Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ life has been so often referred to by historians that there is little to add, except that from the first he displayed all the precocity which led to his subsequent early advancement, and this was undoubtedly stimulated by his helpless condition, and the necessity for doing something. As is known, when but fourteen he conducted the affairs of Nicholas Cruger in his absence, writing important business letters which, in themselves, showed a mature knowledge and ripeness of judgment.

       Alexander Hamilton to Henry Cruger

      St. Croix, February 24th, 1772.

      Henry Cruger, Esq.

      

      Sir: The 9th ultimo Capt. Robert Gibb handed me your favour dated December 19th, 1771, covering Invoice and Bill of Lading for sundreys—which are landed in good order agreeable thereto. I sold all your lumber off Immediately at £16 luckily enough, the price of that article being now reduced to £12, as great quantitys have been lately imported from different parts of this Continent.—Indeed, there must be a vast Consumption this Crop—which makes it probable that the price will again rise—unless the Crops at windward should fall short—as is said to be the case,—whereby we shall fair to be Overstocked—the Oats and Cheese I have also sold, the former at 6 sh. per Bushell, and the latter at 9 sh. pr. Your mahogany is of the very worst kind or I could readily have obtained 6 sh. pr foot for it, but at present tis blown upon, tis fit only for end work.

      I enclose you a price Current & refer you thereto for other matters.

      Capt. Gibbs was ready to sail seven days after his arrival but was detained two days longer by strong Contrary winds which made it impossible to get out of the Harbour.

      Believe me Sir Nothing was neglected on my part to give him the utmost Dispatch, & considering that his Cargo was stowed very Hicheldy-picheldy—the proceeding part of it rather uppermost. I think he was dispatched as soon as could be expected.—Inclosed you have Invoice of Rum and Sugar shipt in the sloop agreeable to your Orders. I could not by any means get your Casks filled by any of the planters but shall dispose of the HHDS out of which the Rum was started for your account, from which however will proceed a small loss—Also have account of sloops Port Charges, of which I hope and Doubt not you'll find right.—

      Youll be a little surprised when I tell you Capt. Gibbs was obliged to leave his freight money behind; the reason is this; Mr. B would by no means raise his part—tis true he might have been compelled by Law, but that would have been altogether imprudent—for to have inforced payment & to have converted that payment into Joes-which were extremely scarce—would have been attended with detention of at least ten or twelve days, and the other freights were very triffling so that the whole now rests with me, and God knows when I shall be able to receive Mr. B—part. who is long winded enough. Mr. B begs to present his respects, which concludes Sir.

      Your very Humble St.

      for N—C

      A—H

      When fifteen years old, having shown his cleverness in many ways, he was sent to the United States, and landed in Boston; subsequently reaching New York, where he met Elias Boudinot, who helped him in the matter of obtaining his education.

      At an early age Hamilton developed a facility in expression that widened with succeeding years, and he accumulated a remarkably extended vocabulary which is apparent in everything that he wrote and said, and if the power of thought is measured, as is generally admitted, by the extent and accumulation of symbols and ideas, he certainly possessed a rich store of both. This seems strange, for it does not appear that he had access to many books, or received more than the childish education at the knee of his mother to the time of her death, when he was but eleven years old, although it has been stated that in his earliest infancy he was able to read the Hebrew Decalogue. It is certain that he understood French as well as English, and his early literary productions, among them the famous account of the tornado, show much precocity and fertility of composition. He certainly was able, not only to express himself well, but to make a selection of terse terms and vigorous English.

      When Hamilton reached America in 1772 he brought letters which he delivered to the Rev. Hugh Knox and to William Livingston, afterward governor of New Jersey, and stayed with the latter at his house, which was known as "Liberty Hall," while he attended the school of which Dr. Barber was the head master, at Elizabethtown. In the winter of 1773-4 he was ready for college and would have entered Princeton, but he went to President Witherspoon with a proposition that he should be allowed to pass from one class to another when so qualified, instead of following the usual routine of the university. This proposal was not acceded to, so he turned his steps to King's College in New York, which was then situated between the streets that are now Church, Greenwich, Barclay, and Murray. The president was the Rev. Dr. Myles Cooper, a stanch loyal Englishman, who had succeeded Samuel Johnson, the first president of the college, and with him were associated Dr. Samuel Clossey, who taught medicine, and Dr. Peter Middleton. Dr. Clossey was a clever Irish surgeon and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and came to America in 1764, when he was fony-nine years old. He left an active medical practice to emigrate, and a year after his arrival was appointed to King's College as Professor of Natural Philosophy, but subsequently was selected for the Chair of Anatomy, which he filled until 1774. He was a loyalist and did not at all sympathize with the colonists, so finding the atmosphere of New York uncongenial, returned to England, resigning his professorial position, and giving up his American practice. Dr. Peter Middleton lectured upon Chemistry.

      The faculty seems to have been limited to these three men, to Dr. Cooper being assigned Latin, Greek, English, mathematics, and philosophy. Hamilton followed the rules which he afterward laid down for the guidance of his son Philip, and from morning till night led an abstemious life and devoted himself to his work, taking the literary course, and also studying medicine.

      Here he had no trouble in advancing as rapidly as he chose; but his college course was brought to a close by the famous meeting in the "Fields," and his sudden entrance into public life. New York was tardy in following the example of the other colonies in open and effective rebellion, and in uniting to form the first Congress. Alexander McDougall, Isaac Sears and others who belonged to the "Sons of Liberty," who later showed their patriotism in a number of riotous acts, were the prime movers in organizing a public meeting in what is now the City Hall Park. It was their object to stir the half-hearted Assembly to some action, and to urge upon it the meaning of heeding the voice of the patriots who were daily increasing in numbers. This was the occasion for Hamilton, a mere stripling, to force his way through the crowd to the front, and make a stirring address which seems to have aroused the assemblage more than the speeches of older men. This was really the opening of his career, and the impression he made as an orator was all the more profound because of his very physical immaturity. It does not appear from the records of the college that he graduated, but that his career as a soldier and patriot really began in the midst of the curriculum.

      He was then but seventeen, and he had already begun to command attention by his eloquence and by his contributions to the Age and Holt's Gazette, where he became engaged in controversies with his own college president, who would not believe that the boy he had taught could produce such "well-reasoned and cogent political disquisitions."

      It was at this time that Hamilton organized his students' corps, who adopted the name "Hearts of Oak" and who promptly performed a number of rebellious acts, such as removing the cannon from the Battery under fire of the British ship-of-war Asia, at anchor in the bay.

      Trevelyan refers to the outbreak of these young patriots, and alludes to the fact that "there was very little bloodshed, but some profanation, for later young Alexander Hamilton at the battle of Princeton, with the irreverence of a student fresh from a rival place of education, planted his guns on the sacred green of the academical campus, СКАЧАТЬ