CHAPTER XIX.

THE EFFECTS OF HAMILTON'S DEATH-HIS PECULIAR INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES HIS LOGICAL POWERS-HIS FERTILE IMAGINATION—HIS PROFOUND LEARNING-HIS UNTIRING INDUSTRY-HIS ABILITIES AS A WRITER -HIS ELOQUENCE AS A SPEAKER-HIS MORAL QUALITIES-HIS INTEGRITY HIS SINCERITY-HIS FORTITUDE AS A SOLDIER HIS UNEQUALED ABILITIES AS A STATESMAN AND PATRIOT-HIS FAILINGSHIS DUEL WITH BURR-HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF MRS. HAMILTON-HER INTERVIEW WITH AARON BURR-HER DEATH-FATE OF BURR.

THE premature death of Hamilton was a national calamity. It is not difficult to predict to what exalted posts of honor he would have been promoted, had he lived. Possessing, as he did, the full confidence of the nation, having filled important offices of trust with the purest integrity and the highest praise; being devoted to the interests of his country; his faculties being matured by experience, and his knowledge of the wants of the nation enlarged by study and observation; it is not improbable that a very few years would have seen him occupying the presidential chair. And if, as was probable, that event occurred during the existence of the war of 1812, Mr. Hamilton would, by virtue of his office, have been commander-in-chief of the American armies; and it is but a reasonable

inference to suppose that his military genius would have shone forth in that great crisis more resplendent than ever. In a word, the completed and fully consummated career of Alexander Hamilton would without much doubt have been the brightest, loftiest, and noblest presented in the whole range of American history.

All this fair picture was spoiled by the malignity of his bitterest foe, Aaron Burr. A nation's tears were shed over the grave of his illustrious victim, and the undying curses of all virtuous men, in all coming time, were secured to the perpetrator of his murder. Before concluding this volume we will make a few observations upon the history, character, genius, and fame of Hamilton, such as will enable us better to estimate the position which he deserves to hold on the page of American history.

The chief qualities of the mind of Alexander Hamilton were a clear and vigorous reasoning faculty, and a chaste and prolific imagination. He possessed a rare and beautiful proportion of these cardinal mental qualities. In the discussion of any subject he seized hold of the main points with the vigor of an intellectual giant, and handled them skillfully, gracefully, and with ease. No matter how abstruse the details of a discussion or an inquiry might be to other men, his well-trained and

powerful intellect followed out and unraveled all its intricacies, and showed them up clearly to view. No matter how profound and deep a theme might be, Hamilton easily and perseveringly sounded its lowest and obscurest depths, and revealed them plainly to the observation of men. He was always thorough and exhaustive in his researches, as his reports as Secretary of the Treasury will clearly evince. He dived to the bottom of every subject. Having laid down his premises plainly and fairly, he argues from those premises with the most logical clearness, accuracy, and force. His reasoning forms a chain of iron which a giant cannot break. But that iron chain, though ponderous and powerful, was a gilded one. It was burnished with all the beauty and polish of a rich imagination. Few writers in our language, not even those who have cultivated elegance and euphony of style as their sole accomplishment, and whose entire attention has been devoted to the labor limae, excelled him in. this particular. His essays, pamphlets, and reports are masterpieces; each perfect, symmetrical and finished in itself.

This merit becomes the more extraordinary when we remember the vast quantity of his writings. He did not confine his powers to the elaboration of a few great productions, and exhaust upon them all

his mental resources. His intellect was too prolific and too rich for any such aim. The number and amount of Hamilton's writings are prodigious. They occupy seven large octavo volumes, exclusive of the Federalist. They are more numerous than the productions of Burke, Bolingbroke, Brougham, Webster, or Quincy Adams; nor are the writings of any modern or ancient statesman, except perhaps Cicero alone, equal in amount to those of Hamilton. Nor should it be forgotten, in our estimation of his intellectual resources, that he was not a recluse whose life was passed in the quietude and retirement of his study. The largest portion of his time was spent in the hurry and bustle of public business, in the official bureau, in the courts of justice, in giving professional counsel, in the popular and deliberative assembly.

In this last sphere of intellectual activity Hamilton shone with unsurpassed brilliancy; for as an orator he had no superior. His manner of delivery was easy, graceful, and impressive. His utterance was fluent, unembarrassed, and self-possessed. His eloquence was Ciceronian rather than Demosthenian; and while, when occasion served, he could thunder with a power and effectiveness not unworthy of the ancient and implacable foe of Philip of Macedon, his more prevalent style was that of

suavity, melody, and grace. He spoke as if the Attic Bee dwelt forever on his lips. In a deliberative assembly, in the courts of justice, or in the halls of the academy, the eloquence of Hamilton was a model of perfection. He was the pride and delight of all who could appreciate the beauties of a polished, consummate, and masterly eloquence. Even his great rival and enemy, Aaron Burr, was compelled to concede Hamilton's supremacy in this respect.

His literary and scientific attainments were by no means limited. His knowledge was extensive and accurate. Possessing a retentive memory, clear discrimination, and indomitable industry, he soon mastered the details of every branch of learning to which his attention was directed, and made them his own. In his youth he spent only three years in Columbia College; yet during that period he rendered himself familiar with classical languages and learning, with general history, with the mathematics and exact sciences. We have already seen how, in four short months, he acquired a competent knowledge of the dry and abstruse learning, both of the common and the statute law, and prepared himself for admission to the bar. His subsequent and rapid rise to the first eminence in that profession among rivals and associates of the highest abilities,