The Genius and Character of Alexander Hamilton [pp. 371-380]

The Genius and Chfaracter of Alexander Hamillton.
confident, Ned, that my youth excludes
me from any hopes of immediate preferment, nor do I desire it; but I mean to
prepare the way for futurity. I'm no
philosopher you see, and may be justly
said to build castles in the air; my folly
makes me ashamed, and beg you'll conceal it; yet, dear Neddy, we have seen
such schemes successful, when the projector is constant. I shall conclude by
saying, I wish there was a war."
The sequel will show whether the fruition of the man fulfilled these dreams of
the Creole boy.
We have no space in this connection to
trace Hamilton's history, further than to
say that at fifteen he was placed in charge
of the large establishment of Cruger;
then writing an article for a newspaper
which gave him immediate distinction,
he was sent to New York to be educated;
at sixteen, he distinguished himself as a
writer on the side of the Colonists; at seventeen, he delivered a speech to the people in thie fields, which placed him in the
front rank of popular orators: at nineteen, he was a captain of artillery; at
twenty, Washington appointed him aid;
then going through the entire war, he led
the last charge at Yorktown; then commencing the practice of the law, he rose to
the head of the profession, and was prominent in the State politics of New York;
then devoting himself to the scheme of a
National Constitution in the place of the
Articles of Confedcleration-he became a
member of the Federal Convention, of the
Convention of New York, and the most
active advocate and the able champion of
the ratification of the Constitution.
Perhaps Hamilton's best claims to
fame rest upon his connection with the
first term of Washington's administration.
He'became Secretary of the Treasury
in the thirty-first year of his age. He
brought no long experience in statesmanship to the Cabinet. But the experience
he gained in the tent of Washington
while administering the large and varied
duties of the war department, was in
some sort akin to that required in his new
post. But now he had a wider field. He
had a theatre worthy of his fertile and
versatile genius, and a task calling into
exercis e the fu ll me asure of his powers.
He was to assist to make a country; to
start moving a new and untried experiment of government; to bring system
out of chaos; to adapt a new government
to the wants, necessities and genius of a
people; to impress upon that people a
homogeneous and national character; to
revive credit, to inspire confidence, to
create stability and security, and to inaugurate the powerful reign of Law and
Order. The scattered elements which
war had strewn or left were to be
gathered together and moulded into
empire. His duties related to the internal organization and relations of the government; and t hos e duties, it will be
seen at o nce, were of the mo st pressing
and vital impota ota nce. If the new governmient failed, its failure would b e referred
to the neglect of them, or the inability to
discharge the with effic ienc y.h Circumst a nce s were most in aus piciou s; the jealousies of the Sta tes; the po werful opposition to the Constitution, now ready to
be turned in t o opposition to the Government; the large number of in fluential
and embittered ma l conte n ts disappointed
in personal objects, and smarting under
a sense of neglect; public and individual
suffering and embarrassment —the effects
of the long war; the distrust of the experimenit so extensively felt, and the want
of power and resources in the government
to ensure respect at home and abroad;
the angry collisions of different States
with their sectional jealousies and antipathies; an unpaid soldiery, dismissed
without employment to suffering and destitution; and hosts of clamorous creditors with the worthless paper of the
government on hand; the natural jealousy of power in those who had just
escaped from its dominion; and the certainty foreseen of offending multitudes of
expectants on the favor or bounty of the
government, or of adherents to particular
projects and schemes of administrationthese things would have made the task of
government most embarrassing and difficult, without the addition of the inherent
difficulties of administering so novel a
plan where there were no lights of experience to guide or direct it, and where
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