Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander

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СКАЧАТЬ put an end to it. Colonel Webb tells me you have sent for a carriage to go to Philadelphia. If you should go out before I return, have the goodness to leave a line informing me how long you expect to be there. I beg, too, you will not suffer any considerations respecting me to prevent your going, for though it will be a tax upon my love to part with you so long, I wish you to see that city before you return. It will afford you pleasure and whatever does that will always be most agreeable to me, only let me entreat you to endeavor not to stay there longer than the amusements of the place interest you in complaisance to friends, for you must always remember your best friend is where I am. If possible, and you give me your consent, I shall try to make a short visit to the city while you are there, but it is very uncertain whether I shall be able to do it. If I were not afraid of making you vain, I would tell you that Mrs. Carter, Peggy and yourself are the daily toast at our table, and for this honor you are chiefly indebted to the British gentlemen; though, as I am always thinking of you, this naturally brings Peggy to my mind, who is generally my toast. Captain Beebe is here and talks of her sometimes, but I will not give my consent to his being her favorite. I do not think him clever enough for her. He sings well and that is all. Your little Delancey is not of the party. I am told he is a pretty fellow. I have learned a secret by coming down here. Our interview is attended with a good deal of sociability and good humor, but I begin, notwithstanding, to be tired of our British friends. They do their best to be agreeable and are particularly civil to me, but, after all, they are a compound of grimace and jargon and, out of a certain fashionable routine, are as dull and empty as any gentlemen need to be. One of their principal excellencies consists in swallowing a large quantity of wine every day, and in this I am so unfortunate that I shall make no sort of figure with them. You must not think me prejudiced, for the picture is a true one.

       Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler

      September 6, 1780.

      Most people here are groaning under a very disagreeable piece of intelligence just come from the southward, that Gates has had a total defeat near Camden, in South Carolina.

      Cornwallis and he met in the night of the fifteenth, by accident, marching to the same point. The advanced guards skirmished, and the two armies halted and formed till morning. In the morning, a battle ensued, in which the militia and Gates with them, immediately ran away, and left the Continental troops to contend with the enemy's whole force.

      They did it obstinately, and probably are most of them cut off. Gates, however, who writes to Congress, seems to know very little what has become of his army. He showed that age and the long labors and fatigues of a military life had not in the least impaired his activity, for in the three days and a half he reached Hilleborough, one hundred and eighty miles from the scene of action, leaving all his troops to take care of themselves, and get out of the scrape as well as they could.

      He has confirmed, in this instance, the opinion I always had of him. This event will have very serious consequences to the southward. People's imaginations have already given up North Carolina and Virginia; but I do not believe either of them will fall. I am certain Virginia cannot. This misfortune affects me less than others, because it is not in my temper to repine at evils that are past, but to endeavor to draw good out of them, and because I think our safety depends on a total change of system, and this change of system will only be produced by misfortune.

      A. Hamilton.

      Benedict Arnold, who had married a daughter of Edward Shippen, had become involved in debt and led an extravagant life, in consequence of which he was accused of questionable financial operations and 'disorderly official conduct." Having been taken to task for this, an aggrieved animosity was engendered which led him to revenge himself by plotting treason with the enemy, and every one is too familiar with his scheme for the betrayal of West Point, his utilization of Major Andre, and with the pitiful end of that brave and gallant young officer.

      No better account of these happenings can be found than in the two following letters written by Hamilton, which may be reproduced as examples of the sensible correspondence in which Hamilton and Miss Schuyler indulged, and showing, as well, that she was quite in sympathy with all he did, and quite familiar with his military duties.

       Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler

      September 35, 1780.

      Arnold, hearing of the plot being detected, immediately fled to the enemy. I went in pursuit of him, but was much too late; and could hardly regret the disappointment, when, on my return, I saw an amiable woman, frantic with distress for the loss of a husband she tenderly loved; a traitor to his Country and to his fame; a disgrace to his connexions; it was the most affecting scene I ever was witness to. She, for a considerable time, entirely lost herself. The General went up to see her, and she upbraided him with being in a plot to murder her child. One moment she raved, another she melted into tears. Sometimes she pressed her infant to her bosom, and lamented its fate, occasioned by the imprudence of its father, in a manner that would have pierced insensibility itself. All the sweetness of beauty, all the loveliness of innocence, all the tenderness of a wife, and all the fondness of a mother, showed themselves in her appearance and conduct. We have every reason to believe, that she was entirely unacquainted with the plan, and that the first knowledge of it, was when Arnold went to tell her he must banish himself from his country and from her forever. She instantly fell into a convulsion, and he left her in that situation.

      This morning she is more composed. I paid her a visit, and endeavoured to soothe her by every method in my power; though you may imagine she is not easily to be consoled; added to her other distresses, she is very apprehensive the resentment of her country will fall upon her (who is only unfortunate) for the guilt of her husband.

      I have tried to persuade her that her fears are ill-founded; but she will not be convinced. She received us in bed, with every circumstance that would interest our sympathy, and her sufferings were so eloquent, that I wished myself her brother, to have a right to become her defender. As it is, I have entreated her to enable me to give her proofs of my friendship. Could I forgive Arnold for sacrificing his honour, reputation, and duty, I could not forgive him for acting a part that must have forfeited the esteem of so fine a woman. At present she almost forgets his crime in his misfortunes; and her horror at the guilt of the traitor is lost in her love of the man. But a virtuous mind cannot long esteem a base one; and time will make her despise if it cannot make her hate.

      A. Hamilton.

      Hamilton was probably at New Windsor when the following letter was written, which, at the time, was occupied by the American Army:

       Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler

      (Written probably in October, 1780.)

      I have told you and I told you truly that I love you too much. You engross my thoughts too entirely to allow me to think anything else. You not only employ my mind all day, but you intrude on my sleep. I meet you in every dream and when I wake I cannot close my eyes again for ruminating on your sweetness. 'Tis a pretty story indeed that I am to be thus monopolized by a little nut brown maid like you and from a soldier metamorphosed into a puny over. I believe in my soul you are an enchantress; but I have tried in vain, if not to break, at least to weaken the charm and you maintain your empire in spite of all my efforts and after every new one I make to draw myself from my allegiance, my partial heart still returns and clings to you with increased attachment. To drop figures my lovely girl, you become dearer to me every moment. I am more and more unhappy and impatient under the hard necessity that keeps me from you, and yet the prospect lengthens as I advance. Harrison has just received an account of the death of his Father and will be obliged to go to Virginia. Meade's affairs (as well as his love) compel him to go there also in a little time. There will then remain too few in the family to make it possible for me to leave it till Harrison's return, but I have told him I will not be delayed beyond November.

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