THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON. BY SAMUEL M. SMUCKER, A. M., AUTHOR OF "THE COURT AND REIGN OF CATHERINE II.," NICHOLAS I.," "EMPEROR MEMORABLE SCENES IN FRENCH HISTORY," ETC. BOSTON AND CHICAGO: L. P. CROWN & CO. TORONTO, C. W.:-BOSTWICK & BARNARD. HARVARD Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PHILADELPHIA: STEREOTYPED BY GEORGE CHARLES. PRINTED BY KING & BAIRD. PREFACE. THE want of a complete and satisfactory yet succinct and popular life of Alexander Hamilton, has long been felt by the reading public; and when we remember the very eminent position which he occupies in American history, it is somewhat singular that no attempt has been made to execute such a work. The Memoir published by his son, John C. Hamilton, is excellent as far as it goes; although it is not only unfinished, but is also too cumbersome and diffuse for the popular reader. The small work of Dr. Renwick, though well adapted to the purpose for which it was written, was necessarily very superficial and incomplete. I am not aware that any other reliable Memoir of Hamilton is in existence. In the preparation of the following pages, I have freely used and appropriated all the sources of information which were accessible to me on the subject. These include the most important publications which were cotemporary with the events narrated; together with all the published works of Hamilton, and the existing biographies of himself, his associates, and his opponents. The fierce passions and jealousies of that memorable era in which Hamilton figured and flourished, have now been laid to rest in the slumber of the tomb; and he who attempts at the present day to write the history of this great man, may claim at least one advantage over his predecessors-that he has no temptation from party prejudice and bias, either to color, exaggerate, or suppress the truth. The remarkable incidents of Hamilton's career will never lose their singular power to attract and instruct mankind; for they furnish impressive illustrations both of the brightest and the basest elements of human character. The brightest all appertained to himself; the basest belonged to those by whom he was surrounded and assailed. Few men have ever lived whose virtues were so transcendent, whose motives were so disinterested, whose usefulness was so extensive and so permanent; yet there never lived a man against whom the envio, the malicious, and the vile, fabricated so many baseless and absurd slanders, and illustrated by the aspersions which they cast upon him, and by the filthy slime of their hate with which they endeavored to pollute him, how despicable humanity in their own persons could become. To a very eminent degree Hamilton paid the natural penalty which superior genius and distinction must always suffer from the envious, the disappointed, and the obscure. With the lapse of time the false impressions which once existed in reference to the political principles and personal qualities of the subject of this history, have gradually become, in a great measure, rectified. I have attempted in the following pages to aid in accomplishing this result. My endeavor has been to describe Hamilton precisely as he was; neither to set down aught in malice, nor yet unfairly to extenuate. I remembered the severe order given by Cromwell to the limner who executed his portrait, to paint him as he was, and not to omit the warts which embellished his stern visage. Such defects as Hamilton really possessed have not been overlooked. The |