The
contentions
pro-
duced by these controversies extended their influence
to other members of the confederacy, and as the decision
would affect their future political weight, occupied a large
share in their discussions.
duced by these controversies extended their influence
to other members of the confederacy, and as the decision
would affect their future political weight, occupied a large
share in their discussions.
Hamilton - 1834 - Life on Hamilton - v2
You ought to bring it
about. There are few men so honest and sensible. I hope you may send
him. He knows better than all the British councils. "
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? HAMILTON.
That hope was faint. The capture of Cornwallis had
induced her ministry late in the preceding year to make
a new loan, with a view to the recovery of New York
and Charleston; but they at the same time announced in the
most peremptory manner their determination not to grant
larger aids. Yet there was no other resource; and under
this conviction he addressed the following letters to De
Noailles and La Fayette.
"Esteem for your talents and acquirements, is a senti-
ment which from my earliest acquaintance with you, my
dear viscount, I have shared in common with all those
who have the happiness of knowing you; but a better
knowledge of your character has given it in my eyes a
more intrinsic merit, and has attached me to you by a
friendship founded upon qualities as rare as they are esti-
mable. Averse as I am to professions, I cannot forbear
indulging this declaration, to express to you the pleasure
I feel at receiving, after an inexplicable delay, the letter
you were so obliging as to write me before your depart-
ure from Boston. It was of that kind which is always
produced by those attentions of friends we value, which,
not being invited by circumstances nor necessitated by
the forms of society, bespeak the warmth of the heart; at
least, my partiality for you makes me fond of viewing it
in this light, and I cherish the opinion.
"I was chagrined to find that you left us with an intention
not to return. Though I should be happy if, by a removal
of the war, this country should cease to be a proper thea-
tre for your exertions, yet if it continues to be so, I hope
you will find sufficient motives to change your resolution.
Wherever you are, you will be useful and distinguished;
but the ardent desire I have of meeting you again, makes
me wish America may be your destination. I would will-
ingly do it in France, as you invite me to do; but the
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? 4
THE LIFE OF
prospect of this is remote. I must make a more solid
establishment here before I can conveniently go abroad.
There is no country I have a greater curiosity to see, or
which I am persuaded would be so interesting to mc, as
yours. I should be happy to renew and improve the valu-
able acquaintances from thence which this war has given
me an opportunity of making; and though I would not
flatter myself with deriving any advantage from it, I am
persuaded it is there I should meet with the greatest num-
ber of those you describe, who, &c. : but considerations
of primary importance will oblige me to submit to the
mortification of deferring my visit.
"In the mean time, I should be too much the gainer by
a communication with you, not gladly to embrace the offer
you so politely make for writing to each other.
"The period since you left us has been too barren of
events to enable me to impart any thing worth attention.
The enemy continues in possession of Charleston and
Savannah, and leaves us master of the rest of the country.
It is said the assemblies of the two invaded states are
about meeting to restore the administration of govern-
ment. This will be a step to strengthening the hands of
General Greene and counteracting the future intrigues of
the enemy. Many are sanguine in believing that all the
southern posts will be evacuated, and that a fleet of trans-
ports is actually gone to bring the garrisons away; for
my part, I have doubts upon the subject. My politics are,
that while the present ministry can maintain their seats
and procure supplies, they will prosecute the war on the
mere chance of events; and that while this is the plan, they
will not evacuate posts so essential as points of departure,
from whence, on any favourable turn of affairs, to renew
their attack on our most vulnerable side; nor would they
relinquish objects that would be so useful to them, should
the worst happen in a final negotiation. Clinton, it is
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? HAMILTON.
5
said, is cutting a canal across New-York island, through
the low ground about a mile and a half from the city.
This will be an additional obstacle; but if we have other-
wise the necessary means to operate, it will not be an in-
surmountable one. I do not hear that he is constructing
any other new works of consequence. To you who are so
thoroughly acquainted with the military posture of things
in this country, I need not say that the activity of the next
campaign must absolutely depend on effectual succours
from France. I am convinced we shall have a powerful
advocate in you. La Fayette, we know, will bring the
whole house with him if he can.
"There has been no material change in our internal situa-
tion since you left us. The capital successes we have had,
have served rather to increase the hopes than the exertions
of the particular states. But in one respect we are in a
mending way. Our financier has hitherto conducted him-
self with great ability, has acquired an entire personal
confidence, revived in some measure the public credit, and
is conciliating fast the support of the moneyed men.
"His operations have hitherto hinged chiefly on the sea-
sonable aids from your country; but he is urging the es-
tablishment of permanent funds among ourselves; and
though, from the nature and temper of our governments,
his applications will meet with a dilatory compliance, it is
to be hoped they will by degrees succeed. The institution
of a bank has been very serviceable to him. The com-
mercial interest, finding great advantages in it, and antici-
pating much greater, is disposed to promote the plan; and
nothing but moderate funds, permanently pledged for the
security of lenders, is wanting to make it an engine of the
most extensive and solid utility.
"By the last advices, there is reason to believe the delin-
quent states will shortly comply with the requisition of
congress for a duty on our imports. This will be a great
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? ti
THE LIFE OF
resource to Mr. Morris, but it will not alone be suffi-
cient.
"Upon the whole, however, if the war continues another
year, it will be necessary that congress should again recur
to the generosity of France for pecuniary assistance. The
plans of the financier cannot be so matured as to enable
us by any possibility to dispense with this ; and if he should
fail for want of support, we must replunge into that con-
fusion and distress which had like to have proved fatal to
us, and out of which we are slowly emerging. The cure
in a relapse would be infinitely more difficult than ever.
"I have given you an uninteresting but a faithful sketch
of our situation. You may expect from time to time to
receive from me the progress of our affairs, and I know
you will overpay me. "
La Fayette, who married a sister of De Noailles, had
recently returned to France. Hamilton wrote his friend:--
"I have been employed for the last ten months in rocking
the cradle and studying the art of fleecing my neighbours.
I am now a grave counsellor at law, and shall soon be
a grave member of congress. I am going to throw
away a few months more in public life, and then I re-
tire a simple citizen and good pater familias. You see
the disposition I am in. You are condemned to run the
race of ambition all your life; I am already tired of the
career, and dare to leave it. You tell me they are employ-
ed in building a peace, and other accounts say it is nearly
finished. It is necessary for America, especially if your
army is taken from us. That was an essential point d'ap-
pui. The money was the primuin mobile of our finances,
which must now lose the little activity lately given them.
Our trade is prodigiously cramped. These states are in
no humour for continuing exertions. If the war lasts, it
must be carried on by external succours. I make no
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? HAMILTON. 7
apology for the inertness of the country. I detest it; but
since it exists, I am sorry to see other resources diminish.
Is there any thing you wish on this side the water?
You know the warmth and sincerity of my attachment.
Command me. Is the worthy Gouvion well? How is it
with our friend Gimat? How is it with Du Portail? All
these are men of merit, and interest my best wishes. "
He also addressed a letter to General Greene:--" It is
an age since I have either written to you or received a
line from you, yet I persuade myself you have not been
the less convinced of my affectionate attachment and warm
participation in all those events which have given you that
place in your country's esteem and approbation, which I
have known you to deserve while your enemies and rivals
were most active in sullying your reputation. "--" I feel,"
he added, "the deepest affliction at the news we have just
received of the loss of our dear and estimable friend Lau-
rens. His career of virtue is at an end. How strangely
are human affairs conducted, that so many excellent quali-
ties could not ensure a more happy fate! The world will
feel the loss of a man who has left few like him behind;
and America, of a citizen whose heart realized that patri-
otism of which others only talk. I shall feel the loss of a
friend I truly and most tenderly loved, and one of a very
small number. I take the liberty to enclose a letter to Mr
Kane, executor to the estate of Mr. Lavine, a half-brother
of mine, who died some time since in South Carolina. "
A few days after the date of this letter, congress rose. *
Though among its members there were men of high
personal character and of eminent patriotism, such as Duane
and Hanson, Izard and Middleton, with the exception of
Boudinot, Madison, and Edmund Randolph, there were no
names conspicuous in the after history of their country.
* November 4, 1782.
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? 8 THE LIFE OF
The executive departments, as Hamilton anticipated when
he suggested them, were introducing system and economy
into the administration; and thus the annual expenditure,
which had risen to twenty, was reduced to eight millions.
But there was not in the national legislature a single in-
dividual who combined the qualities necessary to give to
the public councils the impulse, the direction, and the vigour
which the condition of the country so much demanded.
With repeated and impressive earnestness the superin-
tendent of finance is seen exhorting the adoption of meas-
ures suited to the exigencies of the period, but no answer-
ing voice is heard from congress.
The creation of a currency--the importance of funding
the debt--the utility of loans--the necessity of revenue
supplemental to that to be derived from the impost--of a
land tax, a poll tax, an excise--were all urged by him, but
urged in vain.
The early enthusiasm of the nation had passed away.
The authority of government had not followed: all was
apathy and irresolution, or temporary expedient.
Funds could not indeed be obtained without the sanc-
tion of the states; but the great principles of public faith
might have been enforced. Pledges to fulfil it might have
been given. The people might have been appealed to,
and thus accustomed to the always useful language of truth.
The incorporation of a bank, opposed by Madison from
scruples as to its constitutionality, was the only measure
of relief adopted.
While waiting the concurrence of the states in the grant
of authority to collect an impost, endeavours were made
to induce a cession of the unappropriated lands to the
common treasury.
The disposal of this vast domain had early attracted the
attention of the general legislature.
Assuming that the unappropriated territory had become
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? HAMILTON.
9
national property, a bounty in the public lands was offered,
the second year of the war, as an inducement to enlist.
Averse to this measure, Maryland suggested the substitute
of a money bounty, but the suggestion was not approved.
Two years after, Virginia passed a law opening offices
for the sale of her lands. As her territorial claims were
regarded with much jealousy by the other states, congress
urged her " to forbear. "
New-Jersey proposed an amendment to the articles of
the confederation, which, while it admitted the jurisdiction
of each state over the public demesne within its chartered
limits, declared that the crown lands ought to belong to
congress in trust for the United States.
Maryland, when she approved those articles, instructed
her delegates not to ratify them unless the principle was
distinctly admitted of a joint interest of the United States
in this territory. Virginia interposed a remonstrance.
Sensible of the importance of removing this obstacle to
a completion of the confederation, New-York, though one
of the largest claimants, soon after made a cession of her
rights.
Congress hastened to avail themselves of this propitious
example ; and having expressly declined a discussion of the
conflicting claims, recommended a liberal surrender by the
states, in order to establish the federal union on a perma-
nent basis.
They soon after resolved that the ceded lands should be
disposed of for the common benefit, and formed into dis-
tinct republican states to become members of the union.
They also declared that the expenses incurred by any par-
ticular state in the reduction of any British posts, or in the
defence or acquisition of any part of the ceded territory,
should be reimbursed.
Alive to the importance of completing the articjes of
confederation, Maryland, though she still affirmed her title
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? 10 THE LIFE OF
to a share in the unappropriated lands, at last acceded to
them. '
Virginia adhered to her original views. A narrow
policy swayed her councils--a policy which, content with
the temporary political importance she conferred on her
public men, left her great resources without culture, and
sacrificed her permanent interests to their speculative
theories.
The claims of the whole union were denominated
"aggressions"--aggressions which she ought to be pre-
pared to resist. Yielding at last, she made a formal ces-
sion of her lands, but clogged with conditions which con-
gress pronounced " incompatible with the honour, interest,
and peace of the union. " By one of these conditions, a
guarantee of her territory from the Atlantic to the Ohio
was required.
This subject was some time after resumed, and a day
was proposed to consider the western limits beyond which
congress would not extend their guarantee to the particu-
lar states, to ascertain what territory belonged to the
United States, and to establish a plan for the disposal of it
in order to discharge the national debts. 1
The delegates of Virginia, Jones, Madison, and Randolph,
protested. They refused to give evidence of her title, as
New-York had done--stated that congress had recom-
mended a "liberal surrender," and to make her acts of ces-
sion the basis of a discussion of her rights, was in direct
contravention of that recommendation. *
* Madison wrote to Pendleton :--" You are not mistaken in your appre-
hensions for our western interests. An agrarian law is as much coveted by
the little members of the union, as ever it was by the indigent citizens of
Rome. We have made every opposition and remonstrance to the conduct
of the committee which the forms of proceedings will admit. When a report
is made, we shall renew our efforts upon more eligible ground, but with little
hope of arresting any aggression upon Virginia, which depends solely on
the inclination of congress. " "Wc are very anxious to bring the matter to
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? HAMILTON. 11
Notwithstanding her pertinacity, the utility of the meas-
ure was too obvious to permit its being abandoned, and
late in this congressional year a report was made to con-
gress, again recommending cessions of these lands as " an
important fund for the discharge of the national debt. "
On the final vote, this report was lost by a geographical
division. The states north of the Potomac being unani-
mous in favour of it, and the four southern states, with the
exception of two members, opposing it. *
A strong indication of the feelings on this subject, was
also given in a vote on the instructions as to the terms of
a treaty with England. On a motion to amend them
so as to require that France should support the territorial
claims of these states, Maryland proposed to insert the
word "united" before the word "states. " The proposi-
tion was rejected. Thus, from these collisions, all ex-
pectation of relief from that great source of wealth was
disappointed.
The controversies as to limits between Pennsylvania
and Connecticut, and between New-York and the inhabit-
ants of the New-Hampshire grants, now comprised within
Vermont, were also unadjusted.
The contentions pro-
duced by these controversies extended their influence
to other members of the confederacy, and as the decision
would affect their future political weight, occupied a large
share in their discussions.
A proposal had been made for a requisition to pay the
interest on the liquidated accounts. But the condition of
issue, that the state may know what course their honour and security require
them to take. "--Nov. 1781. "Considering the extensive interests and
claims which Virginia has, and the enemies and calumnies which these very
claims form against her, she is perhaps under the strongest obligation of any
state in the Union to preserve her military contingent on a respectable foot-
ing; and unhappily her line is, perhaps, of all, in the most disgraceful condi-
tion. "--April, 1782. --Madison Papers, vol. 1, pages 99,101,117.
* Ayes--Bland and Izard.
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? 12 TITELTFEOF
the treasury forbade its adoption ; and notwithstanding the
exertions of the superintendent of finance, congress were
compelled to pass a resolution suspending the payment of
the interest on the loan-office certificates. --The only re-
maining vestige of public credit was effaced.
This session, so fruitless in results, at last closed with
another requisition of six millions of dollars for the cur-
rent service: again showing the impotence of what Ham-
ilton had long since pronounced it--" This futile and
senseless confederation. "
The community presented in its private relations a not
less disheartening scene. The waste of war had pro-
duced an increased demand for the products of agricul-
ture, which in some measure supplied the want of a
foreign market; and the expenditures of the government
had, during its earlier periods, created a fulness and
rapidity of circulation which bore the semblance of pros-
perity. The numbers employed in military service had
also induced an increased demand for labour, so as to
enhance its value. But when the currency depreciated,
and the wants of the government were reduced, when
trade began to be restored to its natural level, and the
enforcement of debts followed, the people awakened from
their illusions; the tranquillity of society was disturbed,
and it seemed as though a pestilence, as unforeseen as fatal,
was sweeping over the land. i
To these evils flowing from the obstruction of industry,
from vitiated unfunded paper emissions, from national
bankruptcy, were added the pernicious consequences of
legislative proscription. It was after a comprehensive
survey of these manifold evils that Hamilton remarked,
"The more I see, the more I find reason for those who
love this country to weep over its blindness. "
Various circumstances combined to render the session
of congress which had just commenced one of the deepest
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? HAMILTON. 13
interest--the period at which it assembled, the retire-
ment of many of the elder members who had previously
directed the public councils, the devolution of these upon
younger men, whose views had not been developed, and
the importance of the topics upon which they were called
to act.
The principal of these were--the restoration of the
public credit by the reduction of the expenditures of
the confederacy, and by the establishment of perma-
nent funds for its support, and for the redemption of
the debt; the adjustment of the terms of peace, and the
conclusion of a treaty with England; the organization
of a peace establishment; and the disbanding of the residue
of the army under circumstances of peculiar embarrass-
ment.
Of the proceedings on these questions, few other memo-
rials remain than those which are to be gleaned from the
journals of congress, and such occasional lights as may be
derived from the few letters which have been preserved
relating to this period. Unfortunately for the truth and
for our national fame, no authentic statement of the de-
bates exists; and instead of a sketch of the ardent discus-
sions which took place, and which so much enrich the
contemporaneous history of the British parliament, a bare
recital of a part of the naked results can only be made.
Yet these are fully deserving attention, as giving a pro-
gressive view of Hamilton's opinions and services in the
school which prepared him for his subsequent career, and
as indispensable to the study of American history.
The federal legislature was organized by the election
of Elias Boudinot as president, a delegate from New-Jer-
sey, who had rendered many important services, had made
many sacrifices, and deservedly enjoyed the largest confi-
dence.
The greatest number of members who attended during
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? 14
THE LIFE OF
this session did not exceed thirty; of these, Witherspoon,
Clymer, Elsworth, McKean, Floyd, and Clark, had been
delegates in seventeen hundred and seventy-six.
The first, a native of Edinburgh and a divine, had ac-
quired celebrity from the powerful talent he had evinced
in polemical controversy, had received a finished educa-
tion, and was chiefly distinguished for that penetrating
shrewdness and invincible constancy of purpose which
mark the national character of the country of his birth.
Clymer was a merchant of Philadelphia. His known
probity had given him a strong hold on the confidence of
that city. His eminent firmness had recommended him to
the convention of Pennsylvania as a delegate to congress,
when Dickinson refused to sign the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, and other members had withdrawn; and thus
his name is signally connected with that imperishable docu-
ment. At a later period of the session, Pennsylvania was
also represented by Wilson, a lawyer of a vigorous and
cultivated intellect.
Randolph having retired, was succeeded by Colonel
Bland, who had served with reputation in the army, was a
man of comprehensive and liberal views, and of a probity
unblemished, unsuspected, and unsuspicious. With him
were associated Jones and Lee, Mercer and Madison,
composing the delegation from Virginia. The intimate
connection of the latter with the incidents of this narra-
tive, places him so frequently in view, as to supersede the
necessity of delineating a character not easily analyzed.
John Rutledge, regarded by South Carolina as the great
pillar of the revolution in that state, had long presided
over her councils, and brought into this assembly all the
weight of an established reputation, the influence of in-
flexible determination, great experience, high eloquence.
Oliver Elsworth soon after took his seat, first among the
patriots whom Connecticut boasts. He had early acquired
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? HAMILTON. 15
much reputation at the bar for his accurate and extensive
professional attainments, and a practical sagacity, which,
after long service, was matured into a high civil prudence.
Relying on the justness of his own intellect, he did not
often seek the conflict of debate; but when an exertion
was least anticipated, by the union of strength with con-
summate skill, he rarely failed to triumph over the adverse
party.
With these able men Hamilton was now associated.
To prepare him for the high office to which he was des-
tined, no individual could have been placed in more aus-
picious circumstances. As the youthful champion of
popular rights against the advocates of arbitrary power,
his mind was early conversant with all the great funda-
mental principles of civil liberty. Mingling with the peo-
ple at the outbreak of the revolution, he entered intimately
into all their sympathies, and saw and measured the con-
flicting forces of reason and passion on masses of men,
and learned to give to each its due weight and value.
In the commission which he held during the campaign
of seventeen hundred and seventy-six, he was taught, in a
most active and arduous service with the untrained and
ill-supplied levies of an army little organized, the impor-
tant lessons of self-dependence and self-command, and
witnessed all the resource and elasticity, endurance and
confidence, of the American character.
As the confidential aid of the commander-in-chief, his
illustrious friend, every object was placed before him on
the largest scale. He looked upon the country as from an
eminence, and was enabled to survey it in all its bearings,
and to collect all the lights of the vast panorama.
Intimate with all the inmost councils of his chief, parti-
cipating in all his hopes and fears, he was there not only
to suggest, to concert, to compare, to arrange with him
the measures that were resolved, but was in their constant
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? 16 THE LIFE OF
administration. Hence, each day he was called to think
for the morrow, and each hour learned some lesson of
practical wisdom. Plans and results in their instructive
march passed before him in rapid succession. His salient
genius was forever in motion, and he was forever under
the pressure of responsibility.
The correspondence with the states and with congress
informed him of the complexity and defects of the several
systems, each asking and each denying aid to their mutual
infantile dependence.
His foreign birth was a public advantage. It left him
free from all the local prejudices which infect and are the
bane of a confederacy. His strong vision was obstructed
by nothing artificial; and when contending for the com-
mon cause of liberty, he felt that he was contending for a
Nation of freemen. The states were mere political ex-
istences, which might vanish in a moment. He allied all
his thoughts and directed all his acts to one great, and, as
he hoped, enduring entity--the whole people of the United
States.
It was to forward this great purpose, to form " of many
one nation," that he accepted a place in the public councils;
and while his best efforts were exerted to meet present
exigencies, the mode in which he met them, shows that he
was ever intent upon the great purpose of securing to
them the blessings of liberty in the establishment, by them-
selves, of a balanced constitution of government.
Of the distinctive features of that commanding and
winning eloquence, the wonder and the delight of friend
and foe, but of which no perfect reports are preserved, a
delineation will not now be attempted.
It suffices here to observe how deeply his modes of
thinking imparted to the proceedings of this body a new
tone and character. And those who remark in these pages
the sentiments with which he regarded the demands of the
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? HAMILTON. 17
army, how solemn his respect for the requirements of jus-
tice, how incessant and undespairing his efforts to fulfil
them, can best image to themselves with what living touches
and thrilling appeals he called up before this senate their
accumulated wrongs, and with what deep emotions and
almost holy zeal he urged, he enforced, he implored, with
all the ardour of his bold and generous nature, an honest
fulfilment of the obligations to public faith.
Of the estimation in which he was early held, these facts
recently known give strong evidence. He was earnestly
recommended by Greene and La Fayette to the important
commission of adjutant-general; and when the station in
the country of highest trust and widest influences, next to
that of the commander-in-chief, the superintendence of
the finances, was first to be filled, he was in view.
General Sullivan, a delegate from New-Hampshire, was
answered by Washington in these terms:--" The measure
adopted by congress of appointing ministers of war, finance,
and for foreign affairs, I think a very wise one. To give
efficacy to it, proper characters will, no doubt, be chosen
to conduct the business of these departments. How far
Colonel Hamilton, of whom you ask my opinion as a finan-
cier, has turned his thoughts to that particular study, I am
unable to answer, because I never entered upon a discus-
sion upon this point with him. But this I can venture to
advance from a thorough knowledge of him, that there are
few men to be found, of his age, who have a more general
knowledge than he possesses; and none, whose soul is
more firmly engaged in the cause, or who exceeds him in
probity and sterling virtue. "*
Although the greater number of the members of con-
gress had assembled at the opening of the session on the
* Sullivan replied: " I am glad to find that you entertain the same senti.
menta of the virtues and abilities of Colonel Hamilton as I have ever done
myself. After I wrote, I found the eyes of congress turned upon Robert
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? 18
THE LIFE OF
fourth of November,* yet, with the exception of the discus-
sion of a proposition to quiet the long-pending controversy
between New-York and Vermont, no topic of permanent
interest occupied their deliberations until after the arrival
of Hamilton, who took his seat on the twenty-fifth of that
month.
During the following week, having in view an efficient
system of finance, he is seen uniting in a motion to post-
pone a proposed provision for certain temporary corps of
the army; recommending as chairman of the army commit-
tee, in order to reduce the expenditure, the substitution of
a specified allowance in money for the stipulated rations;
and reporting a resolution dissuading any relief to the
foreign officers then in the service, (a class of meritorious
individuals, whose situation he declared involved a pecu-
liar hardship, and required, if possible, some discrimination
in their favour,) lest, in the embarrassed state of the finan-
ces, it might derange the general plans of the superintendent
of finance, to whose discretion they were referred.
Memorials from the legislature of Pennsylvania, which
had been laid before congress, but had not been acted
upon, presented to them a subject of great delicacy and
magnitude.
That state had late in the preceding summerf complained,
as a serious grievance, of the inability of its citizens to
settle their accounts with the United States, of the non-
payment of the debts due to them by the public, and of
the suspension of the interest on certain classes of certifi-
cates. Expressing an apprehension that this suspension
would be extended farther, she represented that other
states were making provision for the liquidation and pay-
ment of the debts due to their citizens; that the collection
Morris as financier; I did not therefore nominate Colonel Hamilton, as I
foresaw it would be a vain attempt. "
* 1782. t August 28,1782.
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? HAMILTON.
19
of taxes was impeded; and urged that a general plan
should be devised for settling the unliquidated debts of the
United States, for paying them or a part of them, and
also for the regular and punctual discharge of the interest
on all the public debts, until the principal should be finally
discharged. These views were again enforced upon con-
gress in a recent memorial. *
The whole extent of the contributions of the confeder-
acy during the past year, to a requisition for eight millions
of dollars, had little exceeded four hundred thousand, while
the foreign loans had yielded less than a million; with
which sums the government had been carried on.
To satisfy the demands of the public creditors in this
state of the finances, was evidently impracticable; yet how
to refuse without offending this central state, conspicuous
for its liberal policy throughout the war, and which num-
bered among its claimants many of those who had most
largely contributed to the relief of the treasury, was a con-
sideration of the highest moment. To assuage its growing
irritation, and by a frank exposition of their true situation,
while congress showed its inability to fulfil their engage-
ments, to endeavour to inspire confidence in the ultimate
discharge of the debt, was a course dictated by integrity
and policy.
With this view, Hamilton, on the fourth of December,
moved the appointment of a committee of conference with
her legislature.
The demands of Pennsylvania had assumed a serious
character. The alternative was presented to congress,
either to make a substantial provision for her claims, or,
without the power of coercion, to behold her appropria-
ting all her own resources to discharge the debts due by
the confederation to her own citizens.
* November 12.
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? 20
THE LIFE OF
But still more cogent motives now arose to prompt effi-
cient measures of finance. The progress of the negotia-
tions had induced a general expectation of peace, which
was confirmed by the movement of the French auxiliaries
to Boston, to embark for the West Indies.
As the probability of a treaty being concluded increased,
the reduction of the army became a topic of universal
discussion.
After their great and long privations, the army under
any other circumstances would have looked to this event
with intense gratification; for, unlike the soldiers of more
populous regions, they had relinquished avocations which
yielded them an ample competence, with a full knowledge
of the sacrifices they were about to make.
But their return to private life was now clouded with
the most desolate and appalling prospects. Loaded with
debts incurred for their subsistence, their youth gone by,
many with families worn down by poverty--these vete-
rans saw in their expected disbandment, the moment when
they were to be turned in penury upon the world, deprived
of their just dues, and without any provision for their half-
pay, by the assurance of which the officers had been en-
couraged to continue in the service, and to which they
looked as their chief resource in the closing scenes of
life.
Influenced by a sense of their wrongs, their murmurs
increased, and in no bosom did they excite stronger sym-
pathy than in that of their fellow-soldier and friend.
With such urgent motives for an early action upon this
subject, Hamilton, two days after,* moved a resolution di-
recting the superintendent of finance to represent to the
states the indispensable necessity of their complying with
the requisition for raising a sum equal to a year's interest
* December 6.
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? HAMILTON.
21
of the domestic debt, and two millions for the current
service; and to point out the embarrassments which
resulted from appropriations by the states of the moneys
required by congress, " assuring them that they were deter-
mined to make the fullest justice to the public creditors an
invariable object of their counsels and exertions. "
His resolution embraced the appointment of a deputa-
tion to Rhode Island, to urge the grant of the impost " as -
a measure essential to the safety and reputation of these
states;" and with a view to carry it immediately into effect,*
he brought forward the draft of an ordinance for its col-
lection.
The deputation to Rhode Island was appointed, its dele-
gates alone dissenting, and the following letter, prepared
by Hamilton, was addressed to the governor of that state. t
"SIR,
"Congress are equally affected and alarmed by the infor-
mation they have received, that the legislature of your
state at their last meeting have refused their concurrence
in establishing a duty on imports. They consider this
measure- as so indispensable to the prosecution of the war,
that a sense of duty and regard to the common safety,
compel them to renew their efforts to engage a compliance
with it; and in this view they have determined to send a
deputation of three of their members to your state, as ex-
pressed in the enclosed resolution. The gentlemen they
have appointed will be able to lay before you a full and
just representation of public affairs, from which they flat-
ter themselves will result a conviction of the propriety of
their solicitude upon the present occasion. Convinced by
past experience of the zeal and patriotism of the state of
Rhode Island, they cannot doubt that it will yield to those
* December 10.
t December 11.
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? 22 THE LIFE OF
urgent considerations which flow from a knowledge of our
true situation.
"They will only briefly observe, that the increasing dis-
contents of the army, the loud clamours of the public cred-
itors, and the extreme disproportion between the public
supplies and the demands of the public service, are so
many invincible arguments for the fund recommended by
congress. They feel themselves unable to devise any
other, that will be more efficacious, less exceptionable, or
more generally agreeable; and if this is refused, they an-
ticipate calamities of a most menacing nature--with this
consolation, however, that they have faithfully discharged
their trust, and that the mischiefs which may follow cannot
be attributed to them.
"A principal object of the proposed fund is to procure
loans abroad. If no security can be held out to lenders,
the success of these must necessarily be very limited.
The last accounts on the subject were not flattering; and
when intelligence shall arrive in Europe, that the state of
Rhode Island has disagreed to the only fund which has yet
been devised, there is every reason to apprehend it will
have a fatal influence upon their future progress.
"Deprived of this resource, our affairs must in all proba-
bility rapidly hasten to a dangerous crisis, and these states
be involved in greater embarrassments than they have yet
experienced, and from which it may be much more difficult
to emerge. Congress will only add a request to your excel-
lency, that if the legislature should not be sitting, it may
be called together as speedily as possible, to enable the
gentlemen whom they have deputed, to perform the pur-
pose of their mission. "
A similar appeal had been made the previous summer
to which formal objections were interposed.
about. There are few men so honest and sensible. I hope you may send
him. He knows better than all the British councils. "
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? HAMILTON.
That hope was faint. The capture of Cornwallis had
induced her ministry late in the preceding year to make
a new loan, with a view to the recovery of New York
and Charleston; but they at the same time announced in the
most peremptory manner their determination not to grant
larger aids. Yet there was no other resource; and under
this conviction he addressed the following letters to De
Noailles and La Fayette.
"Esteem for your talents and acquirements, is a senti-
ment which from my earliest acquaintance with you, my
dear viscount, I have shared in common with all those
who have the happiness of knowing you; but a better
knowledge of your character has given it in my eyes a
more intrinsic merit, and has attached me to you by a
friendship founded upon qualities as rare as they are esti-
mable. Averse as I am to professions, I cannot forbear
indulging this declaration, to express to you the pleasure
I feel at receiving, after an inexplicable delay, the letter
you were so obliging as to write me before your depart-
ure from Boston. It was of that kind which is always
produced by those attentions of friends we value, which,
not being invited by circumstances nor necessitated by
the forms of society, bespeak the warmth of the heart; at
least, my partiality for you makes me fond of viewing it
in this light, and I cherish the opinion.
"I was chagrined to find that you left us with an intention
not to return. Though I should be happy if, by a removal
of the war, this country should cease to be a proper thea-
tre for your exertions, yet if it continues to be so, I hope
you will find sufficient motives to change your resolution.
Wherever you are, you will be useful and distinguished;
but the ardent desire I have of meeting you again, makes
me wish America may be your destination. I would will-
ingly do it in France, as you invite me to do; but the
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? 4
THE LIFE OF
prospect of this is remote. I must make a more solid
establishment here before I can conveniently go abroad.
There is no country I have a greater curiosity to see, or
which I am persuaded would be so interesting to mc, as
yours. I should be happy to renew and improve the valu-
able acquaintances from thence which this war has given
me an opportunity of making; and though I would not
flatter myself with deriving any advantage from it, I am
persuaded it is there I should meet with the greatest num-
ber of those you describe, who, &c. : but considerations
of primary importance will oblige me to submit to the
mortification of deferring my visit.
"In the mean time, I should be too much the gainer by
a communication with you, not gladly to embrace the offer
you so politely make for writing to each other.
"The period since you left us has been too barren of
events to enable me to impart any thing worth attention.
The enemy continues in possession of Charleston and
Savannah, and leaves us master of the rest of the country.
It is said the assemblies of the two invaded states are
about meeting to restore the administration of govern-
ment. This will be a step to strengthening the hands of
General Greene and counteracting the future intrigues of
the enemy. Many are sanguine in believing that all the
southern posts will be evacuated, and that a fleet of trans-
ports is actually gone to bring the garrisons away; for
my part, I have doubts upon the subject. My politics are,
that while the present ministry can maintain their seats
and procure supplies, they will prosecute the war on the
mere chance of events; and that while this is the plan, they
will not evacuate posts so essential as points of departure,
from whence, on any favourable turn of affairs, to renew
their attack on our most vulnerable side; nor would they
relinquish objects that would be so useful to them, should
the worst happen in a final negotiation. Clinton, it is
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? HAMILTON.
5
said, is cutting a canal across New-York island, through
the low ground about a mile and a half from the city.
This will be an additional obstacle; but if we have other-
wise the necessary means to operate, it will not be an in-
surmountable one. I do not hear that he is constructing
any other new works of consequence. To you who are so
thoroughly acquainted with the military posture of things
in this country, I need not say that the activity of the next
campaign must absolutely depend on effectual succours
from France. I am convinced we shall have a powerful
advocate in you. La Fayette, we know, will bring the
whole house with him if he can.
"There has been no material change in our internal situa-
tion since you left us. The capital successes we have had,
have served rather to increase the hopes than the exertions
of the particular states. But in one respect we are in a
mending way. Our financier has hitherto conducted him-
self with great ability, has acquired an entire personal
confidence, revived in some measure the public credit, and
is conciliating fast the support of the moneyed men.
"His operations have hitherto hinged chiefly on the sea-
sonable aids from your country; but he is urging the es-
tablishment of permanent funds among ourselves; and
though, from the nature and temper of our governments,
his applications will meet with a dilatory compliance, it is
to be hoped they will by degrees succeed. The institution
of a bank has been very serviceable to him. The com-
mercial interest, finding great advantages in it, and antici-
pating much greater, is disposed to promote the plan; and
nothing but moderate funds, permanently pledged for the
security of lenders, is wanting to make it an engine of the
most extensive and solid utility.
"By the last advices, there is reason to believe the delin-
quent states will shortly comply with the requisition of
congress for a duty on our imports. This will be a great
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? ti
THE LIFE OF
resource to Mr. Morris, but it will not alone be suffi-
cient.
"Upon the whole, however, if the war continues another
year, it will be necessary that congress should again recur
to the generosity of France for pecuniary assistance. The
plans of the financier cannot be so matured as to enable
us by any possibility to dispense with this ; and if he should
fail for want of support, we must replunge into that con-
fusion and distress which had like to have proved fatal to
us, and out of which we are slowly emerging. The cure
in a relapse would be infinitely more difficult than ever.
"I have given you an uninteresting but a faithful sketch
of our situation. You may expect from time to time to
receive from me the progress of our affairs, and I know
you will overpay me. "
La Fayette, who married a sister of De Noailles, had
recently returned to France. Hamilton wrote his friend:--
"I have been employed for the last ten months in rocking
the cradle and studying the art of fleecing my neighbours.
I am now a grave counsellor at law, and shall soon be
a grave member of congress. I am going to throw
away a few months more in public life, and then I re-
tire a simple citizen and good pater familias. You see
the disposition I am in. You are condemned to run the
race of ambition all your life; I am already tired of the
career, and dare to leave it. You tell me they are employ-
ed in building a peace, and other accounts say it is nearly
finished. It is necessary for America, especially if your
army is taken from us. That was an essential point d'ap-
pui. The money was the primuin mobile of our finances,
which must now lose the little activity lately given them.
Our trade is prodigiously cramped. These states are in
no humour for continuing exertions. If the war lasts, it
must be carried on by external succours. I make no
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? HAMILTON. 7
apology for the inertness of the country. I detest it; but
since it exists, I am sorry to see other resources diminish.
Is there any thing you wish on this side the water?
You know the warmth and sincerity of my attachment.
Command me. Is the worthy Gouvion well? How is it
with our friend Gimat? How is it with Du Portail? All
these are men of merit, and interest my best wishes. "
He also addressed a letter to General Greene:--" It is
an age since I have either written to you or received a
line from you, yet I persuade myself you have not been
the less convinced of my affectionate attachment and warm
participation in all those events which have given you that
place in your country's esteem and approbation, which I
have known you to deserve while your enemies and rivals
were most active in sullying your reputation. "--" I feel,"
he added, "the deepest affliction at the news we have just
received of the loss of our dear and estimable friend Lau-
rens. His career of virtue is at an end. How strangely
are human affairs conducted, that so many excellent quali-
ties could not ensure a more happy fate! The world will
feel the loss of a man who has left few like him behind;
and America, of a citizen whose heart realized that patri-
otism of which others only talk. I shall feel the loss of a
friend I truly and most tenderly loved, and one of a very
small number. I take the liberty to enclose a letter to Mr
Kane, executor to the estate of Mr. Lavine, a half-brother
of mine, who died some time since in South Carolina. "
A few days after the date of this letter, congress rose. *
Though among its members there were men of high
personal character and of eminent patriotism, such as Duane
and Hanson, Izard and Middleton, with the exception of
Boudinot, Madison, and Edmund Randolph, there were no
names conspicuous in the after history of their country.
* November 4, 1782.
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? 8 THE LIFE OF
The executive departments, as Hamilton anticipated when
he suggested them, were introducing system and economy
into the administration; and thus the annual expenditure,
which had risen to twenty, was reduced to eight millions.
But there was not in the national legislature a single in-
dividual who combined the qualities necessary to give to
the public councils the impulse, the direction, and the vigour
which the condition of the country so much demanded.
With repeated and impressive earnestness the superin-
tendent of finance is seen exhorting the adoption of meas-
ures suited to the exigencies of the period, but no answer-
ing voice is heard from congress.
The creation of a currency--the importance of funding
the debt--the utility of loans--the necessity of revenue
supplemental to that to be derived from the impost--of a
land tax, a poll tax, an excise--were all urged by him, but
urged in vain.
The early enthusiasm of the nation had passed away.
The authority of government had not followed: all was
apathy and irresolution, or temporary expedient.
Funds could not indeed be obtained without the sanc-
tion of the states; but the great principles of public faith
might have been enforced. Pledges to fulfil it might have
been given. The people might have been appealed to,
and thus accustomed to the always useful language of truth.
The incorporation of a bank, opposed by Madison from
scruples as to its constitutionality, was the only measure
of relief adopted.
While waiting the concurrence of the states in the grant
of authority to collect an impost, endeavours were made
to induce a cession of the unappropriated lands to the
common treasury.
The disposal of this vast domain had early attracted the
attention of the general legislature.
Assuming that the unappropriated territory had become
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? HAMILTON.
9
national property, a bounty in the public lands was offered,
the second year of the war, as an inducement to enlist.
Averse to this measure, Maryland suggested the substitute
of a money bounty, but the suggestion was not approved.
Two years after, Virginia passed a law opening offices
for the sale of her lands. As her territorial claims were
regarded with much jealousy by the other states, congress
urged her " to forbear. "
New-Jersey proposed an amendment to the articles of
the confederation, which, while it admitted the jurisdiction
of each state over the public demesne within its chartered
limits, declared that the crown lands ought to belong to
congress in trust for the United States.
Maryland, when she approved those articles, instructed
her delegates not to ratify them unless the principle was
distinctly admitted of a joint interest of the United States
in this territory. Virginia interposed a remonstrance.
Sensible of the importance of removing this obstacle to
a completion of the confederation, New-York, though one
of the largest claimants, soon after made a cession of her
rights.
Congress hastened to avail themselves of this propitious
example ; and having expressly declined a discussion of the
conflicting claims, recommended a liberal surrender by the
states, in order to establish the federal union on a perma-
nent basis.
They soon after resolved that the ceded lands should be
disposed of for the common benefit, and formed into dis-
tinct republican states to become members of the union.
They also declared that the expenses incurred by any par-
ticular state in the reduction of any British posts, or in the
defence or acquisition of any part of the ceded territory,
should be reimbursed.
Alive to the importance of completing the articjes of
confederation, Maryland, though she still affirmed her title
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? 10 THE LIFE OF
to a share in the unappropriated lands, at last acceded to
them. '
Virginia adhered to her original views. A narrow
policy swayed her councils--a policy which, content with
the temporary political importance she conferred on her
public men, left her great resources without culture, and
sacrificed her permanent interests to their speculative
theories.
The claims of the whole union were denominated
"aggressions"--aggressions which she ought to be pre-
pared to resist. Yielding at last, she made a formal ces-
sion of her lands, but clogged with conditions which con-
gress pronounced " incompatible with the honour, interest,
and peace of the union. " By one of these conditions, a
guarantee of her territory from the Atlantic to the Ohio
was required.
This subject was some time after resumed, and a day
was proposed to consider the western limits beyond which
congress would not extend their guarantee to the particu-
lar states, to ascertain what territory belonged to the
United States, and to establish a plan for the disposal of it
in order to discharge the national debts. 1
The delegates of Virginia, Jones, Madison, and Randolph,
protested. They refused to give evidence of her title, as
New-York had done--stated that congress had recom-
mended a "liberal surrender," and to make her acts of ces-
sion the basis of a discussion of her rights, was in direct
contravention of that recommendation. *
* Madison wrote to Pendleton :--" You are not mistaken in your appre-
hensions for our western interests. An agrarian law is as much coveted by
the little members of the union, as ever it was by the indigent citizens of
Rome. We have made every opposition and remonstrance to the conduct
of the committee which the forms of proceedings will admit. When a report
is made, we shall renew our efforts upon more eligible ground, but with little
hope of arresting any aggression upon Virginia, which depends solely on
the inclination of congress. " "Wc are very anxious to bring the matter to
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? HAMILTON. 11
Notwithstanding her pertinacity, the utility of the meas-
ure was too obvious to permit its being abandoned, and
late in this congressional year a report was made to con-
gress, again recommending cessions of these lands as " an
important fund for the discharge of the national debt. "
On the final vote, this report was lost by a geographical
division. The states north of the Potomac being unani-
mous in favour of it, and the four southern states, with the
exception of two members, opposing it. *
A strong indication of the feelings on this subject, was
also given in a vote on the instructions as to the terms of
a treaty with England. On a motion to amend them
so as to require that France should support the territorial
claims of these states, Maryland proposed to insert the
word "united" before the word "states. " The proposi-
tion was rejected. Thus, from these collisions, all ex-
pectation of relief from that great source of wealth was
disappointed.
The controversies as to limits between Pennsylvania
and Connecticut, and between New-York and the inhabit-
ants of the New-Hampshire grants, now comprised within
Vermont, were also unadjusted.
The contentions pro-
duced by these controversies extended their influence
to other members of the confederacy, and as the decision
would affect their future political weight, occupied a large
share in their discussions.
A proposal had been made for a requisition to pay the
interest on the liquidated accounts. But the condition of
issue, that the state may know what course their honour and security require
them to take. "--Nov. 1781. "Considering the extensive interests and
claims which Virginia has, and the enemies and calumnies which these very
claims form against her, she is perhaps under the strongest obligation of any
state in the Union to preserve her military contingent on a respectable foot-
ing; and unhappily her line is, perhaps, of all, in the most disgraceful condi-
tion. "--April, 1782. --Madison Papers, vol. 1, pages 99,101,117.
* Ayes--Bland and Izard.
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? 12 TITELTFEOF
the treasury forbade its adoption ; and notwithstanding the
exertions of the superintendent of finance, congress were
compelled to pass a resolution suspending the payment of
the interest on the loan-office certificates. --The only re-
maining vestige of public credit was effaced.
This session, so fruitless in results, at last closed with
another requisition of six millions of dollars for the cur-
rent service: again showing the impotence of what Ham-
ilton had long since pronounced it--" This futile and
senseless confederation. "
The community presented in its private relations a not
less disheartening scene. The waste of war had pro-
duced an increased demand for the products of agricul-
ture, which in some measure supplied the want of a
foreign market; and the expenditures of the government
had, during its earlier periods, created a fulness and
rapidity of circulation which bore the semblance of pros-
perity. The numbers employed in military service had
also induced an increased demand for labour, so as to
enhance its value. But when the currency depreciated,
and the wants of the government were reduced, when
trade began to be restored to its natural level, and the
enforcement of debts followed, the people awakened from
their illusions; the tranquillity of society was disturbed,
and it seemed as though a pestilence, as unforeseen as fatal,
was sweeping over the land. i
To these evils flowing from the obstruction of industry,
from vitiated unfunded paper emissions, from national
bankruptcy, were added the pernicious consequences of
legislative proscription. It was after a comprehensive
survey of these manifold evils that Hamilton remarked,
"The more I see, the more I find reason for those who
love this country to weep over its blindness. "
Various circumstances combined to render the session
of congress which had just commenced one of the deepest
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? HAMILTON. 13
interest--the period at which it assembled, the retire-
ment of many of the elder members who had previously
directed the public councils, the devolution of these upon
younger men, whose views had not been developed, and
the importance of the topics upon which they were called
to act.
The principal of these were--the restoration of the
public credit by the reduction of the expenditures of
the confederacy, and by the establishment of perma-
nent funds for its support, and for the redemption of
the debt; the adjustment of the terms of peace, and the
conclusion of a treaty with England; the organization
of a peace establishment; and the disbanding of the residue
of the army under circumstances of peculiar embarrass-
ment.
Of the proceedings on these questions, few other memo-
rials remain than those which are to be gleaned from the
journals of congress, and such occasional lights as may be
derived from the few letters which have been preserved
relating to this period. Unfortunately for the truth and
for our national fame, no authentic statement of the de-
bates exists; and instead of a sketch of the ardent discus-
sions which took place, and which so much enrich the
contemporaneous history of the British parliament, a bare
recital of a part of the naked results can only be made.
Yet these are fully deserving attention, as giving a pro-
gressive view of Hamilton's opinions and services in the
school which prepared him for his subsequent career, and
as indispensable to the study of American history.
The federal legislature was organized by the election
of Elias Boudinot as president, a delegate from New-Jer-
sey, who had rendered many important services, had made
many sacrifices, and deservedly enjoyed the largest confi-
dence.
The greatest number of members who attended during
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? 14
THE LIFE OF
this session did not exceed thirty; of these, Witherspoon,
Clymer, Elsworth, McKean, Floyd, and Clark, had been
delegates in seventeen hundred and seventy-six.
The first, a native of Edinburgh and a divine, had ac-
quired celebrity from the powerful talent he had evinced
in polemical controversy, had received a finished educa-
tion, and was chiefly distinguished for that penetrating
shrewdness and invincible constancy of purpose which
mark the national character of the country of his birth.
Clymer was a merchant of Philadelphia. His known
probity had given him a strong hold on the confidence of
that city. His eminent firmness had recommended him to
the convention of Pennsylvania as a delegate to congress,
when Dickinson refused to sign the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, and other members had withdrawn; and thus
his name is signally connected with that imperishable docu-
ment. At a later period of the session, Pennsylvania was
also represented by Wilson, a lawyer of a vigorous and
cultivated intellect.
Randolph having retired, was succeeded by Colonel
Bland, who had served with reputation in the army, was a
man of comprehensive and liberal views, and of a probity
unblemished, unsuspected, and unsuspicious. With him
were associated Jones and Lee, Mercer and Madison,
composing the delegation from Virginia. The intimate
connection of the latter with the incidents of this narra-
tive, places him so frequently in view, as to supersede the
necessity of delineating a character not easily analyzed.
John Rutledge, regarded by South Carolina as the great
pillar of the revolution in that state, had long presided
over her councils, and brought into this assembly all the
weight of an established reputation, the influence of in-
flexible determination, great experience, high eloquence.
Oliver Elsworth soon after took his seat, first among the
patriots whom Connecticut boasts. He had early acquired
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? HAMILTON. 15
much reputation at the bar for his accurate and extensive
professional attainments, and a practical sagacity, which,
after long service, was matured into a high civil prudence.
Relying on the justness of his own intellect, he did not
often seek the conflict of debate; but when an exertion
was least anticipated, by the union of strength with con-
summate skill, he rarely failed to triumph over the adverse
party.
With these able men Hamilton was now associated.
To prepare him for the high office to which he was des-
tined, no individual could have been placed in more aus-
picious circumstances. As the youthful champion of
popular rights against the advocates of arbitrary power,
his mind was early conversant with all the great funda-
mental principles of civil liberty. Mingling with the peo-
ple at the outbreak of the revolution, he entered intimately
into all their sympathies, and saw and measured the con-
flicting forces of reason and passion on masses of men,
and learned to give to each its due weight and value.
In the commission which he held during the campaign
of seventeen hundred and seventy-six, he was taught, in a
most active and arduous service with the untrained and
ill-supplied levies of an army little organized, the impor-
tant lessons of self-dependence and self-command, and
witnessed all the resource and elasticity, endurance and
confidence, of the American character.
As the confidential aid of the commander-in-chief, his
illustrious friend, every object was placed before him on
the largest scale. He looked upon the country as from an
eminence, and was enabled to survey it in all its bearings,
and to collect all the lights of the vast panorama.
Intimate with all the inmost councils of his chief, parti-
cipating in all his hopes and fears, he was there not only
to suggest, to concert, to compare, to arrange with him
the measures that were resolved, but was in their constant
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? 16 THE LIFE OF
administration. Hence, each day he was called to think
for the morrow, and each hour learned some lesson of
practical wisdom. Plans and results in their instructive
march passed before him in rapid succession. His salient
genius was forever in motion, and he was forever under
the pressure of responsibility.
The correspondence with the states and with congress
informed him of the complexity and defects of the several
systems, each asking and each denying aid to their mutual
infantile dependence.
His foreign birth was a public advantage. It left him
free from all the local prejudices which infect and are the
bane of a confederacy. His strong vision was obstructed
by nothing artificial; and when contending for the com-
mon cause of liberty, he felt that he was contending for a
Nation of freemen. The states were mere political ex-
istences, which might vanish in a moment. He allied all
his thoughts and directed all his acts to one great, and, as
he hoped, enduring entity--the whole people of the United
States.
It was to forward this great purpose, to form " of many
one nation," that he accepted a place in the public councils;
and while his best efforts were exerted to meet present
exigencies, the mode in which he met them, shows that he
was ever intent upon the great purpose of securing to
them the blessings of liberty in the establishment, by them-
selves, of a balanced constitution of government.
Of the distinctive features of that commanding and
winning eloquence, the wonder and the delight of friend
and foe, but of which no perfect reports are preserved, a
delineation will not now be attempted.
It suffices here to observe how deeply his modes of
thinking imparted to the proceedings of this body a new
tone and character. And those who remark in these pages
the sentiments with which he regarded the demands of the
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? HAMILTON. 17
army, how solemn his respect for the requirements of jus-
tice, how incessant and undespairing his efforts to fulfil
them, can best image to themselves with what living touches
and thrilling appeals he called up before this senate their
accumulated wrongs, and with what deep emotions and
almost holy zeal he urged, he enforced, he implored, with
all the ardour of his bold and generous nature, an honest
fulfilment of the obligations to public faith.
Of the estimation in which he was early held, these facts
recently known give strong evidence. He was earnestly
recommended by Greene and La Fayette to the important
commission of adjutant-general; and when the station in
the country of highest trust and widest influences, next to
that of the commander-in-chief, the superintendence of
the finances, was first to be filled, he was in view.
General Sullivan, a delegate from New-Hampshire, was
answered by Washington in these terms:--" The measure
adopted by congress of appointing ministers of war, finance,
and for foreign affairs, I think a very wise one. To give
efficacy to it, proper characters will, no doubt, be chosen
to conduct the business of these departments. How far
Colonel Hamilton, of whom you ask my opinion as a finan-
cier, has turned his thoughts to that particular study, I am
unable to answer, because I never entered upon a discus-
sion upon this point with him. But this I can venture to
advance from a thorough knowledge of him, that there are
few men to be found, of his age, who have a more general
knowledge than he possesses; and none, whose soul is
more firmly engaged in the cause, or who exceeds him in
probity and sterling virtue. "*
Although the greater number of the members of con-
gress had assembled at the opening of the session on the
* Sullivan replied: " I am glad to find that you entertain the same senti.
menta of the virtues and abilities of Colonel Hamilton as I have ever done
myself. After I wrote, I found the eyes of congress turned upon Robert
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? 18
THE LIFE OF
fourth of November,* yet, with the exception of the discus-
sion of a proposition to quiet the long-pending controversy
between New-York and Vermont, no topic of permanent
interest occupied their deliberations until after the arrival
of Hamilton, who took his seat on the twenty-fifth of that
month.
During the following week, having in view an efficient
system of finance, he is seen uniting in a motion to post-
pone a proposed provision for certain temporary corps of
the army; recommending as chairman of the army commit-
tee, in order to reduce the expenditure, the substitution of
a specified allowance in money for the stipulated rations;
and reporting a resolution dissuading any relief to the
foreign officers then in the service, (a class of meritorious
individuals, whose situation he declared involved a pecu-
liar hardship, and required, if possible, some discrimination
in their favour,) lest, in the embarrassed state of the finan-
ces, it might derange the general plans of the superintendent
of finance, to whose discretion they were referred.
Memorials from the legislature of Pennsylvania, which
had been laid before congress, but had not been acted
upon, presented to them a subject of great delicacy and
magnitude.
That state had late in the preceding summerf complained,
as a serious grievance, of the inability of its citizens to
settle their accounts with the United States, of the non-
payment of the debts due to them by the public, and of
the suspension of the interest on certain classes of certifi-
cates. Expressing an apprehension that this suspension
would be extended farther, she represented that other
states were making provision for the liquidation and pay-
ment of the debts due to their citizens; that the collection
Morris as financier; I did not therefore nominate Colonel Hamilton, as I
foresaw it would be a vain attempt. "
* 1782. t August 28,1782.
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? HAMILTON.
19
of taxes was impeded; and urged that a general plan
should be devised for settling the unliquidated debts of the
United States, for paying them or a part of them, and
also for the regular and punctual discharge of the interest
on all the public debts, until the principal should be finally
discharged. These views were again enforced upon con-
gress in a recent memorial. *
The whole extent of the contributions of the confeder-
acy during the past year, to a requisition for eight millions
of dollars, had little exceeded four hundred thousand, while
the foreign loans had yielded less than a million; with
which sums the government had been carried on.
To satisfy the demands of the public creditors in this
state of the finances, was evidently impracticable; yet how
to refuse without offending this central state, conspicuous
for its liberal policy throughout the war, and which num-
bered among its claimants many of those who had most
largely contributed to the relief of the treasury, was a con-
sideration of the highest moment. To assuage its growing
irritation, and by a frank exposition of their true situation,
while congress showed its inability to fulfil their engage-
ments, to endeavour to inspire confidence in the ultimate
discharge of the debt, was a course dictated by integrity
and policy.
With this view, Hamilton, on the fourth of December,
moved the appointment of a committee of conference with
her legislature.
The demands of Pennsylvania had assumed a serious
character. The alternative was presented to congress,
either to make a substantial provision for her claims, or,
without the power of coercion, to behold her appropria-
ting all her own resources to discharge the debts due by
the confederation to her own citizens.
* November 12.
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? 20
THE LIFE OF
But still more cogent motives now arose to prompt effi-
cient measures of finance. The progress of the negotia-
tions had induced a general expectation of peace, which
was confirmed by the movement of the French auxiliaries
to Boston, to embark for the West Indies.
As the probability of a treaty being concluded increased,
the reduction of the army became a topic of universal
discussion.
After their great and long privations, the army under
any other circumstances would have looked to this event
with intense gratification; for, unlike the soldiers of more
populous regions, they had relinquished avocations which
yielded them an ample competence, with a full knowledge
of the sacrifices they were about to make.
But their return to private life was now clouded with
the most desolate and appalling prospects. Loaded with
debts incurred for their subsistence, their youth gone by,
many with families worn down by poverty--these vete-
rans saw in their expected disbandment, the moment when
they were to be turned in penury upon the world, deprived
of their just dues, and without any provision for their half-
pay, by the assurance of which the officers had been en-
couraged to continue in the service, and to which they
looked as their chief resource in the closing scenes of
life.
Influenced by a sense of their wrongs, their murmurs
increased, and in no bosom did they excite stronger sym-
pathy than in that of their fellow-soldier and friend.
With such urgent motives for an early action upon this
subject, Hamilton, two days after,* moved a resolution di-
recting the superintendent of finance to represent to the
states the indispensable necessity of their complying with
the requisition for raising a sum equal to a year's interest
* December 6.
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? HAMILTON.
21
of the domestic debt, and two millions for the current
service; and to point out the embarrassments which
resulted from appropriations by the states of the moneys
required by congress, " assuring them that they were deter-
mined to make the fullest justice to the public creditors an
invariable object of their counsels and exertions. "
His resolution embraced the appointment of a deputa-
tion to Rhode Island, to urge the grant of the impost " as -
a measure essential to the safety and reputation of these
states;" and with a view to carry it immediately into effect,*
he brought forward the draft of an ordinance for its col-
lection.
The deputation to Rhode Island was appointed, its dele-
gates alone dissenting, and the following letter, prepared
by Hamilton, was addressed to the governor of that state. t
"SIR,
"Congress are equally affected and alarmed by the infor-
mation they have received, that the legislature of your
state at their last meeting have refused their concurrence
in establishing a duty on imports. They consider this
measure- as so indispensable to the prosecution of the war,
that a sense of duty and regard to the common safety,
compel them to renew their efforts to engage a compliance
with it; and in this view they have determined to send a
deputation of three of their members to your state, as ex-
pressed in the enclosed resolution. The gentlemen they
have appointed will be able to lay before you a full and
just representation of public affairs, from which they flat-
ter themselves will result a conviction of the propriety of
their solicitude upon the present occasion. Convinced by
past experience of the zeal and patriotism of the state of
Rhode Island, they cannot doubt that it will yield to those
* December 10.
t December 11.
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? 22 THE LIFE OF
urgent considerations which flow from a knowledge of our
true situation.
"They will only briefly observe, that the increasing dis-
contents of the army, the loud clamours of the public cred-
itors, and the extreme disproportion between the public
supplies and the demands of the public service, are so
many invincible arguments for the fund recommended by
congress. They feel themselves unable to devise any
other, that will be more efficacious, less exceptionable, or
more generally agreeable; and if this is refused, they an-
ticipate calamities of a most menacing nature--with this
consolation, however, that they have faithfully discharged
their trust, and that the mischiefs which may follow cannot
be attributed to them.
"A principal object of the proposed fund is to procure
loans abroad. If no security can be held out to lenders,
the success of these must necessarily be very limited.
The last accounts on the subject were not flattering; and
when intelligence shall arrive in Europe, that the state of
Rhode Island has disagreed to the only fund which has yet
been devised, there is every reason to apprehend it will
have a fatal influence upon their future progress.
"Deprived of this resource, our affairs must in all proba-
bility rapidly hasten to a dangerous crisis, and these states
be involved in greater embarrassments than they have yet
experienced, and from which it may be much more difficult
to emerge. Congress will only add a request to your excel-
lency, that if the legislature should not be sitting, it may
be called together as speedily as possible, to enable the
gentlemen whom they have deputed, to perform the pur-
pose of their mission. "
A similar appeal had been made the previous summer
to which formal objections were interposed.
