Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander

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СКАЧАТЬ his acquirements he can not decline his lesson. Excuse this Folly.

      With your usual Friendship and goodnature excuse what is wrong in this letter, I never could write.

      Farewell to you whom I love for all that can create affection and esteem accept of every good wish that an Heart alive to the tenderest sensation can breathe from

      Yours G. Lewis,

      October 17, 1800.

      The surroundings and circumstances of Elizabeth Schuyler's life had all tended to prepare her for her future as Hamilton's wife. Had she been any other than what she was, despite all his genius and force of character, Hamilton could never have attained the place he did. His letters show deference to her judgment and opinion, so we may conclude that he confided all his thoughts and plans, and made her a party to much that he did, yet his tender concern for her must have spared her many worries, and the knowledge of much that was harrassing in his career. There is a general solicitude in his letters and especially in the last two he ever wrote, which are the saddest of all. From many short letters and notes that remain it is evident that he apprised her of all his movements both in the field and afterward, and the conditions of his affairs.

      She was remarkable for her piety, benevolence, and sympathy for every form of distress. She and Hamilton seem to have been agreed on that point all through their married life. When Philadelphia was filled with French émigrés, they both were among the first to give, and many widows and orphans were assisted with money and clothing. I have found an old subscription paper of this kind containing many interesting names of prominent persons connected with the early history of America, which is worthy of introduction and is in Hamilton's handwriting. The "Mary Morris" who heads the list was the wife of Robert Morris, the financier:

       List of French Distressed Persons

      1. Madame le Grand with two Children lives near the litde Market at the house of Mr. Peter French, Hatter, in the greatest Indigence.

      2. Madame Demarie blind with a daughter who Is a widow, and a little Child, No. 19 Cedar Street in dreadful distress.

      3. Madame Noel 7 Children and an orphan of whom she takes charge, Mulbery Street No 223—has not yet experienced so great extremity as the former, but is at present without money and owes 26 Dollars.

      4. Madame Robard with 4 Children.

      5. Madame Benoit with two both in the greatest indigence. Their residence at present unknown—

      Subscriptions for the Relief of the foregoing persons (viz)

      Mary Morris ........... 10 dollars Eliza Hamilton ........ 20 dollars M. Cazenove ........... Ten dollars Susan Kean ............ 5 dollars Cash .................. 10 Dollars Dr. Huger ............. 5 Dollars.50 Ann H. Livingston ..... 3 Dollars O. Stewart ............ Five dollars paid L. Knox .......... Ten Dollars pd. D. M. Smith ....... five Dollars pd. Dalton ............ five Dollars pd. I. Williams........ five Dollars pd Cash ............... 5 Dollars pd. H. Breck .......... ten Dollars pd. R. Izard .......... Five Dollars.50 pd. E. Lageremme ...... Five Dollars pd. Y. Z. ............. Fifteen dollars Paid—Capt ............. 5 Dollars paid—Eliz Powel ....... 10 Dollars paid—T. L. ............ 8 dollars paid—Eliz Cabot ....... 5 Dollars. R. K. 46. R. King— .............. 5 Dollars paid R. K. O. Ellsworth .......... 5 Dollars paid R. K. P. Butler ............. 5 Dollars paid R. K. M. Coxe ............... 3 Dollars paid. Nohitosidos ........... 5 Drs. John Guest gives ...... 10 Doll.

      As one who knew Elizabeth Hamilton said: "Hers was a strong character with its depth and warmth, whether of feeling or temper controlled, but glowing underneath, bursting through at times in some emphatic expression. Hers as a stem ordeal; within a few years she experienced the shock of two violent deaths by duels—those of her eldest son and husband, the death of her sister and mother and father; her eldest daughter's insanity, and with this, little or no means with which to support and educate her family of seven children, five growing sons, her invalid daughter and a younger daughter. No wonder the light of youth had vanished from her face when the widow's cap replaced the Marie Antoinette coiffure." From the rapidity with which her children came she must have had little or no time for social pleasures, although much of her early married life was spent in Philadelphia and New York, where her husband was either taking part in the affairs of the government or practising law. Her sister writes to die former place from London: " Do you live as pleasantly at Philadelphia as you did at New York? or are you obliged to bear the formalizes of female circles, and their trifling chit chat? To you who have at home the most agreeable Society in the World, how you must smile at their manner of losing [their?] time—"

      She was, undoubtedly, most energetic, and possessed a great deal of the Dutch tenacity, for she lived to the great age of ninety-seven with apparently no diminution of intelligence, still continuing to take interest in public affairs and the careers of her children, and writing letters even after her ninetieth year, which, despite a little tremulousness, were all they should be so far as intelligent expression was concerned. It cannot be denied that Hamilton made money easily, and that he had very grand ideas which it took a long purse to materialize. That he was something of a spendthrift is shown in his purchase of much real estate, and the preparation of a somewhat magnificent scheme for his country place in the upper part of Manhattan. It was probably his wife who made him more conservative than he would have been without such a check. McHenry, in a letter to Hamilton, said of her: " She has as much merit as your Treasurer as you have as Treasurer of the wealth of the United States." Still, when Hamilton was prosperous after he had become fairly launched in the practice of law they lived comfortably but evidently quite up to their income, which, in those days, was large.

      Angelica Church, in writing from Putney, October 5, 1796, to her sister says: "Colonel Nobel is returned very much pleased by his reception in New York, and has assured me that you republican Ladys live with as much splendour and expense as her slaves. I do not mean this for you dear Eliza who have a better taste."

      Other letters of Mrs. Church indicate the affectionate relations of the two sisters.

       Angelica Church to Elizabeth Hamilton.

      Paris, Jan. 27, 1784.

      Dear Sister: I have written to you twice since I have been at Paris but have not received a line from you or Col. Hamilton. I intended to have called my little girl Eliza after Mr. Church's mother, but she thinks Angelica a much prettier name. Mr. Church is also of that opinion, but I promise that the next girl I make shall be called Betsey.

      I should like Paris exceedingly if it was nearer to America, for I have a very agreeable sett of acquaintance, particularly a Madame de Ture who is a great admirer of our dear papa. She says he is the most amiable man in the Continent. Mr. Franklin has the gravel, and he desires to return to America; they talk of Papa or Col. Hamilton as his successor, how would you like to cross the Atlantic, is your lord a Knight of Cincinnati. It has made a most wonderful noise here, but it is remarked that the order will probably exist in France when it will be neglected in America.

      Adieu, my dear Betsy, I embrace you with all my heart, give my Compliments to Col. & Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Montgomery, and do me the favor to write to me very often.

      administrations were opposed to Hamilton and his political faith, she did not meet with the encouragement that she deserved, and there seems to have been a reluctance even upon the part of some of Hamilton's closest friends—Rufus King, for example—to give her certain letters and papers which they wrongly thought it might be impolitic to publish. Among these were documents relating to Washington's Farewell Address, which disclosed the part taken by Hamilton in its preparation. She always maintained that her husband was its author, and insisted that this fact should be known. She and her son James СКАЧАТЬ