood; there was no room for chairs, nor for half that desired +admittance. In the very front stood the only woman whose superb physique +carried her through that trying day without smelling-salts or a friendly +shoulder. She was a woman with the eyes of an angel, disdainful of men, +the mouth of insatiety, the hair and skin of a Lorelei, and a patrician +profile. Her figure was long, slender, and voluptuous. Every man within +the bar offered her his chair, but she refused to sit while other women +stood; and few were the regrets at the more ample display of her +loveliness. + +Hamilton and Lansing debated with a lively exchange of acrimonious wit. +Smith spoke in behalf of the Constitution. Then Hamilton rose for what +all felt was to be a grand final effort, and even his friends +experienced an almost intolerable excitement. On the other side men +trembled visibly with apprehension, not so much in fear of the result as +of the assault upon their nervous systems. They hardly could have felt +worse if on their way to execution, but not a man left his seat; the +fascination was too strong to induce even a desire to avoid it. + +Hamilton began dispassionately enough. He went over the whole +Constitution rapidly, yet in so emphatic a manner as to accomplish the +intelligent subservience of his audience. Then, with the unexaggerated +eloquence of which he was so consummate a master, he pictured the +beauty, the happiness, the wealth of the United States under the new +Constitution; of the peace and prosperity of half a million homes; of +the uninterrupted industry of her great cities, their ramifications to +countless hamlets; of the good-will and honour of Europe; of a vast +international trade; of a restored credit at home and abroad, which +should lift the heavy clouds from the future of every ambitious man in +the Republic; of a peace between the States which would tend to the +elevation of the American character, as the bitter, petty, warring, and +perpetual jealousies had incontestably lowered it; of, for the beginning +of their experiment, at least eight years of harmony under George +Washington. + +He spoke for two hours in the glowing terms of a prophecy and an +optimism so alluring, that load after load seemed to roll from the +burdened minds opposite, although Clinton snorted as if about to thrust +down his head and paw the earth. When Hamilton had made his hearers +thoroughly drunk with dreams of an ecstatic future, he advanced upon +them suddenly, and, without a word of warning transition, poured upon +them so terrible a picture of the consequences of their refusal to enter +the Union, that for the first few moments they were ready to leap upon +him and wrench him apart. The assault was terrific, and he plunged on +remorselessly. He sketched the miseries of the past eleven years, the +poverty, the dangers, the dishonour, and then by the most precise and +logical deduction presented a future which, by the commonest natural and +social laws, must, without the protection of a high and central power, +be the hideous finish. The twilight came; the evening breeze was +rustling through the trees and across the sultry room. As Hamilton had +calculated, the moment came when he had his grip on the very roots of +the enemy's nerves. Chests were rising, handkerchiefs appearing. Women +fainted. Clinton blew his nose with such terrific force that the +messenger below scrambled to his feet. Hamilton waited during a +breathless moment, then charged down upon them. + +"Now listen, gentlemen," he said. "No one so much as I wishes that this +Constitution be ratified to the honour of the State of New York; but +upon this I have determined: that the enlightened and patriotic minority +shall not suffer for the selfishness and obstinacy of the majority. I +therefore announce to you plainly, gentlemen, that if you do not ratify +this Constitution, with no further talk of impossible amendments and +conditions, that Manhattan Island, Westchester, and Kings counties shall +secede from the State of New York and form a State by themselves, +leaving the rest of your State without a seaport, too contemptible to +make treaties, with only a small and possibly rebellious militia to +protect her northern boundaries from the certain rapacity of Great +Britain, with the scorn and dislike of the Union, and with no hope of +assistance from the Federal Government, which is assured, remember, no +matter what her straits. That is all." + +It was enough. He had won the day. The Constitution was ratified without +further parley. + + +X + +Hamilton reentered New York to the blaze of bonfires, the salute of +cannon, and the deafening shouts of a multitude that escorted him to his +doorway. Betsey was so proud of him she hardly could speak for a day, +and his library was flooded with letters of congratulation from all +parts of the Union. For several days he shut himself up with his family +and a few friends, for he needed the rest; and the relaxation was +paradisal. He played marbles and spun tops with his oldest boys, and +dressed and undressed Angelica's doll as often as his imperious daughter +commanded. Troup and Fish, now the dignified Adjutant-General of State, +with his bang grown long and his hair brushed back, spent hours with him +in the heavy shades of the garden, or tormenting a monkey on the other +side of the fence. Madison came at once to wrangle with him over the +temporary seat of government, and demanded the spare bedroom, protesting +he had too much to say to waste time travelling back and forth. He was a +welcome guest; and he, too, sat on the floor and dressed Angelica's +doll. + +The city was _en fete_, and little business was transacted except at the +public houses. Bands of citizens awoke Hamilton from his sleep, shouting +for "Alexander the Great." Anti-Federalists got so drunk that they +embraced the Federalists, and sang on Hamilton's doorstep. The hero +retreated to the back room on the top floor. The climax came on the 5th +of August, in the great procession, with which, after the fashion of +other triumphant cities, New York was to demonstrate in honour of the +victory of the Constitution. + +But, unlike its predecessors, this procession was as much in honour of +one man as of the triumph of a great principle. To have persuaded New +York, at that time, that Hamilton had not written the Constitution, and +secured its ratification in the eleven States of the Union by his +unaided efforts, would have been a dissipation of energy in August which +even Clinton would not have attempted. To them Hamilton was the +Constitution, Federalism, the genius of the new United States. And he +was their very own. "Virginia has her Madison," they reiterated, +"Massachusetts her Adamses--and may she keep them and be damned; other +States may think they have produced a giant, and those that do not can +fall back on Washington; but Hamilton is ours, we adore him, we are so +proud of him we are like to burst, and we can never express our +gratitude, try as we may; so we'll show him an honour that no other +State has thought of showing to any particular man." + +And of the sixth of New York's thirty thousand inhabitants that turned +out on that blazing August day and marched for hours, that all the +eager city might see, at least two-thirds bore a banner emblazoned with +Hamilton's portrait or name, held on high. The procession was +accompanied by a military escort; and every profession, every trade, was +represented. A large proportion of the men who marched were gentlemen. +Nicolas Fish was on the staff of the grand marshal, with six of his +friends. Robert Troup and two other prominent lawyers bore, on a +cushion, the new Constitution, magnificently engrossed. Nicolas Cruger, +Hamilton's old employer, again a resident of New York, led the farmers, +driving a plough drawn by three yoke of oxen. Baron Polnitz displayed +the wonders of the newly perfected threshing-machine. John Watts, a man +who had grown gray in the highest offices of New York, before and since +the Revolution, guided a harrow, drawn by horses and oxen. The +president, regents, professors, and students of Columbia College, all in +academic dress, were followed by the Chamber of Commerce and the members +of the bar. The many societies, led by the Cincinnati, followed, each +bearing an appropriate banner. + +And in the very centre of that pageant, gorgeous in colour and costume, +from the green of the foresters to the white of the florists, was the +great Federal ship, with HAMILTON, HAMILTON, HAMILTON, HAMILTON, +emblazoned on every side of it. In the memory of the youngest present +there was to be but one other procession in New York so imposing, and +that, too, was in honour of Hamilton. + +He stood on a balcony in the Broadway, with his family, Madison, Baron +Steuben, and the Schuylers, bowing constantly to the salutes and cheers. +Nicolas Cruger looked up and grinned. Fish winked decorously, and Troup +attempted a salaam, and nearly dropped the Constitution. But Hamilton's +mind served him a trick for a moment; the vivid procession, with his +face and name fluttering above five thousand heads, the compact mass of +spectators, proud and humble, that crowded the pavements and waved their +handkerchiefs toward him, the patriotically decorated windows filled +with eager, often beautiful, faces, disappeared, and he stood in front +of Cruger's store on Bay Street, with his hands in his linen pockets, +gazing out over a blinding glare of water, passionately wishing for the +war-ship which never came, to deliver him from his Island prison and +carry him to the gates of the real world beyond. He had been an +ambitious boy, but nothing in his imaginings had projected him to the +dizzy eminence on which he stood to-day. He was recalled by the salute +of the Federal ship's thirteen guns to the president of the Congress and +its members, who stood on the fort in the Battery. + +After all, perhaps it was the proudest and the happiest day of his +career, for the depths in his nature still slumbered, the triumph was +without alloy; and he knew that there were other heights to scale, and +that he should scale them. It was the magnificent and spontaneous +tribute of an intelligent people to an enlightened patriotism, to years +of severe and unselfish thought; and hardly an enemy grudged him his +deserts. The wild feeling of exultant triumph which surged behind his +smiling face receded before the rising swell of the profoundest +gratitude he had ever known. + +The day finished with a great banquet at Mr. Bayard's country-seat, near +Grand Street, where tables were spread for six thousand persons, in a +pavilion surmounted by an image of Fame, and decorated with the colours +of the nations that had formed treaties with the United States. Later, +there was a grand display of fireworks. + + +XI + +On the following day Hamilton went to Albany to march at the head of a +Federal procession with General Schuyler, then returned to +"Hamiltonopolis" and such legal work as he was permitted to accomplish; +for not only were leaders consulting him on every possible question from +the coming elections to the proper seat for the new government, and his +duties as a member of Congress pressing, but Edward Stevens, now +established as a doctor in Philadelphia, paid him a visit of a week, and +they talked the night through of St. Croix and old times. One of the +pleasantest results of these years of supremacy was the unqualified +delight of his Island friends. Hugh Knox was so proud of him, and of +himself and the debt which Hamilton acknowledged, that he wrote +explosive reams describing the breathless interest of St. Croix in his +career, and of the distinguished gatherings at the Governor's when he +arrived with one of their lost citizen's infrequent epistles. Mrs. +Mitchell, poor soul, wrote pathetically that she would no longer regret +his loss could she love him less. Hamilton wrote to her as often as he +could find the time, and Betsey selected a present for her several times +a year. Gratitude is the privilege of a great soul, and Hamilton had a +full measure of it. Even his father and brother wrote occasionally, +respectfully, if with no great warmth; and if their congratulations were +usually accompanied by the experimental sigh of poverty, Hamilton was +glad to respond, for at this period he was making a good deal of money. + +His promised bow to Mrs. Croix he deferred from day to day, pleading to +himself the pressure of work, which was submerging; but while he +reproached himself for ingratitude, he knew that he dreaded the meeting: +the old spirit of adventure within him, long quiescent, tapped +alluringly on the doors of his prudence. That she did not write again, +even to congratulate him as other friends had done, but added to his +discomfort, for he knew that her pride was now in arms, and that she +must be deeply wounded. He heard of her constantly, and at the +procession in his honour he had seen her, leaning on the arm of General +Knox, a dazzling, but angelic vision in blue and white, at which even +the bakers, wig-makers, foresters, tanners, and printers had turned to +stare. One of the latter had leaped down from the moving platform on +which he was printing a poem of occasion by William Duer, and begged her +on his knee to deign to receive a copy. She held weekly receptions, +which were attended by two-thirds of the leading men in town, and +Hamilton's intimate friends discoursed of her constantly. Croix was +supposed to have been seized with a passion for travelling in savage +jungles, and it was the general belief that his death would be +announced as soon as the lady should find it convenient to go into +mourning. It was plain to the charitable that he had left her with +plenty of money, for she dressed like the princess she looked, and her +entertainments lacked no material attraction. The gossip was more +furious than ever, but the most assiduous scandal-monger could connect +no one man with her name, nor trace her income to other than its reputed +source. More than once Hamilton had passed her coach, and she had bowed +gravely, with neither challenge nor reproach in her sweet haughty eyes. +After these quick passings Hamilton usually gave her a few moments of +intense thought. He marvelled at her curious intimate knowledge of him, +not only of the less known episodes of his career, but of more than one +of his mental processes. It is true, she might have led Troup or Fish +into gossip and analysis, but her sympathy counted heavily. She drew him +by many strings, and sometimes the response thrilled him unbearably. He +felt like a man who stood outside the gates of Paradise, bolting them +fast. Still, he could quite forget her in his work; and it is probable +that but for chance he never would have met her, that one of the +greatest disasters in history would have been averted. + +Betsey, who had not been well for some time, went to the northern +forests of her old home to strive for "spring" and colour. She took the +children with her, and Hamilton, who hated to live alone, filled his +deserted rooms with Troup, Fish, and Baron Steuben, whose claims he had +been pressing upon Congress for years, practically supporting him +meanwhile. The old soldier felt keenly the ingratitude of the country he +had served, but in time it made him ample compensation; meanwhile the +devotion of a few friends, and the lionizing of society, helped him to +bear his lot with considerable fortitude. He spent hours in the nursery +of the little Hamiltons, and was frequently seen in the Broadway with +one in his arms and the other three attached to his person. + +All the talk was of Washington and the first administration, Hamilton +having carried his point in Congress that New York should be the +temporary seat of government; there was jealousy and wrangling over +this, as over most other matters involving state pride, but Hamilton +believed that should the prize fall to Philadelphia, she would not +relinquish it as lightly as New York, which geographically was the more +unfit for a permanent gathering, and that the inconvenience to which +most of the members, in those days of difficult travel over a vast area, +would be subjected, would force them the sooner to agree upon a central +and commonly agreeable locality,--one, moreover, which would not meet +with the violent opposition of New York. Madison, who had been in favour +of Philadelphia, finally acknowledged Hamilton's sagacity and gave him +his influence and vote. + +That point settled, all eyes were turned to Mount Vernon. The masses +took for granted that Washington would respond to every call of duty the +public chose to make, and it was inconceivable that anyone else should +fill the first term of that great executive experiment. The universal +confidence in Washington and belief that he was to guide the +Constitution over the more critical of its shoals, had operated more +than any other factor in the ratification of that adventurous +instrument. It was a point upon which Hamilton had harped continually. +That a whole country should turn, as a matter of course, to a man whom +they revered for his virtues rather than for any brilliant parts he may +have effectually hidden within his cold and silent exterior, their +harmonious choice unbroken by an argument against the safety and dignity +of the country in the hands of such a man, certainly is a manifest of +the same elevation of tone that we infer from the great popularity of +the writings of Hamilton and the deference to such men as Jay and Philip +Schuyler. But although they had all the faults of human nature, our +forefathers, and were often selfish and jealous to a degree that +imperilled the country, at least they had the excuse, not only of being +mere mortals, but of living in an era of such changes, uncertainty, and +doubt, that public and private interests seemed hopelessly tangled. +They were not debased by political corruption until Jefferson took them +in hand, and sowed the bountiful crop which has fattened so vast and so +curious a variation upon the original American. + +The Federal leaders by no means shared the confidence of the people in +Washington's response to their call, and they were deeply uneasy. They +knew that he had been bombarded with letters for a year, urging upon him +the acceptance of the great office which would surely be offered him, +and that he had replied cautiously to each that he could not share their +opinion of his indispensability, that he had earned the repose he loved +after a lifetime spent in the service of his country, and had no desire +to return to public life. Hamilton, at least, knew the motive that lay +behind his evasion; without ambition, he was very jealous of his fame. +That fame now was not only one of the most resplendent in history, but +as unassailable as it was isolated. He feared the untried field in which +he might fail. + +One evening, late in September, as Hamilton and his temporary household +were entering the dining room, Gouverneur Morris drove down Wall Street +in his usual reckless fashion, scattering dogs and children, and pulling +his nervous sweating horses almost to their haunches, as he reached +Hamilton's door. As he entered the house, however, and received the +enthusiastic welcome to which he was accustomed, his bearing was as +unruffled as if he had walked down from Morrisania reading a breviary. + +"I grow desperately lonely and bored out on my ancestral domain, and +long for the glare and glitter, the intrigues and women, of Europe--our +educated ones are so virtuous, and the others write such shockingly +ungrammatical notes," he announced, as he took his seat at the board. +"Educated virtue is beneficial for the country, but we will all admit +that politics are our only excitement, and my blood dances when I think +of Europe. However, I did not come tearing through the woods on a hot +night to lament the virtue of the American woman. I've written to +Washington, and he won't listen to me. We all know how many others have +written, including Lafayette, I hear. And we all know what the +consequences will be if--say John or Sam Adams, Hancock, or Clinton +should be our first president. I long for Paris, but I cannot leave the +country while she is threatened with as grave a peril as any that has +beset her. Would that he had a grain of ambition--of anything that a +performer upon the various chords of human nature could impress. I +suppose if he were not so desperately perfect, we should not be in the +quandary we are, but he would be far easier to manage. As I awoke from +my siesta just two hours ago, my brain was illuminated by the idea that +one man alone could persuade him; and that was Alexander Hamilton. He +likes us, but he loves you. If he has a weak spot, it has yearned over +you since you were our infant prodigy in uniform, with your curls in +your eyes. You must take him in hand." + +"I have mentioned it to him, when writing of other things." + +"He is only too glad of the excuse to evade a mere mention. You must +write to him as peremptorily as only you dare to write to that majestic +presence. Don't mince it. Don't be too respectful--I was, because he is +the one being I am afraid of. So are all the others. Besides, you have +the most powerful and pointed pen in this country. We have spoiled you +until you are afraid of no one--if you ever were. And you know him as no +one else does; you will approach him from precisely the right sides. +Your duty is clear, and the danger is appalling. Besides, I want to go +to Europe. Promise me that you will write to-night." + +"Very well," said Hamilton, laughing. "I promise." And, in truth, his +mind had opened at once to the certainty that the time was come for him +to make the final effort to insure Washington's acceptance. He had felt, +during the last weeks, as if burrowing in the very heart of a mountain +of work; but his skin chilled as he contemplated the opening of the new +government without Washington in the presidential Chair. + +Two hours after dinner Morris escorted him to the library and shut him +in, then went, with his other friends, to Fraunces' tavern, and the +house was quiet. Hamilton's thoughts arranged themselves rapidly, and +before midnight he had finished his letter. Fortunately it has been +preserved, for it is of as vital an interest as anything he ever wrote, +not only because it was the determining factor in Washington's +acceptance of an office toward which he looked with reluctance and +dread, but because of its consummate sagacity and of its peremptory +tone, which no man but Hamilton would have dared to assume to +Washington. + +It ran:-- + + NEW YORK, September, 1788. + + ... I should be deeply pained, my dear sir, if your scruples in + regard to a certain station should be matured into a resolution to + decline it; though I am neither surprised at their existence, nor + can I but agree in opinion, that the caution you observe in + deferring an ultimate determination, is prudent. I have, however, + reflected maturely on the subject, and have come to a conclusion + (in which I feel no hesitation), that every public and personal + consideration will demand from you an acquiescence in what will + _certainly_ be the unanimous wish of your country. The absolute + retreat which you meditated at the close of the late war was + natural, and proper. Had the Government produced by the Revolution + gone on in a _tolerable_ train, it would have been most advisable + to have persisted in that retreat. But I am clearly of opinion that + the crisis which brought you again into public view, left you no + alternative but to comply; and I am equally clear in the opinion, + that you are by that act _pledged_ to take a part in the execution + of the Government. I am not less convinced, that the impression of + this necessity of your filling the station in question is so + universal, that you run no risk of any uncandid imputation by + submitting to it. But even if this were not the case, a regard to + your own reputation, as well as to the public good, calls upon you + in the strongest manner, to run that risk. + + It cannot be considered as a compliment to say, that on your + acceptance of the office of President, the success of the new + Government, in its commencement, may materially depend. Your agency + and influence will be not less important in preserving it from the + future attacks of its enemies, than they have been in recommending + it, in the first instance, to the adoption of the people. + Independent of all considerations drawn from this source, the point + of light in which you stand at home and abroad will make an + infinite difference in the respectability with which the Government + will begin its operations, in the alternative of your being or not + being at the head of it. I forbear to urge considerations which + might have a more personal application. What I have said will + suffice for the inferences I mean to draw. + + First. In a matter so essential to the well being of society, as + the prosperity of a newly instituted 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. + + Secondly. Your signature to the proposed system pledges your + judgement for its being such an one as, upon the whole, was worthy + of the public approbation. If it should miscarry (as men commonly + decide from success, or the want of it), the blame will, in all + probability, be laid on the system itself; and the framers of it + will have to encounter the disrepute of having brought about a + revolution in government, without substituting anything that was + worthy of the effort. They pulled down one Utopia, it will be said, + to build up another. This view of the subject, if I mistake not, my + dear sir, will suggest to your mind greater hazard to that fame, + which must be and ought to be dear to you, in refusing your future + aid to the system, than in affording it. I will only add, that in + my estimate of the matter, that aid is indispensable. + + I have taken the liberty to express these sentiments, and to lay + before you my view of the subject. I doubt not the considerations + mentioned have fully occurred to you, and I trust they will finally + produce in your mind the same result which exists in mine. I + flatter myself the frankness with which I have delivered myself + will not be displeasing to you. It has been prompted by motives + which you could not disapprove. I remain, my dear sir, + + With the sincerest respect and regard, + + Your obedient and humble servant, + + A. HAMILTON. + + +XII + +Hamilton folded and sealed the letter, then determined to take it to the +post-office himself. The night was hot and his head was throbbing: he +had worked, dined, wined, talked, and written, since eight in the +morning, with no interval for fresh air or exercise. He was not tired, +but very nervous, and after he had disposed of his letter, he set off +for a stroll along the river front, and walked for two miles up the +quiet road on the east side, listening to the lap of the water, and +pausing to watch the superb effect of the moonlight on the bright +ripples and on the wooded heights of Long Island. The little village of +Brooklyn twinkled here and there for a time, then lay like a sombre +shadow in the silences of her forest. As he returned, there was not a +light anywhere, except now and again at a masthead, for it was very +late. The clock in Trinity steeple struck one as he reentered the town. +He moved through the narrow dark and crooked streets with a lagging +step, although he had walked briskly for the past hour. There seemed to +be no sleep in him, and the idea of his quiet room was an irritation. + +"That woman is on my nerves," he thought. "I've written a letter +to-night that may bridge this country over another crisis, and I should +be sleeping the sleep of the self-sufficient statesman, or at least +excogitating upon weighty matters; and for the last hour I've given no +thought to anything but an unknown woman, who has electrified my +imagination and my passions. Is there, perhaps, more safety in meeting +her and laying the ghost? Imagination plays us such damnable tricks. She +may have a raucous voice, or too sharp a wit; or she may love another by +this. I'll ask Nick to take me there to-morrow." + +The drawing-room windows of the dwellings were but a few feet above the +ground, and many of them abutted on the pavement. The narrow street was +almost dark, in spite of the moonlight, but Hamilton saw that some one +sat at a lower window but a few feet ahead of him. It was a woman, for +her arm hung over the sill There was nothing to arrest his attention in +the circumstance, beyond the vague beauty of the arm and hand, for on +these dog nights many sat at their windows until the chill of early +morning; but he suddenly remembered that he was in Pearl Street. For a +moment he meditated retreat; with no enthusiasm, however. He shrugged +his shoulders and walked on, but his breath was short. As he approached +he could see that she was watching him, although her face was almost +invisible. He paused beneath the window, half in defiance, his eyes +striving to pierce the heavy shade of the room. The hand closed abruptly +about the lower part of his face. It trembled, but there was as much +determination as warmth in the finger tips; and he seemed to have been +transported suddenly to a field of violets. + + +XIII + +"Nick," said Hamilton, a few evenings later as they were peeling +walnuts, "This is the night on which Mrs. Croix receives, is it not? Do +you attend? I will go with you. The lady has kindly been at pains to let +me know that I shall not be unwelcome." + +Troup pushed back his plate abruptly, and Baron Steuben burst into a +panegyric. Fish replied that he had not intended to go, but should +change his mind for the sake of the sensation he must create with such a +lion in tow. He left the table shortly after, to dress, followed by +Steuben, who announced his intention to make one of the party. The host +and Troup were left alone. + +"What is the matter?" asked Hamilton, smiling. "I see you disapprove of +something. Surely you have not lost your heart--" + +"Nonsense," exclaimed Troup, roughly, "but I have always hoped you would +never meet her." + +"_Have_ you?" + +"If you want to know the truth she has pumped me dry about you. She did +it so adroitly that it was some time before I discovered what she was up +to. At first I wondered if she were a spy, and I changed my first mind +to avoid her, determined to get to the bottom of her motives. I soon +made up my mind that she was in love with you, and then I began to +tremble, for she is not only a very witch of fascination, but she has +about forty times more power of loving, or whatever she chooses to call +it, than most women, and every mental attraction and fastidious +refinement, besides. There is not a good woman in the country that could +hold her own against her. I have no wish to slander her, and have never +discussed her before; but my instincts are strong enough to teach me +that a woman whose whole exterior being is a promise, will be driven by +the springs of that promise to redeem her pledges. And the talk of you +banishes all that regal calm from her face and lets the rest loose. I +suppose I am a fool to tell you this, but I've been haunted by the idea +from the first that if you know this woman, disaster will come of it. I +do not mean any old woman's presentiment, but from what I know of her +nature and yours. You do astonishingly few erratic things for a genius, +but in certain conditions you are unbridled, and my only hope has been +that the lightning in you would strike at random without doing much +harm--to you, at all events. But this volcano has a brain in it, and +great force of character. She will either consume you, ruining your +career, or if you attempt to leave her she will find some way to ruin +you still. God knows I'm no moralist, but I am jealous for your genius +and your future. This has been a long speech. I hope you'll forgive it." + +Hamilton had turned pale, and he hacked at the mahogany with the point +of his knife. He made no attempt to laugh off Troup's attack, Troup +watched him until he turned pale himself. "You have met her," he said +abruptly. + +Hamilton rose and pushed back his chair. "I promise you one thing," he +said: "that if I happen to lose my nethermost to Mrs. Croix, the world +shall never be the wiser. That I explicitly promise you. I dislike +extremely the position in which I put the lady by these words, but you +will admit that they mean nothing, that I am but striving to allay your +fears--which I know to be genuine. She will probably flout me. I shall +probably detest her conversation. But should the contrary happen, should +she be what you suspect, and should a part of my nature which has never +been completely accommodated, annihilate a resistance of many months, at +least you have my assurance that worse shall not happen." + +Troup groaned. "You have so many sides to satisfy! Would that you could +have your truly phenomenal versatility of mind with a sweet simplicity +of character. But we are not in the millennium. And as you have not the +customary failings of genius,--ingratitude, morbidity, a disposition to +prevaricate, a lack of common-sense, selfishness, and +irresponsibility,--it is easy for us to forgive you the one inevitable +weakness. Come to me if you get into trouble. She'd have no mercy at my +hands. I'd wring her neck." + +Many people were at their country-seats, but politics kept a number of +men in town, and for this political and wholly masculine _salon_ of Mrs. +Croix, Gouverneur Morris drove down from Morrisania, Robert Livingston +from Clermont; Governor Clinton had made it convenient to remain a day +longer in New York. Dr. Franklin had been a guest of my lady for the +past two days. They were all, with the exception of Clinton, in the +drawing-room, when Hamilton, Steuben and Fish arrived; and several of +the Crugers, Colonel Duer, General Knox, Mayor Duane, Melancthon Smith, +Mr. Watts, Yates, Lansing, and a half-dozen lesser lights. Mrs. Croix +sat in the middle of the room, and her chair being somewhat higher and +more elaborate than its companions, suggested a throne: Madame de Stael +set the fashion in many affectations which were not long travelling to +America. In the house, Mrs. Croix discarded the hoopskirt, and the +classic folds of her soft muslin gown revealed a figure as superb in +contour as it was majestic in carriage. Her glittering hair was in a +tower, and the long oval of her face gave to this monstrous head-dress +an air of proportion. Her brows and lashes were black, her eyes the +deepest violet that ever man had sung, childlike when widely opened, but +infinitely various with a drooping lash. The nose was small and +aquiline, fine and firm, the nostril thin and haughty. The curves of her +mouth included a short upper lip, a full under one, and a bend at the +corners. There was a deep cleft in the chin. Technically her hair was +auburn; when the sun flooded it her admirers vowed they counted twenty +shades of red, yellow, sorrel, russet, and gold. Even under the soft +rays of the candles it was crisp with light and colour. The dazzling +skin and soft contours hid a jaw that denoted both strength and +appetite, and her sweet gracious manner gave little indication of her +imperious will, independent mind, and arrogant intellect. She looked to +be twenty-eight, but was reputed to have been born in 1769. For women so +endowed years have little meaning. They are born with what millions of +their sex never acquire, a few with the aid of time and experience only. +Nature had fondly and diabolically equipped her to conquer the world, to +be one of its successes; and so she was to the last of her ninety-six +years. Her subsequent career was as brilliant in Europe as it had been, +and was to be again, in America. In Paris, Lafayette was her sponsor, +and she counted princes, cardinals, and nobles among her conquests, and +died in the abundance of wealth and honours. If her sins found her out, +they surprised her in secret only. To the world she gave no sign, and +carried an unbroken spirit and an unbowed head into a vault which looks +as if not even the trump of Judgement Day could force its marble doors +to open and its secrets to come forth. But those doors closed behind her +seventy-seven years later, when the greatest of her victims had been +dust half a century, and many others were long since forgotten. +To-night, in her glorious triumphant womanhood she had no thought of +vaults in the cold hillside of Trinity, and when Hamilton entered the +room, she rose and courtesied deeply. Then, as he bent over her hand: +"At last! Is it you?" she exclaimed softly. "Has this honour indeed come +to my house? I have waited a lifetime, sir, and I took pains to assure +you long since of a welcome." + +"Do not remind me of those wretched wasted months," replied Hamilton, +gallantly, and Dr. Franklin nodded with approval. "Be sure, madam, that +I shall risk no reproaches in the future." + +She passed him on in the fashion of royalty, and was equally gracious to +Steuben and Fish, although she did not courtesy. The company, which had +been scattered in groups, the deepest about the throne of the hostess, +immediately converged and made Hamilton their common centre. Would +Washington accept? Surely he must know. Would he choose to be addressed +as "His Serene Highness," "His High Mightiness," or merely as +"Excellency"? Would so haughty an aristocrat lend himself agreeably to +the common forms of Republicanism, even if he had refused a crown, and +had been the most jealous guardian of the liberties of the American +people? An aristocrat is an aristocrat, and doubtless he would observe +all the rigid formalities of court life. Most of those present heartily +hoped that he would. They, too, were jealous of their liberties, but had +no yearning toward a republican simplicity, which, to their minds, +savoured of plebianism. Socially they still were royalists, whatever +their politics, and many a coat of arms was yet in its frame. + +"Of course Washington will be our first President," replied Hamilton, +who was prepared to go to Mount Vernon, if necessary. "I have had no +communication from him on the subject, but he would obey the command of +public duty if he were on his death-bed. His reluctance is natural, for +his life has been a hard one in the field, and his tastes are those of a +country gentleman,--tastes which he has recently been permitted to +indulge to the full for the first time. Moreover, he is so modest that +it is difficult to make him understand that no other man is to be +thought of for these first difficult years. When he does, there is no +more question of his acceptance than there was of his assuming the +command of the army. As for titles they come about as a matter of +course, and it is quite positive that Washington, although a Republican, +will never become a Democrat. He is a grandee and will continue to live +like one, and the man who presumes to take a liberty with him is lost." + +Mrs. Croix, quite forgotten, leaned back in her chair, a smile +succeeding the puzzled annoyance of her eyes. In this house her words +were the jewels for which this courtly company scrambled, but Hamilton +had not been met abroad for weeks, and from him there was always +something to learn; whereas from even the most brilliant of women--she +shrugged her shoulders; and her eyes, as they dwelt on Hamilton, +gradually filled with an expression of idolatrous pride. The new delight +of self-effacement was one of the keenest she had known. + +The bombardment continued. The Vice-President? Whom should Hamilton +support? Adams? Hancock? Was it true that there was a schism in the +Federal party that might give the anti-Federalists, with Clinton at +their head, a chance for the Vice-Presidency at least? Who would be +Washington's advisers besides himself? Would the President have a +cabinet? Would Congress sanction it? Whom should he want as confreres, +and whom in the Senate to further his plans? Whom did he favour as +Senators and Representatives from New York? Could this rage for +amendments be stopped? What was to be the fate of the circular letter? +Was all danger of a new Constitutional Convention well over? What about +the future site of the Capital--would the North get it, or the South? + +All these, the raging questions of the day, it took Hamilton the greater +part of the evening to answer or parry, but he deftly altered his orbit +until he stood beside Mrs. Croix, the company before her shrine. He had +encountered her eyes, but although he knew the supreme surrender of +women in the first stages of passion, he also understood the vanities +and weaknesses of human nature too well not to apprehend a chill of the +affections under too prolonged a mortification. + +Clinton entered at midnight; and after almost bending his gouty knee to +the hostess, whom he had never seen in such softened yet dazzling +beauty, he measured Hamilton for a moment, then laughed and held out his +hand. + +"You are a wonderful fighter," he said, "and you beat me squarely. We'll +meet in open combat again and again, no doubt of it, and I hope we will, +for you rouse all my mettle; but I like you, sir, I like you. I can't +help it." + +Hamilton, at that time of his life the most placable of men, had shaken +his hand heartily. "And I so esteem and admire you, sir," he answered +warmly, "that I would I could convert you, for your doctrines are bound +to plunge this country into civil war sooner or later. The Constitution +has given the States just four times more power than is safe in their +hands; but if we could establish a tradition at this early stage of the +country's history that it was the duty of the States always to consider +the Union first and themselves as grateful assistants to a hard-working +and paternal central power, we might do much to counteract an evil +which, if coddled, is bound to result in a trial of strength." + +"That is the first time I ever heard you croak, except in a public +speech where you had a point to gain," said Livingston. "Do you mean +that?" + +"What of it?" asked Clinton. "Under Mr. Hamilton's constitution--for if +it be not quite so monarchical as the one he wanted, it has been saddled +upon the United States through his agency more than through any other +influence or group of influences--I say, that under Mr. Hamilton's +constitution all individualism is lost. We are to be but the component +parts of a great machine which will grind us as it lists. Had we +remained thirteen independent and sovereign States, with a tribunal for +what little common legislation might be necessary, then we might have +built up a great and a unique nation; but under what is little better +than an absolute monarchy all but a small group of men are bound to live +and die nonentities." + +"But think of the excited competition for a place in that group," said +Hamilton, laughing. The disappointed Governor's propositions were not +worthy of serious argument. + +"I do not think it is as bad as that, your Excellency," said Dr. +Franklin, mildly. "I should have favoured a somewhat loose +Confederation, as you know, but the changes and the development of this +country will be so great that there will be plenty of room for +individualism; indeed, it could not be suppressed. And after a careful +study of this instrument that you are to live under--my own time is so +short that my only role now is that of the prophet--I fail to see +anything of essential danger to the liberties of the American people. I +may say that the essays of "The Federalist" would have reassured me on +this point, had I still doubted. I read them again the other week. The +proof is there, I think, that the Constitution, if rigidly interpreted +and lived up to, must prove a beneficent if stern parent to those who +dwell under it." + +Clinton shrugged his shoulders. "I would I could share your optimism," +he said. "What a picture have we! The most venerable statesman in the +country finding some hope for individual liberty in this Constitution; +the youngest, an optimist by nature and habit, sanguine by youth and +temperament, trembling for the powers it may confer upon a people too +democratically inclined. This is true, sir--is it not?" + +"Yes," said Hamilton. "Democracy is a poison, just as Republicanism is +the ideal of all self-respecting men. I would do all I could to vitalize +the one and nullify the other. The spirit of democracy exists already, +no doubt of it. If we could suppress it in time, we should also suppress +the aspirations of encouraged plebianism,--a dangerous factor in any +republic. It means the mixing of ignoble blood with good, a gradual +lowering of ideals until a general level of sordidness, individualism in +its most selfish and self-seeking form, and political corruption, are +the inevitable results. You, your Excellency, are an autocrat. It is odd +that your principles should coincide so closely with the despotism of +democracy." + +"Oh, I can't argue with you!" exclaimed Clinton, impatiently. "No one +can. That is the reason you beat us when we clearly were in the right. +What says Madam? She is our oracle." "If she would but bring him under +her foot!" he said to Yates. "She is heart and soul with us. I augur +well that he is here at last." + +"It is long since our fairy queen has spoken," Franklin was saying; +gallant to all women, he was prostrate before this one. "Her genius +directs her to the most hidden kernels." + +"What do you wish?" she asked lightly. "A prophecy? I am no Cassandra. +Unlike Dr. Franklin, I am too selfish to care what may happen when I am +dead. At this date we are assured of two elements in government: +unselfish patriotism and common-sense. There never has been a nobler nor +a more keenly intelligent group of men in public life than General +Washington will be able to command as assistants in forming a +government. And should our Governor lead his own party to victory," she +added, turning to Clinton with so brilliant a smile that it dissipated a +gathering scowl, "it would be quite the same. The determined struggle +of the weaker party for the rights which only supremacy can insure them +is often misconstrued as selfishness; and power leads their higher +qualities as well as their caution and conservatism to victory. I am a +philosopher. I disapproved the Constitution, and loved the idea of +thirteen little sovereignties; but I bow to the Inevitable and am +prepared to love the Constitution. The country has too much to +accomplish, too much to recover from, to waste time arguing what might +have been; it is sure to settle down into as complacent a philosophy as +my own, and adjust itself to its new and roomy crinoline." + +"Crinoline is the word," growled Clinton, who accepted her choice of +words as a subtle thrust at Hamilton. "It is rigid. Wherever you move it +will move with you and bound your horizon." + +"Oh, well, you know," said Hamilton, who was tired of the conversation, +"like a crinoline it can always be broken." + + +XIV + +Washington was President of the United States. He had come over grandly +from the Jersey shore in a magnificent barge manned by twelve oarsmen in +white uniform, escorted by other barges but a shade less imposing. A +week later he had taken the oath of office on the new Broad Street +gallery of Federal Hall, amidst the breathless silence of thousands, +surrounded by the dignitaries of state and three personal friends, +Hamilton, Steuben, and Knox. The anti-Federalists were crushed, no +longer of dignity as a party, although with ample resources for +obstruction and annoyance. The country, after an interval of rejoicing, +had settled down to another period of hope and anxiety. + +And Hamilton had incurred the dislike of Adams and the hostility of the +Livingstons. He had thought it best to scatter the votes for the +Vice-President, lest there be the slightest risk of Washington's defeat; +and Adams who thought quite as much of himself as he did of George +Washington, and had expected to be elected with little less than +unanimity, instead of by a bare thirty-four votes, never forgave +Hamilton the humiliation. "I have seen the utmost delicacy used toward +others," he wrote to a friend, "but my feelings have never been +regarded." He knew that Hamilton believed him to have been in sympathy +with the Conway Cabal,--a suspicion of which he never cleared +himself,--and attributed to the Federal leader the motive of wishing to +belittle his political significance, lest he should endeavour to use his +power as President of the Senate to hamper and annoy the Administration. +Perhaps he was right. Far be it from anyone to attempt a journey through +the utmost recesses of Hamilton's mind. He was frank by nature and +habit, but he had resolved that the United States government should +succeed, and had no mind to put weapons into the hands of Washington's +rivals. He believed in Adams's general integrity, patriotism, and +federalism, however, and brought him to power in his own fashion. He +achieved his objects with little or no thought of personal consequences; +and although this has been characterized as one of the great political +mistakes of his career, it must be remembered that it was a time for +nervousness and exaggerated fears. Washington had enemies; no other man +was believed, by the men who did the thinking for the country, to be +able to hold the United States together until they were past their +shoals, and the method of election was precarious: each elector casting +two votes without specification, the higher office falling to the +candidate who received the larger number of votes. + +The Livingstons had desired a seat in the Senate of the new Congress for +one of their powerful family, and Hamilton had given the prize to Rufus +King. No gift could have been more justly bestowed; but the Livingstons +felt themselves flouted, their great services to the country unrewarded. +Their open hostility roused all the haughty arrogance of Hamilton's +nature, and he made no effort to placate them. When the great office of +Chief Justice of the United States was given to John Jay, instead of to +Robert Livingston, they attributed the discrimination to Hamilton's +influence over Washington; and the time came when this strong and +hostile faction lent themselves to the scheming of one of the subtlest +politicians that has ever lived. + +The contest for the prizes of the two Houses had been hot and bitter, +and Hamilton had never been more active. As a result, the Federalists +controlled the Senate, and they had elected four of the six +Representatives. Philip Schuyler had drawn the short term in the Senate, +and the antagonism of the Livingstons to Hamilton enabled Burr to +displace him two years later. The signal mistakes of Hamilton's +political career were in his party management. One of the greatest +leaders in history, cool and wise, and of a consummate judgement in all +matters of pure statesmanship, he was too hot-headed and impetuous, too +obstinate when his righting blood was up, for the skilful manipulation +of politics. But so long as the Federal party endured, no other leader +was contemplated: his integrity was spotless, his motives unquestioned, +his patriotism and stupendous abilities the glory of his party; by sheer +force of genius he carried everything before him, whether his methods +were approved by the more conservative Federalists or not. + +Madison, who mildly desired an office, possibly in the Cabinet, he +despatched South to get himself elected to Congress, for he must have +powerful friends in that body to support the great measures he had in +contemplation; and that not unambitious statesman, after a hot fight +with Patrick Henry, was obliged to content himself with a seat in the +House. Before he went to Virginia he and Hamilton had talked for long +and pleasant hours over the Federal leader's future schemes. In all +things he was in accord with his Captain, and had warmly promised his +support. + +It was some weeks before Hamilton had a private interview with +Washington, although he had dined at his house, entertained him, and +been present at several informal consultations on such minor questions +as the etiquette of the Administration. But delicacy held him from +embarrassing Washington in a familiar interview until he had been +invited formally to a position in the contemplated cabinet. He knew that +Washington wished him to be Secretary of the Treasury, but he also knew +that that most cautious and conscientious of men would not trust to his +own judgement in so grave a matter, nor take any step without weeks of +anxious thought. The more deeply were Washington's affections or desires +engaged, the more cautious would he be. He was not a man of genius, +therefore fell into none of the pitfalls of that terrible gift; he was +great by virtue of his superhuman moral strength--and it is safe to say +that in public life he never experienced a temptation--by a wisdom that +no mental heat ever unbalanced, by an unrivalled instinct for the best +and most useful in human beings, and by a public conscience to which he +would have unhesitatingly sacrificed himself and all he loved, were it a +question of the nation's good. But Hamilton knew whom he would consult, +and devoted himself to his legal work without a qualm for the future. As +he had anticipated, Washington wrote to Robert Morris for advice, and +the reply of that eminent financier, that "Hamilton was the one man in +the United States competent to cope with the extreme difficulties of +that office," pleasantly ended the indecision of the President, and he +communicated with Hamilton at once. + +Hamilton answered by letter, for Washington was wedded to the +formalities, but he followed it with a request for a private interview; +and after the lapse of eight years Washington and Hamilton met once more +for a purely personal colloquy. + +Washington was occupying temporarily the house of Walter Franklin, on +the corner of Cherry Street and Franklin Square, a country residence at +which society grumbled, for all the world lived between the present site +of the City Hall and Battery Park. Hamilton rode up on horseback, and +was shown into the library, which overlooked a pleasant garden. The +President, in the brown suit of home manufacture which he had worn at +the inauguration, as graceful and erect as ever, although with a more +elderly visage than in the days of war, entered immediately, closed the +door carefully, then took both Hamilton's hands in his enormous grasp. +The austere dignity of his face relaxed perceptibly. + +"Oh!" he said. "I am glad to see you!" + +"It is not a return to old times, alas!" said Hamilton, gaily; "for what +we all had to do then was a bagatelle to this, and you have made the +supreme sacrifice of your life." + +Washington seated himself in an arm-chair, motioning Hamilton to one +opposite. "I wrote Knox," he said, "that I felt as if setting out to my +own execution; and I swear to you, Hamilton, that if it had not been for +you I doubt if my courage would not have failed me at the last moment. I +had a moment of nervous dread this morning before I opened your letter, +but I believed that you would not fail me. It is a colossal enterprise +we are embarked upon, this constructing of a great nation for all time. +God knows I am not equal to it, and although I shall always reserve to +myself the final judgement, I expect a few of you to think for me--you, +in particular. Then with the Almighty's help we may succeed, but I can +assure you that it has cost me many wakeful nights--and cold sweats." + +He spoke with his usual slow impressiveness, but he smiled as he watched +Hamilton's flashing eyes and dilating nostrils. "You look but little +older," he added. "Not that you still look a stripling, controlling your +temper with both hands while I worked you half to death; but you have +the everlasting youth of genius, I suppose, and you look to me able to +cope with anything." + +Hamilton laughed. "I am far older in many things, sir. I fear I often +seemed ungrateful. I have blessed you many times, since, for the +discipline and the invaluable knowledge I gained in those years." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Washington. "Ah! I am very glad to hear you say that. It +is like your generosity, and I have had many anxious moments, wondering +if there might not still be a grudge. But not only were your peculiar +gifts indispensable to this country, but, I will confess, now that it is +over, I mortally dreaded that you would lose your life. You and Laurens +were the most reckless devils I ever saw in the field. Poor Laurens! I +felt a deep affection for him, and his death was one of the bitterest +blows of the war. If he were here now, and Lafayette, how many pleasant +hours I should look forward to; but I have you, and God knows I am +grateful. Lafayette, I am afraid, has undertaken too great a business +for his capacity, which is admirable; but he is not strong enough to be +a leader of men." + +"I wish he were here, and well out of it." + +"I have not sufficiently thanked you for the letter you wrote me last +September. It was what I had earnestly hoped for. My position was most +distressing. It was impossible for me not only to ask the advice of +anyone, but the temper of the public mind regarding myself. To assume +that I must be desired--but I need not explain to you, who know me +better than anybody living, the extreme delicacy of my position, and the +torments of my mind. Your letter explained everything, told me all I +wished to know, made my duty clear--painfully clear. You divined what I +needed and expressed yourself in your usual frank and manly way, without +the least hesitation or fear. I take this occasion to assure you again +of my deep appreciation." + +"Oh, sir," said Hamilton, who was always affected unbearably by +Washington's rare moments of deep feeling, "I was merely the selected +instrument to give you what you most needed at the moment; nothing more. +This was your destiny; you would be here in any case. It is my pride, my +reward of many years of thought and work, that I am able to be of +service to your administration, and conspicuous enough to permit you to +call me to your side. Be sure that all that I have or am is yours, and +that I shall never fail you." + +"If I did not believe that, I should indeed be deep in gloomy +forebodings. Jay will officiate as Secretary of State for the present; +Knox, as Secretary at War. I contemplate inviting Randolph to act as +Attorney-General, and Jefferson as permanent Secretary of State, if he +will accept; thus dividing the appointments between the North and the +South. What do you think of the wisdom of appointing Mr. Jefferson? He +is a man of great abilities, and his long residence abroad should make +him a valuable Secretary of State, his conspicuous services acceptable +to both sections of the country. It is the selection over which I have +hesitated longest, for it is a deep and subtle nature, a kind I have no +love of dealing with, but so far as I know it is not a devious one, and +his talents command my respect." + +"I am unable to advise you, sir, for he is not personally known to me," +said Hamilton, who was not long wishing that he had had a previous and +extensive knowledge of Thomas Jefferson. "Madison thinks well of him--is +a close personal friend. He has rendered great services to the State of +Virginia, his experience is wide, and he possesses a brilliant and +facile pen--I can think of no one better fitted for the position. His +record for personal bravery is not untarnished, but perhaps that will +insure peace in the Cabinet." + +Washington laughed. "Jefferson would slide under the table if you +assaulted him," he said. "It is you only that I fear, as it is you only +upon whom I thoroughly rely, and not for advice in your own department +alone, but in all. I think it would perhaps be better not to hold +collective meetings of the Cabinet, but to receive each of you alone. It +is as well the others do not know that your knowledge and judgement are +my chief reliance." + + +XV + +Hamilton, on his way home, stopped in at the chambers of Troup. + +"Bob," he said, "you are to wind up my law business. I am to be +Secretary of the Treasury." + +Troup half rose with an exclamation of impatience. "Good heavens!" he +exclaimed. "Have you not an introductory line in your nature? It has +been bad enough to have been anticipating this, without having it go +straight through one like a cannon-ball. Of course it is no use to +reason with you--I gave that up just after I had assumed that you were a +small boy whom it was the duty of a big collegian to protect, and you +nearly demolished my not too handsome visage with your astonishing +fists for contradicting you. But I am sorry. Remain at the bar and you +have an immediate prospect of wealth, not too many enemies, and the +highest honours. Five years from now, and you would lead not only the +bar of New York but of the whole country. Jay may be the first Chief +Justice, but you would be the second--." + +"Nothing would induce me to be Chief Justice. I should be bored to +death. Can you fancy me sitting eternally and solemnly in the middle of +a bench, listening to long-winded lawyers? While I live I shall have +action--." + +"Well, you will have action enough in this position; it will burn you +out twenty years before your time. And it will be the end of what peace +and happiness a born fighter could ever hope to possess; for you will +raise up enemies and critics on every side, you will be hounded, you +will be the victim of cabals, your good name will be assailed--." + +"Answer this: do you know of anyone who could fill this office as +advantageously to the country as I?" + +"No," said Troup, unwillingly. "I do not." + +Hamilton was standing by the table. He laid his hand on a volume of +Coke, expanding and contracting it slowly. It was perhaps the most +beautiful hand in America, and almost as famous as its owner. But as +Troup gazed at it he saw only its superhuman suggestion of strength. + +"The future of this country lies there," said Hamilton. "I know, and you +know, that my greatest gift is statesmanship; my widest, truest +knowledge is in the department of finance; moreover, that nothing has so +keen and enduring a fascination for me. I could no more refuse this +invitation of Washington's than I could clog the wheels of my mind to +inaction. It is like a magnet to steel. If I were sure of personal +consequences the most disastrous, I should accept, and without +hesitation. For what else was the peculiar quality of my brain given me? +To what other end have I studied this great question since I was a boy +of nineteen--wild as I was to fight and win the honours of the field? +Was ever a man's destiny clearer, or his duty?" + +"I have no more to say," said Troup, "but I regret it all the same. +Have you heard from Morris--Gouverneur?" + +"Oh, yes, I had a long screed, in almost your words, spiced with his own +particular impertinence. Will you wind up my law business?" + +"Oh, of course," said Troup. + +The new Congress, made up, though it was, of many of the ablest men in +the country, had inherited the dilatory methods of the old, and did not +pass an act establishing the Treasury Department until the 2d of +September. Hamilton's appointment to this most important portfolio at +the disposal of the President was looked upon as a matter of course. It +created little discussion, but so deep a feeling of security, that even +before the reading of his famous Report business had revived to some +extent. This Report upon the public credit was demanded of him at once, +but it was not until the recess of Congress that he could work +uninterruptedly upon it; for that body, floundering in its chaos of +inherited difficulties, turned to the new Secretary for advice on almost +every problem that beset it. I cannot do better here than to quote from +the monograph on Hamilton by Henry Cabot Lodge, who puts with admirable +succinctness a series of facts important to the knowledge of every +American:-- + + In the course of a year he was asked to report, and did report with + full details, upon the raising, management, and collection of the + revenue, including a scheme for revenue cutters; as to the + estimates of income and expenditure; as to the temporary regulation + of the chaotic currency; as to navigation laws, and the regulation + of the coasting trade, after a thorough consideration of a heap of + undigested statistics; as to the post-office, for which he drafted + a bill; as to the purchase of West Point; on the great question of + public lands and a uniform system of managing them; and upon all + claims against the government. Rapidly and effectively the + secretary dealt with all these matters, besides drawing up as a + voluntary suggestion a scheme for a judicial system. But in + addition to all this multiplicity of business there were other + matters like the temporary regulation of the currency, requiring + peremptory settlement. Money had to be found for the immediate and + pressing wants of the new government before any system had been or + could be adopted, and the only resources were the empty treasury + and broken credit of the old confederacy. By one ingenious + expedient or another, sometimes by pledging his own credit, + Hamilton got together what was absolutely needful, and without a + murmur conquered those petty troubles when he was elaborating and + devising a far-reaching policy. Then the whole financial machine of + the Treasury Department, and a system of accounting, demanded + instant attention. These intricate problems were solved at once, + the machine constructed, and the system of accounts devised and put + into operation; and so well were these difficult tasks performed + that they still subsist, developing and growing with the nation, + but at bottom the original arrangements of Hamilton. These + complicated questions, answered so rapidly and yet so accurately in + the first weeks of confusion incident to the establishment of a new + government, show a familiarity and preparation, as well as a + readiness of mind of a most unusual kind. Yet while Hamilton was + engaged in all this bewildering work, he was evolving the great + financial policy, at once broad, comprehensive, and minute, and + after the recess in January he laid his ground plan before Congress + in his first report on public credit; a state paper which marks an + era in American history, and by which the massive corner-stone, + from which the great structure of the Federal government has risen, + was securely laid. + +New York, meanwhile, had blossomed to her full. Houses had been +renovated, and with all the elegance to be commanded. Many had been let, +by the less ambitious, to the Members of Congress from other States, and +all were entertaining. General Schuyler occupied a house close to +Hamilton, and his daughters Cornelia and Peggy--Mrs. Stephen Van +Rensselaer--were lively members of society. The Vice-President had taken +the great house at Richmond Hill, and General Knox as imposing a mansion +as he could find. Washington, after a few months, moved to the McComb +house in lower Broadway, one of the largest in town, with a reception +room of superb proportions. Here Mrs. Washington, standing on a dais, +usually assisted by Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Hamilton, received, with the +rigid formality of foreign courts, all who dared to attend her levees. +She had discarded the simplicity of campaigning days, and attired +herself with a magnificence which was emulated by her "Court." It was +yet too soon to break from tradition, and the Washingtons conducted +themselves in accordance with their strong aristocratic proclivities. +Nor did it occur to anyone, even the most ardent Republican, that +dignity and splendour were inconsistent with a free and enlightened +Republic, until Jefferson began his steady and successful system of +plebeianizing the country. + +Washington's levees were frigid; but I have not observed any special +warmth at the White House upon public occasions in my own time. The +President, after the company had assembled, entered in full official +costume: black velvet and satin, diamond knee-buckles, his hair in a bag +and tied with ribbons. He carried a military hat under his arm, and wore +a dress sword in a green shagreen scabbard. He made a tour of the room, +addressing each guest in turn, all being ranged according to their rank. +At his wife's levees he attended as a private individual and mingled +more freely with the guests; but his presence always lowered every voice +in the room, and women trembled with anxiety lest he should not engage +them in conversation, while dreading that he might. The unparalleled +dignity, the icy reserve of his personality, had always affected the +temperature of the gatherings he honoured; but at this time, when to the +height of a colossal and unique reputation was added the first +incumbency of an office, bestowed by a unanimous sentiment, which was to +raise the United States to the plane of the great nations of Europe, he +was instinctively regarded as superhuman, rather as a human embodiment +of the Power beyond space. He was deeply sensitive to the depressing +effect he produced, and not a little bored by the open-mouthed curiosity +he excited. A youngster, having run after him for quite a block, one +day, panting from his exertions, Washington wheeled about suddenly, and +made a bow so profound and satirical that his pursuer fled with a yell +of terror. + +The President was very fond of the theatre, and invited a party once a +week to accompany him to John Street. He entertained at table +constantly, and dined out formally and intimately. Congress, he attended +in great state. He had brought to New York six white horses of the +finest Virginian breed, and a magnificent cream-coloured coach, +ornamented with cupids and festoons. For state occasions the horses were +covered over night with a white paste, and polished next morning until +they shone like silver. The hoofs were painted black. When Washington +drove through the city on his way to Congress, attended by postilions +and outriders, it is little wonder that he had a royal progress through +proud and satisfied throngs. + +The Adamses, who had counselled all the usages of foreign courts, but +had been outvoted by Hamilton and Jay, entertained but little less than +the President; and so did the Schuylers, Livingstons, Jays, and half the +town. The Hamiltons, of necessity, entertained far more simply; but +Betsey received every Wednesday evening, when her rooms were a crush of +fashion and politics, eager for a glimpse of Hamilton and to do court to +her popular self. They gave at least one dinner a week, but Betsey as a +rule went out with her parents, for her husband was too busy for +society. + +The world saw little of Hamilton at this time, and Betsey but little +more. He worked in his library or office for fourteen hours of the day, +while the country teemed with conjectures of his coming Report. A +disposition to speculate upon it was already manifest, and more than one +friend endeavoured to gain a hint of its contents. Not even Madison, to +whom he had talked more freely than to anyone, knew aught of the details +of that momentous Report, what recommendations he actually should make +to Congress; for none knew better than he that a hint derived from him +which should lead to profitable speculation would tarnish his good name +irretrievably. Careless in much else, on the subject of his private and +public integrity he was rigid; he would not have yielded a point to +retain the affection of the best and most valued of his friends. +Fastidious by nature on the question of his honour, he knew, also, that +other accusations, even when verified, mattered little in the long run; +a man's actual position in life and in history was determined by the +weight of his brain and the spotlessness of his public character. He +worked in secret, with no help from anyone; nor could blandishments +extract a hint of his purpose. Against the rock of his integrity passion +availed nothing. As for Betsey, between her growing children, the +delicacy which had followed the birth of her last child, and her heavy +social duties, she would have had little time to assist him had he +confided even in her. Moreover, to keep up a dignified position upon +$3500 a year cost her clever little Dutch head much anxious thought. It +is true that some money had been put aside from the income of her +husband's large practice, but he was the most careless and generous of +men, always refusing the fees of people poorer than himself, and with no +talent for personal, great as was his mastery of political, economy. If +General Schuyler often came to the rescue his son-in-law never knew it. +Hamilton had a vague idea that Betsey could manage somehow, and was far +too absorbed to give the matter a thought. Betsey, it would seem, had +her own little reputation, for it was about this time that M'Henry +finished a letter to Hamilton, as follows:-- + + Pray present me to Mrs. Hamilton. I have learned from a friend of + yours that she has, as far as the comparison will hold, as much + merit as your treasurer as you have as treasurer of the wealth of + the United States. + + +XVI + +Congress reassembled, and on the 2d of January Hamilton sent in his +Report on Public Credit. By this time excitement and anxiety, to say +nothing of cupidity, were risen to fever pitch. All realized that they +were well in the midst of a national crisis, for the country was +bankrupt, and her foreign and domestic debts footed up to quite eighty +millions of dollars--a stupendous sum in the infancy of a nation, when +there was little specie in the country, and an incalculable amount of +worthless paper, with long arrears of interest besides. If Hamilton +could cope with this great question, and if Congress, with its +determined anti-government party, would support him, the Union and its +long-suffering patriots would enter upon a season of prosperity and +happiness. If the one were inadequate to meet the situation, or the +other failed in its national duty, the consequences must be deeper +wretchedness and disaster than anything they yet had endured. The +confidence in Hamilton was very widespread, for not only were his great +abilities fully recognized, but his general opinions on the subject had +long been known, and approved by all but the politicians on the wrong +side. The confidence had been manifested in a manner little to his +liking: speculators had scoured the country, buying up government +securities at the rate of a few shillings on the pound, taking advantage +of needy holders, who dwelt, many of them, in districts too remote from +the centre of action to know what the Government was about. And even +before this "signal instance of moral turpitude," the fact that so many +old soldiers who had gone home with no other pay than government +securities, to be exchanged for specie at the pleasure of a government +which nobody had trusted, had sold out for a small sum, was one of the +agitating themes of the country; and opinion was divided upon the right +of the assignees to collect the full amount which the new government +might be prepared to pay, while the moral rights of the worthy and +original holder were ignored. It was understood, however, that Hamilton +had given no more searching thought to any subject than to this. + +The public was not admitted to the galleries of Congress in those days, +but a great crowd packed Wall and Broad streets while the Report was +reading and until some hint of its contents filtered through the guarded +doors. Hamilton himself was at home with his family, enjoying a day of +rest. It is one of the most curious incidents in his career, as well as +one of the highest tributes to his power over men, that Congress, after +mature deliberation, decided that it would be safer to receive his +Report in writing than in the form of a personal address from a man who +played so dangerously upon the nerve-board of the human nature. There +hardly could be any hidden witchery in a long paper dealing with so +unemotional a subject as finance; but no man could foresee what might be +the effect of the Secretary's voice and enthusiasm,--which was +perilously communicable,--his inevitable bursts of spontaneous +eloquence. But Hamilton had a pen which served him well, when he was +forced to substitute it for the charm of his personality. It was so +pointed, simple, and powerful, it classified with such clarity, it +expressed his convictions so unmistakably, and conveyed his subtle +appeals to human passions so obediently, that it rarely failed to +quiver like an arrow in the brain to which it was directed. And this +particular report was vitalized by the author's overwhelming sense of +the great crisis with which he was dealing. Reading it to-day, a hundred +and eleven years after it was written, and close to the top of a +twelve-story building, which is a symbol of the industry and progress +for which he more than any man who has ever dedicated his talents to the +United States is responsible, it is so fresh and convincing, so earnest, +so insistent, so courteously peremptory, that the great century which +lies between us and that empire-making paper lapses from the memory, and +one is in that anxious time, in the very study of the yet more anxious +statesman; who, on a tropical island that most of his countrymen never +will see, came into being with the seed of an unimagined nation in his +brain. + +To condense Hamilton is much like attempting to increase the density of +a stone, or to reduce the alphabet to a tabloid. I therefore shall make +no effort to add another failure to the several abstracts of this +Report. The heads of his propositions are sufficient. The Report is +accessible to all who find the subject interesting. The main points were +these: The exploding of the discrimination fallacy; the assumption of +the State debts by the Government; the funding of the entire amount of +the public debt, foreign, domestic, and State; three new loans, one to +the entire amount of the debt, another of $10,000,000, a third of +$12,000,000; the prompt payment of the arrears and current interest of +the foreign loan on the original terms of the contract; the segregating +of the post-office revenue, amounting to about a million dollars, for a +sinking fund, that the creation of a debt should always be accompanied +by the means of extinguishment; increased duties on foreign commodities, +that the government might be able to pay the interest on her new debts +and meet her current expenses; and more than one admonition for prompt +action, as the credit of the nation was reaching a lower level daily, +besides sinking more hopelessly into debt through arrears of interest. +The indebtedness he divided as follows: The foreign debt, $10,070,307, +with arrears of interest amounting to $1,640,071. The liquidated +domestic debt, $27,383,917, with arrears of interest amounting to +$13,030,168. The unliquidated part he estimated at $2,000,000, and the +aggregate debt of the State at $25,000,000; making a total of nearly +$80,000.000. + +He also hinted at his long-cherished scheme of a National Bank, and a +possible excise law, and gave considerable space to the miserable +condition of landed property and the methods by which it might be +restored to its due value. + + +XVII + +The talk in the drawing-room of Mrs. Croix that night was of little else +but the Secretary's Report. Mrs. Croix, so said gossip, had concluded +that this was the proper time for the demise of her recalcitrant +officer, and had retired to weeds and a semi-seclusion while Mrs. +Washington pondered upon the propriety of receiving her. Her court cared +little for the facts, and vowed that she never had looked so fair or so +proud; Hamilton, that she shone with the splendour of a crystal star on +the black velvet skies of the Tropics. She wore, this evening, a few +yards of black gauze which left bare a crescent of her shining neck and +the lower arms. Her bright hair was arranged in a mass of ringlets, +after a fashion obtaining in Europe, and surmounted by a small turban of +gauze fastened with a diamond sun. Many of the men who visited her +habitually called her Lady Betty, for she was one of those women who +invite a certain playful familiarity while repelling intimacy. Hamilton +called her, as the fancy moved him, Egeria, Boadicea, or Lady Godiva. + +Clinton came in fuming. "It is not possible," he cried, "that the +Congress can be so mad as to be hoodwinked by this deep political scheme +for concentrating the liberties of the United States under the executive +heel. 'To cement more closely the union of the States and to add to +their security against foreign attack!' Forsooth! This assumption plan +is nothing more nor less than another of his dastardly schemes to +squeeze out of the poor States what little liberty he left them under +the Constitution. He could not obtain at Philadelphia all he wished for, +but now that Washington has given him both reins, he laughs in our +faces. I regret that I ever offered him my hand." + +"Then our party in Congress will fight him on political grounds?" asked +Mrs. Croix. + +"You may put it that way if you choose. It certainly will not be blinded +by his speciousness and aid him in his subtle monarchism. 'Contribute in +an eminent degree to an orderly, stable, and satisfactory arrangement of +the Nation's finances!' 'Several reasons which render it probable that +the situation of the State creditors will be worse than that of the +creditors of the Union, if there be not a national assumption of the +State debts!' And then his plan of debit and credit, with 'little doubt +that balances would appear in favour of all the States against the +United States!' My blood has boiled since I read that paper. I have +feared apoplexy. He is clever, that West Indian,--do they grow many +such?--but he did not select a country composed entirely of fools to +machinate in." + +"My dearest Governor," whispered Mrs. Croix, "calm yourself, pray. Only +you can cope with Mr. Hamilton. You must be the colossal spirit without +the walls of Congress to whom all will look for guidance. If you become +ill, the cause is lost." + +Clinton composed himself promptly, and asked Elbridge Gerry, of +Massachusetts, which, section of the Report he expected to attack first. +There were no Federalists present. + +Gerry shrugged his shoulders and shot a narrow glance of contempt at the +Governor. "Give me time, your Excellency, pray. Mr. Hamilton's paper has +the thought of a decade in it. It merits at least a week of thought on +our part. I never could agree with him in all things, but in some I am +at one with him; and I acknowledge myself deeply in his debt, insomuch +as he has taught me, among thousands of others, to 'think +continentally,' I certainly agree with him that to pay to present +holders the full value of their certificates, without discrimination, is +a matter of constitutional law, a violation of which would be a menace +to the new government. I shall support him on that point at the risk of +being accused of speculation." + +Stone, of Maryland, was striding up and down, but a degree less agitated +than the Governor of New York. + +"The man is cleverer than all the rest of us put together!" he +exclaimed. "Let us not forget that for an instant. A greater thought +than this of assumption has never been devised by man. If it be carried +into execution,--which God forbid,--it will prove a wall of adamant to +the Federal government, impregnable to any attempt on its fabric or +operations." + +"Oh, is it so bad as that?" asked Gerry. "Every fort falls if the siege +be sufficiently prolonged. I apprehend no such disaster, and I confess I +see much promise in at least two of Mr. Hamilton's schemes. After all, +the redemption of the country is what we must look to first." + +"You are a trimmer. Cannot you see that if the whole revenue of the +States be taken into the power of Congress, it will prove a band to draw +us so close together as not to leave the smallest interstice for +separation?" + +"But do you meditate separation?" asked Mrs. Croix. "Surely that would +be as great a crime as Mr. Hamilton's monarchical manoeuvres--if it be +true he practises such." + +"He is bold enough about them," snorted Clinton. "I do the man justice +to recognize his insolent frankness." + +"Those I cannot say I have observed," said Gerry. "Nor do I think that +we meditate separation. We are struggling out of one pit. It would be +folly to dig a deeper. And Massachusetts has a great debt, with +decreasing revenue for interest and redemption. I am not sure that +assumption would not be to her advantage. She stood the brunt of the +war. It is but fair that she should have relief now, even at the expense +of other States whose debt is insignificant; and she is able to take +care of herself against the Federal government--" + +"The brunt of the war!" exclaimed the Attorney-General of the Cabinet, +who, with the Speaker of the House, had just entered, and who had +controlled himself with difficulty for several seconds. "I beg to assure +you, sir, that Virginia may claim that honour. Her glorious patriotism, +her contributions in men and money--they exceeded those of any State in +the Union, sir." + +Gerry laughed. "I have no means of comparison by which patriotism may be +measured, Mr. Randolph," he said. "But we can produce figures, if +necessary, to prove our title to supremacy in the other matters you +mention. As you have reduced your debt, however, by an almost total +repudiation of your paper money--" + +"How about Mr. Madison?" asked Mrs. Croix, hurriedly. "He is your +fellow-statesman, Mr. Randolph, but he is Mr. Hamilton's devoted friend +and follower. Virginia may be sadly divided." + +"My fears have decreased on that point," said Randolph, drily. "Mr. +Madison's loyalty toward his State increases daily." + +"So does his ambition," observed Muhlenberg. "If I am not mistaken, he +has begun to chafe at Hamilton's arrangement of his destinies--and a +nature like that is not without deep and sullen jealousies. To be a +leader of leaders requires a sleepless art; to lead the masses is play +by comparison. Hamilton is a magician, but he is arrogant and impatient. +With all his art and control of men's minds, he will lose a follower now +and again, and not the least important would be--will be--Madison." + +"Have you proof?" asked Clinton, eagerly. "He would be of incomparable +value in our ranks. By the way, Aaron Burr is working to the front. He +is a born politician, if I am not mistaken, and is in a rapid process of +education. I feel sure that I have attached him to our cause by +appointing him Attorney-General of the Staite. He should make an +invaluable party man." + +"He will be attached to no cause," said Gerry. "He is, as you say, a +politician. There is not a germ of the statesman in him; nor of the +honest man, either, unless I am deeply mistaken. He is the only man of +note in the country who has not one patriotic act to his credit. He +fought, but so did every adventurous youth in the country; and had there +been anything more to his interest to do at the time, the Revolution +could have taken care of itself. But during all our trying desperate +years since--did he go once to Congress? Did he interest himself in the +Constitution, either at Philadelphia or Poughkeepsie? What record did he +make in the State Legislature during his one term of infrequent +attendance? While other men, notably Hamilton, of whom he betrays an +absurd jealousy, have been neglecting their private interests in the +public cause, he has been distinguishing himself as a femalist, and +thinking of nothing else but making money at the bar. I admit his +brilliancy, his intrepidity, and the exquisite quality of his address, +but I don't believe that an honest man who comes into contact with him +instinctively trusts him." + +"Oh, let us not indulge in such bitter personalities," cried Mrs. Croix, +who took no interest at that time in the temporary husband of her old +age. "Surely this coming legislation should compel every faculty. What +of the other debts?--of funding? Or, if it is still too soon to talk of +these matters with equilibrium," she added hastily, as Clinton turned +purple again, "pray tell me that the great question of deciding upon a +site for the Capital is nearing a solution. It has been such a source of +bitter agitation. I wish it were settled." + +"The House may or may not pass this bill for ten years in Philadelphia, +and the banks of the Potomac thereafter," growled the Senator from North +Carolina. "The Federalists have the majority, and they are determined to +keep the seat of government in the North, as they are determined to have +their monarchical will in everything. Madison hopes for some fortuitous +coincidence, but I confess I hardly know what he means." + +Gerry laughed. "When Madison takes to verbiage," he said, "I should +resort to a plummet and line." + +"Sir!" cried Randolph, limping toward the door in angry haste. "Mr. +Madison is one of the loftiest statesmen in the country!" + +"Has been. Centrifugal forces are in motion." + +"How everybody in politics does hate everybody else!" said Mrs. Croix, +with a patient sigh. + + +XVIII + +The next morning Mrs. Croix sent a peremptory summons to Hamilton. +Although at work upon his "Additional Estimates," he responded at once. +The lady was combing her emotional mane in the sunshine before the +mirror of her boudoir when he arrived, and the maid had been dismissed. + +"Well, Egeria," he said, smiling down upon this dazzling vision, "what +is it? What warning of tremendous import have you to deliver, that you +rout a busy Secretary from his work at eleven in the morning? I dared +not loiter, lest your capricious majesty refuse me your door upon my +next evening of leisure--" + +"It is not I who am capricious!" cried Mrs. Croix. She pouted +charmingly. "Indeed, sir, I never am quite sure of you. You are all +ardour to-day, and indifference to-morrow. For work I am always put +aside, and against your family demands I do not exist." + +"My dear Boadicea," said Hamilton, drily, "I am a mere creature of +routine. I met you after my habits of work and domesticity were well +established. You are the fairest thing on earth, and there are times +when you consume it, but circumstances isolate you. Believe me, I am a +victim of those circumstances, not of caprice." + +"My dear Hamilton," replied Mrs. Croix, quite as drily, "you have all +the caprice of a woman combined with all the lordly superiority of the +male. I well know that although I bewitch you, I can do so at your +pleasure only. You are abominably your own master, both in your strength +and your weakness. But there is no one like you on earth, so I submit. +And I work and burrow for you, and you will not even accept my precious +offerings." + +"I will not have you playing the role of spy, if that is what you mean. +I do not like this idea of confessing my enemies when they think +themselves safe in your house, I prefer to fight in the open, and they +reveal themselves to me sooner or later. What should I think of myself +and you if I permitted you to act as a treacherous go-between." + +"You will not permit me to help you! And I could do much! I could tell +you so much now that would put you on your guard. I could help you +immeasurably. I could be your fate. But you care for nothing but my +beauty!" And she dropped dismally into her pocket-handkerchief. + +Hamilton was not one of those men who dread a woman's tears. He had +dried too many. His immediate and practical consolation but appeared to +deepen her grief, however, and he was obliged to resort to eloquence. + +"Where do I find such hours of mental companionship as here?" he +demanded. "I say nothing of art and literature; do I not discuss with +you the weightiest affairs of State--everything, in fact, upon which my +honour does not compel silence? Never have I thought of asking the +advice, the opinion, of a woman before. You are my Egeria, and I am +deeply grateful for you. If at times I remember nothing but your beauty, +would you have it otherwise? I flatter myself that you would not. Have +you really anything to reproach me for, because I will not hear of your +committing an act which I would not commit myself? I suppose it is +hopeless to talk of honour to the cleverest of women, but you must +accept this dictum whether you understand it or not: I will listen to +none of the confidences of your trusting anti-Federalists. Why cannot +you come out honestly and declare your true politics? You could do far +more good, and I leave you no excuse to perpetrate this lie." + +"I will not," sobbed his Egeria, obstinately. "I may be able to be of +service to you, even if you will not let me warn you of Madison's +treachery." + +She had scored her point, and Hamilton sprang to his feet, his face as +white as her petticoats. "Madison's treachery!" he exclaimed. "It is +true he comes near me but seldom this Congress. I had attributed his +coldness to temperament. Can it be? So many forces would operate. There +is much jealousy and ambition in him. He can never lead my party. Is he +capable of deserting that he might lead another? One expects that sort +of thing of a Burr; but Madison--I have thought him of an almost +dazzling whiteness at times--then I have had lightning glimpses of +meaner depths. He is easily influenced. Virginia opposes me so bitterly! +Will he dare to continue to defy her? Can he continue to rise if she +combines against him? Oh, God! If he only had more iron in his soul!" + +It was characteristic of him that he had forgotten his audience. He was +thinking aloud, his thought leaping from point to point as they sprang +into the brilliant atmosphere of his mind; or using its rapid divining +rod. He threw back his head. "I'll not believe it till I have proof!" he +exclaimed defiantly. "Why, I should feel as if one of the foundations of +the earth had given way. Madison--we have been like brothers. I have +confided deeply in him. There is little in that Report of yesterday that +I have not discussed with him a hundred times--nothing but the ways and +means, which I dared confide to no one. He has always been in favour of +assumption, of paying the whole debt. It is understood that he is to +support me in Congress. I'll hear no more. Dry your tears. You have +accomplished your object with a woman's wit. I believe you did but shed +those tears to enhance your loveliness, my Lady Godiva." + + +XIX + +The immediate consequences of Hamilton's Report were a rise of fifty per +cent in the securities of the bankrupt Confederation, and a bitter +warfare in Congress. All were agreed upon the propriety of paying the +foreign loan, but the battle raged about every other point in turn. One +of the legacies of the old Congress was the principle of repudiating +what it was not convenient to redeem, and the politicians of the country +had insensibly fallen into the habit of assuming that they should start +clear with the new government, and relegate the domestic debt to the +limbo which held so many other resources best forgotten. They were far +from admitting the full measure of their inheritance, however, and +opened the battle with a loud denouncement of the greedy speculator who +had defrauded the impoverished soldier, to whose needs they had been +indifferent hitherto. Most of this feeling concentrated in the +opposition, but many Federalists were so divided upon the question of +discrimination that for a time the other great questions contained in +the Report fell back. Feeling became so bitter that those who supported +the assignees were accused of speculation, and personalities were hot +and blistering. Many of the strongest men, however, ranged with +Hamilton, and were in sight of victory, when Madison, who had hoped to +see the question settle itself in favour of the original holders without +his open support, came out with a double bomb; the first symptom of his +opposition to the Federal party, and an unconstitutional proposition +that the holders by assignment should receive the highest market-price +yet reached by the certificates, by which they would reap no +inconsiderable profit, and that the balance of the sum due, possibly +more than one-half, should be distributed among the original holders. +For a time the reputation for statemanship which Madison had won was +clouded, for his admission of the claims of the assignees nullified any +argument he could advance in favour of the original holders. But he had +his limitations. There was nothing of the business man in his +composition. One of the most notable and useful attributes of Hamilton's +versatile brain was excluded from his, beyond its comprehension. His +proposition was rejected by thirty-six votes to thirteen. + +Then the hostile camps faced each other on the questions of the domestic +debt and assumption. In regard to the former, common decency finally +prevailed, but the other threatened to disrupt the Union, for the +Eastern States threw out more than one hint of secession did the measure +fail. Madison, without further subterfuge, came forth at the head of +his State as the leader of the anti-assumptionists. He offered no +explanation to his former chief and none was demanded. For a time +Hamilton was bitterly disgusted and wounded. He shrugged his shoulders, +finally, and accepted his new enemy with philosophy, though by no means +with amiability and forgiveness; but he had seen too much of the +selfishness and meanness of human nature to remain pained or astonished +at any defection. + +When June came, however, he was deeply uneasy. On March 29th the +resolutions providing for the foreign debt and for paying in full the +principal of the domestic debt to the present holders passed without a +division. So did the resolution in favour of paying the arrears of +interest in like manner with the principal of the domestic debt. But the +resolution in favour of assumption was recommitted. The next day the +friends of assumption had the other resolutions also recommitted, and +the furious battle raged again. Finally, on June 2d, a bill was passed +by the House, which left the question of assumption to be settled by a +future test of strength. + +The anti-assumptionists were triumphant, for they believed the idea +would gain in unpopularity. But they reckoned without Hamilton. + + +XX + +Jefferson had arrived on March 21st, and entered at once upon his duties +as Secretary of State. He disapproved of the assumption measure, but was +so absorbed in the perplexing details of his new office, in +correspondence, and in frequent conferences with the President on the +subject of foreign affairs, that he gave the matter little consecutive +thought. Moreover, he was dined every day for weeks, all the +distinguished New Yorkers, from Hamilton down, vying with each other in +attentions to a man whose state record was so enlightened, and whose +foreign so brilliant, despite one or two humiliating failures. He rented +a small cottage in Maiden Lane, and looked with deep disapproval upon +the aristocratic dissipations of New York, the frigid stateliness of +Washington's "Court." The French Revolution and the snub of the British +king had developed his natural democratism into a controlling passion, +and he would have preferred to find in even the large cities of the new +country the homely bourgeois life of his highest ideals. + +No one accused him of inconsistency in externals. With his shaggy sandy +hair, his great red face, covered with freckles, his long loose figure, +clad in red French breeches a size too small, a threadbare brown coat, +soiled linen and hose, and enormous hands and feet, he must have +astounded the courtly city of New York, and it is certain that he set +Washington's teeth on edge. It is no wonder that when this vision rises +upon the democratic horizon of to-day, he is hailed as a greater man +than Washington or Hamilton. + +Shortly after the final recommitment of the resolution in favour of +assumption, the Federalist leader met this engaging figure almost in +front of Washington's door, and a plan which had dawned in his mind a +day or two before matured on the instant. He had no dislike for +Jefferson at the time, and respected his intellect and diplomatic +talents, without reference to differences of opinion. Jefferson grinned +as Hamilton approached, and offered his great paw amiably. He did not +like his brother secretary's clothes, and his hitherto averted +understanding was gradually moving toward the displeasing fact that +Hamilton was the Administration; but he had had little time for +reflection, and he succumbed temporarily to a fascination which few +resisted. + +Hamilton approached him frankly. "Will you walk up and down with me a +few moments?" he asked. "I have intended to call upon you. You have +returned at a most opportune time. Do you realize, sir, that the whole +business of this nation is at a deadlock? There is nothing in this talk +of the North seceding, but so great is the apprehension that the +energies of the country are paralyzed, and no man thinks of anything but +the possible failure of the Government. I am convinced that assumption +is not only necessary to permanent union, to the solution of the +financial problem, but to the prosperity of the States themselves." He +then proceeded to convince Jefferson, who listened attentively, +wondering, with a sigh, how any man could pour out his thoughts so +rapidly and so well. "Will you turn this over in your mind, and let me +see you again in a day or two?" asked Hamilton, as he finished his +argument. "Let me reiterate that there is no time to lose. The +Government is at a standstill in all matters concerning the +establishment of the country on a sound financial basis, until this +subordinate matter is settled." + +"You alarm and deeply interest me," said Jefferson. "I certainly will +give the matter my attention. Will you dine with me to-morrow? We can +then discuss this matter at leisure. I will ask one or two others." + +The next day, at Mr. Jefferson's epicureous board, Hamilton played his +trump. Having again wrought havoc with his host's imagination, but by no +means trusting to the permanence of any emotion, he proposed a bargain: +if Jefferson would use his influence with the Virginians and other +Southern anti-assumptionists in Congress, he and Robert Morris would +engage to persuade obstinate Northerners to concede the Capital city to +the South. Hamilton made no sacrifice of conviction in offering this +proposition. There was no reason why the Government should not sit as +conveniently on the banks of the Potomac as elsewhere, and if he did not +carry the Union through this new crisis, no one else would. All his +great schemes depended upon his bringing the hostile States to reason, +and with his usual high-handed impatience he carried his object in his +own way. + +Jefferson saw much virtue in this arrangement. The plan was an almost +immediate success. White and Lee of Virginia were induced to change +their votes, and assumption with some modifications passed into a law. +The Government, after a ten years' sojourn in Philadelphia, would abide +permanently upon the Potomac. + + +XXI + +Mrs. Hamilton, albeit she had not a care in the world, sighed heavily. +She was standing before her mirror, arrayed in a triumph of art recently +selected by Mrs. Church, in London. On her head was an immense puff of +yellow gauze, whose satin foundation had a double wing in large plaits. +The dress was of yellow satin, flowing over a white satin petticoat, and +embellished about the neck with a large Italian gauze handkerchief, +striped with white. Her hair was in ringlets and unpowdered. She was a +very plate of fashion, but her brow was puckered. + +"What is it?" asked her husband, entering from his room. "You are a +vision of loveliness, my dear Eliza. Is there a rose too few, or a hoop +awry?" + +"No, sir, I am well enough pleased with myself. I am worrying lest +General Washington ask me to dance. It will be bad enough to go out with +Mr. Adams, who snaps at me every time I venture a remark, but he at +least is not a giant, and I do not feel like a dwarf. When the President +leads me out--that is to say, when he did lead me out at the +Inauguration ball, I was like to expire of mortification. I felt like a +little polar cub trotting out to sea with a monster iceberg. And he +never opened his lips to distract my mind, just solemnly marched me up +and down, as if I had done something naughty and were being exhibited. I +saw Kitty Livingston giggle behind her fan, and Kitty Duer drew herself +up to her full height, which is quite five feet six, and looked down +upon me with a cruel amusement. Women are so nasty to each other. Thank +heaven I have a new gown for to-night--anyhow!" + +Hamilton laughed heartily; she always amused him, she was half his wife, +half the oldest of his children. "And you are fresher far than any of +them; let that console you," he said, arranging her necklace. "I am sure +both the President and the Vice-President will take you out; they hardly +would have the bad taste not to. And you look very sweet, hanging on to +Washington's hand. Don't imagine for a moment that you look ridiculous. +Fancy, if you had to walk through life with either of them." + +Betsey shuddered and smoothed her brow. "It _would_ be a walk with the +dear General," she said. "I dare not dwell upon what it would be with +Mr. Adams--or anyone else! You are amazing smart, yourself, to-night." + +"This new costume depressed me for a moment, for it is very like one +Laurens used to wear upon state occasions, but I had not the courage to +wear the light blue with the large gilt buttons, and the pudding cravat +Morris inconsiderately sent me; not with Jefferson's agonized eye to +encounter. The poor man suffers cruelly at our extravagance and +elegance." + +"He is an old fright," quoth Betsey, "and I'd not dance with him, not if +he went on his knees." + +She looked her husband over with great pride. He wore a coat of +plum-coloured velvet, a double-breasted Marseilles vest, white satin +breeches, white silk stockings, and pumps. There were full ruffles of +lace on his breast and wrists. A man of to-day has to be singularly +gifted by nature to shine triumphant above his ugly and uniform garb, +whereas many a woman wins a reputation for beauty by a combination of +taste with the infinite range modern fashion accords her. In the days of +which we write, a man hardly could help looking his best, and while far +more decorative than his descendant, was equally useful. And as all +dressed in varying degrees of the same fashion, none seemed effeminate. +As for Hamilton, his head never looked more massive, his glance more +commanding, than when he was in full regalia; nor he more ready for a +fight. All women know the psychological effect of being superlatively +well dressed. In the days of our male ancestors' external vanities it is +quite possible that they, too, felt unconquerable when panoplied in +their best. + +The ball that night was at Richmond Hill, the beautiful home of the +Vice-President and his wife, Abigail Adams, one of the wisest, wittiest, +and most agreeable women of her time. This historic mansion, afterward +the home of Aaron Burr during his successful years, was a country +estate where Varick Street now crosses Charlton in the heart of the +city. It stood on an eminence overlooking the Hudson, surrounded by a +park and commanding a view of the wild Jersey shore opposite. The +Adamses were ambitious people and entertained constantly, with little +less formality than the President. The early hours of their receptions, +indeed, were chilling, and many went late, after dancing was, begun or +the company had scattered to the card-tables. The Vice-President and his +wife stood at the head of the long drawing-room and said good evening, +and no more, as the women courtesied to the ground, or the men bowed as +deeply as their varying years would permit. The guests then stood about +for quite an hour and talked in undertones; later, perhaps, the host and +hostess mingled with them and conversed. But although Mrs. Adams was +vastly popular, her distinguished husband was less so; he was not always +to be counted upon in the matter of temper. This grim old Puritan, of an +integrity which makes him one of the giants of our early history, +despite the last hours of his administration when he was beating about +in the vortex of his passions, and always honest in his convictions, +right or wrong, had not been gifted by nature with a pleasing address, +although he could attach people to him when he chose. He was irascible +and violent, the victim of a passionate jealous nature, without the +saving graces of humour and liveliness of temperament. But his sturdy +upright figure was very imposing; his brow, which appeared to end with +the tip of his nose, so bold was the curve, would have been benevolent +but for the youthful snapping eyes. His indomitability and his capacity +for hatred were expressed in the curves of his mouth. He was always well +dressed, for although a farmer by birth, he was as pronounced an +aristocrat in his tastes as Washington or Hamilton. At this time, +although he liked neither of them, he was the staunch supporter of the +Government. He believed in Federalism and the Constitution, +insignificant as he found his rewards under both, and he was an ally of +inestimable value. + +When the Hamiltons entered his drawing-room to-night they found many +people of note already there, although the minuet had not begun. The +President, his graceful six feet in all the magnificence of black velvet +and white satin, his queue in a black silk bag, stood beside his lady, +who was as brave as himself in a gown of violet brocade over an immense +hoop. Poor dame, she would far rather have been at Mount Vernon in +homespun, for all this pomp and circumstance bored and isolated her. She +hedged herself about with the etiquette which her exalted position +demanded, and froze the social aspirant of insufficient pretensions, but +her traditions and her propensities were ever at war; she was a woman +above all things, and an extremely simple one. + +John Jay, now Chief Justice of the United States, was there, as ever the +most simply attired personage in the Union. His beautiful wife, however, +beaming and gracious, but no less rigid than "Lady Washington," in her +social statutes, looked like a bird of paradise beside a graven image, +so gorgeous was her raiment. Baron Steuben was in the regalia of war and +a breastplate of orders. Kitty Livingston, now Mrs. Matthew Ridley, had +also received a fine new gown of Mrs. Church's selection, for the two +women still were friends, despite the rupture of their families. Lady +Kitty Duer, so soon to know poverty and humiliation, was in a gown of +celestial blue over a white satin petticoat, her lofty head surmounted +by an immense gauze turban. General and Mrs. Knox, fat, amiable, and +always popular, although sadly inflated by their new social importance, +were mountains of finery. Mrs. Ralph Izard, Mrs. Jay's rival in beauty, +and Mrs. Adams's in wit, painted by Gainsborough and Copley, wore a +white gown of enviable simplicity, and a string of large pearls in her +hair, another about her graceful throat. Mrs. Schuyler, stout and +careworn, from the trials of excitable and eloping daughters, clung to +the kind arm of her austere and silent husband. Fisher Ames, with his +narrow consumptive figure and his flashing ardent eyes, his eloquent +tongue chilled by this funereal assemblage, had retreated to an alcove +with Rufus King, where they whispered politics. Burr, the target of many +fine eyes, was always loyal to his wife in public; she was a charming +and highly respected woman, ten years his senior. Burr fascinated women, +and adorned his belt with their scalps; but had it not been for this +vanity, which led him to scatter hints of infinite devilment and +conquest, it is not likely that he would have been branded, in that era +of gallantry, a devirginator and a rake. All that history is concerned +with is his utter lack of patriotism and honesty, and the unscrupulous +selfishness, from which, after all, he suffered more than any man. His +dishonesties and his treasonable attempts were failures, but he left a +bitter legacy in his mastery of the arts of political corruption, and in +a glittering personality which, with his misfortunes, has begodded him +with the shallow and ignorant, who know the traditions of history and +none of its facts. He was a poor creature, with all his gifts, for his +life was a failure, his old age one of the loneliest and bitterest in +history; and from no cause that facts or tradition give us but the blind +selfishness which blunted a good understanding to stupidity. Selfishness +in public life is a crime against one's highest ambitions. + +Mrs. Hamilton kept a firm hold on her husband's arm, and her glance shot +apprehensively from Washington to the Vice-President. The latter could +not dance at present; the former looked as if petrified, rooted in the +floor. Betsey had a clever little head, and she devised a scheme at +once. She was the third lady in the land, and although many years +younger than Mrs. Adams, had entertained from her cradle. No one else +immediately following the entrance of her husband and herself, she did +not move on after her courtesy, but drew Mrs. Adams into conversation, +and the good lady by this time was glad of a friendly word. + +"You will be detained here for an hour yet," said Betsey, sweetly. "Can +I help you? Shall I start the minuet? Dear Mr. Adams will be too tired +to dance to-night. Shall I choose a partner and begin?" + +"For the love of heaven, do," whispered Mrs. Adams. "Take out Colonel +Burr. He matches you in height, and dances like a courtier." + +Other people entered at the moment, and Betsey whispered hurriedly to +Hamilton: "Go--quickly--and fetch Colonel Burr. I breathe freely for the +first time since the clock struck six, but who knows what may happen?" + +Hamilton obediently started in quest of Burr. But alas, Ames and King +darted at him from their hiding-place behind a curtain, and he +disappeared from his wife's despairing vision. Ten minutes later he +became aware of the familiar strains of the minuet, and guiltily glanced +forth. Betsey, her face composed to stony resignation lest she disgrace +herself with tears, was solemnly treading the measure with the solemnest +man on earth, clutching at his hand, which was on a level with her +turban. A turn of her head and she encountered her husband's contrite +eye. Before hers he retreated to the alcove, nor did he show himself in +the ball-room again until it was time to take his wife to their coach. + +He escaped from the room by a window, and after half the evening in the +library with a group of anxious Federalists,--for it was but a night or +two after his dinner with Jefferson,--he retired to a small room at the +right of the main hall for a short conference with the Chief Justice. He +was alone after a few moments, and was standing before the half-drawn +tapestry, watching the guests promenading in the hall, when Kitty +Livingston passed on the arm of Burr. Their eyes met, and she cut him. +His spirits dropped at once, and he was indulging in reminiscences +tinged with melancholy, for he had loved her as one of the faithful +chums of his youth, niching her with Troup, Fish, and other enthusiastic +friends of that time, when to his surprise she entered abruptly, and +drew the tapestry behind her. + +"You wicked varlet!" she exclaimed. "What did you sow all this +dissension for, and deprive me of my best friends?" Then she kissed him +impulsively. "I shall always love you, though. You were the dearest +little chap that ever was--and that is why I am going to tell you +something to-night, although I may never speak to you again, Aaron Burr +is burrowing between my family and the Clinton faction. He hopes to make +a strong combination, defeat General Schuyler at the next election, and +have himself elected senator in his place. Why, why did you alienate us? +We are nine in public life--did you forget that?--and what was Rufus +King to you or to the country compared with our combined strength? Why +should John be preferred to Robert? You are as high-handed and arrogant +as Lucifer himself; and generally you win, but not always. Burr has seen +his first chance for political preferment, and seized it with a cunning +which I almost admire. He has persuaded both the Livingstons and the +Clintons that here is their chance to pull you down, and he is only too +willing to be the instrument--the wretched little mole! I shall hate +myself to-morrow for telling you this, for God knows I am loyal to my +people, but I have watched you go up--up--up. I should feel like your +mother would if I saw you in the dust. I am afraid it is too late to do +anything now. These two hostile parties will not let slip this chance. +But get Burr under your foot when you can, and keep him there. He is +morbid with jealousy and will live to pull you down." + +"My dear girl," exclaimed Hamilton, who was holding her hand between +both his own, "do not let your imagination run away with you. I am very +well with Burr, and he is jealous by fits and starts only. Why in the +name of heaven should he be jealous? He has never given a thought to the +welfare of the country, and I have devoted myself to the subject since +boyhood. If I reap the reward--and God knows the future is precarious +enough--why should he grudge me a power for which he has never striven? +I know him to be ambitious, and I believe him to be unscrupulous, and +for that reason I have been glad that he has hitherto kept out of +politics; for he would be of no service to the country, would not +hesitate to sacrifice it to his own ends--unless I am a poor student of +character. But as to personal enmity against me, or jealousy because I +occupy a position he has never sought,--and he is a year older than I, +remember,--I find that hard to believe, as well as this other; he is not +powerful enough to unite two such factions." + +"He has a tongue as persuasive from its cunning as yours is in its +impetuosity, and he has convinced greater men than himself of his +usefulness. Believe me, Alexander, I speak of what I know, not of what I +suspect. Accept the fact, if you will not be warned. You always +underrate your enemies. Your confidence in your own genius--a confidence +which so much has occurred to warrant--blinds you to the power of +others. Remember the old adage: Pride goeth before a fall--although I +despise the humble myself; the world owes nothing to them. But I have +often trembled for the time when your high-handed methods and your scorn +of inferior beings would knock the very foundations from under your +feet. Now, I will say no more, and we part for ever. Perhaps if you had +not worn that colour to-night, I should not have betrayed my +family--heaven knows! We women are compounded of so many contradictory +motives. Thank your heaven that you men are not half so complex." + +"My dear friend," said Hamilton, drily, "you women are not half so +complex as men. You may lay claim to a fair share because your +intelligence is above the average, but that is the point--complexity is +a matter of intelligence, and as men are, as a rule, far more +intelligent than women, with far more densely furnished brains--" + +But here she boxed his ears and left the room. She returned in a moment. +"You have not thanked me!" she exclaimed. "I deserve to be thanked." + +Hamilton put his arm about her and kissed her affectionately. + +"From the bottom of my heart," he said. "I deeply appreciate the +impulse--and the sacrifice." + +"But you won't heed," she said, with a sigh. "Good-by, Alexander! I +think Betsey is looking for you." + + +XXII + +Hamilton for many months was far too busy with the reports he sent to +Congress in rapid succession, above all with the one concerning the +establishment of a National Bank, to be presented at the opening of the +next Session, and with the routine of business connected with his +department, to interfere in politics. He warned General Schuyler, +however, and hoped that the scandal connected with the State lands, in +which Burr was deeply implicated, would argue for the statesman in his +contest with a mere politician. But Burr, in common with the other +commissioners, was acquitted, although no satisfactory explanation of +their astounding transactions was given, and General Schuyler lost the +election as much through personal unpopularity as through the industry +of Burr and the determined efforts of the Livingstons. Schuyler, the +tenderest of men in his friendships, was as austere in his public manner +as in his virtues, and inflexible in demanding the respect due to his +rank and position. Of a broad intelligence, and a statesman of +respectable stature, he knew little of the business of politics and +cared less. He took his defeat with philosophy, regretting it more for +the animosity toward his son-in-law it betokened than because it removed +him temporarily from public life, and returned with his family to +Albany, Hamilton was annoyed and disgusted, and resolved to keep his eye +on Burr in the future. While he himself was in power the United States +should have no set-backs that he could prevent, and if Burr realized his +reading of his character he should manage to balk his ambitions if they +threatened the progress of the country. Kitty Livingston he did not see +again for many months, for her father died on July 25th. Hamilton heard +of William Livingston's death with deep regret, for Liberty Hall was +among the brightest of his memories; but events and emotions were +crowding in his life as they never had crowded before, and he had little +time for reminiscence. + +Congress adjourned on the 12th of August to meet in Philadelphia in +December. New York followed Washington to the ferry stairs upon the day +of his departure, weeping not only for that great man's loss, but for +the glory that went with him. "That vile Philadelphia," as Angelica +Church, in a letter to Betsey of consolatory lament, characterized the +city where Independence was born, was to be the capital of the Nation +once more, New York to console herself with her commerce and the +superior cleanliness of her streets. Those who could, followed the +"Court," and those who could not, travelled the weary distance over the +corduroy roads through the forests, and over swamps and rivers, as often +as circumstances would permit. Of the former was Mrs. Croix, whose +particular court protested it must have the solace of her presence in a +city to which few went willingly. Clinton heaped her with reproaches, +but she argued sweetly that he was outvoted, and that she should ever go +where duty called. "She felt politics to be her mission," and in truth +she enjoyed its intrigues, the double game she played, with all her +feminine soul. Hamilton would not help himself in her valuable +storehouse, but it pleased her to know that she held dangerous secrets +in her hands, could confound many an unwary politician. And she had her +methods, as we have seen, of springing upon Hamilton many a useful bit +of knowledge, and of assisting him in ways unsuspected of any. She +established herself in lodgings in Chestnut Street, not unlike those in +which she had spent so many happy hours for two years past, inasmuch as +they were situated on the first floor and communicated with a little +garden. Her removal was looked upon as quite natural, and so admirably +did she deport herself that even Mrs. Washington received her in time. + +Philadelphia was a larger city than New York, with wide ill-kept +streets, good pavements, and many fine houses and public buildings. +Chestnut Street was the great thoroughfare, shopping district, and +promenade. It was a city renowned for social activity and "crucifying +expenses." Naturally its press was as jubilant over the revival of its +ancient splendour as that of disappointed New York was scurrilous and +vindictive. When the latter was not caricaturing Robert Morris, +staggering off with the Administration on its back, or "Miss Assumption +and her bastard brats," its anti-Federal part was abusing Hamilton as +the arch-fiend who had sold the country, and applying to him every +adjective of vituperation that fury and coarseness could suggest. There +were poems, taunts, jibes, and squibs, printed as rapidly as the press +and ingenuity could turn them out. If our ancestors were capable of +appreciating the literary excellence of their pamphleteers, as many of +those who have replaced them to-day could not, it must be admitted that +we do not rage and hate so violently. The most hysteric effusions of our +yellow press, or the caustic utterances of our reputable newspapers, are +tame indeed before the daily cyclones of a time when everybody who did +not love his political neighbor hated him with a deadly virulence of +which we know little to-day. We may be improved, merely commercialized, +or more diffuse in our interests. In those days every man was a +politician first and himself after. + +The violence of party feeling engendered once more by the debates over +Hamilton's Report spread over the country like a prairie fire, and raged +until, in the North at least, it was met by the back fire of increasing +prosperity. As the summer waned farmers and merchants beheld the prices +of public securities going up, heard that in Holland the foreign loan +had gone above par, and that two hundred and seventy-eight thousand +dollars of the domestic debt had been purchased and cancelled at a cost +of one hundred and fifty thousand, saw trade reviving, felt their own +burdens lighten with the banishment of the State debt. To sing the +praises of the Assumption Bill was but a natural sequence, and from +thence to a constant panegyric of Hamilton. The anti-Federalist press +was drowned in the North by the jubilance of the Federal and its +increasing recruits, but in the South everything connected with the +Government in general and Hamilton in particular was unholy, and the +language in which the sentiment was expressed was unholier. + +Meanwhile, Hamilton was established in a little house in Philadelphia, +at work upon his second Report on the Public Credit, and elaborating his +argument in favour of a National Bank. Betsey had been more fortunate +than many in getting her house in order within a reasonable time, for +others were camping in two rooms while the carpenters hammered over the +rest of the neglected mansions. Washington arrived in November and took +possession of the stately home of Robert Morris, although he grumbled +that the stables would hold but twelve horses. It was a splendid +mansion, however, and filled not only with the fine collections of the +rich merchant, but with many beautiful works of art that the President +brought from Mount Vernon. Congress opened on the 6th of December. + +If Hamilton had given only an occasional half-amused, half-irritated +attention to the journalistic and pamphlet warfare in which he had been +the target, he now found a domestic engagement confronting him which +commanded his attentions and roused all the fighting Scotch blood in his +composition. Jefferson had done much and distressful thinking during the +summer recess. In the leisure of his extensive, not to say magnificent, +Virginia estates, and while entertaining the neighbouring aristocracy, +he had moved slowly to the conclusion that he approved of nothing in the +Administration, and that Hamilton was a danger to the Nation and a +colossus in his path. Assumption he held to be a measure of the very +devil, and fumed whenever he reflected upon his part in its +accomplishment. "I was made to hold a candle!" he would explain +apologetically. "He hoodwinked me, made a fool of me." + +For a statesman of forty-seven, and one of the most distinguished and +successful men in the country, the literary author of The Declaration of +Independence, the father of many beneficent and popular laws in his own +State, a minister to foreign courts and one of the deepest and subtlest +students of human nature of his century, to find himself fooled and +played with by a young man of thirty-three, relegated by him to a second +place in the Cabinet and country, means--meant in those days, at +least--hate of the most remorseless quality. Jefferson was like a +volcano with bowels of fire and a crater which spilled over in the +night. He smouldered and rumbled, a natural timidity preventing the +splendour of fireworks. But he was deadly. + +He and Madison met often during these holidays, and an object of their +growing confidence was James Monroe, the new Senator from Virginia. +Monroe was a fighter, and hatred of Hamilton was his religion. Moreover, +he disapproved with violence of every measure of the new government, and +everybody connected with it, from Washington down, Jefferson excepted; +Randolph he held to be a trimmer, and overlooked the fact that although +he himself had opposed the Constitution with all his words, he was one +of the first to take office under it. Jefferson needed but this younger +man's incentive to disapprove more profoundly not only assumption, but +Hamilton's design to establish a National Bank. That was the most +criminal evidence of an ultimate dash for a throne which the Secretary +of the Treasury, whose place in the Cabinet should have been second to +his own, but who was the very head and front of the Administration, had +yet betrayed. And as for the triumphal progress of Washington through +the States in the previous autumn, and again before leaving for Mount +Vernon upon the close of the last Congress, a king could have done no +more. The new Republic was tottering on its rotten foundations, and +Jefferson and his able lieutenants vowed themselves to the rescue. +Madison was the anti-government leader in the House, Monroe would abet +him in the Senate, and Jefferson would undertake the fight in the +Cabinet. It cannot be said that he liked the prospect, for he read his +fellow-beings too well to mistake the mettle of Hamilton. He was a +peaceable soul, except when in his study with pen in hand, but stem this +monarchical tide he would, and bury Hamilton under the dam. + +"We are three to one," he said reassuringly to his coadjutors. "He is +brilliant. I do not deny it. But against a triple power--" + +"He is worth any three men I ever knew," said Madison, drearily. "We +shall have to work harder than he will." + +Jefferson lifted his pen, and squinted thoughtfully at its point. +Monroe, who was the youngest of the trio, laughed aloud. + +And these were the forces of which Hamilton felt the shock shortly after +the convening of Congress. + + +XXIII + +On the 13th of December Hamilton sent to the House of Representatives +his second Report on Public Credit--no longer a nomen of bitter +sarcasm--and the Report in favour of a National Bank. Congress was once +more on edge. Since his first Great Report, it had considered and +wrangled over his successive Reports on State Debits and Credits, West +Point, Public Lands, Estimates, and Renewal of Certificates; and it had +lived through the hot summer on the prospect of the excitement which the +bold and creative Secretary would surely provide. Even his enemies loved +Hamilton in their way, for life was torpid when he rested on his +labours. + +The anti-Federalists, had they needed an additional incentive for the +coming battle, a condition to rouse all their strength and mettle, found +it in the rapidly increasing prosperity of the country, which had raised +Hamilton to a height of popularity from which it would be an historic +triumph to drag him down. He was, indeed, almost at the zenith of a +reputation which few men have achieved. From end to end of the Union his +name was on every lip, sometimes coupled with a hiss, but oftener with +every expression of honour and admiration that the language could +furnish. Even in the South he had his followers, and in the North and +East it was hardly worth a man's nose to abuse him. He was a magician, +who could make the fortunes of any man quick enough to seize his +opportunities, and the saviour of the national honour and fortunes. His +fame obscured that of Washington, and abroad he was by far the most +interesting and significant figure in the young country. No wonder the +anti-Federalists trembled for the future, and with all the vigour of +hardened muscles fought his scheme for allying the moneyed classes with +the Government. + +Hamilton made no secret of his design so closely to attach the wealthy +men of the country to the central Government that they must stand or +fall with it, coming to its rescue in every crisis; and time has +vindicated his far-sighted policy. But when the National Bank was in the +preliminary stages of its journey, certain of its hosts in Congress saw +but another horrid menace to the liberties of the people, another step +toward the final establishment of a monarchy after the British pattern. +The old arguments of subservience to British institutions in the matter +of funding, and other successful pets of the Secretary, were dragged +forth and wrangled over, in connection with this new and doubly +pernicious measure of a National Bank. + +Hamilton recommended that a number of subscribers should be incorporated +into a bank, to be known as the Bank of the United States; the capital +to be ten million dollars; the number of shares twenty-five thousand; +the par value of each share four hundred dollars; the Government to +become a subscriber to the amount of two millions, and to require in +return a loan of an equal sum, payable in ten yearly instalments of two +hundred thousand dollars each. The rest of the capital stock would be +open to the public, to be paid for, one-quarter in gold and silver, and +three-quarters in the six or three per cent certificates of the national +debt. The life of the bank was to end in 1811. As an inducement for +prompt subscriptions a pledge would be given that for twenty years to +come Congress would incorporate no other. + +It is odd reading for us, with a bank in every street, not only those +old diatribes in Congress against banks of all sorts, but Hamilton's +elaborate arguments in favour of banks in general, the benefits and +conveniences they confer upon individuals as well as nations. But in +those days there were but three banks in the Union, and each had been +established against violent opposition, Hamilton, in particular, having +carried the Bank of New York through by unremitting personal effort. The +average man preferred his stocking. Representatives from backwoods +districts were used to such circulating mediums as military warrants, +guard certificates, horses, cattle, cow-bells, land, and whiskey. They +looked askance at a bank as a sort of whirlpool into which wealth would +disappear, and bolt out at the bottom into the pockets of a few +individuals who understood what was beyond the average intellect. But by +far the most disquieting objection brought forward against this plan of +the Secretary's was its alleged unconstitutionality. + +Monroe, although a new man, and speaking seldom, exerted a systematic +opposition in the Senate, and Madison, in the House, argued, with +lucidity and persistence, that the Constitution had no power to grant a +charter to any such institution as the Secretary proposed. Others argued +that the success of this new scheme would infringe upon the rights of +the States, and still others thundered the everlasting accusations of +monarchical design. Nevertheless, the bill for granting the required +charter passed both Houses by a handsome majority. The able Federalists +had contemptuously dissected the arguments against it with greater skill +than even Madison could command; and confidence in Hamilton, by this +time, practically was a religion. The bill was sent to Washington to +sign or veto, and the anti-Federalists, disconcerted and alarmed by +their signal defeat in Congress, rested their final hope on Jefferson. + +The President, according to law, had but ten days in which to sign or +veto a bill: if he hesitated but a moment beyond the constitutional +limit, the bill became a law without his signature. It may safely be +said that these ten days were the most miserable of Washington's life so +far, although they were but the forerunner of many to come. + +By this time the Cabinet had acquired the habit of assembling for +conference about a council table in the President's house. Washington +sat at the head of the table, with Hamilton on his left, and Jefferson +on his right. Knox, who would have frowned upon the Almighty had he +contradicted Hamilton, sat beside his Captain. Randolph sat opposite, +his principles with Jefferson, but his intellect so given to +hair-splitting, that in critical moments this passion to weigh every +side of a proposition in turn frequently resulted in the wrench of a +concession by Hamilton, while Jefferson fumed. As time went on, +Washington fell into the habit of extending his long arms upon the table +in front of him, and clasping his imposing hands in the manner of a +rampart. + +Jefferson began a tentative showing of his colours while the bill was +fighting its stormy way through Congress, and Hamilton was a brief while +perceiving his drift and appreciating his implacable enmity. The first +time that Jefferson encountered the lightning in Hamilton's eye, the +quivering of his nostril, as he half rose from his chair under the +sudden recognition of what he was to expect, his legs slid forward +limply, and he turned his head toward the door. Washington suppressed a +smile, but it was long before he smiled again, Hamilton would have no +hints and innuendoes; he forced his enemy to show his hand. But although +he wrung from Jefferson his opposition to the Bank and to every scheme +the Secretary of the Treasury had proposed, he could not drag him into +the open. Jefferson was deprecating, politely determined to serve the +country in his own way, lost in admiration of this opponent's intellect, +but forced to admit his mistakes--the mistakes of a too ardent mind. The +more bitter and caustic the sarcasms that leaped from Hamilton's tongue, +the more suave he grew, for placidity was his only weapon of +self-preservation; a war of words with Hamilton, and he would be made +ridiculous in the presence of his colleagues and Washington. +Occasionally the volcano flared through his pale eyes, and betrayed such +hate and resentment that Washington elevated his hands an inch. The +President sat like a stoic, with a tornado on one side of him and a +growling Vesuvius on the other, and exhibited an impartiality, in spite +of the fact that Jefferson daily betrayed his hostility to the +Administration, which revealed but another of his superhuman attributes. +But there is a psychological manifestation of mental bias, no matter +what the control, and some men are sensitive enough to feel it. +Jefferson was quite aware that Washington loved Hamilton and believed in +him thoroughly, and he felt the concealed desire to side openly with the +Secretary to whom, practically, had been given the reins of government. +Washington, rather than show open favouritism, even to Hamilton, to whom +he felt the profoundest gratitude, would have resigned his high office; +but the desire was in his head, and Jefferson felt it. The campaign +open, he kept up a nagging siege upon Washington's convictions in favour +of his aggressive Secretary's measures, finding constant excuses to be +alone with the President. Hamilton, on the other hand, dismissed the +subject when left alone with Washington, unless responding to a demand. +He frequently remained to the midday meal with the family, and was as +gay and lively as if Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were in the limbo to +which he gladly would have consigned them. His nature was mercurial in +one, at least, of its essences, and a sudden let-down, followed by +congenial company, restored his equilibrium at once. But Washington +watched the development of the blackness and violence of his deeper +passions with uneasiness and regret, finally with alarm. + +Hamilton, in truth, was roused to his dregs. The sneaking retreat of +Madison from his standard and affections, the rancorous enmity of +Monroe, with whom he had fought side by side and been well with whenever +they had been thrown together in the bitter winters of inaction; the +slow, cool, determined, deadly opposition of Jefferson, whom he +recognized as a giant in intellect and despised as a man with that hot +contempt for the foe who will not strip and fight in the open, which +whips a passionate nature to the point of fury, had converted Hamilton +into a colossus of hate which, as Madison had intimated, far surpassed +the best endeavours of the powerful trio. He hated harder, for he had +more to hate with,--stronger and deeper passions, ampler resources in +his intellect, and an energy of temperament which Jefferson and Madison, +recruited by Monroe, could not outweigh. He saw that he was in for the +battle of his life, and that its finish might be deferred for years; +for he made no such mistake as to underrate the strength and resources +of this triple enemy; he knew that it would last until one or the other +were worn out. Hamilton had no thought of defeat; he never contemplated +it for a moment; his faith in himself and in the wisdom of his measures +was absolute; what he looked forward to with the deepest irritation was +the persistent opposition, the clogging of his wheels of progress, the +constant personal attacks which might weaken him with the country before +his multitudinous objects should be accomplished. He suggested resource +after resource to his faithful and brilliant disciples in Congress, and +he determined to force Jefferson to leave the Cabinet. + +"If he only would take himself out of that room with a defiant admission +that he intended to head the opposite party and fight me to the death!" +he exclaimed to Mrs. Croix, one day. "What right has he to sit there at +Washington's hand, a member of his Cabinet, ostensibly in its first +place, and at war with every measure of the Administration? He cannot +oppose me without involving the President, under whom he holds office, +and if he had a grain of decent feeling he would resign rather than +occupy such an anomalous position." + +"He intends to force you to resign." + +"You don't mean to say that he is coming here?" asked Hamilton, in +disgust. "Who next?" + +"Mr. Jefferson succumbed quite three weeks ago," said Mrs. Croix, gaily. +"He amuses me, and I am instilling the conviction that no human being +can force you to do anything you don't want to do, and that the sooner +he retreats gracefully the better." + +Hamilton shrugged his shoulders and made no answer. He had ceased +remonstrance long since. If it pleased her to think she was fighting the +battles he was forced to fight with undiminished vigour himself, he +should be the last to interfere with her amusement. She was a born +intrigante, and would have been miserable freckling her complexion in +the open sunlight. He was too grateful to her at this time to risk a +quarrel, or to condemn her for any of her violations of masculine +standards. It was to her he poured out his wrath, after an encounter +with Jefferson which had roused him too viciously for reaction at +Washington's board or at his own. His wife he spared in every way. Not +only was her delicate health taxed to the utmost with social duties +which could not be avoided, the management of her household affairs, and +an absorbing and frequently ailing family, but he would have controlled +himself had he burst, before he would have terrified her with a glimpse +of passions of whose existence she had not a suspicion. To her and his +family he was ever the most amiable and indulgent of men, giving them +every spare moment he could command, and as delighted as a schoolboy +with a holiday, when he could spend an hour in the nursery, an evening +with his wife, or take a ramble through the woods with his boys. He took +a deep pride in his son Philip, directed his studies and habits, and was +as pleased with every evidence of his progress as had he seen Madison +riding a rail in a coat of tar and feathers. He coddled and petted the +entire family, particularly his little daughter Angelica, and they +adored him, and knew naught of his depths. + +But Mrs. Croix knew them. In her management of Hamilton she made few +mistakes, passionately as she loved him. It was in her secluded presence +he stormed himself cool, was indignantly sympathized with first, then +advised, then soothed. He was made to understand that the more he +revealed the black and implacable deeps of his nature, the more was he +worshipped, the more keen the response from other and not dissimilar +deeps. His wife was necessary to him in many ways, his Egeria in many +more. Although he would have sacrificed the last to the first, had it +come to an issue, he would have felt as if one-half of him had been +cruelly divorced. Few women understand this dual nature in men, and few +are the men who do not. It has been known to exist in those who make no +pretensions to genius, and in Hamilton was as natural as the versatility +of his intellect. When with one he locked the other in the recesses of +his mind as successfully as when at college he had accomplished +herculean feats of mental accumulation by keeping but one thing before +his thought at a time. What he wanted he would have, so long as his +family were in no way affected; and had it not been for Mrs. Croix at +this time, it might have been worse for Betsey. She cooled his fevers; +her counsel was always sound. And her rooms and herself were beautiful. +She had her way of banishing the world by drawing her soft blue curtains +and lighting her many candles. Had she been a fool, Hamilton would have +tired of her in a month; as it was, he often thought of her as the most +confidential and dispensing of his friends, and no more. + +During the preceding two years of their acquaintance there had been many +quarrels, caused by furious bursts of temper on the part of the lady, +when Hamilton forgot her for a month or more. There were times when she +was the solitary woman of Earth, and others when she might have reigned +on Mars. He was very busy, and he had countless interests to absorb time +and thought. He never pretended to more than a romantic passion for her, +and deep as was her own infatuation, it was sometimes close to hate; for +she was a woman whose vanity was as strong as her passions. At this +time, however, he felt a frequent need of her, and she made the most of +the opportunity. + + +XXIV + +Meanwhile, Washington, deeply disturbed by the arguments in the press +and Congress against the constitutionality of the National Bank, had +privately asked for the written opinions of Jefferson and Randolph, and +for a form of veto from Madison. They were so promptly forthcoming that +they might have been biding demand. Washington read them carefully, +then, too worried and impatient for formalities, carried them himself to +Hamilton's house. + +"For God's sake read them at once and tell me what they amount to," he +said, throwing the bundle of papers on the table. "Of course you must +prepare me an answer in writing, but I want your opinion at once. I will +wait." + +Long years after, when Betsey was an old woman, someone asked her if she +remembered any incidents in connection with the establishment of the +great Bank. She replied, "Yes, I remember it all distinctly. One day +General Washington called at the house, looking terribly worried. He +shut himself up in the study with my husband for hours, and they talked +nearly all the time. When he went away he looked much more cheerful. +That night my husband did not go to bed at all, but sat up writing; and +the next day we had a Bank." + +Hamilton's answer, both verbally and in a more elaborate form, was so +able and sound a refutation of every point advanced by the enemy that +Washington hesitated no longer and signed the bill during the last +moments remaining to him. Years later, when the same question was raised +again, Chief Justice Marshall, the most brilliant ornament, by common +consent, the Supreme Court of the United States has had, admitted that +he could add nothing to Hamilton's argument. It must, also, have +convinced Madison; for while President of the United States, and his +opportunity for displaying the consistencies of his intellect, +unrivalled, he signed the charter of the Second National Bank. Monroe, +whose party was in power, and able to defeat any obnoxious measure of +the Federalists, advocated; the second Bank as heartily as he had cursed +the first. His defence of his conduct was a mixture of insolent +frankness and verbiage. He said: "As to the constitutional objection, it +formed no serious obstacle. In voting against the Bank in the first +instance, I was governed essentially by policy. The construction I gave +to the Constitution I considered a strict one. In the latter instance it +was more liberal but, according to my judgement, justified by its +powers." If anyone can tell what he meant, doubtless his own shade would +be grateful. + +Hamilton's second Report on the Public Credit had beer buffeted about +quite as mercilessly as the Report in favour of a bank. The customs +officers had, during the past year collected $1,900,000, which sufficed +to pay two-thirds of the annual expenses of the Government. There was +still a deficit of $826,000, and to meet future contingencies of a +similar nature, the Secretary of the Treasury urged the passage of an +Excise Bill. + +Even his enemies admired his courage, for no measure could be more +unpopular, raise more widespread wrath. It was regarded as a deliberate +attempt to deprive man of his most cherished vice; and every argument +was brought forth in opposition, from the historic relation of whiskey +to health and happiness, to the menace of adopting another British +measure. The bill passed; but it was a different matter to enforce it, +as many an excise officer reflected, uncheerfully, whilst riding a rail. +On the 28th of January Hamilton sent in his Report in favour of the +establishment of a mint, with details so minute that he left the framers +of the necessary bill little excuse for delay; but it had the same +adventurous and agitated experience of its predecessors, and only limped +through, in an amended form, after the wildest outburst of democratic +fanaticism which any of the measures of Hamilton had induced. The +proposition to stamp the coins with the head of the President was +conclusive of an immediate design to place a crown upon the head of +Washington. Doubtless the leaders of the Federal party, under the able +tuition of their despot, had their titles ready, their mine laid. +Jefferson, in the Cabinet, protested with such solemn persistence +against so dangerous a precedent, and Hamilton perforated him with such +arrows of ridicule, that Washington exploded with wrath, and demanded to +know if neither never intended to yield a point to the other. + +During this session of Congress, Hamilton also sent in Reports on Trade +with India and China, and on the Dutch Loan. He was fortunate in being +able to forget his enemies for days and even weeks at a time, when his +existence was so purely impersonal that every capacity of his mind, save +the working, slept soundly. By now, he had his department in perfect +running order; and his successors have accepted his legacy, with its +infinitude of detail, its unvarying practicality, with gratitude and +trifling alterations. When Jefferson disposed himself in the Chair of +State, in 1801, he appointed Albert Gallatin--the ablest financier, +after Hamilton, the country has produced--Secretary of the Treasury, and +begged him to sweep the department clean of the corruption amidst which +Hamilton had sat and spun his devilish schemes. Gallatin, after a +thorough and conscientious search for political microbes, informed his +Chief that in no respect could the department be improved, that there +was not a trace of crime, past or present. Jefferson was disconcerted; +but, as a matter of fact, his administrations were passed complacently +amidst Hamilton legacies and institutions. Jefferson's hour had come. He +could undo all that he had denounced in his rival as monarchical, +aristocratical, pernicious to the life of Democracy. But the +administrations of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, ran from first to +last on those Federal wheels which are still in use, protected within +and without by Federal institutions. But their architect was sent to his +grave soon after the rise of his arch-enemy to power, was beyond +humiliation or party triumph; it would be folly to war with a spirit, +and greater not to let well enough alone. But that is a far cry. +Meanwhile the Bank was being rushed through, and its establishment was +anticipated with the keenest interest, and followed by a season of crazy +speculation, dissatisfaction, and vituperation. But this Hamilton had +expected, and he used his pen constantly to point out the criminal folly +and inevitable consequences of speculation. + + +XXV + +Congress adjourned while the excitement was at its height. Washington +went to Mount Vernon, the Cabinet scattered, and there was an interval +of peace. Philadelphia in summer was always unhealthy, and liable to an +outbreak of fever at any moment. Hamilton sent his family to the +Schuyler estate at Saratoga. Mrs. Croix had gone as early as May to the +New England coast; for even her magnificent constitution had felt the +strain of that exciting session, and Philadelphia was not too +invigorating in winter. Hamilton remained alone in his home, glad of the +abundant leisure which the empty city afforded to catch up with the +arrears of his work, to design methods for financial relief against the +time to apply them, and to prepare his Report on Manufactures, a paper +destined to become as celebrated and almost as widespread in its +influence as the great Report on Public Credit. It required days and +nights of thinking, research, correspondence, comparison, and writing; +and how in the midst of all this mass of business, this keen anxiety +regarding the whirlwind of speculation--which was involving some of the +leading men in the country, and threatening the young Government with a +new disaster; how, while sitting up half the night with his finger on +the public pulse, waiting for the right moment to apply his remedies, he +managed to entangle himself in a personal difficulty, would be an +inscrutable mystery, were any man but Alexander Hamilton in question. + +I shall not enter into the details of the Reynolds affair. No intrigue +was ever less interesting. Nor should I make even a passing allusion to +it, were it not for its political ultimates. A couple of blackmailers +laid a trap for the Secretary of the Treasury, and he walked into it, as +the wisest of men have done before and since, when the woman has been +sufficiently attractive at the right moment. This woman was common and +sordid, but she was young and handsome, and her affectation of violent +attachment, if ungrammatical, was plausible enough to convince any man +accustomed to easy conquest; and the most astute of men, provided his +passions be strong enough, can be fooled by any woman at once designing +and seductive. Ardent susceptibility was in the very essence of +Hamilton, with Scotland and France in his blood, the West Indies the +mould of his youthful being, and the stormy inheritance of his parents. + +But although Hamilton might succumb to a woman of Mrs. Reynold's type, +she could not hold him. After liberally relieving the alleged pecuniary +distress of this charmer, and weary of her society, he did his best to +get rid of her. She protested. So did he. It was then that he was made +aware of the plot The woman's husband appeared, and announced that only +a thousand dollars would heal his wounded honour, and that if it were +not immediately forthcoming, he would write to Mrs. Hamilton. + +Hamilton was furious. His first impulse was to tell the man to do his +worst, for anything in the nature of coercion stripped him for the fray +at once. But an hour of reflection cooled his blood. No one was to blame +but himself. If he had permitted himself to be made a fool of, it was +but just that he should take the consequences, and not cruelly wound the +woman he loved the better for his vagaries. Moreover, such a scandal +would seriously affect the high office he filled, might indeed force him +to resignation; not only thwarting his great ambitions, but depriving +the country of services which no other man had the ability or the will +to render. And a few moments forecast of the triumph of his enemies, not +only over himself but possibly over his party, in case of his downfall, +was sufficient in itself to force him to terms. Few are the momentous +occasions in which men are governed by a single motive. Hamilton's +ambitions were welded into the future happiness and glory of the country +he had so ardently adopted. And if love of power was his ruling passion, +it certainly was directed to the loftiest of ends. To desire to create a +nation out of the resources of a vast understanding, controlled by +wisdom and honour, is an ambition which should be dignified with a +higher name. Small and purely personal ambitions were unknown to +Hamilton, his gifts were given him for the elevation of the human race; +but he would rather have reigned in hell than have sunk to +insignificance on earth. As he remarked once to Kitty Livingston, the +complexity of man so far exceeds that of the average woman, complexity +being purely a matter of brain and having no roots whatever in sex, that +it were a waste of valuable time to analyze its ramifications, and the +crossings and entanglements of its threads. Hamilton paid the money, +yielded further to the extent of several hundred dollars, then the +people disappeared, and he hoped that he had heard the last of them. +Fortunately his habits were methodical, the result of his mercantile +training on St. Croix, and he preserved the correspondence. + + +XXVI + +Hamilton looked forward to the next Congressional term with no +delusions. He polished his armour until it was fit to blind his +adversaries, tested the temper of every weapon, sharpened every blade, +arranged them for immediate availment. In spite of the absorbing and +disconcerting interests of the summer, he had followed in thought the +mental processes of his enemies, kept a sharp eye out for their new +methods of aggression. Themselves had had no more intimate knowledge of +their astonishment, humiliation, and impotent fury at the successive +victories of the invulnerable Secretary of the Treasury, than had +Hamilton himself. He knew that they had confidently hoped to beat him by +their combined strength and unremitting industry, and by the growing +power of their party, before the finish of the preceding term. The +Federalists no longer had their former majority in Congress upon all +questions, for many of the men who, under that title, had been devoted +adherents of the Constitution, were become alarmed at the constant talk +of the monarchical tendencies of the Government, of the centralizing +aristocratic measures of the Secretary of the Treasury, at the +"unrepublican" formalities and elegance of Washington's "Court," at his +triumphal progresses through the country, and at the enormous one-man +power as exhibited in the person of Hamilton. Upon these minds +Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe had worked with unremitting subtlety. It +was not so much that the early Federalists wished to see Hamilton +dragged from his lofty position, for they admired him, and were willing +to acknowledge his services to the country; but that the idea grew +within them that he must be properly checked, lest they suddenly find +themselves subjects again. They realized that they had been running to +him for advice upon every matter, great and insignificant, since the new +Congress began its sittings, and that they had adopted the greater part +of his counsels without question; they believed that Hamilton was +becoming the Congress as he already was the Administration; and +overlooked the fact that legislative authority as against executive had +no such powerful supporter as the Secretary of the Treasury. But it was +not an era when men reasoned as exhaustively as they might have done. +They were terrified by bogies, and the blood rarely was out of their +heads. "Monarchism must be checked," and Hamilton for some months past +had watched the rapid welding of the old anti-Federalists and the timid +Federalists into what was shortly to be known, for a time, as the +Republican party. That Jefferson had been at work all summer, as during +the previous term, with his subtle, insinuating, and convincing pen, he +well knew, and for what the examples of such men as Jefferson and +Madison counted--taking their stand on the high ground of stemming the +menace to personal liberties. The Republican party was to be stronger +far than the old anti-Federal, for it was to be a direct and constant +appeal to the controlling passion of man, vanity; and Hamilton believed +that did it obtain the reins of power too early in the history of the +Nation, confusion, if not anarchy, would result: not only was it too +soon to try new experiments, diametrically opposed to those now in +operation, but, under the tutelage of Jefferson, the party was in favour +of vesting more power in the masses. Hamilton had no belief in +entrusting power to any man or body of men that had not brains, +education, and a developed reasoning capacity. He was a Republican but +not a Democrat. He recognized, long before the rival party saw their +mistake in nomenclature, that this Jefferson school marked the +degeneracy of republicanism into democracy. Knowing how absurd and +unfounded was all the hysterical talk about monarchism, and that time +would vindicate the first Administration and its party as Republican in +its very essence, he watched with deep, and often with impersonal, +uneasiness the growth of a party which would denationalize the +government, scatter its forces, and interpret the Constitution in a +fashion not intended by the most protesting of its framers. Hamilton had +in an extraordinary degree the faculty which Spencer calls +representativeness; but there were some things he could not foresee, and +one was that when the Republicans insinuated themselves to power they +would rest on their laurels, let play the inherent conservatism of man, +and gladly accept the goods the Federal party had provided them. The +three men who wrote and harangued and intrigued against Hamilton for +years, were to govern as had they been the humblest of Hamiltonians. But +this their great antagonist was in unblest ignorance of, for he, too, +reasoned in the heat and height and thick of the fray; and he made +himself ready to dispute every inch of the ground, checkmate every move, +force Jefferson into retirement, and invigorate and encourage his own +ranks. The majority in both Houses was still Federal, if diminished, and +he determined that it should remain so. + +As early as October his watching eye caught the first flash in the +sunlight of a new blade in the enemies' armoury. One Freneau had come to +town. He had some reputation as a writer of squibs and verses, and +Hamilton knew him to be a political hireling utterly without principle. +When, therefore, he heard incidentally that this man had lately been in +correspondence and conference with the Virginian junta, and particularly +that he had been "persuaded by his old friend Madison to settle in +Philadelphia," had received an appointment as translating clerk in the +Department of State, and purposed to start a newspaper called the +_National Gazette_ in opposition to Fenno's Administration organ, _The +United States Gazette_, he knew what he was to expect. Fenno's paper was +devoted to the Administration, and to the Secretary of the Treasury in +particular; it was the medium through which Hamilton addressed most of +his messages to the people. Naturally it was of little use to his +enemies; and that Jefferson and his aides had realized the value of an +organ of attack, he divined very quickly. He stated his suspicions to +Washington immediately upon the President's arrival, and warned him to +expect personal assault and abuse. + +"There is now every evidence of a strong and admirably organized cabal," +he added. "And to pull us down they will not stop at abuse of even you, +if failure haunts them. I shall get the most of it, perhaps all. I hope +so, for I am used to it." + +He laughed, and quite as light-heartedly as ever; but Washington looked +at him with uneasiness. + +"You are a terrible fighter, Hamilton," he said. "I have never seen or +dreamed of your equal. Why not merely oppose to them a massive +resistance? Why be continually on the warpath? They give you a tentative +scratch, and you reply with a blow under the jaw, from which they rise +with a sullener determination to ruin you, than ever. When you are alone +with your pen and the needs of the country, you might have the wisdom of +a thousand years in your brain, and I doubt if at such times you +remember your name; you are one of the greatest, wisest, coolest +statesmen of any age; but the moment you come forth to the open, you are +not so much a political leader as a warlike Scot at the head of his +clan, and readier by far to make a dash into the neighbouring fastness +than to wait for an attack. Are you and Jefferson going to fight +straight through this session?--for if you are, I shall no longer yearn +so much for the repose of Mount Vernon as for the silences of the tomb." + +Washington spoke lightly, as he often did when they were alone, and he +had returned from Virginia refreshed; but Hamilton answered +contritely:-- + +"We both behaved abominably last year, and it was shocking that you +should bear the brunt of it. I'll do my best to control myself in the +Cabinet--although that man rouses all the devil in me; but not to fight +at the head of my party. Oh! Can the leopard change his spots? I fear I +shall die with my back against the wall, sir, and my boots on." "I +haven't the slightest doubt of it. But be careful of giving too free and +constant a play to your passions and your capacity for rancour, or your +character will deteriorate. Tell me," he added abruptly, narrowing his +eyes and fixing Hamilton with a prolonged scrutiny, "do you not feel its +effects already?" + +By this time the early, half-unwilling, half-magnetized affection which +the boy in Hamilton had yielded to his Chief had given place to a +consistent admiration for the exalted character, the wisdom, justice, +and self-control of the President of the United States, and to a devoted +attachment. The bond between the two men grew closer every day, and only +the end of all things severed it. Hamilton, therefore, replied as +frankly as if Washington had asked his opinion on the temper of the +country, instead of probing the sacred recesses of his spirit:-- + +"There have been times when I have sat down and stared into myself with +horror; when I have felt as if sitting in the ruins of my nature. I have +caught myself up again and again, realizing where I was drifting. I have +let a fiend loose within me, and I have turned upon it at times with a +disgust so bitter and a terror so over-mastering that the mildness which +has resulted has made me feel indifferent and even amiable to mine +enemies. Whether this intimate knowledge of myself will save me, God +knows; but when some maddening provocation comes, after reaction has run +its course, I rage more hotly than ever, and only a sense of personal +dignity keeps me from using my fists. I am two-thirds passion, and I am +afraid that in the end it will consume me. I live so intensely, in my +best and my worst! I would give all I possess for your moderation and +balance." + +"No, you would not," said Washington. "War is the breath of your +nostrils, and peace would kill you. Not that the poise I have acquired +brings me much peace in these days." + +Hamilton, who had spoken dejectedly, but with the deep relief which +every mortal feels in a moment of open and safe confession, sprang to +his feet, and stood on the hearth rug, his eyes sparkling with humour. +"Confess, sir," he cried gaily. "You do not like Jefferson any better +than I do. Fancy him opposite to you day after day, stinging you with +honeyed shafts and opposing you with obstacle after obstacle, while +leering with hypocrisy. Put yourself in my place for an instant, and +blame me if you can." + +"Oh," said Washington, with a deep growl of disgust, "o-h-h!" But he +would not discuss his Secretary of State, even with Hamilton. + + +XXVII + +The bombardment from Freneau's _Gazette_ opened at once. It began with a +general assault upon the Administration, denouncing every prominent +member in turn as a monarchist or an aristocrat, and every measure as +subversive of the liberties of the country. Vice-President Adams +received a heavy broadside, his "Discourses on Davila," with their +animadversions upon the French Revolution in particular and Democracy in +general, being regarded as a heinous offence against the spirit of his +country, and detrimental to the political morals of the American youth. +But although the _Gazette_ kept up its pretence of being an +anti-Administration organ, publishing in the interests of a deluded +people, it soon settled down to abuse of Hamilton. + +That a large number of the articles were from Jefferson's damning pen +few of the Republican leader's friends denied with any warmth, and the +natural deductions of history would have settled the question, had not +Freneau himself confessed the truth in his old age. What Jefferson did +not write, he or Madison inspired, and Freneau had a lively pen of his +own. They had promising material in General St. Clair's recent and +disastrous defeat by the Indians, which, by a triumph of literary +ingenuity, was ascribed to the ease and abundance with which the +Secretary of the Treasury had caused money to circulate. But a far +stronger weapon for their malignant use was the ruinous speculation +which had maddened the country since the opening of the Bank of the +United States. It was not enough that the Bank was a monarchical +institution, a machine for the corruption of the Government, a club of +grasping and moneyed aristocrats, but it had been purposely designed for +the benefit of the few--the "corrupt squadron," namely, the Secretary +and his friends--at the expense of the many. The subsequent failure for +$3,000,000 of one of these friends, William Duer, gave them no pause, +for his ruin precipitated a panic, and but added distinction to his +patron's villany. + +For a time Hamilton held his peace. He had enough to do, steering the +financial bark through the agitated waters of speculation, without +wasting time on personal recrimination. Even when, before the failure, +he was accused of being in secret partnership with Duer, he did not +pause for vindication, but exerted himself to alleviate the general +distress. He initiated the practice, followed by Secretaries of the +Treasury at the present moment, of buying Government loan certificates +in different financial centres throughout the country, thus easing the +money market, raising the price of the certificates, and strengthening +the public credit. He used the sinking-fund for this purpose. + +There was comparative peace in the Cabinet, an armed truce being, +perhaps, a more accurate description of an uneasy psychological +condition. Hamilton had made up his mind not only to spare Washington +further annoyance, if possible, but to maintain a dignity which he was +keenly conscious of having relinquished in the past. The two antagonists +greeted each other politely when they met for the first time in the +Council Chamber, although they had crossed the street several times +previously to avoid meeting; and if Jefferson discoursed unctiously and +at length, whenever the opportunity offered, upon the lamentable +consequences of a lamentable measure, and indulged in melancholy +prognostications of a general ruin, in which the Government would +disappear and be forgotten, Hamilton replied for a time with but an +occasional sarcasm, and a change of subject. One day, however, a +long-desired opportunity presented itself, and he did not neglect it. He +was well aware that Jefferson had complained to Virginia that he had +been made to hold a candle to the wily Secretary of the Treasury in the +matter of assumption, in other words, that his guileless understanding, +absorbed in matters of State, had been duped into a bargain of which +Virginia did not approve, despite the concession to the Potomac. + +About two months after Congress opened, Washington, as his Cabinet +seated itself, was detained in his room with a slight indisposition, but +sent word that he would appear presently. For a time, Randolph and Knox +talked feverishly about the Indian troubles, while Hamilton looked over +some notes, and Jefferson watched his antagonist covertly, as if +anticipating a sudden spring across the table. Hamilton was not in a +good humour. He was accustomed to abuse in Congress, and that it was +again in full tide concerned him little, for he was sure of ultimate +victories in both Houses; and words which were powerless to result in a +defeat for himself, or his party, he treated with the scorn which +impotence deserved. But it was another matter to have his private +character assailed day after day in the press, to watch a subtle pen +insinuate into the public mind that a woman imperilled her reputation in +receiving him, and that he was speculating in secret with the reckless +friend whom he had warned over and over, and begged to desist. Freneau +sent him three copies of the _Gazette_ daily, lest he miss something, +and he had that morning left Betsey in tears. Fenno was fighting the +Secretary's battles valiantly; but there was only one pen in America +which could cope with Jefferson's, and that was Hamilton's own. But +aside from his accumulating cares, it was a strife to which he did not +care to descend. To-day, however, he needed but a match, and Jefferson, +who experienced a fearful fascination in provoking him, applied it. + +"I hear that Duer is on the verge of failure," he remarked sadly. + +"Yes," said Hamilton; "he is." + +"I hold it to be a great misfortune that he has been connected with the +Administration in any way." + +"His connection was quite distinct from your department. I alone was +responsible for his appointment as my assistant. There is no necessity +for you to shed any hypocritical tears." + +"What concerns the honour of the Administration naturally concerns the +Secretary of State." + +"There is no question of honour. If Duer fails, he will fail honourably, +and the Administration, with which he is no longer connected, will in no +way be involved." + +"Of those facts of course I am sure, but I fear the reflections in the +press." + +"Keep your own pen worthily employed, and the Administration will take +care of itself." + +"I do not understand you, sir," said Jefferson, with great dignity. + +"I am quite ready to be explicit. Keep your pen out of Freneau's +blackguard sheet, while you are sitting at Washington's right hand, at +all events--" + +Jefferson had elevated both hands. "I call Heaven to witness," he cried, +"this black aspersion upon my character is, has been, entirely a +production of the imagination of my enemies. I have never written nor +inspired a line in Mr. Freneau's paper." + +Hamilton laughed and returned to his notes. + +"You do not believe me, sir?" demanded Jefferson, the blood boiling +slowly to his large face. + +"No," said Hamilton; "I do not." + +Jefferson brought his mighty fist down upon the table with a bang." +Sir!" he exclaimed, his husky voice unpleasantly strained, "I have stood +enough from you. Are you aware that you have called me a liar, sir? I +have suffered at your hands since the day I set foot in this country. I +left the peace and retirement that I love, to come forth in response to +a demand upon my duty, a demand I have ever heeded, and what has been my +reward? The very first act I was tricked into committing was a crime +against my country--" + +"Were you in your dotage, sir?" thundered Hamilton, springing to his +feet, and bringing his own hand down with such violence that the lead in +his cuff dented his wrist. "Was your understanding enfeebled with age, +that you could not comprehend the exhaustive explanation I made of the +crisis in this country's affairs? Did I not give you twenty-four hours +in which to think it over? What were you doing--muddling your brains +with French wines?--that you could not reason clearly when relieved of +my baleful fascination? Were you not protected on the following day by +two men, who were more your friends than mine? I proposed a +straightforward bargain, which you understood as well then as you do +now. You realized to the full what the interests of the country +demanded, and in a rare moment of disinterested patriotism you agreed to +a compromise in which you saw no detriment to yourself. What you did not +anticipate was the irritation of your particular State, and the +annoyance to your vanity of permitting a younger man to have his way. +Now let me hear no more of this holding a candle, and the tricking of an +open mind by a wily one, unless you are willing to acknowledge that your +brain was too weak to grasp a simple proposition; in which case you had +better resign from public office." + +"I know that is what you are trying to force me to do," gasped +Jefferson, almost speechless between rage and physical fear; for +Hamilton's eyes were flashing, his body curved as if he meditated +immediate personal violence. "But I'll not do it, sir, any more than I +or anyone else will be deluded by the speciousness of your language. You +are an upstart. You have no State affinities, you despise them for a +very good reason--you come from God knows where--I do not even know the +name of the place. You are playing a game. You care nothing for the +country you were not born in. Unless you can be king, you would treat it +as your toy." + +"For your absurd personalities I care nothing," said Hamilton, reseating +himself. "They are but the ebullitions of an impotence that would ruin +and cannot. But take heed what you write, for in injuring the Secretary +of the Treasury you injure the prosperity of the country; and if you +push me too far, I'll expose you and make you infamous. Here comes the +President. For God's sake bottle your spite for the present." + +The two men did not exchange a remark during the rest of the sitting, +but Jefferson boiled slowly and steadily; Hamilton's words had raised +welts under which he would writhe for some time to come. When the +Cabinet adjourned he remained, and followed Washington into the library, +under cover of a chat about seeds and bulbs, a topic of absorbing +interest to both. When their legs were extended before the fire, +Jefferson said, as abruptly as if the idea had but just presented +itself:-- + +"Mr. President, we are both Virginians, and had cut our wisdom +teeth--not that for a moment I class myself with you, sir--while young +Hamilton was still in diapers." + +"Children do not wear diapers in the West Indies," interrupted +Washington, in his gravest accents. "I spent some months on the Island +of Barbadoes, in the year seventeen hundred and fifty-one." + +"Was he born In the West Indies? I had never heard. But, if I may +continue, I have therefore summoned up my courage to speak to you on a +subject close to my heart--for no subject can be so close as the welfare +of a country to which we have devoted our lives." + +He paused a moment, prepared with an answer, did the President haughtily +warn him not to transgress the bounds of etiquette; but Washington was +staring at the fire, apparently recalling the scenery of the Tropics. + +Jefferson continued: "In the length and breadth of this Union there is +not a man, not even the most ardent Republican, who has not implicit +faith in the flawless quality of your patriotism and in your personal +wisdom; but, and possibly unknown to you, sir, the extreme and +high-handed measures, coupled with the haughty personal arrogance, of +our Secretary of the Treasury have inspired a widespread belief, which +is permeating even his personal friends, that he entertains subtle and +insidious monarchical designs, is plotting to convert our little +Republic into a kingdom. Personally, I do not believe this--" + +"I should hope not. You have always seemed to me to be a man of +singular wisdom and good sense. Therefore I feel sure that you are as +heartily sick of all this absurd talk about monarchism as I am. There is +not a word of truth in Mr. Hamilton's 'monarchical designs'; it is +impossible that you should not know this as well as I do. You must also +be as well aware that he has rendered services to this country which +will be felt as long as it remains united. It is doubtful if anyone else +could have rendered these same services, for, to my knowledge at least, +we have no man in the country who combines financial genius with an +unexampled boldness and audacity. He has emphatically been the man for +the hour, abruptly transferred from his remote birthplace, it has seemed +to me, by a special intervention of Providence; free of all local +prejudices, which have been, and will continue to be, the curse of this +country, and with a mettle unacted upon by years of doubt and +hesitation. I do no other man in public life an injustice in my warm +admiration of Mr. Hamilton's genius and absolute disinterestedness. Each +has his place, and is doing his part bravely and according to his +lights, many of them rendering historic services which Mr. Hamilton's +will not overshadow. His are equally indisputable. This unfortunate +result of establishing a National Bank was doubtless inevitable, and +will quickly disappear. That the Bank is a monarchical device, you, of +all men, are too wise to believe for a moment. Leave that for such +sensational scoundrels as the editors of this new _Gazette_ and of other +papers. I regret that there is a personal antipathy between you and Mr. +Hamilton, but I have not the least doubt that you believe in his +integrity as firmly as I do." + +Jefferson was scowling heavily. "I am not so sure that I do, sir," he +said; inconsistent often in his calmest tempers, passion dissipated his +power of consecutive thought. "When Mr. Hamilton and I were on friendly +terms--before he took to annoying me with a daily exhibition of personal +rancour, from which I have been entirely free--he has often at my own +table avowed his admiration of the British Constitution, deprecated the +weakness of our own admirable instrument, tacitly admitted his regret +that we are a republic and not a kingdom. I have his very words in my +diary. He is committed out of his own mouth. I not only believe but know +him to be a lover of absolute monarchy, and that he has no faith that +this country can continue to exist in its present shape. It is for that +reason I hold him to be a traitor to the country with which he is merely +amusing himself." + +"Sir," said Washington, turning to Jefferson an immobile face, in which +the eyes were beginning to glitter, "is a man to be judged by his +private fancies or by his public acts? I know nothing of Mr. Hamilton's +secret desires. Neither, I fancy, do you. We do know that he has +resigned a brilliant and profitable practice at the bar to guide this +unfortunate country out of bankruptcy and dishonour into prosperity and +every promise of a great and honourable future. Pray let the matter rest +there for the present. If Mr. Hamilton be really a liar and a charlatan, +rest assured he will betray himself before any great harm is done. Every +man is his own worst enemy. I was deeply interested in what you were +saying when we entered this room. Where did you say you purchased those +lily bulbs? My garden is sadly behind yours, I fear. I certainly shall +enter upon an amiable rivalry with you next summer." + +And Jefferson knew better than to persist. + + +XXVIII + +On January 28th Hamilton sent to Congress his Report on Manufactures, +and how anybody survived the fray which ensued can only be explained by +the cast-iron muscles forged in the ancestral arena. Hamilton had no +abstract or personal theories regarding tariff, and would have been the +first to denounce the criminal selfishness which distinguishes +Protection to-day. The situation was peculiar, and required the +application of strictly business methods to a threatening and immediate +emergency. Great Britain was oppressing the country commercially by +every method her council could devise. Defensive legislation was +imperative. Moreover, if the country was to compete with the nations of +the world and grow in independent wealth, particularly if it would +provide internal resources against another war, it must manufacture +extensively, and its manufactures must be protected. Such, in brief, was +the argument of one of the ablest State papers in any country, for whose +exhaustive details, the result of two years of study and comparison, of +research into the commercial conditions of every State in Europe, there +is no space here. The battle was purely political, for the measure was +popular with the country from the first. It was opposed by the planters, +with Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe in the lead. They argued that the +measure would burden the people at large; that the country was too +remunerative not to be able to take care of itself; that progress should +be natural and not artificial; that the measure was unconstitutional; +above all, as the reader need hardly be told, that no proposition had +yet been advanced by the monarchical Secretary of the Treasury so +"paternal," so conclusive of his ultimate designs. "To let the thirteen +States, bound together in a great indissoluble union, concur in erecting +one great system, superior to the control of transatlantic force and +influence, and able to dictate the connection between the old and the +new world," was but another subtle device to consolidate the States for +sudden and utter subversion when Hamilton had screwed the last point +into his crown. That in the Twentieth Century the United States would be +an object of uneasiness daily approaching to terror in the eyes of Great +Britain and Europe, as a result of this Report, even Hamilton himself +did not foresee, much less the planters; nor that it would carry through +the War of 1812 without financial distress. Above all, did no one +anticipate that the three Virginians, in their successive incumbencies +of the Executive Chair, would pursue the policy of protection in +unhesitating obedience to the voice of the people. The first result of +this Report was the great manufacturing interests of Paterson, New +Jersey, which celebrated their centennial a few years ago. Paterson was +Hamilton's personal selection, and it still throbs with something of his +own energy. + +Meanwhile he was being elected an honorary member of colleges and +societies of arts and letters, and persecuted by portrait painters and +sculptors. Every honour, public and private, was thrust upon him, and +each new victory was attended by a public banquet and a burst of popular +applause. He was apparently invulnerable, confounding his opponents and +enemies without effort. Never had there been such a conquering hero; +even the Virginian trio began to wonder uneasily if he were but mortal, +if he were not under some mighty and invisible protection. As for the +Federalists, they waxed in enthusiasm and devotion. His career was at +its zenith. No man in the United States was--nor has been since--so +loved and so hated, both in public and in private life. Even +Washington's career had not been more triumphant, and hardly so +remarkable; for he was an American born, had always had a larger measure +of popular approval, and never had discovered the faculty of raising +such bitter and powerful enemies. Nor had he won an extraordinary +reputation until he was long past Hamilton's present age. Certainly he +had never exhibited such unhuman precocity. + +But although Hamilton had, by this time, extancy to suffice any man, and +was hunted to his very lair by society, he had no thought of resting on +his labours. He by no means regarded himself as a demi-god, nor the +country as able to take care of itself. He prepared, and sent to +Congress in rapid succession, his Reports on Estimates for Receipts and +Expenditures for 1791-92, on Loans, on Duties, on Spirits, on Additional +Supplies for 1792, on Remission of Duties, and on the Public Debt. + +Nor did his labours for the year confine itself to reports. On August +4th, his patience with the scurrilities of Freneau's _Gazette_ came to +an end, and he published in Fenno's journal the first of a series of +papers that Jefferson, in the hush of Monticello, read with the +sensations of those forefathers who sat on a pan of live coals for the +amusement of Indian warriors. Hamilton was thorough or nothing. He had +held himself in as long as could be expected of any mortal less +perfected in his self-government than George Washington: but when, +finally, he was not only stung to fury by the constant and systematic +calumnies of Jefferson's slanting art, but fearful for the permanence of +his measures, in the gradual unsettling of the public mind, he took off +his coat; and Jefferson knew that the first engagement of the final +battle had begun in earnest, that the finish would be the retirement of +one or other from the Cabinet. + +Hamilton began by mathematically demonstrating that Freneau was the tool +of Jefferson, imported and suborned for the purpose of depressing the +national authority, and exposed the absurdity of the denials of both. +When he had finished dealing with this proposition, its day for being a +subject of animated debate was over. He then laid before the public +certain facts in the career of Jefferson with which they were +unacquainted: that he had first discountenanced the adoption of the +Constitution, and then advised the ratification of nine of the States +and the refusal of four until amendments were secured,--a proceeding +which infallibly would have led to civil war; that he had advocated the +transfer of the debt due to France to a company of Hollanders in these +words: "If there is a _danger_ of the public debt _not being punctual_, +I submit whether it may not be better, that _the discontents which would +then arise_ should be _transferred_ from a _court_ of whose _good-will +we have so much need_ to the _breasts_ of a _private company_"--an +obviously dishonourable suggestion, particularly as the company in view +was a set of speculators. It was natural enough, however, in a man whose +kink for repudiation in general led him to promulgate the theory that +one generation cannot bind another for the payment of a debt. Hamilton, +having disposed of Jefferson's attempts, under the signature of +Aristides, to wriggle out of both these accusations, discoursed upon the +disloyal fact that the Secretary of State was the declared opponent of +every important measure which had been devised by the Government, and +proceeded to lash him for his hypocrisy in sitting daily at the right +hand of the President while privately slandering him; of exercising all +the arts of an intriguing mind, ripened by a long course of European +diplomacy, to undermine an Administration whose solidity was the only +guaranty for the continued prosperity and honour of the country. +Hamilton reminded the people, with a pen too pointed to fail of +conviction, of the increase of wealth and happiness which had ensued +every measure opposed by the Secretary of State, and drew a warning +picture of what must result were these measures reversed by a party +without any convictions beyond the determination to compass the downfall +of the party in power. He bade them choose, and passed on to a +refutation of the several accusations hurled at the Administration, and +at himself in particular. + +He wrote sometimes with temperance and self-restraint, at others with +stinging contempt and scorn. Jefferson replied with elaborate denials, +solemn protests of disinterested virtue, and counter accusations. +Hamilton was back at him before the print was dry, and the battle raged +with such unseemly violence, that Washington wrote an indignant letter +to each, demanding that they put aside their personal rancours and act +together for the common good of the country. The replies of the two men +were characteristic. Hamilton wrote a frank and manly letter, barely +alluding to Jefferson, and asserting that honour and policy exacted his +charges and refutations. He would make no promise to discontinue his +papers, for he had no intention of laying down his pen until Jefferson +was routed from the controversial field, and the public satisfied of the +truth. Jefferson's letter was pious and sad. It breathed a fervent +disinterestedness, and provided as many poisoned arrows for his rival as +its ample space permitted. It was a guinea beaten out into an acre of +gold leaf and steeped in corrosive sublimate. + +But during that summer of 1792 Hamilton had little time for personal +explosions except in brief. The Presidential elections approached, and +the greater part of his time was given to party management and counsel. +Washington's renomination and election were assured. The only obstacle +encountered had been Washington himself, but his yearning for peace had +again retired before duty. The parties were arrayed in a desperate +struggle for the Vice-Presidency, the issue to determine the +vindication or the condemnation of the measures of Hamilton. Adams +himself was unpopular in the anti-Federalist ranks, on account of his +aristocratic tastes and his opposition to the French Revolution; but the +time was propitious for a tremendous trial of strength with the +omnipotent Secretary of the Treasury, and any candidate of his would +have been opposed as bitterly. + +Jefferson and Burr were each suggested for the office, but Hamilton +brought down his heavy hand on both of them promptly, and the fight +settled into a bitter struggle between Adams and Clinton. The latter's +strength in the State of New York was still very great, and he was as +hardy a fighter as ever. But his political past was studded with +vulnerable points, and the Federalists spared him not. + +It is impossible, whatever one's predilections, not to admire Clinton +for his superb fighting qualities. He was indomitable, and in ability +and resourcefulness second only to Hamilton himself, in party management +far superior; for he had greater patience, a tenderer and more intimate +concern for his meaner followers, and less trust in his own unaided +efforts and the right of his cause. Hamilton by no means was blind to +the pettier side of human nature, but he despised it; instead of +truckling and manipulating, he would scatter it before him or grind it +to pulp. There is no possible doubt that if Hamilton had happened into a +country at war with itself, but with strong monarchical proclivities, he +would have seized the crown and made one of the wisest and kindest of +autocrats. His lines cast in a land alight from end to end with +republican fires, he accepted the situation with his inherent +philosophy, burned with a patriotism as steady as Washington's own, but +ruled it in his own way, forced upon it measures in whose wisdom he +implicitly believed, and which, in every instance, time has vindicated. +But his instinct was that of the amiable despot, and he had no +conciliation in him. + +His opponents saw only the despot, for time had not given them range of +vision. Therefore, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Clinton, and his other +formidable enemies have a large measure of excuse for their conduct, +especially as they were seldom unstung by mortifying defeat. It is +doubtful if the first three, at least, ever admitted to themselves or +each other that they hated Hamilton, and were determined for purely +personal reasons to pull him down. Every man knows how easy it is to +persuade himself that he is entirely in the right, his opponent, or even +he who differs from him, entirely in the wrong. The Virginian trio had +by this, at all events, talked themselves into the belief that Hamilton +was a menace to the permanence of the Union, and that it was their pious +duty to relegate him to the shades of private life. That in public life +he would infallibly interfere with their contemplated twenty-four years +Chair Trust may have been by the way. They were all men with a +consciousness of public benefits to their credit, and some disinterested +patriotism. If their ignoble side is constantly in evidence in their +dealings with Hamilton, it by no means follows that two, at least, of +our most distinguished Presidents--Monroe was a mere imitationist--had +no other. Had that been the case, they would have failed as miserably as +Burr, despite their talents, for the public is not a fool. But that +their faults were ignoble, rather than passionate, their biographers +have never pretended to deny. In many instances no apology is attempted. +On the other hand, the most exhaustive research among the records of +friends and enemies has failed to bring to light any evidence of mean +and contemptible traits in Hamilton. No one will deny his faults, his +mistakes; but they were the mistakes and faults of passion in every +instance; of a great nature, capable of the extremest violence, of the +deadliest hate and maddest blows, but fighting always in the open; in +great crises unhesitatingly sacrificing his personal desires or hatreds +to the public good. Even his detractors--those who count in +letters--have admitted that his nature and his methods were too +high-handed for grovelling and deceit, that the mettle of his courage +was unsurpassed. Jefferson and Madison had the spirit of the mongrel in +comparison; Monroe was a fighter, but cowardly and spiteful. In point of +mettle alone, Adams and Clinton were Hamilton's most worthy opponents. + +Burr had not shown his hand as yet. He was at war with Clinton himself, +and an active and coruscating member of the Senate. But Hamilton, by +this, knew him thoroughly. He read his lack of Public spirit in every +successive act of his life, recognized an ambition which would not +hesitate to sacrifice his best friend and the country he was using, and +a subtlety and cunning which would, with his lack of principle and +property, make him the most dangerous man in America should he contrive +to grasp the reins of power. Therefore he checkmated his every move, +careless of whether he made another powerful enemy or not. + +Hamilton attempted no delusions with himself. He knew that he hated +Jefferson with a violence which threatened at times to submerge all the +good in him, horrified him when he sat down and looked into himself. On +the other hand, he knew himself to be justified in thwarting and +humiliating him, for the present policy of the country must be preserved +at any cost. But he was too clear and practised an analyst to fail to +separate his public from his personal rancour. He would drive Jefferson +from public office for the public good, but he would experience the +keenest personal pleasure in so doing. Such was Hamilton. Could a genius +like his be allied in one ego with a character like Washington's, we +should have a being for which the world has never dared to hope in its +most Biblical moments. But genius must ever be imperfect. Life is not +long enough nor slow enough for both brain and character to grow side by +side to superhuman proportions. + + +XXIX + +The following political year was a lively one for Hamilton, perhaps the +liveliest of his career. As it approached, those interested in public +affairs had many subjects for constant and excited discussion: the +possible Vice-President, whose election was to determine the future +status of the Secretary of State, and cement or weaken the centralized +powers of the Administration; the battle in the two _Gazettes_, with +the laurels to Hamilton, beyond all controversy, and humiliation for +Jefferson and Madison; the growing strength of the "Republican" party +under Madison's open and Jefferson's literary leadership; the probable +policy of the Administration toward the French Revolution, with +Jefferson hot with rank Democracy, and Hamilton hotter with contempt for +the ferocity of the Revolutionists; the next move of the Virginians did +Hamilton win the Vice-Presidency for the Administration party; and the +various policies of the Secretary of the Treasury and their results. At +coffee-houses, at public and private receptions, and in Mrs. Croix's +drawing-room, hardly another subject was broached. + +"A fool could understand politics in these days," said Betsey, one +evening in December, with a sigh. "Not a word does one hear of clothes, +gossip, husbands, or babies. Mrs. Washington told me the day after she +returned that she had deliberately thought of nothing but butter and +patchwork during the entire recess, that her poor brain might be able to +stand the strain of the winter. Shall you have to work harder than +ever?" + +"I do not know," replied Hamilton, and at that moment he did not. He was +correcting a French exercise of his son's, and feeling domestic and +happy. Jefferson and he had made no pretence at formal amiability this +season; they did not speak at all, but communicated on paper when the +business of their respective departments required an interchange of +opinion. He had vanquished his enemy in print, made him ridiculous in +the eyes of all who read the _Gazettes_. Moreover, Washington, disturbed +during the summer by the constant nagging of Jefferson and his agents, +respecting the "monarchical schemes" and "corrupt practices" of the +Secretary of the Treasury, had formulated the accusations and sent them +to Hamilton for refutation. The vindication, written without passion, as +cold, clear, consistent, and logical, as if dealing with an abstract +proposition, had convinced, and finally, all to whom it was shown; with +the exception of Jefferson, who had no intention of being convinced. +Hamilton was conscious that there was no vulnerable point in his public +armour. Of his private he was not so sure; Reynolds was in jail, for +attempting, in company with one Clingman, to suborn a witness to commit +perjury, and had appealed to him for aid. He had ignored him, determined +to submit to no further blackmail, be the consequences what they might. +But he was the last man to anticipate trouble, and on the whole he was +in the best of humours as the Christmas holidays approached, with his +boys home from their school on Staten Island, his little girl growing +lovelier and more accomplished, and his wife always charming and pretty; +in their rare hours of uninterrupted companionship, piquant and +diverting. He had gone out with her constantly since Congress assembled, +and had enjoyed the recreations of society after his summer of hard work +and angry passions. Everywhere he had a triumphal progress; men and +women jostled each other about him, eager for a word, a smile, making +him talk at length, whether he would or not. The confidence in him was +stronger than ever, but his enemies were the most powerful, collectively +and individually, that had ever arrayed against a public man: Jefferson, +Madison, and Monroe, with the South behind them; the Livingstons and the +Clinton faction in New York; Burr, with his smiling subterranean +industry; the growing menace of the Republican party. Pamphlets were +circulating in the States warning voters against all who supported the +Secretary of the Treasury. It was one man against odds of appalling +strength and resource; for by common consent both of friends and enemies +Hamilton was the Federal party. Did he fall, it must go; all blows were +aimed at him alone. Could any one man stand for ever an impregnable +fortress before such a battery? Many vowed that he would, for "he was +more than human," but others, as firm in their admiration, shrugged +their shoulders. The enemy were infuriated at the loss of the +Vice-Presidency, for again Hamilton had been vindicated and Adams +reflected. What would be their next move? + +Betsey knew that her husband had enemies, but the fact gave her little +concern; she believed Hamilton to be a match for the allied forces of +darkness. She noticed when his hair was unpowdered that it was turning +gray and had quite lost its boyish brightness; here and there work and +care had drawn a line. But he was handsomer, if anything, and of the +scars on his spirit she knew nothing. In the peace and pleasant +distractions of his home his mercurial spirits leaped high above his +anxieties and enmities, and he was as gay and happy, as interested in +the manifold small interests of his family, as were he a private man of +fortune, without an ambition, an enemy, or a care. When most absorbed or +irritated he never victimized his household by moods or tempers, not +only because they were at his mercy, but because his nature +spontaneously gave as it received; his friends had his best always, his +enemies the very worst of which his intense passionate nature was +capable. Naturally his family adored him and studied his happiness. + +Betsey continued her somewhat rambling remarks, "The only variety is the +French Revolution." + +"By the way, Washington has had a distressing letter from Madame +Lafayette. She begs him to receive her boy--George Washington--and keep +him until the trouble is over. The Chief fears that in the present +temper of the public his reception of Lafayette's son would be given an +embarrassing significance, and yet it is impossible to refuse such a +request,--with Lafayette in an Austrian dungeon, his wife in daily +danger of prison or guillotine, and this boy, his only son, with no one +but a tutor to protect him. I offered at once to receive the child into +my family--subject, of course, to your approval. Should you object? It +would add to your cares--" + +"I have no cares, sir. I shall be delighted; and he can talk French with +the children." + +"I shall send him to Staten Island with Philip and Alex. Washington will +make him a liberal allowance for school and clothing. I confess I am +anxious to receive him, more than anxious to show that my old friendship +is undiminished. I fear to open every packet from Europe, lest I hear of +Lafayette's death. Fortunately, Morris was able to render some +assistance to Madame Lafayette. Morris is a source of sufficient worry +himself, for he is much too independent and bold for a foreign envoy in +the thick of mob rule, mad with blood." + +"I hate to think of old friends in trouble," said Betsey, removing a +tear. "Poor Kitty Duer! I had another letter from her to-day. It is +pitiful to think of her and the poor little children, with nothing but +what Lady Sterling, who has so little, and Lady Mary can give them. Is +there no way of getting Colonel Duer out of Debtor's prison?" + +"I've moved heaven and earth, but certain of his creditors are +inexorable. Still, I hope to have him out and on his feet before long. +You are not to worry about other people this evening, for I am +particularly happy. Philip is really remarkable, and I believe that +Angelica is going to turn out a musical genius. What a delight it is to +have one person in the world to whom one can brag about one's offspring +without apology." + +"Why, of course they are the most remarkable children in the world--all +five of them," said Betsey, placidly. + +Edward Stevens came in and threw himself on the sofa. "What a relief to +come into this scene of domestic tranquillity, after the row outside!" +he exclaimed. "All the world is in the streets; that is to say, all the +daft American world that sympathizes with that bloody horror in France. +The news that the allied armies have been beaten and the Duke of +Brunswick was in full retreat when the packets sailed, has apparently +driven them frantic with joy. They are yelling 'Ca ira,' bonfires are +flaring everywhere, and bells ringing. All of the men are drunk, and +some of the women. And yet the statesman who must grapple with this +portentous problem is gossiping with his wife, and looking as if he had +not a care in the world. Thank Heaven!" + +"I can do nothing to-night," said Hamilton, smiling. "I have had too +much experience as a practical philosopher not to be happy while I can." + +"You have the gift of eternal youth. What shall you do in this French +matter, Alexander the Great? All the world is waiting to know. I should +worry about you if I had time in this reeking town, where it is a wonder +any man has health in him. Oh, for the cane-fields of St. Croix! But +tell me, what is the policy to be--strict neutrality? Of course the +President will agree with you; but fancy Jefferson, on his other side, +burning with approval for the very excesses of the Revolution, since +they typify democracy exultant. And of course he is burrowing in the +dark to increase his Republican party and inspire it with his fanatical +enthusiasm for those inhuman wretches in France. I believe he would +plunge us into a war to-morrow." + +"No, he is an unwarlike creature. He would like to trim, keep this +country from being actually bespattered with blood, but coax the +Administration to give the Revolutionists money and moral support. He +will do nothing of the sort, however. The policy of this remote country +is absolute, uncompromising, neutrality. Let Europe keep her hands off +this continent, and we will let her have her own way across the water. +The United States is the nucleus of a great nation that will spread +indefinitely, and any further Europeanizing of our continent would be a +menace which we can best avoid by observing from the beginning a +strictly defensive policy. To weaken it by an aggressive inroad into +European politics would be the folly of schoolboys not fit to conduct a +nation. We must have the Floridas and Louisiana as soon as possible. I +have been urging the matter upon Washington's attention for three years. +Spain is a constant source of annoyance, and the sooner we get her off +the continent the better--and before Great Britain sends her. We need +the Mississippi for navigation and must possess the territories that are +the key to it. How idiotic, therefore, to antagonize any old-world +power!" + +"You _are_ long-headed!" exclaimed Stevens. "Good heavens! Listen to +that! The very lungs of Philadelphia are bellowing. Our people must be +mad to see in this hideous French Revolution any resemblance to their +own dignified and orderly struggle for freedom." + +"It is so easy to drive men mad," said Hamilton, contemptuously. +"Particularly when they are in constant and bitter opposition to the +party in power, and possess a leader as subtle and venomous as Thomas +Jefferson--'Thomas,' as he signed a letter to Washington the other day. +You may imagine the disgust of the Chief." + +"Not another word of politics this night!" exclaimed Mrs. Hamilton. "I +have not uttered a word for just twenty-five minutes. Alexander, go and +brew a beaker of negus." + + +XXX + +The next morning Hamilton was sitting in his office when the cards of +James Monroe, F.A. Muhlenberg, and A. Venable were brought in. + +"What on earth can they want?" he thought. "Monroe? We have not bowed +for a year. Two days ago he turned into a muddy lane and splashed +himself to his waist, that he might avoid meeting me." + +His first impulse was to excuse himself, on the plea of the pressing +nature of his work; but curiosity triumphed, and he told his page to +admit the men. + +Muhlenberg was again Speaker of the House; Venable was a Representative +from Virginia. Hamilton was not friendly with either, but nodded when +they passed him. He greeted them amiably as they entered to-day, and +exchanged a frigid bow with Monroe. The Senator from Virginia took a +chair in the rear of the others, stretched his long legs in front of +him, and folded his arms defiantly. He looked not unlike a greyhound, +his preference for drab clothing enhancing the general effect of a +pointed and narrow leanness. + +There was a moment of extreme awkwardness. Muhlenberg and Venable +hitched their chairs about. Monroe grinned spasmodically, and rubbed his +nose with his upper lip. + +"Well, gentlemen," said Hamilton, rapping his fingers on the table. +"What can I do for you?" He scented gun-powder at once. + +"I am to be the spokesman in this delicate matter, I believe," said +Muhlenberg, who looked red and miserable, "and I will, with your +permission, proceed to my unpleasant task with as little delay as +possible." + +"Pray do," replied Hamilton. "The daily assaults of my enemies for +several years have endowed me with a fortitude which doubtless will +carry me through this interview in a creditable manner." + +"I assure you, sir, that I do not come as an enemy, but as a friend. It +is owing to my appeal that the matter was not laid directly before the +President." + +"The President?" Hamilton half rose, then seated himself again. His eyes +were glittering dangerously. Muhlenberg blundered on, his own gaze +roving. The Federal term of endearment for Hamilton, "The Little Lion," +clanged suddenly in his mind, a warning bell. + +"I regret to say that we have discovered an improper connection between +yourself and one Reynolds." He produced a bundle of letters and handed +them to Hamilton. "These are not in your handwriting, sir, but I am +informed that you wrote them." + +Hamilton glanced at them hastily, and the angry blood raced through his +arteries. + +"These letters were written by me," he said. "I disguised my handwriting +for purposes of my own. What is the meaning of this unwarrantable +intrusion into a man's private affairs? Explain yourself at once." + +"That is what we have come for, sir. Unfortunately we cannot regard it +as a private affair, but one which concerns the whole nation." + +"The whole nation!" thundered Hamilton. "What has the nation to do with +an affair of this sort? Why cannot you tell the truth and say that you +gloat in having discovered this wretched affair,--a common enough +episode in the lives of all of you,--in having another tid-bit for +Freneau? Why did you not take it to him at once? What do you mean by +coming here personally to take me to task?" + +"I think there is some misapprehension, sir," said Muhlenberg. "It +would be quite impossible for any one present to have misconducted +himself in the manner in which the holder of those letters, Mr. +Reynolds, accuses you of having done. And surely the whole country is +intimately concerned in the honesty--or the dishonesty--of the Secretary +of the Treasury." + +The words were out, and Muhlenberg sat with his mouth open for a moment, +as if to reinhale the air which was escaping too quickly for calm +speech. Then he set his shoulders and braced himself to meet the +Secretary's eyes. Hamilton was staring at him, with no trace of passion +in his face. His eyes looked like steel; his whole face had hardened +into a mask. He had realized in a flash that he was in the meshes of a +plot, and forced the heat from his brain. "Explain," he said. "I am +listening." + +"As you are aware, sir, this James Clingman, who has been arrested with +Reynolds, was a clerk in my employ. You will also recall that when he +applied to me to get him out, I, in company with Colonel Burr, waited on +you and asked your assistance. You said that you would do all that was +consistent, but we did not hear from you further. Clingman refunded the +money, or certificates, which they had improperly obtained from the +Treasury, the action was withdrawn, and he was discharged to-day. While +the matter was pending I had several conversations with Clingman, and he +frequently dropped hints to the effect that Reynolds had it in his power +materially to injure the Secretary of the Treasury, as he knew of +several very improper transactions of his. At first I paid no attention +to these hints, but when he went so far as to assert that Reynolds had +it in his power to hang the Secretary of the Treasury, that the latter +was deeply concerned in speculation with Duer, and had frequently +advanced him--Reynolds, I mean--money with which to speculate, then I +conceived it my duty to take some sort of action, and yesterday +communicated with Mr. Monroe and Mr. Venable. They went at once to call +on Reynolds--whom I privately believe to be a rascal, sir--and he +asserted that he was kept in prison by your connivance, as you feared +him; and promised to put us in possession of the entire facts this +morning. When we returned at the hour appointed, he had absconded, +having received his discharge. We then went to his house and saw his +wife, who asserted, after some circumlocution, that you had been +concerned in speculations with her husband, that at your request she had +burnt most of the letters you had written to herself and her husband, +and that all were in a disguised hand--like these few which she had +preserved. You will admit that it is a very serious charge, sir, and +that we should have been justified in going directly to the President. +But we thought that in case there might be an explanation--" + +"Oh, there is an explanation," said Hamilton, with a sneer. "You shall +have it at my pleasure. I see that these notes implicate me to the +extent of eleven hundred dollars. Strange, that a rapacious Secretary of +the Treasury, handling millions, and speculating wildly with a friend of +large resources, should have descended to such small play as this. More +especially strange that he should have deliberately placed himself in +the power of such a rascal as this Reynolds--who seems to impress every +one he meets with his blackguardism--and communicated with him freely on +paper; you will have observed that I acknowledged these notes without +hesitation. What a clumsy knave you must think me. I resent the +imputation. Perhaps you have noticed that in one of these notes I state +that on my honour I cannot accommodate him with the three hundred +dollars he demands, because it is quite out of my power to furnish it. +Odd, that a thieving Secretary, engaged in riotous speculation, could +not lay his hand on three hundred dollars, especially if it were +necessary to close this rascal's mouth. I doubt, gentlemen, if you will +be able to convince the country that I am a fool. Nevertheless, I +recognize that this accusation must be met by controverting proof; and +if you will do me the honour to call at my house to-night at nine +o'clock, I shall, in the presence of the Comptroller of the Treasury, +furnish these proofs." + +He rose, and the others pushed back their chairs and departed hastily. +Muhlenberg's red face wore a look of relief, but Monroe scowled. Neither +had failed to be impressed by the Secretary's manner, and the Speaker of +the House, ashamed of his part in the business, would gladly have +listened to an immediate vindication. + +Hamilton sat motionless for some moments, the blood returning to his +face, for he was seething with fury and disgust. + +"The hounds!" he said aloud, then again and again. He was alone, and he +never had conquered his youthful habit of muttering to himself. "I can +see Monroe leaping, not walking, to the jail, the moment he learned of a +chance to incriminate me. The heels at the end of those long legs must +have beaten the powder from his queue. And this is what a man is to +expect so long as he remains in public life--if he succeeds. He resigns +a large income, reduces his family almost to poverty, works himself half +to death, rescues the country from contempt, launches it upon the sea of +prosperity; and his public rewards are more than counterbalanced by the +persecutions of his enemies. I have been on the defensive from the +moment I entered public life. Scarcely a week but I have been obliged to +parry some poisoned arrow or pluck it out and cauterize. The dreams of +my youth! They never soared so high as my present attainment, but +neither did they include this constant struggle with the vilest +manifestations of which the human nature is capable." He brought his +fist down on the table. "I am a match for all of them," he exclaimed. +"But their arrows rankle, for I am human. They have poisoned every hour +of victory." + +He caught up his hat and went out into the air. The solace of Mrs. Croix +in his blacker moods occurred to him; and he walked down Chestnut Street +as rapidly as he could, in the crowd, lifting his hat now and again to +cool his head in the frosty air. It was a brilliant winter's day; drifts +of snow hid the dead animals and the garbage in the streets; and all the +world was out for Christmas shopping. As it was one of the seasons for +display, everybody was in his best. The women wore bright-coloured +taffetas or velvets, over hoops flattened before and behind, muskmelon +bonnets or towering hats. They whisked their gowns about, that their +satin petticoats be not overlooked. The men wore the cocked hat, heavily +laced, and a long coat, usually of light-coloured cloth, with a +diminutive cape, the silver buttons engraved with initials or crest. +Their small clothes were very short, but heavy striped stockings +protected their legs; on their feet were pointed shoes, with immense +silver buckles. Hamilton was dressed with his usual exquisite care, his +cuffs carefully leaded. But his appearance interested him little to-day. +For the moment, however, he forgot his private annoyance in the portent +on every side of him. Few of the seekers after gifts had entered the +shops. They blocked the pavements, even the street, talking excitedly of +the news of the day before. Fully half the throng sported the +tri-coloured cockade, the air hissed with "Citizen," "Citess," or rang +with a volley of "Ca ira! Ca ira!" + +Hamilton set his teeth. "It _is_ the next nightmare," he thought. "The +Cabinet is quiet at present--Jefferson, mortified and beaten, is coaxing +back his courage for a final spring. When the time comes to determine +our attitude there will be Hell, nothing less." But his nostrils +quivered. He might rebel at poisoned arrows, but he revelled in the +fight that involved the triumph of a policy. + +His mind was abstracted, the blood was still in his brain as he entered +Mrs. Croix's drawing-room. For a moment he had a confused idea that he +had blundered into a shop. The chairs, the sofas, the floor, were +covered with garments and stuffs of every hue. Hats and bonnets were +perched on every point. Never had he seen so much gorgeous raiment in +one space before. There were brocades, taffetas, satins, lutestrings, +laces, feathers, fans, underwear like mist. While he was staring about +him in bewilderment, Mrs. Croix came running in from her bedroom. Her +hair was down and tangled, her dressing sacque half off, her face +flushed, her eyes sparkling. She looked half wanton, half like a giddy +girl darting about among her first trunks. + +"Hamilton!" she cried. "Hamilton!" She flew at him much as his children +did when excited. "Look! Look! Look! Is this not magnificent? This is +the happiest day of my life!" + +"Indeed? Are you about to set up a shop?" + +"A shop? I am about to deck myself once more in the raiment that I love. +Have I not drooped in weeds long enough, sir? I am going to be beautiful +again! I am going to wear all those lovely things--all! all! And I am +going to Lady Washington's to-morrow night. Mrs. Knox will take me. But +I vow I do not care half so much for that as for my beautiful things. +They arrived by the London packet yesterday, but have only now been +delivered. I ordered them long since, and hardly could control my +impatience till they came. I am so happy! I feel like a bird that has +been plucked for years." + +Hamilton looked at her in amazement, and despair. More than once he had +caught a glimpse of the frivolous side of her nature, but that it could +spread and control her he never had imagined. Her intelligence, her +passions, her inherited and accumulated wisdom, were crowded into some +submerged cell. There was nothing in her at the present moment for him, +and he turned on his heel without a word and left the house. She rapped +sharply on the window as he passed, but he did not look up. He was +filled with that unreasoning anger peculiar to man when woman for once +has failed to respond. He consigned her and her clothes to the devil, +and looked at his watch. It was ten minutes to one. His dinner hour was +two o'clock. He would go home to his wife, where he should have gone in +the first place. She never had failed him, or if she had he could not +recall the occasion. Her little dark face rose before him, innocent and +adorable. He could not tell her of the cause of his annoyance,--it +suddenly occurred to him that the less of that matter confided to Mrs. +Croix the better,--but then he never worried her with his troubles. He +would merely go and bask in her presence for an hour, confess to a +headache, and receive her sweet ministrations. + +As he entered his own house, and, relieved of his coat and hat by the +waiting black, ran up the stair, he thought he heard a soft babble of +voices. Knowing that his wife would, if he desired it, dismiss at once +any company she might have, he knocked confidently at her door and +entered. For a moment he felt inclined to rub his eyes, and wondered if +he were the victim of delirium. The bed was covered with bandboxes, the +sofa with new frocks. Betsey was sitting before the mirror, trying on a +cap, and her sisters, Peggy and Cornelia, were clapping their hands. +Angelica was perched on the back of a chair, her eyes twice their +natural size, Hamilton attempted instant retreat, but Betsey saw his +reflection in the mirror. + +"You?" she cried. "What a surprise and pleasure. Come here, sir, at +once." + +Meanwhile his two sisters-in-law, whose expected visit he had quite +forgotten, ran forward and kissed him effusively. With the desire in his +heart to rend the Universe in twain he went forward and smiled down into +his wife's eager face. + +"Angelica has sent me so many things!" she exclaimed. Her face was +flushed, her eyes sparkling. She looked sixteen. "And this cap is the +most bewitching of all. You came just at the right moment; it is quite +singular. Read--". + +She thrust a letter from Mrs. Church into his hand, and he read where +his wife pointed. "Someone who loves you will tell you if it is becoming +or not." And on the following page. "Kiss my saucy Brother for me. I +call him my Brother with an air of pride. And tell him, _Il est l'homme +le plus aimable du monde_." + +"It is charming," said Hamilton, pinching his wife's chin. "It is like a +frame. You never looked half so sweet." + +Betsey cooed with delight. Hamilton, having done his duty, was about to +retire in good order, when he met his little daughter's eyes. They had +dismissed the wonderful cap and were fixed on him with an expression +that gave him a sudden thrill. It was not the first time he had seen in +Angelica so strong a resemblance to his mother that he half believed +some fragment of Rachael Levine had come back to him. Her eyes were +dark, but she had a mane of reddish fair hair, and a skin as white as +porcelain, a long sensitive nose, and a full mobile mouth. She had none +of his mother's vitality and dash, however. She was delicate and rather +shrinking, and he knew that Rachael at her age must have been a marvel +of mental and physical energy. It was only occasionally, when he turned +suddenly and caught Angelica staring at him, that he experienced the odd +sensation of meeting his mother's eyes, informed, moreover, with an +expression of penetrating comprehension--an expression he recalled +without effort. The child idolized him. She sat outside his study while +he wrote, crawling in between the legs of anyone who opened the door? to +sit at his feet; or, if he dismissed her, in another part of the room +until he left it. She watched for his daily returns, and usually greeted +him from the banister post. Amiable, intelligent, pretty, affectionate, +and already putting forth the tender leaves of a great gift, her father +thought her quite perfect, and they had long conversations whenever he +was at leisure in his home. She demanded a great deal of petting, and he +was always ready to humour her, the more as she was the only girl, and +the one quiet member of his little family--although she had been known +to use her fists upon occasion. Her prettiness and intelligence +delighted him, her affection was one of the deepest pleasures of his +life, and he was thankful for the return to him of his mother's +beautiful and singular features. To-day the resemblance was so striking +that he contracted his eyelids. Angelica straightened herself, gave a +spring, and alighted on his chest. + +"Take me downstairs and talk to me," she commanded. "'Tis nearly an hour +to dinner." + +Hamilton swung her to his shoulder, and went downstairs. On the way he +laughed out loud. The past half-hour tossed itself into the foreground +of his mind, clad in the skirts of high comedy. Tragedy fled. The +burden in his breast went with it. Far be it from him to cherish a +grudge against the sex that so often reduced the trials of public life +to insignificance. Women were delicious irresponsible beings; man was an +ingrate to take their shortcomings seriously. + +"Why do you laugh?" asked his daughter, whose arm nearly strangled him. +"You were very angry when you came into mamma's room." + +"Indeed?" said Hamilton, nettled. "Was I not smiling?" + +"Yes, sir; but you often smile when you would like to run the +carving-knife into somebody." + +They had reached the library. Hamilton sat the child on the edge of his +table and took a chair closely facing her. "What do you mean, you little +witch?" he demanded. "I am always happy when I am at home." + +"Almost always. Sometimes you are very angry, and sometimes you are sad. +Why do you pretend? Why don't you tell us?" + +"Well," said Hamilton, with some confusion. "I love you all very much, +you see, and you do make me happy--why should I worry you?" + +"I should feel better if you told me--right out. It gives me a pain +here." + +She laid her hand to her head, and Hamilton stared at her in deepening +perplexity. Another child--anything feminine, at least--would have +indicated her heart as the citadel of sorrow. "Why there?" he asked. "Do +you mean a pain?" + +"Yes, a pain, but not so bad as when I am in Albany or Saratoga and you +are here. Then I worry all the time." + +"Do you mean that you are ever unhappy?" + +"I am unhappy whenever you are, or I am afraid that you are. I know that +you are very big and the cleverest man in the world, and that I am too +little to do you any good, and I don't know why I worry when I am away." +"But, my dear child, what in Heaven's name do you mean? Have you ever +spoken to your mother of this?" + +Angelica shook her head. Her eyes grew larger and wiser. "No; I should +only worry Betsey, and she is always happy. She is not clever like you +and me." + +Hamilton rose abruptly and walked to the window. When he had composed +his features he returned. "You must not criticise your mother in that +way, my dear. She is a very clever little woman, indeed." + +Angelica nodded. "If she were clever, you would not say 'little.' Nobody +says that you are a very clever little man. When I'm big, I'll not be +called little, either. I love our dear Queen Bess, but I'm _all yours_. +Why were you so angry to-day?" + +"I couldn't possibly tell you," replied her father, turning cold. "You +must not ask too many questions; but I am very grateful for your +sympathy. You are my dear little girl, and you make me love you more and +more, daily." + +"And will you tell me whenever you are not feeling like what you are +making the rest believe?" + +"If it will make you any happier, I will whisper it into your pink +little ear. But I think I should be a very bad father to make you +unhappy." + +"I told you, sir, that I am more unhappy when I imagine things. It is +just like a knife," and again she pointed to her head. + +Hamilton turned pale. "You are too young to have headaches," he said. +"Perhaps you have been studying too hard. I am so ambitious for my +children; but the boys have taken to books as they have to kites and +fisticuffs. I should have remembered that girls--" His memory gave up +the stories of his mother's precocity. But this child, who was so +startlingly like the dead woman, was far less fitted to carry such +burdens. So sensitive an intelligence in so frail a body might suddenly +flame too high and fall to ashes. He resolved to place her in classes of +other little girls at once, and to keep her in the fields as much as +possible. None knew better than he how close the highly strung +unresting brain could press to madness. He had acquired a superhuman +control over his. If this girl's brain had come out of his own, it must +be closely watched. She had not inherited his high light spirits, but +the melancholy which had lain at the foundations of his mother's nature; +she would require the most persistent guarding. He took her face between +his hands and kissed it many times. + +"Very well," he said, "we will have our little secrets. I will tell you +when I am disturbed, and you will sit close beside me with your doll +until I feel better. But remember, I expect as much confidence in +return. You will never have a care nor a terror nor an annoyance that +you will not confide it to me directly." + +She nodded. "I'm always telling you things to myself. And I won't cry +any more in the night, when I think you have felt badly and could not +tell anyone. It will all go away if you talk to me about it," she added +confidently. + +Hamilton swung her to his shoulder again and started for the dining +room. + +"The child is uncanny," he thought. "Can there be anything in that old +theory that tormented and erring souls come back to make their last +expiation in children? That means early death!" He dismissed the thought +promptly. + + +XXXI + +After dinner he called on Oliver Wolcott, the Comptroller, one of his +closest friends, and related the scene of the morning, adding the +explanation. Wolcott was a Puritan, and did not approve of the marital +digressions of his friends. But in this case the offence was so much +less than the accusation that he listened with frequent ejaculations of +content. He agreed at once to call at Hamilton's house at eight o'clock, +look over the papers, and read them aloud when the trio arrived. + +"And may the devil damn them," he added. "It will be one of the keenest +pleasures of my life to confound them. The unpatriotic villains! They +know that in disgracing you they would discredit the United States, and +in their hearts they know that your measures are the only wheels for +this country to run on; but to their party spite they would sacrifice +everything. I'll be there." + +And when the men called that night at nine o'clock, he read them the +correspondence from beginning to end--Reynold's letters, and those of +the woman. More than once Muhlenberg begged him to desist, but he was +merciless. When he had finished, Hamilton explained that he had +disguised his handwriting lest the man forge or make other use of it. + +The three rose as soon as the ordeal was over. "It is no use for me to +attempt to express my regret or my humiliation," said Muhlenberg, "I +shall be ashamed of this as long as I live." + +"I feel like an ass and a spy," exclaimed Venable. "I heartily beg your +pardon, sir." + +"Your mistake was justifiable. Are you satisfied?" + +"More than satisfied." + +Hamilton turned to Monroe. + +"I made a mistake," said the Senator from Virginia. "I beg your pardon." + +"And I shall hear no more of this?" + +He received the solemn promise of each, then let them go. But he locked +the letters carefully in their drawer again. + +"Are you going to keep those things?" asked Wolcott. "It must have made +you sick to listen to them." + +"It did. Perhaps I shall keep them for penance, perhaps because I do not +trust Monroe." + + +XXXII + +Hamilton was not long kept in ignorance of the next tactics of his +enemies. They made their deadliest assault soon after Christmas. +Immediately upon the assembling of Congress it was suggested that the +Secretary of the Treasury be asked to furnish a plan for reducing the +public debt. Madison arose and fired the first gun. What Congress +wanted was not a plan, but a statement of the national finances. The +Federalists replied that the information would come in due course, and +that the House was in duty bound to ask the Secretary to furnish a +scheme. The Republicans, led by Madison, protested that already too much +power had been invested in the Secretary of the Treasury, that it had +exceeded constitutional limits. Moreover, he overwhelmed them with +volumes, deliberately calculated to confuse their understandings. One +Giles, who did the dirty work of the party, announced that the Secretary +was not fit to make plans, and added the numerous and familiar +denunciations. But the Republicans were outvoted, and the suggestions +were called for. Hamilton furnished them immediately. His plan to reduce +the debt was met by so strenuous an opposition from the Republicans that +it was defeated, and by the party which had been most persistent in +their detestation of the obnoxious burden. Rather than add to the +laurels of Hamilton, they would shoulder it with equanimity. But this +defeat was but an incident. The Secretary of the Treasury, as the result +of a series of resolutions, was bidden to lay before Congress an account +of the moneys borrowed at Antwerp and Amsterdam; the President to +furnish a statement of the loans made by his authority, their terms, +what use had been made of them, how large was the balance; the chiefs of +departments to make a return of the persons employed and their salaries. +Hamilton, by this time, was fully alive to the fact that he was about to +be subjected to fresh persecution, and the agility of his enemies could +not keep pace with his. He furnished the House with an itemized +list--which it took the Committee days to plod through--of his +bookkeepers, clerks, porters, and charwomen, and the varying emoluments +they had received since the Department was organized, three years and a +half before. He further informed them that the net yield of the foreign +loan was eighteen millions six hundred and seventy-eight thousand +florins, that the loans were six in number, that three bore five per +cent interest, two four and a half, and one four per cent The enemy was +disconcerted but not discouraged. Five fresh resolutions were moved +almost immediately. Impartial historians have agreed that Jefferson +suggested these shameful resolutions, and that Madison drew them up. +Giles brought them forward. In a vociferous speech he asserted that no +man could understand the Secretary's report, that his methods and +processes were clothed in a suspicious obscurity. It was his painful +duty to move the adoption of the following resolutions: That copies of +the papers authorizing the foreign loans should be made; that the names +of the persons to whom and by whom the French debt had been paid be sent +to Congress; that a statement of the balances between the United States +and the Bank be made; that an account of the sinking-fund be rendered, +how much money had come into it and where from, how much had been used +for the purchase of the debt and where the rest was deposited. The fifth +demanded an account of the unexpended revenue at the close of the +preceding year. Giles charged that a serious discrepancy existed between +the report of the Secretary and the books of the Bank--not less than a +million and a half. It had been the purpose of Jefferson and Madison to +bring forward the resolutions with an air of comparative innocence. But +the vanity of Giles carried him away, and his speech informed Congress, +and very shortly the country, that the honesty of the Secretary of the +Treasury had been impeached, and that he was called upon to vindicate +himself. + +In crises Hamilton never lost his temper. The greater the provocation, +as the greater the danger, the colder and more impersonal he became. Nor +was it in his direct impatient nature to seek to delay an evil moment +any more than it was to protect himself behind what the American of +to-day calls "bluff." In this, the severest trial of his public career, +he did not hesitate a moment for irritation or protest. He called upon +his Department to assist him, and with them he worked day and night, +gathering, arranging, elaborating all the information demanded by +Congress. When he was not directing his subordinates, he was shut up in +his library preparing his statements and replies. His meals were taken +to him; his family did not see him for weeks, except as he passed them +on his way to or from the front door. He sent in report after report to +Congress with a celerity that shattered his health, but kept his enemies +on the jump, and worked them half to death. The mass of manuscript he +sent would have furnished a modest bookstore, and the subjects and +accounts with which he was so familiar drove Madison and others, too +opposed to finance to master the maze of it, close upon the borders of +frenzy. It had been their uncommunicated policy to carry the matter over +to the next session, but Hamilton was determined to have done with them +by adjournment. + +And in the midst of this tremendous pressure arrived George Washington +Lafayette. + +It was on the first Saturday of his retirement into the deep obscurity +of his library, with orders that no one knock under penalty of driving +him from the house, that Hamilton, opening the door suddenly with intent +to make a dash for his office, nearly fell over Angelica. She was +standing just in front of the door, and her face was haggard. + +"How long have you been here?" demanded her father. + +"Three hours, sir." + +"Three! Have you stood all that time?" + +Angelica nodded. She was determined not to cry, but she was wise enough +not to tax the muscles of her throat. + +Hamilton hesitated. If the child fidgeted, she would distract his +attention, great as were his powers of concentration; but another +searching of her eyes decided him. + +"Very well," he said. "Go in, but mind you imagine that you are a mouse, +or you will have to leave." + +When he returned, she was sitting in a low chair by his desk, almost +rigid. She had neither doll nor book. "This will never do," he thought. +"What on earth shall I do with the child?" His eye fell upon the chaos +of his manuscript. He gathered it up and threw it on the sofa. "There," +he said, "arrange that according to the numbers, and come here every +five minutes for more." + +And Angelica spent two hours of every day in the library, useful and +happy. + +One day Hamilton was obliged to attend a Cabinet meeting, and to spend +several hours at his office just after. Returning home in the early +winter dusk, he saw two small white faces pressed against the hall +window. One of them was Angelica's, the other he had never seen. As he +entered, his daughter fell upon him. + +"This is George Washington Lafayette," she announced breathlessly. "He +came to-day, and he doesn't speak any English, and he won't go near +Betsey or anyone but me, and he won't eat, and I know he's miserable and +wretched, only he won't cry. His tutor's ill at the Inn." + +The little Frenchman had retired to the drawing-room. Angelica darted +after him and dragged him forward into the light. He was small for his +age, but his features had the bold curious outline of his father's. He +carried himself with dignity, but it was plain that he was terrified and +unhappy. Hamilton gave him a warm embrace, and asked him several +questions in French. The boy brightened at once, answered rapidly and +intelligently, and took firm possession of his new friend's hand. + +"I am more happy now," he announced. "I don't like the other people +here, except this little girl, because they do not speak French, but you +are a Frenchman, and I shall love you, as my father said I should--long +ago! I will stay with you day and night." + +"Oh, you will?" exclaimed Hamilton. "I am going to send you to school +with my boys." + +"Oh, not yet, sir! not yet!" cried the boy, shrilly. "I have seen so +many strangers on that dreadful ship, and in France--we hid here, +there--moving all the time. I wish to live with you and be your little +boy." + +"And so you shall, but I am uncommonly busy." + +"He is a very quiet little boy," interposed Angelica, who was three +years his junior. "He would not move if he sat in your room, and I will +take him for a walk every day. He will die if he has to sit in a room by +himself all day." + +"I shall sleep with you, sir, I hope?" asked young Lafayette, eagerly. +"I have thought all day of the dark of to-night. I have seen such +terrible things, sir!" + +"Good Heaven!" thought Hamilton, "is it not enough to be dry nurse to a +nation?" But he could not refuse, and during the few hours he snatched +for sleep he was half strangled. By day the boy sat quietly in a corner +of the library, and studied the text-books his guardian bought him. +Betsey did all she could to win him, but he had no faith in people who +could not speak his language. Angelica, like all of Hamilton's children, +knew something of French, and he liked her and accepted her motherly +attentions; but Hamilton he adored. The moment his absorbed friend made +for the front door he was after him, and Hamilton let him run at his +heels, lest he get neither air nor exercise. He had no time at present +to take him to call on his august godfather, and, in truth, he dreaded +the prospect. Washington knew nothing of children, and his diminutive +namesake would probably be terrified into spasms. + + +XXXIII + +The three long and exhaustive reports, accounting honourably for every +penny entrusted to the Secretary of the Treasury, and justifying every +payment, measure, and investment, had gone to the Congress. Nine days +later Giles brought forward nine resolutions of censure against the +Secretary of the Treasury. But by this time Congress had made up its +mind, and many of the Republicans were disgusted and humiliated. The +Federalists were triumphant, and amused themselves with Giles, drawing +him on, to confound him with ridicule and proof of the absurdity of his +charges. Madison, desperate, lost his head and the respect of many of +his colleagues, by asserting hysterically that the House was impotent to +change the truth of the accusations, and that in the tribunal of public +opinion the Secretary would be condemned. But Hamilton was triumphantly +vindicated by Congress and the Nation at large. His house was in a state +of siege for weeks from people of all parts of the country, come to +congratulate him; his desk obliterated by letters he had no time to +read. The Federals were jubilant. Their pride in Hamilton was so great +that a proclamation from above would not have disturbed their faith, and +they were merciless to the discomfited enemy. In truth, the Virginian +trio and their close adherents were mortified and confounded. In their +hearts they had not believed Hamilton guilty of dishonesty, but they had +been confident that his affairs were in chaos, that large sums must have +escaped, not conceiving that any mortal could at the same time create +gigantic schemes, and be as methodical as a department clerk in every +detail of his great office. + +Although Hamilton had commanded his brain to dwell exclusively upon the +vindication and its means, the deeps below were bitter and hot. When the +work was over, and exhausted in body and mind he went about his duties +mechanically, or attempted to find distraction in his family, he felt as +if the abundant humanity in him were curdled; and he longed for a war, +that he might go out and kill somebody. It was small compensation that +the Virginian ring were grinding their teeth, and shivering under daily +shafts of humiliation and ridicule. So terrible was the position in +which they had placed him, so immeasurably had they added to the sum of +his contempt for human kind, that individually they occupied, for a +time, but a corner of his thought. + +His only solace during this trial had been Washington; he had been too +busy and too frozen for Mrs. Croix. But that closest of his friends, +although forced by his high office to a position of stern neutrality, +did all he could in private to convince Hamilton of his unaltered +affection and regard. As soon as the vindication was complete he fell +into the habit of finishing his daily walk with an hour in Hamilton's +library. But if his visits were a pleasure to his Secretary, they were +wretchedness unleavened for two other members of the family. The +President never failed to ask for Angelica and George Washington +Lafayette; and upon their prompt but unwilling advent he would solemnly +place one on either knee, where they remained for perhaps half an hour +in awe-stricken misery. They had orders to show no distress, and they +behaved admirably; but although young Lafayette was rapidly learning +English, the fact did not lessen his fear of this enormous man, who +spoke so kindly, and looked as if he could have silenced the Terror with +the awful majesty of his presence. Angelica, being an independent little +American, was less overwhelmed, but she was often on the verge of +hysterics. It was the short session of Congress, and in March, George, +with scalding but dignified tears, accompanied his godfather to Mount +Vernon, whence he wrote Hamilton a daily letter of lament, until habit +tempered his awe; from that point he passed with Gallic bounds into an +ardent affection for the great man, who, if of an unearthly dignity, was +always kind, and, when relieved of the cares of State, uniformly genial. + +The respite in Philadelphia was brief. In April came the first news of +the beheading of the French king; and the same tardy packets brought +word that France was at war with England and Spain. Hamilton sent the +news, express haste, to Washington, and dismissed every consideration +from his brain but the terrible crisis forced upon the United States, +and the proper measures to save her from shipwreck. In the early stages +of the French Revolution he had predicted the developments with such +accuracy to Henry Walter Livingston that the new Secretary of Legation, +upon his arrival in Paris, told Gouverneur Morris--United States +minister since 1792--that to his astonishment he found nothing to +surprise him. Therefore the prophet had long been determined upon the +policy the United States should pursue when this crisis shot out of the +eastern horizon; he had now but to formulate it in such a manner that +every point could be grasped at once by the Cabinet, and acted upon. +When Washington arrived in Philadelphia and summoned his advisers, +Hamilton presented twelve questions for discussion, the most pressing of +which were: Shall a proclamation issue for the purpose of preventing +interferences of the citizens of the United States in the war between +France and Great Britain, etc.? Shall it contain a declaration of +neutrality? Shall a minister from this Republic of France be received? +Jefferson was in a far less enviable position than Hamilton. He neither +wished for war, nor dared he machinate for it; but with all his +democratic soul he loved the cause which was convulsing the world from +its ferocious centre in France. Had Jefferson come of stout yeoman +stock, like John Adams, or of a long line of patrician ancestors, like +Hamilton, and, to a lesser degree, like Washington, he might, judging +from certain of his tastes, and his love of power, have become, or been, +as aristocratic in habit and spirit as were most men of his wealth, +position, and importance in the young country. But the two extremes met +in his blood. The plebeianism of his father showed itself in the +ungainly shell, in the indifference to personal cleanliness, and in the +mongrel spirit which drove him to acts of physical cowardice for which +his apologists blush. But his mother had belonged to the aristocracy of +Virginia, and this knowledge induced a sullen resentment that he should +be so unlike her kind, so different in appearance from the courtly men +of his State. Little was wanting to accelerate his natural desire to +level his country to a plane upon which with his gifts he easily could +loom as a being of superior mould; but when a British sovereign publicly +turned his back upon him, and the English court, delighted with its cue, +treated him with an unbearable insolence, nothing more was needed to +start the torrent of his hate against all who stood for aristocracy. +Democracy rampant on all sides of him, during his sojourn in France, +found in him not only an ardent sympathizer, but a passionate advocate. +He quite overlooked the fact that he failed to persuade the country of +his enthusiasm to accord the United States fair commercial treatment: it +embodied and demonstrated his ideal of liberty, equality, fraternity, +and he was its most devoted friend, unresting until he had insinuated +his own admiration into the minds of his followers in America, and made +Jacobinism a party issue. + +To turn his back upon France, therefore, to help her neither in money +nor moral support, was a policy he had no intention to pursue, could he +avoid it; but knowing his weakness in the Cabinet, he suggested an extra +session of Congress. It would then be an easy matter to throw the +responsibility upon his followers in both Houses, while he stood to the +country as working consistently and harmoniously in his great office. + +But Hamilton, who understood him thoroughly, would listen to no +proposition which would involve weeks of delay, inflame further the +public mind, and give Jefferson an opportunity to make political +capital. Moreover, he would have no such confession of weakness go out +from the Administration. He prevailed, and in that first meeting +Jefferson was forced to consent also to the immediate issue of a +proclamation to the people. He argued with such fervour, however, +against the use of the word "neutrality," declaring that the Executive +had no constitutional authority so far to commit the people, that +Washington, to humour him, omitted the word, while declaring +authoritatively for the substance. It was also agreed that Genet, the +new Minister from France, sent by the Revolutionists to succeed M. +Ternant, should be received. The first meeting closed tranquilly, for +both Hamilton and Jefferson had tacitly admitted that it was no time for +personal recrimination. + +But the Cabinet met daily, and other subjects, notably Hamilton's +contention that their treaties made with a proper French government no +longer existed, came up for elaborate discussion; Hamilton had an +exhaustive report prepared on each of them. The two Secretaries, who +hated each other as two men hardly have hated before or since, and who +realized that they had met for their final engagement in official life, +soon dismissed any pretence at concord, and wrangled habitually--with +cutting sarcasm or crushing force on Hamilton's part, with mild but +deadly venom on Jefferson's; until he too was maddened by a jagged dart +which momentarily routed his tender regard for his person. Jefferson +wrenched one victory from the Cabinet despite Hamilton's determined +opposition: Genet's reception should be absolute. But on all other +important points the Secretary of the Treasury scored, and stone by +stone built up the great policy of neutrality which prevailed until the +year 1898; impressed into the Government the "Doctrine"--he had +formulated it in "The Federalist"--which was to immortalize the name of +a man who created nothing. Hamilton, with all the energy and obstinacy +of his nature, was resolved that the United States should not have so +much as a set-back for the sake of a country whose excesses filled him +with horror, much less run the risk of being sucked into the whirlpool +of Europe; and he watched every move Jefferson made, lest his secret +sympathies commit the country. When, after a triumphal procession +through miles of thoughtless enthusiasts, who remembered only the +services of France, forgot that their friends had been confined entirely +to the royalty and aristocracy that the mob was murdering, and were +intoxicated by the extreme democracy of the famous Secretary of State, +Genet arrived in Philadelphia, inflated and bumptious, his brain half +crazed by the nervous excitement of the past two years, and was received +with frigid politeness by Washington, Hamilton was not long discovering +that Jefferson was in secret sympathy and intercourse with this +dangerous fire-brand. The news had preceded and followed the new +minister that he had been distributing blank commissions to all who +would fit out privateers to prey upon British commerce, opening +headquarters for the enlistment of American sailors into the French +service, and constituting French consuls courts of admiralty for the +trial and condemnation of prizes brought in by French privateers. + +As soon as he arrived in Philadelphia he demanded of Hamilton the +arrears of the French debt, which the Secretary had refused to pay until +there was a stable government in France to receive it. Hamilton laughed, +locked the doors of the Treasury, and put the key in his pocket. To +Genet's excited volubility and pertinacity he paid as little attention +as to Jefferson's arguments. Moreover, he reversed all Citizen Genet's +performances in the South; and in course of time, even the captured +British ships, to the wrath and disgust of Jefferson, were returned to +their owners. + +Freneau's _Gazette_ supported the Secretary of State with the +desperation of an expiring cause; in this great final battle, were +Jefferson driven from the Cabinet, his faithful organ must scurry to the +limbo of its kind. It assailed the Administration for ingratitude and +meanness, then turned its attention almost exclusively to the Secretary +of the Treasury. It accused him of abstracting the moneys due to France, +of plundering the industrious farmer with the Excise Law, destroying the +morals of the people by Custom House duties; resurrected the old +discrimination cry and asserted vehemently that he, and he alone, had +robbed the poor soldiers. It raked every accusation, past and present, +from its pigeon holes. Jefferson, on the other hand, was held up as a +model of the disinterested statesman, combining virtues before which +those falsely attributed to Washington paled and expired; and as the +only man fit to fill the Executive Chair. Genet accepted all this as +gospel, fortunately, perhaps, for the country; for his own excesses and +impudence, his final threat to appeal from the President to the people, +ruined him with the cooling heads of the Republican party, and finally +lost him even the support of Jefferson. + +Meanwhile, after stormy meetings of the Cabinet, Hamilton, in the peace +of his library, with Angelica sorting his pages,--until she went to the +North,--had written a series of papers defending the proclamation. They +were so able and convincing, so demonstrable of the treasonable efforts +of the enemy to undermine the influence of the Administration, so cool +and so brilliant an exposition of the rights and powers of the +Executive, that on July 7th Jefferson wrote to Madison: "For God's sake, +my dear sir, take up your pen. Select the most striking heresies, and +cut him to pieces in the face of the public." + +Madison hastened to obey his chief in a series of papers which tickled +the literary nerve, but failed to convince. That the laurels were to +Hamilton was another bitter pill which Jefferson was forced to swallow. +Nevertheless, Hamilton, despite his victories, felt anything but +amiable. He was so exhausted that he was on the verge of a collapse, and +triumphs were drab under the daily harassment of Jefferson, Genet, and +Freneau. Matters came to a climax one day in August, shortly before the +outbreak of yellow fever. + + +XXXIV + +Hamilton laid down a copy of Freneau's _Gazette_, whose editorial +columns were devoted, as usual, to persuading the people of the United +States that they were miserable, and that they owed their misery to the +Secretary of the Treasury. It also contained a shameful assault upon the +President. As he lifted another paper from the pile on his library +table, his eyes fell on the following address to himself:-- + + O votary of despotism! O abettor of Carthaginian faith! Blush! Can + you for a moment suppose that the hearts of the yeomanry of America + are becoming chilled and insensible to the feelings of insulted + humanity like your own? Can you think that gratitude, the most + endearing disposition of the human heart, is to be argued away by + your dry sophistry? Do you suppose the people of the United States + prudently thumb over Vattel and Pufendorf to ascertain the sum and + substance of their obligations to their generous brethren, the + French? No! no! Each individual will lay his hand on his heart and + find the amount there. He will find that manly glow, both of + gratitude and love, which animated his breast when assisted by this + generous people in establishing his own liberty and shaking off the + yoke of British despotism! + +In the _Aurora_ he was denounced as the foe of France and the friend of +Great Britain and Spain, the high priest of tyranny, the bitterest enemy +of the immortal French trio, Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite; the subtle +and Machiavellian adviser of Washington, who, relieved of this +pernicious influence, would acknowledge the debts of gratitude and +follow the will of the American people. + +"Are they mad?" he thought, flinging the entire pile into the +waste-basket. "Or are they merely so eager for power and our ruin that +they are indifferent to the fact that the Administration, and the +foundations upon which it stands, never has needed the support of the +people more than now? Can only the party in power afford to be +patriotic? What a spectacle is this, that I, an alien born, am wearing +out my life and sacrificing my character, to save from themselves a +people who pant for my ruin! Has the game been worth the candle? Debt, +my family crowded into a house not half large enough to hold them, my +health almost gone, my reputation, in spite of repeated vindications, +undermined by daily assault--for the fools of the world believe what +they are told, and I cannot compromise my dignity by replying to such +attacks as these; above all, a sickening and constant disgust for life +and human nature! _Is_ the game worth the candle? Had I remained at the +bar, I should have given my family abundance by now; with only the kind +and quantity of enemies that stimulate. It is only politics that rouse +the hellish depths in the human heart. It is true that I have saved the +country, made it prosperous, happy, and honoured. But what guaranty have +I that this state will last beyond the administration of Washington? +With the Republicans in power the whole edifice may be swept away, the +country in a worse plight than before, and the author of its brief +prosperity forgotten with his works. I shall have lived in vain, and +leave my sons to be educated, my family to be supported, by my +father-in-law." + +He was in no mood to see the reverse side of the picture; and indeed his +cares were so many and overwhelming at this time that it is little +wonder he believed he had lost for ever the gay buoyancy of his spirits. +In addition to the predominating trials, financial matters were +demanding all the leisure he should have given to rest, heavy failures +in England having seriously affected the money concerns of the United +States; and the rebellions in the West against the Excise Law were +sounding a new alarm. Moreover, his constant efforts to obtain Duer's +release were unavailing; he could get no word of Lafayette; and the last +packet had brought a rumour of the murder of Gouverneur Morris by the +mob. Altogether, he may be excused for forgetting that he was still the +most dazzling figure in America, in the full tide of actual success, and +an object of terrified hatred to a powerful ring who could reach their +zenith over his political corpse, and by no other means whatever. + +He picked up his hat, and went forth reluctantly to a Cabinet meeting. +It was early, and he saw Washington for a few moments alone in the +library. The President was in a no more cheerful or amiable frame of +mind than himself. His responsibilities in this terrible crisis wore on +his spirits and temper; and the daily fear that his Secretaries would +come to blows,--for Jefferson was in the worst humour of the +quintette,--to say nothing of the assaults of the press, made him openly +regret the hour he was persuaded into the Executive Chair. But his +entire absence of party spirit, despite his secret sympathy with every +measure of Hamilton's, his attitude of stern neutrality, never emerged +more triumphantly from any trial of his public career; nor did he ever +exhibit the magnanimity of his character more strikingly than in his +undisturbed affection for Hamilton, while daily twitted with being the +tool of his "scheming and ambitious Secretary." + +Hamilton saw a copy of Freneau's _Gazette_ in the waste-basket, but by +common consent they ignored the subjects which would be unavoidable in a +few moments, and spoke of the stifling heat, of the unhealthy state of +Philadelphia, the menace of the San Domingo refugees pouring into the +city, of the piles of putrid coffee and hides on the wharves at the foot +of Mulberry Street, and of the carcasses of rotting hogs and horses +which lay everywhere. + +"Thank Heaven, we can get our women and children out of it," said the +President. "And unless we can finish this business in another week, I +shall take the Government to the country. I suppose we are entitled to +escape with our lives, if they leave us nothing else." + +They entered the Council Chamber and found the others in their +accustomed seats. Jefferson's brow was corrugated, his weak and mincing +mouth pressed out of shape. He had just finished reading the last of +Hamilton's "No Jacobin" papers, published that morning, in which Genet's +abominable breaches of decorum, violation of treaties, and deliberate +insults to the Executive--and through him to the American people--had +been set forth in so clear pointed and dispassionate a manner, that no +thinking Republican who read could fail to be convinced of the +falseness of his position in supporting this impudent and ridiculous +Frenchman. Furthermore, the Secretary of State had been forced, through +the exigencies of his position, to sign despatch after despatch, letter +after letter, in violation of his private sympathies. He was feeling not +only as angry as a cornered bull, but extremely virtuous. He hated what +he firmly believed to be the cold and selfish policy of the +Administration, as he hated every other policy it had executed; and the +knowledge that he had sacrificed his personal feelings to save his +country from discord, made him feel a far better man than the Secretary +of the Treasury, who had a diabolical talent for getting his own way. He +had some reason to be pleased with his conduct, and with his share in +contributing to a series of measures which later on won for the Cabinet +at that crucial period the encomiums of history; and when time had +abated the fevers, Hamilton would have been the first to acknowledge +that Jefferson not only was the brake which the Administration needed at +that time, but that, owing to his popularity with the French and the +masses of the United States, he reduced the danger of a popular +uprising. + +As Hamilton took his seat this morning, however, the blood was in his +head, and he and Jefferson exchanged a glance of sullen hate which made +Washington extend his long arms at once. All went well until the +President, with a premonitory sigh, introduced the dynamic name, Genet. +Hamilton forgot his debility, and was all mind, alert and energetic. +Jefferson, who had come to hate Genet as an intolerable nuisance, would +have been the first at another moment to counsel the demand for recall +which he knew was now inevitable, but he was in too bad a humour to-day +to concur in any measure agreeable to Hamilton. + +The latter had replied promptly to Washington's remark that the time had +come to take definite action with regard to the light-headed Frenchman, +who continued to fit out and despatch privateers, and was convulsing the +country generally. + +"Pray send him home, bag and baggage, sir. He is not entitled to the +dignity or consideration of the usual formalities. Moreover, he is the +trigger of the United States so long as he remains at liberty in it. I +estimate that there is a new Jacobin club formed daily. At any moment he +may do something which will drive these fools, under their red caps and +cockades, mad with admiration." + +Jefferson brought his brows down to the root of his nose. "'Fools' is +not the word for an honest enthusiasm for liberty, sir. I regret the +present excitement--its manifestations at this moment--as much as +anyone--" + +"Indeed? I am amazed. Who, then, is responsible for them?" + +"Not I, sir." + +"Oh, let us have no more hypocrisy, at all events," said Hamilton, +contemptuously. He had his wrath under control, but he suddenly +determined to force the climax. "If you had employed your secret pen to +better purpose, or not employed it at all, there would not be a Jacobin +club in the country; this ridiculous Frenchman, unencouraged by your +private sympathy, by your assurances of my inability to withhold the +residue of the debt, would have calmed down long since. I accuse you +here, deliberately and publicly, instead of writing private letters to +the public, both because I have not your commanding talent for patient +and devious ways, and because I wish you to declare, unequivocally, +whether or not you purpose to continue this policy of obstruction. Time +presses. We must act at once with regard to this Frenchman. Reserve +subterfuge for some more opportune time, and let us know what you intend +to do." + +Jefferson looked with appeal at Washington, who usually interposed when +his Secretaries arrived at personalities. But Washington, although his +face was as immobile as stone, was so sick with anger and disgust over +the whole situation, at what appeared to be the loss of the popular +faith in himself, and the ridicule and abuse which had filled the +columns of Freneau's paper that morning, that it was a relief to him to +hear Hamilton explode. + +"I repudiate every word you have said, sir," growled Jefferson. "More I +will not say. As to Citizen Genet, with whom I have never had a word of +private intercourse--" Here, even Washington lifted his head, and +Hamilton laughed outright. Jefferson continued, determined upon +martyrdom rather than rouse the terrible passions opposite: "As to +Citizen Genet, if the Cabinet agree that it is best he leave this +country. I shall demand that his recall be requested in the regular +manner, in accordance with every principle of international courtesy. He +may be imprudent, intoxicated with the glorious wine of liberty, but he +is a Frenchman, a distinguished citizen of the great country that came +so nobly to our rescue, and I protest against the base ingratitude which +would fling insults in the teeth of an unfortunate people." + +Hamilton threw back his head impatiently, and drummed with his fingers +on the table. "The primary motive of France for the assistance she gave +us was, obviously, to enfeeble a hated and powerful rival. A second +motive was to extend her relations of commerce in the new world, and to +acquire additional security for her possessions there, by forming a +connection with this country when detached from Great Britain. To +ascribe to her any other motives, to suppose that she was actuated by +friendship toward us, is to be ignorant of the springs of action which +invariably regulate the cabinets of princes. A despotic court aid a +popular revolution through sympathy with its principles! For the matter +of that, if you insist upon American statesmen being sentimental fools, +the class that assisted us has been murdered by the rabble, which I +refuse to recognize as France. And if it be your object to reduce this +country to a similar position that you may climb over maddened brains to +power--" + +"Hear!" roared Jefferson, justly indignant. "I? Never a man loved peace +as I do. My life has been hell since you have forced me into daily +conflict, when, God knows, I perish with desire for the peace of my +homely life in Virginia. Power! I scorn it, sir. I leave that to +restless upstarts like yourself--" + +He stopped, choking. Hamilton laughed contemptuously. "You are at work +with your pen day and night, strengthening your misnamed party, and +preparing the way by which you can lift yourself to a position where you +can undo all that the party you hate, because it is composed of +gentlemen, has accomplished for the honour and prosperity of your +country. You are perfectly well aware that Genet was sent here to stir +up a civil war, and embroil us with Europe at the same time, and you +have secretly sympathized with and encouraged him. I cannot make up my +mind whether you are a villain, or merely the victim of a sublimated and +paradoxical imagination. But in either case, I wish to be placed on +record as asserting that you are the worst enemy the United States is +cursed with to-day." + +This was too much for Jefferson, who had convinced himself that he was a +high-minded and self-sacrificing statesman, stooping to devious ways for +the common good. He forgot his physical fear, and shouted, pounding the +table with his fist:-- + +"How dare you, sir? How dare you? It is you who are ruining, corrupting, +and dishonouring this unhappy country, with your Banks, your devilish +methods to cement the aristocracy, your abominable Excise Law--" + +"Oh, but you have counteracted that so effectively! I was coming to that +point. I conceived a measure by which to meet an imperative financial +demand, and you, by your agents, by your secret machinations, have been +the author of insurrection after insurrection, of the most flagrant +breaches of the laws of your country. You have cost innumerable men, +engaged in the pursuit of plain duty, their self-respect, and in several +cases their lives. Another hideous problem is approaching--one, I am +persuaded, that can be solved by arms and bloodshed alone; and to your +pen, to your deliberate unsettling of men's minds, to the hatred you +have inspired for the lawful government of this country, to you, and to +you alone--" + +"It's a lie! a lie!" shouted Jefferson. "You are speaking to an +honourable man, sir! one who occupies a position in this country both by +birth and breeding that you would give your soul--you adventurer!--to +possess. Go back to your Islands! You have no place here among men of +honourable birth. It's monstrous that this country should be ruled by a +foreign bastard--!" + +For a moment, every one present had a confused idea that a tornado was +in the room. Then two doors were wrenched open, Jefferson fled down the +street, with Randolph, bearing his hat, in pursuit; Knox was holding +Hamilton firmly in his arms; and Washington, who had risen some moments +since, and stood staring in grim disgust, awaiting the end, was divided +between a desire to laugh, and to give way to a burst of fury himself. + +Hamilton had made no attempt to struggle when Knox caught him, but he +now withdrew from the relaxing arms, and the Secretary of War left the +room hastily. Hamilton, to Washington's astonishment, flung himself into +a chair, and dropped his head on his arms. In a moment, he began to sob +convulsively. A malignant fever was breeding in his depressed system; +the blood still surged in his head. He had a despairing sense that his +character was in ruins; he was humiliated to his depths; he despised +himself so bitterly that he forgot the existence of Jefferson. + +The humour and anger died out of Washington. He went forward hastily and +locked the door. Then he stooped over Hamilton, and pressed him closely +in his arms. + +"My dear boy!" he said huskily. "My dear boy!" + + +XXXV + +That was the last of Hamilton's battles in the Cabinet. Jefferson +resigned; although, in order that the Administration might, until the +crisis was past, preserve an unbroken front to the country, he +reluctantly consented to withhold his resignation until the assembling +of Congress. He retired to Monticello, however; and apologized to the +Secretary of the Treasury. + +Hamilton, almost immediately, was taken down with yellow fever, which +broke out suddenly and raged with a fearful violence. To the ordinary +odours of carcasses and garbage, were added those of vinegar, tar, +nitre, garlic, and gunpowder. Every disinfectant America had ever heard +of was given a trial, and every man who possessed a shot-gun fired it +all day and all night. The bells tolled incessantly. The din and the +smells were hideous, the death carts rattled from dawn till dawn; many +were left unburied in their houses for a week; hundreds died daily; and +the city confessed itself helpless, although it cleaned the streets. +Hamilton had a very light attack, but Dr. Stevens dropped in frequently +to see him; he privately thought him of more importance than all +Philadelphia. + +Lying there and thinking of many things, too grateful for the rest to +chafe at the imprisonment, and striving for peace with himself, Hamilton +one day conceived the idea of immersing yellow-fever patients in +ice-water. Microbes were undiscovered, but Hamilton, perhaps with a +flashing glimpse of the truth, reasoned that if cold weather invariably +routed the disease, a freezing of the infected blood should produce the +same result. He succeeded in convincing Stevens, with the issue that +when the scourge was over, the young West Indian doctor had so many +cures to his credit, where all other physicians had failed, that the +City Council presented him with a silver tankard, gratefully inscribed, +and filled with golden coins. Hamilton's fecund brain, scattering its +creations, made more than one reputation. + +Meanwhile, he awoke one day to find Mrs. Croix sitting beside his bed. +She had left town in June, and usually did not return until late in +September. She wore a white frock and a blue sash, and looked like an +angel about to do penance. + +"I have come back to take care of the sick, including yourself," she +announced, "I was born to be a nurse, and I felt that my place was here. +I have come to see you first, and I shall call daily, but otherwise I am +in Dr. Stevens's hands." + +Hamilton stared at her. He was not surprised, for she was kind hearted +in her erratic imperious fashion, and much beloved by the poor; nor was +she afraid of anything under heaven. But she was the last person he had +wished to see; she was for his triumphant hours, or his furious, not for +helpless invalidism. He had longed consistently for his wife, and +written to her by every packet-boat, lest she suspect his illness and +return to the plague-stricken city. He was filled with a sudden +resentment that any other woman should presume to fill her chair. To +forget her under overwhelming provocation he had reconciled to his +conscience with little difficulty, for his extenuations were many, and +puritanism had not yet invaded the national character; but to permit +another woman to ministrate to him when ill, he felt to be an +unpardonable breach of his Eliza's rights, and his loyalty rebelled. So, +although he treated Mrs. Croix with politeness while she remained, he +gave orders to Dr. Stevens to keep her away upon any pretext he chose. +"I am too nervous to be bothered with women," he added; and Stevens +obeyed without comment. + +Hamilton's convalescence was cheered by two facts: the revival of his +spirits and equilibrium, and frequent assurances from his wife that for +the first time in five years she was entirely well. She wrote that she +had regained all her old colour, "spring," vivacity, and plumpness, and +felt quite ten years younger. Hamilton was delighted; for her courage +had so far exceeded her strength that he had often feared a collapse. +Although she detested the sight of a pen, she was so elated with her +recovered health that she wrote to him weekly. Suddenly, and without +explanation, the letters stopped. Still, he was quite unprepared for +what was to follow, and on the first of October, his health improved by +a short sojourn in the country, he went to the wharf to meet the +packet-boat which invariably brought his family; his pockets full of +sweets, and not a misgiving in his mind. + +As he stood on the wharf, watching the boat towed slowly to dock, his +four oldest children suddenly appeared, waving their hats and shouting +like young Indians. James, who was as broad as he was long, and was +wedged firmly between Angelica and Philip lest he turn over, swelled a +chorus which excited much amusement among by-standers. To Hamilton's +surprise his wife did not occupy her usual place behind that +enthusiastic group, but as the boat touched the pier, and all four +precipitated themselves upon him at once,--the three oldest about his +neck, and James upon his pockets,--he forgot her for the moment in the +delight of seeing and embracing his children after three months of +separation. He emerged from that wild greeting, dishevelled and +breathless, only to disappear once more within six long arms and a +circle of sunburned faces. Hamilton received from his children an almost +frantic affection; indeed, few people merely liked him; it was either +hate or a love which far transcended the bounds of such affection as the +average mortal commands. The passion he inspired in his children cost +one his life, another her reason, and left its indelible mark on a +third; but for what they gave, they received an overflowing measure in +return; no man was ever more passionately attached to his brood, nor +took a greater delight in its society. + +Suddenly, through the web of Angelica's flying locks, he saw that his +wife had appeared on deck and was about to land. He disentangled himself +hastily and went forward to greet her. In a flash he noted that she was +prettier than ever, and that she was affected by something far more +extraordinary than an increase of health. She threw back her head, and +her black eyes flashed with anger as he approached with the assurance of +thirteen years of connubial ownership; but she greeted him politely and +took his arm. No explanation was possible there; and he escorted her and +the children to the coach as quickly as possible. Philip, Angelica, and +Alexander were sensible at once of the chasm yawning between the seats; +they redoubled their attentions to their father, and regarded their +mother with reproving and defiant eyes. Poor Betsey, conscious that she +was entirely in the right, felt bitter and humiliated, and sought to +find comfort in the indifference of James, who was engaged with a +cornucopia and blind to the infelicity of his parents. + +When they reached the house, Hamilton dismissed the children and opened +the door of his library. + +"Will you come in?" he said peremptorily. + +Mrs. Hamilton entered, and sat down on a high-backed chair. She was very +small, her little pigeon toes were several inches above the floor; but +no judge on his bench ever looked so stern and so inexorable. + +"Now," said Hamilton, who was cold from head to foot, for he had an +awful misgiving, "let us have an explanation at once. This is our first +serious misunderstanding, and you well know that I shall be in misery +until it is over--" + +"I have not the least intention of keeping you in suspense," interrupted +Betsey, sarcastically. "I am too thankful that you did not happen to +come to Saratoga when _I_ was prostrated with misery. I have gone +through everything,--every stage of wretchedness that the human heart is +capable of,--but now, thank Heaven, I am filled with only a just +indignation. Read that!" + +She produced a letter from her reticule and flipped it at him. Even +before he opened it he recognized the familiar handwriting, the profuse +capitals, of Mrs. Reynolds. Fortunately, he made no comment, for the +contents were utterly different from his quick anticipation. It +contained a minute and circumstantial account of his visits during the +past year to Mrs. Croix, with many other details, which, by spying and +bribing, no doubt, she had managed to gather. Failing one revenge, the +woman had resorted to another, and fearing that it might be lost among +the abundant and surfeiting lies of the public press, she had aimed at +what he held most dear. The letter was so minute and circumstantial that +it would have convinced almost any woman. + +There was but one thing for Hamilton to do, and he lied with his +unsurpassable eloquence. When he paused tentatively, his wife +remarked:-- + +"Alexander, you are a very great man, but you are a wretchedly poor +liar. As Mr. Washington would say, your sincerity is one of the most +valuable of your gifts, and without it you could not convince a child. +As if this were not enough, only yesterday, on the boat, I overheard two +of your intimate friends discussing this intrigue as a matter of course. +There was not a word of censure or criticism; they were merely wondering +when you would add to your enemies; for as this woman was desperately in +love with you, she was bound to hate you as violently when you tired of +her. I think men are horrors!" she burst out passionately. "When, unable +to bear this terrible affliction any longer, and unwilling to worry my +poor mother, I took that letter and my grief to my father--what do you +suppose he said? After he had tried to convince me that the story was a +base fabrication, and that an anonymous communication should be +destroyed unread--as if any woman living would not read an anonymous +letter!--he said, crossly, that women did not understand men and never +made allowances for them; and he went on to make as many excuses for you +as if he were defending himself; and then wound up by saying that he did +not believe a word of it, and that the letter was written by someone you +had flouted. But it seemed to me in those awful days that I was awake +for the first time, that for the first time I understood you--and your +horrid sex, in general--I do! I do!" + +She looked so adorable with her flashing eyes, the hot colour in her +cheek, and the new personality she exhibited, that Hamilton would have +foregone a triumph over his enemies to kiss her. But he dared not make a +false move, and he was terribly perplexed. + +"I can only reiterate," he said, "that this letter is a lie from +beginning to end. It is written by a woman, who, with her husband, has +blackmailed me and jeopardized my reputation. I treated them as they +deserved, and this is their next move. As for Mrs. Croix, I repeat, she +is a most estimable person, whose brilliant wit and talent for politics +draw all public men about her. There is hardly one among them who might +not be victimized by a similar attack. I doubt if I have called half as +often as many others. As for the friends whom you heard discussing my +visits--you know the love of the human mind for scandal. Please be +reasonable. You have made me the most wretched man on earth, I shall be +unfit for public duty or anything else if you continue to treat me in +this brutal manner. I hardly know you. No woman was ever more loved by +her husband or received more devotion." + +Betsey almost relented, he looked so miserable. But she replied firmly: +"There is one condition I have a right to make. If you agree to it, I +will consider if I can bring myself to believe your denial and your +protestations. It is that you never enter Mrs. Croix's house again, nor +see her willingly." + +Hamilton knew what the promise would mean, but his mind worked with the +rapidity of lightning in great crises, and never erred. He replied +promptly: + +"I will see her once, and once only--to give her a decent reason for not +calling again--that I understand I am compromising her good name, or +something of the sort. I have accepted too much hospitality at her hands +to drop her brusquely, without a word of explanation." + +"You can write her a letter. You can merely send polite excuses when she +invites you. You are very busy. You have every excuse. Gradually, she +will think no more about you--if it be true that she is nothing to you. +You have your choice, sir! Either your promise, or I return by the next +packet to Albany." + +But Hamilton, always considerate of women, and despising the weakness +and brutality which permits a man to slink out of an amour, would not +retreat, and Betsey finally settled herself in her chair, and said, with +unmistakable determination:-- + +"Very well, go now. I shall not move from this room--this chair--until +you return." + +Hamilton caught his hat and left the house. Although he was possessed by +the one absorbing desire to win back his wife, who had never been so +dear as to-day, when for the first time she had placed him at arm's +length and given him a thorough fright, still his brain, accustomed to +see all sides of every question at once, and far into the future, spoke +plainly of the hour when he would regret the loss of Mrs. Croix. He +might forget her for weeks at a time, but he always reawakened to a +sense of her being with a glowing impression that the world was more +alive and fair. The secret romance had been very dear and pleasant. The +end was come, however, and he was eager to pass it. + +His eye was attracted to a chemist's window, and entering the shop +hastily, he purchased a bottle of smelling salts. The act reminded him +of Mrs. Mitchell, and that he had not heard from her for several months. +He resolved to write that night, and permitted his mind to wander to the +green Island which was almost lost among his memories. The respite was +brief, however. + +To his relief he found Mrs. Croix in her intellectual habit. The lady, +who was reading in the door of her boudoir above the garden steps, +exclaimed, without formal greeting:-- + +"I am transported, sir. Such descriptions never were written before. +Listen!" + +Hamilton, who hated descriptions of scenery at any time, and was in his +most direct and imperative temper, stood the infliction but a moment, +then asked her attention. She closed the book over her finger and smiled +charmingly. + +"Forgive me for boring you," she said graciously. "But you know my +passion for letters; and if truth must be told, I am a little piqued. I +have not laid eyes on you for a fortnight. Not but that I am used to +your lapses of memory by this time," she added, with a sigh. + +Hamilton went straight to the point. He told her the exact reason for +the necessary breach, omitting nothing but the episode of Mrs. Reynolds; +one cause of reproach was as much as a man could be expected to furnish +an angry woman. + +For Mrs. Croix was very angry. At first she had pressed her hand against +her heart as if about to faint, and Hamilton had hastily extracted the +salts; but the next moment she was on her feet, towering and expanding +like an avenging queen about to order in her slaves with scimitars and +chargers. + +"Do you mean," she cried, "that I am flouted, flung aside like an old +cravat? I? With half the men in America in love with me? Good God, sir! +I have known from the beginning that you would tire, but I thought to be +on the watch and save my pride. How dare you come like this? Why could +you not give me warning? It is an outrage. I would rather you had killed +me." + +"I am sorry I have blundered," said Hamilton, humbly. "But how in +Heaven's name can a man know how a woman will take anything? I had such +respect for your great intelligence that I thought it due you to treat +you as I would a man--" + +"A man?" exclaimed Mrs. Croix. "Treat me like a man! Of all the +supremely silly things I ever heard one of your sex say, that is the +silliest. I am not a man, and you know it." + +Hamilton hastened to assure her that she was deliberately averting her +intelligence from his true meaning. "You have never doubted my sincerity +for a moment," he added. "You surely know what it will cost me never to +see you again. There is but one cause under heaven that could have +brought me to you with this decision. You may believe in my regret--to +use a plain word--when you reflect upon all that you have been to me." + +He was desperately afraid that her anger would dissolve in tears, and he +be placed in a position from which he was not sure of emerging with a +clear conscience,--and he dared take home nothing less. But Mrs. Croix, +however she might feel on the morrow, was too outraged in her pride and +vanity to be susceptible either to grief or the passion of love. She +stormed up and down the room in increasing fury, her eyes flashing blue +lightning, her strong hands smashing whatever costly offering they +encountered. "Wives! Wives! Wives!" she screamed. "The little fools! +What are wives for but to keep house and bring up babies? They are a +class apart. I have suffered enough from their impertinent interference. +Am I not a woman apart? Will you assert that there is a 'wife' in +America who can hold her own with me for a moment in anything? Was I not +created to reveal to men--and only the ablest, for I waste no time on +fools--the very sublimation of my sex--a companionship they will find +in no silly little fool, stupid with domesticity? Am I to submit, then, +to be baulked by a sex I despise--and in the greatest passion that ever +possessed a woman?" She stopped and laughed, bringing her lashes +together and moving forward her beautiful lips. "What a fool I am!" she +said. "You will come back when the humour seizes you. I had forgot that +your family returned to-day. You are in your most domestic mood--and I +have been inflicted with that before. But there will come an hour when +neither your wife nor any other mortal power will keep you away from me. +Is it not true?" + +Hamilton had turned pale; his ready imagination had responded with a +presentiment of many desperate struggles. He rose, and took her hand +forcibly. + +"No," he said. "I shall not return. Believe me, that is the hardest +sentence I have ever pronounced upon myself. And forgive me if I have +been rude and inconsiderate. It was the result of the desire to have the +agony over as quickly as possible. I should have found the anticipation +unbearable, and I do not believe it would have been more soothing to +you. There is no reason why your pride should be wounded, for this is +not the result of satiety on my part, but of an imperative necessity. +Shake hands with me." + +She wrenched her hand free and, seizing a vase, flung it into a mirror. +Hamilton retreated. + + +XXXVI + +He had been gone just thirty-five minutes, Betsey received him with +stern approval and announced that she had implicit faith in his promise +to avoid Mrs. Croix in the future. But it was quite evident that his +punishment was unfinished, and with due humility and some humour he +bided her pleasure. Between the two women he had a lively month. Mrs. +Croix wrote him a letter a day. At first it was evident that she had +taken herself in hand, that her pen was guided by her marvellous +intelligence. She apologized charmingly for her exhibition of temper, +and for any reflection she might have made upon the most estimable of +women, who (with a sigh) had the happiness to be the wife of Alexander +Hamilton. She ignored his ultimatum and asked him to come at once, and +talk the matter over calmly. Hamilton replied with the graceful +playfulness of which he was master, but left no doubt of his continuity +of purpose. After the interchange of several letters of this complexion, +in which Mrs. Croix was quite conscious of revealing the ample resources +of her wit, spirit, and tact, she broke down and went through every +circumstance of a despairing woman fighting to recover the supreme +happiness of her life. At times she was humble, she prostrated herself +at his feet. Again she raved with all the violence of her nature. Her +pride, and it was very great, was submerged under the terrible agony of +her heart. Even passion was forgotten, and she was sincere for the +moment when she vowed that she had no wish beyond his mere presence. + +Hamilton was horribly distressed. He would rather she had turned upon +him at once with all her tigerish capacity for hate. But he had given +his word to his wife, and that was the end of it. He answered every +letter, but his gallantry and kindness were pitch and oil, and it was +with profound relief that he watched the gradual stiffening of her +pride, the dull resentment, even although he knew it meant that an +enemy, subtle, resourceful, and venomous, was in the process of making. +In her final letter she gave him warning--and a last opportunity. But of +this he took no notice. + +Meanwhile, Betsey had led him a dance. Naturally bright, but heretofore +too sheltered and happy, too undisturbed in her trust, she had done +little thinking, little analysis, felt nothing but amusement for the +half-comprehended vagaries of men. But jealousy and suffering give a +woman, in a week, a fill of knowledge and cunning that will serve her a +lifetime. Betsey developed both coquetry and subtlety. She knew that if +she obtained command of the situation now, she should hold it to the +end, and she was determined that this crisis should result in a close +and permanent union. If she finally believed his denial, she was much +too shrewd to give him the satisfaction of regaining his former mastery +of her mind; but she ceased to speak of it. Meanwhile, he was devoting +his energies to winning her again, and he had never found life so +interesting. She radiated a new bewitchment, and he had always thought +her the most adorable woman on the planet. He divined a good many of her +mental processes; but if he was a trifle amused, he was deeply +respectful. She was sufficiently uncertain in this new character to +torment him unbearably, and when she occasionally betrayed that she was +interested and fascinated, he was transported. When she finally +succumbed, he was more in love than he had ever been in his life. + + +XXXVII + +The next seven years of Hamilton's life must be reviewed very rapidly. +Interesting as they might be made, space diminishes, and after all they +were but the precursor of the last great battle of the giants. + +In the spring of 1794 the Virginian ring rallied for their final assault +in Congress. Their spokesman this time was a worthless man, named +Fraunces, and he brought forth a charge against the Secretary of the +Treasury of unfaithfulness in office. Hamilton promptly demanded another +investigation. The result may be found in the following letters from +eminent Federals in Virginia. The first is from Colonel Carrington, +dated Richmond, July 9th. + + I do not write this letter as congratulatory upon the final issue + of the Inquiry into the Treasury Department, as I never conceived + you exposed to receive injury therefrom. I write to express my most + sincere wishes that you will not suffer the illiberality with which + you have been treated to deprive the public of your services, at + least until the storm which hangs over us, and is to be dreaded, + not less from our own follies and vices than the malignance and + intrigues of foreigners, blows over. It is true you have been + abused, but it has been and still is, the fate of him who was + supposed out of the reach of all slander. It is indeed the lot, in + some degree, of every man amongst us who has the sense or fortitude + to speak and act rationally, and such men must continue so to speak + and act if we are saved from anarchy. + +On July 20th, Thomas Corbin wrote to Hamilton deploring the political +conditions in Virginia created by Thomas Jefferson, in which these +significant passages occur:-- + + + Calumny and misrepresentation are the only weapons made use of by + the faction of Virginia. By a dexterous management of these they + have brought into popular disrepute, and even into popular odium, + some of the wisest and best characters in the United States. + + War is waged by this faction against every candidate who possesses + the union of requisites. Independent fortune, independent + principles, talents, and integrity are denounced as badges of + aristocracy; but if you add to these good manners and a decent + appearance, his political death is decreed without the benefit of a + hearing. In short, with a few exceptions everything that appertains + to the character of a gentleman is ostracized. That yourself and + Mr. Jay should be no favorites in Virginia, is not to be wondered + at. But all those whose good opinion is worth your acceptance + entertain for you both the same veneration and esteem, and hear the + aspersions of your enemies with the same indignation that I do; + who, after the closest examination, and the purest conviction can + conscientiously subscribe myself etc. + +In the autumn the whiskey disturbances in western Pennsylvania assumed +such serious proportions that Hamilton insisted upon recourse to arms. +With his usual precision he had calculated the numbers of the +insurgents, and the amount of troops necessary to overwhelm them. +Washington issued requisitions for fifteen thousand men, and set out +with the troops, his first intention being to command in person. +Hamilton accompanied him, and upon the President's return to +Philadelphia, assumed the general superintendence of the army, whose +commander, Henry Lee, was one of his devoted adherents. Many motives +have been ascribed to Hamilton for this exceptional proceeding, and +Washington was bitterly assailed for "not being able to move without his +favourite Secretary at his elbow," and for giving additional +conspicuousness to a man whose power already was a "menace to Republican +liberties." Randolph, then the nominal Secretary of State, but quite +aware that while Hamilton remained in the Cabinet he was but a +figurehead, was so wroth, that later, in his futile "Vindication," +following what practically was his expulsion from the Cabinet, he +animadverted bitterly upon a favour which no one but Hamilton would +have presumed to ask. Fauchet, the successor of Genet, in the +intercepted letter to his government, which brought about the fall of +Randolph, convicting him of corruption and treachery, has this to say:-- + + The army marched; the President made known that he was going to + command it; Hamilton, as I have understood, requested to follow + him; the President dared not refuse him. It does not require much, + penetration to divine the object of this journey. In the President + it was wise, it might also be his duty. But in Mr. Hamilton it was + a consequence of the profound policy which directs all his steps; a + measure dictated by a perfect knowledge of the human heart. Was it + not interesting for him, for his party, tottering under the weight + of events without and accusations within, to proclaim an intimacy + more perfect than ever with the President, whose very name is a + sufficient shield against the most formidable attacks? Now, what + more evident mark could the President give of his intimacy than by + suffering Mr. Hamilton, whose name, even, is understood in the west + as that of a public enemy, to go and place himself at the head of + the army which went, if I may use the expression, to cause his + system to triumph against the opposition of the people? The + presence of Mr. Hamilton with the army must attach it more than + ever to his party. + +There were depths in Hamilton's mind which no wise mortal will ever +attempt to plumb. It is safe to say he did nothing without one eye on a +far-reaching policy; and aside from the pleasure of being in the saddle +once more, riding over the wild Alleghanies in keen October weather, +after four years of the stenches and climatic miseries of Philadelphia, +aside from his fear of Governor Miffin's treachery, and his lack of +implicit confidence in Lee's judgement, it is quite likely that he had +some underlying motive relative to the advantage of his party, which had +been weakened by the incessant assaults upon himself. By going with the +army he not only demonstrated the perfect confidence reposed in him by +Washington, and his determination that his laws should be enforced, but +he gave emphasis to his belief that the resistance to the Excise Law had +been deliberately instigated by the Republicans under the leadership of +his avowed enemies. In this connection the following extract from +Fauchet's letter is highly interesting, intimate as he was with the +Republican leaders. + + Such therefore were the parts of the public grievance, upon which + the western people most insisted. Now, these complaints were + systematizing by the conversations of influential men, who retired + into those wild countries, and who from principle, or from a series + of particular heart-burnings, animated discontents already too near + to effervescence. At last the local explosion is effected. The + western people calculated on being supported by some distinguished + characters in the east, and even imagined they had in the bosom of + the government some abettors, who might share in their grievance or + their principle. + +The rioters, sobered by the organized force and its formidable numbers, +surrendered without bloodshed. + +In January of the following year Hamilton resigned from the Cabinet. The +pressing need of his services was over, and he had many reasons for +retiring from office: his health was seriously impaired, he had a +growing family of boys to educate; he expected his father by every ship +from the Windward Islands, to spend his last years in the home to which +his son had so often invited him; Mrs. Mitchell was now a widow and +almost penniless; and his disgust of office was so uncompromising that +no consideration short of an imperative public duty would have induced +him to continue. But his principal reason, as he wrote to Mrs. Church, +was that he wished to indulge his domestic happiness more freely. +Washington let him go with the less reluctance because he promised +immediate response to any demand the President might make upon him. He +went with his wife, Angelica, and the younger children to Albany and the +Saratoga estate, where he remained until the first of June, endeavouring +to regain his health in the forest and on the river. Young Lafayette +lived with him until his return to France, in 1798. + +Upon Hamilton's return to New York he immediately engaged in practice, +which he supplemented by coaching students; but he continued to be +Washington's chief adviser, and the correspondence was continuous upon +every problem which confronted the harassed President. Indeed, when one +reads its bulk, one wonders if the Cabinet did anything but execute +Hamilton's suggestions. Randolph kicked his heels in impotent wrath, and +his successor's correspondence with Hamilton was almost as voluminous +as Washington's. So was Wolcott's, who hardly cancelled a bond without +his former chief's advice; William Smith, the auditor-general, was +scarcely less insistent for orders. Hamilton wrote at length to all of +them, as well as to the numerous members of Congress who wanted advice, +or an interpretation of some Constitutional provision hitherto on the +shelf. What time he had for his practice and students would remain a +mystery, were it not for the manifest price he paid in the vigours of +all but will and brain. + +During the summer of 1794 Talleyrand visited the United States. He +brought a package from Mrs. Church to Mrs. Hamilton, and a cordial +letter from the same important source to the statesman whom he ranked +higher than any man of his time. "He improves upon acquaintance," wrote +Mrs. Church to her sister; "I regret that you do not speak French." But +her sister's husband spoke French better than any man in America, and +after the resignation from the Cabinet, Talleyrand spent most of his +time in the little red brick house at 26 Broadway, where Hamilton was +working to recover his lost position at the bar. "I have seen the eighth +wonder of the world," wrote the Frenchman, one morning, after a ramble +in the small hours, which had taken him past the light in Hamilton's +study, "I have seen the man who has made the fortune of a nation, +toiling all night to supply his family with bread." The men found great +delight in each other's society. Hamilton was the most accomplished and +versatile man in America, the most brilliant of conversationists, the +most genial of companions, and hospitable of hosts. Talleyrand +epitomized Europe to him; and the French statesman had met no one in his +crowded life who knew it better. If he gave to Hamilton the concentrated +essence of all that ardent brain had read and dreamed of, of all that +fate had decreed he never should see in the mass, Talleyrand placed on +record his tribute to Hamilton's unmortal powers of divination, and +loved and regretted him to the close of his life. + +Different as the men were in character, they had two points in +common,--a passionate patriotism, and the memory of high ideals. Public +life had disposed of Talleyrand's ideals, and Hamilton, after an +education in the weakness and wickedness of human nature which left +nothing to be desired, would have been equally destitute, had it not +been for his temperamental gaiety and buoyant philosophy. There were +times when these deserted him, and he brooded in rayless depths, but his +Celtic inheritance and the vastness of his intellect saved him from +despair until the end. Talleyrand was by no means an uncheerful soul; +but his genius, remarkable as it was, flowed between narrower lines, and +was unwatered by that humanity which was Hamilton's in such volume. Both +men had that faculty of seeing things exactly as they are, which the +shallow call cynicism; and those lost conversations appeal to the +imagination of the searcher after truth. + +Jay's treaty was the most formidable question with which Hamilton was +called upon to deal before the retirement of Washington to private life, +and it gave him little less trouble than if he had remained in the +Cabinet. + +It had been his idea to send a special envoy to England to remonstrate +with the British Government for her abominable oppressions and +accumulating outrages, decide if possible upon a treaty with her which +would soothe the excitement in the United States,--as wild in the spring +of 1794 as the Jacobin fever,--and avert war. It was the desire of +Washington and the eminent Federalists that this mission be undertaken +by Hamilton, for he had an especial faculty for getting what he wanted: +however obstinate he might be, his diplomacy was of the first order when +he chose to use it. But he believed that, having suggested the mission, +he could not with propriety accept it, and that his services could be +given more effectively in the Cabinet. Moreover, the violent opposition +which the proposal immediately raised among the Republicans, notably +Randolph and Monroe,--the latter so far transcending etiquette as to +write to Washington, denouncing his Secretary of the Treasury,--made it +probable that his enemies would defeat his confirmation in the Senate. +He suggested the name of Chief Justice Jay; and after the usual bitter +preliminaries, that exalted but not very forcible personage sailed for +England in the latter part of April, 1794. Negotiations were very slow, +for Britain still felt for us a deep and sullen resentment, nourished by +our Jacobin enthusiasms. In January, however, news came that the treaty +was concluded; and Hamilton, supposing that the matter was settled, +resigned from the Cabinet. It has been asserted that when he read this +famous instrument, he characterized it as "an old woman's treaty," and +it is very probable that he did. Nevertheless, when, after a stormy +passage through the Senate, it was launched upon the country, and, +systematically manipulated by the practised arts of Jacobinism, carried +the United States almost to the verge of civil war, Hamilton accepted +the treaty as the best obtainable, and infinitely preferable to further +troubles. He took up his pen, having previously been stoned while +attempting to speak in its defence, and in a series of papers signed +"Catullus," wrote as even he had not done since the days of "The +Federalist." Their effect was felt at once; and as they continued to +issue, and Hamilton's sway over the public mind, his genius for moulding +opinion, became with each more manifest, Jefferson, terrified and +furious, wrote to Madison:-- + + Hamilton is really a Colossus to the anti-Republican party. Without + numbers he is a host in himself. They have got themselves into a + defile where they might be finished; but too much security on the + Republican part will give time to his talents and indefatigableness + to extricate them. We have had only middling performances to oppose + him. In truth when he comes forward there is no one but yourself + can meet him.... For God's sake take up your pen and give a + fundamental reply to "Curtius" and "Camillus." + +But Madison had had enough of pen encounter with Hamilton. "He who puts +himself on paper with Hamilton is lost," Burr had said; and Madison +agreed with him, and entered the lists no more. The excitement gradually +subsided. It left ugly scars behind it, but once more Hamilton had saved +his party, and perhaps the Union. In connection with the much disputed +authorship of the Farewell Address I will merely quote a statement, +heretofore unpublished, made by Mrs. Hamilton, in the year 1840. + + Desiring that my children shall be fully acquainted with the + services rendered by their father to our country, and the + assistance rendered by him to General Washington during his + administrations, for the one great object, the independence and + stability of the government of the United States, there is one + thing in addition to the numerous proofs which I leave them, and + which I feel myself in duty bound to state: which is that a short + time previous to General Washington's retiring from the Presidency, + in the year 1796, General Hamilton suggested to him the idea of + delivering a farewell address to the people on his withdrawal from + public life, with which idea General Washington was well pleased, + and in his answer to General Hamilton's suggestion, gave him the + heads of the subject on which he would wish to remark, with a + request that Mr. Hamilton would prepare a draft for him. Mr. + Hamilton did so, and the address was written principally at such + times as his office was seldom frequented by his clients and + visitors, and during the absence of his students to avoid + interruption; at which times he was in the habit of calling me to + sit with him, that he might read to me as he wrote, in order, as he + said, to discover how it sounded upon the ear, and making the + remark, "My dear Eliza, you must be to me what old Moliere's nurse + was to him." + + The whole or nearly all the "address" was read to me by him, as he + wrote it, and the greater part if not all was written in my + presence. The original was forwarded to General Washington, who + approved of it with the exception of one paragraph; of, I think, + from four to five lines, which, if I mistake not, was on the + subject of the public schools; which was stricken out. It was + afterward returned to Mr. Hamilton who made the desired alteration, + and was afterward delivered to General Washington, and published in + that form, and has since been known as "General Washington's + Farewell Address." Shortly after the publication of the address, my + husband and myself were walking in Broadway when an old soldier + accosted him with the request of him to purchase General + Washington's farewell address, which he did, and turning to me + said, "That man does not know he has asked me to purchase my own + work." + + The whole circumstances are at this moment so perfectly in my mind + that I can call to mind his bringing General Washington's letter to + me, who returned the address, and remarked on the only alteration + which he (General Washington) had requested to be made. + + New York, Aug. 7th, 1840. + + ELIZABETH HAMILTON. JAMES A. WASHINGTON. JA.R. MACDONALD. + +In 1797 Hamilton was forced by treachery and the malignancy of +Jacobinism into the most painful and mortifying act of his public +career. He had been hailed by certain enthusiastic Federalists as the +legitimate successor of Washington. It was a noble ambition, and there +is no doubt that Hamilton would have cherished it, had he been less of a +philosopher, less in the habit of regarding a desire for the impossible +as a waste of time. Not only were older men in the direct line of +promotion, but he knew that as the author of the Excise Law he was hated +by one section of the Commonwealth, and that as the parent of the +manufacturing interest, to say nothing of the Assumption measure, he had +incurred the antagonism of the entire South. Lest these causes for +disqualification be obscured by the brilliancy of his reputation, +Jefferson's unresting and ramifying art had indelibly impressed the +public mind with the monarchical-aristocratical tendencies and designs +of the former Secretary of the Treasury, and of his hatred for a beloved +cause overseas. Hamilton had given an absolute negative to every +suggestion to use his name; but one at least had found its way into +print, and so terrified the enemy that they determined upon one more +powerful blow at his good name. Monroe had a fresh cause for hatred in +his humiliating recall from France, which he ascribed to the influence +of Hamilton. No doubt the trio were well satisfied for a time with their +carefully considered scheme. The pamphlet published in 1797, called "The +History of the United States for 1796," and edited by a disreputable man +named Callender, was the concentrated essence of Jacobinical fury and +vindictiveness against Alexander Hamilton. It surpassed any attack yet +made on him, while cleverly pretending to be an arraignment of the +entire Federalist party; shrieking so loudly at times against +Washington, Adams, and Jay, that the casual reader would overlook the +sole purport of the pamphlet. "It is ungenerous to triumph over the +ruins of declining fame," magnanimously finished its attack upon +Washington. "Upon this account not a word more shall be said!" + +It omitted a recital of the two Congressional attacks upon Hamilton's +financial integrity, as to refrain from all mention of the vindications +would have been impossible; but it raked up everything else for which +it had space, sought to prove him a liar by his defence of the Jay +treaty in the Camillus papers, and made him insult Washington in +language so un-Hamiltonian that to-day it excites pity for the +desperation of the Virginians. When it finally arrived at the pith and +marrow of the assault, however, it was with quite an innocent air. This +was a carefully concocted version of the Reynolds affair. Callender had +obtained possession of the papers which Monroe, Muhlenberg, and Venable +had prepared to submit to the President, before hearing Hamilton's +explanation. He asserted that this explanation was a lie, and that the +Secretary of the Treasury had not only speculated with the public funds, +but that he had made thirty thousand pounds by the purchase of army +certificates. It was also alleged that Hamilton ordered his name +withdrawn as a Presidential candidate, in consequence of a threat that +otherwise these same papers would be published. + +It is a curious instance of the fatuity of contemporaries, that +Hamilton's enemies reckoned upon a sullen silence, in the face of +damning assault, from the greatest fighter of his time. Indubitably, +they argued that he would think it best to pass the matter over; no man +could be expected to give to the public the full explanation. But they +reckoned with an insufficient knowledge of this host, as they had done +many a time before. Hamilton had no desire to hold office again, but he +was still the great leader of a great party, as determined as ever that +at no cost should there be a stain on his public honour. He consulted +with his closest friends, among them his wife. As the sin was now five +years old--and the woman a derelict--Mrs. Hamilton found it easier to +forgive than an unconfessed liaison with the most remarkable woman of +her time. Although she anticipated the mortification of the exposure +quite as keenly as her husband, she cherished his good name no less +tenderly, and without hesitation counselled him to give the facts to the +public. This he did in a pamphlet which expounded the workings of the +"Jacobin Scandal Club," told the unpleasant story without reserve, and +went relentlessly into the details of the part played in it by Monroe, +Muhlenberg, and Venable. He forced affidavits from those bewildered +gentlemen, the entire correspondence was published, and the pamphlet +itself was a masterpiece of biting sarcasm and convincing statement. It +made a tremendous sensation, but even his enemies admired his courage. +The question of his financial probity was settled for all time, although +the missile, failing in one direction, quivered in the horrified brains +of many puritanical voters. Mrs. Reynolds, now living with Clingman, +made no denial, and it is doubtful if even she would have echoed the one +animadversion of the discomfited enemy,--that Hamilton had given the +name of a mistress to the public. It is a weak and dangerous +sentimentalism which would protect a woman of commerce against the good +name of any man. The financial settlement makes her a party in a +contract, nothing more, and acquits the payer of all further +responsibility. She has no good name to protect; she has asked for +nothing but money; she is a public character, whom to shield would be a +thankless task. When this Reynolds woman added the abomination of +blackmail to her trade, and further attempted the ruin of the man who +had shown her nothing but generosity and consideration, it need hardly +be added that Hamilton would have been a sentimental fool to have +hesitated on any ground but detestation of a public scandal. + +He never traced the betrayal of a secret which all concerned had +promised to keep inviolate, but he had his suspicions. Mrs. Croix, now +living in a large house on the Bowling Green, was the animated and +resourceful centre of Jacobinism. She wore a red cap to the theatre and +a tri-coloured cockade on the street. Her _salon_ was the headquarters +of the Republican leaders, and many a plot was hatched in her inspiring +presence. The Virginian Junta were far too clever to put themselves in +the power of a drunkard like Callender, but they were constantly in +collusion with Mrs. Croix. They knew that she feared nothing under +heaven, and that she had devoted herself to Hamilton's ruin. Callender +drew upon her for virus whenever his own supply ran down, and would +have hailed the Reynolds concoction, even had it gone to him naked and +begging. Hamilton saw the shadow of a fair hand throughout the entire +pamphlet, and, indeed, could have traced many an envenomed shaft, since +1793, to a source which once had threatened to cloy him with its +sweetness. + +Meanwhile John Adams had been elected President of the United States, +and Thomas Jefferson, Vice-President. Hamilton had made no secret of the +fact that he should prefer to see Thomas Pinckney succeed Washington, +for he contemplated the possibility of Adams in the Executive Chair, +with distrust and uneasiness. In spite of that eminent statesman's +intrepidity, integrity, and loyal Federalism, he was, in Hamilton's +opinion, too suspicious, jealous of influence, and hot headed, to be a +safe leader in approaching storms. With Pinckney as a brilliant and +popular figurehead, Hamilton well knew that his own hand would remain on +the helm. With the irascible old gentleman from Massachusetts in the +Chair, his continued predominance was by no means certain. Washington +once said of Hamilton that he undoubtedly was ambitious, but that his +ambition was of that laudable kind which prompts a man to excel in +whatever he takes in hand; adding that his judgement was intuitively +great. The truth was that Hamilton regarded the United States as his +child. He had made her wealthy and respected, he foresaw a future +importance for her equal to that of any state in Europe. "I anticipate," +he wrote to Rufus King, "that this country will, ere long, assume an +attitude correspondent with its great destinies--majestic, efficient, +and operative of great things. A noble career lies before it." The first +of the "Imperialists," he had striven for years to awaken the Government +to the importance of obtaining possession of Louisiana and the Floridas, +and he also had his eye on South America. Naturally, he wanted no +interruption; the moment the security of the country was threatened, he +was as alert and anxious as if his nursery were menaced with an Indian +invasion. Without conceit or vanity no man ever was more conscious of +his great powers; moreover, no American had made such sacrifices as he. +Washington and almost all the leading men possessed independent +fortunes. Hamilton had manifested his ability from the first to equal +the income of the wealthiest, did he give his unbroken services to the +pursuit of his profession. But he had lived for years upon a pittance, +frequently driven to borrow small sums from his friends, that he might +devote his energies entirely to his country. And no man ever gave more +generously or with less thought of reward; although he would have been +the last to deny his enjoyment of power. For a born leader of men to +care little whether he had a few trusted friends or an army at his back, +would merely indicate a weak spot in his brain. + +It was quite natural, therefore, that he thought upon John Adams's +idiosyncrasies with considerable disquiet. Nevertheless, with the high +priest of Jacobinism in the field, his first object was to secure the +office for the Federalist party. The race was too close for serious +consideration of any other ultimate. He counselled every Federalist to +cast his vote for Adams and Pinckney; better a tie, with the victory to +Adams, than Thomas Jefferson at the head of the Nation. Of course there +was a hope that Pinckney might carry the South. But the Adams +enthusiasts dreaded this very issue, and threw away their votes for the +Vice-Presidency. Pinckney's followers in the South pursued the same +policy. The consequence was that Adams won by three votes only. Again +his pride was bruised, and again he attributed his mortification to +Hamilton. If he had disliked him before, his dislike in a constant state +of irritation through the ascendency and fame of the younger man, he +hated him now with a bitterness which formed a dangerous link between +himself and the Republican leaders. The time came when he was ready to +humiliate his country and ruin his own chance of reelection, to dethrone +his rival from another proud eminence and check his upward course. +Another source of bitterness was Hamilton's continued leadership of the +Federalist party, when himself, as President, was entitled to that +distinction. But that party was Hamilton's; he had created, developed +it, been its Captain through all its triumphant course. Even had he +been content to resign his commission,--which he did not contemplate for +a moment,--the great majority of the Federalists would have forced it +into his hand again. Adams declared war. Hamilton, always ready for a +fight, when no immediate act of statesmanship was involved, took up the +gauntlet. Adams might resist his influence, but the Cabinet was his, and +so were some of the most influential members of Congress, including +Theodore Sedgwick of Massachusetts, the president pro tem. of the +Senate. It was some time before Adams realized the full extent of this +influence; but when he did discover that his Secretary of State, Timothy +Pickering, his Secretary of the Treasury, Oliver Wolcott, and his +Secretary of War, James M'Henry, were in the habit of consulting +Hamilton upon every possible question before giving the President their +valuable opinions, and that upon one occasion, at least, a letter of +Hamilton's had been incorporated by the Secretary of War into a +Presidential Message, he was like to die of apoplexy. He wrote, in his +wrath:-- + + Hamilton is commander-in-chief of the Senate, of the House of + Representatives, of the heads of departments, of General + Washington, and last, and least, if you will, of the President of + the United States! + +But the President's advisers were free to seek advice without the +Cabinet if they chose, and Washington had encouraged them to go to +Hamilton. Hamilton was at liberty to give it, and Adams could find no +evidence that he had counselled rebellion against himself; nor that he +had used his great influence for any purpose but the honour of the +country. + +And never had the country needed his services more. When Adams, grim and +obstinate, stepped forward as head of the Nation, he found himself +confronted with the menace of France. In retaliation for Genet's +disgrace, the Revolutionists had demanded the recall of Gouverneur +Morris, whose barely disguised contempt, and protection of more than one +royalist, had brought him perilously near to the guillotine. Burr had +desired the vacant mission, and his pretensions were urged by Monroe and +Madison. Washington recognized this as a device of the Opposition to +embarrass him, and he had the lowest opinion of Burr's rectitude and +integrity. Pressure and wrath produced no effect, but he offered to +appoint Monroe. It might be wise to send a Jacobin, and the President +hoped that ambition would preserve this one from compromising the +country. He made the mistake of not weighing Monroe's mental capacity +more studiously. The least said of the wild gallop into diplomacy of our +fifth President the better. He was recalled, and Charles Cotesworth +Pinckney sent in his place. The French, who had found Monroe entirely to +their taste, refused to receive the distinguished lawyer and soldier. To +escape indignity he was forced to retire to Holland. The new Republic +violated her treaties with increasing insolence, and Bonaparte was +thundering on his triumphant course. France was mocking the world, and +in no humour to listen to the indignant protests of a young and distant +nation. To dismember her by fanning the spirit of Jacobinism, and, at +the ripe moment,--when internal warfare had sufficiently weakened +her,--reduce her to a French colony, was a plot of which Hamilton, Rufus +King, then minister to England, and other astute statesmen more than +suspected her. But although Hamilton abhorred France and was outraged at +her attitude, the spirit of moderation which had regulated all his acts +in public life suffered no fluctuation, and he immediately counselled +the sending of a commission to make a final attempt before recourse to +arms. War, if inevitable, but peace with honour if possible; it was not +fair to disturb the prosperity of the young country except as a last +resort. For once he and Adams were agreed. Hamilton suggested Jefferson +or Madison as a sop to the Revolutionists, with two Federalists to keep +him in order. But the President would have his own commissioners or +none. He despatched Marshall and Gerry and ordered C.C. Pinckney to join +them. Talleyrand refused them official reception, and sent to them, in +secret, nameless minions--known officially, later on, as X.Y.Z.--who +made shameful proposals, largely consisting of inordinate demand for +tribute. Marshall and Pinckney threw up the commission in disgust. The +Opposition in Congress demanded the correspondence; and Adams, with his +grimmest smile, sent it to the Senate. It was a terrible blow to the +Jacobins, not only the manner in which France had prejudiced her +interests in this country; some of the disclosures were extremely +painful to ponder upon. "Perhaps," one of the backstairs ambassadors had +remarked, "you believe that, in returning and exposing to your +countrymen the unreasonableness of the demands of this Government, you +will unite them in resistance to those demands. You are mistaken. You +ought to know that the diplomatic skill of France, and the means she +possesses in your country, are sufficient to enable her, with _the +French party in America_, to throw the blame, which will attend the +rupture, on the Federalists, as you term yourselves, but the British +party, as France terms you; and you may assure yourselves this will be +done." Jefferson retired to weep alone. Several of the faction resigned +from Congress. Hamilton published his pamphlets, "The Stand," "France," +and "The Answer," and the whole country burst into a roar of vengeance, +echoing Pinckney's parting shot: "Millions for defence, not a cent for +tribute!" "Hail Columbia" was composed, and inflamed the popular +excitement. Federalist clubs paraded, wearing a black cockade, and one +street riot followed another. Brockholst Livingston had his nose pulled, +and killed his man. With the exception of the extreme Jacobins, who +never swerved from their devotion to France and the principles she had +promulgated with the guillotine, the country was for war to a man, and +the President inundated with letters and memorials of encouragement. The +immediate result was the augmentation of the Federalist party, and the +decline of Jacobinism. + +For a long while past, Hamilton had been urging naval and military +preparations. A bold front, he thought, would be more effective than +diplomacy; and the sequel proved his wisdom. When the crisis came a bill +for a Provisional Army was passed at once, another for the increase of +the Navy, and liberal appropriations were made. The proposed alliance +with Great Britain, Hamilton effectually opposed, for he was almost as +exasperated with England as with France; in her fear that the French +party in the United States would triumph and declare war upon her, she +had renewed her depredations upon our commerce. + +Few believed that Washington would serve again, and the Nation turned +naturally to Hamilton as its General-in-chief. He had manifestly been +born to extricate them from difficulties. Even the Presidential faction +put their pride in their pockets, and agreed that he was the one man in +the country of matchless resource and military genius; they passed over +the veterans of the war without controversy. But there was one man who +never put his pride in his pocket, and that was John Adams. Rather than +present to Alexander Hamilton another opportunity for distinction and +power, he would himself cull fresh laurels for George Washington; the +supply of his old rival was now so abundant that new ones would add +nothing. Hamilton already had written to Washington as peremptorily as +only he dared, urging that he must come forth once more and without +hesitation. Washington replied that he would as cheerfully go to the +tombs of his ancestors, but admitted the obligation, and asked Hamilton +would he serve with him? Hamilton answered that he would on condition +that he be second in command to himself; he would make no further +sacrifice for an inconsiderable reward. When Washington, therefore, +received Adams's invitation, he made his acceptance conditional upon +being given the power to appoint his generals next in rank. Adams, +meanwhile, without waiting for his answer, had sent his name to the +Senate, and it had been confirmed as a matter of course. Washington was +irritated, but persisted in his condition, and sent in the names of +Alexander Hamilton for Inspector-General, with the rank of +Major-General, C.C. Pinckney and Knox for Major-Generals, and a list of +Brigadiers and Adjutant-Generals. Adams, fuming, sent the names to the +Senate, and they were confirmed in the order in which Washington had +written them; but when they came back, jealousy and temper mastered him, +and he committed the intemperate act which tolled the death-knell of the +Federalist party: he ordered the commissions made out with Hamilton's +name third on the list. Knox and Pinckney, he declared, were entitled to +precedence; and so the order should stand or not at all. He had not +anticipated an outcry, and when it arose, angry and determined, he was +startled but unshaken. The leading men in Congress waited upon him; he +received a new deluge of letters, and the most pointed of them was from +John Jay. Hamilton alone held his peace. He saw the terrible mistake +Adams had made, and dreaded the result. He wrote to Washington that he +should be governed entirely by his wishes, that he should not embarrass +him in any manner, and that it never should be said of himself that his +ambition or interest had stood in the way of the public welfare. But +when Adams stood with his head down, like an angry bull, and it was +plain to be seen that his astonishing attitude was prompted by personal +hatred alone, when the Cabinet and all the eminent men in the Nation, +with the exception of the Republican leaders, faced him with an equally +determined front, there was nothing for Hamilton to do but to stand his +ground; and he stood it. Washington put an end to the unfortunate +controversy. He gave Adams his choice between submission or the +selection of another General-in-chief. Adams submitted, but Hamilton had +in him an enemy no less malignant than Thomas Jefferson himself. Adams +had roused the deep implacability of Hamilton's nature. All hope of even +an armed truce for party advantage between the two great Federalists was +over. Hamilton had one cause for resentment which alone would have made +him ardently desire retaliation: General Knox, who had loved him +devotedly for twenty years, was bitterly alienated, and the breach was +never healed. + +Hamilton made his headquarters in New York, where he could, after a +fashion, attend to his law practice,--he was now the leading counsel at +the bar,--but he entered upon his new duties with all his old spirit and +passionate energy. Although France might be discomfited by the readiness +and resource of the United States, the imposing front erected by a +universal indignation, there were reasons which made the reverse +possible; and Hamilton thrilled with all the military ardours of his +youth at the prospect of realizing those half-forgotten ambitions. He +had, in those days, sacrificed his burning desire for action and glory +to a sense of duty which had ruled him through life like a tyrannical +deity. Was he to reap the reward at this late hour? finish his life, +perhaps, as he had planned to begin it? Once more he felt a boundless +gratitude for the best friend a mortal ever made. Washington passed +Hamilton over the heads of those superior in military rank, because he +knew that he alone was equal to the great task for which himself was too +old and infirm; but Hamilton never doubted that he did it with a deep +sense of satisfied justice and of gratitude. + +Never had Hamilton's conspicuous talent for detail, unlimited capacity +for work, genius for creating something out of nothing, marshalled for +more active service than now. He withheld his personal supervision from +nothing; planning forts, preparing codes of tactics, organizing a +commissariat department, drafting bills for Congress, advising M'Henry +upon every point which puzzled that unfinished statesman, were but a few +of the exercises demanded of the organizer of an army from raw material. +The legislation upon one of his bills finally matured a pet project of +many years, the Military Academy at West Point. Philip Church, the +oldest son of Angelica Schuyler, was his aide; John Church, after a +brilliant career as a member of Parliament, having returned to American +citizenship, his wife to as powerful a position as she had held in +London. + +It is hardly necessary to inform any one who has followed the fortunes +of Hamilton as far as this that he purposed to command an army of +aggression as well as defence. A war with France unrolled infinite +possibilities. Louisiana and the Floridas should be seized as soon as +war was declared, and he lent a kindly ear to Miranda, who was for +overthrowing the inhuman rule of Spain in South America. "To arrest the +progress of the revolutionary doctrines France was then propagating in +those regions, and to unite the American hemisphere in one great +society of common interests and common principles against the +corruption, the vices, the new theories of Europe," was an alluring +prospect to a man who had given the broadest possible interpretation to +the Constitution, and whose every conception had borne the stamp of an +imperialistic boldness and amplitude. + +But these last of his dreams ended in national humiliation. This time he +had sacrificed his private interests, his vital forces, for worse than +nothing. One enemy worked his own ruin, and Louisiana was to add to the +laurels of Jefferson. + +Talleyrand, astonished and irritated by these warlike preparations and +the enthusiasm of the infant country, wisely determined to withdraw with +grace while there was yet time. He sent a circuitous hint to President +Adams that an envoy from the United States would be received with proper +respect. For months Adams had been tormented with the vision of Hamilton +borne on the shoulders of a triumphant army straight to the Presidential +chair. His Cabinet were bitterly and uncompromisingly for war; Hamilton +had with difficulty restrained them in the past. Adams, without giving +them an inkling of his intention, sent to the Senate the name of William +Vans Murray, minister resident at The Hague, to confirm as envoy +extraordinary to France. + +For a moment the country was stupefied, so firm and uncompromising had +been the President's attitude hitherto. Then it arose in wrath, and his +popularity was gone for ever. As for the Federalist party, it divided +into two hostile factions, and neither had ever faced the Republicans +more bitterly. A third of the party supported the President; the rest +were for defeating him in the Senate, and humiliating him in every +possible way, as he had humiliated the country by kissing the +contemptuous hand of France the moment it was half extended. + +Hamilton was furious. He had been in mighty tempers in his life, but +this undignified and mortifying act of the President strained his +statesmanship to the utmost. It stood the strain, however; he warned +the Federalist leaders that the step taken was beyond recall and known +to all the world. There was nothing to do but to support the President. +He still had an opportunity for revenge while openly protecting the +honour of the Nation. Did Murray, a man of insufficient calibre and +prestige, go alone, he must fail; Adams would be disgraced; war +inevitable, with glory, and greater glory, for himself. But when +circumstances commanded his statesmanship, he ceased to be an +individual; personal resentments slumbered. He insisted that Murray be +but one of a commission, and Adams, now cooled and as disquieted as that +indomitable spirit could be, saw the wisdom of the advice; Oliver +Ellsworth and General Davie, conspicuous and influential men, were +despatched. Once more Hamilton had saved his party from immediate wreck; +but the strength which it had gathered during the war fever was +dissipated by the hostile camps into which it was divided, and by the +matchless opportunity which, in its brief period of numerical strength, +it had given to Thomas Jefferson. + +The Federalist party had ruled the country by virtue of the +preponderance of intellect and educated talents in its ranks, and the +masterly leadership of Alexander Hamilton. The Republican party numbered +few men of first-rate talents, but the upper grade of the Federalist was +set thick with distinguished patriots, all of them leaders, but all +deferring without question to the genius of their Captain. For years the +harmonious workings of their system, allied to the aggregate ability of +their personnel, and the watchful eye and resourceful mind of Hamilton, +the silent but sympathetic figure of Washington in the background, had +enabled them to win every hard-fought battle in spite of the often +superior numbers of the Opposition. That Jefferson was able in the face +of this victorious and discouraging army to form a great party out of +the rag-tag and bobtail element, animating his policy of +decentralization into a virile and indelible Americanism, proved him to +be a man of genius. History shows us few men so contemptible in +character, so low in tone; and no man has given his biographers so +difficult a task. But those who despise him most who oppose the most +determined front to the ultimates of his work, must acknowledge that +formational quality in his often dubious intellect which ranks him a man +of genius. + +His party was threatened with disorganization when the shameful conduct +of the France he adored united the country in a demand for vengeance, +and in admiration for the uncompromising attitude of the Government. Not +until the Federalists, carried away by the rapid recruiting to their +ranks, passed the Alien and Sedition laws, did Jefferson find ammunition +for his next campaign. As one reads those Resolutions to-day, one +wonders at the indiscretion of men who had kept the blood out of their +heads during so many precarious years. Three-quarters of a century later +the Chinese Exclusion Act became a law with insignificant protest; the +mistake of the Federalists lay in ignoring the fears and raging +jealousies of their time. If Hamilton realized at once that Jefferson +would be quick to seize upon their apparent unconstitutionality and +convert it into political capital, he seems to have stood alone, +although his protests resulted in the modification of both bills. + + Let us not establish a tyranny! [he wrote to Wolcott]. Energy is a + very different thing from violence. If we make no false step we + shall be essentially united; but if we push things to an extreme, + we shall then give to faction body and solidity. + +In their modified form they were sufficiently menacing to democratic +ideals, and Jefferson could have asked for nothing better. He +immediately drafted his famous Kentucky Resolutions, and the obedient +Madison did a like service for Virginia. The Resolutions of Madison, +although containing all the seeds of nullification and secession, are +tame indeed compared with the performance of a man who, enveloped in the +friendly mists of anonymity, was as aggressive and valiant as Hamilton +on the warpath. These Resolutions protested against the +unconstitutionality of the Federal Government in exiling foreigners, and +curbing the liberty of the press, in arrogating to itself the rights of +the States, and assuming the prerogatives of an absolute monarchy. If +Jefferson did not advise nullification, he informed the States of their +inalienable rights, and counselled them to resist the centralizing +tendency of the Federal Government before it was too late. Even in the +somewhat modified form in which these Resolutions passed the Kentucky +legislature, and although rejected by the States to which they were +despatched, they created a sensation and accomplished their primary +object. The war excitement had threatened to shove the Alien and +Sedition laws beyond the range of the public observation. The Kentucky +and Virginia Resolutions roused the country, and sent the Republicans +scampering back to their watchful shepherd. It is one of the +master-strokes of political history, and Jefferson culled the fruits and +suffered none of the odium. That these historic Resolutions contained +the fecundating germs of the Civil War, is by the way. + +Such was the situation on the eve of 1800, the eve of a Presidential +election, and of the death struggle of the two great parties. + +It was in December of this year of 1799 that Hamilton bent under the +most crushing blow that life had dealt him. He was standing on the +street talking to Sedgwick, when a mounted courier dashed by, crying +that Washington was dead. The street was crowded, but Hamilton broke +down and wept bitterly. "America has lost her saviour," he said; "I, a +father." + + + +BOOK V + +THE LAST BATTLE OF THE GIANTS AND THE END + + +I + +The sunlight moved along the table and danced on Hamilton's papers, +flecking them and slanting into his eyes. He went to the window to draw +the shade, and stood laughing, forgetting the grave anxieties which +animated his pen this morning. In the garden without, his son Alexander +and young Philip Schuyler, his wife's orphan nephew, who lived with him, +were pounding each other vigorously, while Philip, Angelica, Theodosia +Burr, and Gouverneur Morris sat on the fence and applauded. + +"What a blessed provision for letting off steam," he thought, with some +envy. "I would I had Burr in front of my fists this moment. I suppose he +is nothing but the dupe of Jefferson, but he is a terrible menace, all +the same." + +The girls saw him, and leaping from the fence ran to the house, followed +more leisurely by Morris. + +"You are loitering," exclaimed Angelica, triumphantly, as she entered +the room without ceremony, followed by Theodosia. "And when you loiter +you belong to me." + +She had grown tall, and was extremely thin and nervous, moving +incessantly. But her face, whether stormy, dreamy, or animated with the +pleasure of the moment, was very beautiful. Theodosia Burr was a +handsome intellectual girl, with a massive repose; and the two were much +in harmony. + +"If I snatch a moment to breathe," Hamilton was beginning, when he +suddenly caught two right hands and spread them open. + +"What on earth does this mean?" he demanded. The little paws of the two +most fastidious girls he knew were dyed with ink. Both blushed vividly, +but Angelica flung back her head with her father's own action. + +"We are writing a novel," she said. + +"You are doing what?" gasped Hamilton. + +"Yes, sir. All the girls in New York are. Why shouldn't we? I guess we +inherit brains enough." + +"All the girls in New York are writing novels!" exclaimed Hamilton. "Is +this the next result of Jacobinism and unbridled liberty, the next +development of the new Americanism as expounded by Thomas Jefferson? +Good God! What next?" + +"You have the prophetic eye," said Morris, who was seated on the edge of +the table, grinning sardonically. (He was bald now, and looked more +wicked than ever.) "What of woman in the future?" + +"She has given me sufficient occupation in the present," replied +Hamilton, drily. "Heaven preserve me from the terrors of anticipation." +"Well, finish your novel. If you confine your pens to those subjects of +which you know nothing, you will enjoy yourselves; and happiness should +be sought in all legitimate channels. But as a favour to me, keep your +hands clean." + +The girls retired with some hauteur, and Morris said impatiently:-- + +"I thought I had left that sort of thing behind me in France, where +Madame de Stael drove me mad. I return to find all the prettiest women +running to lectures on subjects which they never can understand, and +scarifying the men's nerves with pedantic allusions. I always believed +that our women were the brightest on the planet, but that they should +ever have the bad taste to become intellectual--well, I have known but +one woman who could do it successfully, and that is Mrs. Croix. What has +she to do with this sudden activity of Burr's? Is he handling French +money?" + +"Are you convinced that she is a French spy?" + +"I believe it so firmly that her sudden departure would reconcile me to +the Alien law. Where has Burr found the money for this campaign? He is +bankrupt; he hasn't a friend among the leaders; I don't believe the +Manhattan Bank, for all that he is the father of it, will let him +handle a cent, and Jefferson distrusts and despises him. Still, it is +just possible that Jefferson is using him, knowing that the result of +the Presidential election will turn on New York, and that after himself +Burr is the best politician in the country. I doubt if he would trust +him with a cent of his own money, but he may have an understanding with +the Aspasia of Bowling Green. Certainly she must have the full +confidence of France by this time, and she is the cleverest Jacobin in +the country." + +"I wish that dark system could be extirpated, root and branch," said +Hamilton. "I have been too occupied these past two years to watch her, +or Burr either, for that matter. Organizing an army, and working for +your bread in spare moments, gives your enemies a clear field for +operations. I have had enough to do, watching Adams. Burr has stolen a +march that certainly does credit to his cunning. That is the most +marvellous faculty I know. He is barely on speaking terms with a +leader--Jefferson, Clinton, the Livingstons, all turned their backs upon +him long since, as a man neither to be trusted nor used. The fraud by +which he obtained the charter of the Manhattan Bank has alienated so +many of his followers that his entire ticket was beaten at the last +elections. Now he will have himself returned for the Assembly from +Orange, he is manipulating the lower orders of New York as if they were +so much wax, using their secrets, wiping the babies' noses, and hanging +upon the words of every carpenter who wants to talk: and has actually +got Clinton--who has treated him like a dog for years--to let him use +his name as a possible candidate for the Legislature. Doubtless he may +thank Mrs. Croix for that conquest. But his whole work is marvellous, +and I suppose it would be well if we had a man on our side who would +stoop to the same dirty work. I should as soon invite a strumpet to my +house. But I am fearful for the result. With this Legislature we should +be safe. But Burr has converted hundreds, if not thousands, to a party +for which he cares as much as he does for the Federal. If he succeeds, +and the next Legislature is Republican, Jefferson will be the third +President of the Unites States, and then, God knows what. Not immediate +disunion, possibly, for Jefferson is cunning enough to mislead France +for his own purposes; nor can he fail to see that Jacobinism is on the +wane--but a vast harvest of democracy, of disintegration, and +denationalization, which will work the same disaster in the end. If Burr +could be taught that he is being made a tool of, he might desist, for he +would work for no party without hope of reward. He may ruin us and gain +nothing." + +"It is a great pity we have not a few less statesmen in our party and a +few more politicians. When we began life, only great services were +needed; and the Opposition, being engaged in the same battle of ideas, +fought us with a merely inferior variety of our own weapons. But the +greatest of our work is over, and the day of the politician has dawned. +Unfortunately, the party of this damned lag-bellied Virginian has the +monopoly. Burr is the natural result and the proudest sample of the +French Revolution and its spawn. But your personal influence is +tremendous. Who can say how many infuscated minds you will illumine when +it comes to speech-making. Don't set your brow in gloom." + +"I have not the slightest intention of despairing. The deep and never +ceasing methods of the Jacobin Scandal Club have weakened my influence +with the masses, however; no doubt of that. Its policy is to iterate and +reiterate, pay no attention to denials, but drop the same poison daily +until denial is forgotten and men's minds are so accustomed to the +detraction, belittling, or accusation, that they accept it as they +accept the facts of existence. Jefferson has pursued this policy with my +reputation for ten years. During the last eight he has been ably abetted +by Mrs. Croix, his other personal agents, and those of France. Now they +have enlisted Burr, and there is no better man for their work in the +country." + +"They know that if you go, the party follows. That is their policy, and +may they spend the long evening of time in Hell. But I believe you will +be more than a match for them yet; although this is by far the most +serious move the enemy has made." "I wish to Heaven I had persisted in +the Great Convention until I carried my point in regard to having the +electors chosen by the people in districts. Then I should snap my +fingers at Burr in this campaign, for he is an indifferent speaker, and +political manipulation would count for very little. With C.C. Pinckney +in the chair for eight years, I should feel that the country was planted +on reasonably sure foundations. It must be Adams and Pinckney, of +course, but with proper harmony Pinckney will carry the day. Rather +Jefferson in the chair than Adams--an open army that we can fight with a +united front, than a Federal dividing the ranks, and forcing us to +uphold him for the honour of the party--to say nothing of being +responsible for him." + +"Jefferson is the less of several evils--Burr, for instance." + +"Oh, Burr!" exclaimed Hamilton. "I should be in my dotage if Burr became +President of the United States. Personally, I have nothing against him, +and he is one of the most agreeable and accomplished of men. Theodosia +half lives here. Perhaps no man ever hated another as I hate Jefferson, +nor had such cause. He has embittered my life and ruined my health; he +has made me feel like a lost soul more than once. But better Jefferson a +thousand times than Burr. God knows I hate democracy and fear it, but +Jefferson is timid and cautious, and has some principles and patriotism; +moreover, a desire for fame. Burr has neither patriotism nor a +principle, nor the least regard for his good name. He is bankrupt, +profligate--he has been living in the greatest extravagance at Richmond +Hill, and his makings at the bar, although large, are far exceeded by +his expenses; there is always a story afloat about some dark transaction +of his, and never disproved: he challenged Church for talking openly +about the story that the Holland Land Company had, for legislative +services rendered, cancelled a bond against him for twenty thousand +dollars; but the world doubts Burr's bluster as it doubts his word. At +present he is in a desperate way because Alexander Baring, in behalf of +a friend, I.I. Augustine, is pressing for payment on a bond given to +secure the price of land bought by Burr and Greenleaf, and he has been +offering worthless land claims in settlement, and resorting to every +artifice to avert a crisis. Baring wanted me to take the case, but of +course I wouldn't touch it. I sent him to Rinnan. The man is literally +at the end of his tether. It is a coup or extinction--failure means +flight or debtor's prison. Furthermore, he is a conspirator by nature, +and there is no man in the country with such extravagant tastes, who is +so unscrupulous as to the means of gratifying them. He is half mad for +power and wealth. The reins of state in his hands, and he would stop at +nothing which might give him control of the United States Treasury. To +be President of the United States would mean nothing to him except as a +highway to empire, to unlimited power and plunder. We have been +threatened with many disasters since we began our career, but with no +such menace as Burr. But unless I die between now and eighteen hundred +and one, Burr will lose the great game, although he may give victory to +the Republican party." + +"I am not surprised at your estimate and revelations," said Morris, "for +I have heard much the same from others since my return. It was this +certainty that he is bankrupt that led me to believe he was handling +French money in this election--and he is flinging it right and left in a +manner that must gratify his aspiring soul. Considering his lack of +fortune and family influence, he has done wonders in the way of +elevating himself. This makes it the more remarkable that with his great +cleverness he should not have done better--" + +"He is not clever; that is the point. He is cunning. His is wholly the +brain of the conspirator. Were he clever, he would, like Thomas +Jefferson, fool himself and the world into the belief that he is honest. +Intellect and statesmanship he holds in contempt. He would elevate +himself by the Catiline system, by the simple method of proclaiming +himself emperor, and appropriating the moneybags of the country. There +is not one act of statesmanship to his credit. To him alone, of all +prominent Americans, the country is indebted for nothing. The other +night at a dinner, by the way, he toasted first the French Revolution, +then Bonaparte. It is more than possible that you are right, for France, +whether Directory or Consulate, is not likely to change her policy +regarding this country. Nothing would please either Talleyrand or +Bonaparte better than to inflame us into a civil war, then swoop down +upon us, under the pretence of coming to the rescue. Burr would be just +the man to play into their hands, although with no such intention. +Jefferson is quite clever enough to foil them, if he found that more to +his interest. Well, neither is elected yet. Let us hope for the best. Go +and ask Angelica to play for you. I have letters to write to leaders all +over the State." + + +II + +Burr was the author of municipal corruption in New York, the noble +grandsire of Tammany Hall. While Hamilton was too absorbed to watch him, +he had divided New York, now a city of sixty thousand inhabitants, into +districts and sections. Under his systematic management the name of +every resident was enrolled, and his politics ascertained. Then Burr and +his committees or sub-committees laid siege to the individual. +Insignificant men were given place, and young fire-eaters, furious with +Adams, were swept in. Hundreds of doubtful men were dined and wined at +Richmond Hill, flattered, fascinated, conquered. Burr knew the private +history, the income, of every man he purposed to convert, and made +dexterous use of his information. He terrified some with his knowledge, +fawned upon others, exempted the stingy from contributions provided he +would work, and the lazy from work provided he would pay. It is even +asserted that he blackmailed the women who had trusted him on paper, and +forced them to wring votes from their men. He drafted a catalogue of +names for the electoral Legislature, calculated to impose the hesitant, +who were not permitted to observe that he smarted and snarled under many +a kick. Strong names were essential if the Republicans were to wrest +New York from the Federals after twelve years of unbroken rule, but +strong men had long since ceased to have aught to do with Burr; although +Jefferson, as Hamilton suspected, had recently extended his politic paw. +But in spite of snubs, curt dismissals, and reiterated intimations that +his exertions were wasting, Burr did at last, by dint of flattery, +working upon the weak points of the men he thoroughly understood, +convincing them that victory lay in his hands and no other,--some of +them that he was working in harmony with Jefferson,--induce Clinton, +Brockholst Livingston, General Gates,--each representing a different +faction,--and nine other men of little less importance, to compose the +city ticket. All manner of Republicans were pleased, and many +discontented Federalists. Burr, knowing that his own election in New +York was hopeless, was a candidate for the Assembly in the obscure +county of Orange; and the Legislature which would elect the next +President was threatened with a Republican majority, which alarmed the +Federalist party from one end of the Union to the other. + +Hamilton had never been more alert. The moment he was awake to the +danger his mind closed to every other demand upon it, and he flung +himself into the thick of the fight. He would have none of Burr's +methods, but he spoke daily, upon every least occasion, and was ready to +consult at all hours with the distracted leaders of his party. Morris, +Troup, Fish, and other Federalists, accustomed to handling the masses, +also spoke repeatedly. But Adams had given the party a terrible blow, +scattering many of its voters far and wide. They felt that the country +had been humiliated, that it was unsafe in the hands of a man who was +too obstinate to be advised, and too jealous to control his personal +hatreds for the good of the Union; the portent of tyranny in the Alien +and Sedition laws had terrified many, and the promises of the +Republicans were very alluring. The prospect of a greater equality, of a +universal plebeianism, turned the heads of the shopkeepers, mechanics, +and labouring men, who had voted hitherto with the Federalist party +through admiration of its leaders and their great achievements. In vain +Hamilton reminded them of all they owed to the Federalists: the +Constitution, the prosperity, the _peace_. He was in the ironical +position of defending John Adams. They had made up their minds before +they went to hear him speak, and they went because to hear him was a +pleasure they never missed. Upon one occasion a man rushed from the +room, crying, "Let me out! Let me out! That man will make me believe +anything." Frequently Hamilton and Burr spoke on the same platform, and +they were so polite to each other that the audience opened their mouths +and wondered at the curious ways of the aristocracy. It was a period of +great excitement. Men knocked each other down daily, noses were +pulled,--a favourite insult of our ancestors,--and more than one duel +was fought in the woods of Weehawken. + +The elections began early on the 29th of April and finished at sunset on +May 2d. Hamilton and Burr constantly addressed large assemblages. On the +first day Hamilton rode up to the poll in his district to vote, and was +immediately surrounded by a vociferating crowd. Scurrilous handbills +were thrust in his face, and his terrified horse reared before a hundred +threatening fists. A big carter forced his way to its side and begged +Hamilton to leave, assuring him there was danger of personal violence, +and that the men were particularly incensed at his aristocratic manner +of approaching the polls. + +"Thank you," said Hamilton, "but I have as good a right to vote as any +man, and I shall do it in the mode most agreeable to myself." + +"Very well, General," said the carter. "I differ with you in politics, +but I'll stick by you as long as there is a drop of blood in my body." + +Hamilton turned to him with that illumination of feature which was not +the least of his gifts, then to the mob with the same smile, and lifted +his hat above a profound bow. "I never turned my back upon my enemy," he +said, "I certainly shall not flee from those who have always been my +friends." + +The crowd burst into an electrified roar. "Three cheers for General +Hamilton!" cried the carter, promptly, and they responded as one man. +Then they lifted him from his horse and bore him on their shoulders to +the poll. He deposited his ballot, and after addressing them to the +sound of incessant cheering, was permitted to ride away. The incident +both amused and disgusted him, but he needed no further illustrations of +the instability of the common mind. + +The Republicans won. On the night of the 2d it was known that the +Federalists had lost the city by a Republican majority of four hundred +and ninety votes. + +A few weeks before, when uncertainties were thickest, Hamilton had +written to William Smith, who was departing for Constantinople: "... You +see I am in a humour to laugh. What can we do better in _this best of +all possible worlds?_ Should you ever be shut up in the seven towers, or +get the plague, if you are a true philosopher you will consider this +only as a laughing matter." + +He laughed--though not with the gaiety of his youth--as he walked home +to-night through the drunken yelling crowds of William Street, more than +one fist thrust in his face. His son Philip was with him, and his +cousin, Robert Hamilton of Grange, who had come over two years before to +enlist under the command of the American relative of whom his family +were vastly proud. A berth had been found for him in the navy, as better +suited to his talents, and he spent his leisure at 26 Broadway. Both the +younger men looked crestfallen and anxious. Philip, who resembled his +father so closely that Morris called him "his heir indubitate," looked, +at the moment, the older of the two. Ill health had routed the robust +appearance of Hamilton's early maturity, and his slender form, which had +lost none of its activity or command, his thin face, mobile, piercing, +fiery, as ever, made him appear many years younger than his age. + +"Why do you laugh, sir?" asked Philip, as they turned into Wall Street, +"I feel as if the end of the world had come." + +"That is the time to laugh, my dear boy. When you see the world you have +educated scampering off through space, the retreat led by the greatest +rascal in the country, your humour, if you have any, is bound to +respond. Moreover, there is always something humorous in one's downfall, +and a certain relief. The worst is over." + +"But, Cousin Alexander," said Robert Hamilton, "surely this is not +ultimate defeat for you? You will not give up the fight after the first +engagement--you!" + +"Oh, no! not I!" cried Hamilton. "I shall fight on until I have made +Thomas Jefferson President of the United States. Should I not laugh? Was +any man ever in so ironical a situation before? I shall move heaven and +America to put Pinckney in the chair, and I shall fail; and to save the +United States from Burr I shall turn over the country I have made to my +bitterest enemy." + +"That would not be my way of doing, sir," said Robert. "I'd fight the +rival chieftain to his death. Perhaps this Burr is not so real a +Catiline as you think him. Nobody has a good word for him, but I mean he +may not have the courage for so dangerous an act as usurpation." + +"Courage is just the one estimable if misdirected quality possessed by +Burr, and, whetted by his desperate plight, no length would daunt him. A +year or two ago he hinted to me that I had thrown away my opportunities. +Pressed, he admitted that I was a fool not to have changed the +government when I could. When I reminded him that I could only have done +such a thing by turning traitor, he replied, 'Les grands ames se +soucient peu des petits moraux.' It was not worth while to reason with a +man who had neither little morals nor great ones, so I merely replied +that from the genius and situation of the country the thing was +impracticable; and he answered, 'That depends on the estimate we form of +the human passions, and of the means of influencing them.' Burr would +neither regard a scheme of usurpation as visionary,--he is sanguine and +visionary to a degree that will be his ruin,--nor be restrained by any +reluctance to occupy an infamous place in history." + +They had reached his doorstep in the Broadway. The house was lighted. +Through the open windows of the drawing-room poured a musical torrent. +Angelica, although but sixteen, shook life and soul from the cold keys +of the piano, and was already ambitious to win fame as a composer. +To-night she was playing extemporaneously, and Hamilton caught his +breath. In the music was the thunder of the hurricane he so often had +described to his children, the piercing rattle of the giant castinets +[sic], the roar and crash of artillery, the screaming of the trees, the +furious rush of the rain. Robert Hamilton thought it was a battlepiece, +but involuntarily he lifted his hat. As the wonderful music finished +with the distant roar of the storm's last revolutions, Hamilton turned +to his cousin with the cynicism gone from his face and his eyes +sparkling with pride and happiness. + +"What do I care for Burr?" he exclaimed. "Or for Jefferson? Has any man +ever had a home, a family, like mine? Let them do their worst. Beyond +that door they cannot go." + +"Burr can put a bullet into you, sir," said Robert Hamilton, soberly. +"And he is just the man to do it. Jefferson is too great a coward. For +God's sake be warned in time." + +Hamilton laughed and ran up the stoop. His wife was in the drawing-room +with Angelica, who was white and excited after the fever of composition. +Mrs. Hamilton, too, was pale, for she had heard the news. But mettle had +been bred in her, and her spirits never dropped before public +misfortune. She had altered little in the last seven years. In spite of +her seven children her figure was as slim as in her girlhood, her hair +was as black, her skin retained its old union of amber and claret. The +lingering girlishness in her face had departed after a memorable +occasion, but her prettiness had gained in intellect and character; +piquant and roguish, at times, as it still was. It was seven years since +she had applied her clever brain to politics and public affairs +generally--finance excepting--and with such unwearied persistence that +Hamilton had never had another excuse to seek companionship elsewhere. +Moreover, she had returned to her former care of his papers, she +encouraged him to read to her whatever he wrote, and was necessary to +him in all ways. She loved him to the point of idolatry, but she kept +her eye on him, nevertheless, and he wandered no more. When he could not +accompany her to Saratoga in summer, she sent the children with one of +her sisters, and remained with him, no matter what the temperature, or +the age of a baby. But she made herself so charming that if he suspected +the surveillance he was indifferent, and grateful for her companionship +and the intelligent quality of her sympathy. Elizabeth Hamilton never +was a brilliant woman, but she became a remarkably strong-minded and +sensible one. Femininely she was always adorable. Although relieved of +the heavier social duties since the resignation from the Cabinet, +Hamilton's fame and the popularity of both forced them into a prominent +position in New York society. They entertained constantly at dinner, and +during the past seven years many distinguished men besides Talleyrand +had sat at their hospitable board: Louis Philippe d'Orleans,--supported +for several years by Gouverneur Morris,--the Duc de Montpensier, the +Duke of Kent, John Singleton Copley, subsequently, so eminent as jurist +and statesman, Kosciusko, Count Niemcewicz, the novelist, poet, +dramatist, and historian, were but a few. All travellers of distinction +brought letters to Hamilton, for, not excepting Washington, he was to +Europeans the most prosilient of Americans. If there had been little +decrease of hard work during these years, there had been social and +domestic pleasures, and Hamilton could live in the one or the other with +equal thoroughness. He was very proud of his wife's youthful appearance, +and to-night he reproached her for losing so many hours of rest. + +"Could anyone sleep in this racket?" she demanded, lightly. "You must be +worn out. Come into the dining room and have supper." + +And they all enjoyed their excellent meal of hot oysters, and dismissed +politics until the morrow. + + +III + +But if Hamilton consigned politics to oblivion at midnight and slept for +the few hours demanded by outraged nature, he plunged from the crystal +of his bath into their reeking blackness early in the morning. He had +laughed the night before, but he was in the worst of tempers as he shut +his study door behind him. For the first time in his life he was on a +battle-ground with no sensation of joy in the coming fight. The business +was too ugly and the prospect was almost certain defeat. Were the first +battle lost, he knew that a sharper engagement would immediately +succeed: his political foresight anticipated the tie, and he alone had a +consummate knowledge of the character of Burr. That the Republicans +would offer Burr the office of Vice-President was as positive as that +Jefferson would be their first and unanimous choice. Clinton and +Chancellor Livingston might be more distinguished men than the little +politician, but the first was in open opposition to Jefferson, and the +second was deaf. Burr's conquest of New York entitled him to reward, and +he would accept it and intrigue with every resource of his cunning and +address for the larger number of votes, regardless of the will of the +people. If the result were a tie, the Federals would incline to anybody +rather than Jefferson, and Hamilton would be obliged to throw into the +scale his great influence as leader of his party for the benefit of the +man he would gladly have attached to a fork and set to toast above the +coals of Hell. He had no score to settle with Burr, but to permit him to +become President of the United States would be a crime for which the +leader of the Federalist party would be held responsible. When the +inevitable moment came he should hand over the structure he had created +to the man who had desired to rend it from gable to foundation; both +because it was the will of the people and because Jefferson was the +safer man of the two. + +So far his statesmanship triumphed, as it had done in every crisis which +he had been called upon to manipulate, and as it would in many more. +But for once, and as regarded the first battle, it failed him, and he +made no attempt to invoke it. This was the blackest period of his inner +life, and there were times when he never expected to emerge from its +depths. The threatened loss of the magnificent power he had wielded, the +hatreds that possessed and overwhelmed him, the seeming futility of +almost a lifetime of labour, sacrifices without end and prodigal +dispensing of great gifts, the constant insults of his enemies, and the +public ingratitude, had saturated his spirit with a raging bitterness +and roused the deadliest passions of his nature. The marah he had passed +through while a member of the Cabinet was shallow compared to the depths +in which he almost strangled to-day. Not only was this the final +accumulation, but the inspiring and sustaining affection, the +circumscribing bulwark, of Washington was gone from him. "He was an +Aegis very essential to me," he had said sadly, and he felt his loss +more every day that he lived. + +He knew there was just one chance to save the Presidency to the +Federalist party. Did he employ the magic of his pen to recreate the +popularity of John Adams, it was more than possible that thousands would +gladly permit the leader they had followed for years to persuade them +they had judged too hastily the man of whom they had expected too much. +But by this time there was one man Hamilton hated more implacably than +Jefferson, and that was John Adams. Besides the thorough disapproval of +the Administration of Adams, which, as a statesman, he shared with all +the eminent Federals in the country, his personal counts with this enemy +piled to heaven. Adams had severed the party he had created, endeavoured +to humiliate him before the country, refused, after Washington's death, +to elevate him to his rightful position as General-in-chief of the army +he had organized, alienated from him one of the best of his friends, and +primarily was answerable for the crushing defeat of yesterday. With one +of the Pinckneys at the helm, Hamilton could have defied Jefferson and +kept the Democrats out of power; but the man next in eminence to himself +in his own party had given his supremacy its death-blow, and it is +little wonder if his depths resembled boiling pitch, if the heights of +his character had disappeared from his vision. He was, above all things, +intensely human, with all good and all evil in him; and although he +conquered himself at no very remote period, he felt, at the present +moment, like Lucifer whirling through space. + +Troup, now a retired judge of the U.S. District Court of New York, and a +man of some fortune, ready as of old to be Hamilton's faithful +lieutenant, entered and looked with sympathy and more apprehension at +his Chief. + +"I've not come to bemoan this bad business," he said, sitting down at a +desk and taking up his pen. "What next? It looks hopeless, but of course +you'll no more cease from effort than one of your Scotch ancestors would +have laid down his arms if a rival chieftain had appeared on the warpath +with the world at his back. Is it Adams and C.C.P. to the death?" + +"It is Pinckney; Adams only in so far as he is useful. He still has his +following in the New England States. The leaders in those States, first +and second, must be persuaded to work unanimously for Adams and +Pinckney, with the distinct understanding that in other States votes for +Adams will be thrown away. This, after I have persuaded them of Adams's +absolute unfitness for office. If we carry and it comes to a tie, there +is no doubt to whom the House will give the election." + +Troup whistled. "This is politics!" he said. "I never believed you'd go +down to your neck. I wish you'd throw the whole thing over, and retire +to private life." + +"I shall retire soon enough," said Hamilton, grimly. "But Adams will go +first." + +Troup knew that it was useless to remonstrate further. He had followed +this Captain to the bitter end too often. Underneath the immense sanity +of Hamilton's mind was a curious warp of obstinacy, born of +implacability and developed far beyond the normal bounds of +determination. When this almost perverted faculty was in possession of +the brain, Hamilton would pursue his object, did every guardian in his +genius, from foresight to acuteness, rise in warning. His present +policy if a failure might be the death of the Federalist party, but the +flashing presentiment of that historic disaster did not deter him for a +moment. + +"It is the time for politics," Hamilton continued. "Statesmanship goes +begging. I shall be entirely frank about it, for that matter. There will +be no underhand scheming, Adams is welcome to know every step I take. +The correspondence must begin at once. I'll make out a list for you. I +shall begin with Wolcott." + + +IV + +When the tidings of the New York election reached Philadelphia, the +Federals of the House met in alarmed and hurried conference. In their +desperation they agreed to ask Hamilton to appeal to the Governor of New +York, John Jay, to reconvene the existing legislature that it might +enact a law authorizing in that State the choice of Presidential +electors in districts. Why they did not send a memorial to Jay +themselves, instead of placing Hamilton in a position to incur the full +odium of such a suggestion, can only be explained by the facts that +during the entire span of the party's existence, their leader had +cheerfully assumed the responsibility in every emergency or crisis, and +that if the distinguished formalist in the Executive Mansion of New York +had a weak spot in him, it was for Hamilton. + +When Hamilton read this portentous letter, he flushed deeply and then +turned white. The expedient had not occurred to him, but it was too near +of kin to his disapproval of a provision which had delivered the State +into the hands of an industrious rascal, not to strike an immediate +response; especially in his present frame of mind. He was alone with his +wife at the moment, and he handed her the letter. She read it twice, +then laid it on the table. "It savours very much of fraud, to me," she +said. "Why do politics so often go to the head?" + +"Sometimes one sort rises as an antidote to another. There comes a time +in human affairs when one is forced into a position of choosing between +two evils; a time when the scruples of delicacy and propriety, as +relative to a common course of things, ought to yield to the +extraordinary nature of the crisis." + +"Right is right, and wrong is wrong," said Betsey, with her Dutch +sturdiness. "This measure--were it adopted by Mr. Jay--would merely mean +that the party in power was taking an unconstitutional advantage of its +situation to nullify the victories gained by the other." + +"The victories you speak of were won by fraud and every unworthy device. +I am not arguing that, such being the case, we are justified in turning +their weapons upon them, but that for the good of the country the enemy +should be suppressed before they are able to accomplish its +demoralization, if not its ruin. The triumph of Jefferson and +Jacobinism, the flourishing of Democracy upon the ruins of Federalism, +too long a taste of power by the States rights fanatics, means, with the +weak spots in our Constitution, civil war. Burr has sowed the seeds of +municipal corruption, which, if the sower be rewarded by the second +office in the gift of the people, will spread all over the Union. That +many in the ranks of Democracy are in the pay of France, and design the +overthrow of the Government, there is not a shadow of doubt. If +Jefferson should die in office, or a tie, in spite of all I could do, +should give the Presidency to Burr, there is nothing that man's +desperate temper would not drive him to accomplish during the time +remaining to him--for he will never be the first choice of the +Democrats. Therefore, I shall propose this measure to Jay in the course +of the next two or three days, unless upon mature deliberation I alter +my present opinion that the grave crisis in national affairs justifies +it, or I conceive something better." + +"You will violate your higher principles," said his wife, who had +matured in a previous era. "And it will be a terrible weapon for your +enemies." + +"I have now reached that happy point where I am entirely indifferent to +the broadsides of my enemies; and I believe that if I conclude to take +this step, my conscience--and history--will justify me." "If you +succeed," said Betsey, shrewdly. "But Mr. Jay is very rigid, and he +lacks your imagination, your terrible gift of seeing the future in a +flash." + +"It is quite true that I have little hope of persuading Jay; as little +as I have of endowing him with the gift of foresight. But, if I think +best, I shall make the attempt, and whatever the consequences, I shall +not regret it." + +Betsey said no more. She knew the exact amount of remonstrance Hamilton +would stand, and she never exceeded it. When his fighting armour was on, +no human being could influence him beyond a certain point, and she was +too wise to risk her happiness. Although he was too careful of her to +let her suspect the hideous conflicts which raged in his soul, she was +fully aware of his bitter obstinacy, and that he was the best hater in +the country. She had many gloomy forebodings, for she anticipated the +terrible strain on what was left of his constitution. + +There was one person who, through her inherited intuitions, understood +Hamilton, and that was Angelica. He had kept her at arm's length, great +as the temptation to have a sympathetic confidant had been, particularly +after he had withdrawn from the intimate companionship of Washington; +she was so highly wrought and sensitive, so prone to hysteria, that he +had never yielded for a moment, even when she turned her head slowly +toward him and stared at him with eyes that read his very soul. On the +evening after the elections he had played and sung with her for an hour, +then talked for another with Philip, who was the most promising student +of Columbia College, a youth of fine endowments and elevated character. +He was the pride and delight of Hamilton, who could throttle both +apprehensions and demons while discussing his son's future, and +listening to his college trials and triumphs. Upon this particular +evening Angelica had suddenly burst into tears and left the room. The +next morning Hamilton sent her to Saratoga; and, much as he loved her, +it was with profound relief that he arranged her comfortably on the deck +of the packet-boat. + +On the 7th he wrote to the Governor; but, as he had feared, Jay would +take no such audacious leap out of his straight and narrow way. The +letter was published in the _Aurora_ before it reached Albany, and +Hamilton had reason to believe that Burr had a spy in the post-office. + +Hamilton executed the orders for disbanding the army, then made a tour +of several of the New England States, holding conferences and speaking +continually. He found the first-class leaders at one with him as to the +danger of entrusting the Executive office to Adams a second time, and +favourably inclined to Pinckney. But the second-rate men of influence +were still enthusiastic for the President, and extolling him for saving +the country from war. Hamilton listened to them with no attempt to +conceal his impatience. He pointed out that if Talleyrand had made up +his mind that it was best to avoid a war, he would have made a second +and regular overture, which could have been accepted without humiliation +to the country, and the severance of the Federalist party. + +As if Adams had not done enough to rouse the deadly wrath of Hamilton, +he announced right and left that the Federalist defeat in New York had +been planned by his arch enemy, with the sole purpose of driving himself +from office; that there was a British faction in the country and that +Hamilton was its chief. He drove Pickering and M'Henry from his Cabinet +with contumely, as the only immediate retaliation he could think of, and +Wolcott would have followed, had there been anyone to take his place. +Franklin once said of Adams that he was always honest, sometimes great, +and often mad. Probably so large an amount of truth has never again been +condensed into an epigram. If Adams had not become inflamed with the +ambition that has ruined the lives and characters of so many Americans, +he would have come down to posterity as a great man, with a record of +services to his country which would have scattered his few mistakes into +the unswept corners of oblivion. But autocratic, irritable, and jealous, +all the infirmities of his temper as brittle with years as the +blood-vessels of his brain, the most exacting office in the civilized +world taxed him too heavily. It is interesting to speculate upon what +he might have been in this final trial of his public career, had +Hamilton died as he took the helm of State. If Hamilton's enemies very +nearly ruined his own character, there is no denying that he exerted an +almost malign influence upon them. To those he loved or who appealed to +the highest in him he gave not only strength, but an abundance of +sweetness and light, illuminating mind and spirit, and inspiring an +affection that was both unselfish and uplifting. But his enemies hated +him so frantically that their characters measurably deteriorated; to +ruin or even disconcert him they stooped and intrigued and lied; they +were betrayed into public acts which lowered them in their own eyes and +in those of all students of history. Other hatreds were healthy and +stimulating by comparison; but there is no doubt that Adams, Jefferson, +and Madison fell far lower than they would have done had Hamilton never +shot into the American heavens, holding their fields at his pleasure, +and paling the fires of large and ambitious stars. + +The political excitement in the country by this time surpassed every +previous convulsion to such an extent that no man prominent in the +contest could appear on the street without insult. Although he never +knew it, Hamilton, every time he left the house, was shadowed by his son +Philip, Robert Hamilton, Troup, John Church, or Philip Church. For the +Democratic ammunition and public fury alike were centred on Hamilton. +Adams came in for his share, but the Democrats regarded his doom as +sealed, and Hamilton, as ever, the Colossus to be destroyed. The windows +of the bookshops were filled with pamphlets, lampoons, and cartoons. The +changes were rung on the aristocratical temper and the monarchical +designs of the leader of the Federalists, until Hamilton was sick of the +sight of himself with his nose in the air and a crown on his head, his +train borne by Jay, Cabot, Sedgwick, and Bayard. The people were warned +in every issue of the _Aurora, Chronicle_, and other industrious sheets, +that Hamilton was intriguing to drive the Democratic States to +secession, that he might annihilate them at once with his army and his +navy. The Reynolds affair was retold once a week, with degrading +variations, and there was no doubt that spies were nosing the ground in +every direction to obtain evidence of another scandal to vary the +monotony. Mrs. Croix, being Queen of the Jacobins, was safe, so press +and pamphlet indulged in wild generalities of debauchery and rapine. It +must be confessed that Jefferson fared no better in the Federalist +sheets. He was a huge and hideous spider, spinning in a web full of +seduced citizens; he meditated a resort to arms, did he lose the +election. As to his private vices, they saddled him with an entire +harem, and a black one at that. + +When Hamilton heard that Adams had asserted that he was the chief of a +British faction, he wrote to the President, demanding an explanation; +and his note had that brief and frigid courtesy which indicated that he +was in his most dangerous temper. Adams ignored it. Hamilton waited a +reasonable time, then wrote again; but Adams was now too infuriated to +care whether or not he committed the unpardonable error of insulting the +most distinguished man in the country. He was in a humour to insult the +shade of Washington, and he delighted in every opportunity to wreak +vengeance on Hamilton, and would have died by his hand rather than +placate him. + +Then Hamilton took the step he had meditated for some time past, one +which had received the cordial sanction of Wolcott, and the uneasy and +grudging acquiescence of Cabot, Ames, Carroll of Carrollton, Bayard, and +a few other devoted but conservative supporters. He wrote, for the +benefit of the second-class leaders, who must be persuaded to cast their +votes for Pinckney, to vindicate Pickering and M'Henry, and--it would be +foolish to ignore it--to gratify his deep personal hatred, the pamphlet +called "The Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq., President +of the United States." His temper did not flash in it for a second. It +was written in his most concise and pointed, his most lucid and classic, +manner; and nothing so damning ever flowed from mortal brain. He set +forth all Adams's virtues and services with judicial impartiality. +There they were for all to read. Let no man forget them. Then he +counterbalanced and overbalanced them by the weaknesses, jealousies, and +other temperamental defects which had arisen in evidence with the +beginnings of the President's public career. He drilled holes in poor +Adams's intellect which proved its unsoundness and its unfitness for +public duty, and he lashed him without mercy for his public mistakes and +for his treatment of his Secretaries and himself. It was a life history +on ivory, and a masterpiece; and there is no friend of Hamilton's who +would not sacrifice the memory of one of his greatest victories for the +privilege of unwriting it. + +This was one of his creations that he did not read to his wife, but +Troup was permitted a glance at the manuscript. He dropped it to the +floor, and his face turned white. "Do you intend to publish this thing?" +he demanded. "And with your name signed in full?" + +"I intend to print it. I had every intention of scattering it broadcast, +but I have yielded to the dissuasions of men whose opinions I am bound +to respect, and it will go only to them and to the second-class leaders +as yet unconvinced. To their entreaties that I would not sign my name I +have not listened, because such a work, if anonymous, would be both +cowardly and futile. The point is to let those for whom it is intended +know that a person in authority is talking; and anonymous performances +are legitimate only when published and unmistakable, when given in that +form as a concession to the fashion of the age." + +Troup groaned. "And if it falls into the enemy's hands?" + +"In that case, what a hideous opportunity it would enclose, were it +unsigned." + +"Oh, sign it!" said Troup, wildly. He set his heel on the manuscript, +and looked tentatively at Hamilton. He knew the meaning of the +expression he encountered, and removed his heel. It was months since he +had seen the gay sparkle in Hamilton's eyes, humour and sweetness +curving his mouth. When Hamilton's mouth was not as hard as iron, it +relaxed to cynicism or contempt. He was so thin that the prominence of +the long line from ear to chin and of the high hard nose, with its +almost rigid nostrils, would have made him look more old Roman coin than +man, had it not been for eyes like molten steel. "Politics and +ambition!" thought Troup. "What might not the world be without them?" + +"Let us change the subject," he said. "I hear that Mrs. Croix makes a +convert an hour from Federalism to Democracy. That is the estimate. And +a small and select band know that she does it in the hope of hastening +your ruin. I must say, Hamilton, that as far as women are concerned, you +are punished far beyond your deserts. There is hardly a man in public +life who has not done as much, or worse, but the world is remarkably +uninterested, and the press finds any other news more thrilling. The +Reynolds woman is probably responsible for many remorseful twinges in +the breasts of eminent patriots, but your name alone is given to the +public. As for Mrs. Croix, I don't suppose that any mere mortal has ever +resisted her, but if any other man has regretted it, history is silent. +What do you suppose is the reason?" + +Hamilton would not discuss Mrs. Croix, but he had long since ceased to +waste breath in denial. He made no reply. + +"Do you know my theory?" said Troup, turning upon him suddenly. "It is +this. You are so greatly endowed that more is expected of you than of +other men. You were fashioned to make history; to give birth, not for +your own personal good, but for the highest good of a nation, to the +greatest achievement of which the human mind is capable. Therefore, when +you trip and stumble like any fool among us, when you act like a mere +mortal with no gigantic will and intellect to lift him to the heights +and keep him there, some power in the unseen universe is infuriated, and +you pay the price with compound interest. It will be the same with that +thing on the floor. If you could be sure that it would never fall into +the hands of a Jacobin, even then it would be a mistake to print it, for +it is mainly prompted by hatred, and as such is unworthy of you. But if +it finds its way to the public, your punishment will be even in excess +of your fault. For God's sake think it over." + +Hamilton made no reply, and in a moment Troup rose. "Very well," he +said, "have your own way and be happy. I'll stand by you if the citadel +falls." + +Hamilton's eyes softened, and he shook Troup's hands heartily. But as +soon as he was alone, he sent the manuscript to the printer. + + +V + +M.L. Davis, the authentic biographer of Burr, tells this interesting +anecdote concerning the Adams pamphlet:--' + + Colonel Burr ascertained the contents of this pamphlet, and that it + was in the press. The immediate publication, he knew, must distract + the Federal party, and thus promote the Republican cause in those + States where the elections had not taken place. Arrangements were + accordingly made for a copy as soon as the printing of it was + completed; and when obtained, John Swartwout, Robert Swartwout, and + Matthew L. Davis, by appointment met Colonel Burr at his house. The + pamphlet was read, and extracts made for the press. They were + immediately published. + +When Hamilton read the voluminous extracts in the marked copies of the +Democratic papers which he found on the table in his chambers in Garden +Street, his first sensation was relief; subterranean methods were little +to his liking. He was deeply uneasy, however, when he reflected upon the +inevitable consequences to his party, and wondered that his imagination +for once had failed him. Everyone who has written with sufficient power +to incite antagonism, knows the apprehensive effect of extracts lifted +maliciously from a carefully wrought whole. Hamilton felt like a +criminal until he plunged into the day's work, when he had no time for +an accounting with his conscience. He was in court all day, and after +the five o'clock dinner at home, returned to his office and worked on an +important brief until eight. Then he paid a short call on a client, and +was returning home through Pearl Street, when he saw Troup bearing down +upon him. This old comrade's face was haggard and set, and his eyes were +almost wild. Hamilton smiled grimly. That expression had stamped the +Federal visage since morning. + +Troup reached Hamilton in three strides, and seizing him by the arm, +pointed to the upper story of Fraunces' Tavern. "Alec," he said +hoarsely, "do you remember the vow you made in that room twenty-five +years ago? You have kept it until to-day. There is not an instance in +your previous career where you have sacrificed the country to yourself. +No man in history ever made greater sacrifices, and no man has had a +greater reward in the love and loyalty of the best men in a nation. And +now, to gratify the worst of your passions, you have betrayed your +country into the hands of the basest politicians in it. Moreover, all +your enemies could not drag you down, and no man in history has ever +been assailed by greater phalanxes than you have been. It took +you--yourself--to work your own ruin, to pull your party down on top of +you, and send the country we have all worked so hard for to the devil. I +love you better than anyone on earth, and I'll stick to you till the +bitter end, but I'd have this say if you never spoke to me again." + +Hamilton dropped his eyes from the light in the familiar room of +Fraunces' Tavern, but the abyss he seemed to see at his feet was not the +one yawning before his friend's excited imagination. He did not answer +for a moment, and then he almost took away what was left of Troup's +breath. + +"You are quite right," he said. "And what I have most to be thankful for +in life, is that I have never attracted that refuse of mankind who fawn +and flatter; or have dismissed them in short order," he added, with his +usual regard for facts. "Come and breakfast with me to-morrow. Good +night." + +He walked home quickly, told the servant at the door that he was not to +be disturbed, and locked himself in his study. He lit one candle, then +threw himself into his revolving chair, and thought until the lines in +his face deepened to the bone, and only his eyes looked alive. He wasted +no further regrets on the political consequences of his act. What was +done, was done. Nor did he anticipate any such wholesale disaster as had +distracted the Federalists since the morning issues. He knew the force +of habit and the tenacity of men's minds. His followers would be aghast, +harshly critical for a day, then make every excuse that ingenuity could +suggest, unite in his defence, and follow his lead with redoubled +loyality. His foresight had long since leaped to the end of this +conflict, for the Democratic hordes had been augmenting for years; his +own party was hopelessly divided and undermined by systematic slander. +To fight was second nature, no matter how hopeless the battle; but in +those moments of almost terrifying prescience so common to him, he +realized the inevitableness of the end, as history does to-day. His only +chance had been to placate Adams and recreate his enemy's popularity. + +The day never came when he was able to say that he might have done this +at the only time when such action would have counted. He had been +inexorable until the pamphlet was flung to the public; and then, +although he was hardly conscious of it at the moment, he was immediately +dispossessed of the intensity of his bitterness toward Adams. The +revenge had been so terrible, so abrupt, that his hatred seemed +disseminating in the stolen leaves fluttering through the city. +Therefore his mind was free for the appalling thought which took +possession of it as Troup poured out his diatribe; and this thought was, +that he was no longer conscious of any greatness in him. Through all the +conflicts, trials, and formidable obstacles of previous years he had +been sustained by his consciousness of superlative gifts combined with +loftiness of purpose. Had not his greatness been dinned into his ears, +he would have been as familiar with it. But he seemed to himself to have +shrivelled, his very soul might have been in ashes--incremated in the +flames of his passions. He had triumphed over every one of his enemies +in turn. Historically he was justified, and had he accomplished the same +end impersonally, they would have been the only sufferers, and in the +just degree. But he had boiled them in the vitriol of his nature; he +had scarred them and warped them and destroyed their self-respect. Had +these raging passions been fed with other vitalities? Had they ravaged +his soul to nourish his demons? Was that his punishment,--an instance of +the inexorable law of give and take? + +He recalled the white heat of patriotism with which he had written the +revolutionary papers of his boyhood, the numberless pamphlets which had +finally roused the States to meet in convention and give the wretched +country a Constitutional Government, "_The Federalist_"; which had +spurred him to the great creative acts that must immortalize him in +history. He contrasted that patriotic fire with the spirit in which he +had written the Adams pamphlet. The fire had gone out, and the +precipitation was gall and worm-wood. Even the spirit in which he had +first attacked Jefferson in print was righteous indignation by +comparison. + +Had he hated his soul to cinders? Had the bitterness and the +implacability he had encouraged for so many years bitten their acids +through and through the lofty ideals which once had been the larger part +of himself? Had the angel in him fallen to the bottom of the pit in that +frightful nethermost region of his, for his cynical brain to mock, until +that, too, was in its grave? He thought of the high degree of +self-government, almost the perfection, that Washington had +attained,--one of the most passionate men that had ever lived. Did that +great Chieftain stand alone in the history of souls? He thought of +Laurens, with his early despair that self-conquest seemed impossible. +Would he have conquered, had he lived? What would he or Washington +think, were they present to-night? Would they hate him, or would their +love be proof against even this abasement? He passionately wished they +were there, whether they came to revile or console. Isolated and +terror-stricken, he felt as if thrust for ever from the world of living +men. + +His mind had been turned in, every faculty bent introspectively, but for +some moments past his consciousness had vibrated mechanically to an +external influence. It flew open suddenly, as he realized that someone +was watching him, and he wheeled his chair opposite the dusk in the +lower end of the room. For a moment it, seemed to him that every +function in him ceased and was enveloped in ice. A face rested lightly +on the farther end of the long table, the fair hair floating on either +side of it, the eyes fixed upon him with an expression that flashed him +back to St. Croix and the last weeks of his mother's life. He fancied in +that moment that he could even discern the earthen hue of the skin. When +he realized that it was Angelica, he was hardly less startled, but he +found his voice. + +"When did you return?" he asked, in as calm a tone as he could command. +"And why did you hide in here?" + +"I came down with Grandpa, who made up his mind in a minute. And I came +in here to be sure to have a little talk with you alone. I was going to +surprise you as soon as you lit the candle, and then your face +frightened me. It is worse now." + +Her voice was hardly audible, and she did not move. Hamilton went down +and lifted her to her feet, then supported her to a chair opposite his +own. He made no search for an excuse, for he would not have dared to +offer it to this girl, whose spiritual recesses he suddenly determined +to probe. Between her and the dead woman there was a similarity that was +something more than superficially atavistic. His practical brain refused +to speculate even upon the doctrine of metempsychosis. He was like his +mother in many ways. That unique and powerful personality had stamped +his brain cells when he was wholly hers. He recalled that his own soul +had echoed faintly with memories in his youth. What wonder that he had +given this inheritance to the most sensitively constituted of his +children, whose musical genius, the least sane of all gifts, put her in +touch with the greater mysteries of the Universe? That nebulous memories +moved like ghosts in her soul he did not doubt, nor that at such moments +she was tormented with vague maternal pangs. He conquered his first +impulse to confess himself to her; doubtless she needed more help than +he. She was staring at him in mingled terror and agony. + +"Why do you suffer so when I suffer?" he asked gently; then bluntly, "do +you yearn over me as if I were your child, and in peril?" + +"Yes," she answered, without betraying any surprise; "that is it. I have +a terrible feeling of responsibility and helplessness, of understanding +and knowing nothing. I feel sometimes as if I had done you a great +wrong, for which I suffer when you are in trouble, and I am no more use +to you than John or little Eliza. If you would tell me. If you would let +me share it with you. You remember I begged as a child. You have made +believe to tell me secrets many times, but you have told me nothing. My +imagination has nearly shattered me." + +"Do you wish to know?" he asked. "Are you strong enough to see me as I +see myself to-night? I warn you it will be a glimpse into Hell." + +"I don't care what it is," she answered, "so long as it is the reality, +and you let me know you as I do underneath my blindness and ignorance." + +Then he told her. He talked to her as he would have talked to the dead +had she risen, although without losing his sense of her identity for a +moment, or the consciousness of the danger of the experiment. He showed +her what few mortals have seen, a naked soul with its scars, its stains, +and its ravages from flame and convulsion. He need not have apprehended +a disastrous result. She was compounded of his essences, and her age was +that indeterminate mixture of everlasting youth and anticipated wisdom +which is the glory and the curse of genius. She listened intently, the +expression of torment displaced by normal if profound sympathy. He had +begun with the passions inspired by Jefferson; he finished with the +climax of deterioration in the revenge he had taken on Adams, and the +abyss of despair into which it had plunged him. He drew a long breath of +relief, and regarded his little judge with some defiance. She nodded. + +"I feel old and wise," she said, "and at the same time much younger, +because I no longer shrink from a load on my mind I cannot understand. +And you--it has all gone." She darted at the candle and held it to his +face. "You look twenty years younger than when you sat there and +thought. I believed you were dying of old age." + +"I feel better," he admitted, "But nothing can obliterate the scars. And +although I shall always be young at intervals, remember that I have +crowded three lifetimes into one, and that I must pay the penalty +spiritually and physically, although mentally I believe I shall hold my +own until the end." He leaned forward on a sudden impulse and took both +her hands. "I make you a vow," he said, "and I have never broken even a +promise--or only one," he added, remembering Troup's accusation. "I will +drive the bitterness out of myself and I will hate no more. My public +acts shall be unaccompanied by personal bitterness henceforth. Not a +vengeance that I have accomplished has been worth the hideous experience +of to-night, and so long as I live I shall have no cause to repeat it." + +"If you ever broke that vow," said Angelica, "I should either die or go +crazy, for you would sink and never rise again." + + +VI + +As Hamilton had anticipated, the Jacobin press shouted and laughed +itself hoarse, vowed that it never could have concocted so effective a +bit of campaign literature, and that the ursine roars of Adams could be +heard from Dan to Beersheba. Burr, as yet undetected, almost danced as +he walked. The windows were filled with parodies of the pamphlet, +entitled, "The Last Speech and Dying Words of Alexander Hamilton," +"Hamilton's Last Letter and His Amorous Vindication," "A Free +Examination of the Morals, Political and Literary Characters of John +Adams and Alexander Hamilton." One cartoon displayed the sinking ship +_Administration_, with the Federal rats scuttling out of her, and +Hamilton standing alone on the deck; another, "The Little Lion" +sitting, dejected and forlorn, outside the barred gates of +"Hamiltonopolis." The deep, silent laughter of Jefferson shook the +continent. + +The Federalist leaders were furious and aghast. But they recovered, and +when the time came, every Federalist delegate to the Electoral College, +with one exception, voted precisely as Hamilton had counselled. South +Carolina deserted Pinckney because he would not desert Adams, but she +would have pursued that policy had the pamphlet never been written; and +whether it affected the defeat of the Federalists in Pennsylvania and +other States is doubtful. The publication in August of Adams's letter to +Tench Coxe, written in 1792, when he was bitterly disappointed at +Washington's refusal to send him as minister to England, and asserting +that the appointment of Pinckney was due to British influence, thus +casting opprobrium upon the integrity of Washington, had done as much as +Hamilton's pamphlet, if not more, to damn him finally with the +Federalists. Hamilton's chief punishment for his thunderbolt was in his +conscience, and his leadership of his party was not questioned for a +moment. He expected a paternal rebuke from General Schuyler, but that +old warrior, severe always with the delinquencies of his own children, +had found few faults in his favourite son-in-law; and he took a greater +pride in his career than he had taken in his own. Now that gout and +failing sight had forced him from public life, he found his chief +enjoyment in Hamilton's society. General Schuyler survived the death of +several of his children and of his wife, but Hamilton's death killed +him. Assuredly, life dealt generously with our hero in the matter of +fathers, despite or because of an early oversight. James Hamilton had +never made the long and dangerous journey to the North, and he had died +on St. Vincent, in 1799, but what filial regret his son might have +dutifully experienced was swept away on the current of the overwhelming +grief for Washington. And as for mothers, charming elder sisters, and +big brothers, eager to fight his battles, no man was ever so blest. In +December Hamilton received the following letter from William Vans +Murray:-- + + Paris, Oct. 9th, 1800. + + Dear Sir: I was extremely flattered by the confidence which your + letter by Mr. Colbert proved you have in my disposition to follow + your wishes. A letter from you is no affair of ceremony. It is an + obligation on any man who flatters himself with the hope of your + personal esteem. Mr. Colbert gave it to me yesterday. I + immediately, in particular, addressed a letter to Bonaparte, and + made use of your name, which I was sure would be pleasing to him. + To-day I dined with him. The Secretary of State assured me that he + received it kindly, and I can hope something good from him. If any + come it will be your work. I never before spoke or wrote to + Bonaparte on any affair other than public business. It will be very + pleasing to you if we succeed, that your silent agency works good + to the unhappy and meritorious at such a distance. I know nothing + better belonging to reputation. + +Poor Adams! + +General Davie arrived by the next ship, bringing with him a convention +concluded with France on the 30th of October. He also brought a letter +to Hamilton from one of the commission, with a copy of the document and +a journal of the proceedings of the negotiators. The writer was Oliver +Ellsworth, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Adams might +occupy the chair of State, but to the Federals Hamilton was President in +all but name. + +Sedgwick and Gouverneur Morris, now a member of the Senate, not knowing +of the communication, wrote immediately to Hamilton, acquainting him +with the contents of the treaty. + + It contains no stipulation for satisfaction of the injuries we have + received [Sedgwick wrote in wrath]. It makes the treaty of '78 a + subject for future negotiation. It engages that we shall return, in + the condition they now are, all our captures. It makes neutral + bottoms a protection to their cargoes, and it contains a + stipulation directly in violation of the 25th article of our treaty + with Great Britain. Such are the blessed effects of our mission! + These are the ripened fruits of this independent Administration! + Our friends in the Senate are not enough recovered from their + astonishment to begin to reflect on the course they shall pursue. + +This treaty was a far more deadly weapon in Hamilton's hands than the +entire arsenal he had manipulated in his pamphlet, for campaign +literature is often pickled and retired with the salt of its readers. +But did this mission fail, did Adams lose his only chance of +justification for sending the commission at all, did the Senate refuse +to ratify, and war break out, or honourable terms of peace be left to +the next President, then Adams's Administration must be stamped in +history as a failure, and he himself retire from office covered with +ignominy. But had Hamilton not recovered his balance and trimmed to +their old steady duty the wicks of those lamps whose brilliance had +dimmed in a stormy hour, his statesmanship would have controlled him in +such a crisis as this. He knew that the rejection of the treaty would +shatter the Federal party and cause national schisms and discords; that, +if left over to a Jacobin administration, the result would be still +worse for the United States. It was a poor thing, but no doubt the best +that could have been extracted from triumphant France; nor was it as bad +in some respects as the irritated Senate would have it. Such as it was, +it must be ratified, peace placed to the credit of the Federalists, and +the act of the man they had made President justified. Hamilton was +obliged to write a great many letters on the subject, for the +Federalists found it a bitter pill to swallow; but he prevailed and they +swallowed it. + +Meanwhile, the Electoral College had met. Adams had received sixty-five +votes, Pinckney sixty-four, Jefferson and Burr seventy-three each. That +threw the decision upon the House of Representatives, for Burr refused +to recognize the will of the people, and withdraw in favour of the man +whom the Democratic hemisphere of American politics had unanimously +elected. Burr had already lost caste with the party by his attempts to +secure more votes than the leaders were willing to give him, and had +alarmed Jefferson into strenuous and diplomatic effort, the while he +piously folded his visible hands or discoursed upon the bones of the +mammoth. When Burr, therefore, permitted the election to go to the +House, he was flung out of the Democratic party neck and crop, and +Jefferson treated him like a dog until he killed Hamilton, when he gave +a banquet in his honour. Burr's only chance for election lay with the +Federalists, who would rather have seen horns and a tail in the +Executive Chair than Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton had anticipated their +hesitation and disposition to bargain with Burr, and he bombarded them +with letters from the moment the Electoral College announced the result, +until the House decided the question on the 17th of February. He +analyzed Burr for the benefit of the anxious members until the dark and +poisonous little man must have haunted their dreams at night. Whether +they approached Burr or not will never be known; but they were finally +convinced that to bargain with a man as unfigurable as water would be +throwing away time which had far better be employed in extracting +pledges from Jefferson. + +One of Hamilton's letters to Gouverneur Morris, who wielded much +influence in the House, is typical of many. + + ... Another subject. _Jefferson or Burr_? The former beyond a + doubt. The latter in my judgement has no principle, public or + private; could be bound by no agreement; will listen to no monitor + but his ambition; and for this purpose will use the worst portion + of the community as a ladder to climb to permanent power, and an + instrument to crush the better part. He is bankrupt beyond + redemption, except by the resources that grow out of war and + disorder; or by a sale to a foreign power, or by great peculation. + War with Great Britain would be the immediate instrument. He is + sanguine enough to hope everything, daring enough to attempt + everything, wicked enough to scruple nothing. From the elevation of + such a man may heaven preserve the country. + + Let our situation be improved to obtain from Jefferson assurances + on certain points: the maintenance of the present system, + especially on the cardinal articles of public credit--a navy, + neutrality. Make any discreet use you may think fit of this letter. + +He was deeply alarmed at the tendency of the excited House, which sat in +continuous session from the 11th to the 17th, members sleeping on the +floor and sick men brought thither on cots, one with his wife in +attendance. The South was threatening civil war, and Burr's subsequent +career justified his alarm and his warnings; but in spite of his great +influence he won his case with his followers by a very small margin. +They were under no delusions regarding the character of Burr, their +letters to Hamilton abound in strictures almost as severe as his own, +but their argument was that he was the less of two evils, that every +move he made could be sharply watched. It is quite true that he would +have had Federalists and Democrats in both Houses to frustrate him; but +it does not seem to have occurred to the former that impeachment would +have been inevitable, and Jefferson President but a year or two later +than the will of the people decreed. But it was a time of terrible +excitement, and for the matter of that their brains must have been a +trifle clouded by the unvarying excitement of their lives. Bayard of +Delaware, with whom Hamilton had fought over point by point, winning one +or more with each letter, changed his vote on the last ballot from Burr +to a blank. Hamilton's friends knew that Burr would kill him sooner or +later, for the ambitious man had lost his one chance of the great +office; but Hamilton chose to see only the humour of the present he had +made Thomas Jefferson. That sensible politician had tacitly agreed to +the terms suggested by the Federalists, when they debated the +possibility of accepting him, and Hamilton knew that he was far too +clever to break his word at once. What Hamilton hoped for was what came +to pass: Jefferson found the machinery of his new possession more to his +taste than he could have imagined while sitting out in the cold, and he +let it alone. + + +VII + +Hamilton was now free to devote himself to the practice of law, with but +an occasional interruption. It hardly need be stated that he kept a +sharp eye on Jefferson, but for the sake of the country he supported him +when he could do so consistently with his principles. More than once the +President found in him an invaluable ally; and as often, perhaps, he +writhed as on a hot gridiron. Hamilton came forth in the pamphlet upon +extreme occasions only, but he was still the first political philosopher +and writer of his time, and the Federalists would have demanded his pen +upon these occasions had he been disposed to retire it. Although out of +the active field of politics, he kept the best of the demoralized +Federalists together, warning them constantly that the day might come +when they would be called upon to reorganize a disintegrated union, and +responding to the demands of his followers in Congress for advice. In +local politics he continued to make himself felt in spite of the +fattening ranks of Democracy. His most powerful instrument was the _New +York Evening Post_, which he founded for the purpose of keeping the +Federalist cause alive, and holding the enemy in check. He selected an +able man as editor, William Coleman of Massachusetts, but he directed +the policy of the paper, dictating many of the editorials in the late +hours of night. This journal took its position at once as the most +respectable and brilliant in the country. + +He also founded the Society for the Manumission of Slaves, securing as +honorary member the name of Lafayette--now a nobleman at large once +more. But all these duties weighed lightly. For the first time in his +life he felt himself at liberty to devote himself almost wholly to his +practice, and it was not long before he was making fifteen thousand +dollars a year. It was an immense income to make in that time, and he +could have doubled it had he been less erratic in the matter of fees. +Upon one occasion he was sent eight thousand dollars for winning a suit, +and returned seven. He invariably placed his own valuation upon a case, +and frequently refused large fees that would have been paid with +gratitude. If a case interested him and the man who asked his services +were poorer than himself, he would accept nothing. If he were convinced +that a man was in the wrong, he would not take his case at any price. He +was delighted to be able to shower benefits upon his little family, and +he would have ceased to be Alexander Hamilton had he been content to +occupy a second place at the bar, or in any other pursuit which engaged +his faculties; but for money itself, he had only contempt. Perhaps that +is the reason why he is so out of tune with the present day, and unknown +to the average American. + +Washington, after the retirement of John Jay, had offered Hamilton the +office of Chief Justice of the United States; but Hamilton felt that +the bar was more suited to his activities than the bench, and declined +the gift. His legal career was as brilliant and successful as his +political, but although none is more familiar to ambitious lawyers, and +his position as the highest authority on constitutional law has never +been rivalled, his achievements of greater value to the Nation have +reduced it in history to the position of an incident. There is little +space left, and somewhat of his personal life still to tell, but no +story of Hamilton would be complete without at least a glimpse of this +particular shuttle in the tireless loom of his brain. Such glimpses have +by no one been so sharply given as by his great contemporary, Chancellor +Kent. + + He never made any argument in court [Kent relates] without + displaying his habits of thinking, resorting at once to some + well-founded principle of law, and drawing his deductions logically + from his premises. Law was always treated by him as a science, + founded on established principles.... He rose at once to the + loftiest heights of professional eminence, by his profound + penetration, his power of analysis, the comprehensive grasp and + strength of his understanding, and the firmness, frankness and + integrity of his character.... His manners were affable, gentle and + kind; and he appeared to be frank, liberal and courteous in all his + professional intercourse. [Referring to a particular case the + Chancellor continues.] Hamilton by means of his fine melodious + voice, and dignified deportment, his reasoning powers and + persuasive address, soared far above all competition. His + preeminence was at once and universally conceded.... Hamilton + returned to private life and to the practice of the law in '95. He + was cordially welcomed and cheered on his return, by his fellow + citizens. Between this year and 1798, he took his station as the + leading counsel at the bar. He was employed in every important and + every commercial case. He was a very great favourite with the + merchants of New York and he most justly deserved to be, for he had + shown himself to be one of the most enlightened, intrepid and + persevering friends to the commercial prosperity of this country. + Insurance questions, both upon the law and fact, constituted a + large portion of the litigated business in the courts, and much of + the intense study and discussion at the bar. Hamilton had an + overwhelming share of this business.... His mighty mind would at + times bear down all opposition by its comprehensive grasp and the + strength of his reasoning powers. He taught us all how to probe + deeply into the hidden recesses of the science, and to follow up + principles to their far distant sources. He ransacked cases and + precedents to their very foundations; and we learned from him to + carry our inquiries into the commercial codes of the nations of the + European continent; and in a special manner to illustrate the law + of Insurance by the secure judgement of Emerigon and the luminous + commentaries of Valin.... My judicial station in 1798 brought + Hamilton before me in a new relation.... I was called to listen + with lively interest and high admiration to the rapid exercise of + his reasoning powers, the intensity and sagacity with which he + pursued his investigations, his piercing criticisms, his masterly + analysis, and the energy and fervour of his appeals to the + judgement and conscience of the tribunal which he addressed. [In + regard to the celebrated case of Croswell vs. the People, in the + course of which Hamilton reversed the law of libel, declaring the + British interpretation to be inconsistent with the genius of the + American people, Kent remarks.] I have always considered General + Hamilton's argument in this cause as the greatest forensic effort + he ever made. He had come prepared to discuss the points of law + with a perfect mastery of the subject. He believed that the rights + and liberties of the people were essentially concerned.... There + was an unusual solemnity and earnestness on his part in this + discussion. He was at times highly impassioned and pathetic. His + whole soul was enlisted in the cause, and in contending for the + rights of the Jury and a free Press, he considered that he was + establishing the surest refuge against oppression.... He never + before in my hearing made any effort in which he commanded higher + reverence for his principles, nor equal admiration of the power and + pathos of his eloquence.... I have very little doubt that if + General Hamilton had lived twenty years longer, he would have + rivalled Socrates or Bacon, or any other of the sages of ancient or + modern times, in researches after truth and in benevolence to + mankind. The active and profound statesman, the learned and + eloquent lawyer, would probably have disappeared in a great degree + before the character of the sage and philosopher, instructing + mankind by his wisdom, and elevating the country by his example. + + [Ambrose Spencer, Attorney General of the State,--afterward Chief + Justice,--who did not love him, having received the benefit of + Hamilton's scathing sarcasm more than once, has this to say.] + Alexander Hamilton was the greatest man this country ever produced. + I knew him well. I was in situations to observe and study him. He + argued cases before me while I sat as judge on the bench. Webster + has done the same. In power of reasoning, Hamilton was the equal of + Webster; and more than this can be said of no man. In creative + power, Hamilton was infinitely Webster's superior, and in this + respect he was endowed as God endows the most gifted of our race. + If we call Shakspeare a genius or creator, because he evoked plays + and character from the great chaos of thought, Hamilton merits the + same appellation; for it was he, more than any other man, who + thought out the Constitution of the United States and the details + of the Government of the Union; and out of the chaos that existed + after the Revolution, raised a fabric, every part of which is + instinct with his thought. I can truly say that hundreds of + politicians and statesmen of the day get both the web and woof of + their thoughts from Hamilton's brains. He, more than any man, did + the thinking of the time. + +His fooling was as inimitable as his use of passion and logic, and on +one occasion he treated Gouverneur Morris, who was his opposing counsel, +to such a prolonged attack of raillery that his momentary rival sat with +the perspiration pouring from his brow, and was acid for some time +after. During his earlier years of practice, while listening to +Chancellor Livingston summing up a case in which eloquence was made to +disguise the poverty of the cause, Hamilton scribbled on the margin of +his brief: "Recipe for obtaining good title for ejectment: two or three +void patents, several _ex parte_ surveys, one or two acts of usurpation +acquiesced in for the time but afterwards proved such. Mix well with +half a dozen scriptural allusions, some ghosts, fairies, elves, +hobgoblins, and a _quantum suff_. of eloquence." Hamilton also +originated the practice of preparing "Points," now in general use. + + +VIII + +Hamilton, after the conclusion of the great libel case in the spring of +1804, returned from Albany to New York to receive honours almost as +great, if less vociferous, than those which had hailed him after the +momentous Convention of 1788. Banquets were given in his honour, the bar +extolled him, and the large body of his personal friends were triumphant +at this new proof of his fecundity and his power over the minds of men. +They were deeply disturbed on another point, however, and several days +after his arrival, Troup rode out to The Grange, Hamilton's +country-seat, to remonstrate. + +Hamilton, several years since, had bought a large tract of wooded land +on Harlem Heights and built him a house on the ridge. It commanded a +view of the city, the Hudson, and the Sound. The house was spacious and +strong, built to withstand the winds of the Atlantic, and to shelter +commodiously not only his family, but his many guests. The garden and +the woods were the one hobby of his life, and with his own hands he had +planted thirteen gum trees to commemorate the thirteen original States +of the Union. Fortunately his deepest sorrow was not associated with +this estate; Philip had fallen before the house was finished. This +brilliant youth, who had left Columbia with flying honours, had brooded +over the constant attacks upon his father,--still the Colossus in the +path of the Democrats, to be destroyed before they could feel secure in +their new possessions,--until he had deliberately insulted the most +recent offender, received his challenge, and been shot to death close to +the spot where Hamilton was to fall a few years later. That was in the +autumn of 1801. Hamilton's strong brain and buoyant temperament had +delivered him from the intolerable suffering of that heaviest of his +afflictions, and the severe and unremitting work of his life gave him +little time to brood. If he rarely lost consciousness of his +bereavement, the sharpness passed, and he was even grateful at times +that his son, whose gifts would have urged him into public life, was +spared the crucifying rewards of patriotism. + +As Troup rode up the avenue and glanced from right to left into the +heavy shades of the forest, with its boulders and ravines, its streams +and mosses and ferns, then to the brilliant mass of colour at the end of +the avenue, out of which rose the stately house, he sighed heavily. + +"May the devil get the lot of them!" he said. + +It was Saturday, and he found Hamilton on his back under a tree, the +last number of the _Moniteur_ close to his hand, his wife and Angelica +looking down upon him from a rustic seat. Both the women were in +mourning, and Betsey's piquant charming face was aging; her sister Peggy +and her mother had followed her son. + +Hamilton had never recovered his health, and he paid for the prolonged +strains upon his delicate system with a languor to which at times he was +forced to yield. To-day, although he greeted the welcome visitor gaily, +he did not rise, and Troup sat down on the ground with his back to the +tree. As he looked very solemn, Mrs. Hamilton and Angelica inferred they +were not wanted, and retired. + +"Well?" said Hamilton, laughing. "What is it? What have I done now?" + +"Put another nail into your coffin, we are all afraid. The story of the +paper you read before the Federalist Conference in Albany is common +talk; and if Burr is defeated, it will be owing to your influence, +whether you hold yourself aloof from this election or not. Why do you +jeopardize your life? I'd rather give him his plum and choke him with +it--" + +"What?" cried Hamilton, erect and alert. "Permit Burr to become Governor +of New York? Do you realize that the New England States are talking of +secession, that even the Democrats of the North are disgusted and +alarmed at the influence and arrogance of Virginia? Burr has a certain +prestige in New England on account of his father and Jonathan Edwards, +and his agents have been promoting discussion of this ancestry for some +time past. Do the Federalists of New York endorse him, this prestige +will have received its fine finish; and New Englanders have winked his +vices out of sight because Jefferson's treatment of him makes him almost +virtuous in their eyes. The moment he is Governor he will foment the +unrest of New England until it secedes, and then, being the first +officer of the leading State of the North, he will claim a higher office +that will end in sovereignty. He fancies himself another Bonaparte, he +who is utterly devoid of even that desire for fame, and that +magnificence, which would make the Corsican a great man without his +genius. That he is in communication with his idol, I happen to know, for +he has been seen in secret conversation with fresh Jacobin spies. Now is +the time to crush Burr once for all. Jefferson has intrigued the +Livingstons and Clinton away from him again; the party he patched +together out of hating factions is in a state of incohesion. If the +Federals--" + +"That is just it," interrupted Troup; "the man is desperate. So are his +followers, his 'little band.' They were sick and gasping after Burr's +failure to receive one vote in the Republican caucus for even the +Vice-Presidency, and they know that the Louisiana Purchase has made +Jefferson invincible with the Democrats--or the Republicans, as +Jefferson still persists in calling them. They know that Burr's chance +for the Presidency has gone for ever. So New York is their only hope. +Secession and empire or not, their hope, like his, is in the spoils of +office; they are lean and desperate. If you balk them--" + +"What a spectacle is this!" cried Hamilton, gaily. He threw himself back +on the grass, and clasped his hands behind his head. "Troup, of all men, +reproaching me for keeping a vow he once was ready to annihilate me for +having broken. That offence was insignificant to the crime of supinely +permitting our Catiline to accomplish his designs." + +"If I could agree with you, I should be the last to counsel +indifference; no, not if your life were the forfeit. But I never +believed in Burr's talent for conspiracy. He is too sanguine and +visionary. He desires power, office, and emolument--rewards for his +henchmen before they desert him; but I believe he'd go--or get--no +farther, and the country is strong enough to stand a quack or two; +while, if we lose you--" + +"You will live to see every prophecy I have made in regard to Burr +fulfilled. I will not, because so long as I am alive he shall not even +attempt to split the Union, to whose accomplishment and maintenance I +pledged every faculty and my last vital spark. Sanguine and visionary he +may be, but he is also cunning and quick, and there is a condition ready +to his hand at the present moment. Jefferson is bad enough, Heaven +knows. He has retained our machinery, but I sometimes fancy I can hear +the crumbling of the foundations; the demoralizing and the +disintegrating process began even sooner than I expected. He is +appealing to the meanest passion of mankind, vanity; and the United +States, which we tried to make the ideal Republic, is galloping toward +the most mischievous of all establishments, Democracy. Every cowherd +hopes to be President. What is the meaning of civilization, pray, if the +educated, enlightened, broad-minded, are not to rule? Is man permitted +to advance, progress, embellish his understanding, for his own selfish +benefit, or for the benefit of mankind? And how can his superiority +avail his fellows unless he be permitted to occupy the high offices of +responsibility? God knows, he is not happy in his power; he is, indeed, +a sacrifice to the mass. But so it was intended. He is the only +sufferer, and mankind is happier." + +"Jefferson and Burr both have a consummate knowledge of the limited +understanding; they know how to tickle it with painted straws and bait +it with lies. Bonaparte is not a greater autocrat than Jefferson, but +our tyrant fools the world with his dirty old clothes and his +familiarities. But I am not to be diverted. I want to keep you for my +old age. I believe that you have done your part. It has been a +magnificent part; there is no greater in history. Your friends are +satisfied. So should you be. I want you to give up politics before it is +too late. I fear more than one evil, and it has kept me awake many +nights. Burr is not the only one who wishes you under ground. His +'little band' is composed of men who are worse than himself without one +of his talents. Any one of them is capable of stabbing you in the dark. +The Virginia Junta know that the Federalist party will exist as long as +you do, and that some external menace might cohere and augment it again +under your leadership. At every Federalist banquet last Fourth you were +toasted as the greatest man in America; and I know this undiminished +enthusiasm--as well as the influence of the _Evening Post_--alarms them +deeply. They are neither great enough nor bad enough to murder you, nor +even to employ someone to do it; but more than one needy rascal knows +that he has only to call you out and kill you according to the code, to +be rewarded with an office as soon as decency permits. There is another +menace. I suppose you have heard that Mrs. Croix married a Frenchman +named Stephen Jumel while you were in Albany?" + +"Yes!" exclaimed Hamilton, with interest; "who is he?" + +"A Parisian diamond merchant and banker, a personal friend of Bonaparte. +The belief is that he came over here as a special emissary of the +Consulate. Of course he brought a letter to that other illustrious +agent, and to the amazement of everybody he married her. They must +handle thousands of French money between them. France would be +something more than glad to hear of your elimination from this +complicated American problem; particularly, if you demonstrate your +power by crushing this last hope of Burr's. I doubt if Burr would call +you out with no stronger motive than a desire for personal revenge. He +is no fool, and he knows that if he kills you, he had better put a +bullet through his own brain at once. He is a sanguine man, but not so +sanguine as not to know that if he compassed your death, he would be +hounded into exile. But he is in a more desperate way financially than +ever. He can borrow no more, and his debtors are clamouring. If he is +defeated in this election, and the Jumels are sharp enough to take +advantage of his fury and despair,--I think she has been watching her +chance for years; and the talk is, she is anxious, for her own reasons, +to get rid of Burr, besides,--I believe that a large enough sum would +tempt Burr to call you out--" + +"He certainly is hard up," interrupted Hamilton, "for he rang my front +door bell at five o'clock this morning, and when I let him in he went on +like a madman and begged me to let him have several thousands, or +Richmond Hill would be sold over his head." + +"And you gave them to him, I suppose? How much have you lent him +altogether? I know from Washington Morton that Burr borrowed six hundred +dollars of you through him." + +"I lent him the six hundred, partly because his desperate plight appeals +to me--I believe him to be the unhappiest wretch in America--and more +because I don't want Europe laughing at the spectacle of a +Vice-President of the United States in Debtor's prison. Of course I +can't lend him this last sum myself, but I have promised to raise it for +him." + +"Well, I argue with you no more about throwing away money. Did you +listen to what I said about Madame Jumel?" + +"With the deepest interest. It was most ingenious, and does honour to +your imagination." Troup, with an angry exclamation, sprang to his +feet. Hamilton deftly caught him by the ankle and his great form +sprawled on the grass. He arose in wrath. + +"You are no older than one of your own young ones!" he began; then +recovered, and resumed his seat. "This is the latest story I have heard +of you," he continued: "Some man from New England came here recently +with a letter to you. When he returned to his rural home he was asked if +he had seen the great man. 'I don't know about the _great_' he replied; +'but he was as playful as a kitten.'" + +Hamilton laughed heartily. "Well, let me frolic while I may," he said. +"I shall die by Burr's hand, no doubt of that. Whether he kills me for +revenge or money, that is my destiny, and I have known it for years. And +it does not matter in the least, my dear Bob. I have not three years of +life left in me." + + +IX + +Burr was defeated by a majority of seven thousand votes; and New +England, which had hoped, with the help of a man who was at war with all +the powerful families of New York,--Schuylers, Livingstons, and Clintons +at the head of them,--to break down the oligarchy of which it had been +jealous for nearly a century, deserted the politician promptly. +Incidentally, Hamilton had quenched its best hope of secession, for the +elected Governor of New York, Judge Lewis, was a member of the +Livingston family. Burr was in a desperate plight. Debtor's prison and +disgrace yawned before him; his only followers left were a handful of +disappointed politicians, and these deserted him daily. But although his +hatred of Hamilton, by now, was a foaming beast within him, he was wary +and coolheaded, and history knows no better than he did that if he +killed the man who was still the most brilliant figure in America, as +well as the idol of the best men in it, cunning, and skill, and mastery +of every political art would avail him nothing in the future; every +avenue but that frequented by the avowed adventurer would be closed to +him. Moreover, he must have known that Hamilton's life was almost over, +that in a very few years he could intrigue undisturbed. Nor could he +have felt a keen interest in presenting to Jefferson so welcome a gift +as his own political corpse. But desperate for money, crushed to the +earth, his hatred for Hamilton cursing and raging afresh, the only +conspicuous enemy who might be bought with gold of the man who was still +a bristling rampart in the path of successful Jacobinism, he was in a +situation to fall an easy victim to greater plotters than himself. His +act, did he challenge Hamilton, would be ascribed to revenge, and the +towering figures in the background of the tragedy would pass unnoticed +by the horrified spectators in front. + +On June 18th William Van Ness, Burr's intimate friend, waited upon +Hamilton with a studiously impertinent note, demanding an acknowledgment +or denial of the essence of certain newspaper paragraphs, which stated +that the leader of the Federalists had, upon various occasions, +expressed his low opinion of the New York politician, and in no measured +terms. Hamilton replied, pointing out the impossibility of either +acknowledging or denying an accusation so vague, and analyzed at length +the weakness of Burr's position in endeavouring to pick a quarrel out of +such raw material. He said, in conclusion:-- + + I stand ready to avow or disavow promptly and explicitly any + precise or definite opinion which I may be charged with having + declared of any gentleman. More than this cannot fitly be expected + from me; and especially, it cannot reasonably be expected that I + shall enter into an explanation upon a basis so vague as that which + you have adopted. I trust on more reflection you will see the + matter in the same light with me. If not I can only regret the + circumstance and must abide the consequences. + +Hamilton foresaw the inevitable end, and commenced putting his affairs +in order at once; but, for both personal and abstract reasons, holding +the practice of duelling in abhorrence, he was determined to give Burr +any chance to retreat, consistent with his own self-respect. Burr +replied in a manner both venomous and insulting, and Hamilton called +upon Colonel Pendleton, General Greene's aide during the Revolution, and +asked him to act as his second. On the 23d he received a note from Van +Ness, inquiring when and where it would be most convenient for him to +receive a communication, and the correspondence thereafter was conducted +by the seconds. + +It was Sunday, and Hamilton was at The Grange, when the note from Van +Ness arrived. He was swinging in a hammock, and he put the missive in +his pocket, shrugged his shoulders, and lifted himself on his elbow. His +entire family, with the exception of his wife and Angelica, were +shouting in the woods. The baby, a sturdy youngster of two, named for +the brother who had died shortly before his birth, emerged in a state of +fury. He had eighty-two years of vitality in him, and he roared like a +young bull. Hamilton's children inherited the tough fibre and the +longevity of the Schuylers. Of the seven who survived him all lived to +old age, and several were close to being centenarians. + +Angelica was busy in her aviary, close by. She was now twenty, and one +of the most beautiful girls in the country, but successive deaths had +kept her in seclusion; and the world in which her parents were such +familiar figures was to remember nothing of her but her tragedy. Betsey, +still as slim as her daughter, ran from the house at the familiar roar, +and Gouverneur Morris came dashing through the woods with a half-dozen +guests, self-invited for dinner. It was an animated day, and Hamilton +was the life of the company. He had no time for thought until night. His +wife retired early, with a headache; the boys had subsided even earlier. +At ten o'clock Angelica went to the piano, and Hamilton threw himself +into a long chair on the terrace and clasped his hands behind his head. + +"So," he thought, "the end has come. My work is over, I suppose. +Personally, I am of no account. All I would have demanded, by way of +reward for services faithfully executed, was the health to make a decent +living and ten or fifteen years of peaceful and uninterrupted intimacy +with my family. For fame, or public honours, or brilliant successes of +any sort, I have ceased to care. Nothing would tempt me to touch the +reins of public life again unless in the event of a revolution. I +believe I have crushed that possibility with this election; otherwise, I +doubt if my knell would have sounded. On the bare possibility that such +is not the case, and that my usefulness may not be neutralized by public +doubt of my courage, I must accept this challenge, whether or not I have +sufficient moral courage to refuse it. I believe I have; but that is +neither here nor there, and I shall fall. Should I survive, the sole +reason would be danger ahead. For the last two years I have felt myself +moving steadily deathward. By this abrupt exit I but anticipate the +inevitable a year or two, and doubtless it seems to the destiny that +controls my affairs as the swiftest way to dispose of Burr, and awaken +the country to the other dangers that menace it. To the last I am but a +tool. No man was ever so little his own master, so thrust upon a planet +for the accomplishment of public and impersonal ends alone. I have been +permitted a certain amount of domestic felicity as my strength was best +conserved thereby, my mind free to concentrate upon public duties. I was +endowed with the gift of fascination, that men should follow me without +question, and this country be served with immediate effectiveness, I +have received deep and profound satisfaction from both these +concessions, but it would not matter in the least if I had not. They +were inevitable with the equipment for the part I had to play. I have +had an astonishing and conquering career against the mightiest +obstacles, and I may as a further concession, be permitted an enduring +place in history; but that, also, is by the way. I conquered, not to +gratify my love of power and to win immortal fame, but that I might +accomplish the part for which I was whirled here from an almost +inaccessible island fifteen hundred miles away--to play my part in the +creation of this American empire. It has been a great part, creatively +the greatest part. The proof that no native-born American could have +played it lies in the fact that he did not. The greatest of her men have +abetted me; not one has sought to push me aside and do my work. My only +enemies have been those who would pull my structure down; the most +ambitious and individual men in the Union, of the higher sort, are my +willing followers. To win them I never plotted, nor did I ever seek to +dazzle and blind them. Part of my equipment was the power to convince +them without effort of my superior usefulness; there was no time to +lose. I am nothing but a genius, encased in such human form as would +best serve its purpose; an atom of the vast creative Being beyond the +Universe, loaned for an infinitesimal part of time to the excrescence +calling itself The United States of North America, on the dot called +Earth. Now the part is played, and I am to be withdrawn. That my human +heart is torn with insupportable anguish, matters not at all. I leave +that behind." + +Hamilton had been bred in the orthodox religion of his time, and its +picturesqueness, including its ultimates of heaven and hell, had taken +firm hold of his ardent imagination. But in his cosmic moments the +formulations of this planet played no part. + +"I have not even a mother-country," he thought. "I am a parent, not a +child. My patriotism has been that of a tigress for her young, not of a +man for his fatherland. God knows I am willing, and always have been, to +die for this country, which is so much my own, but why--why--need I have +been made so human? Could I not have understood men as well? Could I not +have performed my various part without loving my wife and children, my +friends, with the deepest tenderness and passion of which the human +heart is capable? Then I would go without a pang, for I am tired, and +death would be a relief. But, since all humanity was forced into me, why +should not I, now that I have faithfully done my part, be permitted a +few years of happiness by my hearthstone?" + +He raised his hands as if to shut out the cold high stars. He had had +few bitter moments since the night, four years before, when he had +deliberately exorcised bitterness and hate; and that mellowness had come +to him which came to his great rivals in their old age. But to-night he +let the deeps rise. He ached with human wants, and he was bidden to +work out his last act of service to the country for whose sole use he +had been sent to Earth. + +He dropped his hands and stared at the worlds above. "Must I go on?" he +thought. "Is that it? Does other work await me elsewhere? Has the +Almighty detached from himself a few creative egos, who go from world to +world and do their part; removed the day their usefulness is over, that +they shall not dissipate their energy, nor live until men regard with +slighting wonder the work of the useless old creature in their midst, +withdraw from it their first reverence? I go in the fulness of my +maturity and the high tide of respect and affection; I go in the +dramatic manner of my advent, and my work will be a sacred thing;--even +my enemies will not dare to pull it down until such time as they are +calm enough to see it as it is; and then the desire will have passed. +Doubtless all things are best and right.... Maturity? I feel as old as +time and as young as laughter." + +He sat up suddenly and bent his head. Millions of tiny bells were +ringing through the forest. So low, so golden, so remote they sounded, +that they might have hung in the stars above or in the deeps of the +earth. He listened so intently for a moment that life seemed suspended, +and he saw neither the cool dark forest nor the silver ripple of the +Hudson, but a torn and desolate land, and a gravestone at his feet. Then +he passed his hand over his forehead with a long breath, and went softly +into the drawing-room. + +Angelica sat at the piano, with her head thrown back, her long fair hair +hanging to the floor. Her dark eyes were blank, but her fingers shook +from the keys the music of a Tropic night. It was a music that Hamilton +had not sent a thought after since the day he landed in America, +thirty-one years ago. It had come to her, with other memories, by direct +inheritance. + +He went to the dining room hastily and poured out a glass of wine. When +he returned, Angelica, as he expected, was half lying in a chair, white +and limp. + +"Drink this," he said, in the bright peremptory manner to which his +children were accustomed. "I think you are not strong enough yet to +indulge in composition. You have grown too fast, and creation needs a +great deal of physical vigour. Now run to bed, and forget that you can +play a note." + +Angelica sipped the wine obediently, and bade him good night. As she +toiled up the stairs she prayed for the physical strength that would +permit her to become the great musician of her ambitious dreams. Her +prayer was answered; the great strength came to her, and her music was +the wonder of those who listened; but they were very few. + +Hamilton went into his library, prepared to write until morning. +Bitterness and cosmic curiosity had vanished; he was the practical man, +with a mass of affairs to arrange during the few days that were left to +him. But he did no work that night. The door-knocker pounded loudly. The +servants had gone to bed. He took a lamp, and unchained and unlocked the +front door, wondering what the summons meant, for visitors in that +lonely spot were rare after nightfall. A woman stood in the heavy shade +of the porch, and behind her was a carriage. She wore a long thin +pelisse; and the hood was drawn over her face. Nevertheless, she +hesitated but a moment. She lifted her head with a motion of haughty +defiance that Hamilton well remembered, and stepped forward. + +"It is I, Hamilton," she said. "I have come to have a few words with you +alone, and I shall not leave until--" + +"Come in, by all means," said Hamilton, politely. "You were imprudent to +choose such a dark night, for the roads are dangerous. When you return I +will send a servant ahead of you with a lantern." + +He led the way to the library and closed the door behind them. Madame +Jumel threw off her cloak, and stood before him in the magnificence of +cloth of gold and many diamonds. Her neck blazed, and the glittering +tower of her hair was a jewel garden. She was one of the women for whom +splendour of attire was conceived, and had always looked her best when +in full regalia. To-night she was the most superb creature that man had +ever seen or dreamed of. Even her great eyes looked like jewels, deep +and burning as that blue jewel of the West Indies, the Caribbean Sea; +but her lips and cheeks were like soft pink roses. Hamilton had seen her +many times since the day of parting, for she went constantly to the +theatre, and had been invited to the larger receptions until her +reckless Jacobinism had put the final touch to the disapproval of +Federal dames; but he had never seen her in such beauty as she was +to-night. Eleven years had perfected this beauty, taken from it nothing. +He sighed, and the past rose for a moment; but it seemed a century +behind him. + +"Will you not sit down?" he asked. "Can I fetch you a glass of wine? I +remember you never liked it, but perhaps, after so long a drive--" + +"I do not wish any wine," said Madame Jumel, shortly. She was nonplussed +by this matter-of-fact acceptance of a situation which she had intended +should be intensely dramatic. She was not yet gone, however. + +"No one ever could get the best of you, Hamilton," she exclaimed. "I +have come here to-night--how terribly delicate you look," she faltered, +with a sudden pallor. "I have not seen you for so long--" + +"My health does not give me the least concern," said Hamilton, +hurriedly, wondering if he could lay his hand on a bottle of +smelling-salts without awaking his wife. "Pray go on. To what am I +indebted for the honour of this visit?" + +Madame Jumel rose and swept up and down the long room twice. "Can there +be anything in that tale of royal blood?" thought Hamilton. "Or in that +other tale of equally distinguished parentage?" + +She had paused with her back to him, facing one of the bookcases. + +"Classics, classics, classics!" she exclaimed, in a voice which grew +steadier as she proceeded. "That was the only taste we did not share. +Don Quixote in Spanish, Dante and Alfieri in Italian; and all the German +brutes. Ah! Voltaire! Rousseau! What superb editions! No one can bind +but the French. And the dear old _Moniteur_--all bound for posterity, +which will never look at it." + +She returned and stood before him, and she was quite composed. + +"I came to tell you," she said, "that when you die, it will be by the +hand of my deputy. I tell you because I am determined that your last +earthly thought shall be of me." + +"_Cherchez la femme--toujours!_ Why are you doing this?" he asked +curiously. "You no longer love me, and your hate should have worn out +long since." + +"Neither my hate nor my love has ceased for a second. I married Jumel +for these jewels, for the courts of Europe, for a position in this +country which the mighty Schuylers cannot take from me again. But I +would fly with you to-morrow, and live with you in a hole under ground. +I came to make no such proposal, however; I know that you would +sacrifice even your family to your honour, and everything else in life +to them. For years I waited, hoping that you would suddenly come back to +me, hating you and injuring you in every way my Jacobinism could devise, +but ready to wipe your shoes with my hair the moment you appeared. Now +the hard work of your life is over. You look forward to years of +happiness with your family on this beautiful estate, while I am married +to a silly old Frenchman--who, however, has brought me my final means of +revenge. I know you well. You would rather be alive now than at any time +of your life. Well, you shall go. And I would pray, if that were my +habit, that into these last days you may condense all the agonies of +parting from those you love that I have ached and raged through in these +eleven long years." + +"God knows I have bitterly regretted that you should suffer for my +passions. And, if it is any satisfaction to you, I go unwillingly, and +the parting will be very bitter." + +She drew a sharp breath, and flung her head about. "One cannot triumph +over you!" she cried. "Why was I such a fool as to come here to-night? +My imagination would have served me better." + +"Is it French money?" asked Hamilton. + +"Yes, but I alone am responsible. We handle immense sums, and its +disposal is left to our discretion. This will be distasteful neither to +France nor Virginia,--I suppose I may have Louisiana, if I want it!--but +I am no man's agent in this matter." + +"You are magnificent! It is quite like you to disdain to share your +terrible responsibility. I can lighten it a little. I shall not shoot +Burr." + +"I should rather you did. Still, it does not matter. He will be disposed +of, and I shall lead the hue and cry." + +"You are young to be so brutal. Will your conscience never torment you?" + +"I have too much brain to submit to conscience, and you know it. I shall +suffer the torments of the damned, but not from conscience. But I would +rather suffer with you out of the world than in it. I have stood that as +long as a mere mortal can stand anything. Revenge is not my only motive. +Either you or I must go, and as I have now found the means of boundless +distraction, I live. I have been on the point of killing myself and you +more than once. But my power to injure you gave me an exquisite +satisfaction; and then, I always hoped. Now the time for the _period_ +has come." Her chin sank to her neck, and she stared at him until her +eyes filled. "Do you love them so much more than you ever loved me?" she +asked wistfully. + +Hamilton turned away his head. "Yes," he said. + +She drew a long shivering breath. "Ah!" she said. "You are a frail +shadow of yourself. You have no passion in you. And yet, even as you +are, I would fling these jewels into the river, and live with you until +you died in my arms. You may think me a monster, if you like, but you +shall die knowing that your wife does not love you as I do." + +Hamilton leaned forward and dried her tears. "Say that you forgive me," +she said; for audacity was ever a part of genius. + +"Yes," he said grimly, "I forgive you. You and Bonaparte are the two +magnificent products of the French Revolution. I am sorry you are not +more of a philosopher, but, so far as I alone am concerned, I regret +nothing." + +"Oh, men!" she exclaimed, with scorn. "They are always philosophers when +they are no longer in love with a woman. But you will give me your last +conscious moment?" + +"No," he said deliberately, "I shall not." + +She sprang to her feet. "You will! Thank you for saying that, though! I +was about to grovel at your feet. Take me to my coach! What a fool I was +to come here!" She seized her pelisse, and wound it about her as she ran +down the hall. Hamilton followed, insisting that she give him time to +awaken a servant. But she would not heed. She flung herself into her +coach, and called to the driver to gallop his horses, unless he wished +to lose his place on the morrow. Hamilton stood on the porch, listening +to the wild flight down the rough hill through the forest But it was +unbroken, so long as he could hear anything, and he laughed suddenly and +entered the house. + +"The high farce of tragedy," he thought. "Probably a mosquito will +settle on Burr's nose as he fires, and my life be spared." + + +X + +The challenge was delivered on Wednesday. Hamilton refused to withdraw +his services from his clients in the midst of the Circuit Court, and +July 11th, a fortnight later, was appointed for the meeting. When +Hamilton was not busy with the important interests confided to him by +his clients, he arranged his own affairs, and drew up a document for +publication, in the event of his death, in which he stated that he had +criticised Burr freely for years, but added that he bore him no +ill-will, that his opposition had been for public reasons only, that his +impressions of Burr were entertained with sincerity, and had been +uttered with motives and for purposes which appeared to himself +commendable. He announced his intention to throw away his fire, and +gave this reason for yielding to a custom which he had held in avowed +abhorrence: "The ability to be in future useful, whether in resisting +mischief or effecting good, in those crises of our public affairs which +seem likely to happen, would probably be inseparable from a conformity +with public prejudice in this particular." + +Burr spent several hours of each day in pistol practice, using the +cherry trees of Richmond Hill as targets. Thurlow Weed, in his +"Autobiography," has told of Burr's testament, written on the night +before the duel. Having neither money nor lands, but an infinitude of +debts, to bequeath his daughter, he left her a bundle of compromising +letters from women. The writers moved in circles where virtue was held +in esteem, and several were of the world of fashion. They had, with the +instinct of self-defence, which animates women even in that stage where +they idealize the man, omitted to sign their names. Burr supplied the +omission in every case and added the present address. That Hamilton +would throw away his fire was a possibility remote from the best effort +of Burr's imagination, and although he knew that no one could fire more +quickly than himself, he was not the man to go to the ground unprepared +for emergencies: if his daughter, now Mrs. Alston, would obey his hint +and blackmail, she might realize a pretty fortune. That Theodosia Burr, +even with the incentive of poverty, would have sunk to such ignominy, no +one who knows the open history of her short life will believe; but the +father, whose idol she was, insulted her and stained her memory, too +depraved and warped to understand nobility in anyone, least of all in +one of his own blood. In the study of lost souls Burr has appealed to +many analysts, and by no one has been made so attractive as by Harriet +Beecher Stowe; who, knowing naught by experience of men of the world, +either idealized them as interesting villains or transformed them into +beasts. In Burr she saw the fallen angel, and bedewed him with many +Christian tears. But I doubt if Burr, the inner and real Burr, had far +to fall. His visible divergence from first conditions was as striking +as, no doubt, it was natural. As the grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the +son of the Reverend Aaron Burr, and reared by relatives of that same +morbid, hideous, unhuman school of early New England theology, it only +needed a wayward nature in addition to brain and spirit to send him +flying on his own tangent as soon as he was old enough to think. After +that his congenital selfishness did the rest. For a time he climbed the +hill of prizes very steadily, taking, once in a way, a flight, swift as +an arrow: in addition to great ability at the bar, and a cunning which +rose to the dignity of a talent, he was handsome, magnetic, well-bred, +and polished, studied women with the precision of a vivisectionist, +assumed emotions and impulses he could not feel with such dexterity that +even men yielded to his fascination until they plumbed him; had in fact +many of the fleeting kindly instincts to which every mortal is subject +who is made of flesh and blood, or comes of a stock that has been bred +to certain ideals. Every wretch has a modicum of good in him, and in +spite of the preponderance of evil in Burr, had he been born under +kindly Southern skies with a gold spoon in his mouth, if, when ambitions +developed, he had had but to stretch out his hand to pluck the prizes of +life, instead of exercising the basest talents of his brain to overreach +more fortunate men, why it is possible that his nature might not have +hardened into a glacier: its visible third dazzling and symmetrical, its +deadly bulk skulking below the surface of the waters which divided the +two parts of him from his victims; might have died in the chaste +reclusion of an ancestral four-poster, beneficiaries at his side. But +that immalleable mind lacked the strong fibre of logic and +foresight--which is all that moral force amounts to--that lifts a man +triumphant above his worst temptations; and he paid the bitter and +hideous penalty in a poverty, loneliness, and living death that would +have moved the theologians of his blood to the uneasy suspicion that +punishment is of this earth, a logical sequence of foolish and +short-sighted acts. Both men and women are allowed a great latitude in +this world; they have little to complain of. It is only when the brain +fails in its part, or the character is gradually undermined by lying +and dishonour, that the inevitable sequence is some act which arouses +the indignation of society or jerks down the iron fist of the law. When +Burr took to the slope he slid with few haltings. In his long life of +plottings and failures, from his sympathy with the Conway Cabal to his +desperate old age, there were no depths of blackguardism that he did not +touch. Whether Madame Jumel spoke the truth or not to Hamilton on that +night of their last interview, it was entirely in keeping with his life +and character that he should kill for hire. + +On the Fourth of July, the Society of the Cincinnati gave its annual +dinner. This society, then the most distinguished in the Union, and +membered by men who had fought in the War of Independence, had, upon the +death of Washington, their first President, elected Hamilton to the +vacant office. He presided at this banquet, and never had appeared nor +felt happier. Not only did that peculiar exaltation which precedes +certain death possess him, as it possesses all men of mettle and brain +in a like condition, but the philosophy which had been born in him and +ruled his imagination through life had shrugged its shoulders and +accepted the inevitable. Hamilton knew that his death warrant had been +signed above, and he no longer experienced a regret, although he had +often felt depressed and martyred when obliged to go to the courts of +Albany and leave his family behind him. He had lost interest in his +body; his spirit, ever, by far, the strongest and the dominant part of +him, seemed already struggling for its freedom, arrogant and blithe as +it approached its final triumph. There is nothing in all life so selfish +as death; and the colossal ego which genius breeds or is bred out of, +isolated Hamilton even more completely than imminent death isolates most +men. The while he gave every moment he could spare to planning the +future comfort and welfare of his family, he felt as if he had already +bade them farewell, and wondered when and how he should meet them +again. + +At this gathering he was so gay and sportive that he infected the great +company, and it was the most hilarious banquet in the society's history. +The old warriors sighed, and wondered at his eternal youth. When he +sprang upon the table and sang his old camp-song, "The Drum," he looked +the boy they remembered at Valley Forge and Morristown. There was only +one member of the company who was unelectrified by the gay abandon of +the evening, and his sombre appearance was so marked in contrast that it +was widely commented on afterward. Burr frequently leaned forward and +stared at Hamilton in amazement. As the hilarity waxed, his taciturnity +deepened, and he finally withdrew. + +The secret was well kept. Few knew of the projected meeting, and none +suspected it, although Burr's pistol practice aroused some curiosity. He +had been a principal in a number of duels, and killed no one. But he was +known to have more than one bitter score to pay, for this last campaign +had exceeded every other in heat and fury. So many duels had studded it, +and so many more impended, that the thinking men of the community were +roused to a deep disapproval of the custom. The excitement and horror +over the sacrifice of Hamilton, full-blew this sentiment. + +On Saturday, Hamilton gave a dinner at the Grange, and a guest was one +of Washington's first aides, Colonel Trumbull. As he was leaving, +Hamilton took him aside and said, with an emphasis which impressed +Trumbull even at the moment: "You are going to Boston. You will see the +principal men there. Tell them from me, as my request, for God's sake to +cease these conversations and threatings about a separation of the +Union. It must hang together as long as it can be made to. If this Union +were to be broken, it would break my heart." + +The following day preceded the duel. Hamilton attended an entertainment +given by Oliver Wolcott, whose fortunes he had made, raising the capital +of a business that could be presided over by no one so well as a former +Secretary of the Treasury. It was a large reception, and he met many of +his old friends. Lady Kitty Duer, widowed, but pleasantly +circumstanced, was there, and Kitty Livingston, once more bearing her +old name in a second marriage. Bitter as the feeling between her house +and Hamilton still was, she had declared long since that she would not +cut him again; and although they never met in private, they often +retired to a secluded corner at gatherings and talked for an hour. His +first reason for attending this reception was to shake her hand as they +parted. Madame Jumel was there, paling the loveliness of even the young +daughters of Mrs. Jay and Lady Kitty Duer. Those who did not mob about +Hamilton surrounded her, and although her cheek was without colour, she +looked serene and scornful. + +After the reception Hamilton spent an hour with Troup. This oldest of +his friends, and Angelica, were the only people whose suspicion he +feared. Troup was quite capable of wringing Burr's neck, and his +daughter of taking some other desperate measure. But it was long now +since he had given Angelica reason for anxiety, and she had ceased to +watch him; and to-day, Troup, whom he had avoided hitherto, was treated +to such a flow of spirits that he not only suspected nothing, but +allowed himself to hope that Hamilton's health was mending. Hamilton +dared not even hold his hand longer than usual at parting, although he +longed to embrace him. + +That night, in the late seclusion of his library, Hamilton wrote two +letters to his wife, in one of which he recommended Mrs. Mitchell to her +care; then the following to Sedgwick, still a close friend, and probably +the most influential man in New England:-- + + NEW YORK, July 10th, 1804. + + MY DEAR SIR: I have received two letters from you since we last saw + each other--that of the latest date being the twenty-fourth of May. + I have had on hand for some time a long letter to you, explaining + my view of the course and tendency of our politics, and my + intentions as to my own future conduct. But my plan embraced so + large a range, that, owing to much avocation, some indifferent + health, and a growing distaste for politics, the letter is still + considerably short of being finished. I write this now to satisfy + you that want of regard for you has not been the cause of my + silence. + + I will here express but one sentiment, which is, that DISMEMBERMENT + of our EMPIRE will be a clear sacrifice of great positive + advantages, without any counterbalancing good; administering no + relief to our real disease, which is DEMOCRACY; the poison of + which, by a subdivision, will only be the more concentrated in each + part, and consequently the more virulent. King is on his way to + Boston where you may chance to see him and hear from himself his + sentiments. God bless you. + + A.H. + +As he folded and sealed the letter he suddenly realized that the act was +the final touch to the order of his earthly affairs, and he lifted his +hand as though to see if it were still alive. "To-morrow night!" he +thought. "Well, now that the hour has come, I go willingly enough. I +have been permitted to live my life; why should I murmur? There has been +sufficient crowded into my forty-seven years to cover a century. I have +been permitted to play a great part in history, to patch together a +nation out of broken limbs and inform it with a brain. It is right that +I should regard myself in this final hour as a statesman and nothing +more, and that I should go without protest, now that I have no more to +do. I can only be deeply and profoundly thankful that out of three +millions of Americans I was selected, that I have conquered in spite of +all obstacles, and remained until I have nothing more to give. It is +entirely right and fitting that I should die as I have lived, in the +service of this country. Only a sacrifice can bring these distracted +States to reason and eliminate the man most dangerous to their peace. If +I have been chosen for this great part, I should be unworthy indeed if I +rebelled." + + +XI + +Hamilton crossed the river to Weehawken at seven the next morning. He +was accompanied by Pendleton, and his surgeon, Dr. Hosack. It was +already very hot. The river and the woods of the Jersey palisades were +dim under a sultry blue haze. There was a swell on the river, and +Pendleton was very sick. Hamilton held his head with some humour, then +pointed out the great beauty of the Hudson and its high rugged banks, +to distract the unhappy second's mind. + +"The majesty of this river," he said, "its suggestion of a vast wild +country almost unknown to the older civilizations, and yet peopled with +the unembodied spirits of a new and mighty race, quicked my unborn +patriotism, unconsciously nourished it until its delivery in Boston." + +"It would have curdled mine," said Pendleton. "Who knows--if you had +been of a bilious temperament, the face of our history might wear a pug +nose and a weak chin." + +Hamilton laughed. "It never could have done that while Washington's +profile was stamped on the popular fancy. But lesser causes than +seasickness have determined a man's career. Perhaps to my immunity I owe +the fact that I am not a book-worm on St. Croix. If I had even once felt +as you did just now, my dear Pendleton, I should never have set sail for +America." + +"Thank God!" said Pendleton. They were beaching. A moment later he and +Hamilton had climbed to the ledge where Burr and Van Ness awaited them. +It was the core of a thick grove, secluded from the opposite shore and +from the high summit of the great palisade. + +Hamilton and Burr nodded pleasantly. The men were dressed in the silken +finery of their time, and looked like a pleasuring quartette in that +green and lovely spot. Through leafy windows they saw the blue Hudson, +the spires and manor-houses, the young city, on the Island. The image of +Philip rose to Hamilton, but he commanded it aside. + +Pendleton had the choice of position and was to give the word. He had +brought with him John Church's pistols, now in their fourth duel. Their +first adventure caused the flight of Church to America. Since then, they +had been used in his duel with Burr and by Philip Hamilton. + +He handed one of the pistols to Hamilton, and asked him if he should set +the hair-spring. + +"No, not this time," said Hamilton. + +Pendleton gave the word. Burr raised his arm, deliberately took aim, +and fired, Hamilton lifted himself mechanically to the tips of his feet, +turned sideways, and fell on his face. His pistol went off, and +Pendleton's eye involuntarily followed the direction of the ball, which +severed a leaf in its flight. Often afterward he spoke of the impression +the cloven leaf made on him, a second of distraction at which he caught +eagerly before he bent over Hamilton. Hosack scrambled up the bank, and +Burr, covered with an umbrella by Van Ness, hastily withdrew. + +Hamilton was half sitting, encircled by Pendleton's arm, when the +surgeon reached the spot. His face was gray. He muttered, "This is a +mortal wound," then lost consciousness. Hosack ascertained, after a +slight examination, that the ball was in a vital part, and for a few +moments he thought that Hamilton was dead; he did not breathe, nor was +any motion of heart or pulse perceptible. With Pendleton's assistance, +Hosack carried him down the bank and placed him in the barge. William +Bayard had offered his house in case of disaster, and the boat was +propelled over to the foot of Grand Street as rapidly as possible. +Before reaching the shore the surgeon succeeded in reviving Hamilton, +who suddenly opened his eyes. + +"My vision is indistinct," he said. In a moment it grew stronger, and +his eye fell on the case of pistols. His own was lying on the top. "Take +care of that pistol," he said. "It is undischarged and still cocked. +Pendleton knows that I did not intend to fire at him." He closed his +eyes, and said nothing further except to enquire the state of his pulse, +and to remark that his lower extremities had lost all feeling. As the +boat reached the pier, he directed that his wife and children be sent +for at once, and that hope be given them. Bayard was standing on the +shore in a state of violent agitation. It was in these pleasant grounds +of his that the great banquet had been given to Hamilton after the +Federalists had celebrated their leader's victory at Poughkeepsie, and +he had been his friend and supporter during the sixteen years that had +followed. + +Hamilton was placed in bed on the lower floor of Bayard's house; and, in +spite of the laudanum that was liberally administered, his sufferings +were almost intolerable. His children were not admitted to the room for +some time, but his wife could not be kept from him. She knew nothing of +the duel, but she saw that he was dying; and the suddenness and horror, +the end of her earthly happiness, drove her frantic. She shrieked and +raved until Hamilton was obliged to rouse himself and attempt to calm +her. The children were huddled in the next room, and when the pain +subsided for a time, they were brought in. Hamilton's eyes were closed. +When he was told that his children were beside his bed, he did not open +them at once. In those moments he forgot everything but the agony of +parting. Finally, he lifted his heavy eyelids. The children stood there, +the younger clinging to the older, shivering and staring in terror. +Hamilton gave them one look, then closed his eyes and did not open them +again for several moments. As the children were led from the room, one +of the boys fainted. + +Through Hamilton's heavy brain an idea forced itself, and finally took +possession. Angelica had not stood in that little group. He opened his +eyes, half expecting that which he saw--Angelica leaning over the +foot-board, her face gray and shrunken, her eyes full of astonishment +and horror. + +"Are you going to die--to die?" she asked him. + +"Yes," said Hamilton. He was too exhausted to console or counsel +submission. + +"To die!" she repeated. "To die!" She reiterated the words until her +voice died away in a mumble. Hamilton was insensible for the moment to +the physical torments which were sending out their criers again, and +watched her changed face with an apprehension, which, mercifully, his +mind was too confused by pain and laudanum to formulate. Angelica +suddenly gripped the foot-board with such force that the bed shook; her +eyes expanded with horror only, and she cowered as if a whip cracked +above her neck. Then she straightened herself, laughed aloud, and ran +out of the room. Hamilton, at the moment, was in the throes of an +excruciating spasm, and was spared this final agony in his harsh and +untimely death. Angelica was hurried from the house to a private asylum. +She lived to be seventy-eight, but she never recovered her reason. + +Meanwhile, the grounds without were crowded with the friends of the +dying man,--many of them old soldiers,--who stood through the night +awaiting the end. Business in New York was entirely suspended. The +populace had arisen in fury at the first announcement on the bulletin +boards, and Burr was in hiding lest he be torn to pieces. + +Hamilton slept little, and talked to his wife whenever he succeeded in +calming her. Her mental sufferings nearly deprived her of health and +reason; but she lived a half a century longer, attaining the great age +of ninety-seven. It was a sheltered and placid old age, warm with much +devotion; her mind remained firm until the end. Did the time come when +she thought of Hamilton as one of the buried children of her youth? + +Troup, Fish, Wolcott, Gouverneur Morris, Rufus King, Bayard, Matthew +Clarkson, some twenty of Hamilton's old friends, were admitted to the +death room for a moment. He could not speak, but he smiled faintly. Then +his eyes wandered to the space behind them. He fancied he saw the +shadowy forms of the many friends who had preceded him: Laurens, +Tilghman, Harrison, Greene, Andre, Sterling, Duane, Duer, +Steuben,--Washington. They looked at him as affectionately as the +living, but without tears or the rigid features of extremest grief. It +is a terrible expression to see on the faces of men long intimate with +life, and Hamilton closed his eyes, withdrawing his last glance from +Morris and Troup. + +Of whom did Hamilton think in those final moments? Not of Eliza Croix, +we may be sure. Her hold had been too superficial. Perhaps not even of +Elizabeth Schuyler, although he had loved her long and deeply. What more +probable than that his last hour was filled with a profound +consciousness of the isolation in which his soul had passed its mortal +tarrying? Surrounded, worshipped, counting more intimate friends +sincerely loved than any man of his time, gay, convivial, too active for +many hours of introspection, no mortal could ever have stood more +utterly alone than Hamilton. Whether or not the soul is given a sentient +immortality we have no means of discovering, but the most commonplace +being is aware of that ego which has its separate existence in his +brain, and is like to no other ego on earth; and those who think realize +its inability to mingle with another. Hamilton, with his unmortal gifts, +his unsounded depths, must have felt this isolation in all its tragic +completeness. There may have been moments when the soul of Washington or +Laurens brushed his own. Assuredly no woman companioned it for a +fraction of a second. Whatever his last thoughts, no man has met his end +with more composure. + +He died at two o'clock in the afternoon. + + +XII + +The humour and vivacity which had seldom been absent from Hamilton's +face in life withdrew its very impress with his spirit. His features had +something more than the noble repose, the baffling peace, of death; they +looked as if they had been cast long ago with the heads of the Caesars. +Gouverneur Morris, staring at him through blistered eyeballs as he lay +in his coffin, recalled the history of the House of Hamilton, of its +direct and unbroken descent--through the fortunate, and famed, and +crowned of the centuries--from the Great Constantine, from "The +Macedonian," founder of a dynasty of Roman Emperors, and from the first +of the Russian monarchs. Throughout that history great spirits had +appeared from time to time, hewed the foundations of an epoch, and +disappeared. What long-withdrawn creators had met in this exceptionally +begotten brain? Did those great makers of empire, whose very granite +tombs were dust, return to earth when their immortal energies were +invoked to create a soul for a nation in embryo? Morris reviewed the +dead man's almost unhuman gift for inspiring confidence, exerted from +the moment he first showed his boyish face to the multitude; for +triumphing to his many goals as if jagged ramparts had been grass under +his feet. He had been the brain of the American army in his boyhood; he +had conceived an empire in his young twenties; he had poured his genius +into a sickly infant, and set it, a young giant, on its legs, when he +was long under twoscore. Almost all things had come to him by intuition, +for he had lived in advance of much knowledge. + +He communicated these thoughts to Troup, who left the room with him, his +head bent, his arms hanging listlessly. "He might have come in some less +human form," added Morris, bitterly. "This is the worst time of _my_ +life. I am not ashamed to say I've cried my eyes out." + +"I have cried my heart out," said Troup. + +The funeral took place from the house of John Church, in Robinson +Street, near the upper Park. Express messengers had dashed out from New +York the moment Hamilton breathed his last, and every city tolled its +bells as it received the news. People flocked into the streets, weeping +and indignant to the point of fury. Washington's death had been followed +by sadness and grief, but was unaccompanied by anger, and a loud desire +for vengeance. Moreover, Hamilton was still a young man. Few knew of his +feeble health; and that dauntless resourceful figure dwelt in the high +light of the public imagination, ever ready to deliver the young country +in its many times of peril. His death was lamented as a national +calamity. + +On the day of the funeral, New York was black. Every place of business +was closed. The world was in the windows, on the housetops, on the +pavements of the streets through which the cortege was to pass: +Robinson, Beekman, Peal, and Broadway to Trinity Church. Those who were +to walk in the funeral procession waited, the Sixth Regiment, with the +colours and music of the several corps, paraded, in Robinson Street, +until the standard of the Cincinnati, shrouded in crepe, was waved +before the open door of Mr. Church's house. The regiment immediately +halted and rested on its reversed arms, until the bier had been carried +from the house to the centre of the street, when the procession +immediately formed. This was the order of it:-- + + The Military Corps + The Society of the Cincinnati + Clergy of all Denominations + The Body of Hamilton + The General's Horse + The Family + Physicians + The Judges of the Supreme Court (in deep mourning) + Mr. Gouverneur Morris in his carriage + Gentlemen of the Bar and students at law (in deep mourning) + Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of the State + Mayor and Corporation of the City + Members of Congress and Civil Officers of the United States + The Minister, Consuls, and Residents of Foreign Powers + The Officers of the Army and Navy of the United States + Military and Naval Officers of the Foreign Powers + Militia Officers of States + Presidents, Directors, and Officers of the respective Banks + Chamber of Commerce and Merchants + Marine Society, Wardens of the Port, and Masters and Officers + of the Harbour + The President, Professors, and students of Columbia College + The different Societies + The Citizens in general, including the partisans of Burr + +On the coffin were Hamilton's hat and sword. His boots and spurs were +reversed across his horse. The fine gray charger, caparisoned in +mourning, was led by two black servants, dressed in white, their turbans +trimmed with black. + +The military escorted him in single file, with trailing arms, the band +playing "The Dead March in Saul," minute guns from the Artillery in the +Park answered by the British and French warships in the harbour. But for +the solemn music, its still more solemn accompaniment, the tolling of +muffled bells, and the heavy tramp of many feet, there was no sound; +even women of an hysterical habit either controlled themselves or were +too impressed to give way to superficial emotion. When the procession +after its long march reached Trinity Church the military formed in two +columns, extending from the gate to the corners of Wall Street, and the +bier was deposited before the entrance. Morris, surrounded by Hamilton's +boys, stood over it, and delivered the most impassioned address which +had ever leapt from that brilliant but erratic mind. It was brief, both +because he hardly was able to control himself, and because he feared to +incite the people to violence, but it was profoundly moving. "He never +lost sight of your interests!" he reiterated; "I declare to you before +that God in whose presence we are now so especially assembled, that in +his most private and confidential conversations, his sole subject of +discussion was your freedom and happiness. Although he was compelled to +abandon public life, never for a moment did he abandon the public +service. He never lost sight of your interests. For himself he feared +nothing; but he feared that bad men might, by false professions, acquire +your confidence and abuse it to your ruin. He was ambitious only of +glory, but he was deeply solicitous for you." + +The troops formed an extensive hollow square in the churchyard, and +terminated the solemnities with three volleys over the coffin in its +grave. The immense throng, white, still aghast, and unreconciled, +dispersed. The bells tolled until sundown. The city and the people wore +mourning for a month, the bar for six weeks. In due time the leading men +of the parish decided upon the monument which should mark to future +generations the cold and narrow home of him who had been so warm in +life, loving as few men had loved, exulted in the wide greatness of the +empire he had created. + +It bears this inscription: + +TO THE MEMORY OF + +ALEXANDER HAMILTON + +THE CORPORATION OF TRINITY HAVE ERECTED THIS MONUMENT IN TESTIMONY OF +THEIR RESPECT FOR THE PATRIOT OF INCORRUPTIBLE INTEGRITY THE SOLDIER OF +APPROVED VALOUR THE STATESMAN OF CONSUMMATE WISDOM + +WHOSE TALENTS AND VIRTUES WILL BE ADMIRED BY GRATEFUL POSTERITY LONG +AFTER THIS MARBLE SHALL HAVE MOULDERED TO DUST + +HE DIED JULY 12TH 1804, AGED 47 + + + + +NOTES + + +PAGE XI. "Nevis" is pronounced Neevis. + +PAGE 3. Of the Gingerland estate nothing remains to-day but a negro +hamlet named Fawcett. Its inhabitants are, beyond a doubt, the +descendants of slaves belonging to Hamilton's grandparents, for there is +no trace of any other family named Fawcett in the Common Records of +Nevis. + +PAGE 6. This deed of separation is entered in the Common Records of +Nevis, 1725-1746, page 429, and is dated the fifth day of February, +1740. + +PAGE 11. I have hesitated over the spelling of the name Levine. John +Church Hamilton, in his life of Hamilton, spells it Lavine, and in one +of Hamilton's letters, page 7, Vol. 11, of this same Life, it is spelt +in the same manner. But four times in the Records of St. Croix it is +spelt Levine. The half-brother to whom Hamilton refers in his letter had +himself baptized in Christianstadt in the year 1769, and the entry +reads: Peter, son of John Michael and Rachael Levine. In the interment +entry of Rachael Levine it is spelt in this fashion, and in the +government records of Levine's business transactions. It seems to me +probable that in copying Hamilton's letter the name was misspelled, and +although he no doubt mentioned the name freely to his family, it is +possible that he did not write it upon any other occasion. I have, +therefore, used the method for which there is a considerable authority. + +PAGE 29. James Hamilton was the fourth son of Alexander Hamilton, Laird +of Grange, and his wife, Elizabeth (eldest daughter of Sir Robert +Pollock), who were married about 1730. The Hamiltons of Grange belonged +to the Cambuskeith branch of the great house of Hamilton, and the +founder of this branch, in the fourteenth century, was Walter de +Hamilton, a son of Sir Gilbert de Hamilton, who was the common ancestor +of the Dukes of Hamilton, the Dukes of Abercorn, Earls of Haddington, +Viscounts Boyne, Barons Belhaven, several extinct peerages, and of all +the Scotch and Irish Hamilton families. He was fifth in descent from +Robert, Earl of Mellent, created by Henry I, Earl of Leicester, who +married a granddaughter of King Henry I of France and his Queen, who was +a daughter of Jeroslaus, Czar of Russia. See "The Lineage of Alexander +Hamilton," in the _New York Genealogical and Biographical Review_, for +April, 1889, or "The Historical and Genealogical Memoirs of the House of +Hamilton, with Genealogical Memoirs of Several Branches of the Family," +by John Anderson, Edinburgh, 1825, a copy of which is to be found in the +British Museum. In the latter work, against the name of James Hamilton, +is the following statement: A proprietor in the West Indies, and father +of Alexander Hamilton, the celebrated statesman and patriot in the +United States of America, who fell, greatly regretted, in a duel with a +Mr. Burr. + +PAGE 35. There is still so widespread misconception of the term +"creole," that it is necessary, even at this late date, to reiterate +that it was not invented as a euphemism for coloured blood. In the +United States creoles are Southerners of French or Spanish extraction; +in the West Indies any person born on one of the islands is a creole, +even if he be an undiluted Dane. + +PAGE 49. This deed of trust was entered in Vol. X, No. 1, page 180, of +the Common Records of St. Christopher, on the fifth day of May, 1756, +eight months before the birth of Alexander Hamilton. + +PAGE 60. This dialect, or rather this curious mispronunciation of words, +and inability to make use of certain letters and more than one or two +personal pronouns, is gathered from old books on the islands, for the +coloured people of the present generation in the Caribbees, even those +of the lower class, now speak, save for their singsong inflection, much +like any one else. But in those days there was no education for the +blacks, and they spoke the barbarous lingo I have transcribed without +embellishment. + +PAGE 65. Dr. Hamilton died in June, 1764. + +PAGE 68. A piece of eight, then the principal coin in the Danish West +Indies, was worth sixty-four cents. + +PAGE 69. Hugh Knox married and left two children, Ann Knox, who married +James Towers, and John Knox, who, I think, became a clergyman on St. +Thomas. + +PAGE 79. The lower story of this fine building, built by Mr. Mitchell, +is in a state of entire preservation, and is now one of the largest +stores in Christiansted. + +PAGE 87. The private burying-ground of the Lyttons was on the Grange +estate, owned, at the time of Rachael's death, by Chamberlain Robert +Tuite. + +PAGE 88. Two candlesticks of this fashion have been preserved in +Frederiksted, and are said to have been used by Hamilton while there. + +PAGE 91. I am convinced that Hugh Knox baptized Hamilton, and have had +the old records of St. Croix, deposited in the archives of Copenhagen, +thoroughly searched. But they are in so dilapidated a condition that one +might as profitably appeal to the recording angel. In 1782 the French +destroyed the church registers of Nevis, but it is hardly likely that +Rachael Levine had Hamilton baptized. The islanders were indifferent to +baptism under the most amiable conditions, usually waiting until it was +reasonable to suppose that their brood was complete, when they took it +to the font _en bloc_. But Hugh Knox would have attached great +importance to this ceremony. + +PAGE 120. There is no doubt in my mind that Hamilton and young Stevens +were either first or second cousins, and that the resemblance between +them which subsequently, in the United States, gave rise to the gossip +that they were brothers, was due to this fact. I was not able to +discover that Mrs. Stevens was a daughter of John and Mary Fawcett, but +she or her husband might well have been closely related to Hamilton's +grandparents, for the few prominent families of Nevis and St. +Christopher intermarried again and again. The Fawcetts were married at +least twenty-two years before Rachael was born, and doubtless had one of +the large families of that time. + +PAGE 131. "The Fields" was the old name for the City Hall Park. + +PAGE 133. I have inferred that the speech Hamilton made on this occasion +was a spontaneous outburst of the same thought which he elaborated a few +weeks later in his history-making pamphlets. Wherever it has been +possible, I have used his own words, for he must have talked much as he +wrote. + +PAGE 136. "Indeed he was the first to perceive and develop the idea of a +real union of the people of the United States"--"History of the +Constitution of the United States" by George Ticknor Curtis, who also +comments at length upon his having been the chief force in bringing the +discontent of the colonists to a head and precipitating the Revolution. + +PAGE 145. There is space only for Hamilton's share in these battles. I +am obliged to assume that the reader knows his Revolutionary history. + +PAGE 165. Nothing can be told here of Laurens's private history beyond +the statements that his too sensitive mind held him responsible for the +accidental death of a younger brother, and that he had married a woman +in England, whom he had left at the altar, to join, with all possible +haste, the fighting forces in America, and whom he never saw again. If +this meets the eye of his family and they care to trust me with the +necessary papers, I shall be glad to write a life of Laurens. + +PAGE 196. This verse was found in a little bag on Mrs. Hamilton's neck +when she died at the age of ninety-seven. + +PAGE 208. "At the age of three and twenty he had already formed +well-defined, profound, and comprehensive views on the situation and +wants of these states. He had clearly discerned the practicability of +forming a confederated government and adapting it to their peculiar +condition, resources, and exigencies. He had wrought out for himself a +political system, far in advance of the conceptions of his +contemporaries, and one which in the case of those who most opposed him +in life, became, when he was laid in a premature grave, the basis on +which this government was consolidated; on which to the present day it +has been administered; and on which, alone, it can safely rest in that +future which seems to stretch out its unending glories before +us."--GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS. + +PAGE 209. This letter from Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, from which +this extract is taken, was first published in Martha Lamb's "History of +New York," A.S. Barnes & Co., New York. + +PAGE 226. Burr was aide-de-camp to Washington for six weeks, beginning +the last week in May, 1776. He hated the work and left abruptly, +incurring Washington's contempt and dislike. The charge of his friends +that Hamilton poisoned the Chief's mind against him is wholly unfounded. +Washington made up his own mind about men, and there is no evidence that +the two young men met except in the most casual manner before this +spring of 1782. Of course it is possible that a diligent reading of +obscure correspondence might bring to light an earlier acquaintance, but +the matter is not worth the waste of time. Matthew Davis, the only +responsible biographer of Burr, gives two years as the time consumed by +Burr for his legal studies. Parton was wholly indifferent to facts and +has no serious position as a biographer; but possessing a picturesque +and entertaining style, he has been widely read, and his estimate of +Burr accepted by the ignorant. + +PAGE 233. Madison was born in 1751, Morris in 1752. + +PAGE 257. "A long chapter might be written about Hamilton's other +labours in the State legislature;... he laboured hard to prevent +legislation in contravention of the treaty of peace; he corrected gross +theoretical blunders in a proposed system of regulating elections, and +strove hard though not altogether successfully to eliminate religious +restrictions; he succeeded in preventing the disfranchisement of a great +number of persons for having been interested, often unwillingly, in +privateering ventures; he stayed some absurd laws proposed concerning +the proposed qualifications of candidates for office; in the matter of +taxation he substituted for the old method of an arbitrary official +assessment, with all its gross risks of error and partiality, the +principle of allowing the individual to return under oath his taxable +property; he laboured hard to promote public education by statutory +regulations; his 'first great object was to place a book in the hand of +every American child,' and he evolved a system which served as the model +of that promulgated in France by the imperial decree of 1808; he had +much to do with the legislation concerning the relations of debtor and +creditor, then threatening to dissever the whole frame of society; he +was obliged to give no little attention to the department of criminal +law; finally he had to play a chief part in settling the long and +perilous struggle concerning the 'New Hampshire Grants,' the region now +constituting the State of Vermont: his efforts in this matter chiefly +averted war and brought the first new state into the Union."--MORSE'S +"Life of Hamilton," Vol. I. + +PAGE 265. The classic narrative of the Constitutional Convention is by +George Ticknor Curtis, and there have been few more fascinating +chronicles of any subject. Of the condensed narratives the most coherent +and vivid is in Roosevelt's "Life of Gouverneur Morris." + +PAGE 268. Hamilton also invited Gouverneur Morris to collaborate, but +that erratic gentleman was otherwise engaged. + +PAGE 269. I take this apportionment from a copy of "The Federalist" +presented by Hamilton to his nephew Philip Church, and kindly lent to me +by Mr. Richard Church. In this copy one of Hamilton's sons, at his +father's dictation, wrote the initial of the writer or writers after +each essay. To Jay are allotted Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 54. To Madison, 10, 14, +37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48. To Hamilton and Madison +jointly: 13, 19, 20. The rest to Hamilton. + +PAGE 271. "'The Federalist,' written principally by Hamilton, exhibits +an extent and precision of information, a profundity of research, and an +accurateness of understanding, which would have done honour to the most +illustrious statesmen of ancient or modern times."--_Edinburgh Review_, +No. 24. + +"It is a work altogether, which, for comprehensiveness of design, +strength, clearness, and simplicity, has no parallel. We do not even +except or overlook Montesquieu and Aristotle among the writings of +men."--_Blackwood's Magazine_, January, 1825. + +"In the application of elementary principles of government to practical +administration 'The Federalist' is the greatest work known to +me."--_Guizot_. + +PAGE 300. This coup of Hamilton's was evidently not placed on +record,--for manifest reasons,--for it is not to be found in Elliot's +"Debates," and we should have lost it but for a letter from Clinton to +John Lamb. See Foster, "On the Constitution," page 4, Vol. I. + +PAGE 304. On page 842, "History of the Republic," by J.C. Hamilton, is +the only letter from Hamilton to his brother James which has been +preserved. It is well known in the family, however, that he corresponded +with both his father and brother after his arrival in America. A letter +from his father promising to come to the United States as soon as +practicable will be found on page 567, Vol. V, Hamilton's Works (J.C. +Hamilton edition). + +PAGE 304. I am at a loss to understand upon what authority certain of +Hamilton's biographers base their assertion that, shortly after his +arrival in this country, he cut his West Indian relatives, ignored their +many claims upon his affection and gratitude, and deliberately excluded +them from his memory. There is no such assertion in his son's biography, +and the lives of Hamilton that have followed have been little more than +a condensation of that voluminous work. This uncharitable +assumption--which must precede such a statement--cannot be the result of +an exhaustive reading of his correspondence, for there they would find +letters from Hugh Knox and Governor Walsterstorff and Edward Stevens, +extending over a period of many years; and reproaches in none of them. +Nor can it be the result of investigation among his descendants, for it +is well known in the Hamilton family, that he not only corresponded +regularly with his relatives, including his father, for a long while, +but that he supported Mrs. Mitchell after her husband's failure and +death. And even if this indisputable information were not accessible, it +is incredible to me that any one capable of understanding Hamilton even +a little should believe that so contemptible a quality as ingratitude +had any place in his nature. The most impetuous, generous, honest, and +tender of men, he was the last person to turn his back upon those who +had befriended and supported him in his precarious youth. Had he been +capable of such meanness, he would not have died lamented by the best +men in the country, many of whom had loved him devotedly for a quarter +of a century. Nor was there any motive for such a performance. One is +not at all surprised to find that Mrs. Mitchell was among the last of +his earthly thoughts; but were there not ample proof of the falsity of +these careless assertions, then indeed would Hamilton be an enigma. + +PAGE 339. Burr was married to Madame Jumel for a short time when they +were both old enough to know better. She very quickly sent him about his +business and resumed the name of her second husband. Burr had +appropriated sixteen thousand dollars with which she had entrusted him, +and, as she told people still living, his charming manners were entirely +superficial, he was cross and exacting at home. Nevertheless she did not +hesitate to make use of him upon occasion. During the bread riots in +Italy her carriage was hemmed in one day and her richly attired self +threatened by the furious populace. When it became evident that her +terrified coachman could make no headway she arose to her majestic +height, and, sweeping out one hand with her haughtiest gesture, said in +a loud and commanding tone, "Make way! make way! for the widow of the +Vice-President of the United States." The crowd fell back properly awed. +Madame Jumel claimed to have the famous diamond necklace, but for the +truth of this claim I cannot vouch. She certainly had many personal +relics of Napoleon, confided to the care of Jumel, when the fallen +Emperor meditated flight on his faithful banker's frigate. + +PAGE 387. It is impossible that Hamilton could have sat for all the +alleged portraits of himself, scattered over the United States, or he +would have had no time to do any work. Moreover, few realize his +personality or the contemporaneous description of him. That in the +Boston Museum of Fine Arts is the best. That in the City Hall, New York, +is one of the best, and the copy of it in the Treasury Department, +Washington, is better. Several others are charming, notably, the one at +Morristown Headquarters, New Jersey, and the one painted for his army +friends, now in the possession of Mr. Philip Schuyler. The one in the +Chamber of Commerce is a Trumbull, but looks like a fat boy with thin +legs. It is to be hoped there will be no further photographing of that +libel. Had Hamilton looked like it he would have accomplished nothing. + +PAGE 413. As the visit of little Lafayette to the United States was of +no historical moment I have taken the liberty of bringing him over at my +own pleasure. Otherwise I should have been obliged merely to mention his +advent in the course of the rapid seven years' summary which comes +later. + +PAGE 430. That Hamilton conceived the ice-water cure for yellow fever is +well known to doctors. + +PAGE 435. Mr. Richard Church kindly brought me an old bundle of letters +from Mrs. Church to Mrs. Hamilton. Except for the faded ink they might +been written yesterday, so lively, natural, and _modern_ were they. It +was impossible to realize that the writer was dust long since. Indeed, +in all the matter, published and unpublished, that I have read for this +book, I find no excuse for the inverted absurdities and stilted forms +with which it is thought necessary to create a hundred-year-old +atmosphere. + +PAGE 441. This letter of Thomas Corbin disposes of the asseverations of +Jefferson's biographers that the leader of the Democrats dressed himself +like a gentleman until he became President. His untidiness was probably +congenital to begin with, and in any case would have been a policy from +the first, of that deep and subtle mind. + +PAGE 448. A clause had been inserted in Article II of the Constitution +which would permit Hamilton, although an alien born, to be a President +of the United States. + +PAGE 451. It was Mr. James Q. Howard in a letter to the New York _Sun_, +May, 1901, who called attention to the fact that Hamilton was the first +of the "Imperialists," or "Expansionists." + +PAGE 458. I wrote to Colonel Mills, Commander of West Point, to ask him +if any of Hamilton's codes were still in use. The librarian of the post, +Dr. Edward S. Holden, replied, among other things, as follows: "... As +circumstances have changed, the details of his codes have changed, and +the principles which guided him have been readapted to new conditions as +they have arisen. The best praise that can be given him is, then, that +he thoroughly understood the basic principles underlying military +affairs, and that with superb genius he applied them to the exigencies +of his time with that philosophical and at the same time practical +talent which was his special endowment." + +PAGE 469. I made a copy from the original of a letter from Alexander +Baring (afterward Lord Ashburton) to his counsel, D.J. Rinnan, +containing full details of this transaction. One of the significant +points about the contemptuous opinions of Burr's dishonesty which one +comes upon constantly in the correspondence of this period, is that no +one claims to have made its discovery, or to think comment worth while. +It evidently became established at an early date. But brilliancy and +dexterity saved him at the bar, and he won many a case for those who +despised him most. + +PAGE 471. Tammany Hall was highly respectable in the beginning of its +career. I have here used the term in the figurative sense; it is in +truth an epigram into which all political abomination is concentrated. + +PAGE 474. For correspondence of Hamilton with his Scotch relatives, and +with Secretary of the Navy regarding Robert Hamilton, see Vol. VI, +Hamilton's Works. + +PAGE 496. + +Burials in 1799, Con. June 3d. James Hamilton--Father of General +Hamilton in America killed by Col. Baird. + +NOTE: The Rev. I. Guilding was the Rector of the Parish at this time, +and the entry was made by him in the above form. + +E.A. TURPIN. + +I certify that the above entry is a true and correct copy from the +Register of Burials in the Cathedral Church of St. George, in the town +of Kingston, in the island of St. Vincent, West Indies, by me, + +E.A. TURPIN, Rector of St. George and St. Andrew, and Archdeacon of St. +Vincent, this 13th day of May, 1901. + +PAGE 501. Hamilton never would own a slave. + +PAGE 509. The story of Burr's awakening Hamilton in the early morning to +borrow of him, is related in "The History of the Republic." Mrs. +Hamilton herself is the authority for the other loan. The story was told +her by Washington Morton, her brother-in-law, who arranged it, Burr, for +once, being ashamed to go openly to Hamilton. He repaid this sum after +Hamilton's death. + +PAGE 516. The oft-told tale of Hamilton and Burr meeting at the house of +Madame Jumel on the night before the challenge, I have, after careful +investigation, utterly repudiated. In the first place, the lady had been +married but two months, and to a Frenchman at that. He was a rich man +and had undoubtedly married her for love, moreover was devoted to her as +long as he lived. It is not at all likely that he was permitting +Hamilton to call one night and Burr the next--so the story runs. In the +second place, Hamilton, whatever may have been his adventures in the +past, was in no condition for gallivanting at this period, as I think I +have demonstrated. Dr. Hosack, in the paper he prepared for the _Post_ +on the day following Hamilton's death, asserted that owing to the +patient's feeble condition he had been unable to give the usual +medicines. At the same time Hamilton had been working from fourteen to +fifteen hours a day. The conclusions are obvious. Moreover, General +Hamilton, now eighty-seven, and in perfect possession of all his +faculties, has told me that he frequently accompanied his grandmother, +Hamilton's widow, to call on Madame Jumel. In the small town of New York +no such sensational meeting could have been kept a secret for long. +Madame Jumel lived in the city at the time, by the way, her husband not +buying the house on the Heights until 1815. + +But that she was at the bottom of the matter I should not have had the +slightest doubt, even were it not an accepted fact by both Hamilton's +present family and hers, and I arrived at my conclusions, as the story +of all concerned, and of the history of the times, developed. + +PAGE 522. Burr kept these letters until he died, at the age of 80, and +left them to Matthew Davis, who destroyed those whose writers were dead, +and returned the others to certain ancient and highly respected dames. + +PAGE 527. These pistols are now in the possession of Mr. Richard Church. + +PAGE 531. Hamilton's strong likeness to the Caesars is best seen in the +marbles of him, notably the one executed by Ceracchi. The painted +likenesses of him either do not resemble him at all or are so full of +his vivacity, mischievous humour, and indomitable youth that they are +wholly himself. + +From "Statistical Account of Scotland," Vol. V, page 450, Edinburgh: +"The most remarkable person connected with the parish (Stevenston in +Ayrshire) was the late General Alexander Hamilton of the family of +Grange, though America was the field in which he distinguished himself. +He was excelled by none as a general, orator, financier, lawyer. In the +words of one who knew him, he was 'the mentor of Washington, the framer +of the present constitution of America, a man of strict honour and +integrity; equally esteemed in public and in private life.'" + +The above came to my hand after the book went to press, and I publish it +to emphasize the fact that the Scotch Hamiltons eagerly claimed the +kinship of Hamilton, quite indifferent to the irregularity of his birth. + +Hamilton's children were born and named as follows: Philip, January 22, +1782; Angelica, September 25, 1784; Alexander, May 16, 1786; James +Alexander, April 14, 1788; John Church, August 22, 1792; William +Stephen, August 4, 1797; Eliza, November 20, 1799; Philip, June 7, +1802. + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENTS + + +It is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to the following people +who have helped me with family papers, books and political pamphlets +long out of print, their knowledge of the unwritten history of the +United States, unpublished anecdotes of Hamilton, and general +suggestions: Mr. James Q. Howard of the Library of Congress; Dr. Allan +McLane Hamilton; General A. Hamilton; Colonel J.C.L. Hamilton; Mr. +Richard Church; Mr. Roger Foster; Mr. H.W. Parker of the Mechanics' +Institute Free Library of New York; Dr. Richard B. Coutant, and Mr. +Philip Schuyler; and to the following residents of the British and +Danish West Indies: + +_On St. Christopher_ + +Mrs. Spencer Wigley +Dr. Joseph Haven, U.S. Consul +The Rev. William Evered +The Rev. George Yoe +Mr. E.P. Latouche, Registrar and Provost Marshal + + +_On Nevis_ + +The Hon. C.C. Greaves +The Rev. W. Cowley +The Rev. Mr. Shephard +Mr. G.V. Mercier + + +_On St. Croix_ + +The Rev. W.C. Watson + +Also--The West Indian works of Dr. Taylor, and Lightbourne's Annuals. + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Conqueror, by Gertrude Franklin Atherton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONQUEROR *** + +***** This file should be named 13246.txt or 13246.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/2/4/13246/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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