Chapter XVI: Part 16

The character and talents of delegates to Congress daily become more and more important, and I regret your declining that appointment at this interesting period. Respect, however, is due to the considerations which influence you, but as they do not oppose your accepting a place in the Legislature, I hope the State will still continue to draw advantage from your services; much remains to be done, and laborers do not abound.

I am happy to hear that terms of peace, and the conduct of your negotiators, give general satisfaction: but there are some of our countrymen, it seems, who are not content; and that, too, with an article which I thought to be very unexceptionable; viz., the one ascertaining our boundaries. Perhaps those gentlemen are latitudinarians.

The American newspapers, for some months past, contain advices which do us harm. Violences and associations against the tories, pay an ill compliment to government, and impeach our good faith in the opinion of some, and our magnanimity in the opinion of many. Our reputation also suffers, from the apparent reluctance to taxes, and the ease with which we incur debts without providing for their payment. The complaints of the army; the jealousies respecting Congress; the circumstances which induced their leaving Philadelphia; and the too little appearance of a national spirit pervading, uniting, and invigorating the Confederacy, are considered as omens which portend the diminution of our respectability, power, and felicity.

I hope that, as the wheel turns round, other and better indications will soon appear. I am persuaded that America possesses too much wisdom and virtue, to permit her brilliant prospects to fade away for want of either.

The tories are almost as much pitied in these countries as they are execrated in ours. An undue degree of severity towards them, would, therefore, be impolitic, as well as unjustifiable. They who incline to involve that whole class of men in indiscriminate punishment and ruin, certainly carry the matter too far. It would be an instance of unnecessary rigor, and unmanly revenge, without a parallel, except in the annals of religious rage in times of bigotry and blindness. What does it signify where nine-tenths of these people are buried? I would rather see the sweat of their brows fertilize our fields than those of our neighbors. * * * * *

Victory and Peace should, in my opinion, be followed by Clemency, Moderation, and Benevolence: and we should be careful not to sully the glory of the Revolution, by licentiousness and cruelty. These are my sentiments: and however unpopular they may be, I have not the least desire to conceal or disguise them.

Believe me to be,
With great regard and esteem, dear Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
John Jay.

Colonel A. Hamilton.

HAMILTON TO WASHINGTON.

Albany, September 30, 1783.

Dear Sir:

As I flatter myself I may indulge a consciousness that my services have been of some value to the public, at least enough to merit the small compensation I wish, I will make no apology to your Excellency, for conveying, through you, that wish to Congress. You are able to inform them, if they wish information, in what degree I may have been useful: and I have entire confidence that you will do me justice.

In a letter which I wrote to you several months ago, I intimated that it might be in your power to contribute to the establishment of our Federal Union upon a more solid basis. I have never since explained myself. At the time, I was in hopes Congress might have been induced to take a decisive ground; to inform their constituents of the imperfections of the present system, and of the impossibility of conducting the public affairs, with honor to themselves and advantage to the community, with powers so disproportioned to their responsibility; and, having done this, in a full and forcible manner, to adjourn the moment the definitive treaty was ratified. In retiring at the same juncture, I wished you, in a solemn manner, to declare to the people, your intended retreat from public concerns; your opinion of the present government, and of the absolute necessity of a change.

Before I left Congress I despaired of the first; and your circular letter to the States had anticipated the last. I trust it will not be without effect; though I am persuaded it would have had more, combined with what I have mentioned. At all events, without compliment, sir, it will do you honor with the sensible and well meaning; and, ultimately, it is to be hoped, with the people at large, when the present epidemic frenzy has subsided.

I am, dear Sir,
With sincere esteem,
Your obedient servant,
A. Hamilton.

To His Excellency General Washington.

HAMILTON TO WASHINGTON.

Albany, September 30, 1783.

Sir:

I think I may address the subject of this letter to your Excellency with more propriety than to any other person, as it is purely of a military nature; as you are best acquainted with my services as an officer; and as you are now engaged in assisting to form the arrangements for the future peace establishment.

Your Excellency knows, that in March, ’82, I relinquished all claim to any future compensation for my services, either during the residue of the war, or after its conclusion--simply retaining my rank. On this foundation I build a hope, that I may be permitted to preserve my rank, on the peace establishment, without emoluments and unattached to any corps--as an honorary reward for the time I have devoted to the public. As I may hereafter travel, I may find it an agreeable circumstance to appear in the character I have supported in the Revolution.

I rest my claim solely on the sacrifice I have made; because I have no reason to believe that my services have appeared of any value to Congress; as they declined giving them any marks of their notice, on an occasion which appeared to my friends to entitle me to it, as well by the common practice of sovereigns, as by the particular practice of this country in repeated instances.

Your Excellency will recollect, that it was my lot at York Town to command, as senior officer, a successful attack upon one of the enemy’s redoubts; that the officer who acted in a similar capacity in another attack, made at the same time by the French troops, has been handsomely distinguished, in consequence of it, by the government to which he belongs; and that there are several examples among us, where Congress have bestowed honors upon actions, perhaps not more useful nor, apparently, more hazardous.

These observations are inapplicable to the present Congress, further than as they may possibly furnish an additional motive to a compliance with my wish.

The only thing I ask of your Excellency, is, that my application may come into view in the course of the consultations on the peace establishment.

I have the honor to be,
With sincere esteem,
Your Excellency’s
Most obedient servant,
A. Hamilton.

To His Excellency General Washington.

HAMILTON TO GOVERNOR CLINTON.

Albany, October 3, 1783.

Sir:

I have lately received from Messrs. Duane and L’Hommedieu, an extract of a letter from your Excellency to the delegates, of the twenty-third of August last, requesting “a particular detail of the motives which influenced the determination of Congress,” respecting the application of the Legislature to have their State troops released from Continental pay, for the purpose of garrisoning the frontier posts. In my letters to your Excellency, of the first of June and twenty-seventh of July, which were intended to be official, I summarily informed you, that Congress had made temporary provision for garrisoning the frontier posts, and that a plan was under deliberation relative to a peace establishment, which would, of course, embrace that object permanently; that such temporary provision being made at the common expense, and a general plan being under consideration for the future, I had declined pressing a compliance with the application of the Legislature; conceiving it to be more for the interest of the State, that the expense should be jointly borne, than that it should fall exclusively upon itself.

I did not enter into a more full detail upon the subject, because the business continued, to the time I left Congress, in an undecided state; and it was impossible to judge what views would finally prevail.

The concurrent resolutions of the two Houses had been immediately, on their receipt, referred to a committee appointed to report on a peace establishment, who had suspended their report on these resolutions, till it should appear, what would be the fate of a general plan which had been submitted.

As to the motives that influenced Congress in making the provision they did make, rather than immediately assenting to the application of the State; as far as I was able to collect them, they were these: The opinions of many were unsettled as to the most eligible mode of providing for the security of the frontiers, consistent with the Constitution, as well with respect to the general policy of the Union, as to considerations of justice to those States whose frontiers were more immediately exposed. A considerable part of the House appeared to think, from reasons of a very cogent nature, that the well-being of the Union required a federal provision for the security of the different parts; and that it would be a great hardship to individual States, peculiarly circumstanced, to throw the whole burthen of expense upon them, by recurring to separate provisions, in a matter, the benefit of which would be immediately shared by their neighbors, and, ultimately, by the Union at large: that, indeed, it was not probable particular States would be either able, or, _upon experiment_, willing, to make competent provision at their separate expense; and that the principle might eventually excite jealousies between the States unfriendly to the common tranquillity.

I freely confess I was one who held this opinion.

Questions naturally arose as to the true construction of the articles of Confederation upon this head; questions as delicate as interesting, and as difficult of solution.

On one hand, it was doubted whether Congress were authorized by the Confederation, to proceed upon the idea of a federal provision: on the other, it was perceived that such a contrary construction would be dangerous to the Union, including, among other inconveniences, this consequence: That the United States, in Congress, cannot raise a single regiment, nor equip a single ship, for the general defence, till after a declaration of war, or an actual commencement of hostilities.

In this dilemma, on an important constitutional question; other urgent matters depending before Congress; and the advanced season requiring a determination upon the mode of securing the western posts in case of a surrender this fall; all sides of the House concurred in making a temporary provision, in the manner which has been communicated.

My apprehension of the views of the Legislature was simply this: That, looking forward to a surrender of the posts, and conceiving, from some expressions in the articles of Confederation, that separate provision was to be made for the frontier garrisons; they had thought it expedient to apply the troops already on foot to that purpose, and to propose to Congress to give their sanction to it.

Under this apprehension; reflecting, besides, that those troops were engaged only for a short period, upon a very improper establishment to continue, on account of the enormous pay to the private men; and that the expense which is now shared by all, and which would have fallen solely upon the State, had the application been complied with; would probably be at the rate of nearly eighty thousand dollars per annum, a considerable sum for the State in its present situation; I acknowledge to your Excellency, that I saw with pleasure, rather than regret, the turn which the affair took. I shall be sorry, however, if it has contravened the intentions of the Legislature.

I will take the liberty to add, upon this occasion, that it has always appeared to me of great importance, to this State in particular, as well as to the Union in general, that Federal, rather than State, provision should be made for the defence of every part of the Confederacy, in peace as well as in war.

Without entering into arguments of general policy, it will be sufficient to observe, that this State is, in all respects _critically situated_.

Its relative position, shape, and intersections, viewed on the map, strongly speak this language.--Strengthen the Confederation; give it exclusively the power of the sword: let each State have no forces but its militia.

As a question of mere economy, the following considerations deserve great weight.

The North River facilitates attacks by sea and by land: and, besides the frontier forts, all military men are of opinion, that a strong post should be maintained at West Point, or some other position on the lower part of the river.

If Canada is well governed, it may become well peopled, and by inhabitants attached to its government. The British nation, while it preserves the idea of retaining possession of that country, may be expected to keep on foot there, a large force. The position of that force, either for defence or offence, will necessarily be such as will afford a prompt and easy access to us.

Our precautions for defence, must be proportioned to their means of annoying us: and we may hereafter find it indispensable to increase our frontier garrisons.

The present charge of a competent force in that quarter, thrown additionally, into the scale of those contributions which we must make to the payment of the public debt, and to other objects of general expense, if the Union lasts, would, I fear, enlarge our burthen beyond our ability: that charge, hereafter increased, as it may be, would be oppressively felt by the people. It includes, not only the expense of paying and subsisting the necessary number of troops, but of keeping the fortifications in repair; probably of creating others; and of furnishing the requisite supplies of military stores. I say nothing of the Indian nations, because, though it will be always prudent to be upon our guard against them, yet, I am of opinion we diminish the necessity of it by making them our friends: and I take it for granted, there cannot be a serious doubt, any where, as to the obvious policy of endeavoring to do it. Their friendship, alone, can keep our frontiers in peace. It is essential to the improvement of the fur trade; an object of immense importance to the State. The attempt at the total expulsion of so desultory a people, is as chimerical as it would be pernicious. War with them is as expensive as it is destructive: it has not a single object; for, the acquisitions of their lands is not to be wished, till those now vacant are settled: and the surest, as well as the most just and humane way of removing them, is by extending our settlements to their neighborhood.

Indeed, it is not impossible they may be already willing to exchange their former possessions for others more remote.

The foregoing considerations would lose all force, if we had full security that the rest of the world would make our safety and prosperity the first object of their reverence and care: but an expectation of this kind would be too much against the ordinary course of human affairs; too visionary to be a rule for national conduct.

It is true, our situation secures us from conquest, if internal dissensions do not open the way: but when nations now make war upon each other, the object seldom is total conquest. Partial acquisitions; the jealousy of power; the rivalship of dominion, or of commerce; sometimes national emulation and antipathy; are the motives.

Nothing shelters us from the operation of either of these causes. The fisheries; the fur trade; the navigation of the lakes and of the Mississippi; the western territory; the Islands of the West Indies, with reference to traffic; in short, the passions of human nature, are abundant sources of contention and hostility. I will not trespass further on your Excellency’s patience. I expected, indeed, that my last letter would have finished my official communications; but Messrs. Duane and L’Hommedieu having transmitted the extract of your letter to Mr. Floyd and myself, in order that we might comply with what your Excellency thought would be expected by the Legislature, it became my duty to give this explanation. Mr. Floyd having been at Congress but a little time after the concurrent resolutions arrived, and being now at a great distance from me, occasions a separate communication.

I have the honor to be,
With perfect respect,
Your Excellency’s
Most obedient servant,
A. Hamilton.

N. B. I did not at the time inclose the resolution, directing the General to provide for garrisoning the frontier posts, because I understood it would in course be transmitted to you by the President, or the Secretary at War.

A. H.

To his Excellency Governor Clinton.

MADISON TO HAMILTON.

Princeton, October 16, 1783.

Dear Sir:

Your favor of the sixth of July, by some singular ill luck, never found its way to my hands till yesterday evening.

The only part that now needs attention, is a request that I would answer the following question: “What appeared to be my ideas and disposition respecting the removal of Congress: did I appear to wish to hasten it, or did I not rather show a strong disposition to procrastinate it?” If this request had been received at the time it ought, it might have been answered as fully as you then wished. Even after the delay which has taken place, my recollection enables me, with certainty, to witness, that the uniform strain of your sentiments, as they appeared, both from particular conversations with myself, and incidental ones with others in my presence, was opposed to the removal of Congress, except in the last necessity; that when you finally yielded to the measure, it appeared to be more in compliance with the peremptory expostulations of others than with any disposition of your own mind; and that after the arrival of Congress at Princeton, your conversation showed that you reviewed the removal, rather with regret than with pleasure.

Perhaps this obedience to your wishes may be too late to answer the original object of them. But I could not omit such an opportunity of testifying the esteem and regard with which I am

Your obedient servant,
J. Madison, Jr.

To the Hon. Alexander Hamilton, Esq.

WASHINGTON TO HAMILTON.

Rocky Hill, October 18, 1783.

Dear Sir:

I am favored with your two letters of the thirtieth of September.

The debate on Indian affairs, which, I believe, is got through, and that on the residence of Congress, which is yet in agitation, have entirely thrown aside, for some time, the consideration of the peace establishment. When it is resumed, I will take care that your application comes into view; and shall be happy if any thing in my power may contribute to its success; being, with great truth,

Dear Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
G. Washington.

To Colonel Hamilton.

McHENRY TO HAMILTON.

Princeton, October 22, 1783.

Dear Hamilton:

The homilies you delivered in Congress are still recollected with pleasure. The impressions they made are in favor of your integrity; and no one but believes you a man of honor and republican principles. Were you ten years older and twenty thousand pounds richer, there is no doubt but that you might obtain the suffrages of Congress for the highest office in their gift. You are supposed to possess various knowledge, useful, substantial, and ornamental. Your very grave and your cautious, your men who measure others by the standard of their own creeping politics, think you sometimes intemperate, but seldom visionary: and that were you to pursue your object with as much cold perseverance as you do with ardor and argument, you would become irresistible. In a word, if you could submit to spend a whole life in dissecting a fly, you would be, in their opinion, one of the greatest men in the world. Bold designs; measures calculated for their rapid execution; a wisdom that would convince from its own weight; a project that would surprise the people into greater happiness, without giving them an opportunity to view it and reject it; are not adapted to a council composed of discordant elements, or a people who have thirteen heads, each of which pay superstitious adorations to inferior divinities.

I have been deterred, from day to day, from sending you the extract you desire, by a proclamation on the subject, which I expected would have passed. It is still _in dubio_. I have reported on Fleury’s case, on the principle you recommend. I fear his half-pay will not be granted.

Congress, some time ago, determined to fix their Federal town on the Delaware, near Trenton. Yesterday they determined to erect a second Federal town on the Potomac, near Georgetown; and to reside equal periods (not exceeding one year) at Annapolis and Trenton, till the buildings are completed. We adjourn the twelfth of next month, to meet at Annapolis the twenty-sixth.

Adieu, my dear friend; and in the days of your happiness drop a line to yours.

James McHenry.

P.S. Our exemplification of the Treaty has passed, and will be transmitted to the State officially.

J. McH.

To the Hon. Alexander Hamilton, Esq.

WASHINGTON TO HAMILTON.

Rocky Hill, November 6, 1783.

Dear Sir:

The inclosed is a letter which I had written, and was about to dispatch at the date of it; but, upon second thoughts, determined to postpone it, and try, if, from the importance of the matter, I could not bring forward the peace establishment previously.

I have tried in vain. Congress, after resolving, on the ---- of last month, to adjourn upon the twelfth of this, did, equally unexpectedly and surprisingly to me, finish their session at this place the day before yesterday; without bringing the peace establishment, or any of the many other pressing matters, to a decision.

Finding this was likely to be the case, I showed your letter to some of your particular friends; and consulted with them on the propriety of making known your wishes with my testimonial of your services to Congress; but they advised me to decline it, under a full persuasion that no discrimination would, or indeed, could, be made at this late hour, as every other officer, from the highest to the lowest grades (not in actual command), were retiring without the retention of rank; and that the remainder, upon a peace establishment (if a Continental one should ever take place), would come in upon the new system, under fresh appointments; so that unless you wished to come into actual command again (which none supposed), they saw no way by which you could preserve your rank.

I have the pleasure to inclose you a brevet, giving you the rank of full Colonel.

I am, dear Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
G. Washington.

To Colonel Hamilton.

HAMILTON TO PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

New-York, December 8, 1783.

Sir:

Being concerned as counsel for a number of persons who have been, since the annunciation of the provisional treaty, indicted under the confiscation laws of this State, for the part they are supposed to have taken in the late war, we are induced, at the desire of our clients, and in their behalf, to apply to Congress, through your Excellency, for an exemplification of the definitive treaty. We take it for granted, that ere this it will have been direction of the United States. We have found a great strictness in the Courts in this State. It will, we apprehend, be necessary to be able to produce an exemplification of the treaty under the seal of the United States. In a matter so interesting to a great number of individuals, for it does not belong to us to urge considerations of national honor, we hope we shall be excused when we observe, that there appears to be no probability that the legislature of this State will interpose its authority to put a stop to prosecutions, till the definitive treaty is announced in form. In the mean time, a period is limited for the appearance of the indicted persons to plead to their indictments, and if they neglect to appear, judgment by default will be entered against them. It is therefore of great consequence to them, that we should have in our possession, as speedily as possible, an authentic document of the treaty, and of its ratification by Congress; and we, on this account, pray an exemplification of both.

We persuade ourselves that the justice and liberality of Congress will induce a ready compliance with our prayer, which will conduce to the security of a great number of individuals who derive their hopes of safety from the national faith.

We have the honor to be with perfect respect,
Your Excellency’s
Most obedient and humble servants,
A. Hamilton & others.

His Excellency
The President of Congress.

HAMILTON TO J. B. CHURCH.

New-York, March 10, 1784.

My Dear Sir:

In my last to you I informed you that a project for a land bank had been set on foot by Mr. Sayre, as the ostensible parent; but that I had reason to suspect the Chancellor was the true father. The fact has turned out as I supposed, and the Chancellor, with a number of others, have since petitioned the Legislature for an exclusive charter for the proposed bank. I thought it necessary, not only with a view to your project, but for the sake of the commercial interests of the State, to start an opposition to this scheme; and took occasion to point out its absurdity and inconvenience to some of the most intelligent merchants, who presently saw the matter in a proper light, and began to take measures to defeat the plan.

The Chancellor had taken so much pains with the country members, that they all began to be persuaded that the land bank was the true Philosopher’s stone that was to turn all their rocks and trees into gold; and there was great reason to apprehend a majority of the Legislature would have adopted his views. It became necessary to convince the projectors themselves of the impracticability of their scheme; and to counteract the impressions they had made by a direct application to the Legislature. Some of the merchants, to effect these purposes, set on foot a subscription for a money bank, and called upon me to subscribe. I was a little embarrassed how to act, but upon the whole I concluded it best to fall in with them, and endeavor to induce them to put the business upon such a footing as might enable you, with advantage, to combine your interests with theirs; for since the thing had been taken up upon the broad footing of the whole body of the merchants, it appeared to me that it never would be your interest to pursue a distinct project in opposition to theirs; but that you would prefer, so far as you might choose to employ money in this way, to become purchasers in the general bank. The object, on this supposition, was to have the bank founded on such principles as would give you a proper weight in the direction. Unluckily, for this purpose, I entered rather late into the measure: proposals had been agreed upon, in which, among other things, it was settled that no stockholder, to whatever amount, should have more than seven votes, which was the number to which a holder of ten shares was to be entitled. At an after meeting of some of the most influential characters, I engaged them so far to depart from this ground, as to allow a vote for every five shares above ten.

The stockholders have since thought proper to appoint me one of the directors. I shall hold it till Wadsworth and you come out, and, if you choose to become parties to this bank, I shall make a vacancy for one of you. I inclose you the constitution, and the names of the President, Directors, and Cashier.

An application for a charter has been made to the Legislature, with a petition against granting an exclusive one to the land bank. The measures which have been taken appear to have had their effect upon the minds of the partisans of the land bank.

The affairs of the bank in Pennsylvania appear to be in some confusion. They have stopped discounts; but I have no apprehension that there is any thing more in the matter than temporary embarrassment from having a little overshot their mark in their issues of paper, and from the opposition which the attempt to establish a new bank had produced.

Yours affectionately,
A. Hamilton.

J. B. Church, Esq.

HAMILTON TO FITZSIMMONS.

New-York, March 21, 1784.

Dear Sir:

Permit me to introduce to your acquaintance and attention Mr. Seton, Cashier of the Bank of New-York. He is just setting out for Philadelphia to procure materials and information in the forms of business. I recommend him to you, because I am persuaded you will with pleasure facilitate his object. Personally, I dare say you will be pleased with him.

He will tell you of our embarrassments and prospects. I hope an incorporation of the two banks, which is evidently the interest of both, has put an end to differences in Philadelphia. Here a wild and impracticable scheme of a land bank stands in our way; the projectors of it persevering in spite of the experience they have, that all the mercantile and moneyed influence is against it.

A. Hamilton.

WILLIAM SETON TO HAMILTON.

Philadelphia, 27 March, 1784.

Dear Sir:

You will observe by my letter of this day to our President, that I have been requested to postpone my visit to the bank until they shall be well informed that the Bank of New-York has, or actually will, obtain a charter. Although I am confident this is only an ostensible reason for not wishing to see me at the bank, it will be highly necessary I should be regularly informed of what is doing in this respect, that I may be able to speak fully and with firmness to the subject; therefore, exclusive of any letter the director may write to me, I trust you will communicate to me whatever may appear to you essential for me to know.

The fact is (and which cannot be communicated to the many, and therefore not mentioned in my official letter), their motive for not wishing to see me at the bank just now, arises from their being at present in very great confusion--the opposition of the new bank began it, and being pressed so hard by this opposition, they were obliged to lay themselves so open, that it evidently appeared, if carried further, it would strike too fatal a blow. Therefore, for the safety of the community at large, it became absolutely necessary to drop the idea of a new bank, and to join hand in hand to relieve the old bank from the shock it had received. Gold and silver had been extracted in such amounts that discounting was stopped, and for this fortnight past not any business has been done at the bank in this way. The distress it has occasioned to those dependent on circulation and engaged in large speculations, is severe; and, as if their cup of misery must overflow, by the last arrival from Europe, intelligence is received that no less a sum than £60,000 sterling of Mr. Morris’s bills, drawn for the Dutch loan, are under protest. It is well known that the bank, by some means or other, must provide for this sum. The child must not desert its parent in distress, and, such is their connection, that whatever is fatal to the one must be so to the other. However, the man who has more than once, by his consummate abilities, saved the American Empire from ruin, will no doubt be found equal to overcome these temporary inconveniences, and to restore universal confidence and good order. I trust you will be guarded in your conversation with others on this subject, lest it might recoil on me, and not only place me in a disagreeable situation, but defeat the purposes of my coming there. I have had several interviews with our friend Gov. Morris; he is for making the bank of New-York a branch of the bank of North America, but we differ widely in our ideas of the benefit that would result from such a connection.

If it will not be intruding too much upon your time and goodness, may I request that you will now and then inform me what is doing by our Legislature, and permit me to assure you, that it will ever give me singular pleasure to have it in my power to evince the respect and esteem with which

I am, dear Sir,
Your ob’t and very humble serv’t,
Wm. Seton.

Alexander Hamilton, Esq.

HAMILTON TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.

New-York, April 4, 1784.

Pardon me, my dear sir, for not sooner having obeyed your orders with respect to the inclosed. I part with it reluctantly; for wit is so rare an article, that when we get so much of it in so small a compass, we cannot easily consent to be dispossessed of it. I am very happy to hear of the union of your two Banks; for you will believe me when I tell you, that, on more deliberate consideration, I was led to view the competition in a different light from that in which it at first struck me. I had no doubt that it was against the interests of the proprietors; but, on a superficial view, I perceived benefits to the community, which, on a more close inspection, I found were not real.

You will call our proceedings here _strange doings_. If some folks were paid to counteract the prosperity of the State, they could not take more effectual measures than they do. But it is in vain to attempt to kick against the pricks.

Discrimination bills; partial taxes; schemes to engross public property in the hands of those who have present power; to banish the real wealth of the State, and to substitute paper bubbles; are the only dishes that suit the public palate at this time.

Permit me to ask your opinion on a point of importance to the New-York Bank--the best mode of receiving and paying out gold. I am aware of the evils of that which has been practised upon in Philadelphia--_weighing in quantities_; but I cannot satisfy myself about a substitute, unless there could be a coinage.

Favor me with your sentiments on this subject as soon as you can.

Believe me, with equal warmth and sincerity,

Yours,
A. Hamilton.

To Gouverneur Morris, Esq.

HAMILTON TO DE CHASTELLUX.

New-York, June 14, 1784.

Monsieur Le Chevalier:

Colonel Clarkeson, who will have the honor of delivering you this, being already known to you, I give him this letter more for the sake of renewing to you the assurances of my attachment and esteem, than from a supposition that he will stand in need of any new title to your attention. I will therefore only say of him, that his excellent qualities cannot be known without interesting those to whom they are known, and that from a personal and warm regard for him, I should be happy, if any thing I could say, could be an additional motive for your countenance and civilities to him.

I speak of him in the light of a friend. As the messenger of Science, he cannot fail to acquire the patronage of one of her favorite ministers. He combines with the views of private satisfaction, which a voyage to Europe cannot but afford, an undertaking for the benefit of a Seminary of learning, lately instituted in this State. Learning is the common concern of mankind; and why may not poor republicans, who can do little more than wish her well, send abroad to solicit the favor of her patrons and friends? Her ambassador will tell you his errand. I leave it to your mistress to _command_ and to the trustees of the institution to _ask_ your interest in promoting his mission.

Permit me only to add, that if there is any thing in this country by which I can contribute to your satisfaction, nothing will make me happier at all times, than that your commands may enable me to give you proofs of the respectful and affectionate attachment with which

I have the honor to be,
Monsieur Le Chevalier,
Your most ob’t and humble serv’t,
A. H.

Le Chevalier De Chastellux.

GOUVERNEUR MORRIS TO HAMILTON.

Philadelphia, June 30, 1784.

Dear Hamilton:

This is rather a late period to acknowledge yours of the seventh of April. I have lived in the constant intention to answer it, and I now execute my purpose. But why not sooner? “Procrastination is the thief of time,” says Dr. Young. I meant to have written fully on the subject of the gold. But I waited some informations from Annapolis on the probability of a Mint. I afterwards intended a long letter upon a subject I mentioned to Mr. Seton, namely, a coalition between your Bank and the National Bank. I do not find either party inclined to it. And yet both would be the better for it. You, I believe, will soon be out of blast unless it should take place. I could say a great deal on this subject, but it would be very useless. When you find your cash diminish very fast, remind Seton of my predictions, and let him tell you what they were. If the Legislature should attempt to force paper money down your throats, it would be a good thing to be somewhat independent of them. But I must check myself, or I shall go too far into a business which would plague us both to no purpose. It shall be left, therefore, until we meet.

Very affectionately yours,
Gouv. Morris.

Alexander Hamilton, Esq.

LA FAYETTE TO HAMILTON.

Albany, Oct. 8, 1784.

Dear Hamilton:

* * * * *

Several delays have retarded the opening of the Treaty; and when I was upon the ground, it has been found that my influence with the Indians, both friendly and hostile tribes, was much greater than the Commissioners, and even myself, had conceived; so that I was requested, even by every one of the tribes there, to speak to those nations. There were some, more or less, from each tribe. I stayed as long as the Commissioners thought I could do them some good; and that has rather cramped my private plans of visits.

Now, my dear friend, I am going to Hartford, Boston, Newport; from thence, by water, to Virginia, in order to save time; and about the twentieth of next month I hope to be again with you in New-York: but before that time will write you from Newport.

Adieu, my dear Hamilton.
Most affectionately I am yours,
La Fayette.

P.S. I am told Mr. Jay is not determined upon accepting. I much wish he may consent to it; the more so, as his probable successor does not hit my fancy. Indeed, I very much wish Mr. Jay may accept the office.

To Colonel Hamilton.

LA FAYETTE TO HAMILTON.

Boston, Oct. 22, 1784.

My Dear Hamilton:

Every step I move, there comes upon me a happy necessity to change my plans. The reception I met with in Boston no words can describe; at least it is impossible to express what I have felt. Gratitude as well as propriety conspired with all other inducements to keep me here some time longer. Rhode Island and New Hampshire I must visit, and intend embarking by the first or second day of next month for Virginia, in the Nymph frigate, which has been sent on my account. In less than four weeks’ time from this day, I hope to be with Congress; and when my business there is concluded, will come to New-York, where I hope we will spend some days together. My stay in your city has been too short, far inadequate to the feelings of my gratitude, and to the marks of goodness bestowed upon me; but this time I will be some days longer with my New-York friends.

Upon reflecting on my situation, my circumstances, my love for America, and yet the motives that might render it improper for her to employ me in a public capacity, I have confined myself to a plan which, at the same time that it gratifies my attachment and serves the United States, cannot have any shadow of inconvenience. After having told me they know my zeal, I wish Congress to add, they want me to continue those friendly, and, I might say, patriotic exertions; that in consequence of it, their ministers at home, and their ministers abroad, will have a standing order to look to me as one whose information and exertions will ever be employed to the service of the United States; and when they think it is wanted, to communicate with me upon the affairs of America; that Congress will, whenever I think it proper, be glad of my correspondence.

Upon that general scale, every minister may conceal from me what he pleases, may write to me only when he pleases; and should he ever think my assistance is wanting, he has a title to ask, I have one to give it; and my connection with America is for ever kept, without giving jealousy, upon such a footing as will remain at the disposition of each public servant of Congress.

It seems to me, my dear friend, this idea already met with your approbation. In case it does, do promote it with your delegates and others. If it does not, write it to me by the bearer whom I send by land to apologize to the General for my delays.

Our friend Knox has been most affectionate and kind to me.

Yours for ever,
La Fayette.

P.S. I have written to Wadsworth, and spoken to Bostonians respecting the Baron’s affairs. I will do the same in Virginia, Maryland, and elsewhere.

To Alexander Hamilton, Esq.

LA FAYETTE TO HAMILTON.

Paris, April 13, 1785.

My Dear Hamilton:

Although I have just now written to McHenry, requesting him to impart my Gazette to you, a very barren one indeed, I feel within myself a want to tell you, I love you tenderly. Your brother Church has sailed for America, since which I had a letter from his lady, who is in very good health. By an old letter from our friend Greene, I have been delighted to find he consents to send his son to be educated with mine; the idea makes me very happy. I wish, dear Hamilton, you would honor me with the same mark of your friendship and confidence. As there is no fear of a war, I intend visiting the Prussian and Austrian troops. In one of your New-York Gazettes, I find an association against the slavery of negroes, which seems to me worded in such a way as to give no offence to the moderate men in the southern States. As I ever have been partial to my brethren of that color, I wish, if you are one in the society, you would move, in your own name, for my being admitted on the list. My best respects wait on Mrs. Hamilton. Adieu.

Your affectionate friend,
La Fayette.

JOHN ADAMS TO HAMILTON.

Grosvenor-Square, London, Oct. 19, 1785.

Sir:

At the instance of Mr. Hartley, in behalf of his friend, Mr. Francis Upton, I advised Mr. Upton to apply to some counsellor in New-York, and particularly to Mr. Hamilton, whose reputation was known to me, although his person was not.

Mr. Hartley now requests for Mr. Upton a letter of introduction. As a total stranger, but by character, it would be very difficult to find a pretence to excuse the liberty I take in presenting Mr. Upton to you, and recommending his case to your attention. But, as we say at the bar, where I wish I was, _valeat quantum valere potest._ With much esteem,

I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble servant,
John Adams.

Mr. Hamilton.

HAMILTON TO WILKES.

November, 8, 1785.

Sir:

The message which you sent me yesterday, and your letter to-day, were conceived in terms to which I am little accustomed. Were I to consult my feelings only upon the occasion, I should return an answer very different from that which I have, in justice to my own conduct, resolved upon. But in whatever light we are to view each other hereafter, and however harsh and indelicate I may think the method you have taken to obtain an explanation to be, I shall, for my own part, leave no room to suppose that I intentionally gave you any cause to complain. I shall, therefore, explicitly declare, that whatever inattention may have appeared towards you, was solely owing to the continual hurry in which my engagements, for a long time past, have kept me; and that, so far from its having been occasioned by any designed neglect, it was what, under the circumstances, might have happened to my best friend. Indeed, much of what you mention to have been done by you, I am a stranger to. The frequent callings, by yourself and by your servant, did not, that I recollect, come to my knowledge. It is possible some of them might have been mentioned to me, and, in the hurry of my mind, forgotten. Once, I remember, I saw your servant just as I was going out on some urgent business. I sent a verbal message, promising that I would see you; which I intended to do, as soon as I had made up my resolution on the business of the interview. When I received your note I was about sending you an answer in writing; but, upon inquiring for your servant, and finding him gone, I omitted it, with an intention to see you personally.

You say it is near six months since you first applied to me on the business in question. A great part of the time I gave you all the answer I could give you; to wit, that I had written to Mr. Macaulay, and only waited his answer. About two months since, I received it. I have been the greater part of the time out of town on indispensable business. In the intervals I have been occupied about objects of immediate and absolute necessity, which could not have been delayed without letting my business run into utter confusion. Mr. Macaulay’s concerns have been hanging upon my spirits. I have been promising myself, from day to day, to bring them to a conclusion; but more pressing objects have unavoidably postponed it. I thought the delay required some apology to Mr. Macaulay, but I never dreamt of having given occasion of offence to you.

I will not, however, deny, upon a review of what has passed, that there have been, through hurry and inadvertency on my part, appearances of neglect towards you; but between gentlemen and men of business, unfavorable conclusions ought not to be drawn before explanations are asked. Allowances ought to be made for the situations of parties; and the omissions of men, deeply involved in business, ought rather to be ascribed to that cause than to ill intentions.

Had you, in the first instance, expressed to me (in such a manner as respect for yourself and delicacy to me dictated) your sense of these appearances, I should have taken pains to satisfy you that nothing improper towards you was intended by me. But to make one of my clerks the instrument of communication, and the bearer to me of a harsh accusation, was ill-judged and ungenteel. To take it for granted that you had received an injury from me, without first giving me an opportunity of an explanation, and to couch your sense of it in terms so offensive as some of those used in your letter, is an additional instance of precipitation and rudeness.

Inadvertencies susceptible of misapprehension, I may commit; but I am incapable of intending to wound or injure any man who has given me no cause for it; and I am incapable of doing any thing, sir, of which I need be ashamed. The intimation, on your part, is unmerited and unwarrantable. After thus having explained my own conduct to you, and given you my ideas of yours, it will depend on yourself how far I shall be indifferent, or not, to your future sentiments of my character. I shall only add, that to-morrow you shall receive from me my determination on the matter of business between us.

I am, with due consideration, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
A. Hamilton.

To John Wilkes, Esq.

WILKES TO HAMILTON.

November 9, 1785.

Sir:

The moment I received yours, I perceived the precipitancy of my own conduct, and was very sorry I had so far mistaken both our characters to act in the manner I have done. I flatter myself, that the same candor which has dictated yours, will be exerted towards mine, and that you will only view it as the act of a man who conceived himself injured. As you have never experienced the cruel reverses of fortune, you can scarcely judge how the least insinuations to their prejudice will affect those persons who have; or how much more suspicious they are of the behavior of mankind towards them.

The morning I left the message for you, I had been called upon by one of the creditors of Mr. Heart, who thought it very strange no dividend was made; and he insinuated, some party must be interested in the delay. It is the first money transaction I have engaged in since my release. I felt the insinuation as alluding to me, and with a force, which, perhaps, I should not. However, that moment I went to your office.

The next morning, when I saw your note to Mr. Atkinson, and found myself totally set aside in a business where I had, most undoubtedly, been originally neglected, I felt myself very much agitated; and in that frame of mind I wrote my last to you.

So much I thought it necessary to add in explanation.

I am convinced, now, I have been too hasty; and I am sorry for it. It will put me on my guard in future, and I make no doubt prove beneficial to me, provided it has not been the means of hurting me in your estimation, which I am now more desirous than ever of obtaining.

I am, Sir, with respect,
Your much obliged,
And most obedient servant,
John Wilkes.

To Colonel Hamilton.

HAMILTON TO WASHINGTON.

November 23, 1785.

Dear Sir:

Major Fairly is just setting out on a visit to you, I believe on some business relating to the Cincinnati. The society of this State met some short time since, and took into consideration the proposed alterations in the original frame of the Institution: some were strenuous for adhering to the old Constitution, a few for adopting the new, and many for a middle line. This disagreement of opinion, and the consideration that the different State societies pursuing different courses--some adopting the alterations entire; others rejecting them in the same way; others adopting in part and rejecting in part--might beget confusion and defeat good purposes, induced a proposal, which was unanimously agreed to, that a committee should be appointed to prepare and lay before the society, a circular letter, expressive of the sense of the society on the different alterations proposed, and recommending the giving powers to a general meeting of the Cincinnati, to make such alterations as might be thought advisable, to obviate objections and promote the interests of the society. I believe there will be no difficulty in agreeing to change the present mode of continuing the society; but it appears to be the wish of our members, that some other mode may be defined and substituted, and that it might not be left to the uncertainty of legislative provision. We object, too, to putting the funds under legislative direction. Indeed, it appears to us, the Legislatures will not, at present, be inclined to give us any sanction.

I am of the committee: and I cannot but flatter myself, that when the object is better digested, and more fully explained, it will meet your approbation.

The poor _Baron_ is still soliciting Congress, and has every prospect of indigence before him. He has his imprudences; but, upon the whole, he has rendered valuable services; and his merits and the reputation of the country, alike, demand that he should not be left to suffer want.

If there could be any mode by which your influence could be employed in his favor, by writing to your friends in Congress, or otherwise, the Baron and his friends would be under great obligations to you.

I have the honor to be,
With sincere esteem,
Your ob’t and humble serv’t,
Alex. Hamilton.

To His Excellency General Washington.

WASHINGTON TO HAMILTON.

Mount Vernon, December 11, 1785.

Dear Sir:

I have been favored with your letter of the twenty-third of November, by Major Fairly.