Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander
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Ever most
tenderly and affectionately Yours
Ph. Schuyler.
He wrote to his daughter in 1795, regarding his young son, who was an inmate of Hamilton's household, as follows: "I have urged him [Philip] to copy your amiable husband as where he will see sense, virtue and good manners combined, which will endear him to all."
Hamilton's sister-in-law Angelica, as has been said, was an active correspondent, and wrote upon every possible occasion. Shortly before the arrival of Talleyrand she sent die following letter from England to prepare for his reception:
Angelica Church to Elizabeth Hamilton
London, Feb. 4, '94.
I recommend to your most particular care and attention, my dear and kind Elisa, my friends. Messieurs de Tallyrand and de Beaumetz; make our country agreeable to them as far as it is in your power (and your influence is very extensive). Console them by your hospitality and the image of your domestic happiness and virtues, for all that they have suffered in the cause of moderate Liberty; and you will be gratified, my dear Eliza, by rendering them services when by so doing you are also prompting the requests of your own Angelica.
I have for these persons the most sincere friendship. To your care, dear Eliza I commit these interesting strangers, they are a loan I make you, till I return to America, not to reclaim my friends entirely, but to share their society with you and dear Alexander, the amiable.
Speak of these gentlemen as members of the Constituent Assembly, as friends of La Fayette, and of good government, and who left their country when anarchy and cruelty prevailed.
If I have any influence with Americans who have been in England, let them shew the sense they entertain of it, by receiving well my friends, whoever cultivates their intimacy will thank me for giving them such valuable acquaintances.
A few weeks later she wrote to Mrs. Hamilton:
Angelica Church to Elizabeth Hamilton
London, February 27, 1794.
Monsieur de Tallyrand being detained, my dear Eliza, a week longer than he expected has given me time to finish your handkerchief which may be worn either on the head or neck, the other two I beg you will send to Peggy and Cornelia.
It is an age since I have heard from you, pray write me news and tell me if I may hope for peace. Mr. Jefferson is said to be on his voyage to France. You will see by my last letter in how particular a manner I have requested your attention for my friend. I am sorry that you cannot speak French, or Mr. Talleyrand English, that you might converse with him, as he is extremely agreeable, and very much improves on acquaintance; he is of one of the most ancient families in France and has been a Bishop and possesses a large fortune and now obliged by the order of this court to leave England. I wish that they would oblige me to go to America for the time is not yet fixed. Adieu my dear sister.
Very affectionately yours,
A. Church.
Did Mrs. Bache send you a hat with purple ribband and a cap. I wish to know as she has not written me a line.
Angelica Church to Elizabeth Hamilton
London, July 30, 1794.
I have a letter my dear Eliza from my worthy friend M. de Talleyrand who expresses to me his gratitude for an introduction to you and my Amiable, by my Amiable you know that I mean your Husband, for I love him very much and if you were as generous as the old Romans, you would lend him to me for a little while, but do not be jealous, my dear Eliza, since I am more solicitous to promote his laudable ambition, than any person in the world, and there is no summit of true glory which I do not desire he may attain; provided always that he pleases to give me a little chit-chat, and sometimes to say, I wish our dear Angelica was here. Tallyrand and Beaumetz write in raptures to all their friends of your kindness, and Colonel Hamilton's abilities and manners, and I receive innumerable compliments on his and your account.
Ah! Bess! you were a lucky girl to get so clever and so good a companion.
Mr. Jay has been perfectly well received at Court and by the Ministers, as yet no material business is done. The people are anxious for a peace with America, and the allied armies are beat out of Flanders and on the Rhine. These circumstances may determine the Minister to be just and wise. Mr. Jay dined with Mr. Fox' at our house a few days after his arrival.
Mr. Morris is building a palace, do you think Monsieur l'Enfant would send me a drawing of it? Merely from curiosity, for one wishes to see the plan of a house which it is said, will cost, when furnished £40,000 Sterling.
This house was built by Robert Morris, in Philadelphia, after he had resigned his office and begun his land speculations. It was an enormous palace designed by Major l'Enfant, and was afterward known as "Morris's Folly." At the time it was begun Morris was regarded as the richest man in the United States, but through reckless plunging and speculation, lost all his money and was arrested and confined in the debtor's prison for several years. Through the grandiose and impractical plan of l'Enfant and the underestimation of the cost, Morris could not meet the demands upon him. His schemes were almost like those of an insane man, and he never occupied the gigantic building which was erected in a square bounded by Walnut and Chestnut, Seventh and Eighth Streets, for it was not finished. It is said that he even imported shiploads of costly furniture, one vessel bringing five thousand guineas' worth of mirrors. Much has been said about Hamilton's relations with Washington, and the absence of any deep friendship between the two, and Oliver has gone so far as to observe that in not one of the former's writings is there any eulogy or even marked praise of his great commander.
Sumner makes this same assertion, and brief excerpts of letters are reproduced, the impression being that there was a stiffness and coldness, not to say a formality in his correspondence with the former which indicated a lack of attachment, and no very great admiration.
These accusations I am sure are unjust, for in the letter to Mrs. Washington written after the death of the first President, there is much that is genuine, and in his letters to Washington during his lifetime he nearly always signed himself "Yours affectionately," in those that were personal. A great deal has been made of the circumstances attending Hamilton's resignation as a member of Washington's military family, and it must be conceded that the letters he wrote to his father-in-law. General Schuyler, and McHenry are not only in bad taste, but he makes use of certain expressions which voice his short-lived anger; this, however, must be set down to his extreme youth, and some of it to the fact that he had been more or less flattered and his head, for the time, turned. Like many other men, his subsequent conduct would almost look as if he had been ashamed of himself, for he plunged at once into more active military service, and performed an act of loyal devotion which he knew would be approved by his old commander when he made a brilliant assault upon the enemy's works at Yorktown. Before doing this he wrote to Washington as follows in 1781: "It has become necessary to me to apply to your Excellency to know in what manner you forsee you will be able to employ me in the ensuing campaign. I am ready to enter into activity whenever you think proper."
All of his subsequent relations with Washington were intimate and affectionate, and their private letters to each other show that they must have been so much in accord as to exclude any real coolness of feeling. Forgiving and generous as Washington always was, he probably felt little or no resentment toward Hamilton for his hasty action in parting from him in a manner more befitting a spoiled boy than a gallant and useful soldier, and he ever afterward relied upon his former aid, even to the extent of getting his assistance in the preparation of his Farewell Address.
It would hardly seem from the following that any of Hamilton's early resentment, and want of appreciation of Washington's kindness had survived.
Alexander Hamilton to Washington
New York, August 38, 1797.
My dear Sir: The receipt two days since of your letter of the 21 St instant gave me sincere pleasure. The token of your regard which it announces is very precious to me, and will always be remembered as it ought to be.
Mrs.