Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander
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Washington Irving.
The Vicomte de Noailles, closely related to La Fayette, came here very early in the Revolution and was one of the small coterie of army friends who were with Hamilton at York-town. The latter wrote to him in 1782:
Esteem for your talents and acquirements is a sentiment which, from my earliest acquaintance with you, 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 estimable. I cannot forbear indulging this declaration, to express to you the pleasure I felt at receiving (after an inexplicable delay), the letter you were so obliging as to write me before your departure 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 form of Society, bespeak the warmth of the heart. At least my partiality for you makes me proud of viewing it in this light and I cherish the opinion.
He continues in this happy vein, trusting that his friend will return. After his service here de Noailles, like La Fayette, retired to France and took the liberal side in the French Revolution, but was finally obliged to flee from the blood-thirsty sans-culottes, leaving his wife, who was afterward guillotined in 1794, together with his father and mother. He came to the United States a second time in that year, and for a time entered into business, being with Bingham & Co., the bankers of Philadelphia, and speculated so successfully that he acquired a large fortune. He again re-entered the French service and went to Santo Domingo, and afterward to Cuba, where, in an action between his ship and an English man-of-war, he was killed. During his stay in Philadelphia he saw Hamilton frequently, and their old friendship was renewed.
Another army friend was General Nathaniel Greene, who was president of the court of inquiry in the Andre case. After his death, Hamilton's enemies even alleged that the latter was guilty of malfeasance during the time he was Secretary of the Treasury in looking after the affairs of his dead friend, and had helped his widow out of the public funds. Greene, too, like Hamilton, at another time was assailed by the friends of Gates to whose command he succeeded.
With Richard K. Meade, who was also an aide-de-camp to Washington with Hamilton, there existed a close intimacy which was participated in by Mrs. Hamilton, and the Schuylers as well, and the appended extract from one of his letters is an indication of their affectionate relationship:
I have explained to you the difficulties I met with in obtaining a command last campaign. I thought it incompatible with the delicacy due to myself to make any application this campaign. I have expressed this sentiment in a letter to the General, and, retaining my rank only, have relinquished the emoluments of my commission, declaring myself, notwithstanding, ready at all times to obey the calls of the public. I do not expect to hear any of these, unless the state of our affairs should change for the worse; and lest, by any unforeseen accident that should happen, I choose to keep myself in a situation again to contribute my aid. This prevents a total resignation.
Truly, my dear Meade, I often regret that fortune has cast our residence at such a distance from each other. It would be a serious addition to my happiness if we lived where I could see you every day; but fate has determined it otherwise. I am a little hurried, and can only repeat, in addition, that you will present me most affectionately to Mrs. Meade, and believe me to be, with the warmest and most unalterable friendship,...
It must almost appear as if Hamilton was either unaware of Talleyrand's true character, or cultivated him because of his many agreeable qualities, for it cannot be denied that, despite his absolutely unpardonable immoralities, he had an extraordinary fascination. Then again, there was a sense of all that was humorous in all he did, whether in getting the best of dull-witted and pompous commissioners, or hoodwinking his less astute fellow conspirators. No one who has read his memoirs can help secretly admiring a certain intense mental force and cleverness, as well as a faculty for escaping from danger; but it must be confessed that it is often the same amusement and admiration that one feels after reading the story of Jonathan Wild, or those of the other heroes of the Newgate Calendar. Talleyrand came to America in 1794, after making himself so disagreeable in England that he was obliged to shift the scene of his activity to the United States, in which country the influence of the French Republic and the effrontery of Citizen Genet were being felt; thanks to the temporary co-operation of Thomas Jefferson; after a brief stay he returned to make fresh mischief with a new party in France.
His stay in Philadelphia was characterized by conduct so scandalous as to shock Pontgibaud and his other countrymen, for his open immoralities and behavior with a woman of color (probably Madame Grand) led to much gossip. Nevertheless he took great interest in all public affairs of the new country, and was busy as well in scientific work, and by his eloquence and charm made many friends who were disposed to overlook his foibles. Hamilton, who always respected brains, became, in a way, attached to him. Talleyrand was an agreeable Lucifer, and it was he who said that no one who had not lived before 1789 in France had any idea of the "charm of life." He had known all the delightful great men and women of France and England in his day, and, therefore, was certainly a competent critic. He liked the young statesman and said of him, "Je considère Napoléon Fox et Hamilton comme les trois plus grands hommes de notre èpoque, et si je devais me prononcer entre les trois, je donnerais sans hésiter la première place à Hamilton. Il avait deviné l'Europe."
That he had, sometimes, a strong and more tender feeling is evinced by the inscription upon the back of the picture of Hamilton that he later returned, which was, "You were appreciated. He loved you and you loved him." Hamilton seems to have kept up his pleasant relations with Talleyrand until shortly before his death, for, on March 25, 1804, he wrote to the latter in regard to a cousin Alexander, who had been imprisoned in Paris, and who was then on parole, asking certain privileges for the latter.
The affection felt for him by the members of his wife's family appears everywhere in a great mass of correspondence now before me. One of his warmest admirers was his father-in-law, who was of middle age when the young soldier married his second daughter in 1780. He certainly supplied the qualities lacking in Hamilton's own father, and added to them the jealous pride of a rugged veteran. During the time Hamilton was thrown so much into contact with him at Morristown, and until the very end of his life, there was a delightful intimacy between them, both in the field and when they were engaged in the conduct of public affairs, which crops out in all of General Schuyler's letters. Hamilton's success was Schuyler's very own, and his disappointments were shared by the affectionate, proud old man, who took up the cudgels and berated Jefferson and all the others whenever he got a chance.
Hamilton's overwork brought its penalty, for, at times, his condition was such as to alarm his friends, yet he, as a rule, rarely succumbed. Nothing can be more solicitous than the following, written at a time when he was not only busily engaged in practising law, but organizing the new army, and effecting a number of far-reaching public reforms and improvements :
Albany, February 1st, 1799.
My dearly beloved Eliza: I am deeply affected to learn that my beloved Hamilton is so much indisposed. Too great an application to business and too little bodily exercise have probably been the cause of his disorders, immersed as he is in business, and his mind constantly employed he will forget to take that exercise, and those precautions which are indispensable to his restoration. You must therefore, my Dear Child, order his horse every fair day, that he may ride out, and draw him as frequently from his closet as possible. Keep me advised my Dear Child continually of his state of health. If that should happily be true, try to prevail on him to quit the busy scene he is in, and to pay us a visit accompanied by you. The journey will be of service to him, and I shall experience the best of pleasures in embracing children so dear to me.
Embrace my Dear Hamilton and your children for me. All here unite in love to you, to him and them.
God bless you my Amiable
and Dear Child.