Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander
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order that this step may not be taken—if it is I am sure that those who pursue this Measure will in a short time lament the Consequences.
I am your affectionate but distrest
Friend
W. DUER.
Hamilton devoted himself to the cause of his old comrade, and wrote to one of the creditors the following letter:
Alexander Hamilton to _______ _______
Dear Sir: Poor Duer has now had a long and severe confinement such as would be adequate punishment for no trifling crime. I am well aware of all the blame to which he is liable, and do not mean to be his apologist, though I believe he has been as much the dupe of his own imagination as others have been the victims of his projects. But what then? He is a man—he is a man with whom we have both been in habits of friendly intimacy. He is a man who, with a great deal of good zeal, in critical times, rendered valuable services to the country. He is a husband who has a most worthy and amiable wife, perishing with chagrin at his situation,— your relative and mine. He is a father, who has a number of fine children, destitute of the means of education and support, every way in need of his future exertions. These are tides to sympathy which I shall be mistaken if you do not feel. You are his creditor, your example may influence others. He wants permission through a letter of license, freely to breathe the air for five years.
Your signature to the inclosed draft of one, vdll give me much pleasure.
Your ob't Serv't,
A. Hamilton.
It was at the house of William Bayard that Hamilton died, for he and his family had always been intimate friends of the former. Bayard was a member of the firm of Bayard, LeRoy & McEvers, and had long been a client of Hamilton. Charles Wilkes was the president of the Bank of New York, for which Hamilton acted as counsel, and after the death of the latter Wilkes was one of those who made provision for his family.
It is somewhat surprising to find that the early friendship that existed between Hamilton and Edward Stevens led to no greater intimacy in later life. Stevens was one of the few friends who did not particularly distinguish himself, and about whom little is heard. He grew up to be a worthy doctor, but was a negative character, and his sole public service was rendered in a consulship to Hayti. The letters that passed between the two were of the most formal character, and there is no display of extraordinary interest in any of them, despite the promising beginning.
During Hamilton's attachment to Washington's staff he was thrown much into contact with Caleb Gibbs, who was not only the commander of the Life Guard of Washington, but in a way was major domo of the President's household, where he remained in command until the end of 1779. In this connection reference may be made to the troubles of the latter.
Chastellux, in speaking of his visit to Boston, refers to one John Tracy, who had strange vicissitudes of fortune in the early part of the war. At the end of 1777 he and his brother, who held letters of marque, had lost forty-one ships and were about to give up business, when a prize entered Boston Harbor which was worth about £35,000 sterling. With this windfall their fortunes changed, so that at the time of the visit of the Frenchman John Tracy was worth £120,000. He gave £5,000 to the State of Massachusetts, but his revenues were subsequently greatly diminished, and his taxes amounted to £6,000 a year—an enormous sum.
It is quite probable that the tide of his good fortune ultimately changed, for the following letter would show that he lost, not only his own money, but that of others, among them the funds of Gibbs who wrote to Hamilton, who had evidently befriended him and given him legal advice.
Barre, May 16th, 1791.
My best friend: I have been honored by your much esteemed favour of the 20th ulto.
With the most pungent grief did I read your letter respecting Mr. Tracys affairs; it is too much for me to relate. Nay My good Hamilton (excuse the freedom) it fairly unnerved me, and what is still more affecting to me to see my amiable wife looking over the letter and exclaiming "it is possible, is it possible Mr. Gibbs that you have lost that hard earned money you friendly lent that wicked man"—indeed my friend it was too much for her to bear, and more particularly so considering her situation; we have been almost ever since in a state of dispair—for I have all along held up to her the Idea, that there was hopes of recovering my property more especially as we thought it was in your hands—but now forever lost—not only so but good money which I borrowed of you to bear my expenses thrown away in pursuit of what he owes me, and God only knows when I shall be able to pay you.
Pray for God's sake my friend speak to the President for me,—the Surveyorship of the Port of Boston is now vacant, cannot you befriend me—Every one who knows (& I know you do) that the great economy used in the Expenditures of the General's family was in a very great degree owing to me —Speak peace to me, drop but one drop of the balm of Comfort & Consolation. If I am worthy of another line from you give me it as a Comforter.
I pray God to preserve you & believe me yours
devotedly C. Gibbs.
Something has been said of Hamilton's difficulties, and the manner in which he contrived to bring upon his own head the wrath of many persons with whom he was officially thrown into contact. Political differences were even more bitter than to-day, and as has been shown in a previous chapter, scurrilous abuse was quite as pungent and intolerable.
Summer says: "One of his most remarkable traits contrasting in the strongest manner with his contemporaries, was his fearlessness of responsibility. If he went upon that principle, he was sure to bear the brunt of every contest, provoked by his enterprises; and as he was always in the advance of other people, he was sure to excite their wonder, doubt and suspicion by his enterprises."
"Hamilton's methods were calculated to raise against himself very bitter opposition. He forced every issue in its most direct form. His fearlessness, openness, and directness turned rivals into enemies, irritated smaller men, and aroused their malicious desire to pull him down. At the same time, by the mass he was not understood, and in them he inspired a vague sense of alienation and distrust."
Some of this was because, as he once announced, he held popular opinion of no value-which is all in a way very true, but, as has been said, "It may have no value, but a statesman must notice that it has power."
This feeling caused him many a bitter moment, and upon various occasions he was quick to recognize the dissatisfaction which attended the disintegration of his own party, and the secession of those who did not approve of his vigorous methods. The attacks upon him were, perhaps, more bitter from the time he retired from public office until his death than at any other, and the various projects which he believed could be successfully carried out were assailed on all sides.
Madison, who had been his coadjutor in the preparation of the Federalist, he believed to have turned against him, and so stated in a letter to Carrington in 1792. Jefferson was always jealous and inimical, and lost no chance either secretly or openly to try to undermine his popular rival, although he was forced to admit the latter's greatness. His objection to the funding system and the establishment of the bank was very decided and was carried out with the assistance of Freneau, the -editor of a newspaper to which reference has been made.
Hamilton seems to have been in a constant broil with many of these people, and it is a wonder how he could have kept his peace of mind and self-control, smarting as he did under the assaults, not only of Jefferson, but even of Thomas Paine, whose methods were those that had, in 1793, found so much favor with the violent National Convention. So bitter was the fight between Hamilton and Jefferson, and so far-reaching the possibilities of public demoralization, that Washington was obliged to make peace between the two, although his sympathies were clearly with Hamilton. It would seem as if there was no limit to the abuse poured out by Callendar, Bache, and his colleagues, they being egged on by Jefferson, and this led to a celebrated libel suit in which Hamilton appeared (the Croswell case), and was, in measure, based upon the outrageous abuse of Washington.
General Schuyler wrote from Albany August 19, 1802, to Hamilton: "If Mr. Jefferson has really encouraged that wretch Callendar to vent his calumny