Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander
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by reason of that day being a holiday, abridged, and that the note fell due on the 3d of July. Efforts were made to demand payment of the maker on the 3d, but he could not be found and, therefore, an excuse for making a demand was presented. The jurors being in doubt as to the law of the case returned a special verdict as to the facts, and submitted for the determination of the court this question of law, as to whether the note fell due on the 3d or 4th of July.
If the effort to make the demand on the 3d was sufficient to put the maker of the note in default and was not premature, then Burr was liable to the plaintiff upon his promise to pay as endorser; but if the demand was not properly sought to be made on the 3d, then Burr was not liable. The whole question was one of law as to whether the note was due on the 3d or 4th of July, and the special verdict was for the purpose of presenting all the facts to the court so that it might determine this simple question. That was in accordance with the practice which prevailed at the time the action was pending, and the court would direct judgment on the verdict in accordance with its decision. The case was carried up to the Supreme Court in bank» and was argued there in 1796, and the court held that the 4th of July was a public holiday, and that the note fell due July 3d, and judgment was rendered against Burr. I was informed by the late Justice Edward Patterson that this decision was the precedent for all subsequent rulings of the Courts.
When Hamilton came to New York the second time his friends, without exception, welcomed him most hospitably, and none more kindly than his former associates in the directorate of the Bank of New York. One of them, Comfort Sands, provided an office for him and wrote: "As soon as your furniture arrives, I will take care of it and put it in my store. If it is possible I will engage a room for you for an office. It will be difficult to get one. I hope to be able to get my house done so that I may remove at the time I promised. I hardly doubt that I shall." After a time numerous young men again made application to enter his office as students or clerks, and William Laight addressed to him the following letter regarding his own son who was an applicant:
Had there not been frequent Instances in many respectable offices in this City where Events of a similar kind have been effected, which I am now solicitous of obtaining, I should deem it presumptuous to address you on the subject: Let this, in addition to the solicitude of a Parent for the Establishment of a Son in the line of his Profession, be my Apology:—
Edward W. Laight, after his matriculation at Columbia College, was instructed in the Rudiments and Principles of Law by Cole: Burr, & finished the usual Course of his Studies with Mr. Munroe—He has been admitted to the Bar as an Attorney.—Of his qualifications Professional Men are better Judges than myself.—The Object I aim at is, to have him patronized by a Person of Merit & Celebrity, more for the purpose of improvement than for present Emolument.—To obtain this End, there is no pecuniary Compensation, within my reach, which I would not readily advance, & as my Aim is to his future, not immediate. Interest, He would be advised to accept such a proportion of Income as his Principal might hereafter deem adequate to his exertions of usefulness.—
The wish of my heart is, that Cole: Hamilton should be such a Patron.—If, therefore, it is not incompatible with Cole: Hamilton's Views to receive as an Attorney in his office a Young Man, of, at least decent Manners & educated as above mentioned, I should be made happy by his giving me an opportunity of acceding to such Terms as he himself would prescribe.
Respectfully &c
Wm. Laight.
Cole: Hamilton—14 March 1797.
It was with great regret that Hamilton resigned from the Treasury, but the demands of a growing family were such that he could not live upon a salary of but $3,000 per annum. Of course, many of his bitter enemies, those who had never ceased to accuse him of overweening ambition, or even of actual dishonesty, were not slow to make many fresh insinuations, but these were all unjust, and his return to work was a necessity. A paper making Robert Troup his executor, found after his death, disclosed his comparative poverty on leaving office. In commenting upon this Lodge says: "It furnished a striking commentary on the charges of corruption made against Hamilton by Jefferson and his tools, and on Madison's cold sneer that Hamilton retired from office alleging poverty as a cause." No one under-Genet was everywhere appreciated and applauded by the owners of American ships. Hamilton appeared in no less than thirty or forty cases, either for the United Insurance Company or for various aggrieved shipowners. Nearly all of these were of the greatest interest, and the depositions and briefs that he left among his papers read more like extracts from Cooper, Marryat, or Stevenson, than dry legal papers. Many of them are quaint accounts of captures at sea, hand-to-hand fights, and hair-breadth escapes, the case of the Fair American being one in point, and the deposition of her owner is before me as I write:
The Brig fair American Robert Forest Master of Philadelphia and bound there, was Captured and taken possession of on the 16th November by the French Privateer Jealous, Ruff Master, who took out the Mate and three men, put in a Prize master & eight men and ordered her for Gaudaloup on the 19th Inst. (1 believe) at about eleven or twelve o'clock at night was recaptured by the American armed Ships, Montezuma, Norfolk and Retaliation who took out the Frenchmen (Prizemaster excepted) and put in an Officer and 3 men and directed us to follow them. On the next morning we were again Captured by the French Frigates, the Insurgent & Volante and a French lugger who sent on board a Prize-master & 5 men and ordered us for Gaudaloup without taking any person out of the Brig.
In the Afternoon Captain Forest, the SuperCargo, and Mr. Griswold began to form a plan for recapturing the Vessel (which originated with Captain Forest) and was immediately agreed to, about eight o'clock in the Evening the Frenchmen being on the Quarter Deck Capt. F. seized the Cutlass from the French officer on Deck, took possession of the Helm and Mr. Griswold & Shoemaker run up out of the Cabin, one armed with a Brace of Pistols and one with a Sword both belonging to Mr. G. which with the Cutlass of the French officer was all the Arms on board, all the men assisted to drive the Frenchmen below who made but little resistance. Mr. G. & S. then took Charge of them and watched all night, Capt. F. navigating the brig and bore away for Antigua were we arrived next evening.
When we recaptured the Brig there were two Frigates abot 4 miles ahead which we believe were the French ones that Captured her.
This Statement is made by me at the request of Capt. Murray at the same time I reserve to myself the priviledge of making any further Statement or Explanation respecting the Business which I may conceive requisite or proper.
I further observe that I do not believe the Brig would have been recaptured had not Mr. Griswold his Sword & Pistols & 3 men from the Montezuma been on board.—
(Signed) Jos. Shoemaker, Jr.
Beside the cases of the Diana, Harlequin, La Belle Créole, Reindeer, Neptune, Happy Return, and many others when intricate legal questions arose by reason of capture or loss or insurance, we find that upon one occasion Hamilton appeared for the United Insurance Company in the case of the brig Nancy. This vessel, which was owned in Baltimore, subsequently met with a strange adventure on a voyage to Curaçoa, via Hayti, which began in July, 1799. When at sea her course was changed so that she brought up at the Dutch island of Aruba, where she disposed of her mixed cargo of dry goods and provisions, and took on another of arms and ammunition, which she intended to trade with the French at Hayti for coffee. On August 28 she was overhauled by the British war cutter Sparrow, belonging to the English flag-ship, and sent to Jamaica. Two days later a Lieutenant Fitton of H. M. S. Ferret caught a large shark near the coast of Hayti, and upon opening its belly a package of papers, which undoubtedly belonged to the Nancy, was found therein, and was delivered later to Lieutenant Wylie of the cutter that had captured the Nancy. Subsequently the vessel was condemned by the advocate-general as a lawful prize. Almost at the same time other papers were found concealed in the cabin of the Nancy which were a complement of the original, and together proved the unlawful conduct of the captain of the brig. Not a little of his work was connected with the land companies that were formed in various parts of the United States. He was counsel for Théophile Cazenove, the president of the Holland Company, and acted for those who sought to put upon its feet the celebrated Georgia Company, which later went to pieces when the Assembly of that State repudiated its action in giving a charter.