Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander
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sent comprehends the most if not all these matters, is better expressed, and I am persuaded goes as far as it ought with respect to any personal mention of myself.
I should have seen no occasion myself for its undergoing a revision, but as your letter of the 30th ult., which accompanied it, intimates a wish to do this, and knowing that it can be more correctly done after a writing has been out of sight for some time than while it is in the hands of its author, I send it in conformity thereto. ... If change or alteration takes place in the draft let them be so clearly interlined, erased, or referred to in the margin, that no mistake may be made in copying it for the press.
To what editor in this city do you think it had best be sent for publication? Will it be proper to accompany it with a note to him expressing ... or if you think the first not eligible let me ask you to sketch such a note as you may judge applicable to the occasion.
It is to be regretted that Hamilton made a great mistake when he wrote his letter censuring John Adams. Not only was the act a foolish one, but it can hardly be realized how a man possessing, ordinarily, such good judgment could make what was almost a hysterical attack upon another public character, no matter how great the provocation. The pamphlet appeared in 1800, and created great excitement among his brother Federalists who, upon its appearance, quickly advised him to suppress it. This he tried to do, but Burr, securing a copy, immediately flooded the market with others bearing upon the title-page "Re-printed Pro-Bono-Public." It was an abusive attack upon Adams, which was tactless in the extreme, and gave his enemies an opportunity to unmercifully gore him. The inconsistency of abusing Adams, and then, in a half-hearted way, advising the Federalists to vote for him, was a glaring political error, and can only be explained by a state of mind largely induced by his own private sorrows, and the growing desperation which was the outgrowth, not only of the dissensions in his own party, but a gain in the strength of the anti-Federalists, whose arrows were, anew, dipped in venom. The most irritating of his critics were Callendar and Cheetham. In an "answer" from the latter it is suggested to Hamilton that his dislike of Adams arose from the fact that he had not been appointed Commander-in-Chief. "Have you dreamt," said Callendar, "that you possessed the martial qualities of a Frederick and a Marlborough, a Turenne and a martial Saxe? Let the hour of vigilance inform you, that your imagination must have been intoxicated by the most delirious vanity." This was especially unjust and untruthful, as Washington's only insistence in reorganizing the army was that Hamilton should be senior of the three major-generals, though Adams objected. Hamilton never aspired to be Commander-in-Chief) and there is nothing on record to even support this claim. Even after Hamilton's death the attacks upon him did not cease, and within three months after the fateful eleventh of July some doggerel verse called the "Hamiltoniad" was published, which viciously ridiculed him as well as his friends.
The tendency to versification so general in the eighteenth century was shared by Hamilton, a few of whose fragmentary productions remain. One of these possesses a certain interest from the fact that he was but fifteen years old when the verses were written. It appears that he sat up with the young child of his friend and adviser, Elias Boudinot, during its fatal illness, and after its death prepared the following for the sorrowing mother. Only as an example of a precocious effusion are they presented.
For the sweet babe, my doating heart
Did all a Mother's fondness feel;
Carefull to act each tender part
And guard from every threatening ill.
But what alas availed my care?
The unrelenting hand of death,
Regardless of a parent's prayr
Has stopped my lovely Infant's breath.
With rapture number o'er thy charms
While on thy harmless sports intent
[Illegihle]
Or pratling in my happy arms.
No more thyself Important tale
Some embryo meaning shall convey
Whilst, should th' imperfect accents fail
Thy speaking looks would still d'play.
Thou'rt gone, forever gone—yet where;
Oh! pleasing thought; to endless bliss.
Then why Indulge the rising tear
Cans't thou, fond heart, lament for this?
Little babe thou enteredst the world weeping while all around you smiled; continue so to live, that you may depart in smiles while all around you weep.
His interest in educational institutions is well known, and in 1792, with others, he founded an Indian school at Oneida, and his name headed the list of trustees. This has since become Hamilton College. His public services were appreciated by many universities which have since become famous. As early as 1788 Columbia College, empowered by act of Legislature, made him a Doctor of Laws, while the same honor was conferred by Dartmouth in 1790. In the archives of this college is an autograph letter written from Philadelphia and dated January 18, 179I9 sending thanks to Dr. Wheelock, then the president, for this compliment. In 1791 the College of New Jersey, now Princeton, gave him this degree, and in 1792 both Harvard and Brown Universities followed the example of the other institutions. In reply to the president, the Reverend Joseph Willard, of Harvard, Hamilton wrote from Philadelphia, September 6,1792: "The honour which has been done me by the Overseers of the antient and justly celebrated institution, over which you preside, is appreciated by me, as it merits, and receives my most cordial acknowledgement. Among the many painful circumstances, that surround a station like mine—this flattering mark of the esteem of a body—so respectable—is a source both of satisfaction and consolation." At a meeting of the American Philosophical Society, the oldest scientific body in America, held January 21, 1791, "The U. S. Secretary & Treasurer, Alexander Hamilton, was elected a member of this Society." At the same meeting Attorney-General Randolph, Alexander Addison, Albert Gallatin, and others became members.
At a meeting held April 4, 1800, the Rev. Dr. Collier made a statement of the sums received by him to aid Michaux's projected expedition. That he had received April 13, 1793, a donation of $12.50 from Alexander Hamilton, George Washington $25, Robert Morris $20, Thomas Jefferson $12.50, etc."
As a public speaker Hamilton was regarded by all his contemporaries in the same way—and no praise seems to have been too great.
A person who was very familiar with Hamilton's methods in this respect was Chancellor James Kent. Though he was Hamilton's junior by seven years, they were always close and intimate friends. "Hamilton," said Kent, "generally spoke with great earnestness and energy, and with considerable and sometimes vehement gesture. His language was clear, nervous and classical. He went to the foundation and reason of every doctrine which he examined, and he brought to the debate a mind richly adorned with all the learning that was applicable/'
Lodge writes: "There was certainly no one who was in active public life during the same period, unless it be John Adams, or Fisher Ames on one memorable occasion, who could compare with him as an orator"; and again: "It is very plain, too, that Hamilton's success in this direction was by no means wholly due to what he said or to his power of reasoning and of lucid and forcible statement. The man was impressive."
There is little information as to how Hamilton actually looked and spoke, if we may except what James Kent has said. It is certain from such knowledge as we possess that that he was eminently fair in his arguments, and always fully presented both sides of the question—his trial notes show this. He was always explanatory, and did not cloud the issue by a flow of turgid or high-flown rhetoric. It would appear that his appeals and his statement of any case had the effect of a great narration, and then after drawing his conclusion there was often an impassioned burst of eloquence. As Morse says, "When he closed he left upon his hearers the impression, generally correct, that they had been over the whole ground—not over selected parts .y Though slight and of comparatively small stature, he was forceful and impressive, and had the full powers of suggestion and fascination. In fact he made his hearers believe as he did."