Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander
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within an hour." About two weeks afterward General Schuyler wrote:
Philip Schuyler to Elizabeth Hamilton
Albany, Dec. 6, 1801.
My dearly beloved and Amiable Child: I trust that resignation to the Divine Will has so far tranquillized your mind as to mitigate the severity of the anguish which has been inflicted on you and all of us. It ought my beloved child to afford us much consolation that our dear departed child afforded such decided evidence of his aversion to shedding of blood, that he pursued every measure which propriety and prudence could dictate to avoid it, that thus he has left this life without seeking or even wishing to take away that of his intemperate adversary, and that we have reason to trust that by the unbounded mercy of his Creator, his Spirit is in the realms of Eternal bliss.
In a letter to my Dear Hamilton, I urged him to bring you with him to us, I must reiterate the request to you my Dear Child that I may have the consolation of embracing you, of mingling my tears with yours and with Hamilton, and then by comforting each to dry them.
I suggested measures for this Journey since which have reflected if there should be no sledging that It would be better to send my strong horses to your Brother's at Rynbeck with my Coachman to relieve your horses, but If there should be sledging, I will send my covered Sled and horses to your Brothers and then your Coaches may be left there—but I ought to be advised in time of the day on which you will probably leave New York.
Your Coach is sufficiently roomy to bring the nurse and the three younger children with you which vill add greatly to our satisfaction.
Adieu my Dear Love—Your Mama and sister unite with all in love to you, your Hamilton and the dear Children and in prayers that every blessing of which mortality is susceptible of may be yours and theirs.
I am my dearly beloved Child,
Most tenderly & affectionately yours
Ph. Schuyler.
Hamilton never fully recovered from this loss, for the career of the young man had been his pride, and he had high hopes that he would, eventually, take up his own work. Letters from Talleyrand and many friends speak of this and all condoled with him later.
But few of Philip Hamilton's letters to his father are preserved, and these show that a most affectionate sympathy existed between the two, for the father, despite his absorption in public affairs, and the demands upon his time which were constantly being made by others, conducted his boy's education, giving him frequent hints in regard to the selection of studies, and the manner in which he should live, and a set of rules for the guidance of the son after his graduation from Columbia, when he was preparing for his chosen profession. These were:
RULES FOR MR. PHILIP HAMILTON
From the first of April to the first of October he is to rise not later than six o'clock; the rest of the year not later than seven. If earlier, he will deserve commendation. Ten will be his hour of going to bed throughout the year.
From the time he is dressed in the morning till nine o'clock (the time for breakfast excepted), he is to read law. At nine he goes to the office, and continues there till dinnertime. He will be occupied partly in writing and partly in reading law.
After dinner he reads law at home till five o'clock. From this time till seven he disposes of his time as he pleases. From seven to ten he reads and studies whatever he pleases.
From twelve on Saturday he is at liberty to amuse himself.
On Sunday he will attend the morning church. The rest of the day may be applied to innocent recreations.
He must not depart from any of these rules without my permission.
Several years before he entered Columbia, when Philip was a small lad at school, the father wrote to him:
Alexander Hamilton to his son Philips
Philadelphia, Dec. 5, 1791.
I received with great pleasure, my dear Philip, the letter which you wrote me last week. Your mama and myself were very happy to learn that you are pleased with your situation, and content to stay as long as shall be thought best for you. We hope and believe that nothing will happen to alter this disposition. Your teacher also informs me that you recited a lesson the first day you began very much to his satisfaction. I expect every letter from him will give me a fresh proof of your progress, for I know you can do a great deal if you please, and I am sure you have too much spirit not to exert yourself, that you may make us every day more and more proud of you. You remember that I engaged to send for you next Saturday, and I will do it, unless you request me to put it off, for a promise must never be broken, and I will never make you one which I will not fill as far as I am able, but it has occurred to me that the Christmas holidays are near at hand, and I suppose your school will then break up for a few days and give you an opportunity of coming to stay with us for a longer time than if you should come on Saturday. Will it not be best, therefore, to put off your journey till the holidays? But determine as you like best, and let me know what will be most pleasing to you. A good night to my darling son."
Six years later Philip wrote to the father, who was then at Albany, a letter which appears to have been sent from Columbia College, and it suggests that he possessed some of the mental traits of his father.
Philip Hamilton to Alexander Hamilton
April 21, 1797.
Dear Papa: I just now received the enclosed letter from Grandpa [Schuyler], in answer to a letter I wrote to him, in which he has enclosed to me three receipts for shares in the Tontine Tavern, amounting to £100. I have given the receipts to Mama. I delivered my speech to Dr. Johnson to examine. He has no objection to my speaking; but he has blotted out that sentence which appears to be the best and most animated in it; which is, you may recollect it—"Americans, you have fought the battles of mankind; you have enkindled that sacred fire of freedom which is now," and so forth.
Dear Papa, will you be so good as to give my thanks to Grandpapa for the present he made me, but above all for the good advice his letter contains—which I am very sensible of its being extremely necessary for me to pay particular attention to, in order to be a good man. I remain your most affectionate son.
P. S. You will oblige me very much by sending back the letter I have enclosed to you.
The careers of the other sons were, in a measure, commonplace. Little remains to show that they ever distinguished themselves. If an exception can be made, it is in the case of James Alexander Hamilton who, in his Reminiscences, referred to elsewhere, sketches the active part he took in the adjustment of various delicate diplomatic affairs during the administrations of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.
Alexander, the second son, was graduated from Columbia in 1804, and he, too, became a lawyer, but went abroad and joined the Duke of Wellington's army, then in Portugal, where he acquired a military training and some of the strategical methods of the great English general. Previous to the war of 1812 he came home, became a captain of infantry, and served with his father's old friend. General Morgan Lewis. After the war he supported himself by his profession, and in 1822 became a United States district attorney of New York, as well as land commissioner. He finally became identified with the development of real estate in New York City.
James Alexander also graduated from Columbia in 1805, was an officer in the war of 1812, and was made Secretary of State ad interim by Andrew Jackson in 1829. He subsequently became United States district attorney for die southern district of New York» and was later engaged in important diplomatic work.
The fourth son, John Church, named after the husband of his Aunt Angelica, after his graduation at Columbia in 1809, also studied law and took part in the war of 1812, and it was he who prepared his father's papers for publication.
The fifth son, William Stephen, after entering West Point, served in the Black Hawk War, and afterward went to the Far West, where little is known of him except that he died in California.
Philip, the youngest, was but two years old at the time of the duel with Burr, and is often