CHAPTER VII. ALEXANDER HAMILTON. "Lives of all great men remind us Seeing, shall take heart again."—Longfellow. IN tracing our brief biography of GEORGE WASHINGTON in the preceding chapter, we necessarily touched upon a subject requiring an historical portraiture of one who, it seems to us, was but another Washington in the struggle for freedom. And more particularly is this necessary- because Alexander Hamilton fought side by side, and suffered the privations incident to that memorable struggle, with him; and now, in old Independence Hall, placed almost side by side, hang the two portraits of these great and noble men. And while we stand near him, and gaze upon his living picture, our minds immediately revert back to the period when he, in company with the Commander-in-Chief of the American army, led the distracted and forlorn soldiers from post to post to defend the land against depredations of the enemy; and we are led involuntarily to exclaim that next to Washington, no name shines more conspicuously than that of ALEXANDER HAMILTON. The Island of Nevis, one of the most beautiful of the West Indies, had the honor of being his birth-place, which circumstance occurred on the 11th of January, 1757. He was a lineal descendant of the noble Huguenots, his father being a Scotchman, his mother a French lady. In the original source of his blood, this happy blending of contrasted elements created a sagacious character, and invested him with great decision of purpose and execution. Like most men who are destined to become truly great, young Hamilton was early left to buffet adverse storms, and in the midst of difficulties to become the architect of his own fortunes. He was taken to Santa Cruz by some friends of his mother, where the foundation of his youthful education was first laid. In a very brief period he became sufficiently acquainted with the French language to speak and write it fluently, and the Decalogue he learned to repeat in Hebrew, in a short time, at the school of a Jewess. His education at that early age was conducted chiefly under the supervision of a Dr. Knox, a clergyman of the Presbyterian persuasion. In 1769 he was placed in the counting-house of Mr. Nicholas Cruger, a wealthy and highly respectable citizen of Santa Cruz. Before he was thirteen years old he wrote the following to a young friend at school: "I contemn the groveling condition as a clerk, to which my fortune condemns me, and would willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt my station; I mean to prepare the way for futurity." In this paragraph gleams the true fire of a noble youth, an ardent love of fame and the strongest attachment to untarnished integrity, guarantees of splendid suc. cess, which, in this instance, was never disproved by facts. While he was in Mr. Cruger's employ, every hour he could appropriate to himself was devoted to the study of mathematics, ethics, chemistry, biography, and knowledge of every kind. Even at that early moment some of his compositions were published, and they attracted such universal attention that some of his friends determined to send him to New York, where they apprehended better advantages would be afforded to the development of his intellectual ambition. He arrived in this country in October, 1772, and was placed in a grammar-school in New Jersey, under the instruction of Francis Barber of Elizabethtown, who afterward became a distinguished officer in the American service. Young Young Hamilton entered King's (now Columbia) College, at the close of 1773 where, his biographer says, he "soon displayed extraordinary genius and energy of mind." He was no ordinary genius, and his aptitude for acquiring knowledge was unprecedented. In December, 1774, and February, 1775, he wrote, anonymously, several elaborate pamphlets in favor of the pacific measures of defense recommended by Congress. At that early day he suggested the policy of giving encouragement to domestic manufactures, as a sure means of lessening external commerce. He insisted upon our inalienable right to the steady, uniform, unshaken security of constitutional freedom-to the enjoyment of trial by jury-and the right of freedom from taxation, except by our own immediate representatives, and that colonial legislation was an inherent right, never to be abandoned or impaired. In this pamphlet-controversy young Hamilton encountered Dr. Cooper, who was then principal of the College, and many of the most distinguished tories of the land. When the authorship of the youthful champion was proclaimed, all classes were astonished to learn such profound principles and wise policy from so young an oracle. By his extraordinary writings and patriotic influences he early deserved and received the appellation of the "Vindicator of Congress." At length the difficulties which had threatened the Colonies with war between them and the mother country, broke out in furious hostility, and the struggle for emancipation from British domination had commenced in good earnest. The letter which announced the battle of Lexington, concluded with these solemn words "The crimson fountain has opened, and God only knows when it will be closed." Young Hamilton organized a military corps, mostly of students, who practiced their daily drill in the morning before the commencement of their college studies. They assumed the name of "Hearts of Oak," and wore a green uniform, surmounted by a leathern cap, on which was inscribed "Freedom or Death." Early and late our young hero was actively engaged, not only in promoting measures of resistance, but in mastering the science of political economy, the laws of commerce, the balance of trade and the circulating medium; so that when these topics became permanent matters of speculation, in the light of new organizations for the general good, no one was more prompt and lucid in his demonstrations than Hamilton. He abandoned academic retirement and entered the army as Captain of a provincial company of artillery, in March, 1776, and in this capacity he brought up the rear of the army in the retreat from Long Island. He was in the action of White Plains, on the 28th of October, 1776, and with his company of artillery was firm and heroical in the retreat through New Jersey, on which occasion he repelled the progress of the British troops on the banks of the Raritan. He fought at the head of his brave company at Trenton and Princeton, and continued in the same command until the first of March, 1777, when, having attracted the attention of WASHINGTON, he was appointed his aid-de-camp, with the rank of Colonel. From that time until February, 1781, he continued the inseparable companion of the Commander-in-Chief, and was always consulted by him, and by all the leading functionaries, on the most important occasions. He acted as his first aid at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth; and at his own request, at the siege of Yorktown, he led the detachment which carried by assault one of the strongest outposts of the foe. In consequence of the many fine qualities which were combined in him, young Hamilton became universally esteemed. He was especially useful to George Washington, and that great man declared he was "his principal and most confidential aid." His accurate and comprehensive knowledge of military science placed him in the first rank of tacticians; his courteous manner rendered his general intercourse with the army a delight to all; his familiarity with the French language won the especial attachment of all the French division of the army, making him the constant favorite in particular of the Marquis Lafayette |